Midspot

Yup, I’m still alive.

I’ve been playing around with twitter over the last week and have to say that it is quite interesting, although it really seems to be a lot of disjointed conversations happening at once.

Maybe that gets better the more you use it, but to a newcomer it may be somewhat overwhelming…

I would like to find a way to somehow get more hours into a day. If you have found an acceptable solution that doesn’t involve vast amounts of speed or other illegal drugs and does not induce sleep deprivation, please contact me immediately.

On a more serious note, you can probably guess I’m as busy as ever. I need to learn the art of saying no.

Or charging enough so that I don’t have to say no and rather the requester does…

1. Landline Telephone: I’ve actually turned this one off in my life a long time ago. Right now I think we actually have landline service bundled with our cable and internet but we don’t have a single phone plugged in anywhere in the house. Why would I want to use a (gasp!) phone book to find the number of the individual or business I want to call. In fact 95% of my calls are to other cell phone users which aren’t listed in a phone book anywhere.
2. Dryer Sheets: These expensive little buggers have gotten into our household via inherited lifestyle more than anything. Both my and her parents used them and we were brought up to believe we needed them. I tell you what, you don’t. I can tell any noticeable difference in clothes dried with or without dryer sheets. Goodbye little expensive sheets.
3. Fax Machines: I use a fax machine about twice a year and it’s either associated with a realtor or an outdated vendor. Get with the program. Scan it and email it. I don’t want to hunt down a landline with long distance (in most cases) and that also so happens to have a fax machine attached to it. Be gone noisy nuisance!
4. Fancy New Vehicles: I’ve driven my share of brand new vehicles in my lifetime and all I have by the time I trade them for the next is negative equity. I’ve recently “downgraded” my daily drivers to older vehicles that have been taken care of and am not looking back. Not only is the monthly payment gone, but also full coverage insurance. Years ago I had a great-uncle ask me what I paid for insurance each month on my brand new Silverado when I was just 18. After I told him, his answer was, “There shouldn’t be any amount of pride that costs that much per month.” He was right.
5. Cassette Tapes and Music CDs: Coming from a part time DJ, you might think this is absurd. Quite the contrary. I have ripped all my CDs to my computer hard disk and have never had a regret since. No more skipping. No more carrying hundreds of CDs to a gig. No more hassle. I don’t even create “mix-tapes/CDs” for myself anymore since installing a head unit (do they still call them that?) in my vehicles that accepts USB thumb drives.
6. Email: Another surprising addition to the list, no doubt. But it is getting closer to the truth everyday. If I can communicate via IM, blogs, social websites, or text messaging I will. I hate sorting through hundreds of email everyday for the 3-4 useful ones. Email, your days are numbered.
7. Viruses and Spyware: Since converting 100% to Linux on the desktop, I have had neither and don’t miss either. Why did I put up with this nonsense for so long on Windows? Seriously Bill, you need a solution.
8. Newspapers: I don’t understand why anyone would rather read a cumbersome newspaper than view the news online. I prefer my news instantly and formatted in a manner that it doesn’t take a table top to read comfortably. And what’s with the inky fingers when you are done? Nobody wants that.
9. Physical Mail: While we are talking about paper, let’s talk about the never ending supply that makes its way into my household via the postman. I don’t need 14 credit card applications per day and neither does the landfill. I pay all my bills online and that is how I prefer to be invoiced. The only thing that should be in my mailbox is items I have ordered for delivery.
10. Voice Mail: My guess is that I check 10% of my voice-mails. I screen every call. Every single call. If I’m not in the bathroom or attending to other physical activities, I do not want to talk to you at that moment in time. If it’s important text it to me. I’ve never needed more than 160 characters to understand an emergency and neither should you. I don’t need a 5 minute message for a 5 second problem. If you are just calling to chat, don’t leave a message. I will call you back if I want to talk to you. I have caller ID. Don’t waste my time having to listen to that stupid computer voice tell me how many messages I have, which ones will be deleted, what time you called, and what time it is in France right now before I get to hear your message. Complete waste of my time.
11. Businesses that are not open after 5 pm: This means in my timezone. If I can’t get your services online or via telephone (preferably online) outside of “business hours”, there is a slim to none chance that I will ever do business with you. I don’t have time to visit your holy physical presence between the hours of 8 and 5. I’ve quit patronizing many businesses including banks for this practice. I’m expected to be available around the clock. So are you. No exceptions.
12. Vendors that only offer phone support: Will not do it any longer. Unless it is my number one absolute priority to get your crappy software/product working, I refuse to sit on the phone with you. Your hold music is neither entertaining or soothing. How dare you think that your product is so great that it deserves 100% of my attention to get support. If you don’t have email or forum support, you will not have software in my business or that of my clients.

Have I missed anything? What are you trying to rid your life of? Am I spot on or just way too liberal? Let me know in the comments below.

