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Fantasy Football Leagues in the Workplace?

Linsey Knerl — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:11:28 -0400

It’s that time again. Football fans are gearing up for the excitement of a new season. The rest of the world is prepping for how to deal with it. And Football Fantasy Leagues are popping up everywhere – including at work. But is it a good idea?

Before I even get started, is there anyone out there who doesn’t know what Fantasy Football is? (Buehller?) It works like this:

Ordinary, everyday folks (usually in the office) become managers of their own imaginary, made-up football teams. They can recruit for the players of their choosing (using various methods for offense and defense) from among all the real-life players from either a college or pro season. (Trades can also be made during the season). As the season goes on, new picks can be made weekly, or they can choose to keep the same players. Points are given for achievements on the field, and are tallied through the end of the season. The manager with the most points for his/her team at the end of the season wins the Championship. (For more details on how it works and where to get started, check the Wiki page.)

Is it Gambling? Maybe. If it’s done purely for fun, no money-exchanged, it’s not gambling. If money is used as a condition of joining, then I consider it a “membership fee.” If bets are made on the outcome, then you might put it into the gambling category. Most people that participate in Fantasy Football Leagues within the workplace know what is considered acceptable, and what isn’t. Just follow along, and you’ll probably be OK.

So what’s the big deal? It’s actually a very big deal for many. By combining football with cash (which is often used as prizes or exchanged when drafting new players) the excitement can become too much for a workplace. A 2004 San Francisco Chronicle piece estimated that Fantasy Football Leagues cost businesses $36.7 million daily in loss of productivity. (With personal internet use already common in workplaces, is this really much different than excessively checking emails, viewing YouTube, or shopping on Ebay?) A slightly more recent USA Today article claims that Fantasy Football Leaguers spend an average of 34 minutes a day just thinking about their teams, and other sources have claimed over an hour of time per employee is spent dreaming about their teams (time that could have just as easily been spent scheming ways to kill your boss.)

Are there any advantages? Supporters of Fantasy Football in the workplace offer some unique solutions to keeping the leagues in the office. CNBC’s Darren Rovell weighed the benefits of using league time as an effective networking tool. While not totally convinced of its merit for bringing top execs together with the bottom-rung working class, he does explore the possibility.

As Fantasy Football invades the workplace, many employers are taking a no-tolerance approach to the seasonal ritual. Citing Fantasy Football as a form of gambling, they often include language in their employee handbooks which prohibit the game. Not all HR advocates agree on this approach, however. Many offices (22%) are more likely to ban Social Networking activity, such as Facebook and MySpace. The morale boosting capabilities of Fantasy Football can sometimes work in favor of employers. After all, some people need more than a paycheck to look forward to each day (and it’s got to be better than surfing NSFW sites or harassing their cubicle buddy.)

A workplace’s attitude toward Fantasy Football may depend entirely on what the higher-ups feel about football in general – fans seem to allow it more often than those who despise football. In largely female workplaces where football interest may be milder, you may be more likely to find Oscar Picks Pools or wagers on when the new secretary’s baby will be born. Although I’m not discounting the possibility of an all-female workplace Football Fantasy League (it has happened, I’m sure.)

What do you think? Does your work allow Fantasy Football? Do you wish they would? Do you even care? Let’s hear what you have to say!

Permalink | 3 comments | Linsey Knerl's blog | Channel: Career and Income, Art and Leisure, Career Building, Making Extra Cash

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Regifting: a simple how-to guide.

Paul Michael — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:07:25 -0400

By Paul Michael

We’ve all been there. You open a present with giddy anticipation, ripping the gift wrap away like a 10 year old on a sugar high. And then, as you open the box and peek inside, your brain searches for a way to act really happy…because the gift you have received is just, well, awful. And when the dust settles and the event is over, it’s time to start thinking about regifting. But be careful…there are rules to follow.

Some people see a big stigma attached to regifting. Personally, I think it’s fine if you follow a few simple guidelines. You don’t want to hurt the feelings of the person who gave you the gift, or the person who gets the regifted item. But look at the alternatives; you can just let the offending item it rot in your basement or garage; you can give it to charity; or you can put it out with the trash. So if you know someone who would really like the gift that just didn’t do it for you, where’s the harm?

I’ve combined my own rules with some research I did online and at my local library (yes, there are books and news stories on this…I kid you not). Generally, there seem to be some major guidelines that regifters follow to ensure everyone is happy. Here’s what I have uncovered.

1: The obvious rule first: don’t let anyone know this is a regift.
It’s amazing how often people have made it quite clear that I was receiving a gift that was from their reject pile. Sure, they dressed it up nice enough, with language like “I just would never have used this cool gadget but I know how much you need one.” It still makes you feel like you’re getting crappy old hand-me-downs. Of course, if someone’s giving me a brand new, state-of-the-art laptop or cool pair of sunglasses, my hurt feelings fly out of the window. But if it’s a nasty crystal picture frame or a hideous painting, I’d rather not know you hated it as well. Ignorance is bliss.

