Random Thoughts (Mostly Financial) and Links

It’s time to clear out some of the random things that are flowing through my mind…

• The Mission Inn – I’m staying near the Mission Inn in Riverside, CA where my wife has business this week. A national landmark, the Mission Inn puts on quite the holiday display – 350,000 lights and 800 animatronic figures (the Wikipedia article needs updating). Ten US Presidents have stayed there as well as this list of famous people. I always say that if it’s good enough for Tears for Fears, it’s good enough for me.
• Buy One Get One Free Cars? – It’s true to a degree. The catch is that you can’t haggle in price and you have to pay taxes, fees on the other car. Still sounds like a good deal if you are in the market for two Dodge Rams.
• The New England Patriots Called Me This Morning – It seems they have some openings in their linebacker and secondary units. I know I’m only 5’9″ and 180 pounds, but maybe I’ll see if they’ll sign me for a one game contract against Oakland this weekend. I’m local – why not?
• Price of Gas – Just heard on the local news that the price of gas has fallen for 82 consecutive days in California. It’s hard to imagine that it didn’t stay even at least one day in there.
• Chris Rock is Funny – I caught an HBO special with him this weekend. He had some good jokes about people paying for bottled water and ringtones. He then transitioned into how men have to be more careful with their money, because women come with a built-in payment option that’s accepted everywhere – like Visa. I won’t elaborate as it’s an adult topic. The special would have been better if it wasn’t spliced together from 3 different show as Chris Rock appeared to change jokes even in mid-sentence of a joke.
• The Lexus Holiday Commercials are Getting Better… – … but I’m still not buying the concept of buying a car as a surprise. If you are going to run these commercials, run them on CNBC’s high net worth shows – not during a blue-collar football game. I say they are getting better, because the commercials are more creative in the years past comparing the gift of a Lexus to the best gift a person has gotten. That’s about all I’ll say on this because I’ve mentioned in 2006 as well as 2007.
• I Still Love the Marriott – While on business with my wife, I’m working from the Marriott in Riverside, CA (the Mission Inn had no vacancy). Because my wife works for the government, she gets the government rate (around $80-100 a night). Because she’s stayed in Marriott’s enough times, she’s qualified for Silver Elite status. This means that we have a penthouse floor with access to the executive lounge. The lounge has full breakfast (eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, soda, milk, fresh squeezed orange juice, etc.), magazines, newspapers, computer with Internet and printer, and cable television with a plasma television. We watched the Ravens-Redskins game last night with a nice gentleman – quite possibly the only football game my wife has enjoyed watching.

And now for some links that I liked this week…

Money Writers:

• Brip Blap explains why you’ll be richer without kids.
• Frugal Dad asks are you suffering from Budget Avoidance Syndrome?
• Generation X Finance warns readers to prepare for an increase in mutual fund expense ratios.
• Million Dollar Journey writes what have I learned from this Bear Market.
• Digerati Life asks are you in financial trouble? Here are some money tips to help you cope with hard times.
• Money Smart Life says save money at the movie Theatre with discounted & free tickets. Read to learn how.
• My Dollar Plan wonders is your credit application affected by your job?
• The Sun’s Financial Diary posts can you earn too much ING direct referral bonus? Interesting story attached to the question.

More Financial Posts:

• NCN writes 10 steps to escaping the paycheck to paycheck cycle.
• Five Cent Nickel on how do Federal Income Tax Brackets work.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity writes about the total cost of owning a dog.