Technorati Tags: lists, top ten, ways of life, life

If you are wondering when your tax stimulus rebate check (ie: the government check that will go straight to your gas tank for the month) will arrive, look no further.

Nickel over at fivecentnickel.com has posted the time lines which show favorable to those that have direct deposit.

Here is when they will start sending rebates to those for whom they have direct deposit information:

Last two digits of SSN:
00 through 20 = May 2
21 through 75 = May 9
76 through 99 = May 16

And here is when they will start mailing checks to everyone else:

Last two digits of SSN:
00 through 09 = May 16
10 through 18 = May 23
19 through 25 = May 30
26 through 38 = June 6
39 through 51 = June 13
52 through 63 = June 20
64 through 75 = June 27
76 through 87 = July 4
88 through 99 = July 11

Visit his article for more information.

Technorati Tags: stimulus check, government, economy

Rob La Gesse tagged me for a new meme going around called “4×4?

Four Job’s I’ve Had:

1. Patio Brick Installer- actually a pretty fun job but the pay was low for the long hours in the sun…
2. Car Mechanic – how I made ends meet during high school in a small town
3. Concrete Laborer – I put in basements for new houses one summer. Possibly the best job of my life due to the friendships with the other people on my crew
4. Systems Administrator – been doing this for way too long!

Four Places I Have Lived:

1. Center, ND
2. Steele, ND
3. Wahpeton, ND
4. Bismarck, ND

Boy that was depressing!

Four Places I Have Been:

1. Las Vegas, NV – always a favorite
2. Toledo, OH – a story for another time
3. Los Angeles, CA – helped me make up my mind about ever living in LA
4. Winnipeg, Canada – another great story from years ago.

Four All Time Favorite Musicians

1. Nickelback – just a good band of late
2. Blessid Union of Souls – great songs
3. Metallica – everyone has to have a little hate music!
4. Randy Travis – just because I can mimic the voice pretty good in the shower!

So now you know a bit more about me

Apparently there are a whole bunch of other questions you can pick from:

1. 4 Jobs I’ve had

2. 4 Favorite Foods

3. 4 TV Shows I DVR

4. 4 Movies I could watch Over & Over

5. 4 Places I’ve been

6. 4 Places I’ve lived

7. 4 Places I want to go

8. 4 Music Artists I’m listening to now

9. 4 All Time Favorite Musicians

10. 4 Shows I have been to

11. 4 Cars I have owned

12. 4 Things I have done in the past 4 years

13. 4 web sites I visit daily

14. 4 places Id rather be right now

15. 4 People I think will respond

16. 4 Things I look forward to this year

17. 4 Underrated conversational topics

I think instead of tagging 4 other people, I’m going to take a stab at 4 other questions 4 times total.

I like to be different, but if you want to answer them on your own blog, by all means, go ahead!

Today marks the day that I turn another year older.

You can find me tonight in Driscoll, DJing for the annual St Patty’s Day party.

Gold crossed 1,000 dollars an ounce today.

That blows my mind. I remember just what seems like a few years ago that it was under $400 an ounce. I guess that just shows the sad shape our economy is in.

By the way, how do you assign a value to gold, using something (money) which its own value is backed by gold?

It’s only Wednesday and things just keep stacking up. I have every night until next Wednesday booked with something or another and then on the way back to work from lunch today, the tranny decided to go south in my Monte Carlo.

Great, just when gas hits record highs, I’m back to driving my old gas-gusling pickup…

Hopefully your week is going better than mine…

Today it was in the 60s for the first time this year here.

As you can imagine, it was pretty hard to stay in the office all day. And believe me, I wasn’t the only one that had a hard time today!

We just don’t save like we used to. After reading this article, it got me thinking, “Why don’t we save like we did twenty years ago?”.

Well I think when you dig a little deeper, the answer is obvious.

Back in the 1980s, it was very common to receive 8-10% return on savings in a normal bank (internet banks with high interest savings accounts did not exist back then…). Compare that to the 1-2% offered today at local banks.

Also back then, interest rates on loans soared in the high teens which made buying anything on credit a spendy proposition. Now with home rates under 6% and even signature loans hovering below 8% buying on credit has become a lot more lucrative.

Why let your money sit around and only earn 1 or 2% interest when you could be enjoying more things on credit at only 6 or 7% penalty?

Considering that the inflation rate averages between 3-5% a year, you actually lose money by earning only 1-2% interest per year. In fact, your 6% house loan actually only costs you 1-3% after adjusted for inflation.

I think if anyone wants to reverse this trend, they need to first encourage savings by offering us a way to gain money over time after inflation rather than lose money.

I know I have recently started to save aggressively, but not due to the reasons outlined above, but rather my lack of trust in the failing economy. (And I’m using online banks paying 3-4% interest versus the 1.2% offered locally.) That is the only reason I see for anyone to save using a regular “savings” account at a local bank in today’s market conditions.

Technorati Tags: economy, savings, inflation