The end of the football season means a few things: The Eagles did not win again and we now have 6 months without football aka depression. Last night's Super Bowl 44 was an awesome game last night that drew more viewers than people who actually voted in last election (My downer comment for the day).
I wanted to share my top 3 commercials along with one commercial that I absolutely hated:
3. ETrade Baby and Girlfriend and Milk-aholic - Nothing like introducing babies involved in Jerry Springer-like love triangles as well as tagging any milk drinker as the new homewrecker.
2. Doritos Baby - This one shocked me when it occurred and had me laughing for a good few minutes afterwards. Something about babies getting physical and talking fresh to someone whose eyes got too comfy!
1. Google Search - I thought of all the commercials last night, this was the most simple, yet most effective. It told a great story and I am sure connected with a ton of people. Not that they need to advertise or anything.
Worst Commercial During Super Bowl - Career Builder Casual Day Ad - Sorry but one too many commercials with men in their underwear just does not rub me the right way!
Only a few of the hours of commercials that we had to chose from last night.
Which ones stuck out to you?
Monday, February 8, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
All Muscle and No Customer Service
The people at my gym must not like money. It is either that or they just do not want to help me save money. Even worse, they tried to convince me that they were not ABLE to help me due to the technological constraints on their system.
My health insurance company reimburses me $150 if I make 120 visits during the year. That's like free money for me to go to the gym because I am making out with the free weights on a consistent basis (that's my attempt at stating I go to the gym OFTEN!). I logged onto my online gym account to find that I am able to view the last 6 months worth of my visits. So being the great customer I am, I went to my gym to speak with one of the on-site reps to see if I could get my entire year's recorded visits. Boy were my expectations too high!!
The rep at L.A. fitness printed out a sheet for me that stated I make payments monthly to my gym account and that it is active. When I informed him of what I really needed, he told me to come back during the hours of 10 AM to 6 PM when the branch manager was there. So I did so the next day and she informed me that I should revert to my online account to view the last 6 months. Does anyone in this establishment understand English? I need an entire years worth damnit!
She then tried to convince me that "The system does active the print function at the required screen." I asked her if she could take a screen shot and she responded with a blank stare similar to that of any blonde on the old 90210. I will give the branch manager credit, she was a brunette, but it looked dyed.
Regardless, why is it that it seems that many people whose business thrives on customer service lack common sense, logic, and/or both?
Monday, January 25, 2010
Adventures of the Last Graduate School Course
The end is finally sight and it is really taking up most of my time.
In January of 2007, I apprehensively jumped into graduate studies after finishing my undergraduate degree six months earlier. Last February, with only five classes to go, I was thinking of putting the school on hold to try and figure out what I really wanted to do. Instead, the higher ups (aka my current fiancee) put me back on the right track and convinced me to stay with it. I sure am glad they woke me up.
Twelve classes down and one to go. All that is left is this final capstone class that involves a ton of writing, reading cases studies, and fairly easy ten minute presentation. About 3/4th of the people in my class are in the same situation as I am, last class for graduation, so the feeling is shared amongst us that this is the final frontier.
The only problem is we have a professor who is teaching this class for the first time and he is not very good at it at all. We have case studies due weekly, as well as written summaries required to be submitted the day before class discussions on the same case.
Can you say busy work? I mean one would expect in a graduate level course that professional students would come to class prepared for intellectual discussions on the topic assigned. Is it really necessary that we summarize what we read? Do you really want to read 24 summaries? Actually, ARE YOU going to read all 24 of these damn case summaries? Professor, if you are reading this, you are wasting my time.
Stay tuned for more on this topic, I feel a hostile diatribe coming to me. In the mean time, forgive me for the lack of posting because this fool is taking up my reading/writing time with his busy work B.S. Me getting through this class and landing a grade that my company will pay for will be my way of sticking it to the man.
In January of 2007, I apprehensively jumped into graduate studies after finishing my undergraduate degree six months earlier. Last February, with only five classes to go, I was thinking of putting the school on hold to try and figure out what I really wanted to do. Instead, the higher ups (aka my current fiancee) put me back on the right track and convinced me to stay with it. I sure am glad they woke me up.
Twelve classes down and one to go. All that is left is this final capstone class that involves a ton of writing, reading cases studies, and fairly easy ten minute presentation. About 3/4th of the people in my class are in the same situation as I am, last class for graduation, so the feeling is shared amongst us that this is the final frontier.
The only problem is we have a professor who is teaching this class for the first time and he is not very good at it at all. We have case studies due weekly, as well as written summaries required to be submitted the day before class discussions on the same case.
