The Plan

Finally getting some time to rest now that Christmas is behind us. Next big thing is New Years. Then . . . not a damn thing most of early Winter. Spring will be the next thing to look forward to.

I'm off of work this week. Gives me a chance to work on the new place. Still putting things away. Will go to the Botanical Gardens River of Lights tonight. Will plan on being home all day tomorrow fixing up the place and cooking.

Feels good to be cooking again. Tired of much of the quickies I've had over the last couple of months with the move and holiday's.

Plan to go out for New Years celebration. Have not done it in years. Sorry Mr. Clark - the ball's still going to drop without me and I'll still feel the same January 1. Well - OK, except for a possible hangover and a lot of ass dragg'en from going to bed late. I know I know - "sleep in" you say. Your talking to someone who wakes up no later than 8 regardless of going to bed at 10pm or 4am. Well that's just how the ball rolls.

Happy New Year to you all !!
Mighty

Santa Working

I'm tired, but Santa still has a lot of work to do. Santa's got most of the gifts boxed. Need to wrap. Have two artzy projects to work on as gifts. Maybe Coca Cola Products will help. Santa sees a late night coming and it's just about 10pm.

The T.V. is upstairs and I'm working downstairs. I wanted to watch the evening news earlier, so decided in stead to run through the AM radio dial looking for any news programs. Didn't find any but did run across a new radio station that is playing a lot of that feel good tween music called JENNiRADIO. I'll be the first to admit that I'm an adult - and by golly, I enjoy this style of music. Turns out the station is new and they've got a web page setup. Check it out here.

I relation to that style of music, I picked up a disc by Hey Monday earlier in the summer. Really enjoyed it. I say enjoyed it because I've misplaced the disc. More feel good tween music. It is probably in another bands CD case. I'll find it eventually - I hope. If your interested, check them out here and there.

Now what JENNiRADIO needs is a playlist on the website.

Hey Procrastinator is getting off track. Need to get back to the mission at hand. Santa delivers soon.

Now have yourself a Very Merry Christmas and may the New Year be BRIGHT!

Mighty

Shopping anyone

You know when your out Christmas shopping and the aisles of merchandise start to blend together . . . it's time to give it up for the day; head home and regroup.

Hope your holiday shopping is going a bit more smoothly.

Welcome Home

Place is still trashed and I haven't started xmas shopping at all. Here are pics of the new place. A townhouse in the Guadalupe Village. The area of town is the North Valley.











Talk about retro.













And within spitting distance of home . . .



Very nice !!!

Time for a little lunch, a little cleaning, and then we'll see if Santa wants to possess me.

Giving Birth

Don't even ask me how I started thinking about the following . . .

Q: When is the best time for a female to consider becoming pregnant?

A: I would reason that early spring would be the best time.

Why: In today's age, it's all the same, but if you think about the olden day's when humans lived more with the elements, then giving birth in the winter months would have the advantage of being cool / cold. The cold would help keep the mother cooler since, in general, a lot of energy is given off during child birth in the form of body heat, sweat, etc. It could also act to slightly numb the woman's midsection, thus reducing the discomfort during child birth.

Note: I'm no midwife, just some random thought I started to analyze.

Boxes Anyone

Turns out U-Haul has box "kits" for moving various "size" homes. These kits are nothing more than a compilation of their various products at regular price bundled into one nifty package.

So the Apartment Kit contains 10 small boxes, 10 medium boxes, a few packing materials, tape and markers for $90.

I'm in a one bedroom apartment. I feel like I've just gotten started and I've already used that many boxes.

Does this mean I've got too much crap?

Not at all because there is the 1-2 Bedroom Kit to the rescue for $180.

Greetings Fellow Homeowners

And I'm now a first time Homeowner. Yes sir-ee-bob. The FHA loan was approved and officially recorded with the city last Thursday. Got the key's. No big moves yet, just some cleaning gear and trinkets. Mostly what I've chosen to take over (in the car) have been items I'm considering difficult to pack, big (but will still fit in the car), or unusually shaped. Figure that will make the packing go a little bit easier.

