A few days ago, I was wondering why everybody talks about how healthcare costs are rising, but nobody will actually explain why. Here’s someone giving that explanation a shot: The True Cost of Healthcare.
Bank of America has decided they aren’t extorting enough money from me, even though I do the majority of my banking though them. They’re now going to penalize their customers for buying things with debt cards—$5/mo. to be exact. I’ll probably keep some money in a savings account with them, but I’m looking into moving my money to a friendlier institution. USAA is looking better and better, but there’s more research to be done.
Five years ago, I could use my shitty Motorola 551 to call my parents from pretty much anyplace around Baltimore. When I got my iPhone, coverage was the same. As the years have gone by, my calls have been dropped more and more. It’s to the point now where I can’t call my parents on my ride home from work; staying connected in downtown Baltimore, along I-95, or driving north up I-695 is impossible.
When Apple releases the new phone next week, I’m going to be standing on line. And I’m leaving AT&T.
I’ve been doing some preliminary research into kegging my beer now that I have a keg and a workable refrigerator in the basement. Pricing for the equipment I need is pretty standard across the two vendors I’ve researched with, and goes something like this:
- A refrigerator thermostat: $80
This converts any chest freezer into a fridge at a constant temperature. - A Co2 system for a soda keg: $200
I’d like to have a real sidemount tap so that I can pour from the front of the fridge instead of opening it each time. - A keg cleaning kit: $50
I suppose I’ll need something like this if I’m going to get serious.
I got some good ideas from Mr. Scout’s setup, as well. In order to fit standard soda kegs, most chest freezers need a height extension, which is usually just a 2×4″ frame around the top of the freezer. This is how mine came to me. Mr. Scout used vinyl decking 2×4″ on his, and insulated it with pink foam around the inside, which is what I’m going to do with mine (as well as moving the tap to the front).
One thing is for sure: I’m excited to sample the Hefeweizen this weekend; it’s had two weeks to finish in the bottles and hopefully it’s ready for consumption.
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Meanwhile, the list of non-brewing things I’d like to purchase gets longer while the amount of ready cash remains small. In loose order, they are:
- New sunglasses—I will be stapling them to my forehead.
- Roof rack for the CR-V—we need this before leaving on summer vacation.
- A new watch—hopefully I won’t crack the crystal in two weeks’ time.
- A set of Scout manuals—they finally rescanned the originals, so they’re worth the money. And long overdue.
I don’t know much about Ayn Rand, other than the standard Cliff’s Notes summaries of her books, and her name has been coming up repeatedly in the news, tied to (mostly) Republican politicians on budget-cutting stampedes. It’s interesting, then, to learn about her views of common people, the super-wealthy, and her own dark history. Slate’s review of two recent biographies goes into a little more detail and puts the recent upswing in Rand’s popularity into context.
I got lousy sleep last night, which means I’m not only tired but grouchy too.
The MDF experiment went well last night; one coat of primer raised the fiber on the routed edges of the boards, but after it dried I hit it with a block sander and it smoothed out immediately. While I was in there, I put some 2″ nails in the molding, caulked the edges, and painted both french doors with high-gloss white so that we can finally pull the plastic off the panes and let some light into the living room.
Attempts to sell my old MacBook Pro on Craigslist have been met with nothing but bullshit PayPal scam attempts and one text spam; I’m going to take it off the table and reconsider what role it might play at our house. I don’t know how else to sell it other than eBay, and I don’t have any selling history there.
Hey, I finally got off my ass and donated to Habitat For Humanity’s Japanese earthquake response fund. NPR.org has a great list of charities, if you prefer one organization over another. It really looks like they can use every bit of help we can give, so I urge you to consider giving whatever you can afford.
File this under the 2011 to-do list: How to Create (and Stick to) a Realistic Budget with Mint.
I love most every beer Anchor Brewing produces. Enough so that I’d be willing to wear a T-shirt with their logo on it. However, even though their merchandise is priced affordably, none of it is worth buying. All I want is a navy blue shirt with the main Anchor brewing logo, perhaps distressed. Is that so hard?
File this under Awesome: Beastie Boys Annotated. Want to know where the samples from “Shake Your Rump” came from? Want to know where the “grafitti guys” sample in Professor Booty came from? It’s all there. (WARNING: Site last updated in 2004.) (via)
Here’s an excellent and frightening overview of the global economy from the managing director of an investment company.
The constructive way is to stop making paper and start making things. Replace subprimes, and yes, Treasury bonds with American cars, steel, iPads, airplanes, corn – whatever the world wants that we can make better and/or cheaper. Learn how to compete again. Investments in infrastructure and 21st century education and research, as opposed to 20th century education are mandatory, as is a withdrawal from resource-draining foreign wars….
…Unlike the United Kingdom, where Prime Minister Cameron has championed fiscal conservatism, or even Euroland, which is being forced in the direction of Angela Merkel’s Germanic work ethic, the United States seems to acknowledge no bounds to what it can spend to bolster consumption or how much it can print to support its asset markets.