Christmas Anticipation

I'm going to piggy back on what my dad said and add a few thoughts of my own. Please read his post first.

Christmas has become for me totally about giving and spending time with family. I still like stuff as I have documented on here before, but there are 364.24 other days in a given year.

I can remember almost every Christmas Day or at least parts of every Christmas day going back at least 15-18 years, which is more than I can say about any other calendar day.

I am really looking forward to being with my family this year. I appreciate them more every year than I did the previous.

On slightly comical note is that this year we are giving PRESENCE instead of PRESENTS, in which case it might indeed be better to give than receive. Especially if your name is Chad Ochocinco.

Adultery

My son, pay attention to my wisdom,

listen well to my words of insight,

that you may maintain discretion

and your lips my preserve knowledge,

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil;

but in the end she is bitter as a double-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death;

her steps lead straight to the grave.

She gives no thought to the way of life;

her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.

Thanksgiving

In honor of Thanksgiving here are some things for which I am thankful...

• My Wife
• Our Church
• Friends
• Family
• Food
• Financial Blessings
• Health
• Bella
• Democracy
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of Religion
• Our Hot Tub
• New Career Opportunities
• Broadband Internet Access
• Those that Serve in the Armed Forces
• Those that Serve Locally Fire/Police/EMT
• Sunrises
• Direct Deposit
• Cars with GPS (even though I don't have one)
• Smart Phones (even thought I don't have one)
• The Burn of Physical Activity
• Racquetball
• Mashed Potatoes
• iPod Touch
• HDTV
• Colts
• 10-0

What are you thankful for?

Mr. Fix It

2 years ago Staci and I moved from here to here. I remember celebrating with Staci that we would no longer need to do dishes by hand since our new house had a dishwasher that worked (or we assumed). The dishwasher at the apartment did not work, which was annoying, but I never bothered to have someone take a look at it, since we only lived there for a couple months.

Imagine our surprise when the dishwasher did not work here at our house. We assumed it would be more expensive or too much of a hassle than just hand washing the dishes on a time by time basis. We basically put up with not using the machine for anything more than a drying rack and storage space. Staci and I hated doing the dishes, and it often lead to "intense" conversations about who would do the dishes and when. We would just use all of our plates and bowls until we had none, then contemplate eating out every night. I got to the point where I wanted to go buy new plates instead of wash the old set.

I finally broke down and decided to take the thing apart and see if I can fix it. I was able to find what I thought might be the problem and gave it my best shot at restoration.

Now, the dishes get done about every other day. They come out of the washer nearly spotless. With just 40 or so minutes if rumbling and whirling they are like new! No more pruned hands. No more civilized discussions about who's turn it is. Just peace and tranquility. And a happy Mr. and Mrs. Fix It.

Funny Screen Shot

If you don't believe it's true, type why into google and see for yourself.

Great News!

FYI, the doggwoods nation is the second to know of a breaking development in my life. I have been offered a position to work as a Credit Analyst for Ameriana Bank. It is a move up, in almost every way measurable and moves me in a direction that will allow me to better utilize my God given gifts, interests and abilities.

I'm moving from a job that would bore most of you and the rest would be miserable, to another job that would be slightly less so, but for me its a great opportunity. :)

Good Youtube Video

This is why God invented Youtube.

Please note, the word ass in the following context most likely refers to a donkey.

Dave Ramsey on people with big money...

Makes you think...

What would I be like with $1M, $10M, or $100M?

Pres Obama's Weekly Radio Address

According to the weekly radio address, the stimulus has saved or created 1,000,000 jobs.

700,000,000,000÷1,000,000=700,000/job

Any of you making 700k/year?

Food For Thought

Litterally, food for thought. I'm sitting downstairs eating dinner which happens to be chicken tortilla soup, and thinking about things. I have recently realized that I am really into gadgets. This goes back quite a ways for me. I used to LOVE Swiss Army Knives.  Whenever we would go into a sporting goods store it was my favorite section/enclosed box.  In high school I was the first to own a pocket PC.  For those of you that don't know what that was, it was a smart phone without the phone.  Some people called them Palm Pilots.  The iPhone has been my most recent desire, but I have settled for the iPod Touch.  I chose the iTouch, because it comes without the $70+/month contract.

But there is something new on the horizon.  Or should I say something new on the Verizon?  The rub with switching to the iPhone is leaving Verizon and signing up with AT&T.  It would end up costing my wife and I probably around $50/month more than we pay now.  That is a lot of dough!