Yeah Right!

A little easier until you setup the first box and take the first REAL move to put something in it.

Today was fairly productive. Got five boxes of kitchen stuff.

Went over to the new place and decided to clean the torch lamp I took over there. Sucker had been sitting in my bedroom for years - unplugged. Took the lamp head apart, cleaned it and while vacuuming the bones of four to five year old fly's, managed to vacuum up the one screw that held everything together! Oh Shit ensued. Heard the screw travel up the vacuum tube, but cannot be found in the tube or the vacuum bag. Can't decide if it is worth my time to take apart the vacuum cleaner searching for it or run down to the store for the 2 cent part - which will actually cost me closer to a buck. One train of thought says that if I spend the time taking apart the vacuum cleaner looking for the damn thing, if I do find it that could be a buck I can apply towards the mortgage. Maybe it'll shave a couple of day's paying off the mortgage.

Home shopping has been a real experience for me. Spent some time looking for thoughts on how to shop for a new home on the Internet. Many of the tips where relatively the same and did not prove very useful. I've got my own useful thoughts I'll post here at some point and simultaneously elsewhere. Just have to figure out where the best place is - Wiki ?? or eHow or something. Any ideas?

Question: "How do you know you will not be satisfied where you are at?" Answer: You are still looking at MLS postings for your area even though you've just been approved for a home. Here I am, still looking the listings for the homes just today while I was taking a lunch break. I will say that I was feeling much more comfortable while there today.

I still say that the only reason I'm a home buyer at this point is because the housing market took a dump. The mortgage folks said I would qualify for a mortgage of up to $171K. The Realtor told me the place I purchased was selling for $180K during real estates hay day (I purchased for $113). I've since learned that a number of other places I looked at had similar price differences. I did look at a number of places that were in the 120 - 140 range (and I could have afforded), but fears of not being able to hold my own took over. So here we are. Repairs are needed, but at least $1000 towards repairs will equal $1000 and not $1800 if they were part of the selling price through interest charges. Besides it is a great way to learn repairs and I won't be afraid to touch it if I know if I cannot make it any worse.

Pics coming soon. I'm outta here.
-Mighty

Mighty Who??

WOW!! Has it been this long since I've made an entry here?? Apparently so. Very wrapped up in other things.

The bulk of which has been house hunting. Found a place and have a contract pending. Expect to close this Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. It is a Townhouse close to my present location. Needs some work, mostly cosmetic, but otherwise in good shape. Kitchen needs some work too. Old color counter tops - a brown kinda orangey color. Very different. Two bedrooms, two story, 1.5 bath with a decent sized back yard - not huge, but enough to have a garden and entertain. Unfortunately, no garage or car cover, but I've lived without that for years. Common in this part of the town with many older homes in which, at that time, garages or even car ports for that matter where less common. Besides, it will keep me from collecting that much more crap. Best part . . . city park within spitting distance - Nice!

The mission now is to pack my current crap. All 11..12 years of it. At first glance - "Huh, not much. Shouldn't be too bad." Upon further analysis (like - getting started), "Man I got a lot of shit! Someone save me!" On the one hand, I need to get rid of a lot of stuff. But on the other hand, by the time I've driven somewhere to offload it, I could have taken it to my new place. Catch 22.

So I'm starting to pack even before I've closed. Good plan bad plan? I think good. At this point, everything is in place and I see no reason not to get it unless something really weird happens or the seller backs out at the last minute. Might as well get started. Even if the strange happens and the deal is called off between today and closing, moving is inevitable as I'll simply be looking at more places or select one of the other places I looked at if it is still available.

Man I got too much crap.

In other news . . . sorry, not much. Work, gym, looking for a date. Know anyone?? Female - 32..45 - single (yes, nothing funny here) - you know the drill. Desperate??? Nah, not even.

