September 2007

Raising Hell Helen

rmiles7721September 10, 20074Site News

I am so going to hell for this but at least I will have company. I’ve got my gear for Helen, have you got yours?

raising_helen.jpg

Having spent the last two decades in management I have become quite adept at shifting blame, so you can blame this one on the jews. They make more sense than the rest anyway.

When my church loving nine-year-old (we let them make their own choices, I just won’t take them) saw the shirt and realized that we were taking a picture she says “I want to be Mary!”

Bwahaha…

Jeebus Rules Man!

Christmas Lights and LED String Lighting

rmiles7721September 10, 2007Site News

It’s a bit early for me to be thinking about Christmas being as how it’s not even Halloween yet but I have been thinking about them the last few days because some of the stores are starting to put decorations out. I went in to the Home Depot the other day to get some of the clear rope light. I needed a couple of strands to go around the new pond and garden and I was thinking about getting it for my daughter’s room as well. Since the boy shipped off to boot camp the girls now have their own rooms. We moved one of the beds out from under the bunk and now the youngest girl has a sitting and reading area underneath and we wanted lights for it. I was kind of worried about putting a light within her reach since she’s just four but now you can get the LED version. It’s a little more expensive but they last much much longer, are cool to the touch and use less energy which means that in the long run I will save more money than I would have otherwise. I went ahead and got the LEDs for the pond area too.

That’s what got me to thinking about Christmas lighting. If I can afford it this year I want to spend a little extra and get LED Christmas tree lights rather than the same old ones I have been using for the last 20 years. Aside from the same benefits I would get from the LED string lighting they are also much clearer and brighter. I love Christmas decorations and never really thought that there would be much difference until I actually some some of the outdoor LED christmas lights in action. They have a bunch of them at the local Wal-mart already and they are pretty sharp.

Still Dragging…

rmiles7721September 10, 2007Site News

I don’t know if I am still suffering the effects of the two benadryl I took last night or if it’s just sleep deprivation but I am beat. I have been sitting here trying to type and am nodding off. Just made a fresh pot of coffee so perhaps that will take the edge off. Let’s hope so otherwise I might start drooling into the keyboard and electrocute myself. That would not be a pretty site…

I managed to get out of work early enough to get home before anyone else today, thus having a few minutes to write. I did start a load of laundry and as I said before, a pot of coffee. We really need to have all of the laundry done tonight to make it easier to pack tomorrow. I have a ton of stuff to do and now I get to spend most of tomorrow afternoon and evening at a freaking town hall meeting at the Georgia International Meeting Center somewhere near the airport. Damn.

My boss was under the assumption that I was going to start my vacation on Wednesday rather than Thursday and I am really considering going ahead and doing just that. It would certainly make life easier here because the girls could ride the school bus home Wednesday afternoon and we could leave as soon as the wife got home rather than trying to shuffle everyone around and hoping I am staffed at the store I am running Wednesday.

Outdoor Home Decorations

rmiles7721September 10, 2007Home & Garden

If you’ve had the chance to come to the house you know that I am somewhat concerned about the way the yard looks. I don’t want just a nicely mowed lawn. I love gardens and knickknacks around the yard as well. I have Elephant Ears and Lillies, flowering vines and other neat stuff including two goldfish ponds. That’s one of the reasons I have been so concerned about the dry spell we are in. All of my plants are suffering and since my county is under a complete watering ban there isn’t much I can do. When it rains I open several coolers that I have on the back deck and let them collect the water for later, but that is usually only enough for one watering.

In addition to the plants that I have growing I like flags and plaques and whirlygigs as well. Anything to brighten the yard. If I had them I would probably have pink flamingos and garden gnomes out there as well just to add color. I really want to stick this sundial out there from MailBox And Beyond…

sundail.jpgIt’s a little over $60 which isn’t bad at all. It also comes in weathered bronze and moss green but I like the verdigris that is shown in the picture. This thing would look great above my upper pond. I really need to do something with the area anyway, at least mulch around it. Unfortunately there isn’t any grass in that area and everytime it rains anything loose gets washed down.

Mailbox And Beyond mainly sells residential mailboxes but they also have quite a bit of stuff like the sundial as well. There are a couple of really nice mailboxes over there as well, but I will have to wait on any of those for a while.

Gabrielle Makes Landfall…

rmiles7721September 10, 2007Site News

Just after noon yesterday Tropical Storm Gabrielle hit North Carolina but it darn sure wasn’t enough to chase anyone off.

