Cooper Has Been Acting Up...

Cooper's been acting up lately.

He doesn't want to eat his food when we come home from work at night. It's like a chore to get him to eat, and he's NEVER been like this before.

I'm starting to wonder if this is all just a behavior thing, because he'll scarf down treats or table scraps and chew down a rawhide with no problem. So I don't believe that he's sick, or that his teeth are hurting, or anything like that.

This is the typical scenario. I will come home from work and go fill all of their bowls. Cooper will run to his bowl then just turn his nose up at it. He'll then go upstairs and drink a ton of water then want outside. I then bring him BACK downstairs and tell him to eat and he starts to tremble.

I thought for some reason that maybe he had developed some problem with the chicken flavored food that I have been giving him since the day I got him...so I went and got the same brand but beef flavored, and for a couple of days he'd scarf that right down.

Now, however, as he sits there and trembles I will switch the food that is in the bowl for the other flavor. As soon as I do that he gobbles it down. It's like he's learned that trembling will make me switch to another flavor of food and then he eats.

This is ONLY on days that we go to work when he's been in the crate all day. On our days off he's completely normal when it comes time to eat.

I'm not really worried that something's wrong with him, I'm a bit annoyed by this behavior though. I've read quite a bit online about it and it seems that dogs learn very quickly that if they "act scared" they will get a lot of attention from their owners. This is true, when Cooper was first acting scared both Cathy and I comforted him a lot. Apparently, though, after we started comforting him we reinforced this behavior and could have effectively caused him to continue to do it.

Tomorrow I'm going to try having Cathy give him his evening meal, and if he still doesn't want to eat it I'm going to bring him upstairs for an hour or so then try to feed him. If he doesn't want to eat it then, I suppose I will just start not giving him the food. I'm pretty sure that after a couple of days he'll realize he's not getting to eat and he'll give it up.

It's just really odd because he's always been so food oriented...but he's also always been a pretty strange dog. He gets his feelings hurt very easily and I sometimes wonder if he feels a bit left out. He often acts like he's a bit depressed. I worry about him...but I'm pretty sure this is just his cry for attention.

He needs to get over it. I like it better when he wolfs down his food than when I have to sit with him for five minutes while he slowly eats.

Oh yah, I should mention, this doesn't seem to be an issue for breakfast, either. Only dinner, and only on nights when we work.

Blu-Ray...

Today Amazon had a really good deal on a Blu-Ray DVD player.

Cathy and I had been planning on getting one for a while now, mainly because it seems that all the really cool collector's sets are coming out for only Blu-Ray now. So she bought the player for $89.99. Pretty good price.

I then spent some time looking around online and found an Optical Audio switching unit so that I can hook up both the Xbox 360 and the new Blu-Ray player to the surround sound receiver. The receiver only has one optical input. The switcher allows me to hook up to three outputs to that one input.

I may think about even hooking the cable box up to the optical in as well, and get 5.1 surround out of every component hooked to the TV.

HD movies on DVD...here we come!!!

For the First Time...

...in quite literally, years, I paid for a haircut today.

For the last, probably 6 years, I have let my hair grow until it's too long for me to deal with and then I would just hack it all off with a set of clippers and start over again.

Well, I have been getting a bit tired of always having one of two things:
A. A mop of hair on my head that looks all shaggy.
B. No hair at all because it's shave down to a #2 guard.

So I have been growing it out for a little while with the intentions of getting it cut so that I could actually try to do something with it, and today I got to the point where it was time for the shaggy look to go.

I went to the local department store. It has a barber shop in it.

$19 including tip later I walked out with my hair looking pretty nice, manageable, not too long, and still able to be "done" a little bit if I really wanted to.

I like it quite a bit. The ONLY thing that I don't like about it?? The fact that it cost me nearly $20. I don't know how often I'll want to pay $20 to get my hair cut, especially when I have a nice set of clippers in the cabinet that does it for free.

Oh well, for now it looks pretty nice!!

Income Tax Time...

Tonight I started working on our income tax return.

I just use the Basic system on HR Block's online site. It's cheap and easy to use, and since I have never had enough deductions to itemize the standardized deduction works really well for us.

