Pecuniarities

I recently learned a very important lesson about the pitfalls of complacency. Since June 2004, we had been with an auto insurance company called South Coast Auto Insurance/Anchor General, which we had chosen for its competitive rates in the Los Angeles area. When we moved to a more remote area in December of 2005, we [...]

Financial, health and moral reasons to slow down.

Merriam-Webster defines the word “vacation” as “a respite or a time of respite from something”. Well, if that “something” from which one is taking a respite is “peace and quiet” then I would have to agree with the definer. Otherwise, gathering from my 2 recent “vacations” (one to Disneyland, one [working] vacation to Las Vegas [...]

As most of you must know, the California wildfires have been getting worse with each passing year. According to Peter Sanders of the Wall Street Journal, fire season has barely begun, but in the past 3 weeks, the fires have consumed 631,000 acres of and $112 million in State funds. In the past 12 months, [...]

I’ve seen several threads on forums where individuals in debt have posted a general plea for help in reducing their debt and most people simply respond by telling them to cut spending. But how to cut spending and decide what to cut and what not to cut? This is where you have to discern luxuries [...]

A few months ago, I received a letter from our ISP Charter Communications. The good news was that everyone in our area who subscribes to their High Speed Internet was getting upgraded to the 5 Meg service and we would be surfing [I forget how many] times faster than dial-up. The bad news was that [...]

How showing respect and being polite when dealing with authority figures could save you from disciplinary actions. Story of my encounter with a police officer who pulled me over concluded with him giving me a benevolent warning to slow down and wishing me a nice day.