Tonight's State of the Union address

I can sum up President Obama's State of the Union address tonight in two words:  "deficit spending".  The President is promising the world and I'm sitting here wondering how he's going to pay for it.  The problem is, I won't end up paying for it.  My kids, grandkids and great grand kids will be paying for this deficit spending.

Home PC upgrade

The home PC is about 4 years old.  The PC is continually being upgraded (new hard drives, more RAM, etc.), but the core machine (CPU and video card) hasn't changed much.

A couple of years ago my motherboard fried.  So I had to get a new motherboard.  So here's the upgrade path for the box:

1.)  CPU upgrade (already done)

2.)  Power supply upgrade (done)

3.)  Video card upgrade.  I had to upgrade the power supply before I could upgrade the video card.  The card I'm looking at is the Nvidia GeForce 260.

4.)  Remove smaller hard drives and replace them with larger hard drives.

5.)  Buy more RAM (max it out to 8GB of RAM) and then install Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

The old parts don't get thrown away or given away.  They are recycled, meaning they get reused in my lab.  I have a couple of dead PCs that are occupying computer cases.  The dead PC will be taken apart and revamped with the other stuff that is no longer used.

I don't know how long this will take.  It totally depends on money, and money is a HUGE factor at this point in time.  I hope to complete the upgrade by the end of the year.  For now, I'll just enjoy what I've got.

New Years Resolution(s) for 2010

On New Year's day I thought I was having a heart attack.  Come to find out I didn't have one afterall.  Which is nice to know.  In the course of my visits with the doctor, she said I needed to lose 50 pounds (about 23 kilos) of weight off my frame.  So what do I do, eh?  I guess I'll do what the doctor has ordered.  I figure if I can drop a pound a week, then I'll be able to drop 50 in a year.  Not a bad goal, eh?  Only thing is that I can go to the restroom and drop a pound or more in one sitting.  And yes, pun intended.  So here's a list of my New Year's Resolutions for 2010:

• Drop 50 pounds by December 31, 2010
• Eat better
• Exercise regularly
• Enjoy life, my wife and my children

I love my wife dearly.  She's been exercising like crazy (she's training for a half marathon in April) and dang, she looks pretty good.  She dyed her hair her natural color (she's been coloring it lighter to cover the ever increasing gray) and she looks smoking hot.  In fact, she bought this nice little black dress and wore it to my company Christmas party, and I just could not take my eyes off her.  She wore the same outfit to Church on Sunday (first time for the outfit and a first for the hair) and she got tons of comments.  So if she's looking good, then I've got to look good too.  So time to loose the fat.

Annual visit to the ER

Seems like I end up in the ER at least once a year for chest pains.  So this year was no different. 

We had a New Year's party.  I was up with my friends.  Eating things I knew would do bad things to my body.  Midnight came.  The guests left.  We cleaned up and went to bed.

I could not go to sleep.  No way.  No how.  I felt like crap.  I had pressure in my chest.  Finally at around 4AM, I woke the wife up and we went to the ER.  On the way there, things started to feel better, but I still thought it would be a good idea to check in and get checked out.

I went in there.  They drew blood.  Did an EKG.  Did all sorts of stuff.  Everything looked good.  But after about five or six hours, they decided to admit me just in case.  More blood tests.  Heart enzymes looked good.

Long story short, the heart is OK.  And I didn't have a heart attack afterall.  They did a stress test (now I feel like an Obama bank) on me and it looked good.  So I've been cleared for exercise.  So what's causing the pain?  1.)  Heartburn (?)  2.)  Possible bad gall bladder.  For the burn, I've got a prescription for some mighty good acid reflux meds.  For the gall bladder, I've got to have some more expensive tests run to see if it needs to come out or not.  I suspect that my gall bladder is probably acting up.  And I wouldn't be surprised if it has been bad for a while.  As long as I eat fairly decent, I can get away with it.  But when I eat crap, I have pressure in the chest.

Check out my new years resolutions for some interesting stuff.

Mom, what's for dinner?

Last night my 4 year old asked my wife, "Mom, what's for dinner?"  To which my wife replied, "Tuna casserole."  And now for the famous response:  "I HATE tuna casserole."

