nothing ado

I'm still here, just no inspiration. Possibly more to come soon...

Ramsey

So I turned on the radio on Monday and heard this guy talking to a caller about debt. The guy who called said his wife has $80,000 in student loans and the guy said that he wanted to pump $2,500/ month to get it paid off in a few years, but that his wife wanted to put about $1,500/month instead because she had just graduated and wanted some time to relax. The host David Ramsey said, "She just doesn't get it. You'll end up paying that off in 10 years instead of 3. Do you know how that's going to set you back financially?"

That's when I was interested.

So I found out this guy, David Ramsey, has a few books out. I bought Total Money Makeover and I'm almost done. I am hooked. So far, I've gotten through baby step 1 (thank you federal goverment) and I'm starting the "debt snowball" on my next paycheck. I've also canceled Netflix and my newspaper subscription and I'm going to cancel our satellite subscription on June 28th. I've declared war on debt!

I've decided to keep tabs here on my blog, so we'll keep you posted.

Why else would we have "forever" stamps?

Did you ever wonder why the US postal service started doing "forever" stamps. I'll tell you why I think they did. If you read here you'll notice that they raised prices again. It's less of a headline now since we don't have to worry about getting those 1 cent stamps anymore. But you can count on this happening a lot more often in the future since they don't have pricing on the stamps anymore to remind us of what they cost us.

Iron Man? More like Terran Man

This idea looks more like Starcraft than Iron Man to me. Especially since they won't fly.

West Coast Watefronts

For anyone who frequents the link to Engrish.com you are probably aware of the typos that are going on in China. I didn't expect this to happen on foxnews.com:
Nice, eh?

I’m hunting wabbits

So, I went to see Rush this past weekend with my brother. A good concert (not as good as the last time I saw them, but good all the same) and I told my brother that as payment, I would mow his lawn 4 times. Today was the second of 4 mows. Everything was normal. As usual, I edged and weed-whacked first. Then I started up the mower.

Now before I go on, the last few times I went to my brother’s house, I’ve seen rabbits bouncing around. My brother lives in a new development area and as they expand, the rabbits scramble (that’s to be expected). What I didn’t expect was what happened when I came around on my first round. A rabbit hole with about 6 baby rabbits inside squirming around right under where the mower was sitting. I immediately got my brother’s wife and showed her the critters. They were all squirming around and looked like big worms.

So, then I called my brother. He told me to finish mowing and he’d take care of it. So, gingerly, I continued to mow, making sure there was nothing under the blades as I went through the back yard. Then as I got to the other side of the house, I turned a corner and 3 other baby rabbits (a bit older this time) jumped out of yet another hole and started bouncing all over the place. I told my brother’s wife about the new holes and finished. They’re going to have to call a trapper to get them cleared out, so that’s no fun. It made for an interesting morning though.

The Cure for the common Dancing With the Stars

It's called:

The Twilight Series. Um... no, it's not because I like the series, because I have no idea whether I do or not. It's because I don't have to watch dancing with the stars because Alex is now distracted. YAY!!!!!!

Reminiscing

I was just thinking about this picture for some strange reason that's found at BYU. Those of you who went prior to the canning of the Smith Family Living Center knew it to be in the pathway going towards the Benson building (at least, I think that's the local). That whole walkway was destroyed and the statue was moved to another area of the campus on the Southeast side as found in this picture (I don't know if there are any pictures showing it where it used to be). Anyways, this reminds me of a really funny story about the BYU newspaper. There was apparently an editorial about how the woman in the statue doesn't have a ring on her finger *gasp*. This editorial sparked an outrage and soonafter, you would see twisty ties put on the ring finger of the woman to make up for the "missing ring". People are shallow and silly sometimes.

Life in Life out

Clark and Shannon are saying hello to their new baby who was born today. Everything seems to be going really well for them. My wife and I are really happy for them. Congratulations Clark and Shannon!

On a sad note, my cousin, Matthew Tyler, just lost his baby girl today who was just 3 months old. I'm so separated from my family that I don't even know her name. I got my Aunt's telephone number and called and told her that I loved her and let her know that I was sorry. It is a terrible loss to her, my cousin and his wife.

I know, I probably shouldn't complain about this, but...

I was reading this new blog Mormon Matters and saw this:

I’ve long thought the best talks are “front-loaded” into the Saturday session to reward those dedicated souls who are willing to give up both their Saturday as well as their Sunday to participate in eight to ten hour hours of conference over the weekend. emphasis added.

Now. I think that I know what they're trying to say here when they say "dedicated souls," but here's my beef. I have to work on Saturdays and don't have a choice in the matter. Does that make me less of a good person? This is exactly what I have a problem with when people who are presumptuous that they think they know what it's like to live in reality. Okay, it's out and now I can go on living my life.

Time

Time is something I seem to have less and less of. I've taken on two major projects and have to teach a training class on Wednesday next week. The projects will probably take me, if not the rest of the month, the majority of it. I'm also on a new shift right now (12:30 to 9) and I've been trying to get as much done as possible. I do have good news. I've moved up to the rank of level 1 underwriter at my job which is a pretty big deal. I'm also starting a mentorship with a project manager in Connecticut at the home office. He was recommended to me by one of my college buddies who works at the Hartford. I'm looking forward to getting everything done so that I have more time.

"The Field"

I once had a friend that I grew up with in Oklahoma who had since moved to Orem, Utah who said that she missed OK. She then said that she missed “living in the field”. It took me a second to understand what she meant by that. When I did, it was almost insulting, if not presumptuous, to insinuate that there is no missionary work in UT to be done. I guess that’s what was meant by “Carnal Security” in the Book of Mormon.

READY... SET...

HIT YOURSELF!!!!

