4th of July project

I had a couple of plumbing projects to tackle in the past couple of weeks (see below post for the 1st one) and the big one on the 4th was the toilet in our 1/2 bathroom downstairs.  I had shut the water off a few weeks before because the water was running nonstop due to a leak.  After talking to my step-dad he thought that it may just be the rubber flapper that is at the bottom of the tank.  So I took myself off to the store and bought a new flapper for a couple bucks.  When I went to install it I realized I had a bigger problem than original feared.

 

The overflow, tube had been broken for awhile and was just hanging on by the a mere 1/4 inch (the clean edge of the broken tube).

In order to repair this I had to remove the whole tank from the back and replace the entire gasket and tube.  I figured, that doesn’t sound too bad, I’ll save myself the plumbing bill and doing it myself….. So, on my first (notice I started counting) trip to HomeDepot I went and got a new overflow tube & rubber gasket.

Here I’ve taken the tank off the bowl and now have to remove the plastic nut from the bottom of the tank.  This is what connects the tank to the bowl.  It also became the bane of my existence.

I started by trying to unscrew this by hand.  HAHAHAHA – Yeah that didn’t work.  Talked to step-dad who recommended a wrench.  So I got back into my car and went to HomeDept again (Trip number 2) and talked with someone in plumbing who recommend an adjustable wrench.  I also got a new large gasket to go over this plastic nut since the one I had removed was half rotted.  Took the wrench home and to my excitement the nut started to turn.  Kinda.  Put some elbow grease in and it was really turning.  Then it stopped about halfway.  Called step-dad again who recommended that I lube it up with some oil and then make sure the rivets were clean.  Well maybe I got that order mixed up cause I put some veg oil on the nut and then took a pocket knife to clean out the rivets and it immediately slid off the nut and stabbed myself in the finger.

I was inventing swear words and sweating like crazy at this point.  Called step-dad again, he didn’t answer, so I called my dad who recommended a hacksaw.  Now that’s my kind of suggestion!!  Went to HomeDepot (Trip number 3) and got myself a Jr. Hacksaw.  I thought for SURE this would get that *bleeping* nut off.  Turns out that the nut is actually in a little bit of a depression (you can’t really tell from the photo above) but the hacksaw only got to the top of the nut.  In frustration I cut that part off.  I called my step-dad again who at this point was out of suggestions.  In sheer desperation I finally took a flat head screwdriver and a hammer and gently tapped until the screwdriver bit in and finally started to cut into the top of the nut until it got to the tank and finally popped off.  Here’s what the nut looked like by the time I got it removed. At the very bottom of the first photo you can see where the screw driver finally cut the nut off.

So finally 3 HOURS later I can get to repairing the toilet.  The rest was pretty standard.  Just replaced the parts that I had removed and then put the whole thing back together again.  Here’s what it looked like at the end.

There was a lot of sweat, a little blood, but no tears.  Here’s the tally at the end:

Total calls to parents – Approx 15 (some just to bitch about the nut)

Total Hours – 5

Total cost – $18.00

Trading Money Saving Ideas

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that ‘S’ and I are trying to tighten up on some of our expenses.  However, I’m running out of ideas of how to accomplish this.  First, we don’t have a lavish life style.  While we have nice things we either saved for them and we don’t buy on credit (unless it’s X months same as cash) in which case we always have it paid off before the interest kicks in.  Second, we’re already doing the typical money saving methods.  Below is an example of the ideas I read in articles that we either already do or it doesn’t apply to us.  Perhaps you’ll find an idea for yourself.  However, if something comes to mind that you already do or have thought of doing that I didn’t mentioned, please, please please either comment on the post (so others can see it) or email me, cause I really need some unconventional ideas.

At the end of the post I have some ideas listed that I’m considering and would like to know if anyone has ever them and if it worked/made a difference.

