If you could ask a World Class Triathlete One Question....

Okay...i'm finally doing this:What is your number one concern with Triathlon training? What would you ask a top Kona finisher if you had the chance to have a one-on-one with him/her?I'm trying to compile a list of top questions from beginner Triathletes like us, so I put together a one question survey. I'm interested in doing a series of interviews with World Class Triathletes/Ironman/Ultraman Finishers and sharing them in the coming months.But since I don't have a blog yet, all I have is a simple but 100% ad free(at least) submit form:

http://www.askdatabase.com/campaigns/?af=39984

Tip: No need to include any personal information whatsoever. The name and e-mail form are NOT necessary.

I'm really excited about your input, guys!I can't wait to get these questions answered by some top triathletes.

P.S. If you do choose to submit your e-mail, i'll keep you updated as I get them. And if there's enough interest, i'll keep everybody updated on the forum anyway.

 

Odd swim training advice question....

So... I've been working on my swim stroke over the past couple of months, concentrating largely on improving my body position in the water and my "catch". I've made some very good swimming progress. I hadn't swum in my wetsuit since last season. I just got a new wetsuit, and took it for a swim in the pool last week to try it out. I did a couple of warm-up laps, and then did a couple of 200's in the wetsuit. WOW! I was FLYING (for me anyway) - 200's in under 3:15! One thing I noticed, though, was that my triceps were fatigued by that effort, moreso than when swimming without the wetsuit. I figure one of two things is going on with the wetsuit on: 1) The suit puts me in a better position in the water to swim the RIGHT way, or 2) the suit is giving me a more effective catch, so I'm pulling more water, and therefore fatiguing my triceps (kind of like swimming with paddles). Possibly a combination of the two...Which brings me to the advice-seeking part of this post... I'm LOVING the speed in the wetsuit, but concerned about the tricep fatigue. I worry that over distance I might burn out. So, what would be the best way build the tricep strength I need to take advantage of the awesome speed I seem to gain in the wetsuit? Swim in the wetsuit once or twice a week (at the water temps in my pool, I can't keep the suit on very long, though - I'd get too over-heated)? Start swimming with paddles? (Dare I say it?) Lift weights? Other options???Thanks!

Bike Fitting

Ok, I have very little experience with road/tri bike riding that wasn't totally, 100% self taught. I have never had someone give me tips and such, I bought everything online before I left on a deployment a number of years ago with only a little bit of research, and was my first time using a multi speed bike.So my question is about getting my bike fit to me to optimize power and such.I come from a pretty athletic background of running and wrestling and have made some pretty good advancements on the bike since I got back on it in December, but want to ensure I don't drop $75-$100 on a kid that is not anymore prepared to set me up than my kids.How do I know the person doing the setup knows what they are doing? Is there a certification association or something? I bought all my gear when I was single and deployed 9 months out of the year, now I got a wife and two kids and spending $100 on something that doesn't pay off is the reason I haven't done it sooner.So what can you tell me to keep me from making the mistakes you did, or deal with the stuff you had to on your way to getting the bike setup for my first triathlon, and HIM this July?thanks

THE FINTAG NEWSLETTER @ 20 March 2008 (pfblogs.org)

FINTAG COMMENTWaste land.For many of the bull market generation, what is happening in the markets is bewildering. When colleagues disappear from their desks it can be alarming. For those who went for the Hedge Fund dream, the wolves are starting to appear. However, this is the first market crash with 24 hour continual analysis. The last in 1982 was documented on fax paper, the coffee bars and the telephone. We are in unchartered waters. All the news appears to be bad - but which is the most important news? Come on in and I will show you [Editor: Now that is a bold statement].Unlike YouTube when your fix is done in 5 minutes, a market correction can take many months, if not years. So get ready for the long haul.So, what does my review of the media tell me? It tells me that Bernanke's blue pill worked for less than 24 hours. Just because equities and fixed income are looking sorry for themselves, why people think it is safer in commodities is an enigma. Stuff is used to make stuff. If nobody can buy the stuff, then you don't need the stuff.Economics is about demand and supply. If belts are ...

MINI Cooper Warranty and Maintenance Plans Worked for Us

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

For the past month, the MINI Cooper’s “service engine soon” light has come on, but then it’s gone off just a few days later. I figured it was just some bad fuel and let it go. Since the closest MINI dealership is about 30 miles away, I wanted a few more things to rack up before expending the effort to get it checked out.

But then Stacie started to complain that the CVT transmission wasn’t shifting between 50-65mph properly. I began to worry that we got a lemon with a bad transmission. Luckily the MINI has a 4 year/50,000 mile factory warranty. We bought the car used with 30,000 miles and we it has about 35,000 miles. I’ve used the MINI warranty once in December when MINI towed the car via their factory Roadside Service plan and was pleased with the results.

This time, I set up an appointment to bring the car in and reserved a loaner (it’s a rental from Enterprise). MINI agreed to pay for the first 24 hours (although I got them to extend it without a fight). The only bad part about the whole experience was the long wait to drop off the car, even at 7am on a Monday. By the time I got back home (after a quick side-trip), it was 9am.

But we got much more fixed on the MINI than just the transmission issue. Thanks to the complimentary 3 year/36,000 mile maintenance plan, we got the following done:

• Oil change
• New front and rear wiper blades
• Brake fluid flush
• Cleaned some rust from brake area
• Checked/topped off fluids and tire air

Unfortunately, our plan will run out next month, so we won’t get to take advantage of the free brake pad replacement covered by the maintenance plan. We still have about 50% of our pads and tires left, which is a good thing I guess.

