house on the market - rags to the ready

Our house is for sale right now. We're planning on building as soon as we can sell it. Of course, right now we get to deal with showings and have to keep the house in order at all times, which is no easy task when you've got kids and pets. There's always toys to be put away, beds to be made, clothes to be picked up off of the floor, and floors to be swept or vacuumed. And that's not including the exterior of the house. Outside, there are weeds to be wacked, flowers to be planted, porch to be swept, and our patio furniture keeps collecting this thin layer of yellow tree pollen. I'm hoping that we won't be seeing as much of it now that the oak trees have fully leafed out.

Every agent says that our house shows really well, and we have already received an offer already, but it was a low one. So we continue to keep the house polished and primped, awaiting our eventual buyers. It sure isn't easy, though.

the true road to freedom

It seems that every week or so, there is a new best selling book about freedom, wealth, and prosperity. Everybody wants to sell you their "secret" road to happiness and success. I'm actually no different, except that I'm going to sum it up in a quick blog post, and give it away for free.

Now you can spend your time trying to figure out how to make more money, and you can follow the advice of all of these get rich quick guys (whose real way of getting rich quick is telling others how to do it - at a cost). But the way that I see it, the best way to go about achieving financial independence (an therefore freedom) is to rid ourselves of our dependence on money. At least as much as possible.

Sure, there are certain things that we just can't seem to live without - food and shelter, for example. And then there are things like medical and life insurance, which are arguably necessary. (After all, if millions of people can live without them, are they truly necessary?) But how do we go about doing this?

The fist thing I would do is to get rid of your television. It's the quickest way that you can start to sever your ties with material obsessions. Radio can go, too. Next, put some money away, quit your big city job and move someplace with a low cost of living. Read some books and figure out how to build yourself a small home - something tiny and efficient, but perfect for your lifestyle. If you can figure out how to be off the grid, you can rid yourself of utility bills, too. Make sure that your new home is in an area where the climate isn't too extreme, so that you can grow your own vegetables. Or...spend some extra cash and build a decent sized greenhouse. When you do go to the grocery store, pick up the generic stuff. Tens years ago, it tasted bad, but most of it is just as good as the name brand stuff today. (In fact, I suspect that much of it is made in the same factories and simply shipped to different plants for packaging.)

Also, try and position yourself within walking distance to most of the places that you visit frequently - the grocery stores, the library, the post office, bank, etc. This way, you can rid yourself of much of your gas and automobile maintenance costs. If you can make most of these changes in your life, you'll be able to survive comfortably by only working a part time job. That's about as financially free as anyone can get in my book.

drawbacks to being a GIMP...user

I have long been an advocate of the GIMP. It is a free alternative to elite photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop. It features many of the same features and a similar interface, but is available absolutely free. Unfortunately, there are some limitations to it, though. For one thing, you can't work in CMYK color mode, which is print-industry standard for many types of media. In addition, I recently discovered that it is also restricted to 8-bit color. This means that your color gradients aren't going to look quite a nice as they would in 16-bit. Of course, the novice probably wouldn't notice the difference any more than they would notice the difference in audio between a CD and a DVD. But it is there, and if you plan on being a graphics or digital photography professional, you have to take these limitations into account.

landing pages and social bookmarking

The trend of having a "splash" or landing page before someone enters your website is slowly going away. But not soon enough. While previously considered a mild annoyance, splash pages are a major hindrance to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon. After all, how can you successfully assess a site's contents without being able to see past the front page? If you go to review a subpage, it creates a new bookmark altogether.

So here's a tip to web designers across the globe. Please drop the flash splash pages. They are so nineties, and it makes things difficult for social bookmarkers.

an abundance of the same-old

There is a very high turnover rate in my town. We get lots of people moving in, and lots moving out. Mainly, it has to do with the lack of job opportunities. Lots of people come here with dreams of starting their own business, but few have the business savvy required to survive long term. The tourist market poses enough of a challenge, what with the seasonal dry spells, but the going rate for many services is also half of what it would be in a large city. Granted, the cost of living is lower, so it is offset by a certain ratio. But even with rent as low as $400 a month, some people just can't make it.

