raise the sails or the roof?

Since I am not running currently, some other things:
* I'm getting a raise this year! It isn't much (1.5%) but its the first time in awhile. I'm excited to recalculate all of my various percentages and spending categories, because I am a geek like that.
* I bought a car--this was a while ago, and I don't think I mentioned it here because I totally did it wrong. I financed a fair chunk of it because I couldn't take my smelly old less-than-reliable beige crapmobile any longer, which was a stupid way to do things, looking back on it. So now I am playing catch up on that and obsessing over driving the balance down as fast as possible and paying as little interest as I can. Best case scenario I have it paid off by January, worst case is some time next summer. Other worst case is I play Glenda the Good Witch and drop my house fund on it to eradicate it and at the same time kill any chance of buying a house in the near future. I am still toying with that idea, it has its pluses (namely I could sing "ding dong the debt is dead" so much more quickly).
* I am watching Firefly again (via streaming netflix--its all there! love the streaming netflix!). Why aren't there more space westerns? It sounds ridiculous, but man, that show is so much better than you think it is going to be every time! trust me!
* I have two cats. In our new neighborhood / apartment (that isn't really new, we've been there almost a year) they get to go outside --they have a cat door and everything-- and one of them has been wandering into other houses in the neighborhood on a pretty regular basis to check out the kibble situation. She is just about the friendliest cat on the planet, but I really don't want her to re-home herself, so I've been trying to limit her outside time to when I am around. JLB thinks I am nuts and over-protective of my cats. He could be right, but when I'm not around I often get phone calls from folks who are hanging out with my cat inside their houses which is kind of embarrassing. She has no manners at all! She is just after their love / kibble!
*I calculated my net worth the other day for the first time in awhile, and even though I screwed up frugality-wise on the whole car deal, my net worth is positive! I know that isn't really a huge accomplishment compared to pretty much any PF blogger going, but it has taken me a long time to surpass the $30,000 + I (still! damn it!) have in student debt, so I was pleased as punch to see that I am no longer in the red. I've been out of school for six years, and nearly all of my debt is from my graduate program. I don't regret it exactly, my graduate degree has definitely helped me to have a "career" rather than just a "job" but sometimes I wonder what I could have done if I hadn't been saddled with so much debt at graduation.
It is a general dream/ goal/ ambition of mine to get to a place where I don't "need" a job, and having a smaller debt load could have made that happen faster. Or not, given the increased job prospects an advanced degree will get you.