Working at night causes cancer?!?

Bad news for those of us in debt that work a late night job to help pay off those bills. A new study has concluded that people that work at night have a probable cause for cancer!

Why is this the case?

Well, apparently at night when you are sleeping and it is dark is when your body produces melatonin. Melatonin prevents tumor production. And if you are working at night it is probably not in the dark - so no melatonin is produced! Yikes!

The article said that light shuts down melatonin production, so people working in artificial light at night may have lower melatonin levels.

It is an interesting article that you might want to read. It kind of makes you think. Is the risk of cancer really worth getting debt paid of quickly? The first blogger this makes me think of is JW at Need to be debt free.

Hooray for less traffic

I love this time of year. Loads of people are taking off work to holiday shop or to use up vacation time that will expire by the end of the year. As a result I get to enjoy less morning and afternoon rush hour traffic. Ah, the holidays – they sure are good for the traffic. Now, if only I could get more than Christmas Day and New Year’s day off of work…

the page rank spanking

So, a lot of people have recently seen their page rank go to zero. In fact, a lot of my sites were smacked with the zero. Oddly enough, this site has maintainted its rank.

So that makes me wonder. Is is just because this is a Blogger site, which is owned by Google? Do they not penalize sites associated with their name?

And why are they handing out the smackd downs to people? As little as AdSense pays out to website owners I hardly imagine that they are hurting for cash. Sure makes you think.

winter coat regrets

So, I have a pretty nice wool coat. It looks great with everything. I have had it for a couple of years and noticed it needs cleaned. It has to be dry cleaned. D'oh.

Why didn't I buy a practical coat that I could wash myself? I am so kicking myself for this one.

I was actually wondering about something though. I wonder if I could sell it on eBay and then buy another coat without spending any money at all? I know I paid over $100 for this coat (and I got it on sale). So, I think it might work. Hrm, maybe I'll try that.

Um, oops

So, my student loans have been on forbearance for a little while. I have a lot of private education loans, so the payment was pretty steep. And what can I say, times have been tough. So anyways, apparently that little time period is over. And apparently someone forgot to tell me. Or I forgot to look or something. And then bam - I just happen to sign in to check things out and see that it is past due. Oops. And there is not room in the budget for $372. Hrm.

being sick is no fun

You know, not feeling well is no fun. Having to go to work when not feeling well is really no fun. Making that decision because of bills is the worst part of it. Ah, if only there was no debt. Then I would be able to be sick at home. Instead of having to come to work and feel all crappy. Man.

I made it!

Yes, I made it.

The work day finally ended. And now I am at home. I sure wish I did not have to spend most of my time at home sleeping though. No fair that work gets my best hours. Too bad I can't be half sleepy at work instead. That would be so much better. Of course, they might not wanna pay me for that. And that would indeed suck!

The day that never ends

Ever have one of those days at work? You know, the kind of day that just drags and drags. You look at the clock and only a few minutes have passed. Or you look at the clock and it is earlier than it was the last time you looked. Or at least you swear that it is. Why? Because it feels like time is moving backwards. That is my day at work today. I do not think that it will ever end. It's kind of like the movie Groundhog Day, and yes I do have to repeat this day every day till Friday. :(

One of my fave recipes

Hve you ever had egg bread? It is a delicious little recipe. You can make it plain or add a little cinnamon to it to give it a bit of a different taste. I used to have to rely on other people to make it for me when I did not have a mixer. But is it typically a holiday time recipe in my family, which is why I am thinking about it now. It is just one of those things that you smell cooking and instantly think of the holidays - at least for me that is!

