Car Woes

Cars can be a real pain.  Unfortunately they are also a necessity for most Americans unless you live downtown in a major metropolitan area.  We have gotten to the point where we don't have car payments but the trade off is that you have to deal with more car repairs.

For instance, I'm probably going to have to pay about $1000 for the latest car issue that I'm dealing with, which doesn't exactly have me doing the irig stomp at guitar center, but I have to keep reminding myself that that is still far less than I would have paid for a car loan this year.

Not always easy to remember and still kind of a hassle but I don't want to be locked into a payment anymore.

Week 10?

So the Browns have a game that matters in a week that has double digits for the first time in over ten years.  Granted, it would only allow them to get back to .500 and be a 1/2 game back in the division, but beggars can't be choosers.  I'll take a late season meaningful game when I can get it.

Here's hoping they pull off a win.

Long Game

It seems that my kids inherited my inability to stick with any one thing for a long period of time.  One minute I am buying them new soccer equipment and the next I'm getting them a kids electric guitar at musicians friend. Or in my daughters' case a old flute from my sister that she is determined to learn to play.  I have no idea how long this particular interest will last but maybe it will go longer because of school band.

Either way I can see clearly where they get it. I am very much a hobby jumper.  I will devote myself to something fully for a while and then jump ship for something else.  I haven't found the secret to long term enjoyment of any one activity yet.

Lessons

I have never really used bulk purchasing sites as of this writing.  My wife has and I know for a fact that my sister uses them extensively but I have been reluctant up to this point.

I very nearly pulled the trigger recently on a deal for horse riding lessons that came to me in an email for groupon.  This seems like something my oldest daughter would really love.  The only thing that stayed my hand was the fact that we have friends that would probably teach her for free or failing that, I would rather give them the money than someone I don't really know.

As it stands though I can totally see the usefullness of such things.  Theoretically the seller gets extra noteriety for offering the deal even if they just break even on it.  The long term goal obviously is to get their name out there and establish a brand.  The consumer gets things they want for a cheaper price and gets introduced to new services and products that they may not have known even existed.  It feels like a win/win on paper.

So why haven't I tried it yet?  To be honest, it's a visibility thing.  I don't see the deals all that often and I'm too lazy/private to set something up to attempt to sell me a new product every day.  I don't want to wait around for the right deal to just happen to fall in my lap.  I look for the best deal AFTER I decide that I need something.

I know that groupon does have more than one deal per day and that you can search for things but again, I just don't find myself drawn to it for some reason.  Not really sure why.  Perhaps I'm just slow on the uptake as most people that use it seem to think it's really good and works really well.

Maybe I should start giving it a bit more of a chance.

I Quit

I officially quit as a Browns fan.  Trading Trent Richardson was the last straw for me.  From now on I am a Broncos fan.  Go Denver!

PC Mechanic

Computer maintenance is annoying because even as a programmer, the people that are trying to mess it up are smarter than me.  I use defrags and virus checkers and even the occassional spam checker and thankfully most of that can be automated.

If you don't want to mess with that there are plenty of sites like http://www.iolo.com/ that will help you out.  It can be a pain but a well maintained computer will keep performing well for a much longer time over it's lifespan.

Cutting Boards

I made a couple of nice cutting boards in my shop recently and I can't seem to sell them for anything.  It's frustrating because I had hopes of using the profits of my woodworking to help pay for the supplies I need to do the woodworking.

So far not so good...

Take The Plunge

Thank goodness for lateral spring plungers and frankly all plungers on behalf of a Dad who wouldn't want to deal with some of the toilet disasters that I have had to in my time without one.

My son still measures the amount of toilet paper he uses in pounds, and despite only being 5 has an advanced proclivity for clogging up toilets with his daily constitutional.

So from us Dads who always get called in from the bullpen to save the day when a toilet is clogged, we say thank you to the humble plunger

Let Me Down

Apparently some guy wrote in his will that he wanted to have 6 Cleveland Browns players as his Pall Bearers so that they could let him down one last time, LOL

As a Browns fan, it's hard not to laugh at that given what we've had to put up with since the late 80's.

Hopefully, unlike him, I will live to see them good again. 

Fizzling Passions

One of the things that has bitten me over the years is my desire to know how to do everything.  I take it as a personal fault if there is something that I am not good at, even if it's something I'm not really interested in.  To that end I have bought a lot of things over the years that I ended up selling later after the bug of interest wore off and I moved on to the next thing.

I'm hoping that the current hobby of woodworking won't be in that category as it's in my dna and has been a dream of mine for a very long time.  Only time will tell and no one would be surprised to see me selling all my saws for an american dj comscan led system 3 years from now if I suddenly decide that that is my new passion.