1) Combine your cable, internet and telephone service.  We actually bundled our cable and internet and then added a house phone (we haven’t had one in years) and broke even with the taxes, however because we now have a house phone we were able to reduce our minutes on our cell phones and drop extended night and weekends which saved us about $15 a month / $180 a year.

2) Send away for and follow up on rebates.  Doesn’t everyone do this?

3) Convert to a gas water heater.  I even looked at getting a Water Heater Jacket (they cost about $10-$20) to keep the water hot longer but we have an updated water heater that already has good insulation and they only recommend them for older water heaters where the outside of the unit is warm.  For those who have an electric water heater you might want to look into getting a timer put on the hot water tank.

4) Get your books from the library. I do this before purchasing any book (aside from my romance novels) so that I can see if it’s going to be a one time read or something I’ll want around for reference.  I also get all my romance novels at a store called the Paperback Exchange where they are 50% off and then I trade them back in for 25% – so my end cost is just 25% of the list price.

5) Never pay checking account fees.  We actually just switched banks after 10 years with the same bank due to the fact that one of the local banks around here was offering 4% on checking accounts.  When interest rates are better I even rate shop with online banks and will move our savings based on who has the best interest rates.

6) Request a discount on trash service. We have our service through our condo and it’s built into our association dues.

7) Don’t pay interest on credit cards.  We either always pay ours off during the same as cash promo period or don’t use them at all.  We haven’t paid interest in years.

8) Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFLs) bulbs.  I watched for sales or bought them with coupons and replaced all our bulbs in the house.

9) Pay car insurance annually.  Most insurance companies charge extra to pay your bill monthly or even quarterly.  You should also be shopping around every year to make sure that you’re getting the best rate.  Be sure to know what your coverage is and that the companies you’re shopping are doing an apples to apples comparison.

10) Increase insurance deductibles.  I know it sucks to have to pay deductibles but by keeping your deductible as low as $100 or even $500 means that you’re paying a larger premium.  Keeping it as high as you can handle will save you lots on your premium.

11)  Shut vents in unused rooms.  We don’t really have unused rooms but we do force the air condition upstairs only during the summer and heat downstairs during the winter.

12) Take advantage of employer 401(k) matches.  ‘S’ has a 401K that he maxes out but my company doesn’t offer one at this time.  I really should be maxing out my IRA contributions but with us trying to save the max amount for a home it doesn’t make any sense since you can only withdraw for your first home purchase without penalties.  I’ll start doing this as soon as we have the down payment that we need saved up.

13) Use flexible spending accounts. I really wish our employers offered this.  It’s tax deferred money that you can put in an account to use for medical expenses.  The down side is if you don’t use it all during the year then you lose it, but even a small amount set aside can really help.  So far this year alone we’ve spend 2K in medical expenses and I go in for surgery on my leg in September to have the hardware removed which will be another large bill.

14) Keep tires properly inflated.  I try to check ours about every 3 months.  Not only is it safer it but properly inflated tires improve your mpg.  The recommended PSI for your vehicle is normally on a sticker on the drivers side door.

15) Stop smoking. Duh.

16) Drink less alcohol.  It’s expensive and is loaded with empty calories.

17) Buy generic over-the-counter medicines. We do this for a lot of products but not all.  Depends based on how effective they are.

18) Get organized and avoid missed payments.  We don’t miss payments very often but I’ll admit that occasionally one slips by.  Once ‘S’ moves back we’ll be re-organizing our bill paying method since that’s one of his new jobs.

19) Use online bill paying.  I actually rarely see this on lists but it can actually make quite a difference.  Many banks in the US will actually send out the checks for you free as part of the perks of banking with them.  Consider this — ‘S’ and I pay about 6 bills a month (most families mail more).  At .44 a pop for a stamp that comes out to $2.64 a month or $31.68 a year. Add our 4% on our checking and that’s another $1.16 = $32.84 a year just to mail bills.  And that’s not counting the cost of checks either!  It also cuts the time of paying bills down about 75%.

