MAC Daddy

I have never had a mac computer but one of the main reasons I have heard to own one is that they are much less susceptible to viruses.  Whether that's because they are better defended by a MAC Antivirus or because they are used less I'm not sure.

Generally the virus makers will target the more ubiquitous systems unless there is some obvious and easily exploitable flaw in a lesser used one.  Someday maybe I'll get one but at this point I'm still a pc guy.

Pretty Cool

The Hobbit

One thing I'm really looking forward to, besides the obvious perusing of the wide selection of marmot, is the new Hobbit movie that comes out in a couple of weeks.  The LOTR movies were some of the best made movies ever in my opinion and I can't wait to see the Hobbit make the leap to the big screen.

Before Peter Jackson did his magic, I didn't think it would be possible to do the book series justice on film but I couldn't have been more wrong.  Those movies were, beautiful, emotional, and every bit worthy of standing along side the books.

Can't wait to see more.

Drums

I'm really excited about the "big" gifts we got our kids this year.  I think they will each like them a whole lot.  In Brock's case, he really needed a new drum set as the one we got him when he was younger has completely fallen apart.  I hope he takes much better care of this set, but it wasn't really all his fault, the old set was kind of junky.

So if you heard I was in the market for music equipment you might assume that it was for a new guitar, but since I have no musical ability left at this point in my life it's not really time for me to invest in stuff like that for myself.  Instead I'm hoping that my boy can learn to drum and really enjoy it.  So do I get cool parent awards for getting my son drums?

Gold

Given the price of gold right now, I'd love to find a couple of morgan dollars hidden away behind a picture frame at a garage sale or something.  That would certainly make my day.  On one episode of Auction Hunters, they found a bunch of troy ounces behind one.

Gold is not something I want to invest in but I would love to sell if I could score something like that really cheap.  Of course that happens so rarely that it's not really worth even thinking about but you can always hope.  Besides, that auction hunting type work looks like a lot of fun.

Twilight Tonight

I'm Cheap

Speaking of not buying the best, I have never been able to pull the trigger on a north face coat.  The north face jackets are really cool looking but they are so expensive.  I can't see paying $100 for something when I can get by just fine with one that cost $20.

So either I'm cheap or practical depending on how you lean on the issue but I'd rather be warm and a little understylish with eighty bucks in my pocket than warm, really stylish and broke.

But that's just how I roll.  Feel free to buy whatever you want.  From the looks of things they aren't hurting for business.

Boots

I finally got ahold of a pair of boots that I can use the next time we go creek walking.  They are the standard yellow rubber kind but will serve the purpose well.  They should also be great for shoveling snow if we actually get any this year.  It's hard to tell with how crazy the climate is.

Granted, they are not expensive but they will meet my needs.  I'm getting to be more and more ok with having what will work as opposed to the best of the best.  Probably because I can rarely afford the best of the best.

Debt stinks and just isn't worth it to have the toys.

Old

I'm getting tired of being sore after workouts.  Not the, boy this feels good, sore but the, I need to take a week off, sore.  I hate it that getting older does this to you because it severely cramps my style in all that I want to do.  I'm not THAT old but I can definitely tell a difference in what my body can handle now as opposed to back in the day.

Fire

I've seen a lot of people getting these new fireplaces that aren't actually burning anything but appear to be and put off a reasonable amount of heat.  I had no idea how they worked but apparently they are infrared heaters.  Seems like a cool idea for a low cost way of adding some atmosphere and warmth to a room.

I'm old school and really want a wood stove or wood burning fireplace but will probably have to settle for a propane one in our basement when we get around to finishing the rest of it.  Even that will be a pretty cool thing to have in the house.

Bike Racks

I see people all the time with suv bike racks and such and I really want one for my car.  The nearest bike path is 12 miles from my house and I would love to be able to use it but that is just a long way to go.  I still haven't done more than 20 miles on any one ride so I think it would be pretty tough.

The issue is that my car has a spoiler so I'm not sure what type to get as I don't want to get one that won't fit my car properly.  I probably just need to search the web for bike racks for wrx's and see which ones others are using. 

Health Risks

My company is forcing me to meet with a health coach once a month over the phone next year in order to keep my costs down because apparently I have more than 3 risk factors.

I'm really curious to hear what those are since my situation has not changed much since last year and I didn't have to do this then.

I can't think of 4 risk factors that I have so I don't know what it's about but I guess I'll find out.

Still Waiting

Another thing that could happen in the wake of the Hurricane are nc property tax appeals.  It would seem like a logical time to lobby for some money back given all that has went on up and down the east coast.

From what I hear New Jersey is still a mess and will take considerable effort to clean up before it ever gets back to normal. 

Supposedly Obama was very frank about the climate issues yesterday when he said that much needs to be done but the American people aren't going to go for it as long as the economy stinks and there aren't enough jobs.  He's right, but if we wait for perfect conditions to get started we may be waiting forever.

Real Estate

You won't find any vacation home listings here for a while, as if you would normally come here for that, but I'm assuming that they are dealing with a lot of cleanup from Sandy at this point so it's probably not a good time to sell.