Here is the recipe if you are interested:

INGREDIENTS:

4 3/4 all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups milk
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons margarine or butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

DIRECTIONS:

Combine 2 cups of flour with yeast.
Put margarine or butter in a saucepan with milk, sugar and salt. Heat until margarine almost melts.
Add the ingredients from the saucepan to the flour mixture, along with the eggs.
Beat together on low speed for 30 seconds, then beat on high for 3 minutes. (Scrape bowl continuously.)
Use a spoon to stir in as much additional flour as possible up to an extra 1/2 cup.
Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead 6-8 minutes, kneading in any remaining flour until dough becomes elastic.
Shape into ball and place in a greased bowl, turning to grease entire surface. Cover the bowl and let sit in a warm place for about an hour until dough has risen to double its original size.
Punch dough down.
Place again onto floured surface. Divide dough in half. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
Place the dough into two greased loaf pans (8×4x2). Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Dough should once again double from its original size.
Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until inside is cooked through. It may be necessary to loosely cover each pan the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent too much browning.
Remove from pans to cool.

And that is it. You can see why something like one of the new Hamilton Beach® Mixers would come in handy for a recipe like this. My mom is a fan of the Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and uses it for recipes like this as well as for baking yummy cakes! Have you seen the new Eclectrics® Mixer by Hamilton Beach® ? I would love to get one of those in the Ultra Marine color. It would look great in my kitchen and it would enable me to make a lot more tasty treats!

Ah, back to work

It sure is hard to go back to work after a long holiday weekend! Actually even a little 3 day weekend makes it hard, doesn't it? When it starts to get cold like this all I want to do is sit at home and stay in bed to stay warm! That does not pay the bills though, does it :) So, off to work I get ready to go. Hope everyone had a good holiday!

New Year's Eve in Columbus, Ohio

Found a cool New Year's Eve party.

The Speakeasy New Years Eve is a new party to the Columbus area. This party is themed around flappers and all things 1920's, hence the name.

The Speakeasy Columbus has an open bar and a midnight cash and prizes balloon drop. If you are in the columbus area, this might be a party worth checking out.

Sharebuilder is now ING

How come all of the online accounts that I have at various places keep turning into ING? Kinda weird. I have no problem with ING. In fact I have accounts with them already. But now my Sharebuilder account is ING and my old NetBank account was turned into an ING account. What next?

Well, I have a Capital One High Yield Money Market Account as well as a Rollover IRA and a Complete Savings Account with E*Trade. So - if either of those turn into ING you can blame me!

Survived Black Friday with only one expenditure

How did you fare on Black Friday? Me - I never go out shopping with all of those crazy people. But I do enjoy watching the news at the end of the day to see where the best fist fights were over a laptop or something. That is always a good time.

So, I didn't go anywhere but I still ended up making one purchase. See, I made the mistake of getting online. I didn't look at any shopping sites. But I came across a post on how the Closer was half price on Amazon. I love the Closer and have been wanting to get these DVDs for a few months now. So, I did it. I broke down and ordered them. And from the looks of things the sale is still going on through Monday.

Did I need it? Nope. But I got a good deal and I've been wanting it for a while. So, since I didn't buy anything else, it's okay :)

How to win at Black Friday

Do you go shopping on Black Friday? I usually don't. I do not like dealing with the big crowds and I usually already have all of my holiday shopping done for the year by Black Friday. But mostly I don't because I hate the crowds.

If you do go shopping on Black Friday you may want to take a look at an article I found on Yahoo on Ten Ways to Fatten Your Wallet on Black Friday. For details, check out the story.

$220,000 staircase anyone?

Wow, get this - someone paid $220,000 for a staircase. Okay, so it wasn't just an ordinary staircase. It was from Paris, from the Eiffel Tower. And it is part of the original staircase. But what in the world would you do with it? Take that money and buy an apartment in Paris instead! Geesh! And, in case you were wondering, the bidding started at 20,000 euros.

Holiday tipping - I don't do it.

I saw an article on Yahoo about holiday tipping. It is basically a guide on who you need to tip extra for Christmas and why. It says that you need to do it because it keeps someone's wage from being minimum wage to a living wage.

From the article...

A study by PayScale of 2007 compensation found, for example, that tips make 47 percent of bartenders' income, 17 percent for bus drivers, 14 percent for barbers, 24 percent for hair stylists, 13 percent for catering managers and 7 percent for housekeepers.

