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  • Money and religion

    I find it mildly annoying that many personal finance gurus (and their books) are tied to strong religious views.  The heavy-weight champ is, of course, Dave Ramsey.  That dude can find a proverb to support whatever it is that he’s selling.  Then again, one can usually find a bible verse to support whatever one is…

  • The future is now.

    Hardly insightful; however, I’m often astounded by current technology (when it works).  I just spent a long weekend visiting Colonial Williamsburg.  One of the first sites I went to was Bassett Hall, John D. Rockefeller, Jr’s country cottage.  Chris and I were wondering how the Rockefellers could travel from location to location and still conduct…

  • Home Is Where the Cat Is…

    We went to view an apartment today.  And now I’m totally bummed out. Some background: we have been homeowners.  And we have come to the conclusion that homeownership bites.  Bites hard.  With condos, there’s HOA dues and HOA members and HOA management to deal with.  (And speaking as a former president of a HOA, it…

  • Sleep. Glorious sleep.

    (This musical sprang into my head, and this is the most famous number…  Although I really am shy.) So when I turned 30, my back decided to be lame.  Seriously: right after my 30th birthday, I began to experience chronic, but low-level, back pain.  Just enough to remind me that something’s not 100% but not…

  • Dreaming

    It’s February, it’s cold, and I still dream of moving to warm weather. Then I remember: I have theater tickets next week.  And the week after that.  And the week after that… I honestly do not believe there’s a better theater scene in this country than right here in Chicago.  It’s one of my many,…

  • Material Girl Finds Balance

    Yeah, I like things.  Just yesterday, I vowed to Chris that I wouldn’t buy from Amazon for two months.  Then I learned this morning that the ebook of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere was on sale for $3… No, it’s not much.  But I promised myself!  And we had just decided to eliminate our CC debt by…

  • Can You Use Any Money Today?

    So I think I’m developing a blog style: I’m not the musical one of the family, but there does always seem to be a good song to match what’s on my mind. So another New Year’s Resolution: financial fitness.  Honestly, it’s embarrassing: Chris earns GREAT money, and while my income has been uneven over the…

  • Let’s get physical!

    One New Year’s Resolution: to exercise more.  Actually, it was Chris’ resolution: he’s backpacking for the first time in his adult life this summer and we’d both prefer that he came back in one piece. My own weight was creeping up (still in normal BMI range, but definitely getting up there) and clothes weren’t fitting…

  • Cutting cable again

    We’re cable-free.  Again. I grew up without cable.  No MTV, no Nick, no HBO.  The first time I ever had cable was an apartment I lived in my last year in college: the rent was dirt cheap and included cable.  The first time I ever had to pay for cable was about seven years ago,…

  • When I grow up…

    Anyone remember this song? I’ve worked, on and off, for years on figuring out what I want to do when I grow up.  Law school seemed like a good idea: I had okay grades, a fabulous test score, and the support of some wonderful professors.  But I wonder if it delayed the inevitable: I frequently…