Jagular

My final post on blogger

2007-02-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

I've had enough of blogger.

The downtime, the slow updates, the lost posts, the lost blog, and now the forced update.

Well blogger, all I can say is "I'm going to the store to get a loaf of bread."

Of course I'm not done blogging.

www.jagular.us

EDIT: But Blogger has a new bug. When I try to put in a link to my new blog, it prefaces the URL with this blog's URL. The HTML code is showing it correctly, but blogger messed it up again. How fitting. I will add a link to my new blog on the sidebar as well, or you can type it in your address bar manually.

Coming Soon...

2007-02-05T15:14:00.000-08:00

I just really don't like the new blogger very much.
I am trying to though. It's not my fault if it sucks.
Maybe I'm just being closed minded. But what's wrong with that? I mean, if you are right, why be open to change?
If you have set things up how you want them and then someone comes along and changes it, I don't see how that's a good thing.
Especially if they repeatedly ask you, you say no, and then they force the change.

I'm sure Google spent a lot of money working on it. I'm sure that they are proud of it. But what they don't seem to realize is that I am an asshole.

Coming soon...Jagular 2.0

Conversations at Work

2007-02-05T07:05:00.000-08:00

Female Coworker #1: Nag, Nag, Nag, Bitch, Moan, bitch, moan, gripe, gripe, gripe, sizzle, spark, spark, SPIT! (stomps off in a huff)

Female Coworker #2: Whell...

Female Coworker #3: What's her problem?

Jagular: Y'all be nice. She's going through a tough time in a woman's life.

Coworker #2: What time is that?

Jagular: Thirteen to Thirty-five.

Oops, Blogger Finally Caught Me

2007-02-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've been altering cookies, backdoor bookmarking, storing funny caches, and hiding from google in general so they wouldn't make me update from the old blogger. But they finally caught me. The gig is up.
Blogger ~~Beta~~ has finally forced me to update.

And what I feared about it is all true.

I hate it.

Lost and Found

2007-02-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

Lost: One blog. White with green borders, and has many words written on it. Last seen at this address.
If you have seen this blog anywhere floating around the web, please call or write to me. This blog is sick and needs it's medication.

The IPhone

2007-02-03T02:31:00.000-08:00

Good News, Good News, and More Good News

2007-02-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

Today is Good News day.

I have been waiting for my auto insurance to post to my account. It is set up for auto deduction or I would never pay it. It finally posted overnight and it was twenty five dollars less than normal. So I went to the website and my rate has been lowered because of how long I have been there. So that twenty five dollars is going into the snowball. happy dance

I am up to 63 wins and 0 losses on Windows Freecell. My new record for a 100% streak.

I recalculated my debt payoff schedule and I am 0.7 paydays ahead of the original schedule due to increased snowball size, larger than expected income tax check, and brownbagging it to cut spending. And that is including having had the extra expense of my mother-in-law's surprise party for her birthday (I was just as surprised as she was. I just knew it would break our budget, but it held together after all.)

I got an email from my muse this morning. She said that she will come to visit me soon. So hopefully I can get my creativity started back again. My book has been sitting there gathering dust for lack of creativity. So has the website I've been working on. My brain has been lying dormant since just before Christmas. I need to coordinate my brain's availability and my work schedule to coincide with the muse's visit so that maybe I can get some things done around here.

The groundhog saw no shadow today. So there should be an early spring. So that's definitely good news.

Alternative News

2007-02-01T22:42:00.000-08:00

Troy, Michigan: The Hooters restaurant wanted to move to a better location. They bought an old run down tavern and spent a million dollars to renovate it. But then the city council declined their request to transfer the liquor licence. They said that because they were trying to promote the Big Beaver commercial district as an upscale shopping area, they didn't want to have another Hooters in town.
So now the old location won't close until the new one is able to sell beer. And the new location draws enough customers even though there is no alcohol served. So the law of unintended consequences has struck again. Instead of getting rid of the Hooters Restaurant, they now have a second location.
Calls to city council members were not returned and Hooters executives declined comment due to pending litigation.

However, a friend of mine in the Thai Food Store had this to say:

Two Hooters is good. Any man find two Hooters is make very happy. Maybe they start Thai food store in Michigan. Then every man go there. Have a Thai food with big beaver and two hooters. Is make very happy man in Michigan.

Credit Card Ambivolence and Other Meaningless Drivel

2007-02-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

How many credit card offers do you get in the mail in any given month?
I get a lot. I usually get between three and five of them per day. I think that is a lot. Credit cards don't bother me a whole lot. I have never been much of an impulse shopper. Yes, I know my balance is high. It's the highest it's ever been. But I also have a high income, so it's not really that bad. The balance on my credit cards has never been much more than a tenth of my annual income. I don't think that's too high.
I know that there have been a lot of people who have gotten in some pretty serious credit card debt, so that is what worries me. It seems like one of those things that kind of creeps up on you.
I know I could opt out of prescreened offers for credit, but I never have. I actually enjoy getting credit card offers in the mail. I read the terms that they offer, too.
That's how I got such good cards. I have a different card for different needs. I have one that is zero percent interest on purchases. I have one that is zero percent interest on transfers. I really like one of the banks who gave me a credit card. Every month on your online statement they tell you your credit score and also what you can do to improve it. So I see my transunion score every month for free. It also keeps a chart so you can see which way it is headed. I was amazed at how wildly mine is bouncing around. There's about a fifty point range that it keeps jumping all over.
But my favorite CC is Amex. My Amex is a really good deal. Zero percent on everything, plus 1% cash back, and they gave me twenty five dollars and a high interest savings account to sign up. Plus I can carry a balance on it, even though it's one of the green ones, and then it's still at zero percent. That's the CC that I don't feel guilty about using, because I pay it off on payday and it's cheaper than cash, because of the cash back.
And since impulse buying isn't really my weakness, it doesn't bother me.

What bothers me the most about credit cards is that they are so eager to get your business. That means that they know that they will make their money back in the long run. For example, when you pay for something with a credit card, they charge the vendor a percentage and then they turn around and charge you interest. So they win twice. Even the Amex that I use charges the vendor, and I heard that Amex charges the most fee to the vendor out of all the CC's.

So I've been feeling a bit ambivolent lately about credit cards.
On the one hand, they make things really easy when it comes to managing my finances.
If I need to make a major purchase I can do so without having to have that much cash. So if my AC went out or I needed a new roof on my house I could handle it.
But on the other hand, I really hate being in debt. Even if all of my debt were interest free I would still hate it.

I haven't cut up all of my credit cards like most of the financial advice people tell you to do, mostly because I still intend to build a house, and I want my credit score to be as high as possible. I admit that I don't know as much about credit scores as I should. My Transunion score goes from about 710 to 760, depending on how much balance I am carrying on my debt. Right now it's 720.
My understanding is that that is a good score. I expect that as I pay everything off over the next few months it will go higher.

Does anyone know how high of a credit score I should have if I plan on buying some acreage and building a house? I plan on saving for a year of two first and putting a good chunk of money down on it. Is there a "magic number" that the banks want your credit score to be for you to get a preferable rate? I don't know what my other credit scores are, because I am waiting until after it's been a year since I checked them so that I can check them for free.

Bon Voyage, Karina

2007-01-31T20:00:00.000-08:00

Have a wonderful flight, Karina. Not only do you get two daytimes today, you also get two summers this year.
Dress warm, be safe, and don't abuse the Poms too badly.

Correction

2007-01-31T19:15:00.000-08:00

Lulugal: A PF-blog by Lulu (with technical support by Kevin).
I'm pretty fond of this blog because...well...they linked to me first.
Frequently updated about financial issues, well thought out content, excellent links throughout the blog. My favorite PF blog.
:P

Tax Status

2007-01-31T11:14:00.000-08:00

Your tax return was accepted by the IRS on 1/29/07
Your refund should arrive by 2/13/07

CC#3, your days are numbered...

Sidebar Update

2007-01-31T09:15:00.000-08:00

I added some new links on the sidebar to the blogs I read.

Ice Princess: Cami from Save Karyn is getting out of debt. And getting married. Good job, and congratulations.

Frannie Farmer: A very refreshing blog from Frannie the farmer. Complete with good old-fashioned common sense. An absolute must read.

Jones: The blackdog is back. But this time he's a bit more slow walkin'.

Lulugal: A PF-blog by Lulu and Kevin.
I'm pretty fond of this blog because...well...they linked to me first.
Frequently updated about financial issues, well thought out content, excellent links throughout the blog. My favorite PF blog.

Date Night

2007-01-31T07:41:00.000-08:00

Last night was date night.
Ah yes, the key to a happy marriage.
My brother came out to the house to ~~play the Nintendo WII~~ watch the kids, and Shelley and I went out on a good old-fashioned date.
She looked so pretty all dressed up. She even wore her pearls.

We hadn't figured out where we wanted to go. The point of going isn't so much the where as it is the going. We decided to go out to dinner.

"Do you want to go to Outback Steakhouse?" she asked.
She knows I like that place. That's why she suggested it. I'm not sure she cares too much for it. She was never really one for a good steak. But this is the game we play. Let's go to the place you like...no, let's go to your favorite this time...how about a different place that you like...and finally we will come up with a place.
So I just told her. Just pick any place that you would like to go and we can go there. (Oh, please don't let her say Chinese.)
So she said that what she has really been wanting lately has been.....are you ready for this one?

The International House of Pancakes. Otherwise known as IHOP.

So for our date night we went out for pancakes.
We were seated very quickly, which was surprising. I expected the pancake house to be overflowing at 7PM. They gave us each a menu, which was pretty neat.
And then came the task of figuring out what to order. That was pretty tough. I mean, there are so many different good breakfast items that how can you make up your mind. I ended up ordering an omellete and then Shelley proceeded to pull a mind-fuck on the waitress.

It's really a site to see, her mind-fucks. And trust me, she is a pro. The key is to keep changing things, from what I can tell. And substituting. And making the waitress explain how things are cooked.
Have you ever ordered your eggs deviled? How about ordering your eggs with raw toast, and when they ask how you want them cooked say that you would like them boiled, mashed, and mixed with mayo. (Egg salad sandwich)
In the end she (accidentally?) ordered two meals. To be fair, she ordered two small meals to make up one bigger one.

I swear, I love this woman more and more every single day.

And what I really love about her is not just her mind-fucks. She actually gets my jokes, and that's pretty cool. She even gets my references, which to me is just plain scary on so many levels.

I often will quote some obscure movie or text in the course of my conversations. Not to make a point, as in I am citing a reference here to backup my position but rather to include a quote in our conversation such that the other person never even realizes that I have just quoted someone.

Here is a recent example:
Shelley: Why did you put a picture of a castle on your blog?
Jag: I just thought it was cool that some guy built himself a castle.
Shelley: Why is that cool?
Jag: Can you build a castle?

And of course, this is a reference to the 1935 movie Curly Top, starring Shirley Temple.

Elizabeth (Shirley Temple): Oh, my duck does a wonderful trick. My duck can lay an egg.
Mrs. Higgins: And just what is so wonderful about that?
Elizabeth: Well, can you lay an egg?

Which, of course, Shelley picked up on immediately and commented right back at me.

In the end, the waitress forgot to turn our order in to the cook, and we were almost an hour just getting our food. We never fussed or complained. The manager came and apologized and then we eventually got our food and had a great time overall.
They discounted the meal by fifty percent, so we paid $13 and some change.
Not too bad, after all that.

An Inconvenienter Truth

2007-01-29T18:26:00.000-08:00

We've all heard the news. The earth is getting warmer. Man has released so much pollution that the greenhouse effect is trapping the heat from the sun to the point that the average temperature is rising. In a couple of hundred years the only habitable place on the planet may be antarctica. We all have to stop driving SUV's so our grandchildren will have a chance to live. Left unchecked, the polar ice caps will melt, raising the ocean levels to the point that they will flood most of North America.

I call bullshit.

Now where do I get off calling bullshit to such a well established fact as global warming? Well, quite frankly, because it is all more or less a bunch of bullshit.
I would like to just go through some of the more established facts about global warming.

