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On Monday Check-In
Super cheap weekend for me. Friday my sister came up and we met up with a friend to go see a punk show. My sister bought dinner and my buddy paid for parking so I bought their tickets - $15 for the three of us. Gotta love those $5 shows. I was driving so I only had one beer, again bought by my friend. I considered getting a shirt at the merch table but nothing caught my eye. Saturday I'd promised my sister that I would take her out for breakfast but she didn't exactly get up and going in time. We drove down to IL for my grandfather's birthday (the big 95) and stopped for lunch at a coffee shop along the way where my father paid. Sunday we made our way back and stopped at the same coffee shop. I bought a couple coffees and a cookie for my father ($9). Really an inexpensive weekend, though my sister's visit left my refrigerator slightly barren so I'll be heading to the grocery store tonight.
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On Monday Check-In
Friday I took my car in for service and ended up paying $100 more than expected as I had the battery replaced in addition, but my relative inactivity for the rest of the weekend made up for that unexpected expenditure. I finished off the day by grabbing a late lunch ($10) and going grocery shopping ($35) but stayed in. Saturday I went over to my friends' to watch the Packers and brought some refreshments in exchange for a home-cooked meal ($30 for beer, half of which I brought home). Sunday I picked up coffee ($30) and the Sunday Trib ($3). My father also had me stop at the hardware store for some things he needed ($10) and I spent the day helping him out around the house.
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On When to Pay for Services, and When to Do it Yourself
My father always changed the oil on his vehicles himself and raised me to do the same. This ended in my college years when I bought a Saturn SC2. When the first oil change came up I took home and my father and I went to work. The car was too low to the ground to get under without jacking it up and the drain plug was difficult to access. After 45 minutes of scraped knuckles and cursing my father gave me $20 and told me to go to Jiffy Lube.
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On WWYD: The Stranded Car
My coworker once left the office for a site trip but accidentally left his wallet sitting on his desk. I got a call from him several hours later, stranded about fifty miles away. As he was seeing about someone (likely me) heading out there to bring him his wallet an old farmer rolled up and pulled a gas canister from the back of his pickup, pouring him enough to get back. The only time I've run out of gas I was driving the big box truck my father used for deliveries. It averaged 7 mpg and unbeknownst to me the gauge for the second tank was broken, so when I went to switch from the empty tank to the full one I was in for a surprise. My father was riding in the passenger seat working on some spreadsheets and as the engine coughed I pulled over in a rural driveway. The owner came out and my father, recognizing his 101st Airborne t-shirt, struck up a conversation. Turns out they were both stationed in the same city in Vietnam two years apart. This old paratrooper gave us a couple gallons of gas and directions to the nearest service station and absolutely would not take any money despite my father's protestations.
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On Oh Preacher Ramsey, Deliver Us from Debt
@swampette@twitter My understanding is that it's lowest balance without regard to rate, but there might be an exemption if you're looking at 18% vs 7% or something equally imbalanced. I just remember my friend paying off a card with a lower rate but smaller balance first and being completely unswayed by my calculations.
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On Oh Preacher Ramsey, Deliver Us from Debt
There's quite a few things in the Ramsey doctrine that I can get behind but I disagree on a number of his points, not to mention chafe at the religiosity of the whole package. I have a good friend that went through the program and we've gotten into a couple of arguments over the snowball method. I guess it makes sense from a psychological standpoint but you'll never convince me that paying off lower rate debt first makes any sense at all.
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On Monday Check-In: Team Rubicon
Well I kind of blew well past my planned amount and I'm going to straight up blame my sister for it. She got tickets to the UW-OSU game on Saturday and decided to come up and stay with me on Friday night. I left work early and met her at my place where we split a bomber of Pumking I'd been saving for her. Then we went out for dinner, stopping for gas along the way ($37). She felt like sushi since the small town where she teaches doesn't have much aside from Friday night fish fry, so we went to her favorite place and ordered four rolls between us ($63 inc. tip). After dinner we decided to go out and see Joe Pug. I let my sister pay for parking and since we had a bit of time before the show started we grabbed a cocktail at a bar downtown, where again I graciously let my sister pay. I insisted on paying for both our covers ($24) and a couple of beers ($10 inc. tip) and we enjoyed the show very much. After the show wrapped up my sister indicated she was a mite peckish so I stopped to get her a slice ($7 for both of us) and then a burrito ($8) as she still wasn't quite sated. Saturday morning I took her out for breakfast ($25 inc. tip) and dropped her off with her friends. I met up with my buddies and we hit up a free tailgate before the game. After the OT heartbreak we hiked downtown for a consolation dinner and a couple pitchers ($25). On the way there a man randomly gave me a couple of free tickets to the UW - Cornell basketball game on Sunday, as he was going to be out of town and didn't want to bother with selling them. Sunday AM I drove down to my parents' to help with a bit of yard work, buying bulk coffee ($33) and the Sunday Trib ($3) on the way. After having lunch with them I met up with my friend and went to the basketball game. I paid for parking ($5) and he bought two rounds at the bar. After the game we stopped for dinner at a new restaurant by his place and I got him back for earlier ($43).
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On You Turn Me On I'm a Public Radio Station on The Internet
The Current really is wonderful. I listen to it whenever I get in range of the Twin Cities, which is quite often with my job.
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On Monday Check-In
I did pretty OK considering my parents stood me up on Saturday and I instead went out with an old friend from college. I was supposed to meet up with my Hoosier parents to watch the UW-IU football game but after I drove halfway my father called to cancel. I was near to the restaurant where my friend works so I stopped in to see if she was working. She wasn't on the clock but she was there watching the game so I pulled up a barstool and joined her. I ended up paying for the second round and some nachos at the bar ($18) while she paid for the rest over my objections, though with her discount it was probably not too much. Later that evening we both went to see a mutual friend play an early show at one of my favorite venues. I paid the $5 cover for both of us and picked up the second round ($10). We grabbed a late dinner ($18) and I called it a night. Yesterday I had tickets to the UW basketball opener with my friend. Before the game we went out for lunch and I picked up the check ($32). He paid for parking and also the post-game beer so it all worked out in the end.
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On Getting Married, But Without the Wedding
My parents did the same thing back in 1976. They had five witnesses (my three grandparents and my mother's two siblings) and went out to a supper club for dinner. A month later they had a reception in Illinois for my mother's side - she didn't necessarily want to by my grandmother insisted on it. As my father tells it he always knew she came from a large extended family but didn't realize it until the second hour of standing in the receiving line.