Well I was off to DC to visit my brother two weeks ago. Had a great time, but came back and was sick as a dog for three days, which effectively killed my blogging interest. But I am back now, and have a few things to write about.
My car is sold. If you remember I wrote a few weeks back about selling it. I had a few reasons to sell, the primary reason was financial. I'm not a spendthrift, but I hate wasting money. I felt like the amount of money I spent on my car versus the number of times I actually used it wasn't worth the waste. Sure, if I made $300k a year, I wouldn't care - but I don't, and need to watch how I spend my money.
The second reason was the availability of corner cars via Connect by Hertz or Zip Car. Back when I first moved into town, I had multiple issues with the "old school" rental car system. But technology has made it so that if I need a car for a quick ride to the store or for golf range in Edgewater or a visit to the beach for the day - you can order a car on your computer and do everything yourself.
The last reason was the fact that my car was 17 years old. It was constantly having maintenance issues over the last few years and the bills just added up to a point where it was more worth it for me to rent a relatively new car than worry about my car imploding on I95.
My next goal is to go through my house and sell everything that i'm no longer using. I want to simplify things. I have shelves of books, racks of old electronic equipment, and about 100 DVD movies that I don't think I watched once in three years. Even if I could sell those movies, for example, for $5 each - that's $500 sitting around my house. I have the P90X Workout on DVD which I never even watched, cost me $120 - and I bet someone would buy it for $75.
Part of the goal is financial, but the other part is I hate clutter and hate having things just gather dust around my house which have financial value but i'm not using. For example I have a Toshiba Tivo Series 2 R/RW DVD player. It has been sitting in my closet for three years since I got the new Series 3 player. It has value, maybe $100-150 because if its recording capabilities. Heck, i'd sell it for $75 - i'm not planning to use it ever again, why keep it?
Why keep all the unused books on my bookshelves? Most are nearly worthless, and not sure if it is worth putting them on Amazon for $1 each, but I have a few nicer books which are definitely worth $15 each (like some unused cookbooks)
I have an idea for an app which I want to bounce off my engineering friends, which would speed up my selling idea. It involves using Red Laser. Not sure if I want to write about it on here, but I know it is a fantastic idea, if someone hasn't already invented it.
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