Finding Freedom

Hi All

2006-11-02T17:51:00.000-08:00

I have eased on down the road over to Finding--Freedom.com.

If y'all would consider updating your links, that would be mighty groovy! Also, if you notice any bugs over there, let me know, and I'll work to figure them out.

A Faustian Bargain

2006-10-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

I had heard commercials talking about Cash Call. They starred Gary Coleman. Although I certainly don't need any more money lended to me at interest right now, on a whim I went over to their site to check them out. The site seems pretty legitimate; it almost seems like they are just looking to help people out who are down on their luck.

However, in examining what users have said about them, that help that they offer comes at a great price. While I suspected that their interest rates weren't kind, but I had no idea that they were as bad as they are.

Many of the people are locked into loans with an interest of at least 85%. You read that right; eighty-five percent interest. At least.

Can you say preying on those least able to protect themselves? This is horrible, and it makes me sick.

The Library

2006-10-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

I know that this is silly, but I have a confession to make: I love the library.

For someone who enjoys reading as much as I do, I have found that reading can be a very costly habit. Though I normally wait for books to go to softcover, there are certain books that I want to read right away. And, even when I do wait for softcover, I still find myself shelling out ten to twelve bucks a pop.

Although the duration of enjoyment is perhaps commisserate with the price, if you buy too many books, you're going to find yourself in the poorhouse pretty quickly.

And so, yesterday, as I ventured back to the library after a long time spent away, I remembered how nice it is to be able to read what you want for free.

Recommendation for the Day: Read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It gives fascinating insight into how we know things intuitively even before we can prove them empirically.

Gambling at the Office

2006-09-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

On Monday, one of the personal assistants to one of the big bosses was going around asking for money for an exercise contest that we are apparently having here at the office.

The contest is simple: the person who loses the most percentage of weight in a month wins, and by wins, I not only mean that that person will likely have a longer and more enjoyable life, that person also wins the money that had been collected.

Little do the folks know that they have combined not only my love winning money but also my love of potentially weighing less than a Humvee.

The pot is nearly five hundred bucks. Easy money.

Pete Rose and Supply Versus Demand

2006-09-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

According to a recent post over at the Freakonomics Blog, Pete Rose, the famous baseball player and manager who was banned for life from the game in 1989 for betting on baseballgames, signed some baseballs with the inscription "I'm sorry I bet on baseball" for some of his friends who were memorobelia collectors.

Somehow, some of these balls got into the hands of other collectors, who opted to auction them off on ebay.

When Pete Rose heard about this, he started selling new balls with the same inscription over at his own website, thus devaluing the price of the original signed balls.

I think that this story is very interesting. My question is, was Pete Rose angry that somebody stood to profit over something that he had intended as gifts for his friends, or did he himself see an opportunity to make a few bucks, and he ran with it?

This Has Nothing to Do with Personal Finance

2006-09-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

I saw this news headline over on yahoo, and I needed some place to share it because I thought it was hilarious. You are looking at that place.

Man Bites Panda After Panda Bites Man.

As you can imagine, this happened after a man who had had a little too much alocohol thought that he would recreate a photo op. Oddly, that panda didn't want to recreate it, and opted to bite the man instead. With no other real weapons at his disposal, the man opted to bite him back, only to discover that the bear's fur was too thick to bite through.

If that doesn't bring a smile to your day, I don't know what will. I know it brought one to mine.

Disney Is a Smart Company

2006-09-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

Disney has made over a million bucks in the last week from selling digital copies of some of its movies on itunes. Because of how well this went, the company is expecting to make over fifty million big ones by the end of the year.

What did they find out about the process? They found that the results of selling movies online made a negligible difference in their dvd sales.

I always knew that Disney was a source of innovative entertainment, but what didn't really strike me until I read this article is the fact that they really are an innovative company. Companies have to be willing to adapt in order to continually achieve profits, and Disney has found and developed a new trend in entertainment moneymaking.

Good for them.

Microeconomics

2006-09-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

I am at home today, taking a sick day because, well, I just didn't feel like my body was working like it was supposed to when I woke up.

When I think about it, besides the obvious immediate gratification of not having to work when you don't feel like it and getting paid, in my mind, at least, it seems that the company cares for me enough to take care of me when I'm not feeling well. This, in turn, increases my morale and makes me very glad and thankful to have the job that I have, even if I don't particularly enjoy it.

Because I'm thankful for my job, I'm more likely to do it well than if I were not thankful for my job, which, I imagine, is kind of why they have these policies.

It's kind of interesting to reflect on how things that don't specifically make sense in conjunction with one another (not working and getting paid) make sense when you think about them in a broader context.

Continued Gas Ponderings

2006-09-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

According to this article at CNN.com, the average gas price for a gallon of the precious, precious liquid in America is $2.50. However, where I live, gas is, on average, about $2.85.

Therefore, somewhere in America, gas must logically be $2.15 per gallon.

My question? Where is this gas, and why don't I live there?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

This Weekend

2006-09-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to jot off a quick post letting you all know that I'll be gone for a long weekend due to the fact that one of my very best friends is getting married. I'm really happy for him because his fiance seems like she's just about perfect for him.

I hope you all have wonderful weekends; I know that I will.

Speaking of Funny Things People Do with their Money...

2006-09-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Arizona Diamondbacks are disappointed with how much money they're making.

Do they,

A) Do nothing and hope things get better on their own,
B) Spend money on trying to get some better players,
C) Spend more money on scouting out the best college players, or
D) Change the team's colors.

If you guessed D, you'd be right.

I have to say that I agree with the analysis in the article above, especially the lines, "Attention Diamondbacks: Fans will buy your merchandise and go to your games if your team does well. I don't care if your team colors were baby pink and eggshell, if you made it to the World Series, you would have plenty of rabid fans eager to spend money on everything from Diamonbacks hats to Diamondbacks breast pumps."

This is an issue that holds particular interest for me because I went through a situation that I think is very similar.

For my B.A., I went to a very small, accredited Christian college. The year after I graduated, the school, like the Diamondbacks, was finding it difficult to make ends meet. So, the administration decided that the best course of action to get new students was not to implement long lasting changes so that the course structure was better or seek out professors that may have been a little bit better at what they did, but instead, to change the school's name.

And it makes perfect sense, when you think about it. Implementing lasting change is difficult; who wants to do that? Besides, when you're going to college, you don't want a name that you can recognize; you want something flashy, like, "A Legitimate College" or "President So and So's Party Fun Time University."

I just don't get it. I don't get why people will go for a gimmick when the obvious answer is staring them right in the face. Perhaps one day, the answer will come to me.

For Those Interested

2006-09-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

My call-back on Saturday went really well, and I have really high hopes for it. The auditionees seemed really impressed with me, and I don't know that I could have done very much better.

Unfortunately for me, rehearsal for the show won't start for another month, and so the theatre has a large amount of time to figure out who they're going to cast.

As it is common practice for theatres not to call those who didn't get parts to let them know that they didn't get parts (because, really, who would want that job?) and as they did not tell us when they would be letting us know, that leaves a lot of room for self doubt between now and next month.

If this were myspace, I would put that my mood was apprehensive. But it's not, so I will awkwardly include it as a new paragraph in this post.

9/11 - Where Were You?

2006-09-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

I saw a similar post over at Financial Freedumb, and I thought that I would post my own story over here.

I woke up mid morning. Still being in college and not having class until eleven, I was afforded such luxuries.

After taking my shower, I went back to my room to get dressed. I turned on KPBS to listen to while I was going over some homework for my class. I overheard words and phrases like "planes" and "safety issues." Figuring that this was just another round table discussion about something that didn't really impact me, I clicked the off button as I grabbed my stuff and headed off for class.

As I was walking, a friend came up to me and said, "So, what do you think of all the craziness?"

Not knowing what she was talking about, I said, "What do you mean?"

She replied, "Our country is being attacked right now. What do you think about that?"

I laughed out loud. I said, "What? Are you serious? That's the most ridiculous thing that I've ever heard."

She asserted that she was telling the truth, but before we had the opportunity to talk further, we realized class was about to start, so we each went our separate ways.

When I got to my class, the teacher looked grave. Once class started, he told what he knew about what was going on, which, to be fair, was not much. We didn't know at the time whether planes would keep flying into buildings, or if other terrorist acts would occur.

Shoot, we didn't even know that it was terrorists that had done the attacking.

Being in San Diego, we were all mildly concerned about our health due to our proximity to the large military community in surrounding area. Would they be attacked next?

The teacher decided that we should continue with class. I've got to say, not a lot was learned about that subject that day. After class, I rushed back to a common area on campus that had a tv, and I watched the replays of the planes hitting the WTC. Over and over and over the news showed the same surreal scene, which was almost necessary in that even when I had seen it several times, I still had a hard time believing that it had happened.

I still do.

Savers

2006-09-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

As I read articles like the one over at CNN that tell the story of a 23 year old woman who has been actively saving and investing since she was 16, I am encouraged. I feel similarly as I browse through the difference personal finance sites that, if you're reading this, you likely write.

It is both fascinating and uplifting to see how each of us is progressing in our attempts to put our minds over our money.

So, I just wanted to say a quick thank you to the personal finance writing community for showing me, by example, the way to the straight and narrow way to financial freedom. Each of your personal experiences and bits of advice that you share with the world on your sites shows me the way to a better life.

Thank you.

Google Adsense

2006-09-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

Just out of curiosity, for those of you who use Google Adsense on your sites, how many times per day do you check it?

I find myself checking it several times per day, though I should also include that I check it to see how many page views I'm receiving as well.

Am I sick? Surely at the rate that I'm earning (which could certainly be much better), once per day would be enough.

Cheaper Tickets

2006-09-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

For people like me who enjoy the arts, and are honestly trying to pursue a career in them, seeing shows is an important part of the growing experience. Attending live theatre is both entertaining and informative as I have the opportunity to see how other people perform. I analyze how they said their lines, with whether or not I think that they delivered them correctly being a focal point.

