He’s eating a cheerio and looking super cute. :P

He’s dustin!  Look how much gets around!

Our goal of being debt free (or significantly debt reduced) by 2011 is going somewhat well for me, however, I’ve hit somewhat of a hindrance.  It’s bogged down my ability to keep debt paid off. Fortunately, I think I’ve found what I hope to be a solution that we can all share in.

I’ve realized that I have one arch-nemesis.  Cash.  Cold, Hard, though easily-torn, money.  Those 1′s, 2′s, 5′s, 10′s, etc that can paper a thousand homes a thousand times over again.  What’s my problem?  I use it.  I pay off a little of a credit card and then I use that when I’m out of cash.

Here’s my theory.  I’m only going to pay with a credit card.  That’s it.  And only one of my credit cards too.  The other CC is to be used exclusively for my Cell Phone bill, and emergencies.  That’s it.  So, I pay with my credit card.  What’s the difference you ask?  When I get home, I pay off everything that I bought, rounded up to the nearest $20.  For example, if I bought $54 worth of stuff, I pay off $60.  If I bought $22, I pay $40.  This way, I’m always paying off what I just purchased PLUS a little extra.  This keeps the credit card balance as always getting paid off, and prevents me from using paper money (AND the credit card).  It also forces me to look at stuff differently.  Rather than a movie being $19.99,  I know after tax that’s going to be over $20, which means, when I get home, I’m going to be losing $40 out of my account to pay for my credit card.

This theory works until the card itself is paid off.  Then it’s as simple as paying it off every month rather than racking up huge debt on it and forcing to do this again.  Also, I will still be making somewhat large payments to this credit card, but I won’t need the mentality of thinking I have to devote large portions of my paycheck to paying off the credit card.

I’m hoping this approach will psychologically keep me from buying so much and force me into getting everything I need in one sitting, rather than spreading it out across the month.  If that makes any sense.

I have a goal set up, to find all the caches in a given area (a nearby walking trail) before moving on to other areas.  So far I’ve found a total of 5 caches and have only failed at finding three.  Unfortunately, one cache that I know of seems to have been destroyed, as no one seems to have found it for a while now.

SO!  Of the 12 (11 since one seems un-findable) caches in the area, I’ve found 5.  I feel like I’m off to a good start and I’m eager to find the others.   The biggest challenge I’ve found so far is being inconspicuous enough that non-cachers (muggles, yes, based off of Harry Potter) don’t think twice (or once) about what you’re doing.  Since many caches are hidden off of defined trails, this means making sure no one is around when you go looking.  Of course, this is to maintain the pseudo-secrecy of geocaching. :P  I would have found more but there were too many people around preventing me from even looking for some of the caches.

I intend on going out at least every weekend, and possibly in the mornings as well to go hunting for caches.  I would hope these off times would leave the trails somewhat more empty, leaving me the opportunity to really search for a cache. :)

If you have questions or want to join me, leave a comment!

There are plenty of systems out there that deal with this particular issue.  The most well known is Dungeons and Dragons.  Nerds and non-nerds the world over have been made fun of time and again for playing these games.  Why?  I don’t really know.  It’s quite possibly the most creative thing that is being done compared to the people that tend to be making fun of them.

Anyway, I’m not posting on the merits of RPGs or why people shouldn’t be made fun of for playing them.  I’m here to post on my progress with my system and describe it a little.

While this specific system wasn’t swimming in my head the whole time, I’ve always wanted to create an RP system.  I’ve seen a wide variety of games that each had it’s own unique method of creating characters and running them through the creation of the Game Masters.  The only system I ever came across that seemed pretty simple was Big Eyes, Small Mouth.  I believe this game, with it’s Tri-Stat System, are no longer in print, which is a shame because this was a pretty good system.  It was simple, easy to understand, and open-ended to be applied to almost anything setting, from the highest of fantasy to the grittiest of science fiction.

