Finding Freedom

This is a Jackson Pollock painting entitled ‘No. 5, 1948.’  Though people are apparently reluctant to speak about it, the painting was recently sold for $140 million dollars, making it the most expensive piece of art ever purchased.

Now, maybe it’s just because I don’t have that kind of money, but I can’t imagine liking this, or any other painting well enough to want to spend that kind of money on it, especially, from an economic standpoint, with art being as just about the most subjective type of investment there is.

My hesitation to purchase would not stem from the painting’s abstract nature; I would be hard pressed to pay that much for Red Canna, which is one of my very favorite paintings.  Even as a self-professed art lover, I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much money.

I wonder what the buyer sees in it that I don’t.  It must be something pretty enduring to spend that much money on it.  I hope that I can appreciate something so much some day to make that price worth it.

According to a recent post over at the Freakonomics Blog, Pete Rose, the famous baseball player and manager who was banned for life from the game in 1989 for betting on baseball games, signed some baseballs with the inscription “I’m sorry I bet on baseball” for some of his friends who were memorobelia collectors.

Somehow, some of these balls got into the hands of other collectors, who opted to auction them off on ebay.

When Pete Rose heard about this, he started selling new balls with the same inscription over at his own website, thus devaluing the price of the original signed balls.

I think that this story is very interesting. My question is, was Pete Rose angry that somebody stood to profit over something that he had intended as gifts for his friends, or did he himself see an opportunity to make a few bucks, and he ran with it?

Disney has made over a million bucks in the last week from selling digital copies of some of its movies on itunes. Because of how well this went, the company is expecting to make over fifty million big ones by the end of the year.

What did they find out about the process? They found that the results of selling movies online made a negligible difference in their dvd sales.

I always knew that Disney was a source of innovative entertainment, but what didn’t really strike me until I read this article is the fact that they really are an innovative company. Companies have to be willing to adapt in order to continually achieve profits, and Disney has found and developed a new trend in entertainment moneymaking.

Good for them.

I am at home today, taking a sick day because, well, I just didn’t feel like my body was working like it was supposed to when I woke up.

When I think about it, besides the obvious immediate gratification of not having to work when you don’t feel like it and getting paid, in my mind, at least, it seems that the company cares for me enough to take care of me when I’m not feeling well. This, in turn, increases my morale and makes me very glad and thankful to have the job that I have, even if I don’t particularly enjoy it.

Because I’m thankful for my job, I’m more likely to do it well than if I were not thankful for my job, which, I imagine, is kind of why they have these policies.

It’s kind of interesting to reflect on how things that don’t specifically make sense in conjunction with one another (not working and getting paid) make sense when you think about them in a broader context.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are disappointed with how much money they’re making.

Do they,

A) Do nothing and hope things get better on their own,
B) Spend money on trying to get some better players,
C) Spend more money on scouting out the best college players, or
D) Change the team’s colors.

If you guessed D, you’d be right.

I have to say that I agree with the analysis in the article above, especially the lines, “Attention Diamondbacks: Fans will buy your merchandise and go to your games if your team does well. I don’t care if your team colors were baby pink and eggshell, if you made it to the World Series, you would have plenty of rabid fans eager to spend money on everything from Diamonbacks hats to Diamondbacks breast pumps.”

This is an issue that holds particular interest for me because I went through a situation that I think is very similar.

For my B.A., I went to a very small, accredited Christian college. The year after I graduated, the school, like the Diamondbacks, was finding it difficult to make ends meet. So, the administration decided that the best course of action to get new students was not to implement long lasting changes so that the course structure was better or seek out professors that may have been a little bit better at what they did, but instead, to change the school’s name.

And it makes perfect sense, when you think about it. Implementing lasting change is difficult; who wants to do that? Besides, when you’re going to college, you don’t want a name that you can recognize; you want something flashy, like, “A Legitimate College” or “President So and So’s Party Fun Time University.”

