Money Money Money

If one of your New Years resolutions (or general goals) is to get a handle on your money (I know it's something I'm working at), you might want to check out Suze Orman's new book, Action Plan. I haven't read much of her stuff, but she seems popular and she's offering her new book for free download until 1/15 - get it here.

Along the same lines, check out SavvySugar's two part series on getting your credit under control: Part I, Part II.

MakeZine's Evolution of the Drink flowchart (who doesn't love a flow chart?).

The sometimes unreliable Corporette came through this week with a helpful article about personalizing your office.  It's targeted at women (as is the site), but I think it's useful for everyone whose office dwelling.  (Hey, at this point if you are lucky enough to have an office, you should do everything possible to keep it...)

An intro to the women of Mad Men, from the ladies at Bitch Magazine.  Can't wait to get sucked back into the Draper universe!

Sarah Haskins is back with more awesome hilarity!  From Jezebel: "In the latest episode of Target: Women, Sarah Haskins muses, Where can we find an array of tips on diet and exercise? Oh that's right: Everywhere."

A site I'm appreciating recently: Girl Meets Business.  While I'm not really at the place (yet?) to think about "personal branding," I found their advice about first impressions, for example, to be straightforward and helpful, without being condescending.

I've loved Car Talk ever since my mom listened to it on the radio (probably because she missed those Baw-ston accents) when I was growing up....and hearing stuff like this makes me love those guys even more!  "Car Talk" Guy Ray Magliozzi Favors 50-Cent National Gas Tax":

This week on the Bottom Line podcast: Ray Magliozzi, on why he supports a 50-cent national gas tax: "We would want to discourage people," Ray says, "who had no good reason to drive a pick-up truck that got 11 miles per gallon just because they wanted to commute back and forth from Home Depot just to buy plants."

Here's another article from my traveling journalist pal, Maggie, "Youth Demand Transparency as El Salvador Prepares Municipal and Legislative Elections." Check it out! Here is an excerpt: 

On January 18, 2009, El Salvador will hold its sixth municipal and legislative elections since the 1992 signing of the Peace Accords. This year national politicians and international officials are aiming for the most transparent and clean to date, but popular sectors criticize the electoral system and predict that past problems are likely to occur again. A September 2008 poll executed by the University Institute of Public Opinion at Central American University José Simeon Cañas (IUDOP) found that 55% of those surveyed believe there will be fraud in January’s election.