The next system was Alternity.  Again, this system is out of print.  It’s been converted into d20, much to my sadness.  I really think that the d20 system has become the microsoft is role playing game systems.  Anyway, there are two things I really liked about this system.  First, it wasn’t limited to specific classes or special classes like D&D is.  You have a five (I think it’s five, anyway) base careers, which effect what skills cost and what bonuses you get, but that’s about it.  Your professions really defined what your character was good at, AND it was completely open ended.  your profession wasn’t pre-defined and completely mapped out for you, though, they did have examples and suggestions was some professions skill sets and equipment might be, but you were free to modify this (or completely ignore it) as you saw fit.

The second thing I really liked about Alternity, was it’s success system.  I could be wrong about this, but D&D seemed to be an all or nothing venture.  You either completed you task or you didn’t.  They did have critical success and failures, but nothing in between.  Alternity took your dice roll and applied it to a fairly easy to understand Success system.  The lower you rolled, the better  you completed your task.  You may be hacking into a computer and got the information you were looking for, but triggered a silent alarm in the process.  On the other hand, in the same situation, you could have done so well that even the video surveillance that watched you do all that work was replaced with completely normal video, and anyone watching never would have known you were there.

So now, onto my system.  I call it the Base 10 RPS, but I don’t know how that truly reflects the system itself.  I wanted to simplify the entire character creation process so that one could conceivably create a character in 15-20 minutes and be playing.  That way, even if you only had one book, you would be playing in about an hour depending on how many players you had.  I feel that some systems require too much jumping around in the book from the front to the back just to make one character and it takes too much time.  My system only requires a vague understanding of what you want your character to do and leaves the other aspects, meaning the non-numerical values, completely up to you.

I also set out to simplify the game mechanics.  Many games have different dice rolls, modifiers, and rules based on where your character is and what they are doing.  If your character is in space or on a space ship or swimming or whatever, each situation seems to require a different set of rules and that’s a lot to remember.  Again, I could be wrong, but I don’t think so as much.  You calculate actions out one way and apply modifiers one way.  It doesn’t matter where you are, or what you’re doing.  The Game Master can assign a modifier to represent any difficulty or ease of performing a task that might be effected by quality of equipment, it situation, or anything.  If you’re trying to fly a ship that has a horrible turn radius to keep another ship in your sights, that’s going to be a bit more difficult if the other ship has better maneuverability.

Also, direct character opposition checks.  These seemed to be lightly touched on and still overly complicated.  My concept, again, makes it a bit easier.  Both characters roll their skill check.  The degree of success that’s the highest wins.  Simple.  HOWEVER, this can be downgraded based on the loser’s degree of success, which I will explain in my system.

And there you have it.  My system in a shell.  Not necessarily nutty, but still.  I’m really liking how it’s turning out, though, I do have a concern for the checks themselves.  They are all rolled against a d100 (or 2d10 as most people probably don’t carry a golf ball around) which makes me think the system could be a bit more difficult than I would like.  Play testing should help resolve these issues.

I’m really proud of this as well.  Most of my projects never see the light of anything beyond my brain.  I’m not quite sure why I can’t just put them down, but I haven’t been able to.  This system is coming along nicely and lends itself extremely well to add-on modules, which was my main goal in the beginning.

Enjoy everyone!

One somewhat unforeseen expensive popped up in my car insurance, however, I’m planning on getting that paid off at the beginning of April which leaves me with 4 more months of no car insurance bill to worry about.

All in all, my finances are coming along nicely and I should continue to meet my own challenge goal of no debt by the end of the year.  :)

Second.  My workout has sucked.  I tried to start it, but I hate standing there, walking in place with nothing to really occupy my visual senses (that’s TV/Movies, mind you).  As active as it is, it leaves my brain wanting to go do something else and since I can’t separate the  two, my brain has been winning.  However, I think I may have found a partial cure.

Geocaching. A fun way of enjoying the great outdoors or a reason to travel. :P  You download some GPS coordinates into your GPS device and away you go!  The most common being a cache of stuff (usually a small box with a little pad of paper and possibly a small item from the last person who found it) that you leave your mark on before moving onto your next cache.  Of course, it can be anything from looking for a building, particular vista, some landmark, etc.  The fun is getting out and finding it. :)

And that’s my spring/summer/fall goal.  I briefly tried in the winter, but it was after it snowed and when I was in the area I thought the map had pointed me to (I don’t yet have a GPS unit), it was, like everywhere else, covered in several inches/feet of snow. :P  I wasn’t equipped to handle that so I just kept walking and said I would come back and find it in the spring.

