Tip

Last Dec while performing as Elton John in the Holiday Legends show, I received a very different tip.  It was 20 British pounds.

 I don't know if the generous patron gave it to me by mistake or if he was looking for a way to dispose of the foreign currency, because I didn't know what I'd been given until after the show.

A quick Google search told me it was worth about $26 US dollars, which is a very generous tip!

I tried to convert it to US dollars at a local bank.  They asked if I had an account there, to which I answered no.  I was told they could only exchange the currency if I was an account holder, and that my bank would do it for me.

The only problem is that I don't have a local bank.  The nearest branch of my bank (excluding ATMs) is an hour away in a different state.  I do all my banking online; bill paying, check depositing, balance transferring - all online.

You see, I've had the same checking account since I was in high school more than 35 years ago.  My bank has merged with others and changed names several times over the years, but the thing that hasn't changed is my wonderful account number, which has repetitive digits that are very easy to remember, and my account origination date in 1981.  In addition to the convenience of my easily memorable account number, on many occasions I've thought that if I ever got into a pinch and needed something from my bank, they might look at my account origination date in 1981 and say to themselves "Hey, this guy's loyalty deserves a break".  I have yet to ever need that break, but I feel prepared to ask for it should that change.

But I sure as hell wasn't going to drive 2 hours round trip to exchange the currency!  

So I got my friend Steven to do it for me.  I knew he had a local bank and, sure enough, they exchanged the 20 British Pounds for $25.98 with no question.

Random Acts of Kindness

I've written several times about how important I think random acts of kindness are.  Just click on the random acts of kindness tag on this post to read my thoughts and opportunities for doing this.  When you can do something nice for people who aren't expecting it, it makes them feel good AND you feel good.

So a recent opportunity I took advantage of was on Mother's Day.  After returning from spending the weekend in DC, we met up with Steven & Thad for dinner Sun evening at a restaurant we've frequented many times.  We had a waitress we've had several times who looks like Reese Witherspoon.  As we ordered our drinks Spouse casually asked the waitress if she was a mother.  She said yes, she has 2 kids, but that she hadn't seen either of them yet that day (it was after 5:00).  She seemed to become a little emotional, so to diffuse the situation I suggested "Well, you're working right now so maybe they'll be there waiting for you when you get home from work."  She smiled and said "Maybe so."

When it came time to pay our $23 bill, I added at $27 tip and wrote "Happy Mothers Day" and a smiley face on the bill.  While the money won't make up for (possibly) not seeing her kids on Mother's Day, hopefully she'll use the cash to treat herself to something.

Remember, random acts of kindness don't have to involve tipping or money!  They can be simple, thoughtful gestures like holding the door, allowing someone with fewer items than you to go ahead of you in the grocery store line, picking up a dropped item for someone rather than just telling them they dropped it - you're only limited by your own imagination.  

I challenge everyone to open yourself up to all the possible opportunities to do good, feel good, and help others feel good too.

 

High pay & low stress

I saw an article on the AOL homepage that I thought was interesting.  (Yes, I still have an @aol.com email address which I access from their homepage.  It was my very first email address, and I love it.  Plus, I believe that keeping a consistent email address helps people with whom you've been out of touch for years reach you, like keeping the same phone number.)

I thought this article was interesting because most of the time we equate a high-paying job/career with high stress.  Typically lower stress jobs are usually accompanied by lower salaries or hourly wages.  But this article offers suggestions for high paying low stress jobs and tells you the education or experience needed.

Check it out!

One of the surprises to me was Economist, which studies the production and distribution of resources, goods, and services.  The average annual salary is just over $100K and requires only a Bachelor's degree.

Share this article with your children, nieces, and nephews in high school.  It just may help them select a college major and future career.  It may also be useful to those who may be considering for a career change.

6 Ways to Eat Healthy for Cheap

For most people to achieve and maintain healthy weight loss, they must combine exercise with a good diet. I don't mean 'going on a diet', which usually consists of a temporary moratorium on sweets. I mean a healthy diet of healthy foods. Lord knows I've certainly found this to be true. Exercise alone and good diet alone isn't enough for me. I need them both.

Spouse & I have lamented that good, healthy food is usually a lot more expensive than unhealthy food. Perhaps this is why poor people are more at risk for malnutrition; not because they don't have enough to eat, but because the food they eat is junky and lacking in nutritional value.

