Photo of the Week: And I Thought There’d be a Stork Involved…

In a pre-orchestrated and specifically timed “press” release, this is the photo of the week.

You might notice that it’s dated a couple of weeks back, but it just so happens that my wife already had plans to meet her mom today for lunch, so she wanted to wait and tell her in person.

For me, my parents are so far away, this seemed like the perfect platform to let them in on the news. You know, pictures are better than phone calls, right? I think so.

This is our first. Well, sort of…

See, the only subject more taboo than personal finance that I’ve come across ever in my life is miscarriage.

Few talk about it. Even the doctors get all hush-hush like it’s a big secret or something. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s made out as if it never happens to anyone.

Simply not true — we’ve had a few. More than one and less than five.

Use your imagination.

Essentially, it was enough to make two pink (or blue) lines on a stick a rather uneventful occurrence in our house, you know, it didn’t give me that “Oh Crap! I’m screwed!” feeling or that “Sweet! This is going to be awesome!” feeling either.

Hopeful but indifferent… I think that’s a pretty good description of my feelings…

The last couple were within a few months of one another — really, making it almost a routine. Yep, you’re pregnant again. Maybe this one will stick? We’ll cross our fingers…

Remember that blood test that I had a few months ago? Yeah… that was to see if we were, well, just broken or first cousins or something…

Actually, I’m not 100% sure what the point of it was, but the good news is that everything came back as it should have.

There wasn’t/isn’t any thing wrong with us.

And now this is the result.

I’m pretty excited.

Not as excited as I probably should be since we’ve had a few disappointments in the recent past, but I havta say, it was pretty freaking cool seeing an alien like creature dancing around on that black and white monitor.

This picture kinda sucks — I wish they’d given us a DVD or something because the video was really funny. Legs kicking, arms flailing… It was like a poorly executed YMCA dance.

My wife claims that she can’t feel anything, but if I had something the size of a StarWars figure rocking out to the Village People inside of me, I like to think that I’d be able to tell…

It was also funny how, when the doctor came in (after 15 minutes of us sitting in the dark wondering if he was ever actually going to come in — I love being left in the dark. Literally…), without even looking at me, he asked my wife if I was the “support partner”…

The what?

Support partner?

I don’t know, I guess they see a lot of people who aren’t married in there these days, and that’s fine, but I still think it would have been a safe assumption to at least ask if I was the father, if not, the husband. Or maybe even just look at me?

But “support partner”? C’mon…

I was almost offended by the political correctness of the whole thing. It bordered on rude. Needless to say, it was awkward when it didn’t really need to be.

I mean, really, picture this: Two people, one male, one female, roughly the same age, at an ultrasound appointment…

Is it really a stretch to think that they might be the prospective mother and father?

I should hope not.

Anyway, with all of the swings and misses we’ve had on this front, the best news is that we’re already *very* prepared for this.

Financially, anyway…

Posted on November 15th, 2008 at 5:51 am by Brainy Smurf
Life, Photo, Smurfling | 11 Comments »

Wow… The Banks are Resorting back to Free Toasters…

Logging in to check my credit card balance ($0 – woohoo!), I was hit with this offer from CitiBank:

Banks are struggling right now or so I’ve heard. Have you heard that news too? I hope so…

Anyway, they’re apparently sweetening their deals in an attempt to get more people in the door depositing money and I’m certain that’s exactly what this specific offer was designed to do.

Now, I’ve made my feelings pretty clear on what a bunch of crap rewards programs are so it’s not sucking me in but, even still, I wanted to see exactly what 10,000 reward points might earn me.

No sense in looking up the 1,000,0000 point prize — I’d never be lucky enough to win something like that.

So, after spending over a half hour (I have no life) browsing the “Thank You” rewards site, here’s what I came up with:

Yep. A toaster. What is this, 1975? Granted, it looks pretty nice… for a toaster.

It’s the KitchenAid KMTT200OB 2-Slice Metal Toaster in Onyx Black and Stainless Steel.

