I'm not really one to throw on some old clothes and head up to the gymnasium on campus to work out and exercise.  That doesn't mean though that I'm against doing either of these things.  Instead, I just prefer to sweat and look not as skinny as I would like to be while exercising in the comfort of my own home.  I've gone up to the gym here on campus and it just always seems that the people who are constantly in the gym are the ones who probably don't really need to be there.  The other people who have always struggled with their weight and self image, like me for example, tend to stay away for the sake of not being embarrassed about not being able to run or swim those extra laps or do that extra set of reps on the weights...or heaven forbid do a pull up.  I do my best with exercising at home by doing my situps and pushups and of course going on long fat burning walks as often as I possibly can.  I also ended up buying some simple exercise equipment, like the famous Ab Lounge a while ago, but it took up a lot of room and it didn't really do all that much more for me than I could do on my own with regular crunches or situps.  One of the other problems is that the home exercise equipment that would really help out and work for cardio exercise is just too expensive and too big to keep in my normal sized apartment.  I barely have room for all my clothing and books, let alone a stair climber or eliptical machine.  I looked into the various fitness clubs around town to see what was available so that maybe I would be able to work out with a crowd of people with more diversified body types so that I wouldn't feel so bad about being there.  In all honesty, the prices for a lot of these clubs really weren't all that expensive for a monthly membership, ranging from twenty dollars to thirty-five dollars depending on the establishment.  I thought that that would be all well and good, but the problem that I ran into after learning about the reasonable prices was the fact that these gyms are only open odd and limited hours.  One place that I looked at was only open until six in the evening on Fridays.  On top of that, it even had limited weekend hours for Saturday and Sunday, opening at ten in the morning and closing at nine at night.  Hours like those, especially for a graduate student are just not feasible.  I surely don't have time between eight and five each day to be messing around going to the gym.  I need a gym that is open early and late so that I can get there to exercise when I have the time.  In the last city I lived in in Florida, we had several twenty-four hour fitness places where you can just head in any time you want to lift weights, swim, or do cardio.  If I could find a place like that around here, I would probably be able to work out a lot more than I have a chance to now.  I just can't bring myself to take the time to do extra exercise when it ends up being a hassle that cuts into work time, class time, and homework.  It just falls lower on the list of priorities for me.  If you try to figure it in, it just becomes a hassle rather than something that you enjoy doing to keep you physically fit.

Anyways, the whole point of all this is to let you all know that there are inexpensive ways to work out, even in your own town.  The problem is finding a place that has the right fit for you.  Finding the right place with the right price, the right equipment, and good hours of availability seem to be the key to finding yourself a great fitness club or gymnasium to work out at.  As I mentioned above, one of the other good draws of off-campus workou facilities is that they draw older and more mature crowds.  That way you aren't working out in the presence of tons of chiseled and toned bodies all the time that are reminding you about all the work that you need to still do to come even remotely close to looking the same way.  Do yourself a favor, and if you've been putting off kicking up an exercise routine due to any of the reasons that I've mentioned throughout this post, why not look around town for a fitness club that is the perfect fit for you...for the right price.

When I moved up to Indiana from Florida just about a year ago, one of things that I was most concerned about during my preparation for the move was my banking.  I had no idea how I was going to transfer money from an account based in one state to an account based in the other.  It's just not something that I have ever had to do.  When I moved from Florida to New York, I simply kept the checking account that I had opened when I turned sixteen and then opened another one for my "school" money at college.  Once I graduated, I changed banks to match the bank that my employer used so that I could have my paycheck funds the same day I deposited my check.  However, when it came time to move, I had no idea if there was even going to be a bank that existed in both towns in both states.  After doing some major internet searching, I found that one bank in particular had one branch in my city in Florida and also had several branches in my town in Indiana.  I was definitely relieved that I at least had one option to go with.  I decided to make some calls and check out this particular bank before I went closing my other checking accounts and opening a new one.  As things went, everything checked out, and the bank employees walked me through the process and told me that there would be no problem to transfer the accounts from state to state.

Fast foward a few month to when I needed to do some banking up in Indiana.  It wasn't even banking actually.  I was trying to buy my father a Christmas gift online and the website kept declining my Visa debit card, but I had no idea why.  I knew that I had several thousand dollars available in my checking account and that I was typing in the numbers correctly.  I decided to save myself the hassle of troubleshooting and perhaps accidentally making multiple online purchases by calling the bank's corporate office.  I found out that the various departments at the bank had not coordinated my two different addresses, so the department dealing with account debits was referencing my old Florida address, whereas the department dealing with billing was referencing my Indiana address.  The particular international purchase that I was attempting to make apparently flagged something somewhere and therefore Visa kept declining my purchase.  Well, after numerous apologies from the corporate office, they assured me that everything had been taken care of.  Wrong again...

