I don’t have internet. Moving really stinks. Everythings a mess, I don’t even have a dial tone let alone DSL, so not even a free AOL disc can help me.

Did you know that Kinko’s offers free internet at their stores, as long as you provide your own laptop? Good deal. However, printing costs $0.49/sheet for black & white. Not a good deal. I had to pop in for work, so at least I’m not paying for it. Gotta run!

As the holiday blitz starts coming to an end, my family and I watched an interesting PBS program called Affluenza (there is also a book of the same name). As stated on the site, it talks about the high social and environmental costs of materialism and overconsumption. Did you know that 2/3rds of all newspapers is just ads? Or than the average house in the 1950s was just 900 square feet? Even more surprising, 70% of people visit the mall every week. On average, Americans shop six hours a week and spend only 40 minutes playing with their children.

I don’t have kids yet, and I hate going to the mall with a passion, but I definitely feel overwhelmed by the amount of ads out there. I’m somewhat comforted by the fact that with my TiVo, I now watch virtually no TV ads. It’s kind of nice not knowing what is trendy or what’s on sale. I also use an internet pop-up blocker to nix as many ads as I can. As for materialism, I can’t say I don’t get distracted by plasma HDTV’s and the latest gadgetry. I love my laptop and home wireless network. But this show helps put things into perspective a bit. Is it a bit ironic that I checked it out for free at the local public library?

Ok, all the gifts are bought and sent. Everyone talks about how Christmas isn’t about buying stuff for people, but I don’t mind exchanging gifts with people (I do hate crowded mall parking and shopping, though). As since this is the first year where both my wife and I have jobs, we went a bit crazy this year. After totalling the receipts:

Total on gifts: $1060
Shipping:         $130
———————-
Total:               $1190

According to this article at MSN Money:

Depending on which survey you read, during the holidays Americans last year spent an average of about $483 (The Conference Board), $853 (Roper), $1,600 (Consumer Credit and Counseling Service) or $1,656 (American Express).

So I am right at the average of all those data points ($1148). That is definitely the most I’ve ever spent for holiday gifts – of course, my family has grown significantly since getting married. I won’t fret though, as I am going to be paying off all these credit card bills in full as they come in. However, it will definitely put a dent in my mid-term goal progress.