It sounds snobbish, I know, but I really need to discern what is good from what is bad in order to grow as an actor.

Unfortunately, going to live theatre is among the most expensive hobbies a person can have. So, in my own searching, I have come up with a couple of sites that get you discounted tickets for the shows that you wish to go to.

1) StubHub.com -- This site has people who have bought tickets and, for whatever reason, have decided that they are not going to go to a performance. You can sometimes find good prices here, although the tendency in the sellers is to make money. This site is good if you are looking for a show that is hard to otherwise buy for. This site also offers sports and concert tickets.

2) Goldstar Events -- This has tickets that are priced at half off, but they are only for specific shows. This site requires you to open a free account to purchase tickets. It is worth it to browse this site for local shows as you may find cheaper seats than you expected, and

3) San Diego Performing Arts League -- This site offers tickets for shows that are going in specifically the San Diego area. As this is where I live, this site is very useful to me.

For you other theatre lovers out there, I hope that this short compilation of links is helpful for you to get your theatre fix.

The Post Wherein I State the Obvious

2006-09-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

It occurs to me that driving home to see your friends and loved ones over a long weekend should not be an exercise in figuring out whether you can afford it due to gas prices.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad that Shell, Mobil, Exxon, and the rest are having banner freaking years. Good for them; it must be nice to have a business where you can abritrarily run up prices by saying that "There's a shortage," or "The terrorist states are not sending gas," or "I really hate you guys so we're going to raise prices."

What does bother me is when I see the CEOs on tv saying that, although they are making more money than they ever have in the past and although they feel really badly about it, there is no way for them to lower gas prices.

Yeah. I'm sure they feel really badly about it all the way to the bank.

For those curious, I did go see my family, and a good time was had by all. I just kind of got upset when I realized that I was excited to see gas at $2.85. I nearly stopped to take a picture, so that, when gas is $6 a gallon, I can remember the simple, good old days of a few months ago, when gas was $2.85 at select, crummy gas stations in L.A.

Gas company executives, you've made my list of people to punch in the face when I see you on the street. Here is my list so far:

1) Adam Corolla, and
2) Gas company executives.

Hopefully, Adam Corolla will never be a gas company executive, or else, I fear, my head will explode.

This Is Why I Love My Desk Job

2006-09-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Reason #1: They let us off at one in the afternoon the day before a holiday weekend.

I love it, I love it, I love it.

Other reasons will follow.

A Callback

2006-08-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

As those of you who read this site regularly already know, I want a career in the performing arts. My goal is not to be especially rich or famous, but just to be able to support myself and my family doing what I love to do. With that in mind, let's look at the following.

I auditioned for a professional theatre company earlier this last week, and I received a call today letting me know that they'd like me to come back in for a call back. This is very exciting because A) It makes me feel like this career is a viable option,
B) I think that this really means that I have shot at getting into this show, and
C) A local graduate school that I want to get into works in conjunction with this theatre, so, should I get in, this would be an effective foot in the door over there.

However, because it's a professional theatre, they, like normal people, have their rehearsals during the day. This will, obviously, be very difficult in conjunction with my normal day job.

I'm hoping that my boss will let me do both so long as I can get the requisite number of hours at my desk job, but I don't know if he will as the schedules will conflict dramatically.

If I could work both, that would be very beneficial for me in a finding freedom sense of the word as the theatre would be paying me comparably to what I'm making at my day job. However, the prospect of essentially two full time jobs is a bit daunting. Also, should I end up leaving my day job to pursue this, I won't have any job come January, and when you don't have any money, it becomes very difficult to pay off debt.

Obviously I'm getting a little ahead of myself because I might not even get into the show, but I'm trying to think about and weigh my options thoroughly before I have to make them. Thinking about the options really makes me appreciate the opportunity and gravity of the situation.

Any advice from any of you out there in the internet?

Saving Money Buying Diamonds

2006-08-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in just about every man's life where he has to consider taking out a loan in order to show his significant other that he cares. This is known as buying an engagement ring. Here are some of the things that I've learned as I've been looking for this very thing.

The important thing to know is that there are four "C"s to consider when you are purchasing a diamond. They are:
A) Color - How white the diamond is,
B) Carat - How big the diamond is,
C) Clarity - How many physical flaws there are to the diamond, and
D) Cut - What shape the diamond is.

I will cover the little bit that I've learned in that order.

A) You color my world. Diamond colors are grouped together, with D, E, and F being the most white, G, H, and I being a slightly yellower, and J through the rest of the alphabet getting substantially yellower. Because the first group is the clearest and most dazzlingly white, they are the most expensive. However, the differences between letter grades are very small visually, but they can have a substantial difference in price.

The moral? A G rated diamond will look just about as clear as an F diamond, but it will likely cost hundreds of dollars less. It should also be noted that the color diamond you get can depend on the color gold of the ring you get. A white gold or platinum ring will demand a more pure white diamond, while you can afford to go further down the scale with a yellow gold ring because the yellow from the ring will make the diamond look yellow anyway, and so even a beautifully clear diamond will appear yellow with that gold ring.

B) Size matters. As the size of the diamond gets bigger, the price grows exponentially. However, because a diamond is rated in the four different areas, you may be able to afford a larger diamond if you give up on some of the other areas.

Also, as is the case with two of the three other areas, if you go slightly below the size that you want, you can save money. For example, the price difference between a 0.98 carat diamond and a 1 carat diamond is, oddly enough, substantial.

C) Clarity is important. The grading scale goes Flawless, Internally Flawless, Very Very Slightly Included (VVS1 and 2), Very Slightly Included (VS1 and 2), Slightly Included (SI 1, 2, and 3), and Included. This measures how many imperfections or scratches there are on the diamond.

As was the case with the previous two, the last rung of one tier is virtually indistinguishable from the first rung of the second tier, but the price is much better.

It should be noted, however, that the Slightly Included grouping is where the imperfections may be visible to the naked eye. However, you have to be looking pretty closely to see them. Therefore, if you encourage your soon to be wife to gesticulate a lot when she's talking, no one who sees the ring will be the wiser. I am joking, of course, but seriously, Slightly Included defects are difficult to see.

D) Cut makes it sparkle. There are many different shapes that you can get your diamond cut into. There is the princess cut, which is square, heart shaped, round, oval, among many others. However, what is important to know here is that part of what makes a diamond sparkle is the number of sides that it has. Round diamonds tend to sparkle the most because, due to how they are cut, they have the most sides. In fact, some stores, like Robbins Brothers, offer specially cut diamonds with extra sides that are especially brilliant due to the extra faces to reflect light off of. However, these diamonds are very, very expensive due to the fact that people like shiny things.

So, if you're like me, and you don't have a lot of money, but you want to impress and dazzle your fiance, I would suggest getting a round diamond that is G in color that is around 3/4 carat with a clarity rating of VS2 to SI1.

However, at the end of the day, you just have to decide which of these areas are most important to you. Do you just want a huge diamond? Then get a big diamond with a slightly yellower color on a yellow gold ring. Is the diamond's beauty most important to you? Splurge and go for the VVS with a D or E color, but go for a smaller diamond so that you don't break the bank.

In the end, it really is (or should be) the love that matters most, with the ring being just an expression of your commitment to that love. With that in mind, choose a good diamond, but remember, as you're pinching pennies to get there, why you're doing it in the first place.

Work

2006-08-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

It's when it's really hectic at work that I realize that what I do is, in some sick little way, important to a bunch of people. This is at once gratifying and horrifying.

The Elevator in the Parking Garage

2006-08-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

I tend to park in a parking garage that my girlfriend and I split the payments on. Considering how much street or lot parking costs in downtown San Diego, she and I are getting quite a deal especially when you factor in the fact that the company that we work for subsidizes our parking expenses.

However, for the last couple of weeks, the garage's elevator has been acting, well, substandardly.

As I get in to work pretty close to nine, most of the lower levels are already filled up, so I have to park towards the top, which makes the elevator an appealing prospect as opposed to several flights of stairs. The elevator, perhaps emboldened by its own sense of importance, has decided to make its passengers realize their own mortality.

When the descent started this morning, the elevator was literally shaking so badly that the doors started opening and closing. I chuckled to a lady next to me in an effort to divert her attention from the gradually growing dark spot in the front of my pants.

In all seriousness, though I guess I'll have to talk to the attendants at the gate about it, although I can't believe no one has talked to them about it so far.

Oh, and maybe I'll start taking the stairs.

Deposit Check

2006-08-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

Let me first state that I am very grateful that I had old carpet at my old apartment. Because of this, I didn't get charged for its very necessary replacement, and so I got a check in the mail for a couple of hundred bones.

I didn't receive the full deposit back, but given the fact that my roommates had burned holes in the carpet, I am very thankful and grateful to receive any at all.

I'm surprised that they can keep as much of the deposit as they do, though. It seems like they would have taken carpet cleaning out of the deposit had they had to just clean it, which seems kind of crooked. When I left the deposit, I believed that as long as I didn't destroy the place, that I would get most of it back.

I suppose that that is true, if by most you mean less than half. But, I suppose landlords have to make money too...

Pro Bloggers

2006-08-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are looking to perhaps make a bit more income by blogging, you should consider checking out the new classified section that Darren has put up over at Problogger. Potential employers are already starting to post about which blogs they would like to get someone to write for.

Finding Freedom 101

2006-08-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

As I was signing in this morning, I realized that yesterday I posted my 100th post.

Do I feel like I have a better grasp on all things financial than I did a couple months ago? Well, maybe not all things, but I do feel that with even just sitting and writing about ways to save money and to pay off debt has been very useful towards achieving my goals.