I learned when heading off to the bank one day to deposit some checks after Christmas that there was really never any "transfer" of my account from Florida to Indiana.  My account is still technically "in Florida" and according to the company policy of the bank my account with never actually be "in Indiana" until I close my current account and reopen a new one in Indiana.  That of course would involve me figuring out everywhere that I have financial related transactions, direct withdrawal information, billing information, etc. and calling to change everything...just like I did when I moved.  I decided against this and resolved that I would just have to answer the question of where my account was opened every single time I wanted to deposit a check.  Ridiculous...

Fast forward again until now, where I recently tried to order some deposit slips from my bank.  I don't write all that many checks, but I do deposit quite a few of them (thankfully!).  Therefore, I've run out of deposit slips much more quickly that checks.  My roommate had called to order deposit slips and had no problem, so I figured that I would have the same luck.  Wrong...ong...ong...  I waited and waited for about two weeks after ordering only to receive an email message from the bank corporate office letting me know that I had submitted an undeliverable address....ding ding ding...that's right...my Florida address.  Once again, the department in the bank that deals with check reorders never passed on the information to the check reordering center, so my deposit slips ended up in Florida...where I don't live.  I had to go back to the bank, explain the situation, and ask them to reorder once more.  It's now been another two weeks, and I'm sitting here wondering if the geniuses who work at this bank have once again messed something up.  I guess that only time will tell.

Although I wouldn't usually say that I'm a person who is constantly on a diet, I am a person who is always very conscious of the food that I eat.  I make sure that the types of food, kinds of food, and amount of food that I eat on any given day is as healthy as possibly without going too overboard.  Since I'm not really a fan of typical health food, I tend to enjoy having the foods that I like to eat, but just in moderation.  That way, I can have things like pizza, pasta, or cookies...as long as it's one slice of pizza, one dish of pasta, and just a cookie or two.  I've learned over the years that if you flat-out starve yourself or deny yourself your favorite foods and a treat from time to time, you will grow to hate eating healthily and then resent the whole process.  As a person who likes to eat healthy, I like to take basic healthy foods and spice them up a little bit.  There isn't a meal that can get much more healthy than a big salad for lunch or dinner.  A lot of people make a mistake in thinking that if they are eating a salad that they can pile it high with cheeses, bacon, olives, and fatty dressings...but we all know that that is just defeating the entire purpose of having a salad.  Sure, have a little bit of cheese, a teaspoon of bacon bits, and low-fat dressing.  If you have higher calorie and higher fat foods in moderation, you are still having the taste, but you're not gorging yourself in the process.

The main issue that I have about salads and eating out in a healthy way in general is the amount that it costs to do so.  I know that if I want to have a salad for dinner at home that I can go to the grocery store and get a bag salad (very convenient) and all the necessary salad-making materials for less than ten dollars.  Keep in mind that if you buy things like croutons, dressing, a pepper, a tomato, etc., you end up with enough materials for more than one salad and thus more than one meal, so the cost of your individual salad for dinner is way less than ten dollars to start off with.  Knowing this, I find it very difficult to go out to a restaurant and order a salad for dinner.  I simply don't see how something that costs perhaps around five dollars or so to make and prepare can cost upwards of twelve, fifteen, or even twenty dollars in some restaurants.  This fact just blows my mind when I go out to certain restaurants.  Sure, I understand that restaurants need to charge a somewhat comparable price to the other entrees on the menu, but charging the same amount for a chicken caesar salad as you do for a sirloin steak and mashed potatoes is pretty ridiculous.  What's more is that when you order a salad for your entree, you obviously aren't getting those "extras" in restaurants like a side salad and other side dishes.  Therefore, that fact jacks up the profit that restaurants make on salad even higher.  It's like the restauranteurs are monetarily punishing people for trying to watch their calorie intake.  I surely don't want to pay a ton of money for less food that took less time and less effort to prepare.  I just doesn't make sense.  Sometimes when I go out I just can't even bring myself to want to order a salad, so then I end up opting for something less healthy that I don't even really want.  Even then, if you want to even attempt to be semi-healthy, restaurants will charge extra money to substitute a turkey burger or veggie burger for a regular burger.  They will even sometimes charge extra to substitute steamed vegetables or a side salad for fries or chips.  In some chain type restaurans where things are prepared in advance (yuck!) I can more or less understand the inconvenience of a subsitution, but if you're going out somewhere and you're goin to pay twenty dollars for your entree, you should at least be able to choose the healthy option for a side dish to go along with it.  I think that by far the most ridiculous price add on for a menu substitution that I've ever seen was a fifty cent charge to have your sandwich on wheat toast as compared to old boring white bread.  Another one that really miffs me is the thirty-nine cent charge to have a particular sandwich at Quizno's subs on a bread other than the one that it "comes with" on the menu.  Absolutely ridiculous!