Wood Working

My dream of having a woodworking shop is starting to take shape.  I have most of the major tools I need and I've already started a list of things I'd like to add as time goes on.  That will be great for Christmas list etc.

I finished my first real project last week.  I made an end grain cutting board out of oak and cherry.  It turned out pretty well, and although there are some things I'd like to do differently next time, it's a pretty solid first attempt I think.

NBA Draft

Lost in all the other news of the day, the NBA draft is tonight.  (sound the trombones)  The Cavs have the first overall pick, and 3 other picks to use.  Unfortunately, there aren't many good players to be had.  It would be really great if they could strike gold and put together a playoff worthy team for next year.

The pessimist in me though, just figures that even if they do, the stars will just leave for greener pastures like LeBron did so why bother.  It makes we wonder if a town like Cleveland could ever again produce a winner.  I imagine it would have to be of the one-year-wonder, lightning-in-a-bottle type that doesn't evolve into any sort of dynasty, but even that would be a vast improvement.

Pergola Pergatory

This isn't a big thing, but I will never understand why someone would build a pergola in their backyard instead of garden gazebos.  I just don't understand the thought behind building a structure that only mimicks having a roof and thus provides absolutely no protection from weather at all.

Maybe it's a shade thing, but even then it won't provide perfect shade at all times of day.  To me they just look incomplete, like someone starting building and ran out of money to finish the roof.  To each his own I guess.

Wood Shop

I'm really excited about how my woodworking shop is really starting to come together.  I finally got a jointer to add to my table saw, miter saw, and router.  I still would like to get a planer and band saw eventually but I'm starting to make some good progress.

My plan now is to make some end grain cutting boards to sell that will hopefully help me pay to buy the new tools that I need going forward.  I've always wanted to have a woodworking shop and I'm really excited to have the ability to make some stuff now.

Coins

Every once in a while I'll hear on the news about some rare thing like a misprinted silver eagle coin that sold for 3 million dollars or so after someone found it stuck to their shoe one day after a run.  This always has me running to grab my meager coin collection to see if I too have such a coin.  So far not so good.

I keep hoping that one of my coins will end up being worth a ton of money but more than likely I'll be forced to rely on my retirement savings like everyone else.  I mean does anyone actually believe that social security will survive?  (another post for another day)

Final Four

I have absolutely no interest in the final four this year.  I think it has something to do with the buckeye's losing.  ;)  I was thinking that I wonder if the tournament is hurt by legions of fans turning off their TV's once their team is out, or if there are enough fans of basketball in general that have no dog in the fight to keep the ratings up?

I'm not privy to the Nielsen data so I can't tell you the answer but it does make me wonder.

Flight Plans

It has been a very long time since I last had to book a flight and at that point I had the help of a travel agent.  This time I decided to go it alone and do it myself.  We are planning a trip to Disney World this fall and despite the success of our road trip to Myrtle Beach last year, we decided that we would be better served by flying.  For one thing, our van isn't all that new, secondly the 12 hour trip from last year would be closer to 16, and frankly, I hate driving. 

To be honest, we will probably not end up all that much different cost-wise when you factor in gas, maintenance and lost vacation time (I would have needed several more days off to drive there and back), so I'm not feeling at all bad about the decision.  Plus this will be the first flight for our kids so that should be a really cool experience for them.

We decided to go with Southwest airlines simply because we had some points to use with them that we had gotten from a credit card promotion.  (never will I do that again, but that's another story)  I have little recent experience with current airlines so it is hard for me to say if their procedures were any better or worse than say iraq airways, but after spending some time on the site and getting some questions answered I was able to make my way around it pretty easily.

I ended up having to purchase extra points to book the flight I wanted because we didn't have quite enough and the arrival time isn't ideal given that I was unwilling to make layovers, but we will make it work.

In the end, I was very happy with the experience and will be happy to do it again when the time comes for our next vacation.  Depending on where we go I will be happy to avoid the long car trip if the cost of the flight isn't too prohibitive.

Brands

There are certain names that stand out in fields for excellence.  Apple, Dell, Gibson les paul, and Nike are the ones that come to my mind.  I don't know that it is always better to pay more for those brands but it certainly feels like it is most of the time.

If I was out to buy a guitar it would be very hard to talk me out of buying a gibson, and the same thing with the other brands.  There are just certain things that provide a sense of security in that you are spending your money on the most high quality product possible.

I'm not saying all those brands are perfect or that all people would agree but those are the ones that I feel comfortable with.

13.1

I really want to run a half marathon this year.  That's my goal.  I need two things to happen for that to be possible. 

