Once again I’m ripping of Peter King’s format.
1. I think that if Martin Luther King, Jr were alive he would endorse his day being expanded to something like “Anti-prejudice Day.” That’s not say that racial inequality isn’t deserving of a day of reflection… However, if not for the movie a couple of years ago or living in San Francisco I wouldn’t have known of Harvey Milk and I think he and his cause is worth remembering as well. (I’m disappointed in myself for not posting this in time for most of you to read this on MLK day.)
2. I think hosting a party is the best motivator I know for cleaning up our house. I have to give most of the credit to my wife on this one because I typically think that people won’t care.
3. I think I’m more than I little confused at Safeway’s coupon policy. We were the victim of a cash register error involving coupons at Safeway today. We had about $15 in coupons for dog food and treats and our receipt only said we saved $6. Due to the line of waiting customers we had to go customer service and find out what was up. We went through with a calculator and got all the money owed to us. There they said that their registers were changed yesterday so that if there’s one “buy one get one free” coupon that the rest of the coupons on the entire order wouldn’t apply – even if they were for different products. I started to argue because that clearly makes zero sense and the representative just offered to print out the coupon policy and then sent us on our way. I wish I wasn’t in a hurry because I would have liked to have found out why the register didn’t reject the coupon and at least give it back to us.
I glanced through the coupon policy and couldn’t find anything about the “buy one get one free” thing that the representative was talking about.
4. I think that I foolish brought down my site on Saturday morning for a couple of hours. For a little while I thought I might have lost a weeks of work, but I was able to get things up and going. Ironically, what brought down my site was my work to prepare more extensive backups of the data.
Five from the NFL (just a warning to those who aren’t football fans)
5. I think that was the best I’ve seen the Patriots play this year. As one player commented, they are peaking at the right time, which is what you want if you are a Bostonian like I am.
6. I think for all the talk about offensive teams being the best in the NFL this year, it’s interesting that the Saints and Packers no longer playing. Also that San Francisco – New Orleans game was one of the best games I have ever seen.
7. I think that the Saints and Packers games reminded us why it’s worth putting “any given Sunday…” at the forefront of any NFL playoff discussion. The media can go little wild with statistics and the small sample size of NFL playoffs games give them a lot more license to bring up things that aren’t statistically relevant. One thing that I think I saw was that Green Bay was 13-0 before 2002 in home playoff games and 2-4 since then. The turnover of the roster in the NFL means that few of those players before 2006 are still with the team. Let’s not mention that no one from the 1960’s teams that built up much of that 13-0 record are still with the teams.
8. I think I’m feeling a little proud about what I wrote about Gronkowski and Tebow previously: “While the football world is going crazy about Tebow, they are missing out on Rob Gronkowski – who is actually performing at a much, much higher level than Tebow.”
9. I think that as a Patriots fan living in San Francisco, I’m in a bit of quandary in the NFC Championship game. If the Patriots win (and that’s how I have to think), who should I root for in the NFC Championship game. It seems like a no-brainer for me to root for my local team and against New York (rooting against NY in sports is built into our Bostonian DNA). However, that puts me in an uncomfortable position for the next year of having half my wardrobe either appearing to taunt the local team or leading me to face ridicule of the local fans.
10. I think I ran out of items so this is filler :-).
On the other hand, if the Giants make it to the Super Bowl with the Patriots… that’s going to be a long two weeks of replays.
Top Personal Finance Posts:
- Digerati presents 12 month calendar and task list for a secure retirement.
- My Dollar Plan asks how much money do you have to make to file taxes?
- Million Dollar Journey goes over attributes of a successful entrepreneur.
- Frugal Dad is redefining action hero: Bill Gates is better than Batman (infographic).
- Free From Broke explains how to use gift cards wisely to maximize their value.
- Get Rich Slowly reveals what really makes your retirement accounts grow.
- Saving Advice talks about money lessons learned from birthday parties.
- Consumerism Commentary shares the worst celebrity tax problems.
- Mainstreet posts 10 things you might not know about your money.
With your #2, it does seem our house is always the cleanest right before the guests arrive. I have also noticed that you do not mess with your wife while she is cleaning up before guests arrive.
I hate cleaning up before guests because I know I’m going to have to clean up after anyway. But you have to do it nonetheless…
” I think that if Martin Luther King, Jr were alive he would endorse his day being expanded to something like “Anti-prejudice Day.””
I feel that one of the great things about the internet is that people can be judged based on the strength of their ideas rather than their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
For example, unless I click on the link to KC’s site, I know nothing about KC. KC could be a 50 year old heterosexual white male or a 21 year old African-American lesbian (although the “wife” comment makes it somewhat more likely that KC is a guy).
I don’t know which is the case, and it’s not important. What’s relevant is KC’s opinion on the issue.
OK, not a great example, since KC’s comment is hardly controversial, but it this article were about MLMs or peer to peer lending, KC’s age/gender/sexual orientation would be just as irrelevant.
I believe that the most important thing about a person is who they are inside their head – their ideas and personalities.
Over the years, I’ve had the chance to interact with a very diverse group of people whom I first knew by only a screen name.
Heck, I have business dealings with people that my wife thinks that I don’t “know”. Sure, I know them. I just wouldn’t reognize them if I passed them on the street.
OK, I’ll hop off my soap box.
The instinct to clean up for our place for guests is the same neurosis that gets us into trouble financially – that is, we are all way too concerned with what others think of us. This dysfunction compels us to buy things we cannot afford to impress people we don’t know or even care about. We should live independent of the good opinions of others. The best way to strengthen this new enlightened resolve is to host a party in your messy home. Perhaps when your house guests arrive, you can politely ask them if they wouldn’t mind helping you do the laundry, maybe they could wash your dishes, or push the vacuum around the house for a bit. Once they are done tidying up the place, you can offer them a glass of Chteau Lafite Rothschild. ;-)
Haha! Okay, Kosmo – If you’re serving Chteau Lafite Rothschild, I’ll be be there w/mop in hand!
Sounds good, Contrarian. You want to show up at my house around 8? Bring a mop.