I was talking to an old friend from school today, and the conversation inevitably led back to our time in college together. We started reminiscing about one of the dumbest things we ever did together, which was the time we decided to take a year off and just bum around. Of course, we didn’t want to do that in Chicago (our hometown), so we figured we’d get an apartment. In Boston. With $800 between us, and no leads for any kind of Boston jobs at all.

As you can imagine, that episode didn’t exactly turn out very well. We made it to Boston safely enough, and crashed with a mutual friend for a couple of days. Then, we decided that it was more fun spending time sightseeing and sunning on the beach in Cohasset, so we didn’t bother looking for apartments or jobs after that. We burned through our funds in two weeks, and then had to call my parents to beg them to wire us gas money to get back home.

Oh, and needless to say, we sheepishly returned to school that fall, since we had no other prospects to look forward to!

Luc Bourdon, who appeared in some 27 games for the Vancouver Canucks this season, died earlier today after crashing his motorcycle near Shippagan, New Brunswick, Canada. Bourdon was just 21 years old.

I don’t know anything about him as a player, but I guess he was considered one of the top prospects in the Vancouver system. He was drafted in the first round (10th overall) in 2005 as an 18-year-old, and had very high expectations surrounding him.

It’s too bad that so many young pro athletes decide to spend their money on motorcycles — particularly when they have zero experience riding the things. Remember how Kellen Winslow Jr. tore his ACL in 2005 after crashing his bike? Or how about Ben Roethlisberger’s accident in 2006? I’m sure there have been several others that I just can’t think of right now.

At any rate, my condolences go out to Bourdon’s family. It’s always a tragedy when someone this young loses their life.

Those of you who watch Grey’s Anatomy have probably heard that there’s a sex tape circulating online that allegedly stars Chyler Leigh, who plays Lexie Grey on the hit ABC series. Unfortunately for all you would-be pervs out there, the chick in the flick is not Chyler. Various sources have debunked the video by showing various differences between the real Chyler and the lookalike in the film. For instance, the real Chyler Leigh has a huge tattoo on her lower back, while the woman in the sex tape doesn’t. Also, the woman in the tape has a tongue ring, but Chyler doesn’t.

And no, I don’t have the full Chyler Leigh sex tape video download available here, so please stop with all the emails asking for it!

Anyway, what is up with all of these celebrity sex tape scandals? Why do people even care about this stuff? Am I the only one who thinks it’s incredibly disgusting to watch two random strangers having sex? Why would anyone want to do that???

I’m closing comments for this post because god only knows what kinds of trolls and spam I would end up getting here….

Last night I read a Forbes piece about the 20 most expensive celebrity weddings, and was simply amazed by how much these people shelled out for their big day. The tabs ranged from $250,000 at No. 20 (Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban) to a whopping $3.5 million at No. 1 (Liza Minelli and David Gest).

The million-dollar weddings started at No. 15 with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, and included other such notable couples as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, David Beckham and Victoria Adams (Posh Spice), and Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren.

When I read things like this, I really have to wonder where all the money goes? I mean, just how expensive can the food, band, venue, flowers, gowns, tuxes, and bridesmaid gifts be? Sure, I could see costs climbing into the low six figures, but millions? I don’t get it!

It seems like such a waste to me, particularly since many of these high profile weddings end in divorce anyway.

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that I’m hosting yet another giveaway over at Reviews and More. This one is for a prize pack from a brand-new USA Network TV series called In Plain Sight, starring Mary McCormack (who used to be on the West Wing), Frederick Weller, and Cristian de la Fuente. McCormack and Weller play U.S. Marshalls who help put federal witnesses in the Witness Protection Program. It’s a summer series that begins on June 1, and it actually sounds pretty interesting. I’ll tune in to the premiere for sure!

Anyway, as I said, I’m giving away a prize pack (pictured above) that contains a tee shirt, tank top, TSA-approved travel kit (with plastic toiletry bottles), and a luggage tag.

All you have to do to enter is drop an email with In Plain Sight Giveaway in the subject line to contest[at]reviewsandmore[dot]net between now and June 9. Here’s the direct link to my contest page, so go check it out now!

