Currently listening to The Black Brigade Debrief #82.
2010 was finally over. Glad to see that year over. Based off of the months of November and December 2010, I took the average of those two months and set it as a benchmark for how much I would spend on a monthly basis. I set my target goal at $550 a month or less.
With this goal in mind, I would check back on my records to make sure I was staying on track. At the end of the month, I spent at total of $550.86.
I spent $222.75 on car insurance. This was the highest premium I ever paid for full coverage.
I spent $101 on gas. I filled up on fuel four times this month and at this time, I was still using only premium gas. Had I filled up with regular, I would have saved a few dollars.
I spent $81.20 on fast food.
I spent $31.49 on groceries.
I spent $47.38 on weights. I think I either bought a 20 pound weighted vest. I intended to use it while running but the vest was kind of loose and kept bouncing against my chest while running. What I used it mainly for was to add resistance while doing pull ups.
I spent $33 going to a bar/grill with my friends from college/church.
This month was not very eventful. Looking back on my records from years ago, I notice how many blank days I have. There were several days where I didn't buy anything. Back then, I didn't have a habit of going to Krystal's for my lunch break at work. I spent more than $80 on fast food, but I typically kept that to the weekends and usually bought combos. I didn't really purchase from he dollar menu.
This month, I don't remember work being that stressful. Since Christmas passed, the customer weren't as pressed or frustrated about getting their money for Christmas presents.
I noticed that I had the habit of buying things for the sake of buying things. On January 23rd, 2011, I bought some mints. They were Tic Tacs. Typically, I would keep these in my cars and eat them at red lights.
On New Year's Day, I took my mom to a public park when it rained and we went to eat lunch at Moe's Southwest Grill afterwards.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Saturday, September 12, 2015
First World Problems: Cracked Screens
The two most common first world problems I can think of is heavy traffic and slow internet connections. Both of which cause consternation but it is not the same as starving to death and dying from ebola. Should I add a third item to this list, it is cracked phone screens.
Every Iphone my boss has a cracked screen. My coworker LEASED a Iphone 6 and cracked the screen within two weeks. My dad cracked his screen and had to spend $200 to replace it.
Traffic and crappy internet are things I deal with frequently. Thankfully, a cracked phone screen is one problem I'm happy to not deal with. Nowadays, these devises are so expensive that you can get insurance plans to deal with this situation.
I often make the joke that by the time I buy a smart phone, everyone else will have artificial intelligent phones.
Every Iphone my boss has a cracked screen. My coworker LEASED a Iphone 6 and cracked the screen within two weeks. My dad cracked his screen and had to spend $200 to replace it.
Traffic and crappy internet are things I deal with frequently. Thankfully, a cracked phone screen is one problem I'm happy to not deal with. Nowadays, these devises are so expensive that you can get insurance plans to deal with this situation.
I often make the joke that by the time I buy a smart phone, everyone else will have artificial intelligent phones.
My only reason for believing in a God
Christianity is a topic that most men may struggle with while growing up. Over the last 14 years, I've tried this religion. And I've failed miserably at it. I will admit, it was very easy to believe in God, Jesus, and the Bible as a little kid. Believe in God or else you will go to Hell. Easy.
God was real and I knew it... because my parents told me so. And my parents knew everything. At least they knew so much more than I did at the time. As a little kid, I had the perception that every believed in God. And if everyone believes in it, than it must be true. As a little kid, I never heard of or met any atheists or had any ill will towards the Lord.
But as I grew older, things started to break down. As it turned out, the world has a lot of atheists and people that absolutely hate the idea of a God. Slowly, I absorbed several arguments against the validity of Christianity. Genesis sounds like just a fairy tale, Revelations is just insane, it would have been impossible for a flood to cover the whole Earth, the Earth is more than 2000 years old, there are severe inconsistencies about Jesus's life and the list goes on.
This combined with other events I've experienced caused me to do several sinful things. I tore up my Bibles, I rejected the Lord, I abandoned my church, I prayed to Satan just to spite God, I prayed to God just to curse at him, and I went as far as rejecting his existence all together. After doing all these things, nothing changed. Everything was the same.
It some time to get past the hatred of the Lord. I needed to save up a lot of money to to get past it.
After calming down a bit, I gathered my thoughts together. I couldn't trust the Bible. It isn't all false and it isn't all true. Did Jesus exist? Was Jesus God? Did he come back from the dead? I don't know. I don't intend on finding out. With any text that was passed down over multiple generations and translated hundreds of times, who can really know what is true?
