Craigslist

Hey Craigslist. I hate you. You have turned so many people into third rate scalpers. It is impossible to get into something good anymore because everyone is buying extra tickets as soon as they go on sale, so they can turn around and flip them on Craigslist for 100+% profit. Now you have allowed every dumb ass Tom Dick and Harry to be a stupid ass ticket scalper. Congratz!

Resolutions Update

I think I failed on every one.

Resolution #2

Stop drinking sodas. I had this same resolution like 5 or 6 years ago. I used to be a manager of a store in the mall. I was friends with the manager of Swensens, the ice cream shop. He was always hooking me up with free sodas. I would drink 5 huge cups of the stuff during a single work day. I eventually realized that it couldn't be good for me, and gave up all sweet drinks. Doing that alone, with no extra workout or diet, I lost 20 pounds in one month.

I actually stuck with that resolution for quite a while. I eventually got a job that has free sodas in the fridge, and I would slip one in here and there. Now I just drink them whenever. I'm not near as bad as I used to be, but I could definitely go without. So I am going back to the old standard. No sodas. I also drink my coffee and tea without sugars. If I get the urge for something bubbly, I drink Topo Chico mineral water. I love the stuff. The only drinks I'll have with sugar in them are orange juice and booze. And as far as booze goes, I am now a very light drinker. This resolution should be easy peasy.

An update on resolution #1. I decided earlier today that I was going to not try to get one of the Tim Doyle LOST posters. I just need to not spend that kind of money right now on a poster. I know they are super collectible and going for $250 plus on eBay right now, but it's not like I would sell it anyways. Self restraint wins! Well, this was all when I assumed that the posters were going to be $50, like they were when they first went on sale. It turns out that they were almost $200. YIKES! I'm glad I had decided against it already to save myself a broken heart. $200 is just too rich for my blood.

Resolution #1

My first resolution is to spend less money on crap and build a savings. Of all my resolutions, this could be the toughest of all. That's right, tougher than learning to fly. I'm sure that along with losing weight, saving money is on many people's resolution list. And like most Americans, I am addicted to buying crap. To be fair, it's not really crap. But you know what they say about one man's treasure.

Right now I am in a sweet position, a perfect position for building a savings. I currently live with my girlfriend and former co-worker in a nice, spacious three bedroom house. There's no lease, and rent is $300 a month plus one third of electric. Holy cow! Who else has an awesome deal like that?!? On top of that, my car is paid off, and I have no credit card debt whatsoever. My bills are rent/electric, car insurance, cell phone, DirecTV, and Netflix. Now that football season is almost over, I can drop that bill about $30 lower than it is. All told, my monthly bills come to roughly $600 a month. Saving money should be easy, right?

Well, I have a problem with the spending. I get into phases where I become obsessed with something. I've always been like this. Right now I have two obsessions, and neither of them are cheap. Screen printed posters and flying.

I'm trying to pinpoint when my poster thing started. I believe a couple of things happened around the same time. Back on June 13th, Holly and I went to the Alamo Drafthouse to see Night of the Creeps with the cast and crew (I know the date because the poster is hanging over the TV). They had awesome posters, and I wanted to get one and get it signed by one of my acting heroes, Tom Atkins. So I got that poster. Another time, Holly and I went to the Alamo for an early screening of Paranormal Activity. The Alamo on S Lamar has Mondo Tees attached to it, where they sell awesome T-shirts and posters from other film events they have done. They had one copy left of a Troll 2 variant they did for a Troll 2 fest. It was the last one they had, and they guy working said he would knock the price down from 50 to 30 if I got it. SOLD! On top of that, he threw in an awesome 3-D poster for the Fantastic Fest.

A few months later, via a Canadian film/comic website (Giant Killer Squid), I learned of Nakatomi Inc. Odd that I would learn of a local poster artist through a foreign website! Perusing Nakatomi, I found many more posters I had to have. These weren't for specific events. Through that site I discovered Kevin Tong and the LOST poster series. I found the website Expresso Beans, where I learned of artists like Daniel Danger and Dan McCarthy, who's posters disappear quick and wind up going for more money than I can spend. I check all these sites regularly. You can say my interest grew, sure.

I currently have five hanging in our room, and one in the hallway. Holly bought me frames for Christmas, and got two of them matted and looking super sweet! I have I think three still in tubes, and two more on the way. These posters usually go for anywhere from $20 to $50, then you combine that with the frames that go from $35 to $50 to however much Holly paid to get the two specially matted and framed. That's a good chunk of change. It certainly looks nice hanging on the wall, and some of them are highly collectible. But still, that's a lot of money. I keep saying I am going t stop, then I find out I can get a Daniel Danger for an affordable price, or something is 25% off for a limited time. And yesterday I find out that Tim Doyle of Nakatomi is putting 40 of his LOST prints on sale sometime this week through the mailing list. And the Alamo will be selling a poster for the Monster Squad cast and crew screening we are going to on the 9th. I try to get out, but they pull me back in. I think the only way I can be totally successful in quitting posters is to delete all of those websites from my browser. Or just try to show some restraint. Holly says I need to stop buying posters because I am running out of wall space. I need to stop so I can save money.

My other current obsession is flying. I can't really afford flying lessons, so I am starting off with the Flight Simulator option. I'll get more into that when I go into the learn to fly resolution, but I can tell you that I have been eyeballing all kinds of things to make the computer a better learning tool, and to improve the computing performance. So I have to figure how to balance that out.

Everything else I have been trying to temper down. I don't buy near as much DVDs and video games as I used to. I keep fighting the urge to buy a Blu Ray player. I'm trying to sell my PSP, and i was going to use that money to buy a Blu Ray, but I should just throw that money in savings.

A few months ago, I started a budget and learned to live within it. I started to build a savings, and had a goal to buy Holly a new ipod for her birthday, and have a good amount for Christmas. It was very successful for me, and I did get Holly that ipod. The only thing is after I met that goal, putting money on saving and living within a budget just fell by the wayside. I need to get a budget started again and have a growing savings account. If Holly and I want to go to Graceland in May, or have enough to get our own place, I need to start a savings. I need to put that a priority, and not buying posters or beefing up my computer. Like I said at the beginning, I am in a great position to save money. I need to take advantage of it.