BA

It's Apple's latest gizmo. It's like an ultraportable laptop, minus the physical keyboard.



Why am I considering one?
They have a 3G model coming out that you can subscribe to AT&T's 3G internet. The cost is $15 a month for up to 200 mbs of download, or $30 a month for unlimited download.

How is that financially-beneficial?
I'm currently paying $50 a month for broadband, and it's only available at home. The 3G gives me internet access anywhere, on a portable device, all the while saving me as much as $35 a month on my internet bill.

Of course, to make it financially worthwhile means that I would have to cut off my regular broadband internet, and yes, that's what I'm considering.

* I've already cut off my cable TV in favor of Redbox and the internet.

* I've already cut off landline phone in favor of a cheap cellphone.

* And now, I'm thinking maybe I can cut off normal broadband internet as well, in favor of mobile broadband for as little as $15 a month.

Is there a better deal out there?
Not that I am aware of. Even if I cut down my regular internet speed, it's still hard to compete with $15 a month for 3G.

Dial-ups may be only $10 a month dial-up connection, it requires that I have a landline, which would be an extra $28 a month. That's basically the same price as the 3G I am considering now, except it's portable and with a faster speed.

What about other 3G services? Most of them are for smartphones (for now), and not only do they require signing a contract, but the same 3G service costs $50 to $60 a month, and that's not including another $30 a month for the voice plan that I don't need.

Any downside risks to this plan?
Yes. First and foremost, the upfront cost for this thing is $600, but it's really more like $800 if you throw in the needed accessories and software to make this a primary computing machine. That's not exactly cheap....

Also, the iPad isn't a full-blown PC, and its functionality would be limited. I've considered that, but given my everyday computing habits, I don't think this is going to be a huge problem. Also, I will still have access to a desktop PC. It just won't have internet access.

Also, the 3G rate plan may change somewhere down the road. On the other hand, the price may lower even more, or it may not change at all. I don't know. I would think that as 4G/WiMax services start to displace the current 3G network, it should get cheaper and cheaper, but only time will tell for sure.

Last but not least, the 3G signal could become slow and unreliable at times. However, I think reception is typically a local issue, and the people I know around me who has iPhones and AT&T 3G don't seem to have too many problems with their reception. Admittedly, that's still no guarantee that I would not have reception problems.

Anyways....
So, that's what I'm thinking of doing right now. Do you see any flaws in the plan, or do you think this is a viable option?

So, remember me mentioning the local Boglehead gathering, and the local university professor? He just sent our mailing group a link to someone who cited one of the papers that he and a grad student did recently.

DFA vs. Vanguard - Which is better?

Kind of high brow stuff. DFA is well-regarded and often-mentioned in the Boglehead forums, although I never learned the details of it. Essentially though, this just shows how index funds in general are still quite competitive out there. Best of all, you don't have to be an Economics professor to invest as well as they do.

My fellow co-workers are talking about the lottery again. I think one of them plays it on a regular basis, like maybe $30 a month. But the part that got me kind of worried is that he was trying to talk another co-worker into playing the lottery.

I wanted to say, "No, that's a bad idea. Save your money instead." But, since they're all good friends, and since I'm on good terms with all of them, I decided to just keep my mouth shut.

The funny part is they then joked that I should be playing the lottery instead of trading stocks. Trade my favored poison for another? Nah. But they're right in a way. I too gamble in my own way. Even though my way still retains some semblance of equity and most pay dividend, whereas the lottery is typically just a straight loss.

The biggest difference though, is I emphasize the risk involved in stock trading, whereas they emphasize the benefits involved in playing the lottery. Still, in the end, I guess we're all gamblers of sorts.

No, I didn't win the lottery. I can't because I don't play the lottery. However, I did watch a show called "Lottery changed my life" on TLC about lottery winners.

The episode I watched showed a variety of winners. Some went hog wild, while others only upgraded their life somewhat. Some sped up their lives with business investments, while others slowed down and traveled. Some lost it all, ending only with misery and memories, while others continued on with happier lives and some even with a greater sense of purpose.

