Money Blue Book

I left the traditional attorney job behind a few years ago and now do finance and legal work on a contractual basis. I’ve been doing this for more than a year now and so far it’s been enjoyable, although not without its ups and downs. But then they don’t call it a job for nothing. I probably can go on and on about how miserable I was working as an attorney but I think I’ll save that for another day. Suffice to say, the legal field is overly saturated and the profession simply isn’t the lucrative and inspiring field it used to be. I think most attorneys today, including myself would be wary about recommending law school to those contemplating a field of study. I am constantly trying to tell younger friends to bypass law school and do something more worthwhile and meaningful with their lives, but they never seem to listen. They’ll know what I mean when they get out.

A Change Of Profession Is What I Needed

So here I am in my current job, working on a contractual basis in a field somewhat related to my area of study. The job security and rapid advancement opportunities may be gone, but my sanity and happiness have flourished ten fold. Working on a contractual basis, I now have the opportunity and time to develop and improve my various side ventures – things I’m quite passionate about. Of course, perhaps one day I will tire and choose to get back to the nitty gritty legal practice. Tax law and small business consulting maybe.

All in all, it was definitely worth the transition, although I do look back with tiny tinges of regret and musings of – what if? What if I had done something different with my life? What would be my dream job? I’m sure we’ve all pondered these questions at some point in our lives. Well here’s a list of a few fantasy jobs I wanted to have during different times in my life, starting with the most recent and working my way into childhood:

1. Sports Anchor – I currently love watching and following spectator sports. I love playing fantasy football and I take it seriously, spending a lot of time researching and tracking player and team performance statistics. My dream job would be to become a sports commentator for a major network like ESPN or even for a local television station. Everytime I watch Comcast SportsNet I always wish I was sitting on the sofa in front of the camera sharing my thoughts and predictions about my favorite sports teams. I have so much to say but no group to call an audience. My girlfriend is not into sports although I think she enjoys watching me get all excited when I talk about how my favorite teams are doing.
2. Investigative News Reporter – I think I see a trend here. I really should have gone into journalism as I love to write and speak my mind. I’ve always envisioned myself walking the news beat exposing bad business practices, defective products, as well as cracking down on white collar computer crimes. I think I would greatly enjoy chasing perpetrators down to get the story. I would probably focus my first investigative pieces on exposing online scammers, and those who engage in phishing and other illegal online activity.
3. Doctor - Like everyone else when they were young, I originally wanted to be a doctor – that is, until I realized how disinterested in the sciences I was. I started college as a biochemistry major on the pre-med track but ultimately shifted gears into computer science and finance. Eventually I went on to complete law school. I think if I had continued, I could have ended up becoming a doctor, although it would have been out of character for me. I’m simply not very passionate about medicine or the natural sciences.
4. Video Game Designer – When I got out of the pre-med track, I studied computer science for a year before I transitioned into finance. During the transition I initially wanted to become a video game designer. Ever since high school I loved playing role-playing video games and I always wanted to design them. When I was a kid I remember making my mom buy me an expensive computer paint shop program so I could dabble in graphic design. However I eventually grew out of it, although my interest for web designing and programming remained.
5. Pet Shop Owner – Okay, I know this one’s extremely random but when I was very little I wanted to run my own pet shop. I’ve had a variety of pets in my lifetime, including a parrot that I still own today. At the time I thought it would be so cool to have my own breeding facility where I could raise baby animals. Of course that’s before I got older and realized that I wouldn’t be able to keep them forever and would have to give them up to paying customers. Well, it was whimsical while it lasted.

So, now you know my current and past dream jobs. What are some of your own?

For those who haven’t seen it before, MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16” is one of the many things in television pop culture today that is seriously messing up the minds of kids today, leading them down the path of excessive consumerism and obsession with wealth and entitlement. The MTV reality TV show follows and documents the 16th birthday celebrations of upper class teenagers. Now these are no ordinary birthday parties. We’re not talking about a day at Dave and Busters or the bowling alley. On this program we have stretch Hummers, horses, live dancers, famous rap stars, decked out ballrooms, and budget rolls in excess of $300,000. Everything is paid for in cash or with quick obligatory swipes of the parents’ trusty Amex Black Cards or Visa Black Cards, indispensable and exclusive tools of the trade. You won’t see any “paltry presents” like Apple iPods or Gap clothing here. Instead, the doting parents of these spoiled rotten kids prefer to give them top of the line BMW’s and Land Rover’s, capped with red bows on top to quench their material thirst. The show, although quite entertaining, proclaims the non-stop need to spend, spend, and spend to the utter collective delight of all luxury car dealerships and luxury boutiques everywhere.

