When I was first reading about financial independence several years ago, I got excited about saving a few dollars on various things. I stopped using fabric softener and dryer sheets (both unnecessary chemicals), switched to powdered dishwasher detergent, and also switched to powdered washing machine detergent, with a few considerations toward making my own. While […]
The Gray Wars
In the early 2000s, Lego did something that possibly had never been done before: they changed their colors. Specifically, they changed the light and dark grays to what are now often called “light bluish gray” and “dark bluish gray”. There were several reasons for this: there were some changes in philosophy within the company, and […]
Follow Up to Why I Don’t Own Cryptocurrency
In a few short days after my last post on why I don’t own cryptocurrency, many cryptocurrencies took a nosedive. It would be tempting to flout this as proof of the validity of my opinion on the matter, but this isn’t actually fair – there could just as easily have been a surge in prices […]
Why I Don’t Own Cryptocurrency (and other thoughts on asset classes)
Okay, I’m trolling here a bit. At the same time that I don’t own any cryptocurrencies and I don’t plan to buy any, either, I’m also not a crypto-hater, I just think there is a broader understanding of asset classes that is useful to understand when looking at this. It’s also funny how predictably libertarian […]
White Elephants
Just today I came across the meaning behind the term “white elephant”. You can read the Wikipedia article yourself, but apparently some South Asian king gifted rare albino elephants to those who displeased him. Traditionally, to own a white elephant was seen as a sign of great success and prosperity, and to be gifted a […]
Life vs. Money
At opposite ends of the spending spectrum, you have those who spend all of their money today without really any thought toward tomorrow, and you have those who are mortified to spend money today, with every thought toward tomorrow. Both are folly, but both are worth discussing. As usual, I don’t wish to employ the […]
Money and Fear
For all of the money I’ve saved, I still live in fear of some financial issues. This is important to investigate. It took me two tries to successfully change my transmission pan gasket. The first time, I accidentally let some excess fluid spill out the back side of the pan while installing it, which was […]
Digitizing Tax Records
The Theory One of my favorite blogs described the scene of an estate sale for a commercial artist. While much of the late artist’s art was being sold off, including a piece that remained unsigned (potentially his last work before death?), lying around were boxes and boxes of old tax forms and receipts of sales […]
Axle Chronicles: Knowing When to Give Up
The first time I removed an axle nut was for changing the captive rotors on my old Honda. You had to pull the whole knuckle assembly to do this, which is dumb, but it taught me a lot about the suspension, and was one critical step toward being able to change some of the more […]
How Not to Fix Your Car’s AC
When I bought my first car over ten years ago – a mid-90s Honda – the AC wasn’t so great. This really didn’t bother me as I was just excited to have a car, but as other stuff hit the fan and I started learning to work on the car, I eventually realized I could […]