Between the shows were a bunch of factoids. The one that really stuck out to me was that only 33% lost all of their winnings after five years! I thought it was much, much higher than that. But the factoid was in a vaccuum though. Perhaps more lost earlier? Or perhaps these were all post-recession winners, and were less willing to squander it? I don't know.

Another thing that stuck out in my mind was how they only talked about how they spent the winnings, and how the money has impacted their lives. I was hoping they would also talk about how they MANAGED that money. Surely, they didn't all just stick it in their local checking account.

Oh well, I guess that's not something every viewer is interested in knowing? So, does anybody know? I have to get going right now, but I'd love to look more into this later. Not that this is anything I'll have to worry about anytime soon, but it's still morbid curiosity.

So, fellow readers. Let's say you just won the lottery. Say, $20 million dollar jackpot (after taxes). Whatever. What would you spend it on? More importantly, how would you manage that amount?

There is a small, local chapter of Bogleheads that formed not too long ago. I always thought that perhaps I should check it out one of these days, but my schedule never seems to quite work out.

That is until today.

Although I've been told that there are many more members than this, today's group consisted of only 5 guys, including myself. I don't mind the size though, because the conversation was very interesting to say the least.

For example, we met at one of the chapter head's house, who turned out to be the economics professor of a nearby state university. He was writing a paper on Islamic investing, and decided to share some of that finding with us.

He didn't go into the more esoteric details, but he did say that, due to cultural/religious differences, the Islamic funds had to make sure that they were not investing into highly leveraged companies. The result was a list of companies that were either net cash positive, or at least carried very little debt. He then ran some backtesting on these companies and found that they are high quality companies that, at least in the short-term, out-performed the market.

Let me just say that it's very interesting to hear one of the head of the local Boglehead chapters talking about out-performing the market. But some of the screening parameters isn't too much different from what someone like Warren Buffett would use for himself.

Another guy did an in-depth analysis about all the stuff that's involved in basically becoming a landlord. Although I have a copy of his spreadsheet, I honestly can't tell you what I'm looking at except that this is perhaps the most sophisticated analysis of what is involved in physical real estate investing. It's way beyond what's normally found on the internet.

However, his basic conclusion is that, when it's all said and done, your Rate of Return in net worth, between 5 to 20 years, is about 6.3% to 6.7% per year. So, the question to ask ourself is whether this RoR is worth the time and effort involved. Some people may enjoy the process and say yes. Some may say no.

Yet another guy came up with a custom spreadsheet that automatically downloads and updates all your funds, crunches all the numbers for you, and spits out a color-coordinated % relative to your asset allocation. So, if your asset allocation is fine, it's green. If it's around 3% off, it comes back yellow, and if it's 5% or more, it comes back red.

In other words, he wants to actively rebalance his portfolio on his own, but doing that meant having to constantly crunch the same set of numbers over and over again. His spreadsheet does all that for him and he only needs to look at which funds are in yellow and red to figure out what he needs to do.

There were a lot of other stuff that I thought was very interesting, but those were the major highlights.

Normally, spending a few hours with a bunch of guys on a Saturday that doesn't involve laser tag doesn't seem like my idea of fun, but I have to say, I was thoroughly engaged. I came back home with a lot more resources to read and look into.

In fact, I liked it so much that I just might come back again!

Stock market talk.

At the risk of jinxing myself, I bought some Google stocks today. I know their earnings report was a bit disappointing, but I don't think it should have gone down to more than 7%. Sure, the whole market today was feeling down from the SEC civil charges against Goldman, but 7%? Come on, that's just cruel and unusual punishment. And what does Google have anything to do with subprime derivatives anyway?

In fact, next week is suppose to be tech earnings week, and the tech sector is looking pretty bullish these days. I suspect that Google may get some sector rebound in light of hopefully positive news, even if it's from rivals.

Either that or I can just keep hanging on to it. For a tech stock, it's a pretty good one. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Warning: Adult erotica ahead.

I had to think long and hard *rimshot* about whether to share this one or not, but like a bizarre car accident, I decided that I simply had to.

So anyways, the world is a er... varied and fascinating place out there. Yep. I guess that's one way of putting it. I live... in a varied and fascinating world... where some people can apparently make $300 an hour to $1200... being a

male stripper clown. $300 per hour. Stripping. As a clown. That's the world I live in.

