So badly needing a break from my research work, I watched a movie last night called Source Code. The movie was terrific but, combined with another of my favorite TV shows, Being Erica, it left me going to bed thinking about a lot of philosophical issues. What if there are alternate realities to our own, all operating on a parallel timescale? Who could I be in another reality? Am I a millionaire, a celebrity, the founder of a charity…or maybe an unsuccessful average Joe? What would I have done differently in another reality in order to achieve more or less success? This left me thinking about the impacts of our decisions, both big and small, and how one simple decision can lead us on two completely different life paths. Getting married soon has also prompted a lot of these thoughts. But I only have to look over to the person sleeping next to me every night to to know that I have no decisions that I regret. Because every decision I’ve ever made and action I’ve ever taken has led me to where I am today.  And there are things in my life that I wouldn’t give up for the world. So what did I learn from watching Source Code…that I need to go to bed earlier and stop watching movies late at night

Last week’s article, How NOT to Make a Financial Decision, was included in several blog carnivals, including:

• Carnival of Financial Camaraderie, hosted by One Smart Dollar, who chose the article as one of the editor’s picks!
• Top Personal Finance Posts of the Week, hosted by Personal Finance Whiz
• Carnival of Retirement, hosted by Portfolio Princess
• Financial Carnival for Young Adults, hosted by 20′s Finances
• Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by One Cent at a Time
• Carnival of Money Pros, hosted by Little Miss Moneybags

I also want to give a shout-out to Modest Money, Invest It Wisely, Bog of Debt, and The Outlier Model for including my articles in their weekly link roundups. Much appreciated!

The past week has been incredibly busy as I am working on some of the final experimental work for my thesis. So that means that my blogosphere reading has taken a direct impact. But there were a few articles that caught my eye and my attention.

• Prairie Eco-Thrifter, one of my favorite eco-friendly blogs and an inspiration for Earth and Money, is celebrating her two year blogging anniversary by giving away an iPad and more!
• One of these days, I will actually get off my butt and open a brokerage account somewhere, but I will likely only start with a little bit until I get the hang of it. Questrade is at the top of my list of companies to try, so I was very interested to read on The Outlier Model about how they are instituting a fee change that will drastically affect small-time investors.
• A guest poster on Modest Money talks about three internet side jobs for web-development inclined people.

I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend! I will probably be working through most of it, so you’ll likely all enjoy it more than I will

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