When I was little kid, I used to always stop and pick up any coins I’d see on the sidewalk. Most of the time, it would be a penny, but once in a while I’d get lucky and find a nickel, dime, or even a quarter. When you’re a kid, finding money on the street is a big deal. Sadly, I’ve grown up since, and I’ve stopped bothering to grab any pennies I might come across the street. Not because I’m too embarrassed to go running after loose change, but because the penny is more or less worthless these days.

I was browsing CNN at work the other day (shh…) and I came across this one article that told a story about a man whose dream was to perform a record breaking 25 mile high skydive. He’s been trying his entire life to finance and coordinate a record-breaking freefall from a balloon from an altitude so high he needs to wear the equivalent of a space suit. But this isn’t what struck me about the story.

What struck me is that Michel Fournier sold all his worldly belongings and spent nearly $20 million dollars to finance his dream. This got me thinking. One man is willing to sell everything he owns and spend millions of dollars to pursue his lifelong dream. How much would you spend to pursue yours?

I just wanted to take a second and say hi to The Simple Dollar readers that are coming in. Feel free to learn more about this site at the about page. Hopefully, you’re enjoying the site enough to want to consider subscribing.

Thanks for stopping by!

About a month ago, I bought a Skype phone for long distance calling. My sister is a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda, and before I bought my Skype phone I had to call her using calling cards (we didn’t have a land line and long distance with a cell phone is financial suicide). The problem with calling cards is that their pricing is inconsistent, and there’s tons of hidden charges. But Skype is cheap, easy-to-use, and sounds just as good as a landline. I think my wife needs to look out, there’s a new girl in town.

Over the past week, my post What GTA IV taught me about personal finance was featured at the Carnival of Personal Finance. It’s been a little low key here lately. I apologize for the randomness of my posts, work has been a little hectic, and my freetime at home has been taken up my cat with asthma. Next week we should be back into full swing here at Pinching Copper.

In the meantime, here are some great posts from other personal finance bloggers:

• Living Almost Large questioned the finances behind Sex and the City.
• Master Your Card explained how to create an emergency financial plan.
• Wide Open Wallet shared how you don’t have to spend money to have a great day.
• Five Cent Nickel looked into cheap alternatives to long distance phone calls.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend! Enjoy the barbecue!

I’ve blogged about our cats in the past, and we love the little guys to death. Recently, however, we noticed that one of our cats, Saskia, seemed to be trying to pass a hairball that just didn’t want to get out. Every half hour or so, she would go through the terrible routine of arching her back and making coughing and gagging sounds. At first, we just bought some over the counter remedies that were supposed to to help a cat pass a hairball. But after we tried everything under the sun, we realized it might not be a hairball, and we took poor Saskia to the vet.

Surprise, she had asthma.