Sink or Swim

The practice of robotics is growing in leaps and bounds. It starts as early as high school, or slightly before.  Middle schools all over the country have Invention Conventions, while most technical high schools have robotics clubs. What most high school kids think of as the over achieving, gadget obsessed nerds of today, may just be the forward thinking engineers, designing ways to make surgical procedures less invasive, manual labor less labor, or even ways to make disabled people function at a higher capacity. The robotics clubs of today are possibly standing on the threshold of the next amazing discovery.

The active members of robotics clubs across the country spend the entire school year working on projects from design to completion. The students can work in teams or as an individual, depending on the competition. The goal is to take the project from drawing board to completion, to create something that is their own design, figure out what one needs to build or construct it, and then build and construct it so that it performs to the original blueprints. Designs from better engines for cars to robotic limbs are seen on the competition floor, the result of months of work, designing and redesigning, creating prototypes and tests and more tests.

At the onset of a robotics clubs, there are many meetings. Participants must decide if they want to take part in the competition. As stated before the competition requires a strong commitment from its participants. Once the hours are logged for the brainstorming and the final decisions are made on the design, the project is ready for construction. These intricate designs need many parts. There is much time and money spent on gathering what is needed to draft at least the prototype for the project.

The projects can get quite expensive. Most school have a budget and make allowances for purchasing parts for the project. More often than not, the expenses quickly exceed the budget. The bank of mom and dad becomes the “go to” spot for the much-needed extra cash. In today’s economy, mom and dad are just as strapped for cash. Sometimes the money is needed quickly. A cash advance from Paydayone.com Loans is an easy solution. A short-term loan that doesn’t leave debt hanging over anyone’s head for a long time, just until the next pay-day or two. These short-term solutions don’t require long applications or months of payments. It could be just what is needed, and who knows? They may just have invested on the world’s next Einstein.

Saw some shamballa bracelets on sale today and was tempted to buy except I’m really trying to save money for lots of more important things. There’s Christmas which is lurking around the corner, my daughter’s 7th birthday bash and school fund next year, my baby’s educational plan and some extra for unplanned trips. So there’s really no reason why I should shop online anymore.

Add to that is the fact that our checkbook has gone awry. My husband and I agreed that we’ll not spend on anything unless it’s food. Which is why the mere thought of food is making me so hungry right now. I think I can be on the show Man VS. Food and still come out alive.

Wish I can have a breakfast like this. Compared to what I’m having at this time (coffee and stale bread with cheese), this is heaven.

I’ve never tried a Wholesale Insurance package but after a friend told me how I can save money on premiums, I’ve decided to revisit this idea. Although our premiums for each of our insurance packages aren’t really that high, once you sum them all up, the total is ridiculous. You might end up thinking that all your hard earned money is just going to insurance. That there’s nothing left for you to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. This is why I want to try everything that what we can in order to save money. I know how insurance can eat up our finances but the cost is even greater if we are not insured. I’ve seen it happen to friends and relatives plenty of times so no matter how much we’re paying, it’s worth the assurance we’re getting that help will come when we need it.

If there’s one thing that I don’t like about the properties that we’ve been checking out lately, it will be the additional cost of having expensive water pumps installed. Most of the subdivisions are in a quiet and safe neighborhood but either they don’t have water connection yet or they do have but it’s not that strong that you will need to get water pumps. Even if that’s the case, we are still barely meeting the tag price of some of them. It’s one of those days when I wish I have more money that I could ever want so I can choose any property that I fancy without even worrying if we can afford it.

Every time I win a project bid, I can’t help but envision our future dream house. Not only that, I see the exterior design, number of bedrooms even stuff like best laminate flooring, high-end bath fixtures and kitchen appliances parade in my mind. I feel like I’m getting close to my goal the more side projects I get. The earnings from them usually gets transferred directly to my untouchable savings account, if I don’t get sidetracked with other big-ticket purchases. This year, however, most of my side project earnings will go to my new machine (yeah!) and to the first birthday party budget for my youngest. I am about done meeting my quota for that so whatever projects that will come after will be put into our future home budget again. I am not rushing this time. I know God will provide when it’s the right moment.

We’ve thought of buying a franchise plenty of times but just never found the time to attend the seminar nor the budget it requires to put up one. A lot of entrepreneurs advised me to start with my own idea because it’s less expensive. But like I said, we want to tap into something that’s already selling like hotcakes. We have no time to re-invent something but we really want to put some of our savings into a lucrative business. As soon as first quarter is done, I’ll ask my husband to revisit this goal of ours so we can see if it’s possible to pursue it again this year.

The price quote that I sent to my new client seems to have gotten a dose of hydroxycut advanced. Seriously, the discount he was asking was so huge I better do the project for free. Some of my pro bono projects are actually way better since the people I do them for are very appreciative. Unlike this new client who seems to be displaying the traits of a typical client from hell, they don’t feel like their doing me a favor by having me design their sites. I think I better cut my losses this early. After all, a too-low price wouldn’t be fair with my co-designers. This is why client thinks they can dictate the budget hoping we’d get scared that we’ll accept it just so we won’t lose their business. Think again, however. Almost all of the time, you need to pay a lot of money to get top quality service.

There’s no reason you can’t complete your entire Christmas shopping list from the comfort of your own home. Even if you’re short of cash, you can get online cash now to finish taking care of the people on your holiday gift list, all without leaving your house. Even with that convenience, there’s no reason to get lazy about savings, however, just because you’re shopping online. Instead, find out ways to stack your savings to get the most money back when shopping online.

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