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Business Money Mindset

What's so great with Nintendo Wii?

Last week, me and my teammates played Nintendo Wii at one of my tea mate’s house. It was my first time to play the game. And I was hooked!

It’s been quite a while since I touched anything related to computer games. I still remember when I was still a kid. I would hang out at my friends house a lot, playing games on Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly known as family computer.   I loved playing super mario, spartan x, 1942, and more!  At that time, it was the coolest thing on earth!  Even though I did not own one, I was addicted to family computer games.  I was almost always at my friend’s house.

When I went to College and got my own personal computer, I got hooked playing StarCraft, a PC game of aliens, humans and funny looking planktons called zoids (was that the term, I can’t remember)?  Anyway, I would play the game the whole night until the sunshine comes out. Then I’d sleep the whole day.  Don’t tell my parents but I actually missed my class a few times because I was busy sleeping. 🙂

Now, let’s go back to Wii.

The Game for Everyone

The Wii is a game meant to be enjoyed by everyone: kids, teens, adults, grannies, etc.  It doesn’t take long to learn how to play the game.  The first game I played was tennis.  I already saw the game while watching an episode of One Tree Hill, where the little kid was playing with his uncle Skiles (not sure if I spelled that out correctly).  They were obviously having fun.

Now, it’s my turn to play Wii tennis!  I grabbed the controller, which looked more like a pair of dumbles than a gamepad, then swung my way to the tennis ball.   I felt a vibration in the controller which seemed like a ball hitting a tennis racket.  The ball came back.  I swung a again…but it was too late.  The ball went off the sidelines.  I couldn’t believe it.  This is so cool!

Don’t Play the Game Alone

The greatest thing about this game is that it is meant to be enjoyed with other people.  I certainly had fun, laughing at myself when I tried to roll the bowling ball but released it too early, hence, went to my back instead.  So all those watching from behind, had to jump their feet off to avoid the bowling ball from hitting them.  Good thing it’s only a computer game.  Otherwise, no one would play with me anymore.  I don’t recommend doing the same thing with a “real” bowling ball.  You might hit someone in real life. 🙂

My wife and I was enjoying ourselves with our friends.  I could not imagine having to play this game alone.  It would be too depressing.  Who would laugh?  Only me?

Easy to Learn

The next thing we played was boxing.  At first, I really didn’t know how to play it.   But I tried it on anyway.  I was suprised to know that it was very easy to learn.  I only needed to hold the two controllers with both of my hands and throw a punch as if I am a boxer.  I didn’t need to learn any game mechanics like when you do puzzles.  I threw punches to my hearts desire and I scored a knockout.  I enjoyed it so much I was so thirsty after our game.

We also played a racing game.  But this time, we rode cattles.  It was amazing just flipping the controller and the cow would  jump so high it looked like it could touch the sky.  When I turned the controller downwards, the cow went into turbo mode and ran like hell it could easily be running against an F1 car.  The great thing about this is that I didn’t need to learn a thing to start enjoying the game.  I learned everything along the way.  Isn’t that the way we humans learn?

It’s fun

At the end of the day, I really had lots of fun playing Wii.  I was laughing my hearts out.  I was jumping, throwing my hands all over the place.  It was fantastic!  I thought of buying one for myself. However, I realized that it would not be fun if I play the game alone.  I’d rather have fun losing with other people, making all sorts of mistakes than winning by myself.  The fun is meant to be shared.

Now it’s your turn!  Go have fun playing Wii with your family and friends!

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Life Updates Money Mindset

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers!

Here’s a great video created by my wife for mother’s day!  I’m so proud of my wife.  By the way, that’s me singing the background song “You Raised Me Up” by Josh Groban with my own acoustic guitar.   Enjoy viewing!

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Business Life Lessons Money Mindset Personal Finance

5 tips on how to fish effectively – things I learned while fishing at Taman Jaya Park

Recently, my wife and I went fishing with our friends at a nearby park walking distance from Taman Jaya LRT station.   It was  Saturday morning and the sun has just risen.   When we got there, there were already many people jogging around the area.   We hurriedly went to look for a place to put the food our friends prepared and start eating.  Didn’t I say we love to eat?  We had lots of fun eating, laughing and enjoying the experience.

