I don't want to oversell this topic, but there are just some material items that I really love. Most things, to me, are just "stuff". Things. Junk. Whatever. I usually realize this after I've already purchased an item, which brings on the buyer's remorse. But that is a post for another day.
There are things that just make me smile every time I use them.
So, here's my list of things that have somehow improved my life. My list of stuff that matters. (Please note that I am fully aware that stuff is still stuff and "you can't take it with you".)
- T-Mobile Dash (I might like the iPhone too, but I really like my Dash)
- iPod (I still haven't figured out how to get a movie on here, but I love music so I'm somewhat satisfied...for now)
- Tivo (man, this is slick)
- Canon Rebel XT (great camera...we taken some of the best photos of the kids with this camera)
- Honda Pilot (the best vehicle we've ever owned)
What "stuff" do you love?
Monday, March 03, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Book Review: Getting Things Done by David Allen
Just finished this book tonight. It has changed my life. And, from the looks of things around the web, it has quite a following. GTD is a must buy for your library.
While I'm not a kung fu master at all the things David suggests, I've implemented the following:
While I'm not a kung fu master at all the things David suggests, I've implemented the following:
- a tickler file
- what's the next action?
- home and business filing system
- immediate processing of my email
My filing system has given me serious peace of mind. I have a place for everything and everything is in its place. And when I open my file drawer I enter a zen-like state-of-mind.
You can have all this and more, Grasshopper. Be the pebble. Buy the book.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Uncle Sam is a Bad Banker
When I was a young lad I watched a chemist demonstrate some of the magic of science. The trick that stood out most was when he dipped his hand in glucose or sucrose or something like that and then lit his hand on fire. The fire burned the sugar and not his hand. He then waved his hand and the flame blew out. Way cool.
Later that day, I decided I just had to do this trick. Because I didn't know exactly what liquid was used, I improvised. My mom had a nice big bottle of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) in the house for first and sterilization (and magic tricks!).
I poured half of the bottle into a Tupperware® bowl. In went my right hand. I waved the magic hand over a burning candle on the table and voilá...burning hand. The only problem was that Wikipedia wasn't invented then so I couldn't read this very clear warning to aspiring magicians:
"Isopropyl alcohol vapor is heavier than air and is highly flammable with a very wide combustible range. It should be kept away from heat and open flame."
In a matter of milliseconds, I experienced first-hand the properties of this liquid.
Hand on fire...check.
Hand not burning...ummm.
Not cool.
To make matters worse, I tried the trick of waving my hand to put out the fire and that only made my hand burn faster.
Fortunately, I had the presence of mind not to try and douse the fire in the nearby bowl of rubbing alcohol.
When the blaze was finally put out, I quickly cleaned up my mess and never told a soul about the incident. Why? Because I was embarrassed. Ashamed even. Which brings me to my topic:
If you are using Uncle Sam as savings account, you should be ashamed of yourself. Let me explain.
I know of some folks that have a hard time saving money. Whether it be for a rainy day, a new car, or a fun new gadget, they just can't seem to save a penny. So, in an effort to combat their weakness, they allow Uncle Sam to keep more money than he should during the entire year so they can get a nice, fat tax refund.
Why not change their withholdings so they can bring more home in every check? Because they would spend it, or so they reason.
This is sad on many levels, but it kills me to think that the money is not even earning simple interest in an ING account.
Is it nice to get a tax refund? I suppose it's better than owing taxes. But guess what? It was your money anyway. You didn't win the lotto. In fact, you really lost out. That money could have been working for you.
Best thing to do: Adjust your withholdings by filling out a new W-4 at work. You can do this any time during the year. Your monthly take-home pay will increase and you can set up an automatic savings plan to start socking away that extra cash.
So, next time you want to brag to your friends and family about your ginormous tax refund, think about what really happened...and make a change. There are better ways of improving your financial discipline that using the government as a bank.
Later that day, I decided I just had to do this trick. Because I didn't know exactly what liquid was used, I improvised. My mom had a nice big bottle of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) in the house for first and sterilization (and magic tricks!).
I poured half of the bottle into a Tupperware® bowl. In went my right hand. I waved the magic hand over a burning candle on the table and voilá...burning hand. The only problem was that Wikipedia wasn't invented then so I couldn't read this very clear warning to aspiring magicians:
"Isopropyl alcohol vapor is heavier than air and is highly flammable with a very wide combustible range. It should be kept away from heat and open flame."
In a matter of milliseconds, I experienced first-hand the properties of this liquid.
Hand on fire...check.
Hand not burning...ummm.
Not cool.
To make matters worse, I tried the trick of waving my hand to put out the fire and that only made my hand burn faster.
Fortunately, I had the presence of mind not to try and douse the fire in the nearby bowl of rubbing alcohol.
