Blahgorrhea

I cleaned up my bookcase and decided to get rid of some books. I left them sitting in a box for a week, planning to just take them to Goodwill, but then it hit me that I could sell them, and since I had recently inadvertently signed up for a seller’s account on Amazon.com, I figured “what the hell.” So I posted about 20 books for sale. Within 5 hours, two of them had sold. I was very excited. I packaged them up and sent them off, having pocketed about $8.00 those sales. Then when I got back from the post office, another book had sold. The next day, two more sold. I was in seven heaven, making money with practically no effort, ridding myself of books taking of space in my apartment, and sending books to people who wanted them. I was so happy with Amazon. But then… nothing. After that first 24 hour period of spectacular sales, not one book has been purchased in the subsequent weeks. Do you want some? Here’s what I am selling.

I am just like Larry Ellison. Well, to be more precise, I’m just as bad as Larry Ellison. Last Friday I stopped at Farley’s to get a cup of coffee before coming into work. Even though there were parking spots open on the opposite side of the street, I decided just to double park in the direction I was headed. I had done this many times before and thought that I would be fine for the few minutes it takes to get coffee: my hazard lights were on after all. Low and behold, as I walked out with my delicious cup of coffee, a police officer was writing a ticket. I verified that he was ticketing my car and accepted the ticket graciously when he handed it over, despite his pompous attitude. [Continue reading…]

On the walk back home through the Tenderloin I was approached by a woman who was in dire need of some spare change. As I walked toward her, she made a quick change in direction to bring us face-to-face, at which point she delivered her marketing message: “White boy, do you have any spare change? I need to get some…”. With her misguided plea of “white boy,” I was totally thrown off. Maybe a quick lesson in addressing your audience would do her some good.

Please forgive me for appearing snide, but this is just a fair observation about my life. I don’t consider myself rich, but I earn enough to be comfortable. I don’t think about when my next paycheck will arrive and how that money will be split up between rent and food, and I don’t wonder if I will have any left for entertainment. This style of living is in sharp contrast with a lot of Americans; according to AC Neilsen, 28% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Two of my good friends who own a house in San Rafael and just bought a Subaru Outback are definitely on the edge, as they put strong consideration into each purchase they make, trading off one purchasing decision for another. But I lead a different style of life, a style I call “living purchase to purchase.” [Continue reading…]

CitiBank has a great ad campaign going right now. They have billboards posted all over San Francisco with pithy sayings about how money isn’t the most important thing in life. While I enjoy reading the billboards, and while they do make me reflect (for oh so brief of a moment as I fight my way through stupid drivers and even more stupid pedestrians) on how life really shouldn’t be about money, I can’t help but wonder whether the company at the top of Forbes magazine’s Global 2000 list, a company with $1.4 trillion in assets, can really believe that money isn’t everything. Money is their entire business.