Our friends brought along some fishing equipments they bought from Pudu.    So after we finished eating, we went to look for a place to cast out the nets and start fishing.

tamanjayapark

Use a bait the fish loves to eat

While we were preparing, I was surprised to know that the fishing rod we were using only has a net.  It did not have any hook or anything similar to that.  At first I had some doubts whether it could really catch some fish.  But I was soon proved otherwise.  My friend just catched a big fish with that same net without any bait!  I guess the fish was that hungry.

But that was the only fish we catched that day.  In comparison, the other guy beside us had a bountiful catch.  Every other minute or so, his fishing rod would go up and another fish would jump out of the water.   When we saw the basket he had, we were amazed to see it overflowing with maybe more than a dozen fish.  It made me think, what was he doing that we were not?  Then I noticed, he was putting something which looked like a bait on his fishing equipment’s hook.   I could not exactly tell what it was at the time what but when I saw him scraping something green at a nearby stream, I realized it’s moss.  Aha!  Maybe that is the secret!

Use a bait the fish loves to eat.  It seems obvious now just talking about it.

When I was a a child.  I had a fond memory with my Dad as we went fishing at a nearby fish pond in our school.  At the time, we used earthworms as bait in a hook to catch some fish.  In no time at all, the fish were devouring the bait we put into our fishing equipments.   Starting then, I knew fish loves earthworms.

At another time, me and my college friends went fishing at one of my friend’s fish pond.  As I was looking for an earthworm to use as bait, I came to realize that we were suppose to use leftover bread instead.  Initially, I didn’t think fish would like to eat the bread.  I thought they liked only earthworms.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the fish were as eager to eat the bread as if it were an earthworm.  They were attacking the bread ferociously and in no time at all we’ve managed to catch a lot of fish for a sumptuous lunch.  I guess in that part of the world, fish loves to eat bread!

Go where the hungry fish are

At one point, we cast the fishing nets near where we were having a picnic even though it didn’t look like any fish was nearby.  We waited for quite some time while were were busy eating hoping that maybe some fish might accidentally bump into one of the nets.   We had finished eating but the nets were as empty as before.   There were no fish in the area.  And there was no catch.

So after we finished eating, we went beside one of the fisherman, near a stream of water.  It didn’t take long for us to see that in that part of the pond, there were a lot of fish.   There was a school of fish swimming, catching some breathe on the surface every now and then.  More importantly, we saw the other fisherman was catching a lot of them.  We wanted a piece of the action too!

After a settling down and casting our nets, we were rewarded with our first and only catch for the day.  It really pays to be where the hungry fish are!

Learn from someone successful at what you intend to do

I guess we wouldn’t have caught that fish if we didn’t see the other guy was catching a lot.  In this respect, he was the successful fisherman.  My wife even thought he was a “professional” fisherman.  It seemed to me, here was a guy who knew what he was doing and he is pretty good at it.  Maybe someday, I too will.

Be Patient

It was a bit frustrating seeing the other guy next to us catching a lot of fish, while our net seemed to be lost in oblivion, never making any movement at all.  We went to the left of the guy who was catching fish.  No luck.  We went to his left.  No luck.  Then we went further left.  As we were joking around laughing, suddenly my friend noticed the movement in his fishing net.  He pulled it up and there it was!  The biggest (and the only) fish we had that day!

tamanjayaparkcatchoftheday

Have fun

It is no fun fishing alone.   It is exciting to enjoy fishing with friends and loved ones.  It’s a nice experience to just talk about things while waiting for the net to catch some fish.  I had a lot fun that Saturday morning.  It was a nice experience learning a thing or two about fishing and life itself.

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Business Life Updates Money Mindset

Escapade to Malaysia's Pangkor Island Beach Resort

To celebrate my wife’s birthday, my wife and I wanted to go out of town.  Take some time off.  Relax. We’ve both been very busy at work the past month and thought we both needed a break – a perfect getaway.

There were a couple of things we had in mind.  First, it had to be near.  We don’t want to take another 8-hour bus ride to a very far island, only to go back again the day after.  That’s what we did last year.  After that experience, I don’t want to have to sit inside a bus again.

