Mike Birbiglia, Minneapolis, September 12

I will be enjoying the comedy stylings of Mike Birbiglia in Minneapolis, MN, on Friday, September 12! I saw him a couple years ago at the Mitch Hedberg Tribute show, and once before in Mankato. And I’m sure we’ve all seen him on Comedy Central and other various places.

I guess it’s been a month since I’ve said anything. News? I got a promotion and a raise at work. Which is pretty good timing since I am trying to get a handle on my finances, which have been getting a little crazy. I’ve made a few steps toward progress, but of course it’s all still proving to be quite challenging. I guess anything big and important is going to be difficult. But not impossible! I have a deal with myself that I cannot move to NYC until my only debts are my mortgage and student loan. That still leaves… a lot of money to pay off. But I’m working on in. Baby steps. Reading lots of books on finances, for free from the library.

Of course right when I’m getting into working on my finances, my car gets wonky (I’ll be riding the city bus for the first time ever!), I break my bedside table lamp, and not one but two pairs of my jeans (which I have in quite limited supply) get holes in them that cannot be mended. Luckily I’ve sold a few things and have a little bit of money saved that should get me through this without going into further debt. But, boy, is it aggravating to have set-backs so soon.

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 | Comedy, Money | Permalink | 2 Comments

I am a machine!

Last Saturday, I rode my bike 35 miles. On purpose. The most I had ever ridden before was 20 miles, and that was with a 9 hour break between the first and second ten miles.

I hadn’t exercised in 2-3 weeks. I was feeling ashamed of myself. How best to counteract shame? Overdoing the very activity you’re ashamed about not doing, of course!

I had set out on my bicycle with the intention of only doing 6-10 miles. But the more I rode, the more I was annoyed with myself for being so lazy for so long. After my first 15 miles, I realized I was 10 miles away from a neighboring town. A destination, if you will. I had never biked there before. I thought, “I wonder if I can do it”. And do it, I did.

It was a beautiful ride through the woods. Dense forest encasing the paved trail. I saw two deer, one was about to cross the trail but got spooked back into the woods, the other was a little distance into the woods, munching away on greenery. I discovered bridges over rapids and rocky cliffs on this trail. Lots of friendly people, also out on a long bicycle adventure.

There were some non-paved trails along the way that I am going to have to explore sometime. By the time I came across them, my bottom was already getting sore from having ridden way more than I should have. I didn’t want to risk a rocky bouncy trail at that point.

Speaking of my bottom, it has now been 5 days since my bike ride, and it’s finally becoming less sore. Ouchie bottom!

But yeah, man. 35 miles nonstop. And I’ll do it again!

Thursday, August 7th, 2008 | Health and Fitness | Permalink | 5 Comments

Smashing cookies.

I don’t really cook or make food things. I can cook, and I will cook on occasion. But I live alone and rarely have guests, so I find little reason to cook much at all. Unless I feel like eating the same dish for a week.

I was invited to a party, and it was requested that guests bring a dish to share in a potluck. I decided to make a cookie salad! I had only eaten it once before (and it was most delicious), and never made it. So I looked around online and found a recipe. Cue fun in the kitchen!

All of my ingredients, ready to go!

Cookies and a hammer. Time to smash!

Smashed cookies!

The finished Cookie Salad product. It looks a bit suspect, but take my word for it, it was most delicious. Here’s the recipe I used:

Vanilla instant pudding (omit milk)
2 c. buttermilk
1 (16 oz.) container of Cool Whip
2 med. size cans of mandarin oranges
4 bananas
1 (11 oz.) pkg. Keebler fudge striped cookies

Mix pudding and buttermilk until well blended. Mix in entire container of Cool Whip. Then toss in 2 drained cans of mandarin oranges. Chill. Just before serving, slice bananas and crush cookies. Add to pudding mixture.

Crushing the cookies is, clearly, the funnest part. Besides eating it. Good luck not eating any of the cookies before they go into the salad. Yum yum!

Sunday, July 20th, 2008 | Food | Permalink | 4 Comments

Ang is rescuing money.

I, like most people, spend way more money than I should. More than I’d like to. I enjoy things that money can by, such as food, fun, and things. However, when I spend money on things, I don’t have money for other things, things that I may find that I would rather have than the things I already spent my money on. Predicament?

“Saving money” sounds like such a drag. I like to think of it more as rescuing money. I would like to rescue my money from perishing from my life, like when it goes to things I don’t find I actually need or want more than other things that I’d rather have the money for. I get a kick out of reading how other people rescue their money. So I thought I’d list out what I’ve been doing to rescue money in recent months. Maybe someone else will find it informative.

1. I stopped buying “stuff”.
   I would often joke that I couldn’t enter a store like Best Buy without spending at least $100. DVDs were my weakness. I love movies, and I love having movies. However, I would buy movies I would watch only once, maybe twice. Sometimes I would see a movie in the theater, enjoy it, later see it on DVD, buy it because I liked it well enough, and then never watch the DVD I had paid for. It just sat on my shelf. I think having so many movies became something of a status thing for me (much like collections in general can be). I could say “I own every Kevin Smith movie”, but never watch Mallrats more than once.

