Stuff & Junk

ALL ABOUT JOEL AND ALAINA

2005-12-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

This post is solely dedicated to some buddies (relatives) of mine, Joel and Alaina. Joel (you may know him as DONUTMAN on Battlefield 2) is a pretty cool guy. He is about to become a father to a baby ********* which will carry the name Ryan somewhere (IT BETTER!!!!!). I will assist in helping this child to develop and grow and become like me in everyway........it is futile to resist......uh......wait a minute.....I think I shouldn't be watching Star Trek while trying to blog! Anyway, Alaina is the "STAMP QUEEN". She is a Stampin Up Representative. IF you or anyone you know needs any stamping supplies, ideas, or anything...........Let her know. You can reach her at www.joelandalaina.blogspot.com through the comment system!

Joel and Alaina moved to Lansing over a year ago, established themselves here, and joined my EXCLUSIVE inner circle. Now they are talking about leaving US (Jen and I), and join back up with their friends at New Tribes in Missouri......next to HA HA TONKA park........Check it out, nice place. How could you do this to us? TO ME? Whom will I **PWN** at battlefield 2 now? Or whom will I **PWN** alongside? My feelings of sadness are never ending.

Oh well, when Joel and Alaina decide to retire, Joel and I are going to open shop for real somewhere in the greater Lansing area, to service computers, and or provide LAN parties, and other fun things. So, to all you PWNers out there, watchout........we are coming.....ok, I wasn't sure how to exactly end this post. I only know that I must end it, as lunch is ready.....

It is Christmas time again.

2005-12-15T01:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, long time no blog. I was just reading some blogs and realised that I have not done it in forever so I thought that I would update you all (is there really anyone there anyways?). Probably not, oh well! We still have our house up for sale! Some day, some how, I am going to make it alright but not right now.....wait.........isn't that a song? Oh well. Tomorrow is going to be a busy one. Madison is sick with Strep (SP?). I stayed home from work today while she took Dawson to Awana to spend his points at the Christmas store. I played Battlefield 2 for a little bit today while Madison watched the Grinch who stole Christmas on TV. It was the cartoon one not the Jim Carey one.

Tomorrow my dad goes in for a consultation to see about having the mercury fillings removed from his mouth. We have heard a lot about people having it done and having positive things happen as a result. CROSS YOUR FINGERS, Pray, do whatever you believe that things might get better if we decide to go down this road. Worst case scenario, he has less poisonous substance in his body right? We all know there is enough CRAP out there like Partially Hydrogenated Oils and things like that to pollute our bodies, so waht is one more right? Anyways, I am going to try to keep this atleast semi current, so hold me accountable will ya? Oh yeah, and if you have had any luck with having Mercury fillings removed, drop me a comment would ya?

Vacation

2005-05-08T22:14:00.000-05:00

Hey, I haven't posted in awhile but I received a rather rude email telling me to go to bed earlier.....so I thought that I would call you out JOEL. So, your mama Osama and junk! Who's your daddy!?!?!? So, now that I've gotten that out of the way.

Vacation time is near and dear. Vacation time is almost here. I love it, I love it, I love it its true. So someone come and shine my shoe.

Anyways, on Saturday the 14th of May we are leaving to go to Missouri to see Jen's brother and sister-in-law graduate from New Tribes Bible Institute. They live in ROACH, MO., right next to the Ozarks! Rock on! We will be gone until atleast the next Saturday and possibly until Sunday. We plan to take our time getting there and coming back. Dawson is a HUGE geography fan.

Let's see, what else has been going on lately? Oh yeah, we are getting our house ready to sell and I decided to remove some old caulk from the side of my house. I went and changed my Razor knife blade (cuz the old one was very dull from drywall and cement board). I tried to grab the caulk with my left and cut with my right. Well, I slipped and got my pointer finger on my left hand. Come to find out I haven't had a tetanis shot for over 12 years or something like that. So, off to ready care I went. They poked me, done deal. It didn't hurt until about 5 minutes after the nurse spread the cut and rubbed an Iodine cloth down in the cut between the flaps of skin. All of a sudden it started throbbing and then burning right after. That didn't last long though. I thought I was pretty tough. Everyone was telling me how bad those shots are. I didn't even feel it........until two days later. I woke up sleeping on the same side I received the shot on. Ouch. It felt like someone punched me. Much, much worse than anything Ked could do by hitting me (He is kind of a wuss ya know..... :) Just Kidding ).

Anyways, that is that. Hopefully we can sell our house quick and get started on moving. My mom really needs the help with my dad. I don't know how she can take care of him like she does by herself. I would have lost my mind. But, I know, we can do ALL THINGS, through Jesus Christ who strengthens us (roughly paraphrased).

PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND WATCH FOR THE BEAST!

I M OUTTIE

Hauppauge PVR-250 this baby!

