The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Heeeeello!

What a great day! I had a spectacular time at work today, made it to the train just in time before a huge downpour started, and kept reading in the entrepreneur magazine that I bought for an outraging 8,80€.

And I have to say - I LOVE IT! I get so many ideas from reading this magazine! Although there is so much info in it that I probably won't be able to finish any given edition that I am about to read, I have decided to go ahead and subscribe for a year :o) Now I'm very excited for the future issues to arrive! Being an international reader, I'll have to be patient for 10-12 weeks until the first delivery finds its way to my home, but the meantime will be filled with sweet anticipation :o)))

I was thinking about posting a bit of the article that I found so fascinating in the magazine but now I'm opting to update you on my kitchen greenery - or the partial lack thereof. Remember back when I planted onions and red pepper and mandarine seeds? Well, turns out I'm not being so lucky with the seedling part of the activity. Both of the mini greenhouses started producing bunches of fluffy mould today... not a good sign for the pepper seeds. And upon seeing the fluff, I checked on the mandarine seeds, and found itsy-bitsy pieces of fluff on there as well... I haven't given up on either yet, but it doesn't look too good.

The onions, however, are growing very happily :o) Already on the second day of being plunged into soil, tiny white roots found their way out of the pot to the puddle of water. Their greens have been "on the sprout" ever since! Not so much in height, but in number, firmness, and over all greenness :o) Those make me happy every morning!

Good night, Peopz!

Business Bed Bureau

Phew, the weekend flew by like nothing! I got myself into mild trouble with starting to sort files - partly for straightening out the finances that haven't been included in straightening-outings yet ;o) And partly to start getting ready for filing my taxes!

It's still pretty early in the year, tax filings in Germany are not due until May 31st - but the earlier I file them, the earlier I have a chance of getting some of my payments back ;o) I guess that's universal for every country.

As I started thinking about tackling the business plan goal (you see? thinking about tackling... I'm still in the early stages :o)), I have decided to expose myself to fresh entrepreneurial thought. Ideally, I'd be mingling with a bunch of überhuman business magnates that managed to stay down to earth. As I am currently lacking such contacts in the business, I went for the next big thing. Buying a magazine in the field...

I am always amazed at the sheer size of the magazine market. And yet, I find it pretty difficult finding a product that is worth going back to time and time again, at least for a little while. Over the past year, I have been an infrequent reader of Business Punk. (Infrequent, because I only read 3 issues so far. On the other hand, as far as I know only 3 issues have been published until now, so maybe I am really more of a hardcore fan...?). That's a highly recommendable magazine for entertainment with a taste for business. I quite enjoy reading it, but it isn't entirely helpful for soon-to-be entrepreneurs.

Which let me to (*drumroll*) the entrepreneur! With that title, I had to be hooked. It took me three trips to the book store to actually buy it though. The cover looked great, the topics sounded interesting. Only one thing really annoyed me. The original US-version costs $4,99 as printed on the issue. The book store recalculated that into Euros - translating $4,99 to €8,80! OUCH!

Well, I guess book store owners have to carve out a living somehow as well... Conversions like that are a definite reason for just subscribing to the original though. Which I promptly checked out. I bought the magazine, I've read about a third so far and quite like it, found a gift coupon - and the coupon is for $9,99 - for 12 issues! Even better than the Kiplinger's deal! This one comes with a hook though - to include international mailing bumps up the price tag to $35,97 dollars. Which, of course, is still a better deal then 12x €8,80, but not as great a deal as I thought.

Soooo, as my final comment of the day - I spent the best 10€ ever today :o)))))))) I bought a portable bed bureau *grin* A wooden surface mounted on top of a textile bag filled with polyester bubbles - to set on your lap while sitting in bed, with your laptop on it! Here's a picture:

So what more can I say - Goooood night everyone :o)