   Now when I’m considering buying something, I try to think about how often I’m really going to use it. If there is any doubt in my mind, I put it back. If I want something just to “have” it, then surely there are other things I would want more, and I would actually find useful.

2. I got rid of “stuff”.
   When you buy and own lots of stuff, you have to have a place to put all that stuff. So not only are you spending money on the stuff, you have to buy shelves to put the stuff on, or containers to put the stuff in. As you keep acquiring more, you have to get a larger living space to hold you and all your stuff. I’ll bet most people with a lot of stuff rarely if ever use most of their stuff. Now, I didn’t have a ton of stuff, but I could look around and notice several things that I could do without. So I did just that.

   I went through everything in my house, thought “have I used this in the last 6 months (some people say you should think about the last year, I found it better to cut that down)?” or “will I use this in the next 6 months?” for every item. And I gave myself 2 seconds to think about it. If there was any hesitation (not even a no, just a hesitation), I set it aside to very likely be sold/donated/thrown away. I gave everything I set aside another once-over, but since it was set aside, I already had a seed in my mind that I could do without it. I didn’t just stop at the 6 months gauge of time. I’d ponder, even if I did use it in the last 6 months, could I still do without it? Hesitate, set aside.

   Anything that was worth enough money (mostly DVDs, also some books and CDs) I sold on half.com. Anything that was pretty much garbage went into the garbage. Anything that would be worth a little money I priced and had a yard sale.

   I pared down my DVD collection from upwards of 200, to under 30. I kept my favorite movies and TV shows on DVD that I have watched over and over, and would still be watching over and over. Basically, the ones that were worth (to me) the money I spent on them, the things I would still get enjoyment out of.

   A phrase I really like and identify with is “messy bed, messy head”. Which basically means if your environment is messy and chaotic, you’ll feel messy and chaotic. The more junk I have, the more cluttered I feel mentally. It was extremely cleansing to get rid of stuff. After I got rid of stuff, I found I could eliminate some furniture too. More space in my house in which to live, and think.

3. I canceled cable TV.
   Giving up cable TV was tough. I love watching shows. I would spend hours and hours, especially on the weekends, watching shows I enjoy as well as shows that just happened to be on when I didn’t feel like doing anything else. I thought I might be “saving money” by watching TV at home instead of going out to the movies or doing other things that cost additional money.

   But I really really thought about it, and I realized I could manage without paying for cable TV. With the glorious internet, finding shows online is a breeze. An idea that I have not implemented, but maybe someone else will, would be if you have a friend who LOVES a show about as much as you do, and has cable, you could have weekly gatherings at his/her place to watch your favorite show together.

   Most surprisingly to me, I found that since I had my cable TV disconnected, I haven’t missed it at all. This coming from a television addict. I’ve had cable TV all my life. I could list all the shows I watch every hour in the evening for every day of the week. When I would meet people and find out they didn’t have cable, I would jokingly remark that they must live like animals! Now here I am, no more cable, and not missing it a bit. I watch the shows I feel I really can’t miss online or on DVD borrowed from friends. For the most part, I try not to bother with shows unless their premise really intrigues me. No more watching “whatever is on” even when I don’t like it.

   Besides the money savings (uh, rescuings?), I’ve also rescued time by getting rid of cable. I’ve found other interests to pass the time. Instead of laying on my couch all evening/weekends, I find other things to do. My extracurriculars aren’t terribly exciting, but they feel more productive and interesting than my days of watching TV.

4. I canceled subscriptions.
   This was one of the first things I did. Subscription services in general are a good thing to reassess. Ceasing to pay for any more years with magazine subscriptions was a breeze (granted, I only had one). Magazines can be read at the library or bookstore, generally without any hassle. The bonus, I find, of reading them in a bookstore is I can also peruse several other magazines that I wouldn’t subscribe to, but have something interesting in them.

   I also canceled my monthly subscription for movie rentals by mail. I LOVE movies, so this I found to be harder than giving up cable. I justified it that since I was not going out to the movies, and I also was no longer paying for/watching cable TV, my movie rental subscription was now a great deal because it was replacing my other entertainment expenses.

   When I really thought about it, I found I was often replacing several of those formerly “TV hours” doing basically the same thing but now it was “movie hours”. When I thought even more about it, I realized I have several friends who already own a lot of DVDs (as I once did), who I could borrow a lot of movies from for free. The library also has DVDs available to borrow for free. If I really tried, I could still feed my love of movies without spending any money.

   Another “subscription” I canceled was my gym membership. My gym was rather expensive and located far out of my way from home and work. So not only was I paying quite a bit to attend kickboxing classes, I was paying for the gas to drive a good distance just to get there. I figured I could find other ways to exercise, for free. A one-time investment in a medicine ball or a bicycle is a better deal than a monthly membership to a gym.

