Gift Cards

Now for my enlightening discussion of gift cards. (I’m sure DW is rolling her eyes even as I type this… Oh yes, she’s that good, she can see what I’m typing)

The gift card argument in our house always starts with a disagreement about the so-called “breakage” fees. Those are the fees that start to crop up after you’ve used the card once, but didn’t use the whole thing and haven’t used up the remaining balance within some period of time.

DW: That’s MY money; I’m entitled to use it as I see fit when I see fit. It’s evil an evil Corporate America plot for them to screw me out of my money.

HappyDad: They are a retailer, not a bank. They want you to spend your money, not store it. Their purpose in issuing gift cards is to get you to spend money at their store; the breakage fee is there to motivate you to use the money on the card since the retailer does not get to recognize the revenue from your card until you actually buy something with your gift card.

(In fact, the actual accounting for gift card income is still up in the air to an extent.)

While we disagree on the motivations, we do agree on the solution: let the market forces do their work. This is not an area for government regulation (as much as members of Congress want to appear consumer-friendly).

The correct answer is to let the market work. As publicity and bad PR spread about companies that charge breakage fees abounds, then those companies will get the hint and drop their onerous policies. Just because the company has a right to do something, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

In recent years, both Home Depot and Toys ‘R’ Us are large-market, big-box retailers that have dropped their fees and expiration dates largely in response to the bad publicity they were receiving.

If you do get a card with one of these fees, then spend the whole thing at once. If you don’t like what you bought, sell it on ebay for cash.

One word of caution… Don’t spend your money buying a Visa or MasterCard gift card that some banks and malls peddle. Those have hefty fees just to buy the card then add on monthly fees or annual fees just for kicks. Sure, they can be used anywhere, but so can cash (or travellers cheques if you’re concerned about safety). Cash costs nothing to give, and travellers cheques are usually going to be cheaper than the cards. They’re a bad buy; if enough people don’t buy them, then the fees will go away. Just watch.

Personal Finance Blog

One area that I’ve always been interested in is personal and consumer finance. I read a lot of articles and do research for myself in a variety of areas related to finance.

I can connect this back to being a dad because financing your kids’ education is primary goal for most parents. Plus there are only so many cute baby stories out there; so from time to time, you’re going to be treated to a blog post about something financial in nature.

Who knows? You may end up seeing more finance stories than baby stories.

First up, is this article from the New York Times about housing prices as a share of income. It’s interesting because it acknowledges a phenomena that annoys me about journalism. Most articles about “the housing market” ignore that there is a great expanse of this country that is not within 100 miles of an ocean coast. Most housing markets in this country aren’t raging out of control. Most of the areas that are experiencing rapid home price appreciation are in major metro areas in California and New York, where — as the article points out — most of the reporters writing these stories live and work.

The median home here in the Twin Cities appreciated at a fairly reasonable 7.4% in 2005 according to data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight; as opposed to 15.66% in Orange County, CA, where my parents live. I estimate our house appreciated about 8%, pretty consistent with the OFHEO data.

So I’m not too concerned about the mythical “bubble” affecting our plans or our finances. Especially because we plan on staying in this house for a while. Realistically, I think the worst that could happen here is an extended period of slow growth, but a widespread decline in prices seems fairly unlikely.

Stay tuned, though, for my revealing discussion of gift cards. Always a hot topic of debate with DW.

Mommmmmmmmmyyyyyy

Raisin is in that Mommmyyy phase. Right up in the middle. Mommy this; mommy that.

“Where’s mommy?”
“I want mommy!”

You get the idea. Yes, I fully realize that this is just a phase and it’s nothing personal. I get that. But it is draining from a practical perspective. Getting dressed is a challenge because of all the squirming. I ask her to stand so I can put her shirt or pants on and she does, but within three seconds the legs go limp and I’m left holding her up by her arm.

Hairwashing is a particularly onerous event. If we lived in an apartment, I swear the neighbors would call the police because someone is being tortured. I’ve watched DW give Raisin a bath; I’m not doing anything different than she is, but yet this is the response I get.

About the only thing I am good for in Raisin’s eyes right now is Peek-a-Boo.

Yes, it’s just a phase, you don’t have to remind me. But for the guy on the wrong side of the phase, it gets very tiresome, very fast.

