Frugal Versus Cheap

It always amazes me how cheap some people can be.

Now i'm all for frugal; i'm talking about people who take it to the extreme.

Like The Boss Man.

He's a millionaire, many times over. Lots of rental property, old family farmland, investments. Plus a nice big salary. He has enough, even after two nasty divorces, that he can pretty well get himself anything he wants.

So the other day, he brought his electric toothbrush in to Sweetie, to see if it could be salvaged.

Really?

Really.

An item that costs less than $20. The contacts in the battery compartment had corroded. Instead of tossing it and going out and getting a new one, he sent it home with Sweetie to get worked on.

See, i told you Sweetie gets some crazy work assignments.

Anyway, he used hemostats and 0000 steel wool, and got the corrosion out.

The thing still didn't work, even with new batteries.

At that point, it's not worth fixing, even if it could be repaired, which i doubt.

Frugal is nice, and i'm an avid re-user and recycler. Sometimes, though, something is trash.

That includes even electric toothbrushes.



Today is

Be A Kid Day -- can't find the history on this one, so if you're looking for a day to recapture the simple joys of being a kid, why not today?

Calgary Stampede -- Calgary, Alberta, Canada (ten days of world class rodeo and fun)

Celtic Tree Month Tinne begins (Holly)

Edmonton International Street Performers Festival - in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; through the 17th

Feast St. Sunniva -- Ancient Norse Calendar (medieval Christianized version of the Norse solar maiden)

International Carthage Festival -- Tunis, Tunisia (the country's biggest arts event and music festival, through Aug. 19)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant -- DeSmet, SD, US (get a taste of pioneer life, this weekend plus the next two)

Lindenfest -- Rhineland, Germany (through the 10th, a new wine festival in the shade of a 600 year old linden tree)

National Milk Chocolate with Almonds Day

Old Crafts Day -- it's listed in a few places, but i can't find the history; Old time crafts, or old crafts you've had sitting around the house and never gotten done? If you have the latter, do them or toss them!

Olive Branch Petition Day

Pictou Lobster Carnival -- Pictou, NS, Canada (through the 10th)

SCUD Day (Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama) -- a good habit, on every day

St. Aquila and Prisca's Day

St. Kilian's Day (patron of Bavaria, Austria, whitewashers)

Turkey Rama -- McMinnville, Oregon (through tomorrow)

Video Games Day -- do they really need a day?

Vitulatio -- Ancient Roman Calendar (when Vitula was given the first fruits of the earth)

Ways with Words -- Dartington, Devon, England (The UK's most stylish literature festival, through the 17th)



Birthdays Today

Jaden Smith, 1998
Sophia Bush, 1982
Kathleen Robertson, 1973
Beck Hansen, 1970
Toby Keith, 1961
Kevin Bacon, 1958
Christopher G. Moore, 1952
Marianne Williamson, 1952
Anjelica Huston, 1951
Wolfgang Puck, 1949
Raffi, 1948
Steve Lawrence, 1935
Marty Feldman, 1933
Roone Arledge, 1931
Billy Eckstine, 1914
Nelson Rockefeller, 1908
Alfred Binet, 1857
John D. Rockefeller, 1839
Ferdinand von Zeppelin, 1838
Etienne De Silhouette, 1709


Today in History

Vasco da Gama sets sail on first direct European voyage to India, 1497
Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island, 1663
Battle of Restigouche – British defeat French forces in last naval battle in New France, 1760
The Olive Branch Petition is drafted by the Second Continental Congress as the Congress' last attempt to get King George III of Great Britain to reason with them, 1775
The Declaration of Independence has its first public reading, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Liberty Bell is rung, 1776
Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom, 1822
Commodore Perry sails into Tokyo Bay, 1853
The initial force of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin their March West, 1874
The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published, 1889
St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22, 1932
The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF), 1948
Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American Self-Determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination Act, 1970
The Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe creates the office of High Commissioner on National Minorities, 1992
NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance, membership to become effective in two years, 1997