For a time, I was a 40 hour a week pizza driver. Now I am more like a 20 hour a week driver. When you rely on tips for boring things like food and rent, you need to keep track of them, or at least I do.

 

I developed this spreadsheet to keep track of my money. Along the way, it also became a tool to track good nights from bad nights and further analyze my income. It has also evovled as the industry has evolved.

Earlier this year,there was an anouncement of a $25 Linux computer. I read about it and signed up for the waiting list. About three weeks ago, it arrived. It is called Raspberry Pi. I opened it up at work and fired it up. It took a bit to get going, but it runs fine for a computer that would almost fit in an Altoid tin. I am working on it now. It seemed silly to use my Windows & horse of alaptop to write about perhaps the smallest, cheapest computer availalble. Oh, it only has HDMI video output. So it is hooked up to our living roo big screen. For $25 you do not get a case. It is happily living in a Domino's Lava Crunch Cake Box.

 

One thing I see on LinkdIn frequently is advice on where to live in St. Louis from someone coming here for work. I met a pretty neat young lady by answering her questions about St. Louis. I also read the 100 plus responses her post generated. This article is the expanded version of what I sent her. How did her question turn out? She ended up with several interviews, a wide range of housing choices to look at and a new career. She even learned to shout GO BLUES.

I am a life long St. Louisan. There are a lot of us. Chances are, about a third of your new workplace will be “grew up in St. Louis” St. Lousians. A fair portion of the rest came here for college and never left. A few moved here for work. I hate to bring it up, but chances are if a new job brought you here, even money your children will grow up here.