2005-01-10T04:36:00.000-05:00

I am now fully equiped to translate VHS or HI8 into DVD! Rock on. I am tackling my first project (our old Hi8mm tapes) and putting them to dvd along with creating a customised menu. It is very fun. The drawback is the time you have to put into it. SHEESH! I spent over 2 hours tonight on our title screen alone! Oh well! I already have 2 projects lined up for people. It will be my 3rd conversion overall, but the first two were part of a team, and the next 3 will be on my own! Rock on. So if you or anyone knows anyone, who knows anyone, who knows anyone, who knows anyone, who would like this service, let me know! I can go from A/V, Svideo, or Firewire and convert to DVD format which can be standard 120 min dvd, long play, or Extended Long play dvd formats. I can blend jpg images with mpeg in any combination, and set it all to music.......ahhhhhh Michael W. Smith set for the 80's.......I have not come up with a price yet (still too new to it, but am looking for more experience). I will post more when I get some TIME.

One more year down.........

2005-01-05T02:13:00.000-05:00

Wow, time flies huh? It seems as though I was just down here in my dungeon typing up my last Blog, but alas, it was last year!

Well, Christmas went well. We got up at 7:00 and opened presents. It is funny, the longer you have children, the less you care about what you get. It is SOOOOO much more exciting to see their face light up when they open their gifts. We budgeted out $50 per person this year. I remember back to our first Christmas I think I spent like $400 on Jennifer. Kind of silly. The only thing I really needed were some slippers. I didn't think of it until after Christmas though. Oh well! We went to my Mom & Dad's house Sunday after Christmas. Then I went back to work on Monday until Wendesday. We left Thursday morning and went to Toledo until this last Sunday. It was tons of fun. Jen's brother Jason and his family were there (back from New Tribes Bible Institute in Missouri). Everyone brought their computers so we had a nonstop Lan Party there. We had a total of 5 computers there. And we spent many a night playing Call of Duty w/ the expansion pack. It was soooo fun. We also spent time using Vegas (from Sony) to make a DVD for Jen's parents for Christmas.

Well, that was the extent of it all. It went so fast, I can't believe it!

Christmas Time

2004-12-24T01:43:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is Christmas Eve once again! A great and exciting time, very over commercialized, but I expect that is just what "you-know-who" likes. To take the real meaning out of it.

I heard something that is kind of like a "duh, that one was a gimme" statement the other day. The reason gift exchanges were started is to remember the gifts the wise (no mention of 3, sorry) men brought their gifts to the Christ child in the manger. I mean it totally makes sense, but If you don't stop and think of about it, you may miss it. It is not about seeing if you can get more than last year.

Sorry if my structure is bad, I did horrible in English class. I just did not get it. I understand spelling and sentence structure, but I am very challenged when it comes to completing an idea and moving on. I like to jump (as you can tell by this little paragraph in the middle of a thought that has no meaning).

Anyways, when I was little it was all about me. What could I get, how much is mom going to spend? It is funny how things change as we mature and have families of our own. The first year we were married it was almost a competition to me to outspend Jen for Christmas. I spent well over $300 that I didn't have. Each year that has dwindled down to this year we spent $50. You know what? You can get a lot of nice things for $50. And once you have kids (like I said before) it becomes more and more fun to give than to get. I love to see the look on Madison's or Dawson's face when they open that new thing. Dawson is so funny, the top 3 of his Christmas list went like this..... 1. United States Puzzle, 2. Volcano racetrack, 3. School books. Jen and I have talked about it and next year, we are thinking along the lines of one small gift for each other and just buying for the kids. Something else we have done for the past 3 years is contribute to the Samaritan's Purse: Operation Christmas child headed up by Franklin Graham (Reverend Billie Grahams son). This is a awesome ministry that Jen has headed up at church in which people can bring stuff in (anything works, even dollar store stuff like toys, soap, toothbrushes, washcloths, anything that a little boy or girl might want) and the items are placed in a shoe box and wrapped up. If you want, you can read about it at http://www.samaritanspurse.org/home.asp It is a very awesome ministry, the best part is not only the love they feel from someone across the world who cares for them, but the fact that they are taught about Jesus and His love for them.

Well, (changing the subject again) we have had an interesting week here. Monday night Madison was sick (flu type symptoms), then Tuesday night Dawson was sick, Wednesday night I was sick, and now Thursday night Jen is sick. The good thing, is that it only seems to be a 24 hour bug (Everyone but Jen is doing much better). Little Alyson has held her own this season though, Jen had bronchitis (I might have but I never went to the Dr.- to stubborn I guess) and she didn't get it, and now this flu thing. She is the only one that has not gotten it yet. Time will tell though, I guess today will be her day if she is going to get it.

Well, that is all for now. I was only going to say Merry CHRISTmas to everyone (even if only Ked and Amelia read this:) but I guess I got carried away. Not only am I long winded when I talk, but when I type also....sheeeeesh!

Shame on you TARGET!!!!! Shall you reap what you sew!

2004-11-29T01:26:00.000-05:00

This was sent to me in an email a few days ago, and I must say What the HECK!?! I urge anyone reading this to no longer shop at Target. It seems they are not into helping the community like they say they are. BOO to them. I no longer will shop there, nor will my family. And I will be sure to tell all that I know to not shop there. Walmart has better prices anyways! I am claiming the promise "Whatsoever therefore you sew, you will also reap." Shame on you Mr. Ulrich and a BIG SHAME ON YOU Target!