Let's hope that I can continue at the same pace, and, to that end, here is my new challenge to myself: I will be debt free by August 2007. As this is the time that I will hopefully be starting graduate school, I can't think of a better goal for myself than to be debt free by this time.

Will this be difficult? Oh yes it will. It will require a level of self-control rarely seen by the world from yours truly, but as I am sick and tired of having this monkey on my back, I believe that I can do it.

Is it feasible? Well, after looking at the various APR's and the balances associated therewith, I am going to have to pay off $1,596.17 a month to accomplish my goal. I take home just about $2300 a month, and my rent is $600. That leaves $103.83 for the other monetary burdens.

I'll admit that it does sound impossible; however, my Adsense revenue have really started to pick up. I am hoping to see this portion of my income continue to grow over the next several months as well, and this will add a better cushion between what I make and what I need to pay out.

Finally, even if this my dreams are too much like delusions of grandeur, if I can put any more money towards my debt than I have been putting in the past (which, sadly, includes actually adding to some of the balances on the credit cards) than I will be in a much better place a year from now than I am today.

August 2007, here I come!

Madden 2007

2006-08-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

While it is easy to think of a video game as a ridiculous waste of money, video games can actually pay off.

Let me tell you what I mean. Let's say that I purchase Madden 2007 for $45.

If I were trying to see how far my entertainment buck would stretch, at nine bucks a movie, I would have to play the game for ten hours to equal the amount of money and entertainment time I would have spent going to an evening movie.

If I would prefer to spend that money on drinking, it would likely take me four or five evenings of playing to equal out.

If I preferred to spend that time as quality time with my girlfriend, well, er, I guess I can't really compare that one, although I could perhaps try.

In conclusion, I will likely pick up this game as I am pretty excited about it. I just thought that I would try to justify it monetarily.

I won't even try to justify it as a good use of time... :-)

A Question About Work Issues

2006-08-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Over at the Dilbert Blog today, Scott Adams posted about how he finds that he gets the most work done, and the little ways that he gets distracted.

"Another 10 percent of my work day is allocated to thwarting my cat's anti-productivity crusade. She hates it when I do work, under the universal cat theory that any time spent not petting her is time wasted. As soon as I pick up a drawing implement she systematically goes around my office chewing and scratching one item after another until she finds something that will make me stop work and pet her."

This got me to thinking about how I find that I get the most work done. At my job, if I'm listening to my ipod I find that I can get a lot of the easy tasks done rather quickly. However, as the tasks become more difficult, I find that I need to either turn the volume way down or else turn off the glorified mp3 player entirely.

With most of my job being relatively easy, I find that having the headphones is a great way to drown out the various office noises that might otherwise distract me from producitivity.

How about you, gentle readers? How do you find that you work the best? Do you like it noisy, or would you prefer it to be as quiet and serene as a Catholic church?

Dual Monitors

2006-08-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

Everybody on our floor is being given two monitors for their desktop computers. According to my boss, this should increase our productivity.

I gotta be honest. My first impression with the monitors was that they were probably a good idea, but that they were a little bit unwieldy to use. However, as I am getting more and more used to them, I am finding how useful they are.

In my job, I have to be thinking about two or three different types of data at any given time, so the capability to be able to look back and forth without having to pull up different screens and programs is invaluable.

I think that I remember Bill Gates talking about his own office, and he said that he used three monitors, and I can only imagine that that would be even better.

As far as two monitors go, I give it two thumbs up, or, as they say on the reruns of In Living Color that I have been watching lately, two snaps in a circle.

What Would You Do?

2006-08-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

Each morning, part of my trek to work includes an elevator ride. This morning, as I stepped into the carriage, I realized that the CEO of our company was standing there. He seems like a pretty nice guy, and, as if to maintain his easy-going image, the man was not wearing a tie.

For one of the first times in my life, I was star-struck; well, I was at least CEO-struck. It immediately occurred to me that I should say something. However, I could neither think of anything important enough that I would talk to him about nor anything that he would expect from me.

As the elevator got to my floor, I briskly walked off, having said nothing to the most powerful man at my company.

It occurs to me now that a simple, "Good morning!" would have been appropriate, but, for whatever reason, my mind couldn't formulate that expression this morning.

However, even if I could have come up with something, should I have said anything at all? If I should have said anything other than the above, what should that have been?

I just don't know.

Pointing Fingers

2006-08-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

The new apartment is great. My new roomie is a great guy, and he's even responsible enough to clean up when things are messy, which is leaps and bounds better than my previous roommates, who were firm believers in the law of entropy. Not that I'm such a clean person myself, but there are only so many times you can realize that there are maggots growing in the dirty dishes in the sink before you get fed up. That number for me is less than or equal to one.

However, as I spend time reflecting on how my roommates were good people but bad roommates, I need to be careful to get the whole picture across. When you are angry or disappointed with someone, it is often quite easy to take one of their least attractive traits and magnify it.

Is this how I would want people to look at and judge me? To look at my ugliest traits and think that I am nothing but that? A seriously in debt usually reformed gambler? Though this is generally how I present myself here, thinking about my former roommates has forced me to cast the glance inwards, and to think about myself. I had to realize that, even though some things really grate on a person, there is more to most people than the sum of their bad parts.

Here's to hoping that I will, in the future, remember the good times a little bit more readily than the bad. After all, aren't good relationships more important than a clean apartment? Not that one can't be helped by the other, mind you... :-)

Be Careful of Extra Fees While Moving

2006-08-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend just moved to a new apartment. Because she had some things that would not fit in our cars, she needed to rent a U-Haul truck.

In the process of this, I was surprised to learn that there are at least two hidden fees involved with the trucks. The first is that if you want to use the dolly that comes with the truck, it will cost you some extra bucks, and if you want to use blankets provided by U-Haul, it will cost some extra money.

I bring this up just because I would have thought that these would have been gratis in the name of good customer service, but I guess that my thoughts would have been incorrect. Be wary when moving, and even in general, because everybody is looking to make a few extra bucks.

A Hundred Buck Tip

2006-08-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

In the latest installment over at Waiter Rant, the protagonist tells of how one meal that he served for ended with his getting a hundred dollar tip.

I'm not going to lie; that's pretty amazing.

Do you know what would be even more amazing? If I got tips for what I do: invoicing customers for their usage of a specific commodity. I would imagine the transaction would go something like this:

"I just emailed out your latest invoice, sir."

"Oh thank you Steven, how much was it?"

"It was about a hundred grand sir."

"Really. Let's see, fifteen percent of that is fifteen grand, right?"

"Yes, I believe that's correct."

"All right, we'll send you your check in the mail."

"Thank you sir."

"You're welcome. Good job."

Man, that would be sweet.

Records

2006-08-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today is records clean-up/management day here at work. What this means is that we get to spend the day cleaning our desks and throwing things away.

Mmm. A clean desk. I'm going to enjoy that.

An Old Story

2006-08-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, the federal government opted to cancel a 108 year old tax on long distance calling in the U.S.

What does this mean for us? The government said that it would be refunding approximately fifteen billion bucks to taxpayers.

I suspect that this refund will be something that we'll all have to be proactive about, so be sure to check out who is eligible for this refund come tax time. It's always nice to get money back that you didn't know that you spent.

Starbucks to Promote Albom's New Book

2006-08-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

It is being reported that Starbucks is signed up to promote Mitch Albom's new book, titled For One More Day, which will be released in October. In addition, Starbucks will be selling copies of the novel at its stores.

I can't help but wonder whether or not this type of cross-promotion is a good thing.

I guess this article really struck me due to the fact that I was on a message board the other day, and Albom was listed by one member as a particularly bad author because he wasn't necessarily writing for the love of it, but he was writing to make money. With this being the opinion of the person on that board, I would imagine that this revelation would be the final nail in the coffin for Albom.

A similar conception exists for Thomas Kinkade, the contemporary painter. While his paintings, are indeed beautiful, a lot of people think that he's just a no-talent hack looking to make a few bucks.

On the other hand, what is wrong with making money in the arts? A lot of people have this kooky impression that one must be a starving artist in order for the art that they produce to be authentic, and therefore worthwhile. Why can't someone who is good at something, like Albom or Kinkade, make a good living at it? Why should we be more okay with players of professional sports making millions of dollars through endorsement deals than we are with artists doing the same thing?

As I am looking towards a career in the arts, I have, and continue to, give this topic a lot of thought, but I have yet to come to any sort of conclusions as I can see both sides of the argument.

What do all of you think?

Gas Link

2006-08-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a link from msn.com that goes over some tips for finding and getting the cheapest possible gas that you can.

Here are a couple that I hadn't thought of:

"Keep cash handy Some of the cheapest stations accept only cash or ATM or debit cards. (The stations save by not having to pay transaction fees to credit card companies.)

Be careful about using an ATM or debit card at an unfamiliar station, however. Fraud experts consider gas stations one of the riskier places to use these cards, because employee turnover is high and it's pretty easy for a dishonest worker to steal customers' bank-account information. When in doubt, use cash," and

"Check for local price wars These can break out anywhere, but may be more common in areas where independent stations are struggling to survive.

Also check stations around the wholesale clubs and discount retailers that offer gas; you may find you're paying only a couple cents more per gallon while avoiding the lines."

Why What You Do Is Important

2006-08-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

When I was particulary down on my luck last year, I worked briefly as a telemarketer, which, and I'm sure you'd all agree with me, has to be in a close race with manure salesman and guy who gets paid to get kicked in the junk all day as worst jobs.

I started that job with the best of intentions. The pay was a base rate (read, minimum wage) plus bonuses for however many people I could get to come to timeshare presentations. If I could get twenty people a week to go, I would get a thousand dollar bonus. However, the company did not like to give too many of these bonuses out, and so they would only let us work, at most, twenty hours a week.