One I need my sprained ankle to heal enough to handle the punishment, which I think at this point it has, and Two, I need some warmer weather.  Last year I ran all winter long, and this year it has been nearly impossible.

Hopefully this spring I can make up for lost time.

Rings

Wedding ring, class ring, super bowl ring, and military ring.  Why have rings become such an important symbol in our culture as opposed to any other kind of jewelry?  What about that particular type of jewelry has drawn our attention the most?

Is it because they are easy to wear?  I would think that a necklace would actually be less intrusive, so that can't be it.  My guess is that it's hard not to see a ring since we use our hands so ubiquitously. 

We clearly want others to see these status symbols so we wear them on something that is almost always visible;  our hands.

Studio

A friend of mine recently built a music studio and it sounds like he is getting serious about doing some real business in there.  Clearly he didn't ask me for my advice since I would just assume that a hfudihufidao0 was just a strange twitter handle.

I wish him the best and hope that he has a lot of success.  Maybe I could be on the "I knew him when" special in 30 years.  You have to start somewhere.

From the pics it looks pretty cool but I haven't seen it in person.  Perhaps I need to ask for a tour.

Plywood

There's a lot in the world that I don't know about and that is why I enjoy learning so much.  Today I found myself looking at guitar center stuff.  They have some very cool and eclectic musical instruments some of which I could not identify.

There were some that simply looked like a plywood box and others that looked like drinking gourds.  Its amazing to me how many different things there are out there in the world to discover and the internet makes it possible to see so much more than I could before.

Brief Existances

Some things that seem like they will always be around suddenly aren't anymore. Take for instance the once ubiquitous mens briefcase. At one time it was unthinkable that a business man could be without one. Now in the age of computers and electronic files, they simply aren't used all that much anymore. Some still have them, but for the most part they are a part of the past. I wonder what we have today that will seem totally useless and old fashioned 20 years from now? Aside from technology which is always changing very quickly of course. My guess is electricity generated outside the home. I think eventually, all houses will be built in such a way to create all the energy the occupants could need.

I bet he was chased out of the Space Bar

Finishing thin...

I love exercising but I don't know everything there is to know and my ability to stick to things waxes and wanes.  For instance, I have no idea who makes the best yoga mats and used to want to do nothing besides lift weights whereas now all I want to do is run.

Plus it's so hard to get the hour a day I want because I have to get up so early to get the kids ready for school that it makes it nearly impossible to make up the hour of work I would miss by going to the gym.  Thankfully I can take vacation time in hourly increments but that ends up eating away at it over time which is not that great either.

An App For That

I noticed something interesting the other day.  Most of the quizzers we have a church in children's quizzing have iPods.  The web site for the quiz info has an online flash game for practicing the questions but there is no app available.

So I decided that I would play around with making one.  I know that I can't exactly go to the web 2 print software so I started writing a javascript app that would do the trick.  Once I can get that to work I will be able to port it to iOS using PhoneGap. 

Knowing me it will probably never get finished but it should be something to help me learn javascript if nothing else.

iPhone

I have finally joined the ranks of the iPhone owners.  I have had a smart phone once before but it was a lower level android phone and it didn't really work all that well for me so I thought I'd try the other side.

So far I'm pretty happy despite having a version of the phone that is 3 iterations old.  I had no desire to shell out the cash for a 4g phone with siri, since siri is annoying and I don't have 4g at my house.

The interesting side effect is that this has left my kindle fire and motoactv as door stops since they were bought to perform functions that I couldn't do without an iPhone.  Off to ebay we go.

Swing Set Project

One of my projects for this upcoming year, if all works out according to plan, is to tear down the swing set we have in our backyard and build a new one.  I don't have the option of using wooden swing sets richmond va, so I will need to build it myself.

This will also help us to save some money as those things can be incredibly expensive if you get starstruck and buy one that is really big.  My plan is to rebuild essentially the same thing we have now, since the only issue is that it is starting to get too old to be safe.

The Kalahari

We recently returned from a trip to the Kalahari.  No, not the desert, the hotel.  It's a resort hotel with a very large indoor waterpark.  It's a great time and has become a yearly tradition for our family.

There is a conference there that I attend every year and it's a really fun place to have it.  I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun family getaway for a couple of days. 

Clamps

One of the things that you simply have to have to do woodworking are clamps.  Bar clamps, spring clamps and sliding clamps are all a vital part of the shop.  I recently spent $100 on just clamps in order to have a reasonable amount to get me started.  That only bought me about 5.  Needless to say they can be expensive.

Thankfully I got them when I did, because I found that I need them for a project that I did around Christmas time for my daughter.  I don't think I could have done it without them.