The town of Albert, Texas is for sale on eBay –current price listed at $50,100.  An investment project?

-Edit- The ending price of the auction was $52,100.00, and it had 24 bidders.

Back in December when I reviewed  Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, I did not live in a community dotted with a Starbucks at every block, so I have never been to a Starbucks.  I was able to read the book and see the vision Howard Schultz, the CEO, had of the company.  I saw how he wanted the Starbucks image to exist. I wrote my review of his business techniques in the book here.

Now my commute to work passes three Starbucks Cafes, so I decided to check the place out.  My brain carried the image Schultz painted in his book.  The experiences have been totally different.  Yes the employees were great and the coffee was delicious–but it was the other things that were off.  He said they give real cups unless customers ask for to-go cups.  The baristas told me it’s actually the opposite.  They don’t even have enough porcelain cups to accommodate the seats in their shop.  Schultz said his business was green; the places I visited had no recycling for the disposable cups.  The differences between what Shultz said was standard and what I saw were shocking.  But it just goes to show:

A CEO can’t always be in touch with what is really happening in his company.  It’s like a king–does he really know everything his subjects are up to?  There are so many people and so many cups of coffee.

I feel lucky that I read the book before I walked in the coffee shop.  Of course, it means I was disappointed when I walked in while the average person is won over by the experience.  Oh well.  No wonder this book is on clearance at Amazon now.

Now that the holidays are over, the number of divorcees looking for a rental house explodes. I thought it was just an interesting fluke last year when we were trying to rent out a larger property. This year, a property manager has confirmed that he finds more newly separated people looking for a new home than any other time of year.

How interesting since it’s also Valentine’s Day time, huh?

Valentine’s Day and personal finances make an interesting combination… a situation we haven’t figured out the best way to handle. Spend a fortune on stuff? Bypass the big spending? Put the money toward something “super sweet” like your hubby’s Roth or a new stock pick?

We’ve always downplayed this holiday at our house–usually because we’ve had a house to rent out! Now I’m contemplating all of the past articles on Aridni and wondering what the best solution is.

The net worth is struggling to maintain itself these days, and to be honest, I’m not thinking about money to the point of obsession like I used to. Instead, I’m experiencing the things that I haven’t been able to do since college:

learning how to cook
writing a book

My husband is doing something he’s always wanted to do:

earning a master’s degree

While my co-personal finance bloggers experience rapid growth this year, we’re setting different goals for ourselves that involve personal development and enrichment. I work part time until May, which is the coolest feeling I have ever experiencing about work. Working 9 to 5+++ was the most miserable experience I have ever had.

Now I don’t have to worry about what the boss thinks or if I’ll lose my job or how to spend my messily vacation days. I have total freedom for myself, which no one else in my office experiences. Sure I get paid less. But at some point, we have to ask ourselves what matters most: lots of money or lots of freedom.

I read a fantastic book that illustrated the way I was feeling:
The Anti 9-to-5 : Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube

I suggest that anyone feeling frustrated with work take a glance. It has some fantastic strategies for reflecting on what makes you happiest and determining how to obtain the best situation for your working self. The fact that it’s targeted to women is something pretty much only relevant in the title. The rest is easily male or female.