Well, I got most of my back pay.  Retirement and tax took a little more than I'd expected but it's still enough to REALLY help get our finances stabilized.  Hopefully this will be a good year.  Before taxes and retirement it was $1111.80.  This next (regular) paycheck is going to be about $100 higher as well...and I think I've still got a minor issue worth another $50.

Due to unrelated factors I might actually splurge a little early and get a new video card now instead of waiting until next month.  The card's not TOO expensive at $150ish although most people for some reason think video cards...these days the part with the most powerful processor in a computer...should be cheaper.  Should be able to play Crysis with some antialiasing and basically any game at reasonable speeds for the next year :D

Lately I'm kind of wondering if I can figure out a good way to work out how much working memory a person has while at the same time making it observable to the person (something that's very difficult if the person has a very limited working memory).  It's an important thing to me because basically...many of the big issues in our society are a result of two camps...ones WITH a good working memory and ones without.  Yes, I realize knowledge plays big into that but the ability to use any new information is what stops one side from seeing the realities of the situation.  Ironically it actually causes problems in both directions.  Many intelligent people mistakenly assume that EVERYONE has a certain basic ability to comprehend things.  However, just because an intelligent person might have been able to understand something from the age of say...5 years old...that doesn't mean that all "normal" people can understand it.