Inside the Head of a TV Junkie

Mint.com is a website that allows you to view all of your financial accounts in one location.  It gives you an overview of your financial life.  Signing up for Mint is incredibly easy and takes only a few minutes.  The only identifying information that is asked of you is an email address, zip code, and a password.  Once you have an account created, you can begin adding your financial accounts. 

Don’t worry, Mint is safe.  (view a video about it here)  Mint utilizes Yodlee for financial account storage and connection.  Yodlee has been around for 10 years and powers many of the large banks that allow for online banking (Bank of America).  If someone were to gain access to your Mint account, all they would be able to see is how often you go to the grocery store and how much you spend each time… and this info wouldn’t be attached to your name, address, or other personal information, just your login with Mint.  Pretty safe, in my opinion.  Of course, there are people out there that aren’t going to be comfortable with Mint and giving up their login information and that’s fine. 

For those of you who do want to give this a shot, please do.  The founder of Mint used to balance his check book every month, but soon fell behind.  He realized, as I did quite a few years ago, that balancing a check book isn’t the only way to keep on top of your spending or keeping your various accounts in check.

By the way, I have every credit card account, every investment account, and my main banking accounts (checking and savings) tied into Mint at the moment.  I’m loving it.  I have SMS alerts setup for when payments are due on the credit cards.  I have Mint setup to send me a SMS if an unusually large purchase is made or a banking account balance falls below a specific amount.  I also have a monthly budget setup that greets me every day when I log into Mint so I can see how I’m doing.  It’s a one stop shop for my financial account health and it’s already saving me time.

So, do you use Mint? 

From “Face the Nation” last weekend.  This is the complete question and answer from Bob Schieffer to Gen. Wesley Clark.  Of course, every news outlet is cutting this clip down to just the answer.  Just another reason why you shouldn’t believe everything you see/hear from the mass media news networks.  Do your own research, the information is out there.

Walmart will be updating their logo over the next few months.  Get used to this logo showing up on storefronts before 2009.  I enjoy the fact that they have removed the hyphen from the name, but what is that flower thing??  I find myself shopping at Walmart more often than I would like to admit but it’s difficult not to when it is so close to work.  I enjoy getting some errands done while on my lunch break.  With gas as high as it is, I have a problem with driving 6 miles to a Target to get my goods.  Anyway, the logo is nice and it’ll be an interesting change to the boring storefront sign we’ve all grown accustomed to.

I’ve always been really slow to return my NetFlix movies.  Sometimes, I’ve even been known to keep a disc for a couple of months.  Yeah, I know, I’m Netflix ideal customer.  :)  Anyway, these past few weeks I have been really good at watching 2 or 3 movies a week and returning them.  My queue still has about 250 movies on it but at least I’m trying to make a dent.  So, do you use Netflix?  If so, how good are you at moving through your queue?

I dare anyone to watch this video and not smile. You may want to visit YouTube and watch it in higher quality.

The image below is taken from the parking garage at my work.  The fire began yesterday afternoon when a freak monsoon storm blew through the Valley of the Sun.  A lightning strike ignited dry brush in the Gila River (we live in the desert, or rivers are dry) and it has quickly spread throughout the riverbed burning some nice cedar.  The cedar trees, according to the news, burn long and hot so fighting the fire is taking a considerable amount of man power.  My office is located about 6 miles from the fire.

When I arrived at home today, I snapped this photo of a car in the visitor parking spot.  It hasn’t moved all day.  The smoke cloud goes right over my house.  I live about 15 miles from work so the fire is not anywhere near me.  It may be hard to tell but that’s ash all over the roof of this car.  Crazy.

As you may or may not know, I love reading comments posted by users on newspaper websites.  Some people are just crazy and there’s no wonder they have no job and have time to post comments to random stories.  The following comment was posted on AZCentral.com as a response to a truly ignorant comment.  It shouldn’t be hard to figure out what kind of story these comments were written about.  This is probably one of the more amusing comments I’ve ever seen on the site.  Enjoy!

Haran,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s law. I have learned a great deal from you, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. How should I deal with this?

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as it suggests in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

Lev. 25:44 states that I may buy slaves from the nations that are around us. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians. Can you clarify?

I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 10:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this?

Lev. 20:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

I fell behind the past two paychecks in donating.  Mostly because I was too lazy to do some research.  Well, I’m happy to say that I made up for those past two paychecks today.  Learn more about the Benevolent Blogger Project started by Mike.  View all of my past donations here.

Make a difference and donate.

Okay, I called a different company to come over and fix my HVAC system.  After seven and a half hours of work and just over $1200 the unit is fixed!  I have a cool house now!  Yes!!!  I will post a longer entry about the whole thing later, after I talk to the previous company and see what they have to say about their role in the whole fiasco.

The president of the Czech Republic is interviewed by Glenn Beck. The Czech president doesn’t believe that Global Warming exists. Just over nine minutes long, but I would suggest you watch it below!