Spoiled Bratty Kids Come In All Sizes

The show features spoiled teens of all race, nationality, and even sex – black, white, Persian, and even shockingly, a few teenage boys among the mostly teenage girls. The show follows the same template, tracing the excitement and expectation of throwing a “sky’s the limit” 16th birthday bash. We get to know the teen as she brags about her wonderful lifestyle and how much she owns in the way of material possessions. The majority of these “daddy’s little girls” stomp their feet and pout until their rich dads buy them the dream party that they want. The mothers that usually accompany these prissy little girls are no different – encouraging and stoking their behavior. In one episode, one mother even ended up trying on the same expensive dress that her daughter was trying out, sending the daughter into an angry and competitive tail spin tizzy of materialistic proportions.

The Excessive Lavishness Knows No Bounds

The show always starts with an elaborate ceremony usually complete with stretch limos and servants to hand out the official decorative invitations to chosen members of the teen’s high school in a manner befitting a royal coronation. The party usually takes up an entire decked out ballroom, with servers, dancers, and show-stopping celebrity singers. $75,000 jewelry and dresses line their wardrobes, adding to the excessive opulence. Throughout each episode, the birthday girl’s teenage guests scream and “woohoo” about the historical nature of the event and how it will go down in history as the best party ever and how everyone will always remember this – to the collective eye rolling of every single television viewer in the United States, myself included.

The end of each episode is never complete without the mandatory birthday girl walking outside with her guests in faux both-hands-to-the-cheek amazement at the ridiculously expensive luxury car awaiting her. While the girl drives away in her birthday present, her throng of friends and guests are left hollering and cheering her on with lavish love, admiration, and envy at her fortune.

It’s Really Entertaining But Also Really Sad

The alarming thing is not that these teeny boppers expect to be thrown lavish over-the-top birthday parties, but it’s that their wealthy parents are so boastful and encouraging of such a superficial lifestyle. The show proudly shows off the birthday teen’s opulence and extravagance, seemingly suggesting that such actions are perfectly normal. There are never glimpses of the ordinary masses, as the birthday teen’s friends and guests are almost always all filthy rich as well, with material throngs and possessions of their own. We never see any bitterness or ridicule by the guests or outside observers as the critics have all been effectively filtered out.

The show is admittedly quite entertaining, but not for necessarily the right reasons. It instills the wrong values in children and younger viewers today, particularly those approaching their 16th birthdays. Rather than preaching hard work and dedication, the show encourages feelings of material entitlement in the nature of “if you loved me you’d buy this for me”.

However I must admit, My Super Sweet 16 is terribly funny and interesting to watch. But when I laugh at the foot stomping, pouty girls in the show, I am doing so in the same manner that I would while watching a celebrity train wreck such as the salacious paparazzi antics of Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. I laugh because it’s so stupidly funny, but at the same time I feel sad for them – for the type of persons their own parents have groomed them into one day becoming.

As for my own 16th birthday way back when, I got an ice cream cake custom baked by my mom. I rented a few Nintendo games from Blockbuster, invited 4 close friends over for a video game sleepover party, and partied like a rock star at home. I grew up just fine, although getting a luxury sports car as a present would have been nice.

How was your Christmas? Did you spend it all day with family and friends? Or did you manage to sneak out to watch Aliens vs. Predator like I did. Yes, I was one of those that ducked into the theaters on Christmas afternoon to watch this winter’s biggest sci-fi blockbuster movie on opening day. Only this time, I was sorely disappointed. It wasn’t even the movie itself either (although I thought it could have been better). It was my realization that I was paying way too much money for the opportunity to be crammed into a stuffy hot room with a crowd of noisy, obnoxious people, to watch a movie on a blurry movie screen operating on technology that probably hadn’t been updated in several decades. Watching the latest movie release at the local cinema simply isn’t what it used to be anymore. Why are movie tickets so expensive nowadays? Times have changed and I wonder if it’s time I did so too.

Movie Theater Tickets and Concession Stand Snacks Are Outrageously Overpriced

Christmas day afternoon I went to see the new Aliens movie with my brother. Going with the Christmas spirit, I decided to pay for everything. For two expensive movie theater tickets I shelled out a total of $18 at about $9 each. Two popcorns and two small sodas tacked on another $16 for a grand total of $34 for two people. Now, if I was a father with a wife and 2 kids, and assuming everyone bought the same customary number of snacks and sodas, the approximate cost for the movie watching experience would have been a whopping $68! For what you’re getting in return, can we say – much too expensive?

Movie Theater Projectors Can’t Compare to New Home Television Technology

With new viewing technology coming out every day and with flat screen, LCD, and plasma television prices dropping constantly, it really doesn’t make sense to spend such high sums to watch new releases on blurry movie theater projector screens anymore. I’m just starting to finally notice it, but the resolution quality of movie projector displays are terrible. Watching a dimly lit movie like Aliens vs. Predator in the theater was a major challenge as I had a hard time making out the figures and distinguishing the fight scene details that frequently moved too fast for the projection technology to keep up. It used to be that movie theaters offered the biggest and clearest screens, with the best picture quality and booming surround sound, but now this type of technology is becoming easier and cheaper to acquire for your own home entertainment system. Of course there’s nothing quite like watching new releases on a super large screen, but is it really worth the inconveniences, cost, and hassles of going to the movie theater anymore? I’m starting to think not.

