Today is Mother’s Day, a time when many bloggers will wax sentimental about their moms and how they hope they can give their kids the same kind of magic.
Not me. I’m going to talk about regret.
Donna Freedman
Giveaway: “Deal With Your Debt.”
On Tuesday I participated in a Tweetchat sponsored by FT Press, an imprint of Pearson and publisher of books by my MSN Money colleague Liz Weston. If you missed the event, at least some of the Tweets can be found in the publisher’s Tweetchat room. A spokeswoman for the company says a .pdf summary of the questions and discussion is in the works.
To promote the chat, FT Press gave out a few copies of “Deal With Your Debt” to random questioners. (Did any of you win? Tell us!) Now it’s my turn to hand out the revised and updated version of this book, which I can happily say is written for people in the real world.
Just check the description: “Award-winning personal finance expert Liz Weston reveals why it’s simply impractical to ‘just pay off every dime’ and ‘live forever debt free’ — and why trying to do so can actually make you poorer. It’s smarter to control and manage your debt, and Weston shows you how.”
Free health screenings, two chances at gift cards.
Checked your cortisol levels lately? On Saturday, May 11, all Sam’s Club stores with pharmacies will offer several basic medical screenings for free, including one for the “stress hormone,” to get a reading on how well your adrenal or pituitary glands are working.
(This Mayo Clinic page explains what can happen if your cortisol goes haywire.)
You don’t have to be a member to take advantage of these screenings, so stop in.
And the gift cards?I’ll get to them in a minute. Don’t stress out.
7 PF experts, no waiting: Join us for a Tweetchat.
Got money questions? One of them might win you a copy of Liz Weston’s updated and revised Deal with Your Debt.
She’s hosting one heck of a Tweetchat on Thursday, May 9, and will be giving away several copies of the book to folks who submit questions ahead of time (more on that in a minute).
Even if you don’t need the book, surely you know someone who does.
Want to see the summer blockbusters? I can help.
Last night I hit the midnight movie with my friend Linda B., who agrees with me that there’s no sense seeing “Iron Man 3” during the day when we’re well-rested.
There’s just something fun about being there at 12:01 a.m. the day it opens, especially for a popcorner like this one.
I hope to see a lot of other movies this year, with Linda or with my niece and her boys. Maybe you want to go to the movies, too, but are horripilated by the price of the tickets.
I can help: This week I’m giving away two $15 gift cards to Regal Cinemas.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Free Comic Book Day.
Late yesterday afternoon the UPS left leaving an envelope whose contents — “Superman: Last Son of Krypton” and “Beware the Batman” — sent me rocketing back to my childhood.
They’re two of the books to be given away tomorrow for Free Comic Book Day 2013. Every first Saturday in May the comics industry gives away millions of titles for free at comic shops across the country.
Some 4.6 million comics will be handed across counters this year, which is a 30% increase over 2012.
Comics have moved beyond the POW! ZAP! these days. SpongeBob Squarepants has his own comic series. So does “Sesame Street.” The wildly popular series “The Walking Dead” began as a comic book, although purists would probably call it a graphic novel.
The free-comic lineup is quite the mixed bag: books based on the usual superheroes like Superman, Batman and The Hulk, plus titles whose heroes range from Judge Dredd to MegaMan to the children’s book character Pippi Longstocking. (Go here for a full list of offerings.)
Another anniversary. Couldn’t have done it without you.
Just over four years ago I started writing this site, even as I wondered (a) if anyone would care and (b) whether I could keep it up.
The answer was “yes” on both counts. Sort of.
I haven’t got the huge fan base and influence of a “name” blogger, and there have been times when I was too overwhelmed by my paying jobs to devote enough time to my avocation.
If I had more readers I could turn the site into what the kids call a serious alternate income source. It does make some money, but nowhere close to a living wage. More to the point, I’d like more followers because, well, what writer wouldn’t?
Chowder: It’s not just for breakfast anymore.
I smelled burning bread when I woke up, a clear sign that DF was fixing himself some breakfast. When I got to the kitchen I found he’d split and toasted two homemade rolls in the same frying pan used to cook a salmon burger and some onions.
By “toasted,” I mean that one half-roll was as black as the inside of a brunette cow. The other three halves were brown with cinderized rims. DF’s motto for his own food prep is simple: If it’s smoking, it’s cooking; if it’s charred, it’s done. Then again, he used to eat burnt match-heads when he was a little boy.
Burned bread, sizzled onions and a salmon patty: The breakfast of champions. It could just as easily have been leftover fish chowder, or leftover chili with rice. Or oatmeal with flax seed but no milk. Or nothing but coffee, if he’s fasting for religious reasons. His idea of breakfast is much more flexible than mine.
I almost always have oatmeal, although yesterday it was toast and fruit and homemade yogurt because we were out of milk. (I like a looser oat than DF does.) Neither way is necessarily better: Breakfast is, or should be, whatever works for you. If more people felt that way, they could save a lot of money.
Yammering through jazz night.
The other night we went to hear a local jazz quartet. Or, rather, tried to hear them, being bracketed on either side by people who decided to talk during the music.
To my left were a couple of women who looked barely old enough to drink. They yammered for long, squealy stretches about jobs and friends, and the photos on their smartphones, and the Facebook updates they were posting.
To DF’s right were two women whose voices were audible but whose words I couldn’t quite make out. Thankfully, they left toward the end of the first set; at that point DF told me they’d spoken in detail about how best to avoid the locals during bike trips to other countries.
You go all the way to Guatemala or Sierra Leone and you want to AVOID the locals? I thought. Why did you even go? And why are you HERE when you obviously don’t care about the music?
Giveaway: Another $50 Sports Authority card.
When I announced the winner of last week’s $50 Sports Authority gift card on Facebook, I alluded to “a similarly lovely giveaway” to come.
It’s pretty similar. Actually, it’s identical: The Sports Authority chain has donated another $50 in store scrip.