Moo! The Musings of a Plaid Cow

At our team meeting at work last week, the team lead indicated that we have be spending money quickly:

Drunken sailor comes to mind.

So this coming week, we will only be doing the “important tasks”. So why have we been doing all of this stuff in the past that isn’t important?

Regarding the Consumerist post on Personal Finance Roundup:

My Tips for Saving Money on College
#1. Get an on-campus job. Preferably one that allows you to learn something or allows you to do your homework.
#2. Don’t spend money. See how long you can go with spending zero cash. I made it about two months after writing my Dad a bad check. i just didn’t have the money.
#3. Classroom != Fashion runway. If it sort of fits and covers the important parts, it should be fine. Looking like a fashion plate is not a requirement.
#4. Get involved. Though organizations may cost money to join, if you get involved, they can keep you busy enough to not go out and mindlessly spend money.
#5. Do not get a credit card. You do not have the willpower to ignore temptation.

The best advice I got regarding college was from my high school Calculus teacher who noted: “College is a game. You win if you get a degree.” There is some value in attending a big name school, but once you’re in the working the college you attended won’t be that important–just that you were able to complete it. (Ff you’re looking to get a C-level job at a Fortune 100 company, having an MBA from a top college might be different.)

For some reason I was reminded today about my sister-in-law’s reaction to a couple of items on a gift suggestion list I had. Apparently she didn’t think Teaches of Peaches (Peaches) and Here Come the ABCs (They Might Be Giants) belonged to the same list.

Hey, it’s just eclecticism.

What a bargain we can get on clothes at Wal-Mart:

Some of the doors at work have that have automatic openers have a sign next to them indicating that you should not use the automatic opener if the door is locked. My thoughts, approximately in order:

1. Yeah, that’s kind of funny. Why would you try to open a locked door?

2. Umm, I guess if you had to use the automatic opener, then there’s not much of a way to figure out that the door is locked (besides the automatic opener not working).’

3. Dang it, why isn’t there an interlock between the automatic opener and door lock mechanism so that the user could find out the door was locked by some sort of feedback. It shouldn’t be that hard.

4. Damn, that’s really inconsiderate.

According to the ergonomics training at work this morning: “Select a handtool without sharp edges on the handle.”

You know, I never would have thought of that. That’s nearly as useful as the advice that you take breaks in a temperature controlled environment if you’re working outside in the heat.

At work yesterday, a guy a barely know was telling me how he was hitting golf balls in his yard out into farmland behind his house. All was going well until he sliced one through his neighbors window. But all was well, when his neighbor “believed” him when he said he knew nothing about the golf ball in his neighbors kitchen. “It must have been some kids being mean, finding golf balls out in the field and throwing it through his window, thinking it would be funny.” Right.

I went to Max & Ermas this past weekend and got a hamburger with seasoned fries. I tend to like seasoned fries as a break from the regular french fries. Apparently I am the only person who expects seasoned fries to be seasoned with something other than salt and pepper.

Just one more thing in an other wise “blah” visit.

When I wrote about Deep Fried (finally), it had been almost two years since I had decommissioned the drive. One (Thermostat) is used for offline storage and the other (Whirlpool) is used for the nightly back up and, up until tonight, Time Machine.

My current large storage volume of choice is the Infrant ReadyNAS NV (which has since been subsumed by NetGear). The first 750GB drive was $450, the second was $300 and they’re down to $100 now. Complaints about the ReadyNAS? Not a one. It’s been sitting in my basement (on a UPS) as solid as a rock for two years.