Another problem is that people don't do their research prior to arriving. They know nothing of the market or the competition. Asa result, we end up with businesses with zero customer base, or we end up with the same types of businesses presented ad nauseum. We've got empty motels peppering the highway for miles, and yet every year somebody comes along with the great idea of offering additional lodging. So why do some businesses survive while others fold? How is it that we can have hippies in the park selling enough handcrafted jewelry and art to pay their bills, while the new guy with the college degree and the BMW can't turn a profit?

The answer lies in our style of living. Those who live simply enough don't need much to survive. They can survive by working odd jobs. Some only work part time and still have enough mad money for their bar-hopping habit. That's where I need to be. We've already eliminated most of our debt, but we need to do more. My next step is to eliminate the mortgage. When it comes to expenses, mortgage and rent are top dogs and getting rid of them is one step closer to true financial freedom. I am starting to believe that there a limited number of necessary evils when it comes to bills. You can't escape utility bills, for example, unless you are living off the grid. Health and medical insurance is important, although one could argue that living a stress-free life can lead to better health. Transportation can be a sticky problem, unless you position yourself within walking distance of where you need to go.

The cost of food continues to rise, but we can offset some of the costs by growing our own vegetables and reducing our meat intake. Of course, to grow your own produce requires a hospitable climate for your crops (or a good sized greenhouse).

Sure, you can read the latest bestseller advertising how to make a million bucks by working a four hour work week, or you can come back from la-la-land and realize that nobody needs a million bucks in the first place. We just need to live more humbly.

state of the nation

Sometimes it takes a global interface to realize just how bad off we are. Everyone knows that the value of the dollar is pathetic right now, but just how bad is it? After all, does it really affect us if we're not trying to spend it elsewhere?

Yesterday I signed up for an account at Elance.com, and I quickly discovered just how bad things can be. In the field of web design, the global market is flooded with people from India who are willing to do the same job that I do for half the price (or less). You might assume that these are fly-by-night guys who don't know what they are doing or that they can barely speak English, but their feedback would tell you otherwise. How can we compete on a global market?

The main problem isn't that they are undercutting us by 50%. Perhaps web design shouldn't pay more than $10/hour. The real problem lies in the fact that the average American cannot live off of less than $10 an hour. Also, let's not forget that we Americans lose another 30% or so due to taxes. So we're making even less. I have no idea what kind of taxes other countries impose on their citizens' income.

I guess I can understand why so many companies are outsourcing to other countries. Perhaps I should do the same thing, and just keep the overhead.

no definitive diet

I've been reading Thoreau's Walden and it turns out that he is another supporter of the vegetarian movement. We tried vegetarianism for about a year, and eventually returned to eating meat. Although we're not the biggest steak eaters, I can't seem to live without seafood and chicken. Part of that is my Southern upbringing. I grew up on lots and lots of seafood, so you could say that it is part of my heritage.

Even if you don't believe in vegetarianism for ethical reasons, there are lots of arguments that have been presented on the case of meat being very unhealthy for us. Let's face it - it is probably the largest source of fat intake for us. What's strange is that most of the dietary information that has been presented is often debated. In this day and age, you would think that there would be scientific evidence by now that could inform us of the best diet possible for longevity and fitness.

Sure, there's always the four food groups, or what is now the food pyramid. But if these are the best cases of nutritional guidance, how do we explain the cases of old age in other countries? I have heard of numerous accounts of 100+ year-old women from Mongolia or China, for example, who claim that their secret is a cigar and a glass of vodka each day. How do we explain these seemingly contradictory examples? The Asian culture is not only known for their longevity, but also for their age-defying appearance. Marketers have been attempting to tap into these secrets of Oriental youth preservation for years. From green tea to anti wrinkle cream, the Western world is obsessed with looking their best, while we fill the insides of our bodies with fast food, junk food, and fat food.