Usually it costs 13,900 points, which means that you’d have to charge nearly $14k to “earn” this toaster without this, um, generous offer.

But as luck would have it, it’s on sale right now for $9600, err, 9600 points.

Wow, such a deal!

That makes it low enough that you can get it for FREE from Citi for opening a Citi checking account… (shhhh! you’ll still have to pay the shipping charge.)

For the record, this toaster is listed for $62.32 on Amazon.

Shipping is free there — but it doesn’t come with a checking account.

Posted on November 14th, 2008 at 9:03 pm by Brainy Smurf
Credit Card, Current Events, Rants | No Comments »

And the Checks Come Rolling In…

I often complain about how the invoices that I send out for my side business each month never seem to get paid on time, in full, or, at all…

Yesterday’s mail had two checks in it — one was for $150 from a client that has always paid promptly and the other was for $40 for some photo prints that I’d had done up last week.

I deposited them this morning into my checking account like they were nothing.

Sure, in the past I was dropping in checks totaling $3000, so an extra $190 might not feel like very much anymore, but I can’t tell you what I would have done to get checks for $190 ten years ago.

Do you know how much crap you can buy on eBay for $190?

I’ve been jonesing for a lava lamp for nearly 20 years, and I know they suck because my sister had one, but still, I could probably get like 6 or 7 of them for $190…

Man, I’m almost salivating at the thought…

(Mom — do NOT get me a lava lamp for Christmas.)

At the onset, right out of university, I started my side business to bring in disposable income. Plain and simple — it was supposed to be for crap on eBay, video games, hockey tickets, hockey jerseys.

Somewhere along the line, though, it turned into income that I counted on. It wasn’t disposable income anymore (probably a good thing as the checks began to get larger and larger) and before I knew it, I felt trapped — not by my *real* job, but by my side job!?

I wouldn’t be able to pay all of my bills if I didn’t work each morning before work, again after work, and every weekend too.

That wears you down… and for the most part, that type of lifestyle has passed.

I wish I could say that this latest $190 could be classified as disposable income, you know, like it used to be.

Not there yet…

I’m already transferring it from checking to savings…

Posted on November 14th, 2008 at 10:30 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Life, Mistakes, Savings | 1 Comment »

Short & Sweet Nothing…

Heard this on the news tonight, looked at my wife in disbelief at what I’d just heard, and thought that it was too good not to make mention of…

In regards to the floundering European economy, the correspondent reported that:

“Growth is slowing faster…”

What the smurf is that supposed to mean?

Read it a few times…

Growth is slowing faster.

I’m sorry, but as far as I’m concerned, that indicates that the economy is *still* growing.

Am I right?

And this is a bad thing, why?

I wish the media would stop making such confusing statements as they continue to report doom and gloom each and every day… It’s not just NBC, that just happened to be the station we were watching tonight…

A better way to say the exact same thing would have been, “You know what, Brian, the economy here in Europe is actually continuing to grow, just not at the rate Europeans have become accustomed to.”

Doesn’t sound so sensational (or gloomy) now, does it?

Posted on November 13th, 2008 at 11:45 pm by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Rants | No Comments »

November… The Spendthrift Month.

Though the electric and natural gas bills were both up over 30% this month (it’s starting to get a little chilly and I’m not one to put off turning on the heat), this month is shaping up to be our most spend-thrift month all year — by far.

No contest.

It’s not even close.

Even with the expected unexpected additional expenses that I moaned and groaned about earlier this week, it’s looking like it’s a sure thing. My total expenses for the entire month will be just shy of $2500.

To see that number, it still seems like a lot. I mean, if I didn’t keep track of everything the way I do and I were to guess what our typical monthly expenses add up to, I’d guess lower than that.

A lot lower than that.

But the fact is, as the chart indicates, a “normal” month for me, more often than not, eclipses $4000.

That’s more than my two monthly paychecks bring in?! That’s INSANE!?

