Comments on: The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Three Little Things Edition

By: Catherine

Catherine — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:12:43 +0000

Can’t wait to see you in town! See you there – and (pre) Welcome to Austin!!

By: Evita

Evita — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:47:39 +0000

YES!! I just love your perspective on food! I have loved each of your food post and can’t wait for the next one!

By: Hallie

Hallie — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:24:17 +0000

Great! I can’t wait for the food posts, those are def my favorites! And while I like “the typical over-the-top food photography” I agree that it will be nice to have some “normal” food posts from real people. Get going, please!!

By: Tamara

Tamara — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:29:19 +0000

My boyfriend and I are all about the retro cookbooks. We pick them up at garage sales, goodwill, etc. for close to nothing. Some of the recipes are great, but they’re also an enlightening look at the past. I mean, who ever knew aspic was ever that popular?

By: Lawrence

Lawrence — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:37:51 +0000

1 vote for Dominion – Intrigue, it’s a game my housemates and I play a lot along with the original game. I love how the game has so many different permutations depending on which cards you end up using so every gave is truly different! I also didn’t know there was another expansion pack coming out, nice!

By: Shevy

Shevy — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:31:46 +0000

For Mike (4 Pillars) et al who asked about the “awkward” gifts, I would imagine that they had some sort of sexual subcontext. Think of rock concerts and the groupies who throw stuff up on stage perhaps….

And Michael is probably right that a change in Trent’s policy may not eliminate the inappropriate gifts. If they don’t have a sense of boundaries and what is appropriate (knowing that Trent’s a family man) they probably won’t be buying family board games just because they were asked to.

@Johanna
I agree about the cookbooks but the one time people may give away cookbooks they really enjoyed is when they dramatically change the way they eat (become vegetarian, discover that a family member is gluten-intolerant, have a heart attack, become diabetic, etc.).

By: bethany

bethany — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:28:53 +0000

I love your food posts, I’m excited to see more!

By: Daria

Daria — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:47:22 +0000

I had emailed you previously that we live in Austin, Texas and offered to let you stay in our home to save on hotel costs. The offer still stands.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:39:52 +0000

Loved the multitaking article. My husband has a box that he lives in in his head. when he is at work, he is at work. When he is at home, he is at home. He rarely talks about work when he is at home with the girls and I..we totally rule at home. On the other hand, he very rarely calls during the day, just to say “hi!”…work totally rules when he is at work.
I must say, this technique has always been successful for him!

By: kristine

kristine — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:06:37 +0000

Looking forward to the food blog! Our version of your Indian potatoes is now a once a month batch cook staple at our house.

And I think imagining what the awkward gifts were is much more entertaining than actually knowing!

It helps to keep a sense of humor, after all, even the First Lady had to endure Obama girls Youtube.

By: Angie

Angie — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:51:08 +0000

We play a lot of board games, too, and found Caesar and Cleopatra (on your list) to be only mildly entertaining. And not good for kids, unless you want to explain why an orgy might distract people from voting.

We sold it on eBay after only about 4 or 5 plays.

Now, Fury of Dracula, there’s a 2-player (or up to 5-player) game that keeps on giving. We’ve played dozens of times. Or, if you’re into history (which it appears that you are), consider Twilight Struggle for an outstanding 2-player game.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:37:59 +0000

I’ve gotten my share of used and/or heavily discounted cookbooks over the years, but the ones that I keep returning to again and again are all ones that I bought new, and mostly for full price. (I can think of only one exception, and that was a real fluke: I happened by a Dean & Deluca store when they were closing out their cookbook department by selling everything for 75% off. They had three books of vegetarian recipes, and I bought them all. One turned out to be fantastic, while the other two were fairly forgettable.)

I suspect that this is because cookbooks are different from, for example, novels: People are happier to get rid of good novels, because it’s not always so much fun to read the same novel over again, even if it’s very good. But – for me, anyway – when I find a cookbook that I really like, I want to keep it – I’m much less likely to donate it to a book sale or to a library.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:35:53 +0000

I’d also like to hear about the awkward gifts. But how is your policy going to stop people from sending things to your house? If they are weird enough to send awkward gifts, they’re weird enough to ignore the policy.

By: John DeFlumeri Jr

John DeFlumeri Jr — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:12:48 +0000

Don’t get organized. Get happy instead, I like that one.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:50:21 +0000

I want to know about the awkward gifts too!! That was not a good enough clue… I am very dense, lol! People are weird.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:40:38 +0000

Oooh, I’m looking forward to the food entries — those are some of my faves on your blog!

Also, with respect to “awkward gifts”, does this mean I can’t send you any macaroni art? (j/k)

By: Trent

Trent — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:28:28 +0000

“I want to hear about the “awkward” gifts…”

There are several varieties. For at least one, let’s just say I likely would have appreciated it more if I were single and without children.

By: evi

evi — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:21:06 +0000

YES, FOOD-POSTS! Keep them coming, pleeease! I am very much looking forward to your food-posts as they are very interesting and inspiring (a little too meat-oriented for my taste, though). Keep your work up, I will be here reading it!

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:10:29 +0000

I want to hear about the “awkward” gifts…

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:06:24 +0000

Good luck with the food posts (and future blog) Trent! It’s a great writing subject.

I’ll warn you about one thing… if you’re like me (and you might not be) you’ll become obsessed with food photography.

Once you start playing around with it, it is addicting: different lighting, different backgrounds, different angles… it’s a great hobby. You don’t have to have a really fancy camera either to get good photos… I used a point and shoot camera and got really good results for quite a while on my blog before upgrading.

Good luck!