Off-Year Elections

Election week!  This past Tuesday, we had off-year elections.  Not presidential, not mid-term, but off-year.  Chances are you didn’t vote since about 40% of people actually vote in even midterm elections.  This isn’t so unusual and like many people I know (even my close friends), not knowing about local politics makes sense.  After all, not having kids going through public school, not using social services like medicare, and generally not seeing much local government in action makes people complacent.

Local issues may not seem worth your effort, except that low voter turnout misrepresents what people actually think.  A few couple of local election issues that you may care about:

• Same-sex marriage has been rejected in all 31 states where it’s been put up for vote.  Polls show that something like 40% of people think it should be legal and it was defeated most recently this past election in Maine.  So if you’re gay or lesbian or have any gay or lesbian friends and care about them maybe you’ll care to be acknowledged by your government to be equal to everyone else.
• Do you care that American education is so backwards that we still have people pushing to teach creationism as science in schools?  This is a local issue, that is decided by school boards and other local officials.  Quick aside – I recently heard a story of a friend of mine who was buying a drink from a concessions stand and the girl manning the cart had to go for a calculator when making change for a $20 on the $3 drink.  And apparently this girl was in high school.
• Taxes are frequently put up to vote.  And even if the tax measures themselves aren’t, anything that mandates a service provided by the government has tax implications.  A good example of this is New York’s $50 billion medicare tab (almost $8K per person) which comes from decades of local politics.

So it’s time to go all after school special on everyone and remind everyone to take some time out and vote.  In my case, I went after work on Tuesday after spending an hour reading about the candidates up for election in my city and listening to recordings of them speak from local meetings.  If any readers are from Sunnyvale, I recommend http://www.radiosunnyvale.com/ as a good local resource.  In general, http://www.smartvoter.org/ covers every election in the country.

Some good reasons not to vote:

• If you don’t care about what’s being put up for vote, don’t bother.  But like RT has said before, once you do this, you really have no right to complain about the outcome.
• If you don’t care enough to research what the pro and cons are of each item, don’t vote.  This one may be more controversial, but I think turnout for turnout’s sake is stupid.  It just perpetuates shallow, short advertising that either ignores issues and anything of substance or plays up a single emotional issue with no pretense of neutrality or nuance.  Youtube has plenty of examples of such sound-bite ads.

Some bad reasons not to vote:

• Too busy on election day.  This is a terrible excuse.  Many employers will give time off to let their employees vote.  And if you think that if we made the day a holiday so there was no dependence on a kind employer, check out this study that showed that making an Election Day holiday doesn’t really increase voter turnout.
• Didn’t register in advance.  This was almost my excuse this year since I recently moved into town and haven’t registered locally yet.  It turns out that you can vote provisionally even without previously being registered.  The only catch is that your vote isn’t counted till later.  One neat thing about this process is that you get a stub that lets you check if your vote counted (or if they caught you on fraud).

-Tim

Last Minute Halloween Costume Tips

In all fairness, these tips are only last minute because I’m posting them last minute. Many of them actually revolve around planning to make your own costume. These tips can (dare I say, should?) be used every year. There really is one overarching theme for these tips: Think outside of the Halloween store box.

Green Belt and Sewn Tunic-like shirt

Plan ahead.
The best part about planning ahead is that if you’re buying a costume you may well have more options to choose from. Also, Halloween stores will have sales toward the beginning of October every year and those stores will be jam packed with latecomers the closer you get to Halloween. That means you’ll waste a lot of time in line when you want to buy something. They also have huge sales right after Halloween. If you’re a perennial costume buyer and want a cheap one for next year you shoulder consider this option. If you’re building your own costume planning ahead will save you a lot of stress and probably time. There are invariably more things on store shelves at the beginning of October than at the end. Plus, if you can’t find what you need for your costume you have to time to go to plan B… or C… or D. Plan D being the plain white sheet ghost.