Cathy and I both had different ideas for how to deal with taxes at the beginning of the year, apparently. I had my stuff set up so that I would get a decent return (yah, I know, I shouldn't give the government a free loan, but it's a good way for me to make sure I get some money saved) and she had her's set so that she wouldn't get any return...the problem?? She had her stuff set so low that it ended up eating up all of my return. That's alright, as a couple we still ended up coming out on top.

It looks right now like we'll end up getting about a $120 refund from the Federal Government. That's not too bad. About two months ago I used a quick calculator and it said we were going to owe about $600. Cathy changed hers really quickly and then the massive amounts of taxes they took out of our bonuses really brought us back on track.

I'm still waiting for Cathy to get her interest form from her savings account before I can finish the thing completely...but I'm pretty sure my guess of $120 is about right, if not a little low.

From the State of Michigan, on the other hand, we'll be getting a nice little sum of about $350. I am hoping to get that return done and submitted so that we can get it before we go to Las Vegas. That would be a nice chunk of money to have to spend while we're there.

We also will get about $100 from the City of Lansing. We had an issue with Lansing taxes this last year...even though we don't live OR work in the City, we were still having taxes taken out by our payroll department because the airport has a Lansing ADDRESS. But it's not in the city limits, and we don't live in the city, so we don't owe the city any taxes even though we work at a Lansing address. That got taken care of pretty early, and we'll get everything we paid them back...

So, all in all it looks like we'll get ABOUT $550 or so back. Like I said, I'm hoping to get the Federal and the State one back before we go on our trip so that we can put it towards that. If not, I guess it's not that big of a deal.

Either way, it's better than owing anything, which is what I thought was gonna happen!!!

X. L. I. V.

In less than 14 days, the Super Bowl will take place.

The Colts have been my favorite team in the NFL since Peyton Manning came to The League.

But now here comes a conundrum.

The Saints have been one of those teams, much like the Arizona Cardinals, that I simply can't find any reasons not to cheer for. How can you not like Sean Payton?? How can you not be happy for a team that did so much to help the community after a devastating disaster just over four years ago?? How can you not cheer for a team that has long been known as The New Orleans 'Aints?? And last, how can you not cheer for Drew Brees??

Here we have a guy who played college ball at Purdue, and with me being in Big 10 Country I remember him well. I remember everyone saying "He'll never play in The League because he's too small at 5'11"." But San Diego took a chance on this guy who was too short, and what did he reward them with?? Only 3,000+ yards in each season that he played all 16 games, and another 2,100 yards in a season in which he only played in 11 games due to injury. What did San Diego do to reward him??? They drafted Philip Rivers and basically had Brees as a lame duck quarterback. He responded by continuing to play spectacularly, forcing San Diego to drop a franchise tag on him to keep him around.

In the last game of the 2005 season Brees injured his shoulder. Ultimately, this injury led the Chargers to let him go, the Miami Dolphins to pass him up, and he eventually landed in New Orleans. At this time, many people were claiming that his injury was going to severely hamper his ability to throw the ball. How did he respond to these ideas??

Only by throwing for over 4,000 yards in each of his four seasons with the Saints.

So here you have a guy that has been doubted at every step of his professional career...and all he does is continue to excel at one of the most difficult positions in all of sports. How can you not like a guy like that??

I guess what all of this is about is this simple fact: This is going to be the most enjoyable Super Bowl for me as a fan that I could possibly imagine. Why is that?? Quite simply, because I don't care who wins!!! Both of these teams are awesome teams that deserve to be crowned Champions. The only problem is that one of them can't be a winner.

Here's to Super Bowl XLIV!!!

Go Colts!!!!

Geaux Saints!!!!

A Good Deal Fell Into My Lap...

I had been planning on getting a new Xbox 360 game in February called "Dante's Inferno." It is an action game based on "The Divine Comedy," obviously set in the "Inferno" section of the epic poem.

As always, the game was priced at $59.99. Pre-ordering it got you a 7" tall figure of the protagonist, Dante. I was planning on pre-ordering it, but hadn't gotten around to doing it yet.