20) Buy online when it saves you money.  I do double duty with this.  For example — I’m a member of Upromise which means I can make money from different manufactures when I used my registered shopping card to buy certain manufacture’s products, when I buy gas with my debit card at certain gas stations, and even at sponsored restaurants with that same debit card (although there are only a couple here in central PA).  So when I know I’m going to be making ANY TYPE of purchase on line from ebay, amazon, southwest airlines, even hair products. I shop around first for the best deal then I log into upromise.com and see if that website, manufacture, etc is a sponsor.  9 time out of 10 they are and so I’ll find them on upromise and then click their link through the site and make my purchase.  It’s that easy.  Then after about 90 days I’ll see a percentage (whatever they advertise) of my purchase in my upromise account.  I can then have them send me a check or have it go directly to our college or even have them make a payment to our student loan.  You won’t get rich but every penny helps.

21) Buy a programmable thermostat.  Both of my bosses actually had one of these and while they said it saved them money I guess I was a little skeptical.  Not anymore.  ‘S’ and I bought one (Honywell Brand) 2 years ago at about $35.00 from HomeDepot and installed it ourselves.  The very first month our electric bill was 20% less over last years with the same temp outside!  It paid for itself in about 5 months and we’ve just been saving since.  Here’s how we scheduled ours seasonally.  Summer – we have the unit set at about 75 degrees while we sleep and in the mornings when we get up.  After we leave for work it’s timed to allow the temp to get up to 78 degrees (cause of the cats) and then 30 min before we get home it drops down to 75 degrees again. Winter – it’s set to heat at about 72 degrees while we are home in the evenings (cause it’s easier to bundle up) and then while we sleep it’s set to go down as low as 65 degrees and then 30 min before we wake up it goes back up to 72 degrees and then once we leave the house it’s back down to 65 degrees until 30 min before we get home from work it heats the house up to 72 degrees.  We could easily do this manually but we’re the type that would forget to either turn it up or down so it’s well worth the money.

22) Eat out less or share a meal.  We eat out a lot.  This is one area that I know we can easily save money by making more meals at home.  I have some ideas below on how to save while doing this that I’d like to know if anyone does them.  Another thing I recently read was because portion sizes are so large at restaurants to just order just one meal and split it or order an cheaper appetizer and then split one meal.  Great idea!

23) Brown bag it.  On average I will run to the grocery store or pack a lunch more often then I’ll buy out.  However, I’m costing myself extra money by not planning ahead so this will be something to work on so that I’m not making extra trips or buying things when they’re not on sale.

24) Drink water when dining out.  I almost never drink soda but I normally order lemonade at restaurants.  I recently went out with a friend and she had what I would call the “Poor Man’s Lemonade” but I think I might try it.  It’s a glass of water, and she requests several lemon wedges (they’re free) she then squeezes all the lemon juice into the water and adds a little bit of sugar (also free) and has sweetened lemon water.  I think I’m gonna have to try that next time I’m at a restaurant.

25) Loose Change – Save up all the loose change in your house and cars and put them in a jar and then once a month or so deposit them in the bank or use it for a special day.

Okay so there are my ideas either that I currently do or things that I’ve read about and thought they had some merit.  Now I have a few that I’ve been thinking about and wanted to know if any currently do them and had some thoughts or as I said before, please feel free to email or comment if you have some ideas of your own.

1) Check the insulation in the attic.  So I’ve read different amounts as to how much insulation you should have and I’m not quite sure what’s a good amount (inches) without being overkill.

2) Bottle in your toilet tank.  This is a different spin on putting a brick in your toilet tank which can actually flake off and damage the system.  You fill a bottle with water, pennies etc. and then it takes up space in the tank which saves you water.  How much water do you think this actually saves and does it effect the efficiency of the toilet?  I’ve heard different accounts.

