I actually read a few blog posts this week. Not many, mind you, but some. Work world is still crazy. Our top candidate for the Director level position accepted our offer so that’s great, but I’m about to have a job open for an Associate Director position that I’ll be leading recruiting for, as well. (Luckily, this time, we have an awesome internal candidate in mind- let’s hope she’s interested.)

In addition, I’m in budget land until mid-October, with multiple rounds to go. There’s a chance we’ll have to let people go. At the same time, I’m busy preparing case studies for some of our departments that prove we need more bodies, not less. It’s a bit crazy making.

So what do I do when I’m going crazy at work? First, this is exactly why I have my bulletin board filled with pet pictures in the office. I take a moment to just look at the cute faces. Second, I take my walks. Twice a day I get up from my desk and go take a 10 minute walk. It’s great for both physical and mental health. And thirdly, I come home and kill things.

You read that right, in the last couple of weeks, C and I both re-upped our WoW accounts. Yes, we will almost certainly get the new expansion when it’s released next week (though we may not pre-order). Yes, it’s a time waster, but it’s an activity that we can do together (and with J) that acts as a great stress reliever, exit from the real world. Will we still be playing a month from now? Maybe, maybe not. But for now, we’re back on Azeroth.

And now that you’ve heard my confession, on to the few things I did read this week.

At American Debt Project, there’s going to be a change in focus. We had a chance to sit down and talk at FinCon, and it was fabulous. For both of us, the real take away from the conference was to really evaluate what we were looking for out of our blogs, and what value we were trying to give our readers. I love the new direction.

Daisy at Add Vodka has also been doing some evaluating of her life. And she’s realized that she’s perhaps not actually sending the messages she wants to be in her work life, instead. So now she on a mission to Teach People How To Treat [Her].

Aloysa (the A theme goes away after this, I promise) from My Broken Coin has a great post about how to marry your equal– as in the person who will be your equal partner in life going forward. This has nothing to do with social class, earning capabilities, or even education levels. It’s about finding the person who balances you out in all the important ways. If you can’t tell, I’m with her 100%.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mr. Money Mustache, he gave a talk at FinCon about creating your own cult. His group of Mustachians is certainly growing. I do not agree with everything he says, but if you’re interested to find out what he’s all about, this Reader Case Study is a great introduction.

I try to stay away from politics here. Which is funny because I don’t stay away from them in real life at all. I am very opinionated and I will happily tell you who I am voting for, why I am voting for them, and what keeps me from voting for the other person. Given that this current election has the economy as a major focus (and it should) I have considered writing a post about it. But I don’t need to. Because Sandy at Yes, I am Cheap has done it for me. Guess what, no matter how much money you have, no matter how much (or little) you pay in taxes, You’re Getting Government Subsidies & Entitlements, Too.

And now we’re at the point of the weekly roundup where I introduce a new Yakezie challenger. This week, it’s Heather and her blog Becoming Me (great title). We pay property taxes via escrow on our home, but not on the MIL’s condo. Those we pay directly (which is good because the mortgage holder is going through bankruptcy and this way we don’t have to watch the escrow account like a hawk to make sure they don’t “accidentally clear it out- but enough about us). We could pay monthly, but it’s really just easiest to pay two times a year. We keep money in the rental account to cover it. Heather also pays her property taxes individually, but sometimes, things just go wrong- this time while she was at FinCon. Will Taxes be the Death of [Her]?