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Wii Sells 1 Million Units

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Nintendo said from the beginning of their international Wii launch that they wanted to sell 1 million units in a matter of weeks. After debuting in Japan (and selling out on day one), they’ve done just that.

It really is amazing, isn’t it? Sony has their entire company promoting the PlayStation 3, and the XBox 360 is pushed by the biggest brand in software, Microsoft. Yet, the Japanese company that defied the odds in the early 1980’s and fought against the industry trends in the 1990’s and early 2000’s is now the growing power once again.

So where does this leave the console wars? Is high definition gaming really a huge draw for today’s gamer? But the pressing questions at the moment are really: can Microsoft figure out a way to bust the Wii’s momentum? More importantly, with only 360,000 or so units sold, is the Playstation 3 a bust?

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Tax Like a Democrat, Eliminate Like a Republican

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Governor Money Bags (Corzine, for those of you who don’t read this blog), seems to be playing an interesting game with the state’s public education system. On the one hand, he raised all of our taxes to an almost maddening level a few months ago, but now he wants to cut wasteful government spending on superfluous school districts.

Is this guy a Democrat or a Republican?!?

Personally, I like what Money Bags is up to with this school district consolidation plan. How many other states in the union actually have school districts that exist, WITH school boards, that have no schools under their jurisdiction? Oh yeah, New Jersey has those!

So as bureaucrats who are concerned about their jobs being cut get ready to head to Trenton and rally against Money Bags’ proposed legislation, I say good job, Mr. Governor! Now cut back our taxes!

Trying to Find a Way Out

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Most of you know that I was featured in a USA Today article dealing with student loan debt. Well, like I said yesterday, I’m sick of these bastard student loans and I’m not even halfway through the first year of my 25 year repayment period!

In order to really start combating these loans, I’ve begun to look for ways to reduce my monthly expenses. This is the first time that I’ve done this in about four years and when I did it then, I was making a salary that was less than half of what I make now and I was saddled with around $15,000 in a car loan debt and $20,000 or so in credit card debt. When all was said and done, I was free of those debts about two and a half years after I started attacking them.

Now, with more money coming in, but much greater expenses on my monthly balance sheet – I’m going to attempt to break the back of my debt again (before it breaks me!).

The first stroke in this financial war was canceling my Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring that cost me $13 per month. I needed that service because those rotten student loan people actually tried to play with my credit! Thankfully, the Experian folks figured it out real quick and rectified the situation asap. However, I’ve got to make all of the cuts that I can.

The second fight was bringing my monthly cell phone bill down about $30 per month by reducing my text messaging plan and reducing my data (internet) plan. I might reduce the actual calling plan from Verizon’s America’s Choice 900 plan to the America’s Choice 450 plan, which would save another $20 per month. I’m trying to be practical about it, though, and I want to train myself to use the cell phone less and use the landline office phones more before I reduce my calling plan, though.

Now, the next step in the battle was an interesting one. I’ve been automatically putting away $100 per month in an Orange Savings Account (which I raid occasionally when I have an emergency). I canceled that automatic savings plan. By doing so, I’ve now saved myself about $150 per month.

The areas where I’m looking to cut now include eating out, grocery costs, entertainment costs, and charitable donations. Yes, I’m even cutting back on my charitable donations. I’ve made a few promises in terms of charity, but once those are fulfilled, I’m going to spend a lot less on charity until I start to make a major dent on these student loans. Then I’ll actually have more money to send out to more worthy causes than the government’s pockets!

So that’s the beginning of my next war on my personal debt. The ultimate goal – debt free by age 30. Should be an interesting battle, huh?

Michael Richards is an Idiot

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What idiot in their right mind goes off on stage like this bum did? Sure, it was an obvious “moment of insanity,” but that’s becoming the common cop-out these days and I’m sick of it.

I’m also sick of morons like Patrice O’Neal saying that there is nothing wrong with what Richards said because “all white people think that anyway.” That’s a ton of horse shit. O’Neal is no better than Richards (in talent or thoughts) when he says something stupid like that.

Moral of the story – stop judging people based on race, creed, or sex and START judging people based on what they do in their lives. If someone is a thief or a sneak and is convicted of being such – judge him accordingly. If someone is a great guy but looks a little off – judge him on his character, not his physical appearance or color.

I mean come on – isn’t it almost 2007 already?

I Hate Student Loans

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If I only knew then what I know now, I would never have taken out student loans to attend college. These fucking things have me bound up by the balls until I can make a considerable dent in them. I looked at buying a small condo last week – there’s no WAY I could afford it paying out $800 a month in student loans.

It’s fucking criminal that the government is making all of this money off of my loans and THEN making me pay all of these bullshit taxes – some straight out of my paycheck (SSI anyone?)!

What happened to no taxation without representation?!