If you ever dreamed of walking the 12th hole of the Augusta National Golf Course during the Masters Tournament but the price was certain to your ass ’til Tuesday, then today is that day.  Never before in the history of the 75 year-old tournament have badges been so cheap and easily obtainable to the general public .  Blame the ecomomy, blame AIG or blame Congress for calling out corporate executives on their frivolous spending habits and ridiculously excessive bonuses, but the fact of the matter is, demand is way down and the opportunity exists for fans to attend the last two days of the Granddaddy of All Golf Tournaments for as less than half of the price of years past.

One day badges  for Thursday and Friday, which typically run between $1000 to $2000 a day sold on the secondary market for $175 to $500. Prices for the weekend are expected to remain about the same, but buyer beware.  Brokers on the web are continuing to post ridiculous prices hoping to catch a few last-minute diehards still packing expendable incomes. I spoke with Andrew at the Austin Ticket Company today and he says prices in Augusta are a great bit lower than the prices you will see online.  So, if you are serious and want to go, pick up the phone and call your ticket broker or give Andrew a call in Augusta: 706.410.1431.

Summer’s here and that means it’s time to neglect that reading list and playing some goddamn video games. Unfortunately, your job painting houses at ‘College Kids F**k Your House Up,’ has neglected to return any income (“Dude, I totally have the cash but I keep forgetting”), so as usual, your broke.

No problem. Here’s five classic games that you should be able to find in the used/bargain bin section that’ll give you all the excuse you need to ignore other, less important things in your life. (more…)

So I just got back from three very long days of vacationing with my folks.

I mean, VERY long.

Here’s the thing: it totally sucked. I mean, I love spending time with my parents. I do. We get along very well. But three days of touristing in some random little rural town without any break from my parents EVER just isn’t my idea of a good time.

So here are a few tips that I wish I knew before I went. Good luck, you poor brave souls.

(1) Insist on having at least a little say in the location.

Okay, we went to this town in upstate NY (5 hours from their house, 3 from my apartment) for seemingly no reason. When I was informed, I did not question. Foolishly, I said instead, “Whatever you guys want.” Fatal mistake. You see, my mother decided that we just HAD to go see this giant kaleidoscope. Yes, that’s right: apparently, the basis of this trip was a giant kaleidoscope.

Anyway, we finally get to the stupid thing and they take one look at it and my dad says, “I’m not paying 10 bucks a person for this!”, my mom says, “I can’t lean on this thing for 7 minutes!”, and next thing I know we’re back at the motel trying to figure out what to do for the next three days. Read more