On the Road Again, er, Always…
Permalink | July 31, 2007 by John in Career, Travel
Extreme Personal Finance: From Penthouse to RV
So what’s it like living in an RV? It’s fantastic.
It’s very cheap. Utilities used to cost at least $500 a month since I was on the top floor and had floor to ceiling windows. Now I pay nothing — my solar panel generates enough electricity for daily use. Once a week I drive less than a mile to an RV park and dump my tanks and get new water. That costs $5. I have broadband internet access from Sprint which costs another $50. Full insurance is $100 a month, which doubles as car insurance. I get my mail through Earth Class Mail for $30 a month or so. That’s it.
I’ve been intrigued by this idea since last year when I read about a Photoshop Guru buying a motor coach and hitting the road. Ditch the house, pare back the possessions and hit the road. Don’t think it would work with my current day job, but I could work swimmingly with my freelance business.
Location, location, location…
I’m not so sure that submitting this was such a good idea. I’m certainly not going to post it directly on the SSDD web site. I don’t plan on having any client meetings in my stripped down, clapped out and gutted living room.
On a semi-related note, I’m trying to get used to giving out business cards (no, they don’t have my address on them). Today I had to run by Helena Cycle Center to inquire about a replacement part for my helmet. They were having trouble finding the part number and I asked if they could call me back. It took about two beats before I realized I could just give them a business card. Will it get me work? Who knows, but I have one more card floating around out there than I did before and that can’t be all bad.
Comments Off
This is frackin’ spooky
Permalink | by John in Interesting/Trivia
Crews recover one body from Kern River
For the second time in three days, a man has drowned in the killer Kern River.
Officials said 38-year-old John Bedard of Lucerne Valley drowned while swimming with his family near Keyesville on Sunday.
Authorities say they were not wearing life jackets. Rescuers found Bedard’s body about half-a-mile from where family members first saw him go under.
The Sheriff’s Department said they got word of this tragic accident while looking for the body of 68-year-old Marvin Silver.
Silver fell out of a White Water Voyages rafting tour boat on Friday, and has not been seen since.
Actually my first thought was, “Well, I never go swimming, so there.” 
It may be a bit narcissistic, but I have a Google New Alert set up on my name. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) most of the news is about an Erik Bedard, some kind of pro athlete (baseball, I think).
Comments Off
Harry Pothead
Permalink | July 30, 2007 by John in Entertainment, Review
I saw the new Harry Potter movie yesterday. While I wouldn’t say it sucked outright, it was definitely the worst Potter movie so far. It was boring and the actors are far too old to be playing teenagers. And it felt like filler, as if they’re just marking time to the big finale two movies away. The movie felt disjointed, like major sections of the plot were left somewhere on the cutting room floor, as if they wanted to do “dark” but just didn’t know how, and made it literally, not metaphorically, “dark.”
Out if this year’s crop of sci-fi/fantasy movies, even Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and hell, even Ghost Rider, were far more entertaining. Transformers is an Oscar contender in comparison. About the only movie that I would rank worse than HP5 is Spiderman 3.
Comments Off
Still. Not. Worth. It.
Permalink | July 27, 2007 by John in Career
Following up on this post, apparently it pays over $200k. (via Cameron Moll)
Comments Off