I came across these “funny math” examples while blog-surfing yesterday and they made me laugh. Always a good reminder of how much of a nerd I am

Oh how I miss school…

So I recently added a bunch of new blogs to my Google reader and one of the areas where I really wanted to get more info about was personal finance. I’ve been quite meticulous in managing my finances ever since I took a wealth management course during my final semester at U of I. I’ve got a personal cashflow spreadsheet that tracks all my finances and also projects my cashflows 10 years forward (based on some assumptions that I’ve made such as average annual pay raises, average rate of return on investments, etc.). All in all, I think I’m on track to meet my financial goals over the next decade.

Yet, you don’t know what you don’t know, and I just want to see what others out there are doing about managing their finances, and if there are tools that I could be using to do a better job. I’ve only been tracking these blogs for a week now, and I’ve already got a bunch of cool info. Here are some of the blogs that I’ve subscribed to:

• 2MillionBlog - [Feed]- One person’s journey to reaching their goal of attaining a net worth of $2 million. This one has some good articles and is an interesting read to see what kind of things he does on a day-to-day level in order to slowly increase his net worth.
• CFO: Chief Family Officer - [Feed] - This one is written by an attorney who is also a mother and a wife, but most importantly, the financial manager her family. She’s got some good insights, but she hasn’t been posting much recently because she is expecting another baby.
• FreeMoneyFinance - [Feed] - This is a great blog with some super practical advice. I’ve already done quite a few things that make sense, or simple things that people should be doing as regular maintenance for your finances.
• fivecentnickle.com - [Feed] - This one has a lot of useful posts also - and usually has multiple posts per day.

I’m sure I’ll be posting links to interesting stuff that I find on these, just so share the wealth

I recently added the first lense to my SLR collection (other than the one that came with my Canon 350D kit), and its been a fun time since. I got the Canon 10-22mm wide angle lense from Amazon.com (link).

The lense is a wide angle lense, and its is quite amazing the change in perspecitive you get when you use it compared to the standard range zoom lenses. Here is an example. I took a picture at 18mm, which is the lowest focal length on the kit lense, from the corner of the master bedroom, and then I took one at 10mm. Here’s the difference:

Old lense perspecitive -

New lense perspective -

Need I say more? Anyways, you’ll be seeing a lot more wide angle photos on the photoblog since I havn’t change the lense to the old kit lense at all since I got this new one. I carry the old one around, but the new one is just so niiiiiccceeeee!

PhotoFriday.com is a website that hosts a weekly challenge for photographers and photobloggers. A new theme is announced each Friday, and everyone has one week to submit their entries that fit that theme. Once the submission for a theme is closed, visitors to the site can cast votes for the entries that they feel are “noteworthy.” The voting period lasts for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. After this period, the votes are tallied up and the six entries that received the most noteworthy votes are featured.

I have had the pleasure of having two entries within the last month being selected as noteworthy.

An interesting article I came across this morning about shooting in RAW vs. jpeg format when taking digital pictures.

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/raw-vs-jpeg/

So, you’ve forked over at least $600 (but probably $1000) for your first DSLR camera. You have more buttons, dials, and menus than you know what to do with, even after reading through the fat booklet that came with your camera and explains its usage in ten differnent languages.

It’s all you can do to understand ISO, shutter speed, and how less is more when it comes to aperture. This beast of a camera can produce files in a Raw format, whatever that means, but it also has the nice comfortable JPEG format that we all know and love.

Like me you probably happily shoot in JPEG for quite awhile - getting used to the myriad of options available to you. One day you look at that Raw setting and ask, “should I be using Raw for the best quality? What is Raw, exactly?”

Check out http://yes.com. You just enter in your zip code, and it will tell you all the radio stations in your area. you can click on the radio station to get a minute-by-minute playlist of the songs they have aired.

Japan pictures are up! I’m in the process of writing up the day-to-day account of the trip, but in the meantime you can view the photos at http://albums.shayanmerchant.com/weekend_excursions.

This is something that has surfaced repeatedly thoughout my life since many of my friends are East Asian. Finally someone has compiled the evidence and made a scientific statement with real proof!

http://www.indiansareasian.com/

Some of my favorite variables considered in this experiment:

Leave it to an Indian to make a website about this…

One of the radio shows that I love to listen to is called “This American Life”. It is a show that brings forth the most thought provoking and interesting stories about life in the United States. Each Friday’s show has a theme and the show is presented in a set of acts; like a play.

A few shows back, the theme was “Mind games” (feel free to listen to the show online). The second act of this show was about a group of people in New York who pull off these “missions” to basically add some spice or excitement into strangers’ lives. They call themselves “Improv Everywhere” and they say that they are in the business of causing scenes.

Here are some of my favorite missions:

I’d like to start something like this in Chicago, unfortunately I’m never there - maybe I should stick to participating in something that already exists (more alt travel to New York)!

So part of the whole consulting gig is the travel… so I’ll keep this blog entry updated with where I am.