Well, the other day I got an odd e-mail from Electronic Arts, who just happen to be the company publishing "Dante's Inferno." It said "Oooops. We Goofed On Your Birthday." It then went on to tell me how on my birthday they erroneously sent me a coupon code that was invalid. Well, my birthday was in April...9 months ago. The e-mail then went on to say that to make up for the error, they wanted me to have this 25% off coupon to use at the EA Online Store.

So I went and checked out the EA Store, thinking that more than likely the 25% off would be on limited items, or that the items would be overpriced and the 25% off would put them at regular store prices. My thoughts were wrong.

I found that they were selling "Dante's Inferno" for the standard $59.99, with the Dante figure, and free shipping. So I checked to see if the coupon would work with the package, and sure enough it did!!! So I went ahead and pre-ordered it directly from EA's site.

I ended up getting what would have cost me $63.59 after tax for a total of $47.70. I saved about $16 after it was all said and done and it should be here right after the game comes out!!!

Every now and again a deal you just can't pass up just falls right in your lap!!!

One More Month...

It is exactly one month before we'll be heading back to Vegas for a few nights of awesome!!

I'm really ready to get out of Michigan. This cold and snow is obnoxious!!!

Massage...

There has been this thing in the mall for a while. It kind of looks like some kind of space ship.

I had no idea what it was the first few times I saw it, but after the business opened I realized it's a hydro-massage machine. I walk by it probably about once a week while wandering in the mall, and never actually went to do it...even though I kept telling myself I would.

Well, tonight I went to the mall with the sole purpose of using the massage machine. I ended up purchasing the 20 minute session for $15.

Whoa!! It was actually really cool. The machine has multiple settings so it is continuously changing the type of pulsation and pressure that the water uses. It also has a video screen that plays "peaceful" nature scenes, and it has headphones that play relaxing music. On top of all of that, it also has aroma therapy built into it.

After my 20 minute session I felt really good. Relaxed, invigorated, and a bit more energized. My back wasn't sore anymore and overall I really enjoyed the experience. I will probably try to go every few weeks!!!

I Found This Hilarious...

I laughed at this quite a bit.

In the Backyard...

Tonight I was giving Presto his nightly snack to shut him up. When I give him these treats, I always put them up on this little perch that he has that attaches to a window that looks over the backyard.

Well, when I was putting them up there tonight he jumped up on the ledge and I thought "Wow, that's a weird reflection of Presto in the window." Then I realized it wasn't a reflection. I looked again and thought it was a big dog hanging out in our backyard.

As I started to move closer to the window to look it leapt about 4 feet in the air and bounded away.

Dogs don't bound...especially when they are startled. But you know what do??

Pit Boss on Animal Planet...

So "Pit Boss" started this weekend. It's a show about a little person, Shorty Rossi, who runs a talent agency and in his spare time runs a pit bull rescue.

Normally I wouldn't give a show like this a second look...however, I saw this show a few months ago, in a primitive form. This was the show that Cathy and I watched while we were in Vegas as part of a Nielson study on it. We both really liked the show when we watched it, and had been waiting for it to come out.

We thought that it had been cancelled, because when we looked for anything on it we couldn't find anything at all. Well, when we saw it the show was called "Shorty's Rescue." Since then they changed the name to "Pit Boss" which is what it's currently airing as. That, in my opinion, was a good thing because I remember that being one of the questions on the survey: "Would you be interested in watching a show called 'Shorty's Rescue' if you knew nothing about the show?" My answer to that was a resounding NO.

The pilot that we saw was an entertaining show...and so far the premier episode has been a slightly edited version of that pilot, and it's still entertaining.

Divisional Round Picks...

On Saturday my picks are:

Colts over Ravens
Saints over Cardinals

For the games on Sunday my picks are:

Vikings over Cowboys
Chargers over Jets


***EDIT***
Two for two after Saturday!!!
One for two on Sunday...but I'll take that Jets win. The Chargers are like kryptonite for my Colts, and with them out of the mix Indy should be a bit better off!!

Hero Living...

You probably ready my post a few days ago about Rudy Reyes and his show on History Channel, "Apo0calypse Man."

Well, he's got a book out as well, and I ordered it.

