Posts

I think this pissed-off malaise I’m in boils down to being antsy. Whitney, Joey, and I weathered the non-winter, and now things are beginning that I can’t do to my satisfaction–work outside on the house, go autocrossing, be home to play with Joey. Doesn’t help that our church didn’t make its goal for paying off debt on the new property, despite all our efforts. Very frustrating, though Scott did a great job of playing-it-off last night at our “celebration” dessert social. Kinda thought it was a bad sign when only ~45 ppl showed at the 6pm service. ...

Still sitting here in the kitchen, committing most of the EB White decries in “Elements of Style” (“Omit needless words”, “have something to say”, “make definite assertions”), I thought about how much of a wonderful help-mate my wife has become for me. I thought I functioned rather well as a bachelor. Minus cars, I was financially conservative, ate well, cleaned…umm…occasionally. However, with the new eyes of a husband and dad, I realize how much I was missing. ...

Stark awake at 5 this morning, as though it were a normal weekday, sitting here sipping coffee. I love coffee. I grew up with two Folgers addicts and never could stomach the stuff, for a couple of reasons–Folgers is made from high caffeine, low-flavor Robusta beans and they make WEAK coffee. Not to rant or anything, but I can almost look at a cup and watch the darkness and opacity of the liquid and tell how the coffee will taste. Down at their house last weekend, I could SEE THROUGH THE WHOLE POT! ...

Couple from Jackson, Tennessee (Irony…) have an offer in on the mini @ $15k. I’ve accepted, but they’ve yet to provide cash. Kind of an interesting story. Gal named Tina calls-up around 4pm EST and says she wants to buy the MINI for her birthday on Monday, and asks if we’ll take a personal check. …umm, no. So then her HUSBAND calls and says they have the loan and everything, they just can’t get a certified check by close of business friday… ...

Why can’t I be like the guy I interviewed today? He’s a super-well-spoken tech head, 35, great personality and technical aptitudes, with a mind for design and a jones to learn new things. I felt smarter just being in the room with the guy. I wanted to hire him on the spot. EDIT: The big thing is, here was a guy who was 35, been through the .com boom/bust worked crazy hours cranking out code, and he’s NOT BURNED OUT.

Interesting article on Scott Adams’s rare condition that makes him unable to speak. Pretty cool, affirming story, actually. * * * Kentucky is presently down 31-26 to Mississippi in the 2nd, and the office is a ghosttown. Haven’t been moved to blog much lately. MINI still sits unsold, after offers from Carmax ($13k) and Frank Shoop ($12.5k), Whitney and I are trying to be patient. Seen some E30’s that’ve caught my eye, as well as some Chevy Prizms (don’t laugh…) ...

Whitney and I took a big step on the Dave Ramsey bandwagon last night: We cut up and then shredded our Credit Cards. We had everything from Shell, to discover, to MasterCard, to JC Penny’s. All gone :-) I’ve never been more proud of her. We’re looking for a new (used) couch, so we’re heading up to a furniture store liquidation auction tomorrow morning in Cynthiana. The stars have perfectly aligned: We just got a windfall from my huge LXK bonus ( coupla hundred $$), and Jeff’s graciously allowed us to drive his newly tuned-up truck up there (for the price of a tank of gas). Awesomeness. ...

I’m typing this on my new, ultra-portable 3.8lb Dell D410. The company isn’t shy about providing us with computers, particularly those from our closest parter. I like it so far; it has no drive bays, but a full compliment of ports and the biggest battery I’ve ever seen…9-cell lithium-ION. Basically, this is the machine that’s to replace all my paper, etc. Probably the best thing is it has integrated 802.11g wireless, freeing me from popping a PCMCIA card in and out of the chassis to put it in the bag. ...

Fruit Loops are an uber-filling, puffed-sugar time bomb. I can eat bowl after bowl of ‘Total’, but what has me utterly full 3 hours later? Fruit Loops. Perhaps its the coffee I layerd atop it, but I’m not too hungry even going into lunchtime. * * * Ah, snuggling with my darling with this morning was awesome! :-) * * * Just to show you how much poison is going on at work: A guy quit BEFORE they could reassign him to my team.

Character is doing the right thing when nobody is watching. -- Stu Brentzel

Lindsey Jacobellis’ fall Yes, it was risky. Yes, it was youthful exhuberance. Yes, she fell within walking distance of the finish witha 140 foot lead on her nearest competitor. But FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY, she didn’t deserve the vitriolic montage on NBC’s coverage after her fall. “Dewey defeats Truman”? It’s a sport, and a new one at that! Sport is about competition, yes, but when it comes right down to it, it’s about showing that you’re better than someone at something, for your own glory. ...

Joey’s new wheedling technique is “I NEVER get to ______” “I never get to watch a movie anymore” “I never get to go outside!” “Why won’t you play with me…you never play with me anymore!” or the corollary, “My Daddy plays with me all the time.” * * * Scene: Interior, our house. Harold sits int the kitchen eating breakfast, Joey’s wrapped up in his blanket on the living room floor in the Anne Geddes position: ...

Link Pretty straightforward: Get a $1000 emergency fund saved up Pay-off debts from smallest to largest (Debt snowball principle) Save 3-6 months of expenses Save for college Pay-off house early Build wealth He has co-opted good ideas from others (the envelope system, etc.), but I like the focus on intensity. See more progress on: get out of debt

The Pup’s down to $16,500 and that’s about where I’m willing to go on the price. Hopefully, that’ll get us some hits in the next month. Other than that, I’m taking her to the slaughterhouse (i.e. Carmax). We have things we need to do with this money.

Whitney and I are back to having 2 cars, as the MINI hasn’t sold yet and we got it dirty the other day during the snow we had. Ran an ad in the Lex Herald-Leader last week and got no nibbles except from a fella wanting a good $500-$600 car. Uhh… Looks like the resale on these is waning quickly, and we may have to look at dropping the price again.

So, on last night’s Monday Night Football…er…Superbowl telecast we saw: A boring 1st half A broadcast team who phoned-in their performance A sectegenarian rock band who phoned-in their performance A network so scared of controversy it rejected any commercial hinting at sex (i.e. the good ones Just on the football, we saw a game that Seattle lost more than Pittsburgh won. If they hadn’t mismanaged the clock, Seattle could’ve easily had 14 more points. The Steelers weren’t THAT stellar, especially with Big Ben was nervous in the 1st half. ...

Read This thread and you’ll get it. Guy streeted his girl for a GTO.

…you look down at work two days in a row and notice that your pants aren’t zipped. * * * Drove the MINI to work today; I’m rather tired of having only one car, and certain expediencies require separate vehicles. So, what did I notice about my garage queen (king?) when I got out to put the floormats in it? Two burned-out bulbs in the front lights: one lowbeam headlight (driver’s side), and one driving light on the passenger side. My baby misses me. :-)

Is the car dying? Is the automobile, the symbol of American freedom and excess ceasing to be an object of status & lust for the populace? I’m not writing to persuade you of this fact, but rather to pose the question that occurs to me. Are cars just necessary appliances that no longer inspire their owners? After 4 generations of automobilers (Great Generation, Boomers, Gen X, and the latest unnamed gaggle), is the automobile so taken for granted?

May Zep forgive me for a pun… * * * The Pup’s still glorying as our garage queen of January, awaiting his next playful buyer with more money, affection, and less debt. We’ve lowered the price from our original $18,500 to $17,500 and we’ve yet to have one serious interested buyer. We’ve advertised on autotrader, cars.com, roadfly.org, NorthAmericanMotoring.com (MINI club site), and in the Lexington Herald-Leader (regular classified ad), but no bites yet. ...