It’s Friday and you know that means–time to take the day off from posting (because I sooo post every day) and do a recap of some interesting posts out there.

-Jonathan over at My Money Blog has a great list of free budgeting tools.

-That crazy cat, Henry, over at Binary Dollar, talks about How to Ace a Performance Review, which should come in handy to us chumps still working for the man.

-Matt talks about lessons learned from the classic The Millionaire Next Door.

-The blogging machine known as Flexo discusses CNNMoney’s new feature about extreme savers.

And some news from some entrepreneurial blogs that I like.

-Cesar over at FleeTheCube.com had a busy week, celebrating his one year blogoversary and then bringing together his various endeavors with his new company.

-And it must be “launch a business week” becasuse Erik Vossman also announced the launch of his new bogging network: Blogtown Press.

As I mentioned the other day, I’ve recently been scouting some business opportunities. I have to say something that I doubt will come as a shock to you–there’s a lot of crap out there. Stop me if you’ve heard this one…

A guy starts a website about his “mega system to mega wealth” talking about how he used these amazing secrets to make a fortune and retire while he was still an infant (or something like that). And the only thing standing between you and these “mega secrets” is your hard-earned money.

Then, if the guy is really outrageous, he’ll have a tip jar somewhere on his website soliciting donations. I’m completely serious. I saw this the other day. Now, I have absolutely no problem with bloggers putting up a tip jar if their readers enjoy their site. I’ve thrown a few bucks to people with sites I have enjoyed. But if you’re marketing a product that you want me to take seriously, do you really think being associated with tip solicitation is the way to go? Furthermore, do you really think I’m going to believe your mega marketing pitch if you have to solicit donations? Shouldn’t you be rolling in cash? Do you really need that $4.32 in my PayPal account? I’m not going to buy a business product from that homeless guy outside my office asking for change, so the chances of me buying one from you are pretty slim.

It’s rather frustrating because sometimes it’s hard to distinguish the bullshit from good opportunities. Although I’d like to think that after being on the Internet for several years, I’ve gotten pretty good at detecting the junk (and it only took 14 penis enlargement programs before I figured it out). Oh well, all this talk about starting a business is probably moot anyway. You see, I recently received an email from a nice Nigerian fellow about a business opportunity. I’m gonna get paid!

And I don’t mean to sound so discouraged. I’ve been learning a lot recently, even if I haven’t found anything of interest. I guess I should have expected what I’ve experienced. If good business opportunities were a dime a dozen, they, uh, wouldn’t be a dime a dozen. (Does that even make sense?)

Also, although my recent search hasn’t turned up much, that’s not to say I don’t have some existing ideas kicking around in the old noggin. I hinted the other day that this blog might take a different direction in the coming months. The direction, as you might guess, would revolve around a new business idea that I have. And with every “mega system” offer I encounter through my research, it’s looking not only more promising but also more palatable.

Happy Friday!