Employee Discounts

Hello! I hope all of you had a wonderful first week of 2011! I did. This past Wednesday I was moved to a new neighborhood branch of the library system I work for, and I think I'm going to really like it!

Today, as part of my New Year's Resolution, I drew #16, which is part of the Money segment of the U.S. News & World Report article. In particular, #16 is "Get an Employee Discount." This is an interesting one. The City of Seattle does offer some discounts. I know that we often get price breaks for the arts, including musicals, plays, concerts, etc. I've never taken advantage of those. I honestly don't know what other employee discounts the City of Seattle has negotiated. It's foolish of me not to know, in case I could be saving every time I shop at Target!

I can't look this up from home, so this will be an assignment for me to complete at work, where I can access the city's intranet. Next week I'll share my findings. Cross your fingers for me that I'll discover true, practical savings!

I'll give myself a couple of related assignments, too. I know that I can get a ton of discounts through my AAA (American Automobile Association) membership. I think I get discounts through my American Library Association membership, too. I'll let you know what I find out. Maybe my findings will help some of you, too!

Meanwhile...

I did great this past week for my Obama Challenge! I got in all five days of exercise, though at times I was on the cusp of justifying my way out of it. But it turns out that I am greatly motivated by filling in the stars that represent each week. Here's the deal: each time you enter exercise in your account, one point of a five-point star gets colored in. When all five points are colored in, your star gets a big check mark on it. Who knew that such a simple thing would be so motivating? But those dumb stars kept me exercising all week long.

For those who are interested, I did 45 minutes of hill walking one day, rode my little stationary bike 3 days, and volunteered at the animal shelter one day. Now, I'll admit I was torn about the animal shelter. While cleaning is on the Obama's list of exercises, I didn't feel that that was very legitimate. However, cleaning at the shelter is grueling. I can't even count the number of squats I do picking stuff up (I'm trying to be correct and squat, rather than bend over to pick up heavy things), and hauling endless litterboxes around is tiring. I stop now and again to chat with other volunteers and staff, and at times take a few moments to cuddle some of the critters, but it's really 2 solid hours of heavy-duty cleaning. As I was walking home from the animal shelter, exhausted and aching, I decided that it definitely counts as my exercise for the day!

Okay, I'll check back in next week and update you on my employee discount research and Week 2 of the Obama Challenge. Plus fill you in on the next resolution!