3) Hanging clothes outside to dry.  I have a large energy efficient gas dryer that automatically shuts off when it senses the clothes dry, but I’ve wondered if hanging clothes outside to dry would be worth it in the long run.  A clothes hanger would run me anywhere from ($80-$150) that could fit outside or inside my condo unit.  I’m afraid I wouldn’t even break even in the next two years before we would end up getting a new house where I would want a different kind of clothes line.  Any thoughts?

4) Standby Power.  I’ve heard a lot about standby power or phantom loads that most electronics use electricity even when they are powered off.  There are actual devices that run about $25 that will tell you how much each device is using but I’m wondering if it’s worth the investment or to run around my house and unplugging everything until I need it.  I’ve heard that standby power accounts from as much as 15% of all household electricity bills to as low as just 2%.  Does anyone know if Phantom loads are really an issue?

5) Homemade Cleaning Products.  I’ve recently be fascinated by the idea that some people make their own laundry detergent and even dish detergent and have been tempted to try it myself.  Does anyone currently do this and if so what recipes do they use and how efficient are they?  I’ve even thought of making my own cleaning products for around the house as well, but haven’t done any research on it yet.

6) Meal Planning. I’ve thought about starting to plan a full 7 days of meals a week ahead and base those meals on either sales that are running or a combination of sales and coupons.  Even if that means that in one day I have to run to two different stores to get the best deals (most are right next to one another) That way I’m not buying food that could go to waste and I’m not buying things ahead of time (unless it’s a great sale) that I may not use for months and could be earning interest on the money instead.  Does anyone do this and is it a serious pain to plan and do?

I appreciate any feedback.  I know some of my ideas are a little out there and sometimes they take more time, but we pay for convenience and it’s just a matter of evaluating what that convenience is worth to each person.

A Penny Saved, Is A Penny Earned

With ‘S’ and I doing pretty good we’re starting to get some plans in order for the future.  Some of them are very aggressive plans.  One of the largest goals is that we want to save as much money as we possibly can in the next year or two as we would like to buy our dream home to raise a family.  In order to do this we need a very large down payment as we don’t want a mortgage of more than $1,000 a month.  To accomplish this we need to really track where our money is going and cut any excess that we can.  Not to say that we’re going to live like paupers but we really need to be aware of any extra expenses that are unplanned.  It sucks for the short term but long term it’ll be worth it.

Earlier this year I had purchased Quicken 2009 which is a personal finance management software.  It’s great for tracking any category of expenses you want, as well as paying bills.  I’ve just scratched the surface of what this software can do since we recently moved banks and I finally started spending time setting everything up.  It’s got a great time saver feature in that it ties in with thousands of banks across the country so you don’t even have to put in the transactions manually (unless it’s cash) and so for people like ‘S’ and I where 95% of our transactions are electronic it makes it super easy.  So far I like the categories, and if you don’t like the default categories you can easily add your own such as books (since I buy a lot) names of specific credit cards, etc.  Below I’ve attached a couple of the graphs and reports (there are many more) that I think are really cool.  These aren’t my own expenses, but I’ve generated these same reports on my own.  (Click on the photo for a more detailed view)

I love you but…

I can’t sleep with you.  Seriously.

Now about 90% of you need to get your minds out of the gutter.  I’m not talking about sex, but rather snoozing.  ‘S’ and I have been doing pretty good and a couple of nights a week he has been sleeping over.  However, while our relationship has been getting better our sleep has been getting worse.  He has been tired for years and we thought it was sleep apnea which he was diagnosed with late last year.  So he moved out and started sleeping on his own and a month or so later he got his apnea machine.  Between the two he no longer feels like he’s dragging ass and I too have been sleeping like the dead as I’m able to spread out & so can the cats.  So suddenly we’re sharing a bed again and it’s a problem.