What is wrong with this picture?

This isn't financially-related, but it would seem a few of our fellow bloggers are going through divorce, and reading them reminded me of mine.

I think I've said thank you before, but I don't know if you guys realize how much it has really meant to me that you were here for me to um blog to.

So, even if this is only virtual, I just say thank you THANK YOU again for being there with your compassion and patience, helping me through one of the darkest times of my life, and all the while, showing me how to get a grip on my finances.

In my best intentions to be helpful, and at the risk of it backfiring , I just want to say that divorce isn't the end of your life, only the end of a chapter. There are some things that you are probably going to miss, but there is a lot more out there you'll probably love, just waiting to be discovered. A new chapter of your life, filled with even bigger and better things, awaits you. Just give some time.

In the meantime, please feel free to vent over the blogs. I know I sure have done my embarrassingly large share of it. I am fortunate have found a caring community such as this one, and even if I am a bumbling guy, I'll try to return the favor and be supportive.

Yep, sorry to say that these aren't very interesting, but I'll elaborate on that in a bit.

* Our workplace gave us a $10 Wal-mart gift card for having a no-accident quarter. Sweet. I wonder what I need that I can get from Wal-mart?

* My taxes still aren't done. The IRS sent back paperwork saying that I wrote my signature wrong. Doh! The only thing I could think of is that I didn't sign my middle initial. Does that even matter? Anyways, I've sent it back with my full signature, including middle initial. This is not turning out to be a good first-time experience with itemized deductions.

* I just got back from lunch at a buffet where I sat next to a pretty vocal group of men talking the whole time about investing. Now, some of the worst financial conversations I've ever heard are from settings like this. So, I expected no different here, and figured if nothing else, it's good fodder for a blog entry.

Unfortunately, I left disappointed.

They talked about being patient and thinking long-term. They talked about diversification. They talked about minimizing fund fees. I had to hide my smile because I didn't want them to realize I was eavesdropping.

There were some things that I did not entirely agree with though. For example, I'm not entirely certain it's worth trying to shop around for more "skilled" fund managers. They also talked about how diversification can blunt returns. While it is possible to over-diversify, the idea of diversification in the first place isn't so much to blunt your gains as it is to minimize your losses. Basically, don't put all of your eggs in one basket.

Overall though, I was quite impressed. This was, by far, the best restaurant financial talk I've ever heard. Which is unfortunate, because it doesn't make for a very interesting entry.

I caught flak elsewhere because I commented that if the price of crude oil is going to go up, I hope it at least reaches $100 per barrel or more before it drops again. And man, people just jumped down my throat!

Granted, my choice of words there are rather poor. I also understand where they are coming from. High prices per barrel translates to all of us paying more at the pump. I've already noticed that I am paying more at the pump too. Have you?

Ah, but that's just it. They don't seem have to noticed that I TOO pay more at the pump.

And no, I do NOT control the price of crude oil, so please don't blame me like it's my fault simply because I'm bullish on oil.

Also, what anyone thinks the price of oil SHOULD be is completely irrelevant. It's going to be whatever it is, and getting upset because it doesn't fit your ideal number of $30 per barrel won't change anything!

Besides, has it occurred to anyone that an artificially low gas price actually INCREASES our dependence on foreign oil? Many other countries pay much more, but that's why they are also much more fuel efficient; because it's economically viable to do so. If you truly want to ween off of foreign oil dependence, YES, you DO want higher gas prices. Because, that's what it will take to make pursuing alternative fuels economically feasible.

Finally, did they even notice why I'm bullish in the first place? Because I am optimistic about the economy recovering? No, I guess that's an inconvenient truth.

So yes, if you have a "conscientious" objection, feel free to NOT trade oil stocks. But please don't go to a stock trading site and tell ME what I can or can not trade!

I know that our perception of the world is often times a true reflection of our own selves, not others, but man, some people are just so incredibly dumb! How in the world they come up with certain "correlations" make no earthly sense to me. How in the world do they manage to live with themselves with such grandiose self-delusions, I have no idea.

Anyways, thanks for letting me vent.

