You know, I rather like the way the blog looks with more images in it. I should make a point to take more photos, helps break up the text a bit. Sadly, I don’t have anything to really preface this post that wouldn’t just be a sad attempt to farm an image from somewhere out on the web and make it my own with only the barest tangential relation to the post. Anyway, moving on…

So my “link dump” bookmark folder, the folder I stuff really cool things that I keep meaning to post about but never get around to, is growing ever so fatter these days, and I figure I’ll share some of it with you so you’ll have it for future reference like I will. Then hopefully I’ll be able to file it away.

Since this year is the year of the boar, like I mentioned, some of the common themes are prosperity and good fortune. I’m taking some of that to heart by waging my ever so fierce “war against the checkbook,” and found some pretty interesting tips to add to the ones I mentioned a little while ago, specifically 31 Days to Fix Your Finances. Pretty much a crash course in doing something every day for a month to fix some common ailments with your finances, the wrapup contains hints and tips that the blog authors had laid out one-per-day for 31 days. At a lingering glance, the tips look really really worthwhile, and I want to give it a shot. In the same vein, I keep worrying about what I’ll be able to do if something terrible happens and I’m cut off from my sources of income, so calculating my emergency fund needs looks like a good tip as well, especially as I begin to smooth out the kinks in my financial plan and have more money to kick around for things like that. Sadly, three months worth of everything, from rent to debts to groceries, is a pretty hefty sum of money for anyone to stash aside easily. It’ll take some work, like most things do.

In a similar but more amusing vein of saving money, I kind of dig Just One Club Card. Since we all know that club cards are essentially horrible marketing gimmicks, I have no real trouble putting the card barcodes into a website (since the barcodes don’t have any personal information themselves) and with a couple of clicks, I have one card to carry around that replaces the literally four or five that are stacked up in my wallet. Very nice.

In uplifting news, I really dug this post containing 22 tips for high self esteem. I tend to work in an environment full of biting sarcasm and pretty witty people, so praise is few and far between, even if you know you’re appreciated. I think these might help a bit to have on the wall, or at least in my desk to refer to now and again.

It’s a shame I didn’t think about this prior to the Crush Party, but Extratasty is quickly becoming my bartending site of choice. I don’t have nearly enough opportunities to try and make a master bartender out of myself, and even then I too often leave the drinkmixing to Raevyn, who seems to have an instant knack for it, but I’d like to do more of this. Maybe I should have some friends over for a cocktail party. Grab some ice and some glasses and some gear for the bar and go to town. Hmm.

Among some of the more entertaining exploits on the web I’ve seen lately is this poor guy, who took a shot of Blair’s After Death Sauce out of a shotglass, on an empty stomach, in the middle of the night, expecting to just be able to go to sleep. Part of a personal challenge to finish a whole bottle in a day (I think), the implications are both hilarious and nauseating. Remember kids; novelty hot sauces do not condiments make. They are novelties-great for that “oh wow that’s incredibly hot!” moment, but not for cooking or general ingestion. At least that’s my not so humble opinion. Still, his story is impressive to read, and gave me the same cold sweats he describes. I don’t envy him or his experience – it’s remarkable he didn’t wind up in the hospital getting his stomach pumped.

Speaking of food, I don’t know how I found this flickr photostream of essentially all food purchased or made by this one guy in Texas, but looking at it keeps me drooling. I don’t know, he just has a knack for framing photos of food and taking really good, mouth-watering pictures. Some of that stuff my arteries scream at me to never ever eat, but man does it all look tasty.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere (who else hates that word? You? I know I do.) I’ve stumbled upon Lonely Roads and Psycho Paths as well as El Guapo in DC, partially because of the Overheard in New York Livejournal feed – one of the overheards was submitted by “Veronica,” who writes Lonely Roads, and as soon as I trotted over to her blog and read this incredibly sensual and arousing post, I was hooked. Yes, Virginia, there’s a red-blooded boy under here somewhere. Her mention of El Guapo elsewhere on her blog found me over at his blog, perusing the posts, and instantly falling in love with both his class and his writing style. After reading this retelling of a story I never heard in honor of Martin Luther King Day, I’ve been reading ever since. Seriously, I’d never heard the story, and seeing it was instantly endearing. It thrilled me.

In yet other news, Toyota taunts me so with concept photos and sneak peeks at their new 2008 Prius. The geek in me is strong, and they know how to market to me. The next model year just can’t come fast enough. Well, I say that, but I still need the time to get my finances in order so I can potentially buy a new car if I want one. Now that the weather is getting a little warmer, things with my current beloved car should settle a bit, but since she’s out of warranty and past 90,000 miles, her resale value is getting low. Still, not everything should be done for money’s sake alone, should they?