I was doing some reading about coin collecting last night, and I came across several interesting facts. For instance, I learned that the most valuable coin in the world is a $20 double eagle gold coin that was minted by the U.S. Treasury in 1933. The coin is so valuable because it is the ONLY one of its kind in the world, and has never been in circulation. It was sold to an anonymous bidder at a 2002 auction for a whopping $7,590,020. Wow!

Obviously, the average person would never get his or her hands on such a coin. Even so, there are still plenty of good reasons to start a gold or silver coin collection of your own. The best reason, of course, is that your collection can actually increase in value.

For example, U.S. coins minted before 1965 contained up to 90% silver, making them worth more than their face value today. So if you purchased a bag of 1965 U.S. coins with a legal tender value of $1,000, the collection would actually be worth far more than that based on the silver content.

That’s certainly something to think about if you’re looking to invest in something relatively stable right now!

What’s wrong with the Seattle Mariners this season? Many analysts predicted that the team would have a pretty solid year since they added ace Erik Bedard to their pitching staff and all of their younger players would have some more experience under their belt.

But that hasn’t been the case at all. The M’s are tied with the Padres for the worst record in baseball (18-32), and are currently mired in a 5-game losing streak. Nothing is working for the team, not the pitching, hitting or coaching, and there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. They’re not waiting for a superstar to get off the DL or anything like that; they just suck.

In fact, since winning the AL West with a 116-46 record in 2001, the team has pretty much been in a tailspin. The closest they’ve come to winning the division again was in 2003 when they finished 3 games out of first. After that, they ended up 29 games out in 2004, 26 behind in 2005, 15 behind in 2006, and a more respectable 6 out last year.

The Mariners are already looking at a double-digit deficit this season, and it’s still just May!! No one on the team is doing well, not even the usually reliable Ichiro Suzuki, who’s batting .286 (low for him).

I’m all that upset about the Mariners since the Cubs and Sox are both doing so well, but their poor play is truly baffling. They’re much better than their record indicates, so what’s going on over there???

I’ve been trying to come up with a better workout routine for the four days a week where I don’t go to the gym. Right now, I just go for a 30-minute walk (weather permitting) or spend 20-30 minutes on a mini-stepper. While that’s certainly better than nothing, I feel that I need to do more on these off days.

The problem is that we have a pretty small place, so there’s not a heck of a lot of room to put fitness equipment in here. That means full-sized treadmills and weight benches are out, leaving me with… what? Jogging? My knees can’t take the impact anymore. Jumping rope? I’d feel foolish doing that out in the driveway. Biking? There aren’t a lot of sidewalks or bike paths around here, so I wouldn’t feel safe doing that.

Maybe once I figure this out, I’ll finally be able to make some progress in the weight loss department!

Here’s this week’s Booking Through Thursday question:

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?

I definitely want different things from books and movies. I find movies to be better vehicles for stories that feature lots of action, such as car chases, shootouts, expansive battles, etc. Those things are just easier to process visually than verbally.

Books are better suited to character-driven stories where the narrator (either the omniscient narrator in the voice of the author, or the first-person “I” narrator) has lots of commentary about the inner workings of the character’s mind. I’m talking about the types of novels where the main character thinks a lot or comments (internally) about other characters or situations. These stories come off much better on the written page than in films where a voiceover or similar technique must be used.

Are NFL rookie contracts getting out of control or what?? Former Boston College QB Matt Ryan, the first-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons, has signed a 6-year, $72 million contract that makes him one of the highest paid players in the league. $34.75 million of that money is guaranteed, which means it comes in the form of signing bonuses and other measures not related to on-field performance.

That amount of money for a 23-year-old unproven rookie is simply mind-boggling. The NFL should place a cap on rookie contracts and signing bonuses to eliminate these kinds of deals. I mean, come on! Ryan’s deal, Jake Long’s deal, Jamarcus Russell’s deal…. they all came with $30+ million guaranteed. That hardly leaves any room for motivation, now does it? I’m surprised the owners haven’t addressed this stuff at their annual meeting, since they’re the ones that stand to get burned if the players tank.

Good for Ryan, though. He hasn’t even stepped on a pro football field yet, but he’s already financially set for life. And people wonder why college athletes don’t give a damn about academics….

There are admittedly a lot of things in this world that I don’t understand, and expensive food is one of them. I’m not the kind of person that is comfortable eating at fancy restaurants — not because I don’t know which forks to use with which course, but because I can’t fathom the idea of spending $100-$200 per person on a single meal. The most I can spend without feeling guilty is $50 per person, and that’s only like once a year when we go to Bob Chinn’s for a special occasion.

So when I read about a $175 hamburger being offered by a place called the Wall Street Burger Shoppe, I just had to shake my head in disgust. Who would buy these things?

The $175 burger is made with a Kobe beef patty, black truffles, foie gras, Gruyere cheese, wild mushrooms, and — get this — “flecks of gold leaf on a brioche bun”.

It actually sounds pretty gross. If I had to order it, mine would come with ketchup only, just like all the other burgers I consume!

According to the article I read, about 20-25 Wall Street hotshots are apt to buy this burger in a given month, presumably after making a killing in the market. I suppose if you have an outstanding day and earn six or seven figures for yourself, buying a $175 gold hamburger would be one way to celebrate.

It seems like such a waste though…

One of the front page stories on Yahoo! news this morning was about a problem with McKinney High School yearbooks. Apparently, the printing company contracted to produce the yearbooks went a little crazy with Photoshop and royally screwed things up. The company, Lifetouch National School Studios in Minnesota, stretched, mangled, switched, and otherwise altered photos of students throughout the pages of the book.

No real explanation was given for all of these alterations, though a spokeswoman for Lifetouch said that the school insisted that all the students’ heads be the same size and eyes be on the same level. Apparently, Lifetouch employees took that as license to run amok with their image editing tools.

This is definitely a strange story, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a “scandal” as Yahoo! did. Give me a break!!!

(In the photo I’ve posted, apparently the girl’s neck is stretched out longer than it is IRL.)

When the economy is bad like this, saving money becomes an even more critical issue for small business owners than it usually is. After all, it can be tough continue paying bills and making payroll when fewer and fewer customers are buying your products or services.

One great way to save money would be to get rid of your traditional telephone system and switch to VoIP instead. VoIP phone systems can drastically reduce local and long distance phone bills, thereby freeing up funds for other necessary expenses.

Switching to VoIP is relatively easy to do these days, particularly if you have a company like Xpander Communications helping you out. They’ll put more than 20 years of telecommunications experience to work for you to ensure that you get a phone system that matches your business needs and budget.

Take a look at the different systems they have to offer, and start saving money today!

Since the PayPal Money Market Fund 7-day yield continues to drop, I’ve decided that it’s not worth keeping my money in there anymore. Instead, I’m going to start reviewing different mutual fund prospectuses and will invest in one or two that have relatively stable track records. I’m going to start off with small amounts (a lot of these funds require as little as $500 for the initial investment) and just see where it goes from there.

My husband and I have no retirement nest egg built up except for the pension he’ll get from his company, so we really need to think seriously about building a portfolio for our future.

Since anyone with Internet access is allowed to edit Wikipedia, there are frequent cases of “vandalism”, where people purposely post humorous, malicious, or simply misleading information. Of course, most of the time these problems are cleaned up pretty quickly, which means it’s somewhat hard to actually find examples of vandalism. In fact, the first time I saw an instance with my own eyes was a couple days ago when I was reading about Mario Kart Wii on Wikipedia.

In the “Playable Characters” section, someone added the following lines to the description:

There is one last character that you unlock by completing all courses in all engine classes with a 3-star rank. This character is Jesus, God’s son, is [sic] at last a playable character. He was very unexpected, but it is possible to unlock him with the previous method.

I was so surprised at actually catching this kind of vandalism that I took a screenshot, which you can see below. Just click for a larger version.

So have you seen any Wikipedia vandalism firsthand? What was it?