Can you say busy work? I mean one would expect in a graduate level course that professional students would come to class prepared for intellectual discussions on the topic assigned. Is it really necessary that we summarize what we read? Do you really want to read 24 summaries? Actually, ARE YOU going to read all 24 of these damn case summaries? Professor, if you are reading this, you are wasting my time.
Stay tuned for more on this topic, I feel a hostile diatribe coming to me. In the mean time, forgive me for the lack of posting because this fool is taking up my reading/writing time with his busy work B.S. Me getting through this class and landing a grade that my company will pay for will be my way of sticking it to the man.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Saving vs Paying Down Debt
The choice is yours.
I always love talking about how I built up my emergency fund a few months ago because I feel that it is an accomplishment that demonstrates the progress I have made to save. But at what cost did I build up that fund? How about some interest on the credit card principle over the last few months?
All the money czars out there and their mothers agree that you should pay down your higher interests principles first, and then attach the next highest interest account, and so on and so forth. If you are getting a higher interest on your investment than the interest incurring on the debt, then keep the money in the savings account. This is the advice according to all the personal finance experts.
If you read this site often, you know (or might even be 110% certain) that I am no expert at all. I have tried over the last few months to pay down the principle to $0.00, but it has been an uphill battle. While I have made progress, it is time to take extreme measures and get this damn principle out of my life like that old stalking ex-girlfriend. OK I lied, I don't have an ex-girlfriend that stalked me or even an ex-girlfriend. All I have is a fiancee and my goal is to be in an attractive financial situation by the time I say "I Do" this upcoming July.
I am cashing out some money out of my savings in order to pay down the credit card debt. My ING online savings account is giving me some interest rate. I don't even want to call it an interest rate because it is minuscule (Insert "That's what she said" joke here). Michael Scott would agree, paying down debt is the smart way to go. Literally, the money in my savings account has just been sitting there, not doing anything, not even generating much interest. Rather than collecting $5.65 per month on my principle of $5,000, I am going to take out a short loan, from myself, and say bye bye to the bad principle.
A wise decision on my part? Or am I ignorant to the power of my minimal money market fund?
There are two sides to every story and maybe I could handle this a bit differently, however I am moving in the right direction by cleaning off the credit cards. I just have to keep it that way.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
December 2009 Net Worth Update: Up 34%
Even when things are really bad, you can always find a way to put a positive spin on it by just looking at the raw numbers. That describes my net worth in a nutshell. There is such a large amount of debt in there, however, certain things caused the debt to decrease this year that shoot my overal worth in the right direction.
The main debt is the student loan(s). One is private for $72,500 and the other is a federal loan for $22,000. Since I am in graduate school part time, the federal loan is in deferment until I am done. The good news is I have one class left for my master's degree. The bad news is that I have to start making payments on this loan now since my enrollment status has fallen below the minimum of 6 credits per sememster. Those two loans consist of almost 90% of my liabilities.
As far as my assets are concerned, my retirement account is the engine behind that force. It rebounded extremely well this year after going through the market crash of the last 18 months. It is back to a respectable level after a 48% annual return for 2009. Not too bad.
I am contemplating moving some of my cash towards my credit card debt to clean it off to $0 and hopefully keep it that way. I find it much easier to save up money when I do not have credit card debt, rather than pay down credit card debt slowly. Wiping it from my savings and then building the fund back up again might just be my answer. Thoughts?
How does your Net Worth look for 2009?
The main debt is the student loan(s). One is private for $72,500 and the other is a federal loan for $22,000. Since I am in graduate school part time, the federal loan is in deferment until I am done. The good news is I have one class left for my master's degree. The bad news is that I have to start making payments on this loan now since my enrollment status has fallen below the minimum of 6 credits per sememster. Those two loans consist of almost 90% of my liabilities.
As far as my assets are concerned, my retirement account is the engine behind that force. It rebounded extremely well this year after going through the market crash of the last 18 months. It is back to a respectable level after a 48% annual return for 2009. Not too bad.
I am contemplating moving some of my cash towards my credit card debt to clean it off to $0 and hopefully keep it that way. I find it much easier to save up money when I do not have credit card debt, rather than pay down credit card debt slowly. Wiping it from my savings and then building the fund back up again might just be my answer. Thoughts?
How does your Net Worth look for 2009?
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Year End Work Reviews: Expect the Unexpected
Sometimes you just have to accept whatever happens because the more you dwell on it, the harder it is to get over. Whether it pertains to financial decisions, love, life, or in my case, work, the only way to grow in the future is to learn from the present. Class is in session.