This phone runs Android, which is Google's operating system.  I use Google's suite of products, so this is very appealing to me.  Most importantly, it has an app for Google Voice, which means a GV account could run seamlessly on a mobile phone with all the features, and the same great cost.

Here's where thinking has to start happening.  There is still a cost difference.  First of all it would be $200 to purchase which is reasonable, but there is more.  Secondly there will be a $30/month charge for a data plan.  This comes with a 2 year contract, so the total EXTRA price for the phone would be around $900.

Where I come from $900 is a good chunk of change for no more functionality than I currently have other than mobile Internet. (aka data plan)  For example, that $30/month could go to support a missionary, buy food for a food bank, or feed a hungry child. 

I have a lot in this world, and live a very comfortable life.  Most people that read this blog (both of them) are also comfortable and not hungry.  I do not say this to condemn spending, I am just journaling some realizations I have come to.  I'm also not saying I will not some day buy a data plan for a mobile phone.  What I will say, is that I need to do a better job of looking at what I spend, determine if it is a need or a want and also determine if by passing on that want I can meet a need of someone less fortunate.

Funny Family Guy Clip

This was done as a spoof since Dan Aykryod and Chevy Chase were in an 80s classic Spies Like Us.

We're Debt Free

I saw this video on youtube, and I thought it was awesome. Hope you enjoy.

Health Care

Here is a great podcast on health care and one of my biggest gripes on the subject. I have had such a hard time figuring out the bills from the dentist, etc. that I have been hesitant to go back. I suppose that means THEY win. Anyway for a good look into this in detail check out Planet Money's podcast.

Corporate Challenge

I had the treat of competing on behalf of Regions Bank in the Corporate Challenge this weekend. It is a friendly competition among companies in the greater Indianapolis area that has a few different events for people of all skill levels and abilities. I, being a runner of sorts, took part in the 2 shortest running events available. They were the half mile and a sprint relay. I ran the 400 of the sprint relay, which was a treat as compared to the 1/2 mile. I think I was a little over anxious on the 1/2 because I kept running with the leaders for the first 200m. I knew I didn't want to and couldn't for an extended period, but the pressure of the pack just kept pushing me.

The 400 was much easier to contain my enthusiasm. I even let a girl run out in front of me for the first 200. Once I knew I could kick it home at about 250 I opened it up and ran around 1:10. Not good by any stretch of the imagination, but considering my training and effort I was pleased. I think I could have gone 1.00 flat if it would have been my first race, without too much problem.

I also competed in the bowling event the night before. It was a unique format where with 5 bowlers you each bowl 2 frames per game. Your team gets a score based on the total after 4 games. We came up with 611, which averages just over 152 per game. I guess I'll take it. We ended up 1st in our division for this event which was a pleasant surprise, since I thought we didn't do very well at the time.

Ode to Da-Chort

I have lost a few pets in my day (crosses self), but today was kind of a hard day for me. Cheetah, the cat, was put down to help end his suffering. As my dad described, he outlived many of his peers. If you have had a few pets in your life, you know that some mean more to you than others. Cheetah probably meant the most. As I reflect on his life, I think I know why. Please, allow me to anthromorphize Cheetah for a moment. When he was a kitten, he was one of three. I do not know how different he was than Buttons and Tigger, the differences were indistinguishable at that age. As I grew up, however, Cheetah became my favourite cat.

What made him so special? He would have been everyone's friend. You know this if you came over to our house any time for the last 16 years. Cheetah greeted you, and let you know you were welcome. He was interested in you, and always wanted to hear how your day was. He was a great listener. He never interupted your thoughts, but with a word of encouragement. So congenial, so charasmatic. He was loyal as could be. I would go away for weeks or months and when I got home, he was always happy to see me. People like him for that. I loved him for it.

Like everyone's best friend, he had quite a few nick-names. Cheetah, The Cheet, Da-Chort, Detroit, I'm sure there are some I'm forgetting.

Cheetah never complained. When we lived in IN, he let his weight get out of control for a while. Then we moved to AZ and he shed those lbs. He looked great for most of the time we lived in AZ, but when I went to college he had become so thin that I didn't know if I would see him again. Over the next 6 years, every time I would leave, I would say goodbye. But he never complained. I don't know how much pain he was in, until earlier this week, he couldn't walk. This is the email I recieved.