Nov 28th - … - Chicago, IL
Nov 25th - Nov 27th, 2006 - Granada, Spain
Nov 22nd - Nov 24rd, 2006 - Tarifa, Spain/Tangier, Morocco
Nov 20th - Nov 22nd, 2006 - Sevilla/Cordoba, Spain
Nov 18th - Nov 20th, 2006 - Barcelona, Spain
Nov 15th - Nov 17th, 2006 - New York, NY
Oct 18th - Nov 14th, 2006: Chicago, IL
Oct 15th - Oct 17th, 2006: Dallas, TX
Oct 14th - Oct 15th, 2006: Chicago, IL
Oct 12th - Oct 13th, 2006: Urbana, IL (recruiting interviews)
Oct 10th - Oct 12th, 2006: Dallas, TX
Sept 21st - October 9th, 2006: Chicago, IL
Sept 17th - Sept 21st, 2006: Dallas, TX
Sept 11th - Sept 17th, 2006: Chicago, IL
Sept 9th - Sept11th, 2006: Champaign/Urbana, IL
Sept 5th - Sept 8th, 2006: Chicago, IL
Sept 1st - Sept 4th, 2006: Toronto, ON

August 5th - August 31st, 2006: Chicago, IL
August 4th - August 5th, 2006: Des Moines, IA

July 28th - August 4th, 2006: Chicago, IL
July 27th - July 28th, 2006: San Francisco, CA
July 24th - July 26th, 2006: Pasadena, CA
July 20th - July 24th, 2006: Chicago, IL
July 17th - July 20th, 2006: Pasadena, CA
July 13th - July 17th, 2006: Chicago, IL
July 10th - July 13th, 2006: Atlanta, GA
July 7th - July 10th, 2006: Chicago, IL
July 5th - July 7th, 2006: Pasadena, CA
July 5th: Kyoto -> Tokyo -> San Francisco (7 hour meeting) -> Pasadena, CA
July 3rd - July 5th, 2006: Kyoto, Japan

June 29th - July 3rd, 2006: Tokyo, Japan
June 27th - June 29th, 2006: San Francisco, CA
June 23rd - June 27th, 2006: Chicago, IL
June 19th - June 23rd, 2006: Pasadena, CA
June 16th - June 19th, 2006: Austin, TX
June 12th - June 16th, 2006: Pasadena, CA
June 8th - June 12th, 2006: Chicago, IL

May 30th - June 7th, 2006: Honolulu, HI
May 24th - May 30th, 2006: Chicago, IL
May 22th - May 24th, 2006: Atlanta, GA
May 18th - May 22th, 2006: Chicago, IL
May 16th - May 18th, 2006: Atlanta, GA
May 11th - May 16th, 2006: Chicago, IL
May 8th - May 11th, 2006: Pasadena, CA
May 4th - May 8th, 2006: Chicago, IL

April 30th - May 4th, 2006: San Francisco, CA
April 27th - April 30th, 2006: Chicago, IL
April 23th - April 27th, 2006: San Francisco, CA
April 21th - April 23th, 2006: Chicago, IL
April 17th - April 21th, 2006: Atlanta, GA
April 15th - April 17th, 2006: Joplin, MO
April 13th - April 14th, 2006: Chicago, IL
April 9th - April 13th, 2006: Honolulu, HI
April 5th - April 9th, 2006: Chicago, IL

March 19th - April 5th, 2006: Honolulu, HI
March 16th - March 19th, 2006: Chicago, IL
March 12th - March 16th, 2006: San Francisco, CA
March 10th - March 12th, 2006: Chicago, IL

February 26th - March 9th, 2006: Honolulu, HI
February 17th - February 26th, 2006: Chicago, IL
February 5th - February 17th, 2006: Honolulu, HI

December 25th - February 5th, 2006: Chicago, IL (home sweet home)
December 18th - December 24th, 2005: Honolulu, HI
December 16th - December 18th, 2005: Chicago, IL
December 14th - December 15th, 2005: San Francisco, CA
December 10th - December 12th, 2005: Hawai’i (the Big Island), HI
December 4th - December 10th, 2005: Honolulu, HI
December 1st - December 4th, 2005: Chicago, IL

November 30th Team outing - Sailing!

November 20th - December 1st, 2005: Honolulu, HI
November 17th - November 20th, 2005: Maui, HI
Novmeber 14th - November 17th, 2005: Honolulu, HI
November 10th - November 14th, 2005: Chicago, IL
November 9th - November 10th, 2005: San Francisco, CA
November 1st - November 9th, 2005: Honolulu, HI

October 31st - November 1st, 2005: Las Vegas, NV
October 27th - October 31st, 2005: Chicago, IL
October 24th - October 27th, 2005: Honolulu, HI
October 20th - October 24th, 2005: Chicago, IL
October 10th - October 20th, 2005: Honolulu, HI
October 5th - October 10th, 2005: Chicago, IL
…