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Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?

Mr. B — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:19:09 +0000

A few days ago I was walking home from the bus stop after a day at the university. It had been a long day, and I was tired. As I rounded a corner, I heard someone yell at me from behind. Turning to look, I saw a man in his forties walking toward me and waving to catch my attention.

Being someone of generally nice temperament, I stopped walking and allowed the man to catch up to me. Yeah, this was probably my first mistake, but I’m a pretty big guy and not easily intimidated. Plus, I had no idea if his intentions were friendly or hostile. For all I knew, maybe something fell out of my bag and he was retrieving it for me. At worst, I thought, maybe he’s going to try to sell me something.

I was wrong. After a brief formality he launched into a sob story about how he had just moved to town from Nebraska with his wife and mother and how they were completely destitute. Can you spare any money for some food and milk, he asked. Any little bit will help, we’re in dire straits.

It’s not everyday that I run into someone begging for money. I live in a major university town, but the total population is under 100k people. Occasionally we have few homeless people show up in our downtown area, but I’ve lived here for five years, and this was the first time someone solicited me for money far away from downtown. I admit that it caught me off guard. I had braced myself for him to start some kind of sales pitch, but not for this. Maybe he really had a destitute family and was merely trying to find them some food. Though he was unshaven, he certainly wasn’t dressed like a total bum.

Now, I’ve never lived in the heart of a big city, so I’m not cold and insensitive to requests for help from others, but I’m not about to open my wallet to any random guy on the street asking for money. As he unfolded his sob story before me, my mind weighed two options:

Believe his story and try to help.
Walk away.

I thought that if I went with the first option, there was still no way I would open my wallet in front of him and give him money. The possibility for outright theft would be just too great. Instead, the nearest grocery store was only a block or two away, and I thought that maybe we could walk there and I would buy some food and milk for him and his family.

I had almost settled on this option when I noticed it – his breath reeked of alcohol.* At that instant I no longer believed his sob story. More likely he was just a wandering alcoholic – still worthy of pity, but not of a handout.

Immediately, I launched into a story of my own about how I’d love to help him, but I’m just a poor grad student who struggles to pay the bills each month. I had no need to embellish the truth since my current salary is only a mind-blistering 8k a year… until this September, anyway.

He appealed once or twice more for money, but I firmly resisted and wished him luck. He thanked me anyway and wandered off, no doubt in search of a cash infusion from someone else.

Perhaps I should have bought some groceries for him anyway, but if he really needed the food, the least he could do is sober up before asking for help from strangers.

–

* Just for the record, I’m not opposed to the thought of alcohol. I grew up in the Deep South, and many people I knew considered alcohol evil, an idea I find ridiculous. I thoroughly enjoy a good ale or a bottle of wine occasionally, but it’s only bad if you let it control you. Some people let Diet Coke control them, which I find just as bad.

I suppose I’m a hypocrite, though. Coffee has a pretty solid grip over my emotions in the morning.

Merry Christmas from Interesting Money!

Mr. B — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:25:11 +0000

No matter who you are, where you are, or what your lot is in life, I wish you a heartfelt Merry Christmas from Interesting Money!

My hope is that you are able to devote time to friends, family, and other loved ones this time of year. This past year has been rough financially, and I know that my own meager portfolio is down much more than I care to consider.

Still, none of that is important right now. Happiness is not measured in net worth, but instead, in friendship, love, and memories.

My wife and I are sharing Christmas with only each other this year, since we live quite far from any relatives. That’s our tree in the picture? Like it? It’s our living, economical Christmas tree.

Yep, there are a few presents under it, all shipped in from the in-laws. Due to our status as poor grad students, my wife and I agreed months ago that we were not buying any presents for each other. Instead, we will likely curl up together on the couch with a blanket and some hot chocolate. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier.

Best wishes, warm greetings, and Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving from Interesting Money!

Mr. B — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:34:07 +0000

On this Thanksgiving Day, I would like to give thanks to the following:

Dollar Savings Direct – for keeping their 4% APY despite the Fed’s slash-and-burn habit.
ShareBuilder – for giving me a nice $50 bonus.
Jim – (the Bankrupt Man) – for allowing responsible people to make money off of credit cards.
Dow Jones Industrial Average – for having four green days in a row. It’s a miracle! My retirement portfolio is still deep underwater, though.
General health and happiness – Just being alive is a tremendous gift.
My wife – for her extraordinary love and patience while we suffer through this low-income period of our lives.

And of course… to my dear readers! Thank you for the feedback, support, and comments! Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

InterestingMoney.com Goes Mobile!

Mr. B — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:00:57 +0000

Ever since I got my MOTO Q through the Sprint SERO plan, I occasionally find myself surfing the web and checking e-mail with it. I’ve since discovered that a lot of websites look TERRIBLE when viewed with a mobile browser. Yes, I’m ashamed to admit, my own website was one of those.

No longer! Gadget lovers, you can now read my latest entries by pointing your mobile browser to:

http://m.interestingmoney.com (no www)

Don’t have a mobile browser? That’s ok. Go ahead and click that link in a regular browser. You will see a slick demo of exactly how the site appears on a mobile phone. There’s even an illustrious iPhone preview.

For those interested, I set up the mobile version using the free MoFuse service. Essentially, all you have to do to create a mobile version of your own blog is to create an account with them and give them a link to your RSS feed. They handle the rest, including automatic image resizing (no more horizontal scrolling).

MoFuse even has a revenue-sharing program. In exchange for their service, they split your AdMob or Mobile Adsense impressions in a 50/50 ratio. Considering that it only took me about 20 minutes to get my mobile site running, I’m fine with this.

There are a few other similar services available, such as Mippin Maker, but I ultimately went with MoFuse because I liked the resulting layout better. If you have a self-hosted website or blog, I encourage you to create a mobile version, no matter what method (or service) you choose to create it.

