Money, money

I have a good job. I got a nice raise. I'm still broke.

I don't spend money on clothes. I haven't in ages. I can't afford it. I have bought a total of 4 articles of clothing in the past year: one light sweater, one shirt, and two tank tops. A lot of the clothes I have, particularly for winter, are hand-me-downs. I looked at my sweaters the other day. I can't wear them in public anymore, they're so shabby. I have one sweater-vest thats OK, and a second that needs only minor repairs. I have some other clothes which are decent but need dry cleaning, and I cant afford that. I did buy a new cell phone, but with rebates, it was only $150.

Current debt on credit cards: $5300. Mostly due to tuition. Note: I am currently not paying any interest on the credit cards. That ends in February.

My income for the next four months, less tuition and mortgage payments: $180 per month. That is what I have to pay for everything else: food, transportation... Christmas presents... I had more as an undergrad. Like $300 a month and I had food paid for. I think that if that were the permanent state I could qualify for food stamps. At least I get to stop paying tuition in May.

I wonder how tough it would be to bike to work in DC in January.

Favre's 200th

OK, I'm a Packer fan. I have been since way before Favre was traded to the Packers. Since before Don Majkowski was the starter. Since before the horrible pick of Tony Mandarich. The bad years. The years where making 8-8 was a noble goal. And rarely achieved.

Then the Pack got Favre. And suddenly winning the conference every year was normal. Against good teams: Tampa Bay with its dominating defense and the Vikes with their speedy offense. The Pack went to two Super Bowls, winning one. We lost a good coach to Seattle, and an amazing personnel guy in Ron Wolf. Our defense has had its good years, when it was underrated, and its horrible years (4th and 26 anyone?).

All the same, the amount of pure idoltry for Favre this past weekend was absurd. Yes he hit a plateau. But its the same problem I have with a lot of other "plateaus". So Barry Bonds hit #400 or #500, whatever he's up to. Its just a round number. Why is #200 better than #201? or #199? They're good. They're producing numbers and playing. Until they retire, they will continue to play and produce numbers. When the streak ends, thats the number thats important and meaningful. In between, there shouldn't be any difference.

We need to end the bias against non-round numbers. Pick #11 or #107 or #76.2352 or pi. Celebrate those numbers instead. Because the media hypes something, even something special thats ongoing, as more special because of the round number.