I wanted to let you know that Cheetah is not doing well.

He is having trouble walking now and keeping his balance. He can't stand upright on his rear feet but walks with the entire lower portion of his legs flat on the ground. It is very hard to explain, but cats typically walk like they are on their toes. The entire 4 inches of his back legs are flat on the ground, it looks like a kangaroo would be.

We have a vet appt for him Thursday, but it looks like it needs to be his last.

I knew his time was up. I requested that he was allowed to go home.

Cheetah, I'm sorry if you suffered. You were at times, my best friend. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would say that. You are missed.

RIP Cheetah
Circa Spring 1993 - Sept. 24 2009

Wedding Toasts

In the last 4 or so years I have been to countless weddings. I cannot even count the weddings I was in, let alone the weddings I was just a witness to. I wish I could experience a variety of styles of weddings, or cultures traditional weddings, but I haven't. They have all been pretty much cut from the same cloth (if I can borrow a colloquialism.) Usually my favorite part of the entire evening is the toasts given by the Best Man and Maid of Honor. I have noticed a few themes that hold true. First, the maid of honor always reads. She is more prepared than the best man, and it usually shows. Unfortunately, this preparation almost never equates to dry eyes during and immediately after the speech. I do have to admit though at today's wedding was the first time I saw a note-less maid of honor. Secondly, best men are rarely chosen for their speaking ability. While some thrive in the spot light, most, stumble around with a mix of "inside" jokes and poor communication skills. Thirdly, there needs to be 3 elements to the toast. 1 is humor. Get the audience on your side and give them a reason to continue to listen. 2 is sentiment. Let the audience know (briefly) that the bride/groom meant a lot to you. 3rd is wishing well. It is your responsibility to wish them well in married life on behalf of the wedding party and those seated in the audience. Those are the 3 elements whole and exhaustive. Please do not add or subtract from this list, as it is comprehensive.

If you need an example, please see the speeches from either my wedding, or the Wren wedding.

Funny Article

This is a really funny article. It admits that some of it was probably posted as a joke, but even if they are satirical, they are funny.

iTunes 9.0

Dear Apple,

I have good news and bad news. First the good news, iTunes 9.0 is an upgrade and I appreciate some of the features, although any feature of note does involve me spending money, so I'll continue. I guess you are not a charitable organization, but are out to make a profit so that's fair.

The bad news is this version uses approximately 2x the memorty of 8.0. I suppose it wouldn't really be a problem if I was running iTunes on a sweet macbook pro, but I'm not. I'm running on an older computer. I only have 700ish MB of Ram, and you ask for too much of it. I wish you weren't so greedy.

sincerely,

fanboy

My Suburban Life

I don't know why I recorded this, but I am certianly glad I did. This is a telephone conversation between Staci and myself, and we have a conversation like this about once per day. For those who don't know, any reference to "the account" is probably an envelope designated for "grocery" and we are pretty meticulous about keeping that straight. We have other enveleopes to. Also, I was getting our screen replaced that Bella jumped out of eariler this summer, at the Do It Center (local hardware store). I love my life, and here is a snapshot into it.

Heath care Debate

There is no doubt that if you're reading this, you know of the debate that is taking place all across the country that centers around the issue of health care. This was one of President Obama's promises while campaigning, that he would reform health care. There are quite a few areas that are being looked at nationally, and I'm going to look at a few of them here.

The first topic we should look at is whether or not there should be reform. Lets call reform change, because reform sounds to me like Washington mandating something, and change can come from anywhere. I am of the opinion that there needs to be change. We in America spend way to much on health care as a dollar amount and as a percentage of GDP (Kudos Planet Money). This makes sense, because we have the most disposable income, after food, clothing, housing, etc. We also have the best health care system in the world. We have the best doctors, and the best hospitals, but for some reason we need reform/change.

For all the money we spend we aren't the most healthy people. Nearly 2/3 of American Adults are overweight or obese. We don't have the longest life expectancy, which I would hope for, since we are spending the most money per person (by a lot). Therefore, we must have inefficiencies. Lets explore some of these.

Medical technology is great, but expensive. From anecdotal experience however, "best" technology may not be the most VALUable. (emphasis on value) One test may offer the best results, but if it costs 3 times the next option does the extra value pay off for the cost? This is not always taken into consideration. Here is why...

There is a gap of knowledge between the service providers and the patients. When my doctor comes in and makes a recommendation I really have to trust it. They are probably suggesting what they think is best, but do they consider what is the best value?