Here’s an example of last night.  We feel asleep like we always have. We spoon with George sharing my pillow and purring like crazy.  Then around 3 I woke up with George between the two of us, curled up right against my neck (his usual spot). Snuggles had curled up against my stomach and Boris had wrapped himself around my feet.  I felt claustrophobic.  I also move around more than ‘S’ who lays down and most times doesn’t move until his alarm wakes him.  Me on the other hand, completely destroys the bed every night.

And while I’m concerned to a certain extent about appearances, I enjoy a good nights sleep more.  So when ‘S’ moves back (in Aug) I think we’re actually going to set up another bed in our 2nd bedroom just so we have somewhere to go if we’re not sleeping well in the master bedroom.  One thing that I’ve learned this past 6 months is what works for one marriage won’t work for another, so it might not be normal but hey, at least we’ll be happy and well rested.  

The Devil’s Handiwork

Several months ago I had a post about a series of freebies that I was aware of.  One of them was the above Fiber One cereal and chewy bars.  I had my sample bar and was suitably impressed that it was quite tasty but hadn’t gone out and bought any right away.  Well a few weeks ago I did start buying them and had about 1 a day and noticed right away that it really helped with my long suffering constipation.  After all it does have quite a bit of fiber.  However there is one side effect that I had not been prepared for — Gas.  And a lot of it.

At first I didn’t make a connection between the bars and my sudden increase of gas.  However, after I had 2 bars on an empty stomach for lunch one day I suddenly made the connection after my intestines tried to blow themselves out through my sphincter.  Seriously, the human body was not designed to fart like it does after eating just one or two of these bars.  And it’s not just normal gas.  This gas is lethal.  Like the kind that can kill small children and the elderly. And once released, it lingers in the area for awhile like a stink bomb.

And the cats…the poor, poor, cats with their heightened sense of smell.  If I have one after dinner by the time I go upstairs to lay down to read or watch TV they are in full force.  I’ve actually had the cats leave the bedroom and just hang out in the hallway until it’s finally over.  They’ve even tried to come back into the bedroom midway through, only to quickly backpeddle out.  Last night I had one before I went to sleep as my night time snack at actually woke myself up continuously farting throughout the night, much to George’s disgust.

I’ve been lucky so far that I haven’t been found out at work.  There are actually walls between me and others which helps prevent my fellow coworkers from being gassed out.  However, I have had to learn the art of the quiet fart and I can honestly say I’m a master of the “Silent but Deadly” fart now.  This of course opens itself up to loads of entertainment when out in public.  There is nothing quiet like the humor of releasing a quiet but deadly fart and then standing off in the distance and watch someone walk into the toxic gas.  People look like they just hit a wall.  Or they’ll suddenly whip around to look at their companion and wonder if it could have been them.

However, nothing tops the entertainment that I had just the other day at Walmart while doing some grocery shopping. I had eaten one of the bars on an empty stomach a couple of hours before going out shopping.  While slowly going up and down the aisles I felt a very large fart coming on.  So I looked around and there was no one in the aisle so I let out a somewhat silent one and then quickly vacated the aisle.  A minute or so later, as I was shopping in the aisle next to it, I suddenly heard, “OH MY GOD!!  WHAT’S THAT SMELL?!?” I immediately tried to stifle my laughter and it took 3 more aisles before I finally had myself under control.

Well these farts come almost on a schedule of one every 5 min or so and as I was shopping down another aisle I had to let another one go.  Once again I quickly left the aisle but apparently the same people I gassed the first time had the misfortune of walking into this one as well.  As I was getting ready to leave the aisle next to it I heard, “OH GOD FRANK!  THERE’S THAT SMELL AGAIN!  I THINK SOMETHING DIED IN THIS STORE.”  I busted out laughing and then had to skip an aisle so that I wouldn’t be found out.  I was still smiling like an idiot as I checked out.

So here’s to you General Mills — For helping us contribute to Global Warming in our own special and unique way.  And just think, I’ve only had the Oats & Chocolate.  I’ve hear the Oats & Peanut butter are even worse!