Eyesight blues

For those who know me and have known me, I've had glasses for years and years and years. As a matter of fact, the only people to have known me without glasses were my parents my older brother and sister and my little sister, Suzanne. That's because I've had glasses since I was 5 years old. I still remember to this day the test that I had when I was preparing for school. It was at Columbia Elementary school in Kaysville, Utah. I was looking at cutouts of hands, you know the ones where people draw a line around their hand and you're asked to point the direction that the fingers are pointing. On the ground, there were some footprints and they led up to the hands. When they asked me to point, I couldn't see the hands, so they asked me to move up the footprints until I could see them. Well, to make a long story short, I ended up on the closest footprints and still couldn't see the hand. I think that was the 20/200 line or something.

The only reason I'm bringing this up is because, as I mentioned before, I got some new glasses and they didn't quite seem right. I told my doctor (my wife's boss) and he invited me back in. I went in and I looked on the 20/25 line and, although it was a bit fuzzy, I could see. He tweaked it a bit, asked me to look at the 20/20 line and I could see a few letters, but I couldn't see any of them clearly. I guess that's the best I'll get. My eyes suck!

The other red white and blue flag

I didn't think that I'd ever wear this flag.

My wife works at an optometrist and picked out some glasses for me and they have the logo on them. Oh well.

Askamony

If you're a member of the LDS church, you've heard of the Testimony. if you've been to BYU, you've heard of the Thankamony and the Loveamony, but I have a new one for you, the Askamony. This is where people get up and ask the Elders quorum to move them in front of the entire congregation.

What the...

You fill in the rest after you read this:

Sheriff: Woman Sat on Toilet for 2 Years
By ROXANA HEGEMAN – 20 hours ago

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who stayed in her boyfriend's bathroom for two years, spending most of her time on the toilet — so that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the man finally called police.

It appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat, said Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple. The woman initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the boyfriend.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."

Police declined to release the couple's names, but the boyfriend, Kory McFarren, agreed to be interviewed Wednesday by The Associated Press. He identified his girlfriend as Pam Babcock.

McFarren, 36, told investigators he took Babcock food and water and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, 'Maybe tomorrow,'" Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

McFarren told the AP that he wasn't to blame, and that it was solely Babcock's choice to remain in the bathroom.

"She is an adult; she made her own decision. It was my fault I should have gotten help for her sooner; I admit that. But after a while, you kind of get used to it," McFarren said.

Although authorities said they think Babcock was in the bathroom for two years, McFarren said he wasn't certain how long she stayed there. He said she had a phobia about leaving the room because of childhood beatings.

"It just kind of happened one day. She went in and had been in there a little while, the next time it was a little longer. Then she got it in her head she was going to stay — like it was a safe place for her," McFarren said.

But McFarren said Babcock moved around in the bathroom during that time, bathed and changed into the clothes he brought her. He said they conversed and had an otherwise normal relationship — except that it all happened in the bathroom.

McFarren, who works at an antique store, said he has been taking care of Babcock for the 16 years they have lived together.

McFarren called police on Feb. 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said.

Police found Babcock clothed and sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked as if they had atrophied, Whipple said.

"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.

She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

McFarren said that his girlfriend has an infection in her legs that has damaged her nerves, and that she has no feeling in her legs. She may wind up in a wheelchair, he said.

Authorities said they did not know whether she was mentally or physically disabled.

The case has been the buzz of Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.

"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.

Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."

Common Sense

I have to disagree with the website Obsolete Skills where it talks about common sense as an obsolete skill for the obvious reason. Those who have common sense tend to be better off than those who don't.

Local Politics

Yesterday we held city council elections for my city Warr Acres. I live in Ward 3 where you can see, if you visit the site today, that Phil Owens is the winner of our ward. Phil Owens is the eldest brother of one of my best friends growing up, David Owens. Something that's a bit funny about that is that my home owner's association, Wind Tree is in a lawsuit with Warr Acres and wants to resolve the situation. If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm the VP of the board for the association. We invited the incumbent, Walter Johnson and the other Ward 3 council member, Dean Johnson to the meeting. Dean Johnson returned our phone call to come and said he would come right off the bat. Walter Johnson, however, did not return our phone calls. Since I knew that Phil Owens was running for council and since he was a friend of the family, I called him up and invited him to our meeting. He said that he had heard about the meeting from Dean Johnson and that he had spokent to Walter Johnson about it and that Walter had said that he wasn't interested in going. I invited Phil and he said that he would come out.

The meeting was scheduled for last Wednesday (2/28) and we finally got a hold of Walter Johnson. He said (ready for this) that he was sick and couldn't come (yeah right). So Wednesday, I let everyone at the meeting know that when I invited Phil to the meeting, he had already told me that Walter wasn't coming. After that, everyone at the board meeting got behind Phil and in the end he won, but boy it was a close one. The final vote count was 136 votes to 132 votes. By the way, there are 4 members of the board of directors of Wind Tree.

Medicaid, a sign of what's to come with socialized medicine

I was watching Good Morning America (due to the fact that my wife likes the show) today and they were doing a piece on this little kid in New York who was dying from a heart condition. The condition (that I didn't pick the name up) has three different causes and there is a test that is administered by one single laboratory in the US. This laboratory had not applied "properly" for New York's medicaid program, however, and the kiddo couldn't get the test because, due to the paperwork hangups, New York wouldn't pay for it and his parents couldn't afford it. This was, according to GMA, due to the beurocracy in NY's medicaid program and according to NY due to the bureaucracy of the lab. Of course, since the media got into the picture, the problem has been solved, but my problem is that once this "holy" socialized medicine kicks in and this kind of crap becomes common place, will the media cover it or since it becomes common place will the media not care anymore?