So we do we continually try to invent and mass-market health band-aids, instead of pinpointing the best diet that will lead to both longevity and our best looks? My guess is that the answer to that riddle lies within natural moderated food intake, which doesn't jive with our American lifestyle and doesn't offer as much profit as the steroid-infused produce and supplements that form the bulk of our current diet.

having everything while owning nothing

I've always been a media collector. Since I was a teen, I would spend a considerable amount of my income on cassettes, records and CDs. Between my car insurance, gas, and my music obsession, my paycheck was already spent each week. In fact, there was a time when I couldn't set foot in a record store without spending some cash.

As I grew older, my taste expanded to include movies and books. By the time I was thirty, I had enough items in my media collections to fill a small bedroom. For someone who likes to read, watch movies and listen to music, this seemed like a fair trade-off. Space for entertainment. But over the years, I've also relocated many times, and each time that collection of media has to be packed up and moved. And if our new home happens to be a bit smaller than the last, we have to find storage for that which will not fit, or pare down our collection.

I eventually managed to break my habit of spending too much on CDs and DVDs, with a little help from my wife and kids. Now I get my new media fix from the internet or the library. The library, in particular, has a wonderful collection of movies, and they consistently stock their catalog with the latest releases. The downsides? Not always getting the DVD that you want when you want it, and occasionally getting a DVD that won't play. Library patrons don't seem to understand the concept of holding a disc by its edges. But it certainly has saved us lots of cash (and space).

mobile work leads to a mobile mind

My desktop PC had been giving me trouble over the last couple of months, and I did my best to troubleshoot, but I can't seem to figure it out. The computer seems to cycle on and off about ten times before it will boot, with no BIOS indication of the issue. I checked the cables and tried replacing the CMOS battery with no success. I've tried removing most of the peripherals and have narrowed it down to either the hard drive, motherboard, or the OS - all of which are a pain to replace. Seeing as I only paid about $300 for the PC in the first place (I built it myself), and that was three years ago, I decided to go ahead and migrate all of my work to my laptop. I'll keep the desktop as a backup for now, although I have to leave it on to avoid the boot problem. I may just have to cannibalize it and see what parts I can use elsewhere. If anyone has any recommendations for one of those USB hard drive enclosures, I'm all ears. I'd like to put it to good use as an external expansion drive for the laptop, assuming that the hard drive isn't the part of the desktop that is broken.

As a result of switching to the laptop, I find that I work less in the office and more in other parts of the house. Unfortunately, I also notice that with this enhanced mobility, I have a harder time concentrating. It seems as though my switch to the laptop has brought with it all kinds of distractions. So now I'm thinking that I need to try and discipline myself a little better so that I do most of my work in the office, even if the laptop affords more mobility. Just because I can "go mobile" doesn't mean that it is the best choice for productivity.

your stimulation plans?

With the first round of recipients having received their economic stimulus checks, I can't help but wonder what this is supposed to achieve. I understand that we're supposed to spend this money, but with the economy and job markets in the toilet, doesn't it make more sense to put it into a savings account? Does it really make sense to take this unexpected bonus and blow it on *more things*? Isn't that what got us into this pickle in the first place - the spending of our cash (and credit) on bigger, better, and faster products that we didn't necessarily need in the first place?

For some, I'm sure that this check from the government will be a God-send. It will assist some Americans in paying their rent or utility bills. Or perhaps many will use it to offset the rising cost of gas for the next six months or so. These are noble appropriations of funds, I'm sure, but what ever happened to the old "teach a man to fish" proverb? Instead of throwing the American taxpayer a bone in the form of a "stimulus check", why not do something about the inflation that we are seeing, to better help with longterm expenses?

