Walk the Museum Mile on June 3rd

Every year since 1978, one special June evening finds revelers celebrating the Museum Mile Festival. Dubbed "New York's biggest block party," the festival spans 5th Avenue, including renowned museums from the Met at 89th, to Cooper-Hewitt (on 91st), to El Museo del Barrio on 105th.

For three hours only, join children wielding street chalk, and professional musicians & dancers as they enliven the streets and museums, bringing together an assortment of revelers. From New Yorkers from all walks, to the tourists who have planned their vacations to coincide with the festivities, all enjoy the fun & free admission to the 9 museums on the Mile.

For a complete listing of museums, visit the Museum Mile Festival website.

Free Orman book from Oprah

Apparently, I'm a cat that got the cream. I was able to download Suze Orman's Women & Money for free on February 14th, courtesy of Oprah. Unfortunately, the download was only available for 2 seconds days, and what I've been hearing is that a number of people downloaded incomplete files...if they managed to download anything at all. How lovely. For Suze Orman, that is. Because the Midas Oprah touch has now virtually guaranteed that women will now run to the nearest bookshop or to half.com and BUY an Oprah-touted "personal finance read" that is, quite frankly, a huge waste of time for someone with a computer & internet access.

If you're interested in discovering the difference between checking & savings accounts, W&M is your book (see page 73). Otherwise, try a personal finance blog like Get Rich Slowly or My Money Blog. One tidbit of interest I did find in W&M was an offer from discount broker Ameritrade, where you can earn an extra $100 at the end of the year IF you:

• open a brokerage account in your name
• set up an automatic deposit of $50+ per month for 12 consecutive months
• sign up between 2/27/07 and 3/31/08.

But I haven't researched other Ameritrade offers, so I don't know how good this offer actually is. So if contacting me is easier than checking out page 85 of W&M, email me for more details about page 85 instead. (Likewise if you're interested in hearing about the "Action Plan" quiz/checklist available on www.suzeorman.com - to the readers: see password provided on page 59.)

If you're still considering buying W&M, here's my frugal suggestion: visit your local library or bookstore and skim the book. If you find it will help start you on your road to financial awareness, please use it. But do not pay $15+* for it.

*As of this writing, Women & Money was available on eBay, Half.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders for $6-$15.

Jane Austen on Masterpiece Classic

This Sunday past, on January 13, 2008, I was able to record the first of six film adaptations of Jane Austen's novels, Persuasion.

It's a story of second chances between Anne Elliot (Sally Hawkins), the second and only sensible daughter of a spendthrift baronet, and Frederick Wentworth (Rupert Penry-Jones), the now-successful lover whom she was persuaded to spurn eight years prior.

PBS will be showing the "Complete Jane Austen," film adaptations of all Austen's completed novels - as well as a nostalgic biography - on Sundays through April (barring the first three fundraising weekends in March):

• Northanger Abbey*, Austen's parody of Gothic novels, is showing on Jan. 20 @9-10:30pm;
  
  
• Mansfield Park, Austen's most thematically-rich novel, is showing on Jan. 27 @9-10:30pm;
  
  
• Miss Austen Regrets, a dramatization of Austen's real-life courtships, is showing on Feb. 3 @9-10:30pm;
  
  
• Pride & Prejudice*, starring Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet & Colin Firth as Fitzwilliam Darcy, is showing in three parts on Feb. 10, 17 & 24 @9-11pm;
  
  
• Emma*, starring Kate Beckinsale as the eponymous lovable, but misguided matchmaker, is showing on Mar. 23 @9-11pm; and
  
  
• Sense & Sensibility*, the happily-ever-after stories of the eldest Dashwood sisters, will be shown in two parts on Mar. 30 & Apr. 6 @9-10:30pm.

* These films are adapted by Andrew Davies, a British screenwriter known to stay very faithful to his adaptations of classic works of literature.

The times listed are Eastern Standard Time, so check pbs.org for showings in your local area. For more background info on Austen or Regency England, click here. And lastly, to brush up on your Austen, visit Bibliomania!

Free Writing Classes in NYC

If you've ever walked three to five city blocks in Manhattan, you may have noticed a yellow kiosk or two holding booklets for Gotham Writers' Workshop. GWW offers free hour-long classes at area bookshops - from Strand to McNally Robinson, to B&N - for writers of humor, fiction, and non-fiction.

For a free class near you, see their online schedule.

Chase Gives NYC Commuters Cashback

I've never been so glad for my propensity to read every advert in the train station and on the side of every bus!

Chase Bank is currently holding a promotion that will pay $10 cashback per $150 spent on any non-PIN transaction at an MTA Metrocard vending machine or in any of the city's hundreds of yellow cabs. Chase will count every dollar spend between January 1 and March 31, 2008, no matter when your card is enrolled, so remember to enroll your card here anytime until March 31st!

Do note, however, that the program says to allow 6-8 weeks for credit after the promotion period ends. My only query is that the cashback will be credited to the associated checking account...but what if I don't have any such account associated with my Chase Freedom card!?!