The second gap is from the doctors to the office manager, or whoever charges the invoices and bills the patients. Most doctors do not know exactly what a procedure, or a perscription costs so while they are perscribing what is in their opinion best, it may not be the best value. I know I keep bringing up that phrase value, but that is because in every other economic decision we make we consider what we are getting for our money before make the purchase. This is not always true in medicine.

The third gap is from the office manager to the patients. I know I have had procedures done and not known what they cost before I recieved the service. For example, I was rushed to a hospital for a phantom head injury. As it turns out, I probably didn't need an ambulance. At the end of the day the bill was north of 10,000! Had I known it would be that much for the ride in the big truck I would have just got a limo, and it would have been around $200. But seriously, if I would have known how expensive that adventure was going to be, I would have looked for another alternative.

The fourth gap is from the people paying for the serivce and the people recieving the service. Contrary to what you may have heard on the news, most Americans have insurance. We pay some out of pocket but for any serious event an insurance company picks up the rest. For most people, after the first 3-5k we pay a small percentage of the rest of the bill. This is a bit like when little Susie has daddy's credit card at the mall. The shoes are a NEED when she spending someone else's money.

These are the 4 main areas I see as a big part of the problem. The system we have now does not appropriately allow price to adjust our decisions.

I don't know how to fix the system, but I do agree we need change. However, if I can make a recomendation, it would be that we try and find a way to close these 4 information gaps between the parties involved.

Weekend Project

I have a few projects this weekend. One is to paint the garage. This is not my choice, the garage is a garage, it is finished w/ drywall and that's good enough. I'll let you guess who's idea it is (bella). 2 is to do a podcast or blog on what I see is the issue w/ healthcare. This will be a full length production probably 10-15 minutes or a full page blog. I'm not sure what will work better.... please stay tuned.

Cops

Good Lord, Cops in HD. It's absolutely a terrifying experience. Cops was an experience in 480i, but in 720p it can make your stomach turn.

Sunday August 9th From Chicago

Weekend update.

My First Podcast

It's only 2 minutes long, so don't act like its some sort of inconvenience. Just click the title to listen.

This is super!

This is from a behavioral economics blog called nudge.

http://nudges.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/strange-human-behavior-bank-edition/

Reader David Campbell sends along a fascinating story about human habits and attention. Safe to say, no econ would make this mistake.

Several years ago, Campbell consulted on a highway widening project in Atlanta. To make room for the new lanes, a bank branch had to be demolished.

Approximately 90 days prior to the demolition of the branch location, all the customers who banked at that location were notified in writing as to what would be occurring and were advised as to the location of a nearby branch that would be handling their accounts. Several large notices were also posted at the branch containing the same information. Follow-up written notices were also sent to the customers 60 days and 30 days prior to the closing. All the branch officers and tellers were constantly reminding people of the upcoming event.

Finally the day of closing arrived. The last customer left the bank, the doors were locked and a large sign at the entrance to the parking lot clearly stated that fact. The next day the wrecking crew moved in and began the demolition. Case Closed? WRONG!

Roughly 45 days after the closing I received a call from the officer of the bank I had been working with. I could almost see the tears in his eyes, he was laughing so hard when he said, “David, I know you aren’t going to believe me, but I promise that I’m not making this up.”

Apparently, about ten days after the bank was demolished and all the bank signs and other identification had been removed from the site, the bank started receiving a trickle of calls from its customers complaining that something was wrong with their accounts. As time moved on the situation worsened, but it wasn’t until someone actually went out to the site that now contained a non-existent building was the problem solved.

The only thing that remained on the site was the bank vault. The vault had been duly cleaned out at the time of closing, but the structure itself could not be removed by conventional means and required that it be jack hammered apart. The rear wall of the vault also housed the drop box for the night depository. Although the depository was checked and cleaned out at the time of closing, it never occurred to anyone to seal the depository slot. For approximately 45 days the carefully trained employees of nearby businesses had been doing as instructed and were dropping the day’s cash receipts into the night depository.

The building was gone. The bank signs were gone. Most of the parking lot was gone. The sidewalks and drive-thru lines were gone. To make a deposit required that a person park his car and walk about 30 feet over a dirt path. When the bank official opened the night depository box, he found over $250,000 in cash. Fortunately it never occurred to the local bank robbers that people could be that dumb. The bank vault door had been removed in the demolition as had all the bank security systems, and the night depository inside the vault could be opened with a crow bar.

