A New Bill of Rights

saturday while i was in the portland airport i stopped at a coffee shop to curve my craving for an espresso drink. the shop i stopped in was called coffee people, (http://coffeepeople.com). i ordered a gooy caremel latte. after recieving my latte i proceeded to dress it with a recycled insulator. i went and sat at a table next to a window that looked out upon multiple gates with airplanes taxiing in and out. after finishing my latte i noticed that my cup had quite a lot of text on it. it was called the "bill of rights." here's what it said...

coffee people

bill of rights

1. people of coffee, you have certain rights.

among these are the rights of spring,

the right to peace, freedom & coffee.

in that order.

2. you have the right to remain silent.

you have the right to become an attorney.

if you cannot become an attorney,

someone will become one for you.

3. you have the right to wander, in your own way,

the garden of hydraulics that is espresso.

4. you have the right to form your own opinions.

you may even have the right to address the

the nation tonight during the dinner hour.

check local listings.

5. you have the right to expect freedom from

back talk. however seen from outer space

much of the globe appears to be blue.

therefore, o wanderer, speak softly to us.

6. coffee isn't always the answer,

certainly not. but it remains a beautiful

question we are inclined to ask.

Happy Birthday Little Bro!

november 2004

today is chad's 20th birthday. who is this chad you might ask? he is my younger brother. the phrase youner brother is a phrase that i've been trying to adapt to for over a year now, and i still keep catching myself calling him my little brother. even though he's not so little anymore i guess he will always be my little brother. at least until i get use to saying younger brother.

chad and i are now great friends, but there was a solid span of 14 or 15 years in which that wasn't quite the case. for starters i will say that i've always loved my brother. though for the longest time he was a thorn in my side. always wanting to tag along, buggin' me and my friends to play with him and then when we did he would get mad because he couldn't keep up. as a child a five year gap makes a huge difference both physically and mentally.

now my brother is 20 years old. chad enlisted into the reserves the summer before his 18th birthday. he did this so he could get money to pay for college. where he is to become a computer engineer. he is currently an active army reservist stationed in taji, iraq. he is a machanic for the army. the fasion in which he got sent over there is a bit odd, but never the less he is there. he is what one might call one to many so he doesn't stay too busy. i didn't want to see him go. still. i must say that it has been good for him. he is maturing into a fine young man over there. he has always been a disaplined individual. largely due to the fact that he had to deal with dyslexia as a child which caused him to study way more than most, or at least way more than i ever did. it was from this weekness that he grew strong in his disapline skills. over the 9 months chad has been in iraq he has been working out and taking suplements. he went over there as a skinny 160 or so pound six feet tall kid. now i'm told he weighs around 185 lbs. that's 185 lbs of lean muscle. so ladies watch out. on second thought maybe i should watch out?

Happy Birthday Chad! I miss you and I love you.

p.s. i can still kick your ass.

Part 5 - The Return Home

my return home from my vacation went well, but wasn't perfect. my step dad and i drove to portland on friday night since he had a flight to catch at 6am and my flight was scheduled to leave a 1pm. we stayed at the embassy suites hotel at the airport and i must say that was the best room i've ever stayed in for the price. that is saying something because i've been in several nice hotels in my life. the room wasn't fancy in an upscale sense, but it had all the upscale amenities. we had a living room, bedroom, kitchen sink, fridge, microwave, high speed internet on the tv, and a full complimentary breakfast. all for $124. the only complaint i have is the bed was a bit firmer than i like.

friday night i anticipated a possible cancellation of my flight since my flight plan was to fly from portland to houston to dallas. when i woke up saturday morning i checked my flight status via my cell phone and sure enough my flight was canceled. not because of current weather condition, but because there was no one at the houston airport. did this worry me? no. i've been flying alone or with my younger brother since i was 15 years old and i have a good concept of how the industry works. i'm not saying i know the ins and outs, but i'm not ignorant to the system.

i proceed to go check out of the hotel at 8:30. for i new if i could get to the airport early enough i might score a connecting flight through another city or on another carrier for free. when i was checking out i told the gentleman at the desk about my flight since he asked where i was going. he was very nice and told me to call if i couldn't get a flight out today and he would give me a room at the distress rate of $40-$60. he said even though the hotel was filling up fast he would make sure there was a room available for me. after the delightful service i was provided i headed to the airport.