Now I have 1 month to decide to renew the maintenance plan. I’ll be doing my own extensive research because they want about $1300 to renew. I can renew anytime, but if I wait till after the 3 year period (next month), the price jacks up an extra $200. They used some scare tactics like the “Inspection 2″ costs $1100 on average and brake replacement costs $1200 on average. Both are covered by the maintenance plan. I’d like to get your feedback to help me out here. I know extended warranties are usually losses, but what about this specific maintenance plan? I’d like to hear from MINI owners who have experienced this too.

Oh, and by the way, here’s what got fixed under the factory warranty:

• Transmission computer needed reset. It’s an adaptive system and somehow it went a little wacky. Car drives beautifully now and Stacie is noticing better gas mileage
• Oxygen sensor above gas cap needed replaced. This was causing the “Service Engine Soon” light to come on.

And of course we got the car back shined-up on both the outside AND inside! I’m pleased with the service we got at the MINI dealership (which is also a BMW dealer) as is Stacie, and we’re glad that we got her a car that she loves with service plans that actually work without needing to fight with the dealer.

Now when will they put a MINI dealer in Rockville? (There are rumors of one going into D.C…Blah!)

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Best Finance Articles from Carnival of Personal Finance #144

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

This past week, my article “Free Laptop Nation: How Free Is It?” was featured in the 144th Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by BeingFrugal.net. As it was published on St. Patrick’s Day (the one on the calendar, regardless of what the Catholic Church says), Lynnae inserted a few Irish quotes and proverbs which I recommend reading.

Along with my own article, of course, here are a few other articles I especially enjoyed:

• Monevator writes an ingenious article explaining how each Star Wars character would relate to money. If Jar Jar Binks were included, I think I would be him…No clue about what’s going on but somehow continues to stumble into great opportunities.
• Not the Jet Set gives a few options for how to celebrating being debt-free. I think I’ll celebrate by financing a new car
• Squawkfox gives 10 great frugal foods. Being married to a dietitian, I’ve tried almost all of these, except Quark. If you ever come to D.C., I suggest stopping by Zed’s Ethiopian and getting the Flax Seed Telba Watt. It’s quite spicy, but also tasty. Go for lunch though because their dinner prices are outrageous now (inflation).
• Funny About Money has an excellent rant about the quality of adults our school systems are producing (with a short analogy to why they can’t handle their finances) in Whither America.
• Finance Gets Personal gives 10 signs you have financial OCD. I do check our bank account almost daily, but I don’t know how much I spent yesterday much less for the past 10 years. I guess I’m not totally OCD.
• Credit Addict tells us whether merchants can require a minimum purchase to use a credit card. The short answer is … wait, you have to read the article.
• Broke Grad Student has a few tips for avoiding student loan debt.

There were a few more articles the caught my eye, but I didn’t want to reproduce half the carnival here so go over and check it out for yourself!

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Stacie got a positive review!

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

Just last week I was wondering if we could be a single-income household mainly because Stacie’s job is just too stressful and she feels like her boss and coworkers take her for granted (which they do). She spends and hour driving to work, 10 hours at work (minimum) and then an hour driving home. And then she works a couple hours most nights on various work projects.

But today was her scheduled “quarterly conversation” with her manager. She was given a few questions beforehand that the hospital wanted her to consider such as:

1. What are you doing to make the hospital the best in the world?
2. What support does she need to do her job better?

Stacie asked me what she should say to the first question and my answer was “You’re working there”. She liked that one, but obviously couldn’t respond with that to her boss.

So she sat down with her boss and got quite a surprise. Her boss answered question #1 for Stacie by telling her that she’s the best dietitian at the hospital and the best she’s ever seen. Finally, some acknowledgment of how hard she’s working!

Her boss relayed to her that she asked the doctors and nurses on a floor that she covers “what dietetic skills do you need on your floor?” because they’re looking to hire a new, dedicated dietitian. They responded that they want Stacie to work full-time on their floors. That’s actually the response that Stacie gets across the hospital from all the floors she works, but she’s too modest to realize why people love her. She’s honest, sincere, ethical and has a deep concern for the welfare of her patients, which you can tell by reading her site, Building Nutrition.

But in answer to question #2 above (what does she need?), she responded “My husband requests that I leave work on-time from now on”. Well, I think that’s probably up to Stacie, not her boss (hint, hint Stacie).

It’s nice to be recognized and appreciated, isn’t it?

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More Auto Buyers Turning to Leases and Longer-Term Loans

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

Have you ever considered financing your new car for 84 months? That’s a full 7 year loan! Granted, I’ve had my share of 72 month loans. Heck, our Chevy Malibu was a 72-month finance, but we paid it off in just 2 years!

But not everyone is getting these lengthy loans with the intent to pay them off early. If you really wanted to save money on interest and intended to pay off the loan early (but couldn’t pay cash outright for the car), then you should finance for a shorter term, like 3-4 years at most. Not only will you get the right loan, but shorter loans also come with lower interest rates. I know, I know, you balk at the $600-800 payment of that shiny new Acura (or even Honda). But maybe that means you should be looking at cheaper cars instead, or even used?

But long-term loans are a disturbing trend. They’re not a large part of the economy by any stretch, but just the fact that they exist, along with financing chrome wheels and custom exhaust systems, just shows how far America is stretching itself to possess things that they really can’t afford. Oh, and we have Toyota to thank for introducing this great financing option to America.