Saw the Bodies in Motion exhibit. It is in town for a few months. Came here a couple of years ago, but was unable to go. Very interesting! Amazing how they are able to preserve the body and do all the displays. Fascinating!

Have I mentioned I got too much crap? Need to start lining up a few friends to help me move. Oh!! I discovered Craig's List. Official moving boxes - FREE - Check. Appliances - Check. Furniture and other stuff to fix the new place up with - Cheap - Check. Just got to beat everyone else to it. As you can tell, I'm working against the American economy by buying used and not new. What the heck is wrong with me. I'm so unAmerican.

Take care.

Found a Place to buy

After several weeks of looking for a condo/townhouse/home, I've found what I'm looking for tonight. A townhouse that is just up the street from where I currently live. The place is in good condition but could use some work to spruce it up. Will post some pics after paperwork is signed tomorrow. Finally, I'm done looking.

Hello

1) Home shopping is FUN! - But that depends. Places I've seen are range from good to bad. Saw one place yesterday that had two homes on the same lot. Although only one was being pitched for sale. Front home was in poor condition. Needs a tone of work. Rear home in good shape. Cheap price. Go figure.

2) Going camping for a few day's. Should be nice.

Humans Evolve

A story on CNN's web page titled More U.S. Girls Starting Puberty Early discusses new findings related to said topic.

The gist of the story is that we should be alarmed that some biological change is happening.

What the heck for!

All animals have evolved to have special traits that allow them to survive in the environment in which they live. Humans (as an animal species) are no different.

I fear that humans will not evolve much more because any abnormality that nature might throw in as an experiment will be squashed by the medical community.

Lunch Mates

Q: Who is the perfect lunch mate at work?

A:
- Except for rare occasion, is always available.
- Lunchtime is always flexible.
- Length of lunch is flexible.
- Is always at their desk when you call.
- Goes to lunch (with the gang) only if you (or perhaps one other person) will be present.

Home Loan Anyone?

Big day tomorrow morning - going to meet with the bank for a mortgage loan. Let's see how much my feeble income will support.

Documentation:
Recent pay stubs - check
W-2's - check
Bank Statements - check
Credit card statements - check
Sanity - ummm

Garage Inventions

I saw Iron Man 2 Sunday night. Although Mr. Stark has a well equipped garage, I think the day's of someone creating / inventing a revolutionary technology from their garage are just about over. I'm not going to say it isn't possible, just not likely as the resources required get larger and more expensive.

Clean up ???

So this new guy has taken over for BP in the Gulf Coast Oil Disaster. Now, the new guy is giving the same speech as the previous guy, but amazingly, we know that the new guys words will be perceived as more "genuine." Even though he has the same resources as the last guy. Why is that?

Alive

Well I've thoroughly disappeared for a while. Been super busy as of late. Been helping a friend who had hip surgery prepare for a move from a third floor apartment to a first floor apartment. He also lived with me for a couple of weeks. That's the aftermath. The frontmath was visiting him in the hospital after his surgery! That was a few week ordeal. No complaints, but man does this sort of support take a lot of time and energy - not to mention travel time and car wear.

But it is all over now. He is moved, got his authorization from the doctor to drive, and is gaining more freedom gradually as his range of motion improves. I'm told, full recovery averages six months.

On top of that, the computer died a couple of weeks ago. Power Supply died and took the hard drive to heaven with it. Luckily the motherboard survived. Got a loaner hard drive and PS for the moment.

Updates

Garden - Still horrible. Radishes and turnips still growing like weeds, everything else is poor.

Backpacking 101 - Got a steal at Goodwill last weekend. Went up there just for the heck of it to look for a pack and got supper lucky. Got two packs for pennies. Will keep one for myself and have offered the other to the ring leader of this event to sell to another person on this trip if they need one. Now just got to get another lower temperature rated sleeping bag and start shopping for everything else on this ring leaders list of necessities for the camp out. Tomorrow will be busy.

Scotch - The cheap stuff just doesn't cut it.

