Ten Things I Think I Think (and Personal Finance Links)

1. Mini-Vacation in the O.C. – With my wife giving a presentation in the O.C. we’ve packed up the dog and drove down for a couple of days. We’re staying on Huntington Beach – a surfer’s paradise (I don’t surf). I’ve counted more than a dozen people who don’t wear shoes and about a half-dozen Lamborghinis – odd place. This is the stereotypical California that you see on TV, not the San Francisco/Silicon Valley one that I live.
2. Shorebreak Hotel is great and terrible at the same time – I think I don’t know what this hotel was thinking. It’s extremely nice (perhaps one of the better bathrooms I’ve ever been in) and very modern. However, the “premium” Internet connection tops out at 1024Kbps (1M/s) and costs $10 a day. That speed makes it tough to watch YouTube videos – and forget about Netflix. (More thoughts on Shorebreak below.)
3. Much Faster Internet Speeds at Home – I think buying my own cable modem and setting it up to use WPA2 encryption, really juiced up my Internet connection. I was having trouble passing 10MB/s and now I’m getting 35MB/s. It’s something to think about if you have a slow Internet connection at home.
4. Putting the price of an Internet connection in perspective – At home I’m paying about $50 for 30 days at a download rate of 35M/s. That’s about 4.7 cents a day per megabyte of speed. With the $10/day rate for a megabyte of speed at my hotel, I’m paying 210 times what I paid at home if we were to try to make the services equivalent. I understand that hotel has to make a profit, but you’d think they’d at least have the option for a decent Internet connection at only a mere 10 times what I pay at home.
5. Years Later, the Lexus Christmas Commercials still Irritate me – I think I’ll probably never get over those Lexus commercials that just encourage people to surprise their spouse with a $60,000 purchase. I wrote about it a few years back: Surprise Honey, I Just Added $60,000 to Our Debt. When the economy was going well, I thought it was irresponsible, in times like these, I just think the company is trying to create a bad image for itself. It’s getting to the point where the brand has such a negative image in my eyes that I might start thinking of less of people who choose to give them their business.
6. $2 Meatball and Cold Cut Subs at Subway – I think one of the best deals this month is Subway’s $2 6-inch deal. It’s a perfect lunch size at around 400 calories on average. I haven’t seen Subway advertise this much in their stores, just a little $2 next to the items on their menu. I wonder how many people are going to make the mistake of paying $5 for the foot-long versions.
7. Technology on Airplanes – I think that I loved this NY Times article about using cell phones on airplanes. Nicely written, good snark – wished my fingers did the composing of it.
8. Valet Parking in Hotels – I think that this is one of my biggest pet peeves. I like to have easy access to my car in case I want to grab a bite to eat. I don’t want to have to wait 15 minutes and I certainly don’t want to have to pay or tip for the privilege of doing so. I can understand it being a necessity in some areas, like New York City, but here in LA where everyone has a car and it’s necessary, there’s no reason not to have free self parking for your guests.
9. Tebow! – I think I don’t have to say anything about him, but I will. My wife was double parked in picking me up from the sports bar where I was watching the Patriots (when you live far away from your team, and have no DirecTV it is your own option). The Patriots game was over, and the Broncos were down by 3. I started to protest that I wanted to watch the end of the game, but I quickly realized I knew what was going to happen. I thought it would take overtime, but it didn’t. Tebow magic reminds me a little of the Red Sox in the Morgan Magic days.
10. Movie of the Week – I think that I’m not very excited about Green Latern. My wife and I were about halfway through it when she fell asleep and we haven’t felt the need to continue to watching it. Perhaps later this week, we’ll fight through it.

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