Month: November 2012

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Finally Got to Watch the Movie Version of The Help

Book cover of The Help

Having rad the book over two years ago, I have been wanting to see the movie version of The Help. I missed the chance to see it when it was first in theaters, and for some reason I did not notice when it became available at Redbox.

Thank goodness for cable TV and On Demand movies. Some of my friends love Netflix, but I get along fine with Comcast movie channels, On Demand, and Redbox. That is plenty of resources for watching most movies.

So I stumbled on the movie guide and found The Help was running on Cinemax. I flipped right to the channel and caught the end of the movie – just the credits part. Then in just a couple of minutes the movie started from the beginning because Cinemax was running the movie back to back for the whole day. I don’t know if they normally do a single movie marathon like that, but i lucked out and got to watch it. It was really just as good as the book, and the actors were cast perfectly!

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Pay More Than the Minimum Due

Ever since I got my very first credit card – thanks to J. C. Penneys! – I have tried to pay off the entire amount due on the card every month. I was using my card for convenience, such as wanting to go shopping a few days before the day I actually get my paycheck. I can still go shopping, put the purchase on my credit card, and then when I do get paid I can send the money to the credit card company.

Sometimes I use the credit card to buy more than I can afford, and when I do that I know in advance that I am agreeing to pay interest charges on that money until I pay it back. I don’t like to pay interest charges, but that’s the price I have to pay for not waiting until I have the cash in hand to make that purchase.

When I get my credit card bill, the amount of interest that I am being charged always gets my attention and makes me feel guilty. Call me old fashioned, but I do not like to owe people money. It is not a good feeling. So, I always pay more than the minimum amount due when I get the bill – even if I can’t pay the whole amount like I prefer, I can still put as much money toward paying off the balance. If all I pay is the minimum amount then the balance does not go down to zero. It’s really just simple math.

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Do You Trust Wikipedia?

One of my first sources of information on the internet is Wikipedia and I love that site! I probably use Wikipedia 3 or 4 times a week – on average. Sometimes I will look things up and see related subjects or information that does deeper and I use it repeatedly throughout the whole research project. To me, it is just like the Encyclopedia Brittanica that I used in the school library when I was a kid. Except using it online gets me there faster and easier.

So my cousin, Gail, is a senior in high school and was asking me about some information and I told her that I would look it up online using Wikipedia and I was shocked when she said that her teachers says they are not allowed to use Wikipedia. I could not understand why a teacher would say that. My cousin says that true educators do not consider Wikipedia to be an authority site, because individual people can go on the site and change things.

Well, that was kind of the whole point of the Wikipedia project – that people contributed to it. I have not come across any information that I would be suspicious of or doubt its accuracy. Have you ever found anything on the site that was false information? I would really like to know if that is a problem or just a bullshit cop out from teachers.

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Bad Economy is Bad News

I was watching the television with my co-workers in the lunchroom today, and we were bewildered with the news on how the stock market lost by three-digits again and how the real estate market may have bottomed out. In my neighborhood, there are at least 6 houses that have been for sale for over a year and no one has been able to to buy any of them.

My co-workers and I discussed pretty openly how we’re tightening our belts and how so badly affected we are by the downturn in the economy. Most of us spent freely when the real estate market was up because we felt rich. We are guilty of carrying high balances on our credit cards.

One of my co-workers hesitantly told us how she’s been bogged down by credit card debt and doesn’t know how to solve her problems. She’s not alone, a lot of people are currently in financial distress. This economy really has to turn around. I hoping that after the elections everyone will have a better sense of what direction our country is going and have some sense of security and optimism restored.