My ever-dwindling bank account

At some point everyone wonders where all their money has gone. Since I am notorious for never carrying cash and I am obsessive about writing down my debit card purchases in my checkbook, I realized I could actually find out where all my dough disappeared to. (By the way, I do not ever suggest adding up how much money you spend in one place every month because you may end up shocked or dismayed by the total.)

Places I like to spend money*:

Thames River Wine and Spirits

This is a no-brainer and no surprise. Most of the Thames River purchases occur on Fridays when we go for the tastings - I usually end up with one or two bottles of something we've tried. Also, some of my new favorite wines are only locally available at Thames River. Plus, when the wine store guy can't locate a wine that you ask him to find but makes a different recommendation instead, you have to buy it out of curiosity and appreciation, right? (And then possibly continue to buy it because it is so good?) I don't blame myself for my Thames River purchases, but I DO blame Michel Torrino Don David Torrontes, Caymus Conundrum, XY Zin, and a few other cuplrits.

Dev's on Bank Street

Another "usual suspect." My Dev's on Bank charges tend to show up on the same night as my Thames River charges, probably because Dev's is such an easy walk down the street and we finish tasting right around dinner time. We're already in the mood to drink wine and usually begin our order with a bottle. No matter how many complimentary orders of flan Bunny presses on us, the booze and the tapas add up (plus you've got to throw in a generous tip for cute bartender.)

Hanafin's

Though not nearly as much of a repeat offender as it was during the winter, Hanafin's Irish Pub remains a presence on my bank statement. The girls gather there while the boys play darts on Tuesdays. It's conveniently located near from my job, making it the ideal spot for an after-work beer. It is across the street from the Garde and therefore an appropriate gathering place after events. It's sort of like Cheers. Just ask Kevin Lester - he once kept a tab open there for three days.

Dunkin Donuts

I have just about put a stop to this one, but I definitely ran on Dunkin for a few months. Not the donuts - just the iced coffee, which I still maintain has crack in it. Of course, if this were Michigan and I were still working in non-profit hell, my statement would read "Starbucks" and be for twice as much - caramel machiattos do not come cheap.

Target

For some place so cheap, I sure spend a lot of money there. It seems I can not get out of Target without spending a minimum of $80. See, when you buy a LOT of cheap things, they add up. One of my last Target receipts included Lean Cuisines, conditioner, mascara, a sundress, two maagzines, a paperback, gardening gloves, kitty litter, and a candle. Come on - with that variety of merchandise, anyone is bound to go a little crazy.

Amazon.com

I had stopped for awhile, but my Amazon addiction is back full-force. Amazon combines my love of getting a good deal with my love of receiving packages in the mail. It's a win-win situation for me...except when you order your used copy of Watchmen two weeks ago and it has yet to arrive...

*This list does not include my recent affinity for purchasing vintage and reproduction vintage clothing because I am still in denial that I may have a problem.

I'm not cool.

I officially joined the ranks of the nerds today - I purchased a graphic novel.

Actually, I joined the ranks of the nerds a few years ago while working at the Earle in Ann Arbor. One of our line cooks, Curtis Sullivan, happened to be the owner of Vault of Midnight, the comic book store downtown. My day job at the time was at the Ann Arbor News, and sometimes on my lunch hour I would get bored and go hang out at the comic book store.

Curtis was the one who introduced me to the Sin City graphic novels. Since I had thought the movie was incredibly cool, it wasn't a hard sell. I collected three of them, all of which I lost in my breakup with Randy.

Anyway, I hadn't really given graphic novels much thought since then. Sure, I see all the comic book movies and would even go as far as to say that some of them (the first two Spiderman movies, Iron Man, and the recent Batman movies come to mind) have a ton more plot and character development than a lot of other source material. But I didn't really think about reading any more graphic novels until we went to see Dark Knight and saw the trailer for something called Watchmen.

I have to admit, I was baffled by trailer. I could tell it was supposed to be big, and important, and I thought I saw Denny from Grey's Anatomy in there. But I didn't get it, and I didn't really care - I was 100% invested in the Batman hype.

But later on when I was looking up Twilight coverage from Comic-Con (I told you I was already a nerd), "Watchmen" tidbits kept popping up.

It took being bored at work - I mean, bored on my LUNCH HOUR - to really investigate. I Googled "watchmen" to see what I could come up with and found out that it is apparently the most important graphic novel of all time. Amazon gave me a brief and totally unsatisfying synopsis, so I turned to Wikipedia. I knew comic fans wouldn't let me down on a medium like Wikipedia, and they didn't. I not only found incredibly detailed plot synopsis, but all kinds of character information and back story. (Main "Watchmen" Wikipedia page here.)

By the time I had Wikipedia'd each of the main characters, I pretty much knew I was going to end up buying the book. Curiosity got the best of me. So I ordered a used copy from Amazon and it should be here in a few days.

I'll keep you updated as I descend into nerdiness.

(And I don't really think that there's anything wrong with reading graphic novels - I just needed a catchy opening line.)