I had certain expectations going into my review that I was to get promoted. My boss and I had discussions over the latter part of this year and I really felt strong about getting the bump. Then reality set in and I actually had my year end review and the following words were spoken in my direction:
I was totally shell-shocked. I did not even know what to say, so I just sat there and made it seem like I was listening, all the while, my mind was racing over everything I worked on the last year. I will never agree nor fully understand the corporate world's evaluation of visible work. Something could be visible to everyone in the company, but the easiest task in the world. Other times we could work on something so complex, yet only the company mime knows of your efforts. That's the corporate world right?
I work in a support role for our company's enterprise data, meaning when applications break or incorrect data appears on our website, I have to fix it. Whatever tasks come in through the pipeline I handle and shoot the solutions right back, regardless of complexity. However, if the issues linger too long, then they become visible because stuff is broken. I could defend my case for hours and hours and eventually you would just unsubscribe from feed.
The point of this piece is not for me to sit here and rant and bitch about how all the work I did warranted a promotion. I know deep down inside I deserved it. The main point for you to take away from this is take control of your career. Make people understand the work that you are doing and how it impacts the big picture. A few of my coworkers call it "faking the funk" but it could not be a more poignant description. You could be working on something so simple that a caveman could do it, but if important people really believe that your actions impact their bottom line, then that is visibility. These are the skills that I lack.
The bottom line is that you own your career. Only you can control the gatekeepers of the next level that you are worthy of acceptance into heaven. Do not let the corporate mumbo jumbo cloud your evaluation of yourself. When it all comes down to it, look yourself in the mirror and ask if you really did do everything possible to convince thesehypocrites managers that you deserve the world's riches. If even one doubt comes into your mind, then you did not cover all avenues.
You could go a year straight of meetings with your boss and have rave reviews the entire year, but then they will pull that card out, that one doubt you had that your superior never mentioned all year. They will use that card like a blackjack dealer showing an Ace. You know you are set up for disappointment. The dealer turns over a king, dealer has black jack, dealer wins.
Don't let your company gamble with your career, take control of it yourself.
I had certain expectations going into my review that I was to get promoted. My boss and I had discussions over the latter part of this year and I really felt strong about getting the bump. Then reality set in and I actually had my year end review and the following words were spoken in my direction:
"We didn't feel that you did enough visible and complex work".
I was totally shell-shocked. I did not even know what to say, so I just sat there and made it seem like I was listening, all the while, my mind was racing over everything I worked on the last year. I will never agree nor fully understand the corporate world's evaluation of visible work. Something could be visible to everyone in the company, but the easiest task in the world. Other times we could work on something so complex, yet only the company mime knows of your efforts. That's the corporate world right?
I work in a support role for our company's enterprise data, meaning when applications break or incorrect data appears on our website, I have to fix it. Whatever tasks come in through the pipeline I handle and shoot the solutions right back, regardless of complexity. However, if the issues linger too long, then they become visible because stuff is broken. I could defend my case for hours and hours and eventually you would just unsubscribe from feed.
The point of this piece is not for me to sit here and rant and bitch about how all the work I did warranted a promotion. I know deep down inside I deserved it. The main point for you to take away from this is take control of your career. Make people understand the work that you are doing and how it impacts the big picture. A few of my coworkers call it "faking the funk" but it could not be a more poignant description. You could be working on something so simple that a caveman could do it, but if important people really believe that your actions impact their bottom line, then that is visibility. These are the skills that I lack.
The bottom line is that you own your career. Only you can control the gatekeepers of the next level that you are worthy of acceptance into heaven. Do not let the corporate mumbo jumbo cloud your evaluation of yourself. When it all comes down to it, look yourself in the mirror and ask if you really did do everything possible to convince these
You could go a year straight of meetings with your boss and have rave reviews the entire year, but then they will pull that card out, that one doubt you had that your superior never mentioned all year. They will use that card like a blackjack dealer showing an Ace. You know you are set up for disappointment. The dealer turns over a king, dealer has black jack, dealer wins.
Don't let your company gamble with your career, take control of it yourself.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
2009 New Year Resolution Review: I Sucked At Finances
The title to this post is pretty self explanatory. I set some goals at the beginning of 2009 and then I fell flat on my face. I started out 2009 by cleaning off my credit card debt to a principle of $0.00. I am carrying a balance currently of $2,100 on one and only one card. Much of this can be blamed to bad budgeting on my part (I might have to try one of Budgets Are Sexy's Free Templates). Every month I am cutting it close with paying my bills, mainly because I am redirecting cash to pay down the credit card bill or trying to pay extra on my student loan. When the non-pay period week roles around and my checking account is low, I look to monetary in aid in the form of the plastic cards in my wallet. Not a good thing at all.
