Archive for June, 2008

Here Comes A Busy Month

By Hazzard - Last updated: Monday, June 30, 2008

Wow.  July is finally upon us.  For months now, we’ve been making plans for various exciting events this month.  For starters, it’s our daughter’s 5th birthday this month.  Instead of spending a ton of money on a huge party, we have decided to take a little bit more reserved approach.  We have invited just a [...]

Macedonians Going in To Debt For Parties?

By Hazzard - Last updated: Friday, June 27, 2008

This doesn’t sound all that different than an article you might read in the US.  The only difference is that Macedonia has a 35% unemployment rate and poverty is huge.  Families use the motto "You only live once" to rationalize the huge expense and potential debt for years.  They actually get bank loans to throw [...]

Got Rear Ended Yesterday

By Hazzard - Last updated: Thursday, June 26, 2008

There I was.  Patiently waiting in the turn lane at an intersection.  I was about 4 cars back at the light.  Traffic had built up behind me and there was a brand new green Toyota Camry right behind me.  All was well. As the light turned green I started to anticipate being able to go [...]

We Have Decided To Minimize Our A/C Use This Summer

By Hazzard - Last updated: Thursday, June 26, 2008

With the price of everything going up, I’ve been very conscious of our energy use both in our cars, and in our home. I’ve always been one of those people that turns lights off anywhere that they aren’t necessary.  We have been very good about only using lights in the rooms that we are in [...]

Dreaming Of A Midlife Crisis

By Hazzard - Last updated: Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I have to confess something.  More and more these days I’m finding myself thinking about what it would take to check out of the rat race.  I don’t care about having the fanciest stuff, or the latest and greatest tech gadget.  I really want to have the option to just do absolutely nothing as much [...]

Time For A Furnace

By Hazzard - Last updated: Monday, June 23, 2008

For the last couple of years I’ve been thinking about when our furnace would finally quit.  The way my luck goes, it will die in the middle of winter so I decided to shop for a furnace during the slower months for heating companies.  I was able to work with two neighbors to pool our [...]

Top 5 Things I’m Doing To Save Gas

By Hazzard - Last updated: Friday, June 20, 2008

Gas prices suck.  For many people, who have built their lives around long distance travel and large vehicles, gas prices really suck.  I’ve been reading lots of articles about people who travel 120+ miles round trip to their jobs every day.  Ouch.  Most of those people aren’t driving hybrids either.  I’m sure just about everyone [...]

Is DAVE RAMSEY Writing Horoscopes These Days?

By Hazzard - Last updated: Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A friend of mine sent me his horoscope today.  It reads: Wow.  I haven’t seen a horoscope so directed at consumerism before.  I think the horoscope gods should consider rotating this horoscope each month.  You can’t tell me that Taurus’ are the only ones that need to hear this message.

GrandCentral Rocks Your Socks Off

By Hazzard - Last updated: Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I am a huge fan of Google GrandCentral.  What is it?  GrandCentral gives you a phone number in the area of your choosing.  You can give that number out and route calls to any other phone.  When someone calls our GrandCentral number I have it ring our home, our cel phones and my laptop (Skype).  [...]

What Would You Do? Split The Money?

By Hazzard - Last updated: Tuesday, June 17, 2008

About 6 months or so ago my neighbor told me that he wanted to get rid of a weight set that was taking up space in his garage.  He had purchased this about 9 months before that and had probably paid in the neighborhood of $600-700 for everything.  I asked him how much he wanted [...]