I have a lot of friends that are just beginning their life after college. I feel privileged that I’ve had a few more years of experience so I can (hopefully) help them learn some fiscal responsibility.

A recent post by Ramit Sethi on his blog I Will Teach You To Be Rich made me feel good about myself. The flow chart diagram he has on there is, with no exaggeration, exactly how I handle my finances. In the current times, having things set up that way has made me feel safer about my future than many people around me are. (And I’m not saying that to be cocky at all, trust me.)

Sethi recently wrote a book by the same name. In it he outlines a six-week program to get your money under control. I haven’t read it, and I’m pretty sure most would be a repeat for me since I’ve followed his blog for years, but I do own a copy. If any of you, my friends, need help learning to be responsible with your money, I will gladly loan it to you.

A lot of the reason the country is in an economic mess is because people didn’t know or understand what they were doing with their money. Be responsible for your own future and the future of your country and get on it.

Current obsession: Breakfast at Sulimay’s. Elderly people reviewing new music. In this episode, they go after Young Jeezy and Animal Collective.

And don’t miss their review of T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.”

While these are funny, they also make me go “hmm” for reasons I can’t quite pin down yet.

I love when people get ridiculously creative like this.

Hi from Multitouch Barcelona on Vimeo.

On a related note, last night I saw this quick interview with Sam Wang. He says that a digital computer with the power and size of a human brain would consume as much energy as all of Washington, D.C. Who says humans aren’t efficient?

Apparently the hug business is booming. Maybe people need them more in hard times.

I wish I made that much per hour.

The thing about miracles is that they are never what you expect. And they never happen when you want them to, only when they need to happen.

A fun contradiction about life is that the more you try to control it, the less satisfying and more stressful it becomes. But when you let things happen, take what comes your way and choose to grow and learn from all of it, it’s the most fulfilling thing in the world.

There is hope for your life like a cut-down tree. You may not understand it now; you may never understand why things happened the way they did. Who are we to think that everything happening in our life is something meant for US to understand and explain in OUR lifetime? Job didn’t have that privilege, and he was a lot more legit than you and me.

Pro tip: if anything ever goes wrong that has any relation at all to politics, blaming the president is the correct thing to do.

On the other hand, when great things happen, make sure to thank everyone that was legitimately involved in making it happen. And don’t forget God.

The truth of the matter is that everything bad that happens in our lives the fault of the guy you didn’t vote for because he is Satan. It definitely has nothing to do with irresponsible bankers or natural disasters or unforeseen circumstances or our own selfish, sinful human nature replicated on a mass scale.

Happy Friday!

I know we music folk laugh at the ridiculous things Kanye says and does while quietly acknowledging his genius. The following quote fits in that “genius” category. (He loves the caps lock key, so I took the liberty of fixing that for him.)

I look at our current superstars like legends in the making… like Justin is the new [Michael Jackson], Beyonce’s the new Tina Turner, Gaga’s Madonna, Jay is Sinatra… Wayne is Hendrix, Thom Yorke is Roger Waters. These are the champions and should be documented as such.

[Kanye via Pitchfork]

Guess who’s sitting at his computer screen with absolutely nothing to say but “yeah… yeah!” right now? That’d be me.

In case you don’t know what people who pretend they know everything look like, this is a very accurate, real-life snapshot of a few.

[Book Club: The Da Vinci Code]

Something just occurred to me.

If I want to listen to a song legally, whenever I want, I have to pay 99 cents for it. (Or even more with the grand, glorious new iTunes thing!) But if I want to listen to that song while watching moving pictures that were made specifically to go with the song, that’s free!

Oh, music business. What would I have to write about if you weren’t so backward?

Recently I’ve noticed that when someone tells me a story, thought or idea about him or herself, my most natural response is to tell a story, thought or idea about myself that relates somehow. Ever since I had that realization, I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s a personal problem I have with being self-centered or if that’s how most of us relate to each other.

So what’s the verdict? Am I selfish and have friends who quietly deal with that particular character flaw of mine? Or is it human nature for us to respond to another’s experiences with a personal reflection of our own?

I should start paying more attention to how other people respond to me.