Along with long-term auto financing, leases are also on the rise at a quickening pace. According to this Autoweek article, leases were almost 1/5th of all new car sales contracts last year (2007) and they’re expected to be above that this year. BMW leased 62% of its sales last year alone!

Leases do have their merits, but that’s for a different article. For now, I want to illustrate the “rent-to-own” lifestyle we’ve become. Back in 2000, I bought a $20,000 Saturn LS300 on a lease, then traded it in on an Acura TL-S just 9 months later (losing $6500 in the deal). Around the same time, I talked my grandmother into a lease on her 2002 Mitsubishi Galant. The payments were at least $150 per month less, but it was a 5-year lease, and she’s still paying on it! It’s now 6 years later and she refinanced the balloon for another 3. She has 2 more years to go to finally pay off a (now) 6-year-old car with only 24,000 miles. Nine years and she’ll finally own her car, if she can even still drive it by then.

But one line near the end of the article brought some hope:

“Over the last several months, some people coming to the dealership to look at a new vehicle ended up buying a used vehicle because the payments are lower,” he says.

Used is always best because you’ve beaten most of the depreciation and you’ll own the car in the end. But that doesn’t mean you should buy more than you need just because “it’s used and I’m getting a deal”. Common financial sense still applies. Then again, perhaps the first question you should ask is “Do I really need a new car in the first place?“.

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Couples in Conflict: Different Money Priorities

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

Today’s article comes courtesy of Ana at DebtFREE-Revolution.com. As you can partially tell from her site’s name, she’s a spunky anti-debt mom and wife, and is now debt-free except for her mortgage, which I also aspire to be soon (debt-free, that is). Take some time to visit Ana’s site and consider subscribing to her RSS Feed or Email Newsletter.

It’s not easy accomplishing financial goals when your spouse don’t share the same money priorities. Believe me, I know! I am a rabid anti-debt crusader with a cape and all … married to a very normal guy who was raised to believe your credit score is the most important part of your personal finances. I don’t own and don’t believe in credit cards, and hubby refused to give all of his up. (I have extracted his promise not to use them unless we both agree on it, which for me is never.)

We just became consumer debt free last month, and I am all ready to roll up my sleeves and start building an impressively-sized cash emergency fund. I want to pile up enough cash in the money market account to handle just about anything I can think of, from three months of expenses to replacing the antique furnace and ductwork. I want to be able to laugh in Murphy’s face and give him the one-finger salute if he comes calling. You remember Murphy … that guy back in World War II who quipped “If anything can go wrong, it will.”

Just yesterday, after a late breakfast, hubby sat down and started to discuss all the things he thinks we “need” for the house. A new DVD player since the old VCR/DVD combo bit the dust over the holiday season. Stuff to organize the closets. Stuff to improve the main bathroom. A new TV. New bath towels and hand towels.

I must have gotten a “look” on my face, because he stopped when I turned to face him, then amended that we should *plan* for these things to be added into the budget. This is on top of last week’s conversations on buying a new couch and table. And on top of the weekend prior’s conversation about ripping up the carpet in the dining room and replacing it with tiles or linoleum.

I’m just glad hubby comes and talks these ideas over with me. My ex-husband used to go out and buy these types of things and “surprise” me. Yeah, it’s always a big surpise to find out the bill money is now converted into a new kitchen table…

OK, so I don’t really have it that bad now. But we do still have different financial goals and priorities. Hubby has been pretty patient while I was in total debt-killing mode for the past fourteen months, and now he is champing at the bit to get to all these Tim Taylor-esque home improvement ideas. Meanwhile, I fret about an A/C and furnace unit that is old enough to buy alcohol and may even be old enough to get its driving insurance reduced. So we talk to each other. We try to persuade each other to come around to individual goals. Sometimes, we even look for some middle ground. But I guess as long as we communicate, we are doing better than average.

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Going Single-Income: Help a Reader Make the Decision

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

Matthew found my article “Can we be a single-income household” and asked the following question:

Mike,
I read your article about becoming a single income household and I have a question. My wife and I recently had our second child and she just returned from her maternity leave to her job as a Jr. High Biology Teacher. After her first week, she has asked if we can afford for her to not go back next year. I really want to say yes, but I am worried we will be financially strapped. Do you have any suggestions for me to earn additional income so she won’t have to go back, or some ideas for a home job she can earn a salary with, but still be with the kids? Any advice would be great, thanks!

I’ll give the usual disclaimer that I don’t know anything about your financial stability, budget or future, and I’m not a certified financial anything, Now with that said, I guess we have three main issues here:

1. Can you survive on just a single income?
2. Even more important, can you continue to save/invest/pay-off debt at an increasing rate or will your finances stagnate?
3. How can you find additional income without your wife leaving the house?