Groggy…

rmiles7721September 10, 2007Uncategorized

I’ve had such a problem sleeping the last few nights that I took a couple of Benadryl last night around eight. It was still after ten when I finally went to sleep and boy do I feel groggy this morning. That is about the strongest medicine I will take and it shows in the way that it effects me. Man I don’t want to wake up this morning.

I found out last night that I have a meeting in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon so I am going to have to try and reschedule the time I am picking up that darned rental car. It was supposed to be at three tomorrow afternoon but I have to be in Atlanta by three. Hopefully they will let me pick this thing up by noon tomorrow.

The wife took both girls clothes shopping and then grocery shopping over the weekend. We all have to make sure and wear blue at graduation because blue is the color for Lima company. They picked up a pair of ‘sparkly’ shoes for the four year old and my wife said that my older girl just stood there with mouth agape staring at the jewelry. That’s too darn funny. I guess she is at that age where it is starting to look good to her.

I am so hoping that today will not be a terribly long day. I have several things that I really need to get done this afternoon both online and off and I need to go ahead and finish the laundry and start packing since obviously I won’t have a lot of time tomorrow and non at all on Wednesday before I leave.

Pedophiles in the Making

rmiles7721September 9, 20073Site News

This is just sick. I stopped over at MyBlogLog to see what my traffic had been today according to them and ran across a link to a site called marryourdaughter.com

I am listing it here but I darn sure won’t actually deign to create a link to it. These chicks are 15-17 and basically being sold off. I understand that’s how it works in some cultures, but NOT HERE. Holy cow. I am a scumbag but I darn sure wouldn’t condone what amounts to child abuse and statutory rape.

Great Deals From Deal Locker

rmiles7721September 9, 2007Site News

Deal Locker is one of those coupon site where you can get Printable Coupons, Free Samples, & Deals. With the holiday season coming up I have started my Christmas shopping and I much prefer to get everything online that I can. I always try to get the best deal that I can and at Deal Locker I can get free online coupon codes for my favorite stores including coupons for Amazon, which is one of the places that I prefer to do as much shopping as possible.

Deal Locker is still in public beta testing but for all intents and purposes the site is fully functional. Everything that I need to use there is accessible and should be for most other people as well.

Taxes

rmiles7721September 9, 2007Site News

Taxes are a bitch. I haven’t ranted about them recently so it’s due for one. That last post about being in the two got me to thinking about it. Did you know that the top 5% of wage earners in the United States pays 55% of the federal income tax? The top 5% earns 31% of the income in the U.S. but pays over half the taxes. That ain’t right. Now I am not particularly for increasing anyone’s tax burden, least of all the people that can ill afford it but I am for doing away with the federal income tax completely and putting in a consumption tax such as the Fairtax. It wouldn’t apply to the purchase of used property, cars, clothing from consignment stores, etc…which is where most of the folks that work for me do their shopping for autos and clothing so it wouldn’t hurt them as bad as opponents of the bill like to mouth off. Not only that but everyone in the U.S. would get a prebate check to cover the amount of sales tax they would be paying up to the poverty level, so people in the bottom 5-10% would actually be making MORE money than they are now.

Think about it. If you make $40-60k a year right now you are bringing home considerably less than that. Wouldn’t it be nice to bring it ALL home and do with it what you want rather than having the federal government make those choices for you?

Do You Live in The Two?

rmiles7721September 9, 2007Site News

What does it mean to live in the top 2% of wage earner in the United States. You hear all the time that ‘money can’t bring happiness’ or ‘money isn’t everything’ The problem with those statements is that it’s usually people that are satisfied with what they have or are unable to make that kind of money that are uttering those statements. Money doesn’t bring happiness. That very well may be 100% true but being poor certainly doesn’t bring happiness and if I had the choice between the two (and I do) I certainly won’t choose to be sitting in the kitchen eating dog food after I retire.

The top 2% of wage earners in the United states makes over $200,000 a year. This includes families with one or two wage earners. We are halfway there and I don’t plan to stop until I have made it into that 2%. Being driven enough to succeed often calls for hard work but the rewards are security for myself and my children.

Do you have what it takes to be in the the top 2%?  Take the test and find out. Even if you aren’t sure it takes only five minutes of your time. Sometimes the difference between success and failure is being willing to work a bit on self improvement both physically and mentally. Walk. Run. Read a book every couple of days. Ask yourself questions and if you don’t know the answers, FIND THEM. Be willing to set goals and push yourself until achieve those goals. It’s not rocket science and it doesn’t take a college degree or piece of paper to make you successful, you just have to be willing to take chances and learn from your mistakes.