The idea behind Dollar Cost Averaging is that you buy (in dollars) a constant value (say, $100) of any given stock or fund periodically (e.g., every pay period), which means that you purchase more shares when the price is low and fewer shares when the price is high, so you can make money even as a volatile fund is losing money.  This is how you can increase your chances of "buying low and selling high."  This is  also how you most likely invest in your retirement fund already. 

I thought this was a well-known concept among people who were at least semi-interested in finances, but apparently not.  Each time I mention it to someone, the reaction begins as incredulity and turns to astonishment.  Then they eventually complain that I am using made-up numbers to make my point.  So here are some real numbers.

This is some advice on when to draft Michael Vick based on his current legal troubles.  It comes from a friend of a friend who is a former US District Court clerk. 

Every week the New York Times does a "what you get for..." feature.  This one seems interesting, because you get to choose between three nice, but completely different lifestyles.  You can choose the neat modern condo in the big city, the modest house on the bay in the northeast, or the large, well-landscaped house in the midwest.

The descriptions are up at NY Times.

Also, sorry about the ads on the lj... I had to go to "plus" membership to get the poll up.

So most of you have probably heard me complain that I work in the only urban part of America (North, South, or Central) that doesn't have a Starbucks within a mile.   Not that I'm a huge Starbucks person, but I have used that as a metaphor for how much of a third world country SW DC really is.  Well, no longer.  And we're also getting a strip club, maybe?

Sorry I skipped yesterday, I was pretty busy.  Today we get the question mark.  I promise to show some more process pictures in the future:

Here is the second Magnetix design.  We call it the "soccerball"

These are the coolest toys ever.  A small quantity had been floating around the office for a while, but now we've increased the quantity substantially so we can build nifty things.  My only complaint is that all of the rods are "n" length, and it would be nice to have n*sqrt(2) as well.  Anyway, I'll be posting a new design every day until I run out, so here's #1:

I found something that the Department of Homeland Security is good for.  In the Department lives the Federal Protective Service.  These are nice guys who walk around with bright yellow shirts, badges, and guns.  So, when this happens to your car: you can call them, and they will be out to take a report.  They will then walk around the garage, find matching damage, and use the force of DHS and the threat of Guantanamo to find the evil felon FCC employee who can't even show the common courtesy to write a freaking note to a coworker.

They haven't found the bastard yet, but I have hope that they might.  And even if they don't, I now have a police report that can't be trifled with - I don't think my insurance adjuster wants to go to Gitmo either.

I've mostly created this account to read friends' protected LJ entries without spying over rkoloth's shoulder, but I fully intend to post here frequently until I get bored / distracted.

I am going to be posting friends-only posts, so if you want to read them, let me know to add you.