unculturedswine

If you haven’t noticed, gas prices have been climbing again at an uncomfortable rate. We are somewhere in the $3.05/gallon for 85 Octane around these parts. It was maybe 4-6 weeks ago that we were comfortably in the mid to low $2 range and it had been sitting around there for quite some time; when it starts to climb this fast you can’t help but get nervous about seeing it hit $4+ dollars again.

So, I have to ask the President the following question: What’s wrong with NOW? His first major ‘milestone’ was the ‘stimulus bill’ that was immediately required to help save the economy (which is hasn’t). However, most of the $787B he allocated for that isn’t spent until 2012 at the earliest; so what was the hurry?

Then there was the Health Care Bill, which was of severe importance to pass immediately as well, however, none of it (other than raising taxes) takes effect for something like 5 years.

So, I have to ask, What’s wrong with NOW? Why can’t he spend all this effort passing ‘important’ legislation that actually affects NOW? Is it tough? It must be, cause apparently he can’t focus on anything unless it’s several years in the future. The only important thing he seems to do now is blame Bush for how things are, still. It’s not time to man-up and take responsibility to absurd unemployment and government debt; blame that on the previous generation of politicians. Oh, and parties. There’s always time to party.

So, as you know (I think I blogged about this) but my Debit Card got hacked a few weeks ago. And it was a pain not having.

Now. Let’s go backwards awhile. I requested a Paypal Debit card to be linked to my Paypal account so when money is there I don’t have to wait the 3 days or so until it ends up in my Bank Account. The card showed up a few weeks ago and I just didn’t notice. I grabbed the pile of letters from my parents and went on my way.

This morning I found it. I activated, and it’ll work just like a normal Debit Card. I really wish I would have noticed this when my card was stolen! Then I could have used my Paypal account while I wait for my bank to get me a new card.

NOW. I’m kind of wondering. Should I start using my Paypal card as my default? I can set it up to have whatever is in my account as the only money available, or I can set it to “overdraw” by just withdrawing money from my checking account when I spend more than is in my Paypal.

I’m thinking I’d keep maybe $150 max in my Paypal account at any time, and turn off the overdraw feature. That way, if my Paypal Debit Card is hacked the most anyone could use at any time is $150; and it would probably be less as I would only fill it back up to that when I’m low. If I need to spend more money then I’ll just use my normal bank debit card. Does this make sense?

I like this because it’s allowing me to have a buffer card that isn’t a credit card, so I’m still spending money that I do have and not going into debt regardless of how soon I can pay it off. Sure, it requires a little more maintenance on my part, but with how easy it is to get your bank account hacked this sure seems like a free method to save yourself a lot of trouble.

I think I’ve convinced myself to do this. Consider it done!

Last Saturday I started watching ‘Jamie Olivers Food Revolution’ on ABC. I didn’t really know what it was about when I started but thought I’d give it a try (ABC has made a fantastic app for the iPad). Well, 1 episode into it and I was hooked and 4 episodes later I was caught up. This morning I just finished watching the newest episode from last night and I really like this show. And it’s got me thinking.

I wanna cook more. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but every time I wander around the grocery store I come home with the same crap cause I don’t really know what to make. Guess why I don’t really know what to make? I have no recipes! Tada! Pin a rose on YOUR nose if you guessed that.

So i went shopping, kind of. There is a fantastic iPhone app called Epicurious, and they have an even better iPad version. Loaded up with nearly 30,000 recipes I now have a huge recipe book with me all the time. And, what’s extra cool, is you find the recipes you’re looking for, add them to a list and then it’ll generate a shopping list for you so you can easily go buy all the ingredients. I think that’s pretty darn cool!

SO. I’m going to start cooking more, and trying to avoid processed foods and just make things from scratch. Even if I just ate the same food that I already eat but just make it from scratch I’m already a lot ahead. Anything packaged and already made is going to have a lot of junk in there, so it’s also time to start label shopping and skipping out on anything that has bad crap in it.

As a very cool bonus there are a few Indian dishes on Epicurious, and I’m excited to give them a whirl cause I really love Indian food. Heck yes!