Now, while convincing twenty people in twenty hours might seem reasonable (it's just one an hour, right?), in reality, even if you could get somebody to acquiesce over the phone, the odds of that person really driving out and listening to a presentation were miniscule. You stood a better chance of getting hit by lightning and an asteroid at the same time than getting better than five percent of the people who agreed to go to actually go.

So, at five percent, I would need to get 400 people a week to agree to go just to have a glimmer of hope at that bonus. That works out to twenty an hour, or one every three minutes. When you take into consideration that it takes about ten minutes to read through the spiel and get the information that you need, getting 400 is an impossible task.

When I realized how poorly people were actually showing up, it distressed me greatly, and I realized just how crummy of a job that was.

While this next bit shows my character, at least in this situation, to be not very good, for the last couple of days that I worked there, instead of calling people, I would dial nine of the ten numbers necessary to get a call to go through, and I would then sit there, pretending to wait for someone to pick up so that it would look like I was working.

This is part of how I learned that what you do is important. At least for me, if I don't feel like I'm making some kind of difference in my own life or in the lives of others, I can't stand to work somewhere. Even at my current job, as nice and well paying as it might be, I question the difference that I'm making by issuing invoices. Sure, it has to be done, but what difference does it make?

I justify it by knowing that soon enough, I'll be debt free, and I can then work on whatever the heck that I want.

That day can't come fast enough.

Pay Day

2006-08-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

I love pay day. It is the one day out of every other week that I feel like I'm gradually getting a hold on my finances. Of course, as I pay off my debt, my bank account feels slim again, but I know that in the long run, I'm helping myself out.

I can only imagine how wonderful it must feel to get paid, and to not have to feel like you have to run to your computer and make your payments.

One day I'll get there. One day.

Is There Money to Be Made in Baseball Cards?

2006-08-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

I, like many other little boys, collected baseball cards. As a little boy, I was lured into collecting with the mindset that I could collect things that would one day be worth millions of dollars. I collected pretty seriously for a couple years, but the player's strike in the early nineties was atrocious and reprehensible in my pre-pubescent eyes, and so I gave collecting up. The greedy players wouldn't get any more of my money. So, I stuck all my cards in boxes, and I waited for them to increase in value, as the baseball cards of every generation before mine had done.

Unfortunately for me, the time that I started being interested in baseball cards was the same time that the card companies decided to exponentially expand the number of cards produced.
With the huge supply of cards, the demand for these cards has left me with those same boxes full of memories in the form of just about worthless pieces of card board.

However, today, many of the card companies that were spitting out cards as quickly as a fat kid spits out seeds at a watermelon eating contest have now gone out of business. With this being the case, the total supply of cards is starting to be much less than the demand, which may indicate that cards now will perhaps start to be worth the money that the old rookie cards are worth.

However, I suspect that once there is money to be made in the card industry again, those same printers who have gone out of business will re-open their doors to drive down the market price again.

However, for right now at least, I think that there may be some money to be made for the serious collector in baseball cards. Obviously, there are more solid investments, but I think these are certainly a little bit more fun.

What do you think?

The Power of a Deposit

2006-08-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are still living with roommates, let me encourage you to do something.

If you are like me, if one roommate moves out, you will oftentimes just look for a new roommate because it's easier to get someone new to move in as opposed to having to move all of your own stuff.

However, when you do have the new person move in, work out a system whereby the new person has to pay some of the deposit. Whether the new roommate pays you or works something out with the landlord is inconsequential; the important things is that he or she pays money for a deposit to live there.

I did not do this. Because I did not make them pay, neither of my roommates cleaned a dang thing as they were gathering and taking their belongings elsewhere.

Believe me, you don't want to be scrubbing the floor with the smell of Pine-Sol in burning your nose hairs at two o'clock in the morning when you have to be at work that very day, wishing that you had some recourse against your roommates who were either sleeping elsewhere or SLEEPING AT THE SAME APARTMENT YOU WERE OBVIOUSLY STAYING UP LATE TO CLEAN.

Ahem. I apologize for that. I'm just a little ticked, mostly at my own stupidity, although I am slightly ticked at what passes for being a reasonable, responsible person nowadays.

Oh well. At least I've got my health, right? And maybe some deposit money? :-)

The Move

2006-07-31T11:58:00.000-07:00

Well, the move is just about over. Lord knows how I managed to keep so much stuff in the little space that I had in my former room. I have just a few items left at the old place that I still need to take, as well as a massive cleaning project that needs to get done before the end of the first.

My family came down to help me clean, and I am and will be forever grateful to them for that kindness. The hauling, lifting, and carrying would have been replaced by cursing, crying, and "suiciding" had I had to do it by myself. It was an exhausting task, and one that I wouldn't wish on anybody.

Needless to say, I've been dragging all weekend, and even, or should I say, especially today as I have made it back to work. What can I say? The prospect of more working after a weekend spent working is not a particularly appealing concept.

But, as my mom used to tell me, somehow life goes on. And so I'm off to get all my end of the month stuff done here before having a rehearsal and then trying to clean up what I can at the old place to salvage some manner of a deposit.

Wish me luck. :-)

Moving Day Is Here

2006-07-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

To those who come here regularly, I just wanted to drop a note to say that I will be moving, with the help of my dad and brother, tomorrow for the majority of the day. Due to this, I will most likely be unable to post.

I hope that you all have terrific weekends!

With Moving Comes Apprehension

2006-07-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

In some ways, I wish that I could have stayed at my old apartment. Well, I wish that I could have continued to pay the same amount of rent that I am now. The apartment itself is nice enough, but I suspect that it is a mere five minute drive to the center of hell considering how hot is has been there lately.

The new location is much better in just about every standpoint, but it will also cost just about twice as much. I suspect that it will likely be worth it in that I will have a much shorter commute to work, although with the girlfriend now living further away, the carpooling may come with a greater cost of gas.

I wonder if I am just averse to change...

Ah well. Beautiful La Jolla, here I come!

Financial Planning

2006-07-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend and I met today with a financial planner that had been recommended to us. The financial planner had some good ideas about things that we needed to get started on.

One thing that she kept saying is that because we are so young, we have the option of waiting on some things, or, conversely, getting a head start on other things that will place us in a good place come the end of our lives.

It was a really informative time for me because she talked about some issues that I didn't have very much information about, such as life insurance, how a Roth IRA functions versus a 401k, and how I should be allocating my money in the plan that the company chose for me when I got hired.

She does her work for us entirely free until we start making money off of things that she has chosen for us. I suspect that most financial planners would work this way as well, as there would be a huge eventual margin for getting paid off. So, for those of you just getting started off like I am, I would recommend trying to find someone like a financial planner to give you advice and to help you make the most money that you can with the money that you are making.

Something Kuwait Has Right

2006-07-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

Due to their record profits from oil, the government of Kuwait has announced that they will give each citizen six hundred and ninety bucks a piece.

Wow. With our national debt being so huge, I can't even imagine America being in a place that they would even consider such a thing. That's amazing.

Acting Payday

2006-07-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

I received my first payment for acting the other day. One of the shows that I am in now pays their actors, and just recently received the check. I rushed and made a photocopy of it, and I intend to frame it.

While it barely covers gas costs (the theatre is on the other side of the metropolis that I live in), I am extremely glad to receive the couple hundred dollars they agreed to pay me. This money will be useful in paying my higher rent with the move.

But, with the pay being so low versus the amount of time expended, none of the actors are really doing it for the money. I know that for myself, even this token of payment makes me feel like I am taking a step in the right direction with my career, even if it is a baby one. This payment is symbolic for me as a step in the right direction, and it encourages to keep following my dreams.

I know that sounds cheesy, but, hey, we've all got to start somewhere, right?

HSBC Online

2006-07-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

I'm having a bit of trouble with my HSBC account due to the fact that I haven't received my account number in the mail, and I don't think that I was given one when I signed up under the auspices that I would be sent one in the mail.

This leaves me unable to access my account.

While I didn't open my account with a whole lot of money, it's a little disconcerting to be unable to get to it.

I'll have to give them a call and see if we can't figure something out.

I am unimpressed with their service as of yet, but perhaps their customer service will redeem them. I find this unlikely, however, as I have already sent them an email, and was told just to wait for the letter. I opened the account a month ago. You'd think that I'd have it by now.

Why I Love My Job

2006-07-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

So, my boss sends out an email to our department this morning stating that he has two tickets for today's Padres' game that are going to go unused unless somebody wants them. I, of course, would rather watch baseball than work, so I volunteer to take them off of his hands, to which he says okay.

I will be spending this afternoon downtown in the sun at beautiful Petco Park watching the Padres beat up on the Phillies.

Can life get better? I submit that it cannot.

And now, the haiku for this Wednesday.

So Ken Lay has died,
And his wife gets the money,
That he stole from us.

One Shot

2006-07-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

As a new tactic towards paying off my debt, I think that I will implement something that occurred from time to time in my gambling days.

When you are sitting at a blackjack table, the dealer will often times joke with you that you should just take all of the money in front of you, and bet it on one hand, or "one shot" it. If you win, you double up; if you lose, you just lose your money more quickly than you would have before.

I saw few people actually bet this way for the obvious reason that nobody really wants to risk all of their money at once. They would rather get their money nickel and dimed away in the name of "fun."

Now, what does this have to do with paying off debt, you ask?

Well, I get paid, on average, twice a month with the occasional three times a month fluke. The first paycheck, especially now that I'm moving, will go towards rent and utilities and other necessities that ensure that I have somewhere to live. The second check, however, I think I am going to use to pay the minimum on most of my credit card payments, and then I'll use the rest of the paycheck to make a large payment to one of the credit cards.

While there may be better methods towards paying off debt, I like to see results, and the capacity to see a card that has a balance of $900 go to $100 or less in the space of a couple days will be a wonderful method for me to feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Money is already tight this month, so I will be unable to implement this until August. I'll let you all know how it works out.

