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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

I know what you want. Here it is:

1.  Tuesday nights have become ‘me’ nights at home. On Mondays I’m typically away from home for 13+ hours with work and the weekly staff meeting at Life Pointe Church. On Wednesdays I only have about 3 hours at home after work and before Life Group. But Tuesdays when I get home I stay home and catch up with stuff. It’s my ‘fun’ day – my ‘I don’t have to run’ day !

2.  TODAY I extended my ‘fun’ day by 4 hours and worked just a half a day. I went to Target for the first time since perhaps last December, and I went on a 90-minute shopping spree. Actually for the amount of time that I was scouring that store I didn’t really buy too many items (17). I could have really gone wild and bought 35 items !

3.  Standing right behind me at the same checkout counter at Target ? – This fellow LPC Blogger Extraordinare.

4.  If we had a Target that was closer to home then I’d probably shop there at least once every couple of weeks or so instead of once or twice a year.

5.  Jesse wants to see “Step Brothers” with me.

6.  I’m having a lot of fun and learning a lot too with my fresh new Panasonic DVD Recorder / VCR Combo. I bought it online at circuitcity.com a couple of Saturday nights ago, and FedEx delivered it to me (free of charge) less than two business days later !  I couldn’t believe my four eyes when it arrived that fast !  😯

7.  Since my new DVD recorder has a digital tuner I’m exploring and enjoying crystal clear digital television for the first time ever. I have 90 new digital channels (expanded basic) that I always had but couldn’t access until now. That includes 50 music channels. I dig that !

8.  Last night and this morning I recorded four hours of digital television programming on DVD-RW for the first time ever. I’ve got some tweaks to make to this process. I recorded it all in EP mode (which allows for 8 hours of programming onto a single 4.7 GB DVD). The picture quality suffered a bit. I’ll have to bring it down a notch for my next recordings. I’m learning.

9.  I’ve pushed back the purchase of my fresh new HP Pavilion laptop indefinitely – but not for too long. Once the initial enjoyment value for my DVD Recorder / digital television revolution begins to wind down a bit then it will be time for me to buy my next new toy – the laptop. It should happen sometime in August.

10.  Bright and early this morning I was once again reminded why I rarely go through the drive-thru at the McDonald’s at the Oasis Plaza en el este de Homestead. It’s because the service is subpar. They get confused handling more than one order at a time !  😕

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Home Money

Insuring My Home For Less Than $4.67 A Day

TODAY I paid the second of two homeowner’s insurance policies for the upcoming year that begins for each of the policies in about 6 weeks. One of the policies ($754.00 for the year) is for all perils except for wind, and the other policy ($949.10) is for wind only. So that’s $1,703.10 combined for the year – or less than $4.67 a day.

Here’s how my annual insurance costs have evolved since I’ve owned my current home (nearly 7 years):

2008-2009 – $1,703.10
2007-2008 – $1,697.30
2006-2007 – $1,922.00
2005-2006 – $761.00
2004-2005 – $703.00
2003-2004 – $701.00
2002-2003 – $707.00
2001-2002 – $331.98

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Career Home

The Shaving Chronicles

THIS AFTERNOON I shaved. Why ?  Because it’s Saturday !

I shave twice a week. Why do I shave twice a week ?  It’s because I do not wish to shave three times a week. I had to shave every day for 8 years while I was Active Duty Air Force. I didn’t like it at all. It was 1 of the 57 reasons why I decided to get out of the Air Force when I did. Over 15 years later I’m still working for the Air Force – but as a D.O.D. civilian. I can shave whenever I feel like it, and I feel like shaving twice a week. In fact I feel like shaving on Saturday afternoons and Tuesday evenings. That’s why when you see me on Wednesdays and Sundays I appear to be rather clean-shaven. There’s about 76 hours between my Saturday afternoon shave and my Tuesday evening shave, and there’s about 92 hours between my Tuesday evening shave and my Saturday afternoon shave. A lot of hair grows on my face during those 76 to 92 hours. I like how my face feels once it’s all shaved off. It feels smooth like that !

If I decided to increase my shaving to three times a week then perhaps I would go with a Sunday evening / Tuesday evening / Thursday evening schedule. That way I would be clean-shaven on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

That just seems like a bit too much shaving for me.

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Home

Saturday Morning Shenanigans

It’s the only morning of the week in which a set alarm clock does not wake me up. During the work week it wakes me up at precisely 5:15 AM. On Sundays it does so at 6:30 AM. On Saturdays I get to sleep in, and lately (especially) I’ve been taking full advantage of this once-in-a-week opportunity.

This morning I recall waking up (for the first time) at 4:20 AM. When I quickly identified the time as ‘4:20 AM’ I just as quickly went back to sleep. I proceeded to sleep right through my normal wake up times for the other 6 days of the week, and I finally awoke (for good) at 7:47 AM. I just laid there in bed for about 10 minutes as I planned out my upcoming day. It was right then and there that I decided to not go anywhere at all today. I walked in to my home just before 3:30 PM yesterday (Friday) afternoon, and I don’t plan to walk out of it again until just before 7:30 AM tomorrow (Sunday) morning. I’ll be enjoying the comfort of my home sweet home en Homestead for 40 continuous hours. It’s just me and my home. Home is where my heart is.

Most people I know don’t spend nearly enough time in their home. They are always out and about and on the go. They rarely take ‘personal time’ away from it all. They are sort of like zombies. All work. All action. No play. No rest.

That will not be me (today anyway). My shenanigans on a Saturday would be considered to be extremely lame for many, but it works on so many levels for me. I am so much busier in 2008 than in any other previous year in my entire life. Today I am taking a day off from the rest of the world. I am recharging my batteries. I am getting refreshed. I am enjoying this home of mine. It’s got everything that I need. It’s where I belong today. It’s where I need to be.

I’ll be back outside and on-the-go tomorrow (Sunday). Catch me then (if you can).