Progress Report

A little bit more about me would be in order…

I’m working on an MBA from one of the many universities that offer such a program in the Twin Cities. I’ve been at this since 9/18/2001 (a date which I will always remember because my first grad school night class was supposed to have been a week earlier. It goes without saying that we did not have class that night as originally planned.

Now to the point of the story…

I got my grade for the class I took this semester.

“B”

Not bad considering the amount of effort I put forth for this particular class. In retrospect, this class had a format that just didn’t agree with me. Instead of the usual three-hour class once-a-week format that all my previous classes have been, this was a 6-1/2 hour class every-other-week. With two weeks between classes (4 at Thanksgiving) it was damn near impossible to stay engaged with the material and think about it in the intervening 14 days.

So a B isn’t that bad, all things considered, although still slightly disappointing.

What a difference, though, some perspective and experience makes. As an undergrad, I would have been reasonably pleased with a B, but no dwelling at all that it could have been better. I was virtually indifferent to specific grades as long as I passed the class (Fs were bad, that much I realized, even though I got a couple of those along the way as well).

My worst grade here has been a B-. Although, I do suspect that some sub-conscious grade inflating is at work here in addition to the newfound desire for academic achievement.

Up until now, I’ve been taking one class in the fall and one in the spring. 2 classes per year; year-in, year-out.

Somewhere near the end of this semester, someone finally switched on the light at the end of the tunnel and I realized that I have only six more classes to go. At the current rate, that’s an additional three years of plugging away while DW picks up the slack and Raisin grows up before my eyes.

If I pick up the pace — just a little, don’t want to strain myself — and take a class in the summers, I can shave off one whole year and be done at the end of 2007 instead of the end of 2008. It will mean picking up part of the tab myself (The Man’s generosity only goes as far as the IRS is willing to let him take a deduction for their contribution to my higher education). But that’s OK, if the trade-off is to finish a year earlier than planned.

So next up is “Economics of Organization and Management” in the spring followed by “Corporate Finance” next summer.

Introducing….

[First, Raisin is all better. I don't think she even remembers being sick or the evil nebulizer. She's 100% herself again. I'm so relieved that my bones get all jello-y everytime I think about it.]

And now, on to the point (that’s being generous) of this entry. We have a new member of the family, and we couldn’t be more thrilled! He has taken up residence in our bedroom, which is just fine with us. He doesn’t use up much space, although I am still getting used to the whirring sound he makes in the middle of the night.

He’s a great addition to our household, as he is already really good at figuring out what we like and don’t like. I can just tell we’re going to be really good friends, especially once the holidays are over and our regular schedule starts again. Then he’ll really be busy keeping up with all our demands.

OK, this is lamer than I thought it would be, and I knew it was lame. We have TiVo! TiVo lives at my house! TiVo records Jeopardy! and Whose Line is it Anyway? and Gilmore Girls and all kinds of reality TV shows that I am slightly ashamed of but love anyway.

I bought it for DH for Christmas (and a little bit for myself too). I am the best wife EVAH. And he is the best husband EVAH, because he bought a flat-screen TV for TiVo to live with. (We didn’t know what the other person was getting — we are so meant to be.) TiVo and the TV are now married, and we are all living happily ever after. The end.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

“… And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host saying ‘Glory to God in the highest and Peace on earth toward man.’”

Merry Christmas!

I Got Your Christmas Spirit Right Here

Yesterday I almost bit off a coworker’s head. And not with mere words, either. Actual cannibalism was very nearly committed, by me. So, for anyone who prefers that I not sever your pretty necks with my razor-sharp Teeth of Fury, please take note:

1. Do not talk down to me. I’m nice, but my pet peeve is people who patronize (my pet peeve is alliterative, isn’t that cool!?), and I will get mean.

2. Do not act as though I’m not doing my job. I am, and I’m doing a good job, and you are not the boss of me anyway. So there. [blows raspberries to demonstrate maturity and professionalism]

3. Do not keep repeating the same question. I answered that question. I do not have time or patience to tell you again that I will take care of it. I WILL TAKE CARE OF IT.

4. Do not offer suggestions if you A) do not know what you are talking about, and/or B) have nothing to do with the project at hand. See #s 2 and 3 above, and know that I AM DOING MY JOB AND I WILL TAKE CARE OF IT.

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In other news, Raisin is quite herself again, except for an antibiotic-induced diaper rash with PAIN and SWELLING and REDNESS ouch ouch ouch.

