I’m pretty sure a sleeper cell has nothing to do with this post.  In fact I’m positive other than I did not sleep last night as my mind ran through worst case scenarios for a major software release today.  Hooray for butterflies!

Since posting about a month ago about stinking on keeping track of money I’ve been using Mint.com.  Yup, I’m using an online service.  So far I’m not thrilled with where we’re at and what we have to do to get where we need to be.  That’s rather blunt, but the financial news just seems to be pouring in about how banks are on the fritz, my home loan is going to cause my pants to explode, and how Warren Buffet is sad about the economy but generally not personally worried that he’ll lose all of his tens of billions.

I’ve also started a quick & dirty coffee blog with a couple friends (if you would like to join and write about coffees you’re enjoying/trying, shoot me an email.  You can read about my first of six beans that I’m roasting from the latest order here.

As for the Watch My Money Maker Weekly podcast I need to get on that.  I’ve got 100 excuses, all of which end in, “but I just didn’t make it a priority.”  So since this weekend I’ll be out of town and solo I may have time since I don’t tend to sleep a lot on trips like this.  Sleep is over-rated any way.

Name: The Wall Street Journal Love and Money
Host(s): Jeff & Amy Opdyke
Podcast file type(s): MP4
Average File Size(s):47MB
Average Length: 4 minutes
Format (single concept, multiple concepts, multi-format): Conversational discussion between a husband and wife about their family’s personal finances
Production Quality (excellent, good, acceptable, bad): good
Type of Content (practical content, philosophical content): Practical content
Site URL: http://online.wsj.com/public/us
Feed URL(s): http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=213097337 [I couldn't find a regular site feed URL, apologies non-iTunes users]
Subjective Review:
There’s nothing like a husband and wife discussing finances together to make me smile. There is a reality to this video podcast as if the two involved are not scripted, but instead honestly discussing things. The back and forth video content is somewhat visually jarring at times, but is not so distracting that I feel put off by it. I can definitely see myself watching this bi-monthly podcast in the future - I’m staying subscribed. Not all of the content applies to my life (which is probably typical of any personal finance content: its personal), but the sincerity of the hosts makes this a very watchable video podcast. Jeff ends several of the podcasts with, “Bye, Ames,” which just closes the podcast off with a familiarity after only a few watches.

My favorite episode by far was the 12/21 episode discussing school fund raisers and the parents involvement. I side with Jeff

Context: The following dated podcasts were viewed/listened to 1/25/2008, 1/18/2008, 1/4/2008, 12/21 on 1/29/2008