As surprised as a penguin in a hot tub.
My guess is that is about how my darling wife will feel when she realizes what has happened. That’s right Em, I’m making my virgin voyage into Bloggerville. Okay, so this isn’t actually my first ever blog post, my family used to have a blog that we would all post on while Dim & Twah (my younger brother and sister) were on their missions. My grandma referred to it as our “blob” and always wanted us to do more blobbing. Well Grandma Marler, this Blob’s for You!
Although this isn’t my first ever blob post, it’s my first post as a married man. I’m quite confident that my blobbing will now be much more insightful, articulate and sophisticated now that I have such a remarkable wife who has helped me mature leaps and bounds in the last 18 months.
Let me say just a brief word about the inspiration for tonight’s blob. I was reading a book on my subway ride home that talked about how our minds have the potential to atrophy once we graduate from school. He talked about how we sometimes tend to focus only on learning subjects associated with our jobs and we neglect to expand our minds through reading and writing about subjects outside the realm of our current career endeavors.
I thought it about it for a while and just when the thinking started to become painful, I realized that since I graduated from school I have gained two belt loops and lost two hat sizes. Okay, so neither of those may be true, but I decided that I needed to write something more than a scathing email to a co-worker or a snide text message to a friend.
The subject of tonight’s blob: Money
It’s not what you think. I don’t want to talk about the evils of money and camels squeezing through eyes of needles. This isn't a clever way to introduce you all to my stupendous new exotic zebra oil MLM product that cures cancer, licks drooling problems, and donates all proceeds to Siberian orphanages while placing you all in my perpetual downline. I don't even want to ask if you've done your taxes and donated to your Roth IRA (which you all should do by the way). I want to talk about decisions that come with money.
On the same subway ride that inspired this blog post, I saw an advertisement for a vacation to Tobago. In case you don’t know what Tobago is, it’s pictured below.
Here’s my question. What’s the best way to spend money? Now before I say this, let me assure that I don’t pose this question because we have an excess of the green stuff and we just can’t decide how to spend it. That couldn't be further from the truth. I pose the question because after completing the 8 minute walk of frozen shame from my office to the subway, I saw the picture and thought how nice it would be to be lying on a beach in Tobago (wherever in the world that is). But then I thought about how much that would cost and how it probably wouldn't be practical.
So I pose the following question: Let’s say you just found $5,000 in cash on the subway (that hasn’t happened to me yet, but I always open check unattended packages in public places just in case), or in the street, or in your bank account, bottom line, you’ve got 5 grand, what do you do with it and why?
Are you going to Tobago or some other awesome vacation spot you’ve always wanted to visit? Are you putting it away for a down payment on your house? Are you investing it in American Express or some other hot stock just waiting to take off? Are you putting it toward that luxury sports car you’ve had your peepers on? Are you putting it in your bank account and spending it on JBC’s, groceries, and trips to Redbox over the next few months? For the purpose of this exercise, let’s assume that you have no debt whatsoever, so an option is not paying down your debt.
So let’s hear it, what are you doing with the cash and why? This blob appears to have comment functionality so let’s hear what y’all have to say. I already have my answer tucked away in my size 5 7/8 head. I’ll put pen to paper or…….key to screen in my next post.