Oh, we need a little Christmas, right this very minute….

Long Distance Families

My parents live in California, while my MIL and FIL live about twenty minutes from us. So we don’t get to get together with them as often as we do with my in-laws. My folks are pretty cool about it, but I’m sure they wish they were closer. Especially at the holidays.

I looked at my refrigerator the other day — our de facto art gallery — at all of the pictures we’ve gotten in Christmas cards. On the fridge is a family picture of each of my mother’s brothers and their wives and their children and their grand-children.

I realized that I don’t have a family picture of my parents with Raisin, DW and me. We’ve got all sorts of combinations, but not a single one of all five of us occupying the same 4×6 space together that was taken any time in 2005. In fact, the only such photo that exists was taken on the day of Raisin’s baptism and isn’t even that good of a picture and is now over a year and half old.

So I set out on a mission to do the next best thing. I went through what pictures we did have and photo-shopped them together to make a 4×6 collage. Each of the pictures is Raisin with someone else: me, my dad, my mom, DW. It turned out great.

I e-mailed it to my mom last night so she could finally have a family picture of her own.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Evolution was intelligently designed

Dover
Intelligent Design
Evolution
Darwin

The conversation of the week seems to be Judge John E Jones decision this week to overturn a requirement to read a statement about intelligent design in Dover, PA science classes. This requirement — you’ll remember — was put in place by the members of the school board who were roundly voted out of office this past November; so I suspect that particular policy was not long for this world anyway.

So many people want to see things in a context of black vs. white. There cannot be any gray. Gray simply does not exist. The President is but one of the ardent believers in this theory. He scored a lot of points in both 2000 and 2004 making fun of his Democratic rival for spending so much time looking at nuance.

Evolution was intelligently designed. Yes, I believe in both. No, I’m not a wishy-washy fence-sitter who can’t make up my mind.

Darwin’s Origin of Man and the creation story in Genesis are two takes on the same question. The difference is perspective. Darwin sought to answer How?, Genesis seeks to answer Why?

Several people that know more about theology (and ancient Greek) than I have pointed out that the word “Adam” is an ancient Greek representation of man in the generic sense as opposed to an individual sentient being. “Day” in the Genesis context is not a 24-hour period. Take those two ideas and you can reasonably conclude that the universe evolved much the way that Genesis describes: Heaven and earth; light and dark; water and dry land; animals of the water and air and land; finally man and woman. The rest of Genesis — indeed, the first five books of the bible — is there to set-up the later story; not the last word on why we’re here or our purpose in life.

Darwin set out to capture his thoughts about his observations of the world around us. He applied logic to God’s world and to me serves only to bolster my faith in God’s creation. Darwin shows me the majestic expanse of God’s power. God was able to put forth this system so complex that we — as humans — can only guess at how it actually works. Darwin’s theories are compelling in such a way that they cannot simply be denounced as heresy as Galileo.

Science cannot destroy faith. Faith cannot destroy science. Truthfully, I’m not sure you can have one without the other.

Crazy People

I’m always amazed to read stuff like this. I shouldn’t be, but I am. BTW, WaiterRant is hilarious, especially if you’ve ever worked anywhere in the service industry.

Ten years ago, after my first year in college, I had an “internship” at a resort in the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We had a large check-in for a big sales meeting for Edward Jones; so the lobby was packed with people.

All of a sudden I had someone (not from Edward Jones) cut right to the front of the line:

“I WANT A NEW ROOM!” he yelled as he pounded his fists on the granite counter in front of the entire lobby.

“I’m sorry, sir, what is the problem with your room?” I ask calmly in my best polite voice.

“I WANT A NEW ROOM!” Again, more pounding on the counter.

“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t give you a new room until you tell me what the problem is. I don’t want to give you another room that’s not going to work for you, ” I reply, trying the reasonable voice.

“I DON’T WANT NO ROOM CLEANED BY NO STINKIN’ NIGGER.” The crowded lobby is now dead quiet.

I was floored, I had little idea that idiots like that actually existed in the real world.

Without missing a beat, I said, “Well, sir, we are an equal opportunity employer, perhaps you would feel more comfortable seeking accomodations elsewhere.” Racist Man turned heel and stormed out the door and that was the end of his stay at that resort.

It’s been over ten years since that happened — a relatively long time for me — and yet it’s one of my most vivid memories.