Grey has been growing, so he needed a new bike. He receives an allowance, so he’s paying for it. We consider Goodwill but he wants to support our favorite bike shop: Baltimore Bicycle Works (BBW). We’ve gone on their free Saturday morning group rides many times. BBW is a workers collaborative, so everyone is an […]
How My Attempt to Avoid Jury Duty Led to Loss
Jury duty. The two words that strike fear and loathing in my heart. I received my dreaded Baltimore City jury summons in the mail recently. It comes every year, regular as rain. There is so much crime in Baltimore, and not a few people who can’t serve on a jury due to their own prior […]
My Jury Experience Opened My Eyes to a Broken Baltimore
For background, read last week’s post. At first I thought it was a terrible mistake. I thought my outfit or education or skin color would surely disqualify me in the eyes of the defense, as it had before. But incredibly, I was empaneled with 13 other jurors (12+2 alternates) for a sting case. Over the […]
How to Have Family Fun on a Budget
My dad is from the east end of Long Island (North Fork). Every summer, everyone in the family (and occasionally some friends) make the pilgrimage back there. Except my sister and other relatives, who live there full time. Nora works in a school, so she has the summers off; she typically spends two summer weeks […]
I Completely Destroyed the Rear Window of My Car
I’m the self-appointed ‘Best Driver I Know,’ so it came as a real shock to hear the rear window of my Scion xD violently implode as I was backing up recently. I mean totally disintegrate into a thousand tiny bits, one of which I later found had rocketed all the way to the front seat, […]
Pippa Broke Her Arm, Then Shattered My Expectations
A year ago this week, on Monday, September 11, 2017, Pippa and I were playing a spirited game of badminton in the yard like we often do after work/school. It’s pretty competitive, with lots of grunting and yelps of victory, but it’s not very serious. Fun is the main goal. On one rally, I hit […]
Road Tripping through Kansas on $35 a Day
Pippa’s 17-year-old cousin Liz has always wanted to visit Kansas. I’m not sure why. This summer, before both hit their senior year and the unknown that follows, Liz decided it was now or maybe never. So she recruited three people to go with her: Grammie (my mom) Brittany (friend who just graduated high school) Pippa […]
6 Reasons to See Crazy Rich Asians
Add me to the list of fans of Crazy Rich Asians. I didn’t read the book, but we saw the movie this week and I was impressed with a few things. 1. It Has Universal Themes Thus the mainstream success, I suppose. Once you peel back the Rich and Asian, you discover the film is […]
Is That a Form Letter Taped to the Door, You Little Romantic?
I usually beat Nora home from work, so I get first crack at the mail. That’s sounds like an advantage, but of course, it’s almost always junk. If there is anything personal, I put it on Nora’s desk to open. Everything else, I read and recycle, or sometimes I skip the read part. The other […]
My Son Wanted to Forgo Food to Spend Money on Fortnite Video Game
I wrote previously about how I established the rule that anything left in the pockets of dirty clothes put in the laundry becomes my property. It’s a policy I learned from my mom and is meant to teach the kids some personal responsibility in keeping track of their money. Related: Seventeen Magazine Vs My Mom […]
When Friends Laugh at Your Dreams, Do You Shrink or Shine?
This past fall, my mom had a mini-reunion in Ohio with three college friends from Cornell University. They hadn’t been together since they graduated in 1959. Probably goes without saying, but these are wise – and wizened – women who have seen a thing or two. There was much catching up on grandchildren, health issues, […]
Reckless in Cincinnati – Spending $20 on Water at a Reds Game
Grey and I are visiting as many Major League Baseball stadiums as we can. We both like baseball, for different reasons. He’s a student of the game and likes to collect cards and follow players. I just like the atmosphere – it feel likes a big backyard barbecue, without all the obnoxiousness of an NFL […]
How to Keep Your Fear of Dying from Draining Your Estate
The funeral business is a racket. The U.S. median cost of a funeral with a burial, not including cemetery costs, is over $7,000. There is no transparency in pricing, and buyers are generally in a fragile emotional state. NPR ran a story about how you can get the same service – and save $1,895 – […]
Our Fee-Only Financial Advisor Inadvertently Contributed to Our Retirement Fund
A few years back, Nora and I decided we needed to see an independent financial advisor. We’d been putting it off, because Nora gets really basic guidance from a retirement specialist who drops by her school on occasion, and we had very little cash. Probably because we’d blown it all on tuition. Once we made […]