It’s no wonder that I was in a hole…

But now that that little thing called debt repayment is gone from my ledger, my expenses have correspondingly dropped considerably. No more 4-figure transfers to VISA and MasterCard for me.

The trouble now is that I’m not finding that I have the funds available to make 4-figure transfers to my savings account…

Hmmmm… maybe I shouldn’t have dropped all of those side business clients so soon…

No matter, the fact that my expenses are down so much, things can only get better from here…

I’d bet that December will be even cheaper than this month…

(Oh, and before anyone points out that we’re less than half way through the month of November, I’m aware of that, but all of the bills are paid already…)

Posted on November 13th, 2008 at 7:45 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance | No Comments »

Success on the Insurance front? I’m Not Sure Yet

Seems I’ve secured a new homeowners policy — and it’s not of the plan for dilapidated crack houses with no running water.

Yippee!

But, as of yet, I don’t really have anything solid that makes me feel any different about my entire situation. One thing is for sure, though, the yearly inspections and harassing letters might finally be in my past.

Here’s how it all went down.

Sunday night, I surfed onto a couple of local independent insurance agency websites. The big companies, the kind you’ve heard of, won’t even talk to me because of where the policy is now.

I filled out the “quote” form on all of the sites, but only hit submit on the one that asked the most questions, you know, thinking they’d give me the most accurate quote since they had the most information. That would make sense, right?

Monday morning, not even 5 minutes past nine o’clock, my phone rang. It was the owner of the agency. After first exchanging some meaningless pleasantries, he started to go over what I’d submitted the night before.

“Current carrier — you selected ‘unlisted’ from the drop-down… Who is your carrier?” he asked.

Oh crap.

I lowered voice and uttered, “The Connecticut FAIR Plan.”

Here at PIAC, it’s also affectionately known as the plan for dilapidated crack houses with no running water. Seriously, that’s *exactly* what FAIR plans are for.

As a result, the conversation immediately took a turn for the worse as he stumbled out an “Oh…”

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to get off of it for years now. Their inspector has twice now even told me that I shouldn’t be on it anymore, but I can’t seem to find anyone willing to take me so I was hoping you might be able to help.”

He said that coming from the FAIR Plan would limit my options considerably and then started ringing off companies that wouldn’t touch me with a ten foot pole…

Then he started listing companies that don’t insure anything built before 1950 (which disqualifies like 80% of the homes in New England).

The city records claim that my house was built in 1900, but it’s a safe bet that it was build anytime between 1875 and 1900, more likely being the earlier date rather than the later. Horsehair in the plaster and plumbing obviously added after the house was up are pretty good indicators that it’s from waaaaaayyyy back.

For insurance purposes though, I always say 1900. When I want to brag, I say 1875. Yeah, that’s right, my house is older than your house.

It was at this point that I was starting to think that I was just wasting my time with this guy…

And then he asked me when my policy was set to expire.

“December 18th.”

“Hmmm, that doesn’t give us enough time for Metropolitan to do their inspection…”

He went on to say that, “Met is one of the few that still insures older homes,” and that they’ve nearly taken over that market and found that it’s really not high risk, but because I’m coming from a FAIR Plan, they’d need to a comprehensive inspection and that likely couldn’t happen before December 18…

Is he telling me that I took too long to fill in the form? Is he dangling a carrot in front of me? Can this guy help me? I couldn’t tell…

Then he said that there was a smaller company up in Massachusetts that they’d had luck with in the past with older homes. “They’ve been around since 1826, and they’re local to New England, so they’re familiar with the older homes and the risks involved…”

He asked me how I ended up on the FAIR Plan and how long ago and I gave him my full story. To summarize, basically, Allstate didn’t like my roof or siding — both of which have been replaced… recently. And that I’m still on the FAIR Plan because the moment I mention that I’m on it, insurance companies run for cover.

He said he’d give this Massachusetts company a try.

Later that afternoon, he emailed me a quote — $633 per year.