I never really thought I'd be interested in what is essentially a "self help" book, but the premise of it really intrigued me. As I read a bit more about Mr. Reyes I started to realize how this guy really is a hero...from the drug addicted family he was born into to becoming a kung-fu champion then a Recon Marine, the guy has been there and done that...

The book is as much an autobiography of Rudy's as it is a self help book, and I'm looking forward to reading through it. I read through the introduction and the first chapter, and I already like the direction that it's going.

I think it's going to be a pretty good read. Who knows, maybe I'll even learn something!!

Got My Watch...

My watch came. I really like it.

In fact, I wrote a review for it on Amazon. Here is what I had to say:

"I had been planning on purchasing a new watch for a while now. I don't normally wear watches, instead I just use a cell phone to get the time. But my new phone has a screen lock that is a bit of a hassle to get unlocked JUST in order to see the time, so I started looking for a watch.

I have seen different Invicta watches on Amazon before and really liked some of them. I didn't know much about them so I started doing some research and found that most people say the quality is very good for the price.

After looking at quite a few of them on the Invicta Store here on Amazon I stumbled across the Russian Diver. I really liked the looks of it as soon as I saw it. Then I saw the size at 52mm and was a bit startled. That's a LOT of watch!!!

I ended up ordering it while it was a Deal of the Day and I'm really happy I did. As usual, shipping was super fast and the packaging was exceptional.

When I opened the watch I was immediately taken by the size of the watch. 52mm as a size seems large when you're using a ruler...but when you actually see the size of this gigantic watch it will probably catch you off guard. Not only is it wide, it's also pretty "deep." What I mean by that is it sticks off of your wrist quite a bit.

The face of it is beautiful. Every detail of it just works. The numbers fit with the face perfectly, the hands fit perfectly, the date fits in wonderfully and doesn't look out of place, and the green surround offsets the black of the watch excellently.

The black metal is awesome. It's shiny and subtle at the same time, which in my opinion is great because you need the color to be slightly subtle on a watch this size.

I've read many opinions on different websites that suggest that the chain for the canteen cover doesn't fit the watch very well, but I disagree. I think the chain does a great job of finishing off the overall aesthetic of the piece. I wouldn't ever think of taking the chain off of mine.

The overall weight of the watch on the wrist is definitely more than I'm used to. Like I said, I don't normally wear watches and when I do they aren't anywhere near as large as this one. The weight takes some getting used to, definitely.

All in all, I'm extremely pleased with the purchase. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Invicta watch, and the 5 year warranty that comes with the timepiece through Amazon is a wonderful addition.

Movies I Can Watch Whenever They Are On...

Sunday night I was watching "The Dark Knight" on one of the premium cable channels. I think it was Showtime.

I ended up staying up way too late watching it. It ended at 4:35 am and I watched all the way to the end, so I probably fell asleep at about 5:00 am. Yes, I had to work at 11:00 am that day.

Anyways, this got me thinking. I've seen "The Dark Knight" probably 25 times...yet EVERY time that I see it on I immediately turn the channel so that I can watch it. It doesn't matter if it's been on for an hour or 20 minutes, I will change it and watch it.

So I started thinking about WHICH movies there are that I would do this with, and tried to narrow it down to a "Top 3" list. After some debating over the third place movie, I came up with the three movies that I will watch every time I see them on, no matter what time it is or how far into the movie it already is.

Here we go...



#1 The Dark Knight
There is just something about "The Dark Knight" that makes me love it. Not only was the performance of Heath Ledger simply astounding, the rest of the cast is equally good. In fact, Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of Harvey Dent is simply phenomenal. The only reason he doesn't get more credit for his performance is the fact that Ledger's was SO good.

It's a solid movie with a great script, excellent direction, superb action, awesome acting, and great special effects. It's an action movie that's so much more than an action movie.

"The Dark Knight" takes something that's relatively common today...the comic book movie...and makes it seem like it's not a comic book movie. The Joker is portrayed not as a comic book villain, but as a homicidal maniac that really just wants to cause chaos. Batman is portrayed well in the film as not a superhero, but more of a super detective with a martial arts skill set that is unmatched. Everything about the movie completely transcends the fact that it's a comic book movie.

To top that off, each time I watch it I tend to pick up on more little subtle messages that it has.

