Nightmare dream homes, monopoly, xbox blogging

It's official. TV Dream Homes are a nightmare. I've read stories about "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" houses where the community has had to pitch in afterwards to help the family pay for the property taxes and such, then the linked article is about an HGTV Dream Home sweepstakes house that is driving the winning family to financial ruin. You watch those shows and are wowwed by the homes and think the people are so lucky, but no one things about the electric/utility costs, the maintenance costs, the property taxes, etc. To be fair, I think the family in this article has a lot to blame on themselves (why keep making payments on the old house, why spend so much on gifts and entertaining, why the heck does a two adult family need seven cars??? It is more of issue with people owning a million dollar house thinking they need to live like millionaires as well.).

Maybe you are better off winning the McDonald's Monopoly game. If that is your plan, here is a guide to the game pieces, including which ones are rare vs common.

My XBox 360 is now writing its own blog. Weird? Yes. But I thought it was a neat little service available from 360Voice. For the most part, you'll be able to read how I'm neglecting my game console.

Link of the day:

10 Reasons People Make Stupid Decisions - a list to reflect on to help you make wise decisions.