2: If you get an unwanted gift that is meant for display, do the right thing first.
As much as you don’t want to put that chintzy glass clown or fiber-optic lamp on display in your lovely abode, you may have to bite the bullet for a few weeks. The person who gave it to you will like to see it on display the next time they come over, otherwise they’ll instantly know that you were lying when you said “it was just fabulous.” So put it out on a hutch, coffee table or kitchen counter for a while. But keep the box, if it has one, and all the accompanying packaging and tags. Once your gift-giver has seen the item on display, they feel appreciated. Then when it disappears from view, you can make up an appropriate excuse (a little white lie) like “oh, the kids kept messing with it so it’s up in my bedroom.”

"Hmmm, didn't auntie Margie give this to you last year?"

3: Beware, the previously regifted gift.
Sometimes you’ll receive a gift that doesn’t quite feel right. Your Spidey Sense will tingle and you’ll realize, perhaps after some investigation, that this gift has already been through the regifting process. Now you’ve got problems. The last thing you want is for the gift to end up back in the hands of the person who originally gave it; not only will you look embarrassed, so will the person who gave it to you. And we don’t want friendships strained. My best advice…if in doubt, regifting is out.

4: Keep tabs on the gifts and the people who gave them.
When you receive a gift that is destined to be a gift once again, label it as soon as you can with the name of the person who gave it to you, and when they gave it to you. This is a simple habit to get into, but an essential one for regifting. Post-it notes are OK, although if they fall off you’re relying on your memory. I would suggest something a little stronger, maybe a Post-It in combination with an elastic band. Don’t use strong tape on something that will rip or tear the gift or packaging, that just looks cheap and could ruin a perfectly fine regiftable item. If you want, you could use a small notebook instead. Log items in the same way you would to make thank you cards for wedding presents and baby shower gifts.

5: Keep everything in the original packaging.
As I touched upon in part 2, you have to keep hold of all the original packaging, instructions, twisty-ties and anything else that accompanied the gift to keep it in that NEW condition. Even if you’ve never used it, a coffee machine or spanky new DVD player is less impressive when the instructions are missing and it’s rattling around inside the box. You can get away with packaging loss on some items, such as ornaments, photo-frames and so forth. But generally, if the packaging has gone bye-bye, so has your chance of regifting the item.

"Wow, thanks. Two things that I never thought would go together....because they don't."

6: Some items are bad regifting choices.
Some people say candles fall into this category, but I’d have to disagree. For a start, they can make up part of a larger gift, especially a gift basket. And some people genuinely like candles; if you know one of those people find a nice gift bag for the waxy present and pass it forward. However, you’ll need to be creative, very creative, with any of the following, so beware: books that have no tie to the person you’re giving it to; CDs or DVDs that are equally random, obscure or awful; clothing without the tags; shoes or sneakers (unless they’re spot on for both size AND style); useless appliances (come on, who really wants a “Clapper?”) If you feel a little uncomfortable or guilty about regifting any item, probably best not to do it. Of course, if you really don’t like the person you’re giving it to, but have to give a gift (like those Secret Santa deals) I’ll look the other way as you pass on a crappy DVD movie with a random autobiography taped to it.

7: If it’s used, it usually doesn’t count as a regift.
Sorry, but a sweater you’ve only worn a few times is not a regifter, even if you do have all the tags and the original gift box. Same goes for all other clothing, most appliances, anything in fact that you can get actual ‘mileage’ out of. Gift cards are also included here. It doesn’t matter if you only used $5 of a $30 card, that’s just tacky. However, I say “usually” because there are some exceptions to this rule that are covered in section 2. If it’s meant purely for display, like a photo frame, candlestick, painting or something in that same vein, you can “usually” get away with it. Make sure you give it a quick dusting first though, that’s a dead giveaway. Of course, if that person saw the item on display in your home, you’re in a whole heap of awkwardness.

8: Don’t wait too long to regift.
Time may be a great healer, but it doesn’t really do the regifter any favors. The older the brand new item becomes, the more obvious it becomes that this is a regift. If you can no longer find the product in the stores, if the packaging has been updated or if the company that made it went out of business ages ago, you’re stuck with that item. By all means try to sell it or give it to charity, but as a regift it stinks of “here’s an old thing I found in my basement, but hey, it’s never been used!”

9: If you can’t regift, there’s always Craigslist or eBay.
The web has opened up a world of choices to regifters. Now, if an item does go beyond its ‘”regift date” or has been gently used, there’s the option of the free classified ads on Craigslist, or the wider reach of eBay. In some instances the item you have for sale could now be a collectors item and you could get back more money for it than it was originally worth. This is also a great way to attack the idea regifting if you’re just against it in principle. Simply sell an unwanted gift to raise money for a brand new gift for that special someone in your life. You’re happy, they’re happy, and the person who originally gave you that gift…well, what they don’t know won’t hurt them, right?

9 ½: Replace old, ripped or scuffed gift wrap.
And if there’s a gift card with your name on it, well, do I need to say any more?

To sum up, regifting is a great way to pass on a gift if you’re watching your budget or want to see an unwanted gift go to someone who could genuinely use it. And as my mum and dad always told me, it’s the thought that counts anyway. As long as it’s done with someone else in mind, I don’t see the harm. Better to do that than throw it away or mindlessly chuck it in the spring-cleaning bag for Goodwill.