Here are my responses to each:

1. First, find out what you can support. You need to sum up every one of your recurring (fixed) expenses, plus expected (worst-case) variable expenses to find out your minimum income requirements each month. Fixed includes mortgage/rent, subscriptions, and any other regularly occuring, fixed-rate bill. For variable expenses, I consider anything that may come in that month, may not come in, and if it does, it might be slightly or drastically different than the last bill. For many of us, utilities fall into this category (especially gas and electricity). Oh and don’t forget your budget for food, gasoline, and anything else you regularly spend money on each month.Now that you know what your minimum cash needs are each month, then you know how much wiggle room you have for emergencies, vacations, or any other planned and unplanned expenses. You really don’t want to be too close to that break-point, but only you can tell what that point is based on your history.
2. So in #1, you found out your minimum financial needs, but now you need to look to the future. Usually the first things to go when times are tough are retirement and savings account contributions. However, you need to ensure you have money for the short- and long-term future needs like emergencies, retirement, your children’s educations (if you choose to fund them) and even taking care of elderly parents. Don’t forget saving for Christmas, anniversary and birthday gifts because you don’t want to leave the holiday with more debt than you entered with. I advise that you add future-oriented items to your budget and stick to it. Thus, by also counting how much you’re saving in with what you’re spending each month, you get the complete picture on your financial status and needs.
3. Lastly, you want to know about other income sources. Well, I could easily say start a blog like me, but you probably won’t see much income for at least 6 months, and I assure you it’s no easy job to put one together and contribute on a regular schedule! But your wife clearly has a marketable skill that can be accomplished at your home: Tutoring.I don’t know what your wife’s credentials are, but I can assure you that tutoring is a big deal and can command $50-100 per session (or more even, depending on the area and the subject) and keep her fairly busy once she gets things going. But she shouldn’t limit herself to just the school she currently teaches at; branch out to all the regional schools and increase your client-base substantially.

So overall, only you can decide whether you’re ready to change to one income, but I suggest looking at each of your skills and interests and determine how you can best utilize and market them to earn additional income.

Fellow readers, what are your ideas? Have you been successful in a similar situation? How did you manage the switch to a single income? Also, feel free to contact me with your own stories and I’ll post them (with your permission) to share with everyone else!

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Free Laptop Nation: How Free Is It?

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

NOTICE: Before reading this post, I strongly suggest skipping over to read my article “How to Get Laptops and Plasma TVs for Free” first to understand some of the terminology I use and my method for getting “free” goodies.

Recently, I was surprised to hear an advertisement by FreeLaptopNation.com on the radio. I’ve honestly never heard one of these sites openly advertise except through spam mail. I decided to do my own research into their offers and see how they matched up to my experiences when I got 2 other laptops for “free” (again, see my instructional post). Below you’ll see a full rundown of the offers, terms & conditions and some sample expected costs I gathered from detailed research.

The Homepage and Laptop Selections

As of right now, Free Laptop Nation is offering 5 different laptops. Of course none of these sites ever give out the specific model information:

• Compaq Presario Laptop
• Gateway Laptop
• Toshiba Satellite Laptop
• Sony Vaio Laptop
• Apple iBook (what, not a Macbook?)

Since my current Sony Vaio laptop is getting a little run-down, I decided to opt for another Vaio. In addition to a laptop, you also choose a $200 gas card/cash card as an “added bonus”.

Before proceeding with entering my email information, I made sure to save, as a PDF, every link on the homepage including the homepage itself. I made sure to capture the About, Terms & Conditions, Help, Contact Us and Privacy Policy pages for posterity. I’ve learned from experience to cover my butt in case I proceed with these offers.

The Requirements

Also, as is my custom, I made sure to read through the entire Terms & Conditions page before proceeding. I don’t want to deal with referring others to complete the offers before I can get my laptop, but this site didn’t have that requirement. For this laptop deal, you needed to complete 10 total offers (2 from page one, 2 from page two, and 6 from page three) .

In addition (and this is something new to me), this site has a Cancellation Limitation! As you now know from reading my walkthrough, the only way to really make out on these deals is by canceling the offers within the trial periods. However, according to Free Laptop Nation’s T&C:

You will not be eligible to receive a Gift in this Promotion if, within 60 days of your Sponsor Offer Initial Transaction Date, you cancel your participation in more than two Sponsor Offers you have completed as a part of the Program Requirements (the "Cancellation Limitation"). The Cancellation Limitation applies regardless of whether such limitations appear in the advertiser's terms and conditions for the applicable Sponsor Offer.

In other words, you can’t cancel more than 2 offers within the first 60 days or you’ll be disqualified! That sucks! Whether they can reasonably enforce this rule is unknown to me, but for the sake of my research, I’ll assume I need to hold onto at least 8 of the 10 offers for 60 days. We’ll see if this makes it all too costly to proceed.

The “Surveys”

Before you can get to the “advertiser offers”, you first need to go through a series of questions. The questions were pretty standard and I just said “No” to every offer. These questions have no bearing on your “gift fulfillment” (per the Terms & Conditions) so you have no obligation to accept anything at this time. Just continue on to the good stuff: the offer pages.

The Offers

So here is the make-or-break part of the deal. I haven’t done any of these offers for 2 years now because every site requires me to open a car loan or buy an expensive resort package. Again, per my instructional article, I jumped directly to page 3 to see what the most restrictive and expensive offers are. Additionally, I’m required to sign up for 6 offers on page 3, so this is a big deal.

I was surprised to find a slew of offers on each of the three pages and I scrolled through to the last page. Normally there’s only about 6-10 offers on the last page, but there were 16 offers on this one. I printed out each page into a PDF file for my records (although I don’t think they would be happy with me posting the PDFs here, so don’t ask).

Next, I’m going to outline my findings, expected costs for reasonable offers and then give my verdict on whether the site is worth the hassle.

Sample Cost of Fulfilling the Offers

As I mentioned above, I always start with the offers on page 3. Some offers appear on multiple pages, so I want to make sure to do the easiest ones on page 3 because it’s so difficult to keep the costs down otherwise. I dug around on every reputable offer site to find out the total costs involved, and then tracked it all in a spreadsheet. At the end, I’ll have a single number to show how much I would expect to spend to get this “free laptop”.