Let's start with something basic. Let's start with the fact that global warming exists. I have looked at the numbers. The average temperatures across the world are, in fact, increasing. Or at least they used to be. Except that the average temperature hasn't actually increased since 1998. To the contrary they have decreased. I'm sorry, but it's true. However, the decrease is very small. I've been out of college for quite a while now, and I don't feel like brushing up on the degree of change that would constitute statistical significance, so I will just assume for argument's sake that the degree of decrease is insignificant, and ignore the decrease altogether. So then, the temperature is now at least holding steady. Why isn't this in the newspapers then? Good question.

How about this one: Global warming is caused by pollution. It's a very basic premise of the whole global warming issue. Again, bullshit. If you examine the amount of pollution that man is responsible for and compare it to the amount of pollution that natural events (volcanos, forest fires, cow farts, etc) cause, the results are obvious. It's absolute bullshit. This becomes even more evident when you take into account the fact that the warming trend predated the rise in carbon dioxide levels by a hundred years.

But the greenland glaciers are shrinking. That's my favorite. When Greenland was first discovered in the 900's AD, it was, in fact, green. It was even quite lush. Many of the glaciers in question didn't even form until the fifteenth century during what is commonly called the "Little Ice Age". We are actually on the heels of that same ice age. The earth has been warming ever since the fifteenth century. But it's not actually warming. It's just returning to normal after an ice age.

What about massive flooding throughout North America?
Yeah, whatever. That's nothing but pure propaganda in its worst form. Even Al Gore has admitted that he just put that crap in his movie for dramatic effect.

The actual truth is that the temperature of the earth is not constant. It fluctuates. Every twenty or thirty years some wise guy gets the idea that the earth is in trouble. Back in the seventies they were warning about the impending global cooling. We were all going to die in a new ice age. But before that, there was global warming. Back in the late thirties and early forties they were warning of global warming. That started in 1938. But before that, there was global cooling. In the late 1800's. In 1895 the New York Times was warning about global cooling and the impending ice age.

In the next hundred years more people will die from their ass is too fat than there will from global warming. Or global cooling. Or climate change in general.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

A perfect presentation

2007-01-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

Conversation at work:

Female coworker #1: Do you know what I like about Mr. Jackson?
Female coworker #2: His butt?
Female coworker #1: No, it's that he's really personable.
Female coworker #2: Oh. I thought you were going to say his butt.

Jag: That's what women like about me.
Coworker #2: What? Your butt?
Jag: Yeah. That and my waist.
Coworker #1: Now how on earth did you come to that conclusion?
Jag: I overheard them talking.
Coworker #1: And what exactly did they say?
Jag: Well, I heard these two ladies talking about me and they said they liked my butt and my waist.
Coworker #1: Did they now? What did they actually say?
Jag: Well, the first one said, "Will you look at that ass." And the other one said, "Yeah, I know. What a waist."

Ok, I know. It's an old one. But hey, it still worked. And I presented it perfectly.

Re: Marriage

2007-01-28T08:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you are right,
And sometimes you are happy.

Just a thought.

Happy Birthday, Kenny

2007-01-27T06:56:00.000-08:00

Today is my son's twelfth birthday.
Most of the time I have something clever to write, or a witty remark, or some meaningful thought. But today I do not.
How do I express the love I feel for my son?
How do I tell him how proud I am of him?
How can I explain how special it is to me watching him work his way toward manhood?
I just don't know enough words to be able to tell him how I feel.
So all I can say is happy birthday, Kenny. I love you very much. I'm very proud of you. I'm glad that you are my son.

But my friend at the Thai Food Store had this to say:
Oh, it Kenny birthday? Is good. He grow too much. He eat Thai food, make him strong. Now he very big.
Now he mow the grass.

Budget Update

2007-01-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

CC#1 is now paid in full. Goodbye. Don't call me, I'll call you.
CC#2 is unchanged. At 0% interest, this one will be the last to go.
CC#3 is my new priority. (Thank you everyone for your advice.)
New balance: $3270.00 Estimated time to payoff: One month if my income tax refund comes in time.
CC#4: I sent a request for a lower interest rate. I've got my fingers crossed.

Emergency Fund: I started a new E-fund.
Opening balance: $140.00
Goal: $1000.00

I marked off one more box from my chart. Two down, eleven to go. One month is over, five more remaining.
Total debt remaining: $11,419.46

So far so good.

You guys spoke and I listened

2007-01-26T06:11:00.000-08:00

I'm going to go after Credit Card #3 next. I think it would be silly to pay off the lowest one first, because it is zero interest until November, and it should be paid off by then even if I do it last. So I will work on the next lowest one.
The only problem with calling CC#4 to ask them to reduce the interest rate is that this interest rate is the one they gave me after they reduced it. It was higher before. So I don't think they will reduce it further. But it should be paid off in about three to four more months anyways. So why worry.
What's exciting about going after CC#3 is that after paying on it next month, it will be within striking distance for paying it off completely whenever I get my income tax refund. I'm expecting to get money back this year.
Wouldn't that be cool to pay it off in only one month?

I'll go pay all of my bills today and see how it looks after that. I still have to do the weekly grocery shopping, too.

Another day in the life of...

2007-01-26T05:55:00.000-08:00

I found out that yesterday was my birthday. Tomorrow is my son's birtday. He'll be twelve. I think he's excited about it, but he doesn't show it.
I'm trying not to spend a lot of money on birthdays and holidays this year. He was good with that. I took him up to the store and let him pick out what he wanted for his birthday. I thought he might like it better that way for a change. Then he will get what he wanted for his birthday. We'll see how it goes.
I didn't break my budget for the two birthdays. But I did operate on the fringes of it.
Life is good.

A strange Email

2007-01-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

I got an email this morning from my sister-in-law.
It was really short and sweet.
It said, "Happy birthday, Ken."

So I say "Well that's very sweet, but it's not my birthday."
But then....

Shit.

Why I cannot eat in the cafeteria at work

2007-01-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

The cafeteria at work is really nice. They spent over a million dollars making it.
The food is provided by a major caterer who does many of the expensive hotels in the area. The prices are reasonable. But I cannot eat there.
It seems that when they ring your food up, the prices are really easy to remember. An entree costs a certain amount, regardless of what it is. The vegetables are the same way. Each one costs the same. The same with the potatoes, rice, baked potatoe or any other starch that you want. And the bread is the same way. If you get cornbread, it costs the same as a roll, or toast.
So if you are a cashier, all you have to remember is four prices. What a good idea.
But I can't eat there.

"What entree would you like?"
"Ummm...the chicken"
"And would you like any vegetables?"
"Ummm...yes, please. The corn and the spinach."
"And would you like a starch?"

And there it is.
Please do not refer to my food as 'a starch'.
Because if you do, I will not eat it.

"And would you like a starch?"
"No, and you can keep the entree and the vegetables. I no longer have an appetite."

Soliciting Advise

2007-01-24T13:41:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is payday.
According to my budget, I will pay off Credit Card number one tomorrow and start in on Credit Card number two. But that's where the problem is. Do I pay off the highest interest one or the lowest balance?
I will have three cards remaining. The lowest balance has the lowest interest. The middle balance has the middle interest. And the highest balance has the highest interest.
Normally I would think that the highest interest should be first. But then I started thinking...
(Oh, the humanity)
I owe a few thousand on each card, but my income is pretty good. So each card would only take a couple of months. So if I were to pay off the lower interest rate, it would pay off slightly quicker and the snowball effect could outweigh the higher interest rate. Couldn't it?
I know Dave Ramsey says to pay off the lower balance first, regardless of interest rate. That way you get the psychological boost of paying things off, and it reinforces your behavior, making it more likely that you will continue on your budget.

So here's what it will look like tomorrow: (approximately)
CC1: paid off
CC2: 2700 balance, 0% interest
CC3: 3500 balance, 8% interest
CC4: 5200 balance, 12% interest
Car: a lot.
Student Loans: even more than that.

So which one do I hit next, and more importantly, why? Keep in mind that I am paying more than $1600 extra per month on my credit cards above the minimum payments, so the time frame isn't as long as you might expect, so I don't mind paying an extra month's worth of interest if there is a good reason to do so.

And the Answer Is...

2007-01-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

This is the hail scale.
So when the weather man says "golfball sized hail" now you know that there are criteria for categorizing the size of the hail stones.

So the next one would be a melon, or a cantelope, depending on where you are from.

Ok, here's another geek riddle

2007-01-22T19:26:00.000-08:00

What comes next in this finite series?

Pea, Mothball, Grape, Walnut, Pigeon egg, Golf Ball, Hen's Egg, Tennis ball, Soft Ball, Grapefruit, (what comes next?)

The problem with debt repayment plans

2007-01-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

I think I have figured out where a lot of people have problems with paying off credit cards. Here's the scenario:
You decide to pay off your credit cards.
You sit down and make a budget.
You send off all of your payments just like you planned.
You are all hyped up over it.
And then...
It's two friggin weeks until your next payday. What do you do in the meantime?
You always used to go shopping, or go to starbucks, or whatever.
But now?

And that's the problem.

Thank God that this is not MY problem. It's just my observation of other people.

In fact, I still deny having a problem with my debt. I'm just paying it off because I want to.

Now how would you respond to this???

2007-01-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

A frustrated young lady I know posted the following on her blog:

For Sale: One Used Husband
Current mood: pissed off

Here ya go ladies. A prime second hand pick up. One slightly used husband. He's a jumbo version, definately not for small apartments. You don't have to worry about exercising him. He's pretty low energy. He does occasionally go pee on the floor though, so watch your step. I've had no luck training him. He doesn't know any tricks, like taking out the trash or putting away dishes, but he is currently employed, which is something. If you can manage to wrangle him into the shower, he does clean up well. I will warn you though, he does shed a lot. He has a good personality, is very friendly and is good around kids.

Anyone interested should just email. You can even come by and see him to decide if he is your type. I'm not asking much for him. I do not accept returns under any circumstances.

Now how would you respond to this?
I say take him in to the vet and get him fixed.

Helium dot com

2007-01-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know anything about Helium.com?
My friend at the Thai Food Store was asking about it. He says he thinks he would be a good writer for Helium. But how does it work? Can you actually make any money with it?

Jag got burned at work

2007-01-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

Jagular: I think it's going to rain this morning. My bones have been popping every time I move, all night long.

Coworker: I think maybe you just have crappy bones.

Minor clarification

2007-01-21T07:12:00.000-08:00

Just a small point here, but with the thirteen little boxes that I am marking off, this is my best estimate at this time. There are a number of factors in my budget that I can neither control nor predict. So as the time gets closer I will adjust the number of boxes based upon how things go in the meantime. It may be faster, or it may be slower. I think plus or minus two boxes would be more accurate.

2007-01-19T09:17:00.000-08:00

Frannie Farmer said: You are brave - I can't even begin to think about writing down (or saying) my debt ...

And this made me think. Just a little bit, mind you, since I am somewhat averse to thinking. Mostly it made me think back and remember, which is more like daydreaming. Now daydreaming I can handle. It doesn't require too much effort, so I tend to do that more often than actual thinking. But anyhow, why would I want to write down all of the private details of my debt for all the world to see? And so that is the purpose of this post.

It's not so much that I am brave. I just don't really care. I look at is this way:
Anyone can look and see my debt on here. And is that a bad thing? My friends could look at it and then they would know how much debt I have. And then what? They could be helpful. That would be good. Or they could be derogatory. But then are they really my friends to start with? Would I really want someone like that as my friend? How about the people who regularly read my blog (if any). Would their reading about my level of debt affect what they think of me? Do I care if I lose readers over it? What if they talk about me?

To me, there is just not a lot of risk. The worst that can happen is that someone will look at how much debt I have and they could happen to be a person who works for a service that helps with debt relief and then they could send me an email offering me their services and I could hit the 'delete as spam' button. And while I admit that would be frustrating for all of three seconds, it isn't enough to make me refrain from posting about my debt. Because there is a lot of good that can happen.

The good that can come of it outweighs the bad. Someone could see that I am paying my debt off and offer me support. That would be good. They could offer me tips. Ok, that could be good or not, depending on if it is a good tip. I am a reasonably intelligent person, or at least I fancy myself one, so there is a good chance that I wouldn't need whichever tip someone offers, so if that were the case it still wouldn't be bad. It would be neutral.
Someone could look at my debt, and as they see me pay it off over a period of time, they could be inspired by it, and decide to pay off their debt. Or they could see that I am paying off my debt and also know that there is something that I want to buy and then stop me from buying it, that way they would keep me on track. And that one has already happened. (Thanks Leigh Ann.)

