Let’s make a promise to one another…if you clean up your little Greece, Portugal (and Spain and Italy) financial mess, we’ll deal with California. Cool?

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Do you want to see which senators voted to increase our national debt limit to $14.3 Trillion today?

Actually, before we get to that, lets take a quick look at what a trillion is—because if you’re like me, you don’t get to play with trillions of anything over the course of your day.

So what is a trillion?

• “If you start spending a million dollars every single day since Jesus was born, you still wouldn’t have spend a trillion dollars.”
• Western civilization has not been around a trillion seconds.
• One trillion seconds ago, Neanderthals stalked the plains of Europe.
• One trillion square miles is about 20 Earths worth of land.
• Approximately one trillion gallons of water fall over Niagara Falls in a little over three weeks.

Yeah. It’s a lot.

Now multiply that by 14.3.

Are you disgusted at the amount of money our federal government spends every year? You should be.

Here’s the URL to the roll call vote on H.J.RES.45 (Increasing the statutory limit on the public debt.). It should be updated within the hour with the list of votes.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00013

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“The first rule of a panic is to panic early.” -peterpeter

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Fenderson Kitchen Labs, LLC is pleased to announce the completion of Phase II testing of HDB 2117, a high-density shatterproof ceramic bowl for home and industrial kitchen use.

Today’s study met its primary endpoint of non-inferiority in ceramic shard production when HDB 2117 is dropped from a height of one meter onto a corresponding surface structure.

This ongoing Phase II study is a partially-blinded, randomized, active-controlled, 52-week trial to evaluate the non-inferiority of a high-density shatterproof ceramic bowl versus your standard piece of crap ceramic bowl you could buy at Wal-Mart.

This press release includes forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, including risks related to Fenderson Kitchen Labs’ ability to successfully develop and commercialize HDB 2117.

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Apparently today is National Popcorn Day (thanks for the tip Sarvay).

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with a bowl of popcorn for breakfast courtesy of my Victorio popcorn popper that Anitra gave to me as a Christmas gift.

This hand-crank, stainless steel stovetop beast is the best way to make popcorn and the vented lid assures up to six quarts of perfect popcorn goodness every time.

If you’re still eating that microwave crap, make a promise to yourself to stop.

Buy one today. You won’t be disappointed.

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A Net Annualized Return of 11.06%? I’ll take it!

Lending Club is a social lending network that brings together investors and creditworthy borrowers to provide personal loans at rates that are generally better than those offered by traditional banks.

I opened an account with them last year, purchased Notes, and made my investments. Each Note corresponds to a portion of a consumer loan, and grants me the right to receive payments received by Lending Club under that consumer loan, minus a 1% service charge applied by Lending Club.

So far it’s been a great experience, partly driven by my net annualized return. As of today it’s at 11.06%.

That’s a heck of a lot better than the “high-yield” CD rates that are out there. It’s not as high as some other investments I’ve made in commodities over the last two years, specifically precious metals and a number of mining stocks, but it’s been a good alternative to the stock market for a portion of my portfolio. Plus, I feel like I’m helping people who got completely screwed over by the banks, the Fed, and the government in general. So there.

Hey - if you’re even remotely interested in investing with Lending Club, let me know and I’ll send you an invite from my account. Right now, they’re offering a no strings attached, no junk mail, $40.00 to invest in your account deal for joining. [and no, I don’t get anything out of the deal]

Drop me a line in the comments below or send me a private note via email or my contact form.

If you’re already using Lending Club, let me know. I’m interested in hearing about your experience with the company.

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I’ve spent the last four days being bounced between my pharmacy, my doctor, and my oh so wonderful insurance company trying to get a prescription refilled. 

It’s a controlled substance and as someone who once worked with controlled drugs and had the pleasure of working with DEA agents for inventory audits, I understand the complications that can be involved—but geez. I just need my drugs!

Anyway, I called back to my doctor’s office this morning to let them know that everything is finally resolved and to thank them for their help. Normally I don’t have to wait on the phone to talk to someone but this morning, I was put into a queue where the automated and somewhat ominous voice response told me, “You are the third caller. We will deal with you as soon as possible.”

“Deal with you”?

Interesting choice of words. How about “help you”? Or “assist you”? Or even something as simple as “we’ll be with you momentarily.”

Any time I hear the phrase “deal with you”, all I can think of is Admiral Piett’s conversation with Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi.

Admiral Piett: Shall I hold them?
Darth Vader: No. Leave them to me. I will deal with them myself.

Vader. That’s not the kind of help I want from my doctor’s office.

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