Thursday, December 4, 2008

And the Rich Keep Getting Richer...

Okay, it's now officially a recession.

I watched a cheery documentary on the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl last night. You can't help but wonder if this one bad year will drag on for a decade. Weathering one lean year is way different from trying to weather a decade.

One of the ways I'm keeping costs down this Christmas without cutting out gifts altogether is to use up the points from my credit cards. Although I never carry a balance, I also never carry cash, so the cards get used a lot and we do rack up some serious points. Especially this year when we found out we can charge the kids' college tuition bills!

Which made me wonder about Oprah. If she uses Discover and charges her dinners out, her clothes, her groceries like the rest of us, imagine the points she racks up! I bet she gets more in freebies than our household spends in a year!

I wonder what she does with her points? With my cards, there's a cash option and I think there's a donation option as well. Some of the points can be redeemed for double their value, like at Blockbuster. No one can watch that many movies!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

$500 Million to Keep India's Smokers from Lighting Up

I guess it's just pocket change to Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, but together they have pledged that many millions to fund smoking cessation programs in India, China and Africa. That's sure swell of them. It's today's top story in Newsday.

Yesterday's Daily Herald explained how staying healthy may be more taxing on our health care systems rather than less. As Froma Harrop said "Let's put it bluntly: Longer lives cost more money."

If I had $50 million burning a hole in my pocket, I think I would build a really awesome boarding school, like Hogwarts. Then I would collect all the children whose supposed guardians are starving them, beating them and destroying their souls. I stayed home to raise my own children, and I firmly believe that's the best way. But there are people who, while they can biologically produce children, are absolutely incapable of raising them and should be kept as far away as possible.

I think many kids would choose a cool Hogwarts-style orphanage rather than take a gamble on a foster family that may or may not work out. Of course there are wonderful foster families out there, but there are also bad ones and way too many kids have way too few options.

But sleeping in four-poster bed in a turret with your best friends? It worked for Harry.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

One Word: Massage!

Have you ever had a massage? By a professional? I bet Oprah gets them all the time. Probably they come to her house, massage her into wet noodle bliss and leave her there in scented-candle heaven with a cup of warm chamomile tea.

I've had one professional massage. I received a gift certificate for a second one on Valentine's Day. I never thought I would like this sort of thing. Seemed so decadent. You can get most men to do it for free. But it's a very different atmosphere when you pay someone to do it. You don't have to worry about taking turns and nurturing the relationship. You just have to be clean, polite and grateful, and grateful is easy to manage when you feel so relaxed!

If I had Oprah's income, I'd have a massage at least once a week. In my house so I don't have to dress and clean the snow off my car to get home. I'd just drift off while wrapped in my Turkish towel bathrobe with new age music and birdsong playing in the background. The masseuse can let herself out.

Monday, February 18, 2008

A Win-Win Landlord

Driving my daughter home from her piano lesson, we passed a house for sale. It was sort of boring. From the 1960's, I would guess. But if I had Oprah's income, I think I would have bought that house and set up a senior home sharing sort of thing in it.

This house was perfect for retired people, and I mean the traditional definition of retired, not the "active" retired who are busier than they were when they were working. Being a ranch, there were no stairs, and it had a long porch across the front that looked over the street and straight into the infield of a grammar school baseball diamond.

Wouldn't it be cool to for four or six retired people to be able to mosey out onto the porch and watch the kids play ball on nice afternoons? Maybe they would invite the kids over for lemonade. Then later, they could talk about it while they were making dinner together in their cozy kitchen. That's got to be way better than a lonely apartment or a sterile senior facility.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Who's Making Really Big Money?

This is from a three-year old article, so I imagine they're only making more today:

Name: Annual Income - Hourly Wage* - $/30sec.

Oprah Winfrey: $162 million - $81,600/hr. - $679.99

Tiger Woods: $72.2 million - $38,600/hr. - $321.66


*Based on a 40-hour work week.


And here's another site that tells you how much some Rich Bastards are worth.

I'd Treat My Nose Like a Queen

To save a few pennies, I buy house brand tissue most of the time. If it's allergy or cold season, I swap out the cheap brand for a name brand. And when I have a really awful cold, I splurge on Puffs, sometimes even with lotion!

If I had Oprah's income, I'd have a box of Puffs in every room of the house, all the time!