Category: Money

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

It’s the most anticipated blog entry of the week. This is how we roll on a Tuesday night in Homestead Florida !

1.  George Carlin died over the weekend at the age of 71. While I didn’t agree with virtually all of his political viewpoints (as he identified them in public) he was still one of the greatest and funniest comedians in American history as far as I’m concerned. I will miss his LIVE HBO specials every few years.

2.  I ate Chinese Food for Lunch today. I picked it up from Shanghai & Tokyo in Homestead’s Waterstone Plaza. I’m a semi-regular there. They usually give me two fortune cookies to go along with my ‘Lunch Special’. Later tonight I’ll have your special ‘double feature’ edition of ‘The Fortune Cookie Message Of The Week Club’. Don’t miss it !

3.  Earlier today I went to annualcreditreport.com and I printed out three full and complete credit reports for me from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. annualcreditreport.com is the only site that is legally able to give you free copies of your credit report from all three of those credit bureau sites. I did all of this in less than 45 minutes this morning, and I got over 30 pages of important credit information spanning virtually my entire adult life.

4.  I thrive in a hot and humid environment (such as Homestead). I could not live happily ever after in a cold and dry environment – or a hot and dry environment for that matter. It’s hotter in San Antonio (where I’ll be next week) than it is here in Homestead, but it’s less humid over there than it is over here. I’d rather have the extra humidity rather than the higher temperatures.

5.  I’ve become a semi-regular of the new Starbucks in Homestead. The people that work there are now starting to recognize me and my car. So far I have received consistent great service from them – inside as well as via their drive-thru. Let’s hope that it stays that way.

6.  The following 5 things kept me preoccupied for 7 hours yesterday at my Saturn dealership in Cutler Bay:
a.  My iPod Shuffle
b.  The latest edition of ‘Entertainment Weekly‘ (magazine)
c.  The Miami Herald (newspaper)
d.  TV Guide Crosswords & Sudokus
e.  Life Pointe Church follow-up spreadsheet (printed out)

7.  Some people have a chronic addiction to their cell phone. They just can’t stop calling people all over the free nation and sharing their private lives in public via their loud cell phone conversations. No wonder identity theft exists. Remember the good old days when telephone conversations were done in private inside the home ?

8.  Homestead Trivia – How many miles apart are Speedway Boulevard (SW 137TH Avenue) and Krome Avenue (SW 177TH Avenue) ?  The answer – exactly 4.0 miles. In Miami-Dade County each numbered avenue is exactly 0.1 miles apart to the grid. 40 avenues apart = 4.0 miles. It’s that simple my friends !

9.  Me, My Brother, His Wife, & Fuddruckers – That’s the plan for Lunch as soon as I touch down in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex this Saturday. After that we will all go and play a round of minature golf. I totally dig that plan !

10.  Next week your ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ will come to you LIVE from the River Walk in San Antonio. I’m also planning at least a couple of special editions of ‘The Major’s Walk-A-Thon’. You’re not gonna wanna miss it my friends.

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Commerce Hoaxes Internet Money Shopping

Thursday Night Internet Hoax Hall-Of-Shame

This is a developing Internet hoax:

The following companies just filed for Bankruptcy

Hollywood Video
Levitz
Sharper Image
Performance Team Freight
Linens n Things
Circuit City
Bed, Bath and Beyond

If you have gift cards from the above list use them ASAP, they will not be valid for much longer.

PASS THE WORD.

Actually 3 out of the 7 companies listed above have not filed for bankruptcy, and future variations of this chain E-Mail over the next several months are expected to include even longer (and growing) lists of companies that have not filed for bankruptcy. These chain E-Mails are intended to intentionally frighten the public and slow down E-Mail servers worldwide with bogus information. Don’t base your day-to-day life decisions on chain E-Mails. Don’t fall prey to Internet hoaxes. Use common sense.

Incidentally just because a company has truly filed for bankruptcy does not mean that they have stopped honoring gift cards (although some do just that).

Read more about it.

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God Hoaxes Internet Money Politics

Thursday Night Internet Hoax Hall-Of-Shame

This is an Internet hoax. Read more about it.

Since the 1950s ‘In God We Trust’ has been our national motto, and it has been inscribed on the front of all coins and on the back of all paper currency.

The new dollar coin came out this month. The U.S. Mint hopes that the redesigned coin will win acceptance with consumers.

Dollar-Coin-Heads

It does not have ‘In God We Trust’ on it. Here’s another way of phasing God out of America.

Who originally put ‘In God We Trust’ onto our currency ?  My bet is that it was one of the Presidents on these coins.

All our U.S. Government has done is to dishonor them, and disgust me !

If ever there was a reason to boycott something then THIS IS IT !

DO NOT ACCEPT THE NEW DOLLAR COINS AS CHANGE !

Together we can force them out of circulation !

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Driving Money Travel

$38.00 To Fill Up My Car With Gas

TODAY I filled up my car with gas. Here are the vital stats:

Number Of Days Since My Last Fill-Up – 18 (right on par for 2008)

Total Gallons – 11.212 (the most since immediately following Hurricane Wilma in October 2005)

Cost Per Gallon – $3.389 (the highest ever)

Total Cost – $38.00 (the highest ever)

As I identified above I typically fill-up my car with gas about every 18 days, so with that $38.00 fill-up that’s an average of about $2.11 per day in gas that I utilize to drive in and around Homestead.

I was recently accused of being in the oil business due to the fact that I continue to defend the current price of gas here in the U.S. The facts are:

– I am not an oil tycoon, none of my friends or family members are in the oil business, and I do not own stock in any oil company.

– The U.S. is in the bottom 10 in the world as far as gas prices are concerned, and when gas prices are matched up against the per capita income of the average citizen of this country we pay less for gas than any other country in the entire world.