May 2009

Ikea break!

May 31, 2009

M’hijito called early this afternoon to ask if I’d like to drive with him to the far side of the galaxy, for the purpose of visiting Ikea. The real, ulterior motive was to get my car, not me, to go with him: I have a van; he drives a rickety, out-of-production Toyota sportsoid car. Couldn’t [...]

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Panzanella: Use-it-up Italian comfort food

May 30, 2009

The middle of last week, I noticed I had several ends of bread loafs languishing (but not yet moldy) in the back of the fridge, and on the countertop a bunch of overheated tomatoes threatening to spoil. What to do with this stuff to avoid (gasp!) throwing out food? Simple: panzanella. Panzanella is a kind [...]

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Fight a-brewing over COBRA

May 29, 2009

Whatever it is, GDU makes it hard. Yesterday evening I discovered they’ve got a way to do people who are forced to take early retirement out of the reduced, marginally affordable rate for COBRA. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 mandates that employees who are canned involuntarily are to pay only 35 percent [...]

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Moments of Fame

May 28, 2009

As I mentioned a while back, Greener Pastures hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance this week, where Funny’s question about what you’ll do if credit card companies decide to take out their rancor over the new federal legislation mandating slightly fairer prices on freeloaders like you and me who pay off their balances each month. [...]

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Get those estimates!

May 28, 2009

Whenever you need to get work done by a contractor—any contractor—be sure to ask for several estimates. The range of prices you’re offered can be amazing! Case in point: We need to have three short lengths of gutter installed along the freshly painted eaves of the downtown house. I’d like to get those seamless make-it-onsite [...]

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Student Loans: Whither young college graduates?

May 27, 2009

This morning the Times reports that student loan forgiveness programs are faltering. Designed to draw young people into crucial but often low-paying careers such as teaching and nursing, these state and nonprofit programs can no longer generate the cash required to underwrite the loans they agreed to help with, leaving altruistic young men and women [...]

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