I came across some book recommendations on retirement (my favorite subject) so i stopped at the library this a.m. to see if they had them. I picked up "Retire on Less Than You Think," and Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth."

I don't read many personal finance books, not becus i'm not interested, but becus i just don't have the time. I do read quite a bit of Kiplingers/Smart Money/Money/NYT/Wash Post etc online for my job.

But i'm going to try to get thru these 2 books. I did GREATLY enjoy 2 classics, Your $ or Your Life and The Millionnaire Next Door.

In the same driving trip i also stopped at Walgreen's and picked up 2 free after rebate items. Also on sale they had Ghirardelli Dark Mint Chocolate bars on the discount shelf for just .57, so i picked up 4! Why they would be discounted, i don't know. I didn't see an expiration date on them. And then at checkout, i saw a small bag of macadamian nuts, so i bought them too, as a sentimental purchase. You see, my grandmother, knowing how much i liked them as a child, would always have them at her house when we came to visit. They're so expensive, i don't buy them now, but this one's for you grandma. I miss you so much.

I took the backroads to Walgreens, then took the highway coming back to compare mileage. It was actually longer to take the highway, so now i know not to do that. On the way back, i passed a pretty bad accident which appeared to have just happened, so i used my cell phone to call 911 and report it. You never know when someone might not have a cell phone, and i sure would appreciate it if a passerby did that for me.

The bank that has had the honor of leveraging the balance in my checking account for the past 15 years is still screwing up my linked online money market account i just opened with Dollar Savings Direct.

(I'm trying to beef up my emergency fund, which currently has just $4,500 in it. I'm aiming for 6 months worth of living expenses, or $18,000.)

DSD only accepts online transfers, but for some reason one online transfer i attempted to make from my bank to DSD for $3,000 ended up going to them in the form of a check, which they do not accept, and so they returned it to me. But now my regular bank deducted that amount from checking, and i'm down to about $200. Lucky for me that nothing bounced, or looks like it'll bounce. I had to spend another 20 minutes on the phone with a bank rep to get it straightened out.

Truth be told, i would still very much like to open a checking account at a different local bank (and i know which one it would be). Maybe when my checks run out.

This weekend is a rainy one and i have things to do around the house, as usual, though i'm feeling lazy today. Like just feel like reading instead of mouse-proofing. (I heard one last night, so my job isn't done.) I also bought the proper-sized foam insulation that goes around the plumbing pipes in an unheated room, like my basement. I had replaced some larger, galvanized steel pipes years ago with smaller diameter copper pipes, but just kept the old foam on, which hangs loosely and uselessly. I don't know why i didn't take care of that before. That's one thing i want to do this weekend.

I hope you watched the debates last night. It's probably not wise to talk politics here, though i would like to say that McCain came off as very rude to me becus he did not once look Obama in the face. He only addressed Jim Lehrer. It did not seem very respecful.

Among the many things i want to do when i "retire" is work for a presidential campaign, when there's someone I believe in.

We had a wild ride this week in the financial markets with the fed seizure of Washington Mutual and the $700 billion bailout package pending, both of which i wrote about for our website at work. The sale of WaMu to MorganStanleyChase was a very good thing becus it means the FDIC doesn't have to put up the funds to back up their losses, and their current funding is fairly depleted after the IndyMac deal. That's our tax dollars, crisis averted there, folks.

Unfortunately, our tax dollars WILL be used for the bailout of the banking industry once they hammer out a final deal. There seems to be no alternative becus the entire credit apparatus seems to have seized up itself. The problem is commercial paper, short-term loans businesses rely on to carry out their day-to-day operations. Banks, after getting carried away on a wave of greed and reckless disregard for any semblance of loan standards, are now freezing like deer in the headlights, afraid to loan any money whatsoever becus they're now suffering the consequences of sub-prime and 0% interest loands, option ARMs and all the rest.

So while you may think you won't be needing a mortgage, student loan, car loan or HELOC anytime soon, this fiasco still affects you greatly, becus businesses like your employer can't make payroll without short-term loans.

What a world we live in.