Do you tip extra at the holidays? I don't really do anything that requires tipping other than restaurants. But, I do not tip extra at the holidays just because it is the holidays. When I get superb service I tip extra no matter what time of year it is.

And if someone has chosen to be a bartender or a waitress, they did so knowing what the wages were. Why is it my job to tip them extra so that they make a living wage? I went to school and got a degree and some student loan debt instead of relying on other people to tip me extra at a low paying job.

Test your 401K knowledge

I got an email from E*Trade on testing your 401K knowledge. There is a link that takes you to a site for a 401K quiz. When you get to that page there is a special offer. It is for 50 free trade commissions for stock or options trades executed within 30 days of the opening of the new account.

So, I know that E*Trade has been having some issues lately, but thought this might be of interest to someone out there.

Politics is getting tiring

I am getting tired of seeing all of the presidential candidates fighting among themselves. Sure, you expect to see the different parties fighting each other. But I will never understand why the people in the same party want to fight. I mean, only one of them is gonna go against the other party and they are laying out all this ammunition for other party. I say this because I got on Yahoo and saw this story: Obama criticizes Clinton's past support of NAFTA.

Fannie Mae accounting woes

I saw a story on Yahoo about Fannie Mae being under fire for their accounting practices. What is it with these companies? Do they really think that people will not notice things like this? It makes me think of the Enron people. They must have really thought they were the smartest people around and that they would never get caught. Looks like they were wrong.

And this is not the first accounting scandal for Fannie Mae! Their most recent one was 3 years ago. Not wasting any time, are they?

There's a cafeteria in my building

Having a cafeteria at work is bad news. It is so tempting. Especially when I get here in the mornings. I walk into the hall and all I can smell is bacon and eggs. And I’ve already eaten, so I am not hungry. But I want to go buy something anyways. But I don’t so it’s all good. But what about the day that I have no willpower?

Ah Christmas

Don't you love this time of year? People are going into debt to buy presents. why? Because they wait to the last minute. why do they do that? You would think that they would have learned by now. But they never do, do they?

Kids in Ohio to get personal finance eduation

Holy cow. Starting in 2010, high school students in Ohio will be required to take a personal finance class before graduating. I can't believe it! But why do they have to wait till 2010? Kids need this stuff ASAP! Guess better late than never though, eh?


--from the Consumerist

Buying a car? Get a Honda or VW

According to a story I saw on Yahoo, Hondas and VWs have the best resale value. That is what a survey by Kelley Blue Book says at least. And apparently they were including the Acura brand when they said "Honda" as the MDX is one of the vehicles talked about. I don't own either type of car, but it is something to think about for future car purchases. Of course, right now I suspect anything that gets good gas mileage has a good resale value.

ING Electric Orange Holiday Cash Back Program

I got an email from ING about an special holiday cash back promotion for electric orange account holders.

Here's the info in case you missed it:

Starting November 15, 2007 through December 31, 2007, when you use your Electric Orange MasterCard® Debit Card to make signature-based purchases, you'll get 1% Cash Back, up to $250 per month, on what you spend, anywhere.

Alternative income update for October

In October my earnings from various things online was $1336.67. I am thinking that the rest of the year will look a little different though thanks to the page rank update that happened in October. I have a few other sites that got a PR which means that I can make more money on PayPerPost.

If you have not signed up with PayPerPost you should really think seriously about it. Yesterday I made $90 in two hours all from PayPerPost. That was for doing reviews from PPP on a total of four sites.

Debt roundup #9

As of 10/31/07, here is where I stand:

• Car loan = $12,642.42
• Credit cards = $30,747.71
• School loans = $154,055.23

Kinda sucks. Car loan balance went down. Credit card balance went up due to some charging on AMEX, but it has to be paid in full each month, so that will fall off next month. I'm thinking next month will show credit cards under $30,000. School loans went up because some interest that had been accruing was added to the balance. Argh, interest.

I'm a slacker

It's the 10th and I still have not looked at my monthly spreadsheets. Well, that is not entirely true. I looked a little. I know that I made more than I spent. And that is pretty much all that I have looked at.