Wow. I’m set to pay $902 next month — $633 is a very welcome number. I emailed him back letting him know that I’d be willing to pay a premium 3 times that number just to get off the dilapidated crack house with no running water plan…

Now I know that that was probably a very stupid thing to say to an independent insurance agent since they’re just a middle man and I just gave him a huge opening to take an even bigger cut, but I wanted him to be fully aware that there was incentive on his end as well to get me off of the FAIR plan.

Seriously, I know as well as the next guy that flashing a little cash every now and then can open doors… and that was my plan…

In my email, I also asked him what additional info he’d need to get the wheels rolling.

Tuesday morning, we were back on the phone together. Today’s loaded question was whether or not I had good credit. I confidently said, “Yes.” He got my social security number and said he’d call back shortly…

At this point, I’m thinking things are going pretty well. I’m not really partial to the guy, but he seems nice enough.

About 45 minutes goes by and my phone rings.

“Things look good, your credit score is 830 and that should offset the fact that you’re coming from the FAIR Plan.”

“Yeah, I’ve known for years that I don’t really fit in to the FAIR Plan’s demographic…”

“Nope, you certainly don’t…”

Then he started to “sell” some auto insurance, asking what kind of cars we have… I told him that I wasn’t really interested in that right now, but maybe, down the line, if I could get everything under one company I’d think about it.

Of course, this line of questioning unearthed the BMW…

From there, not surprisingly, he started talking up investment strategies, interest rates, life insurance, the current market conditions and, well, I guess you could call it “white collar” stuff.

Total change of tune.

He wasn’t so much making a sales pitch, but shooting the breeze at this point because, aside from my ghetto insurance, we suddenly had so much apparently in common…

Good thing I didn’t meet him in person — you know, being a scruffy looking, baseball hat wearing, converse all-star wearing kid… Would’ve ruined my image.

So, maybe a good credit score is worth something too? Or is it a BMW? Sad that that could be it too, really…

Anyway, he faxed me something to sign, I faxed it back, and apparently it went into effect yesterday.

Right now, though, Countrywide is still listing the FAIR Plan as my insurer, but I’ll be keeping an eye on it.

Hopefully this new company won’t cancel me the way Allstate did. Man, I really hope that doesn’t ever happen again…

But for now, or at least the next few weeks, I won’t need to sweat the inspection or threatening letters from the dilapidated crack house with no running water plan…

Posted on November 12th, 2008 at 9:02 pm by Brainy Smurf
Insurance | 4 Comments »

Trying to Keep My Spirits Up

Getting to the elusive debt-free mark was supposed to free up all kinds of money, wasn’t it?

So far, I’m finding that it hasn’t.

Okay, more accurately, it doesn’t feel like it’s freed up anything.

My checking account is still hovering where it’s always hovered.

My savings, well, sure, it’s growing, but not at nearly the rate my debts were falling just a few months ago.

It feels… slow.

One this is for sure, I’m certainly not getting rich like I thought I might…

Seems each month has some unexpected expense come along.

My auto registration was due this month. Last month, I had to pay a huge internet hosting fee. I’ve got that homeowners insurance premium looming. And let’s not forget the bill that is sure to come from the landscape company picking up my leaves…

I know, I know, everybody says that.

Unexpected expenses will always be around the corner and should be expected…

I know that.

None of these were unexpected. They’re nothing new, but in the past they never seemed to hold me back any. Just throw them on the credit card and continue to plug away paying down the debt. Simple as that.

Now, though, when I see my credit card balance swell to over $400, it’s like a crushing blow to my month-to-month plan (which I have yet to detail on the site.)

It shouldn’t bother me, really, it shouldn’t.

Back on this date last year, my credit card balances totalled over $15k. This morning, they top out at $103.

But you know what?

Ridiculous as it may seem, it does bother me.

I’ll get over it… I should, anyway…

Posted on November 11th, 2008 at 6:30 am by Brainy Smurf
Life, Motivation | 4 Comments »

Trying to Acquire Homeowners Insurance

This weekend I took the first step in trying to obtain more conventional homeowners insurance.