Campbell asks fellow Nudge readers: Can anyone top this story?

Posted in Blog posts Tagged: bank

Google Voice

I just picked up a google voice account. It's pretty much my new favorite toy. I could tell you the features, but I'm looking forward to bed (10:16) and you can discover them for yourself...

Better Blog

I need to find a way to write down my blog ideas while I'm away from the computer. I have a unique idea probably every other day, but only capture it maybe weekly. I'm thinking iPhone, but don't ask me how that will actually help record the ideas... probably a simple notepad would work...

Final Frontier

Staci and I are on a great adventure of the final frontier... Free TV. I pay for internet, mostly so I can keep you people satisfied with my thrice monthly updates. I may have to go to a paid subscription basis...

Anyway, we got a HDTV approximately 6 months ago and I love it, but it really leaves a sour low definition taste in my mouth when I watched Dish Network in SD. All you need, however to get HDTV is plug in some old fashioned rabbit ears in the back of that baby and we're live! I get the local networks pretty well, as long as no one walks up or down the stairs.

I was ready to drop TV for a while, but the wife wasn't. She enjoyed the DVR, probably more than I did. We made a compromise as best as I could, which was give it up for 2 months and then if we wanted to go back at that time we would, no questions asked. This was made possible when our receiver went out. :)

So since the loss of transmission I've picked up a hobby. I've played disc golf more days than I haven't. There are 3 courses in the area.

Sahm Park

View Larger Map

Dylan Park

View Larger Map

Morse Park

View Larger Map

Morse and Sahm have a variety of holes and pars, 3,4,5. Dylan is all about the long ball baby. They are all "par 3" and none is shy of 300 feet. The longest are in the mid to upper 400 foot range.

I've spent in the neighborhood of $50 out of pocket for discs and if I'd spent the same TIME on a ball golf course it would probably be in the neighborhood of 200-300 in greens fees.

It's a good game, but you need a strong elbow, so we'll see how long that lasts.

I may post more about this sport and these courses, but I know none of you are interested.

Long story short I'm saving $50/month having a lot more fun, being active, and losing blog readers.

Great!

"I heard the jury's still out on science."

Gob Bluth

(pronounced like Job from the Bible)

Twitter part II

I have a Twitter account. My user name should say quite a bit about my general feelings on the subject, though I do update regularlly.

Imaskeptic4

follow me, but if I don't know who you are I'll block you.

How we remember an Individual

I'm not sure where to begin. I'm litterally sitting on the couch as I type this watching the zoo that is the media circus surrounding Michael Jackson's death. It is sad any time a human loses their life, but what is most interesting to me is what people are saying about the late Jackson. They are sentaments that I don't think we would have heard just 2 days ago.
I realize people aren't going to say today that he was an egotistical child molester, it just wouldn't sit well today, but I'm saying from my perspective, he wasn't a great man. Amazing performer. Gifted artist. No doubt a brilliant celebrity but not some one I look up to as a person in the least.

Wolfram Alpha

This site is awesome. It makes Cha-Cha look like child's play.

That result is a little silly, but type in something like, What is the population of ... Insert City, or 3^2+5^2=?. It was designed to do math problems, but it does more.

Let me know what you think about it in the comments section.

Not sure what to write about

I'm not sure what to write about, so this will be a little bit of stream of consciousness. Whenever I hear that term, I think of a brain peeing. Brain peeing, is a funny thought. I'm sure it would be quite relieving, however. Many Fridays at the bank my brain could go for a pee.

Dreams and sleep have been on my mind recently. Its a strange phenomena, sleep. Our bodies can go longer without it than our brains, in my very armature opinion. I know my mind goes well before my arms or legs. Take for example the move I helped Adam and Ali make this weekend. The body was willing, but the mind became weak. It was about 2:30 and I could certainly carry another box, but I was having trouble remembering people's names and words were running together. Glad I didn't have to drive anywhere!

They say 18 hours without sleep is like driving drunk. I don't know who "they" is, but I suppose as long as 2+ people say something they can be "they."

Last thought is on dreams. Our brains get so much information in a given day, I hear it needs to sort it all out, and dreams are how they do it. I'm not sure what happens in my day that makes me think at night there is a man in a bear costume standing over my bed, but apparently it happens.

