Money Magazine has an article interviewing several celebrities on their money habits. Here are a few that I liked:

• My Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger – “Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million, but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.” That sounds a little more like Terminator logic than the logic I’d want from my governor. The thing is that while 2 million might not be a lot when you have 48 million (just 4%), I bet the average person would consider 2M to be a big difference in their lives. I’m not saying that money makes you happy, but I don’t think his logic makes any sense.
• Jerry Seinfeld – “Dogs have no money. Isn’t that amazing? They’re broke their entire lives. But they get through. You know why dogs have no money? No pockets.” What?!?! Why is this in Money Magazine? What are we learning here?
• James Taylor – “Time may be money, but your money won’t buy time.” – From “Sun on the Moon” James, my friend, money can buy you so much time. It can save you from having to do errands like landscaping and laundry. It can buy you better medicines which can buy longevity.
• Cheryl Tiegs – Leave it to the supermodel to come up with the best idea. It’s a little long to quote, but she’s refreshing down to earth for a supermodel. The real gem is her parenting advice though. Well worth the clickthrough, and I’m not going to spoil the surprise here.

I mentioned last Friday that I had recently brought a a new mattress and a new set of tires. When two big expenses come up like this, it makes you think about what else might come up next. “They” say things come in threes right?

In anticipation of that third item, I’ve decided that my to-do list is going to grow a little bigger. At some point in the next couple of months, I’m going to take a tour of all my possessions and assess how long each of them might last. For instance the bedroom set is about 9 years old now, but I think it could last another ten years without a problem. My couch is only 3 years old, but some of the cushions are going to need a little work in a couple of years. The microwave is pretty old and could be the third item to need replacing. At least that’s not going to be a pricey fix.

Does anyone else take inventory of his/her possessions?

I have to admit it – sometimes Energi Gal and I like to stay in on Friday nights. It’s not about saving money or anything like that. I think it’s just that it’s good to wind down from a long work-week.One of the shows that we like to watch is 1 vs. 100. I do okay, but Energi Gal is a dominate force. We’ve seen about 8 episodes and on only one question has she not known the answer – and on that question she guessed it right!

Right before the commercial they have a “Play 1 vs. 100 at Home” game for $100,000. The question is typically extremely easy such as this past week’s “What completes the phrase ‘like finding a ________ in a haystack.'” The options were a) pitchfork b) needle c) ice pick. Answer correctly (as 99% of the people in the group of 100 did) and you get entered in the drawing. It’s free to play via the web, but they advertise the easy way – text messaging from a cell phone. Of course there’s a 99-cent charge per entry and fortunately you can enter up to 10 times.

It makes me wonder how many people miss the fine-print and the disclosure of the 99-cent charge. How much money do you think NBC brings in from this lottery?

Last night I was watching the new NBC show Identity. I thought it would be terrible, but it’s really not bad. There’s a crazy rule and it drives me crazy. If you get everyone’s identity right and get to the final two, they take away your Mistaken Identity – your do-over if you make a mistake.

So last night, the contestant gets down to three people. There is one male, a burly looking biker-type and two women, one in a nice dress and another in a just a typical shirt and shorts. The three clues she has to match are alligator wrestler, kidney donor, and CSI Investigator (at least I think that was the last one). So she chooses the guy and matches him with the alligator wrestler after getting all the experts’ opinions. She gets it right cutting it to the two women. She loses her Mistaken Identity and realizes that she can go home with $250,000 or risk it all on a 50/50 shot at $500,000. She does the right thing and goes home.

Can you figure out what she should have done? If not, read on. She should have taken a stab at the kidney donor or the CSI Investigator as one of the women. Even if she gets it wrong, she just loses the Mistaken Identity. She can then ask the experts on the easy alligator wrestler. After that, due to the process of elimination, she can figure out the last two and take home the $500,000.

Hopefully, the other contestants will figure this out and take advantage. If so, NBC could be giving out some prize money – this situation has come up a couple of times in the first week.

One of the coolest things that I found about San Francisco was the Brainwash Cafe. Sure it doesn’t look like much from the outside, but you really need to give it a shot.

What makes it one of the best ideas ever? It’s a laundromat… it’s a cafe (with a liquor license)… it’s an arcade (okay only 3 pinball machines… and it’s a concert hall (as long as your band can fit on a 6′ x 4′ stage).

Everything is reasonably priced as well. If you get there from 4-7PM during the work week, they have $1 Pabst on draft. They’ll even give you $1 off the food (or a free beer) if you are there to do laundry. My friend commented that it must be the best place in the world to pick up women. I imagine it would be.

On the night that we went, Everyday Jones was the entertainment. They totally rocked and I even got to pull Alissa’s braid. Even though Energy Gal (my fiance) will kill me, I’m going to go out and say that she was super attractive. If you get a chance check them out.