What does that mean?

Well, right now, my insurance is bottom of the barrel insurance. When you have no place to go, and no one will take you, what I have right now is what they give you.

It doesn’t cover much (or anything), but it keeps the mortgage company at bay.

In the past, my insurance has prevented me from getting a home equity loan to help make the improvements needed to the house. (Though, looking back, I should almost be thankful for that).

Here’s how it went down — craptastic insurance company demanded that I make improvements to my home, I went to mortgage company for a home equity loan to pay for the requested improvements, everything is going great, and then the day of closing, the insurance company stops it dead in its tracks: not enough insurance to cover the loan.

Nice, huh? Talk about a Catch-22…

The worst part about it, other than the fact that my policy doesn’t cover anything, is that they send you threatening letters every few months and require home inspections each year. I won’t even mention the premium.

Basically, you’re treated as if you own a dilapidated crack house with no running water. Really.

I’ve been with this insurance for 5 years now and, frankly, I’m tried of it.

So why haven’t I switched already?

That’s the $64,000 question…

Not that many people shop around for homeowners insurance on a regular basis, but like with an auto insurance form, one of the first questions they ask is whether or no you’ve ever been cancelled or denied coverage from another carrier.

The minute you say “Yes”, you’re disqualified and hurried out of their office as if, well, as if you reside in a dilapidated crack house with no running water.

Back in October of 2002, Allstate dropped my coverage after just 29 days and gave me 40 days to find a new carrier.

With a strike like that against you, I soon found out, it was an impossible task.

My coverage lapsed.

With nowhere else to go, one very rude insurance agent gave me a route to take — the FAIR plan.

As I said, it sucks.

Now, before you start pointing out that my entry room is a little rough around the edges and that it kinda looks like a dilapidated crack house with no running water, let me list out why, exactly, Allstate cancelled my policy.

• The roof of the dwelling is damaged and lifting/buckled.
• The soffits/fascia/eaves are damaged and needs paint.
• The renovations are not completed.
• Your chimney is crumbling, separating, in need of tuckpointing.
• The foundation of your dwelling or garage is crumbling.
• The siding or frame exterior of your dwelling is damaged, has peeling paint.
• One or more trees on your property poses a risk to your property because it is overhanging.
• The windows of your dwelling or garage needs paint.

The lack of correct singular/plural grammar is theirs, not mine. The windows “needs” paint. Nice…

Anyway, as you see, those are all exterior issues. Every single one of them.

And what have I spent in excess of $40k renovating?

Yes, the exterior.

The roof is new as of December 2006.

The soffits, fascia, and eaves are all new as of August 2007.

The renovations are complete — at least the exterior ones are.

The chimney was torn down when we had the roof done in 2006.

The foundation was tuckpointed by the company we had tear down the chimney — brickwork is brickwork, right?

The siding is now vinyl — no peeling paint there.

The largest tree branch threat was cut down by the utility company because it posed a larger threat to their power lines than it did to my house.

And I’m not sure how the windows ever could have used paint — they’re all vinyl and have been that way since I bought the house.

So over the weekend, I contacted a local insurance agency — one that blew me off five years ago. I didn’t want to contact them specifically but, logistically, it made the most sense.

Hopefully they’ll call me back today asking for more info and further down the line, I’ll receive some good news.

My current policy expires December 18.

I’d rather not take it down to the wire…

Posted on November 10th, 2008 at 7:21 pm by Brainy Smurf
Home Improvements, Insurance | 5 Comments »

Photo of the Week: Invaluable Advice

Remember when you were younger and had a coach, teacher, or mentor that you took every word in as if it were, well, the golden truth?

Great advice all around?

For me, I’d say that sort of thing lasted until sixth grade or so… It was around then that I’d pretty much figured out that the people doing most of the talking were the ones that were usually nothing more than hot air…

An old English teacher immediately comes to mind…

A great example in today’s world is Chris Matthews. Or Rush Limbaugh. Pick your poison…

When I originally shot this photo I thought I’d captured a great shot — you know, a timeless photo that captured an old timer passing his vast life long knowledge on to the next-next generation.