Permalink | 3 comments | Paul Michael's blog | Channel: Frugal Living, Life Hacks, Budgeting, Consumer Affairs, General Tips, Shopping

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Eco-Capitalism - How to make money from garbage

Xin Lu — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:54:39 -0400

By Xin Lu

Most of us probably have sold a few bottles and cans and got a couple dollars, but could you believe that some people have made millions or even billions of dollars from trash? Here are some stories of these innovative and garbage loving entrepreneurs.

Alchemy Goods - Eli Reich is the founder of this Seattle business where old bicycle innertubes are stitched together into messenger bags. According to BusinessWeek, he made his first bike inner tube bag after his messenger bag was stolen. The mechanical engineer soon received requests for his sturdy innertube bag and launched Alchemy Goods. Now he has a few employees and a whole line of products made out of old innertubes, seatbelts, and outdoor ad banners.

TerraCycle - I read about the story of Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer a few years ago and it was hard to forget. These two young men built a multi-million dollar company out of garbage through a lot of hard work and crazy experiments with barf inducing worms and solid waste. Their main product is a plant food made out of earthworm poop packaged in used soda bottles collected by kids all over North America. Their website still lists their main product as "worm poop fertilizer" and states that "TerraCycle Plant Food is the first mass-produced consumer product to have a negative environmental footprint".

Energy from garbage - Turning garbage into energy is not a new concept. Hundreds of garbage dumps across the country already capture the natural methane gas generated by the mountainous piles of solid waste. The City of San Francisco actually has a program that collects dog poop and turns it into energy through a anaerobic digester. Some cities sell the methane gas they produce from their garbage to energy companies and some others use the energy to power buildings, and many private companies are getting in on the garbage energy business. One company named Solena Group actually plans to build a plant in Gilroy, California to produce jet fuel from garbage .

Nine Dragons Paper - You probably have never heard of Zhang Yin, but this Queen of Trash from China is probably richer than every other woman in the world. She has a personal wealth of more than $1.5 billion and she got it all through recycling and manufacturing paper. She moved to America from Hong Kong in the 1990s and she remembered that China does not have many trees for manufacturing paper. So she scoured the garbage dumps of America with her husband and exported all of the paper she could get to China. Eventually her company Nine Dragons Paper made deals with American scrap yards and shipped huge amounts of paper back to China. Her company went public in 2006 and it is still growing because China has a insatiable demand for paper products.

The bottom line is that garbage is big business and some people are even risking fines and jailtime to collect it . Besides these examples in this article, there are thousands of companies and people around the world that deal with the processing, disposal, and transportation of garbage. Even so, the EPA estimates that only 32% of the United States' solid waste is recycled. Could there be a business opportunity for you in the millions of tons of trash we throw away every year?

Permalink | 3 comments | Xin Lu's blog | Channel: Entrepreneurship, Green Living

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Small, Cheap Steps to Weight Loss

Andrea Dickson — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:41:59 -0400

By Andrea Dickson

There really is no magic diet plan that can help you lose weight - the key is to burn more calories than you consume.

Eliminating calories from your diet doesn't have to involve drastic cuts or detailed meal planning. You don't need a gym membership to get exercise. If you prefer baby steps to great strides, try these tips and tricks for cutting calories from your diet and burning off some extra pounds. The results may take longer than what you would see with a crash diet or personal trainer, but because these changes are more incremental, you might find them easier to stick with. [Note: this is not medical advice; I'm just a blogger who refuses to pay for a Jenny Craig diet. As always, consult with your doctor before making any big changes in your diet or routine].

Eat Less

Eating less can be a bit tough, because we are often so busy and in such a hurry that we scarf our food down while standing up, or in the car. Also, so many people are emotional eaters that gorging becomes the trend, rather than the exception. Here are some simple ways to eat less.

Fiber and Water

You've probably heard that eating more fiber can help fill you up faster and keep you satisfied longer. You've probably also heard that drinking water before a meal can help you eat less. Well, there's an easy way to combine these two bit of advice into one: Metamucil.

[insert 'regularity' joke here]

Yeah, yeah, I know it's sort of a grandma thing, but it actually works. Metamucil is a fiber supplement in a powder form. You mix a tablespoon with 8 ounces of water and drink it before it gets too gooey. The taste is rather like Tang, but less overtly sweet. The sugar-free versions only have 20 calories per serving. Increasing your fiber intake can have a number of health benefits, including lowering cholesterol and reducing the risk of digestive issues in the future. It's important to get helpings of both soluble fiber (the kind found in Metamucil) and insoluble fiber (the kind you get in vegetables). Although they seem to counteract each other (soluble fiber absorbs water in your intestinal track, which means that it takes you longer to digest your food, resulting in a feeling of fullness; insoluble fiber sends the food through your intestines faster), they are actually complimentary.

If taken before a meal, soluble fiber (like the kind in Metamucil) will help you eat less by making you feel fuller faster. But if you eat enough insoluble fiber in your meal, your food will still move through your system in a timely manner.

It might sound like you're in for a real colon blow, but Metamucil is surprisingly gentle on your digestive track. I was surprised how much less I ate the first time I tried drinking a glass before a meal, and I didn't find myself stuck on the porcelain throne for days or anything.

