One

Exactly one year ago, I was in the middle of applying for a summer job with the U.S. Department of Justice when a completely unrelated idea popped into my head. I'm not sure what exactly inspired the idea. Maybe I was tired from rushing to get the application done, or maybe it's something else, I don't really know. I think it was one of those "why should we hire you" questions and I mentioned my "creative" brand of legal reasoning. I ended up not getting the USDOJ job, but something positive did happen that day.

I signed up for a Blogger account, and I just started writing.

When I started "Hot Off the Sales Rack," I didn't expect anyone to read it at all. All I wanted to do was to write down my ideas about saving money because, like those other spontaneous thoughts that pop into my head so frequently, they don't always make a whole lot of sense. When my friends ask me how I managed to save money, it always takes me a while to know what to say, because it's an intuitive process that I had trouble expressing in words. I figured that once I put it down on paper, I can sort everything out and find a method in the madness. If my notes can help someone else, then all the better.

Over time, I was surprised to learn that people are reading this thing. I found out recently that I have a small but dedicated corps of readers, and that number is steadily growing. I want to say a big Thank You to all of you for supporting this blog. Knowing that I have someone to write for inspires me to do a better job.