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Starting to sense a theme this week?
After reading yesterday’s post, my wife couldn’t help but point out one of my Christmas gifts from her mother.
So, as I crunch away while watching the season premiere of the Biggest Loser (a guilty pleasure), it’s become apparent that sometimes happiness can actually come from eating yellow snow.
Posted on January 6th, 2009 at 8:00 pm by Brainy Smurf
Photo, Television | No Comments »
Remember a few weeks ago when I went on my own personal Odyssey in search of an open Steve & Barry’s only to encounter a bunch of dark and shuttered storefronts?
Well, this past weekend, we actually came across one of their stores that was still open!!!
Woo-hoo!
Unfortunately, it was their final day.
Sure, things were 90% off — yes t-shirts cost less than $1 — but they didn’t have *any* adult sizes left. None.
All they had were a bunch of black puffy pleather Sarah Jessica Parker coats for $4 a piece… Might have been $1 a piece — I didn’t really bother checking for certain.
A great deal, either way, but no thanks. Definitely not my style…
Standing inside the store watching people that I guess could be considered “less fortunate” try the jackets on made me sad… Not only because they were losing what was probably one of their only “trendy” shopping outlets but because it was depressing just to see a store that, well, had fallen so far so quickly.
Yeah, it was cheap. Yeah, the stores attracted some pretty grubby people. And yeah, some of the stuff they sold was a little obnoxious, but the quality of much of it was higher than, say, the $40 tasteless t-shirts sold at Abercrombie & Fitch.
I *really* liked this chain — but I never really took advantage of it just “being there” because I’d just assumed that they’d be around forever.
I was wrong.
Now, where am I going to find a “Property of Dad” t-shirt for less than $5?
Really?
I should have bought one (or ten) when I had the chance…
In the end, even though I didn’t buy anything this past weekend, I’m glad that I got to shop there one last time. For closure, you know?
Anyway, here are a few more miserable photos from Steve & Barry’s final day in the State of Connecticut:
Hopefully another store comes along to fill the HUGE void left in all of the shopping malls.
And hopefully they’ll have a better business model.
Farewell Steve & Barry’s… You were great while you lasted…
Posted on December 29th, 2008 at 9:34 pm by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Current Events, Photo | 1 Comment »
Well, at this point, it looks at though we’re guaranteed a white Christmas this year.
After a foot of snow on Friday, another 6-8 inches forecast for tomorrow, and then another round due on Wednesday, I think I’ll get an entire season’s worth of shoveling in before the end of the year.
This shot was taken from our front window. The deer are across the street and the colorful orbs are reflections of our Christmas tree in the window. Made for a pretty cool sequence of photos.
Hopefully, after tomorrow’s snowfall, the one reindeer’s head will be hidden. That could make for some funny photos.
Speaking of the fake reindeer — I think the first time I ever saw one was about 15 years ago now.
I remember my parents pricing them out, but the price tag was prohibitive. They had to be over $100 each at the time and if you wanted one that had it’s head move up and down, well, those were over $200.
Now, it seems, or at least for the past few years, it appears that the tacky inflatable lawn decorations are more in style. The resulting good news is that you can now find fake reindeer just like the ones in the picture for around $14.99!
A goofy looking inflatable nativity scene will still run you $90…
Go figure…
Poor taste costs more.
Posted on December 20th, 2008 at 7:23 pm by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Photo | No Comments »
It’s been a trying week at work, so I haven’t been posting much. This post will probably disappoint. Hey, just warning you…
I’d guess you’d have to be a hockey fan of the 1980’s and early 1990’s to truly appreciate this photo.
This is 4-time Stanley Cup Winner Claude Lemiuex and he all but retired after the 2002-03 season when no one offered him a contract.
Until last month.
He’s now 43 years old and playing in the minor leagues working towards a comeback.
I’m pretty certain he’s realistic about his prospects, I mean, he’s made millions of dollars as a professional athlete and can’t possibly need the money — but he’s chosen to sign a contract with a team that will having him riding a bus (rather than a chartered plane) to cities like Rochester, Syracuse, Bridgeport, and Norfolk.
Not exactly major league cities.
Not exactly major league accommodations either.
If he reaches the NHL again, and I think he might, this will most certainly be his final season.
There isn’t a lot left in the tank (though he’s skating circles around players half his age), he knows that, but I think he just wants to go out on his own terms — and not be forced out due to his age.
Shaking hands with Lemieux is former NHL defenseman J.J. Daigneault. The two were briefly teammates on the Montreal Canadiens, oh, roughly 18 years ago.
Daigneault is now a coach, he’s in the shirt and tie, while Lemieux is still a player — playing with kids who weren’t even born when these two played together.
Anyway, this just shows how important it is to network. Lemieux undoubtedly used his contacts to get this job and, along the way, I’m sure he’s making new contacts with today’s crop of players.
