Goodness Gracious
May. 20th, 2010 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterI think this is what it must feel like to own and operate a small business.
Because of my travel situation this summer, I have some random pockets of money to manage - money that I can't quite treat as my own, given that some of it is provided as reimbursements. I applied for three separate funding sources for the conference in Copenhagen this summer, and received funding from all three sources. Two of them can be effectively treated as a bundle, because they are both managed through the Giant University. The third is slightly more complicated. I have to be sort of strategic about which sources I use as funding for different aspects of the conference, too, considering that one stipulation of the third funding source is that I should visit research laboratories while I'm there to make connections for potential research projects.
Then there's the Bay Area trip in July. I'm fortunate in that there's a conference happening during the week before my brother's wedding, and we actually have funds to send me to the conference. But I didn't want to fly there, I wanted to take the train. Our business office will let this happen, but only for as much money as it would cost to fly there, plus I have to write an additional apology letter explaining why I'm taking the train (Dear Account Auditors, Airplanes release too many greenhouse gases and give me motion-sickness, whereas trains are efficient and allow me to work while traveling.).
I'm not even going to write about funds for my bridesmaids dress for the wedding other than to note that it has been fully paid for by funds provided by other parties (but I still need to deposit that check).
Then there's my summer funding. You know, rent and food, and maybe some clothing or bike parts. And the laptop fund. During the school year, we are paid on a schedule. Summer funding is not guaranteed in our program, and it's structured differently, so it's provided to us differently. As with last summer, it's a reduced rate compared to how much we are provided during the school year. They give it to us in lump sums, and frankly, I'm just not as good at dealing with lump sums as I am with scheduled pay periods. My general plan will be to act as if I do not have spare spending money. However, I will need to have some sense of how much money I have by the time I go to Copenhagen so I don't have to be as much of a tightwad as I was on the last trip to Australia. Plus, trips to visit other research laboratories might end up being an out-of-pocket expense, so I need to budget for those.
Umm, yeah. I think that's it? I'll just be glad when everything is over with and paid for and reimbursed.
Because of my travel situation this summer, I have some random pockets of money to manage - money that I can't quite treat as my own, given that some of it is provided as reimbursements. I applied for three separate funding sources for the conference in Copenhagen this summer, and received funding from all three sources. Two of them can be effectively treated as a bundle, because they are both managed through the Giant University. The third is slightly more complicated. I have to be sort of strategic about which sources I use as funding for different aspects of the conference, too, considering that one stipulation of the third funding source is that I should visit research laboratories while I'm there to make connections for potential research projects.
Then there's the Bay Area trip in July. I'm fortunate in that there's a conference happening during the week before my brother's wedding, and we actually have funds to send me to the conference. But I didn't want to fly there, I wanted to take the train. Our business office will let this happen, but only for as much money as it would cost to fly there, plus I have to write an additional apology letter explaining why I'm taking the train (Dear Account Auditors, Airplanes release too many greenhouse gases and give me motion-sickness, whereas trains are efficient and allow me to work while traveling.).
I'm not even going to write about funds for my bridesmaids dress for the wedding other than to note that it has been fully paid for by funds provided by other parties (but I still need to deposit that check).
Then there's my summer funding. You know, rent and food, and maybe some clothing or bike parts. And the laptop fund. During the school year, we are paid on a schedule. Summer funding is not guaranteed in our program, and it's structured differently, so it's provided to us differently. As with last summer, it's a reduced rate compared to how much we are provided during the school year. They give it to us in lump sums, and frankly, I'm just not as good at dealing with lump sums as I am with scheduled pay periods. My general plan will be to act as if I do not have spare spending money. However, I will need to have some sense of how much money I have by the time I go to Copenhagen so I don't have to be as much of a tightwad as I was on the last trip to Australia. Plus, trips to visit other research laboratories might end up being an out-of-pocket expense, so I need to budget for those.
Umm, yeah. I think that's it? I'll just be glad when everything is over with and paid for and reimbursed.