Despite that, I'm sure that there are those that will try and if you have the means it would be a good time to buy in given that the hurricane probably drove down prices temporarily.

I would plan to set up shop for 50 years though as Climate Change will probably have some pretty detrimental affects on the area.

Notre Dame

I'm still not buying into this team despite the great year that they've had.  They still just don't feel like an elite team to me.  They've had too many sloppy close games. 

Clearly they are getting better but I doubt that they will ever get back to being the dominate force that they once were. 

I just don't see it happening.

The AT

One of the things I really want to do is walk the Appalachian Trail.  The problem is that it takes a really long time and most employers and families aren't ok with not seeing you for 3-4 months.  I wish I had thought of this when I was young and single and done it then but the thought never crossed my mind.

As it is, it will have to wait until later if ever.  I would love to shop for the gear and plan the trip and see all the sights.  Gregory Backpacks, CamelBak water gear, and all the fixins.  It would be a lot of fun but it won't be happening for me anytime soon.

Custom

Custom things can be pretty cool.  My kids especially love having their names on things and having things that are made in their favorite colors.  One of the things that we didn't go too overboard on was beach towels.  There aren't a lot of places here for custom beach towels, since we aren't anywhere near a beach.

We still managed to get them ones that they liked in the colors that they wanted but we didn't get their names on them or anything. I imagine if we lived closer to the water that that would be something we would invest in, but as it is, we probably won't be getting them.

Thanks

I can't wait for next week.  I love Thanksgiving.  It's one of my favorite holidays.  Between the time with family and shopping it's just a lot of fun. 

It might also be that it's the start of the Christmas season which I also really love that makes it special.  Either way, I'm really looking forward to it.

My View

I have a pretty unique setup for my computer at work.  I have dual monitors and one is set up to be vertical and the other is horizontal.  The vertical one is great for coding since I can see more of the code at one time.  It also helps with web pages as they are typically designed to be viewed from the top down.

Because of this I had to come up with some interesting monitor stands.  For the horizontal one I use two standard stackable stands.  For the vertical one, I'm using an old book that just happens to be the right thickness to get the monitor to where I want it.  I'm not scared to go high tech.

Horse Pants

So if you were to go check out the clothes at a cowboy store, you would probably find some that have the part that sticks out near the knees.  Clearly this is the prototypical dress for, well, dressage.

How did that start?  Was it just a fashion statement or did it at some point serve a purpose?  I'm trying to think of what that purpose could be and not being a horse guy, I really have no idea.

So I'm relying on you to fill in the blanks for me.  What is the utilitarian purpose behind riding pants or is there one at all?

I like knowing how things work and why they are the way they are.  Knowledge is cool.

Christmas List

I need to take the time today and come up with some sort of Christmas list for myself.  To be honest I don't really even know where to begin.  There aren't a lot of things I'm dying to have.

I may just walk around Lowes and take some notes.  I like tools.  I can always use tools...

Security

I don't know a lot about security although I do have an interest in old fashioned cryptography techniques.  They are fun puzzles to try and work through.  The modern rfid chips and prime number based public and private keys are so beyond the ability of normal humans to calculate that they have taken the romance out of the skill.

It is pretty fascinating to me that it is all basically based on there being no fast way to factor prime numbers.  If some math genius ever figured out a fast way to do that it could turn encryption on it's head.  It would make it incredibly difficult to send things over a wire anywhere due to security concerns.

Old School

I wonder how long it will be before the handheld computer revolution makes it into hospitals.  It will probably seem antiquated at some point to see actual hospital computer carts once a lot of those pieces of equipment have been converted to iPad like sizes.

So you don't think they can shrink an ultrasound machine?  Tell that to the folks that used to build computers the size of houses that they didn't think would ever be needed by the average person.

It could happen, it will be cooler than we think it will be I'm sure.

Hits

With all the info coming about about how damaging concussions can be to your overall health as you age, it makes me hope that my son never wants to play football.  I personally regretted not playing when I was that age, despite being small for my age at the time (it wouldn't have gone well)

As it is I will encourage him to move in another direction and feel just fine about it.  Brain injuries are nothing to mess around with.

Pool Work

People always talk about how much work it is to have a pool.  Frankly, call me ignorant, but I can't see what all there would be to do.  Maybe add some chemicals now and then, pull out a few weeds, and change the filter on the pentair pool pump.

Is that it?  Is that what people are calling a lot of work?  Perhaps it's harder and more annoying than it sounds, I don't know.  Or, perhaps there are lots more things that need done that I just don't know about.

Either way, I don't really want a pool because I really don't like to swim all that much.  My wife and kids would love it though, I'm sure.

Innovation

I was reading yesterday about how there have been 5 major breakthroughs in recent years in medical equipment that have fundamentally changed medicine.  In that same time, there have been exactly one, in the energy market.

Clearly this is not how the market is supposed to work.  The utilities do not have to compete for customers and therefore have no motivation to innovate.  Germany is already well on it's way to generating 100% of it's energy through renewable means by 2050.  We need to get on the ball.