Target Stores boot Salvation Army bell ringers off premises
Dear Ryan,I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.Sad to say, if Target stores refuse to reverse their policy, thousands poor and needy will not have a very happy Christmas. Why? Because Target stores nationwide have banned the Salvation Army's red kettle campaign. They have told The Salvation Army's bell ringers, "You're no longer welcome here."Target spokesperson Jennifer Hanson said that allowing the Salvation Army to collect funds as a mission of hope for the hungry, the homebound, and the helpless would violate their 'no solicitation' policy.Target's new policy is opposite of that with community-minded giants like Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney's, and Big Lots. They believe the Salvation Army serves a critical need by offering kindness to a family in need."Last year, bell ringers raised about $8.8 million nationally outside Target stores," Major George Hood, Community Relations Secretary for the Salvation Army U.S.A.Target's change adds pressure on the charity as it faces budget cuts from other sources and an increasing demand for services."We're going to lose 112 days of food service for the hungry because of [Target's] decision," Russ Russell, Salvation Army executive director for development told The Detroit News.Because of Target's decision 6,000 people, including children, will be forced to go elsewhere to find help.Please take this action:Tell Target that you will be doing your Christmas shopping this year at Wal-Mart, J.C. Penny's, Big Lots or another store which cares about the poor and homeless. We know Target will block emails through the AFA Action Alert system, so your individual action is critical.

1. Call Target customer service toll-free at 1-800-440-0680, option 2, then option 2 at the next prompt.

2. Call your local Target store and speak with the manager. You can find the number in your local phone book, or through their Online Store Locator.

3. Here is additional contact information for Target:
Target Stores
Chairman Robert J. Ulrich
1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Phone:(612) 304-6073
Fax: 612-696-3731
Email: Guest.Relations@target.com

I know that they can't be put out of business, but let's see what kind of dent we can create! Especially just before Christmas! ;)

May the force be with you!

2004-11-07T19:59:00.000-05:00

I found the link to the trailer for the new StarWars Movie, Revenge of the the Sith. Here is the link! http://www.empiremovies.com/movies.php?id=400

I must say, I am more than ready for May to come! To bring completeness to the movies at last. To piece the last part of the puzzle together. Now that the new one is done (or nearly done maybe), I can only hope that George Lucas will continue and make the last three. PLEASE OH PLEASE Mr. Lucas! I beg you!

Super TUESDAY is here!

2004-11-02T10:26:00.000-05:00

I am SOOOOOOOO sick of the political ads that run rampant during the election "season". It all comes down to this one day. While I have yet to head to the polls and place my vote, to utilize my voice in this great socialist, uh em, Democracy, I do know one thing: Regardless of what happens today, regardless of the outcome, I know that God's will is/and will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. I am so glad that we are not the ones in control. We would not have made it this far for sure. The world would have ended many years ago. But He who has created us, cares for us, and guides us, if we would only humble ourselves and seek him!

So to everyone, Democrat, Republican, Independent, (not undecided), go out and vote, and make your voice heard. It is not only a priveledge, but YOUR DUTY as an American Citizen! If you don't vote, you have no right to complain! Oh yeah, one other thing, if "your guy" don't make it. Don't bash the one that does. Even if you don't like the man, he is still YOUR PRESIDENT. Regardless of the man, the position should be REGARDED HIGHLY. What shame was brought to our nation last time, when one candidate could not accept defeat. I pray that it don't happen again. I may not like the new president, but you can be sure, whomever we elect, I will follow and respect him as our president and give thanks to God, for he sees the big picture.

The Good Ole Days

2004-10-30T00:35:00.000-05:00

Not a whole lot has been going on here. Today was a super great day. One that makes you just feel great. We started out having a family meal. When you work second shift that sort of thing becomes a luxury. Then after lunch, we all gathered around the living room floor (with the exception of Alyson, she was ready for a nap- and we were ready for her nap as well :) Just kidding - even though she is rapidly approaching those terrible twos. We went out on the porch and grabbed our pumpkins, and had a family carve fest. It was soooo much fun. It reminded me of the times we all would get together with Ked and Amelia when they lived in G.R. I made a spongebob (not totally done yet, I had to leave for work :( ). Jen made a "hot chick", and Dawson and Madison made the traditional scarey face pumpkins with triangle eyes (and Dawson also added a beard to his- he is rapidly becoming his father's child). Let that be a lesson to you KEDRON RHODES. You are what your child will become, whether you like it or not! So get where you need to be before your child reaches the age where they idolize you! Ok, now I am getting down off my soapbox.

Kids really are great! Not only do they think you are the best, but they think everything you do is THE BEST as well. Dawson told Jen that her pumpkin was awesome. Madison told me that my Spongebob was awesome as well. Dawson, on the other hand, proceeded to tell me that people probably won't know it is spongebob. Oh well, if you know me at all, you know artisticism (hey, if that is not a word, I am going to start a petition to have it added to the dictionary - I figure if Bling-Bling can make it then so that my word..... Oh well, that is a different blog) skills were overlooked when I was created.

Anyways, back to my story, I am full of tangents. I got to work today and received a phone call. It seems that I have an interview for Field Services, Hardware Support area on Monday the 8th of November @ 11:00. This is something I have wanted to do for a long long long long time. Every since I first went over to Ked's house and was blown away by his awesome computer and the game stellar 7! I never told him, but he is really the one who created the curiousity in me about computers.