I sure that a lot of you think of dating as an evening activity.  Maybe it's dinner and a movie.  Maybe it's a nice walk around the park on the way out for some cocktails and some pleasant conversation.  Don't forget that dates can be really any time of the day, morning, noon, or night as well.  I was thinking about this just the other day when I went for a little outing with some friends and we were discussing how great our activity would be for an inexpensive and fun date during the afternoon.  What's the activity, right?...well I'm getting to it.  As you see, the area that we live in is pretty famous for its wineries, and our little town alone has three of them.  One in particular, just about six miles away from downtown is the most well-known, and is one of the only places in quite a large radius where people are able to purchase bottled alcohol on Sundays.  The greatest part about this particular winery is that its tasting house is open every day from noon until six in the evening...and it's free!  That's right, you can go out to the winery and sample six to eight different versions of their delicious wines, along with a little mini wine tasting lesson given from the knowledgable employees, any day of the week for free.  Sure, you aren't getting huge glasses of wine, rather one ounce tastes, but it's a lot of fun, and it's something that you can't do everywhere.  If you decide to make your date on the weekend, friday through sunday, you can have an extra special added bonus of taking a free half hour tour of the winery where you can learn about the wine making process, the history of the wine and the facility, and watch a short video outlining the parts of the process that you aren't able to see as visitors.  Once you're done with your tasting and tour, the staff invites all visitors to lounge about the grounds of the property where they have tables with umbrellas set up overlooking beautifully landscaped gardens and a large pond.  You can purchase a bottle of wine, as well as crackers, cheese, cured meats, and even baguettes to enjoy while taking in the scenery.  Most of the bottles of wine are between eight and fifteen dollars, so you can have a very enjoyable afternoon, even if you're on a pretty tight budget.

My friends and I like to go out to this particular winery maybe once every other week just to see what is new and to get away from the usual things that we do with school and work.  It's almost like a little oasis just outside of town where you can escape from everyday life.  I personally think that it's the perfect place to go on a date, on a fun afternoon with friends, or even a place to take the family when they come into town to visit.  After learning about this particular type of inexpensive outing in my own town, I did a little bit of research on my own and learned that similar tours, tastings, and the like are offered at wineries and brew pubs all over the country.  If you don't happen to live in a place that has wineries you're pretty much out of luck for wine tasting, but it's more often the case that microbreweries exist in many countries.  It is still an inexpensive and fun experience for you, your friends, or your loved ones.  If you're not quite into the alcoholic beverage tasting scene, there are always plenty of other opportunities for fun and inexpensive "tasting" events all over the place.  Once again, I can speak of my own town because I know it best, but I'm sure that these events, often sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of Tourism Board, are all over the place.  I know this because I recall them occurring back at home, down in Florida, and now here where I currently live in Indiana.  One of my most favorite events that I have attended recently was this past March when I bought tickets for a date to the local Chocolate Festival.  For just twenty dollars, we were treated to a six-hour-long all you can eat and drink showcase of local chocolates, drinks, and other sweets.  There was also lottery drawings for prizes and live entertainment.  Not too bad of an afternoon for twenty dollars!  Things definitely get kicking into higher gear with these types of festivals and gatherings towards the spring and summer months, as I recall there has been a wine festival, a strawberry festival, and veggie festival since the warmer months have began.  Don't be afraid to search on the internet for events like these in your own town.  Chances are that they have been going on for years, and you have noticed, so you've been missing out!

This may be a little bit out of place for my Christian personal finance blog, but I think that it's a worthwhile addition, so I hope that you'll bear with me.  I know that I'm not yet a parent, and it's hard to believe that when my father was my age, he already had a five year old and a three year old running around the house.  Even though I don't yet have children, I was the oldest grandchild on both sides of the family, which meant that I had a bunch of little cousins running around all the time and now my second cousins have kids and so there are even more little cousins running around.  I've been around children my whole life, and as such I know the importance of keeping an eye on them...even as they get older.  My family has always been really great about keeping the kids under a watchful eye, something I didn't realize was different from family to family until my mother's boyfriend's daughter came over last Christmas with her toddler and let her run amuck unwatched all over my mother's house.  Anyways, I digress...the point of my story has to do with knowing where your kids are and what they are doing...within reason of course.