But for the most part, I am writing about my debt for my own selfish reasons. I learned a trick years ago that has made life easy for me. It works like this:
Whenever you have a problem with something, most of the problem is usually that you are keeping it a secret. Once you break the secret, the problem usually goes away on its own. I'll give you an example for illustration. Everyone who reads my blog should know by now that I am married. My wife is more or less the center of my life. I go out of my way to never put myself in a situation where I would be tempted to cheat on my wife. But I have a thing for blonds. I don't want to. I would like to only ever be attracted to my wife. And usually that is the case. But every now and then there will be a blond who will make my jaw drop. So how do you handle something like this? I told my wife about it. I explained it all to her and told her that I have no intention of ever being unfaithful to her. And you know what? Problem solved. And to boot, sometimes she will go blond for a while.
Now take it a step further. What if there was some really bad problem that someone had. What if someone was a freaky pervert? How did they get that way? Did they just wake up one day and decide that they wanted to be all screwed up? Or did they get there progressively? Did they start off with pornography and then start having strange fantasies? Did they then start picking up hookers and acting out those fantasies? And then did they then become a freaky pervert after all that? Well what would happen if to start with they had let people around them know that they had a problem with pornography? It seems to me that if you have a problem with porn and everyone around you knows about it, assuming you are hanging around with reasonably normal people, you would no longer have a problem with porn.

Anyhow, I think everyone got the idea now, so I won't run it into the ground. I'm not any sort of sociologist or anything. I'm just some guy who keeps a blog. So what do I know? But the world according to Jagular says that if you have a problem and you let everyone know about it, most of the problem is gone already.

So brave? I don't think so. Now everyone knows what kind of debt I have. But that helps me out in the long run. And if someone wants to read all about my debt and think badly of me, I would ask why in the world are they wasting their time reading some guy's boring blog for their own self-aggrandizement.

budget update

2007-01-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

Oh wow, what a headache.
Christmas is always rough on my budget, because nobody gets sick over Christmas. I miss a lot of work because there are no patients in the hospital.
So needless to say, my budget got shot. I hadn't had time to build my emergency fund up enough yet, and we blew right through it.
But we had a good Christmas though, and I don't have any regrets. But now it's time to get back on track.
After the Christmas holidays, the car repairs, the missed work, and the anniversary, it's time to pay the piper. My debt, not counting car and student loans, stands at just a hair under 13 thousand dollars.
That's not too terrible. I thought it would be higher.
So if I plan to put my income tax refund into the debt hole and divide the rest out, it comes out to 13 paychecks on my current budget, give or take.
Getting paid every two weeks and considering that there are three paydays in March (5th week) that would put it to the end of June.
After that, it would take just under ten more paydays to pay off the car and then another ten to pay off the student loans. But I will cross that bridge when I get there. I refuse to add the debts all up. It would be over 40k all together. But I can handle 13k.
If I only pay my regular payments on the student loans they will be paid off in a couple of years anyway, since I am paying almost 900 a month on them as it is.

So I made a chart on a piece of paper with thirteen little boxes on it and then below that I made ten more, and then ten more below that. Then I stuck it to the front of the refrigerator. I made all of my payments and then marked off the first box with a great big 'X'

Wish me luck. I'm off and running. Five and a half months, twelve little boxes, and $12,242 left to go.

Not much going on

2007-01-15T07:18:00.000-08:00

I worked all weekend.
It is very cold outside.
Sadam's brother got hung and his head popped off.
I am very tired this morning.
It is MLK's birthday.
I am going to bed.

Japanese

2007-01-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

The Japanese have the best anime. They are the best pen spinners. They vie for the best gizmos in the world. Their robots look real. Would you like to be Japanese?
I wouldn't. I think being Japanese would really suck. If for no other reason, their game shows really suck.
Below is a clip from a Japanese game show. It takes place in a library, so one of the rules is that you have to remain quiet.
I would not suggest drinking or even holding a beverage while you watch this. It could harm your keyboard.

Rubiks Cube

2007-01-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

When I lost a couple of finger tips I needed something that required a lot of manipulation so that I could work on my manual dexterity. I pulled out my Rubik's cube. Now this isn't just any Rubik's cube. It's special. It's from the early 80's. It's from Hungary, I think. I'll have to look it up. Anyhow, it has adjustable tension and the thing just won't explode no matter how fast you go on it.
Once upon a time I could do the thing in under thirty seconds. But that was a long time ago.

So I pulled the thing out to work on my dexterity as part of my occupational therapy, and instead developed a way to solve it with my other hand. Here is a video of me solving the rubiks cube in under 30 seconds, 95% of the way with my right hand. If you look closely, you can see the index and middle finger tip on my left hand are messed up.

Tagged by Leigh Ann

2007-01-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Leigh Ann. I am to disclose six weird things about myself. Just for the record, I am complying under protest due to the fact that I do not believe that this meme is fair. I do not have as many wierd attributes as some people.

1)My accent changes when I talk to different people, according to the accent of the person I am talking to. It's not unusual for a person from another country to ask me which part of his country I am from. I don't do it on purpose. This tendency has it's roots in that I have always had to dumb down my conversations for the sake of the other person. Changing accents is only the natural progression.

2)I interpret almost everything to mean the opposite of what was intended. It's a mind game I play. Not a mind game where I am playing mind games with you. A mind game where I am bored and I play games in my own mind for my own entertainment.
It's a little bit hard to understand, so I will give a real life example to make it more clear. You say: Studies have shown that twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work in any given task. I interpret: Whenever a job is to be done, there is a certain amount of work that constitutes the task. Twenty percent of the people in the world add four times as much work to the original job. For example, when I was involved with the speed solving the Rubik's Cube group, there was a discrepency in the definition of what constitutes a world record. Guinness had their rules for beating the official world record, and we had different rules, based on real life, instead of just on what seems right. Someone suggested that we form the official Rubik's cube association, so that we would be the ones in charge of making up the rules according to how they should be so that a world record would actually mean something. That sounds easy enough, I could do it all in an afternoon. But then came the "twenty percent who do eighty percent of the work". They decided that we needed a charter, bylaws, elections, board members, office holders, membership rosters, mission statements, vision statements, and even an office with a secretary, thereby needing membership dues, as well as official publications, etc, etc.
OK, screw that, it's a Rubiks Cube, not an olympic committee. Stop adding work. Anyhow, I interpret things the opposite of everyone else.

3)I am the only one who can prevent forest fires.

4)I enjoy music more than just about anything else in the world. In theory only. In actuality, there isn't much music that I actually like. But it's not the music's fault.

5)I give away a lot of money. Long term average is about two thousand dollars a month. But not just blindly though. I find people who are really needy and help them out. I'm not sure if this is a blessing or a curse, but I know it's weird.

6)I almost never forget anything that I have learned. I don't know if this is weird so much as uncanny. In fact, I don't forget much of anything at all.

Ok, I'm informed that it is time to eat. No more time for elaboration.

(I refuse to tag anyone this time. Call it a meme rebellion.)

Word of the Day

2007-01-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

SCHMORANGE: (V)
1)To solve an old problem in a new way.
2)To create a solution to a problem by means of introducing a new method, especially when it is obvious that the method can only be used because it was not specifically disallowed in the original problem.

The dude built him a castle

2007-01-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid we lived in a tiny little town called Sealy, Texas. Home of Eric Dickerson and the Sealy Mattress Company (which is no longer in Sealy. Instead they now have the Acme Brick Company, which by no small coincidence is located in my old house)
It was strange living in a small town. The population was in the five thousands. Not only did everyone know everyone else, but practically everyone was related, which is kind of gross.
Everyone knew everyone else's business. Everyone knew everyone else's phone number.
And it was really small. A mile or maybe a little more could get you to the other end of town. We never drove anywhere. We walked to school. We walked to the store.
Like I said, it was really strange.

If you've ever lived in a small town, you know that there is never anything to do. You have to make your own entertainment. And that's what makes for some really good stories later in life. That's how you develop unusual skills. You learn to do things like ride your bicycle up on top of the railroad track. Not on the bumpy part. On the skinny part. And then you go across the bridge. As you are doing it, you know that in the morning it's going to be the talk of the town. Either some kid rode his bicycle over the railroad bridge, up on top of the track, or some kid fell off the bridge. You can really come up with some amazing stories from living in a small town. You might walk the twelve miles over to Bellville (the rival town) and fertilize a cussword in the middle of the football field so that it will grow more than the rest of the field (and then walk the twelve miles back), or you might ask the newspaper editor to put something unusual in the paper so that you can make some money placing a bet on it the next morning.

I'm sure there is a point in here somewhere. Oh yes, I remember it now.

Some guy built himself a castle. By hand.

So next time you are in Bellville, Texas, stop in the donut shop and ask Newman about his castle. I bet he would even take you out to go see it.

What do you get your wife for your anniversary?

2006-12-31T09:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my anniversary.
The classic problem arose. What do you get for her?
Flowers?
No good. I get her flowers all the time. That wouldn't be very good. Flowers are only special for people who don't get them every week.
How about candies?
No good if you are on a diet.
Ok, the old standby. Diamonds.
That sounds good. Diamond whats?
Earrings? Got those for Valentines.
Bracelet? Birthday.
Necklace? Christmas.
Ring? No good. She won't wear rings.
Ok, let's get her something practical.
Clothing? Not if I want to live. We apparantly don't have the same taste in fashion.
Kitchen appliances? I know better. Death sentence.
Ok, so what would you get her?
.
Well, it seems that I am a geek. So I got her a geek gift.
I got her a 512mb video card for our anniversary. It's really nice. Very sexy and sleek. And some new speakers. They are really cool. They have a digital readout on the front of the speaker that displays the name of the song you have on. It also displays the time and date and the resources you have used in your computer.

Here's the quote:
Shelley: OMG it's amazing. You can zoom all the way up on her nose. It's like you are right there.
Jagular: So is that a good anniversary present?
Shelley: You're such a geek.
Jagular: So are you.
Shelley: I know. We're just an old married couple now.

Now I have upgraded her computer to the point that windows no longer recognizes it as the original system. So I had to call Microsoft and revalidate her windows installation. That's always fun.

Alternative News

2006-12-30T07:11:00.000-08:00

Breaking News:

Our sources in the middle east have just confirmed that Prime Minister Nouri Kamel al-Maliki of Iraq has just announced that today will mark a new national holiday in Iraq to be called "National String 'Em Up Day".

In other news, AACS has reportedly already been cracked, the last remaining software encryption on movies. So welcome Blu-ray to the ranks of CSS and IPOD.

Christmas is over

2006-12-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

Who got a Wii?
I got a Wii.
Link lives.

I also am now a multimon computer user.
I have dual 19 inch flatpanels up and running.
(and a leather computer chair. Now I can surf in style)

Oh, and the kids got some stuff, too.

Christmas

2006-12-24T21:28:00.000-08:00

Get off of the stupid computer and go spend some time with your family. It's Christmas, for crying out loud.

The ghost of Christmas Presents

2006-12-21T05:22:00.000-08:00

Somehow I am not feeling very Christmaslike. I stayed up all night wrapping presents.
I think that's probably the reason why.
I hate wrapping presents. I'm good at it though. I just don't like doing it.
Well, you know, to be honest, I like wrapping some presents. And when there is an unusual one I enjoy it. I have wrapped a beach ball, a bicycle, a skateboard, and may other challenging items. Those aren't the ones that bother me. It's the plain ol' regular boxes that bother me. Not that I can't do them well, mind you.
There are just so friggin many of them. It took me seven hours to wrap them all.
That just sucks. I didn't count them, but I bought a package of seventy-five name tags to stick on them and I still have a few left over.
Actually, five.
But that doesn't count where I wrapped more than one of the same type of item in the same present, the clothes, or the other presents that Santa will bring, assuming any of us are on the "nice" list this year.
The shopping was even worse. We went to so many stores that the bank flagged my debit card as suspicious activity.

Yes, I know all about the overcommercialization of Christmas. But I saved up for it, so screw it. Maybe next year I will hire a college student to wrap them all for me so that I can be more Christmaslike.