I just don’t get it. I don’t get why people will go for a gimmick when the obvious answer is staring them right in the face. Perhaps one day, the answer will come to me.

As I read articles like the one over at CNN that tell the story of a 23 year old woman who has been actively saving and investing since she was 16, I am encouraged. I feel similarly as I browse through the difference personal finance sites that, if you’re reading this, you likely write.

It is both fascinating and uplifting to see how each of us is progressing in our attempts to put our minds over our money.

So, I just wanted to say a quick thank you to the personal finance writing community for showing me, by example, the way to the straight and narrow way to financial freedom. Each of your personal experiences and bits of advice that you share with the world on your sites shows me the way to a better life.

Thank you.

It occurs to me that driving home to see your friends and loved ones over a long weekend should not be an exercise in figuring out whether you can afford it due to gas prices.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad that Shell, Mobil, Exxon, and the rest are having banner freaking years. Good for them; it must be nice to have a business where you can abritrarily run up prices by saying that “There’s a shortage,” or “The terrorist states are not sending gas,” or “I really hate you guys so we’re going to raise prices.”

What does bother me is when I see the CEOs on tv saying that, although they are making more money than they ever have in the past and although they feel really badly about it, there is no way for them to lower gas prices.

Yeah. I’m sure they feel really badly about it all the way to the bank.

For those curious, I did go see my family, and a good time was had by all. I just kind of got upset when I realized that I was excited to see gas at $2.85. I nearly stopped to take a picture, so that, when gas is $6 a gallon, I can remember the simple, good old days of a few months ago, when gas was $2.85 at select, crummy gas stations in L.A.

Gas company executives, you’ve made my list of people to punch in the face when I see you on the street. Here is my list so far:

1) Adam Corolla, and
2) Gas company executives.

Hopefully, Adam Corolla will never be a gas company executive, or else, I fear, my head will explode.

For those of you who are still living with roommates, let me encourage you to do something.

If you are like me, if one roommate moves out, you will oftentimes just look for a new roommate because it’s easier to get someone new to move in as opposed to having to move all of your own stuff.

However, when you do have the new person move in, work out a system whereby the new person has to pay some of the deposit. Whether the new roommate pays you or works something out with the landlord is inconsequential; the important things is that he or she pays money for a deposit to live there.

I did not do this. Because I did not make them pay, neither of my roommates cleaned a dang thing as they were gathering and taking their belongings elsewhere.

Believe me, you don’t want to be scrubbing the floor with the smell of Pine-Sol in burning your nose hairs at two o’clock in the morning when you have to be at work that very day, wishing that you had some recourse against your roommates who were either sleeping elsewhere or SLEEPING AT THE SAME APARTMENT YOU WERE OBVIOUSLY STAYING UP LATE TO CLEAN.

Ahem. I apologize for that. I’m just a little ticked, mostly at my own stupidity, although I am slightly ticked at what passes for being a reasonable, responsible person nowadays.

Oh well. At least I’ve got my health, right? And maybe some deposit money?

If you follow baseball at all, you have no doubt heard about Brett Myers and the Philadelphia Phillies. If you’re not a baseball fan, I will give a brief synopsis of the situation.

Brett Myers was arrested last week for hitting his wife. Upon getting bailed out of jail, the Phillies allowed him to pitch his next game as he is probably the best pitcher that the team has. The team has received much scrutiny for their decision, and the team let Myers take a leave of absence.

I can only think that the reason that they let him play in the game is that professional sports is a huge business, and you make a lot more money if you do well. What they were apparently not thinking about was the fact that most people in this country don’t like men who abuse their wives and don’t like people who pretty obviously try to sweep a serious issue under the carpet in order to win a game.

I haven’t heard about the fiscal impact for the team since they allowed him to play, but I will certainly keep my eyes open for the economic consequences. I can only imagine that ticket sales will suffer, but that is pure speculation.