Recently, a friend of mine got his debit card swiped by some identity thief.  Luckily for him, he managed to detect the illicit purchases in his checking account early, and contacted his bank immediately.  While that's all well and good, what followed is that his entire checking account had to be transferred to a new account, meaning he has to go through all the process of changing all of his online bill pays and direct deposits, etc.

Some of his bills had hiccups, such as his water / sewer, where they said he was paid up (through the old account) but they never received any money, so he had to figure out how to pay with his new account but can't use it because the computer system doesn't allow changes when the old account already shows it's paid....

And the scary part?  He said he had a crap ton of money sitting in his savings.  Like tens of thousands.  I'm like why?  Why have large sums of money sitting around doing nothing?  Regardless, he knows better now, and will at least stick with credit cards only.

Another buddy of mine-- the one that I've blogged about before regarding his divorce--  his divorce ideally should have been finalized by now, but for some reason, it still hasn't.  And not only is it not finalized yet, but now, his law firm is suggesting that he should not settle for joint custody, but to fight for primary if not sole custody of his children as well.  My buddy also agrees with this action.

Ok, but this buddy of mine is not a rich man.  He's already taken out loans from wherever and whoever he can just to afford the current $30k+ in legal fees.  And now they're asking him to put up another $5k to $9k that he doesn't have, just to fight for primary custody?  My buddy swears up and down they are good lawyers, but even if that's true, they are also ridiculously expensive, and he can't afford them any longer.

This line of converation make things super awkward too, like when he suddenly invited me to his "family day" last weekend where I got a chance to hang out with his kids again.  And while they sure have grown and seems to be doing well, I can't help but feel like he wanted me to come out and see his kids, in person, to help me realize how important they are, and that I should help contribute money to his custody battle.  Yes, they are indeed wonderful kids and they are very important, but come on man.  You can't be serious about trying to get me to give up thousands of my own hard earned dollars, money that I know I will never get back, just for your greedy lawyers to fight over something that might not even be necessary to go to court for?

Anyways, I have nothing to report on this early monthly update, other than to say that I love the boring life, especially when I look at all the drama and challenges my friends are going through.  When my buddies ask me, "How are you doing?", I'm like "Great.  No news at all on my end, but No News is Good News!"

I was originally going to repond with a comment, but there are a lot of details I've left out, so I thought perhaps it would be better for me to just write an entirely separate entry.

This woman and I have been friends for a while now, like for more than ten to fifteen years, depending on how you want to count it.

I've always been respectful of her relationship with the old boyfriend, and remained as just friends.  Besides, deep down, I know I can not afford to give her what she wants out of life.  You see, she lives in Canada, and in one of the most expensive cities on the planet (and hence the title of the entry).  To date her would require the guy to uproot everything (including his friends and family), move to an entirely different country, risk everything to rebuild a career or at least find a job there, and basically be able to afford for both of them to live there (because she loves her city and refuses to live anywhere else).  In fact, that's basically what the new boyfriend is having to do at this point, since he is from the US.

But perhaps that's not entirely unreasonable right?  However, she also wants to get married and have a child very soon.  So I'm thinking, "Let me get this straight.  Your new boyfriend needs to move away from his current friends and family, to an entirely different country, get all of his paperwork straight, rebuild a career from scratch or at least find a new job in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and not only afford for the both of you to live there, but also commit to a marriage and raising a child there?  All in one go?"

What kind of woman has this kind of pull, right?  Well, when we first met, she was in her mid twenties, and is fairy easy on the eyes.  More importantly, she has a rather pleasant personality that makes it fun for people to be around her.  Let's just say she is popular enough to make men go out of their way to do or buy things for her.  I'm always amazed when I meet women like this.  Like, I know I'm looking at it, but still, how do you do it?  And why doesn't this happen for us men?

But I think the years may have changed her....  She just turned forty not too long ago, and she is well-aware of her own sense of age and mortality.  She is still a fun and pleasant person to be around, but she knows her looks can't carry her forever.  So, while she may not have been in a rush before, I can't help but sense that she now wants to rush into a marriage and having a child.

Also, she's filing for spousal support from her ex-bf.  They were never married, but having lived together for so many years, apparently, this qualifies her for common law spousal support in Canada.  I didn't know that, but as a man, all I can think of is, imagine never being married with a woman only to find out she can suddenly leave you one day and still file for monthly financial support even though she was the one who cheated on you and left with another man.  So yeah, that's another detail I know about her.  She's been romantically involved with this new boyfriend for years, behind the ex-boyfriend's back, but he is the one who has to pay her for her cheating and leaving him.  That is so crazy.

And sure, while none of that is my business, our friendship apparently has changed as well.  Ever since she broke up with her old boyfriend, she has turned to asking for things from all her friends.  In my case, she doesn't even say hello or good morning anymore.  Friends normally do that, right?  Like genuinely asking "Hi, how are you doing?"  Recent texts just comes straight out and say, "Look at this incredible deal for headphones I found!" and the subsequent links for purchase.  It's ridiculous.

I know I probably painted this woman in a very negative light, but in practice, I don't think she is actually that terrible a person, and I know we used to be good friends once.  However, I think she's gone now... and I don't know what happened to her.

I have a female friend who recently broke up with an old boyfriend of about ten or so years, and is dating a new one.  The old boyfriend wasn't filthy rich, but he did make good, steady money just the same, and paid everything for her.  New boyfriend, while is currently employed, makes nowhere near the kind of money the old boyfriend does.