So, on the to do list - check out the money situation and see what the debt balances are. Maybe if I see this here it will remind me!

gas pains

I seriously wish I lived somewhere that I did not need a car.

I could not wait any longer. My car was on empty and I had to get some gas yesterday. When I got to the gas station I really wished I had gotten gas the day before. The cheapest gas around was $3.19. Holy cow that is expensive.

Wachovia reports losses

A story on Yahoo I noticed this morning was that Wachovia posted losses. To be more specific that is $1.1 billion in losses. That is amazing. And I say that because they were charging me crazy fees every chance they got. I really thought that they were single handedly using me to sustain their business.

Some thoughts on managing personal finances

As someone that is pretty well versed in debt and credit cards and whatnot I am still always trying to learn new things, whether it is about budget planning or consumer protection laws or whatever.

I feel like as consumers that we are left in the dark a lot of the time when it comes to personal finances. I mean, we do not get a real education on finances and managing our money when we are in high school or middle school. Then we get to college and are bombarded with credit card applications and the promise of a free t-shirt or frisbee just for filling out the app.

The next thing we know, we are getting all of these credit card bills, but they only want us to pay $15 or so a month. That is cool, or so we think. Then we get out of school, we have to start paying on our student loans, we get rent payments and all these other bills and it gets overwhelming. Then maybe we miss a payment. Then what happens down the road? Collections calls from various collection agencies. And we are never told about fair debt collection practices. We do not know what our rights are and such.

And when we go to get car insurance or a cell phone or even sign up with the electric company we are hit with a hefty deposit because we have a low credit score and that is how we learn what a credit score is. See, the system is really all wrong here. And actually is it kind of backwards too.

We should be learning all of the important stuff before we get to college and before we even get that first job at age 16. We should taught in school the basics of managing our personal finances. They should teach us about budgeting and about the importance of saving and how compound interest can really work for us. And they should even touch on investing as well. They really need to prepare people for the real world when it comes to personal finances. But, they do not.

Oil prices heading towards $100!

According to a story on Yahoo, oil prices are getting closer to $100!Yikes to that. Gas is already waaaay too expensive.

Where I live gas was $3.09 when I was out yesterday. I am running real close to empty in my car and I sure don't want to have to pay those prices to fill up my gas. Let me tell ya!

And man, it only looks like it is going to get way worse before it gets any better. I sure wish it would get better soon though.

Do you use Amazon prime?

I ordered something on Amazon a while back and was given a 3 month free trial of their Prime membership. It something like $80 a year. With it you get, I think, free two day shipping and discounted next day shipping. It was free to try so I went for it. My 3 months is about up and I am going to cancel it.

Why?

Because I think I would feel like I needed to buy stuff to get my money's worth. And that would be kind of counter productive.

The dollar giveaway

Head on over to How to Make a Million Dollars to check out the Free Dollar Giveaway. You just give your PayPal address or mailing address and wait for the dollar. But you have to hold on it to when you get it to await further instructions. I can't wait to see what those instructions are gonna be.

Looking for the most affordable places to live?

There was a story on Yahoo today that listed the most affordable places in the US to live well. The story originally was done by Forbes. Here is the list of places, in case you are looking to move.

1. Minneapolis, MN
2. Indianapolis, IN
3. Cincinnati, OH
4. St. Louis, MO
5. Houston, TX
6. Milwaukee, WI
7. Dallas, TX
8. Pittsburgh, PA
9. Columbus, OH ( you don't want to move here- the local economy/job market is horrible)
   
10. Atlanta, GA
    

The dollar is getting weaker

I really wish I had my money in another currency. I mean, wow, the dollar just keeps dropping. The next thing we know the Mexican peso will be worth more! Okay, so that may be exaggerating a bit, but geesh. It is pretty bad.

The US dollar hit record low of $1.4556 against the euro today. And we are up to $2.09 for on British pound.

I need to amend my goals

I noticed my goals in my sidebar. I need to amend them. I am so not making $100,000 this year. Unless I do something really shady or something like that in the next month or so. So, that is not gonna happen. Hrm.

