Home is where the "work" is?

I'm working from home today and tomorrow. My manager (and now, the only person I work with) is taking vacation so I figure there is no need for me to come in to the office. With her away, the chances of someone coming to my desk in a panic with questions or some sort of fire to put out are greatly reduced.

This freelance consulting thing isn't so bad... even if I only have one client.

For the past week or so, the theme from The Apprentice has been popping into my head.
*enter funky bass line, cue chorus girls*
Money money money money... MONEY!
It's that wonderful time of the year again when we all start to panic because the RRSP contribution deadline is coming up and we haven't been contributing all year like everyone suggests we do. We look blankly at our bank balance and wonder how much we can spare to set aside, given that we also haven't got a clue whether we owe taxes this year or we are getting some sort of a return. Then we have to decide (and rather quickly!) if we want to invest in a mutual fund that, while it has a high rate of return, is not guaranteed to perform the same way this year and will lock your money for 6+ years anyways... or if we should invest in a GIC which performs much more poorly but is a lot "safer". What if we can't afford to set aside any money? Should we be finding a way to contribute to our RRSPs anyways? A loan perhaps? But GOSH... being only 27... retirement seems so far away... we can't retire if we don't even own a home to retire in. If we decide maybe to use our RRSPs as a place to save money for the downpayment on a house, well then do we want to wait for 6 years before we can withdraw it, or do we want to get a 1-yr GIC that again, only earns minor ducats and really doesn't do anything but give you a tax break anyway?

It's enough to make your head spin! *enter funky bass line, cue chorus girls*

First thing's first. I'm going to pick up a General Tax Package from the post office and do a quick tally of whether I will owe or earn tax back this year. Then I will see what's left over, even with that pesky wedding in the way.

Oh but wait... what's REALLY first is to finish up my speaker's notes for the training session I'm planning for next week, create a new budget tracking spreadsheet for 2006 and re-enter all the formulas pertinent to this year's project plan, collect and update the master list of submissions to be filed in the coming year so that I can start organizing a few important presentations coming up next month, and do some reasearch on Stakeholder Scorecards so that we can create new metrics for the project even though we are already 2 years into the damned thing... all the while pretending to still be a "scientist".