But as for this year, Bah humbug.

And the answer is....

2006-12-18T07:28:00.000-08:00

So as promised, here is the answer to the geek riddle from yesterday:

The answer is, GH
No, really. That's the answer.

In the beginning it sounds like 'guh' as in "ghost"
In the middle it is silent as in "bought"
And in the end it goes 'ffffff ' as in "tough"

I'm tellin ya, geek riddle.

A geek riddle

2006-12-17T06:52:00.000-08:00

In the beginning it sounds like 'guh'
In the middle it is silent
And in the end it goes 'ffffff '

What is it?

(Answer to be posted tomorrow if nobody gets it right)

blog update

2006-12-17T02:30:00.000-08:00

enabled word verification.

The bots have found me.
It's not that I would not like to import prescription medications, get a larger penis, or find the perfect mate. I'm just tired of having to clean out all of the comments, that's all.

Quote of the day

2006-12-16T06:41:00.000-08:00

I was driving down the freeway with my daughter in the car and we were passed by a pickup truck. It was a great big crew cab truck. There was a guy alone in the front, driving, and in the back were three Mexicans. They were huddled over against the cold. One of them had pulled his hood of his sweatshirt up over his head, and all three were somewhat shivering. My daughter saw them and watched as they passed us.

"Hmmmm..." she said. "I ain't never seen that before."

I was quiet. I was trying to decide if she was old enough to understand if I were to explain to her about day laborors and about how people don't always trust them enough to let them in the cab. At the same time, I was impressed that she would notice that there was room in the front, but three of them sat in the bed, in the cold.

"Daddy, did you see that?" she asked. "There was a guy driving a truck over there, and he was hauling two workers and a grim reaper."

Falling Down

2006-12-14T00:16:00.000-08:00

This has got to be the best compilation of falling down that I have ever seen.

Blogger hates me

2006-12-13T21:38:00.000-08:00

Actually blogger is fine with me. It's blogger beta that hates me. It won't allow me to comment on any blogs running blogger beta. It doesn't seem to recognize my password or something. I'll have to look into it and see what is going on.
At least whenever I get some free time.

Please disregard my previous post. I changed my mind.

2006-12-12T09:31:00.000-08:00

I'm just kidding.
I stayed up into the night and worked on my outline. I was really amazed at how quickly it all came out. You know how everyone always has an idea for a book that they stew on for years. Well everyone I hang out with does, anyhow. It would appear that mine has been stewing long enough that it is pretty much done cooking.
I typed out the outline as if I were recalling a story instead of creating one. It was really spooky. Word Count gives me 1889 words in the outline. I think that's not too shabby. Of course the outline is not anywhere near complete. I need to go back over it a couple of times and fill in the gaps. But I got most of the main points included, or at least accounted for. Mostly it's plot highlights or interesting/funny things that I want to include in each chapter, written in bullet points. On my second go around I will make it more "outliney" in that I will include each actual thing that is supposed to happen in the whole book. At least that is my intent.
When it comes time to actually sit down and start writing the book I will have to steal that spiffy little sidebar wordcounter that Heather uses on her blog. That's a really nifty looking little tool.
I still haven't decided on if I will type the book or write it longhand. In the past I have only been able to write longhand. But that was a long time ago. I'm a better typer now, and Word has improved greatly.
I still haven't come up with the characters' names or the Title of the book. But what's the hurry.
Is there such a thing as a psychological comedy?

So I've decided to write a book

2006-12-11T16:59:00.000-08:00

I got to talking to Heather about a month ago, back when NaNo was kicking off. She is very encouraging and told me that I should go ahead and write my book.
Oh yes, that book. The book that shows up in my dreams and eventualities. The ever elusive book that I have always been going to write whenever I finally get struck by the muse and have all the free time in the world. When the kids are grown and the wife is off on world tour. The book I want to write when I finally conquer the English language to a degree that the words come flying off of my fingertips as fast as I can type. When the entire outline of the book suddenly appears in its completed form in my newly photographic memory. When a world famous publisher comes knocking on my door saying that they have heard of my amazing writing ability and sought me out to beg me to please write for them.
Yes. That book.
And I considered it. I thought about it for days. Temptation works that way. Jag, you know you want to write it. You've always wanted to. Now is the time.
But then I declined. The kids are NOT grown. The wife is NOT on world tour. I have a life. I have responibilities. I still have my sanity. I cannot commit to a book right now. I just don't have time.
And that was it. Right?
Well, the short answer is, no.
That would have been it if my answer was "No, and I'll never think about it again." but alas (I've always wanted to use the word alas in context.)
It has been haunting me. It creeps in from the sides when I am not expecting it. It is a dream. A wish. A hope.
And then I realized something. NaNoWriMo asks you to write fifty thousand words in a month. That's intense. But I don't have to do it for NaNo. Why a month? Why not a year? Why not two years? What if I were to write fifty or a hundred words per day?
And that was the end of my resistance. It took a month, but I relented nonetheless.

So here I sit in front of the computer, looking at the blank page.
Yes, the dreaded blank page.
The night was hot...
I realized suddenly that my dream is not to write a book. My dream is to have written a book. Writing a book is hard work.
Writing a book that someone else would like to read is even harder.
And writing a book that somebody will pay money for is even harder than that, or so I am told.

Thank you, Heather. Thank you for giving me that extra little push. Thank you for saying, "Yes, you can." Thank you for all of the time you have given me so far explaining the difference between ideas and plots. Between a rough outline and a finished outline. Between telling and showing. Between writing and being a writer.
Thank you.

Christmas Carols

2006-12-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

It all started one day as I was walking through the supermarket. They were playing music overhead and I suddenly realized that they were playing Christmas carols. Except that the one they were playing was some guy singing a carol and changing the words to what he obviously thought was a more modern day approach to it. I always hate that. Why can't they just leave things alone? It really made me mad.

But then I realized...

If they can do it, why can't I? I mean, if it upsets me, who rarely ever gets upset, what would it do to a mere mortal? So I decided to test it out.

I waited until just the right moment. My wife and I were sitting, watching TV and the show had just ended. I began to sing:

In the meadow we can build a snowman.
And pretend that he is Parson Brown.
He'll say are you married
We'll say no way...

The reaction was instantaeous. It was heartfelt. It was painful.
I decided to try my luck again later in the night.

Oh the weather outside is frightful
But your kiss is... also frightful.

I tell you, Hell hath no wrath.
So how would the kids react?

Jack Frost roasting on an open fire.

Kids have even faster reactions than adults do sometimes. "Daddy, if you aren't going to sing it right, don't sing it at all."

So I tried one more time.

Outside the snow is falling
and friends are calling wassuuuuuuup

Ok, well now I give up. I'm out of ideas.

I was talking to 7 last night

2006-12-08T01:31:00.000-08:00

I was up late during the night, IM'ing with my friend 7.
No, seriously. That's his name. His mother named him 7. Not Seven. 7.
I'll just be frank about it. The guy has issues. I think it has to be the trauma of going through life with a number for a name. Think of the possibilities.
When you are signing for a fedex you could just --zip-- put your name on it without pausing. But growing up must have been hard for the guy. I've known him since he was a year old, and I can assure you that it can make some interesting things happen in your life.
I remember one time in particular. He was seven years old and his mother was taking him down to the local swimming pool to get "pool tags" to let him in all summer. All she had to do was to fill out a short questionaire and pay her ten bucks.
Lifeguard: Ok, and what is his name?
Mother: 7
Lifeguard: No, his name.
Mother: 7
Lifeguard: His NAME is 7???
Mother: Yes.
Lifeguard: What does it say on his birth certificate?
Mother: 7
Lifeguard: So under NAME I will put 7?
Mother: Yes.
Lifeguard: OK, lady. And ummmm...how old is he?
Mother: 7
Lifeguard: Lady, get the hell out of here.

And if you think Norm has some name recognition? No way. He's got nothing on 7. He has the most memorable name in history. And poor Mrs. 7. I won't even get into the issues that she must have. "Aren't you 7's wife?"

Some things are spooky

2006-12-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

You know what's spooky? It's when you look on your hit counter and see people coming to your blog from an email link. That's when you know that someone wrote an email about you, someone else read it, and then came and looked at your blog.

MySpace

2006-12-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

No, not Myspace.com
My own space. My personal space.

That's the problem these days. There is none. Personal space, that is. I'll be at work and someone will say to me, "Hey, Ken. I'm going over to IHOP after work. Wanna come along?"
And there it is. No. I do not want to go to IHOP with you.
It's not that I have anything against IHOP. Or eating. I have nothing against you, either. But I won't go to IHOP with you. And I won't eat lunch with you, either.
Why not? It's simple. You are not my mother and you're not my wife. You see, there's a line there. I'm also not going to let you cry on my shoulder or establish an open door urination policy with me. I will not ask you for your opinion on my haircut. I will not invite you to Christmas dinner. For that matter, I will not give you a Christmas gift either. Do not ask me what I brought for lunch, because I won't tell you. Don't ask me to smell your perfume. I don't want to see pictures of your children. I am not your husband.
Do not show me your suntan. I will not be at the annual Christmas party at work.

I work with you and sometimes I spend more time with you than I do with my wife. So there is a boundary that I have set up that I will not cross.
What makes a man cheat on his wife? I've heard people say that every man will cheat if given the right circumstances. I do not know if that is true. But what is that man doing in those circumstances?
I can safely say that I will not cheat on my wife. The reason I can say that is because I will not develop an intimacy with another woman.
There are certain parts of my life that are private. Mealtime. Hopes and dreams. My writing. Certain music that I listen to. Bathroom time. Children. Body parts.
It's not that I don't like you. I'm certain that you are a wonderful person.
But you just are not my wife.

There are exceptions. Waitresses can talk about my food. I can discuss my body parts with my doctor. I may use my children as an example when I am explaining something.

But for me to talk about any of these things with anyone else is rare. There is a woman at work with whom I talk about some of the music that we both like. There is an intimacy about it. Mostly due to the fact that the music is so unknown to most people that we were both excited to actually find someone else who has even heard of it. She's about twenty years older than me, and there are a couple of times that I caught her making comments such as "I wish you were older." or "I'm thinking about leaving my husband." and then I have had to steer her back. There is an intimacy in music.

Today I agreed to be a critique partner with someone to critique each other's writing, and that someone happens to be a female. Normally I would just say no without even considering it. But I happen to know that this person is a good Christian, is happily married, and lives very far away. So I can work with her. But there is an intimacy in writing. At least in my writing there is. I'm not talking about blogging. Writing comes from deep down inside of me. Writing is born in the parts of my brain that are on the inside of all of the guards and filters that I have set up. But this person is a good writer, and I value her opinion when it comes time for her to critique my work. There is a very good benefit in getting a fresh perspective on your work. But I won't be inviting her to Christmas dinner. And I won't go to IHOP with her either.

Again, I have nothing against IHOP. I go there all the time with my wife.

Underneath the Mistletoe

2006-12-06T00:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, so today I went and did all of the shopping for Christmas decorations. Ornaments, lights, manger, nutcrackers. Check, check, check, check.
Mistletoe. Well, funny thing happened today.
I went and got all of the hardware from walmart, but I didn't want to get mistletoe there, because all they had were these cheap little plastic mistletoes that looked more like toy salad. But since we had decided to get a real tree, and a flocked one at that, I figured I could just pick up a real, live mistletoe at the garden center down the street where they sell the flocked trees. That's what I figured anyway.
So I went into the garden store, found a nice tree, and then looked around for some mistletoe. I couldn't find any. I found the guy who worked there and asked him. And it just went downhill from there. You see, if I asked for mistletoe and he just said "no" everything would be fine. Or if he said "yes" it would be just great.
But that would have taken English. But this guy was apparantly new to this country. That's ok though. He was just doing the jobs that nobody here wants to do.