Narcissistic Personality Disorder…

There is an epidemic in this country.  And I’ve seen no signs that it’s getting any better. For some reason a good majority of my generation and those after me are running around with a sense of entitlement just because they happen to exist. You might actually be parenting one of these children right now and if so pay attention so you can maybe stop it in it’s tracks. That way I and others won’t have the urge to smack your kid.

I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older that there seems to be a somewhat pervasive attitude that some people walk around as if the world owes them something. Some people are even proud of the fact that they can cajole, plead, and manipulate people into giving them goods and services as if they somehow earned it by just show showing up. This is a big part of what is wrong in America today. What happened to the value of working for what you get? I think that our society is missing a big part of the self satisfaction of a job well done and a sense of accomplishment that comes with knowing you earned what you’ve received.

I think I’ve figured out where it comes from too. First, I think that everyone needs to stop thinking that their kids are really that damn special. Cause they’re not. Really. Don’t get me wrong, if/when I finally get around to having kids, I will love them to death and think that they are just wonderful. But unless my kid is solving college level math equations while still in diapers, I’m not going to think they’re the next Einstein. If I’m lucky, they’re average.

And for those of you who are thinking, just you wait till you have kids — you have no idea what you’re talking about. But that’s just it, people let their emotions run away till they’ve built it up in their heads that their kid is going to be the next great thing and don’t step back and go….well he’s at least smart enough to hold a job down so he won’t wander the streets homeless. It’s what you make your priorities and what you think is and isn’t important. Just like if I ever have a kid and they act up in a restaurant or grocery store I won’t just endure and piss off the other patrons. I will abandon my cart if at a store, or get my food to go at a restaurant because I refuse to inflict my misbehaving children on the rest of the general public. They either know how to behave outside of the home or we leave. It’s as simple as that, but I digress….

Then we come to the phrase I can’t stand. “He deserves it” Why? Why does he deserve something? Did he do something to deserve it?  Or do you just love little Johnny sooo much and think he’s just the most special kid in the whole wide world and therefor should have everything?  That’s our problem.  I was watching Jon & Kate plus 8 yesterday (I’ll have a separate post on that show soon) Although I missed the new one, which just pissed me off so I hope it’s on demand tonight so I can see it. But they were showing last season’s episodes and there was one where they moved into this multimillion dollar home and so the kids are just running around like terrors all over the house and she’s talking about how she’s so happy that they moved to this large house cause the kids deserved it. And I’m thinking to myself, “Why?  Why did the kids deserve it?”  Don’t you mean YOU felt you deserved it? Why can’t it be that she felt they earned it as a family because they’ve whored themselves out to TV watchers like me? But no, the kids somehow “deserved” it because they happened to exist.

So if you’re one of those guilty of giving your kids a sense of entitlement just cause they breath. Knock it off. Honestly, you’re not doing them a bit of good.

Community Garden

I found out about a month ago that our town of Carlisle has a small community garden that they sponsor.  It’s very reasonably priced at $10 for a 20’x20′ area and already plowed.  The only downside is that they don’t provide water so you have to haul your own.  Originally I didn’t think that this was a very big issue (the sign of a novice gardener), but I’m quickly finding out that having to haul water is actually a really big pain in the ass.  Also, in an attempt to keep my costs down, I have two friends that fortunately agreed to lend me some tools so I wouldn’t have that as an expense.  You can see my humble little plot here.  Mine is the closest to the edge that has not yet been roped off.

Counseling…

I’ve been very bad about posting lately, but even more so on how ‘S’ and I are doing.  A few weeks ago we started attending marital counseling, with us both serious skeptics as to how it could or would help us.  After 3 such sessions I’m not as much as a skeptic anymore but have come to realize that we actually have bigger issues than I ever realized.  We’ve also come to realize that we are very much influenced by our upbring.  This isn’t a slight against our parents, but rather a comment of reflection.  I have yet to meet any adult who’s family didn’t buy them some time on a shrinks couch.

