Future Career Planning Update, Part II (or, “Long Live SSDD”)
Permalink | October 30, 2007 by John in Career, Of a Personal Nature, SSDD, Web Design
(Update and disclaimer: I’ve spoken to my boss about this situation, so it’s not a secret. I wouldn’t have posted anything about it if it was a secret.)
Now that I’ve calmed down from my previous diatribe on the topic, and I’ve read all the Nerds On Site documentation and contracts, I’m 90% sure I’m not going to do it. They exercise a lot more (read: nigh-total) control over how the so-called independent contractors operate. And you’re screwed if you leave them. You might be able to take some of your customers with you (or not, but I didn’t see any specific non-compete language), but you lose all the benefits of building their brand up in your community. You even lose the cell number you use while conducting business under their banner. In part they justify this by paying for part of your cell service. (more…)
Magic Mirror
Permalink | October 29, 2007 by John in Halloween
I’m tempted to try and set this up at work for when the kids come trick-or-treating through the office. Too bad I found it so late. Looks like fun. ImaginEERIEing : Mirror
2008 British Columbia Trip Getting More and More Expensive
Permalink | by John in Money, Motorcycle, Travel
Canadian dollar hits 47-year high
At 1500 GMT, the American dollar was worth only 95.47 Canadian dollars, while the loonie, a sobriquet given to the Canadian dollar, was being traded for 1.0474 US dollars.
And just four short years ago, $100CAN cost me $72US. No hooker for John during the Triumph Rally in Nelson, BC, next July…
::sigh::
How to Retire Early
Be more interested in your goal than what other people think. If you’re really serious about saving, then expect to sacrifice more luxuries than the next person. You might have to cut back on night-outs, expensive clothes and other luxuries. Whenever you find yourself thinking how you can never keep up with your cool colleague’s lifestyle, console yourself by thinking of the benefits that you will be reaping in the future.
Buzz-buzz goes the shredder
Permalink | October 27, 2007 by John in Money, Ramsey
So I’m a long time listener, if not 100% follower of Dave Ramsey. I chopped up most of my credit cards but I never got around to canceling the accounts, most of which have been sitting with zero balances for many months if not years. What made me get off my butt (or on it, I should say, and on the phone) was when I pulled my tri-annual credit report I saw that a couple of my creditors were checking my credit quarterly or even monthly. These are zero-balance accounts! So, enough is enough.
I got some different reactions:
- Bank of America — Surprisingly straight-forward. They asked why I wanted to close it and I told them I was getting out of debt and no longer using credit cards.
- Discover — The hard sell. One new deal after another, then a sermon about how hard it is to live these days without a credit card. I said, “Not if you live on a budget, live within your means, and have an emergency fund.” I may as well have been speaking Martian. She definitely drank the Kool-Aid.
- Home Depot (Citibank) — She was the most playful, no hard sell or sermon. When she asked if there was anything else she can do for me, I said, “Just sit back and listen to the shredder.” That actually got a laugh.
- Sears — A barrage of sales tactics and the most indignant attitudes (I was put on hold a few times and talked to a couple different people).
Here’s a bonus closure. It’s not a credit card but it’s an account I don’t use anymore: Columbia House DVD Club. I just don’t buy that many DVDs. I don’t like having piles of them around the house. I do have a couple of boxes of what I call “keepers” stashed away (Fight Club, Office Space, Serenity, all the Kevin Smith movies, etc.). So I logged in to the site and bonus! It’s already been closed. Whichever card they had on file for me expired, and when I didn’t update the info, they closed the account. Excellent.
This leaves me with my debit card (no overdraft balance) and one Citibank card that has the remainder of my rotating debt on a 3.9% for life balance transfer; that’s mostly motorcycle stuff and it’s dropping rapidly. Oh, and of course my school loan and mortgage. ::sigh::
Addendum
All of the above is why the inside of my house isn’t finished (it doesn’t explain why I haven’t finished some other things, like the lighting on the garage and such — that’s just laziness). If/when the 914s sell, that money goes into the new furnace and water heater fund. Once those two big-ticket items are paid for, the rest of my house remodel will proceed apace.