A short cautionary tale with a sad ending.

Among other things, it shows that even having money is not enough to find happiness in life. I believe one also have to have the financial aptitude to manage it wisely.

Quite a shame. He didn't sound like a bad guy.

I suppose I'm not an easy person to be friends with.

However, as a person who has worked hard and made much personal sacrifice in order to get out of debt and make some kind of financial progress, I get kind of sensitive when people talk about how they think I should spend my money on them.

They don't want to be fiscally responsible. They don't want to hear any ideas about saving money. They just gotta have what they want, right then and there, even if it means going into serious debt. Fine.

But when you are finally into serious debt, and you don't want to find even a part-time job to alleviate your debts, please don't look at me like I'm a meal ticket. And no, even if it didn't involved my money, I still don't think your business idea is that great to begin with.

Did I mention the part where I've made much personal sacrifice to get to where I am? I don't think I can emphasize this part enough. And even then, it's not like I'm rolling in it. Far from it.

I guess I'm just venting. In the end, we all live our own lives, and I should make my feelings clearer. Anybody else have similar problems like this?

Anybody still haven't gotten their tax returns yet? I haven't. I typically do 1040s with standard deductions. My financial situation is just that simple most of the time.... But this year, I decided to itemize my deductions, and as a result, I've had to mail in some paperwork to prove my deductions.

Or least that's what Turbotax said, and so, I followed their instructions to mail in my federal filings.

I've also tried to check on the update status on the IRS website, but that doesn't appear to work for me. I don't know if it's because I went through Turbotax or what, but does anyone know what may be going on? Any other way to tell if the IRS even received my packet? Since this is my first year that I mailed in my itemized deductions, how do I know if it's approved or not? Anything else I should know or do differently next time?

Because they use the metric system?

* Received my electric bill. Because of my previous mishap of over-paying, I am still running at a 2-month surplus right now....

By the way, is my average of $33 a month normal (for one person)? I can't tell. What's your average electric bill?

* Finally got my Perkstreet bonus money! Glad it came through, and the reward points are rolling in too. Everything seems to be in working order, so I'm going to step up my usage.

* Updated my net worth, and it seemed surprisingly high. Then I realized that's because I was suffering last month on the stock market, and this month simply caught it back up. Oh well.

* Still feverishly trying to save money while battling shiny temptations.

it pours. My third post for the day.

While raising rabbits isn't a practical option for me right now, it nevertheless got me wondering about all sorts of self-sustaining, money-saving, and ecologically-friendly ideas that I can implement while I'm at it. Ideas ranging anywhere from what kind of herbs or vegetables I can grow using rabbit pellets as fertilizer, all the way to rabbit hutch designs.

The latter is what lead me to this post here, because I think it could mate very well with another idea that I've been hoping to get my hands on some day: Collecting rainwater.

I think the benefits of collecting your own rain water is pretty self-explanatory right? Unfortunately, it's not without its practical challenges.

Current implementations generally center around rigging up a large drum to your house's drainage gutters. Sure, that'll work, but you also have to constantly get up to the roof to clear the drainage. That and you may have to make a lot of ugly changes to the side of your house to get the drainage pipe set right. After that, it's another task just to get the rain water out from the drum and into use.

No no no. There has to be a better way. How about... building a rain water collection system on top of a rabbit hutch? Think I'm crazy? You should know the answer to that by now. But seriously, take a look at this example hutch:



Now, I don't have to build one as beautiful as this, but notice how it's got an angled roof? If I make a hutch that's bigger (so the rabbits will have plenty of room to stretch their legs), and just high enough (with PVC shielding so rats can't get up there), why can't that also be a viable rain water collection system built on top of such a roof?

Moreover, it would solve the risks/hassles related to cleaning the drainage since you don't need to climb way up high anywhere.

Finally, if the hutch is placed correctly, it should also allow the water to naturally flow down and irrigate into a garden somehow, and not just a storage tank.

I think it can be done, and done in a cost-effective manner at that. What do you think?

This is only a THOUGHT experiment, because right now, this simply isn't an option for me to consider.