Eat a Salad/Soup Course

I've written before about how eating meals in courses makes it easier to eat less. Anyone who knows me well knows that I really don't like preparing and serving food, but there are easy ways to break your meal into baby steps. One of these is to eat a vegetable bisque or salad course before you eat the rest of your meal. This can provide the aforementioned insoluble fiber, and will also fill you halfway up.

By the way, one of the only problems I have with salad is that I often find myself forced to drench flavorless lettuce leaves in a creamy dressing in order to make them halfway palatable. There are two things I have done to change avoid this:

1. Eschew romaine lettuce. I know it lasts a long time and is always crispy, but darn it, the flavor can be downright nauseating. I now try to buy more exciting lettuce (baby romaine or mixed spring greens or red leaf), especially when it's on sale for a 2-for-1 at Safeway.

2. Use herbs like they are any other green. I use my plentiful herb garden all the time, and I tend to eat most of the herbs raw. I'll throw plenty of basil, oregano, arugula, thyme, and tarragon into any salad, and the wonderful flavors more than make up for the relative blandness of the lettuce. As a result, I don't have to use an excessively decadent dressing - just a light vinaigrette will be enough to dress the whole thing.

By the time you finish your soup or salad, you'll probably notice that you're already partway full. Take advantage of this and only eat 50% of what you would normally eat for a main course.

Smaller Plates

American dinner plates are huge. I've quit using mine altogether, and serve my food on my salad plates. A very healthy serving looks positively HUGE when served on a smaller plate, and I can't really overload it in one trip to the stove.

Sit Down, Slow Down, Turn Off the TV (Mindful Eating)

It's much easier to overeat if you aren't paying attention to what, and how much, you are eating. Although it seems incredibly tedious to chew your food, put your fork down between bites, and drink small sips of water when you are finished chewing, it goes a long way into keeping you from eating too much. You might think it's purely mental, but the truth is, it takes between 12-20 minutes for your mouth and stomach to inform your brain that they are fully satisfied. Most of us can easily wolf down a foot-long Subway sandwich in 6 minutes.

Eating while watching TV or surfing the internet is a sure-fire method for gulping down an entire meal without realizing it. It's OK to have some distractions (radio in the background), but while eating, try to concentrate on the act of eating. It's a form of meditation that we don't generally practice, and it can be hard to be 'in the now' with such a mundane task, but try it once and see if it doesn't affect the amount that you need to eat in order to feel full.

Eat Decent Food

The key to eating slowly, of course, is to eat well. I don't mean that every meal has to be a gourmet masterpiece, but part of the reason we eat so fast is that we eat stuff that actually tastes pretty bad. Have you ever chewed a Doritos chip slowly and savored the taste? Probably not - chips are designed to be shoveled into our mouths at lightning speed. Try it one day - put a chip in your mouth and chew it very slowly, smelling the scent and noticing the texture. You may find, as I have, that it tastes odd and chemically.

Contrast this with the slow, mindful consumption of a ripe tomato or slice of freshly-baked bread with a smear of butter, and you'll understand why junk food and fast food are eaten quickly: ecause if you really take the time to taste them, you'll notice just how funky they are. You don't have to shop at Whole Foods to get good-tasting food - frozen meats and veggies can be made into delectable pot roasts and casseroles - the trick, though, is to eat food that is not heavily processed, but rather largely made from scratch. I know, I know - I personally don't make much of anything from scratch, but it's worth a try if you're particularly good at it.

Cut Calories

Cutting calories doesn't really have to be about deprivation. Try these tricks to cut a few dozen calories out of your diet.

Change Coffee Habits

While I don't loathe Starbucks (I actually quite like the one in my neighborhood), I think that morning beverages have gone too far. I have a former coworker who has a real love of Frappucinos, so much so that during the summer, she would get one every day at 10AM. If this were her breakfast, it might be one thing, but this was a midmorning snack. A midmorning snack that contains 420 calories.

A normal cup of drip coffee with no milk or cream has roughly 8 calories.

If you're in it for the caffeine, consider being a regular Joe and just... getting a cup of regular joe (I'm also quite fond of Diet Red Bull, despite my better judgment). If you crave the sweetness, ask for your drink to be made with half the normally allotted amount of syrup, and add Splenda if you need more sweetness. If it's the overall package (the sweet, the caffeine, the whip cream), order the same drink in a size smaller, or see if you can make such coffee drinks more of a splurge (every three days or so) rather than a daily event.

Skip the Beer/Wine (or water it down)

This one really pains me, because my feelings on alcohol are well-known. The hooch and I are dear friends. However, beer and wine contain a lot of calories, and even if you limit yourself to one drink per night, that's still an extra thousand or so calories a week. A Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve has about 130 calories in it. A Jack and Diet Coke has under 70.

A glass of red or white wine is still delectable if watered down into a spritzer using Fresca.

Exercise More

Exercise is one of the hardest things to desire once you are significantly out of shape. But you don't have to pour yourself into a pair of sweat pants and get tangled in a pilates machine to shed some pounds. Consider some of the easier options.

Park a Block Away

It's funny how some people will circle a parking lot for minutes trying to find a spot that is close to the entrance. Not only does it waste gas (and ultimately time, as it's faster to park far away and walk than to wait five minutes for a good spot), but usually, people who engage in this behavior are about to go into a mall and walk a good mile to two miles.