Then I noticed the kid’s face.

Yeah, he’s not buying it.

If I were to ever speak, in person, to Jim Cramer, well, that’s exactly what my face would look like.

Probably not outwardly, I mean, I like to think that I’m able to hide my skepticism a little better…

But I might wear the helmet.

Posted on November 9th, 2008 at 8:11 pm by Brainy Smurf
Life, Photo | No Comments »

Shame as a Motivator

When I woke up this morning, I told myself that this was NOT going to be another wasted weekend. I was all geared up and ready to go outside and rake, rake, rake, until both hands were covered with blisters.

Then I noticed that it was raining. Ever tried to rake leaves in the rain?

Yeah, it doesn’t work at all.

So my next target became *that* room.

Yes, that one. The room I’m ashamed of:

Off to the right hand side, behind the yellow bin and the plastic penguin, there was a big pile of crumbled plaster on the floor. You can’t see it, but trust me, it was there.

I cordoned off the room using the shower curtains, which you can see, put on my 49-cent dust mask, you know, for protection, and brought in a snow shovel from the garage and a shovelin’ I went.

I filled the air with the finest dust you’ll ever see (or breath) while also filling 8 trash compactor bags full of crumbled plaster and broken pieces of the wooden lathe that once held the plaster up.

I know that doesn’t sound like much, and it’s really not, but plaster is freakin’ heavy.

Each one of those bags, which I only fill half way due to the weight, weighs well over 60 pounds.

Backbreaking work, really, which is probably why we never “finished” the job when we tore the walls down in the first place.

Once I’d cleared the room, I broke out the shop vac to get all of the fine dust (that had settled) up and out. Yep, I even vacuumed — that’s worth über bonus points with the wife!

It was at this point, she mentioned that we should get a new rug for the room. Not really wanting to throw money at the room, as a temporary fix and all, I was hesitant, but she twisted my arm and off we went to a super discount store that if I were still in high school, well, I’d never admit to having been inside. Ever.

The store is called Ocean State Job Lot.

This place makes Walmart look like Neiman Marcus — you know, the store where Sarah Palin shops…

Yeah, it’s rough.

But it’s always had some decent, not great, but decent area rugs. And today, it didn’t disappoint!

We walked out of there with a modern looking patterned 8′ x 11′ rug for $125. We could’ve gone the oriental route, but I’ve never really liked how “busy” they look.

Maybe that’s just me.

Once home, we unrolled the rug. It’s not exactly what either of us had in mind, I’m sure, but it’s a definite improvement. From there, I decided to “hide” the largest windowless wall with the photo backdrop that I used on Halloween night.

Then we moved an extra couch into the room. (Who has an “extra” couch? Seriously…)

And, finally, I plugged in the arcade game for a quick game.

Here’s how it looks now:

Not great, I know, but still, it’s an improvement.

And to think, it only cost us $125 to take it to that unfinished-but-sorta-finished basement look!

And can I just mention that I suddenly find myself getting some decent use out of January 2007’s dumbest purchase? How about that!

Oh, one more thing, why does the carpet smell like Elmer’s glue? That’s gonna fade, right?

Posted on November 8th, 2008 at 7:46 pm by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Home Improvements | 9 Comments »

Looking Over my FREE Credit Report

This past weekend while listening to some local financial talk show on the radio, they mentioned AnnualCreditReport.com.

A few months ago, I’d visited the site, submitted all of my information, and selected Equifax as my report of choice. Things seemed to be working great — until they forwarded me on to Equifax’s website.

Once there, they tried to up-sell me (not unexpected), and they asked for a user name and password. I didn’t have one — and I didn’t want to sign up for anything either.

No way around it, they weren’t going to display my report.

It left a bad taste in my mouth — I felt like I’d been ripped off even though I hadn’t spent a dime.

