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.