It's that point in the semester when life transitions from merely busy to frantic because every professor decides to have a test in the same week. I also interview with my university's teaching program on Friday, and I still don't have my portfolio in a form I'm ready to share. I'm getting a bit stressed out, especially since my research advisor informed me, "You aren't allowed to make any B's this semester." (What, because graduating with less than my current 3.950 will limit my options in life???) I'm getting to the point where I'm not getting much sleep, partly as a result of the workload, and partly as a result of waking up in the middle of the night in a panic and having to lie awake until I can get my heart rate and breathing back to normal so I can sleep.

As a result, I won't be around for the next few days. Next week I should be a bit saner and have some time and energy to devote to blogging again.

TANSTAAFL

Nonetheless, I'm learning that it's ok to shift food costs to others. Every semester there's a gathering of the recipients of the scholarship I'm on. Usually at these things I felt awkward about eating out in such nice places and ended up ordering one of the least expensive things on the menu because I just couldn't envision spending more than a week's grocery money on one meal, even if I didn't have to pay. Tonight I made the conscious effort to throw frugality out the window.

After all, how often in life do opportunities to get dressed up and eat lobster at the expense of dead rich people come along?

Link love tag

The lovely Ms. MiniDucky has tagged me in this great big link love fest. I'm supposed to pick five more folks and pass it on. She touts numerous benefits, including: building community, making new friends, attracting new traffic, and increasing your Technorati authority.

The Strategist Notebook ~ Link Addiction ~ Ardour of the Heart ~ When Life Becomes a Book ~ The Malaysian Life ~ Yogatta.com ~ What goes under the sun ~ Roshidan’s Cyber Station ~ Sasha says ~ Arts of Physics ~ And the legend lives ~ My View, My Life ~ A Simple Life ~ Juliana RW ~ Mom Knows Everything ~ Beth & Cory's Mom ~ A Mind Forever Voyaging~ enjoying the ride ~ Jennifer's thoughts ~ Mom of 3 Girls ~ Amanda ~ Don't Make Me Get The Flying Monkeys ~ ExPat Mom ~ Just Jessie ~ Wilson Six ~Krisitn ~ Nuttier Than You ~ Shonnte ~ Summer's Nook ~ Laura Williams Musings ~ Melissa's Idea Garden ~ Confessions of an Everyday Housewife ~ Blah Blah Blog ~ Stop the Ride! ~Soap, Blings & Girly Things ~ It's All for the Best ~ Keeping Feet ~ Junky Love in FreehandGetting Out of Debt ~ Free From Broke ~ Money Matters ~ Arohan's Investing Life ~ My Investing Blog ~ Finance and Fat ~ Iowahippiechick ~ ~ Cathlawson.com ~ Making Cents Of Debt ~ DebtDiet ~ MakingMoneyJournal ~ Life Liberty & The Pursuit Of Money Mrs Micah Brightside of Debt Fiscal Musings Paid it Down and Moving Forward Phoenix from the Ashes Canadian Saver The Good Life on a Budget Last One In Line Finding Financial Peace CT Mom Beachgirl's Budget Blog~Saving For a Home of My Own ~ My Money and Politics ~ MoneyDummy ~ Fabulous Financials ~ Fabulously Broke In the City ~ Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge ~ The Hustle of Sistah Ant ~ Ms. Miniducky~ Sense to Save ~ Thoughts From an SF Renter ~ Not Living on Ramen ~Living for the Blue World~The Penny Saved~Not Living on Ramen
I've decided to tag some people whose blogs I've been enjoying lately:

A of Keeping the Reins Tight
MarySue of Fangirling My Finances
sjean of Stacking Pennies
Dog of Dog Ate My Finances
Blubba of Fat Man...Skinny Wallet

If you guys decide to pass this along, add yourselves to the list, repost on your blog, and pick more folks whose blogs you enjoy to tag.

Scratch that: the original PearBudget is alive and well.

Well, I was completely wrong. The Pearbudget worksheet is still available, just a bit harder to find. (Thanks, Mr. Park.) Hooray!

PearBudget is dead! Long live PearBudget!