Rather than looking for that perfect spot, save time and money and just park a block away from the entrance of wherever you are going. It's not the biggest workout in the world, but the added exercise makes a difference over time.

Stride Around the Mall

Shopping burns calories. If you can happily window shop without blowing all your money, do it. Malls are generally comfortable and safe places to walk around, especially during cold winters.

Take the Stairs

Lordy, I hate taking the stairs, but the difference that it makes in your quads and hamstrings IS remarkable. If you have fewer than ten flights to go up (any more than that gets ridiculous), see if you can avoid the elevator.

Climbing actual stairs is much more difficult than the "stair climber" at the gym, so even people who work out regularly find themselves struggling to keep their breathing even after a six-flight traipse. Take your time - if you get winded, you can stop and rest. When I first started taking the stairs, I used to stop after three flights, walk across the length of the office building hallway, and then finish the rest of the flights.

Dance Around Your House

If you can't afford a Wii fit or just hate trying to get exercise in front of a TV, there's no reason you can't shake your booty all over your house for a decent workout. No one has to see you - draw the curtains or blinds, blast your favorite playlist, and make like a pudgy Paula Abdul (C-c-c-cold hearted snake! Look into his eyes...). Shake what your mama gave ya, and you'll find that, in time, you'll be jiggling less than before.

Permalink | 12 comments | Andrea Dickson's blog | Channel: Food and Drink, Health and Beauty

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Three paths to being a digital nomad

Philip Brewer — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:53:54 -0400

By Philip Brewer

I wanted to be a digital nomad before anybody--before the term existed; before the technology existed; before most people even imagined that it would someday be possible to earn a living without ever being in the same place as your coworkers, bosses, customers, or clients. Other people may have become digital nomads before I did, but nobody wanted to be one before I did.

Three obstacles define the three paths to being a digital nomad.

First, there was the technological barrier--one that has been largely overcome by the earliest digital nomads.

The Road-Warriors

People whose regular job required constant travel--salesmen, executives, managers and technical folks with far-flung teams--were nomads before they were digital nomads. It was on their behalf that the technology was gradually beaten into submission. I knew a lot of these folks--people who paid top-dollar for a computer (just) small enough that it would fit into a suitcase and (barely) light enough to be carried by one person. An excellent article in a recent Economist, quotes Paul Saffo as saying that "nomads" is the wrong term for those early strivers:

Since these machines, large and small, were portable, people assumed that they also made their owners mobile. Not so. The proper metaphor for somebody who carries portable but unwieldy and cumbersome infrastructure is that of an astronaut rather than a nomad.

Exactly so.

The technological barrier is down, now. The equipment is small, cheap, and highly functional. I never wanted to be a road-warrior, though. Having to show up every day at one specific workspace was bad enough--I most definitely didn't want to put myself in the position of having to show up at dozens of different specific workspaces. It was one of the paths that has eventually led to a kind of digital nomad, but not the path for me.

Long before the technology really supported the road-warrier, it became good enough (and cheap enough) that it was practical to create a fully functional workspace that wasn't at the office. The technological barrier, although not yet down, had become low enough that it could be easily stepped over. But close behind was a series of management and personal barriers.

The Telecommuters

People whose regular job can be done on a computer were digital before they were nomads. For almost twenty years now, the technology has been good enough that pretty much any digital job could be done at home, or really, anywhere--as long as "anywhere" was one specific place where the equipment could be set up and a data connection established.

Bosses never liked telecommuting--if they couldn't walk over and see you working, they were pretty sure that you probably weren't. And, since the sort of jobs that could be done entirely on a computer over a data link tended to also be the sort where managers--even managers with a good bit of technical savvy--had no idea how much work was actually involved in any particular task, there wasn't really any other way to tell if someone was working hard or hardly working.

The result of all that was that most managers would only let certain employees telecommute--the ones they trusted to work hard without supervision, and certain other key technical people who might leave the company if their whim to telecommute wasn't indulged.

Once the equipment got cheap--especially after it got cheap enough that employees could afford to buy their own--employers were quite prepared for employees to have workspaces at home. But that was just so that the employees could work more, not so they could quit coming into the office.

Still, telecommuting has grown. Lots of people do it now. Especially since fuel got so expensive, there has been a surge in people working at home one or two days a week. Obviously that saves time and fuel, while still giving the boss the chance to observe them working on the other days.

With the technical barriers down, though, the mere telecommuter can now be a digital nomad. The boss may imagine you sitting in a home office, working on desktop machine not much different from the one in your cubicle, but there's nothing to keep you from taking your laptop to the library or the coffee shop or the public park--anywhere you can get a network connection. In fact, if there's no danger of being urgently called into the office, there's nothing to keep you from taking your laptop literally anywhere--even halfway around the world.

Telecommuting is a second path to being a digital nomad. I did a little telecommuting, but it wasn't for me. To thrive as a telecommuter you need to be both self-motivating and self-limiting. Too little of the former, and you're not productive. Too little of the latter and your home office turns into a home sweatshop. (It's very easy to find yourself working from 6 AM until 10 PM, checking email at all hours, feeling pressure to be always-accessible since people can't just catch you in the hallway at the office.) With just a little experience at it, I found that I suffered from both those deficiencies, so I avoided telecommuting after that.

