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…going into Williams-Sonoma expecting there to be free food, just like Saturday afternoon at Sam’s Club. Alas, it was not to be. We did get out of the mall with a brisk walk, some family time, and $4 under budget. w00t!

Actually they did have samples - a greek salad com… Whitney - Aug 1, 2008 Actually they did have samples - a greek salad composed of coloured peppers, vinaigrette, and goat cheees. Unfortunately I’m allergic to two of those three things and you were rubbing the maximum mini by found on road dead by that point so I didn’t bother pointing it out. S’ok. usually they have nut bread when we walk so I wasn’t expecting much anyway. ...

Among Joey, Maria, Whitney, and myself, we must have every allergy going. Nuts, milk, pet dander, pollen, mold, cigarette smoke, dust. If it’s a biggie, we have it. And we live in the allergy capital of the world. Arizona keeps looking like a good second option.

Something caught my eye on TechCrunch the other day: Jott Jott is a free voice-to-text transcription service. You sign-up, confirm your email address, then pair it to your cell phone. After that, you can dial the Jott Number (1-866-JOTT-321) then dictate an up to 15 second note. It then emails that note to you (well, a link to it in the free version). You can also schedule that note to be forwarded via SMS as a reminder to you. ...

“Geeze…I can barely walk.”

You might be a baptist and just not know it :-) D… Jeff Roberts - Aug 0, 2008 You might be a baptist and just not know it :-) Did this involve a casserole? ROFL!!

“I can’t” is the hardest phrase for me to deal with. “You can’t” is much easier; it’s someone else telling me what’s not possible or not allowed. You heart it from infancy onwards. You become accustomed to its boundaries and its structure. “I can’t,” though, is the phrase of capitulation, self-limitation, and self-doubt. It is at once the hallmark of maturity and wisdom and the harbinger of mediocrity and decline. ...

Watched the morbid, buddy-comedy The Bucket List last night. I enjoyed it…literally one of those “I laughed, I cried” kinda films, but for weird reasons. There are some genuinely good one-liners in the film, particularly the running gag about “The world’s most expensive coffee. Worth watching, but not if you’re in a bad mood. This movie is DEPRESSING. I was sad much of the time I watched this film, for lots of personal reasons. My family’s on intimate terms with cancer. I hate hospitals. I haven’t travelled and seen as much as I’d like in my life. I’ve got alot of broken relationships and estranged friends in my past. The memory of Maria’s dramatic birth via C-Section is still with me, so any scene where a couple says “goodbye” and operating room doors close is tough for me to watch. ...

Welcome back to school! Time to start the process of turning impressionable youngsters into marketing machines. Thankfully, we don’t participate in that as I COMPLETELY disagree with it. But wait! This year marks a first. The legislature slashed the budget for public schools so THIS year even tho Joey’s attending a public school, there are classroom fees, art fees, etc that have to be paid. Enter Pampered Chef. Everybody LOVES pampered chef (tho I’m personally sick of it - mostly because I lust after it badly and can’t afford most of it). However, if you happen to have disposable income: ...

Disposable Income…I bet Pampered Chef sells a ni… Jeff Roberts - Aug 5, 2008 Disposable Income…I bet Pampered Chef sells a nice container to store that in.

First things first, let me say–my wife’s Skyline Chili recipie is DELICIOUS. * * * I got Jeff to come with me to the event (“I need an adult. I NEED AN ADULT!!”) to …ahem…keep me grounded. Plus I figured he’d enjoy it. So we headed down there, and I got right into a 135i convertible, including iDrive. We tooled around Lexington on the prescribed course for a half-hour, then returned. ...

And I did enjoy it. But you’re too kind - we were … Jeff Roberts - Aug 5, 2008 And I did enjoy it. But you’re too kind - we were briefly off course when I had you make a left instead of a right down by the airport. Cool car, but after seeing the stickers over there, it’s great to climb back into (or onto) the paid-for vehicle. ...

Anyone who’s known me for more than a week knows I’m a Dave Ramsey fan. In 2001, I discovered Dave’s book Financial Peace in the bargain bin of a remaindered-book store and bought it for $4. (Appropriate, given Dave says “Never pay retail”!) At the time, I had an awesome job right out of college and no student loan debt. I had a 2 year note on my yuppie-mobile Volkswagen (but hey, I *deserved* that car, right?) I did pretty much anything I wanted, anytime, by simply swiping a credit card. However, I kept wondering where all my money went. I didn’t have a budget, and I had nary a wisp of a financial plan. Money just flowed like water into, then out of, my hands. ...

Well, today’s the day. At 11am, I have an appointment to drive a BMW 135i in the Susan Komen Drive for the Cure at Don Jacobs BMW. Let’s hope for my sake it doesn’t turn out like last year I’ve never even *sat* in a 1-series, but it’s supposedly the reincarnation of the E30… …though, no E30 came from the factory with a twin-turbo 300hp engine. Tee-hee. * * * ...

Wow, hope you can control yourself in the bimmer ;… Jeff Roberts - Aug 5, 2008 Wow, hope you can control yourself in the bimmer ;-)

I sit beside Toner Creek on a bench, regarding building 082, or as I call it, The Crystal Palace. It’s chilly (!) in the shade today. A light Northerly breeze combined with a persistent cold front–we had a record low of 53 degrees this morning. Lunch today is a banana and some ABC-123’s…yep I’m on the Dave Ramsey diet again. Decided last night to plow some more money into the E30. As Whitney said, “It’s something you love. Enjoy it!” So, I’ve planned: ...

Today, Whitney and I await reports from Joey’s new school and his new teacher. He’s moving into the 2nd grade at his new school, and we’re hoping this is a new beginning. Joe didn’t have a banner 1st grade year–by Christmas break, he’d been branded a troublemaker by his teacher, and by Spring Break, he was living up to that moniker. He seemed bored, unengaged, and lethargic. In other words, it sounded just like me when I was in 1st grade. My teacher, Mrs. Moore was a stern woman with a round face, a rounder body, and a beat-the-drum teaching style. We sat for 2 hours straight everyday learning phonics. Mrs. Moore had this peculiar style of using a white and red piece of chalk in the same hand. I can still see her writing on the (green) board, showing us how the ’e’ on the ends of words like ‘pale’ and ‘sale’ made the vowel a long sound. ...

Very nicely done! Jeff Roberts - Aug 5, 2008 Very nicely done!

10:45 am: Remark that things look like vaporware, and that functionality and scope has been cut enough that HALF THE ROOM questions the usefulness of the thing we’re discussing. But hey, so long as we’re on time and under budget, right? Thank Heaven I only have 1 of these turdly meetings today.

Mark: Hey if you guys need me to get rid of Harold, I can do it in 3 minutes flat. Just let me show up and start talking.