Build your own costume.
It’s really not that difficult. The first time you do it will probably be daunting, but with a little planning you can come out with a much better looking and more creative costume than you’ll find at your local Halloween store. And for less money! Full on costumes at stores will cost you at least $40-$50. That’s a lot of money considering they can be terribly uncomfortable and don’t look that great. You’re clearly paying a premium for convenience here.

Learn to sew or find a friend who does.
This directly follows-up on the “Build your own costume” idea. If you’re buying a costume, skip to the last item. Sewing really helps for building your own costume because then you don’t need to find the exact right piece of clothing for your outfit. For example, the tunic pictured above is a combination of two t-shirts; one of which is cut up to make the jagged ends. Amazingly, the t-shirts were the most expensive part of my costume aside from the shoes I bought, which can and already have been re-worn as real world shoes.

Look for costume items in smaller shops.
I needed a belt for my costume this year. Preferably a green belt. Do you know how much belts cost? In the tens of dollars, which doesn’t seem like a lot except depending on your fashion style the belt may or may not be re-wearable. On top of that, I’m trying to keep the cost of my costume under a retail store’s cost, so $10 would be a quarter of my imaginary budget. So where did I get the green belt in the picture? Daiso Marukai. For $1.69! Can you say, “WINNER?” Little shops can have surprising bargains and better selection for the more randomly colored and shaped items and accessories you might want to use this Halloween, so keep them in mind. I also recommend thrift stores, charity shops, and if you must shop in retail stores then Wal-Mart, Target, Marshall’s and Ross are good ideas. You know what you’re getting at the first two – namely, semi-cheap everyday stuff. At stores like Marshall’s and Ross it’s a complete toss up. You never know what you might find, like the women’s vest I turned inside out last year for my 80s Hair Band look because the inside of the too-tight vest had a leopard-ish print to it. And it was cheeeeap! (I forget the exact price, but I was pretty dang happy). So happy bargain hunting!

Your costume can be a take on a regular costume.
For example, almost any good character costume can be turned evil, and vice versa. Like an evil angel or evil [insert Disney character here]. Or you can be an off-color Where’s Waldo. This will allow you to pick different colors and kinds of clothing to still match what you want to be. For example, if your character normally wears bright colors, you can pick a darker shade that’s easier to find and then call that character Dark Halloween Character. It’s just that easy!

Lastly, and this is legitimately a last minute tip: Ask around and see if you can’t re-use a friend’s old costume, or even one of your own from 2+ years back. Who’s going to remember anyway?
If you’re really hard up for a costume at the last minute remember that this happens every year. Your friends must have dressed up in previous years and probably don’t want to dress up as the same thing again. So maybe you can borrow a costume or even swap old costumes with them.

Did I miss something? Have tips of your own? What ideas and tips do you have for buying or putting together your Halloween costumes? Happy All Hallow’s Eve!

-RT

Gardening Made Easy, in Any Space

One hobby I have taken up is gardening.  I live in a condo with no backyard so my “gardening” is limited to a small balcony.  Maintaining a garden may seem far from hassle free, however I have experimented with different ways to make it work, and have along the way learned some inexpensive ways to keep my plants healthy while helping the environment along the way.

Mint in the top left, Green Onion on the top right, Basil in the front

In the above picture I have mint, basil, and green onions; all of which are very easy to grow.  Here are some things I’ve learned about growing them.

1) On the bottom left corner you may see a basil stem in a jar.  That jar is filled with water, and since then has grown roots and I’ve successfully planted it as its own basil plant.  The cutting had originally come from the big plant and using cuttings is an easy way to grow basil.  I’ve also read you can do this with fresh basil bought from the store.

2) Pruning basil properly is essential to encourage growth.  Snipping basil leaves one by one will quickly diminish the basil plant to nothing.  Doing a little research on how to properly harvest basil goes a long way.

3) Mint grows like a weed.  Make sure to plant mint in a pot and not a backyard garden.  It is otherwise very easy to grow and it grows very plentifully.

