Sometimes, online game servers make it extra easy to know the answer to this question.
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For the past couple months, I’ve been in a racquetball league at LMRA. Now, I don’t pretend to be incredible at the game, but I think I am decent. A friend and I decided to join the league cause we were sick of playing against each other, and for the most part, it’s been a fun experience.
We joined the C+ league, not really knowing where our skill levels were. I quickly found out I could be most of the players in this league, the only real challenges were two 15 year old guys who were very fast learners. These guys knew that I was there biggest challenge and that they were mine. I beat the first one early on in the season when he was still ramping up his skills, and I barely lost to the second later on in the season. Now, the season ends up recycling matches, so I ended up playing the first guy again at the end of the season, but this time he was more prepared.
The past couple weeks, I had noticed a 20-something watching me play quite a bit, and I knew he was playing with those 15 year olds. I found out a bit later that he was informally coaching them, teaching them my weaknesses and how to play against me. So when this final matchup came between me and the first 15 year old, I was shocked to see an audience watching the match.
The cheering section, which included the 15 year old’s parents, girlfriend, informal coach, and his other 15 year old friend were cheering (which somehow felt like jeering) at every point he got. I felt a bit like the Russian in one of the Rocky movies, minus the steroids. It seemed as though from the day I beat this kid, he was gunning for me, waiting for this rematch. I’d see the 20-something informal coach giving signals to the 15 year old, reminding him of “what they talked about”. Out of the blue, towards the end of our games, I started hearing solitary claps after I played well. Had they decided to pity me? Nope. It was the guy I joined the league with watching our game.
In the end, I lost, which caused me to slip from first place in the league to 3rd place; two points behind one 15 year old and 1 point behind the other. Hey, I couldn’t let the Russian win!
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Whenever I get an absurd email forward that sounds too good to be true or simply insane, my first instinct is to look it up on Snopes. Nine out of ten times, I find it there, and I find that it is a false internet rumor – who would have thought?
Today at work, the following email exchange took place:
To: brah.john
From: Older Coworker
Check out this – I did not know this.
I quickly did my 10 seconds of research, and replied.
To: Older Coworker
From: brah.john
You can’t fool us whippersnappers. We have teh internets.
And then, as if he were paid to set himself up royally, he replied back.
To: brah.john
From: Older Coworker
At least us old farts know how to spell. I’m not sure what “teh” means:)
Laughing hysterically in my cube, my response merely contained a link to the Urban Dictionary definition of “Teh Internets“, of which the first definition is:
teh internets: A word often used scornfully to point out a newbie‘s lack of knowledge of the internet and distinctive language. “OMG, liek, this is your first time on TEH INTERNETS!!!”
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There are tons of good personal finance sites out there. A couple that I think give some of the better advice are Get Rich Slowly and The Simple Dollar. I’ve found tons of helpful advice there, but have not yet seen one thing that we do to may sure we are able to cover all of our unexpected expenses.
The way to make your budget agile enough to absorb unexpected expenses is simple: Budget on a monthly basis, but do auto withdraws for savings on a weekly basis.
We have set up several savings accounts at ING Direct. We have one primary pool of money in a checking account, and then other accounts for long term expenses, such as homeowners insurance, car insurance, property taxes, savings for Roth IRAs, and and emergency fund.
Our monthly budget is based on a 4 week month, with four weeks worth of paychecks. We try to fit our budget within a 4 week month, which allows for an extra ‘bonus’ paycheck every 3 months if you are paid weekly, or every 6 months if you are paid biweekly. This has huge impacts on those unexpected expenses, such as those things that don’t really fit into a monthly budget. If you don’t end up using that money for unexpected expenses, it just adds that much more padding to your savings. Plus, it’s like having a mini bonus every 3 or 6 months, who wouldn’t want that?
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My mother passed away this past week after battling cancer for about 4 years, she was 49.
She will be dearly missed.
Thank you to all that came to the visitations and funeral.
The funeral home put up a nice website for pictures, memories, and a guest book here.
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