When the blaze was finally put out, I quickly cleaned up my mess and never told a soul about the incident. Why? Because I was embarrassed. Ashamed even. Which brings me to my topic:
If you are using Uncle Sam as savings account, you should be ashamed of yourself. Let me explain.
I know of some folks that have a hard time saving money. Whether it be for a rainy day, a new car, or a fun new gadget, they just can't seem to save a penny. So, in an effort to combat their weakness, they allow Uncle Sam to keep more money than he should during the entire year so they can get a nice, fat tax refund.
Why not change their withholdings so they can bring more home in every check? Because they would spend it, or so they reason.
This is sad on many levels, but it kills me to think that the money is not even earning simple interest in an ING account.
Is it nice to get a tax refund? I suppose it's better than owing taxes. But guess what? It was your money anyway. You didn't win the lotto. In fact, you really lost out. That money could have been working for you.
Best thing to do: Adjust your withholdings by filling out a new W-4 at work. You can do this any time during the year. Your monthly take-home pay will increase and you can set up an automatic savings plan to start socking away that extra cash.
So, next time you want to brag to your friends and family about your ginormous tax refund, think about what really happened...and make a change. There are better ways of improving your financial discipline that using the government as a bank.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Crepes and Eurekas
I had the coolest thing happen to me this morning. After a day of setup and negotiation, I awarded a small data entry project to a company out of India. Yesterday, late afternoon, I sent over the materials and login credentials via email along with one minor piece of feedback (the company did a quick trial for me and I wanted to change the formatting of the file names).
This morning after eating delicious Valentine's Day crepes from my sweetie, I logged in and the work was done. Completed! Wahoo! I did a spot check of the work and everything looked pretty darn good.
This was so cool on many levels:
1) The entire transaction took place online.
2) I've never met the person that actually performed the work.
3) I didn't have to do the work myself.
4) It was very inexpensive (I saved time and money)
5) It was done properly.
6) I was sleeping while the work was being done (think about the power of this one).
7) Now that I've experienced it, I'm more comfortable trying it again.
Did I mention how cool this was? I feel like an international entrepreneur...and I'm still in my pajamas. Well, I'm not now, but I was post-crepes when I logged in this morning.
This is pretty powerful, heady stuff. I've experienced the global economy firsthand. I know, I know. I've already had folks around the world purchase things from companies I've worked for, but that's so yesterday. :) This was new and exciting for me and is full of promise for the future of Sanders, Inc.
But one has to wonder what this means for the US economy and other economies as well. Did I just hurt our economy in the name of saving money? Or did I help the economy by becoming more efficient so my business will grow bigger faster?
Food for thought. Now I need to put food in my belly.
This morning after eating delicious Valentine's Day crepes from my sweetie, I logged in and the work was done. Completed! Wahoo! I did a spot check of the work and everything looked pretty darn good.
This was so cool on many levels:
1) The entire transaction took place online.
2) I've never met the person that actually performed the work.
3) I didn't have to do the work myself.
4) It was very inexpensive (I saved time and money)
5) It was done properly.
6) I was sleeping while the work was being done (think about the power of this one).
7) Now that I've experienced it, I'm more comfortable trying it again.
Did I mention how cool this was? I feel like an international entrepreneur...and I'm still in my pajamas. Well, I'm not now, but I was post-crepes when I logged in this morning.
This is pretty powerful, heady stuff. I've experienced the global economy firsthand. I know, I know. I've already had folks around the world purchase things from companies I've worked for, but that's so yesterday. :) This was new and exciting for me and is full of promise for the future of Sanders, Inc.
But one has to wonder what this means for the US economy and other economies as well. Did I just hurt our economy in the name of saving money? Or did I help the economy by becoming more efficient so my business will grow bigger faster?
Food for thought. Now I need to put food in my belly.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Free Software to Protect Your Kids (and You) Online
http://wraac.org/
Download the free parental control toolbar. For Windows only, but works in Firefox and IE. It's not perfect, but it's free and it will help.
Download the free parental control toolbar. For Windows only, but works in Firefox and IE. It's not perfect, but it's free and it will help.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Mint.com Makes Cents (and Dollars)
A few weeks ago I signed up for Mint.com. They have a great user interface and my credit union and credit card companies were among those already supported, so setup was a cinch.
It certainly is nice to see my finances in one place, although they currently don't support investment accounts. However, Quicken and MS Money have done this for quite awhile. The real selling point is that Mint makes recommendations on ways to save money based on your accounts. It wasn't long before Mint pointed out that I could earn several hundred more dollars this year if I changed my accounts around a bit. Not bad!
Most of the folks I know will probably freak out about inputting account numbers and passwords for the various accounts into one interface. This probably won't help a bit, but here is what Mint has to say about keeping your information safe:
http://www.mint.com/safe.html
Anyway, if you are a current user, let me about your experience.
