Carnival of Madness

The last week or so:Christmas day was cool. I got beer bread from Sean and $50 big ones from the Grandparents. Didn’t spend any of that, put it all away in my fun fund. Then on Wednesday, I got the big money, $3545 from Health Insurance reimbursement. That all went to the savings too.

So, for the year, I accomplished a few goals. I got rid of that stupid US Bank credit card. I got some real profit built up the past few months. I also pretty much avoided dating and such. I was tired of dating by the end of last year and decided not to date for a while. I enjoyed it a lot. Back before 2005, I didn’t enjoy being single. Then when I spent two years dating and such, I realized that wasn’t much fun at all. Dating sucks. Maybe it’s all the wrong girls and if I met the right girl, I would enjoy it. Overall though, I enjoyed 2007 as soon as I got over the whole ACL reconstruction thing.

So now comes 2008. I have one goal for the next year. End the year 2008 with at least $15,000. I can imagine I’d have more than that, but I’m adjusting for possible problems. I mean I’ll probably have more. Plus I gotta pay for a bunch of stuff in May. So yeah, I think $15,000 is a minimum. I think $23,000 is the maximum. But we’ll just have to wait and see where I am at this time next year. If I have $20,000, that’d be $13,000 in one year. Meaning I could have $33,000 by year end 2009.

As for the car, I’d have to say that right now, the car has had low miles this year. I have driven it about 4,950 miles. And I’ve only driven 2,000 of those since May 5th. I’d kinda like to get a different car because my car has heating duct problems and I can’t switch it off from the defroster and I’d have to spend $25 on getting it switched to blow in my face again. On the other hand, it’s just a car and I don’t drive it that much. And $25 is nothing compared to how much a new car costs…

According to these guys, it’s all George Bush’s fault that people are unable to pay off their credit cards. First of all, if you have a credit card, George Bush had nothing to do with it. If you’re drowning in debt, you’re the one who signed up for all these things. You’re the one who charged a bunch of stuff to them. You’re the one who’s living off more than you make. Yeah, sure George Bush said to go on vacation in Florida and have a good time, but since when should Americans listen to any idiot who gets them self elected president? If you can’t afford to pay cash, write a check or use a debit card, you really can’t afford it and you shouldn’t be buying it.It just seems that to me that liberals love to blame this current Republican president for everything little thing that could possibly go wrong in our lives. If you only make $14,000 a year; it’s Bush’s fault. If you have $20,000 in credit card debit, it’s Bush’s fault. If you decided not to get health insurance for you and your kids through work, it’s Bush’s fault. If you get a hang nail, it’s Bush’s fault. If you spill coffee on your newspaper, it’s Bush’s fault. Every little thing that you have total control over in the world, it’s all Bush’s fault.

And of course the reason Americans are going broke are things they can’t control. Through the roof inflation, government spending in to oblivion and insanely high taxes are the reasons Americans are going broke. Now those rip off Adjustable Rate Sub-prime mortgages, you can blame the government there. Most lenders started offering those because the government insisted that everyone, even people who couldn’t afford it, should be able to buy a home; in order to increase the “ownership society”.

In happy news that isn’t me complaining about stuff, I got Jennie to sign up with a bank that offers $25 for getting started if you deposit at least $250 and $10 for each person you refer, as long as they deposit $250. So far I’ve made $35 on this bank for doing nothing. And another $12.54 in interest I’ve made so far since I signed up in October. I also got my annual big fat health insurance reimbursement check for a grand total of $3545. Plus i got $70 for Christmas. I put all but $5 in the bank. I left $10 in my checking account. For a grand total of $3610. Plus another $10 in refer bonus, I basically added $3620 to my account yesterday.

I also spent some money on getting cheese curds for Monday night. Got a new year’s fondue party to hit up. Well, it’s not gonna be a big party. Just a little thing with five people. Probably gonna buy beer for it too, since I should contribute to the fun.

Money thoughts about the coming year: It’s gonna be expensive, especially May. I’m gonna buy Jennie something nice for graduation/birthday because my Christmas presents were kinda cheap. I’m gonna be going to Jennie’s graduation on the 17th/18th of May, which is the weekend before a wedding and I gotta pay for the hotel room. I hope the bachelor party isn’t the weekend before hand. Then there’s a wedding tux rental, in which I must buy a cowboy hat and that’s gonna be expensive from what he’s told me. I have to go get fitted for it in the next month. The limo thing would be cool, but I probably wouldn’t be riding in it since I’m just an usher. So, there’s no motivation for me to do that on my part. And it’s not like Sean’s wedding or Jennie’s getting married, so I don’t really want to spend that kind of money on it, even if it’s only half. And on top of those two things, I gotta see the Dentist again on the 20th of that month. There’s another $129. Plus in May 2009, there’s yet another wedding that I might be in. Haven’t heard anything about that yet. And who the fuck knows what else might happen, I might get married next year and that’ll be a real drain on the money thing (at least that’s the way I understand marriage). I’ll just have to really work a lot the other 27 days in May (I’m guessing four days will be me not working a lot), which shouldn’t be a problem since it’s planting season.

