Your Toast Is Toast

Just a quick tidbit for the blog.

If you happen to get an order of garlic toast, sometimes known as garlic bread, and you leave it lying around overnight to dry out what would you do?

Wait, don't throw it out!

As long as it still has some moisture, or if you put it back in the paper bag it often comes in and add a few drops of water, you can nuke it back to life.

Talk about saving bread...

Blog Directory Updates

It has been quite a while since I've mentioned Grokodile. This is the blog directory that I've been slowly working on over the last couple of years.

Anyway, since I have recently started to participate on Twitter I've found that it can be very useful for discovering useful information. For example, if you follow TechCrunch you'll be kept up to date on what is happening the tech community.

I've added a local twist to this when integrating Twitter into Grokodile.

First, you can add your Twitter ID to your Grokodile entry. People viewing your community can follow your tweets in a few simple clicks. Second, in each community that has people who have identified themselves as being local, there will be a short list of local tweople in the sidebar. For example, take a look at Toronto.

Perhaps the best example I can think of for why this is useful involves traveling. This makes it easy to find local blogs and tweople so that you can talk to real people about places to stay and things to do.

I've added a post about this to the Grokodile blog as well. Please let me know if you have any ideas how I can make the directory more useful -- as I know a plain old directory isn't that exciting anymore.

P.S. Yes, entrepreneurial pursuits are related to personal finance issues... ;)

Frugality vs Utility

While a lot of us would agree that frugality is good, and a lot of people need to be frugal during periods of economic risk, there are still good reasons to spend a little bit more than you absolutely have to.

I'm talking about utility. What is the value of the item that you purchase? What is it going to contribute to your lifestyle?

Here are some examples to consider:

Purchase Alternatives

Tuna	No Name: Save two or three cents per can. Pungent odor.	Brand: Costs a few extra cents. Normal odor.
Table	Skip It: No workspace. Continue to use coffee table. Inconvenient.	Buy It: Convenient workspace. Extends budget.
Tires	All Season: Save money on winter tires. Less traction. Mediocre on snow. Risk.	Snow Tires: Significant expense. Great on snow and ice. Safety.
Booze	Abstain: Save money. Deal with life au naturel.	Drink Responsibly: Costs money. Relaxing. Promote enjoyable conversations.
Vitamins	Skip It: Eat healty food. Save money. Miss potential benefits.	Buy It: Additional nutrients and antioxidants. Potential health benefits.

If you can't unclench the wallet (thought I was going to say something else?) and appreciate some added utility from time to time then maybe you are letting frugality get the best of you. I know my frugal nature was born of hard times, but when those times pass you have to take the foot off the brakes and start to think about utility, value for money and even enjoyment of life. I've seen this problem in myself and I've seen it in some of the visitors to my blog.

I'm not advocating wastefulness, but at the same time we aren't here on the planet to spend as little as absolutely possible during our stay. Nobody is going to give you a prize at the end for being too cheap to enjoy life.

Let Them Eat Cake

Well, the stimulus package has passed, hasn't it? There hasn't been a day that has gone by without all kinds of criticism from every corner.

I think the only way to stop the criticism is to declare a war on the economy. This way, whatever level of spending is attained can be justified. After all, anything goes in a time of war. We've been hearing that mantra for nearly a decade so I doubt anyone would dare refute it.

Short of that, I'm afraid we'll have to let them eat cake!

That's what I'm hearing. All those poor losers who are too stupid to look after their financial welfare should just look after themselves. If they can't afford to buy bread, well, perhaps they should eat cake. This is the brand of criticism I am seeing most.

Oh my god. Somebody who isn't irresponsible may have to bear some of the burden of someone who was. Yes, it's true.

However, the way you feel about that really speaks about how you see the rest of society. Perhaps they are the underclass, the dregs, that you look down upon and suppose they should wallow in discontent until they, too, lift themselves up. Alternately, perhaps they are hard working people who have fallen on tough times.

Both types are out there. How about we try to find ways to help people who are hard working and avoid setting up permanent programs which would, by design, reward bad behavior. I don't know about the rest of you but I see a looming economic crisis as something of a one-off event. Just like a war, it's something out of the ordinary which calls for a temporary change of rules.

Didn't we learn through previous economic collapses that the time to tighten the purse strings is during times of relative wealth? Clamping down violently on spending, during a crisis, is precisely the recipe that will make the downturn as severe as possible. I think we can tell who is relatively secure in their comfort by how loudly they proclaim that others need to suffer as much as possible.

I guess it comes down to two world views. One is that life is tough and you either look after yourself or you suffer the consequences -- which sells. The other is that we help each other in times of need -- which also sells.

Instead of the ideological posturing which amounts to saying 'Let them eat cake' let's work on not sending money towards those that truly are not deserving. This is the basic point that the right should be making -- and they should be helping to craft legislation which upholds these values. However, at the same time, the left need to understand that some of them really are bleeding heart liberals who will create entitlement programs that do provide unintended disincentives. Not everyone with a hand out is pure of heart and strong of character.

I wish we could get the government to put the discourse at the right level. That's what will create effective legislation. Instead, we get posturing for political gain, which is certainly not "country first".

These damned fools need to work together, seriously work, to guard against the views of both the callous and the weak, and forge serious progress.

P.S. I lifted the image from these fine folks... so if you are in their neighborhood and need a cake, please go check out their web site.