I have some things I want. I like to image I am not a materialistic person, but all the same, I have various items I would like to own. I thought I’d make a list of them, so I fired up iWeb, since I’ve never used it before, and threw together this website: asking4stuff.com. Doing this is always interesting to me. You can tell a lot about a person based off his desires or just the crap he’d like to own. These types of lists are fun in another way. In a year I can come back, see how many of these things I have actually purchased, and laugh at some of the items, thinking, Why would I have ever wanted that? And five years on a list like this can be even more amusing.

I remember doing this in college. I came across it like ten years later, and it had, “Get a computer,” as one of the items. At the time I think I owned 3 or 4 computers. I have no idea how many I currently have. Three for sure that I use on a regular basis not counting work machines, and a couple more that would function if I still had a use for them.

Anyway, here’s the first item on the list:

http://www.dodge.com/en/2008/magnum/models/se/index.html

I figure if you’re going to dream…dream big. I’ve pretty sure I will go the rest of my life without buying a car like this. Not because ever affording one is outside of the realm of the possible, but because I am too practical to ever pull the trigger on a purchase like this. Even if someone gave me one I’d probably end up selling it and buying something more modest. I am pretty sure I will always be able to find something better to do with my money than sink it into a car like this, but every time I see one go by I get a little twinge of jealousy. This car is just too cool. Like a stylish hearse. Oh so very Addams family!

But let’s come back to reality for a while, focus on something I can actually imagine buying.

Tibetan singing bowls of various sizes. Yay! I’ll be adding this to the site as soon as I get my laptop back from Apple. Guess that’s one bad thing about using iWeb. Anyway….

http://longplayer.org/

The first time I heard one of these I thought the tone that came out was so amazingly clean and soothing. I was, of course, hitting it with the little mallet thing, not at all how they are supposed to be played. Basically, you are supposed to run the mallet along the edge which causes the bowl to vibrate and the speed can be changed to change the note. I’d like to pick up several of these. I just like things that make noise, but I can imagine recording poetry over the top of one of these. It would make even my hack works seem cool.

I won’t link to any other instrument images, but I also want other analog noise making things. Maracas, drums, whistles, a metal or wood recorder. Pretty much anything that doesn’t require batteries. I prefer non-stringed things, but even these can be cool.

Let me make one thing clear. I do not play music, don’t know one note from another, and could never repeat something I did, but I still like creating soundscape to go behind spoken word pieces, and I have managed to create one or two recorded “song” that I enjoy listening to.

Rather than making this into a really long post, just keep an eye on the asking4stuff.com website. Updates will happen as soon as I get the access to my iWeb files again.

I won tonight.

I’m not sure, but I think I have taken down 4 out of 5 of the last home games I have played. It might me 4 out of 6.

I used to play a lot more than I do now for various reasons before I met my girlfriend. None of them have to do with her. I did a bit better than average. Enough to stay in the positive, enough to keep playing, not enough to quit my day job.

When I first started playing poker, I kept a spreadsheet of wins and losses, and the graphs were fun to look at, but at some point this seemed like work. Especially once I started factoring in time. I’d sit a table for literally 10+ hours and come home with and extra $200. Not bad money, but you also have to factor in the times I lost as much cash in a lot less time. Once I figured it out, I factored my hourly rate of earning somewhere around $6 an hour. This alone was enough to make me want to quit. But then a friend pointed out, “If someone wanted to pay me $6 an hour to play a game I enjoy, I’d do it” Good advice.

I gave up on the idea of the spreadsheet. Started just throwing whatever I came back with in a bucket, casino or home game, didn’t matter. This was also my change bucket. The pocket coins went right in there. When I wanted to play, I’d drop my credit cards and my debit card in the bucket, and grab how much ever I was willing to lose that day. This went on for some time, then my transmission went out on my car. I was able to pay for nearly half of it out of this bucket.

I forget to start the story where I started this whole thing after winning like 3 home games in a row. My initial investment was $20. The graph went up slowly until i gave up on it, but it was going up!

Anyway, after I met my girlfriend, I’d still play the occasional home game. I was on what they call a losing streak though. So I don’t think she got why I liked playing, The way I figured it, and still do, I get to spend an evening doing something I enjoy, playing a game that still probably averages me about $6 an hour, but with these wins behind me, and least she doesn’t have to wonder why I bang my head against a frustrating game that I was losing.

I’d have to lose like next 12 home games to erase my losses. Possible, but improbable.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the tag line, I think I only took home like $340 tonight. The rest was cash I had ready to play in the cash game after I was knocked out. I didn’t dip into it, so I really feel flush (poker pun). It’s all going to be spent on crap for the house. I’ve even abandoned the bucket at this point. I’m going to take some time off from playing after this win. you can’t lose if you don’t play.

And I don’t feel like losing.

Laters.

Message to the girlfriend: Good morning! I’ll call when I wake up. Or come up when you feel like it.

I’m sure this pretty much happens to everyone, but I got paid this morning, so sat dow with my bills, and my online account, figured out what had to be paid, how much I’d need to get to the next payday, and what could be paid out of the rest. I knocked the account down to the minimum in a few keystrokes. I actually have a decent (for me) reserve at this point, so even if I overlooked something (I didn’t), all would still be well.

I know is part of the whole being an adult thing, but it’s amazing to me how much cash I do go though. And I’m not talking fun things or anything. I just mean my standard bills. I always feel poor that the beginning of the month though, or like this check hardly matters, since between my three largest bills (they land between the 1st and the 6th) my check is pretty much devastated. Again, not complaining here. If there is a complaint, it’s that I wish at least one of the bills would come a couple weeks later.

This check had a little extra in it, but I put this towards a credit card. I effed up on how much I was keeping back a couple check ago, and those two weeks were little fun. I thought about adding this cash to the reserves, but think making sure as much goes out the door as possible is the wiser choice. This way, it’s not there to tempt me. Ha!

Not much more to say one this.

Because this was what I cleverly call a “mortgage check” (the check my mortgage payment comes out of) I was unable to pay back the money I borrowed from my reserve fund. Well, yesterday I got a check from my flex spending expenses from 2007, so now I am able to do this, and am feeling a bit flush! I wasn’t in the boat of wondering how I would make it to next payday, but I was looking at a lean couple of weeks. No fun!

And I like fun.

I’m not going to run out and buy a nano or anything, but I do get to put some extra away, have operating funds until next payday, and maybe get to pay a bit extra on my credit cards. Oh yeah, and I have enough to finally get that pony. The check isn’t huge (Elliot Spitzer pays ten times as much for an hour with a hooker), but it is enough to make me happy for the day. I’m such a simple man.

I think I own my bedroom now.

On my last mortgage statement I am finally below $100,000. I’m not saying exactly how far below, what I paid for the house, or what it is worth now, but this is kind of a cool thing. I’ve mentioned before how I am really bad with dates, so I can never quite remember how long I have lived in the house. Five or six years though. Over sixty payments for sure. Does seem like I should own more of it, since I got a pretty good interest rate, and I pay a pretty good monthly payment. But the interest and PMI eats up a lot. At least it’s going the correct direction.

continue reading...