One Thing to Do Over

2006-07-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

As we all get older and older, a do-over is something that occurs less and less in our lives. As a child, if you serve poorly in four square for example, it is relatively easy to call "Do-Over!" and get another shot at it. As an adult, as much as I'd like to call Capital One and say claim the do-over principle, I think that it would not fall on very sympathetic ears.

This is why it is important to do the things that we have decided to do well.

Problogger is running a series of guest posts from fairly prolific bloggers that are all centered on the question, "What would you do differently if you were to start blogging all over again?"

I am finding this series very informative and educational, as I am very new to the blogging scene. Go give it a glance through; you never know what tips you might come away with.

For Those Still in College

2006-07-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for an easy way to make money, my advice to you is to not get a music degree unless you really want to be a teacher or you are extraordinarily talented.

Cnn.com has posted some numbers on which majors will make you the most money right out of college. Give it a look if you have a chance.

Moving

2006-07-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

I will be moving geographically come the end of this month. I am pretty excited about it, as I will be moving to a much nicer place, and I will be paying a very reasonable amount for it.

I am starting to wonder about how much moving will cost, however. My grandfather has a truck, and I'm trying to get my dad and my brother to bring it down to help out; however, even if that will not cost monetarily, it's going to be very costly physically. When you consider that I will have a shows and/or rehearsals going on intermittently as well, I just hope that I don't get sick, because I really couldn't have that.

When you take into account that it's looking like I'll have to take at least a partial day off of work to get the job done, there will be some monetary issues. Ah well, at least I have flex time to use.

Does anybody have any tips for saving on moving?

A New Challenge

2006-07-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

Actively trying to save money is a new challenge for me.

When I was growing up, the only thing that my mom wanted me to pay for was summer camp. With my attitude being, "So, you want me to pay to go to a place where I don't know anyone when I can just stay at home and watch Nick Jr. for free? Yeah, I'll get right on that," I ended up just staying at home.

My girlfriend and I have talked many times about the various ways that we are considering training our eventual children about money.

One way that we think would be good for teenagers is to, once a quarter or so, give them a lump sum of money in exchange for various chores. We would have them then use a percentage of that money for rent (to make them get used to it), a percentage for charitable giving, a percentage for savings, and so on. The catch would understandably be that they wouldn't receive any more money until next quarter.

I like this idea because I think that it would have worked well for me. While my parents did teach me some things about money, I wish that they would have shown me more. One technique that my mother used, which I'm sure was well-intentioned, was to write on my savings account statements the words "Free Money!" next to the interest earned column. The problem was that as a child, the prospect of earning ten or fifteen cents for free was not nearly as enticing as having a new book or magazine. Further, I didn't understand savings because it seemed like I always had to put stuff in, but I couldn't ever take it out. What's up with that?

My problem up until this point is that I oftentimes still had the same mindset that I did as a child, and this is how I came to have this outrageous amount of debt. I would go into a store and think, "Well, I don't have enough in my checking account for that book, but I do have enough on my credit card. Why not? They say you can use credit for investments, and this is an investment for my mind!"

I'm doing a little bit better in this regard now, and the act of thinking up ways to train my eventual kids is a terrific exercise for me to figure out how to train myself so that I can eventually find freedom. Every day is a new opportunity to re-invent how I respond to money; let's hope that I keep re-inventing myself correctly in this new challenge.

Something Slightly Offensive

2006-07-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Here is something that I just saw here:

Besides providing security, NBA bodyguards have taken on additional roles in the wake of Kobe Bryant's sexual assault case.

According to a GQ story on NBA groupies, some players are asking friends or bodyguards to stand in and watch any bedroom activities that might take place on the road.That way, should an accusation surface, a witness can help sort out the truth.

For the players, writer Lisa DePaulo points out, this "isn't just kinky, it's smart business."

Wow. Call me old fashioned, but if you're that worried about besmirching your reputation and/or keeping your "hard-earned" money, you may just want to keep it in your pants. Call me a prude, but I can't believe that there are girls who are willing to have their "bedroom activities" watched by someone else.

I view this an an economic decision on the part of the players, and that just makes it worse. This is horrible, and I don't want to think about it anymore.

Talk About Bad Ideas

2006-07-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

An Italian electronics shop made the promise that if Italy won the World Cup, customers who purchased a television would get their money back. I'm sure this seemed like a good idea at the time as Italy was a pretty big underdog. Of course, we all know how that story ends.

Now, it's looking like it will cost the retailer over twelve million pounds.

I guess you can't blame them for trying, right?

Here's the link.

What Do You Do With Your Change?

2006-07-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

I have always had a habit of collecting my change. Generally I would just have a little cup, and when it got full, I would roll it and take it to the bank, much to displeasure of the tellers.

However, for the last several months, I have been saving all of my change in an empty water jug, like the kind you find on water coolers. I don't always have a lot of change, but it makes me happy to see that money grow little by little.

And what is my plan for that money? I want to use whatever I save to help on the honeymoon when my girlfriend and I get married.

Now, some of you, I'm sure, will say, why not roll it every once in a while, and stick it in a high interest savings account. While this isn't a bad idea, I like the fact that once I put it in the jar, it becomes a little less accessable to get out, and, because I know that, it's reasonably easy to just forget about the money.

Like a grown up piggy bank, I like that once I put the money inside I can just forget about it. Eventually I will have to deal with it for sure, but in the meantime, it's fun to watch it grow.

Wednesday Haiku

2006-07-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

Work work work work work,
It steals a part of my soul,
And I can't whistle.

FREE!

2006-07-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post it earlier, and for that I apologize, but for all of those people out there with sweet tooths, 7-11, in honor of the date, offers free 7.11 ounce slurpees. All you have to do is go in and ask for one.

The only drawback is that they might run out of cups, at which point the promotion ends.

Mmm...free simple sugar goodness.

Boomerang Generation?

2006-07-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

There is a new post in the Wikipedia which states that those of us born between 1981 and 1986 are being called the Boomerang Generation due to our proclivity towards moving home after we graduate from college.

As I'm sure many of us are feeling, this is due to the fact that the wages that we are being offered as a starting point for our careers are not large enough to pay off the debt that we have accumulated, in addition to a variety of other factors.

Penny Foolish posted about a similar topic today, except that hers was about a specific guest on Suze Orman's show.

If we are all as hard off as the article suggests, this begs many questions. How will we save for retirement if we are living paycheck to paycheck now? Without savings, will social security be enough? What changes can we affect in our lifestyles now to provide for our futures?

Unfortunately, if you're reading this, you likely have a personal finance blog of your own, which means that you are already thinking about these things, and you likely have a plan of your own. However, I would have to imagine that most of the population is without a plan, which will leave us, as a society, poorer and poorer.

I had heard that a lot of people in my age group move home after college. Heck, even a couple of my buddies from high school have done that; however, it is kind of sobering that people are starting to title our generation specifically in accordance to that aspect of our lifestyle. It makes me want to be a better person.

A Day Being Sick

2006-07-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

Does anybody else have problems coming back to work after taking a sick day? Even as I was lying at home in bed yesterday, I found myself refreshed with the amount of possibility that the world had again.

And now, as I take a little break from work to write this, I feel that I am once again thrown off of a boat with a millstone tied around my neck.

Oh well. Back to work. One day I'll find a better way.

Pay per Post

2006-07-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

There appears to be a lot of controversy around various personal finance sites about the new PayPerPost system. Many people consider it to be a very bad thing, even calling those who would do it sell-outs and spammers. Financial Freedumb and Make Love not Debt both express some strong opinions about the issue, and I'm sure many others do as well.

One of the big issues that seems to be a concern is that of credibility. If someone is paying you to write something, how can your reader truly discern your intentions in what you are writing about?

While this may be a valid concern if all of your reviews are very optimistic, from my understanding of the site, you are not necessarily supposed to give a positive review, you must just review the product, and leave that posted on your site for a specific amount of time. Therefore, one's credibility need not be called into question. If you like it, give it the thumbs up. If not, say it stinks. Either way, the writer is fulfilling his part of the bargain.

While on the topic of blogging for money, let me say this: one of the biggest ideas in our post-modern world is that things that are genuine and authentic are valuable. If one is blogging for money (directly, as opposed to Adsense or other ad income sources), one appears to be not writing for the sake of writing, but writing for the sake of getting paid. I don't really have an easy conclusion for this one, and this will be a difficult hurdle for bloggers to traverse should PayPerPost really take off.

One possible answer, though, is what if what you are getting paid to write about directly affects the content of your blog? For example, if I were to write an article about how to grow celery on this site, it wouldn't really fit, but if I were to write an article about how well or poorly HSBC Online Banking works, that would fit pretty well. If the topic goes with the theme of your site, shouldn't getting paid to write something that enhances your site's niche be a possible and even likely option? Why not get paid to write about what you would write about anyway?

Unfortunately, from what I've seen of the current opportunities on PayPerPost, they are too random to really be of value to me on this site. However, should that site take off and provide valuable topics for me to write about, that certainly would be a consideration.

I await your chastisement in the comments. :-)

Google Adsense

2006-07-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are signed up with the Google Adsense program, be of good cheer. I am here to report that I just received my first check.

I am sure some of you are thinking, "He just started this site a month ago, how did he get paid already?" The answer to that is simply that I have another blog that highlights a different area of my life that I have been working on since January. So, if you do the math, it actually took me five months to get up to the minimum payout, which some would argue is not the best economic choice to make money.

But these sites for me are not just about making money. They are about writing and learning and making friends. Any of these three are larger reasons for blogging than making money is.

I just wanted to encourage those of you who feel like getting paid from Adsense is far away that it really does happen if you are patient and tenacious enough.

For Those Who Have Gambled

2006-07-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

There's a new blog of the day on Blogger.com which is about a guy who has managed to get ninety-one grand in debt through gambling.