I've been bad; I quit tracking every penny of my spending a couple of months ago. The time has come to start keeping detailed records again, and the new laptop seemed like the perfect means to do so. Since I have OpenOffice, I thought I'd just pop over to PearBudget to download their lovely worksheet. It isn't fancy, but it does everything I want.

Alas, they don't seem to be offering it anymore. They are touting a new, improved, web-based PearBudget that will cost $3/month once it's out of beta. I hope it's great, it helps people take control of their finances, and the creators make a bundle, but I'm not interested in paying for advanced functionality I don't need.

I briefly considered switching to GNUCash, but I don't have this whole Linux thing figured out yet. Luckily, I have the old PearBudget on my desktop so I can just transfer the file to my new computer. The worksheet contains a message from Charlie Park, the creator, who encourages distributing it as long as you don't charge anything and give proper credit. The old PearBudget was simple, elegant, and oh so convenient. If you ever feel the desire to give it a try, just send me your email address and I'll pass it along.

"Socialist education?!?"

The February 21 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reprted on a discussion panel on public education that took place at a state university Wednesday. While reading the article, I was taken aback by the stance of Loyola University economics professor Walter Block, who advocates eliminating public education altogether. He suggests that private schools opertating in the free market could do a much better job of providing education to all, and said, “We shouldn't be calling it public education; we should be calling it socialist education.” Professor Block is clearly somewhat radically libertarian in his views. He stated, “To me, there are two parts of equity, and one is not forcing people to pay for other people's educations. That seems more like theft than equity.”

There are many things that free markets do very well. They are often a more efficient system than an elaborate central-planning bureacracy could ever be. Individual initiative is encouraged by capitalist systems. That said, having a social safety net for those who truly cannot help themselves is important as well. Children have little control over their own lives, and they shouldn't be forced to suffer as a result of their parents' poor choices.

Public schools in the U.S. range from the excellent to the truly awful. It's a system in need of dramatic change. School choice, charter schools, and vouchers all introduce competition and may play an important role in reform. Introducing free market aspects in education can be useful, but abandoning government involvement altogether would prove disasterous.

Professor Block insists, “ The idea that you need only public schools or only the aristocracy is going to get educated is erroneous,” but I'm not so sure. Most upper, middle, and working class families would adapt to paying for schooling, but the poorest children would be screwed. I can't quite buy into his claim that charitable organizations would step in to provide scholarships for every needy child. Privatizing education would exacerbate problems of educational inequality and sharply reduce economic mobility. It would mean the death of meritocracy.

An educated populace benefits us all. Literate and numerate citizens are essential for the functioning of both a representative democracy and a technologically advanced country. The provision of public education is a vital public good and a shared responsibility for all.

Better living through barter

I'm fairly nerdy in a lot of ways (no surprise considering that I'm a physics major), but I've never been a computer geek. My brother is. He and I helped our dad build a computer when my brother was in fourth grade and I was in sixth, and my brother has been borderline obsessed ever since. As a result, he has to deal with being the guy everyone calls when he or she has a computer question.

He grumbles sometimes, but he's pretty good about helping people out. So when one of my mom's co-workers needed to buy a laptop for school, he helped her shop and find a good machine within her price range. When his friends' computers die, he works to diagnose and fix the problem. He recently built a computer for a friend.

These are generally not people who have lots of money to devote to tech support. If my brother charged market rates, most of them might no longer come to him. However, my brother has gotten lots of non-monetary payment in return for his services.

When my mother's co-worker bought a laptop, she used my brother's Best Buy Reward Zone account, and he got quite a few dollars worth of gift certificates. His friends often give him their old parts when they upgrade. The girl for whom he built a computer gave him her old one,which he gave to my parents, probably in the hopes that they'll let him keep his current computer, which they paid for, rather than make him give it back after he builds the new one he's planning.

On the whole, this underground economy seems to function pretty well. I did a bit of tutoring for someone whose family owns a restaurant and got paid in salads rather than cash, a win-win situation for everyone. Do you have any experiences bartering for your services? Do you believe you get compensated fairly, or do you feel pressured to accept less than what your time is worth?