I apologize for back to back editions of links. I figure most of you are still out of town enjoying left over turkey sandwiches. (Is there anything better than leftover turkey and stuffing in a sandwich with gravy poured over it?) I’m not turning into a full-time link machine though. I have been focusing my attention on catching up all the terrific articles that were in the last two weeks while I was away. Unfortunately that required reading more than 500 articles in the last 24 hours. I would have been advised to try to put my head in a blender. While I recover here are some articles that I liked this week or while I was away:

• I like Blueprint for Financial Prosperity’s You area Business, Act Like One. For too long, I thought of the company that I worked for as a business and that was the wrong mindset for me. I need to remember that I am a business and price myself accordingly.
• Ben at Money Smart Life gives some ideas on how to live within your budget. I need reminders like this since I’m trying to live a very frugal lifestyle while my income has stalled.
• Fortunately, The Digerati Life helps me with my income by giving me some tips on how to increase my income.
• Golbguru talks about the sandwiched generation. This is where the middle-aged generation have to pay for their parents’ retirement while also having to pay to raise their kids. I’m fortunate that my mother has planned for her retirement long in advance. We don’t have children either, so there’s currently no pressure, but I can see how this would be a problem for some families.
• Someone thinks that Americans are saving too much for retirement. I think in a world without pensions, a falling dollar, increased globalization too much might be difficult on a collective basis.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary ranks the most and least dangerous cities. A city close to my heart, Newton, MA is the 8th safest city. I can believe it since it’s a very wealthy neighborhood.
• No Credit Needed does a great job of getting me ENERGIZED about retirement plans. I’d use the 6% numbers to offset the factors of inflation. It looks like $800,000 in 401K and Roth IRAs can yield more than 3.3 million dollars – even at the 6% numbers.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter asks if we can do without some holiday expenses. Without sounding like a Scrooge, I agree with him on many of these.
• Free Money Finance gives an update on how how Medicare works. I’ve been learning quite a bit about Medicare from a hospital administration perspective since that’s part of my wife’s day job.
• Five Cent Nickel says that the dish network still isn’t good (toning down his language). I ran into that with Comcast this past week. Our bill jumped 30% when a “promotion” that we didn’t know we had ended. On top of it, I found myself having to spend $5 a month for the NFL network to just watch a couple of games a week.
• Brip Blap writes 8 steps to a six figure career. I thought this was a fantastic article. It’s very good advice that’s worked for him. For me, I could have simply used the “get a computer science degree”, “move to Silicon Valley.”
  That’s worked well for me in the last year until I stopped working last month.

I’m heading out of the country on our honeymoon. I’ve got a number of articles lined up that I think you’ll enjoy, so don’t forget about me. There are more details to follow on Monday. In the meantime, here are some articles that I liked this week:

• Golbguru give us some things we should know about percentage traps. This is a great article and not one to miss.
• Sun asks if Chinese Stocks are too hot to handle. I think they might be too hot for me. It reminds me of the Internet boom. There are likely going to be some huge winners and huge losers. I just don’t know what those are.
• Money Smart Life asks why are some people so ignorant about money.
• Generation X Finance says that owning a home isn’t always all its cracked up to be. I have to agree, especially since I’m quite Lazy.
• Along the same theme, Blueprint for Financial Prosperity asks if you are glad you rented, instead of bought.
• The Digerati Life writes about the minimum budget for living in California. It’s an interesting study – especially for me living in Califonia.
• Free Money Finance tackles the question of whether it’s okay to lie about how much you made during and interview. I’m on the fence on this one and try to weasle my way out as best I can. It’s an unfair question for any employer to ask and as soon as I hear it, I think twice whether I want to work there.
• Five Cent Nickel gives writes about the contribution limits of some tax advantage accounts in 2008.
• No Credit Needed is too busy for me to keep up with. He’s got a new will, new life insurance, new minivan. What’s next?!?!
• Mighty Bargain Hunter asks if a share of Google will be more than an ounce of gold. Share prices are largely irrelevant. If Google splits the stock, it doesn’t make it worth any less.

I started a new blog this week. I tried not to, but circumstances were beyond my control. Recently, I was driving home and though I was 3,000 miles away from my hometown of Boston, the radio couldn’t get off the topic. With the Red Sox in the World Series, the Patriots undefeated, and BC #2 ranked team in college football, Boston is “an embarrassment of riches” according to the broadcasters. They are 100% right. A neighbor saw my Red Sox shirt the other day and we got to talking. She’s a San Francisco Giants fan. I didn’t know what to say. I felt horrible that the Giants hadn’t won a title since they moved here (something I was not aware of). The Red Sox have always been at least competitive, even when they were losing in the 7th game. It was an awkward conversation.