June-November should be good though. Back to the normal grind. Might go to Pittsburgh again in late July, haven’t really decided yet. I mean, I don’t expect them to be good or anything, but I do like to see them and I enjoy going to Pittsburgh. So yeah, I might do that again. Plus nothing beats a few days off in the busiest part of the year. But yeah, hotels and plane tickets are generally cheap anyways and I do like flying in planes. This time though, not stop overs in LaGuardia.

So that’s it for now. Gonna go back to bed now. Yeah!!!

Well tonight was a cool party. Unlike the party we had two years ago where I spent most of the night bumbed out she who must not be named having broken up with me, I was able to have fun tonight. It consisted mostly of drinking and watching Bad Santa on Comedy Central and lost of weird stuff in the other room. I stayed safely in the living room, away from the chaos that engulfed the other room. I had my chili, my food, my stuff and left to the living room where I watched Jennie and Tonya drink some stuff and they kept giving me beer. I stuck with beer and tried to avoid the craziness. We might pick it up tomorrow night with a little extra par-tay.As for stuff I got. Favorite thing: Has to be the new long sleeved Steeler shirt. Also got Superbad and Simpsons movie. And the necessary replacement Dilbert daily calendar. Mom got me some cologne which I’m gonna take as a hint that I stink. And some iTunes and Theisen’s gift card from dad. Theisen’s is weird. Whenever I go there, I find stuff I wanna buy, but kinda don’t wanna buy because it’s just stuff I don’t entirely need. Best Buy has lots of cool stuff, but I have had hard times using a gift card there. Oh well. That’ll be a fund day some day…

Oh yeah, a real bitch of a thing happened this afternoon. Around 3:45 I headed to the barn to get some stuff done early. Right? I went along and chased the steers in to the holding area (the area where the cows wait to be milked). I put the corn stalks in there to make the pin all nice and clean. I then closed the doors and shut the gates on other side of the barn, walked through the pin and got up there and the steers had knocked the gate off the hinges and a bunch of them had run in with the cows and cows had run in with the steers. Ugh. I spent about 15 minutes trying to find all the steers that were in the cow’s part of the barn. I found them all and started milking. Of course it happens on Christmas Eve. I mean, that won’t happen on January 12, 2008. Had to happen today…

Well it’s almost 1:30, better get to bed. Onward to tomorrow!

Well, Dawg died sometime during the night. Dawg lasted about 7 years on our farm; which is probably the minimum for a dog on a farm. Farm life is tough on dogs. City dogs, like Daboo have it easy. They usually don’t get stepped on by cattle. They usually spend most of their days inside a nice warm house during the winter. Farm dogs have jobs to do, I’ve never noticed Daboo do any sort of work.Our dog was pretty good. He sometimes got way too enthusiastic about chasing the cows around, but generally he did his job well. Then about a year ago, he started slowing down a lot. Mostly just not chasing the four wheeler. Like if we came down the road and turned in to our lane, the dog would run out of the barn and chase the four wheeler up to the shed. But then this year that pretty much stopped. He’d run out of the barn, bark a few times and then stop and watch the four wheeler drive up to the shed. Other things too, like he suddenly had trouble walking a few months ago. And in the past, he could keep all the heifers on one side of the barn while we cleaned out the rest, this year I resorted to using a gate instead. Dawg just couldn’t keep up with the cattle anymore. The past month, he basically sat there and did nothing. He couldn’t bark much anymore and he wouldn’t help with anything anymore. Until a week ago, he was able to get up and walk around a little bit. But this past week, he just spent all that time dying.

Dad has suggested holding off on getting a new dog until it’s warmer and less insane outside. Maybe late February, early March or so. I mean, we can survive without a dog for a while, we did before. I think dad just doesn’t wanna have to train the dog when it’s like this outside. I can’t agree more. Also updated the dog page to reflect the change in dog status…

Technology is weird. When DVD players and VCR’s first came out, they were built to last. Spending upwards of $300 meant that you wanted quality. My parents spent a huge wad of cash on their first VCR back in 1986. I was six years old at the time and had no idea what that thing on top of the TV was or what it did. My uncle Mike came out to set it up. I was told not to use it because it was new and expensive. After a while, I figured out how to use it and I loved it because we could record stuff that was on TV, could watch it later and it had a remote control. Back then, that was awesome. Especially since our TV, you had to go up there and change the channels manually on the dial thing, until about 1989 or so.Then when that old, old, old TV basically started making weird colors and stuff, it was sent to the basement and we got a new TV that had a remote too. Sadly in those days, with three kids in the house, those remotes didn’t last long. Usually when there were fights, we’d throw stuff that was easy to throw and would cause the most injury without requiring a hosptial visit: TV/VCR remotes. Even though the remotes didn’t last, the TV and VCR did. By 1995 or so, the old VCR was starting to show it’s age and we sent it to the old TV in the basement and got a new fancy VCR. This thing last a few years, but nearly as long as the old VCR. By about 1998, the parents needed another VCR; which is now at Sean’s house, I think.