One option we thought of was to go to Port Dickson, a short 2-hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpur.  Port Dickson, or P.D. as commonly referred by locals, is a very nice place, with a few beach fronts.   I only knew “The Legends Water Chalet”, a hotel in PD as my team mates and I had a team building there last year.   The hotel is very nice but it’s a bit pricey.  Besides, my wife and I already went to PD a couple of months back.  We spent the night at another place, a western cowboy style resort they call “Eagle Ranch”.  We had lots of fun there.

For this year, we both wanted to try something new.

Then we heard about Pangkor Island.  The island is a 4-hour bus ride from KL.  It’s not as near as PD but it certainly better than an 8-hour bus ride to east coast Malaysia.  The bus ticket is about 25 ringgit one way.

Early Friday morning, we boarded the Plusliner bus going to Lumut.   Since it was a weekday, there were only a few of us in the bus.  The bus left on time.  Soon enough, we were already coasting along the highway going to Lumut.  My wife was busy listening to her  i-pod while I tried to catch some sleep.  As we came near the Lumut town, my wife and I noticed that there were only 3 of us in the bus.  Me, my wife, and the driver.  We were the only passengers left.

It was around 1pm when we reached Lumut town.  My wife and I were both hungry, and excited at the same time.  The bus terminal is walking distance to the ferry station.  We hurriedly went to look for the ferry going to Pangkor Island Beach Resort.  We were lucky to find very friendly locals who pointed us to the right direction.  The next ferry is 1:45pm, so my wife and I had an extra time to spare and have lunch.

We went back to the plaza to look for a place to eat.  There were a lot of stores offering local delicacies, but we wanted to have something else.  We looked around and found the only familiar fast food chain in the area, a local KFC store.  We wasted no time and went immediately to have lunch. It’s nice to finally eat something after hours of travel.

After lunch, we went back to the ferry station.  When we got there, there were already other tourists waiting for the ferry to arrive.  From what I heard, it is a half-hour ferry ride to the Island.  We were both excited as we boarded the ferry.  We took some pictures left and right.  Smiling. Laughing.
pangkorjettystation
It was only 30 minutes but it seemed like an eternity.  I was glancing at my watch every minute or so.  When I finally saw the shores, it took my breath away.  The fine white sand is inviting and looks very good to walk on.  The sound of the waves are calming.  It’s a paradise.

The hotel staffs were very courteous.  Within a few minutes, we were on our room.  The room is very spacious, adorned in the middle by a lovely king-size bed.  The bathroom is very clean and I couldn’t wait to soak myself in the tub.  From our room, we could see the infinity pool,  overlooking the beach front and the enchanting sea. It’s a very nice place.

The resort is very secluded. It’s the only resort covering the whole beach front. The resort is enclosed like a cove, making it a very very peaceful, with only the sound of the small waves singing like a lullaby.

My wife and I enjoyed the walk on the beach early morning the next day.  We even took a picture of the dazzling moonlight on the beach.

pangkorbeachmorning

In the afternoon, we rented a bike and went around the resort.  There were a lot of trees along side the beach.   There was also a swing hanging on an umbrella tree.  We went over, had fun sitting on the swing, taking some pictures, just having lots of fun watching the sea and time go by.   This place is nice.

I really enjoyed my stay in the resort.  I’m specially fond of these 3 things.

  1. The place is secluded, peaceful and relaxing.
  2. The staffs are very courteous
  3. The resort facilities are very nice and clean

On the other end, I also had some reservations to recommend the place as it might not be for everyone.

  1. It’s a bit pricey
  2. There were not much choice for food
  3. The beach is not very clear like those in East Coast Malaysia

If you’re looking for a place to relax with family and friends, and you have the money to spare, you will like it here.  But if you’re on a budget and would like to do a lot of things, you might get a better deal somewhere else.

In the end, what matters is you enjoy it with someone you love.  Have fun at Pangkor Island!

Categories
Life Lessons Money Mindset

The Reluctant Dreamer

As I examine my life, I always seem to find some reluctance to the things I dream.  Either it is just an excuse for me to not do it, or a mental block that is hindering me from achieving my goals.