Have you ever wanted to know how screwed up you actually are?  I asked our therapist during our last meeting that with his 30+ years of counseling, exactly how bad or good he thought our marriage was.  He was very politically correct when he replied it was fine, just needed a little work. 

‘S’ tends to be very laid back in most things but he also avoids fights and confrontations to such an extent that he won’t speak up when he does have an opinion on an issue regardless of if it would or would not cause a fight between us, which he then feels resentment about.  And then if there is a disagreement then he will completely shut down and refuse to discuss the issue and what is bothering him.  I’ve seen this same type of behavior in his family between his sister and mother several years ago when his sister became angry at their mother for some reason and refused to talk with her for years.  I’m completely baffled by this as I feel it simply accomplishes nothing at all but hurt feelings and resentments between the parties.  He also fears failure to such an extent that it almost paralyzes him from trying new things or accomplishing goals.

I on the other hand, tend to have an opinion on almost everything, although it may not be a strong opinion one way or the other.  And due to a somewhat rocky and unpredictable childhood, I tend to be rather ruthless in wanting to control my environment and those around me in order to feel secure.  I also have the ability to be rather aggressive and domineering when I’m angry.  One of my biggest frustrations is that I don’t truly understand how one can fear failure so much that it prevents them from doing the things that they enjoy and love.  I believe that a failure is just another opportunity to learn and to try again, and again…and sometimes even again, until you achieve your goal if it’s important enough for you.  However, I’m learning that failure is actually one of the biggest thing that majority of mean fear.  So I’m trying to understand that at the same time that ‘S’ is learning to overcome his own fears.

With all of these issues, one might wonder how we even survived for the almost 8 years of marriage? But while we have remained as friends, lovers, and partners, our personalities have not been entirely compatible with one another, nor have we made allowances for the other’s strengths and weaknesses.  So after 8 years of marriage and 10 together we are suddenly realizing marriage is work  ….who would have thought it?

But the nice thing is we are making some progress.  We meet at our therapist office once a week for an hour, and then always go out to dinner together afterwards and talk further.  We’ve found this to be key due to some of the issues that are brought up make us both very angry and we need to talk afterwards to work through that.  And while we don’t see each other often during the week due to work, we do text frequently and get to see each other on Friday nights for a date.  We have started talking about him moving back home but that might be a little while yet.

So for those of you wondering…there it is.  Now you can stop asking me. 

Someone needs a pink slip

I’m wondering if anyone else saw this today……747 Flies over NYC

Are you kidding me?  What jackass would think that taking not only a plane, but a HUGE ASS plane, and flying it over the ground zero area would be a swell idea?    And I love this, no one thought that it might be a good idea to give the city a heads up that a plane would be flying by their office windows….escorted by two F-16 fighter jets.  Nope — nothing amiss there.

Apparently hundreds of people panicked and poured into the streets afraid that the jet was going to crash into a building.  So for once Wall Street got to panic outside, instead of inside today.  Nice.

Photography Class

I’ve been interested in photography for a little while now, and the above camera was my Christmas gift about a year ago, but unfortunately I’m not really a manual reader so I haven’t been able to use it to it’s full capacity.  I normally learn better when someone verbally explains something and then shows me.  However Carlisle, doesn’t have a lot of people that are into digital photography (we’re still a little backwards here) so even some places that have photography classes are still using film.

I drove by our local community center the other day though and saw a digital photography class for this past weekend which made me giddy as a school girl.  I immediately registered and paid my $30 and was eagerly anticipating my class.  However I got there on Saturday and saw that my fellow classmates had all brought point & click, out of a box cameras.  Don’t get me wrong, point & click cameras are great and I have one of those as well but I kind of consider them stupid-proof and not really something that most people should need to take a class on.  However, our instructor was pretty good at teaching the basics for the point & clickers and then would come over and show me some of the cool features on my own.  The neatest thing I learned was the macro features on my camera.  How cool is the below photo?