Salesman: Can I hep jew?
Jag: Yes, do you have any mistletoe?
Salesman: Yeah, man, we got da real toe ones. Like twelve feet and stuff.
Jag: No. Mistletoe. Do you have any mistletoe?
Salesman: Sure, man. Jest how toe you wan it?
Jag: No. Not tall. Mistletoe. You hang it on the ceiling and kiss people.
Salesman: Ok, da toe ones are over der and all da short ones are up here.
(In walks the manager. Also new to this country.)
Manager: Wussup?
Salesman: He wansa know how toe da tchrees are.
Manager: Yeah, we got da real toe tchrees outside over here. Some is like twelve feet toe.
Salesman: Das wat I toe him but he done b'leeve me.
Jag: No. Mistletoe. Hang. Kiss.
Manager: Cmon, man, I chow you da real toe tchrees.
Jag: (Whimper)
Salesman: How toe you want da tchree?
Jag: I just want this tree over here and I'll be going. I still have to stop at walmart and get some toy salad.

Oh Christmas Tree

2006-12-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

While decorating the tree today

2006-12-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

Ambre: Daddy, this candy cane broke when I tried to hang it on the tree. Can I just eat it?
Me: Sure, go ahead.
Kenny: We can share it.
Ambre: Go break your own!!

Crap

2006-12-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

I just accidentally reported my entire inbox as spam.
I don't know if that calls for a temper tantrum or a nervous breakdown.
I don't know if yahoo will now block all of my contacts who have written me in the last week.
I don't know anything at all anymore. It was all deleted as spam.
See, I told you I hate Mondays.

It's all downhill from here.

2006-12-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

Holiday Traditions

2006-12-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

I don't really remember how it started. I'm sure it had something to do with my twisted sense of humor though. But we have an unusual family tradition whenever gift giving time comes around. Every year when it comes close to Christmas, or to birthdays, or any other gift giving occasion, people start asking "what are you going to get me?" I know that I sure asked that a lot when I was a kid. I always thought that "Wait and find out" was a really lame answer. Now I'm not a psychologist, but it seems to me that all "wait and find out" does is encourages people to ask again later. Surely there are other good answers than "wait and find out".

But what can you do? Do you tell them everything that you are getting them and spoil the surprise? Do you just say, "I'm not telling."?
Not at my house you don't.

"Daddy, what am I getting for Christmas?"
"A spatula."

And on Christmas morning, the kids open their presents, and what is present number one? A spatula. Not a cheap throw-away spatula, mind you. A very nice ultra deluxe spatula that even Rachael Ray would be proud to own.

It doesn't have to be a spatula though. It could be a vegetable strainer. Or a potato peeler. How about a peppermill? Wooden spoons? An ice tray? Yes, I've given them all. The possibilities are endless.
So what are the children getting for Christmas this year?
I don't know.
But Kenny is getting a fly swatter.

BLAH

2006-12-04T16:21:00.000-08:00

I hate Mondays.

A Joke for Geeks

2006-12-04T00:24:00.000-08:00

A man was walking through the desert and found a Genie bottle. He picked it up and rubbed it and in a *poof* there appeared a magical Genie.

Genie: Ok, you have one wish remaining.

The Man: Wait a minute! I thought I was supposed to get three wishes! What's the big idea?

Genie: Well, you did get three wishes. You used the first wish and things didn't work out exactly how you imagined. Then you had to use the second wish to undo the first one. So I just brought you back in time to the moment that you first rubbed the lamp. That way it undid the first wish and all of the effects of it. So now you have one wish remaining.

The Man: I wish that women would find me irresistible!

Genie: AGAIN???

Link of the day.

2006-12-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when I go surfing the internet I can go through hundreds of websites per day and find nothing memorable. But other times I come across a website that is so extraordinary, so profound, so awesome that it makes my whole day worthwhile.
Today was one of those days.
www.flashninjaclan.com/games

Tagged by the Runner

2006-11-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

I got tagged by the Runner over at RunningThroughLifeWithOneHeelBroken
for a game of ABC's:

A - Available/Single? Happily married to the greatest woman on the planet.
B - Best Friend? See above.
C- Cake or Pie? Pie. My favorite pie is chiken pot pie.
D - Drink Of Choice? Dr. Pepper. The breakfast of champions.
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? Gonna have to go with 'toilet' on this one.
F - Favorite Color? Whichever color I'm looking at at the moment. I could never choose just one.
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? I'm not falling for this trick question. Worms are nasty and wiggly, and Gummy Bears are fun and taste good. So Gummy Bears by a mile.
H - Hometown? H-Town. Houston, Texas.
I - Indulgence? The Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich from Jack in the Box.
J - January Or February? January. February is for losers.
K - Kids & Their Names? Kenny and Ambre. My Double Trouble children.
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? See "A" above.
M - Marriage Date? December 30.
N- Number Of Siblings? 6
O - Oranges Or Apples? Clementine Oranges. They fall out of the peel and taste like Florida sweet Orange Juice.
P - Phobias/Fears? I can't think of anything off hand. I guess I'll have to say that hand that will reach up from the toilet when you sit down on it.
Q - Favorite Quote? "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
R - Reason to Smile? See "A" above.
S - Season? Deer.
T - Tag Three or Four People? I will tag Seven and Random girl. Won't that be fun. And one for Yennie.
U - Unknown Fact About Me? I am my own worst critic. And yours.
V - Vegetable you don’t like? Michael Moore.
W - Worst Habit? Smoking.
X - X-rays You’ve Had? Teeth, Abdomen (for appenicitis), chest (to make sure I don't have TB), fingers. The really interesting ones, however, are the X-rays that I should have had, but didn't.
Y - Your Favorite Food? Orange Juice. Yes, I know, it's a drink, but damn.
Z - Zodiac Sign? Not sure. I never really got into the whole zodiac thing. You know, with the zodiac killer still on the loose.

Throwing together lunch

2006-11-29T12:33:00.000-08:00

"Ken, go make some lunch for your children." means a lot different than "What do you want for lunch?"
"What do you want for lunch" is a question. It is simply a request for information. Quite like, "How does chicken sound?"
But my wife doesn't usually ask "How does chicken sound?" because I will probably tell her "Cluck, cluck, cluck." So instead, the usual is, "what do you want for lunch"
Now sometimes she doesn't want to make lunch. That's fair enough. I'm not opposed to making lunch. That sounds like this: "Would you mind making lunch today?"
But today is different. Today is "Go make some lunch for your children."
That carries implications.
Sometimes it means PMS. Other times it means that the kids are bouncing off the walls, driving my wife crazy, and she is going to go take a nap.
This time I got lucky. This time it meant, "You haven't gone grocery shopping and there's absolutely nothing to eat, so you make lunch and it is hereby no longer my problem."

Now I need to explain that my wife has never been poor. There are many different levels of "nothing to eat". When I was a kid, sometimes we would eat oatmeal three times a day, because that was all we had to eat. "Nothing to eat" back then meant that we were out of oatmeal and there was truly nothing. But for my wife, "nothing to eat" may simply mean that we are out of bread. I have found that in my family, there is always something to eat. It's just a matter of how you put it all together.
So today was one of those times when I had to make one of my famous "recipes".
Some folks call them concoctions. Others prefer "throw together".
Mine is a recipe.

If you want to make a good recipe, the easiest way to do it is to start with a shallow pan. A wok will do.

For this recipe, I got some water and a couple of eggs. I mixed them together with a fork and added some salt. Salt is an excellent source of iodine. I put it in everything.

Next I added some flour. Enough to make a paste out of it, and then add a little more water to make a batter out of it.

So this is eggs, flour and water. Mixed with a fork to take out all of the clumps of flour. It's about the same consistancy as pancake batter.

Let that mixture sit for a while, so that the flour will soak up all the liquids and it will all be even textured.
Next I cut up some garlic and onions. It wouldn't be a recipe without garlic and onions.

Then I raided the pantry to find some canned vegetables. Here is a mixed vegetable and ohh, what a treasure...water chestnuts.

I poured a little oil into the fryer and then some batter. You have to be quick on the batter, or it wont be even. Make it all nice and thin. In retrospect, I would have made them a little bit larger and as thin as I could. I would have added more water to make them just thin enough to hold together.

Cook them quickly. About one minute. Just enough to make the bottoms golden brown and the edges starting to curl up a little.
If it was a pancake, this is when you would flip it. But in this case I left the top raw and took it out and worked on the next one.

And of course, in goes the last of the left over turkey. Chopped up, seasoned with soy sauce and stir fry sauce.

I added the garlic and onions to smell up the house a little bit and let them sit.
I then cut up the water chestnuts (the picture didn't turn out)
and added it to the mix along with the mixed vegetables. You could substitute chopped celery for water chestnuts if you want to.

After I did all of this, I took some flour in a bowl

And added water enough to make a dough ball. I pulled off pieces of the dough ball and smeared it all along the edges so that I could paste them into a roll. It was very messy work and I didn't take any pictures because my hands were messy and I didn't want to touch my nice clean camera. Each half became a roll of stuff, just like a burrito. In retrospect, I would have either made them all smaller and not cut them in half, or made them bigger so that they would roll better. If they were even bigger and much thinner i could have put the stuff on sideways and it would have rolled right up.
Then I took each one and dropped it in the fry daddy brand deep fryer for three our four minutes until it seemed like it was in long enough.
And viola!

Deep Fried Stir Fry Roll Ups

Difficulty:6
Time it took: 1 hour
Palatability: Scarfed down and asking for more.

I've been thinking about money a lot lately

2006-11-29T09:47:00.000-08:00

I don't like thinking about money. I don't even like money all that much.
But the whole brouhaha with Leigh Ann's debt being paid off has made me think about my own situation. I'm not too bad off, and not too good either. I owe a lot of money, but I have a large income as well.
The problem is that the holiday season is when my work slows down. Nobody goes in for elective surgery during the holidays. I miss a lot of work every year about this time.
So I won't be able to really get down to business until after the new year. But after that I should be able to pay off all of my CC debt in about five months. After that, the car would be paid off in another four or five months. So as a percentage of my income, my debt is not too bad. Dollar amount wise though, it looks bad on paper. So I have purposely avoided putting it all down on paper right now. I prefer using monthly payments and months to pay off.

I am reminded that I promised that we will not skimp on Christmas this year, even if we cut the budget down. And so I did. It looks like there will be some credit card shopping this year then. That's OK with me, though, as it will all be paid of quickly enough after the new year.
I found another four hundred or so dollars per month to cut in the budget. That adds up quick.
Overall, we are doing OK. It's slow going. But it's a lifestyle change. What's the hurry.

The best Christmas present.

2006-11-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

Do you remember what you got for Christmas last year? I don't. But it was probably a sweater. Or some cologne. It might have been a shaver.
I'm not really big on getting Christmas presents. I guess that's why they say I am hard to shop for. It's not so much that I'm a Bah Humbug. I just don't really get into "stuff" so much.
Every year we go through the same thing. And every year I tell everyone the same thing. And every year everyone says how hard I am to shop for.
Here's a typical conversation:
Them: What do you want for Christmas?
Me: Just take the money that you were going to spend on me and use it to help someone out. Then write down what you did, put it in a Christmas card, and put it under the tree. Then I'll open it on Christmas morning when everyone else opens their gifts.
Them: No, really. What do you want?
Me: That's what I want.
Them: You're hard to shop for. Why don't you make a list or something to make it easier for people to get what you want.
Me: That's what I want.
Them: Do you need a sweater? Some cologne? A shaver?
Me: No.
Them: Well what do you want?
Me: That's what I want.
Them: How about a gift card? Where do you usually shop?
Me: I don't usually shop.
Them: Where do you buy your clothes?
Me: I don't usually buy clothes.
Them: Where was the last place you bought clothes?
Me: I've never bought clothes.
Them: Where did you get the clothes you are wearing?
Me: When I tell people that I still wear the same clothes from highschool, I'm talking about the same, actual clothes.
Them: So those blue jeans are twenty years old?
Me: Yes.
Them: So I'll buy you some clothes then.
Me: I have clothes.
Them: Then what do you want?
Me: That's what I want.

And every year I get a sweater. Or some cologne. Or a shaver.
But one year my mother did exactly what I said. She took the money that she was going to spend on me and went across the tracks and found a really poor family. She bought them a Christmas dinner. The whole works. All the way down to the bread rolls. Enough to feed an army. They had their whole family over and had a turkey dinner the likes of which they had never had before. They wrote a handwritten thank you note and gave it to my mother. It was really quite touching. It brought tears to my eyes, and I'm cold and cynical. So if anyone wants to get me anything, now you know what I want. That was the best Christmas present that anyone ever gave me.
And if you are feeling particularly brave this year, you might try telling your family and friends that that is what you want. But you might get a sweater. Or some cologne. Quite possibly a shaver.