That’s the plan so far!

Here is an update to my own debt issues.

I have successfully paid of my school bill. It was very much, but I’ve been dealing with it since October and it’s finally gone. While I’ve had two other issues come up (my Driver’s License and my ARRT membership) one of my big finance worries is over.

I’m also pleased to report that, after I get the rest of my birthday money and my Tax Refund, I will be paying off my car and as much of both of my credit cards as I can which will amount to my being nearly debt free come April. :) The last big concern will be my newegg bill, which is sitting around $1000 but, without a car payment coming out of my paycheck monthy, it should disappear rather quickly. :)

All of this comes as great news on top of my credit score actually being very good. I have plans for my ability to get a loan, namely buying a house and possible assisting in a business venture. I may also increase the limit on one of my credit cards (the one I hide at home so that I’m not tempted to use it except in emergencies).

Good luck! Good Day everyone!

I know some people have experienced this and don’t like it and I can understand that.  When you rent, you typically don’t have to worry about upkeep (depending on what you’re renting).  For many apartments, you usually get out of paying for at least one or two utilities, like Water and trash.  Some places do you one better and pay for Gas or cable.

Why do I want to own a house?  The freedom.  Sure, I have to mow the lawn, repair things on my own, pay for every little thing the government screws you with, like permits to improve the lot.  I have to have a permit to upgrade my own damn house?  Yep.  It’s complete BS some of the stuff but I think I would really like it.

I like the freedoms that come with living in your own abode.  You can be as loud as you want (well, a hell of a lot louder than in an apartment anyway), paint/wallpaper/smear poop all you want, put all the holes you want into the walls (even if they do destabilize entire sections of the house), and more!  It’s like having a house in EQ2 or other games that have housing, but you don’t have to wait for them to code something before you can do it!  You get a garage (in some cases) to store your car or other stuff.  You can have all the dogs/cats/ferrets/chinchillas you want so long as the smell doesn’t get out of hand (you don’t want to be the crazy cat person anyway).

Gatherings.  I want a place that I can feel comfortable having friends over without fear of the neighbors getting mad.  I can do that now, but, I’m very paranoid about getting too loud and having one of my fellow tenants making a complaint.  While this wouldn’t bother me in special occasions, building managers tend to frown on trends and again, I’m too worried to enjoy my own party.  Having a house solves that problem and more!  I can provide my friends and acquaintences with a safe environment in which to do many things (all of them legal and not involving certain…..fluids….I’m not sorry AND I’m not cleaning that shit up)  including gaming, lounging, drinking, etc.  A nice place for friends to get together and be company.

Nice?  Nice.  So that’s my homeownership thoughts.

The first topic is a well known debate topic, Gay Marriage.

It’s still a difficult rule to get past since so many people are against it.  I believe many of the arguments against it are firmly grounded in religion.  ‘It’s an abomination’ and ‘It’s a sin’ seem like common ones.  Other people think it will destroy the nation as it flies in the face of ‘moral’ decency and the ‘traditional’ family unit of man and woman.

Proponents don’t see any reason why the law, which is supposed to be blind, should care about the gender of two people getting married.  They aren’t asking to be married by any particular religious institution.  They just want the same rights as heterosexual couples.  Pay more taxes, joint insurance coverage, married jokes, you get the idea.

So what’s your stance?

To many, this is mere pocket change to the debt that they are in and I would agree. Most people probably won’t be able to pay off their debts in a year. Many people have multi-year mortgages or car loans or business loans, and paying those off suddenly might make the IRS take notice of where you’ve been hiding your riches if you still have years left to pay it off.

To help me with my goal, I’m going to challenge you, my readers, to the same goal. Get out from under your debt. Again, I realize that some of you have homes and cars to pay off and were expecting to pay those off for at least 2 more years (car loans really shouldn’t be longer than 3 years, 4 at the most) and that’s fine. Continue to pay those off as you would normally.

