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Archive for March, 2010

What chunk of work works best for you? Baby steps? Blitzes?

March 28th, 2010 at 03:08 pm

I guess the real answer lies somewhere in between. I use both baby steps and blitzes, and they both seem to have their place. So as long as we do at least one, that's most of the battle.

Building momentum is definitely cool, so starting with baby steps and ramping up as you can see a deadline become doable. I guess this is the logic behind paying off the smallest debts first, to build some confidence. I'd be willing to bet that there is a pretty significant flood of feel-good chemicals released into your bloodstream upon completion of a task, and the more arduous and difficult the more released. On the flip side, there is nothing more demoralizing than feeling overwhelmed and like you can't make progress.

This seems to be all I post about, so you can tell it weighs heavily on my mind, which is just about always groaning under the weight of something or other. Smile

Anyway, on a related note, kudos to the people who keep this site running - it truly is a wealth of good financial info and I'm quite glad I found it 2 years or so ago.

I love purchases that give you a lot of bang for the buck! I also love radio.

March 13th, 2010 at 03:25 pm

I say that as I am enjoying listening to my fairly new portable HD radio. Basically an iPod type device, it allows me to listen to my area's excellent radio stations with less static than traditional FM, and as an added bonus, it shows the songs that are playing IF the station enters the data, and most of them do, to varying degrees.

I had my eye on it for months, but I waited until the price dropped from $50 to $40. Only 10 bux, but it felt great for some reason, that delayed gratification. Plus, I buy VERY few things, so that makes it more of an event when I do. Smile

But what feels best is I love it - no ongoing costs other than electricity to recharge the battery, and it is just fun. Yes, I am a simple man. Smile Maybe it brings me back to my childhood when I was thrilled to get a transistor radio. I remember transistor radios were rated by how many transistors they had - I think I got a deluxe TWELVE transistor one. It was all so stylish, extra wide, silver grill - nice!

Maybe radio just appeals to the cheapskate in me, since so much variety in music just comes streaming freely over the air. I've also always been awed that radio and TV work the way they do, over the air. To me it is sort of mind boggling that when you are outside on a beautiful day, the air is full of all those signals.

I also fondly remember sleeping out in a tent and getting that AM skip at night - faint signals from faraway places - just so cool to a kid. Went well with distant train horns.

Anyway, I guess this one gets filed under raves. Smile

So what purchases of yours give you great pleasure?