I know some of us play the lottery every once in a while, but how many play the office superbowl pool. Of course, the boxes were filled out before it got to me. What is up with that? They should limit the number of boxes someone should buy so everyone has a chance before people buy more. I'll have to play in another pool.

Looking at the lines though I do like the Giants getting 12 points now, where they opened at 14. I also like the over at 54 total points. Would I take the Giants on the money line? Probably not--I've seen the Patriots come back a few times in the 4th quarter this year.

Though I am not a big fan of Eli Manning after what he and his father did during his draft, I find it hard to root the Patriots and their smug. I was really undecided in regards to who to root for until I found out that the Patriots have applied for trademark rights to "19-0" and "19-0 the Perfect Season". Go Giants

In reading about

Koppur's 4 cents entry, I remembered an how I made money from returning a xmas gift I had bought.

I needed a calendar as a gift and purchased one for $14.00 at B&N. A week later, there were some extra calendars around the office, so I decided to take one of those and return the calendar that I had purchased. I returned it at a different store but got back $14.08. I told the cashier that the original receipt states $14.00, but her registered calculated that I was to be refunded $14.08. I just took it and pondered on the drive home. A few days later I realized that why I go more on the return. I had made the purchase in OC County which has a lower sales tax than LA County which was where I returned it. All I know know that B&N now has a loss on return due to sales tax for $0.08 while I pocketed the change.

There was an interesting article in the

Daily Breeze about a blogger that comments on the housing market in one of the riches zip codes in America. The article basically points out that the local real estate agents are not happy that this person points out some shady selling tactics used by the agents. The Manhattan Beach Confidential is an anonymous blog but he makes some good points. Some of the listings that he discuss are range from the 'wow' to the 'WTF'? These homes are way out of my price range anyways.

If the MLB of today was like the MLB of the Black Sox days, Brian McNamee would have never had a chance to point any fingers.

Seems the agents are angry and want to start a witchhunt and find out who this person is. Remember the good old days when you had ill words against money, you existance on earth was treatened. This guy is playing with the agents' earning potential and they are not happy. 80 years ago, this guy would be dead, but now people just use the boycott and protest methods.

It's been a long time since I've been on the felt and played some poker. The night started with 28 players in the no rebuy tournament. Didn't do so well and played horribly with the scrub hands I was dealt. After 2 hours, I was out with 15 players remaining. I had some tough beats so I know the last 2 hands were tilt. I was down $35 for the entry fee already. The cash game started slow but as we changed the games up. I started to win some big pots. Took home $50 so a profitable night of $15.

So the company's PR department gave everyone with DD an option to retrieve their paystubs online. I've opted not to take advantage of this, because I would still print it out and save a hard copy of it. I am so old-school.

The idea of moving more of my documentation towards a paperless system has been on my mind for years with me constantly debating it. Most of the debate is because I keep all records and bills for at least 7 years and sometimes longer. I've sued collection agents over false claims before, and it was more convenient to have documents readily at hand rather to have to order them from financial institutions. Last year, when the IRS decided to return some medieval phone tax, I received 3 folds of what the average taxpayer received because I had my past phone bills and was able to itemized the overpayment and receive more than the standard rebate.

So many financial services are migrating towards a paperless system, but I still prefer to receive my cancelled checks back. To take advantage of a better WAMU rate, I signed up for a online savings account and closed my old savings account, so now instead of getting combined statements, I receive one for my checking account and have to retrieve my savings account online. Today I moved some funds from my ING account (I thought I would always be transferring funds to ING for better rates), but as I always do, I make a pdf file of the transfer request.

To move to a paperless system would mean I would have to find a backup harddrive and find an effecient way to scan hard paper documents I still receive. I still give this system some thought, but until I can make it more convenient, it is just a thought. A tree killer I will continue to be.

Anyone have any recommendations on going paperless?

On a side note, maybe the penthouse is not always the best because from looking at streaming video of the Monte Carlo Casino fire, it looks like the blaze started at the top.

All politics aside it looks like our tax rebates are not going to be as big as we hoped they would be.

Seems like the concession between both party have agreed to give Americans back $600 per wage earner plus an additional $300 per kid up (I don't know if there is a limit as there was in the original Bush proposal). So $600 for a single taxpayer and up to $1200 for those filing jointly.

Seems that the main concession was to give smaller rebates to more taxpayers especially including those who did not earn enough to pay taxes in 2007. Minimum earning is $3000 to get a rebate check. I wonder if anyone can spin the $200 decrease into a charitable contribution to the poor?

I wonder when we should be expecting a check in a brown envelope? I hope soon enough to lock a decent rate on a CD before rates bottom out.

I was shopping around for a financial institution to open a Roth IRA now that the savings are starting to build. I've decided I wanted to open the IRA at a bank rather than a brokerage firm because I still prefer to visit the banks once in a while because there is something about the inside of a branch that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

I was getting fed up with banking at WAMU because their locations are not as convenient for me for branch visits as well as ATMs. I've been with WAMU since they came to California by buying out Home Savings of America (Savings of America outside of CA and Ahmanson's elsewhere. Before that, I've been with Home Savings of America since my employment since college.

Last year, I started shopping around for a new bank and noticed that Citibank was expanding their presents in my neighborhood. They were offering a great rate on a savings account so I moved some money over there with an online checking accounting and e-savings account. It was nice to put some money into Citibank and have more convenient ATM's because 7-Eleven ATM's are Citibanks. I just funded a 6-month CD at Citibank just because it was a good rate, but after that 6 months, I will need to make a decision.

