My high school cheated me out of an economics class. I had a teacher named Mr., you know what, I don't remember his name. But he gave us a stupid project where we pick stocks and see how we much fake money we made. We learned supply and demand and that's about it. So my surrogate teachers in economics are Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell. These two men should be weekly reading for everyone.
Several years ago I was introduced to ING Direct. It is an online bank. I opened a savings account with them because they have the best rates around plus the convenience of the internet.
Along with mortgages and cd's ING just started an electronic checking account. It is completely paperless so you don't write checks. Everything is wired through the internet. The also offer a 4% APY for the account. That is unbelievable for a checking account.
I just found out about it so I figured I would pass on the info. When I signed up for an ING savings account I got 25 bucks free and the person who refered me got $10. The same deal applies if you put in at least $250. If you want to take advantage let me know and I will refer you.
Duckets are duckets.
"The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda."
This post is inspired by Al Gore's presence at the Oscar's.
For interesting thoughts on enviromentalism, climate change and global warming check out www.michaelchrichton.com and click on speeches.
Crichton is speaking at the Asia Room in NYC next month. It is sold out and I am unable to get a ticket. If anyone out there has connections and can hook me up let me know!
Balance - our goal for 2007...
Laura and I just moved from Holbrook, NY to Long Beach, NY fulfilling one of our life goals of living at the beach. In a perfect world that beach would have been in a warmer climate - but we are making the best of it!
This move has cut my commute to work from 4 hours total, door to door, morning and night to a little over 2 hours total. So I have about 2 hours of my life back. I get to walk to the train station- partially fulfilling another goal of being able to walk to work- so I get a little exercise thus adding to the "balance".
I am trying to work an 8 hour day. It is almost impossible, but if I keep it at the front of my mind the more I achieve it. Can you be successful only working 40 hours a week? I guess it's all how you define success.
Keeping in touch with people has been very difficult and I do not help matters. We have been so blessed with great friends in each of the places we have lived. And it seems like no matter how much time pasts between the time we talk or see each other, it is never hard to pick right up where we left off. Hopefully I will be more balanced in this area.
I haven't been a regular blogger but I want to be.
Here's to being balanced
Everywhere I turned there were eyes watching me: Jesus, Saint Paul, Mary and many other figures of church history. It was was eerie. I did not like it.
The engineering company I work for was retained to perform a structural review of Our Lady of Vilnius Church in Manhattan. So I spent four hours avoiding contact with statues and stained glass as I did my job.
The church is in danger of being sold if it is beyond repair. The people associated with the church very much want us to be able to fix it. Joy, the care-taker, asked that I would put her request that the church be repaired into my report.
The very place that I could not wait to get out of was of immense importance people. I viewed all the eyes in the room as looking at me. Others must see the faces as watching over them.
I wouldn't say it was a goal of mine but I did attempt something in early spring and just finished this past weekend. I read an entire book in the bathroom. Not one of those bathroom readers or chicken soup for the soul ones but an actual book - a non-fiction book on a current political figure. Come to think of it, the bathroom was a pretty good place to read this one. I may have finished sooner if Laura didn't hide the book everytime guests came over. She would put my book under the sink and I'd forget about it. I have to figure out a way to test my reading comprehension to see if it was worth it. I don't have any plans to start a new one. I'll keep everyone posted.
Due to limited computer time my posts are few are far between to say the least. I just started a new job in NYC. I have about a 2 hour door to door commute in both the morning and evening. I take the train so I get to do a lot of reading and that has actually been refreshing. One of my subtle joys is watching people run for the train at the different stops. And at the end of the day you should see people "book it" through Penn Station. My first day on the train a guy talked my ear off the whole way. Now I know why people don't make eye contact with you.
The Solis Foundation is a non-profit organization focused on ending poverty and creating economic sustainability in developing communities in foreign countries and the US. I am excited about what they are doing and am glad to make donations toward their efforts.
Please check out their website when you have a chance.
Most of Kid Rock's music is too crude for me but some of his songs are awesome. He has a great voice and his sound is memorable. A couple of his songs require a shower after listening to them but I just delete them.
On the inside of one of his albums he makes this quote:
"If it looks good, you'll see it; if it sounds good, you'll hear it, if it is marketed right, you'll buy it; but...if it's real, you'll feel it."
Okay, enough Kid.
Laura and I saw Superman last night. We had free tickets so what the heck right? Well if you are teetering on the fence to see it or not I suggest you save your 10 bucks. Some of the special effects were cool and I enjoyed watching Kevin Spacey play Lex Luther. Other than that I'd say its a snoozer.
Hollywood wasted my time - a whole 2.5 hours on this one. Good-bye Lois.
I treated myself to an ipod for my birthday. It is awesome. The design is so cool, especially the wheel.
Right now I have 574 songs on my ipod or two days worth of music. I also can watch videos and I love the podcasts.
June 30th is my last day of work at my current job. I resigned for "personal" reasons. On the 5th I start a new job in NYC. I have an hour train ride from our apartment. The ipod is going to be crucial.
Let me know if you have any book suggestions. I just finished The Da Vinci Code, in time to see the movie, thus completing one of my life goals of reading a book before watching the movie. And like everyone always said, the book is better...much better.
I tried to access my blog at work the other day and I was blocked by our "Surf Control".
They have tightened things up so I can't really view anything not related to work. Even some work related sites get blocked. I think someone downloaded a virus.
I think that since we are in the year 2006, internet access at work should be one of the perks. If someone cannot "police" themselves from wasting time or doing inappropriate things than police them. Not me.
I pay bills online, communicate with family and simply enjoy a five minutue break from work via the internet. I am not outraged over this but I am disappointed.
By the gov't.
"The media sounded the alarm last year when the largest U.S. oil company, ExxonMobil Corp, announced profits of $36 billion. But according to the Tax Foundation, the biggest price gouging profiteer was the U.S. government, cashing in to the tune of $54 billion in oil and gas taxes. The think tank, the Tax Foundation, said, 'Tax collections on the production and the import of gasoline by state and federal governments are already near historic highs.' In fact, in recent decades governments have collected far more revenue from gasoline taxes than the largest US oil companies have collectively earned in domestic profits."
New York taxes are out of control. The sales tax is 8.625%
And look at the taxes on my cell phone bill. It is 17% of the bill. We need to revolt. Vote all incumbents out this election cycle.
Walter E. Williams says this,
The founders of our nation would be horrified by today's level of American servitude to their government. From 1787 to the Roaring '20s, federal government spending, as a percentage of GDP, never exceeded 4 percent, except in wartime, compared to today's 20 percent.
The average taxpayer, depending on the state in which he lives, works from Jan. 1 to May 3 to pay federal, state and local taxes. That means someone else decides how four months' worth of the fruits of the average taxpayer's labor will be spent. The taxpayer is forcibly used to serve the purposes of others -- whether it's farm or business handouts, food stamps or other government programs where the earnings of one American are taken and given to another.
This situation differs only in degree, but not in kind, from slavery. After all, a working description of slavery is the process where one person is forcibly used to serve the purposes of another. The difference is a slave has no rights to what he produces each year, instead of just four months.
