TOP DRAWER INK NEWSLETTER

 

Here's the latest issue of Top Drawer Ink, the newsletter written by author HL Carpenter that's chock full of humor and common sense information.

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January 7, 2006
Volume 4, Number 1
ISSN 1554-6330

In this issue:

1. Carpenter Country Essay

2. Top Drawer Article

3. Top Drawer Tips

4. Top Drawer Book Review

5. Top Drawer Satire

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CARPENTER COUNTRY

What's Happening in Our Neck of the Human Experience

Enough winter! Where is spring?

Here in Carpenter Country we’re tired of cold feet and layers of clothing so thick and heavy we can hardly bend our arms. While chilly blasts might make others feel ready to tackle the world, we’re exhausted from trying to stay warm.

Don’t get us wrong, we love a bit of cold air. But as someone in an old commercial for a product we can’t quite recall once sang, Just a little dab will do ya. Thirty-five years in the Sunshine State has acclimated us to highs of over ninety. As far as we’re concerned sweating beats shivering by a Miami mile.

In fact, we’d almost decided to head for those southern beaches, but then on New Year’s Day the thermometer outside our window hit a toasty, welcome eighty degrees. Finally, after weeks in the fifties and lower, the muse of sunshine heard our pleas.

Yea! We can shed our long johns and sweaters. We can grab a rake and get on with clearing away the debris from the last frost. We can bring out the lawn chairs. Maybe even do a little early spring-cleaning. While it’s not quite bathing suit weather in our chunk of the woods, it’s decidedly warmer.

But maybe not for long…

We just heard the latest weather report. Forty degrees by evening! To heck with this, we’re definitely heading south.

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TOP DRAWER ARTICLE

Reaching Financial Goals

by
HL Carpenter

What are your financial goals for the new year? Maybe you’ve made a resolution to take a great trip, buy a new home or become debt free in 2006.

Whatever your ambition, one thing is certain: Reaching your target will take planning. Here are tips that can help turn wishes into reality.

Read the entire article here

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TOP DRAWER TIPS
Topics and Tidbits

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TOP DRAWER BOOK REVIEW

by
HL Carpenter

Freakonomics
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
ISBN 0-06-073132-X
242 pages; hardcover; $25.95
William Morrow, New York, 2005

This book was ranked #1 on the Wall Street Journal’s Best Selling Books list the week it was reviewed.

The boring description of economics is that it’s the study of the allocation of resources. Steven Levitt, an economist with a Ph.D. from MIT, puts the same definition in more personal, and therefore more interesting, terms: He says economics is the study of incentives, or how people get what they want or need.

Read the entire review here

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TOP DRAWER SATIRE

Hot Air

by
HL Carpenter

As fuel prices rise, overwhelmed consumers are seeking alternative power sources to heat homes and businesses. Congressional Gas Company, a Washington based utility, thinks the answer is clear: Harness the inexhaustible supply of hot air emanating from the nation’s lawmakers.

Read the rest here