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!