Well, anyways again :), right after I got off the phone, I was told by one of the 1st shift guys to call my boss. I did, it seems that one of the ladies I work with had a flat tire in Dewitt, Mi @ the State Employeees Credit Union there. My boss asked if I would go and pick her up. When I finally got there, I realized she had a spare tire and replaced the bad one with it. She offered to pay me, but I said no. Just remember next time someone needs help (it may be me for all I know), go out of your way (and maybe your comfort zone) and help them.
On the drive back to work, I couldn't help but remember the scripture in Matthew 25 where Jesus talks about how when he was "....hungry, you gave me food, when I was thirsty and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed me.......". It made me smile. It is kind of funny though. I mean stop and think about it, when you go out of your way and maybe your comfort zone to help someone, it makes you feel as good or maybe even better than the person who is on the receiving end.

Can someone pass the KETCHUP?

2004-10-20T14:02:00.000-05:00

What is the deal with John Kerry's wife? Why is she so out of touch with some womens values? See this article http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,136083,00.html. She claims she would be a better first lady because of her "work experience". Saying that Laura Bush, because of her status of a stay at home mom. What a joke. I would dare say that the opposite is true. I mean who would want a first lady that calls people idiots, and rips on people. Who seems to have little or no compassion at all. What a joke. The funny thing is behind every good man is a good woman. Well, what does that say about John Kerry then, knowing the character of his wife? I cannot in good conscience vote for him, even if the only reason was his wife. You see, the president, in order to be a great (let alone GOOD) president, needs to have the support of his wife, and she needs to have a good character about her. Just like someone who is going to pastor a church. Would you want to deal with his wife if she was a loose cannon? Or called people idiots for not believing what the pastor said?

Say Kerry does become president, what is next? Sorry Mr. Putin of Russia, you are a dweeb. And what if the french don't come to Kerry's aid when we solicit it from them? You guys are stupid. Yeah, looks really good huh? Come on now. If you are going to play the age card, then act your age. We don't need a president who constantly will have to apologize to Americans or whomever because his wife seems to have a chip on her shoulder, and has no respect for people. What I see in Laura Bush makes me proud to have her as the First Lady.

Ok, so I don't post as much as I would like.......

2004-10-07T00:36:00.000-05:00

Well, I got the computer running and found a good program to do it. And 3 hours later, the system was completely done, almost all the data restored! I only lost about 5% of the pictures (due to corruption). Not bad! After finishing that "little" project, I bought three laptops from Ebay, one was junk, the other two are fix-me-ups. I have been working on those lately in my sparse spare time. My mom went out of town (or state actually, to Maryland), so I have been over at her house taking care of my dad the last couple of days.

Sorry if this is so scattered all over, I have a lot of little updates, so bear with me!

I just went wireless the otherday. I was getting sick of unhooking all my stuff from my pc to work on other peoples stuff. I was given a 19" monitor from someone at work, I bought a new mouse & keyboard, and the wireless router & usb receptor were my last components. Kind of cool to surf the web from my couch upstairs on a laptop. I cannot tell you how frustrating and time consuming it is to work on PCs and having to unhook your stuff to do it. First you need to boot the other pc, well, then you need drivers or something from the web, so you hook up your own pc. Well, then you have to unplug it again and hook up the other, and what do you know? You grabbed the wrong driver/piece of software. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat, Rinse, put away!
NO MORE!

ROCK ON! So, anyways, not to bore you, but that is all that is going on here! Oh yeah, one more thing. Dawson and Madison have been going to Calvary Baptist Church in Bath, MI for the Awana program. Dawson is a SPARK and Maddie is a CUBBIE. They love it.

NO! It didn't work!

2004-09-12T21:34:00.000-05:00

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! That stupid program! I was able to recover about 2 files at a time and the program would crash! Then I would reopen it, scan the disk again for partitions, then analyze it, then try to recover again, and repeat! I am currently trying 3 other programs (I am almost at my wits end here). If anyone knows of a SUPER DUPER POOPER SCOOPER AWESOME Data Recovery program - then Shoot! If not, I will just keep trying. The one I am trying now seems pretty cool. It is not done scanning the disk yet though. We will see. I will keep posting my progress. The proggie I am using right now is GetDataBack. Good Luck 2 Me!