So on Sunday, with prompting from the radio show, I went back to AnnualCreditReport.com for another try.

I entered all of my info, steered away from Equifax — choosing Experian instead, and clicked ‘Submit’.

Experian also tried to up-sell me with monthly updates and stuff like that. Down at the bottom, though, was the link for “No thanks. Show my report.”

Click!

And there it was!

A lot longer than I’d expected… but nothing negative on there…

It lists 17 accounts, all thankfully in good standing — 4 Bank of America accounts, 2 BMW Financial Services accounts, 3 Chase Bank accounts, 1 Countrywide account, 1 First USA account, 1 McCue Mortgage account, 2 Sears accounts, 1 Toyota account and 2 Citi accounts.

Does that add up to 17? I sure hope so.

For each account, it tells you when you opened it, what the credit limit is, what your balance is, recent payment info, whether you’ve ever been late on a payment, whether the account is open or closed, and lots of other fun stuff.

Nothing real earth shattering, but still some neat info to leaf/scroll through.

Thankfully, while I don’t exactly remember opening all 17 accounts, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and little additional thought explained each and every entry.

For one of the Chase entries, I would have been 9 years old when the account was opened…

Hmmm… Identity theft?

Well, no.

It’s obviously one of my parent’s accounts where I’m an authorized user — likely used while I was in University. To their credit, the status for that account is: Open/Never Late.

Fantastic!

As I get my “stuff” more together (in preparation for the remodelling), I’ll detail the, well, details…

Posted on November 6th, 2008 at 9:16 pm by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Credit Card, Finance | 4 Comments »

What’s in a Wardrobe?

While I can’t say that I supported the Republican ticket this time around, I find it quite ridiculous that one of the top post-election stories is centering around Sarah Palin’s wardrobe expenses.

Still? What, is Joan Rivers a newsroom director now? This is such a non-story, I can’t even believe I’m posting about it…

True, shopping sprees with widely publicized receipts of $75,062 and $49,425 are something that most Americans can’t really come to grips with.

I know I can’t.

I used to dream about winning those 60-second Toys-R-Us shopping sprees they used to advertise each year. Remember those? Man, that would have been sweet to win one of those…

But did you ever read the fine print? They always excluded Lego, Barbie, G.I. Joe, electronics, and anything in the ever-popular bike aisle… Pretty much everything anyone would want was off-limits.

Um, what was left to stuff into your cart? Board games? Yeah, no thanks…

I digress…

Combined, the balance on my mortgage is less than her apparent tab. Sure, that’s something to be upset about. Maybe that’s why it’s a headline?

But the part that stands out most for me is that Sarah Palin is being attacked not for spending so much but for how much over budget she went.

A McCain aide named Nicolle Wallace mentioned that Palin’s instructions were to go out and find six suits to wear during the final weeks of the campaign. Sounds reasonable.

Actually, considering how many stops she was making per day, it almost doesn’t sound like enough.

No matter, the aide casually tossed out that her “budget was $20k-$25k…”

Wh-what?

That’s how the McCain camp has justified their, in my opinion, unfair lashing of Sarah Palin?

Um, okay, so she went a little crazy with the company credit card — I’ll give them that — but if you want to connect with voters, or even your base, you might not to mention what the actual budget was…

I mean, on the high end, that works out to nearly $4200 per outfit?!

I don’t care where you shop — that’s a lot of money.

The most overpriced store I can think of in my area is Nordstrom (who would pay $245 for a tie?!) and I’m pretty certain that I’d have a hard time ringing up a bill that high.

I’d go so far as to say that my entire wardrobe, from birth to age 32 is just now approaching that number. That “number” being the $4200, not the $25k.

Now I realize that a VP candidate, especially a female VP candidate, can’t exactly dress the way I do.

I mean, I’m certain her shoes cost 300% more than mine, but still… There are just some things that the campaign shouldn’t publicize…

Posted on November 6th, 2008 at 8:25 pm by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Life | 2 Comments »