The hard work of crossing the managerial barrier is largely done--telecommuting is a fact and most companies have policies allowing limited forms already. You can't really look to others to cross the personal barriers for you--you have to do that yourself. If you find your way past those, there's really only one remaining barrier--money--that keeps people off the ultimate path for the digital nomad.

The Freelancers

The technology is cheap and easy. If you don't have a regular job, you don't need to get anyone's permission to telecommute. As a freelancer, you can work wherever, whenever, and however you want. The limiting factor is earning enough money to support yourself.

You can freelance at just about anything. Software is big, as is writing (fiction, non-fiction, screenplays, poetry, blogs...), and the arts (graphic design, photography, music, sculpture, painting, drawing, architecture...). Especially big are the specific tasks that came of age at the same time as the technology of the digital nomad--freelance web design, for example. There are freelance researchers, freelance editors, freelance accountants, freelance technical support. Of course, you're really only a digital nomad if a large fraction of your freelance work can be done digitally--there's not much call for digital massage therapy or digital hairstyling--but the range of things that can be done on-line keeps growing.

If you're of an entrepreneurial bent (or know someone who is), you can go the route of the "virtual corporation"--put together (or join) a small team of people who come together to create a new product, outsource anything that they don't have the expertise to do themselves, and once they're done, go their separate ways. (This sort of thing is very scalable. See Tim Ferriss's The 4-Hour Workweek for some examples of what amounts to one-person versions of this sort of business. There's also some info in my review of the book from last year.)

You can make money at any of these things. Some people can make a lot of money doing freelance work. But for most people, freelance work is going to pay less than they can get working a regular job. To make it pay even a large fraction as much will likely require working a whole second parallel job (marketing your freelance service) plus a third parallel job (managing the business--invoicing, collecting, accounting, etc).

This is why I talk so much about frugality. Maybe you can earn a lot of money and maybe you can't--but anybody can get by on less money. And, if you can get by on what you can earn freelancing as a digital nomad, you can be as free as anyone has been since hunter-gatherers took up agriculture.

It's what I've always wanted to do.

Permalink | 9 comments | Philip Brewer's blog | Channel: Career Building, Entrepreneurship, Making Extra Cash

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Personal finance tips from around the web

Will Chen — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:00:08 -0400

By Will Chen

4 ways to improve your resume - Free Money Finance
How to really win the lottery - Get Rich Slowly
Quicken 2009 discounts - Five Cent Nickel
Dave Ramsey's baby steps - Consumerism Commentary
7 ways to save on driving expenses - Mighty Bargain Hunter

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How Much Does it Cost Every Time you Get Into Your Car?

Nora Dunn — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:00:10 -0400

By Nora Dunn

I recently found myself living out in the countryside near Melbourne Australia. And aside from gas being referred to as “petrol” among other Australian idiosyncrasies, living out here could be equated with life in the countryside just about anywhere:

Anything within 50 kilometers (31 miles) is considered “close”
You have to drive to get anywhere (sometimes including your own front gate)
The cost of living can be more expensive (depending on how judicious and creative you are)

And last but certainly not least:

You will spend a small fortune on gas. Petrol. Whatever.

Here in Australia, if the price of gas is much below $1.50/liter (the equivalent of about 40cents/gallon), people practically dance in the streets with joy; it regularly hovers at a price point much higher. And so one day driving back from running some errands in town on a week when I had traveled into town more than I would have liked, I glanced down in shock at my gas gauge: empty. It seemed that I had consumed more gas in the last week than I had realized.

This led me to a minor budgeting revelation: Every time I travel into town, I spend almost $10 in gas. This was a shock to the system; if there was a bus, I would have happily taken it to be sure. But out here, no such thing exists. (Such is the price you pay to live in the country; a price happily paid by most who live here).

This revelation led to an immediate change in attitude towards driving:

Carpooling is now an active goal, if not a necessity (not only for the environment, but also better value when driving).
A trip into town doesn’t happen unless at least three separate and important tasks can be achieved.
Mail order is king!

When I started to even more closely examine the cost of gas/petrol, I realized how much more there is to driving: insurance, maintenance, and wear & tear for starters. If I averaged out the cost of these factors and added them into each trip into town, my excursion shoots up even further to approximately $13.

$13 just to go into town; to get some groceries, make a social call, or see the dentist. That’s not pennies. And here’s the corker: Although I live in the country, town is not all that far away, and it is all highway driving.

How many people who live in the city (or a bedroom community) commute 20 miles or more to work, and in stop & go traffic no less (which increases the cost of gas and wear & tear)?

How many people who live in the city (and commute in their cars) actually pay higher insurance premiums to do so?

How many people who live either in the city or the country don’t think about all this every time they get into their car?

So the next time you say you’ll just “hop in the car” to nip off somewhere, think about how much that little trip will cost you. You may decide in the end that the trip doesn’t have to happen today, or that maybe you can kill two birds with one stone by adding another errand to your list.

At the very least, it pays (literally) to figure out for yourself how much it costs every time you get in your car. Only then can you make a rational frugal decision as to whether or not putting the key in the ignition this time will fit into your budget, and not just a life of convenience.

