Smells Like Updawg

- I think Chinese people have an inborn gene that makes us hurt when money gets wasted. Personally, I don't think of myself as an especially stingy person (I hope none of my friends thinks so either), but that doesn't mean I don't care about my money.

Last year, when I was getting ready to buy a house, I started planning a serious budget. I tried to take every possible factor into account, from the big stuff like work income, mortgage payments, property taxes, down to little things like cell phone bills, gym membership, and Laguna Beach DVD's. I tried to have everything planned out so I'd be able to not only afford all my payments, but still have some savings and extra cash to spend here and there.

Well, saving up some money in the past year has been somewhat of an uphill battle, to say the least. Still, about a month ago, I was going through my bank accounts and 401K, and feeling kind of upbeat about how I was doing. Finally my bills were under control, some interest was piling up, my account balances were going up noticeably, and I could see myself being able to spend some extra money on the side. Maybe take a little vacation, get into some side hobbies, or just go out a little more often.

That didn't last long, though. In the last month, all these unexpected expenses have been popping up left and right. I got yet another flat on my car (4th in 2 years) and ended up having to replace 2 tires at once. Gasoline prices jumped again for a few weeks, the hot weather sent my power bill way up, and there's been an unending stream of stupid charges here and there, ranging from the Schaumburg vehicle sticker to paying $20 cover at Y-bar (just because I was not a woman and happened to get there past 11pm).

By far the worst, though, was when my property tax bill arrived about 30% higher than expected. I was hoping this was a mistake, but I called up the assessor and they said it was because I moved in during the past year and that reduced my "Homeowner's Exemption" by about $1K. As he put it, a little "welcome to the neighborhood". No small chunk of change though.

I'm not sure if it's Schaumburg thing or a Cook County thing, but if you get a house around here, watch out for your property taxes the year after you move in. Kind of surprised it hasn't happened to anyone else I know yet.

- Took a mini road trip with some boys to the Sconz this weekend, for some rafting and other assorted troublemaking. Road trips are always fun, although I think the older we get, the shorter time it takes before people start getting on each others' nerves. Still, a fun time was had by all.

The best part was when we didn't die. We rented one of those 15 person vans to drive up, which according to Ryan, has such a high accident rate that his company refuses to insure it at all. Then on the way there, we were flipping through the newspaper and came across this big picture of a crash. Pretty much the same exact van we were in, all flipped over in a ditch and mangled, with the caption "15 die in van accident". An ominous sign if there ever was one.

- To go along with being one of the few people who doesn't think Family Guy is that funny, I'm thinking I might be the only guy who doesn't think the lead girl from PCD is that hot. She aiiiight, but kinda weird looking if you ask me. Oh, and the part in their video where she dances with the chair is a blatant ripoff of Britney Spears' "Stronger" video. Again, I am possibly the only person who would ever notice that.