Primaries and Bonuses

Two topics today, both related to yesterday. Being the CNN geek that I am (and that apparently Brandy is, too), I spent last night watching election results. OK, I was getting some work done, too...but I am trying to play up my dorkiness.

Very surprising results from New Hampshire on the Democratic side. Well, it is a shock when compared to Monday's polls...but when you consider that she was ahead by like 20 points a couple of weeks ago, it is shocking in the other direction. What does it mean? Well, it means that she dodged a serious bullet. If she lost by seven, she would have been dead...now she has made it a race again, and they go on to fight in South Carolina and so forth.

It also raises an interesting idea about race and politics. Could it be that people have feelings about a black candidate that they won't voice publicly, but that they will act on privately? He did well in Iowa where everyone sees you vote, but he dramatically underperformed the final polls in NH in an anonymous vote. Could be a statistical thing, but it could also be something more...we will have to keep and eye on this. I had a Poli-Sci professor who loved to point out the Jesse Helms did better in actual votes than in polls every single election of his career. Sometimes voters think something but don't want to say it out loud...

The Republican side is just as wide open for now. McCain looks like the favorite for now, but Huckabee could be strong in South Carolina if his message resonates with Evangelicals. Romney looks to be teetering, but he actually has the highest average finish of the candidates in the three contests so far, and if he wins Michigan, he will be right back in it. That would also bring Rudy Giuliani into it as well...if the other three are kind of tied and he scored big in Florida, then he immediately joins them. But if one of them can be a clear front runner, it will be over before it starts for Rudy (like, if McCain wins SC and MI, for example). Fred Thompson seems to think he is gonna compete in South Carolina, too, but I will believe that when I see it.

Now, serious stuff out of the way...I got a MotherfuckingHUGE bonus, and I am most excited about it! I was expecting about 20% of my base salary, and ended up getting like 35%. In percentage terms, I got the largest bonus of any of the non-partners (in dollar terms, they all got more than me...whatever...I will choose whatever metrics I want:-P). So I was really, really fired up all afternoon.

Boss Foxy pulled rank on the guys in the office and stole me for lunch. Part of it may have been an effort to preempt me telling them (I totally would have:-)), but also I think she was fired up too because she got a MONSTER payout (the partners don't technically get bonuses, but it is sort of the same thing). Hers was so big that it had rounding errors bigger than my entire bonus...lol. She doesn't get very excitable, but I could tell that she was really on cloud nine yesterday. And she deserves it, she had an outstanding year, did two huge things that made a ton of money, and talked the other partners out of one that, in hindsight, would have been a disaster. She was definitely the superstar of the firm last year.

Anyway, I am feeling pretty good about my savings plan now. I am still not 100% how the new living arrangement is going to effect my budget, but I think I will still be able to save every month. If not, I have plenty of cushion to hold me over. More importantly, the house fund is becoming relatively substantial, and that makes me very happy:-)

So, today...very good day and I am in a very good mood:-)