My Wife Is Mad At Me

2006-11-24T19:17:00.000-08:00

This Morning
When I woke up this morning, my wife was lying next to me and I could tell by her face that she was upset.
"What the matter?" I asked.
"I had a bad dream."
"Well tell me about it."
-I never could figure out why telling someone about your bad dream always seems to help take away the fear that you are feeling. But it does.
"I had a dream that Wilson died," she told me. Yes, I have a neighbor named Wilson. Just like on Tool Time. "Actually," she said, "him and his wife had died. I went over to their house and there were racial words written all over their walls and I found their bodies lying there." (Wilson is a black man.)
"Well," I told her, "it was just a bad dream. Everything is OK."

This Afternoon
"Hey, honey," I said. "Why are there all those ambulances over at Wilson's house?"
"What?!"
"Yeah, there's about six of them."
"OMG!! I was afraid this would happen! I'm going over there!!"
"Not really." I told her. "I'm just messing with you."
"&%#$@*&$%"

Been working on the computer again

2006-11-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting problem today. I recently built my wife a new computer, and she opted to just start over on all of her programs and files. At the same time my own computer had crashed, and I had to put in a new harddrive. The old HD still works, but windows was buggered on it. So we were both pretty much starting over on our files at the same time.
The problem is that all of our music has always been on the computers. Whenever we buy a CD, we just copy it over onto the computers and then put the actual CD in cold storage. Virtually none of our CDs have been accessed more than twice. Once for each of our computers.
So it's been a month since any music has come out of either of our speakers. That's a long time. So this evening I decided to hook my old HD up slave to my new one.
But apparantly, both of the HDs are very strong willed. Neither of them wanted to work whenever it was in the slave setting. I tried using the old Master/Slave setup on the jumpers, and I tried Cable Select. Each time I tried, only the Master would show up.
I've never had that happen before, and I assume it is a compatability issue of some sort.
My next effort was to place each HD as master with a slave CD or DVD. The problem there was that my case is too big for the length of the ribbon cable. It's impossible to reach either of the CD ROMs with the cable if it routes to the HD first.
So in the end, my motherboard helped me out. I have an extended IDE on my motherboard, so that I have four IDE slots on the motherboard instead of two. (So I can actually have eight HDs/CDs instead of the normal four.)
Man, I love my computer.
So after I hooked up the new HD (F:) on my computer, I burned my wife a DVD of her music. It came out to 4.6 GB, burned as a data file. That's a lot. We used to buy music by the lot off of ebay. We would usually get about 100 cd's at a time from someone who was cleaning out their old collections. So that took a while to copy all of them for her.
After that I wanted to update my Real Player so that I could simply access all of my music from the player without having to search through various HD's each time I wanted to listen to music. So I let Real Player search through both of my HDs and pull out all of the MP3's. It found over 3200 of them, which, of course, is why I put off doing this for so long. Now it's going to take me another month to sort through and categorize all of them and get it so that I can easily find whichever one I am looking for.
What ever happened to the good old days where you would just put in a tape.

The Day After Thanksgiving

2006-11-24T07:17:00.000-08:00

Today is the day after Thanksgiving. The biggest shopping day of the year for women. Men, on the other hand, prefer Christmas Eve, usually between the hours of 8:00 and 10:00 PM.
It's nine in the morning. The malls are full. The streets are in gridlock. There are sales, lights, tempers, bargains, and everywhere you look, people. It's a preview of what Man-Hell would look like. Women, on the other hand, are in their element. They have spent the last two months researching what will be on sale where, and then making a map of all of the stores that they will go to, what time they will get there, how much everything will cost, and how to fit it all in the car.
On most days, women prefer shopping in a pack. They take all of their friends with them and ooh and ahh over every little detail. Not today. Today is a day for loners. Loners with a map. Loners on a mission.
I went shopping one year on the day after Thanksgiving. My wife put me up to it. I'm not sure what I did to make her mad at me, but I know I must have done something bad, because she got me on that one. It took me forty five minutes to park the car. I didn't know that you are supposed to park in a central location and walk to each different store. Men don't think of such things. I went looking around for different items that I wanted to get for people on my list. It wasn't pretty.
It would seem that business has figured out how the system works. On the day after Thanksgiving they don't have "my dad bought this for me" items. But the stores are full of "look what my mom got me" things. I believe the "may I help you" people all have the day off. Here are some good quotes from my experience of shopping on the day after Thanksgiving:

"No, we don't have anything that shoots."
"GI Joe? Try sporting goods."
"You want a WHAT?"
"Come on, mister, I got work to do."
"You could try getting that online."
"Sorry, we are sold out of those"
"You should probably try shopping with your wife next time."
"Why are you crying, mister?"

So if you are a man, I would just advise you to stay home today. It's just not worth it. Go eat some left over turkey and take a nap. If you do happen to find yourself in a situation where you must go shopping today, here are some pointers:

-Get in and out as fast as you can. Don't look left or right. Try to keep moving.
-If someone tells you, "I saw that same item on sale at the other end of the mall" don't listen to them. It's a trap. This is one of the evil people of the world. They probably want your place in line.
-Don't make eye contact with anyone.
-If someone says "may I help you", just ignore them. They cannot help you. They are a sadistic man-hater who is out to torment you. Just keep walking.
-When you find yourself walking in circles and talking to yourself, just go home. You're done. Don't worry if your wife will be upset that you didn't get everything. She already knows that you won't. She is just looking for payback for something that you did earlier in the week.
-If you are single, take your girlfriend with you, and then wait in the car. She will take care of everything. Tell her that you want to buy her present later, so that she will be surprised. Then go shopping on Christmas Eve, when all of the right items are in stock.

Oh What A Day

2006-11-23T19:23:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy day today.
Santa was on the last float in the Macy's parade, so everyone knows now that ChristX season is here. Santa is in town. He's taking names. No more whining or sneaking around. Eat all of your vegetables. Help with the dishes. The fat man is watching you.
"Daddy, are we going to go out tonight and look at Christmas lights?"

We went to my mother's house for Thanksgiving. Everyone got stuffed. Nobody had to go to the hospital.

Here's a good picture. There are little spikes that go into each end of the ear of corn, so that you can hold them while you eat it. There's a puppy head on one end, and a tail on the other. It's a corn dog.

While I was at my mother's house, she had me install a 200GB HD in her computer. I've been promising to do that for a couple of weeks now, and she finally caught me.

CONVERSATIONS WHILE DRIVING:
Son (on the cell phone with my brother): OK, I gotta go. Talk to you later...Oh, ok, she's right here...
(hands the phone to my daughter)
Daughter: Hello? Hello? Hello? There's nobody there.
Son: Man, that trick never gets old.

Wife: We had turkey for Thanksgiving. Are we going to have ham for Christmas?
Me: I don't know. That's a long time from now.
Wife: Do you see? That's the difference between men and women. Women are always thinking.
Me: Thinking or talking?
(Silence)
Me: Oh. NOW you are thinking.
Wife: You just wait.

Me (looking intently out the car window): Wow.
Everyone else: What?
Me: I just saw a matababy.
(Long pause)
Wife: What's a matababy?
Me: Nothin. What's a matta wichu?
(Long pause)
Wife: Damn.

I hope everyone had a wonderful day today. I'm going to go take a nap, compliments of Tryptophan.

The first Thanksgiving

2006-11-22T21:47:00.000-08:00

If someone asks you about the first Thanksgiving, what comes to mind? Probably a bunch of people dressed as quakers. Men wearing stockings and tall hats, carrying long muskets and women with black bonnets. And of course, Indians coming out of the forest, teaching the Pilgrims how to grow corn, and carrying wild turkeys. Every school aged child learns this story. And they all have one thing in common. They learn it wrong.

Thanksgiving, as an American holiday, has nothing to do with Pilgrims. It has nothing to do with Indians, or turkeys, or even family. Thanksgiving is a holiday set up to give thanks to God for the blessings of our nation. But they can't teach that in the public schools. The American public school system has chosen to set itself up as an atheist institution. It ignores many basic American historical documents simply based upon their religious nature, going so far as to rewrite history. Take for example, George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation:

George Washington:
Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and

Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness":

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the Beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our national government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York,

the 3d day of October, AD 1789

George Washington
------------------------------------------------------

This was the first national Thanksgiving day. However, Thanksgiving was not established as an annual American holiday until October 3, 1863, and was instituted by President Abraham Lincoln. Here is his proclamation:

Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation:

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful Providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln

----------------------------------------
The annual date was fixed at the fourth teusday in November, but was later changed by FDR to the third thursday, which provoked outrage from the population. It seems that people back then had something against the commercialization of Christmas. So the date was moved once again to the fourth Thursday in November, where it is still.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is upon us once again. And that means food, family, and the start of the traditional ChristX shopping season.
I don't particularly like the holidays. It's not that I dislike them, per se. I just don't like them more than the rest of the year.
I enjoy every day. Or at least I try to. I just think that people emphasize the wrong things during the holiday season. What good are decorations, shopping, and parties if all they do is stress you out? It's supposed to be a celebration. It turns into work.
This Thanksgiving my wife and I decided to go see my mother. Our intention is to go there after the Macy's parade is over and stay for dinner.
As such, we won't be spending too much money on Thanksgiving. I figure we will save about $136 by doing it this way.

An annual event for me on Thanksgiving is to download and read a copy of George Washington's Thanksgiving Day address and Lincoln's as well. It's educational.

I try to remain thankful throughout the year. Thanksgiving day is no real exception.
I have so much to be thankful for all the time that it amazes me that anyone is ever upset at all. How can you be upset if you are feeling thankful?

People have misplaced priorities, IMHO. I see it all the time at work. They work all their life, save their money, get ready for retirement, and then get sick, only to realize that they have lived their entire life in search of money, and never really lived at all. There's a saying that goes, "you use up your health looking for wealth, and then you use up your wealth trying to get your health back."

So I'll probably never retire. I'll probably never have a yacht. I'll probably live in a small house in a mediocre neighborhood for the rest of my life. But I'll probably never regret it, either. I'll probably enjoy my family and my life until the day that I die. Because I live my life. Every day is an adventure. I try to do something special every day. And when I'm old and wrinkled up, when I look back on my life I probably won't have any regrets. I'll probably just be thankful.
Which leads me back to the beginning again. Happy Thanksgiving.

White boy dunks

2006-11-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

Mega Millions

2006-11-21T18:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, I had to go to the store after all, so I picked up a ticket.
Mega Millions. Tonight's drawing: 16 million.
Odds of winning: 1 : 175,711,536
Odds of being struck by lightning: 1 : 600,000

I think I would prefer winning.

The question came up as to what I would do if I won the lottery.
I thought about it for a while and here is what I came up with:

I would pay off all of my debt.
I would buy about 100 acres of land on the outskirts of town and build a house.
I would quit my job.
I would set up an interest bearing account and live off the interest, never having to touch the principle.
That would give me enough money to live off for the rest of my life and still be able to help out a lot of people. I would probably set up some sort of organization where I would match people's donations to certain causes. Something to get more people involved.
I probably wouldn't change my standard of living too much. I rather enjoy my life as it is.

Useful links

2006-11-21T17:17:00.000-08:00

Blog Updates

2006-11-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

Updated:

My Photograph
Blogs I Read
Blogs I Would Read If They Existed
Instant Messenger added

A day in the life of...

2006-11-20T20:48:00.000-08:00

"Daddy, I don't want to sleep in my bed tonight."
Oh yes, bedtime. The greatest time of the day. It's the time of day when parents are looking foreward to sitting back with a good book, or watching TV, or spending quiet time with their wife. It's the time of day when children are looking foreward to a good beating. But Dad, you dont understand, we can't go to bed until we have had a beating. -Bill Cosby
"Why don't you want to sleep in your bed?"
"Because I don't like to sleep in my room."
I work nights, three days a week. Sometimes when I am at work, my wife will let one of the children sleep in the bed with her. Sometimes they will all get together and set up a campground in the middle of the floor.
"Well you need to sleep in your room. That's why it's your room. Because that's where you sleep."
"But I don't like to."
So I decided that instead of just pulling rank on her, I would help her realize that sleeping in her own bed was what she wanted to do after all.
"Where do you want to sleep? On that lumpy old couch?"
"No way, Daddy, I'm not sleeping on the couch. There might be aliens."
"Aliens?"
"Yes, aliens. I don't want aliens to get me while I'm sleeping."
"Well then where do you want to sleep?"
"With Mommy."
Ok, now we were getting somewhere. I could see that it would now be easy to show her that it just wasn't possible and she would have no choice but to sleep in her room.
"You're awfully big. I don't think there would be room for all three of us in that one bed."
"No, Daddy, you sleep on the couch and I'll sleep with Mommy."
"What about aliens?"
"Daaadddddyyyyyy. Don't worry. There's no such thing as aliens."
"Well then why don't I sleep in my bed and you sleep on the couch?"
"I already told you, Daddy, aliens."

