linklings, sneezing leads to a CAT scan edition

I’m a bit late with this week’s link roundup (surprise) but I have an excuse. As I was driving to work for an early morning meeting on Tuesday, a heavy, driving rain broke out.  The pitch black, heavy rain and early hour (about 6:30) would have been bad enough but my windshield wiper chose that moment to whip off the car.  I had to go retrieve it in the pitch black, driving rain and 70 mile-per-hour traffic and then use a small pair of pliers to try to work it back on – all in cold weather with a light windbreaker on.

Needless to say I was soaked. Traffic accidents on I-95 extended my cold, shivering wait in the car to two hours.  After spending 20 minutes in the gym locker at work with a hair dryer on me, I felt more or less OK.  Then…. bam.  About 24 hours later, I felt sick.  I visited the urgent care clinic and got some help.  24 hours later, with my blood pressure soaring, severe sinus pain and serious weakness, I was off to the doctor.  I had to get a CAT scan to rule out a stroke, but apparently it was just my body’s reaction to the infection.  My blood pressure’s been normal for 7-8 years, and was just checked about 3 weeks ago so the surge was weird, and made the doctor double-check with the CAT scan.  Not a fun experience.  On the bright side, with some antibiotics and a brief course of blood pressure medicine I’m back to feeling more or less normal today (120 over 70 type blood pressure, and sinus pressure greatly reduced).

Too much information?

Well, just wait til you see the boatload of links I’ve got:

• Running Up Debt:  Never having been in debt other than mortgage debt in my life, I’m always slightly fascinated by other people’s stories of debt spiraling out of control.
• Are Over Half of Workers Really Dissatisfied with Their Jobs?:  Doesn’t surprise me, simply because most of us believe our job should pay a bit more, the boss should be a bit nicer or the guy in the next cubicle shouldn’t tap his pen all day long.
• Do Something You Love, Before You Have To Do Something For Money:  Amen – which is why you should go to an inexpensive college, preferably public, and get out of school without needing to go to work immediately to pay off $80,000 in student loans (or more).
• Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe for Under $15 – Easy and Frugal:  We just got a Crock Pot (actually the exact same one Jeremy has in this post) so I’m going to have to give this a shot.  Nothing like pork for healthy eating!
• To Succeed Financially, You Must Know Yourself and Know Thy (Financial) Self:  Closely related articles, and both worth considering:  you need to understand yourself before you attempt to change yourself.
• What Happened to Patrick? A Few Thoughts About Blogging Anonymously:  I’ve written about my struggle with anonymity before, and Ryan (who is the “real Patrick”) over at Cash Money Life finally gave up on anonymity, giving out his full name right there on the blog.  Not a bad idea.  You can find my real name without much trouble, but I still haven’t just slapped it up on the blog.  Patrick Ryan’s probably right – anonymity won’t do much for furthering your online “brand.”
• The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams: I sympathize with Lyndon in this post. I make enough money that dropping my current lucrative career seems insane, even to follow my dreams (which aren’t that firmly defined, but that’s a separate question).

Some more good reads, but now I’ve run out of steam to comment…

• Overtime Exempt Employee vs Non-Exempt Employee
• The Key To Living Frugally
• Unemployed Tax Deductions Provide Tax Relief
• Best Gasoline For Your Car Engine? Not Always Premium Gas
• How To Get Health Insurance When You are Self Employed
• Happiness, experience, and memory – Daniel Kahneman’s TED lecture

americas-richest-counties: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance: And finally, a nice little bonus read on a statistic that always kills me. “Highest income” is a radically different concept from “richest.” I had a high income in New Jersey, but my expenses were proportionately higher. If you want to get a true look at “richest” you’d have to incorporate some sort of cost-of-living metric.

Tags: career, happiness, health, income, jobs, life, money