We have tried to reduce our consumption of 'convenience foods'. Although nice time-savers, 'convenience foods' (boxed rice and potato side dishes, boxed mac'n cheese, etc.) usually contain a lot of salt, sodium, and chemicals, AND are not as nutritious as whole foods. So while you may be saving time when preparing this kind of food, its kind of like eating 'empty calories'. You get the calories without the nutrition.

So while we still have some 'convenience foods' in our cupboards, we try to save them for days when we have limited time to cook dinner and really need the time savings.

A friend sent me this, which caught my eye: 6 Ways to Eat Healthy for Cheap.

1. Plan Meals Ahead

Our grandmothers strategized for the week with a detailed shopping list, says Faye Griffiths-Smith, a family economist with the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension. Try it, and you’ll see why: Not only can you save money, but you can avoid high-calorie impulse buys, too. One idea: Roast a lower-cost whole chicken; use leftovers in sandwiches.

2. Use Meat as a Seasoning

“We eat too much meat,” says Lisa Sasson, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University, noting that meat can be more expensive per ounce and higher in calories than vegetable proteins. Instead of making meat the focal point of a dish, “use it more as a condiment,” she says.

3. Bring on the Beans

Beans and whole grains like barley “are super-duper healthy and very cheap,” Sasson says. She adds these protein-packed extras to her salads, soups, and pasta to make them more filling.

4. Be Your Own Sous Chef

Many people buy precut and preseasoned side dishes to save time, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian and author of The Flexitarian Diet. But portioning and flavoring food yourself instead of buying premade mixes is cheaper. Not only that, the homemade version will have fewer calories, less salt and fat, and no additives.

5. Buy Seasonally and Locally

What’s in season and grown closer to home is fresher and healthier, says Jackson Blatner—but that doesn’t mean you need a farmer’s market. Even grocery chains and superstores get deals on the fruits and vegetables in their area, and they pass on the savings in the produce aisles. Ask your produce manager for tips.

6. Rethink the Drinks

What’s the easiest way to cut calories and costs? Don’t buy beverages, Sasson says. Make your own iced tea at home, or drink water, adding a wedge of fruit.

I think these tips are great and I plan on using them. Do you have any tips for eating healthy for cheap? I have one to add:

Bonus Tip: Don't overcook vegetable

Steaming is great, but be careful if you boil them. Overcooking vegetables causes them to lose nutritional value. Cook them enough to make them slightly tender and allow them to retain most of their color and texture.

Crush du Jour: Callard Harris

I'm scared

Last night I heard on CNN that CA is about to layoff 20,000 state employees, due to the state's budget deficit. You can read about it here. State employees = police, fire fighters, and teachers. This will add 20,000 more unemployed citizens to the state. CA has already informed some that the state is unable to process their state income tax refunds.

Then I saw today that Kansas has also suspended state income tax refunds, and says they may not be able to meet payroll.

Today the company for whom I work had to layoff employees from all depts. The dept. in which I work was reduced by 50%. Fortunately I still have my job, but my work load is going to increase exponentially.

I'm scared.

Crush du Jour: James Blake

Conflicted

I am feeling conflicted today about 2 things.

The 1st is this story about a teenager in Germany who just underwent gender reassignment surgery. Tim took hormones from the age of 12, in anticipation of his 16th birthday when it would be legal for Tim to become Kim. I don't believe any of us can fathom what it must be like to go through life feeling like you are in the wrong body. Seriously, I have deep compassion for those with this affliction. But the other side of me wonders if a 16-year old is actually mature and responsible enough to make such an important decision that will change the rest of his/her life. Kids think, do, and say lots of crazy stuff when they're kids. I wonder if the legal age limit for this procedure should be moved up to 18. This might be enough time to make sure some kids don't make a mistake. But for Kim, that would mean 2 additional years of torment.

Maybe you see why I feel conflicted. What do YOU think?

The 2nd reason is the pending economic stimulus act. You may recall that former president Bush signed the economic stimulus act of 2008 which put a $600. check into the hands of most Americans. The concept was that Americans would spend these checks and therefore stimulate the economy. Spouse & I both received checks, and promptly deposited them into our savings account. We did not spend them, so we did not contribute to the stimulation of the economy.

President Obama may sign another stimulus act that will give us checks again, with the idea that we will stimulate the economy by spending the money. Part of me sees the advantage of this, and feels we should do our part to put this 'goverment gift' back into the economy. This same part of me says we should move forward with our garage/bathroom/closet project, as this may keep a contractor and several subcontractors employed. Or, that we should take a vacation where we'd be putting money into the travel and tourism industries in the US. But the other side of me knows that these are uncertain times. Either of us could lose our job, so we should save our money in the event of that unfortunate potential. But by acting wisely and saving our money, we are not helping to stimulate the economy, which is the purpose of the goverment checks.