I've been known to have weird dreams though. Exhibit A - there are snakes in my fish tank. Exhibit B - While driving home from a football game, I thought my mom was driving off the road when she was exiting on a ramp. Exhibit C - whatever caused me to run around on the ground on all fours and scare the hoo-haa out of Staci.

Sorry I couldn't give more detail.

It's time for bed.

Apple

Apple could get away with murder and it's fans would just keep coming back for more. A year ago when they launched the 2nd Generation iPhone they tried to push the new OS to all the phones, crashing the system. I doubt most people remember that, unless you were one of those with a $600 paper weight for a couple days. They still run ads taughting how stable and solid their products are. (I'll admit it was probably AT&T's fault, but they are married to them, so guilt by association) Now with the new OS that is being launched today they are going to enable some sort of bluetooth and possibly FM capability. I just tried to download it, however, and it took 30 minutes to even get connected to the iTunes store. This was built into the hardware from a year ago, but just left out of the software. If Windows would have done something like this, it would be another viral TV ad in a second. I love my iPod touch (ask my wife), but I'm just saying we as consumers of a product have a double standard.

An Idea for podcasts

I listen podcasts many times per day and one theme is THEY have themes. Dave Ramsey is financial, this American Life is unique stories from across the country, Tech stuff is obvious, Planet Money is Finance/Economics, Stuff you should Know is informative. My idea for a podcast on podcasts. The theme will be discussing podcasts. I think I can talk about the stuff I like to listen to. Just an idea, more thoughts to come.

Podcast

My friend Adam Wren and I really like ourselves. More specifically, we like what we talk about. He and I often get on tangents that we find to be humorous of full of insight, so we are going to try and bring back to life the Adam and Nate Podcast. It's been unseen for about 3 years, so our following may have gone its separate ways. Still be on the lookout for the podcast coming Summer '09.

Twitter

Tweet...

I guess I just don't see what the big deal is.

Prediction: Twitter won't be around for that long. They have no business model, no plan to monetize their service. All they are doing right now is burning through venture capital.

Softball

I've been playing softball for about 8 years, and I've never been on a dominant team. What used to happen was I'd start off on a church team, and then as the season went along my team would get injured (because they are old) and I'd replace them with guys that were young and athletic. We'd be good, but just because we would run around like crazy. We had some good athletes, but most of them did not have baseball/softball as their primary sport. This was fun, but often frustrating when fly balls would be dropped into triples.

This year is different. We have multiple collegiate level baseball players as well as a bunch of good athletes. I played outfield in high school and I'm not one of the top 4 outfielders on our team. I have, however found my calling as a middle reliever for our stacked team.

Last night we were losing going into the 7th inning both games. We ended up scoring and winning both games. We didn't play our best, and didn't have some of our best players, but we still pulled it off. That brings our record to 7-1. Its a lot more fun being on the winning side of these games because I know the other side, from two years ago when the only time we didn't lose was when we forfeited.

NBA Playoffs

I've been one of the harshest critics of the NBA over the last 5 years, but what I've seen recently has me changing my tune. With the performances I've seen from Kobe, Lebron, Carmelo and Dwight Howard are making me think about following the game again. It will be difficult to sit through 82 games to get to the playoffs where sub .500 teams get in, and the playoffs take 2+ months to complete. If you didn't see the last 5 minutes of the Cleavland/Orlando games the last few nights, you missed out. Both games literally went down to the last shot, both taken by Cleavland. One went in, did not. Both were fantastic.

The Pacers have always been my team, and they have a long way to go, but in the mean time this tournament is appointment/must see TV.

Weather

I'm so thankful for the weather.  Not what you're thinking, most likely, I'm thankful for the weather we had in January and February.  Not because I enjoy freezing my ice cubes off, but because it makes me appreciate so much 75 and sunny.  I think you can have too much of a good thing, if only because you don't appreciate it.

I thank God for the winter, because without fail, it comes with the promise of spring.

Bowling Alley

I had my 3rd brush with stardom this weekend. I was at woodland bowl on 96th street meeting some friends from work for some fun at the alley after work. We were standing around talking, waiting for the others to arrive. The next thing I know, I see a well built black man carrying a bowling ball walking towards the door to leave the alley. It was Joseph Addai.
I recognized him immediately and waved. He saw I too was holding my own bowling ball, knew I was cool, and nodded his head back in recognition of my wave.

This will go down with the times I saw Peyton Manning at the airport, and Rick Smits, also at the airport.

BTW I threw a 206 in my third game.