One more thing before moving on. When I say “reputable offer”, I mean sites I trust or at least sites that don’t bring back results when I Google their name plus the word “scam”. For example, from experience I refuse to sign up for any weight loss or diet pill offers. These are complete and utter scams, without a doubt. Believe me on that one.

PAGE THREE:

From the 16 total options, I had to pick 6 to complete. Scrolling through the list, I really only found 6 that were reasonable and trustworthy (except where noted below):

1. Discover More Card - Clear: The cheapest options you have with these offers is generally to sign up for a credit card. If you’re not worried about your credit score, go for it. Usually, you need to make one small purchase or a balance transfer for the deal to count as a complete offer. Cost: Free
2. Discover More Card - Platinum: Another credit card. Cost: Free
3. Discover Open Road Card: Yet another credit card. Cost: Free
4. HSBC Bank Card: The last credit card. Cost: Free
5. Blockbuster Total Access: I was a recent subscriber, but the deal only requires that it’s a new signup. Cost: $9.99 for 1 month up front.
6. Onlingo Language Lessons: This is the one offer I can’t attest to its quality because of the potential price if you don’t cancel, but since it was the lesser of the remaining evils (see diet pill comment above), I would opt for it. Cost: $6.95 for shipping up front.

PAGE TWO:

Next up was page two. I found that I had less options since many of the offers I would complete on page three are also found here. I had to complete only 2 offers, and I eventually did find 2 that I would be comfortable with though:

1. eMusic: I had to do some digging, but it looks like you get 50 free songs for signing up, but the lowest monthly plan after that is $5.99 per month. Cost: Free (up front)
2. Gamefly: Since I have a Wii, I had thought about renting games through the mail like Netflix. However, I don’t go through games fast enough to make it cost effective, but since this is a good chance to kill two birds, I’d try it. Cost: $8.95 for the first month, up front.

PAGE ONE:

Last up is another 2 offers off page one. Again, many of the offers overlapped from the other pages, and I had trouble finding a second offer (see below). I’m not sure about the one choice, but as I mentioned above, it’s the lesser of the remaining evils.

1. Netflix: I probably couldn’t actually do this one if I wanted since I recently renewed our subscription, but it was the only totally trustworthy offer on page 1. Cost: $8.99 for one month up front.
2. Stamps.com: I really had to do some digging to find out what the catch is with this service. Apparently it would be a free trial then cost $15.99 per month afterwards. Cost: Free (up front)

I always keep a spreadsheet of the offers, so below is the outline of each offer and more details about each:

Total Costs of the Offers

As you can see from the chart above, the up front cost to get a laptop probably valued at $1000 would be $34.98 with the offers I selected. Again, that’s just the cost I absolutely must pay to meet the basic requirements.

However, as you read above, there is a cancellation limitation, which means I need to hold onto 8 of the 10 offers for at least 60 days. That’s where they really get you. Otherwise for me, the final cost would also be $34.98. In the chart, I include the Monthly Cost after Intro to show the true cost of the services. Take note that the OnLingo service is $69.95 per month! Wow! The Total 60-Day Cost Before Cancellations is $308.60! Granted, you might want to actually keep some of these services, but only if you want to swim in movies and games and Spanish CDs.

So in the last column, I show the Total 60-Day Cost After 2 Cancellations. Right off the bat I would cancel the OnLingo deal. That’s $140 saved right there. Next, I would probably cancel Blockbuster because it’s the next highest total 60-day cost. So I would bring the final cost down to $128.72 for this “free” laptop.

The Final Verdict

For me, based on experience, spending $128.72 and a couple hours of work (total) and waiting 3-4 months for a $1000-1200 laptop (if you need one) AND getting a $200 gas card isn’t a bad deal. Like I said, I got 2 laptops this way as well as a $1000 Visa gift card. However, keep in mind that you’ll probably have to pay taxes on this “gift”. I say “probably” because it’s up to the marketer to collect your tax information before sending the gift, or then it’s up to you to claim it (which is the legal thing to do!).

However, in the end, I’m not going to proceed with this offer because I don’t need a laptop that bad, and my employer also covers up to $500 for a new one. If it was under different circumstances, and I wasn’t so lazy right now, I would go for it.

Lastly, if you’re the type who isn’t organized and on top of things (like knowing when to cancel and actually canceling), then these types of deals are definitely not for you. You would be the one in the end to spend the $308, and maybe even more, and probably forget to claim the laptop! You have to be organized, persistent and responsible to do these deals.

If you do decide to perform any of these offers, I hope you utilize my tips article as well as this article to help organize your approach and remind you of the important details and steps as you proceed. And again, always research the companies before you sign up for anything to find out what other people have to say (good or bad), and document everything! Good luck!

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I won $46 this past week!

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve explained why I play the lottery before, and this past week I finally won a little bit to help dig back out of the losses I’ve incurred by spending about $3-6 per week on lottery tickets (Mega Millions and MD Multi-Match usually).

I generally don’t buy scratch-off tickets because they can be addictive (”well maybe the next one is a winner”), but on Friday I decided to buy a $2 ticket along with my regular weekend lotto purchases. I didn’t win on the first ticket, but on the way out I decided to buy just one more (see, I told you!).

I won $25!

Yeah, small condolence since I basically lose every other time, but I don’t buy lottery tickets thinking I’ll hit it big. It’s more of the idea and feeling of winning that’s more exciting than actually winning. But enough about lotteries. Let’s talk about other gambling.