My student loan is synonymous with the wickedest of all witches, Sallie Mae (just the sound of her name raises my blood pressure). We made some strides with this challenge, but we did not accomplish what I first set out to do. I started the year with $83,000 left on the loan and ended the year with a balance of $72,600. My expectations, according to my 2009 New Year Resolution, were to get the loan into the low to mid $60,000 range. Yeah I definitely sucked at that one as well. I started off the year great, paying a minimum of $1,400 every month, but that slowed down as the credit card principle grew. There was also a Vegas Vacation throw in the mix during October which set me back a month. Again, I only have my self to blame on this one.
The point of it all is that I really did drop the ball in 2009 when it came to my finances. A few instances came up where some of my funds needed to be redirected towards family obligations and then there were just bad decisions on my part. The family stuff is justifiable; however, I should put myself in a strong financial position that I am easily able to help out my family whenever needed and on occasions when not needed.
The year of 2009 is done. Along with that, you will not be hearing, seeing, or reading any more New Year Resolutions from this guy. Rather than trying to forecast my performance for the entire year, I am going to break it down into more manageable and REALISTIC time periods such as months. In all reality, all a New Year Resolution consists of is a wishful guess of where you want to be in 12 months. That is not putting yourself in the best position to be successful. I have been known to do a ton of talking and show little action. Let this be the point where I admit to realizing that I am full of crap.
Hello readers. Hello bloggers. Hello 2010.
My student loan is synonymous with the wickedest of all witches, Sallie Mae (just the sound of her name raises my blood pressure). We made some strides with this challenge, but we did not accomplish what I first set out to do. I started the year with $83,000 left on the loan and ended the year with a balance of $72,600. My expectations, according to my 2009 New Year Resolution, were to get the loan into the low to mid $60,000 range. Yeah I definitely sucked at that one as well. I started off the year great, paying a minimum of $1,400 every month, but that slowed down as the credit card principle grew. There was also a Vegas Vacation throw in the mix during October which set me back a month. Again, I only have my self to blame on this one.
The point of it all is that I really did drop the ball in 2009 when it came to my finances. A few instances came up where some of my funds needed to be redirected towards family obligations and then there were just bad decisions on my part. The family stuff is justifiable; however, I should put myself in a strong financial position that I am easily able to help out my family whenever needed and on occasions when not needed.
The year of 2009 is done. Along with that, you will not be hearing, seeing, or reading any more New Year Resolutions from this guy. Rather than trying to forecast my performance for the entire year, I am going to break it down into more manageable and REALISTIC time periods such as months. In all reality, all a New Year Resolution consists of is a wishful guess of where you want to be in 12 months. That is not putting yourself in the best position to be successful. I have been known to do a ton of talking and show little action. Let this be the point where I admit to realizing that I am full of crap.
Hello readers. Hello bloggers. Hello 2010.
Monday, December 28, 2009
7 Days Left in 2009 or 372 Days Left in 2010?
51 down and 1 to go.
I do not think you need to be looking at a calendar to realize that this is the final week of 2009. I was going to say the decade, however, I did not want to use that term since I wasn't sure if if the first year was 2000 or 2001, so I will spare myself the opportunity to advertise my ignorance like Mr. Neuman in the video.
Three weeks ago, I implored you to Make The Last 25 Days of 2009 Count by focusing on the right now, rather than the 2010 outlook. It is that point in the year when everyone begins to think about their 2010 New Year's Resolution and what they want to accomplish over the next 365 days. Similarly to three weeks ago, I encourage you to take advantage of the last seven days of 2009 to jump start yourself the next year. You could even consider the next year starting now and consisting of 372 days!
I moved in the right direction by decreasing my credit card debt 35%. I still have a principle of almost 2k left to pay down and am looking to handle that these next two weeks. I also had my year end review last week, it went well, but I will save that for tomorrow's post because a bunch of stuff went down that needs to be addressed.
What did you get done the last 3 weeks and more importantly...
What will you accomplish in the final week of 2009?
Monday, December 7, 2009
25 Days Left In 2009: Make It Count!
The clocking is quickly ticking on 2009 and the year is winding down. Your company has probably completed its budgeting for next year and all anyone is talking about is the year 2010. Don't let all of this talk about next year get your mind of the situation at hand: There are still 25 days left to make some serious moves for 2009.
This time of the year, many people start thinking about the new things that they want to accomplish in the new year. They dream about accomplishing all these big things and they have not even completed the things they set out to do for the previous year! I am as guilty as anyone with this accusation and for some proof check out my New Year;s Resolution for 2009, none of which I have come close to (Stay tuned for my official and last ever recap of any resolution).