Permalink | 13 comments | Nora Dunn's blog | Channel: Budgeting, Cars and Transportation

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Dumbest packaging ever?

Andrea Dickson — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:17:58 -0400

By Andrea Dickson

I understand the need for clean, sterile packaging of food. We live in an era (soon to be ending, mind you, if you believe the peak oil people) in which food travels great distances before it arrives in the massive grocery stores where we purchase it. It is true that frozen peas need to be placed in some kind of container for shipping, and a plastic bag or a thin carboard box are currently appropriate methods for keeping all those rolling green balls in a single package.

However, we'd be naive to think that our food is merely grown, harvested, processed and packaged. The agro-industrial complex is alive and functioning, and millions of dollars of research and thousands of man-hours go into determining the best packaging for, say, a can of beef stew.

I understand the business need to keep consumers interested in buying your products, but there's a side to the food marketing that really bugs the heck out of me. And that's the way in which the same food is repackaged in a novel way, and pitched to the consumer in such a way that makes it seem like we just HAVE to have it, when in fact:

only actual difference is the packaging
the packaging causes the food item to cost more
the packaging is unbearably superfluous

Take Blueberry Blasters, which I saw recently at a local Safeway. One normal package of blueberries had been split up into four individual... well, servings, I guess. It's sort of hard to describe the containers used without giggling a bit. A plastic narrow cylinder about four inches tall is topped off by a big plastic blueberry that serves as the lid for the bottle. The cylinder has holes punched in it so that you can rinse the blueberries in the bottle without having to go to the trouble of removing them and washing them.

The cost of four of these oddly-phallic containers of blueberries rang in at around $7. Seven dollars??! This is the same weight and class of blueberries that come in less sexy plastic boxes, which cost between $2-4 (in season).

I can't, for the life of me, figure out why the current method used to prepare and eat blueberries is so arduous as to necessitate the repackaging of these fruits into lidded tubes for easier consumption. Which part is difficult? Is it removing the berries from the plastic box to wash them? Is it touching the berries directly with your fingers that turns people away from fruit?

What marketing bozo was sitting around one day and suddenly said to himself, "You know what's really hard to eat? Berries! If they only came in a sort of tube that I could use to pour them directly into my mouth...."

I was similarly irked by Gogurt a few years ago. I can understand similar packaging for frozen, drippy treats, like popsicles, but since when did raising a spoon from yogurt container to mouth get to be so difficult that we need to suck yogurt from a flexible tube? How long before we end up like the humans in Wall-E, crusing around on hovering scooter, too fat to walk, simply slurping our meals through a plastic straw?

And there's no actual blasting going on in Blueberry Blasters, unless I misunderstood the instructions for the containers. You're not (thankfully) able to use some sort of air gun to shoot blueberries across the room into someone's mouth. The blueberries themselves, while no doubt very tasty, don't explode in your mouth like Pop Rocks (again, thankfully). It's just a stupid alliteration that some poor copywriter was forced to come up with.

Besides being shocking waste of marketing and sales time and materials (how much plastic do you NEED to sell someone a few ounces of blueberries?), Blueberry Blasters are just another product in a long line of products that serve to remind you just how little time you have left to do anything. Feeling the pressure to work extra hours or more than one job so that you can afford your mortgage or health care? Carting kids around to a variety of sports and hobbies? Overstretched with volunteer activities? No time left to do things like allow produce to come into contact with your outer epidermal layer? Don't worry! We've created an even easier way to get your nutrients without performing tedious, time-consuming tasks like food-prep.

I can just envision a commercial touting this product as an "on-the-go" kind of snack, but really, aren't blueberries ALREADY an on-the-go kind of snack? I mean, the darn things have a skin that keeps all the insides neatly contained, are easily washed, don't require peeling or slicing or de-seeding - they're just about the most easily-eaten item in nature.

What's next? Pre-masticated bananas wrapped in plastic so we don't work our jaws too hard? IV drips for beer? Wait. Well, that one might actually be OK.

Of course, the stupidity of re-packing blueberries to make it more fun and appealing is that it doesn't actually save you any time. Pre-sliced apples almost make some kind of sense, even if the time saving is less than a minute, but blueberries? You still have to wash the blueberries before eating them, and you will still have to use one or more appendages to lift the container to your mouth. The only advantage to eating Blueberry Blasters is that you get to tip the berries into your mouth from a blue-tipped phallic tube. The shape of the container makes me wonder if the design wasn't the result of some kind of wager ("Dude, I'll bet you a six-pack of Alaskan Amber that you can't get a vaguely penile-like container through the design process without someone noticing" "Oh, yeah? You're on!"). Oh, and you get to pay more for the honor.

Listen, I'm not terrible busy in life; I've mostly limited my hobbies to drinking and napping. I don't have any children to care for, or a partner to worry about - so things are more or less easy for me. But even with all that ease, sometimes I feel too tired after a long day of work to make dinner from scratch, and prepared foods are a life-saver. But there's a point where I draw the line, and Blueberry Blasters stepped WAY over that line.