4) Green onions are great plants.  After I used up a bunch of green onions I purchased for 50 cents at the grocery store, I stuck the ends in dirt and in the summer I watched it grow about an inch a day.  It grows so fast and it is so useful.  There are other things that can be planted using this method.  I believe chives are one of them.. anything that resembles scallions can probably be grown this way.  Leeks are another that comes to mind.

5) You may notice that the white containers that the green onions are in may not match the flower pots.  This is a great tip I learned.  Many bakeries, pool supply stores, restaurants, etc. often get various materials in these buckets and then throw them out.  All you have to do from saving them from going to waste is pop into your local bakery and ask them if they have any of these plastic buckets that they were going to otherwise throw out.  Oftentimes they have some to spare and it works great as a planter.  5 gallon buckets are perfect for tomatoes and if you want a fun DIY project,  you can make your own Self Watering Container out of some 5 gallon buckets.

6) Some of the best fertilizers for these plants are very accessible.  Coffee grounds, tea leaves, and egg shells are great fertilizers.  Starbucks is required to provide their used coffee grounds to anyone who asks for them, so it is easy to just pop into a Starbucks and get some (this comes in handy for me since I’m a non coffee drinker).

Arugula grown from seed

I have tried to take the easiest approach when it comes to gardening in my limited space.  If you have more time on your hands, you may find inspirations from things such as this “Salad Bar” or making your own self watering containers, both of which take a little more time but are good in small spaces.  Some have even taken on experimenting with maintaining a compost pile in their apartments.  I’m currently trying to grown a basil plant in a “Pop Bottle.”  Pop Bottles may be a quick and easy way to start up your herb plant.  Enjoy!

-Debs

Thinking of Buying a House?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or over a rainbow, you’ve surely noticed that the global economy has suffered a massive bout of what I like to call EPIC FAIL. But you might also have noticed that the month of July just posted a 9.7% increase in sales of new houses since June. I’m sure this is in no small because the government is giving $8,000 to first time homebuyers that I’ve heard can even be counted toward your down payment.

A lot of twentySomethings have been working for a few years and have stockpiled a good sum of money while not having enough of it in the market to be squandered. Many of us also are points in our lives where we’re looking to settle down, maybe buy a house and start a family. It’s only natural to follow the mold and think of buying a house these days if you still have a job and money in the bank. After all, housing prices haven’t looked like this in years!

If you’ve only recently begun thinking of buying a house, don’t forget that the price of the house is not the only thing that matters. HOA (Homeowners Association) fees are imposed on many condos and apartments, and some housing neighborhoods as well. In California, cities, counties and districts can impose Mello-Roos taxes on your property on top of the state property tax. Then there are maintenance fees that renters don’t have to think about, like when your toilet breaks or your shower leaks or your dishwasher breaks. Oh, and if you’re not paying monthly utilities for water and trash, those will officially become your responsibility. Those are all landlord problems, and you’re thinking of becoming a landlord! On top of all those there are the fees you’re going to pay just to buy the house, which may include closing and escrow fees (and buying fees if you eventually sell the house somewhere down the line).

In the interest of full disclosure, I do not own a house and I’ve never purchased one. That really means there may be even more costs I haven’t considered or mentioned, like costs associated with taking care of your lawn. But for many people this is a worthwhile investment, if not financially then just because people take pride in owning their home. For those of you looking to buy, I advise you to make use of this Rent vs. Buy Calculator provided by the New York Times website.

Happy Hunting!
-RT

Following the Golden Rule is Not Enough

How often do you find yourself completely unable to communicate with someone? You’re trying to make a point, get something done, but interaction with the other person is about the same as interaction with a brick wall. No matter what, you can’t see eye to eye, even though individually, you each think you are “right.”

We all remember our first days of school, when the first rule we learned was the “Golden Rule” which sounds a bit like “Treat others the way you would like to be treated.” This may work like a charm for children who are each still developing their own behavioral styles and treating peers with or without respect is a lot more black and white.