5. I borrow things.
   There was a time when if there was a book I found interesting, I’d just buy it. And, often, only read it once before it sat on a shelf never to be touched again. Now if I want to read a book, I’ll borrow it from the library. I borrow DVDs from friends or the library. I borrow tools from my parents or friends. People often have miscellaneous odds and ends that they’ll borrow to you or even give to you. If you know someone who has a tool bench, you probably never need to buy nails or screws again. Tons of people have that stuff in abundance and them giving you a bunch probably wouldn’t make a dent in their supply.

   Of course, if you’re the type of person who tends to lose or ruin things that are borrowed to you, borrowing may not be a great option. You also don’t want to do it too much and develop a reputation as a mooch (especially if you borrow money). But if you’re like me and take good care of things, most people are trusting and willing to let you use their things.

   I’ll also borrow people’s services whenever possible. I’m lucky that my father is quite handy and doesn’t live too far away. If I need someone to look at my car, water heater, toilet, or bicycle, I can usually call on my dad. If it’s beyond his capabilities, then it’s time to call a professional. But he is often able to help me with minor things. Most everyone knows someone who works in a field they need some sort of service in. Again, this is something you don’t want to abuse or you will get a reputation. Swap services if possible. I help my parents move heavy things without complaint in exchange for their help in other areas.

6. I’m trying to drive less.
   I think most people are keen to the driving-less idea. I live a little distance from “town”. It is 10 miles between my house and work. It is probably 3-4 miles to the nearest grocery or department store from my house. Before, I wouldn’t really think twice about driving into town for an errand, going home, then driving back into town for another errand or other engagement. Now, I am trying to consider all of my errands and engagements that I need to tend to in town, and take care of them all in one trip per day. If there is anything I need to take care of that can wait another day or two, when I can accumulate more reasons to drive into town, I will try to wait.

   I am also attempting to ride my bicycle the 10 miles to work, if I have no other errands to really take care of that day that I would need my car for. I made a first trial run of my route, and found I’d need a new more comfortable bicycle seat. The ride otherwise was quite enjoyable. Plus, there’s a good, free workout! If my bottom can take the bumps, I think it will become my preferred mode of transportation to work.

I try not to think of my rescuing money efforts as “giving things up”, as that just feels like a downer. Of course no one wants to give things up, especially things they generally enjoy. I try to think of my efforts as exchanging the things I currently (or now, formerly) paid for, for other things that I find I want more. So I’m not so much giving things up, as I am getting more of the things I truly want the most.

My efforts are still a work in progress. The next thing I will work on to save money: eating fewer meals from restaurants. I know this is a big area now that my money is unnecessarily getting lost in. I like to take an hour off for lunch at work, get out of the office during that time. Going and sitting in a restaurant for that time is really nice. I will have to think of other alternatives, like packing a picnic lunch to have in the park near my office. I didn’t really add this to my list of ways I’m rescuing money yet, as I don’t feel I am being strict enough about it yet for my efforts to be considered successful. But that is the next big thing I am working on!

Saturday, July 12th, 2008 | Money | Permalink | 2 Comments

Bicycling around the neighborhood.

Wow, make one post about bicycling, and my visitors double. (Although double 10 a day is like…) Apparently bicycling is a popular topic. Which is exciting for me, in a way, being a new interest and all.

I biked around my neighborhood a little today, for about 45 minutes. The new bike seat I ordered hasn’t arrived yet, so I didn’t want to push my luck. But I did want to get back out there. Get a little exercise, enjoy the weather, explore my neighborhood. I’ve lived here a year now and I haven’t really wandered around. So that was enjoyable to check it out. Lots of meandering roads and huge trees everywhere.

My neighborhood is somewhat interesting. It is almost its own little village. There are only 2 entry roads to get into this area. It was constructed about 100 years ago, a planned community for a steel company’s employees and their families. A couple gas stations, a small commercial building for different offices, a school, a community center. Most of the homes are townhouses made out of steel and cement blocks. There are a few different styles. I got a kick out of pedaling my bike around and seeing more of them. I saw where the nicer steel/cement single-family homes were, which housed management, I am guessing. I found a nice playground just a few blocks from my house, I’ll have to keep that in mind if I ever have my niece over.

Lots and lots of trees. Sometimes I forget that I basically live in the forest. Most of my time is spent downtown in the office, or here at home, in my house. I see rabbits and deer almost daily, and think nothing of it. The two skunks I encountered on my previous bicycle excursion were frightening but not really surprising. And of course there was the time I hit a bear with my car in town, a few years ago…

Yeah, I guess I really do live in the forest.

Update on my bottom: no bruising this time! Hope that new bike seat arrives soon so that I may trek the 20 miles in a day to and from work again.

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 | Health and Fitness, Observations | Permalink | No Comments