Maybe you see why I feel conflicted. What do YOU think?

Crush du Jour: Joseph Fiennes

Garage

We love our house. The floor plan makes sense, there's room for our frequent weekend guests, and we love our house's location. One of the few things we didn't like about our house when we were house hunting was that it didn't have a garage.

Almost immediately after moving in we began checking into the possibility of adding a garage. But we live in a historic 'downtown' area where the lots are small, so it appeared we could not add a garage without getting a variance from the City. We found we could build an open structure/carport over our existing driveway, but after much discussion decided we didn't want to do that because we feared it would detract from the home's appearance. Having no immediate need for the garage, the topic of the garage regularly slipped in and out of our conversations as a couple.

In a casual conversation with our neighbor Brenda, who is an architect, about our dilemma she suggested I give her a copy of my survey (drawing of the lot and house) so she could check into it for us. She confirmed we could not build a garage over our existing driveway because it would encroach into the setback. But to our surprise she informed us we could build a garage if we were willing to lose one side of our wrap around porch. She drew it on the survey for us, and we talked and talked and talked about it at length. We decided we would relocate the wrap around porch so it wrapped around the new garage.

Then in Nov I called 5 different builders and asked them to come out and look at our house and the proposed garage with wrap around porch drawn on the survey so we could get a general idea of the cost of the project. The guestimates ranged widely, but it was good to meet the builders and get a feel for who might be easier to work with.

Then I bought Big Ella, and the garage project took on a prominent place in our conversations.

So we talked with Brenda again about how the garage would be integrated into the house. Our original thought was that the garage would have a 'shed' roof that sloped down from the side of the house over the garage. But after discussing this in more detail with Brenda, we determined the width of the garage would create a very long 'ski slope' roof that would not be attractive, and would be a dead give away that the garage was added on. So instead, Brenda recommended a gable style roof along with removing the wrap around porch. She suggested that the cost of the porch, which was nearly 25% of the cost of the project and which we'd only use maybe 1/2 the year, could be spent in the usable space above the garage that was created by the gable roof.

Spouse & I thought about this a good bit, weighing the pros and cons, and decided she was right. After all, we'd still have the porch on the front of the house, as well as the screened porch on the back. We'd likely not even use the porch on the side of the house that would wrap around the garage.

Then we discussed what we would do with the new space above the garage. We didn't need another bedroom, office, or TV room. The one thing about our house's interior we would like to change is to make the master bathroom larger and give it a 'wow' factor. Our current master bath is kind of small when compared to the overall feel of the house, and is kind of plain. Fortunately, the location of the new space above the garage was directly next to our existing bathroom, so we told Brenda what we wanted: expand our master bathroom to include a heated, jetted bathtub for two, a tiled shower room for two, and add a walk-in closet. We formally engaged her to draw up the plans.

This passed Fri Brenda delivered the plans for our garage/bathroom/closet addition! We love it, and feel like this project will fix the 2 things about our house that have kept it from being perfect for us. But of course, nothing ever goes that smoothly.

Since we started this process the sub-prime mortgage bubble burst, the banking industry nearly imploded, the American auto manufacturers are bankrupt, and virtually every state government has requested financial assistance from the government to avoid having to layoff state employees. The unemployment rate is rising every month with record numbers of jobs disappearing. My company had a force reduction in Nov but promised that would be the only one. Afterward I received a promotion (go figure), so I feel rather confident in my ongoing employment. Spouse, on the other hand, is fearful that he might be laid off if Obama's economic recovery plan doesn't provide the states with the needed financial assistance.

Thanks to the sale of our former house in VA last Sept we do not need a loan to complete this project. But we are feeling a bit skiddish about moving forward with this project in such uncertain times. The money spent on the project could be very useful if Spouse got laid off.

So after much discussion, it appears we will take our time moving forward with this project as we wait for news about the economy. Now that we have the plans, we can go ahead and start the contractor bidding process. That won't require us to spend any money, but will help us be prepared for when we are comfortable to start the project. The contractors won't have to rush to provide us with bids, and we can take our time comparing the bids and selecting our builder. Hopefully by the time that is completed we'll know more about Obama's potential aid to the states and Spouse will feel confident that we won't lose his job.

