LKL's Blog » Whatever

Move Your Money

lklawless — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:25:56 +0000

Just read a great article about one thing that all Americans can do that really will make a difference: take it out of the big banks (you know, the ones that got bailed out and then gave bonuses to the very people who caused the subprime mortgage disaster and the need for bailouts) and instead put it in small, local banks. I am a firm believer in the power of the dollar – what we choose to buy and where we keep our money has over the course of our lives, in my opinion, a much greater impact than any other voting we might be allowed to do – so I did this years ago, and I’ve been glad every day since.

Arianna Huffington – Move Your Money: A New Year’s Resolution

Happy New Year!

lklawless — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:00:18 +0000

So long 2008! Come on in, 2009! This was one of the best years of my life – I started out in Costa Rica and ended up – after trying to move here for almost 20 years – in France! May all your dreams come true, too.

Here’s some reading material and ideas for New Year’s Resolutions:

New Year’s in France
French New Year’s Resolutions
Veggie Table New Year’s Resolutions

Update (Grant a wish: Send a card)

lklawless — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:20:34 +0000

I’m very sorry to report that Kyle Roger passed away on 7 February 2009. My sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

Original post: A 7-year-old boy from Bellingham, WA named Kyle Roger has an inoperable brain tumor. His wish is to receive cards from all over the world, so no matter where you are, please take a few minutes to jot a note and mail it to the address below. Kyle’s blog

I’m feeling Plurk-y

lklawless — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:13:12 +0000

Got an invitation to join Plurk, and even though the interface seems a little strange, decided to go ahead and do it. Come visit me: LKL at Plurk

USABox

lklawless — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:00:18 +0000

OK, I’m going to do a little free publicity for something that I couldn’t live without – my mailbox. When I moved to Costa Rica last year, I realized that I needed a permanent solution to the mail problem. While I pay all of my bills and check my bank accounts online, and I got rid of all the junk mail, there’s still always a bunch of stuff coming. The post office will only forward it to an address in the US, and I didn’t really want to ask a friend to take care of that for me, so instead I researched mailing services. The one I chose was USABox, and I couldn’t be happier. For $35 a month, they accept all of my mail, take a picture of each item, and weigh it. I can log in to see everything they’ve received and have them destroy any garbage. Then once a month, they send it to me wherever I happen to be. The monthly fee includes one 5-pound shipment – additional pounds are less than $3. They will even accept packages and repack them to save on shipping. In Costa Rica, the delivery office was a couple hours away by bus, which was a bit of a drag, but here in France they bring it to my door. So if you live overseas, or just want an anonymous address that accepts deliveries, check out USABox<.

Acupuncture

lklawless — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:44:55 +0000

I went to an acupuncturist last year, and it was one of the weirdest experiences of my life. My lower back was spasming (due to a bizarre sort of injury I’d apparently sustained on a zip line) and I was in agony. (I was also in Maine visiting my mother-in-law, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it.) I decided to try acupuncture, but the “recommended” guy was unavailable, so I had to pick a name out of a phone book. This person practiced out of his home, which in theory I have no problem with. However, his kids were there too, and no one was there to take care of them. So he cracked my back (which was fantastic – I wish I could have that done every day) and then stuck me with a bunch of needles, hooked me up to this electrical impulse that pounded through my body, put a heat lamp over the whole shebang, and left me to “heal.” Nothing hurt, exactly, but it was so strange that I felt uncomfortable. (The crying baby a few rooms away didn’t help a lot either.) He came back 10 minutes later with his daughter, aged 7, who asked if she could take the needles out and actually started reaching toward one. This startled me, to say the least, and my subsequent jump probably undid the good (if any) that the treatment had done, because the next day my back spasms were worse than ever. This time, though, I ended up just loading up on painkillers and moving as little as possible.

I know that this wasn’t a normal acupuncture session, but I’m still a little hesitant to try again. If my allergies don’t improve soon, I’ll reconsider.

I’m all a-Twitter

lklawless — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:00:19 +0000

I decided to bite the bullet and join the social networking bandwagon, starting with Twitter (LKL @ Twitter). I haven’t decided yet whether to go for a hat trick with FaceBook and MySpace.

Get rid of junk mail

lklawless — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:00:26 +0000

Long before spam, junk mail was – and continues to be – a huge waste of resources. Most people just throw it away, some recycle it, and a few think it’s the height of cleverness to send it back to the company. Personally, I think the best solution is to cut it off at the source. You have to do a little bit of legwork, but the end result is virtually *no* credit card offers, flyers, and unwanted catalogs. I think it’s well worth it – maybe you do too.

Note: When you fill out one of the US Post Office’s change of address forms, they immediately sell your new address, so be sure to head to the DMA right away to get your new address removed too.

Direct Marketing Association – Start here by letting them know you don’t want any junk and it will start to slow down
ADVO – Stop getting stuff addressed to “Resident” or “Occupant”
Catalog Choice – choose which catalogs you actually do want, and the rest will stop coming
OPTOUT – Call 888 5 OPTOUT (888-567-8688) to tell the credit reporting agencies to stop sharing your financial info – this will cut down on the credit card offers you receive (not to mention maintain your financial privacy)

If you continue to receive garbage, look for contact information (phone, address, website) and let the company know directly that you don’t want their stuff.

Back online

lklawless — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:08:25 +0000

I know, you’re all wondering whether I dropped off the face of the earth. No, but close: I had no internet access for a month. OK, sure, I could go to cybercafés and use a friend’s computer, but seriously, when you’re used to being able to go online at any time of the day or night, not having your own connection is a real drag. It finally got connected on Tuesday and since then I’ve been dealing with a huge backlog of email, forum posts, and the like.

So anyway, we left Costa Rica on 28 February, spent the weekend in NYC, and got to France on 4 March. Info about all that soon.

Happy New Year!

lklawless — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:08:18 +0000

Good-bye 2007 (does anyone else notice that could read Good-bye to 007 [double oh seven]? Is this a sign of James Bond’s future?) and hello 2008. It was a good year – I spent more than half of it in Costa Rica. But this year will be even better, as I’ll spend the majority of it in France. I hope you too will have some long-cherished dreams come true.

Here’s some reading material and ideas for New Year’s Resolutions for you:

New Year’s in France
French New Year’s Resolutions
Veggie Table New Year’s Resolutions