busy busy busy

2004-09-11T22:10:00.000-05:00

Wow. I finally have time to blog. Thanks for the "NICE" reminder Ked. :p Anyways, I have been trying to recover data from a friends pc (including 15 years of work and various tax data of his and his families). Well, his normal "tech guy" totally screwed him. He was given the advice to just back up his data. Wasn't told how or anything so he did what only he knew. Utilizing the Awesome Compaq Disaster Recovery cd, he was able to totally screw up his COMcrap, I mean Compaq. Anyways, after searching and working for many hours, I found THEE program to ease all of my fears! Well, after buying/installing a new 40GB drive, and reinstalling WIN Me on his machine, I attempted to utilize this program. His machine is a duron 700mhz. To make a long story short, it took over 4 hours just to scan the drive and determine any previous partitions on the drive. Then, after finding the partitions, you have to "analyze" them as well. Another 4 hours. Well, I just got that done, and (the next day, ahem) was ready to begin the recovery process (or atleast attempt it). So, I started and it comes up with a message that you can only restore 1 file per day (it is shareware - a 30 day trial). So, now I am back to square one. I haven't seen the success of the program yet to determine if I want it, so I am not interested in dropping the $30 some dollars yet. Well, I searched, and searched, and searched for HOURS and HOURS to fix my "LITTLE PROBLEM". To no avail! It was a mess. I think I have spent more time on this thing this week than I have been at work! No jokes please, I didn't mean working, just @ work! Anyways, I come down stairs this morning (we had a yard sale) and find the computer is off. OH MY GOODNESS! It appears that Jen had accidently unplugged the surge protector from the wall (not hard to do considering you have to do the limbo to get to my desk (yes it is a mess again, plus the cords running everywhere from two machines).

Well, to continue on, I got things back to where I was only to realize my fix wouldn't work on His machine (only on my machine would it work). So, I had to take his old drive out of his pc and put it into mine. Mine runs at 3Ghz. Slightly faster, and it is 1000Mhz Front Side Bus (slightly faster). Well, I was able to scan for partitions in just about 15 minutes. Much nicer, should have done it this way first of all. That brings me up to date now (that is how I have a few minutes to type my blog while I patiently wait again for it to analyze the partition. In fact, it is about 1/5th done already :)

So anyways, you all stay safe in Florida and don't let Ivan the terrible get you or to you! Sorry if this is boring stuff to the pc illiterate. I just kind of ramble on........

Interesting and humbling and weird and exciting!

2004-08-19T10:45:00.000-05:00

I have totally dissected the book I mentioned last post "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. I have taken notes 2 times, read each baby step section 3 or 4, and now feel comfortable to get things going. I am VERY excited to see what God holds for our family, when we are debt free, we will have a nice arsenal to work with! Just this month so far, God has blessed us beyond belief! Oh me of little faith! As you know Jen and I are a single income family. So I was overwhelmed when I sat down to find where we could cut and save money. I was the typical example in Dave Ramsey's book, I was putting an extra $40 on my mortgage, an extra amount here, and an extra amount here. It was working as well as someone who volunteers for too many things in a church by themselves. In other words, nothing was going anywhere! IF you are in debt, and you are paying extra on things and seeing no results, GET FOCUSED! Use the debt snowball method! I sat down and wrote a spreadsheet in Excel to do a budget with. I absolutely swear by and love excel! I have spent probably over 10 hours tweaking this thing. It shows my budget for EVERY paycheck and then on the next sheet, I linked the loan payments to a table that takes each payment and applies it and calculates interest. This gives you a visual on how long it will take to pay each thing off. UNBELIEVEABLE! Well, the first step is to save for an Emergency fun of $1,000. I wasn't sure where we would get the money to set this up as we seemed to be living paycheck to paycheck. After applying Dave's ideas, I was able to free up a significant portion of my income that allowed us to save $360 in just the first two weeks of the program alone, and that was with going to Shipshewanna (a preplanned and hotel-paid-for vacation) - we were good though, and ONLY PAID CASH for what we bought. It was a liberating feeling, to be able to do that and still have money left over to fund a third of our Emergency fund? That is totally AWESOME! It is funny to see God bless us in this way as I am currently reading Armageddon too (The Left Behind Series) and I am at the point where the Israelites are being fed manna and water from God's own hand. Just brings a smile to your face :) Since we have started this CASH ONLY thing and I have seen the results broadcast on my spreadsheet, I can feel the weight and pressure being lifted off of me. It is not fun to be paying extra on your bills and go in the red every month! We were losing ground every month! Thank you JESUS! I know that he heard my desperate souls cry for help, and sent this book and Dave Ramsey to me!

Money Matters

2004-08-11T23:19:00.000-05:00

Wow. I am in awe of how dumb I have been and really am. Kind of a weird statement if you don't know the whole story. I (along with the rest of America it seems) have been duped into thinking that the way to live is to borrow! If you know me very well at all, you know we have "accomplished" alot for our age. We have a house, a nice van, 3 kids, a dog, a cat, a bunch of fish, a white picket fence, etc. All that is good and well, but it wasn't until the last couple of days that I realized how unfortunate we really are. Now you may be saying "what?" You have those "things" and a good job, what could be wrong?

It all started about 8 years ago with a little plastic card that I received back in college. It was a pretty neat card not worth much (if you were to try to sell it as a piece of plastic), but surely a nice tool to build my credit(so I thought). Well, I won't bore you with the downward spiral, but one thing led to another, and another, and another, and before long living above your means is bound to catch up to you!

Well, the other day, I was feeling good about my ability to juggle all of my payments and "make it". I was talking to my sister-in-law and brother about "my financial strategy". I was spouting all this crap about being able to justify borrowing and all that. She being the wiser one went along with me listening to my stupidity as it spewed forth from my mouth about different financial things. I like to talk finances, and 401ks, and investments, in fact I have told some that if I could do it over again, or if I went back to school for something, it would be financial planning! Talk about the blind leading the blind! Woe is me, or worse yet, those who have/would listen to me!