I'm such a pushover. I don't know how I lost it. But how in the world can you argue with this kind of logic?

Blogger ate my Photograph

2006-11-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

I just found out that the only photo of myself that I have was the one that was accidentally taken one day while I was at work. I guess it'll do for now. It's not a very good likeness though.

What makes you happy?

2006-11-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

Do you know what makes you happy? Most people say that they do. But most people are wrong. I see it almost every day. Someone will get bad news and the first thing that they do is to rush out and engage in a self-destructing behavior. Some people seek solice in a pint of ice cream. Others in a pint of beer. Some people rush to Target. Still others go out and pick a fight with someone.
But then they end up getting fat. Or drunk. Or broke. Or arrested.
People are confused.
Ice cream can make you feel content. It calms you down. But it doesn't make you happy. Especially if you are already struggling with your weight. If that's the case, it will tend you make you even less happy than you are in the long run.
The same goes for drinking.
And shopping. Shopping can be exciting. It gives you a sense of importance. Of control. YOU get to make the decisions. YOU get to choose what to buy. YOU get to decide what is good or not so good. It is empowering. It is exciting.
But excitement is not the same thing as happiness. Don't confuse them.

What about money? Does that make you happy?
I would agree that not having money can lend to unhappiness, but I don't see how more money will make you more happy. I have known a lot of very unhappy rich people.
I have also known a lot of very happy people who were dead broke.

I am a happy person. I was happy when I was poor. I was happy when I was rich. I am still happy now, and I am kind of middle. I am happy because I know what makes me happy.

I make me happy. I am happy because I choose to be happy. It's not the same thing as denial. I see the problems in my life, decide to be happy, and then attack the problems.
I enjoy the good times. I enjoy the bad times, too.
One time I cut off two of my fingers. As I was lying on the stretcher, about to go in for emergency surgery to stop the bleeding (and amputate the crushed parts, as it turned out) I was still happy. I even cracked some jokes along the way. When the doctor explained what he was going to do to my fingers and asked if I had any questions, I managed to ask him if I would be able to play piano. It's an old joke, I know. He said that I would be able to play the piano in ten weeks, to which I replied that I thought that was great, because I never could play it before.
That was me, choosing to be happy in a bad situation.
After surgery I also asked him how long it would be until I could pick my nose again.

I am a happy person. You can't make me unhappy, because my happiness comes from within. I choose to be happy. And I refuse to be unhappy.

In the end, it's a decision that you make. Don't let your happiness be base on your circumstances. Otherwise you'll always be up one day and down the next. You will be at the mercy of those around you. Your happiness will be superficial.

Vocabulary word of the day

2006-11-19T15:23:00.000-08:00

Except (ik-sept')
PREPOSITION: With the exclusion of; other than; but: everyone except Leigh Ann

How it all happened

2006-11-19T06:26:00.000-08:00

I was at work Friday night and things were slow, so I was reading a couple of blogs, when I came across this post by Leigh Ann.
She seemed pretty upset, because she found out that her debt was significantly higher than she had thought. I sat and thought about it for a few minutes and posted a comment telling her what I would do if I were in her situation. Just my own personal opinion. After that, things picked up a bit at work, so I had to go about doing my job. But I kept thinking about her post, and wishing I could do SOMETHING to help.
I ran my bills through my head and counted on my fingers and I could afford about fifty bucks. I wished I could do more, but I just didn't have the money. I was thinking of how much she has inspired me over the last year, and how if there was a way to help her more, I would. I started thinking about how she was always encouraging everyone online and how she never has a bad word to say about anyone.
So I started thinking that if everyone were to pitch in fifty bucks, she would be completely out of trouble. The trouble is, however, that I know that a lot of people on here are not really able to come up with fifty bucks. That's a lot of money if you don't have it. (Actually, it's a lot of money whether you have it or not)
So I ran some more numbers around in my head and figured that I could probably scrape up another fifty bucks. So I went ahead and decided that I would do my best and let everyone else decide what they could do, or would do.
So I wrote my post, all the while thinking, "this is going to take some balls to pull this one off"
Then I went and left my second comment on Leigh Ann's blog.
It's amazing what goes through your head when you try to set something like this up. What if nobody else thinks this is a good idea? What if Leigh Ann is offended by this? What if everyone does their best and it's just not enough for her to get by on? But I just said to myself, WTF.
So then the waiting game started. Yennie left a comment on my blog first.
When Yen commented, I went ahead and left my final comment, and then I knew it had a good chance of working, because nobody wants to be the first.
At that time I started going to different people's blogs, who I knew were regular readers of Leigh Ann's, and giving them a "heads up" to go check out Save Leigh Ann.
It took TTQ less than three minutes to respond.
And then I had to go home.

I live an hour from work, so all the way home I was wondering how it was going to go. What if everyone just gives a buck?
Well, I decided, it doesn't matter. If someone gives a buck, or they give a hundred bucks each, as long as it's from the heart, it will still make a difference.
When I got home, Corker had just posted. It was starting to look like it was going well. I waited around a little while, and looked at the hit counter page. Yes, I saw a few other people lurking besides just me. No names. But I saw you.

And then I went to bed. I still had to work again Saturday night.
And of course, I overslept.
When I woke up, I had comments from Sheila, Bilbo Faggins, and Karinaxoxo.
But I had to run to get to work on time.

I had a pretty good rant worked out in my head just in case I tried this and nobody replied. And I had managed to figure out my budget enough that I could come up with two hundred more dollars if I needed to, but it would have really hurt. But while I was driving to work, I was pretty sure that everything was going to go very well.
But what if Leigh Ann had understated her finances? What if everyone pitched in and she found out it still wouldn't be enough to help? So I started coming up with a plan B. I resolved that I would help out Leigh Ann, not only if it hurt, but if it put me really back. This was just one of those times where it just HAS to work. Leigh Ann is just that kind of a person.
So then I started thinking about Bilbo Faggins' comment. It really pissed me off.

(rant) I don't get pissed off very easily. I'm a happy-go-lucky kind of person. Maybe once in a year will I get even remotely ticked. But to get completely pissed is pretty rare indeed. Today is one of those days.
Bilbo Faggins wrote: "I dont get these "save me im in debt" blogs. There are hundreds of them.
Medical debt or something like that would be different. But when its their own fault? WTF. There are much better places to send a few hundred dollars."
Ok, now WTF is this? First of all, if you had bothered to READ my post, you would have no doubt noticed that it was QUITE CLEARLY no longer about "save" Leigh Ann. It was a post about "we love" Leigh Ann.
Second of all, yes, there are better places to send a few hundred dollars. Did I ask anyone for a few hundred dollars? Or did I just ask for a buck or two?
I do send money to other places as well. I also help out a lot of other people. This event, while unique to you, is common place to me. I do this type of thing EVERY WEEK. I don't send a few hundred dollars somewhere and be happy. I like to think big. So which places have you sent any money? It's easy to sit there and say there are better places. Which places have you sent money to? I'll tell you. None. You know how I know that? It's because I know your type. Self assured, arrogant, head up the ass people who think that they can just sit there and blow holes in other people's ideas while still feeling good about themselves. Well guess what. It doesn't work here. "There are much better places to send a few hundred dollars" just doesn't do it as well as "And if nobody else goes along with it, that's ok, too. I'll come up with a couple more hundred dollars and do it all myself."
Did you know that just in this last year alone I have given away over twenty thousand dollars, helping other people to better themselves? So take your few hundred dollars and choke on it, you piece of shit. (/rant)

Ok, well that's my rant. Not very eloquent, I admit. I'm not any kind of professional writer or anything. But I know someone who is.
Karyn came by, and she is a professional writer. And a damn good one if what everyone says is true. She managed to say everything that I just said above in one quick comment. She said, "And go fuck yourself Bilbo Faggins."
You see, that's why she's a professional writer and I'm just some guy who keeps a blog. She has an absolute gift for just nailing the right words.

When Karyn posted that she had donated, that's when I knew it was all going to work out. I know that Leigh Ann is Karyn's number one fan. She absolutely adores her.
And if Karyn told her to pay it all off, I knew that it was a done deal.

After that, Elizabeth and Lex posted, and Denial Renae squoze in at the last minute.

In all, out of everyone who's blog I posted to, the only ones who didn't reply are Katie-Q and Heather, and I'm sure that they both would have, had they been online.
I know that Katie-Q has some internet connection problems. She won't be back until later in the week. And Heather didn't get on. I know because I happen to know her IP address and I checked the site meter. And besides, I know both of them enough to know that they would have if they knew. It was, after all, very short notice. But I'm still counting them both as helping out. If fact, it was Heather who designed Leigh Ann's site to begin with.

And last but not least, I was really proud of Kayla, from Random Girl.
She doesn't even know Leigh Ann, but she still helped out, just because she trusted my judgement. I'm proud to know you, Kayla. Thank you.

And thank you to everyone else who helped out. Do you get the same kind of warm and squishy feeling inside that I have? Or is that just gas?
I recommend trying this out in your own lives. Find someone to help out. Make it a habit. You really can make a difference in people's lives.

But most of all, I would like to take just a moment to say thank you to Leigh Ann. Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for your inspiration. Thank you for the ups and the downs. But most of all, thank you for being born. You are a wonderful person, Leigh Ann. I'm really proud of you. YOU DID IT!!! YOU ARE DEBT FREE!!!!

-jag

Save Leigh Ann (subtitled, I'm from Texas, I can get away with a post like this one)

2006-11-18T03:30:00.000-08:00

Leigh Ann is going to pay off her debt today.
Some people who know me know that sometimes I will come up with ways to do things really special for people for no reason whatsoever. Just to make their day special. Things that make them cry.
Today is one of those days.
Only this time, I am inviting you to be a part of it.

Leigh Ann wants to pay off her debt, but she is worried because that will leave her broke. She has asked for people's opinions as to what she should do.
Wouldn't it be great if instead of a bunch of opinions, she got a lot of comments that said, "We love you, Leigh Ann!"
Ok, here's what I would like to do. I am going to send her $100 by paypal. I would like for you to go send her something, too. It doesn't have to be a hundred dollars. It could be twenty. Even ten. If you are broke, send her one dollar. (or if you live in Australia, send her some AUD) It doesn't matter how much you send her. Send what you can. The fact that everyone coordinated to help her out will blow her away. After you paypal her, go under her comments and just write, "we love you, Leigh Ann!"
Wouldn't that be cool? I bet that would make her cry.

Leigh Ann has been an insipration to a lot of people. Wouldn't it be fitting for her debt to be done away with by all of her friends on here?

Everybody always wants to do something special. Here's your chance.
And if nobody else goes along with it, that's ok, too. I'll come up with a couple more hundred dollars and do it all myself.

EDIT---By the way, you don't have to have a paypal account in order to do this. Her account is set up to accept regular online payments.

Just Because

2006-11-17T11:38:00.000-08:00

I bought my wife a dozen roses today. Just Because.

(Just because she wrote it on the shopping list)

Playing Unreal Tournament

2006-11-17T05:49:00.000-08:00

I dare you to teach your kids the llama song

2006-11-16T10:43:00.000-08:00

Linked in Record Time

2006-11-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

Trust but Verify found the post below and linked it in record time.
Now how in the world did he do that so fast? Is there some sort of "notify me whenever someone blogs about Floyd Landis" function on blogger?