The first DVD player I got, I spent $350 on in 1999 and got five free movies to go with it. Sadly, I had to send a bunch of stuff to RCA and wait around for them to get back to me. So instead of having a brand new DVD player with five new movies, I had to buy a movie to watch to go with it. What movie was popular to buy in late 1999? The Matrix! According to Amazon, it came out September 21, 1999 so I probably bought the DVD player in October 1999, I think right before I bought the Mazda.

That DVD player lasted until mid-2006 or so. After that, I got a new one, but that one didn’t last long either and since then, I’ve been using the one we gave mom for Christmas in 2000. So mine lasted seven years. The one we bought mom, it’s 7 years and counting. New one I bought last year, not even a year. It’s crazy, man.

So perhaps now is the best time to latch on to the HD-DVD or Blu Ray thing. Now is the time to get one of these and spend big money on it. Now, while they’re still trying to make quality machines instead of mass produce for everyone.

TV’s, however, last a long time. My parents TV they bought in 1989, it lasted until early 2002, I think. Then they got a new 2 ton flat screen TV and that’s lasted almost six years so far.

Mom went out and got a new DVD/VCR combo thing to replace the previous one in which the VCR didn’t work. I’m not a big fan of those because if one thing breaks, you generally have to throw out both. And besides MST3K and some home movies, I don’t use VCR’s anyways. i just keep one just in case.

The first computer we had was a Tandy 1000 HX we got from Radio Shack, which had MS/DOS, but didn’t have Windows. It had something called DeskMate. I can’t imagine how we got anything done on that machine. We used an old TV as the monitor the first few months until we could afford to buy a colored monitor to use. Then around 1993, we got a Dell 486. That thing was awesome compared to the Tandy. It actually had Windows and a mouse and came with a monitor. Way better stuff.

After that, I don’t remember what we got. It all sorta meshed together until I got the iBook in 2004. But back in the late 80′s, early 90′s, computers were much more personal. It just seems back then we spent many hours confused and frustrated with the damn things because they never did what we wanted them to do. Also spent a lot of time opening them up and adding new stuff all the time. Trying to make it better on our own. And then spending about a day trying to get the software to work and make Windows recognize the new hardware. Today, nobody seems to wanna do that anymore. It’s just easier to go out and get an entirely new computer. It might be cheaper and easier in the long run….

Well, the Steelers lost again. Ugh, that sucks. Puts a real damper on the whole Tea Party thing.As for the Tea Party, $4 million dropped by supporters so far. Most excellent, considering that he only got $4.3 million on November 5th. I wonder if they’re gonna pick a day in January to do this again. Oh well, it’s cool.

I spent the afternoon getting some groceries, buying mom an extra christmas present (printer paper) and then doing my health insurance end of the year thing. Sadly, I’ve had to pay a bunch of out of pocket expenses this year. AgriBiz and Green Bros. won’t cover the cost of everything. Oh well, considering the growing savings account, I guess I was able to afford it. Would have been nice to get back a few extra grand for savings. Nothing like a big fat greasy savings account.

Otherwise, I put a bunch of 2007 folders in my file cabinet in the back and got the 2008 folders ready to be used. My 2007 Medical Expenses folder was gigantic. It had all the receipts from co-pays, the bills, the statements, the dental bills/statements, etc. Just a nutty bunch of stuff.

I also spent a bit of the afternoon listening to some music and reading “How Capitalism Saved America”. Awesome book, I’ve already read it once, but it’s such a great book to read on Tea Party Day. It actually mentions the tea party in one chapter. So that was my Sunday, so far. It was cool ‘n all.

Well tomorrow is the 16th of December. It could be a very awesome day. The Steelers could win and Ron Paul could take in another giant haul for his campaign. With Tea Party 07 already having on record over 33,000 pledges for at least $3.3 million in donations, tomorrow looks to be a good day for the Ron Paul campaign. I’m guessing he’ll be taking in $5 million for the day to end at $16.5 million and $4.5 million over what he asked for in the 4th quarter (with half the month of December left).For me the reason Ron Paul is the best choice, is that he’s the only “two party candidate” that has said anything that makes any sense at all. Huckabee claims like hell he’s a christian but he doesn’t seem to mind the rather un-Christian war in Iraq. Not to mention the fact that he’s one of those really awful Christians who wanna use their religion to justify unconstitutional and theocratic laws on everyone, Christian or not. Giuliani’s only real credentials is that he was mayor of New York City on 9/11. Well, maybe you didn’t know that, I mean that’s a rather minor talking point on his part. Not to mention that he’s pro-war, pro gun control and wants tax payers to fund abortions. Also he used fascist tactics in order to turn New York city in to his own little fiefdom. Why is this guy getting anywhere? McCain is just speaking Bush right now. The whole campaign finance reform law he helped pass has done nothing because of his stance on the war.

