Dan from Madison

Trying to Act Professionally

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I always try to act professionally at my job – I really do. It is never good to burn your bridges with anyone as you never know where you will end up – or where they will end up. On occasion the bridge must be burned, however. I think that is a normal part of doing business in a competitive marketplace. In other words, you can’t let someone stomp on you forever, or have endless meetings with you with the illusion that they are going to buy goods or services from you.

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State Created Black Markets

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This is a very interesting article in the WSJ about how it apparently now seems to be more profitable (and less risky) to steal a semi full of cigarettes than to steal an armored car full of cash. This is mainly due to the mountains of taxes that the various agencies in New York have put on the product. You have a huge state tax on top of the New York City tax, making a very nice spread between a non taxed product and a taxed product.

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Do Not Talk To The Police

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This is a great video about your Fifth Amendment rights.   Don’t be afraid to use them.

ChicagoBoyz Eatin’ Cheap Contest Winner

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This post generated a lot of interesting comments and great ideas not only for cheap foods, but for great ways to prepare your food and make it last longer. The pork shoulder (butt) was mentioned a few times and I will admit that I use those once in a while to eat cheap myself. Top Ramen was king with several people, and seems to have helped many survive their college days. Various ways to prepare chicken also garnered several comments as did PB and J sammiches. Some things I just can’t eat, like the roadkill mentioned or the Jose Ole burritos (3 for $1!). I have heard of people here in Wisconsin taking roadkilled deer and butchering them on the spot and taking the meat home for freezing. Out of so many good ideas I had to narrow it down, and I got it down to two.

Our runner up is Ozmo, whose wife, using a combination of newspaper coupons and a loyalty card purchased food and toiletries for a total of $50, but in the end with the coupons and loyalty bonuses $13 was paid to HER.

But our clear winner reminded me of myself back in my college days, where free food was my main draw. I will let John say it as he did in the comments:

Margarita Mondays at Acapulcos. Go into the Cantina during happy hour and for $1 you get a margarita (cheap tequila, but it still works) and all you can eat buffet. I swear, for a while there in college that was the only fresh vegetables I was getting. They also had these great little taquitos. You just had to make sure to get out before the karaoke started (or if you had at least $5 you could be drunk enough to last through it).

For this Eatin’ Cheap submission John, you are the man!

*Special thanks to Jonathan for making this certificate, which will entitle John to great respect wherever he goes, as well as the best tables at America’s finest restaurants.