Went to NBA Finals (and weekend links)

This past Thursday, I was reminded of the power of social capital. A friend of mine contacted another friend (who works for the Celtics) on my behalf to score tickets to last Thursday’s game. I’m the type of person who won’t bug a movie star for an autograph. Even though I am fairly close with both friends, I just didn’t feel comfortable asking since I was sure that he had a billion other friends who would love to go. I’d like to take a minute and thank both friends.

It was a phenomenal game. When we saw Paul Pierce get carried off the floor, I was sure it doomed any chance the Celtics had. I turned to my friend and said, that’s a “CL of some sort”, referring knee ligaments. I think I’ll always remember looking up at the Jumbotron and seeing Pierce coming back ready to play as if nothing had happened. The crowd went wild. It was like Adam Vinatieri kicking a 45 yard field goal in a pile of snow in 2001 or the Red Sox winning four straight from the Yankees on the strength of a bloody socked Curt Schilling. These thing had no business happening, yet they did.

Onto the links:

• Airline fuel surcharges over at Million Dollar Journey is about how gasoline costs are affecting prices. This is true in another way that wasn’t mentioned in the post. We’re spending more on gas and have less to spend on vacations and traveling. Airlines have to charge more because they aren’t filling all their seats.
• My Dollar Plan posts 10 financial tips for new grads . The best one in my book is spending your money slowly. Don’t buy that new car you were salivating over, use your money instead to (do the 2 and 3 best tips) either invest aggressively or save for your future.
• Buy one house, get one free?! Sounds like gimmick but with the housing market so bad at the moment it isn’t. Mighty Bargain Hunter explains that some developers are looking to unload and fast. Keep your eyes open, house hunters, you might just get a steal.
• I pay myself first – and last – and all along the way is a great post. Now you might not hold accounts or operate the same way NCN does, but the point is the same. Find ways to contribute to your savings as those (tiny) amounts will really add up.
• Free Money Finance posts this week how to invest if you don’t have much money . There are a few suggestions with as little at $50 to invest with.
• When I thought about it, this made a lot of sense to me. Over at Digerati Life the post the secret lives of stay-at-home mommys are making millions through day trading.
• Price drops are good for young investors in the stock market because as Generation X says if they didn’t go down the returns would never be as good. Use the link to the stock return calculator to see if the stock is well priced.
• In the post the worst “timing” ever by Sun’s Financial Diary learn about buying Mutual funds so as to avoid buying-the-dividend to hampering bill payment.
• Brip Blap’s make money now versus make money later is a post on decision making from jobs to investing. The big question here is what would you do?
• So you got an announcement in the mail for Mary Jane and you don’t want to just mail money back in a card, if you go to Money Smart Life’s post for gift ideas for college grads you can do one better and help them start off financially on the right foot.