Do all web sites have personalities?
Your favorite personality lacking personal finance site, Don't Quit Your Day Job, has been tagged in a Personal Finance blogosphere (don't like the term? Come up with a better one...) game of PF tag. Our tag is from our friends Him and Her over at the site Make Love Not Debt. Please ensure that after you're done reading this article you visit and subscribe!
Like any good chain letter, it has a call to action (11 questions to answer) and also implores us to pass the challenge on to other bloggers.
Here's what we were asked by MLND:
- Have you ever been ripped off and for how much?
- Do you have pets? Are they awesome?
- What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
- Why are most childrens musicians terrible?
- What’s the most offensive thing about the $5 bill?
- Prior to Jeremy Lin’s current basketball greatness, he was staying on his brother’s couch because he didn’t have a definitive contract with the New York Knicks. Was the couch long enough to fit an out-stretched Jeremy Lin?
- What’s the least you’ve purchased with $100?
- What’s a reasonable amount of money to spend at a strip club?
- How much do you tip the bartender? Really? That’s it?
- How much would you pay for the perfect hamburger?
- Is an iPad worth it?
Let us begin!
Have you ever been ripped off and for how much?
Saab 9-3 Convertible (Original: Auto Car News)
As stupid as it sounds, I can't recall an instance where I was egregiously ripped off. If you want to talk about a situation where I was screwed by circumstances out of my control? Let's talk about my car...
I own (yes, I own, I do not make payments on) a Saab 9-3 Convertible similar to the one in the picture. I come from a Saab family - my father has driven Saabs ever since he disliked a Volkswagen Passat Station Wagon, and even though I was certainly alive at that point in time I still somehow manged to receive the Saab gene. So, after I replaced my last Saab (a 900), I purchased my 9-3.
How was it a ripoff? Well, as of right now, Saab Automotive doesn't exist as a company. Yeah, that's right, they went bankrupt last year. So I have a fully paid for entry level luxury car and it really doesn't have any sort of secondary market. Yep, I guess I'm driving it for a while...
Do you have pets? Are they awesome?
We do... we have a 4 year old American Staffordshire Terrier/Hound Mix. He's 80 lbs of awesomeness, scary to all of the kids (and adults) in our neighborhood, deadly to squirrels, and indifferent to birds. Yes, he's the man. His name is 'Camo', short for Camouflage.
What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Trick question! African or European?
Why are most childrens musicians terrible?
Because children have terrible taste.
What’s the most offensive thing about the $5 bill?
The most offensive thing? Other than the fact that the Wikipedia entry for the $5 bill has measurements in millimeters?
Probably the fact that the $5 bill has a security thread in it now. Might as well toss it in the $1 now, folks! Is counterfeiting $5 bills a huge issue?
Prior to Jeremy Lin’s current basketball greatness, he was staying on his brother’s couch because he didn’t have a definitive contract with the New York Knicks. Was the couch long enough to fit an out-stretched Jeremy Lin?
I can't identify the model of couch, but I'm guessing it's about 95 inches long. Take 10 inches a piece off for those monster arms and you've got 75 inches of sleeping room - for a 6'3" guy, he'd either have a tight fit with no room for stretching, or somehow hang off the couch. I'm going to go with hanging off the couch...
What’s the least you’ve purchased with $100?
An infinitesimally small portion of the house from which I am currently typing this answer.
Seriously, probably my portion of an expensive dinner. I'm going to go with something Sushi/Sake related.
What’s a reasonable amount of money to spend at a strip club?
Simple. Either $0 (you're being treated) or exactly the cover charge, minimum drink charge, and your portion of the dance you're buying for your buddy. If you're charismatic enough you don't need to spend more.
Oh yeah, I'm married now. $0!
How much do you tip the bartender? Really? That’s it?
My strategy is to show up a bit early, stake out a spot, and tip noticeably more than the average patron. It pays off later when I get drinks quickly... what's your time worth, eh?
How much would you pay for the perfect hamburger?
Definitely something in the triple digits. My current diet doesn't quite allow the bread from the bun, but if I get around to eating that again? Probably more than most folks since I haven't had one for a while, haha. Here's what I'm thinking:
The reason you need to cook hamburger meat to 165 degrees is because when it goes through the grinder all of the exposed surfaces become coated with bacteria. Therefore, if you want a truly awesome burger you need to sterilize a grinder, cook a fine cut of steak to rare (I'm thinking a New York Strip here, tastier than Filet Mignon), and then grind the resulting steak. Bam, hacked a rare burger (eat your heart out Bobby Flay)!
Is an iPad worth it?
For our mobile devices we're 100% Android. Kindle Fires and Android phones (I drive an Evo 4G). I'll probably acquiesce to my inner Apple FanBoy and get one eventually, but I'm putting it off as long as I can.
And yes, I'm an Apple Fan Boy. I've had everything - from SEs to LCs to an IIVX, to multiple flavors of iMac. In our house now we have three working Apples - a Mini from 2007, a Cube from 2001, and a Duo 230c from 1994 (!).
Oh, I write all my articles on a PC. Weird huh? Well, my HTPC runs Ubuntu so at least I'm about as far from consistent as you can get...
Time to tag folks with my ridiculous questions (I reserve the right to turn questions into commands). First, here they are:
- Would you rather be 8 feet tall and 100 pounds or 2 feet tall and 800 pounds?
- Pick one: Canada, United States, Mexico. Explain why it is superior to the other two.
- What is the best type of Personal Finance Writer? (Think of writer archetypes - Investor, Debt Blogger, Wild-card, Contrarian...)
- Lump sum investing versus dollar cost averaging... Which is better?
- In the Led Zeppelin song Stairway to Heaven, what does the lyric "to be a rock and not to roll" mean? Bonus points if you can somehow work Boleskine House into your answer.
- What's your favorite dinosaur?
- Paper or Plastic?
- If you had to pick, would you consider yourself a dog-person or a cat-person?
- What would you do with an extra $100,000?
- What's the best thing you ever purchased?
- Would you rather lose your phone or the internet for a week?
And my victims?
101 Centavos, Aunt Doris & Len from LenPenzo.com, JT from Money Mamba, Betty from Control Your Cash, Greg From Control Your Cash, Bret at Hope to Prosper, Nelson at Financial Uproar, Ashley at Money Talks Coaching, The Frugal Toad, Evan at My Journey to Millions, and Jen at Master the Art of Saving.
Don't want to do it? Well, this chain post doesn't exactly have a penalty if you refuse, so just make fun of DQYDJ instead!
Also, thanks to our friends at Make Love Not Debt for picking us... but you know what Freud said about the Irish. How did we do? Did you learn anything new?
