Blog Post of the Week!–by Jai Catalano

Dear minions,

I’m sitting here in AverageJoe World Headquarters firing my super-pump water pistol at the interns.

It seems they’ve forgotten to set out my favorite slippers again….the ones with the furry animal claws on the front. They always make me feel big and strong, and I need that motivation to write scintillating copy like you’re reading now.

I keep telling my interns about the advice I learned from the Millionaire Nurse Blog this week. Sitting around eating Blue Bell ice cream is killing them.

I shout encouragement, like “Hey, fat asses, get up and do something!” Apparently, they aren’t motivated by longevity, because I’m not getting the desired rise in productivity.

One last point, though….If they’ve forgotten to wash and firmly press my Battlestar Gallactica tee-shirt  so I can walk all sexy through the mall this weekend, there’s gonna be some heads rolling, minions. It’ll be a bad day here with ol’ Joe.

Let’s Award Some Awards

It was a big—I mean BIG—week for blogging on the interwebs this week. Holy $%#!, bloggers, will you quit it with these excellent posts? What’s gotten into you? Has the summer-like weather run to your fingertips and into your prose? Have you finally found the key to mom’s liquor cabinet?

Something’s afoot. or Afinger. or Asomethingorother.

That made the grueling task of finding ONE Blog Post of the Week! winner ever-more difficult. Our multi-national panel of nearly-celebrity judges is a finicky group to please.

Plus, there’s now the additional stress of having this soon-to-be-esteemed award gaining the greater fame it probably doesn’t deserve. I’m not sure we’re ready for the pressure of having this be a real award that people look forward to winning.

I have to share a great Twitter discussion with you:

@AverageJoeMoney Hi Average Joe! Great posts and insights. How do we join your weekly contest? Thanks

My reply? The best policy is to always tell the truth…mostly that I’m clueless about what they’re asking about:

@xxxxxxxx I wish I had a weekly contest. Do you mean blog post of the week? If so, pen a post the East German judge likes. He’s grouchy.

Like this Twitterite, quite a few people (nearly three) have wondered what it takes to win BPOTW!, and here’s the key I alluded to above:

You’ll want to suck up to the cranky East German judge, so remember this: write something about spending time with your cute kids or the circus.

He likes both of those topics.

Our Winner

Jai Catalano decided to totally suck up to the judges this week by writing Father Takes a Photo of His Daughter Every Day From Birth to First Year. Okay, Jai…my kids are 16, and I so wish I’d had the foresight, photography skillz, and resolve to accomplish this task. This shouldn’t be Blog Post of the Week! material….this is a wonderful lifetime treasure. I know I mess around a lot, but I’m not joking about this.

…and as you may already know, to claim your reward simply hit the print button on your computer and post this on your refrigerator.

You’re welcome.

8 Other Bloggers You Should Be Reading But Probably Forgot So I’ll Remind You

SB at Finance Product Reviews walks us through the Turbo Tax Home edition. It’s a thorough review and includes several reasons you might think twice before buying. I like this type of review before buying products, although I’d rather he’d reviewed Blue Bell ice cream. More fun and refreshing than tax software.

Since he didn’t review it, I will: If you’ve never had Blue Bell, you’ve never had real ice cream. Short, sweet and 100 percent correct.

Speaking of thorough, Jason at WorkSaveLive is taking part in the Beginning Blogger Challenge, and has a post detailing the first several months of his blog. It’s a great read for anyone stupid enough deciding to take up blogging.

A side note:  Last week I totally butchered the name of his site. He and I are both just thankful I didn’t call it Dick.

101Centavos talks farmland and investing. Sometimes I think he could talk about Cheetos and I’d read it. I’m sure I just scooped his next story.

John at Married (with Debt) asks the question Why Go To College. This would have been a good question for be before heading off to military college. I was so fired up about going that I never asked, “Why?” I spent most of my career as a financial advisor and I was an English major. Huge correlation.

Nobody likes to talk about estate planning except the heir to rich old great-aunt Flo. He wants to talk about nothing else, except maybe that life-support systems are overrated. That’s why I like Andrea at SoOverDebt’s post on Who Do You Trust With Your Money? It’s an uncomfortable topic, handled well. Andrea, when you make your millions, I’d be a great choice to handle your money. Promise.

I’m always up for a good discussion on motivation. As a former coach (both financial and sports), I’m obsessed with what makes people tick. That’s why I loved Tackling Our Debt’s post on What Motivates You?

You’ll notice in the comments that I wrote something very nice. That’s because it’s embarrassing to admit that I’m motivated most by the smell of popcorn. I’ll do just about anything….

Finally, does Roshawn Watson ever write crappy copy? JUST ONCE I’d love to see him do an analysis of Hooter’s vs. Buffalo Wild Wings or better yet, rewrite that tired “every site says it” post called Financial Frugality 101: Starbucks is Bad News on Your Wallet.

Nope. Not Roshawn. He has to go and give us Is It Better to be Frugal or Earn More? Sigh. With great stuff like that how do I make room here for other awesome posts like this one from SeeDebtRun, this one from MillionWaystoSave, or this one from Funancials? (See how I just added three more brilliant sites while staying within the boss’s confines? I’m nothing but clever in my inventiveness.)

…did I say finally? Of course I did. Just to prove that we’re a complete contradiction here, I have to nod toward this post from The Bloggess. I don’t use LOL ev-ar because I rarely LOL when I see stuff on the internet. However, I’ve been following the queen of blogging for a long time, so this post actually made me LOL.

Now IHTW (I have to wash) because I said LOL a ton of times.

Random Notes To End The Week Without a Flourish

A big thanks to all the people who downloaded the Worst of the Free Financial Advisor podcast. A special thanks to those who participated in the making of the show.

I’ve been beating this topic senselessly, but I’ll quit after I say thanks for the 5 star reviews on iTunes and by the way….you can subscribe on iTunes.

Next week there will be no Blog Post of the Week! because we’re focusing Friday on the Roth IRA Movement. Exciting. That means that Jai Catalano can keep the award on his refrigerator for 14 days instead of the contractual seven days every other winner has been allowed.

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