Just the same, if you dig deep enough, frugality can be a strange and twisted path down the rabbit hole sometimes. What do I mean exactly? Raising your own rabbits for meat. DUM DUM DUM!



Raising rabbits for meat does make logical sense though. They're relatively easy to domesticate and raise. The meat is very cheap, even if you factor in the relatively low start-up costs for this sort of thing. I can be sure of the quality of the meat since I am raising them myself. And last but certainly not least, I can ensure that these animals live a "good life", and die painlessly by my own hands. Lots of good reasons.

Being a Surbanite though, you can also imagine why something like this isn't an option for me right now. I mean, can you imagine the Homeowner's Association finding out about what I'm doing in the middle of my aunt's back yard? Man, they'd have a cow! *rimshot* Thank you.

Maybe this is something I will look into again when the kids are much older and I live somewhere where this is perhaps an option. I don't know. What do you guys think about this hare-raising scheme?

They keep chucking those freebie local newspapers into the driveway. That's like the one freebie I actually don't want!

I managed to find an email to the newspaper that supposedly stops the delivery, but I don't know if it will actually work. They hire these people who are probably paid minimum wage to throw these things into a neighborhood at like 4am in the morning, and in the dark of the night, so I have my doubts that they will actually stop, check over a list and say, "Oh yeah, BA's residence just sent an email saying that they don't want any more deliveries."

Or maybe I'm wrong. Any of you have had success in getting a newspaper to stop delivering those things? Or am I making a mistake by telling them to stop because these are actually good freebies?

I don't know why, but I've never cut my own hair before. For a guy who is supposedly frugal and has no taste er I mean personal fashion preference, I've just always gone to a barber. What I would do, though is to wait forever until I went to one.

Well, with weather warming up and co-workers and friends alike joking that I'm trying to grow a hippy ponytail, I figure it was about time that I give it a try.

Now, if I was smart, I'd post first and solicit some advice from you guys before I start. I'm sure there is plenty of experience here to tap. However, I am not that smart so I just dove right in.

I didn't know what I was doing, so I just picked... you know those hair clipper plastic guard thingies #5 to start out. I knew at least that I would tell a barber to use "clipper #2", and they seem to know what I had meant even if I didn't. So, I figure #5 is at least a safe choice to try first.

Well, I have some good news! I didn't cut myself and bleed! Yay! The bad news is that, even after a hour of experimenting with hand positions and trying to get those darn little strands here and there, I still have no idea if my back looks fine. For all I know, I look like a serial killer who got his hair cut back by an equally unsavory convict back at the big house. I'm probably going to go buy a mirror later tonight.

You know, my oldest son already cuts his own hair like this, and I have to say that I'm mighty impressed with his result. However, I'm also pretty sure he used only one clipper guard, whereas I tried to blend two of them. Blending seems a lot more difficult than it first appears. Maybe I should have started out with only one as well.

Again, I don't know why I never thought of doing this myself, but at least I'm trying. If you guys have any helpful advice, anything at all, I would greatly appreciate it.

Edit: Good news! I just got compliments at work about the hair. One guy even jokingly said, "I would've cut your hair for free!"

Just ran across something that I thought some of you may find interesting.

Actually, I didn't even know it was today until... today. However, I am also wearing the best kind of green I can have. The one where my investment balances are showing green!

The last several days have been rather good at the market. Lots of factors played a role, but overall, the market is growing in confidence over signs of a fundamental economic recovery. Well, I don't know if that's true or not, but that's the market sentiment anyway.

On a separate note, because I was clueless about St. Patrick, I decided to read some about it online. Did you know that he was kidnapped and sold as a slave when he was a teenager? I did not know that. He eventually went back to Ireland (where he was sold as a slave) to try to convert the masses there as a Bishop.

Also, the significance of the green Clover was his way of explaining the concept of the Holy Trinity to the local populace. It must have been quite effective, but I wonder why the four-leaf clover is considered lucky? Since the Holy Trinity is three, not four. Or maybe that's a later invention? Does anyone know?

Anyways, have a happy St. Patty's day everyone.

My oldest son finally has a job now. Yep, his very first job. They grow up so quick!

And what does he do for his first job? Being the Easter Bunny at the local mall! Hilarious!

