Here’s a money book I wish I would’ve had before I was stupid with money (that one time)

Face it. You wish you would have known a little more about money before you left the nest for the real world. Unless you’re super awesome, you’ve made some money mistakes that you wish you could take back. Joseph Sangl has written a book that should be required reading for every high school and college student. It should be part of freshman orientations around the nation. What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter the Real World is super-practical, a quick, easy read, and highly educational for the financially uneducated. Turn off the TV for an hour and read this book. Your net worth might thank you for it! Order it here: http://www.josephsangl.com/whateveryoneshouldknowaboutmoney/

2010 – now with 2 months FREE!

What would you do if I said you could have more free time than you can imagine in 2010? Would you go back to school? Spend more time with your family? Start a business on the side? (Right, Pamela Slim?) Get a good night’s sleep?

I don’t have time for anything else. How often do we say that? It’s a pretty lame excuse that we give for not doing something to step out of our comfort zone for a little self-improvement. Our day seems to fill up with all the trivialities of life and there seems to be no time.

If you’re like the average American, however, the time killer is most likely your TV. Americans spend an average of four hours a day in front of the TV. Four hours of sitting and not doing. We don’t make resolutions to sit more. We make resolutions to do more. Four hours is 1/6 of a day. One-sixth of a year is TWO MONTHS. I’ll write that again because it’s so crazy: TWO MONTHS!

Want sixty more days in 2010 than you’ve ever had? Put your TV in a closet and leave it there. Sell it to some poor chap who doesn’t have the gumption to stop sitting and start doing. Get out of the rut you’re in, change the dynamics of your family, and begin to find life away from the television.

P.S. If you’re crazy enough to try this little (admittedly) non-conforming experiment, let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear from you and offer encouragement to keep it up!
~TV STiNKS

My wife is hotter…

I realized something the other day: My wife is hotter than she used to be. Part of it is the mushy gushy “she’s the mother of your children” and “you know her better now than you did before” stuff. Like Stevie Wonder sang, I love her more today than yesterday. But I really think she’s hotter. Yes, time and kids change a woman’s body. But she’s hotter.

I think I know a big reason why. I have no “I’ve spent 7 hours in hair and makeup to look like this” hotties on TV to compare her to. Thankfully, I don’t have a TV to find someone more attractive than her – and you know they’re out there. Without these unfair comparisons, I can be more satisfied with the wife of my youth. TV can make anyone look pretty, sexy, etc. I’d just rather not see it and it makes life better for the two of us. Ain’t no woman like the one I’ve got. And I’m not sorry if this is TMI.

“Tell me a story when you were little.”

My daughter asks this of me all the time. “Tell me a story when you were little.” Hidden in that request is the desire to know me, to see how I lived, and to be included in my world. It’s a great request and I try to reach way back and tell her of the time I learned to tie my shoes or rode my Big Wheel down the driveway.

In the dozens of times I’ve been asked to tell a story from my childhood, I have never said anything about watching TV. Not that I didn’t watch TV. I can sing the opening to Saved By the Bell right now, if you want to hear it.

What I see, though, is that my best memories came from being outside and playing and interacting with people and going places and doing things – not from being on the couch.

How cool would it be to fill my kids’ memories with so much fun stuff that they a) have no doubt about my love for them b) continue to believe that we have the best family ever (as I tell them often) and c) don’t have to think long and hard when their children ask them, “Tell me a story when you were little.”

TV STiNKS in the bedroom

A recent news article highlighted the Indian government’s proposal to slow population growth in poor, rural areas by bringing electricity to the villages. Electricity can be a very good thing. But the government’s intention was not so people could microwave popcorn: Their idea is that people will have less sex and therefore fewer children: “If there is electricity in every village, then people will watch TV till late at night and then fall asleep. They won’t get a chance to produce children.” Sounds like the Health and Family Welfare Minister should take my TV-induced sleep deprivation poll.

My beef is not with this method or that method for controlling populations. If so, my blog would be called Population Control STiNKS. My ire is rankled by the hundreds of thousands of couples who willingly say, “Not tonight, Honey. I’m watching Oprah’s after-show show.” Case in point: an Italian study found that married couples with TVs in their bedrooms made love HALF as many times as those without. WHERE CAN I SIGN UP FOR THAT?

If you’re married, you want your marriage to be better. TV STiNKS in the bedroom. Get it out of there, will ya?

Throw Away Your Television – Red Hot Chili Peppers

DVR is (not) great!

Right now, my wife and I are watching episode after episode of some show we recorded on my bro-in-law’s DVR.  It’s great, if you’re into that sort of thing.  And by “that sort of thing” I mean wasting time when you want to rather than when the networks say you have to. 

Look, I really like TV.  But it keeps me from doing things that will matter even ten minutes from now.  And it definitely keeps me from doing things that will matter in 5, 10, 30 years.  Case in point:  My girls were playing with dolls today.  I was watching some sports show.  Who cares if Tiger Woods will or will not get fined?  I missed watching my kids and building that seemingly elusive family equity that people often wish they had.

I’ll get it right next time.

But family stuff is not the only thing that gets pushed out the door.  I found a video by a passionate guy named Gary Vaynerchuk who is big in the world of wine.  At the Web 2.0 Expo NY he told people to “stop watching $*%# episodes of Lost!” if they want to change their work situation.  I couldn’t agree more.

Do you have an idea for something big?  Don’t let Real Housewives get in your way.  Don’t let TV stop YOUR show.

TV-Induced Sleep Deprivation – Hooray!! Poll included!

I just finished reading Little House on the Prairie to my class today. One of the things my students found interesting was that Ma, Pa, Mary, Laura, and baby Carrie went to bed when the sun went down. As it turns out, they had the right idea.
A new study links potential health problems to late-night TV watching. Here’s an excerpt from the article I stumbled upon:
In the two hours around bedtime, TV viewing was the most common activity, accounting for almost 50 percent of the activities undertaken in the time before bed, according to the study to be presented Monday at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies annual meeting, in Seattle.
The finding means that TV — rather than hours past sunset or biological signs — has become the most important signal for sleep.
Surely the same does not apply to computer usage since I’m posting this at 10:45 pm…

Article link: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=101025

Are you a bug?

Is it a coincidence that televisions and bug zappers give off the same blue glow?

Can't...help...myself...must...watch...more...Full House...

This is how I roll.

So…I’ve been looking for ways to encourage people to give up their TV habit.  Well, not totally give it up.  Just lessen the load a bit.  Baby steps, if you will.  I keep finding articles and stories and I keep hearing of experiences from people that pound into my mind that TV really does stink quite a bit.  I’ll be sharing my stories and what I find here.  There’s so much more to life than sitting on the couch.  You’ll see.