His posts are entertaining and provide insight into life through the eyes of a gambler. As I think of money that I have lost through gambling, I read through his analysis of the psychology of the gambler and realize how much of it has been true for myself at some point in the past.

Here is the link.

Haiku Day

2006-07-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Freedom is coming,
It washes over my soul,
And cleanses mistakes.

A Short Work Week

2006-07-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

I love it when we get days off during the week.

For example, this week, we had to work Monday, but it was announced part way through the day that we could leave at lunch time should our work load permit. We then had yesterday off entirely.

So, today, I've got work, and it felt like a Monday, until I realized that I only had two more days this week that I have to work.

And the fact that I get paid for it all is the greatest gift yet.

Ah. Like so many fast food patrons in the commercials, I'm lovin' it.

Now if only I could convince them to serve margaritas at work, that would completely perfect it. :-)

Chase Manhattan Corp

2006-07-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

Though I did get "Chased," I have just paid off what I assume will be the very last amount that I will have on that card for the foreseeable future.

Even though it was mostly a balance transfer that got me there, I am very excited that when I go online to look at my Chase credit card statement, it shows a big goose egg. It's always great to look and see that my debts are going down, but this zero means a lot.

I'll find freedom yet.

Jose, Can You See?

2006-06-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

The professional baseball team that I sang the National Anthem for has just picked up Jose Canseco for their team.

Whatever anybody thinks about the man, he was one of my favorite players when I was a little boy collecting baseball cards. So, if and when I get to sing for the team again, I hope that I'll be able to pick up an autograph.

In any case, what I found interesting about the article is that the league's maximum pay per player is $2500 a month. That is the MOST someone could get. As far as I can tell, they only play three months of the year, although I would imagine that they would probably practice at least a month before games start which I would also imagine that they get paid for. This would mean that for the other eight or nine months a year, these guys have regular jobs like the rest of us.

Sidenote: it seems like this league would really be the people's choice if they opted to market that. Like, "For three months, so and so is a baseball player, but during the school year he works as a teacher." I know I'd rather watch people who I could identify with versus high paid professional athletes.

But back to the money, twenty-five hundred bucks is a far cry from the millions Canseco was making at the height of his pro career. However, I suspect that he's not doing it for the money. I think he, like Rickey Henderson who played for this team last year, is just looking for an opportunity to get back into the majors.

And I wish him luck.

The Economics of Not Doing the Right Thing

2006-06-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

If you follow baseball at all, you have no doubt heard about Brett Myers and the Philadelphia Phillies. If you're not a baseball fan, I will give a brief synopsis of the situation.

Brett Myers was arrested last week for hitting his wife. Upon getting bailed out of jail, the Phillies allowed him to pitch his next game as he is probably the best pitcher that the team has. The team has received much scrutiny for their decision, and the team let Myers take a leave of absence.

I can only think that the reason that they let him play in the game is that professional sports is a huge business, and you make a lot more money if you do well. What they were apparently not thinking about was the fact that most people in this country don't like men who abuse their wives and don't like people who pretty obviously try to sweep a serious issue under the carpet in order to win a game.

I haven't heard about the fiscal impact for the team since they allowed him to play, but I will certainly keep my eyes open for the economic consequences. I can only imagine that ticket sales will suffer, but that is pure speculation.

Under 30 Honor Roll

2006-06-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

The Under 30 Honor Roll is a group of personal finance writers who are all, for the most, just starting out in their jobs or careers. It was organized by Kira over at Penny Foolish.

I have added a sidebar with links to all of the members so far. If you have a chance, give them a read; they all provide unique perspectives on the various money issues that they are dealing with.

Parking

2006-06-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

Normally, I get to drive into work with my girlfriend, which is terrific because we split the cost of the parking garage, and our employer subsidizes what we spend.

However, sometimes, due to different commitments in the evenings (rehearsals, etc.), we have to drive separately, and usually I will volunteer to just go find parking elsewhere. There are times when I can find free parking on the street, but generally, I am forced to park in a lot.

Tangent: Man, if I ever get a good deal of money together, I'd buy a parking lot. Talk about value versus amount of work done! Tangent end.

My Mecca of parking is the six dollar lot. I love it. Six dollars to park all day? That's really not that bad, especially if you only do it once or twice a month. Unfortunately, that lot (understandably) fills up rather quickly, leaving me to search out the Sodom and Gomorra of parking lots: the eight to twelve dollar lots.

Yikes! Just the sound of it feels like a shiv entering my back.

About the only plus sign to any of these lots is the fact that some will take card: credit or debit. It is awesome to not have to worry about having cash when you are furiously strung out on caffeine, hoping to get to work on time. On the minus side, it's really easy to forget, especially if you pay with card, that parking for one day cost you just about a half-hour's wages.

Ouch! Just kick me in the junk, too, and call me Susan, why don't you!

High I.Q.? Nope, Haiku!

2006-06-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the haiku for today, I wanted to link to what Dilbert's creator Scott Adams had to say about tipping today. Here is an exerpt:

"Yesterday I gave a speech at a hotel in San Francisco. Afterwards, the hotel valet was retrieving my car as I waited out front. I guarded my tiny carry-on sized bag against the two drooling doormen as their eyelids made cha-ching sounds. You could almost hear them thinking 'If I can touch his bag, he'll have to give me money.'"

The whole post is delightfully funny, as is most of what he has to say on his site, and it illustrates some of the confusion about tipping that we have in our society, especially for those of us who aren't super wealthy. It's obvious that we should tip waiters and waitresses, but what about the occasional bathroom attendant or hotel clerk in a fancy hotel? Do we tip them?

Actually, now that I'm writing this, I am reminded that the fellow who writes over at Waiter Rant re-posted an article from the Daily News about what amount is expected for tipping at various places of business. You can find that link here.

Also, Financial Freedumb posted a humorous article on how he hates tip jars, largely due to the fact that they are asking for a tip before the actual service is rendered. He then concludes the post with a pay-pal donation button. That's funny.

All right, let's get down to the poetry that describes something that went on in the last week that I know that you all are eagerly awaiting. Or at least I'll pretend that you are. :-)

Show me the money!
To solve the world's transgressions,
Foundation gets cash.

Cingular Wireless

2006-06-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

I, like most people nowadays, have and use a cell phone. It is in fact, my primary phone because I got frustrated with how poorly Cox treated me as a land-line customer. I signed originally with Cingular because it is the company that my family uses, and, as such, I get free cell calls to them at any time.

Still, even with those free calls, my phone bill is just about sixty-three bucks a month, which is not quite outrageous, but it still seems a little steep.

Does anybody have any advice on saving money with cell phones (other than just not having one)? Are the other companies (T-Mobil, Verizon, etc) any better at keeping prices down? Are they any special tricks or secret hand-shakes that would help me to get a better rate?

Any advice is helpful as I will likely be re-signing soon.

When?

2006-06-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

At what point does a job cease being a job and start being a career?

For a lucky few, a career is what you actually went to school for, and it is the place where your passion lies. For some, you get a job where you start making a little better money than you are used to, and you eventually get stuck there for thirty years. And I would even imagine that there are some who tell themselves that they just have a day job to support them while they get their careers on track, but who never manage to quit the day job and never manage to get their careers going.

I gotta tell you guys that the last two of those scare me quite a bit. Oftentimes I get caught up in the, "I've got to pay off the credit cards, I've got to eliminate my debt, I've got to make money" mindset, that I forget about what is truly important to me.

Oftentimes work feels like a circle of Dante's inferno: I work and work and work and feel that I never accomplish anything worthwhile.

It is not that I am averse to work, it is simply that (and I know that this is subjective and a very special after school special sentiment) I want to feel that I have accomplished something with my life.

As someone much smarter than I am said, "What good is it to gain the whole world, and lose your own soul?"

I will be outlining my plan to get myself on track in subsequent posts. There has to be a better way.

A Customer

2006-06-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

In order to not give too many specifics about what I do, let's just say that I create invoices for a service that my company provides.

Today, I got an email from one of my larger customers. This customer's invoices are generally in the neighborhood of eight or nine hundred thousand dollars.

The customer was writing me because I had made a mistake on their latest invoice.

When I received the email, I immediately went into kind of a shock. You know, it was like, "Oh No! They have found some huge, outrageous glaring error in my work! Surely heads will roll!"*

Would you like to know how much that invoice was off by? I'll tell you.

Six dollars.

Yep, you read that right. Not sixty or six hundred or six thousand, but six dollars.

I was amazed that she had even realized that a mistake had been made. I will correct the error, of course, but this got me to thinking.

What if we, as consumers, were as eagle-eyed in our credit card statements? Perhaps everyone else is, but most of the time I don't even note the interest rate. I just kind of check to make sure that the amount of the minimum payment is about the same as last month.

With as many people there are that use credit cards, I am sure that the companies must make the occasional mistake, and most of us probably don't even pay attention.

I, for one, am going to check the statements a little more closely next time around.

*All right, so my response wasn't that dramatic. Let's call it artistic liberty.

Something That Irks Me

2006-06-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Though I know that it shouldn't bother me, I hate how my pay schedule worked out this period. I got paid on Friday, and I will not get paid again until the seventh. Rent, however, is due on the first. This puts rent just about equally between pay checks.

For some reason, I always expect a pay check the day before, or a few days before rent is due. That way I can prioritize in my mind the rent money. However, and I don't expect this to happen, when pay day is a week away from rent day, I find it a lot easier to prioritize my money in other ways, thus leaving me up the proverbial creek when rent day comes a knockin'.

It's a silly thing to worry about, I know.

Also, has everybody heard the distinction between Fridays you get paid and Fridays that you don't get paid? If you get paid, that's Good Friday; if you don't get paid, it's Passover. That's funny.

Strong Bad Emails

2006-06-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you that do not frequent homstarrunner.com, let me just say that you are missing something very funny. This site features, among other things, the handsome character to the left answering emails from visitors to the site. His responses range from being humorous to hilarious.