Funny

Doctor:  Any news on the patient that swallowed the quarters?
Nurse:  Sorry, no change.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program...

Colors

So I was wondering;  Why are scrub pants green?  What is the decision behind that choice of color?  Granted they now come in more colors but I think we all can agree that green is what we most often associate with that particular type of clothing.

I mean, not to get gross, but wouldn't red have been a better choice?  Perhaps it was a leftover from MASH units in the army.  I'm not really sure but as with most things like this, I'm sure there is an interesting answer.

It's funny how seemingly random decisions can shape how we view things in such subtle ways.  I mean, who decided that red meant stop, or that yellow meant "go faster"?  (just kidding)

Sand

When we were at the beach this summer I had to wonder about how the condo owners kept the place clean.  Frankly, we courted in loads of sand over the course of the week we were there and I can't imagine that that is an easy thing to clean up. 

So if you are planning to work in carpet cleaning raleigh NC or Myrtle Beach SC then you'd better brush up on your sand removal skills.  Good cleaning is definitely worth paying for especially if the condo is your advertisement.  You want it to look great so people will come back again and/or tell their friends.

OSU

So the Buckeyes are 10-0 and still ineligible for the post season.  Obviously it will be really cool if they finish undefeated, but moreso for recruiting as it will give them a huge fanfare going into next season.

I have to say that the schedule has played a big part in this.  They were very bad at the beginning of the season but were fortunate to play teams that were even worse.

They have improved a lot but still aren't up to the level of the teams in the top 3 or 4.  Hopefully next year will build on this season and we will make a solid run again.

Skyfall

So I went to see Skyfall over the weekend and I liked it but I didn't love it.  It seemed to drag on in spots and despite the character depth I found myself wanting to see a bit more action in between the scenes of snappy dialogue.

Q is even quite reserved now as he quips that "they don't do exploding pens anymore".  What a shame.  There's nothing like a set of spring loaded knives at just the right time to put the icing on the cake of a good Bond film. 

Don't get me wrong, I like the reboot very much, but don't forget where you came from guys.  A few one liners never hurt anybody.

The Pits

When I first started out, I knew about as much about how to handle my money as Mike Tyson.  Which is to say not much, and that it was "time" to do something about that.

So I set out to make as many mistakes as possible so as to gain "experience" and once the hole had been dug deeply enough, I began complaining about being in a hole.  To my shock, I found the offending shovel in my own hand and began to wonder about the worth of this so called experience.

Since then I have been systematically filling in the hole with whatever I could find so as to both climb out and bury my mistakes in the past.  I'm now a point that the hole is not completely gone but I am free to leave it at my leisure.

Dave Ramsey, would be proud.

JMS Transactions

I'm really starting to hate these.  I need them to protect our requests when tomcat is restarted but I can't get them to work in our current setup.

I may need to go through the pain of upgrading mule and spring for the whole project but we will see.  I'm hoping to avoid that.

Ugh...

Still Undecided

I'm still no closer to deciding who I should vote for in this election.  Having my name associated with either candidate via a vote is about as comfortable as an old metal church chair. 

Despite the best efforts of my friends, I can't be convinced to take abortion lightly, and I can't be sure that Romney will take the environment seriously as President given all the oil he has used to slide into this position.

So I will probably sit it out and see what happens.  At the very least it should be interesting.  I do think that we are at a pivotal point and that this election could shape our future for a long time.

Pics

We finally broke down and bought a really nice camera.  For us, a really nice camera means an entry level DSLR, so we aren't going to be opening up a philadelphia wedding photography any time soon but we are hoping to learn how to take better pictures.

Even with the default settings our new camera takes incredible pictures, but I have no doubt that we could learn some really cool tricks to make them even better.  I have been planning to read up on it but I haven't quite gotten it done yet.  Hopefully I will get that done at some point and feel like I am using the camera to its fullest potential.

Reds

I'm not really a Reds fan but if they make it to the post season I generally root for them to do well.  Only if they had to play the Indians in the World Series would I root against them.

This year they were up 2-0 against the Giants and have lost two in a row to even the series.  They haven't won a playoff series since 1995 and before last night it looked to be all but assured, but now they are in trouble.  They are going against the Giants best pitcher, and their best guy is hurt.

Here's hoping that they can pull it off somehow.

Political Flair

Have you or anyone you know ever changed who you were going to vote for because of a pin someone was wearing?  Most candidates have a wide selection of personalized pins that their supporters can proudly display.  So other than to identify you as being on "their team", what is the point?

I can't seen that any of those things by themselves change peoples minds, but perhaps it's the combined bombardment of seeing one person's name everywhere you look for a period of time.

I think that that is how advertising works as well.  You see something enough times that when you see it again at the store your brain tells you "I know this brand, so it must be good".

Bad Fan?

So am I a bad fan if I want the Browns to lose the rest of their games so that they can get a better draft pick?  Frankly, I see nothing that could be gained from them winning 4 or 5 games to finish out the season.