Stephen Colbert drops his presidential bid

We knew it was going to happen since they wouldn't let him on the ballot in SC.

Stephen Colbert has ended his quest for the presidency.

That's probably a good thing though. There might have been too many idiots voting for him because it's a good laugh.

overcharged at the grocery store

I got overcharged for two identical items at the grocery store. The sign listed them as on sale for a dollar off. So, I got cheated out of $2. I am debating driving back there tomorrow. I mean, I would only have gotten one box instead of two if it had not been on sale. Argh.

grocery shopping success

I made it 3 weeks since my last grocery shopping trip. I made a menu before I went this time. Today's shopping should last 3 more weeks. Total spent at store: $104.00. Booyah. And I won't have to go except for milk for 3 weeks. Sweet.

coupons wanna make me spend more

Do you ever find yourself looking through coupons and want to buy things you don't need just cause there is a coupon? I do. And that is not a good thing because you end up spending more total than you would without any coupons. Why? because you buy things you did not need. So, maybe I will stop getting a paper on Sundays to avoid the coupons. Hrm

A strike in Hollywood

So, I was reading that there might be a strike in Hollywood next week. Interesting that the occupations that have unions, for the most part, seem to be auto workers and Hollywood. And they are the only places that you ever hear of striking. I'm sure other industries have unions, but they seem to be pretty quiet about it all.

The first jobs of CEOs

There is a fun story from Forbes on CEO's first jobs.

It is a fun little article, but I wish that they has profiled more people. And not only that, but more people that are well known. But it is still a good read. And it might make you feel better about slaving away at your current job :)

There goes the dollar

As expected, the dollar took another hit when the Fed lowered the rate. Man, at this rate I won't even be able to afford a trip to Europe even if all of my debt was paid off!

So, according to this story it was $1.45 for one euro. And it was $2.08 for one British pound yesterday. Yikes.

The best cities for jobs, according to Forbes

Forbes has announced the best cities for jobs. I was not at all surprised to see Salt Lake City on the top of the list. I am, however, a bit shocked that Portland, Oregon was not on the list. From all that I have been reading lately that is a happening city for people that are looking for jobs.

The list of cities is as follows:

1. Salt Lake City, UT
   
2. Raleigh, NC
3. Phoenix, AZ
   
4. Jacksonville, Fl
5. Orlando, Fl
6. Tulsa, OK
7. Austin, TX
8. Albuquerque, NM
9. Wichita, KS
10. Oklahoma City, OK

There you have it. If you are planning on moving, you might wanna do it to one of these cities.

well, well...

The McCann's have used the Madeline fund to pay their mortgage. Wow. That is really something. I have kind of been following this story since it started and all the celebs in the UK were giving money to this fund. How nice of them to pay for these people's mortgage.

Their story has always seemed kind of suspect to me. But all those people gave them so much money, including JK Rowling and David Beckham. I just don't get it.

Oh, no way, Stephen Colbert won't appear on SC ballot

I can't believe it. The officials in South Carolina are not letting Stephen Colbert's name appear on the ballot. What is that all about? Yes he is a comedian. Yes he's probably doing it as a stunt. Big deal. If wanted to do the same thing I bet they would let me.

Of course, suppose it is for the best. I mean, it would be bad if a lot of people picked him instead of someone else.

Look like the Fed did lower the rate

So, the Fed did it. Yesterday the Fed cut the rate for the second time in the past six weeks. They decided to lower the federal funds rate by one-quarter percentage point to 4.50 percent.

In response, commercial banks, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and KeyCorp., announced that they were cutting their prime lending rate -- for certain credit cards, home equity lines of credit and other loans -- by a corresponding amount, to 7.50 percent.

So, I wonder when ING and the other high yield savings accounts will follow suit and lower ours rates yet again?

And from the article...

The rationale behind the cuts is that the lower borrowing costs will induce people and businesses to boost spending, energizing economic activity.

Hrm.

And the currency exchange rate looks worse for the wear as well. Yesterday it was $2.05 for one GBP. Now it is $2.08 for one GBP.