No matter when it's on, I'm going to be watching it...and I don't see that changing any time soon.

#2 Troy
"Troy" is an epic movie. It's got large battles, heroes, Kings, the works. Oddly enough, the very first time I watched "Troy" I didn't find it particularly great. It wasn't until the second time that I watched it, when it first came out on DVD, that I truly started to enjoy "Troy" for what it was.

It's a movie based on a myth. But it tries to take some of the "magic" out of the myth and portray these people as more human than the typical myth would.

It takes a well known myth and puts it into a format that is highly enjoyable, stylized, and well put together.

Just to sum all of this up, I have "Troy" on DVD not once...not twice...but three times. Yes, I have three different versions of the movie "Troy" on DVD. I have the original widescreen theatrical version, the HD-DVD version, and the "Ultimate Super Duper Edition" that comes in a really cool case.

Even with those three copies of the DVD, I will still watch "Troy" every time it's on TV.

#3 Jaws
"Jaws" has been rated the #1 horror movie of all time by several "Top 100" lists that I've seen in the last few years. I feel that is a well deserved title for the movie.

Never before has a movie caused people to LITERALLY change the way they feel about something. Before "Jaws," nobody was scared to go in the water. After "Jaws," there are many people that changed their mind about swimming in the ocean.

There's something uniquely scary about the ocean...that's the fact that you have no idea what is below you, watching you, waiting for you, planning on eating you...and "Jaws" uses this quality perfectly. The fact that the shark is physically seen only a limited number of times just adds to the tension and suspense.

"Jaws" is, quite obviously, the oldest movie on this list...and as such it's the one that I've seen the most. I would guess I've seen "Jaws" at least 100 times. As such, I have pretty much most of the movie memorized.

Even with that said, it's a movie that I simply refuse to miss whenever it's on TV.

3-1...

So in Playoff Pick'Em this week I went a very respectable 3-1.

The only game I lost was the Jets-Bengals game. I obviously had the Bengals picked, and they let me down.

Oh well, that's a solid start to Playoff Pick'Em, let's hope I can keep it up next week!!!

New Watch...

I had been planning on getting a new watch for myself for about a week now.

I found and really liked a watch by a company called Invicta. It's a Russian Diver watch. It's HUGE at 52mm across, but I just really like the way that it looked.

MSRP on it is $575. They go for about $200 on Ebay.

Amazon, on the other hand, carries them for the low low price of $100. I don't normally wear watches, so I figured that even that was a bit expensive for me, so I decided to wait on an Amazon gift card that I can get from the points on my Visa card.

Well, just now (3 AM Sunday) I logged onto Amazon.com to check the deal of the day...and what do you know?? The black Invicta Russian Diver is on sale for $70!!!!

I had wanted the stainless steel design, but if I can get the black for $70 shipped to me, I figured I might as well go for it, right??

It should be here on Wednesday.

Apocalypse Man...

So it's been "Apocalypse Week" on History Channel. It's been enough propaganda to make even me start to think the world is going to end on December 21, 2012. Most of the shows have been about the same old thing...Mayan Long Count Calendars, doomsday prophecies, religious warnings...blah, blah, blah.

But there was a diamond in the rough this time. A wonderful, beautiful, amazing diamond.

It was a show called "Apocalypse Man."

"Apocalypse Man" starred a former Recon Marine and kung-fu champion, Rudy Reyes. Rudy showed the viewer many different survival tips for after the fall of society. Think "Survivor Man" or "Man vs Wild," only put it in the middle of a big deserted city and you'll have this show.



I have now watched it four times, and each time I enjoy it more than the first. Rudy is a guy that despite his physical skills really makes it seem like anyone could do the things that he is doing. He teaches you how to start a fire with steel wool, how to find power, how to make bio-diesel fuel, and how to hot wire a car.

The show was absolutely amazing in it's script, cinematography, and feeling of isolation. I have no clue where they filmed it, but you really get the impression that whatever city Rudy is in is truly deserted.

If you get a chance to catch this show, I highly recommend it. I loved every second of it.

Work...Work, Work, Work...

Today we had to go into work late.

