Sand

Yeah, driving home for 3 hours doesn't even remotely seem like a challenge, even if I've been up all day at an amusement park. 

 

Sidenote: adults go to amusement parks without kids?

 

You have obviously never been to Cedar Point.

I'm just waiting for my youngest to hit the minimum heights and I'm planning on driving up from Alabama.

I see Microsoft's strategy as simply being a three pronged money grab. First, bring in more money by forcing consumers of used games to pay Microsoft instead of Gamestop/eBay. While this sounds fair enough, their method of addressing this will create a monopoly, and I'm guessing their pricing structure will eventually be raised to extract maximum returns.

Eventually?  

 

These books, articles, etc. tout the power of compound interest. I understand how that concept works. They then go on to direct people to using low cost mutual funds, generally with a large percentage stock index funds. I also understand how reducing fees can maximize your money that you keep.
What I don't get is this: Are stock index funds actually earning interest? I thought they rose and fell with the value of the stocks they hold? How does this bring interest? It's not like your shares multiply, do they? They just rise and fall in value I thought.
 

 
Funds don't earn interest, per se (well, stock funds don't; bond funds earn interest from those bonds).  Replace "interest" with "returns".  Stock index funds rise and fall (minus the fees and internal slippage) with the stocks they own.  You typically do get a dividend distribution, as well.
 
Shares don't multiply, unless you are invested in an actively managed fund where they reinvest dividends and such.

Shares do multiply on plain old index funds if you do dividend reinvesting. I get $30 a month on my Vanguard total bond market fund, and that buys me 2 or 3 extra shares a month, give or take.

True - but that is something that your broker will do, not the ETF itself.  The ETF itself will shed cash.  Personally I like building up that cash enough until I can buy another position in something else I want.

Furley, don't worry about getting chicked by Grue's GF.  In one of my first races I thought I was going really fast until I was passed in the last few hundred yards by the guy pushing his child in the stroller and the guy running with his dog.  I decided that the dog was my arch nemesis and I would beat her someday.  It actually took a couple of years until I whupped her like the dog she is in a 5-miler. 

 

Here I am with her after I finally beat her. http://i35.photobuck...ing/sweetie.jpg

 

She is the one in the collar.  We went out and marked some territory to celebrate.

So the dog ran bandit?  Bad dog!

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To add.  Went out today at lunch for a 7 mile run.  145 suck index or so. Good grief.  I haven't been that wiped out after a run in a long, long time.  9:07/mile.  Pretty sure it will take a few days for the scrapes on my ### heal up after I dragged it over the pavement for the last mile.

Some questions for Elder Scrolls players, I noticed Oblivion is also available on PS3. I know nothing about this game. How different are they, Oblivion and Skyrim, in terms of gameplay? Is there a story line that I would miss out on if I go straight to Skyrim? Although since Oblivion is already IV I may be missing out on storylines anyway. Also, will I want to play Oblivion if I play Skyrim, in which case I should start with Oblivion first then go to Skyrim? And finally if it's so open world will I get lost really fast? I love RPG's and have played some MMO in the past and like them quite a bit, but I'm not at all into FPS games. Thanks in advance for the input.

 

Also thanks to whomever posted that download deal on PS3 for Tombraider a few weeks back, I just finished playing it and it was a great game. I hadn't turned on my PS3 in like a year, now I'm itching for more.

 

Personally I would just go straight to Skyrim.  I've said this before, but Oblivion's leveling system is just broken to the point that it really messes up the game.  You can work around it by studying the finer points of power-leveling from wikis, or you can just turn the difficulty slider down.  But why bother when Skyrim is sitting there waiting for you?  You won't be missing out on much in terms of story; they're really both stand-alone titles.

 

That said, Oblivion is better than Skyrim in terms of quests and storylines.  It's just that the leveling is so bad that my vote is for Skyrim.

Just for the record I happened (no idea how I missed it) to figure out where the listing was for how long I've played Skyrim.  One character - a bit over 300 hours.  So much to consume in Skyrim that you'll finish it in time to catch the next Fallout that they have coming out.