But does God exist? I don't know for sure but I think it is more likely that God does exist. When I say God, I am not necessary referring to the God that is portrayed in the Bible. The Bible does a lot to personify God. The God of the Bible has emotions, talks to people, and manipulates the world.
The God that I am thinking about is much different than that. Growing up, I've noticed that nothing ever gets where it is without outside involvement. In other words, everything was created by something else. Houses are constructed by contractors, mountains happen when tectonic plates collide, and stars form when hot gasses undergo fusion. Everything is created by something else.
Well almost everything. The first thing that ever existed could not have been created by something else. This would imply that there has to be something that always was. What ever that thing is, I believe that thing is God. It might by possible that our entire plane of existence is God.
I could be wrong though so don't take my word for it. After all, I'm no priest. I'm just an accountant.
God was real and I knew it... because my parents told me so. And my parents knew everything. At least they knew so much more than I did at the time. As a little kid, I had the perception that every believed in God. And if everyone believes in it, than it must be true. As a little kid, I never heard of or met any atheists or had any ill will towards the Lord.
But as I grew older, things started to break down. As it turned out, the world has a lot of atheists and people that absolutely hate the idea of a God. Slowly, I absorbed several arguments against the validity of Christianity. Genesis sounds like just a fairy tale, Revelations is just insane, it would have been impossible for a flood to cover the whole Earth, the Earth is more than 2000 years old, there are severe inconsistencies about Jesus's life and the list goes on.
This combined with other events I've experienced caused me to do several sinful things. I tore up my Bibles, I rejected the Lord, I abandoned my church, I prayed to Satan just to spite God, I prayed to God just to curse at him, and I went as far as rejecting his existence all together. After doing all these things, nothing changed. Everything was the same.
It some time to get past the hatred of the Lord. I needed to save up a lot of money to to get past it.
After calming down a bit, I gathered my thoughts together. I couldn't trust the Bible. It isn't all false and it isn't all true. Did Jesus exist? Was Jesus God? Did he come back from the dead? I don't know. I don't intend on finding out. With any text that was passed down over multiple generations and translated hundreds of times, who can really know what is true?
But does God exist? I don't know for sure but I think it is more likely that God does exist. When I say God, I am not necessary referring to the God that is portrayed in the Bible. The Bible does a lot to personify God. The God of the Bible has emotions, talks to people, and manipulates the world.
The God that I am thinking about is much different than that. Growing up, I've noticed that nothing ever gets where it is without outside involvement. In other words, everything was created by something else. Houses are constructed by contractors, mountains happen when tectonic plates collide, and stars form when hot gasses undergo fusion. Everything is created by something else.
Well almost everything. The first thing that ever existed could not have been created by something else. This would imply that there has to be something that always was. What ever that thing is, I believe that thing is God. It might by possible that our entire plane of existence is God.
I could be wrong though so don't take my word for it. After all, I'm no priest. I'm just an accountant.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Phantom Pain Update
I haven't written anything in a while. I need to post something.
Over the last few days, I've been playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Oh dear God, I've been playing this game too much. It was the only game I've ever purchased on release date costing more than $50. But it has been completely worth it. I've been waiting for this game to come out ever since I saw the trailers for Ground Zeroes come out in 2012.
The gameplay is mostly the same from Ground Zeroes but the biggest addition is growing your Mother Base. And I've been stealing everything in the game with the fulton balloons. Soldiers, jeeps, gun turrets, hyenas, you name it. But the gameplay isn't the thing that is captivating me. Sneaking past enemy soldiers to rescue prisoners or destroy tanks is great and all but I'm just waiting to see what happens next in the story.
With this being Hideo Kojima's last game with Konami, this story takes place after Peace Walker and before the original Metal Gear. Up to this point, Big Boss has always been protecting the countries from nuclear war. However, in the original Metal Gear, Big Boss was a warlord that perpetuated war in order to always keep soldiers fighting. He committed countless atrocities including recruiting child soldiers and making them fight in his army.
I want to see Big Boss turn evil. After 30 missions, it looks like Big Boss is still trying to play the role of the protector. I haven't beat the game yet but it would be a big let down if this doesn't happen.
Over the last few days, I've been playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Oh dear God, I've been playing this game too much. It was the only game I've ever purchased on release date costing more than $50. But it has been completely worth it. I've been waiting for this game to come out ever since I saw the trailers for Ground Zeroes come out in 2012.