Unfortunately, I don't see any really high profile guys at the top that they could draft.  I wish that they had done this last year so that we would be starting Andrew Luck.  As it is, they won't draft another QB in the first round since they just did it last year.  I'm not convinced that Weeden is they guy so in my mind, we have to deal with him for another year or two before we can draft someone else. 

Given all that, I don't see a winning season on the horizon any time soon.

yippee

I know as much about coaching football as I do about where to buy cigars, which is to say, not very much.  That being said, I still enjoy watching and rooting for my teams.  Unfortunately, both of them are pretty lackluster this season.  The Buckeyes are undefeated for now, but have looked incredibly unimpressive, and the Browns are defeated and despite playing better, don't seem ready to compete on the NFL level yet.  Throw in a bowl ban for OSU and any hope I might have had for this season is gone.  Here's hoping (again) that both teams build on this bad year and field more competitive teams next season.

Pa

This has been a very crazy week for me.  On Monday morning I got a call that they were taking my Dad to the hospital via ambulance for a possible heart attack.  By the time we got there he was already sitting up in his room and talking to everyone.  It turns out he did have one, and thanks to the very fast actions of the people he works with and the hospital, he was able to avoid major damage.

The type of attack he was having was very serious, but was able to be stopped in time.  From what the doctor said, 25% of people with this sort of attack never make it to the hospital.

Thank  you Lord for protecting my Dad, and thanks to all the people who did all they could for him that day.

Baseball?

I noticed something interesting this past Sunday.  We had a "wear your favorite team shirt" day and almost all the people that participated, wore football shirts.  I did see a few baseball shirts but not nearly as many.

Now clearly we are in the midst of football season so that could explain it but it could also be that baseball is simply not as popular as it once was.  Personally, I only watch postseason baseball and then only if there is an interesting storyline or one of the teams from my home state are involved.

Drop Ceiling Win

When we partially finished our basement, I made the choice to go with drop ceilings as opposed to drywall, just in case there would be a water problem at some point, and to provide access if we should ever need it to the components hidden in the ceiling. 

This past week, my choice paid off, as my daughter flooded our bathroom and subsequently her bedroom in the basement right underneath.  Instead of having to redrywal and repaint an entire cieling, I simply replaced the 5 wet tiles.

Drop ceiling = win

Plus you don't have to get the ugly industrial looking ones anymore.  The ones we used are beveled and 2x2 feet so they look really good.

NFL time again

The NFL season is off to a roaring start, and the Browns are well on their way to their next 1st overall pick in the draft in 2013.  The defense looked really good but if you can't score some points now and then you aren't going to win.

If you have portable bars for sale, you might want to set up in Cleveland as this team is the type that could drive people to drink.  I'm not going there, but I am pretty disappointed in Weeden and Richardson's debuts.  Richardson could get better as he missed all of training camp, but even if Weeden gets better, he's already nearing NFL retirement age as a rookie.  Not seeing a lot of upside there.  Here's hoping I'm wrong.

NFL Season

We are closing in on the start of another NFL season and I have never been less excited.  My team is chocked full of unproven rookies, some of which are hurt.  Several veterans are suspended, and to top it all off the team got sold in the preseason. 

I'm no psychic but I don't think my Browns are going to amount to much this year.  Frankly I'm not sure how much I'm even going to bother watching, and I'm losing hope that things will ever get better.  This plan of rebooting the whole franchise every 3 years only to get nowhere is very tiresome.

Call me when they're good again. (not waiting by the phone)

Never Too Early

With Halloween just around the corner you may be starting to think about designing your costume.  Or if you are more like my wife and I you will be digging through your closet frantically at the last minute or  maybe looking for cheap scrubs online so you can be a nurse for the 10th year in a row.

I always say I'm going to do something cool but never get around to actually doing it.  Perhaps this year will be different and I'll come up with a really good idea that I can implement cheaply.  At this point though I'm not even sure what would interest me.

Little Known Olympic Events

Olympic Synchronized Flatulence

Dock, Dock, GOOSE!

When I think of dock ramps I think of funny videos in which some guy has backed his boat, trailer and truck all into the water.

Of course in that case I'm referring to boat docks but there are also shipping docks that handle semi truck deliveries.  There are also docks for your ipod and laptop.  Clearly none of these involve trucks or water but I imagine there are still some funny videos to be found about them.

It's funny what comes to mind when you hear certain words.  Why do some things pop up first and others take some time to dig out?  Is it experience only or is there more to it?  I've never backed a boat into the water, but then I've never had a laptop dock either.

Olympics

I really love watching the Olympics.  The sports are ones that you don't normally watch and the work that these athletes put in to get to this point is staggering.  I really enjoy seeing them perform.

As usual, though, it's a challenge to watch things without knowing the outcome ahead of time due to the tape delay, but by avoiding a few specific web sites it can be done.  Clearly big things will be talked about so they may be harder to avoid such as Gabby Douglas' win in the all around yesterday.  I doubt that there were too many people who watched it last night without already knowing the outcome unless they went to great lengths to make that happen.