A couple other similar sites exist. If you are interested in checking them out as well, here they are:
Wesabe
Geezeo
It certainly is nice to see my finances in one place, although they currently don't support investment accounts. However, Quicken and MS Money have done this for quite awhile. The real selling point is that Mint makes recommendations on ways to save money based on your accounts. It wasn't long before Mint pointed out that I could earn several hundred more dollars this year if I changed my accounts around a bit. Not bad!
Most of the folks I know will probably freak out about inputting account numbers and passwords for the various accounts into one interface. This probably won't help a bit, but here is what Mint has to say about keeping your information safe:
http://www.mint.com/safe.html
Anyway, if you are a current user, let me about your experience.
A couple other similar sites exist. If you are interested in checking them out as well, here they are:
Wesabe
Geezeo
Monday, January 28, 2008
Another One Bites the Dust
The Orem, UT CompUSA is shutting its doors. Looks like compusa.com will live on but most, if not all, of the retail stores are shutting down. You might remember from my previous "Customer Blacklist" post that Comp held a place of honor on the list. Isn't it funny that horrible service and outrageous prices don't create a sustainable business? Good riddance to a bad business.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Dream Basket Rules!
When I married my wife, my father-in-law counseled us to take a couple trip and a family trip every year. The trip didn't need to be expensive or elaborate, but it should be fun. The purpose was to build memories to last a lifetime. And after all, the family and couple that travels together stays together.
We have followed his counsel for the last 10 years and I can honestly say that this makes a huge difference in the dynamic of my marriage and family.
To do this right, however, one must provision a "dream basket". Just like funding retirement, it's essential that we fund our dreams. My dream basket is labeled as such in my ING Direct savings account. We put a percentage of our monthly income into the fund and watch it grow. Then, when it's time to travel somewhere, we pay cash for it from the dream basket.
Making the dream basket automatic is the key. The way I've set up our automatic savings plan is as follows:
- We save between 3-5% of our net income (aka take-home pay).
- Half goes in on the 2nd and half on the 16th (one day after pay day). This can be set up to happen automatically through ING.
- The interest earned in the account stays in the account, which helps the dream basket grow faster.
We also do all we can to make the dream basket stretch. My wife is awesome at finding deals on hotels, car rentals, you name it. We just returned from Disneyland and had a rental car for three and a half days. Total cost to us was $15.00 including taxes!
We also supplement the dream basket by using points/miles from our credit cards and frequent- flyer programs. So far we've used them on flights and hotel stays. This can bring down the total cost of a trip significantly.
Anyway, the trips are a great tradition and the dream basket is the best way to make them a reality.
May all of your dreams come true...
P.S. If you don't have an ING account and want one, let me know and I'll send you a referral email. You'll get a $25 bonus and I'll get $10 for the referral. I'll make sure that gets put right into my dream basket. :)
We have followed his counsel for the last 10 years and I can honestly say that this makes a huge difference in the dynamic of my marriage and family.
To do this right, however, one must provision a "dream basket". Just like funding retirement, it's essential that we fund our dreams. My dream basket is labeled as such in my ING Direct savings account. We put a percentage of our monthly income into the fund and watch it grow. Then, when it's time to travel somewhere, we pay cash for it from the dream basket.
Making the dream basket automatic is the key. The way I've set up our automatic savings plan is as follows:
- We save between 3-5% of our net income (aka take-home pay).
- Half goes in on the 2nd and half on the 16th (one day after pay day). This can be set up to happen automatically through ING.
- The interest earned in the account stays in the account, which helps the dream basket grow faster.
We also do all we can to make the dream basket stretch. My wife is awesome at finding deals on hotels, car rentals, you name it. We just returned from Disneyland and had a rental car for three and a half days. Total cost to us was $15.00 including taxes!
We also supplement the dream basket by using points/miles from our credit cards and frequent- flyer programs. So far we've used them on flights and hotel stays. This can bring down the total cost of a trip significantly.
Anyway, the trips are a great tradition and the dream basket is the best way to make them a reality.
May all of your dreams come true...
P.S. If you don't have an ING account and want one, let me know and I'll send you a referral email. You'll get a $25 bonus and I'll get $10 for the referral. I'll make sure that gets put right into my dream basket. :)
Friday, January 18, 2008
Blogging Again
That's right. It's time to starting sharing my wit and wisdom again. I've recently had the desire to start blogging again, so here's looking at you, kid. We'll see if I'm interrupted again by some sort of major medical emergency.
So tell your friends and family. Tell your co-workers. Add this blog to the list of must visit sites every day. This is the big time, baby.
So tell your friends and family. Tell your co-workers. Add this blog to the list of must visit sites every day. This is the big time, baby.
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