The gameplay is mostly the same from Ground Zeroes but the biggest addition is growing your Mother Base. And I've been stealing everything in the game with the fulton balloons. Soldiers, jeeps, gun turrets, hyenas, you name it. But the gameplay isn't the thing that is captivating me. Sneaking past enemy soldiers to rescue prisoners or destroy tanks is great and all but I'm just waiting to see what happens next in the story.
With this being Hideo Kojima's last game with Konami, this story takes place after Peace Walker and before the original Metal Gear. Up to this point, Big Boss has always been protecting the countries from nuclear war. However, in the original Metal Gear, Big Boss was a warlord that perpetuated war in order to always keep soldiers fighting. He committed countless atrocities including recruiting child soldiers and making them fight in his army.
I want to see Big Boss turn evil. After 30 missions, it looks like Big Boss is still trying to play the role of the protector. I haven't beat the game yet but it would be a big let down if this doesn't happen.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Valentine's Day
I thought about writing this for a while now, at least on and off for the last few months. Its not really that important of a topic. I can never really remember any Valentine's Day in specific detail. I've never had a long term relationship and I've never had a relationship around February.
Valentine's Day is just a normal day. Nothing really special about it. As a little kid, you just think of that day in elementary school where all the students exchange cards and give each other candy. When you become an adult, it is one of those days where couples get romantic and hook up. If you are alone and have no one to hook up with, you are supposed to feel bitter and miserable.
Supposed to feel bitter and miserable? I've never seen the reason to do that. I can only vaguely remember Valentine's Day of 2012. I remember I had a job interview that day for some lousy sales position at some company. After that, I think I was skating the park with my friends. Around that time, I was excited that Metal Gear Rising: Revengence came out. I had been waiting for that game to release for 2 years. Of course, I didn't buy it. I just watching the game on youtube. And that is all I remember about that Valentine's Day. I wasn't down because of some woman. I remember being stressed out because of unemployment.
I think it was earlier this year that a few people wanted to make February 14th international MGTOW day. Personally, I think a better day for it would have been the independence day of the respective country. Celebrate freedom, that's what I say. Even though I'm indifferent to Valentine's Day, I just didn't like the idea of pooping all over it. I wouldn't like to be the Grinch and ruin something that other people were enjoying. Its for that reason I won't hate on Valentine's Day.
On February 14th 2011, I spent $32 on gas and $1.23 on a container of Tic Tacs. That is the only information I have about that particular day. And that is just because I keep a record of all of my purchases.
But there are some people that get absolutely miserable about being alone on Valentine's Day. I guess this is a common television trope. The first time I remember it was from the cartoon Alvin and the Chipmunks. Man, I must have been only 6 or 7 when I saw it. Alvin was completely torn up about a former girlfriend. I don't remember the rest of the episode though. I think Alvin dressed up in some kind of Zoro costume though.
I guess when you are younger, it is easier to believe in romance. But as you get older and more cynical, any sort of relationship just looks like the exchange of attention and resources for physical intimacy and affection.
This experience ruined a few things for me. One of which is the Goo Goo Dolls. I will admit that I liked a lot of there songs as a little kid. Slide and Iris were the two best. But when I hear them today.... Ok I still like those songs. It is a little bit of a guilty pleasure. However, I know that the songs are just complete nonsense. I like those songs for the nostalgia.
Valentine's Day is just a normal day. Nothing really special about it. As a little kid, you just think of that day in elementary school where all the students exchange cards and give each other candy. When you become an adult, it is one of those days where couples get romantic and hook up. If you are alone and have no one to hook up with, you are supposed to feel bitter and miserable.
Supposed to feel bitter and miserable? I've never seen the reason to do that. I can only vaguely remember Valentine's Day of 2012. I remember I had a job interview that day for some lousy sales position at some company. After that, I think I was skating the park with my friends. Around that time, I was excited that Metal Gear Rising: Revengence came out. I had been waiting for that game to release for 2 years. Of course, I didn't buy it. I just watching the game on youtube. And that is all I remember about that Valentine's Day. I wasn't down because of some woman. I remember being stressed out because of unemployment.
I think it was earlier this year that a few people wanted to make February 14th international MGTOW day. Personally, I think a better day for it would have been the independence day of the respective country. Celebrate freedom, that's what I say. Even though I'm indifferent to Valentine's Day, I just didn't like the idea of pooping all over it. I wouldn't like to be the Grinch and ruin something that other people were enjoying. Its for that reason I won't hate on Valentine's Day.