Life Insurance

Getting life insurance is something that no one wants to do but everyone should do.  It's an unpleasant task to be sure but your family will thank you for it should it ever be needed.  There are plenty of places online to get a quote like brand equote and zander insurance

Take the time to do the right thing for your family and get this done.  It won't take that long and isn't very expensive and the peace of mind you will have for knowing that your family is taken care of is worth it.

Mike's Music

It seems pretty obvious to me that Michael Phelps is pushing head phones now.  In nearly every prerace shot he is wearing head phones.  No idea which ones they are headphones maybe?, but he is clearly pushing a product line because they are a different color every single day.

I understand how things work but I get tired of being sold.  It bothers me when it is this obvious for some reason.  It is what it is however and we all might as well get used to it because it's not going away.

BOSS Run

I have been training all year to best my time in the BOSS run from last year.  The time is nearly here to see if I can do it.  I have about 2.5 weeks left and I have been working hard on speed training.  My goal is to run a 6:30 per mile pace so I have been doing repeats at that speed, or as close as I can get.

So far I have done quarter and half mile repeats and next I will do miles.  If I achieve my goal I will beat my time from last year by more than 2 minutes but it won't be easy.  Thankfully, having my bike has provided a great low impact way to keep my endurance up while getting ready for the race.

My girls are going to run the 1 mile fun run that day too.  My youngest daughter (6) has already run a mile and my older daughter (8) has run a half mile.  Much better than the last time they did this.

Can't wait!

My New Bike!

Money Class

They have asked us all at work to start this online training series for personal finance.  As a Dave Ramsey graduate, I figured it would be easy to sleep walk through so I signed up to get the easy credit.  So far it seems to be mostly good info despite my trepidations.  These things usually give very bad advice, such as there being such a thing as good debt.  (there isn't)

It also talks a lot about investing of which I know little and none.  I have no if a fidelity bond is good for me but I may have to know someday so it's good to go over it.

All in all, probably worth the time.

Photos

We recently took a trip to South Carolina and had a very good time.  The only downside was that we didn't purchase our nice new camera until we got back from the trip.  Turns out it wouldn't have been wise to take it even if we had due to it's sensitivity to scratches from the sand. 

Regardless, we did not feel the need to look up photographers in raleigh nc because our old camera worked, if not fine, then at least adequately.  From now on, though, we have the ability to take some really cool pics.

Helmets

I recently bought a new road bike to use as a cross train for my running.  It's really nice and I'm enjoying getting into the sport.  I decided to not be a moron and buy a helment.  Unlike motorcycle helmets you can get bike helmets rather cheap.  I paid $16 for mine.  It wasn't the top of the line but it had two advantages.  It was more comfortable than all the others and it matched the colors of my bike.

Hopefully it will never be needed but I'm glad to have it anyway.  It will be great to get to do some riding this summer and fall.

Tiger

So Tiger Woods won the Memorial.  I'm convinced that he has lost his super powers and will be a good player from here on in but won't be transcendent in the way he was in the past ever again.

I also don't think that he will ever pass Jack Nicklaus' record.  That seems safe to me at this point.

I'm not generally a fan of individual sports figures but I was a fan of his.  I say "was" because I was really turned off by all that happened.  I'm not judging or throwing stones, but I just choose not to be the fan I once was.

Garage Reform

I really want to revamp our garage.  We have a lot of unused wall space that could be converted to storage.  Some shelving systems, a rack for yard tools and maybe some yakima bike racks would be really nice.

Those things would make it look so much better and help us to keep it clean while not losing it's functionality.

I'm very much a function over form person so I tend to be messier than some but that doesn't mean that I like messes.  I prefer an organizational solution that doesn't impact the usability of what I am doing.

Sun Issues

I'm more worried now then I have ever been about taking care of my skin in regards to sun burns.  Skin cancer is a very real and very preventable disease.

I have gotten very good about keeping on sunscreen whenever I go outside, and also putting it on my kids.  I shudder to think about all the times I burned over the years before I started taking this seriously.

The other thing I wondered about is sunless tanning products.  Do they make those that contain sunscreens or can you apply sunscreen over them?  I know that they have gotten a lot better than the orange days of old, so I may need to look into it.

Beach Time!

I'm really excited!  We are down to 2 days until we leave on our beach vacation.  We are going to drive Thursday night to my mother in laws, and then drive the rest of the way on Friday.

It will be a long trip on Friday but driving to Betty's on Thursday will save us 4 hours.

I really can't wait to see our kids faces when they see the ocean for the first time.  It should be a lot of fun!

Gold Cash

I remember a time when owning gold wasn't that big of a deal and although it was worth money, people weren't that crazy about it.  Own a gold box chain?  No big deal.

Now, people can make a lot of money off a few random pieces of jewelry that they find laying around the house.  If you can piece together an ounce of gold you can cash in for $1700 bucks!!!

