My newest purchase, and how I afforded it.

Courtesy of Boston.com, we have the rankings of New England universities by top starting salaries. Boston College is ranked 9th in New England and 48th in the nation (but fear not, little brother, Fordham wasn’t far behind in the national rankings). Let it be known that I do not subsidize my lifestyle by stealing from copy machines, like the Middlesex county administrator recently caught on tape doing just that. There is security footage of him taking money from a number of vending machines and appliances, but for some reason it’s the copy machine that I find particularly pathetic.

I finally used one of the Bath and Body Works coupons that clutter my kitchen yesterday when I purchased a bathroom scale. I was conflicted about buying one, since according to reports scales make women crazy (like I need help with that), we shouldn’t worry about numbers, its all about how your clothes fit…in short, I felt that buying a bathroom scale would ruin my feminist cred. But one of the great things I have found about getting a little older is that I have stopped basing my decisions on what I “should” or “shouldn’t” do (I ‘should’ keep living in community, I ‘shouldn’t’ have a TV), and I now base them on what I want to do. I had suspended my gym membership for the summer, and the gym is where I usually weigh myself, and I had lost 10 pounds and wanted to know if I’d lost more, so I bought the stupid thing. So I’m not the countercultural free spirit I used to dream of being? Somehow I’ll survive.

This is where you tremble in awe at my limitless capacity for overthinking.

Speaking of shoulds, I felt that I ‘should’ get an analog scale, because I love clocks with second hands and rotary phones. But since I actually wanted to know what I weigh, I went with a more precise version. One I really liked came with a body fat analysis function, but I knew that was a bad idea. I really don’t want to know that. I settled on one that wouldn’t take up too much space in my ittybitty bathroom, and brought it up to the register. The woman at the register asked me if I needed a gift receipt, and although I’m sure she says that to everyone all I could think was “who gives a scale as a gift?” Maybe it goes on people's registries, but let it be known: I don’t ever want to get a scale as a gift.

In other news, the leadership team of BOC had a wrap-up meeting for Magic Flute yesterday. I’m always so impressed with my colleagues, with their vision and their diligence. Sure, we disagree and holler like any good family, but it’s worth it.