Tonight I went to a church function and they had their regular 50/50 raffle. I’ve been a member of this group for about 5 years and I have never won the raffle. It’s always the nice guys who win this one! Go figure, it IS a church function.

But this time, I pitched in my $2 for 1 ticket, thinking I was just contributing for the chips and beer I enjoyed and when it came time to call the winner, they called my ticket!

My share of the 50/50 was $21!

What will I do with all this money? Well we already spent the $25 on dinner with friends on Saturday (well, most of it) and I’ll probably use the $21 towards lunch this week. I did consider giving the money back to the church, but sushi was calling. Mmm, sushi.

It’s nice to finally win something. Although I was rather rude to many of my fellow commuters today so I doubt this was a reward for good behavior. Time to be pessimistic again and wait for the bad karma to catch up to me.

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Can we be a single-income household?

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

Stacie is having some trouble at work. Well, technically, it’s trouble with the commute to work, the management at work, and some of her coworkers. She puts in too long hours for too little reward, especially compared to her fellow dietitians. The commute is wearing on her more and more daily (she drives from MD to VA) and I’m just waiting for her to snap.

A few months ago, I told her she could just quit, work on her blog (Building Nutrition), and take time to work on her own outpatient consulting business. She didn’t take me seriously and I didn’t push it at the time.

But this past weekend, Stacie and I met up with some old friends from PA, and they asked how things were at the hospital. She related how management isn’t supporting them and she doesn’t feel that she’s providing quality patient care because of the politics. In addition, the managers are contractors, while all the dietitians are hospital employees. Thus, management has dual-allegiances. Lastly, her boss’s boss left last week, and she was Stacie’s only real management support. It’s just a mess and doesn’t look to be getting better as a new contracting agency might come in who’s known to be even worse than the current one.

While we were talking with our friends, Stacie turned to me and seriously asked if we could live off my salary alone. I did some quick math in my head and responded Yes. And that doesn’t even count the income from this website.

When I got home, I did some more math and determined that all our budgeted expenses, except for debt overpayments, can be handled by my monthly income with room to spare. That’s how we’re able to pay so much down on our debts; because Stacie’s whole income is “extra”.

Granted, I can’t see Stacie just up and quitting because she has a strong sense of duty, and also doesn’t want to leave her patients just hanging. The doctors and nurses love and trust her, but that doesn’t help her problems with management and her coworkers’ support. But honestly, she’s drained at night and she’s finding it harder to be motivated to go to work each day. Her mental health is declining and her physical health can only follow eventually. She’s under too much stress, and if it gets worse, I’ll start seriously urging her to just leave.

I’d want a contingency plan in place though. For now, we can handle her not getting an income, but either her side businesses need to be more stable first or she should have at least a few leads on other jobs. She’s not a quitter, but she needs a serious break. Heck, she even has over a month of vacation time saved up! (I’m not far behind myself though). I think we both need a vacation.

I’ll keep you posted on any major changes, but for now, keep Stacie in your prayers please (or in your thoughts if you don’t pray). I don’t expect anything to happen anytime soon, but it depends on what happens with the management contract over the next month.

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Personal Finance Basics: Financial Planning

Copyright © 2006-2007 Clever Dude. All Rights Reserved.

Almost a year ago, I wrote an article about creating a budget, and I even linked to my own sample spreadsheet. But budgeting is such an important personal finance basic that I’m going to write a whole new article about budgeting.

Not all of us have near limitless money to buy anything we want. Therefore, if you want one thing, you’re going to have to sacrifice something else. Even if you’re using a credit card, you only have a limited credit line (even the Centurion card has its limits). Therefore, you really need to know how much money you have before you know how much you can spend on things you want or need. We call this...

Financial Planning

Through financial planning, we determine how much money we have coming in, as well as on-hand. We can get the most from that income by earmarking it for specific uses, such as spending, saving, investing and giving. By knowing where your money goes (i.e your expenses), you can realize your wasteful habits, spending patterns, inefficiencies (too many ATM runs), and room for improvement.

By planning your finances, you can take a lot of stress and burden off your shoulders because you have educated yourself about, well, yourself. You know more about your own life through your spending, and your finances are more transparent to you. For some of us, we live paycheck-to-paycheck, only thinking about that final number in the checkbook. By budgeting and planning, you expand your vision from just the checkbook to your entire past, present and future.

Our entire financial plan begins with the following elements:

• Income
• Fixed Expenses
• Variable Expenses

From those 3 items, we can glean enough information to create a baseline budget. In addition, we can identify “Disposable Income” that isn’t already accounted for, and use it for other purposes such as opening a Roth IRA, establishing an emergency fund, paying down debt, or donating to your favorite charity.

For the specific steps for budgeting, I’ll again refer to my article “Fixing Your Money Mistakes” Create a Budget“. For now, though, I’ll keep it on a high level and just reiterate that a budget is your financial lifeline. You can’t build a house without a blueprint, and in the personal finance world, that blueprint is your budget.

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Orlando-area people raise monkey as surrogate kids -- "monkids"

The Orlando Sentinel has an article and video about empty-nesters who buy monkeys and raise them as surrogate children.

Many self-described "monkey people" don't dare call them pets. They are playfully referred to as "monkids" and reared in a world of pierced ears, monogrammed clothes, a seat at the dinner table and their own bedrooms.

At Gemini Springs in DeBary recently, Johnson pushed "Jessy" around in a toy-filled red stroller, a sight that drew attention. "Hey, it's a real monkey," hollered one youngster, who did a double take.