WE weren't late...the whole shift was scheduled to come in late. We were also supposed to stay late. We were all going to get an hour or two of overtime.

Why?? There was a charter flight that was supposed to be leaving at about 11:00 PM or so. When I first heard this I thought it sounded odd. I asked several times to make sure that the flight time was correct.

So we all get there late today expecting to stay until nearly midnight...and low and behold...the charter is actually scheduled to leave at about 5:00 PM.

So the charter went without a hitch, and the last flight left around 6:45. So we all had 3 hours or so to just sit around and do nothing. Man, what a boring three hours that turned out to be!!!

Worst part?? We didn't even end up getting any of the overtime we were supposed to!! Oh well, at least we got home before midnight!!

Auto Show...

My dad called the other day and asked if I wanted to go to the Detroit Auto Show with him.

We used to go just about every year...but we stopped when we took my grandfather and he ended up being taken to the hospital from the show because of chest pains.

Well, we're going back on the 19th, so hopefully this time is a bit better than that last time.

It should be fun. Looking at cars that you know you'll never be able to buy is always fun. I'll be sure to take my camera with me, which I have forgotten the last few times I went.

Snow is Coming!!!!

It's supposed to be pretty nasty tomorrow for most of the day. We'll see I guess.

If it starts to get really bad, we'll probably try to leave work a little bit early. I wouldn't mind getting home in time to watch the BCS Championship game!!!

Big 10 Makes Good Showing in Bowl Games...

For the first time in quite a while, maybe the Big 10 won't be the laughing stock of the "BCS Conference" world.

After a few years of lackluster bowl seasons, this year was a bit different.

Minnesota lost to Iowa State 14-13
Michigan State lost to Texas Tech 41-31
Northwestern lost to Auburn 38-35 in overtime.

Wisconsin beat Miami 20-14
Penn State beat LSU 19-17
Ohio State beat Oregon 26-17
Iowa beat Georgia Tech 24-14

So that makes the league 4-3 in bowl games this postseason. However...out of those four wins, two of them came in BCS games.

Ohio State ran out of their funk with a pretty thorough whipping of Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Iowa handled a high powered Georgia Tech offense in the Orange Bowl.

Those other two wins aren't anything to scoff at, either. Penn State beat an LSU team that was ranked in the Top 5 at one point this season, and Wisconsin beat a Miami team that after the first four weeks of the season many people were saying was the best in the country.

In fact, even the three losses are all pretty "good" losses...if there is such a thing. Northwestern took an SEC perennial power to the brink and lost by three. Michigan State lost by 10 to Texas Tech after leading late in the third in a game where the Spartans were down 14 players due to suspension. Minnesota lost to Iowa State by one point.

All in all it was a pretty successful bowl season for the Big 10. I hope they can build on the success and get even better next year.

O-fer Four...

I had a chance to win FOUR gold trophies in Yahoo Fantasy Sports this football season.

Instead, I come home with four silver trophies.

Yup, after my three losses in Fantasy Championship games last week, I finished off the season with a two point loss in my Pick'Em league.

That league really started to unravel last week when the Giants got crushed by the Panthers. I had 9 points on the Giants and the other guy had 8 on the Panthers. Well, that was a 17 point swing in his favor. He ended up ahead by 4 points at the end of last week. So this week I had to make some picks that were out there a bit...and I ended up cashing in...but only to the tune of a two point victory, so I ended up losing by 2.

I ended up 164-92. The worst part about this loss?? I MEANT to switch my pick in the Saints-Panthers game to Carolina when I read that Brees wasn't going to be playing, but I forgot to do it. Had I done that, I would have gained another 5 points (how many points I had on the game) and I would have won the league by 3 points. Oh well.

I guess four second place finishes are better than what could have been. It was a fairly successful season for me.

Like Clockwork...

The weather has gotten pretty cold in the last few days, and like always when that happens I'm starting to come down with a pretty nasty cold.

I don't know what it is about weather changes that causes me to get colds, but pretty much EVERY time there is a quick temperature change I get a cold. Whether it's from cold to super cold, cold to hot, hot to cool...it doesn't matter. If it's a quick temperature change I'm going to have a cold within a day or so of it happening.