In any case, he answered an email that had to do with credit cards, and so I thought that I would post the link here in an effort to make those of us with credit card woes smile a little bit.

Here is the link.

The Best Worst Financial Advice

2006-06-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

One thing that I learned when I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as money goes was that I really hated overdrafting. At $25 a pop, it gets old real fast.

However, I found that if I could plan ahead to know when I was going to have to overdraft, I could make a system that worked for me. It was kind of like financial planning for the destitute.

For example, instead of continuing to write checks or pay for things on the debit card with the $25 ding every time, I found that if I just made a substantial withdrawl from the ATM, I would just get charged the fee once as opposed to over and over. With my bank letting me overdraft up to five hundred dollars, I found that this worked pretty well. I would then wait for my next paycheck to get me back to the positive side.

Unfortunately, once you get in the cycle of overdrafting like that, it's very difficult to get out of that money hole. Even if you get five hundred bucks a week, like I was, that still just brings you back to zero, which means that you'll have to just continue overdrafting to survive.

Obviously it would be much better to just not go in the red at all. That's why I'm calling this the best worst financial advice. But if you are really stuck, this will save you some money.

Haiku Wednesday

2006-06-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

My sleep is haunted
For I purchased a meal
With my card last year.

The haiku today is about the nature of credit card debt. At least for me, I find it very easy to purchase something small on credit because my mind believes that, come bill time, it will be very easy to pay off.

Unfortunately, the roads to both hell and credit card debt (or maybe it's the same road) are paved with good intentions. Enough small purchases made equals hundreds or thousands of dollars that one can't possibly pay at month's end.

You add interest, and then you've got a sloppy bed of debt that you've made to lie in. Good luck waking up from that.

Credit Quotes

2006-06-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some quotes that I came across today about credit. Some of them made me smile, and I hope that they lighten your load a bit as well.

"Money isn't everything - there's credit cards, money orders, and travelers' checks."
-Anonymous

"Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother rather than all major credit cards."
-Robert Orben

"This is my ultimate fantasy: watching QVC with a credit card while making love and eating at the same time."
-Yasmine Bleeth

"Modern man drives a mortgaged car over a bond-financed highway on credit card gas."
-Earl Wilson

The Economics of Doing the Right Thing

2006-06-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned previously, I am currently working for a theatre company. The show is a very small one, and there are only seven of us in the cast, with two understudies.

Last night, the director harped on one of the actresses. He said, among a bunch of other less than kind statements, something about how he didn't understand her bitchiness. This largely caused the rest of the actors to just look at the floor in a kind of stunned silence, though any of us could have spoken up.

The actress spoken to later wanted to quit, and reasonably so. She thinks that she will just speak to the board of directors once the show is up and running, which is probably a good choice. I would advise her to speak with him about it, but she has already done so once, and it has obviously not created a positive outcome.

She and I and a couple of other cast members went out last night for drinks after rehearsal, and just kind of thought about what the director's deal was. Everyone had his or her opportunity to vent.

While I hope to not trivialize what has happened, my purpose in bringing this up here is that I am trying to look at it from a series of different perspectives in order to realize the most truth. Because of that, I thought that I would take a look at it from a purely economic perspective here. This may come across as heartless, but remember, it's only one of the ways that I'm looking at it.

I think that from an economic standpoint, the biggest thing going through my mind was, "How can I keep this from getting me in trouble." I know that that is selfish, and I hope that in the future I will react better, but last night, that was my gut reaction.

So, in purely economic terms, I was seeking immediate gratification. I at first thought that this would not cost me anything, which would have worked out well. However, it turns out that not doing what is right kinds of weighs on one's heart. It really doesn't feel too good that I didn't stand up for my friend.

However, what if I had spoken up, and things had gotten further out of control? What if we had both been fired? While it is a long shot, it certainly is a possibility. That would, obviously, leave one or both of us out of work, which would negatively affect us economically as we are getting paid for this show. Further, if we were fired, what effect would our absence then have on the theatre? How negatively would ticket sales react to losing two people two weeks before the show.

And what would become of my own relationship with the director? For some reason, he seems to like me more than most of the rest of the cast. From a personal economic standpoint, does it make sense to lose what I have worked to gain from him? And then to face the potential of facing his unkindness in the future?

Economically, at least from these couple of areas, it makes sense to stay silent, that is, if I can silence my conscience, which I am not sure that I can do. I'm not a very good utilitarian, it seems.

My conclusion: I hope that next time I will speak up. Though it might not make sense from an economist's standpoint, it is morally reprehensible to treat another human being like that.

Monday Afternoon

2006-06-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

So here we are on another Monday afternoon, and as I get up to take a look out at the view from the eighth floor, I can't help but think that there has to be a better way to make money and get by in this country. Or at least one that doesn't feel like it's killing me softly (with its song).

What makes my situation particularly bad is the fact that I understand better than anyone else the fact that because of my bills, I need to work here. There is no company that would pay me as well, especially considering my lack of experience in the matters that I work with.

The music degree seemed like a good idea at the time... :-)

I figured out though, that if I had twenty-four weekly voice students as opposed to the half of one I have now (she only comes every other week), I could make a comparable amount of money to what I am currently making.

So, if any of you know of twenty-four students who are looking for a voice or beginning piano teacher, let me know.

Until that glorious day, I must return to the crunching of numbers.

HSBC

2006-06-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

Because I am a sucker, I signed up with HSBC largely due to their Best Buy card promotion. I haven't received the gift card just yet, but when I do get it, I will likely be a new dvd closer to nirvana.

I would have gone with ING Direct due to their free money promotion, but with all of the credit card bills coming every month, I couldn't muster up the two hundred and fifty big ones necessary to qualify for it.

Oh well. Someday my prince will come...in the form of filthy lucre. And on that day, I will have an account with ING.

The Weekend Loometh

2006-06-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

On this Friday, as I cannot wait for five o'clock to come so that I can again find the bliss of some good old-fashioned rest, I am reminded again of my grandfather.

My grandfather is 83 years old, and he still owns, manages, and maintains a laundromat. He used to have three laundromats, but in the last couple of years he has sold one and he has had the other one annexed by the shopping center that it was in so that they property owner could lease the land to a huge discount grocery store. So now he has one, but that's not the point.

The point is that when I was younger (say ten to fifteen years ago), I wondered why my grandfather didn't retire. This was not because I thought that the man who taught me how to whistle was incapable of the tasks of operating his own businesses; rather, the idea of retirement was just one that various venues of entertainment had led me to believe that people over the age of sixty-five should have a right to do.

One day I asked him about retiring, and he good-naturedly answered with something along the lines of, "Why would I retire?" As I recall, he didn't really pose any more of a thought than that; he left it as a question that would force that chubby little kid (me) to think.

Oddly enough, it took me a while to figure it out.

As a child, one is idealistic. Any occupation that is not saving the world is not necessarily a bad job choice, but if you had to take a job that involved saving the world versus a job that didn't save the world, why not take the one that saves the world? And so, while I never thought poorly of my grandfather, I never understood why he would want to keep working.

That is, I never understood that until I realized this: saving the world starts at home, with yourself and your loved ones. While my grandfather may not be curing cancer or feeding the homeless (although his previous job was with NASA, which I think is pretty doggone cool), he was making sure that he and my grandmother had what they needed to live comfortably. Heck, he made enough to make sure his grandkids lived comfortably (we always received an obscene amount of Christmas presents from him and grandma).

My point? My grandfather has come to a point where he doesn't need to work to live; he is at a point where he lives to work. He doesn't retire because he enjoys providing for his family, as well as, I imagine, finding freedom in being able to maintain something that many people his age would never be able to do.

If we could all come to a place where what we do gave us so much happiness and fulfillment, I can only imagine how happy we'd be. Maybe we'd all take time to share our joy; maybe we'd all take the time to teach a child to whistle. In any case, we'd all certainly be better off.

What do you think?

Money Market Accounts

2006-06-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

Beancounterblog is in the process of publishing a series of investing options, and today they posted about money market accounts, as opposed to money market funds.

If you are just starting to get a grip on your financial life like I am, this series is extraordinarily valuable as it provides a good deal of in-depth information.

Salary.com

2006-06-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

While I appreciate this website trying to talk me up, there is no way that the median salaried income for an actor in San Diego is $48,965.

Or if there is, then I am not looking hard enough, because that would be a nine grand raise from my current cushy desk job.

Where, oh, where do you get these numbers, salary.com?

Freedom

2006-06-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

What I notice that I think is funny about a lot of personal finance bloggers is that everybody seems so motivated towards doing things, and I must admit, that I often am guilty of the same thing. However, upon some reflection, I think the biggest reason that my goal is to pay everything down, is not so that I can have more or do more, but so that I do less.

Essentially, I sold my freedom by making poor monetary decisions. I became money's slave. Because of this, I work a job that pays the bills but kills my passions and my dreams a little bit more each and every day.

Now it might be that on other days, I want too much, but today I just want enough. I want enough to get by and support myself and my loved ones. I want money not to be the end result of my work (as it is now) but a means wherewith to accomplish the things that I love to do.

I want my freedom back, and I know that this is the attitude of the spoiled brat: to desire without work. But I know that I will have to work at this, and I know that by the end of this journey I will appreciate every dollar more than I ever could have before. Like the released prisoner who gets his first breath of fresh air outside of the prison, I want to breathe freely again.

And I will.

Haiku Wednesdays

2006-06-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

I have decided to add a new feature to this site: I will be writing a new haiku every Wednesday that has something to do with personal finance.

For that one person sitting in the back of the room who doesn't know what a haiku is, it is a Japanese form of poetry that does not focus on rhyme, but rather on a specific number of syllables. The first line has five syllables, the second has seven syllables, and the third has five again.