Sailing Solo

So the teenage girl sailing the globe solo has hit a snag. Too bad. I for one support the parents who had the trust in their daughter to do this. They, of anyone, know the full extent of her capabilities to accomplish this goal.

China's moving UP.

Better get it while you can afford it. Labor wages in China are finally going up. It's about time in my opinion. So get ready - the day's of $20 DVD players are coming to an end. Remember Layaway? Oh, I'm sorry, your too young to know what that was. That also means instant gratification is gone too. You must now shop, compare features, carefully select, and by golly, be happy with your purchasing decision! Oh wait. You know, I should start a business for Material and Instant Gratification Withdrawal Syndrome. MIGWS for short.

Now I know you say, "What the Fuck!!" Well consider this - just as you desire (for spoiled USA citizens, substitute "expect") to improve your standard of living through higher wages and job advancement, YOUR counterparts around the world have the same goals. Plain and simple - it's human nature.

Backpacking in the Garden

The garden just isn't doing so well this year. I've done everything your supposed to do as a gardener - water, weed, mix in compost, water more. Turnips and radishes are doing great. Everything else is just not doing well.

Last year, it seemed like I just threw the seeds on the ground and spit on them. Must have been beginners luck.

In another subject, I'm shopping around for backpacking gear. Will attend a backpacking 101 training lesson at the end of June. It is billed as backpacking on a shoestring budget. Looks like the pack and sleeping bag are already going to set me back $120. I think someone cut my shoestrings off.

Barter System

Hmmm, with the world's economic problems, should the world just shift back to the barter system. No green backs involved then.

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers out there. And to all you non-mothers . . . take note of this rare one-day-a-year benefit.

Books?

The future of Books . . . . Wikibooks!

The Fix

Here is a running email I got from a friend:

The Fix

Recently, there was an article in the St. Petersburg, Florida Times. The
Business Section asked readers for ideas on: "How Would You Fix the
Economy?"

I think this guy nailed it!
_____

Dear Mr. President,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy.
Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the
money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. You
can call it the "Patriotic Retirement Plan".

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.
Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following
stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings -
Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars
ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage -
Housing Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members of Congress
pay their taxes...

Mr. President, while you're at it, make Congress retire on
Social Security and Medicare. I'll bet both programs would be fixed pronto!

Miley

Just saw Miley Cyrus perform on American Idol. Didn't care for it. Vocals were off. I thought she was attempting to put too much emotion in the song. Too much of that vocal quiver.

In other news . . . it's hump day! Two more day's to go. I owe the feds a few hundred dollars for taxes. Don't know what happened this year. I almost always get a couple hundred dollars back and if I owe, it's just a bit.

Eating dinner now and it is time for desert! Cheers.

Win Money

Here is the feel good sales pitch for a local Indian Casino:

You can win on any machine,
At any time,
On any spin.

Makes it sound like your odds of winning good. Sounds like gambling to me.

Tired

Haven't slept well in three nights now.

Night 1) Thursday night was a gym night, got home late, thus bed late. Friday's a work day.
Night 2) Friday - hit the sack about midnight, slept off and on, and woke up about 7.
Night 3) Saturday - Allergies or something. Couldn't breath and eye's ached.

I'm functioning at the moment, but just barely.

Thoughts - part 2

1) Boy, the Olympics are over! Life can get back to normal again.

2) Why is it (in Western society) that when the husband of a couple cheats on his wife, it is deemed, if not expected, that the wife work to forgive and reconvene a happy marriage. While if the wife has the extramarital affair, the husband is in now way expected to forgive and by most accounts, the marriage usually ends. In both cases though, the men still manage to come out ahead.

3) From a couple of weeks ago on the Sunday morning news program Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer's closing commentary was on the bottlenecks that prevent our representatives in congress from getting any work done. His argument was the following: it takes a lot of money to get elected. On average, elected officials spend about $3500 per day (that's right, per day) while on the campaign trail. So when it comes to doing the job, instead of doing what is morally right, they are are bound to abide the wishes of those who put them there (financially).