I am reluctant.  I am afraid of what people may say.  I’m not very comfortable with success.  Ironic to say, but sometimes, I feel more comfortable with silence, with soulful thinking, than on extreme emotions like an exhilirating surge of  adrenaline rush.  I have never been fond of roller coasters.  Perhaps I just want to slow down.  Take my time.  Have a nice cup of coffee.  And enjoy the day.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately on what to do with this blog.  It’s been a year since I registered akosiallan.com.   A few weeks ago, I had to renew the domain.  To be honest, I thought I might not want to renew it anymore.  Maybe I’ll just do something else.  Something more worthwhile.  Something I am fond of doing.

But maybe, I already am.  I just need to channel that energy.  Find an inspiration.  Start.

In all honesty, I really don’t know what to do with this site.  I began writing sports stories but found it very time consuming.  I have to watch the sporting event itself which can take around 2 or 3 hours of my time.  Although I did want to watch anyway.  But I wanted something more.  Then, I tried to post something related to music like American Idol because I thought I liked music.  And I do.  I even sang a couple or two and posted it.  Maybe I just want some part of me be heard and tell the world I exist.

But another part of me still long to be unknown, to be an observer, to be invisible.

Maybe that’s why I am reluctant to be successful.  Because then I’d have to give up my private life.  Maybe I don’t want that.  Maybe there’s something else in life more important than being popular.  Like doing the things I love.  But how do I know I love it?

I’ve been coasting along for a while, never really figuring out what I want to do with my life.  Yes, I want to build a business. Maybe something I can do that will express my gifts and talents…and perhaps contribute to the world. To make it a better place.

Maybe I’m just bored.  I don’t know. There are many things in this world I’d like to do.  But it’s easier to just let things be and not disturb the status quo.  Pretend everything is ok,  when it’s not.  Life is screaming for something more, a life filled with passion, a life full of purpose.  The more I reflect on things I don’t have, the more I feel depressed, the more I think that I want to quit, the more life feels like a burden.  It’s scary.  It’s challenging.  I’m craving for an exciting new adventure.

What’s next?  What can I offer?  What can I do to make life fulfilling for me and other people?

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Books Business Life Lessons Money Mindset Personal Finance

How to ride a bike? Learning reflections on Robert Kiyosaki's 'If you want to be rich and happy, don't go to school'

Earlier, I was reading a book by Robert Kiyosaki, titled If You Want to Be Rich & Happy Don’t Go to School.  In the book, Robert mentions something about a quote from Dr. Buckminster Fuller,

Human beings were given a left foot and a right foot to make a mistake first to the left, then to the right, left again and repeat.

While reflecting on this quote, I remembered when I rode a bike for the first time.  At first, I my dad had to hold on to the seat, while I try to drive.  My heart was pumping with excitement.  Unfortunately, just when I hopped on the bike,  I realized it was going to the left.  I didn’t know what to do.   I panicked.  I fell.  That was the first time.  The second time I tried, the bike was again going haywire.  But now, it’s going to the right.  I panicked again.  And again, I fell.  On the third try, I noticed the bike was again going to the left.  In my panic, I immediately steered the bike to the left.  To my surprise, the bike went to the other direction.  So again, I had to steer it to the right.  And again it went to the left.  And so I repeated what I just did – to the left, then to the right.  Until, suddenly, I realized, my dad was no longer holding the bike.  I was driving the bike on my own! It’s one of the glorious moments of my life.  I knew then that no matter what happens,  I can do it.   I thought then that if I could ride a bike, I can do anything.  I can fail many times.  But I can also learn.  I can take what life gives me and find out what works.

When I was in College, me and my friends participated in a contest about creating the fastest line-following mobile robot.  We competed against students from other schools.   When I was studying the design, I was very amazed at the simplicity of the logic on how to make the robot follow the 2-inch wide black line they call “track” against the very clean white floor.   The robot, is basically a remote controlled car, with all its circuitry removed and replaced with a microcontroller which acts as its “brain”.  At the front of the car are two sensors.  Depending on what color each of the two sensor sees on the floor (white) or track (black), the “brain” would know whether it is going out of track or not.  When the car is going out of the track to the left, the brain tells the car to steer to the right.  If its going out the other way, it steers to the left.  It’s like riding the bicycle again.  If you fall to the right, you go to the left.  If you fall to the left, you go to the right.