Johnson replied with a grin: "That's not a monkey; that's my kid."

Link

Psychonalyst finger puppets

This delightful set of psychonalyst finger puppets features Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Carl Jung, and, naturally, a shrink's couch. What perfect props for playing mind games! The set is $20 from UncommonGoods.
Link (via Mind Hacks)

Corporate-sponsored spying on green groups

Mother Jones has published an investigation of Beckett Brown International (later called S2i), a private security firm that the report claims was paid by corporate client to spy on Greenpeace, the Center for Food Safety, and other environmental concerns. Run by former spooks, the company allegedly employed police to help dig through garbage seeking intelligence on groups that may have included the National Environmental Trust, the Center for Food Safety, the Environmental Media Services, and others. Beckett Brown International dissolved in 2001. From Mother Jones:

According to company documents provided to Mother Jones by a former investor in the firm, this security outfit collected confidential internal records—donor lists, detailed financial statements, the Social Security numbers of staff members, strategy memos—from these organizations and produced intelligence reports for public relations firms and major corporations involved in environmental controversies.

In addition to focusing on environmentalists, the firm, Beckett Brown International (later called S2i), provided a range of services to a host of clients. According to its billing records, BBI engaged in "intelligence collection" for Allied Waste; it conducted background checks and performed due diligence for the Carlyle Group, the Washington-based investment firm; it provided "protective services" for the National Rifle Association; it handled "crisis management" for the Gallo wine company and for Pirelli; it made sure that the Louis Dreyfus Group, the commodities firm, was not being bugged; it engaged in "information collection" for Wal-Mart; it conducted background checks for Patricia Duff, a Democratic Party fundraiser then involved in a divorce with billionaire Ronald Perelman; and for Mary Kay, BBI mounted "surveillance," and vetted Gayle Gaston, a top executive at the cosmetics company (and mother of actress Robin Wright Penn), retaining an expert to conduct a psychological assessment of her. Also listed as clients in BBI records: Halliburton and Monsanto.

Link

Weird computer architectures

Quantum computing is getting quite the buzz, but there are other bizarre computer architectures bubbling and buzzing away in research laboratories. New Scientist compiled a survey of the "Ten Weirdest Computers," from reversible chips that recover energy usually lost with each operation, to magnetic (NMR) computing that leverages the dynamics of molecular interactions, to slime mold computers. From New Scientist:

Toshiyuki Nakagaki at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Nagoya, Japan, has shown that slime mould can work out the shortest route through a maze.

In his experiments, the masses of independent amoeba-like cells that act as a single organism would initially spread out to explore all the possible paths of a maze.

But when one train of cells found the shortest path to some food hidden at the maze's exit the rest of the mass stopped exploring. The slime mould then withdrew from the dead end routes and followed the direct path to the food.

Link

Hillbilly teeth recall

Sadly, a supplier of "hillbilly" teeth has recalled the wonderful product due to lead paint concerns. More on this alarming development over at BBG. (Mark F. used to wear a set of these frequently. Maybe that's why he makes so many typos.)
Link

Mom and baby rob candy store

Christine Ruther, 19, brought her baby along with two three accomplices to rob a candy store in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. From Local12.com:

Police say Ruther took her baby out of a stroller so they could fill it with $400 worth of candy.

Officers followed a trail of candy wrappers to Fourth and Race Streets, where they arrested...

Link (via Fortean Times)

Ludicrously expensive bottled water for rich morons

Forbes Traveler has a rundown on costly bottled water, such as Berg, made from ice-age Arctic icebergs, and Bling, which comes in a bottle emblazoned with fake diamonds. I don't know which more obviously brands you a fool: being seen with a bottle of Bling, or sporting a forehead tattoo.

Initially introduced only to "hand-selected athletes and actors," Bling H2O is now available to the rest of us mere mortals. It has made appearances at the MTV Music Video and Emmy awards, but did anyone tell the celebs the water comes from Dandridge, Tennessee? Never mind, the point in this case is not what's in the bottle as it is what's on it: Swarovski crystals spelling out "bling." The frosted glass bottle is labeled "Limited Edition Spring Water" and is sealed with a cork.

You can buy Bling H2O in bottles without crystals, but why would you? $441 per case of 12 bottles (750ml)

Per 750ml bottle: $36.75

Link

Good comments: Adam Rice and Phillip Lamb, on their technical problems

Adam Rice and Phillip Lamb were both unable to comment, so they sent me letters.

ADAM RICE:

I hope you're the right person to contact; if not, my apologies.

We need a better way for readers to tell us about technical problems. One of our suggested mechanisms is to have a front-page link to a form for reporting glitches, much like the link for submitting suggestions for stories. Until then, we'll all keep improvising.

The last couple of times I've tried to leave a comment on Boingboing, I've gotten the following error:

---
Your comment submission failed for the following reasons:
Text entered was wrong. Try again.
---

I admit this may be true in an epistemological sense, but in a formal sense, the text I entered was entirely innocuous.

Would you believe I've occasionally been getting that one too? I don't know why that error message turns up. I wish it weren't even in the system. It keeps giving readers the idea that we use automated content-based message filtering, and that something they've written has infracted the filters' rules.

Not so. The only content-based filters on Boing Boing are the people who edit it. If you get an error message saying "Text entered was wrong," it's the error message that's in error.

Back to Adam Rice:

The other interesting thing is that the dynamic.boingboing.net page where this appears shows me as logged out, although I am logged in from the main boingboing page, or gadgets.

