Technological misunderstandings

We live in a world filled with technology. Email, instant messaging, and text messaging are some of the main mode of communication for many people. At work, I communicate to almost everyone via email. There are many people who I have never met in person but know quite well through email from working so closely with them. I would email a person a question rather than picking up a phone. I can work occasionally work from home because I have availability to my email. It is amazing how email has infiltrated not only my work life, but also my personal life. I "talk" to many of my friends via email more often versus the phone. I communicate to family via email as well.

I remember a world without email and it is amazing to think that the kids growing up today have no idea what a world without email is like (wow, that sentence just made me sound really old). Email can be such a great thing. Communication with people from around the world is basically free, no worries about international phone bills. You can communicate with people at all hours of the day without worrying about waking them in the middle of the night. You can conduct business in any time zone and work with people around the world at any time of the day. The possibilities of technological communication are endless.

Unfortunately, the possibility of technological misunderstanding is also prevalent. Misunderstandings can very easily occur via email. I recently experienced a misunderstanding at work because of an email that I sent. Basically someone (someone very important) mistook my email to mean something else that I had not intended for it to mean. This was not a good thing. It all worked out but it definitely got me thinking.

In emails or any other type of technological communication, people can misunderstand the meaning of emails, they may take certain things to be sarcastic or condescending or filled with different intentions. In the professional world, you especially have to be careful with how emails are distributed and worded. Your tone of voice can't be heard in email. Email communication can't convey that type of nuances that verbal communication can. It can be very easy to misinterpret an email. I try to be very careful with the emails I send out, I am careful to make sure that emails are professional and sincere. The written word is even more important than you'll ever know. Even though email is electronic there is still a "paper" trail of information, so professionalism is ever so important.

It is so easy to quickly write an email and click on send. Sometimes you do have to be cautious, but there have still been many times when I have clicked the send button a little too soon. When I have forgotten to attach an attachment or accidentally copied a person on the email who was not intended to receive the correspondence. Ooop! You have to exercise some caution with the world of email, you never know when an email may end up in the wrong mailbox or may be viewed by eyes they were not intended for.

I was recently copied on an email from my former employer. The email was in regards to an employee's HR information, the email was intended to be confidential yet made it into my mailbox and I hadn't worked for them in 4 years! I responded back letting them know I had accidentally received the email and it was a nice opportunity to say hi, but definitely not information they wanted to share with me.

There are various tips on email etiquette on the Internet. Most pertaining to style of writing and what not. The most important tip of all is to proofread! Make sure that the email is in the tone you want to get across and communicates what you intend for it to communicate before you click on send. Once you click send, it is off in cyberspace and you can't do anything about it.

Photo from: http://flickr.com

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Gone Paperless

Save some trees and go paperless. Another way to be green!

Today, I went paperless with my credit card statements. My bank statement, car payment, and cell phone bills have already been on a paperless system for over a year. I have not had any problems with this, I check my balances online when I need to and I can access my statements anytime I want to. So, I thought it was time to go paperless with the rest of my personal finance world.

I was a little paranoid and cautious about making this move, but I have never had a reason where I needed my paper statements and if I ever had I was always able to access the paperless ones online.

Advantages to going paperless:
1. Good for the environment, you save trees!
2. You can access and print your statements anytime.
3. You can access past statements, most up to 12-24 months of history and some with up to 7 years worth of statement history (which is all you would need for tax purposes).
4. Less office and file cabinet clutter.
5. No more wasted time shredding old statements.
6. You receive your statements as soon as they are available rather than waiting for them in the mail.

The only thing I would print a statement out for is for proof of charitable donations. Those are tax related items and I think I would still want to keep paper copies of that with the rest of my tax related documents.

While going paperless can be great, I realize there may be some downfalls to consider. There is the possibility that I might neglect my accounts. I thought about myself about whether this would be an issue for me: I came to the conclusion that since I check my email daily and you get an email whenever a statement is available that this shouldn't be a problem for me. I am pretty anal about things so I think that I will be fine. Whereas someone who does not check their email regularly might have difficulty with a paperless system. I think it will work for me and help to keep me organized. Besides if it doesn’t work out I can always change back.

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Happy Birthday Baby!!

Happy Birthday to Mr. Bear!!

Mr. Bear is 32 years old today! Yes, I married a younger man :)

Here are 32 reasons (in no particular order) why I love and married my best friend. Happy Birthday Mr. Bear. I love you!