Alternative News

2006-11-16T02:05:00.000-08:00

ADMINISTRATIVE ERRORS MADE IN FLOYD LANDIS' LAB SAMPLE

Floyd Landis' 120KM breakaway in the 2006 Tour De France is the stuff that legends are made of. After the retirement of Lance Armstrong, the field was wide open. Landis closed it. That was, until the allegations of testosterone arose. The French lab in charge of testing the cyclists urine samples stunned the cycling world by announcing that Floyd Landis' tests came back positive for elevated testosterone, effectively stripping him of his title and leaving him facing a two year suspension.
But now it seems that there were some errors made.
We tried to telephone the Châtenay-Malabry laboratory for comments, but they didn't speak English. Calls to Floyd Landis were not immediately returned.
But a friend of mine in a Thai food store was upset by the news.
"He ride a bike too much. He go 120KM to win Tour. That too far. I go four mile to work in one day, but I drive a car. He need drive a car. He ride a bike too much he get too hot. They say he take drugs and win a race. He no take drugs. He eat a Thai food. Thai food it make him a man. French food no make testosterone. French food same like soy. Make estrogen. He eat Thai food, he make a man. Make too much testosterone and win race."

The American Penny

2006-11-15T23:14:00.000-08:00

Karinaxoxo asked:do they have 1c still in america?? - our lowest cent is a 5c peice.

Yes, Karina, They do. The American 1c piece, called the penny, valued at 1c.

Many Americans claim to hate them. You can usually find several of them lying the the parking lot when you go to the store. And in the early 1980's, the value of copper finally exceeded the value of the penny, so the US government made a statement of intent to cease making them. They reasoned that the value was just too small, everyone hates them, and they cost too much to mint.
And the backlash was immediate, incontrovertible, and without question quite American.
It seems that everyone also loves the penny. It is the symbol of the underdog. It represents the value inherent in everything. It defines hope.
Any poor person can gather pennies in the parking lots enough to buy a loaf of bread. Any child can still gather his parents' pennies together and make a pirate fortune.
And in the end, Benjamin Franklin saved the day.
It seems that several American proverbs about the penny originate with him.
"A penny saved is a penny earned."
"Watch your pennies and your dollars with take care of themselves."
So the decision was made to continue minting the penny, but zinc was added to the mix.

Occasionally there is another popular movement to get rid of the pennies.
But that is such an UnAmerican thing to do.

corresponding with microsoft

2006-11-15T09:52:00.000-08:00

Dear Microsoft,
I signed up for your webhosting package a few months ago but I have lost my password.
How do I reset my password?
-sincerly, Jagular.

Dear Mr. Jagular,
I am sorry to hear that you have lost your password. Please click on the following link to reset your password. (Link provided)
Sincerely, The Microsoft Team.

Dear Microsoft,
Thank you for sending me the link to reset my password. However, when I clicked the link and it took me to the password reset page, it asked me for the email that the website is registered under. If you are familiar with the registration process, you will know that it automatically registers your service under the email address created for the URL you are hosting. So I entered "Jagular@MYURL.com".
Then when I hit enter, it told me that the instructions to reset my password have just been emailed to the address that I just provided. Herein lies the problem. The email address in question can only be accessed through the site who's password I am trying to reset. Therefore the reset instructions cannot be accessed.
Can you email the instructions to this address instead?

Dear Mr. Jagular,
Thank you for you email. Please understand that we must first verify your identity. Please answer the following questions which come from the registration information you provided upon establishing your account and then we can proceed with resetting your password.
1. What is your full name.
2. What email address is the service registered under?
3. What state do you live in?
4. What is your zip code?
5. What is your mother's maiden name?
6. What was the exact date that you registered the website?
7. What is your credit card number that you activated the website under.
8. What is your IP address?
9. Who is your ISP?
(Many more questions, etc, etc, etc.)
Sincerely, the Microsoft Team.

Dear Microsoft,
Here are the answers to the questions that you asked to establish my identity:
1. answers
2. answers
3. answers.
etc.
Please reset my password.
Sincerely, Jagular

Dear Mr. Jagular,
Thank you for your quick response.
The instructions for resetting the password to the account have now been emailed to the email account on file.
Sincerely, The Microsoft Team.

Dear Microsoft,
You see, this is the problem. The email account on file is the email account that is accessed by the password that I am trying to reset. If I was able to check that email account I would not need to reset the password in the first place.
Sincerely, Jagular

Dear Mr. Jagular,
I am sorry to hear that you have lost your password. Please click on the following link to reset your password. (Same link as the first one)
Sincerely, The Microsoft Team.

Dear Microsoft,
Thank you for the fine collection of links that you have so far sent me. However, the fundamental problem remains the same. The email account that you want me to use to reset the password is hosted under the URL who's password I have lost. I cannot access the URL without the password, and therefore, cannot access this email account. Please do not send me any more links to this email account, because I cannot access it. Instead, please reset my password and just send me the new password, or cancel my account so that I can register the URL with another host.
Sincerely,
Jagular

Dear Mr. Jagular,
Thank you for your email. We have now established your identity and will now reset your password. Please copy the following link into any word processing program and then save it. After that, please clear all of your cookies and then close all browsers. Then open an internet explorer browser and copy and paste the link from the word processing program into the address bar of the browser.
When prompted, enter the email address "jagular@MYURL.com" and then enter your new password. Please write this new password down and save it in a safe place.
Sincerely,
The Microsoft Team

Dear Microsoft,
Thank you for the fully functional link that you have sent me at last. I particularly enjoyed the cutting and pasting. Well, that and the passive aggressive barb about writing down my password.
Is there a website where I can go to provide feedback on your excellent customer service skills or should I just blog about you wonderful people?
Sincerely, Jagular

Wishbone madness

2006-11-15T09:05:00.000-08:00

Did you ever pull a wishbone with someone? You each grab an end and pull and whoever gets the bigger piece has their wish come true.
My childred pulled a wishbone this morning.

The bottom flew off and they each were left with an equal piece.
That just about sums up my day.

I got my final phone bill

2006-11-15T08:47:00.000-08:00

I cut my land line off recently to save money. I got my final bill today. It was for thirty two cents. They mailed it first class. What do stamps cost? Thirty nine cents? That's retarded.

Alternative News

2006-11-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE OFF THE COAST OF JAPAN TRIGGERS teeny little TSUNAMI

We flew to Japan and interviewed a local fisherman, but he didn't speak English, so we couldn't understand him. But he probably didn't have much to say. After all, it was only a six inch tsunami.
But my friend in the Thai food store was pretty upset over the whole thing.
"We have big tsunami in Thailand. Wipe out Phuket. They have little baby tsunami. Sometime I have bigger fish than six inch. What up with that?"

In other news. Today is the day that Leigh Ann gets her final credit card balance and becomes debt free.
Calls to Leigh Ann's house weren't immediately returned.
But my friend in the Thai food store was pretty happy about it.
"She have nineteen thousand dollar debt. Sometime my car only cost fourteen thousand dollar. That a lot of debt. I bet she work hard pay all that in only one year. My car, I pay in five year. She pay too much she pay in one year. What up with that?"

What kind of food are you?

2006-11-14T05:45:00.000-08:00

You Are Italian Food

Comforting yet overwhelming.
People love you, but sometimes you're just too much.

What Kind of Food Are You?

I have a really cool son

2006-11-14T04:50:00.000-08:00

When my son was in kindergarden, the teacher called me up and asked me if he had ever been diagnosed with ADHD.
"No," I said. "He's just a real boy."
"Well, he asks too many questions in the classroom."
"No he doesn't. You just don't have enough answers. That's what school is. You teach, he learns. My son just happens to learn best by asking questions."
"Well, it's not fair to the other children."
"OK."

My son is a real boy. He's not some half-wit, braindead, robot like I see walking around our neighborhood. He is now eleven years old, going on twenty two.
I have taken special care to teach him the right "I can" attitude that has made me so doggone famous at work, home, school, and everywhere else I have ever been.
When something needs to be done, nobody will believe me if I tell them I don't know how to do it. It's the "I can do it or I can figure out how to do it" mentality. I've spent a lot of time imparting that into my son. He recently took apart and fixed his bathtub knob, because it was leaking. While I was at work. He changed out the toilet seat a few months ago.
The neighbor has two daughters about his age. They came over about a week ago and knocked on the door. "can we use Kenny for a few minutes?"
Ok, what in the world does that mean? They want to "use" my son.
Well, if I were an eleven year old boy and the neighborhood girls wanted to come use me, I would not want my father getting in the way, so I sent him out to "be used".
It turned out they needed something done, or fixed, or squashed, or climbed. Something that only a boy could do. So they thought of my son first. That's the type of boy he is.

And what I like best is that I can talk to him like a man.
He'll say something like, "daddy, why is it that you aren't as fun as Uncle Jeff to hang around with?" And if I answer, "Because when you are with Uncle Jeff you can just be friends. When you're with me, I have to be your father first, and your friend second." he's good with that.

But inside, I look foreward to the day when he is all grown up and I can just be his friend. Because he is a really cool son.

I have a daddy's girl

2006-11-14T04:37:00.000-08:00

My daughter if five years old now. And she is a daddy's girl.
I realized that a little while ago when my wife and son came up to me and confronted me.
"Why is it that when Ambre wants something you drop everything and go do it for her, but if one of us needs something you get around to it?"

I pause, realizing that I am travelling in dangerous water here. Am I playing favorites? Well, no, I must protest my innocence, because I don't believe I have a favorite. Do I show preferencial treatment to my daughter over my son and wife? That's the question. hmmmm. You better believe I do.

"Because when I get home from work every day, she jumps up, shouts "daddy's home" and runs down the hallway, climbs up me, and gives me a great big hug. That's why. I don't see either one of you do that. I never hear either one of you crying at bedtime saying "I want daddy to be the one to put me to bed", and I don't ever see you refusing to go somewhere without telling me goodbye."

"Oh," they said. "Well, we were just wondering."

A few days later I was driving to work and my phone rang. It was my daughter.
"Daddy, do we have enough money to call out for pizza today?"
"Well, you need to ask mommy, because daddy is going to work."
"She said for me to call you and ask you, because she doesn't remember how much money we have left."
"Why didn't mommy just call me then?"
"Because you can't say no to me."

Ok, did you ever get the feeling that you've been figured out?

Yodlee

2006-11-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, I went and checked out Yodlee, and I love it.
It sure beats checking each one individually, anyway.
I spent the morning setting up my account and trying to figure out how everything there works. It should make things a lot easier for me, which I'm not really used to. Everything else in the world tries to make things harder for me, so this might be a pretty good change.

Cookie Monster Alphabet

2006-11-13T19:58:00.000-08:00

Jagular

My final post on blogger

Coming Soon...

Conversations at Work

Oops, Blogger Finally Caught Me

Lost and Found

The IPhone

Good News, Good News, and More Good News

Alternative News

Credit Card Ambivolence and Other Meaningless Drivel

Bon Voyage, Karina

*Correction*

Tax Status

Sidebar Update

Date Night

An Inconvenienter Truth

A perfect presentation

Re: Marriage

Happy Birthday, Kenny

Budget Update

You guys spoke and I listened

Another day in the life of...

A strange Email

Why I cannot eat in the cafeteria at work

Soliciting Advise

And the Answer Is...

Ok, here's another geek riddle

The problem with debt repayment plans

Now how would you respond to this???

Helium dot com

Jag got burned at work

Minor clarification

budget update

Not much going on

Japanese

Rubiks Cube

Tagged by Leigh Ann

Word of the Day

The dude built him a castle

What do you get your wife for your anniversary?

Alternative News

Christmas is over

Christmas

The ghost of Christmas Presents

And the answer is....

A geek riddle

blog update

Quote of the day

Falling Down

Blogger hates me

Please disregard my previous post. I changed my mind.

So I've decided to write a book

Christmas Carols

I was talking to 7 last night

Some things are spooky

MySpace

Underneath the Mistletoe

Oh Christmas Tree

While decorating the tree today

Crap

It's all downhill from here.

Holiday Traditions

BLAH

A Joke for Geeks

Link of the day.

Tagged by the Runner

Throwing together lunch

I've been thinking about money a lot lately

The best Christmas present.

My Wife Is Mad At Me

Been working on the computer again

The Day After Thanksgiving

Oh What A Day

The first Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

White boy dunks

Mega Millions

Useful links

Blog Updates

A day in the life of...

Correction