To all you Moms (and Dads) out there with small children, isn't it wonderful when your kids knock your menu choices?  Yeah, tuna casserole doesn't sound very appealing to me either (and I'm the Dad), but I have to go along for the ride.  Besides it was a new recipe from our Eating for Life book that we have.

Here are a few photos of the finished product:

Doesn't that just look tasty?  Here's another photo:

Hopefully I haven't grossed anyone out.  If this actually looks appealing to you, then look at the recipe from Eating for Life and you can make your own tuna casserole.  

Christmas traditions

So what's a blog without Christmas traditions.  I was thinking, what would Christmas be without traditions?  So here is a list of things that we try to do every year.

• We try to give things to a family who is in need.  Or we go in with another family.
  
• A bunch of my neighbors and our family goes Christmas caroling.  We usually sing to the older couples, the sick, the widows, or older single women.
• Christmas eve, we read the story of the birth of Jesus Christ from the Bible.
• The kids get to open up one present.  The present they get to open is a pair of home made flannel pajamas.  They put their new pajamas on and go to bed.
  
• Christmas morning, I make my kids go into the kitchen.  I usually make a killer breakfast.  We eat breakfast before opening up presents.  The kids really hate me for this.  This is a tradition that started with my family.
  
• After breakfast I make the kids go downstairs and line up in front of the door.  It is youngest to oldest (shortest to tallest).  The youngest is in front.  This is a tradition my parents started when I was a kid.
  
• After photos, the kids check out their stockings.
• After stockings, the kids get to see their Santa gifts.
• After Santa gifts, the kids get to open their own presents.  Since Christmas is being funded by cash this year, it means there will be few presents under the tree.  I am totally OK with that.
  
• We spend the rest of the day hanging out and the kids play with their new shiny toys.

That's it. My parents or mother-in-law (my father-in-law passed away five years ago) usually comes to our house.  Or my mother-in-law may spend the night with us.  This year my mother-in-law will be spending the night with us.

One week from today is Christmas

One week from today is Christmas.  Yes, the big day.  The day in which we try to remember why we celebrate the day.  Yes, one week from today, I will probably be up (it is actually very early in the morning as I write) putting out Santa gifts.  And in just a few short hours, Christmas will be over in all of about two seconds.  Literally.  Two seconds.  Why?  Because for the first time in my married life, Christmas has been funded by cash and not the likes of VISA, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover.  And it is being done a la cheap.  Well, sort of.  Cheaper than is has been done in probably a decade or more.

I'm looking forward to the excitement on kids faces as it quickly turns to disappointment.  NOT!  I think my younger kids will be fine.  It is my older kids that I'm afraid may be disappointed.  They have been warned that Christmas is going to suck be scaled back substantially this year and to not expect much.  I tried to talk my wife into giving each kid like $50, but she didn't go for it.  She likes buying the gifts for the kid.  She considers cash a cop out.  I beg to differ, but the "do I gift or give cash" debate isn't one I wanted to get into this year.  So lame gifts it will be.

So what do I want for Christmas?  Stuff I can't possibly afford.  A Canon 5D Mark II camera ($2,700 for the body only) for starters.  Or a 2010 Mustang GT ($30k) with a 3.73 rear end and a manual transmission.  That car hauls some serious .... serious .....  OK, it accelerates quickly and is FUN to drive hard.  A lot more fun than my boring and reliable Camry.  The 30MPG the Camry gets is a lot better than the 15MPG I would get if I had a Mustang GT.  Or the Camry is just a bit over 1/2 the cost of the Mustang.  I just need to keep telling myself that.  Maybe some day I'll actually believe it.  I don't like hearing it, but I can always hope and dream.  (Note to self...   I can't believe I'm actually complaining about owning a Toyota Camry.  It really is a nice car.  But the mid-life crisis part of me REALLY wants something fun to drive.  And the Camry just doesn't have the acceleration oomph that I crave...)  Or I'd like a new widescreen monitor (24") for the home PC.  The 17" is nice, but it is just kind of small, especially when I work on a 28" screen every day at work.

