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...