As you find yourself in your twenties and beyond, the reality that treating others “right” and “wrong” is not so black and white anymore. You can both be treating each other “right” and still find yourselves butting heads. I will be first to admit that I’ve found myself in many frustrating situations, because I feel that I am making perfect sense and I’m interacting with someone who thinks the same of him or herself.. but we are not in agreement with each other. Unless you live in complete isolation or under a rock.. you have most likely found yourself in these situations. This is when it is very valuable to realize that the Platinum Rule® should really be the rule to follow. The platinum rule reads, “Treat others the way they would like to be treated.” I am all in favor of somehow incorporating this rule in college courses..

At first look, it may sound like this rule is advising you to “give in” to the other person. However, this is not the case. This rule involves a deeper understanding of different behavior styles that people possess, and how to work with those styles. For example, say you have a strong, dominating personality. If you are interacting with someone, “Bob” who is a little more reserved, would you really treat him or her the same way you would treat someone like yourself? Probably not. You would likely end up stepping all over “Bob” and over time, “Bob” would not appreciate it and probably harbor negative feelings towards you. This concept seems simple, but I bet it isn’t something you actively think about. Most of us, by habit, just think about what we think is right, without realizing that different types of people will have a different reaction to our actions as we would. And we just spend the entire time, irritated and thinking to ourselves, “Why is _____ just not understanding??!!!! I can’t make myself any clearer!” I’ve been there, numerous times and I am willing to bet you have experienced this as well. I will dig deeper at some different behavioral styles at a later time, but the next time you find yourself frustrated with someone, I very strongly urge you to think about the “Platinum Rule” and then think about what you can do differently to remove the brick wall between the two of you.

-debs

The Platinum Rule® is a registered trademark of Dr. Tony Alessandra. Used with permission. All other rights are reserved in all media.

CA Fights Against Poor Health and Bulging Waistlines

As results of America’s Fattest Cities are being released, California is taking action to fight against climbing to the top spot.  It’s being reported that an alarming 44.4% of children in Mississippi, America’s “fattest state” are obese.  When I read that, I wondered how such a shocking statistic was possible for a single state.  I suppose CA leaders asked themselves the same thing too, because as of July 1, three new diet laws are in effect in California.

Starting July 1, all restaurants will be required disclose nutritional information in either indoor or outdoor menus, or in the form of a brochure that will be offered to customers.  In 2011, restaurants will be required to disclose nutritional information in all three forms.

Starting July 1, the current ban on trans fat has been extended to include food offered in school vending machines and by vendors on school.  Trans fat has already been banned in school cafeterias.

Lastly, while soda has already been banned at elementary and junior high schools, the new legislation also includes a soda ban on high schools.  The new restriction on drinks also restricts schools from selling drinks with added sweeteners, and whole milk.  This will hopefully encourage students to gravitate towards healthier choices and live an overall healthier life.

Whether or not this new legislation will make a true difference is still up for debate.  In some ways, I think those who make poor diet choices may still continue the same lifestyle, and students can still easily access their favorite trans-fat laced snacks and unhealthy drinks outside of school.  However, there are also plenty others who will think twice when the nutritional information is laid out in front of them, and students who have become used to drinking and eating healthier due to restrictions on campus will naturally carry the same healthier habits outside of school.  In any case, it is important to make sure that California stays away from becoming one of America’s “fattest states” and hopefully this legislation helps the cause.

-debs

Sick Days or Vacation Days?

I came down with a *mild* case of food poisoning this week. Mild, meaning I was more or less useless for only one day as opposed to several days. One thing I didn’t realize growing up is that when people say they have food poisoning they usually just assume it’s something bad they ate because they can’t imagine what else could leave their stomach in such agony. And in pretty much all of my food poisoning cases I’ve been reasonably certain that I could pinpoint just which piece of dietary death led me to it.

The question I’m posing here is this:

How many of you guys actually use sick days because you’re sick?