Can life really be this simple?  How about you?  Have you experienced the same thing when you learned to ride a bike?

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Books Business Life Lessons Personal Finance

The secret to becoming an outlier – 10,000 hours

It’s been quite a while since I posted something in my blog.  I’ve been busy for the past couple of weeks at work and had a lot of things in my mind, especially with the current financial crisis and how it impacts me and my wife’s life.

The one thing, though, that I am always fond of doing, is reading books.  I read from a blog about this new book of Malcolm Gladwell titled “Outliers – the story of success”.

The new book by Malcolm Gladwell aims to explain how successful people become successful, not by identifying their traits, or what they do, but by examining their past, their history, whether they got to be successful by their own talents or by chance.  I was fascinated to see the story of Bill Gates in that book.  According to Malcolm Gladwell, the number of hours it takes to become an “Outlier” (exceptionally successful) is 10,000 hours.  That number of hours is the magic number to become an expert in a chosen field.  Long before Bill Gates became the richest man in the world, he was just a kid, who loved to program day and night, who had the extraordinary opportunity to be exposed to this technology, in a time where a PC was still an idea and computer is synonymous to BIG mainframes occupying entire rooms.

10,000 hours.  That’s a lot.  No wonder, the very successful people start out very young.  It made me think, if I want to spend the 10,000 hours to become a master in what I do, I must REALLY LOVE what I’m doing.  Otherwise, it will be such a drag and it will seem to be a punishment instead of a blessing.  The more I think of it, the more I question myself whether I’ve already earned my 10,000 hours.  And whether I really love what I do for a living.  And if I find out I don’t really like what I do, whether I would want to finish earning the 10,000 hours.

How about you?  What would you do for 10,000 hours?

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Business Life Updates

Is Facebook now more popular than Friendster in the Philippines?

During the past few weeks, I’ve discovered that more and more of my friends are now in Facebook.  Just a year ago, I still didn’t have a Facebook profile.  The past few years, I’ve been pretty much satisfied with Friendster.  As most of my friends are also there, I didn’t find the need to create a profile on another “social networking” website.  But ever since I joined Facebook, I’ve seen a gradual increase in the number of my fiends who were in Friendster that are now also using Facebook.  And the more friends I am connected to, the more I am fascinated with the features of Facebook.

What are you doing right now?

One of the more popular features used by Facebook members is the status update labelled “What are you doing right now?”.  I guess a lot of people want to let the whole world know what they’ve been up to the last few days, or hours…or even minutes.  Some users drop a one liner status like “having the greatest time of my life in …” while other can speak more in just one word like “zzzzz”.  Others like to be profound but barely making sense, while others like to be funny. 

The wonderful thing about these status updates is the ongoing comments from friends and colleagues.  Sometimes, the comments border on wild and funny ideas, but often times, people just want to say they’re there to listen.

I am a fan!

Another thing that I find interesting in Facebook is the numerous ways on how people can express what they like.  For example, I am a fan of Roger Federer, so obviously, I want my friends to know that about me.  What better way to do that than just clicking the “I am a fan” button in Roger Federer’s facebook profile?  Others, would like to find causes that inspire them.  Just a few days ago, the passing away of a great nationalistic Filipino Rapper, Francis Magalona, inspired a lot of Filipinos to voice out their support and love through fan profiles.  On the other end, oher people just want to let the world know of their favorite movies, TV shows, or even favorite food. 

I am tagged in a Photo

One of the most popular uses of social networking sites is to share photos with friends.  One of my college friends, for example, posted a photo of our “barkada” [a group of friends] about 10 years ago.  It’s a nice feeling to be able to remember what we were like then.  It certainly made me miss college and left a big smile on my face. 

The one thing I am amazed in Facebook photos is the tagging.  Thanks to Facebook, I can now be “tagged” on my friends’ photos.  Now, I don’t have to copy the same photo into my profile.  It automatically links those photos to me.  Sweet!