We wouldn't be so strapped for cash in the first place if we weren't paying so many taxes, or if our livelihood wasn't so dependent on oil.

furniture versus built-ins

We've decided that we are going to build our own place soon. It will be a compact home with as little wasted space as possible, which means lots of built-ins. One of the things that we are being forced to re-evaluate is our furniture. Some of it will work with our new floorplan. Some will not. We made the decision several years ago to purchase an entire bedroom set for the master bedroom, and as a result we have always required a rather large space for all of it. We won't have this same space in our new home, so we'll probably have to sell much of our bedroom furniture. I'm a little reluctant to do so, because I know that we won't be able to sell it for much, and I hate the idea of practically giving it away (or losing so much of our investment). My wife says not to let it bother me, and that we've had several years of good usage of this furniture set, but I still can't help but cringe when I think of selling it for 20% of what we paid.

I was even considering the idea of moving it with us, disassembling it and reusing it as built-in furniture. But then I'd feel even worse if my less-than-perfect carpentry skills ruined the furniture altogether.

There are some really good books that detail ideas for built-in furnishings that can convert and serve double-duty. Many of them showcase homes in China and Japan, where metropolitan space is scarce. My only question is if built-in furniture can replace regular furniture completely. Can a murphy bed replace a standard bedframe and boxspring? Can a tv wall mount replace an armoire? Can a set of built-in wall drawers replace a dresser? Honestly, I don't see why not. Why continue to relocate furniture every time that we move? I suspect that one of the reasons has to do with our desire to change our furniture every so often. Conversely, one could argue that built-ins prevent one from giving their furnishings a facelift every so often. But if the furnishings match the style of the home, why change them?

For a while, I was examining several different lightweight furniture options. My thinking was that this would be the easiest way to relocate furniture. However, I am starting to believe that the easiest thing to do would be to not relocate it at all. Built-ins would serve this purpose very well. Now I just have to accept the fact that we're going to lose so much money if we sell our current set. But on the bright side, if all goes as planned, this will be the last time we will have to do that.

behold the elusive I.O.U.

I occasionally have a new client ask if they can pay me for my web design work once their website starts making them money. I often respond that I will start accepting I.O.U.'s as soon as my utility and mortgage companies start accepting them from me. Until then, it's a pay-as-you-go arrangement. And I assume that this is how most companies operate these days. Aside from large retailers with financing and layaway options, I can't see anyone accepting an I.O.U. from a new customer. It's just too risky...isn't it?

Well, believe it or not, I recently ran across a web-based business that still believes in the I.O.U. and offers it to all of their customers. The company in question sells dog in yard signs and their website clearly states that they ship the sign first and expect payment later. I have to admit that I was bowled over by this idea. I remember thinking that these folks must either be very naive or that the signs must be very inexpensive to manufacture - at least enough to cover the occasional non-payment. Or maybe I'm just too jaded.

But let's put our negativity aside for a moment and see this for what it is - a company that actually *trusts* its customers to do the right thing; a company that still has faith in the human race and spends more time trying to please their customers than trying to get paid up front. This is more than a novel idea - this is a radical idea. Does it work? Only time will tell, but it appears that business is thriving.

As for the product? Well, surprisingly enough, these aren't cheap stamped or grainy screen-printed tinfoil signs. They are well made of powder coated steel. The printing is sharp and crisp, and they have several colors to choose from. They even include your choice of mounting hardware (depending on your fence) - brass screws or zip-ties. Our backyard is actually too sloped for a fence, so we let our dog go out front to "do her business", but we also have a large circular driveway in the front yard. Every so often a stranger, delivery van, or one of our neighbors will use our circular drive to turn their car around, and we're always worried that they might hit our dog. So we've been trying to come up with a solution.



At first, we considered roping off the driveway with those fancy horsehead chain-busts. This presented two problems. For one thing, the horseheads are expensive. For another, we'd have to get out and remove the chains each time we needed to use our own driveway. So we nixed that idea. We thought about fencing the rest of the front yard, but our neighborhood covenant wouldn't allow it. We tried making our own sign, but cardboard doesn't last in the rain and my wife didn't like the G.I.Joe appearance of my stenciled letters on a wooden sign. (I'm not very crafty, so a fancy sculpted wood sign was not an option.) So this "dog in yard" sign was perfect for us. We opted for the blue background, so that it didn't blend into the landscaping too much. I'll be mounting it to a tree in the yard in a highly visible location fro the drive. Highly recommended!