This question is moot to those of you who have separate vacation and sick days. My sick days and vacation days are all lumped together in the form of PTO, or Paid Time Off. As a result, I hate using my PTO when I’m sick because that’s really just one less vacation day that I get that year. If it’s just a cold or a cough, I’ll try to tough it out, but if it gets much worse than sometimes I just suck it up and take the day off. In case you’re wondering, I went to work every day this week, but I was very close to leaving half way through Wednesday.

So do you actually use sick days when you’re sick, or do you power through them so you can have one more day of vacationing freedom? Or do you have some other sort of ingenious scheme to balance these things out?

BMI – The New Atkins Diet

I’m going to try to watch the ranting on this one, but I have no shortage of vitriol for the now-ubiquitous measurement of health according to BMI. In case you haven’t heard of it (that might be a good thing), BMI stands for Body Mass Index. And there are exactly two components that affect your Body Mass Index score: Height and Weight.

Let me give you a second to think about whether Height and Weight alone can adequately measure your level of health or fitness.

I hope you see where I’m going with this. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s BMI calculations Lebron James, freakish athlete and man-child that he is, is overweight. Using the height and weight listed for him on NBA.com Lebron is in fact half way to being obese: 27.5, what a lardo! Ahem, clearly that is ridiculous. The new poster child for the NBA is anything but overweight or out of shape. This is why you can’t categorize anyone according to BMI, its numbers mean nothing definitive.

So next time you hear of some study of how healthy or unhealthy people are, or that being a little overweight can help you live longer, remember to check for whether that study used BMI as its judge for determining who is underweight/overweight. And if you’re like me, then you’ll promptly ignore it.

*Note: The reference to the Atkins Diet in the title is because I consider BMI to be equally useless and potentially damaging while its purveyors make bank off of people’s insecurities. Also, I hope it’s a fad like said diet.

How The G1 Can Save You Money

T-Mobile G1

I am in need of a new car, so I spent my Saturday out and about test driving different cars. Now this is the first time I’ve had to shop for a car myself, so I was a little naive at first, to say the least. One thing I picked up on really quickly was how the car salesmen try to categorize you from the moment they see you. The way you dress is the first indicator they get, and just the tip of the iceberg. Then they proceed to the small talk and seemingly garbage chit chat that you take for granted at social functions you desperately do not want to be a part of.

You may or may not notice, but the salesmen will start slipping small, unobtrusive questions into the conversation that seem to be in line with standard “How do you do?” etiquette. But questions along the lines of, “So, RT, I see your area code differs from mine. Where are you living now?” and “Do you want some water? How was work this week?” The answer to the latter question is usually negative, because for some reason or another there appears to me to be an unspoken social construct that all people shall say work sucks, maybe because no one wants to be that one jerk who talks about how awesome his job is. But that’s a conversation for another time.

Back to the story: At this point the salesperson has just heard you had a terrible/great/ok/baffling/ weekend, so the person replies, “Oh that sucks/is interesting/sounds about right/whatever. What exactly do you do?” That last question is one everyone asks you, so it’s pretty trivial right? Maybe… and maybe not. That salesperson is not just trying to make a new friend with small talk. He/she wants to know if you can afford to pay for the car you’re eyeing. Finding out where you live is another indicator of what you might be able to afford (or your priorities in life, I suppose). So is seeing if you’re married, if you have kids, what you currently drive, whether you rent or own, and a million other questions really. It’s not that hard for them to peg you, nor should you really try to hide it.

I feel like I’m straying off topic again. Maybe I’ll save the rest of the car-purchasing experiences for future posts and just get to the point now.