Thoughts

Let's see . . .
1) Olympics - I've noticed while watching the 2010 Winter Olympics that at times there seems to be discussions emphasizing particular athletes as the most decorated due to the number of metals they have won. Speed skater Apollo Ono is a prime example. Here's what I see - how can one relish success based on their metal's count. Some sports (insert Speed Skating example here) allow an athlete many opportunities for metals because the races are short and pointed. Think about the athletes who must work very hard to win their coveted metal. Ice skating dancers must train and compete in four different dances to win their metal. Hockey teams play a number of games to win their birth. Something doesn't add up here.

2) Computer problems - working to fix my brothers computer. He's got some viruses and such AVG is not clearing up for some reason. It's a Dell Home computer. What have I learned so far: F8 gets you into Safe Mode, back UP your systems registry before you make changes (better to learn late than not at all), there is an absolute ton of information on the Internet regarding virus and malware symptoms and correction solutions, have patience (a bag next to your computer chair comes in handy to collect your hair as you pull it out), have a second computer handy to do searches on the Web while your patient remains off the WWW and therefore isolated.

3) I miss my Dollhouse. Why can't they keep a show that I like. I'm in withdrawal mode. At least Fringe is still on.

4) Tired. The week is almost over.

5) Olympics again - Watched some of the pairs ice dancing the other day. This was the one in which all dancers do something like the Tango (I think they called it the compulsory dance). It's the same dance, the same music, the same steps. Just how do the judges grade you?

6) Movie Home - saw it last night at the local movie art house theater. Liked it a lot. Slow, but the story sucks you in on the emotional front.

7) SDFix still running - Its been an hour for this malware check. It's free, so I can't complain.

8) Bed time.

Quote

"The truth is . . . no one wants to be rejected."

- The show Life Unexpected.

It Starts

The Superbowl pregame show started at 11. Five hours before the game . . . .

. . . . I think I'll be wore out before the game even starts.

The Big Day

Plans for tomorrow? Why not join the rest of America. Will do a Superbowl party with the Singles group. Should be interesting. There will be a potluck as well. I'll take a couple of dishes.

Serious Donations

Considering Donating some of your hard earned dollars?

1) Help for Haiti. Check!

2) iTunes - can't tell if they are giving away or selling tunes from tonight's Hope for Haiti show, but if they are selling, how much of that is going to: 1) television stations, 2) Apple, and more importantly, 3) Haiti.

3) The US National Debt?
The 2008 population census put the US at approximately 300 million. What if everyone gave 10 bucks a month toward the deficit? That would be $3 billion. Enough to cover the estimated US deficit growth for one day.

If we can help Haiti, can't we help ourselves?

Resources

OK, what a travesty the folks in Haiti are suffering right now. Based on what I've seen on the news, I think we can all agree on that.

What I think I do not agree on is the number of media reporters that are present in Haiti. Question: How many resources are these folks consuming that should be going to the people who are really in need of it.

I agree that some media are needed to convey the sadness, but only a few.

Lazy

Got the day off for the holiday. Feeling lazy and unmotivated for some reason though. Don't know if I'll even touch the front door knob.

Perhaps I'll get dressed. Perhaps that will get me out of my current mood.

Guilty

Only in America . . . From two or three day's ago, the would be Detroit Airplane bomber had his initial day in court . . .

1) Why are we still calling him a suspect? We've got the defunct bombing pants he wore and we got his burned legs to prove it. Plus countless witnesses.

2) He pleaded not guilty. Here's my sympathy for his court appointed attorney.

The New Year

Well, here we are - the New Year.

Do I feel any different? Mental state is about the same.

Do I look any different? After a quick body check - looks about the same.

So what is different? Let's see - 2009 plus one equals 2010. I think that's about it folks.

How was the Ball drop? My eyelids obscured the view. My brain blocked all non life threatening sounds.