Unfortunately for us we cashed all ours in a few years ago and didn't make all that much on it.  Frankly, we didn't have that much but I keep hoping we will come across some more.

Chia

One of the most iconic commercials of my youth was the chia pet toy.  I haven't seen an ad for chia seeds of any kind in a long time.  Clearly they still exist but they aren't as big as they once were.

I never had a chia pet as a kid but anyone my age would instantly know what you were talking about if you brought it up.  You might even get them to start singing ch..ch..ch...chia!

I wonder if things like this are going the way of the dodo now that the internet is so ubiquitous.  There aren't a lot of things can can compete with that.

Car Donation

I heard a commercial the other day on the radio about how you can donate your car to charity.  I had always wondered what they used these for.  Whether they were gifted to needy people or sold, I wasn't sure.

Then I discovered a local car auction and it also happened to be by the same folks on the commercial.  Question answered.  They are auctioned off and the proceeds used to help people.  I'm sure some are kept for other reasons but it seems that they are sold for the most part.

Myrtle

We are leaving for Myrtle Beach in 6 days.  I can't wait.  I still remember how excited I was as a kid when we went for the first time and how much fun it was.  Seeing the ocean for the first time was awe inspiring and I can't wait to see that in my kids faces.

I'm not really looking forward to the drive but I think if I go in with the right attitude and try to make it fun it will be ok.  That and the fact that we will split the driving duties every couple of hours.

SO pray for us that we will have a safe trip and a really good time!

Pro Bowl

So the NFL players want the pro bowl to continue.  I would think that they could all afford a trip to Hawaii without bothering to put on the most unwatchable major sporting event in the history of mankind.  It's boring, and no one cares.

I don't know what they need to do to make it interesting, but perhaps some title loans Nebraska folks could use to pay people to watch.  Beyond that I don't see how this could be made watchable.

So they will do it again, and no one will care.  My guess this will be the final year after it stinks yet again.

Free Balls

Free golf balls are really cool.  The one piece of advice I would give is that if you are going to give out free golf balls with logo then at least make them ProV1's.  That way people will snatch them up with abandon and actually use them and lose them, guaranteeing that your logo will get around.

No one ignores a ProV1 regardless of what's on it.  So it may cost more but you'll actually get your money's worth if you use that type of ball.  Feel free to ship me all the free ones that you want and I'll happily lose them on my local courses.

This is so something I would do...

Apathy

I'm totally unexcited for the upcoming presidential election.  Last time around I got really into it for some reason, despite not really caring for either candidate.  Same thing holds true this year, but my interest is much lower.

To be fair, I know about as much about politics as I do about maternity clothes, so I'm not sure what the difference is.  The only thing I can think of is that I really don't believe that anything is going to change for the better regardless of the outcome. 

Perhaps that's just me being pessimistic but I haven't seen a lot in the last 12 years that would have me believe otherwise.  I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Metal Money

I still can't quite believe how high gold prices are right now.  I wish I would stumble across some old jewelry or something like that that I have forgotten about that could be sold at the going rate.

I don't buy gold coins online but if I had a few years ago it would have been a really good investment.  The prices have shot up really fast over a relatively short period of time.

Admittedly gold isn't generally a very good investment as it moves slowly, and frankly I have to believe that all this inflated value will crash at some point.  Hard to tell as I'm not really an expert but it sure would be nice to have some to sell right now.

Budget Hammer

If you get the chance, check out the budget app I just created and launched.  You can check out my other blog for a tutorial.  Let me know what you think and if you have a problem or think of a feature that would be helpful.

Vacation time soon

We're only a few weeks away from our trip to Myrtle Beach!  We had been planning to take the kids to the beach for a long time and after checking out lots of places including renting homes, we finally settled on a condo rental in Myrtle.

I've been there three times but the most recent was over 10 years ago.  I think that the kids will really enjoy it and I can't wait to get to experience them seeing the ocean for the first time.  It's so much bigger than your imagination can prepare you for and I think our kids will be amazed.

Hopefully all will go well and we'll have a really good time.  I'm really looking forward to it!

The Big One

The biggest sporting event in the world is tomorrow, and if you live in the US you probably have no idea what I'm talking about.  I doubt even most sports fans know.

Tomorrow is the Champions League Final for the biggest soccer trophy this side of the world cup.  Bayern Munich and Chelsea will fight it out. 

Millions upon millions will watch and the US will barely notice. 

I wonder how long it will take for the worlds most popular sport to truly catch on here?  Why, in a country full of rabid sports fans do we not even remotely care about the worlds most popular sport?

It makes no sense to me at all.

Diablo 3

I'm very excited because Diablo 3 just came out today.  I loved Diablo 2 and played it more than any person should play any game so I can't wait to try this thing out.

I just hope one of our computers can run it.  I have an older desktop and newer low end laptop so I'm a little worried about that.

Music, no not me

I've never been much of a musician.  Beyond playing the trumpet through 8th grade I have nothing in my history that can be linked to music in any real way.  I don't even listen to it very much.

I bought a 1 gig ipod several years ago and couldn't scrounge up enough songs to fill it half way, and I only used it as a distraction during workouts.

