July 28, 2008
Top Gear: Yes, sir. I like it.
I don't consider myself a car person, or at least I didn't really think I had a strong attraction to high speed and carbon fiber bodies until I watched a few episodes of Top Gear on BBC America. The show is interesting, funny, and the cars are downright sultry, at times. (I know, strange word to describe a car).
It's not just a show about test driving outrageously expensive, luxury or racing style cars... and that's what I like about it.
The last episode I watched had the three hosts each pick a used coupe (that's not a porsche) that they could purchase for under 1500 quid/pounds (~$3000 I guess). They put them through a series of tests meant to determine which car was the best choice for a coupe under $3000 (youtube video of part 1).
The best test was probably the comfort-ride test. Each driver put an open tupperware container of water on their lap and drove over a cobblestone road. Points were awarded according to the amount of water left in the container. It was a creative and entertaining way to judge ride comfort... there's nothing quite as enjoyable as watching grown men squirm about having wet pants.
Anyway, there are episodes of Top Gear online on the BBC website. Go have a look at a couple of them if the description sounds interesting... I'll be planning to watch each Monday night, assuming my alzheimers doesn't start fogging my brain.
July 22, 2008
July 20, 2008
The Dark Knight (Kanigget), good.
This week has been a stressful one. I have a project at work - writing software to allow our applications to make use of verifone credit card terminals (like the ones at retail stores - swipe your card, sign, cash back, etc.). The project didn't seem complicated at first, but misunderstandings and interruptions have kept the project from being completed in timely fashion. I'm very close to being done now, though... and will have a demo to clients soon (more stress).
The one thing I looked to for relief during the stressful week was the opening of the new batman movie. I'd been hearing great things and regardless of the great reviews, had it been just as good as its predecessor, Batman Begins, I would've been thrilled.
Critics had been talking it up so much that I'd been worked into a bat-frenzy. I tried to get Katie to see the midnight showing on Thursday, but she provided frenzy-less clarity, pointing out that we both had work and that we also go to bed at 10. Touche, tiny one, touche.
With Thursday night out of the way, and Friday night out (since the mobs would be out), we settled on Saturday morning (first showing). We called up the brother (not a random, black man... but my brother), and asked if he and his Katie would like to eat some breakfast and go see the movie together. He agreed, and the date was set. We grabbed up some tickets through fandango.com (who has a buy one ticket get one free promo if you use a discover card).
So, we stuffed ourselves silly at IHOP (and narrowly avoided beating three teenagers who were talking about The Dark Knight while we were waiting to be seated), then made our way to the theater.
The movie was fantastic - as the critics promised. I didn't really believe all the hype about Heath Ledger before I saw the movie... I'd read things like "the best movie villain", "better than Hannibal Lecter". Those were hard to believe, but Ledger did an amazing job. He was completely believable as a psychotic villain... and comes close to being one of the best movie villains, ever.
Even without Ledger's performance, I think the movie would've still been a reviewed extremely well. The movie was just well planned and precisely executed. Each character had a specific role to play and played their part of the story well, with no lingering details about their motivation or questions as to why they were in the movie. Everything just fit together. Great action, acting, plot and possibly social commentary (maybe we read too much into the comic book movie... it's possible).
Anyway, we all really liked the movie... and the week ended on a good note due to the satisfaction of the movie living up to the hype that preceded it.
July 5, 2008
Debt: My Personal Foe
This weekend my parents forwarded an article to the kids in the family that focused on family finances - not our family as a whole, but each family's finances. My Dad's take on the article was basically that it was worth reading because it provided a counter balance to the temptation to "keep up with the joneses" or buy into the marketers dream of buying every new thing because it's new and shiny (I'm talking to you, iphone 3g).
We're not getting these articles because our parents think we're doing terribly with our finances. They've acknowledged that we're doing better (to some extent) than they did at our age, but I think they recognize that everyone struggles with this kind of thing. So, regardless of how insulated we are from advertising hype and societal pressures it's good to see articles based in practicality every so often.
Each time I see emails or articles like these (or my bank account balances at the end of the month) I usually go into "Where the heck is my money going?" mode. At one point, I started writing a personal finance application... which was fun while I had spare time. It became easier, though, to quickly download and categorize expenses using excel when talking with the wife about our finances (more specifically, whether we can drop to one job if we have kids soon). Even with a grasp on where it was going (vacations, fast food, dental work, gifts, etc.) it's still hard to put the brakes on spending.
Our biggest culprits are all debt - things we should've held off on, honestly. This house - a $200 a month increase over the last. Two car notes, whereas a little over a year ago we had none. Lastly, the student loan debt which absolutely peeves me. We should've thought about the consequences of our student loan debt. It's almost as much as our two car notes each month, for a new car and an older SUV.
At the end of each month, I feel like we're not making enough headway toward paying off our debt. It's not an issue of making ends meet, or wondering where my money is going at the end of the month anymore. It's more of an issue of... here's where my money's going... now how can I change things so I can keep more of it... and I haven't figured it all out yet, to be honest.
So, I'm posting a list of the things I wish I hadn't done in retrospect... maybe I'll have children one day and this blog entry will still be floating around in the archives and they'll read it and understand that I'm smarter than they think I am...
- Stay in an apartment/with parents long enough to save up a decent down payment. Even though you can afford a house payment with 3% down, wait. Look at an amortization statement and see how much you pay in interest over 15 - 30 years. "Throwing money away" to landlords is improper advice until you have 20% of house's value ready to be paid down.
- Keep cars that are given to you (or that you buy in college) as long as you can. Even if you keep putting money into it - as long as the money isn't close to a 5 year car note commitment.
- Stay in your house for more than a year at a time. We obliterated our savings and equity by moving a year after building a brand new house.
- Avoid student loans at all costs. Apply for any and all scholarships and grants instead. Paying for off-campus housing with stafford loan refunds is a terrible idea. My bank account is proof.
If I'd done these things, I'd be able to focus more on quality of life changes - a new focus I've been pondering. Maybe I'll have another post about that later, which may be somewhat opposing in its view to this point, but I'm trying to find middle ground, here. I want to have a balance to retirement, expendable income and debt/obligations. Right now, because of our decisions I feel like debt is taking the lion's share of our assets.