Simple Randomness

I Should Read More…

So lately I’ve been thinking a lot about doing more reading.  I used to do a lot of reading actually, but in recent years I’ve just been so busy with everything that I haven’t had the time to do it.

You know what has been great though?  We don’t have TV at our house and so I’m not wasting my time with that.  In fact, there have been several times where I’ve picked up a book for a minute or two when in the past I would have just plopped down and turned on the TV.  What a waste of time!

The thing about books is that they tend to really engage you if its a good book.  Kinda like when you’re in a movie theater you get more into it than when you’re watching the same movie at home.  It also seems that I internalize things a lot better when I read as well.  I think I’ve heard others say this also.

I’ve also noticed that my interests have changed over the years.  When I was a teenager the only kinds of books that I enjoyed reading were fantasy novels.  I still enjoy those, but no I also like reading educational books.

Anyway, there’s a random topic for today.  Go read!t

Check Your Credit!

A few years ago I used to work for a company that would help people to repair their credit reports.  Basically all sorts of things can happen to your credit report that you might not even know about, and then make it harder for you to get a loan.

For example, if too many companies check your credit that can affect your credit rating.  Or, if you paid a bill on time but for some reason the company reported it as late anyway, that can cause you problems.

This is was it’s a good idea to check credit report details every now and then.  You can get a free report at least once a year, but  you usually have to pay to find out what your score is.  Even then, you can still at least review your report and make sure there is nothing on there that shouldn’t be.

One thing to note though is that if the information on your credit report is accurate, there really isn’t much you can do about it.  But if it is inaccurate and you can prove it, then they have to take it off.

So if you do happen to have poor credit, you should do all you can to increase your credit.  One way to do this is to get a new credit card or something and then just make sure you keep the record on it very clean.  Then, as time goes on you will have a cleaner record because the old stuff will fall off.

There are lots of companies that can help you find credit cards for people with fair credit.  One such site is UnionCreditReport.com.  If you’re in this position, you might want to check them out.

If I Could Invest…

Every now and then I get thinking that it would be really great to have a ton of money to just invest in things and then live off the interest or something like that.

Seriously, it would be so great to just live life exactly the way you want.  Now, I’m not naive enough to think that there wouldn’t be any work involved, but much less than a lot of other things I can think of.  I know that my wife and I would definitly do a lot of traveling to cool places.

Well, in order to do something like this you would probably need a few things to make it happen: an advisor you can trust, a private banking accounts manager you can trust, etc. It just wouldn’t happen on its own. I should probably learn more so I can start on my journey!

New Stress Reliever

I used to be in denial about stress.  In fact, I used to always say to people, “I don’t really get stressed.”  Now I realize that I was just in denial.  I was feeling plenty of stress, but didn’t know how to recognize it.  Now that I know how to recognize I feel that I also deal with it a lot better.

The fact is that stress affects everybody.  In one way or another, we can all get hit by it at any time.  So it’s nice that there are products out there like AbsoluteCalm that can naturally help you to reduce your stress level.

One of the main ingredients is Magnolia Extract, which is apparently one of the few herbs that has a great response to stress in a short period of time.  And, its 100% natural and safe according to the AbsoluteCalm website.

I think that a lot of people could use something like this.  I mean seriously, how many people get road rage or other dumb things just because they’re stressed?  A lot of us are working really long hours and have a lot of demand on our time.  Maybe this type of product is right for you!  Check it out and find out - who knows, you might have found something that really can help you calm down.

Has the American Dream Changed?

First of all I should probably admit that when it comes to political stuff I lean more to the conservative side than to anything else.  So just yesterday I was driving home from work and was listening to Glenn Beck on the radio and I heard something that really got me thinking.  He was playing a clip from John McCain on David Letterman the other night where McCain was talking about the idea that a lot of people are about to lose their homes.  He was suggesting over and over that they were losing the American Dream.

WHAT?!

I have to fully agree with Beck on this one, but since when was owning a home the American Dream?  You mean to say that all of this ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ stuff comes down to owning a house?  I don’t think so!

When I think of the American Dream, I think of being able to do my own thing and make a living if I want to.  It means that I have the right and privilege to start my own business and either make it or fail.  It means that I have the freedom to try to do what I want to do to provide for my family.   Not just own a house!

It’s really sad to me that the American Dream has been degraded to this.  In the movie Far and Away the American Dream was to own some land.  But not to put a house on it!  It was to own some land that you could call your own and then do what you wanted to with it!

To stay on the political topic, I also think it’s sad that so many believe that the American Dream means entitlement.  Like as an American I am entitled to get all this free stuff from the government or some junk like that.  I don’t want that!  I just want the freedom to be able to make it on my own, not get handouts.

So anyway, I think I’ll rarely get political on this blog, but what I heard yesterday really got me thinking.  Please believe that the American Dream is more than having a house!