2022 has been a busy year.  

Between the war in Ukraine and the economy, I am thankful still for my family, health (even with a torn shoulder) and still working in the tech sector while layoffs are being announced on a regular basis.  During the Thanksgiving break, a Medium article peeked my interest and can totally relate.

Although, not in the same position as the author was, I found it totally relatable.  Over the years, I've acquired domain names because of ideas I came up with either on my own or talking with friends and co-workers.   Why not accept the challenge and try it out for myself?

And with that, I'd like for you to check out www.buyanddefi.com.  Built this concept quickly for an internal demo of kubernetes, but with some seroius thought I can add some additional features both customer facing and internally that can make this a worthy start up.

Let me know what you think and get ready for the official launch of 2.0 in December.

Over a year ago, Disneyland closed its gates because of the pandemic.  Not only did the park close, but it put an end to the Disneyland Annual Pass.  As it reopens today, details of the new annual pass program have not been made publicly available.  

While everyone is waiting for the new pricing, I wondered what would have happened if I took the price of annual pass and invested it.  During the course of the pandemic, stocks were not the only thing that made the news.  Cryptocurrency became popular, with Bitcoin (and Doge) making news.

So, I looked up the historical price of each of these coins, along with Disney Stock and calculated what it would worth had I purchased when the park closed and sold my "investment" when tickets went back on sale.

The day after the park closed, here is the closing value of each of these investments:

• Disney Stock - $95.80
• Bitcoin - $5002.58
• Doge - $.0016

Wow!  These are some impressive gains.

Good:  Disney went from $95.80 to $188.09 (196% gain)
Better:  Bitcoin went from $5,002.58 to $63,075.20 (1261% gain)
Best:  Doge went from $.0016 to $0.12 (7575% gain)

Wish a fairy godmother can send me back in time so that I can invest in at least one of these investments.  Correction, I wish I took the amount for the Premier UP ($2199) pass and put it in Doge.  I would be going to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World ($166,574.25).

​So, here's the takeaway.  Besides having a savings account, you should probably look at adding stocks and cryptocurrency as part of your savings portfolio for the long run.  Making money quick is nice, but had I made these investments and just chilled during the pandemic, I'd have a bit of fun when things reopen.

Since I am in no rush at the moment to head out to the Happiest Place on earth, I am going to do a little exploring with okcoin who recently announced that of Doge is now available on their platform.  Feel free to click on my personal referral link, https://www.okcoin.com/join?channelId=600009913, and when you deposit or trade $100, okcoin will provide another $10 in Bitcoin.  Who knows, that $110 investment at $.3238 price for Doge (as of this writing) , will end up being worth $335.06 when Doge hits $1.

​

If you are like me, then you have given a majority of your friends and family a gift card for various occasions.  I actually got into the habit of grabbing a gift card every time I was at the grocery, just so that one was available when I needed it.  Of course, there have still been countless times where I had to quickly run out and get a gift card for an occasion.

Recently, I discovered CardNow.  For a small fee, they ship a set of gift cards with no balance to you.  Using their app, you can reload the gift card with a given amount.  Start at $4.99 for 10 gift cards (2 sets of 5), this seemed like a good and cost effective solution (cost of gas and time spent waiting in line to purchase a gift card).

Pretty straightforward, but is it worth it?

Pros

• Easy to load gift card value
• Convenient
• Cost effective, when you compare the amount of time and gas it takes to purchase a single gift card at the store.

Cons

• Limited selection (See here)
• App does not integrate with ApplePay (as a new application, not quite ready to save my card information)
• Minimum card balance of $25 (Still will have to go out and grab a pack of $10 Starbucks Cards)

Overall, for someone like me, this is a great addition to my collection of gift cards for all occasions.  Let me know your thoughts?