1. Your kindness to others.
2. The way you look at me.
3. Your generosity.
4. Your laid back attitude.
5. You genuinely care about other people.
6. You are a good friend to my friends.
7. You love my family and all their quirky ways.
8. You put up with me and my silliness.
9. You push me to be a better person.
10. You believe in me and everything I do.
11. You accept me for who I am.
12. You love Chase Monster and accept his bigness.
13. Your unconventional ideas and attitudes toward life.
14. You kind and gorgeous eyes, sometimes they are green, sometimes they are blue.
15. Your talents.
16. Your eye for art and beauty.
17. Your spontaneity.
18. You are close to your family.
19. You are close to your friends.
20. You are close to your friends' families.
21. You are protective of your mother.
22. Your desire to defend, protect, and take care of me.
23. Your loyalty to your family and friends.
24. You can talk to anyone and make instant connections.
25. You are always willing to help a friend in need.
26. Your perfectionist and detail-oriented nature.
27. You are not a picky eater.
28. Your smile.
29. You encourage me to pursue my wishes, even if they are silly.
30. Your creativity.
31. Your execllent taste in expensive things (especially diamond engagement rings :).
32. We are so different in many ways and you don't mind one bit.

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I Raced for a cure! Picture Updates

Run, Bear, Run!!!

Here are a few pictures from the Race for the Cure 5K that I ran a few weeks ago. Here is proof that I really ran it!! Sorry that the pictures are so small, they are thumbnails from the professional photographers that took pictures at the race. I am too cheap to spend $15 on a photo! Look at me go, I am almost to the finish line!!



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Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from an Easter bear :)


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Shop 'Til You Drop

Today is Good Friday, which means that Easter is in a few days and the end of the Lenten season. One of the things that I did in observance of Lent was give up shopping.

I stuck by this and did not do any excessive shopping beyond groceries and necessities of the household. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. I stayed aways from temptations by not going into the mall unless necessary. Anytime I went to Target (one of my shopping weaknesses), I would go in with a list and I stuck to my list. I will be honest, there were a a few times when I would pick something up that wasn't on my list and I would walk around the entire store with it in my basket, but before checking out I put the item back so I never did buy anything that was not on my list.

What helped me to put the item back was really thinking things through. Did I really NEED this item? After all, it was not on my list so I didn't think I needed it before. If I truly needed it, I could add it to my list for the next time around. Not once did something I put back go on the list for the next week. This was a good strategy for me to really consider what I needed vs. what I wanted. I've never been an impulsive buyer but I do love to shop and buy clothes and little things that I don't always need. It's amazing how those little things end up in your basket while walking around Target and those little things do add up after a while. By being able to think about whether or not I really needed the item helped me to stick to my no shopping goal.

I won't completely continue to give up shopping, however, I do plan to decrease my shopping habits. So the next time I want to go shopping or buy something unnecessary, I will think it through more carefully. I know that from time to time I will want to shop for new clothes or something else that I do not truly need, I am human and I am not perfect. Plus, sometimes I will deserve a new pair of shoes or a new lipstick that I don't really need. But by thinking more about my needs and wants will help me to be in better control of my spending habits.

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Spring is in the air

Today marks the first day of spring, the vernal equinox. Spring is my favorite season of the year. Although Southern California does not really experience too much change in seasons, being a Southern California girl I can tell the changes in the seasons. I am always freezing cold in the winters and so when spring comes a long, I welcome it. But then again, I am cold when it is anything under 65-70 degrees. I love warm climates and spring time brings along with it warmer weather. I love the thought of flowers blooming and sunny warm days. After the sad and depressing winter that we have experienced, I am look forward to the sunny, happier days of springtime.

Photo from: http://outdoors.webshots.com

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Another Sorrowful Day

I have never been to so many funerals in my life as I have been in the last 4 months. Mr. Bear's custom black suit that he bought for our wedding less than a year ago has been to more funerals than anything else.

Today, Mr. Bear and I attended the 3rd funeral since my sister-in-law passed away in December. Mr. Bear's step-dad's uncle passed away in his sleep on Sunday, March 16, 2008. I did not know Joe very well, but from the stories I heard today he sounded like a great man with such great qualities about him. He was giving and philantrophic and cared about many people. He was hard working and had a lot of willpower. He had 7 children and many grandchildren and led a long life. There were obviously many people who loved and admired him as evident by the attendance at the funeral services.