Anyways, I was rambling on about my financial picture thinking I was "making it" and she said, "You should check out this book on finances, it is awesome, and it may help you out." I thought, ok, sounds cool. Why not.

Well, I took it home and am over 1/2 way through now. The book is called "The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. It is UNBELIEVEABLE how much I have been duped. See, my parents don't (and never have) managed money well. Well, I wasn't taught how to do it, so I have ended up where I am today. According to Dave Ramsey, we are not born knowing how to drive a car, or how to read and write, we are taught the SKILL. Have you ever heard someone exclaim "That baby was born a financial genius?" I don't think so.

Anyways, I am feeling many things as I read this, shame, guilt, depression, about where I am at versus, where I thought I was. I was among the mentality that if you could afford the monthly payments, then go for it. STUPID!

So here we are, getting ready to embark on this new journey, Jen and I. I have to admit that I am terrified! I love to design budgets (I have even developed 2 different Excell Spreadsheets for budgets), it is the following through that I am not keen on. I know it will be difficult, but in the end it will pay off. It sure is not fun having everything you have learned about money and finances, totally ripped up and thrown in your face.

Please pray for us as we restructure our finances and begin our journey. If anyone else is suffering from this disease I am telling you to check out this book. It is awesome! If by chance you are just starting out, please read this book, it will save you a TON of HEARTACHE. When I finish it I will post some of the cool quotes from the book here at a later date. I have been taking notes. :)

-untitled-

2004-08-02T23:27:00.000-05:00

Couldn't think of a title so I titled it "untitled". Well, car problems have been haunting me since Ked and Amelia came up! Must have brought it from their old car.......... Anyways, the van gas leak is now fixed. The new problem is with my truck. The beautiful beast that it is. I took it down to budget tire to get 4 new tires last week. As soon as I decided to do it, my front, driver's side tire decided to start going flat overnight. Sheesh! So I took it to budget and they start replacing the tires. An everyday job for them, so I thought. It seems that they were able to replace every single tire but the one that went flat overnight. Go figure. They told me that the lug studs and nuts had rusted so bad together that even using 600psi torque they couldn't budge them. They ended up breaking one of the studs off (imagine that). So they gave me the tire and told me to take it somewhere to heat them up and remove the remaining studs. The guy there told me that if he broke any more off (the studs) that I wouldn't be able to leave the store. What the porcus!?! To top it off it was approaching 3:00 p.m. and I had to be to work on the other side of Lansing in 30 minutes or less. So I took my spare and went home. I called my brother to have him help and we met on Saturday to fix the dumb thing. Well, to make a long story short, we ended up breaking another one, but 3 of them actually broke loose. By the way, just a side note, try PB Blaster if you have this problem. It makes things much easier. I found out after the fact :( So here I am with 3 lugnuts out of 5. And, go figure, the two bad ones are right next to each other. My brother's brother-in-law is a mechanic and he was coming over to their house the next day so we agreed to have him look at it on Sunday. He called me Sun. afternoon and told me to drive it to his house in Charlotte (we were already over by my mom's house). So I put the spare tire on the truck, tightened the three lugnuts, and away I went going 35-40mph down M-79. It was fun to see the line of traffic behind me by the time I got to Charlotte. I was surprised to not see one "birdie" on the way.

Well, here it is late Monday (er Tuesday for ya'll early mornin peeps). And Aaron finally fixed my truck tonight. Wonder what will be next.....

Hopefully nothing as we are headed to Port Sheldon on Wednesday morning. It is about a 2 hour drive from Lansing, located between Grand Haven and Holland. The house is a 4 story cabin with a private beach. I will get some pictures and find some webspace to upload them to. Maybe Ked can hook me up with that or something. Actually I think I have a free site with Comcast. Anyways, okay I am done. Bubeye now.

Time out!

2004-07-27T00:20:00.000-05:00

This month has flown by! It is almost over already! MERCY! It has been a whole week since Ked and Amelia came up to Lansing for the day. We had an awesome time like amelia blogged about! Since then alot has happened. Work for one (Wed. through Fri.).

On Friday night, Jen and the kids came up to meet me for lunch. We went to Mcdonalds and got a snack instead (none of us were all that hungry), we had straberrry sundaes for the kids, and Jen and I had carmel sundaes with nuts (my favorite and only a buck- you can't beat it!). Anyways, when we got back to where I work I smelled gas as the van sat there idling. The Sunday before we had run over an animal on the way to our family reunion (it was already dead). I didn't see it as a car was in front of me blocking my view. When Ked and Amelia were up I kept saying that I smelled gas!

Well, while at work (sorry for jumping around so much, I am sleepy :), I got out and surveyed the damage. It seemed that right where the fuel filter is, gasoline was dripping out at a pretty steady rate. That wasn't the biggest problem though. It was leaking on 3 pipes that run the length of the undercarriage, and they were very hot to the touch. So hot in fact, that everytime the gas dripped on them they made steam and the famous hissing sound that comes with that. I drove the van home and Jen followed me in the truck. All I could do all the way home is pray that the van would not blow up, and that if it was God's will for it to do so, that atleast don't let anyone else get hurt from it (Pretty scarey all the driving we did on Tuesday with a leaking gas line huh?).