Bella makes it look like I'm a cutter!

Bella

How Bella feels when she's had too much milk to drink.

2 good movies, one marginal

I was a bachelor this weekend, and I forgot how boring that can be. I ended up watching 3 movies in 3 days, and they got better as they went.

Friday night - 300. My favorite part of this movie was after it was over. And that's not intended to be a joke, but if you think its funny feel free to laugh. After watching this movie a few things donned on me. First, the movie is almost cartoonish, but its for a reason. It is the legend of a king of Sparta, and the entire movie feels like someone is telling you a story that is a bit fanciful. It felt like the time I read Beowulf in high school. Not even a little realistic, but probably the average embellishment that takes place over the generations. The battles were... over rated, but I felt like too much of the content of the movie was battle, where as in great movies like Gladiator, the battles take place around the story.

Saturday night - Walk the Line. I forgot how good this movie is. The soundtrack is wonderful, and the story is captivating. You root so hard for Johnny, even though for a while he does nothing right. He was a great man, and truly knew what it meant to have life, more abundantly.

Sunday Afternoon - LOTR Return of the King. Another classic. Tolkien was obviously a genius. Peter Jackson perfectly captured Middle Earth in New Zealand, and the cast made me really believe it. The inward struggle and outward struggle that Frodo goes through is gripping. I'm not sure if the ring is supposed to represent Sin, but if it does, I love that illustration.

Wife should be home shortly, back to reality!

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey died today. I was always a fan, and he will be missed, even though I didn't hear much of him recently. The way that man, would deliver a story could make even Bella's life seem interesting. Two phrases will be forever linked in my head to Paul Harvey. The first one is, I'm Paul Harvey... Good Day. And the second is, "and now you know... the rest, of the story"

1040

Taxes... DONE!

101

101st Post

Eulogy

Henry Woods 2008-2009

Henry lived a fulfilled life. He had plenty of water to drink, lots of food to eat. He was introspective, and not as gregarious as rumors had him to be. He was loved by all that knew him. He is survived by his owner, Jessica, his caretakers Nate and Staci, and his cousin Bella.

Services have already been held. Henry was given a 21 flush salute.

 

Expensive Donuts

Sunday I had a box of $230 Donuts. I know you're pining as to how I could have spent $230 on Donuts, and if I did, how big was the box? Well, it wasn't that big of a box, but they were delicious. I love Dunkin Donuts.

Staci and I spent Saturday night through Monday afternoon in Tennessee. I made a vow that no matter what we forgot, once we left the driveway we would not turn around and get it. (half jokingly) I realized, once headed south on I65 on the southern part of Indianpolis, atleast 25 minutes from home, that we forgot our video camera, as well as our charger for our digital camera. I normaly wouldn't care, since I do not really like taking pictures of myself, but our trip had a greater purpose than sight seeing. We were going to Financial Peace Plaza, the home of the Dave Ramsey Show, both TV and Radio. I am a devout Dave Ramsey proselite, so capturing this moment on camera was crutial. But I digress.

We woke up hungry Sunday morning and decided to undo a week at the gym be picking up some donuts. While out, we stopped at a Target, just to see what they had in the way of Digital Camera's. Their selection was modest, but it had what we were looking for. We love our Cannon Power Shot, and thought that if we could get the same picture quality with a few latest and greatest bells and whistles (sorry for the run on cliche's) we would jump on the opportunity. Well, they had the camera on display, but out of stock. We left, thanking the clerk, who was helpful, to an extent, just didn't have the product. I knew that there had to be a best buy around somewhere. We were in a Target, and there was a Home Depot up the street, a Best Buy almost had to be within half of a mile.

We got to Best Buy, and the choice came down to the Cannon we saw at Target, or a Casio that was featured on their Digital Camera display. The Cannon won.

In the summer of 2004, just less than 5 years ago, I bought a less frilly version of the camera we bought this weekend.

What I got in 2004 What I got on Sunday
4.0 MegaPixel 10.0 MegaPixel
32 MB Memory 4Gig Memory
1.5" Screen 3"Screen

That means 2.5x size pictures. 128x storage capacity, and 4x the view on the screen.

I paid $450 5 years ago, and only $230 on Sunday.

Amazing.

BTW, this is a very rare move for me. I waited 6 months to buy an iPod, and only did so when it came w/ a checking account, and 6 months to buy a TV, researching which one to buy for the entire time, at least one day per week.