I finally got all the paperwork for the purchase of my new car, which is actually my old company car which coincidentally came off-lease recently. I paid an even $8,000 after taxes and fees for a 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix. Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds both quoted approximately $8400 before taxes & fees for the private party value of the car, so I guess it was a decent deal. This car depreciated well over 50% of it’s price in 3 years! Poor GM. I did consider shopping around for a slightly cheaper used car with a more reliable brand, for example a Toyota Camry. But for the same price, I’d have to settle for a 2000 model with ~60,000 miles.
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This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Free Money Finance. Check it out. Sigh. Again, I have forgotten to submit a post. Every week I mean to, but every week I forget. There are so many pf bloggers now, and as much as I like reading them all I can’t keep up. I just end up reading 2-3 weeks of posts at a time. May we all retire rich and meet up in the Caribbean one fine day. =)

I was cleaning out my Inbox and ran across somebody who was wondering if my money was from my parents or other gift/inheritance. So I wanted to expand upon my initial About Me post and share some more about my financial past.

Let’s start with college. My parents did help me through undergrad, but I still took about $8,000 of students loans for each of my four years. So, $32,000 in total. I worked part-time every single year in college, working everything from restaurant host to tutor to parking lot attendant. This mostly went towards food and spending money. I also worked full-time every single summer. I’d say each summer I’d earn about $3,000 net, and $1k (edit: towards loans) from during the rest of the year.
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Ok, now that I am unemployed, to help me focus here are the money-related things I want to do this week, with due dates.

Tomorrow – Post Monthly Financial Status
Monday – List everything I need to put on eBay to sell
Tuesday – Post my eBay tips, do eBay research
Wednesday – Do a quick rent vs. buy home analysis for market area
Thursday – Collect spending data from last 3 months in MS Money
Friday – Analyze data to help refine monthly budget
Saturday – Take pictures of items, make descriptions, list items

Sorry…didn’t mean to be so melodramatic. =) I just wanted to note it on the right date for posterity.

Yeah, I’ve somewhat unhappy with my job for a while, although I didn’t want to bring it to this blog. In the end, I couldn’t handle the monotony, the lack of upward mobility, and lack of challenges anymore. The company was great; I would actually use their product if I was their target market. But it just wasn’t for me. Some of you large corporate “consultants” out there might know what I mean. Of course, there are also some consulting positions that are great.
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my job. today.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Jim over at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity wrote a great entry on the first episode of Morgan Spurlock’s (the Super Size Me guy) new show on FX, 30 Days. It focused on him and his fiancee living on minimum wage for 30 days and trying to get by. Very powerful, and reminiscent of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich, which I own and read a while back. If you get FX, I highly recommend it. It’s on tonight at 11 Pacific (schedule). If you like it, I recommend the book even more.
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Some relatives were visiting us for the weekend, which was nice. Of course, this inevitably led to fighting over who would pay for the check when we dined out. Over the years, I have observed this mostly from the kid’s point of view, but now as a full wage-earner I must also assume the duties of this time-honored tradtion. Foremost rule: always grab the check first. This may require a keen eye and a swift hand.

If you don’t grab the check first, here are the various levels of fighting, from easy-going to serious, that I’ve discerned so far:

1. Nice/Half-hearted – this method rarely works.

You: I’ve got it.
Friend/Relative: No, I’ve got it.
You: No, really, it’s ok.
Friend/Relative: I insist!
You: Ok, but I get to pay next time/tomorrow/later today.
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It’s my wife and I’s 1st wedding anniversary. Since she reads this blog sporadically (mainly to catch any mention of her), I wanted to thank her for putting up with me as a husband for 365 days in a row. Thankfully, we haven’t had any real arguments about money. I think our main area of conflict is that I’m a messy slob. I thought she knew that going in ;P

My gift to her – James, an 8 month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel:

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I hope everyone is enjoying remembering those who have died in our nation’s service along with the eating of charred meat, potato salad, and beans from a can. Oh, and don’t forget to try “white trash champagne” – beer + lemon-lime soda.

On a more serious note, according to USMemorialDay.org:

“To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps’.”

Apparently someone I know knows someone who knows somebody to who knows this woman selling ad space on her body. (Got that?) $11,300!!! Talk about an easy summer college “job”! I’ve worked full-time entire summers for a lot less.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I have been chosen as a juror for an estimated 3-4 week trial. Balancing this and work is gonna s-u-c-k. I’m intrigued by the whole process though, and I’m not unhappy I suppose. I’m going to bring my laptop and see if I can get some work in during the (many) breaks. Maybe some blogging too. The case? Can’t tell ya, but let’s just say I know why certain Google Adsense keywords are so lucrative…