I hadn't written about this before now mostly because I knew there were people out there losing their jobs and homes. I didn't want to sound insensitive to that by talking about our dilemma whether or not to move forward with an addition to our house. But I've decided to share this anyway because this is the reality of my life and that's what I write about here. I hope everyone understands.

Crush du Jour: Roberto Urbina

America's rich tradition

America has a rich tradition putting our most honored leaders on its currencies.

George Washington, our nation's first president and leader of the American Revolution is memorialized on the one dollar bill.


Abe Lincoln, our most honorable leader, pulled our nation through its darkest time is memorialized on the five dollar bill.


Alexander Hamilton, founding father, first secretary of the treasury, and leader of the constitutional convention is memorialized on the ten dollar bill.



Andrew Jackson, "Old Hickory", fought the British in New Orleans is memorialized on the twenty dollar bill.

Ulysses Grant, Union army general, lead the North through the Civil War is memorialized on the fifty dollar bill.

Ben Franklin, genius inventor, political theorist, and leading author of the constitution is memorialized on the one hundred dollar bill.

Finally, George W. Bush, who lead America into an unnecessary war under false pretenses, and who turned America's national surplus into its record debt is memorialized on the food stamp!

(Author unknown - received via forwarded email.)

How will YOU be remembered?

Crush du Jour: James Franco

Money and happiness

Sadly, this story just goes to prove the old addage "Money can't buy happiness".

Financial Downturn Leads to Suicides

BERLIN (Jan. 6) - His spirit broken by financial fears, German billionaire Adolf Merckle took his own life this week -- becoming the latest high-profile casualty of a global economic crisis that already has claimed the lives of executives in Europe and the U.S.

Merckle, a respected businessmen with a wife and four children, jumped in front of a train in the town of Blaubeuren in southwestern Germany, officials said Tuesday.

His business empire had run into trouble in the crisis, and its problems were compounded by heavy losses in trading of shares in automaker Volkswagen AG. Merckle's business interests included generic drug maker Ratiopharm International GmbH and cement maker HeidelbergCement AG.

Merckle's family said in a statement that "the distress to his firms caused by the financial crisis and the related uncertainties of recent weeks, along with the helplessness of no longer being able to act, broke the passionate family businessman."

Authorities said he left a suicide note, but gave no details. Merckle's death appears to be at least the third comparable suicide in less than four months.

In September, Kirk Stephenson -- the chief operating officer of private equity house Olivant -- jumped in front of a train at a rail station west of London. The 47-year-old husband and father of a young son stepped onto the tracks, was struck and killed.

A British coroner ruled last month that the death was suicide, though the precise reasons remain a mystery. He left no suicide note.

Two days before Christmas, in New York, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, was found dead at his desk, both wrists slashed and bottle of pills nearby after his fortune and the money of his loved ones vanished along with his clients when he lost $1.4 billion invested with Bernard Madoff.

Crush du Jour: Paul Blackthorne

Sadly, this story just goes to prove the old addage "Money can't buy happiness".

Financial Downturn Leads to Suicides

BERLIN (Jan. 6) - His spirit broken by financial fears, German billionaire Adolf Merckle took his own life this week -- becoming the latest high-profile casualty of a global economic crisis that already has claimed the lives of executives in Europe and the U.S.

Merckle, a respected businessmen with a wife and four children, jumped in front of a train in the town of Blaubeuren in southwestern Germany, officials said Tuesday.

His business empire had run into trouble in the crisis, and its problems were compounded by heavy losses in trading of shares in automaker Volkswagen AG. Merckle's business interests included generic drug maker Ratiopharm International GmbH and cement maker HeidelbergCement AG.

Merckle's family said in a statement that "the distress to his firms caused by the financial crisis and the related uncertainties of recent weeks, along with the helplessness of no longer being able to act, broke the passionate family businessman."

Authorities said he left a suicide note, but gave no details. Merckle's death appears to be at least the third comparable suicide in less than four months.

In September, Kirk Stephenson -- the chief operating officer of private equity house Olivant -- jumped in front of a train at a rail station west of London. The 47-year-old husband and father of a young son stepped onto the tracks, was struck and killed.

A British coroner ruled last month that the death was suicide, though the precise reasons remain a mystery. He left no suicide note.

Two days before Christmas, in New York, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, was found dead at his desk, both wrists slashed and bottle of pills nearby after his fortune and the money of his loved ones vanished along with his clients when he lost $1.4 billion invested with Bernard Madoff.