So Christmas is going to suck be the best I've ever had.  The best part?  I won't be paying on this year's Christmas next year.  Yea!

Can you see what I see?

One of the coolest military weapons are the Predator drones that the US flies over countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.  The drone is a small aircraft that is used by the US military to fly reconnaissance over an area.  You can get real data on where you're flying.  They are cheap.  The pilot is far away and safe.  So if one gets shot down, no big deal.  No pilot to go and rescue.  You would think that the video feed between the drone and the person flying the drone would be encrypted, safe, and secure.  Well, guess what?  It isn't.  Yup.  It is in the clear.  Kind of like using a telnet or ftp connection across a network.  Not very secure.  Here's the link to the full story:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8419147.stm

Funny thing is that I never heard this story in the US.  The US media either ignored it or covered it up.  Nothing like showing Osama the video of where we're flying so he can stay well away from those areas.  Reminds me of WWII when the British had German Enigma machines and the Brits knew exactly what Germany was going to do.

Bank of America - Their attempt to change terms without an opt-out

About a month or possibly more ago (I'm getting older, so I don't remember details) my wife and I got a lovely letter from Bank of America informing us that the interest rate on our debt consolidation loan was going to float with the prime rate.  It had been fixed at a particular interest rate.  The really neat thing about this letter is that there was not opt-out option.  So we were forced to accept the terms.  We called.  We complained.  But the answer was that's the way it is.

Today we get a new letter from Bank of America.  It says the following:

==========
Dear (insert our name here):

We recently notified you in October (I guess that's when we got our fun letter) of a change to your Account Agreement describing how the annual percentage rate on your account would be calculated using a variable rate formula tied to the U.S. prime rate.  After careful consideration (and a lot of ticked off customers), we have decided not to implement this change.  As a result, your account will retain its current annual percentage rate and remain unchanged.
==========

We started this loan several years ago with MBNA.  MBNA was acquired by Bank of America.  Many years ago MBNA tried to change our interest rate from a fixed to a variable, but there was an opt-out clause.  We decided to opt-out.  And things were good.  So when we get this change in terms even after we had opted out, it really left a sour taste in our mouths.  It did not seem like they could legally change our rate like they did since we had previously opted out of going variable.  I thought about complaining to the Consumer Protection Agency and others, but it just fell by the wayside.  I don't know who complained or what was said.  But to whomever helped change Bank of America's heart, thank you.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I know the banks have suffered incredible losses in the last couple of years.  However, the banks have helped create the mess they are currently in by giving out easy money.  We have never been late on our payment.  And it is frustrating as a customer for the banks to ignore a customer's past history and literally mess with you like we're an unlimited resource ready to be tapped out by fees and interest rate hikes.  Mr Banker, I'm not the problem.  I pay my bills on time.  Go hose those that aren't paying their bills on time.  Soak them with the punitive rates and fees, not me.

One last word...  I have a long, long, long memory.  If you look at the cars I drive, you will notice that my cars are imports, except for my larger vehicles.  Why?  Because when I was a kid, I can remember all the crummy cars that came out of Detroit.  There isn't a single American car that my parents had that I liked or even worked properly.  Not a one.  And so for the last 20 years I've avoided American cars like the plague.

Mr. Banker, I have a long memory.  If you want me to continue to do business with you, you had better treat me right.  If not, I will take my business elsewhere.  There is one bank (Chase) that I will never do business with ever again.  Bank of America, do you wish to join that club as well?

Chase what matters - Chase them away

I saw the following news article about credit cards on CNN.com today:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/09/credit.card.outrage/index.html

In the article, there is a couple that talks about Chase messing around with the people's payments.  My wife and I once had a Chase credit card.  One of the worst cards I've ever had in my life.  They messed with my interest rate.  They changed my due date.  Finally I was sick of them and moved the balance to another credit card.  Because of that experience, I've vowed to never own another Chase credit card ever.  That was about five years ago.  And we haven't been back since.  Their loss and my gain.

My word to the wise - choose your credit card company carefully.  And if someone starts messing with you, just switch to a different bank.  Hopefully, you can switch to a different bank.