So I did another survey last weekend for Consumer Pulse. Apparently they were targeting men my age to try a new Spiced Rum. The taste test were blind but I had 2 samples to taste from. A lot of the survery questions were geared towards masculinity and if I would have a problem ordering this specialty drink at a club or bar. I had no problems ordering but wouldn't based on the taste. Abstaining from alcohol for the last 2 months has really brought my tolerance level to a couple of drinks. I had to walk around the mall a bit before I could drive to the bank and deposit the $25 check.

After reading a lot about the Indy Mac failure, I realize that when banks are in trouble, they try to increase their deposits to increase the cash reserves. I read so many stories about how Indy Mac had a great promotional CD rate a few months back so people had their money locked up.

So today I get a call from the local WAMU branch letting me know about a promotional 8-month CD rate they are offering. They were on the watch list. I'm just saying.

Just throwing gas on a fire and getting everyone all riled up into a needless frenzy. I say hysteria and chaos is the way to go. It's more newsworthy.

So

LA Times has multiple updates everyday in regards the events involving IndyMac Bank. Though with FDIC in place, I am sure it is hard not to panic and let the insurance claims get your money back but who really wants to go through that process. Wouldn't it be better to just get your money while you can rather than dip into the FDIC pool. There are numerous reports of police being called to watch over these lines as people go get their money. Just last week, people were lining up to drop a few bills on the latest iPhone and now people are lineup up go get their life savings. All this news has been intriguing to ignore.

A few years ago, consumers used to complain that a gallon of milk was more expensive than a gallon of gas, which didn't make sense since milk is crucial in most of our diets. Well you see what we have now. Nice. I just calculated that I spend $7 to commute to work everyday on gas alone. I'll be content. I wish a had an expensive drug habit that I can cut back on. I have cut back on my cereal consumption. It's hard not to have my Pops.

There was a fight at the local Costco because someone cut into the line for gas. Someone behind the line pulled a tire iron and the cutter jumped back into his car and locked himself inside and called the cops. Though I don't condone violence, if you are going to be bold enough to cut into a line, then you better be man enough to standup against anyone that confronts you about it. The cops arrested the aggressor.

1400 Points. I'm done. I'm redeeming my points for the amateur telescope. I set a goal when I started this program and I finally reached it. I'm not going to chance that they are going to extend the program past Dec 2008, so I'm going to stop accumulating. March and Febuary were big months which included a lot of dumpster diving and asking people are recycling centers for their codes. Though the telescope can be bought for $40 online, I'm going to cherish this thing like gold. 1400 points in one year but only about 50 of those were bought by me. Here's how my monthly totals came to be:
Apr 2007 30
May 2007 119
Jun 2007 158
Jul 2007 193
Aug 2007 199
Sep 2007 241
Oct 2007 260
Nov 2007 332
Dec 2007 374
Jan 2008 417
Feb 2008 695
Mar 2008 1400 (705 this month!!)

In a way scavenging lifestyle will not be missed as I migrate over to PepsiStuff program. I don't have a goal yet, but this program tends to be more popular than the coke program. I still have some unused coke cap codes left if anyone would like to trade.

Also a treat to SA bloggers who collect MCR points, provide me an email and I'll send you a 3 point cap code.

Saturday was a bit of a crazy day with my sister's wedding happening. There were schedules to keep the the world was just working against the schedule. I had to pick up some window markers to decorate a car with. I read that the 99 Cent Only Store carried them so I dropped in to pick a couple. The check out lines were packed. I don't understand how someone can have a checkout total for over $50 at the 99 cent store. That's almost 50 items in a shopping cart. Of course when I finally reached the checker, their computer system went down. I had 2 items to pay for and the wait wasn't worth it. I dropped $3 and ripped of the bar code off one of the markets and told the lady to keep the change. A waste of money but I didn't have the time to waste. At the end of the night, my sister and her husband loaned the car to 2 of the groom's men to get back to their hotel. The newlyweds took a taxi and 2 guys took the carried decorated with "Just Married."

Here's a picture of the main course:

In contrast to

Debtkid's Dumbest Purchase contest, I would like to first add that one of the best purchases (dumbest purchase is below) I made was to buy myself a Nintendo DS Lite. After purchasing one for my sister, I enjoyed the games it had to offer, so I bought one for myself. It makes time in the waiting room go so much quicker. The ability to connect to other machines makes it funner to enjoy with others. I could always use another one for my nephew.

Now onto the dumbest purchase I ever made. It definitely is the 3-D camera I bought in the early 90's for $500. I thought it was the coolest technology at the time and spend almost all my savings on it. After months of expensive film developing cost and the lack of interst in the pictures I took, I realized that it was a waste of money. The pawn shop wouldn't take the camera so I was stuck. I chalk it up as the $500 experience.

Since the beginning of 2007, I have not paid a direct penny to Hollywood. I know there's probably some money going there indirectly through advertising and such, and paying for cable. I have not paid for a movie ticket, movie rental, or DVD purchased since late 2006.

I can't remember how it all started, but I was getting fed up Hollywood and it's lack of creactivity. I'm guessing a lot of it has to do with the numerous remakes and movie adaptations of old tv shows over the last few years. I think it started with Disney's 'National Treasure.' After watching it, I realized that it was just an adult version of 'Goonies.' So Disney is recycling their plotlines.

If you watch an action/adventure movie, the movie is all graphics and horrible writing. If the movie is a comedy, all the good jokes were seen in the previews

I was fed up to the point where I was not giving Hollywood any more of my money. I stopped going to movies but others wanted to go and didn't want to go alone, so I said you can pay for me. So since then I have been treated 3 movies. I'm a cheap movie date anyways because I never grew up being accustomed to snacking while watching a movie.

I watch a alot of DVD's that I borrow from friends. With the speed that studios are putting out DVDs, you really only have to wait a few months to see a movie on DVD.

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.

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.

This is it. This is the point where Rich America has too much money to waste. They wouldn't sell unless somone was going to buy it, but he is buying this

Gold Pill.

All medical concerns aside, there are people out there that want to consume their wealth and the reproduce it so they can say look at me.

I have noticed that merchants are not carrying $10 bills in their cash drawers. Everytime I get change back, I get 2-3 $5 bills. Is there US Treasury just not printing enough of the Hamiltons. Or maybe people are hoarding them because of the new look. Minor issue, but I am starting to pay attention more to the change I get back. I can't remember the last time I was in possession of a $10 bill.

Americans have way too much money to waste. A few months ago, I heard about the

Sprinkles craze. I can't ever imagine I would ever pay $3 for a cupcake. Sure, they are made with some super expensive imported vanilla, but how much for regular vanilla. I felt guilty when I paid $2 for a Beard Papa cream puff, but that was a pretty big cream puff.

So now there is the Pinkberry craze. I don't even know if it is frozen yogurt or not, because of the culture content, but $4.50 for a medium is pretty hefty.

I blame Starbucks for starting this trend overcharging of pleasure consumerables.