The introduction of Lazy Man and Sports will allow me divert all my sports commentary there and leave Lazy Man and Money with a tighter focus on money. Let’s get onto the links, shall we?

• I’d like to take a minute to thank The Dough Roller for including me the Carnival of Personal Finance.
• Money Smart Life got the bait and switch with Comcast.
• Sun sold his Microsoft stock, but just a little too early. When I went to Fast Money last week, they said that they expected Microsoft to jump to 32, a gain of around 10% at the time. They’ve done even better than that.
• Silicon Valley Blogger gives some advice on how to cut hair costs. If only this was an acceptable solution to my wife’s pricey hair budget.
• Golbguru is on a sales rant. I have to agree the word is tossed around a little too much.
• With a sarcastic title, Generation X Finance says don’t save money, just use home equity.
• No Credit Needed purchased a minivan and has a pile of helpful car buying tips.
• The Blueprint for Financial prosperity says you should never pay bank fees. I don’t see how anyone pays fees anymore, but they do.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter says that Ebay is taking on inflated shipping charges. I have a hard time trying to figure out the appropriate price for shipping. It seems like I can never right before I actually go to ship the product.
• Free Money Finance continues the discussion of whether money buy happiness. My theory is that money buys freedoms.
• Five Cent Nickel asks if busy schedules are a money saver or money waster. I think it depends on the situation. I can think of scenarios where either can be true.

It’s game 6 for the Red Sox and if you have been a fan you know that something special is likely to happen tonight. ESPN went back and recapped some of the famous game 6’s the Red Sox have been involved in.

In 1967, the Red Sox came back from a 2-1 deficit to win the game and force a game 7.
In 1975, one of the most famous home runs was hit – Carlton Fisk waving it fair over the Green Monster.
In 1986, there was the big collapse with the famous ball going through Bill Buckner’s legs.
In 2004, Curt Schilling with essentially a broken foot beat the Yankees. Yes, this is the famous bloody sock game.

Tonight Schilling takes the mound in a game 6 again. There’s an 80% chance I’m going to cut my ankle and bloody up a sock in tribute to that last performance of Schilling’s. I’m joking… maybe… Let’s go to the links:

The Digerati Life is tells about Silicon Valley job history. If you think that I’m just linking to get extra entries to win a $50 iTunes card in her giveaway than you know me too well.

Five Cent Nickel is doing some awesome charity work. I would join in, but with losing 50% of our household income, I need to cramp down on all expenditures. So maybe my contribution is to bring attention to this great work.

Money Smart Life gives me an idea to win 50,000. I will have to look into this, because it would be a good “job” for me now.

Golbguru is Glad that Oil prices are rising. I’m glad as well, because it means that people will look into other energy alternatives, something good for the long term.

I don’t usually like to other link-ups, but I’m making an exception for Generation X Finance. He’s got a podcast coming up next week presented by About.com and sponsored by Charles Schwab. It’s not everyday that a personal finance blogger can say that.

Sun asks if we are rate chasers. I’m not because it’s too much work for too little profit. I hate transferring money all over the place – it just doesn’t seem efficient.

Jim tells us the basics of prenuptial agreements. We had meant to get a prenup for some time, but got distracted by the wedding planning itself.

Free Money Finance tells us how not to get a job. My plan is to not apply for one – cut that “problem” right from the source ;-).

No Credit Needed writes how he lives without a credit card. I just don’t get how he reserves a hotel room, rents a car, or buys anything online.

Mighty Bargain Hunter writes seven ways to conquer Chuck E. Cheese. I’m going to have file this away for the future.

In less than an hour the undefeated Patriots will take the field against the unbeating the Cowboys. Many have said it’s the biggest game of the year and a potential Super Bowl preview. I can’t understand why the game isn’t on TV nationwide. So I need to go to the bar with DirecTV and sip a couple of beers slowly. While I’m their rooting for the Patriots catch these links:

• Money, Matter and More Musings writes about olive oil. I’ve always thought it was healthier, but now I need to do some research.
• Money Smart Life writes about the health insurance blame game.
• Digerati Life gives us the top 10 cheapest ways to exercise.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary reviews Kiplinger’s Best List
• Generation X Finance says you need to use the right benchmark to accurately measure investment performance.
• Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity has 9 tips for saving gas.
• Free Money Finance asks what is it worth for you to have flexible work hours/work at home?.
• Five Cent Nickel was called by a collection agency.
• No Credit Needed gives us some tips on saving for college.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter has 5 tips for minding your online business after having his site be offline for 5 days.