A couple of years ago, I was given a membership to a local credit union when I purchased and financed a used car. I was given $5 to open a shared account at the CU as well as a free annual membership to the Surf Riders' Association. Then I was offered $50 to open a checking account at the CU, which I did. I didn't use the services of the credit union much. I just had a portion of my direct deposit there so I can make transfers to my car payment.

So as I shopped around for a bank to open a Roth IRA, I noticed that WAMU charges an annual trustee fee for their IRAs. I noticed that Citibank didn't, and out of curiousity I checked Bank of America online and they didn't charge a trustee fee either. From when I was a new accounts rep, trustee fees for IRA were a norm and there wasn't a way around it. I guess competitive need for customer changes things.

I'm just not going to look into ING anymore because I know they are playing games with Fed to see who can drop their rates faster.

I browsed around my CU's website and noticed that they don't charge a trustee fee either for a Roth IRA, but that shouldn't be a real surprise because CU's hardly charge for anything. I decided to see what my CD options were and the rates are a whole percentage points better. Besides that the CU tends to be more crowded than Citibank and WAMU on Saturdays, but I am seriously wondering why I am not considering banking at the CU. I know some say that they are not FDIC insured but they have a different insurance protection.

I know within the next year, I plan to have the car loan paid off, so I will have to decide to either keep the Citibank or the CU relationship.

What say you fellow savers? Your preference of credit unions or banks?

I look around my place I just hate that I have so much stuff I can get rid or give away. What bugs me is the excess of something I don't really need much of. I have a 6 quart crock pot, which is really big and it annoys me to leave it out on the limited counter space so I have to put it away when not in use. Why the gift had been just a 2-3 qt slower cooker. BTW, does anyone know if I throw dried penne, ground beef, and spaghetti sauce in the crockpot for a few hours, if a nice pasta dish will come out or will it be crap? Then there is the family size George Foreman Grill that was also a gift. Why couldn't it had been the standard size one because when I use it, I only use half of it. Maybe I can do some bartering on CL for smaller ones. I would like an ice-cream maker since neither Ben & Jerry's or Dreyers will make my recommended Muddy Road (Chocolate ice-cream with marshmellows and browning chunks).

I will have to get the old Pentium PC up and running so I can give it away.

Then I will have to tackle the shredding to get the paperwork down to the last 7 years.

So yesterday I found myself rummaging through the company recycling bin looking for caps from coke products for mycokereward points. The company just recently switch vendors for the vending machines who use bottles rather than cans. I just find the caps, write the codes down and return the bottle. I have to be careful because I don't want someone thinking I am stealing from the company recycling bin that is cashed in for employee functions. I could send out a mass email asking people for their coke caps, but I know once I do that, that one person in the office that has to be better at something than everyone else will have to start collecting and that person is just a lot better at begging than me.

A few weeks ago I started to peek into trash cans in my neighborhood looking for bottles or box tab from a case of coke products. I should wear my yardwork clothes when I do this so I look like any of the others that rummage for recyclables on trash day. I am sure there is something illegal about this because they are taking away from the city recycling program. I know some jurisdictions make dumpster diving illegal because it can lead to identity them. I offen notice businesses with stacks of cases of soda that they stock up for their customers. I know they don't do anything with those tabs, but I have yet to check their bins in the back. I have learned a lot from my father, but he never did teach me the efficient and safe methods of trash digging from his homeless days. I may have to start saving up for fines and/or bail.

I don't know why I am so obsessed with collecting these mycokereward points. I hardly drink soda at all. I don't see anything too interesting to redeem them for but they are always changing the redemption products. I think part of it was how I was amazed of stories people told me of all the fun stuff they got with their Marboro collection program. Also because none of my friends or family do it so I get all their stuff, but being in health conscience CA, it's all about ice-tea and bottled water. Anyone want to send me their codes?

Ideas about living a life of frugality are abundant and out there in cyberspace. I was browsing through CL to find someone willing to trade some unwanted xmas gift cards. I came upon the frugal living forum and found most of the ideas to be extreme but also very entertaining in uniqueness.

There were some suggestions about hanging clothes out to dry rather using a dryer. There was a discussion on how to collect rain water, but more importantly how to keep rain water clean. There seem to be a a lot of bragging about how short of shower one person can take to save on water. This is where things got a little extreme. One poster said he take his towels and soap to public restrooms in fast food restaurants and wash down with a wet cloth.

One wife talked how she would use the air from deflating an exercise ball to blow dry her hair. Someone asked what happens when the ball is flat? She remarked that she has her husband blow up the exercise ball up manually. I don't know if that meant with a pump or his mouth.

There was a topic on tearing up old tshirts as reuseable tampons. Ewwww...then it moved onto reuseable toilet wipes--I stopped reading.

So in the office pool for the college bowl games. This is the 6th year and I won the first year, but haven't had a good showing since. So this year I have a chance for 1st again. If Ohio State can with the 4.5 pts they are getting, then all I need is for the total score to be 56 or lower for me to win 1st. A higher score would still put me in the money for 2nd. Given the fact that Ohio State is 0-8 against SEC schools in bowl games, I would say things are slim, but just don't lose by more than 4 pts, then I will be happy. I guess if things don't go my way, then I'll start studying for college basketball season.