On February 14th 2011, I spent $32 on gas and $1.23 on a container of Tic Tacs. That is the only information I have about that particular day. And that is just because I keep a record of all of my purchases.
But there are some people that get absolutely miserable about being alone on Valentine's Day. I guess this is a common television trope. The first time I remember it was from the cartoon Alvin and the Chipmunks. Man, I must have been only 6 or 7 when I saw it. Alvin was completely torn up about a former girlfriend. I don't remember the rest of the episode though. I think Alvin dressed up in some kind of Zoro costume though.
I guess when you are younger, it is easier to believe in romance. But as you get older and more cynical, any sort of relationship just looks like the exchange of attention and resources for physical intimacy and affection.
This experience ruined a few things for me. One of which is the Goo Goo Dolls. I will admit that I liked a lot of there songs as a little kid. Slide and Iris were the two best. But when I hear them today.... Ok I still like those songs. It is a little bit of a guilty pleasure. However, I know that the songs are just complete nonsense. I like those songs for the nostalgia.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
The best advice no one ever told me: Always have an exit strategy
I have to say, one of the worst feelings in the world is being trapped in something. And then slowly watching the jaws of doom bite out your kidneys. Getting trapped in a situation tends to be more common in long term commitments. Be it a business partnership that goes sour, a marriage that goes sour, a career path that goes sour, all of this can be miserable. For this reason, I remember a quote from some movie that I don't remember.
I never agree to anything that I can't walk away from at the drop of a hat (or maybe it was in 5 minutes). This is why I've never wanted a wife or kids. This is why I reconsidered buying a traditional house. This is why I never dropped a ton of money or took out a ton of debt to finance a business. This is why I haven't invested a ton of money in the stock market or bought 30 year government bonds. But I have taken on a job in a miserable career path.
There are some long term commitments that are a necessary evil. With my current career path, I've had days where I've wanted to shoot myself in the head and days where I've wanted to drive into on coming traffic and I've experienced everything in between.
But whether it is a marriage, job, investment, or any other long term obligation, you will do yourself a favor if you try to keep your options open and have a way to get out of there. Made some dumb financial decisions? There is bankruptcy. Got stuck in a lousy career path? Save up several thousand dollars and find another opportunity. Got trapped in a terrible marriage? Consult a lawyer.
The other important part to this advice is deciding when to execute your exit strategy. A lot of fret and worry is caused by not knowing when to follow through. Make sure to draw that line in the sand ahead of time and execute your leave once that line is crossed.
Hopefully this will prevent you from doing the Smith and Wesson retirement plan.
I never agree to anything that I can't walk away from at the drop of a hat (or maybe it was in 5 minutes). This is why I've never wanted a wife or kids. This is why I reconsidered buying a traditional house. This is why I never dropped a ton of money or took out a ton of debt to finance a business. This is why I haven't invested a ton of money in the stock market or bought 30 year government bonds. But I have taken on a job in a miserable career path.
There are some long term commitments that are a necessary evil. With my current career path, I've had days where I've wanted to shoot myself in the head and days where I've wanted to drive into on coming traffic and I've experienced everything in between.
But whether it is a marriage, job, investment, or any other long term obligation, you will do yourself a favor if you try to keep your options open and have a way to get out of there. Made some dumb financial decisions? There is bankruptcy. Got stuck in a lousy career path? Save up several thousand dollars and find another opportunity. Got trapped in a terrible marriage? Consult a lawyer.
The other important part to this advice is deciding when to execute your exit strategy. A lot of fret and worry is caused by not knowing when to follow through. Make sure to draw that line in the sand ahead of time and execute your leave once that line is crossed.
Hopefully this will prevent you from doing the Smith and Wesson retirement plan.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Personal Spending Report: December 2010
For the month of December 2010, I spent a total of $595.79.
$223 was spent on full coverage car insurance
$108 was spent on gas
I spent $100 on a new skateboard
$44 was spent on fast food. I hadn't yet made it a bad habit.
I spent $30 on beer (can't remember if it was at a bar or a case of beer for a party)
$20 was spent on a haircut
$20 was spent on prepaid minutes for my phone (total of 120 minutes)
The rest of money was spent on miscellaneous items.