I write this story after learning about a tragic happening involving some people who I work with, and it really got to me thinking about the circumstances surrounding what probably happened.  Two girls who work with me who happen to be sisters lost their brother just yesterday.  They learned that their brother had gone off supposedly with friends for the evening and ended up one way or another drowning in a nearby lake.  Such a tragic death of a seventeen year old has made it to the local papers of course and the whole town is buzzing with the wheres, whys, and hows of the situation.  I first thought to myself the absolute devastation that I would have felt if such a thing were to happen to my own brother.  I then thought about how this boy's mother didn't realize where her son was until almost eighteen hours after he went missing.  As the story goes from people at work and in the papers, the boy had said he was going out for the afternoon/evening and left on his bike.  His mother states that she assumed that he was going to be with friends out riding bikes and doing whatever else it is that young men do to pass the summer evenings.  The mother did not hear from her son all evening and did not wait to see if he returned and went to bed.  It wasn't until she woke up late the following morning and saw that her son's bed was empty that she thought to be concerned.  Rather than doing anything immediately, she waited a full twenty-four hours to phone in a missing persons report and then asked friends of her son to go looking for him.  She didn't go herself to look, but rather sent others to do the job.  Of course I don't know the mental state of this woman, but I do think to my mother and ask myself what she would do if such a thing happened.  I would like to think that my mother would not waste a single second waiting around and wondering where my brother or I happened to be.  She would at the police department demanding that some action be taken.  If they refused to do something, she would have have the town rallied to look for us.  I just can't help but wonder if this mother had acted sooner or had waited to hear from her son, or even tried to find out what he was doing before she went to sleep that night, that her son would still be alive today.  I know that we can't live our lives on what-ifs and maybes, but this whole thing just haunts me.  I remember when I was a kid in high school, and even times that I've gone home since living out of state and away from home, my mother always always always waits up to make sure I get home.  Either that, or she calls to find out if I'm going to stay out later or stay at a friend's house.  Either way, she knows where I am.  I have a sneaky suspicion that the same thing goes for my younger brother as well.  Parents, no matter how old their children get, still have to worry, still have to take a little bit of responsible, and still wonder if their children are safe.  I can't possibly imagine not having these concerns for my own children, and thus I can't imagine how others can be so negligent.  So with that said, all of you parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, guardians, and what have you...take a moment to think about your children and make sure you know where they are.  Freak accidents happen, especially when you least expect them.  Don't be caught unawares when your children doesn't come home.  Know where they are, what they are doing, and who they are with...all the time.

Are any of you out there big on superstitions or folklore?  I know, I know, as good Christians, we aren't supposed to believe in any of that stuff.  I personally don't think that there is all too much wrong with having a little bit of fun with superstitions, horoscopes, or similar things just for a little bit of entertainment value.  I do however think that a lot of people go way way overboard with their crazy games of chance or things that could potentially be misconstrued as worshipping or praying to some false God.  Just about everyone who has gone to church at some point in their life knows that this whole worshipping false Gods this is a big no no; after all it is a commandment, right?!  Anyways, I've been reading a whole bunch of stuff lately and hearing a lot about individuals in the news around our own country and the world how are taking this whole seven seven seven thing a little bit too seriously.  There are so many people, and not just celebrity couples, who are trying to get married on July seventh two thousand seven.  I've even heard about a few pregnant women in my own small town in southern Indiana who are asking their doctors to induce labor today so that their child can have a birthday today.  I just don't see the point.  Sure, seven seven seven...I suppose that it's easy to remember and it would give the couple or the child something to talk about.  Husbands married today won't have to worry about having a hard time remembering their future anniversaries I suppose.  I think that my regular plain old birthday is pretty cool, even if it doesn't have any lucky connotations or gimmicky tricks that go along with it.  I guess that I still just don't get it.