I am still fairly new with Facebook.  To be honest I haven’t really been that active with it.  But I am constantly amazed with the buzz and activity within my friend’s network.  It’s surprising.  It’s exciting.  And it’s definitely a lot of fun. 

So, is Facebook now more popular than Friendster in the Philippines?  What do you think?

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Books Life Lessons Money Mindset Personal Finance

Your Money or Your Life

For the past couple of days, I’ve been reading the book Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.  It’s a book I bought out on a whim as I saw it on sale at 20% discount.  I was actually looking for another book, but when I saw the title, I remembered reading rave reviews about this book from some of the financial blogs I’ve read.

Money = Life Energy

The book describes money as life energy.  I realized that having a job has additional costs associated with it in terms of life energy.  For example, I use about an hour of my morning to prepare for my job.   I buy clothes to wear at my job.  I even have to take lunch, snacks and sometimes even dinner at the office canteen.  Fortunately, I don’t have to ride a cab or drive a car to and from work.  But even that takes time as I need to walk for around 15 to 20 minutes each way.  To tell you the truth, I never really thought that I was actually spending money to have my job.  The truth is, having a job actually costs money.  And here I am thinking my job is supposed to pay me. 🙂

Track Every Penny

I just finished listing this month’s expenses.  I was asking my wife earlier whether we could use a credit card to buy the groceries so that I don’t have to enter each item in the grocery list. But when I asked whether the credit card statement will show each item, like 100g of garlic, 200g potato, etc, she laughed out loud.  Then I realized, the credit card statement will actually just list one entry for the whole grocery of more than 20 items.

Crossover Point

The book also mentions something about a crossover point where the income from investments is enough to pay for the monthly expenses.  To keep track on this goal, the book’s advise is to create a chart to plot each month’s personal income, expenses and income from investments.  The chart tells a story.  For some, it starts out as expenses greater than personal income, with lots of debts.  Then gradually, debt is being paid up, expenses goes down, and income from investments moves up.  At some point, when the income from investments matches the monthly expenses, the crossover point is reached.  When this happens, I don’t have to “work” anymore.  I can do whatever I want.  I can sleep more and stay in bed in the morning.  I can spend my time just relaxing and reflecting on life’s blessings.

The book is about discovering life.  It challenges each person to have an honest self-reflection by reading through our own personal finances.  It speaks of having the freedom to say “no” to our job and do our life’s purpose, or what the “Alchemist” described as “Personal Legend”.  It paints life’s possibilities and dreams. It’s a very nice picture.  And it is something I hope to achieve.

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Life Lessons Money Mindset Personal Finance

Mindset – the thin line between scarcity and abundance

I’ve just finished reading Steve Pavlina’s latest post about “Living paycheck to paycheck”.  I don’t think I am currently living on a paycheck to paycheck at the moment, but one thing that struck me about the post is sharing from a place of abundance rather than scarcity.

On a typical day, my wife and I both love to logon to the internet and surf after we get off from work.  She likes watching TV shows online.  Her favorite, at the moment, is a Philippine’s TV drama series titled “Tayong Dalawa” (The two of us together?!).  I, on the other hand, love to checkout my yahoo fantasy basketball team.  I play fantasy basketball with my officemates and it’s one of the topics we often talk about at work.  Unfortunately, since we can’t access yahoo at work,  I’d have to check it out at home.

Since we only have one laptop at home, we have to share it together.  Sometimes, she has to watch me go through the bunch of basketball statistics for my fantasy basketball team.  And on other times, I’d have to watch the TV drama series together with her.  To a degree, it is a very nice experience, and I love spending this time with my wife.  However, at a certain point, I would rather check my favorite basketball team than watch people crying on TV.  In those times, I wonder whether buying my own PC would be the perfect solution.

In all honesty, I can actually afford the extra PC if I really want to.  However, I often wonder whether it’s really worth it.  Most of the day, I would be at the office, and I would only need the PC when I get home.  This morning, while reading Steve’s post, I am reminded about having the right mindset.  Do I serve more people by being cheap?  What about sharing from a place of abundance?  Or is this just an excuse for myself to buy what I really want?

How about you?  Have you been having second thoughts buying something you really want lately?