For instance, if you said "I'm going to go look at some pickups", I'd assume you were shopping for a new truck.

So if you have any questions about music at all, please hesitate to ask.

Boy Stuff

I've realized lately that I have been neglecting doing enough boy stuff with my son. He is four and has two older sisters who are involved in a lot of things so I don't always do everything that I should with him. I decided to remedy this issue recently. I've started looking for ways to introduce him to more things that are guy friendly. We went to see b25 bombers at the local airport and then I rented Star Wars for us to watch. I also plan to introduce him to some super heroes that he might like (leaping steel buildings canada in a single bound!)

Running

I looked up my time from the BOSS run last year and found that my pace was a very pedestrian 7:52 per mile. Clearly I'm in a lot better shape now than I was at that point given that I ran nearly twice as far a couple of weeks ago, at an 8:07 pace, and felt like I was holding back a little.

Back in the old days I topped out at a 6:30 pace for 5ks and I'd like to get back to as close to that as I can. Maybe running a few races this year will give me some idea of what to expect before taking on the BOSS again this fall.

Back Sleeping

A lot of times when I watch survival shows, which I love by the way, they find ways to make hammocks to sleep in by making a hammock stand out of a tree or whatever they can find.

They always talk about how insanely comfortable they are. I can see the merits of being off the ground and away from critters but as a stomach and side sleeper I have no idea how I would ever fall asleep in one of those things. Sleeping on my back just doesn't work.

I've never tried a hammock but if I ever get the chance I'd like to see if back sleeping in one is easier than it is on a bed.

Selling baby stuff

I've read so many stories of people selling all their baby stuff and then having a whoops. That isn't the case with us, but we have started babysitting, and found that we need some of the stuff we sold or put away.

I had to get our old crib back out and set it up, and now my wife is looking for travel system strollers or more specifically a double stroller since she will soon have two little babies in her care on a daily basis.

Hopefully we can find one fairly cheap. It wasn't all that long ago that we got rid of our old one.

NFL Schedule

The schedules came out yesterday but as Brown's fan that doesn't mean very much. I'm not worried about match-ups or anything because we stink and won't make the playoffs, as usual.

One expert suggested that the Browns could be looking at 0-16. Personally I think that assessment is overly optimistic. 0-16 would mean the first pick in the draft next year and some could construe that as a form of success. Clearly success in any form is not possible so they will find a way to mess that up too.

The Big T

I've heard a lot lately about testosterone pills and how they can help guys to regain their youth by upping the levels of testosterone in their bodies. Clearly the big T is huge for males as it helps us in many ways beyond just muscle building but I have to wonder if just upping the levels is enough.

Somehow I think our bodies will know the difference. On the other hand, there are plenty of drugs that change levels of this or that to relieve depression, anxiety, and many other things and they have been shown to work well. So perhaps I'm completely off base. As it is, I won't try something like this without a doctors direction.

Great Opportunity

I had a great opportunity recently to do a guest post on the Blogging Away Debt blog. Take a look and read it if you have the chance.

My guest post

O-H!

Can't wait to watch the Buckeyes in the Final Four this weekend. It's been a few years since their loss to Florida in the National Championship game and I'm really hoping that they can pull it off this year.

It will be a tough test as they have to go through a Kansas team that has already beaten them once and a Kentucky team that looks unbeatable.

Stranger things have happened though and I can't wait to watch.

Traditions

In the book I'm reading, one of the ways the secret service agents designate themselves is by personalized lapel pins. Is this for real or just a fictional thing?

It is interesting how the different military branches and agencies have their traditions. They are very much like fraternities in that way. There are rivalries and competition to be the best.

I never had much interest in being a military guy but I often wondered if I had grown up in that type of environment what branch I might have favored. I still have no idea but it's an interesting thing to think about.

Mixing it up

I think I may have finally found the formula figured out. I've always focused my workouts on one thing at a time. Running, lifting or high tempo calisthenics. This always lead to burnout and/or injury, but I was trying to stay focused on one goal at a time.

So now I'm trying to do all three at once. I usually do three workouts a week so my plan is to hit each area one time. So far so good, and I'm feeling pretty good. Injury bug has stayed away and I get most of my workouts in because I rarely feel like doing none of the three. There is always one that appeals to me on any particular day.

I work out here at work generally but for you Virginia folks a richmond fitness center will work just fine. Get out there and get to work!

Student Loan Bubble

Check out this article on Debt Crushing Dad.

Coffee

I've never been a coffee guy. Anytime I've tried it, the taste has totally turned me off. The odd thing is that I think that gourmet coffees smell really good. I love the smell of a coffee shop.

Generally smell and taste go hand in hand but not in this case apparently. My mother in law is a huge coffee drinker and we often joke about it. We often look for deal on coffee for her. So far not cheap krups coffee makers but mostly the actual ground beans.

We even keep a coffee maker for her at our house that never comes out of the closet when she isn't there. Even my sister takes advantage of that when she is in town.