Well, we made it home, and I went to Auto Zone on the way back to work and bought a new fuel filter (maybe God was trying to tell me to give my van a partial tune up :). My cousin Lance came over on Saturday (he is my light duty mechanic) and fixed the problem in about 5 minutes. As you all may know, car repair and I don't usually mesh. Give me a computer and I will show you some stuff, but not on a car. Anyways, after that was fixed I ran to Olivet. My brother sold his house and so I went to help him move. My mom went out to get everyone who helped Dairy Queen. I however had to leave before she returned so I missed out :( I had to run back to Lansing to catch the Lansing Lugnuts game at 7:05 p.m. In fact, we made it there just in time! Whew! It was awesome yelling at the other team, making fun of them, and basically just having a good time. Well, between one of the innings they decided to have a twist contest. They were giving away a Pepsi to the best "twister" in the crowd. Of course, I won. I was on the big screen in front of 11k+ people. I got so crazy I even knocked pastor Rizor's hat off (he was sitting in front of me). Needless to say, the pop was good. I think Madison drank 1/2 of it though. She is a pop guzzler if I ever saw one.

After the game, some of our bestfriends the Judy's came over to play a quick round of Euchre. The guys retained their incredible winning streak............so many games won I can't begin to tell you when we lost last. We just kind of click, Jack and I :) Anyways, Sunday was church of course, and then back to Mike's house to finish up with his furniture and other misc. junk. After that, we went back to mom's house and ordered some garlic mozerella sticks from goodtime pizza. They were good, just like I remembered. Reminded me of Ked. He used to work there, and we would always come in there when we were in high school. Those were the days!

Well, that is about all, tonight was boring at work. Same old, same old.

Oh yeah, one more thing. We found out that Jen's parents rented a cabin on Lake Michigan (Port Sheldon) next week, so we are going to head up there from Wednesday through Saturday next week. That is always fun. It has been pretty much a tradition for the last 3 or 4 years now. Jen's brothers and I always get a little network going and play pc games. That is always cool! Next year, we can play Halo 2 together maybe...............don't expect a blog while we are gone. NO PHONE LINES! Just lake waves flapping in the breeze and trees swaying. And sand, well, just being sandy.

CHOW 4 NOW

Alright already KED! Get off my back! Sheesh!

2004-07-17T01:30:00.000-05:00

Ked, I can't believe I went off like that in your comments. Sorry about that. And sorry if any were offended. We all know that the bible fortells it to get much worse before the end, and well, the Marriage Amendment really doesn't surprise me at all. Men will be given over to a reprobate mind. Things that are pure cut and dried wrong, are blurred to others. I agree with kedron at http://www.kedron.ailema.com/ (sorry about the link not being all professional, it has been awhile since HTML class and frankly I am too tired to look up how to post the ahref thingie). The best thing we as "Christians" to show that we are what we say we are is to get involved! THE FIRST AND FOREMOST THING YOU CAN DO IS GET YOUR LAZY BUTT OUT AND VOTE! I cannot believe what some people say as to why they don't vote..."My vote don't matter" - Yeah, what if everyone said that except one person. Kind of scarey. I bought the cleaning crew at work some pizza the other day. I know that two of them (from previous conversations) do not vote. One of them, after grubbing on the pizza, said "Hey man, I think you may have convinced me to vote!" Funny thing is that he thought President Bush (capitalized for all the dem's :p ) was trying to push through an amendment to allow gay marriage. I had to cover my face. This brings me to point # 2. IF you DO VOTE, please atleast have an idea what the issues are and who stands on which side! Otherwise we are all in trouble! Oh yeah and one more thing! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KED! :p

Talk about a hurts don't it.....

2004-07-08T10:04:00.000-05:00

We went down to Toledo, OH for the fourth on Sunday afternoon. It seems the wedding setup and tear down really put us through our paces. We didn't even get up on Sunday until after 12:00! Yeah, I know backsliders! Anyways, we went down to Jen's brothers house (they are staying in a house that the owners rent out to missionaries). It is a huge farm house with like 80 acres or something like that.

Anyways, we decided to play football. Well, you know me Mr. get carried away (I overlooked the two hand touch rule to show my tackling ability), I ended up ripping one of my brother in law's shirts, falling a few times, etc. Next we played volleyball. That was fun. It wasn't until Monday morning when I tried to get out of bed that I realized I had done something bad.

I have been going to the chiropractor for about 9 months now. It appears that I have a damaged disc and the likes from years of horseplay. I think it stemmed from the car accident I was in with my brother, and when my dad and I had a water fight and I fell on my tailbone (I could not sit down for over a week). Anyways, I woke up with that famous pain between my shoulder blades. The kind of pain where you move just right and it takes your breath away. Well, I stretched out and took a nice HOT shower to help relax them as we had a long day ahead of us at the Toledo Zoo.