According to him, the job is harder than it first sounds, which is just to sit in a chair for 2 to 4 hours, holding kids for pictures. For one thing, the costume is heavy and causes shoulder strain even after only a couple of hours. Also, he can't see very well, so he actually needs the parents' help to get the child seated in his lap properly. And of course, there are the occasional screaming children. It's also a little bit hard to breathe and they're constantly sweating in that thing. What's more, you can't talk, and he's a chatty person, so he found that difficult. And finally, an Easter Bunny got attacked and beaten up by some punks a few years ago, so they have to take security measures to stay safe.

The pay isn't great either, but it's still pretty good for a teenager's first paycheck. It's also seasonal, so the job will only last about a month.

Still, I think it's a great learning experience about the value of working for your money. It used to bother me that, like most teenagers I guess, he couldn't understand the why money is such a big deal. He looked at it as a reason why society is so misguided. But now that he's not being babied on certain expenses and now that he's had a taste of working, hopefully, he'll learn to appreciate the hard-earned dollar sooner rather than later.

I think I've done this before, but just out of fun/boredom/curiosity, I decided to do it again. Below is my current budget, in percentages, and in a spiffy pie chart thanks to

Create-A-Graph:



The chart only illustrates a "working budget" that I personally attend to based off of my take-home pay. In other words, it's not based on gross pay, and it does not include stuff like 401(k), taxes, Medicaid/Medicare, or anything else that is automated before take-home pay.

Also, I'm using budgeted numbers, not "real" numbers. In other words, I budget slightly more money than I typically end up using. But whatever.

When things are in percentages, it always seems kind of surprising just how "small" some expenses seem to be, because I tell you, they seem pretty massive to me when I am pulling money out to pay for it.

Another thing I should note is that while my savings rate seems high, please remember that I am expecting to lose my job in the near future. That and it's actually not that massive in actual dollars I don't think. But I'm doing what I can I suppose.

All-in-all, I'm just coasting right now, but I don't think that's a bad thing? It's moving forward, and I just need to keep going forward.

I've been thinking about this dear friend of mine, and wondering why he wants me to buy an iPhone with him.

Sales pitch and gadget lust aside, what he is proposing basically boils down to being locked into a 2 year contract for at least $75 a month, just to play a game or two that I can't play anyways when I'm at work, and at home, I already have a competent PC.

It's really hard for me to say no to such a good friend, but I definitely had to say no to that one. The cost is exorbitant and I just can't see how this would work out for us, much less for myself.

The iPhone itself isn't what's interesting though. To me, it's the thought process behind it. It always seems like he's chasing after the latest and greatest gadgets. Alas, reality never seems to quite meet expectation, so once it settles in, he either gets bored or disappointed, and moves on to the Next Great Thing.

It's strange. I don't understand that kind of mindset. Mind you, I'm a gadget geek who just blogged about a gadget in my last entry. And yet, I kid you not, he's already gone through four smartphones within only a year I think.

And his response to me declining a joint iPhone purchase? Equally perplexing. He eventually accepted my decision and said, "Oh well, it's just not meant to be right now." Not meant to be? Like it's something that fate has yet to transcribe into the astral tome of destiny or something? I don't understand that either. To me, the basic cost versus benefit just doesn't add up. That's all.

I mean, I'm not trying to give my friend a hard time or anything. It's just that the way he looks at things is very alien to me... and fascinating at the same time. I just don't get how his thought process works.

Anybody have any insights on this?

This... doesn't have anything to do with frugality unfortunately. Or maybe it sort of does. I'll let you be the judge.

As you guys may or may not know, I love technology. Always have. What makes it interesting though, is that I am also a born-again fruggie. That means there's usually an interesting inner-conflict between my nerdy, gadget side and my sensible, watch the bottom line side.

Most of the time, I do not give into temptation, especially when the technology doesn't seem to justify the cost or doesn't meet my needs.

But there is a fine line in there when I will occasionally indulge in it. That fine line is when something comes along that transcends its base technology, captures the imagination, and brings a whole new level of experience to my digital life.

I think many felt that way with their first iPod, yes? Or how about the humble blog? Would many of you say that the SA blog community has been at least somewhat transformative in your digital life?