I feel your pain. I had the same problem for a couple of days this week. David Harmon's reported it too.

My comments were not such pearls that the Internet cannot function without their presence, but I thought I'd bring it to your attention.

Well said, and thank you for bringing those problems to our attention.

Onward to:

PHILLIP LAMB:

Hi there - not sure if you're the right person to send this to, but I can't seem to find a tech email on BoingBoing's site. ... Hope I'm not inconveniencing you!

Not at all. We really do want to hear about technical problems.

I and other people have had trouble submitting comments lately, getting a "Text entered was wrong. Try again" error message.

It seems like the following is happening:

1. User logs in

2. User does logged-in user stuff, including commenting.

3. User goes to sleep, or hibernates, or eats a Polish Sausage or whatever.

4. User comes back to BoingBoing, bleary-eyed because it's 3am and when you gotta get your fix you gotta get your fix.

5. User's session has timed out (rut roh!) but due to either a caching bug or perhaps a session timeout bug, the comment form still shows up.

6. User submits a comment, but sadly it doesn't go through, and they see, "Text entered was wrong. Try again."

7. User wrecks their apartment with a frying pan.

8. User eventually logs back in and is able to comment normally.

We're sorry about your apartment--and, presumably, your frying pan.

This is my hypothesis, and I've tested it (somewhat) and it seems valid. Just letting ya know. I'll email this to whatever email address I can find for your admin, assuming I can find one.

Thanks! I'm pretty sure the Polish sausage is a local artifact. The rest, we'll have to have a look at.

What hardware and browser were you using? (Adam, same question.)

---

UPDATE: Semiotix comments:

I'm very disappointed to hear that the "Text entered was wrong" message is simply an indication of some sort of login error.

I've gotten the message several times, and, assuming that it was autogenerated in response to wrong ideas, have modified my beliefs (and comments) accordingly until I reached--so I thought--right text, and therefore right thinking.

Now you tell me that I haven't been engaged in a Socratic struggle for truth all this past week? That I changed my beliefs for no reason?! Well, thanks for nothing.

Case-study of Magnatune: CC-licensed, podcaster-friendly successful record label

Michael Holloway from the Open Rights Group conducted a fantastic, in-depth business-analysis of Magnatune, the open/free commercial record label that uses free, Creative Commons licensed music to sell commercial licenses. Magnatune has blazed a lot of new trail -- especially in "secondary" genres like classical (Magnatune has experienced 20 percent annual growth in classical sales at a time when industry-wide classical sales have fallen 90 percent).

Magnatune's most popular genre by far — with 30% of sales — is classical, followed by new age, electronica and rock, which represent around 10% of sales each. The classical market is in serious decline: In 1980, classical recordings comprised 20% of the industry's revenue, which dropped to 2% by 2000, and to 0.75% in 2006. Yet Magnatune has seen 20% growth annually since autumn 2003.

John recognises that obscurity is a musician's biggest hurdle, and his innovative approach to overcoming it is to provide 'open music', which is "shareable, available in 'source code' form, allows derivative works and is free of cost for non-commercial use."

Shareable: Users are invited to share their purchased tracks with up to three friends, can listen to the entire catalogue for free via the website's 128kbps streams, and can download any song as a 128kbps MP3 file.

Available as 'source code': Ten per cent of the catalogue is also available in its component parts, e.g. scores, lyrics, MIDI files, samples or track-by-track audio files.

Derivative works: The CC licence used by Magnatune explicitly permits users to make derivative works - such as remixes, cover songs and sampling - for non-commercial purposes, which is further facilitated by the provision of the 'source code'.

Free for non-commercial use: Users can download songs for non-commercial projects, such as a home video soundtrack or compilation album intended for family or friends.

Link

Brit MP calls for photographers' rights

Chris sez, "British MP Austin Mitchell has finally started trying to get the government to talk sense into the mob of self-appointed goons and bullyboy rentacops who try to stop you taking shots in perfectly legal, public domain areas. About time too."

"People have complained about photographers being stopped from taking pictures by police, PCSOs, wardens and by various officious people," he said.

"People have a right to take photographs and to start interfering with that is crazy. It seems crazy when the streets are festooned with closed-circuit television cameras that the public should be stopped from using cameras.

"The proliferation of digital cameras and mobile phones with cameras means that everybody carries a camera these days."

Link (Thanks, Chris!)

BBtv - Avatar Machine, Marc Owens' wearable simulator of virtual worlds.

Avatar Machine, by designer Marc Owens, is a wearable device that simulates the experience of third-person gaming environments.

By wearing this costume and head-mounted camera with VR goggles, a user can view themselves as a sort of virtual character while moving around and interacting in the real world.

Owens created Avatar Machine to explore whether such a device would grant users "a diminished sense of social responsibility (...) and demonstrate behaviors normally reserved for the gaming environment." In other words, turn them into instant board trolls.

Owens, 26, is a design student at the Royal College of Art, and lives in East London. An earlier version of this experiment from Owens circulated around the web in 2007.

In part one of today's Boing Boing tv episode, we premiere an all-new experiment with Avatar Machine -- live beta testing conducted in 2008, in the Harajuku area of Tokyo. Here, the user (Owens) flirts with Harajuku hotties, then almost gets his ass kicked (for real!) by some Japanese rockabilly gangster dudes.

In part two of today's show, Xeni speaks with Owens over a Skype video connection, live from his studio in East London.

Link to Boing Boing tv episode, with discussion and downloadable video. (special thanks to Susannah Breslin)