When I first learned about these in grade school, the teacher had us write one for homework. Unfortunately, I thought that each line had to be just one word! I had a very difficult time coming up with five and seven letter words to make my poem out of.

Anyways, here is today's installment, which has to do with HSBC's decision to offer free gift cards to Best Buy as part of a sign-on bonus for new accounts.

Oh, HSBC,
You don't have to give money,
A gift card will do!

It seems to me that the average person would be more enticed by free cash, like they have done over at ING Direct, but perhaps they are making money hand over fist from Best Buy for the cross promotion. I'll have to keep an eye on this to see if people are signing up.

How I Got "Chased"

2006-06-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

The week before last, I transferred most of my debt from my Chase card to a separate card, and I reported that the Chase card was down to a zero balance.

However, I looked online a few days later, and I saw that I had a balance due. I was okay with this because I realized that I had left a little bit on the card and then there had been interest added to that card. So, again I paid it down to zero.

So, imagine my surprise when I check my account yesterday to see that I still owe $34.63 when I have already paid it down. I will have to check my statements, but I suspect that they are operating one of those sneaky two-cycle billing operations.

Cheeky buggers.

Texas Tea

2006-06-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

And in some good news for the day, oil has fallen below $69 a gallon.

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing some extra money at the gas pump.

Blockbuster Online

2006-06-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that Blockbuster Online is a particulatly economic way to entertain yourself. The least expensive plan is $9.99 a month plus tax. This plan only lets you have one movie at a time, but in addition to that, you get two free in-store rentals a month. With the two in-store rentals likely costing you seven or eight bucks, your net cost is still just two or three dollars a month.

In addition, I understand that they ship very quickly as well.

Now, some of you will argue that a book will provide better, long-term entertainment, and I would agree with you. However, if you buy books at anything like the rate that I have bought them at in the past, two or three bucks seems like a much cheaper way to go.

Others of you will argue that you would save ten bucks by not signing up with Blockbuster at all, and that is true as well. I spend a lot of time watching movies with my girlfriend, however, and so this plan sounds especially good to me, but it should be noted that you will only be saving money if you would have likely paid more for the same service anyway.

In addition, Blockbuster also has promotional codes that I found online. One of them is FRIENDS, which will supposedly get you your first month free. I don't know if it actually works, but I assume that it would. Why would the internet lie to me? :-)

A New Template

2006-06-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

I saw this template, and it caught my eye. It is simple, and yet, I think, very nice. If you want, let me know what you think of it.

Much thanks to Isnaini for providing quality free templates to the blogging world.

Saving Money at Disneyland

2006-06-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

This deal is probably only useful if you live in Southern California (and in fact, you can only utilize it if you live in certain zip codes), but I thought that I'd post about it anyway in the hope that it would be useful.

Costco is currently selling four Disneyland tickets for the price of $119, which is approximately a 50% savings off of even the Southern California discounted tickets at the gate.

The only real caveat to the issue, other than having to be a Costco member to purchase the tickets, is that the same person needs to use them for all four days. So, if you have say, a family of four, you will need to purchase four of these packages.

But, if you think that you will be going to Disneyland four times in the next several months, it is certainly a much cheaper way to do so than buying tickets at the front gate, or even buying a seasonal pass. In fact, an added plus to buying through Costco is that you will not have "black-out" dates where you can't get in with your seasonal pass for free.

The Perils of Saving Money on Clothing

2006-06-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

The author of The Daily Dump has written up a wonderfully funny post in which he describes the perils of trying to buy a new suit for a discounted price. Here is an excerpt:

"But now I am faced with back-to-back events, Saturday and Sunday, both of which will likely have many similar attendees. And I will be a lot of things in this life, but I refuse to be 'the guy who wears the same suit with a different tie to a gala the day after he wore the suit to a separate gala the day before.' Just like I refuse to be the guy who falls for his favorite hooker. It's tacky."

You can read the entire post here.

A Person the Credit Cards Would Love to Have as a Customer

2006-06-12T13:26:00.000-07:00

What follows is an excerpt from here:

"TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese man who robbed a post office returned more money than he stole and turned himself in after deciding to come clean for the sake of his girlfriend.
The 33-year-old stole 340,000 yen ($2,300) at knifepoint from a post office in western Tokyo in March. Ridden with guilt, he went back to the post office at the end of May and left 350,000 yen in an envelope on the counter before running off."

Let me first say that I am glad that he came clean. Once you start to disregard your conscience, it is very difficult to start up again. What is fascinating to me, however, is that fact that he chose to pay it back with interest. This is truly a repentant soul.

It occurs to me, however, that perhaps post offices shouldn't have so much easily stealable cash. If you're the post office, why do you even need that much green, or blue, or whatever color yen is? Or, at the very least, you could invest in a safe. Call me crazy (and be on the lookout for playing with words ahead), but in a sense, it doesn't make much sense to leave that many cents lying around.

Finally, it should be noted that he did it for his girlfriend. My first reaction was, "Aw! Isn't that sweet!" But as I thought about it more, I began to wonder about the whole story. Was it a "I love her so much that I can't bear for her to be in a relationship with a thief," kind of thing, or was it a "For crying out loud, I can't take any more nagging about stealing it. FINE! I'll take it back!" kind of thing?

Only time will tell.

Hidden Fees for Credit Cards

2006-06-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

Consumerism Commentary recently ran an excellent series of hidden ways that credit cards make money off of the consumer. If you are in a similar financial boat as I am in (i.e. a sinking one), I encourage you go over to that site and check them out, as they are stupidly easy ways to be forced to give the credit cards more money than you absolutely have to.

Discounts on Flying

2006-06-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

John Battelle has come across a website that has started tracking highs and lows for plane fares, so that we as consumers may know approximately when the cheapest time to fly is. The program is currently in its beta phase, but I anticipate that this program, upon completion, will be a valuable resource to anyone who flies regularly.

Last Night

2006-06-09T14:54:00.000-07:00

In an effort to speak about things that will hopefully have an impact on my career, I will write about what I did last night.

Was it illegal? Did it involve cloak and dagger? Was an Osborne involved?

The answer to all of the above is no.

As I have stated previously, I am planning on a career in the performing arts, either by singing or acting or some combination of the two. Unfortunately, the arts are not necessarily the best way to make money, especially for those of us just starting out. It is because of this that I currently have a solid job making solid money so that I can solidify my financial position (solidly :-) ). However, I believe that I took a step last night that will, if nothing else, look good on a resume.

I was able to sing the National Anthem at a professional baseball game.

Now, some of you will of course ask, "Did you get to sing for the San Diego Padres, who are arguably the best team in professional sports?" Sadly, the answer to that question would be no.

There are, apparently, other professional baseball leagues which are kind of on par with AAA (minor league) baseball teams. I got to sing for one of their games.

While this did not pay anything (other than free seats, which I'm sure a Mastercard commercial would call priceless), I am confident that having this on my resume will perhaps provide future work. I anticipate that it will go something like this:

Me: I sang the National Anthem at a kind of professional baseball game.
Prospective Employer: I would like to bear your children.
Me: Sir, I think that that's inappropriate.
Prospective Employer: You're fired!
Me: You never think about my feelings!

And then I'll have some kind of sexual harassment lawsuit that I can milk for millions of dollars so that I can continue to sing and act for free.

It's genius. Why didn't I think of that before?

But seriously, it was a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to when I get to do it again later this month.

June Update

2006-06-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here is an update on how it's coming with the credit card payments. After doing a balance transfer to a lower APR card, I am particularly pleased to see that Chase has a zero balance now.

Chase - $0 :-)
Orchard Bank - $25.44
PPBC - $740*
Discover - $900*
Providian - $900*
Citibank - $1500*
Aspire - $2033
Capital One - $2953
MBNA - $4224.43
B of A - $4400

Total: $17,675.87
Last Month's Total: $18,343.03
Percent Reduced By: 3.6%

That's not too bad for one month, I think. I'm pleased.

*These balances have not had the interest rate applied to them after payment yet, which is probably going to fudge up my figures down the line, and is something that I should wait for in the future, but I was just excited to see what I had paid down. What? I'm excited about paying it off!

GOALS!!!

2006-06-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

A fellow blogger has encouraged others to sit down and to think about what goals they have for their sites, and I took his challenge as an opportunity to consider how I'd like to shape this piece of how I see the world: my blog.

1) I would like to see my readership grow by ten percent a month. I will accomplish this through developing relationships with other bloggers as well as writing valuable content worth reading (that is part of the point, after all, right?)
2) I would like to see my Adsense revenue grow by twenty percent a month, which should be relatively easy to achieve, especially as I am making so little at it right now :-). I will accomplish this by sticking to primarily the same subject so that the ads will be what the readers are looking for.
3) I would like to develop as a writer, and while this is a much more subjective, and therefore immeasurable, goal, I am already seeing improvements.

Those are my top three. While there are certainly more, I will be spending the most time in the coming days to see these ones through.

While writing this, it occurs to me that writing takes an act of ego in that, by writing, you assume that what you have written ought to be read. Hopefully with the development of number 3, this will increasingly be the case with this site.

Carpooling Saves Money,

2006-06-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

But it runs the risk of being a pain in the butt.

I am fortunate. My girlfriend and I work in the same office building, and so we alternate cars by either the day or by weeks, and so, between us, we tend to only have to purchase a tank of gas per car every other week, which is especially nice with Southern California gas prices being as high as they are.

Also, our company provides a discount to a parking garage. The girlfriend and I alternate months on paying that, and so it's only about thirty-seven or thirty-eight bucks a month for parking.

All in all, it's a pretty sweet deal. But I wonder how well it would work for people who don't work at the same place. It seems like it would be a huge pain in the behind to try to work out schedules. It's pretty great for me, but I wonder how it is for other people.

Do any people reading this carpool? If so, how does it work out for you?