So I’m talking to a salesman (let’s call him Bobby) and his phone goes off, which he promptly answers, and I see that he’s got the new(ish) T-Mobile G1. Out of curiosity I ask him if he likes it. FYI, Bobby has been cold to me since he saw me. I can tell he wants to get me the hell out of the way (I do not dress up or appear wealthy for this stuff). But all of a sudden, he goes off! “Oh MY GOD I love this phone! This is the best phone ever! I used to have a PDA before this and… yea… well, this thing is great, it even saves me money!” [italics mine]

Here are the thoughts that run through my head immediately:
-Hmm, he seems receptive to this question. Maybe he’ll be nicer now and we can have an enjoyable test drive.
-Does he know anything about phones? Because I know a fair amount.
-Last time I checked, this phone still cost at least a few hundred dollars. How does he save money with this phone??

I, of course, ask Bobby how exactly he manages to save money with a very expensive piece of equipment like that. You know what he tels me? The G1 has an application (either pre-loaded or downloadable) that lets you scan the bar codes of products and then compare its price to the price listed at other stores. I’d heard of it before from the Android Developer Challenge 1. So he went to Home Depot to buy a lock and decided, “Hey let’s see what this thing costs at Ace Hardware or Lowe’s.” Lo and behold, Ace Hardware was selling it for $4 cheaper. At this point a store employee comes by and asks Bobby why he’s taking pictures of a barcode, so Bobby shows the guy and says, “So I’m going to go to Ace Hardware now.” Not wanting to lose business, the employee counters by saying he’ll take 10% off the listed price. Winner!

To make a long post short: If you have a G1 go get that app, and the next time you’re shopping at a big chain store go see how much that store’s competitors sell whatever you’re buying for. If it’s cheaper, go tell someone. They might make you a deal. That was not Bobby’s first deal.

Expanding My Social Horizons

In college I had few responsibilities. As far as my actual degree goes, my only real responsibilities were to learn and get passing grades. Socially, I pretty much just played basketball and went out with my friends. And partying in our dorms was all fine and good… until we turned 21. And then we went out to explore the bars and clubs, and we spent boatloads of moolah on drinks and covers and the like. Please, stop me if this sounds familiar. Fiscally speaking, I like to think that it was an expensive hobby of experience collecting to check out the various alcoholic establishments in my fair city (and bolster my friendships).

Now, years have passed since I was but a budding twenty-something youth and my interests have changed a bit. The Girlfriend and I have picked up a new hobby: swing dancing. We both enjoy dancing, and not just that grinding club style, although that has it’s place too. ;) A great side effect of this dancing stuff though, is just having a cheap, social hobby in which we can meet people or just go to have some drinks and have some fun.

Let me give you an example. The Girlfriend and I recently went to Seattle. I have a friend who lives up there and she took us out to dinner one night. Lo and behold, the restaurant (The Tin Table, in the Capitol Hill district, was located in an old Oddfellows building that housed various other businesses. One of those businesses was in the Century Ballroom that was used as a nightly dance floor that had different music depending on the day. I’m talking older styles of dance, like east coast swing, lindy hop, salsa, tango, etc. So of course, we had to check this place out. On Sunday night, we stepped into the ballroom for the all swing dance (east/west/lindy hop, basically) night. At $7 a head, this was neither the cheapest, nor most expensive cover I’ve ever paid. But the dance floor was alive and kickin’ from 9pm until… whenever they felt like closing it seemed.

I think many post-grad twenty-somethings hit a point where they feel like their lives have become stagnant. As a friend of mine so elegantly put it (paraphrased) with regards to having a routine of working and having a few outside hobbies that you do all the time, “You’re ok with having a day-to-day routine. The week-to-week is acceptable. Month-to-month you’re sort of iffy on, but you’ll live. Year-to-year scares the hell out of you!” The only thing I can say about this is that a) It seems to be true for many twenty-somethings. and b) You have the power to change this.

Try expanding your horizons and looking into some activities you’ve never done before but find kind of interesting. Maybe you’ll even save a buck or two when you find a new hobby and stop bar hopping every weekend. And maybe you won’t. Big deal. As another friend of mine said, “money is for having experiences anyway.”

Just for fun, here’s a clip of some sweet Lindy Hoppers: