The lack of updates has been a sign of my attention being drawn elsewhere in the house.  Holly and I (ok, mostly Holly) have spent the past two weekends getting some of the rooms in the house painted.  Ok… it was really Holly, but I had other chores to do around the house (I hate to paint).  And I have to say, Holly hit one out of the ballpark again.  The colors in the bedrooms look great and it's starting to feel like home – not just a new house. 

Fall is starting to show its colors and our new neighborhood actually has enough trees to see the seasons change.  I'm wrapping up yard work and getting ready for winter.  We've got three or four nice sized evergreens that will get lit up this holiday season, so look for pictures later this year. 

I made my way through high school and college waiting tables.  And today, leaving a tip when I go out to eat is something I probably take a little more time reviewing than most people.  The New York Times has a great article about the restaurant industry and the practice of tipping.  Some of the point raised were right on – tipping does not induce a cooperative work place, it does the opposite by having wait staff fight over better shifts or a better part of the restaurant. 

One restaurant in San Diego is working on a way to change this.  They started a no-tipping policy in which the tip is included as a service fee.  The idea is that tipping doesn’t encourage better service.  A great read for anyone who has waited tables more than 15 minutes. 

Link to article: NYT – Why Tip?

A recent Michigan lottery winner announced that they’ve chose to take their $42 million jackpot as an annuity instead of the typical lump sum payment.  The reason… most winners take the smaller lump sum with the plans to invest the money to make up the difference between the lump sum value and the overall annuity value.  The lottery winner decided that with current market conditions, it was a safer bet to get an annuity and forego the possible value increase through investing.  WOW.

$42 Million Winner Take Annuity – CNN

As I sit here and wait, I’m delighted to have a few minutes of quiet time to collect my thoughts and reflect on the day. My most prominent thought is how much of a dork can I be to now have locked my keys in my truck AND require AAA to get them for me for the third time this year. Thank you AAA for not putting a limit on helping stupid people out dumb situations.