The most notable change on this month was that my employer at the time brought me on as a full time employee. My time as an independent contractor was over. This did have some pros and cons. The major cons was that withholding from my paycheck started. Had I just worked 40 hours at $12 an hour, I would have made $480. After getting on salary, I started out making $500 a week. After taxes and fica, my take home pay was $400 a week. The pro was the fact that I was expected only to work 8 hours a day and had a set schedule. I was also not required to show up on Saturdays. At this rate, my annual salary was $26000 annually and my take home pay was $21100 (I rounded off the numbers).
This month, I took home $1600. After expenses were deducted, I saved my goal of $1000.
This was one of the worst months of work I can remember. My job duties was to send payments out for child care benefits. While not just processing invoices, I also handled customer service which meant I would get constantly interrupted to talk to the clients.
With it being December, these families depended on getting reimbursed on time to pay for Christmas related expenses. This resulted in some really hostile and nasty phone calls. Constantly I was tempted to tell those jerks that they shouldn't have had kids they couldn't afford but it wouldn't be until a few years later that I realized that those kids were being used as a source of income to gain benefits via the federal government. I think it was December 23rd or 24th that my coworkers were going to go out for lunch after work but I was so pissed off from work that I just left and went home. It was only going to get worse for the next few months.
I used a tracfone for all my phone calls. I had a phone that gave me double minutes for life. It was the same phone I had been using for my last year of college. $20 gave me 120 minutes.
This was also back when I used to go to a barber to cut my have. The hair cut cost $15 each time and I always gave a $5 tip.
This month, I felt kind of secure. I decided to buy a new skateboard as I had been putting it for for some time. I also remember getting some pizza and beer with some friends. Out of the three of us, they both looked at me like I was the successful one of the trio. I was the only one who graduated college at the time and found a white collar job.
I looked up my birthday and saw that I spent no money. I remember my coworkers bought me lunch from Steak and Shake. That evening, my parents took me to Dave and Busters. I remember having one or two 22 ounce Blue Moons. There was some guy playing an acoustic guitar. He was paying a cover of the song "Secret Agent Man".
2010 had been just an absolute miserable year. I was glad to see it go.
$223 was spent on full coverage car insurance
$108 was spent on gas
I spent $100 on a new skateboard
$44 was spent on fast food. I hadn't yet made it a bad habit.
I spent $30 on beer (can't remember if it was at a bar or a case of beer for a party)
$20 was spent on a haircut
$20 was spent on prepaid minutes for my phone (total of 120 minutes)
The rest of money was spent on miscellaneous items.
The most notable change on this month was that my employer at the time brought me on as a full time employee. My time as an independent contractor was over. This did have some pros and cons. The major cons was that withholding from my paycheck started. Had I just worked 40 hours at $12 an hour, I would have made $480. After getting on salary, I started out making $500 a week. After taxes and fica, my take home pay was $400 a week. The pro was the fact that I was expected only to work 8 hours a day and had a set schedule. I was also not required to show up on Saturdays. At this rate, my annual salary was $26000 annually and my take home pay was $21100 (I rounded off the numbers).
This month, I took home $1600. After expenses were deducted, I saved my goal of $1000.
This was one of the worst months of work I can remember. My job duties was to send payments out for child care benefits. While not just processing invoices, I also handled customer service which meant I would get constantly interrupted to talk to the clients.
With it being December, these families depended on getting reimbursed on time to pay for Christmas related expenses. This resulted in some really hostile and nasty phone calls. Constantly I was tempted to tell those jerks that they shouldn't have had kids they couldn't afford but it wouldn't be until a few years later that I realized that those kids were being used as a source of income to gain benefits via the federal government. I think it was December 23rd or 24th that my coworkers were going to go out for lunch after work but I was so pissed off from work that I just left and went home. It was only going to get worse for the next few months.
I used a tracfone for all my phone calls. I had a phone that gave me double minutes for life. It was the same phone I had been using for my last year of college. $20 gave me 120 minutes.
This was also back when I used to go to a barber to cut my have. The hair cut cost $15 each time and I always gave a $5 tip.
This month, I felt kind of secure. I decided to buy a new skateboard as I had been putting it for for some time. I also remember getting some pizza and beer with some friends. Out of the three of us, they both looked at me like I was the successful one of the trio. I was the only one who graduated college at the time and found a white collar job.
I looked up my birthday and saw that I spent no money. I remember my coworkers bought me lunch from Steak and Shake. That evening, my parents took me to Dave and Busters. I remember having one or two 22 ounce Blue Moons. There was some guy playing an acoustic guitar. He was paying a cover of the song "Secret Agent Man".
2010 had been just an absolute miserable year. I was glad to see it go.
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