Since then, everymorning I have woken up extremely sore (I am pretty sore right now in fact). I went to the chiropractor yesterday and he laughed at me (guess I deserved that). I am hoping that it will go away in a few days, or atleast the pain will subside a little, cuz I am gettin sick of it. Jen told me (same as always), that is what you get for playing around like that! Everytime you do stuff like that or wrestle around, you always hurt your back. I just tell her "I know, but it is so much fun". I guess if they want to play games next time I will just hold back some, knowing that pain is sure to come if I give it my all. I WILL NOT SIT ON THE SIDELINES WHILE THEY ARE PLAYING AND HAVING PHUN! I guess I am just very stubborn!

Going to the chapel......

2004-07-02T21:00:00.000-05:00

Dude I can't believe how much I can't believe! I just spent like 8 hours working to setup a wedding that I have to be at the church for at 9! If you know me, you know mornings and I don't get along. Ask Ked, I was reminiscing with him today about Him and I, and our old roomate Brian Gates. I would tell you all about it but I am VERY VERY TIRED, and after I get some rest, who knows maybe I will post it.

Anyways, back to tomorrow. I picked up my Tuxedo today and the coat is huge! The funny thing is that I tried on a size smaller and it was too small. When I said huge, I meant huge! I mean, I am a pretty big guy, but this thing could be wrapped around 1 1/2 times! Oh well, it is comfy. And if you know me very well at all, I like big comfy clothes, so I told them it was COOL. Dawson is going to be an usher tomorrow, he looked like a little stud in his tux.

Even though it was a lot of work (all the setup), it was fun to reminisce about our wedding and junk 7 years ago. My how the time flies!

I am sorry about cutting our call short today Dek, I will call you when things slow down, hopefully tomorrow night or definitely by Sunday!

WANT WANT WANT........

Up Up and asleep.............

2004-07-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday had to be one of the most boring days of work I have ever had! I had a 3 hour meeting on workplace safety (you never know when you might get a paper cut or hit by a flying keyboard!), drug/alcohol abuse, and discrimination stuff. What a joke, and what a waste of tax payer money! The only thing that kept me awake was the lady sitting in front of me. She was bobbing in here seat not even 1/2 hour into the thing. She would waver, and It would make me grin, keeping me awake. There was 4 people giving their little speeches. The last guy, well, I am not even sure what he said, I was so far gone that all I heard was "waaaaah waaaah waaaah" like in the comic peanuts, the teacher when she talks to the kids. Oh MY GOODNESS! But, I made it!

Then I got to work and found out that I had been promoted from an 8 to a 9 (and received almost $1 raise), kind of nice :) Then I get a 4% raise in October. Hopefully they will give us our 4 hours per check in pay back, that is 5% pay cut for this year. Employee concessions! You gotta love them!

I just dropped my parents off at Sparrow Hospital, as you all know my dad has Multiple Sclerosis quite bad, and he had a steroid infusion today (once a month). Then they come back here and have lunch.

Other than that, you are up to date with me!

Turn YO Head slowly, you might knock someone out wit dat planc in yo (o)

2004-06-27T23:26:00.000-05:00

Summertime is SUPER busy for us here in little Ol' Lansingville. Especially with working 2nd shift. We seem to only have the weekends in common with everyone else, so they tend to come slowly and end way to quick!

Yesterday Dawson and I attended our first Father/Son Banquet together. We were treated like kings and princes to a royal feast of Spaghetti, Galic bread, and Salad. It was awesome. We then proceeded to have an INDOOR golf tourney. It was awesome as well. Dawson loved it! He didn't actually seem to grasp the game, he played it more or less like you would play hockey. I know he is only 5 1/2, but I found myself wanting him to be able to play like a pro. I wanted to be proud when they called out the score. To say, my son won first prize. He was the best. When he couldn't even grasp how to hold the club (I showed him over and over and over), and when he would run over and pick up the ball, put it in front of the hole, and then proceed to hit it in, I got frustrated. I thought to myself, why won't he do it like I showed him? I told him over and over again to not pick up the ball, only to hit it wherever it landed (Dawson tends to get excited when he is OVER STIMULATED. Wonder where he got that from?????? He tends to show off whenever he can).

I don't know what MY problem was, I think it may have been lack of sleep from the night before (Alyson has been sick and sleeping a few hours a night), or just my own selfishness (I was very grumpy). But, tonight as I was reflecting on what to type, it hit me. I am no different than Dawson. How many times has God said something to me, here try it this way, do it like this, let me show you, and I had not listened? It is kind of interesting how easy it is to see others faults and condemn them for them, but to see our own faults (especially if they are the same ones we criticize others for), that is very humbling.

I think I owe my son an apology, I will tell him first thing tomorrow (he is already in bed).

Blah Blah Blog

2004-06-25T01:15:00.000-05:00

Not sure if anyone will even read this, or better yet, if anyone will care, but this is MY BLOG! What to say now........Hmmmmmmmm.........How about GO DETROIT PISTONS? Yeah that will work. What happened to the ALL STAR LAKERS? They met my boys! Or we could say GO DETROIT SHOCK! Who knows, maybe we can say GO LIONS this year? Well, probably not, but you never know.

This is pretty much a junk post, but what can you expect from a Noob who is merely making sure they set this thing up correctly?

Have patience they will get deeper and maybe a little more meaningful.......let's hope anyways!

Peace I am outtie..........