Romney well, he likes clean water, I guess. Just replace the word water with culture and the word clean with censored. Here’s my dictionary’s definition of cesspool:

an underground container for the temporary storage of liquid waste and sewage.

So our oceans are now underground? Also his view on medical marijuana is just absolutely disgusting. When asked by a wheelchair-confined medical marijuana patient if he would throw the patient in jail for using medical marijuana, Romney basically said yes. Tancredo is rightfully getting no where. The guy said that multi-culturalism is destroying the United States. Yeah, that whole melting pot thing is just such a destructive force. You’d think that endless world wars, high taxes, fiat currency, the drug war, the poverty war, the lobbyist in DC, the destruction of Civil Liberties with the Patriot Act, warrant-less wiretaps, and all the other evil shit government does would be worse than multi-culturalism. But what the fuck do I know anyways? I’ve never been elected to the office of anything. I couldn’t even be elected Homecoming King in High School….But back to Ron Paul and with only a few minutes until the start of the December 16th Money-Tactical Nuke, he’s awesome and I’m gonna give him more money tomorrow. Yah! for Ron Paul. He’s the man! (and not the evil “The Man”) I hope he wins, that’d be great. Oh well, here we go…

I love this guy’s attitude. His big financial break through are those airline miles and cash back rewards. The funniest moment is when he states that I, user of cash, checks and debit cards, am paying for his rewards programs.Ha! He has to be kidding. Does he honestly not know where the rewards money and airline miles come from? It comes from people who can’t pay their entire account off every month. People who pay through the nose interest rates. That’s who’s paying for this idiot’s supposedly free money. Also, if debit cards were such huge money makers for banks that users of them were paying off the guys who qualify for credit card reward programs, then wouldn’t all the banks be pushing debit cards instead of credit cards?

Of course debit cards are mostly offered to customers who have checking accounts. If you don’t over draft your account, you won’t have to pay a thing to use it, same with checks. Most banks offer free checking. Cash is usually free to use. I don’t get the math on this one. Can he show his work on how he came up with such an idiotic assertion?

Well the fucking Feds lowered the interest rates again. I went to check my savings tonight and there was a transaction thing that stated the rate was lower. Ugh, I’m getting sick of those Fed jerks lowering the rate every month. Dad was talking about the mid-80′s when the interest rate was 15%, what I wouldn’t give to have a 15% interest rate, boy that would be freaking sweet for my savings.I just saw a stupid commercial while watching Da Bulls game. Basically it’s for Toyota. There’s a guy out covering his car with snow so that the snow plow truck won’t see it and then destroy his car and then he’ll have a good excuse to go buy a Toyota. Yeah, what a stupid idea. They don’t even want trade-ins. They want you to buy a car, without any sort of down payment or trade in, thus having to spend lots and lots of money (and borrow lots and lots of money…)

Yep.

Thanks to Sean, I just remembered to put up my Christmas decorations. Yeah, so go look at them right now! Because they’re really important to look at and stuff. Er…not.Oh, the Mitchell report came out yesterday. The big damning report that told us who was juicing in baseball. Kevin Young was the only well known Pirates player to have used steroids or HGH or whatever they’re talking about. He started using after his best seasons (97-99) and so he started to cheat after he started sucking and so the cheating did nothing to make him any better. Interesting. Makes me wonder if there’s not as much to this whole “cheating” thing as most people say there is. Maybe it takes real talent and not just drugs…

Oh well. I was glad to see David Justice on the list. As one of the fuckers on the Atlanta Braves who help beat the Pirates in the 92 NLCS, it was nice to know that he’s a druggie. Was sad that neither Francisco Cabrera nor Sid Bream were on the list. I’m curious on how a guy with a knee like a bent out of shape slinky could out run a throw from Barry Bonds.

So in honor of the Mitchell Report, I watched the MST3K episode of “MItchell”! Yeah, it made sense yesterday when I was watching it.

Also saw the Senators/Pens game last night on HDNet. Man, I really love HDNet. Glad to see some Pens game on there and not just all the “best” teams. It sucked though because the Pens lost 4-1. If Sidney Crosby had gotten two shots that he should have made, it would have been a 3-3 tie going in to OT instead of a 4-1 Senators win….