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Archive for January, 2007

Superbowl Sunday: Productivity Opportunity

January 30th, 2007 at 02:20 am

When I was living in the US, I loved Superbowl Sunday, but probably not for the reasons you're thinking. I didn't actually watch the Superbowl. Instead, it was by far the best skiing day of the year. There wasn't another Sunday during the year when you could ski up to a lift without having to wait for anyone in line. Superbowl Sunday was the best ski value day of the year.

While millions are glued to their TV sets watching the commercials (and occasionally the game), you can have one of the most productive days all year doing whatever activity you love to do. That is because while most places will still be open, there will hardly be a soul out in the streets. If there is some activity that you love to do that always seems crowded, this is the day to do it. Whatever the activity is, there will be a fraction of the people there doing it on Superbowl Sunday.

If you don't have a particular activity that is calling, you still have a perfect opportunity to be massively productive. If you have a list of errands that have been piling up, Superbowl Sunday is the day to do them. You will be able to accomplish what normally would take several days due to the light traffic, lines in stores and all around lack of crowds everywhere. Even the busiest of malls will look sparse come Sunday afternoon.

In the end, you won't be missing anything. All the highlights will be available in the news or on youtube. All the commercials will be available on the Internet so you can discuss them with others around the water cooler Monday morning. Nobody will even know that you didn't watch and in the process, you will have a squeaky clean to-do list.

And if you happen to be skiing, I'm jealous...

Money Superstition

January 21st, 2007 at 03:35 pm

There are a lot of money superstitions out there, but I learned a new one when I went to the God of Wealth shrine the other day.

As we were taking a short rest and drinking sweet rice wine called amazake. I noticed there were a couple of money notes on the wall hanging upside down.



When I asked why this was, I received the following answer:

You should always place a bill with a person’s face on it with the person’s face facing down. If you leave the bills facing up in your wallet, they will want to peak out and leave while if they are facing down, the will want to stay buried inside your wallet. Placing all your bills face down helps you keep your money.

All the bills in my wallet are now facing downward - we'll see if this helps keep them in there Wink

God Of Wealth Shrine

January 20th, 2007 at 01:53 pm

My wife and I went on our annual trip to the God of Wealth (Ebisuten) shrine in Osaka to make our personal finance prayers for the year and to buy good luck charms for Nate and I for our business. here are a few photos from the trip:

My wife washing her hands before entering the shrine:



My wife making her money prayers:



The good luck charms for Nate and I

The Cutest Tax Deduction

January 3rd, 2007 at 07:09 am

Ah, if taxes could only make us smile like this all the time...



Courtesy of blakefacey