I keep Googling "Blueberry Blasters" to see if it's some kind of hoax created to get bloggers with too much time on their hands riled up over stupid packaging, but alas, I have found nothing. Has anyone else seen these little gems while shopping?

Permalink | 20 comments | Andrea Dickson's blog | Channel: Consumer Affairs, Green Living, Lifestyle, Shopping

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The disappearance of real America - my guest post at Zen Habits

Paul Michael — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:24:47 -0400

By Paul Michael

I'm not one for believing in fate or destiny, but the timing on this was spot on. After just finishing a terrfiic documentary called "America Unchained", about one Brit's quest to cross the US without giving any money to "the man," I was asked if I wanted to write a guest post at Zen Habits. Did I? You bet I did. And I had just the topic.

Here's the introduction to whet your appetite. If you like what you read, pop over to the excellent ZenHabits and check it out here .

As a young boy growing up in a gray, rainy seaside town in England, I had a fascination for America; maybe even a love affair. America was the land of opportunity, sure. But it was also vastly different and eccentric (in a good way) from state to state. So when I came to the U.S. around seven years ago, I was somewhat disappointed. The roads were lined as far as the eye could see with signs for fast food chains, corporate-ran hotels and big, bad gas companies. Where was the other America? Had she disappeared?

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Leo at ZenHabits for letting me write a guest post. I read ZenHabits frequently, so being given the chance to write a post was something I jumped on. And hey Leo, my wife's from Guam...gotta love breakfast at Shirley's.

Permalink | 1 comment | Paul Michael's blog | Channel: Frugal Living, Consumer Affairs, Lifestyle, Shopping

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My Purchase Rang Up Wrong! Could the Law Be on My Side?

Linsey Knerl — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:36:53 -0400

By Linsey Knerl

Whether you coupon, frequent the sales, or just like to keep your eye out for everyday low pricing, most of us are very aware of what we pay for our purchases. As the economy continues to worry shoppers, we will become increasingly more conscious of the prices we pay for everyday items (toiletries, food, and medicines) as well as the big-ticket ones.

Despite our best intentions, however, pricing errors do occur. Whether you get overcharged for an item, pay for more than one of something, or simply find a discrepancy between the shelf price and the scanned price, there are some very important tips you need to know about.

Federal law protects consumers. While it has been awhile since the last Price Check report conducted by the Staff of the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology, it shows that the federal government has improper pricing and scanning on their radar. Weight and Measures officials tracked the accuracy of price scanners and register pricing in over 35 states to get the results revealed in the report. Pricing errors occurred more often in sale-priced items, and overcharges were slightly less common than instances of not charging enough. (Surprising, isn’t it?) The consequences for pricing errors can be a burden; In addition to lost revenue by not charging a customer enough (which is usually remedied less often than when a customer is overcharged), stores who display high numbers of pricing errors are subject to substantial fines or administrative and judicial orders.

State and local ordinances can remedy the problem. Once you have realized that you were incorrectly charged for your purchase, there are actions you can take to get your money back. At the time the study was released, not all states participated in the NCWM Procedure (which sets forth a method of sampling and verification for proper pricing and register scans.) States like Michigan, however, take the role of consumer advocate one step further. Their remedy (the Scanner Law) offers the following to overcharged customers:

If a customer is charged more at the register than the item is marked, they may get back the difference plus 10 times the difference (up to $5) as a bonus. The bonus is only available if the purchase is completed; pricing errors that get corrected at the register and don’t result in overpayment are not eligible.

Customers do not have to try to remedy the charges in store during their visit. Consumers have up to 30 days to ask for their money and bonus, and can do so with proper documentation via mail. The seller has two days to give your money back, and must do so in legal tender (cash), not gift certificates or store credit.

If the seller refuses to pay the difference and the bonus, actual damages or $250 may be sought (whichever is greater) plus attorney’s fees up to $300.

Multiple pricing errors on the same order will be honored by payment of the difference on all items, but only one bonus per order will be given.

Certain items do not have to be marked. These can include vending machine products, items sold by weight that are not prepackaged, live animals, packages of 20 or fewer cigarettes, and greeting cards that have a readable coded price on the back of the card.

(Note: This is an example of the Scanner Law in the state of Michigan. To get the full details of your own state or local jurisdiction, please contact your local attorney general.)

This article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer explains a recent audit for Ohio retailers and their rate of accuracy in pricing (a very interesting read.) While it reports that pricing errors are fairly uncommon, I may have to take issue. (For those of us who regularly watch sale pricing, request ad matches, and coupon, the rate of error increases dramatically. Plus, I think that we are more inclined to watch for pricing errors and would be more likely to catch one if it did occur.)

Do you know the pricing law in your state? How have pricing errors affected you in terms of time and money? Has recent pricing errors caused you to change your shopping habits (i.e. choose the self-scanning register, shop online, etc.)?

Permalink | 9 comments | Linsey Knerl's blog | Channel: Personal Finance, Consumer Affairs

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Personal finance tips from around the web

Will Chen — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:02:24 -0400

By Will Chen

10 ways to snap out of a bad attitude - All Financial Matters
How to pick the right gas card - The Digerati Life
An illustarted guide to debt reduction - No Credit Needed
How to choose an online bank - Dumb Little Man
How to stop overspending on gifts - The Simple Dollar

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