Luckily it's almost time for my days off...so I'll get a chance to rest for a little while.

A Valliant Effort...

In the "Controversy Bowl" tonight, the Spartans hung as tough as they could. In fact, they even led the Red Raiders late in the game.

But their depleted team simply wasn't enough of a match for the high powered Texas Tech offense, as the Spartans fizzled in the fourth quarter and ended up losing 41-31.

They finish their season 6-7 in a very disappointing fashion. The Spartans lost at least three games this year that they really shouldn't have...to Notre Dame, Central Michigan, and Iowa.

Hopefully this let down season will open the eyes of some of the young players and they can come back strong next year.

Easy Come...Easy Go...

I got a pretty large bonus from work for this past year. I worked hard to get it, so I planned on spending it on another trip to Las Vegas for Cathy and I.

Well, pretty much the day I got it I bought the plane tickets...which were quite a bit more expensive than what I had planned because Spirit (who we flew the last two times) didn't have any flights going into Vegas at a good time OR coming back to Detroit. We ended up having to fly Northwest which was about twice as much...well, not quite twice as much...as the Spirit tickets were.

We had already booked the hotel on Cathy's credit card, because we got a good deal on the hotel a month or more ago, so that money was basically already spoken for.

I also wanted to take $500 cash and basically put it off to the side so that I would have at LEAST that much as just some nice spending money for our trip.

So that used up a very large portion of my bonus. I then bought an expensive magic trick that I've wanted for a long time, and then had to buy the new router for the computer.

With all of that, my bonus is gone. I feel a bit bad because I went through it so quickly. I had never had that much money in my account all at one time, and almost instantly it seems like it was gone.

I think it was all worth it though. Like I said, I worked hard this year to get that bonus and I spent it on some things that I really wanted...the trip and the magic especially. I didn't really WANT a new router, but we needed one so that's alright.

I am going to keep trying to put a little away from each paycheck so that I can have even more money to spend on the trip...and that should be pretty easy to get started with when I get paid this next week because I have two holidays and some overtime all on the check. Not to mention my raise (which was another part of my year end bonus) kicks in so I'll be getting paid more than I normally do anyways. I am going to try to put another $100 at least away this coming week so that I have $600 to take with me...not including any extra money I get between now and the trip!!!

But, like I said, easy come...easy go...that seems to be the way it always is, right?

Resolutions...

I'm not really one for resolutions. I'm not going to set goals like "I am going to lose 20 pounds."

But I am going to try to do better on some things this year.

1. I am going to try to eat a bit healthier. We got a toaster oven for Christmas and I'm looking forward to using it to cook some more meals at home.
2. I am going to try to exercise a bit more. Exercise bike, real bike, and my land paddling will be the ways I go about doing that. I was doing pretty well with the land paddling last year until it started to get dark earlier.
3. I am going to try to save a bit more money. I want to be able to start taking regular trips places, and I feel that the easiest way to accomplish this is going to be by saving a bit more money. I would like to get to the point where I can take at LEAST one trip a year to somewhere cool.
4. I am going to try to be a little more patient with the dogs. They are getting older and they are stubborn, but I'm going to be more patient with them.
5. I am going to continue enjoying life with Cathy.

Reflections...

First and foremost...in 2009 I made over 500 posts on the blog. To be exact, 508. That works out to 1.39 posts per day. That was also after cutting back seriously after the month of May.

And now, here are ten things that happened in 2009 that I remember very well. Not in any particular order, just numbered. There's of course many more things, but these are things that stick in my mind for some reason.

1. I found a serious new hobby in magic...and spent way too much money on it.
2. Cathy and I celebrated our one year anniversary...here's to many more.
3. We hit Vegas again...and loved it so much we're going back in about 8 weeks.
4. I got the maximum possible bonus at work...then spent most of it on the Vegas trip.
5. My Grandma Burtch passed away...rest in peace grandma.
6. I got a new car...a station wagon.
7. We had a pet die...you were a good hamster Ash.
8. We got some new pets...two rats, Arch and Ros.
9. We worked 10 hour days for six months...and didn't like it.
10. We got locked out of the house on a bike ride...and I fell through the ceiling trying to get back in.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!