Recently, I saw something new that I felt the same way again. This time, it's a rumored device called the Microsoft Courier. It's Microsoft's take on the digital journal. Words are not adequate to describe what it's capable of, so instead, I recommend

clicking this link and watching at least one of the videos in the middle of that page.

I could probably go on and on gushing about a device like this, but I would get way too long-winded. Also, I'm not saying I'm actually going to buy this this. Right now, I don't even know if it will see the light of day. I'm just saying that it's great to see something so innovative and refreshing in a gadget landscape full of me-toos and cheap knock-offs.

Hi, sorry I haven't been around! I'm still around, but just not really here around.

Well, I'm just going to be honest here. Ahem. I'm addicted to a space ship game called Eve Online. Yeeeeah, spending every waking moment with it.

The bad news is that it costs $15 a month to play. The good news is that the annual subscription can knock it down to more like $12 a month... and well, I don't think it's too costly since that is all I spend on personal luxuries. I've even canceled Netflix, which was $10 a month for me.

That said, I really doubt anyone here is interested in such a game, although if you are, let me know.

You know what what else I currently play though? Actually, my little girl is the one that loves to play it. She loves playing Farmville and all those similar farming games over Facebook, but I like it too. Not only is it visually pretty (to me), but it's also light and relaxing. Best of all, it's free!

Anybody else hooked on Farmville or similar games on Facebook?

I came across

this picture, and immediately sighed, "Wowwww." I'll bet it's even prettier when the sun is setting and the candles are lit. It does need more drapes though.

I just want to work and save so that I can have something like that some day.

Well, I'm happy to report that my efforts to lower the gas bill is finally reaping some rewards. My latest gas bill just came in at around $67, which is comparable to the days when I was sleeping in the closet. Except now, I don't have to. So, it's kind of like progress or something.... Yay.

is tomorrow morning between 6am to 2pm. Now, the only way I'm going cash in on this is if I wake up early at 6am, before I get to work. However, it seems like a lot of commitment to get up that early, even if it is (mostly) free food. For example, it means I really have to wake up around 5:30am, and then drive out of my way to get there and then back to work.

I don't know.... Still thinking about it.

How about you guys? Got a Denny's around you? Thinking about trying this out?

Stock market talk.

Sorry, don't know how to spin this one into a soap opera. Feels more like a street mugging to me.

Toyota still make good cars. No question about it. However, this pedal issue is getting spun out of control. *rimshot*

Yes, it's a serious safety hazard. However, the problem is temporary and fixable. They need to fix it, and they're already on it. But until then, the stock took a solid hit right in the gut, especially after comments from the US Transportation Secretary. Pow!

You know what that means? Pullback is buy!

If I was a bit more attentive, I should've bought today, but if it's still floundering by tomorrow, I'm going to clear some cash and get me a piece of this.

I don't know why I'm mentioning this, but I just had one of the best dreams for as long as I can remember.

It was a bright, sunny day, and there were lots of trees and flowers around. I found a large cave complex that was completely suitable to house my entire family. It even had a small waterfall nearby. The whole experience was very calming. I think I was actually... happy!

Of course, then I woke up. I woke up around 4am I think. I wasn't at all upset. Rather, the first thing my conscious thought turned to was, "Ok, but now we need to figure out a way to weather proof the area, figure out a water and rain collection system, as well as a food scouting details, and a fire pit for warmth and cooking. Oh, and we also need to worry about predators such as wolves, bears, and most importantly, the Park Rangers."

Then I thought, "What am I doing? It's just a dream. But... I wonder why I had that dream, and why is it so calming to me?" Shifting in bed, I thought some more, "Hmm. Although I am very, very grateful to be able to live where I am, psychologically, I feel very displaced because I know this isn't my home. Maybe that's why I'm having this dream. A dream about finally finding a place of my own. A place that I can one day stretch out my legs and finally relax."

Wide awake now, I thought to myself, "Of course, all this will require money. Money to afford my own home." Which goes all the way back to why I am so money-driven to begin with. Not so much because I am greedy for money, but just, among other things, I yearn for a place I can finally call home.