Monday has come again and our long work week begins. As we head into our offices, we know that it will be a long week in a place we’d rather not be. In fact, most of us would rather be anywhere but our offices so how can we make that experience better? I thought about things that I do in my own office that really do brighten my days so I’d like to encourage each of you to bring a little more joy into your own work environment by using any of these ideas. You surely have your own routines and ideas that work for you at your job so please share them with the readers and me in the comments!

Your teacher has been standing at the front of the room for what seems like hours, clicking through the day’s Powerpoint lecture. You anxiously wait for each click of the mouse knowing that you’re a step closer to class being over and regaining your freedom. People have been packing up their things and walking out early as you look on with jealousy. Finally, your professor makes an announcement that you’ve been dying to hear–”That’s enough for today. We’ll end a little early.” A strong feeling of freedom rushes through you and you quickly get your books together and head out the door, 15 minutes before the scheduled end of class.

Sound familiar? At the start of my college career, this was the story of my life. I would sit in class unable to focus on what the professor was saying because I was constantly thinking about how much time was left. We’ve all done it, but why?

Television shows such as “Flip That House” on the TLC Network are definitely exciting to watch. They tell the story of flippers purchasing horrendous properties, going through the trials and tribulations associated with the renovation, and end with a gorgeous home and the potential for big profits. There’s always a troubling scene at the end where the proud flippers go through the finances of the deal and illustrate what was paid for the home, the cost of the renovations, and the “potential profit” figure. This number is what keeps us watching the show as it is often quite high for only a month worth of actual work on the part of the flippers.

Does this number tell the full story though? I hold an active real estate license and I’m here to tell you that it absolutely doesn’t. DailyBrilliance readers are very bright and I’m sure you already know there are other costs that the show isn’t telling you about but have you thought about what these costs may be? I have and I have put it together for you in this article. Take a look–flipping isn’t all roses.

As many of you likely noticed yesterday, DailyBrilliance fell victim to the Digg Effect. Actually, “fell victim” isn’t the appropriate term as we were completely obliterated by the wave of traffic! It really is a double-edged sword. I want as many people as possible to come to the site, enjoy the articles and participate in comments. However, the site just wasn’t prepared to handle it yesterday.

The site was not cached yesterday when a story hit the front page; This is completely my fault and I will definitely fix that for next time. Also, I am sure I can do a better job of optimizing Apache to serve these pages to you faster and more reliably.

I will spend a good bit of time this weekend optimizing the server so it is better prepared to handle the spikes in traffic that a front-page Digg story can bring. I sincerely apologize to everyone that tried to access this site and could not get through.

The holidays are approaching very quickly and with that comes a lot of stress caused by money issues for so many people. Just recently, I took a look at my own finances to see if there were any areas where I could save a little cash each month. It was such a good exercise that I decided to expand my view and look at ideas that would fit a wider range of people. Some of the following ideas will save a substantial amount of money while others only save a few dollars here and there. Keep in mind as you read through that these small savings add up very quickly and before long you’re saving a decent amount of money!

This is not an exhaustive list so if you have ways that you save money each month, please share them with your fellow readers in the comments section. This is one area where we can definitely help each other!

“There’s plenty of fish in the sea” is a phrase that’s heard time and time again but where is this proverbial sea? Finding that special someone can be an uphill battle if you don’t know where to look. Let’s take a look at some places you may not have looked before to find your next boyfriend or girlfriend. While we’re at it, we’ll talk about three of the places you do not want to look and for good reason.

Digg is an amazing site that has come a very long way in its short time on the web. Features are continuously added and generally improve the usability of the site (comments section debacle aside). I love Digg and couldn’t imagine the web without it now but I’ve come up with a list […]

The term 401(k) gets thrown around so often but so many employees have no idea what the plan is or how it benefits them. A 401(k) is free money that your employer is trying to give you. All you have to do is accept. If you’re not utilizing your company-sponsored 401(k), you […]