Snow in October?

I am currently in NY for a wedding I don't want to go to. It is on Halloween because it is cheaper to get married on a Monday in a Synagogue than it is on a weekend. Somehow the 31st of October was picked which I think is very sad and ironic somehow. It could have been a week later...
That aside, I am currently in amazement that it is snowing here. Apparently so are all the other New Yorkers, this is unusual it seems. I just find the conditions for me to be somewhere that I didn't want to be in the first place to not only be annoying but frustrating. This trip is going to be about 2K easy. I originally estimated 1K, but last minute our hotel reservation was mysteriously lost by the place we thought we booked. Last minute we end up in a Sheraton hotel in NJ near NY, Manhattan. I am paying 160 a night... fun. Gonna be here for 4 nights which is about $640 without tax and tip. This figure does not include food and transit.
So far we (keep saying we because its me and my boo) have spent like 200 bucks on food and 130 dollars on transit. This is only day 2... the figure for transit is going to take us all the way through to the end of the trip. The food we have to keep on the cheap now. We still have one more official dinner to attend which undoubtedly is going to be about 20 to 30 dollars a person. Ultimately if this was a trip I wanted to be on I wouldn't be complaining, but since it isn't I'm doing what I always do - complaining.
I just didn't plan on losing this much of my hard earned cash which I responsibly saved up for my discretionary spending. The saddest part is $1,200 could get you a a beautiful high class room on a 8-10 day cruise which includes transit, food, alcohol, tips and lodging.
I am currently in limbo at my job, I am not sure if I am coming or going.

Crud

So the job I wanted was swooped up by someone else and it's is no one's fault except mine. I could have gotten that job months ago but I decided to stay where I am at the time because I was still infatuated with the idea of fixing things here, which is obviously not going to happen. At least not any time soon.
What I don't understand is why is it wrong to try to make things better? I understand that there is change management etc, but our piece of crap software needs help and it needs it badly. I am tired of begging to make things better or to even make it all work.
I hate this place because of this and all because of one man.
Either way I think I am out the door.

Money = Happiness

I have busted my ass at this company for three years and I have pretty much been insulted non stop in small undesirable ways and now it looks like I am being passed up on the promotion scale because my boss is a shallow asshole. So I am moving on and away from this company, it is a black hole of my time and effort. I find myself more upset than anything else here, there is no room for improvement because my boss is a narrow minded idiot.
I am going to attempt moving forward with working with a friend of mine at his company. Hopefully next week's interview goes swimmingly well and I am offered the job. I think I will pass with flying colors, that is my gut feeling. They are offering 65K starting which is much better than my salary now.

Our Nations Problems

I was watching Morning Joe this morning, like I do every morning and trust me it is NOT because I like Joe Scarborough from Pensacola Florida, it is because it is better than anything else on the air at that time. CNN is crap 24/7 and I refuse to watch Fox. I like Morning Joe because the guests they bring on, the commentators, they have their finger on the pulse of what I consider news worthy and they are pretty fairly balanced in terms of political sides.

Joe is a republican every man's-man idiot and Mika Brazinsky is a sweet 1950's democratic house wife. I don't find Mika super attractive, but I'd bone her, she is strangely arousing to me.

Anyhow, I woke up this morning and Joe was showing his outrage about how some of or one of the Phillies baseball players was getting drunk in the dug out. Joe found this disrespectful. I found it not only to be the least important thing going on right now, but also not news worthy and a waste of everyone's time.

Joe was very passionate about the fact that it is disrespectful that these baseball players don't care about putting on a good show for the blue collar people of America that save up their hard earned money to see these games.

I don't care and secondly he is complaining about a private institution that doesn't really help anyone with anything important. Does it really make sense for kids to look up to people like athletes? Joe and America's priorities are screwed up if this is deemed important.

Investment Scams

I think that a 401K is a load of crap. I have already experimented with 401K and mutual funds and I believe that they are both very bad investment options. Unless you have someone who is handling you money for you, making sure that it is all good all the time, those products are a joke.

Mutual funds are the greatest losing investment. They are historically just are fucking terrible. Don't believe me? Look it up on the motley fool website.

I personally think 401Ks are a joke because they aren't safe to invest in. Yeah yeah your company contributes some funds to your account, but for fucks sake, there is no guarantee that it is going to do well. The reason is obvious, it is because it is stock based and there is no such thing as a guaranteed stock unless you are an inside trader, which is illegal of course.

My preference is guaranteed safe investments. CDs, Bonds and High Yield Savings Accounts cannot be beat. You will save your money faster yourself than any other stupid ass investment scheme that you are betting on. The best part is you don't have to worry about losing your money, especially if it is FDIC insured. I recommend American Express, since they are a trusted name and there truly is no strings attached to using them for a HYS Account.

I do have stocks, but they are literally all bets. I am in risky stocks that I am literally hoping make me rich. I am however not going to pretend to retire on stock.

This all brings me to my last point. I am going to invest in the lottery once again. Simply because it is no better than the stock market but cheaper. Much much cheaper. 52 dollars a year cheaper if you play once a week and no more. Laugh if you will, I understand that the odds are against me, but so are the stocks I invest in.

The odds for the lottery with 6 numbers, maxing out at 53 per digit, no repeats is:

Using Windows 7 Calculator: fact(53) / (fact(6) * fact(53 - 6))
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lottery_mathematics

53!/[6!*(53 - 6)!] = 22957480

Or roughly 1:22.9x10^6 Chances

I figure if I play the same numbers for the rest of my life I might hit them. I wont know if I don't try.

Fung Shwei

I never used to believe in feng shui, but now I get it. If your home or work environment does not flow well in terms of clutter or other crap in your way then you might feel apprehensive about working. I have been having some mental block lately and it was because I was in the middle of a horrible home buying experience and also because the space which I am currently living in is very cluttered. There is shit everywhere and it drives me mad, I don't know how to organize the chaos that is my home.
So in efforts to make this place more livable I (we) are going to buy furniture to make it more comfortable to live in. I want my office to work and have a good flow.

Post

I don't have much to say right now. I guess I am just glad that I was able to dodge the bad house bullet. I am getting my deposit back and lots of luck to the seller. That house is in deplorable condition. Love the area, but the last straw for me was not being able to get a normal home owners insurance on the house due to an active leak. I could have gotten a builders risk policy, but fuck that.
When I have more money for a down payment, I will try again. Right now I want to walk away from this housing nightmare and try again a year later. My life has been on hold for a damn year now due to this house, but I did learn a lot from this whole experience.
Something has to be said about having the discipline to save up the money to do all of this. It is difficult, but I can do it.

Perfect Storm Conditions

So I walked away from my house purchase because it was becoming more trouble than it was worth. The ups and downs of this house sale were ridiculous. I don't recommend anyone ever go through a short sale, they can all screw off. I was stuck in house limbo for over a year and it has been a borderline nightmare, but I have learned a lot from this whole experience.
Rule number 1: you do not have to feel obligated to buy a home that you have put an offer on. No one can force you to give up your money.
Rule number 2: If you feel uncomfortable with the situation, then it is better safe than sorry. You need to walk away from it if you feel that you might be making a mistake. Don't go into buying a house with cold feet, you will have buyers remorse.