By the way, TipsFor.us has a neat article on setting up an automatic Contacts and Calendar sync for Windows Mobile phones using Thunderbird and Google Calendar, all for free. It’s a fairly-intense setup, but it could save you a few hundred dollars if you dislike (or can’t afford) Microsoft Outlook.

Quick Tip – Enabling Internet Access on the MOTO Q, plus Underscore Key

Mr. B — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:18:49 +0000

I just received my MOTO Q as part of the Sprint SERO plan, and while I love it, a couple things drove me crazy until I figured them out.

Two quick tips for new MOTO Q owners:

Enabling Internet access – my phone would not connect to the Internet until I updated my PCS Vision Profile. To do so, go to Start → Settings → keep choosing the “More” option until you reach the PCS Vision Menu. Now choose option C – Update Vision Profile. Once updated, my Internet access started working.

Finding the Underscore key – While the QWERTY keyboard is awesome, where the heck is the underscore key? To find it, press the ALT key (on the left side of the keyboard) followed by the CAP key (right side of the keyboard). This will spawn an Insert Character screen, and the underscore key is the first symbol that you can choose.

I hope these two tips help someone.

Merry Christmas!

Mr. B — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 02:50:17 +0000

Merry Christmas from Interesting Money!

In frugal fashion, check out our economical “living” Christmas tree. Yes, there are more presents around it now.

(click to enlarge)

Not only do we get to use it year-after-year, we can feel good about ourselves for not killing a tree! Best of all, we paid for the tree using a gift card provided by Citibank (as part of a credit card sign-up bonus).

Best wishes to you all. Enjoy your Holiday season!

Humorous Search Queries for November 2007

Mr. B — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:39:18 +0000

This is a bit off-topic from my usual entries, but in glancing through the numerous search queries people have typed in order to find my site (this month), I stumbled upon a few rather interesting ones and thought I would share them here.

800-293-1621

After scratching my head for a few minutes, I realized this is the phone number for the E-Trade security department, and as a result of my wrestling match with them earlier this year, I’m currently the top hit for that particular search query.

etrade bankrupt

Really? That’s one I haven’t heard yet. But hey, I read it on the internet, so it must be true!

disregard information sent in error

Sure thing, boss. Consider it disregarded. Oh, I’ll have those TPS reports to you by five.

who owns fnbo direct?

That’s a good question. Are there any other questions? Perhaps you should feast your eyes on their executive profiles page.

apology for email sent

Apology accepted!

i have to drive a crappy car

Sorry to hear that, though I wish you’d explain why it causes you so much consternation. Actually… wait, is that you, Jim?

Poll: What Do You Do With Your Junk Mail?

Mr. B — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:19:33 +0000

I’m referring to the tangible kind here, not the virtual junk mail known as SPAM.

Junk mail is a problem. Not only does it create a tremendous waste of wood and water to produce, but most of it is transferred straight from our mailboxes to a landfill.

Perhaps you are lucky and barely receive any junk mail, but if you’re like most of us, you receive several pieces a day. No thank you BoA, I don’t want a loan for my child’s education (which is especially funny since I have no children). No thanks, Terminex. Don’t call me, I’ll call you. What’s this? A group who will pray for me if I pay them $20? Um… I’ll pass.

So, that begs the question:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

For myself, I have arrived at the perfect answer. My wife and I own a house, and especially when the weather cools we like to sit on our back porch next to our lovely fire pit. All the junk mail that we receive, plus the remains of legitimate mail, become kindling for a nice evening fire.

There is nothing quite like sipping a glass of red wine while basking in the warm glow of all of those magazine and worthless credit card offers.

To be fair, I always scan the junk mail, as some of my best credit card sign-up bonus offers have been in the form of targeted mail. Anything that fails inspection goes straight to the burn pile!

As an ancillary benefit, I can take the ashen remains of the junk mail and use it as fertilizer for our garden.

So, dear reader, what do YOU do with your junk mail?

Keep the Dentist From Taking a Bite out of Your Wallet

Mr. B — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 00:32:09 +0000

Want to potentially save hundreds of dollars every year or so? Floss!

Seriously. Take care of your teeth and you can save a bundle. I know this from personal experience (the hard way). I’ve always taken pretty good care of my teeth – I usually brush four to five times a day. However, I admit that I don’t floss as much as I should… until now.

Earlier this week I went to the dentist to fill two small cavities that I probably could have prevented with regular flossing and fluoride rinse. Needless to say, my wallet was emptied of over $300 for about an hour’s worth of work. Ouch!

Now, perhaps I could have gotten a better deal by bargaining with the dentist or shopping around, but my dentist already has reasonable rates on cleanings, and my rate was already discounted from her regular set price.

The lesson here is that with teeth (and many other categories), an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of later maintenance costs. For some people this is easy – I have friends who rarely frequent a dentist’s office and have NEVER had a single cavity. For others (like myself), it seems that no matter how much we care for our teeth, it seems that we’re more naturally inclined to get cavities. Yuck. We’re a dentist’s dream come true.

In an ideal world, one should not have to spend more on one’s teeth than the price of one or two cleanings per year. Anything more is wasteful. I know that there are special circumstances in which one must visit a dentist, but my new goal is to brush, floss, and rinse with fluoride frequently enough that I keep the dentist at bay, except for a cleaning every six months or so.

If I can prevent at least one cavity every year, that’s a savings of $150 annually. More realistically, if I can prevent one cavity from forming every two years, that’s still a savings of about $75 per year based on my dentist’s rate. Since I rarely need to spend any money on floss (my dentist provides me with several containers of floss with every visit), that savings is substantial. And yes, the thought of keeping money in my wallet makes me smile.