It isn’t often these days that the old timer isn’t pushed aside — in sports or in the office — in favor of the fresh face.
I’ve seen it firsthand — friends getting blindsided — and I’ve got to admit, it weighs on my mind a bit. Okay…a lot.
But I’d really prefer to leave on my own terms someday.
Claude’s making sure that happens.
Posted on December 14th, 2008 at 10:05 am by Brainy Smurf
Photo, Retro, Sports | No Comments »
This is what I woke up to this morning… That’s the view out of our back window.
According to my wife, I apparently, to my own benefit, slept through the snow plow driving by at 3:17 am. That’s not usually the case.
Now, you don’t think that I’m about to go out there and shovel my walk, do you? On a Sunday?
Please…
I mean, since becoming debt free we’ve started frequenting the opera.
Opera-goers do not shovel on Sunday.
And who could forget that we hire out the task of picking up our fallen leaves?
Obviously, we’re too “well-off”, now that we’re debt free, to shovel our own snow…
I kid.
Can you imagine actually being like that? I certainly can’t.
Now it’s not a lot of snow, maybe 3 inches, but it was our first accumulation of the season.
I was actually pretty excited to get out there and shovel — using my favorite shovel that was doomed to plaster duty just last month. I’ve missed that shovel — for snow NOT plaster.
Twenty minutes later, the walk and the driveway were clear.
As I said, it wasn’t a lot of snow, but I’m glad my first snow shoveling expedition of the season wasn’t one of those monster three hour projects at the crack of dawn before a long day at work.
That’s never the way to start a day.
Neither is being awoken by a passing snow plow at 3:17 am.
Thankfully, neither happened today.
Posted on December 7th, 2008 at 9:31 am by Brainy Smurf
Photo | 3 Comments »
As we did last year, we attended the local high school football game on Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately I don’t have any exciting stories about picking up a dropped nickel.
Trust me, I was looking too…
Tickets were $6 each; a twenty percent increase over last year.
Being cheap, I found that to be a little excessive considering all of the moaning about the economy.
But the crowd didn’t seem to mind — it was a packed house as it always is. It’s crazy when you hear the roar of the crowd rival an NFL game when all they’re there to see is a high school game. Three weeks ago, the crowd would have been maybe 50 people — if it was warm out.
Thanksgiving? A couple thousand. The place is a mob scene. Parking. Nightmare.
I’d bet the kids on the field love it, though.
I mean, each year, it has that pro feel — I don’t ever remember feeling that in high school.
Like a pro game, the game is on television (public access, but still…) with real announcers from the local affiliates. They even had a sideline reporter?! The end zone was dotted with photographers with HUGE lenses, like me. The stadium even has souvenir stands — and they were open!?
Basically, it’s an event even if you’re not on the field and that’s why we go each year.
I guess you could call it the SuperBowl of our town. Seems that everybody goes — though I strangely didn’t recognize anyone there.
On the downside, going to the game also means that we miss the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade each year. My wife is not happy about that.
And for the record, the team in white won the game. Woo-hoo! They represent our side of town!
Posted on November 29th, 2008 at 7:53 am by Brainy Smurf
Photo, Sports | No Comments »
Yep, it’s time to start getting serious about saving. I’m not entirely sure why we weren’t able to go all gung-ho in November (or even October, for that matter…), but now that December is around the corner, we really need to get started.
And though we’re heading into December and there will undoubtedly be some Christmas expenditures, we have to stop putting this off.
Here’s the plan:
1. Save 50% of the take home.
That’s it.
Pretty simple, huh?
The idea is simple. Being able to actually do it might not be so…
In a nutshell, to get the ball rolling, I’m pretending that I get paid twice a month (instead of bi-weekly) and that there are 4 weeks in a month.
Using the bottom line from one paycheck, I’m dividing by 4 (for the number of weeks in my version of a month) and transferring that amount into my ING account each Friday.
That works out to 50% of my monthly income transferred to savings over four weeks (to lessen the blow).
Can I do it? In addition to the $400/month I’m already transferring there in place of my former car payments? Yikes!
Maybe this is a little too amibitious…
We’ll see…
So far, I’m 2 weeks in to a test run and things are going relatively smoothly.
Woo-hoo!
Of course, I haven’t had to pay a mortgage bill yet either…
That could be the red light at the next intersection.
Posted on November 24th, 2008 at 12:26 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Photo, Savings | 2 Comments »
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 | 8 Comments »
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I'm three apples high and nearsighted. I like yellow-haired smurfs, robot invasions, sarcasm, and anything where the secret ingredient is love.
I started this blog in March 2007 after accidently stumbling across a few PF blogs while researching the idea of using 0% balance tranfers to finance a home improvement project -- from there, I was hooked...
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