Cool Memory

One of my only memories of my Great Grandpa was when we visited him and he gave me and my sister a silver dollar. I don't remember much about the encounter but for some reason it sticks in my mind. I still have the dollar too.

So I guess if you are trying to impress some kids with a gift then buy morgan silver dollars and give them each one. Hey, it worked in my case, but then again who knows exactly why some memories stick and others don't.

Either way silver dollars are pretty cool. Not something you see everyday.

Just a thought.

Who to call?

I am in a great position as far as I'm concerned. I have yet to need the services of a lawyer in any direct way. I hope that trend continues. If I did ever need one, I would have no idea who to call.

I would probably search google and see what happened. If I lived in NC then using the search business lawyers raleigh nc. Or I could just put out an APB on Facebook and see what folks recommend.

These types of things always work best with a preexisting relationship. Similar to having a mechanic you can trust. Not always easy to find but worth holding on to when you do.

Good article about sinking funds

Sinking Funds

Lent

This year for some inexplicable reason I decided to give up one of my very favorite things. Pop.

Now, I mostly drink diet anyway so it won't be a huge deal for me calorie-wise but I am trying to make a meaningful sacrifice during this time. This should count as I typically crave the stuff like nobody's business.

My wife decided to give up sweets of all kinds. I think that that would be pretty hard to manage since it's tough to define everything that is a sweet. Neither of us smoke but take this for example. Are Swisher Sweets, sweets? Either way, no sweets for her until at least after Easter.

I will try to be nice and not eat too many sweets in front of her. :)

Durability

On of the things that always amazes is me is when you see patio furniture that looks like it could go in any living room and not look out of place. The cushions and fabric look and feel just like a normal couch.

My question is, if they can make couches durable enough to survive as patio furniture then why can't they make them durable enough to withstand my kids and dog?

Maybe the best solution for me would be to buy a patio set instead of couches the next time I go shopping for furniture. Then perhaps they would last more than a year without looking like they had sat outside forever.

My New Blog

I finally got my own domain and started a new blog. It's called Arctic Doom, mostly just because I think that that sounds cool, but I'll be blogging on a variety of topics including God, personal finance, and science.

Check it out if you get the chance. FYI I will still be posting here as well.

Camera Phone?

Our most recent camera had a cool feature that I hadn't thought of before but love now that I have it. It uses one of those canon camera batteries that you would normally expect to see on a cell phone.

It lasts way longer than AA's and recharging it is pretty painless. Now that cameras use so much power doing large megapixel pictures and video, this really helps.

Plus most cameras now have huge view screens that eat up power relentlessly and this makes it much easier to deal with that.

The only downside is if I'm out of town and forget the charger. I can't just pop in a couple AA's to get me by, but so far that hasn't happened.

New Laptop

The church is replacing my wife's work laptop! I'm pretty excited because the old one has become a Frankenstein monster of replaced parts and issues. I have replaced parts, had it fixed and cleaned all in the name of keeping it working as long as possible.

Thankfully our problems are nearly over as we are getting a new dell with which to work from now on.

I'm excited!!

We're her to pump...you up!

It amazes me that there is a business that specializes in just about everything. It amazes me because I always think that you need to have a diverse business or product line to survive. I see things all the time that prove me wrong though.

I just ran across goulds pumps at WeGotPumps.com. Sure they have many different types of pumps but pumps is what they do. Clearly they specialize and it works for them. Perhaps I'm just too careful to think like that. I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket. Thankfully there are the risk takers out there though or we would all have less options.

Excited for 3/1

I'm really looking forward to March 1st. No, it's not a holiday or anything like that, but it is going to be a happy day for me. That is the day that, assuming all works out with our refinance, that we should be able to say that the only debts we have left are our school loans. Goodbye car payment and credit card!

My car payment has been a source of shame and financial regret for many years now and although I can't get the money back, I can free it up on my bottom line. Lesson learned, and not to be repeated. It will be nice to say we have no car payments when there was a point in our lives in which we had to pay almost $800 a month between our two cars.

The Fed?

I read an article recently that said that the Fed had been audited and accused of spending billions to rescue offshore banks that were in financial crisis. Now, I'm not going to pretend that I fully understand the pros and cons of such a venture but I will say that it doesn't pass the smell test.

Why are we giving business funding to offshore banks when there are so many things that that money could be doing here at home? "Sorry, all you unemployed workers out there, we can't help you, we have to pay the bank of Egypt this week."

Mortgage Rates

We are currently trying to take advantage of the low interest rates. We refinanced our 30 year down to 4.875 about a year ago, but given the rates of the last few weeks decided to try to get a 15 year since the cost wouldn't be that much more than we are paying now.

The appraiser was here this morning so I'm hoping we'll get the number we need to get this done. It will cost us about $220 a month more than we are paying now but will save us 15 years and about a $100,000 in interest over the life of the loan.

I'm feeling really good about the financial decisions we have been making and our progress towards becoming debt free. We made some dumb mistakes but we are doing the right things to get us back where we need to be.