Other Benefits Of Watching Movies At Home and Alternatives

At the movie theater, it was my misfortune to be squished next to several obnoxious viewers, including one fellow who kept making deep burping sounds. Another girl kept flipping open her cell phone light to check her text messages and another kept walking in front of me to use the bathroom. If I was watching the movie in the privacy and comfort of my home, I wouldn’t have this problem. I could go to the bathroom whenever I wanted, eat whatever snacks I fancied, and I could even watch it in my pajamas if I wanted to. Plus I wouldn’t have to pay so much money for such a disappointing viewing experience.

With services like streaming movies, Comcast On Demand, Blockbuster, Netflix, and other online rental programs, it makes me wonder what will ultimately become of the movie theater viewing experience? I suppose so long as boys and girls need to date, they will need movie theaters as a public social outlet. But I think unless movie theaters start shaping up by improving their screen technology, providing more spacious seats, and lowering costs, they will eventually be usurped by cheaper and more convenient alternatives, the same way video game arcades were eventually replaced by home Nintendo’s and Playstations.

I personally don’t think it’s the quality of the movie releases that’s the biggest problem. It’s the degrading viewing experience and lack of needed amenities that is leading me down the path of avoiding movie theaters altogether in the future. Why not provide extra amenities like earphone jacks and allowing viewers to bring their own headphone sets? Also, bigger is not always better – make the screen resolution higher and sharper! Why not improve the screen quality by transitioning into some type of high resolution LCD technology. Home entertainment systems can now be equipped with huge flat screen HDTV’s with Blu-Ray or HD-DVD storage technology. Perhaps the cost is currently too prohibitive for them, but for the movie theater industry’s sake, I hope such upgrade plans are in the works because they are likely to start losing customers like myself in the near future as we start beefing up our home television entertainment systems and stop going to the movie theater for our movie enjoyment needs.

Merry Christmas everyone! It’s exciting that Christmas is now upon us and I’m quite eager to find out what’s in store for the coming new year. I’m feeling a bit wistful right now so I’d like to look back at the wonderful and memorable presents I’ve received over the years since childhood and even into adulthood. Many of the presents continue to have a special place in my memories and I still remember them quite fondly.

I know some parents advocate the teaching to children of the true meaning of Christmas – the valuable lesson that Christmas is not only about presents and receiving gifts, but that it’s also about family, sharing, and spending time with loved ones. Although I believe these themes are worthy ones, I don’t think we should completely deprive children and the younger generation of the simple and innocent joy of receiving and giving presents. The simple act of giving and receiving presents is often an annual ritualistic event that holds a special place in the historical hearts and minds of many children, teens, and adults alike. Instead of trying to compel the thematic shift of Christmas from presents into the non-material aspects of the holiday season, we should try to encourage and teach children to not only receive, but to give. It’s an inevitable fact that children will ultimately grow up into a materialistic world. Rather than shield them or futility try to sanitize their environment, we should prepare them for reality and the future by showing them that the Christmas giving spirit is just as important or even more important than Christmas receiving. The ritualistic exchange of presents, offerings, and tidings is part of the growing up experience that shouldn’t be eliminated or watered down. Depriving them of such innocent childhood memories would be a shame.

So what are some of the childhood or even adulthood presents that hold special meanings for you? I’ve given nice presents in the past, but I look back and particularly remember the best and most touching presents I’ve received in my life. Here are some of my favorites:

1) Pet Hamster – I can’t recall at what early age my younger brother and I received our first pet, but it was a hamster! I loved that little fur ball and enjoyed watching him run like crazy on his hamster wheel, which clumsily squeaked as he churned. With my first pet I also learned a valuable life lesson – hamsters don’t live forever (lifespan 2-3 years) and eventually like all living things, they too will pass away.

2) Tiger Handheld LCD and Game & Watch Gaming Systems – These were my first portable video gaming systems, if you can even call them that. They were tiny plastic video game toys that displayed black LCD images that moved across tiny screens. They were so addicting and top of the line at the time. I remember prizing them as a little kid and keeping them safe from scratches and nicks.

3) Nintendo (Old School NES) – The original Nintendo Entertainment System was one of my all time life changing presents. I devoted so much of my childhood to it and spent countless allowance money and neighborhood lawn mowing income on buying pricey games for my Nintendo system. Much of my childhood memories from Christmases to birthdays centered around Nintendo and video game playing. Ah, priceless memories.

4) Star Trek Autographed Photo – I received this creative surprise during my recent adult years. My girlfriend had the fortune to take an acting class taught by actor J.G. Hertzler, the guy who played the recurring Klingon character, General Martok in the Star Trek sci-fi television series. I’m a huge Star Trek fan and followed the entire Next Generation show and later spin offs my entire life so this present really meant a lot to me. He was only a bit character but I loved the nostalgic surprise. Kapla!