Long story short, while this female friend is a nice person overall, having been financially taken cared of for so long, I don't think she really understands the concept of money.  And now, with the new boyfriend she's dating, they are both having to figure out how to become... financially responsible?

So why am I bringing this up?  Well a bunch of stuff has also happened in between, but long story short to now, her old headphone broke, so she wants me to buy her a new headphone, so she can save what limited money she has for a vacation with her boyfriend instead.  Talk about a needless ask for such a shallow reason.  I even offered her my old headphone but she quick passed on it, asking for a new one instead.

While we are indeed friends, and while I do sometimes buy people stuff either for Christmas, birthdays, or special occasions, that does NOT mean I am her or anyone else's sugar daddy!

By the way, this behavior I am experiencing is new.  I think it's because the old boyfriend pretty much bought her whatever she wanted, and now that she isn't with him, she's... branching out to others to sustain her lifestyle?

For days, she's been telling me about all the great deals she has found (for me to buy her), and for now, I have basically stopped talking to her while I think about how to handle this.  I guess sooner rather than later, we may need to have that "I am not your sugar daddy" talk, and who knows, I may be losing another friend in the process here.  Any thoughts on this?

I thought about posting my monthly net worth, but at the end of the day, my needle hasn't moved much this month.  Instead, I'm going to talk about DOGE, so you are warned up-front.  (It may be political, but it's also financial imo, so I'm rolling with it.)

I think part of the problem in life is that, sometimes, people can identify a problem but still not be able to implement an effective solution.  However, when they market and sell on the idea of the problem hard enough, especially if it's somehow popular or even accurate, it can get quite a bit of traction.

Unfortunately, fellow savers, I hope we all know that understanding the problem isn't the hard part.  The hard part is actually solving the problem.  Well... I don't think even DOGE understood the problem really....

Now that Elon Musk is leaving, I think it's reasonable to take a look at what DOGE may or may not have accomplished so far.  Looking past all that Dark MAGA hype and chainsaw theatrics, was DOGE able to solve the problem of government bloat?  Here's a quick retrospective:

Jan 2025 - President Trump signed an executive order to create DOGE and to put Elon Musk in charge of it.  Remember, he personally signed off on it, so this is ultimately his responsibility.

Jan to Feb 2025 - Elon and DOGE goes around, inspecting agencies, accessing and copying the data of hundreds of thousands of American citizens that don't belong to him, including their social security numbers.  They were eventually blocked by the Treasury Dept, but who knows how much more data had been accessed and copied for themselves before they were finally blocked?  Does this bother you?  It bothers me, so I'm mentioning it.

In his now infamous "fork in the road" email, this is also when a lot of the buyouts were offered.  Buyouts of many federal employees that they had to re-hire because they were not bloat, but essential to the proper operation of the federal government.  This is important because it is proof that DOGE did not fully understand what they were doing.  I can't spell this out any clearer.

March 2025 - A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from shutting down USAID, one of DOGE's biggest targets.  For those that don't know, USAID's mission objective is to provide humanitarian aid, ranging from staving off malaria outbreaks to food, shelter, and health care for mothers and children in need on a global scale.  If there is ever any government agency that can slide by for being a little too bloated, I'm thinking USAID should be one of these shining examples.  And yet, DOGE spent $14 million in taxpayer's money to make a huge attempt at slashing and burning something that's actually good in life, causing all this disruption and turmoil, only to amount to a nothingburger.

April 2025 - Elon starts talking about stepping down from DOGE.  After bragging about how he can save America $2 trillion a year in federal spending bloat, that projection was then cut down to $1 trillion a year, but by this point, that projection is now reduced to a "mere" $150 to $175 billion.  "However, a BBC analysis on 23 April found that only $61.5bn of that amount was itemised, and evidence of how the savings were achieved was available for just $32.5bn."  Let me make this perfectly clear to everyone:  Elon lied.  He lied to all of us.  He spent a ton of money helping a tyrant get voted into office, and then proceeded to lie and fail the American people, and for what?

Speaking of which, while this may not be a part of DOGE directly, don't forget that Trump also cut spending on PBS and NPR, as well as FEMA and the FAA.  Oh yeah, and a very substantial amount of USAID is still on the chopping block as Trump is still attempting to axe it himself.  All of which have resulted in negative impacts in its own right.  However, since it's not directly the topic at hand, and this entry is already getting too long, I'm just going to gloss all this over.

Has DOGE achieved its own mission objective?  If I am being entirely fair, yes, it looks like it did accomplish something.  What exactly, I don't know, and the deeper you look, the more it looks like they were trying to cut good programs that benefited the American people.  To be clear, DOGE tried to make themselves look good by showcasing billions in spending cuts, but it's over a lot of good programs out there that actually help people.

I meant to end my rant here, but I can't stress this enough, so I'm going to say it again, to make this crystal clear: My fellow Americans, PLEASE do not fall into the trap of being sold on the idea of a problem, any problem, from anyone.  Even if it's completely accurate and true, what we really need to focus on is whether or not they can actually solve that problem.  Stop voting for "charming" idiots who are ultimately going to ruin our lives.  We are smarter than this.

Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vkd57471o
https://www.webopedia.com/technology/doge-timeline/
https://www.nrdc.org/bio/rob-moore/fema-and-nations-disaster-safety-net-gets-cut-adrift#risk-reduction
https://www.yahoo.com/news/heres-9-4-billion-doge-221044322.html
https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-defense?fy=2025