Since I know my debt is relatively small compared to most, I’ll set some ground rules and make some suggestions.

The ultimate goal, by 1/1/11, is to be debt free. I understand things can come up that make that impossible, but you can make a goal and still achieve it.

I’ll start with the #1 money sink to anyone’s bank account, the credit card. I know debit cards probably do this more, but I’m sticking with credit cards because you have to pay those back rather than the money coming straight out of your bank account.

Pay off at least 2 credit cards if you have more than one. That’s not to say you pay it off now and you’re done, that means your credit cards are paid off on January 1st, 2011. If you had to put a big item on a card that was necessary to maintain you’re home/job/loved ones, that’s ok and understandable. But for all the little luxuries you buy, and a giant $3000 TV is considered a small luxury, those need to be 100% paid off by the end of the year. This also includes stores/websites that have extended you credit that you might not be able to use elsewhere, but still requires being paid off (like my Newegg account for instance).

Now for the home/car/business loans. If you’ve managed your other credit (cards/stores/websites) fairly well and have little to no balance on those, look where you still have debt. Home loan, car loan, school loan, etc. I think of these as generally static since the only thing that ever gets added to it is interest. If you can, get the ones that can be paid off in a year, paid off. You may still have a year and a half on a school loan, but is that with minimum payments? If so, pay off more and get it out of the way. Same goes for the car loan. I know when I set my loan up I had them round up so I paid my car off a little faster. I’m finally in the last 5 months of my car payments and I’m looking for ways to accelerate that already. I don’t know much about business loans, but if business is good, pay it down a little more than you would normally.

I know home loans tend to be for decades, so here’s what I’ll say about that. Look at your home loan and figure how much you pay off in a year at the rate you agreed on with the bank. Then, pick a realistic amount over that, and try to meet that by the end of the year. Try adding an extra $100-$200, that’s 1200-2400 extra you’ll have paid off, and that could take months off your loan!

If you would like to keep track, you can post on the forums. I recommend not posting actual amounts, but a percentage. For example “I paid off 50% of Credit card 2”

I admit I have no prize to award for completing this challenge. The only prize you get is going into 2011 with drastically reduced debt worries on your mind. Perhaps in future years, with future challenge ideas, I can offer prizes. :)

Alright. I’m heading out. See you all later!

So here’s a more holiday-y post.

I saw a comic in the newspaper today were a retailer saleperson is trying to greet people appropriately.  No matter which greeting she uses, someone is upset.

Why is this?  Why does Christmas time have to be so offensive to EVERYONE?!  Christians don’t like that ‘Merry christmas’ seems politically uncorrect.  Atheists don’t like it because it has to do with God.  Normal folk don’t like the commercialization and the music that tends to start 15 seconds after Thanksgiving (if you’re lucky).

With all the stress the holidays bring, more than they are supposed to ‘cure’ so to speak, what’s the big deal in how you greet someone?  If you say Merry Christmas or Happy holidays, isn’t the message the same?  You’re not trying to convert someone to Christianity or Atheism (or a variety of other religions that all seem to have the hugest of the huge holidays in December).  You’re not trying to make them uncomfortable or combative/confrontational.  You’re simply wishing them well in a stressful holiday season.

Why do Atheists have to get mad about saying ‘Christmas’?  Why do Christians get mad about NOT saying Christmas?  The intent is what was actually said, but the meaning behind it.  ‘I wish you well in your day and a happy time of family togetherness and love’  is too much to say all the time and since Christmas has taken over the ol’ pagan holiday of the Winter Solstice (whatever the actual name was) this is what we’re stuck with.  AND it’s been so heavily commercialized (like I mentioned before) it’s almost little more than just a word anymore anyway.

What should be a season of peace, love, togetherness, and all that crap is now marred by long lines at stores, people pushing, grabbing, trampling, others to get the best bargains, horrible traveling conditions at airports.

So again, I urge you, if someone tries wishing you well over the holiday season (which I know is passed, but for future reference), regardless of what their words are, smile, say thanks, return the greeting as you are most comfortable, and GET THE FUCK OVER IT!