My husband was laughing and crying while reading the following review the other night because it is both sad and hilariously true:

http://tigerbeatdown.com/2011/08/26/enter-ye-myne-mystic-world-of-gayng-raype-what-the-r-stands-for-in-george-r-r-martin/

He also just made a tidy profit on his Game of Thrones boardgame because apparently it’s out of print and ebayable. So there’s a tie-in to personal finance.

It helps me keep track of my expenses. I tried to “jot down” the everyday expenses with a little notebook and a pen, but it would become annoying and I would stop doing it again.

I almost always carry my phone with me, so jotting down a 2 euro icecream purchase or a 4 euro lunch has become much quicker and easier.

It works with double accounting, as it’s, I believe, called in english. So the money always goes from one “category” to the other. For example it can go from Cash to Expense-Fun, from Bank account to Cash (when you use an ATM), from Bank account to Expense-Rent or from Income-Salary to Asset-Checking account. I was confused a bit at first, especially on how to note down income. My income appears out of the blue, of course, in exchange for me working very hard. But now I understand that you then indeed have to make a post of “Income-Salary” to “Bank account”, and that works.

Heh. The GRRM fan who knows me best told me that I’d have to be tied down to get through the first episode of the TV show. (I couldn’t get into The Hobbit or LotR, and have trouble caring enough to sit through TV in general.)

Most probably you can find a cheaper Spanish edition for the Mexican – South American market.

And while I haven’t read Game of Thrones, sex and violence are pretty clearly separated in my view. Rape isn’t sex, it’s simply violence; and if one enjoys violent activity in their sex life, consenting to the action in advance takes it out of the realm of violence. It’s difficult to find the word that does describe it, but in my (perhaps erroneous) view, violence has an implied component of Aggrssor and Victim that doesn’t exist between consenting parties, despite any play-acting.

It kills me that I can’t get an iTunes Season Pass!

And, while there are a lot of “frivolous” type things that come over groupon and other sites, there are also some really useful things. For example, I know several people without dental insurance who rely on Groupon to go to dentists at an affordable rate.

And, just a note about the iphone app. It costs more than 99 cents, because you also have to buy the phone and have a monthy plan for the phone. Not so cheap after all.

Try The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss if you enjoy lighter fantasy.

Watch the expiration dates, because they could sneak up on your if you’re not paying attention, but they do send you plenty of reminder emails as the dates get closer.

I budget for it and treat it like I’m shopping at a store or online – that eliminates a lot of frivolous spending.

As for iPhone apps for finance, if you’re a Chase customer, their iPhone app lets you take a picture of checks with your phone and deposit them that way, so that you don’t have to drive to a bank or ATM. It’s a fantastic timesaver, but doesn’t work for checks over $1,000.

Sorry, just had to get that out.

As for Groupon – I tend not to use it, either, because i agree that it’s mainly advertising. I’ve found that if there’s some coupon that’s REALLY worth having, I’ll hear about it through the grapevine. That’s what happened the one time Amazon offered a $20 gift card for $10 – millions sold!

I was kind of bummed that I missed out on LivingSocial’s $10 for $20 at Whole Foods yesterday… that’s a pretty great deal for a place I frequent at least two or three times a week.

I keep thinking about the show. I want to re-watch it. It’s that good!