Things have been going well my friends. Things have been going well. I have a lot of reasons for this, so it's time to just enumerate them and let you in on what has been icing my cakes recently.
1.) Mint.com. Can not fully express my love for this website. I've always been the type of person who lives within their means, but that typically meant spending nearly everything I made. This little beauty pulls all my accounts (banking, credit cards, paypal, loans, everything) into one spot and lets me know, "Hey, you're averaging this much income a month, and spending roughly this much on fast food, restaurants, golf, etc." From this, I've been able to structure things to start: A) Paying down my student loans, B ) Developing a legit plan for a savings account, C) Realizing where I can actually cut costs (started buying golf balls off eBay by the 100 pack, saving me roughly $0.60 a ball over new ones from the store. Aah, the advantages of not being great is that you don't really lose a lot of performance between using new balls vs used balls), D) Discovering what credit card might provide me with the best rewards package, given my spending habits. It's fantastic, free, and has a slick iPhone app. The app gives you a quick dashboard, lets you know of any alerts, and shows you any purchases or transfers you have made. For all of your accounts. Up until recently, I was using three different banks for all of my checking and savings accounts. I can not over emphasize how fantastic it was to see all of my accounts at once in one place. The only down side (and this is for protection) is that you're not able to make any transfers within Mint. It's just there to report and project, not to move and manipulate. So when I do have to make my monthly transfer to savings, or bill for rent, I have to go the bank directly, but that's not a big deal, and I appreciate the security. If someone hacks into my Mint account, they can see my balances, but they can't change them. Love this site, and at the low cost of free, can not love it more.
2.) Kaplan - Not the prepping part. That part is killing my Sunday and Monday nights. But now that I'm actually teaching a GMAT course, I'm getting paid at the teaching rate. And for whatever reason, it seems like they mail out their checks every Friday. I'm not complaining, because that means I'm getting a little extra kizzle (yep, sure did co-opt that from Courtney Gorden) seemingly every week. I do like extra money. It's not a lot, and probably wouldn't be enough to cover my basic living expenses, but when you only spend about 12 hours a week on it, you really can't expect it to. What you can expect is some pocket change to make life a little more enjoyable. I needed some new shorts and a pair of shoes. Thank you Kaplan for making those happen.
3.) The return of Jersey Shore. Oh man, is this show 100% pathetic, entertaining garbage. I love it. I really do. A lot of people have asked me why, and here's the current answer: Growing up, I never drank, and neither did any of the people I hung out with. They weren't members, but somehow I found a group of friends in high school that didn't drink. Needless to say, I never knew what people were like when they were drinking, so I tended to over-estimate how much their senses and judgment were impaired. Looking back at it, my projections of inebriated individuals matches up almost exactly with how the Jersey Shore-ites behave without alcohol. Only difference is that the Jersey Shore people stumble less. Let me re-phrase that - they stumble less sober than I would have imagined. Intoxicated they are like a toddler who just spent 5 minutes spinning with a bucket on his head. (Please do not ask how I know what this looks like.) So, yes, this show does thoroughly entertain me. However, the whole re-locating to Italy move is yet to add any real benefit yet. I'm hopeful, but not overly so.
4.) Playoff races. Diamondbacks up by 2.5 games. White Sox back by 3.5 games. It's getting
serious with only 40 or so games left. The dream is to have both of them make the playoffs, and possibly the World Series, but that's a dream.
5.) College football just over 2 weeks away. I love Baseball, in case any of you didn't know. I love it to the point that I get upset when they spend time talking about off-season NFL or NBA practices or scrimmages instead of more time on baseball. It infuriates me that NFL Live is year round while Baseball tonight is not, despite Baseball having a longer season. However, when they start talking about college football, I don't really mind as much. I plan on taking in at least two BYU games, and possibly more this season. And by take in, I mean watch in person. I plan on watching all of them, but most of them via television. Really makes me wish they still had UNLV on the schedule. A Vegas trip around a Cougars football game? Now that's ideal.
6.) Yoo-Hoo. I was talking with this really cute girl about camp outs and what was normally brought along for food. So of course, I mentioned ho-hos, hot dogs, swiss cake rolls, baked beans, and Yoo-Hoo. She nodded along until I got to the last one and then asked what it was. It wasn't that she never had it, but that she didn't know exactly what is was. Maybe this is a badge of honor for her parents, never having introduced her to the 0 nutritional value beverage that is Yoo-Hoo, but I was stunned. Of course, had to go find some. Compounding this issue was the fact that none the three nearest gas stations carried it in any form, bottle, can or even juice box. Now, maybe my memory is over compensating, but I'm willing to bet every gas station in Brevard County currently has at least one bottle of Yoo-Hoo in it's fridge. Next time you actually walk into the gas station, please check on this for me. I want to see if Yoo-Hoo is a local thing, or just absent in this locality. Either way, this led me to go to Walmart and buy a 12 pack of cans (I know, it's not as good as it is from the glass bottle, but it was that or the juice boxes, and juice boxes are so tiny) and introduce her to the goodness that is Yoo-Hoo. She was a good sport and drank a can, even though I could tell she would never ask for another. In her words, "It's like hot chocolate, but cold". In my words, "It's like awesome, but more awesome." I then drank the other 11 over the space of four days.
Word.