The internment took place at the same cemetery where Tricia is at and so we went to see her in the mausoleum before we left. The feelings of loss and sadness are still pretty raw and it was hard to be there for even a minute. All the emotions of loss just came rushing back. It was already a day of sorrow and my own loss was deep in my thoughts and my heart. I think of Tricia every so often, we have her picture on our fridge and in our room, so every time I see her photo I think of her. As I ran the 5K in her memory on Saturday, I thought of her. And today as we sat through yet another funeral this year, I again thought of her. I know my loss is different from Mr. Bear's loss and my father-in-law's loss but it is none the less a loss that brings great emotions. I miss her vibrant red hair and her great smile and vivacious laugh. I can still hear her voice in my head. I am glad that I can still remember these things about her, even though it hurts to miss her.

I sincerely hope that the next occasion in which Mr. Bear has to wear his black suit is a more joyous occasion.

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I guess I won't be a Tri-Fit Diva

It seems like everyone is feeling the financial pinch during these difficult times. Everyone is talking about the economic downturn that the nation is taking. We are approaching, if not currently in a, recession and there are whispers of a depression. I recently wrote about paying off one of my credit cards and that was a huge accomplishment. I have one credit card left to pay off, $3000, a very manageable amount of debt to pay off. So if we keep things as is, we as a family are doing okay and we will manage through these difficult times. We will just need to prioritize things and be smart about our finances.

As economic hard times seem inevitable, I have had to reassess my priorities and be more realistic about things. As you know, I have been training for the Women's Tri-Fitness Competition. As I have been looking at our finances, I have decided that this is not the right time for me to compete in the tri-fitness competition in July. The main factor being the cost, it costs $175 to register for the competition, which takes place in Las Vegas, so that also means costs for a hotel room, gas, and food. Plus, to get some training on the obstacle course would cost another $75. The reason why I wrote about the tri-fitness competition in the first place was because I was excited about the challenge and sharing it on my blog would make myself accountable to make the commitment. I am deeply upset that I have to give up, I really felt like I was making progress and I was training so hard for it. I don’t know if I will ever be able to do something like this again. I was set and ready to do it, I had until the end of the month to register at the pre-registration rate of $175 and fully make the commitment and I had even made a hotel reservation (luckily it is refundable). The only reason I have been putting off registering was money. Being in debt pay-off mode, I actually sat down to budget the cost of participating to aid me in my final decision.

$175 – pre-registration before March 30, $200 after
$215 – 2 nights at a hotel (that is at a group discounted rate)
$200 – food for 2 days
$250 – gas
$100 – miscellaneous costs (parking, taxi)
$75 – additional training costs (I was planning to go back to bootcamp training)

That is $1,015 in costs and that does not even include any drinks or gambling money while in Vegas, which would have been inevitable for us. That is a lot of money that we really didn't have to spend that probably would have ended up on our credit card (defeating the purpose of our debt pay off goals) and would be better spent toward reducing our credit card debt. Plus, the fact that for the 2 weeks before we will be in Hawaii on a family trip that has been booked and planned since last year (luckily airfare and hotel has already been paid for and I have been saving money for other costs). So sady, I will not be a tri-fit diva. I am so bummed out about this; I was crying writing the email to my bootcamp trainer. But I know that this is the right decision and by next year my consumer debt will be gone so maybe I can gear up to compete next year.

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I Raced for a cure!

Saturday, I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K. I ran on a team with several of my co-workers. I ran in memory of my sister-in-law, Tricia Borba Vasquez. It was a great event and for a wonderful cause. Thank you to all the wonderful people who supported me through this and helped to raise money for a worthwhile cause. It meant so much to me.


I am not an avid runner and have never considered myself to be a runner (although I do run a lot). But I have ran in several 5K's and I knew that I could do it, after all, a 5K's only 3.1 miles! I don't know how long it has taken me in the past to run a 5K (I'd never kept track, but I know I once completed a 5K just under 30 minutes), so to challenge myself I set a goal for myself to finish the 5K in under 35 minutes. I know that I am not a fast runner so that sound reasonable to me and as I was training I found that the first mile I could run in under 11 minutes but subsequent miles took me closer to 12 minutes to complete, so I figured 35 minutes was very doable for me.

I am very proud to report that I finished the 5K in 33:16 minutes!! Definitely under my goal time. So about an 11 minute mile, I am happy with that pace for myself. I would run/jog about 10 minute and walk for 1 minute and did that through the whole course and that proved to be a good strategy for me. It definitely felt good to finish in under my goal time and I felt that Tricia was there with me giving me the strength to finish. I thought of her throughout the run and that motivated me even more to run rather than walk.

One of the best things about race events, beside constributing to a great cause, are the free goodies! Here are a few of what I got.

I wish I had my camera with me to take more pitures but I didn't want to carry anything with me during my run, so all I have are a few from my cell phone. Some of co-workers took some pictures, so hopefully I can share those at a later time.

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