Uncle Sam to fix my eyes?

I've been considering Lasik for some time now. I can't really say why, but for some reason I keep procrastinating. Sometimes, I use the budget excuse, but even when we've got money in the bank I shy away from any sort of eye surgery commitment. Every time I go in for new glasses, I casually ask the optometrist about eye surgery and upon every occasion they have told me that I would be a good candidate. But for some reason, I just can't seem to get any further with it.

Part of it has to do with the fact that I have a real problem with anything touching my eyeballs. Heck, even the rush of air from a glaucoma test tends to freak me out. This is the primary reason why I've never tried contact lenses, although I wasn't attracted to all of the cleansers and crap that accumulates in the bathroom, either.

And so once again, we are expecting a nice extra chunk of change, courtesy of our president, and I can't help but think about using it to have my eyes fixed. It would be nice to not have to wear glasses anymore, but I sometimes wonder if my glasses haven't become part of my persona. Don't get me wrong - they're not as intrinsic to my image as, say, the glasses worn by Bono or Elvis Costello, but I sometimes think that I look better with them.

If I do pursue the eye surgery option, I'm going to have to seek out the one that doesn't involve any cutting or scraping. I have heard that there is one technique that only involves a laser zapping your eyes, with no cutting involved. The other that I have heard of requires them to slice a thin "window" from your eyeball first. Yikes! I don't think I could handle that, short of being put to sleep first.

So I guess I'll have to make that decision once I am holding my economic stimulus check. Should I stimulate the optometry industry, or my savings account?

a newfound respect for the real

I recently ran across a website that lists the real names of music artists, and was shocked. Although it is fairly obvious that certain artists (like Prince) have devised monikers, I was surprised to see many of the names on the list. It also makes me wonder why certain artists decided only to change their last name. There are artists like Lou Reed (whose real name is Louis Firbank?) who I am guessing changed their names to make it easier to remember or spell. If he played clarinet or sax, I could understand the "reed" reference. But then there are artists like Gene Simmons whose real name is supposedly Chaim Klein Witz. Talk about bizarre. But how do they come up with these alter ego's? Names that sound "hip" like Nikki Sixx are expected, but how does "Gene Simmons" sound any more hip than his real name? I guess it sounds more American, and perhaps that is what he was going for.

One surprise from the list was Taco - his first name actually is Taco. Check it out - it's fun for a laugh: Music Stars Real Names

my parents are getting old

We have a roadtrip planned this summer to see my parents. It has been a while since we've visited, and I fear that they will have changed in appearance more than I am prepared to see. They've already started to exhibit signs of doing "old person" type things - like gambling at the casinos several times a week, and mixing up their childrens names on the phone. They both *seem* to still have their faculties about them (as much as they have had them up until now), although some of the stuff my mother says over the phone makes me wonder.

My father says that he is preparing for retirement, and that this time he will actually stay retired. I'll believe it when I see it. He's the type of guy who needs to feel useful, like everything that he is doing has a concrete, easily understood purpose. I'm the same way at times, so I guess that's who I get it from. I suspect that much of his "busy-bodiness" has to do with the fact that he and my mother are opposites and don't seem to get along very well. So they limit their time around each other by staying busy with other things, and when they do spend time together (going to the movies, gambling), they are still inattentive to each other to a certain degree.

I'll bet that my dad buys an RV when he retires. He seems to be about ten years behind whatever his neighbors are doing, so its only a matter of time before he picks up some of those polyester jogging outfits, a Cadillac, and his and hers adjustable beds. Why do people inevitably buy into these age-based product trends? Is it simply a matter of desiring more comfort in one's old age? There's *got* to be an alternative to those ugly jogging suits, though.