I care so little about this crazy superstition or day of luck that I haven't even taken the chance to go looking for its real significance.  This is a little bit strange for me, since my curiosity usually ends up getting the better of me, especially when it has to do with something outside of our own culture, religion, or country.  I've read that this seven seven seven thing has big significance in many other cultures and religions as well.  Off the top of my head, I can really only equate the signficance of the number seven with the creation myth.  Sure, we know that God created the world and all living things in it in six days, and on the seventh day he rested.  We don't even observe this seventh day rest thing any more on Sundays.  Most people have to work or do other things that they don't get an opportunity to do other times during the week.  It's not like many people have the luxury of just sitting around and doing nothing but "rest" on an entire day during the week.  In this day and age, it's just not feasible.  So is that it?  Are people equated this particular day of sevens with the creation myth?  Is that what makes today lucky?  Maybe it's just the fact that people need something to do to occupy themselves.  Maybe they need something to celebrate.  Maybe too many people have lost faith in their religion and need to look elsewhere for things like luck...whatever that is.  Whatever their motivations or reasons for celebrating today as something other than any other ordinary day just seems far beyond me.  If you happen to have any input on today's signficance, with something expressly Christian or otherwise, definitely drop me a line and let me know.  At this point, I'm just pretty much confused about the whole thing.  Any clarification would be helpful and appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Has anyone else noticed that the option of getting cash back from your debit card purchases is getting a little bit out of hand lately?  Sure, I definitely appreciate the option of getting cash back at the grocery store in a pinch when I don't feel like driving all the way across town to the ATM for my bank, but now it seems like you can get cash back just about anywhere.  Whether it's at restaurants, fast food or otherwise, certain stores at the mall, or the post office, it seems that the cash back option is becoming more and more prevalent.  I'm sure that a lot of these places think that the whole cash back thing is a convenience for people, but in all honesty, who really wants to get cash back at the post office?  Spending more money after paying unreasonable prices at the post office is the last thing I want to be thinking about when I use my debit card.  The reason that I bring up the post office scenario is because I find it to be the place where things get the most out of hand with the little extras and questions that you get asked for every single package you send.  As you can imagine, this whole post was spurred by my latest trip to the post office this afternoon, where I made sure to counter the questions right off the bat, before I even got my transaction started.  You know the questions that I'm talking about.  Not only do they ask about cash back from you debit card purchase, but they want to know about delivery confirmation, tracking numbers, insurance, how fast you want the package to get somewhere, if you need shipping supplies, and if you need stamps.  What ever happened to just dropping off your packages for some postage, paying for it, and calling it a day.  By the time that I wait in those crazy lines at the post office, the last thing I want to do is have the clerk question me about all that stuff.  I would imagine that most people who go to the post office to mail something have a pretty good idea about what they want already.  I suppose that it's just the United States Postal Service trying to make an extra buck or two off of each customer that walks in the door.  It's along the same lines of the retail clerks at the cash registers in the mall stores asking if you want to save ten percent off all your purchases for the day by applying for their credit card.

On the flip side of things, cash back options can be a really good thing.  Like I mentioned before, having a cash back option at the grocery store can sometimes save you a heap of time.  I usually get cash back at the grocery store when it's time to do laundry.  Getting that ten dollars back when using my debit card allows me to just make the quick walk over to the customer service counter to get a roll of quarters to do my dreaded laundry.  Debit cash back is also a great way to avoid ATM fees from your bank and another bank if you don't have the time to seek out an ATM for your bank.  Sometimes, depending on where you are, there might not even be an ATM from your bank available.  Cash back allows you to avoid those service fees that can quickly rack up on ATMs.  What a lot of people don't realize is the fine print of service fees.  Sure a two dollar service fee at an ATM doesn't sound too bad in a pinch, but you have to remember that that two dollars is in addition to whatever fee your own bank is going to charge you for using a "foreign" ATM to withdraw cash.  After everything is said and done, depending on the ATM and the banks you're dealing with, your ten dollar ATM withdrawal has turned into fifteen dollars.  That is frankly ridiculous.  I try to combat this crazy fee situation when I'm traveling by taking out a little more cash from the ATM than I think I'm going to end up needing.  That way, I won't have to visit the ATM as much, and if I end up with a little extra cash on hand at the end of my trip, it's all the better for when I return to town.  It's actually kind of strange to have cash in my wallet, since most people find that using cash is a little bit out of style.  Most people use their debit card or credit card for just about every purchase.  I know that I'm guilty of that.  I personally think that it's a lot safer than carrying around a wad of available cash in my pocket all the time.

So, in the end, I think that the cash back option when you use your debit card for purchases definitely has its strong and weak points.  It can be convenient, but the line of questioning can be pretty annoying if you're in a hurry and just want to complete you purchase without being "pressured" to withdraw money from your checking account that you probably don't need in the first place.  Cash tends to burn a hole in people's pockets anyways.