Many times we stretch out our outlook into timetables that are just too large, like say .... one year? I set goals for the year and I did not do too well. I used to set monthly goals on the 1st day of every new month, but those habits gradually became as active as Sarah Palin's future as a public speaker! We love thinking big and often times, too big. With 25 days left, this gives us the perfect opportunity to get back on the wagon BEFORE the year ends. This way we can be on a hot streak the second the ball drops (Make sure you find someone to make out with at midnight).
My plans for the next 25 days are pretty simple: Go back to the old routine. My life has been busy but that is really not a good excuse to tell myself in the mirror. You may have noticed (Or not noticed since the traffic has been weak) that my blog posts have been scarce. Even worse has been my appearances at the gym as I feel like a waste of space these days. The only very active role I have been taking these days has been that of a financial idiot. I am looking to right my ship and get the funds back on track by getting the plastic debt principle aka credit card debt down to $0.00.
That is my list to attempt to end 2009... what do you want to get done?
This time of the year, many people start thinking about the new things that they want to accomplish in the new year. They dream about accomplishing all these big things and they have not even completed the things they set out to do for the previous year! I am as guilty as anyone with this accusation and for some proof check out my New Year;s Resolution for 2009, none of which I have come close to (Stay tuned for my official and last ever recap of any resolution).
Many times we stretch out our outlook into timetables that are just too large, like say .... one year? I set goals for the year and I did not do too well. I used to set monthly goals on the 1st day of every new month, but those habits gradually became as active as Sarah Palin's future as a public speaker! We love thinking big and often times, too big. With 25 days left, this gives us the perfect opportunity to get back on the wagon BEFORE the year ends. This way we can be on a hot streak the second the ball drops (Make sure you find someone to make out with at midnight).
My plans for the next 25 days are pretty simple: Go back to the old routine. My life has been busy but that is really not a good excuse to tell myself in the mirror. You may have noticed (Or not noticed since the traffic has been weak) that my blog posts have been scarce. Even worse has been my appearances at the gym as I feel like a waste of space these days. The only very active role I have been taking these days has been that of a financial idiot. I am looking to right my ship and get the funds back on track by getting the plastic debt principle aka credit card debt down to $0.00.
That is my list to attempt to end 2009... what do you want to get done?
Friday, November 27, 2009
Black Friday Shopping Madness!
Not this guy.
You will not find me at any mall on this day looking for the crazy and cheap deals. I am not a big shopping in the first place, but even if I was, I just can not justify having to deal with the long lines and aggressive shoppers that show up on this day that is coined as "Black Friday". People may deny it, but we are still in a recession. Even if people think the recession is over, that does not mean we should be running around purchasing items just because they are dirt cheap.
To make my decision even easier, I actually have to work today. A bunch of my friends have been running around all morning at the local malls and a few even went out last night after midnight to some stores that opened early. Miss Fiancee usually wakes up at 3 AM every year and rolls out all morning shopping with her mom. Good thing she is still India wedding shopping or she would have been part of this day when retail stores accurately price most of their products.
I have enough things that I am trying to pay for every single day. Just because the whole world marks the prices down to what they really should cost doesn't meant they will get my money. Maybe I am bitter because of my debt or maybe it is the fact that I am at work right now, either way, I will hold onto my cash on this day. Think about it.
Be safe today. Look both ways before you cross the concourse at your local mall, people will do crazy things for a $5 Blue Ray Disc.
You will not find me at any mall on this day looking for the crazy and cheap deals. I am not a big shopping in the first place, but even if I was, I just can not justify having to deal with the long lines and aggressive shoppers that show up on this day that is coined as "Black Friday". People may deny it, but we are still in a recession. Even if people think the recession is over, that does not mean we should be running around purchasing items just because they are dirt cheap.
To make my decision even easier, I actually have to work today. A bunch of my friends have been running around all morning at the local malls and a few even went out last night after midnight to some stores that opened early. Miss Fiancee usually wakes up at 3 AM every year and rolls out all morning shopping with her mom. Good thing she is still India wedding shopping or she would have been part of this day when retail stores accurately price most of their products.
I have enough things that I am trying to pay for every single day. Just because the whole world marks the prices down to what they really should cost doesn't meant they will get my money. Maybe I am bitter because of my debt or maybe it is the fact that I am at work right now, either way, I will hold onto my cash on this day. Think about it.
Be safe today. Look both ways before you cross the concourse at your local mall, people will do crazy things for a $5 Blue Ray Disc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Get At Me on TWITTER!