i arrived at the airport at 9am. i walked to the continental airlines check-in counter to find that i was the only one in line. evidently they only had two flights going out that day. one was boarding at 9am and the other was mine which was canceled. when i got up to the counter i told the lady that i wanted to see if i could get another flight home to dallas. she told me that they didn't have anymore flights that day, but she would call american airlines and check on there direct flight to dfw that was scheduled to take off at 12:20. showing up to the airport early paid off. they had a seat for me. not only did i score a flight home, but a direct flight home. this meant i would be arriving at dfw at 6pm instead of 9:30pm. i called my friend brad to let him know that he could pick me up much earlier than 10pm.

i flew on a good ol' mc douglas super 80

after passing the time for 2 1/2 hours in the airport i finally boarded the plane. over all it was a good flight. i was disappointed that i didn't get served lunch, but i know the airline is trying to save money. i just figured that since continental served me breakfast on my flight to portland that american would also be serving more than pretzels on the flight home.

we experienced a bit of turbulence a couple of times, but the landing was amazing. i only felt the first wheel touch the ground. even the head sturdiest was impressed, and announced her joy of the intercom. that's saying something seeing how she flies a lot more than most people.

Part 4 - The Crash

wednesday, september 21st was a day to remember. like all of the other days of my vacation i woke via my internal alarm and not an external one. i didn't have any plans for this day so i decided to go into town and rent a couple of movies.

so that i could enjoy the fresh air and get a bit of exercise, i decided to ride my step dad's new mountain bike to the movie store. when i went to the shed to get the bike i notice that the handle bar looked funny, but i just chalked it up to innovative design. so i aired up the tires, put on my head phones that are hooked into my mp3 player, and headed up the drive and into town. while riding into town i discovered that the handle bar looked was loose and had rotated 90 degrees. thus accounting for it's "innovative" look.

i made it to the movie store just fine. after looking around in the tiny store i decided to rent the chronicles of riddick and another movie i can't remember the title of. i'm bad at remembering titles and names of actors. after renting the movies under my step dad's name i placed the movies in the fanny pack i was wearing and headed back to my mom's house. on the way home i rotated the handle bar back into a normal position, and only experienced a little bit of trouble from the looseness of the bar.

now let me set the stage for what comes next. my mom has a long driveway composed of both small and large rocks compressed into the ground by the vehicles that travel it on a daily basis. down the center of the drive is a grass path. the drive curves from the road down to her house and is quite steep. to minimize the bumpiness of the drive i road the bike on the grass in the middle. while going down hill i started to build up a lot of speed and the handle bar had slipped back into it's awkward position. the combination of the two had made me quite nervous so i decided to apply the brake. unfortunately i squeezed the left brake, aka the front wheel brake, to hard. the next thing i know i'm flying head first over the handle bar of the bike with the rear of the bike following my lead.


the left side of my body hit the hard rocky ground and i proceeded to slide and roll about ten feet until i hit the grass beside the drive. upon stopping i am in a sitting position. at this point my eyes are closed and i'm wheezing heavily from have the breath knocked out of me. i quickly proceed to lay down on the ground and assess the situation. so i open my eyes, i'm still wheezing, and proceed to move my arms, legs, back, and neck to see if anything is injured seriously. thankfully not. after a few my seconds, but what seemed a lot longer, i started to breath heavily without wheezing.

while laying in pain on the ground i notice that my head phones are still in my ears with music playing. thankfully my player was on my right arm and not my left. then i notice that i'm laying on top of the fanny pack that has my cell phone, wallet, and dvd rentals in it. so i start to wonder if either my phone or the dvds are broken, but i'm still in to much pain to care. after a couple of songs played through i started to get up off the ground. i then pick up the bike, which seems to be okay, sit on the seat and try to peddle. but the peddles won't move. so i get off the bike and look at the back wheel. the break had gotten jammed under the rim of the wheel. keeping it from being able to spin. i pick up the bike and put it over my shoulder and walk the last 100 yards down the drive to the shed.

after telling my mom what happened i washed up and went to look more closely at the bike. there were a couple of scratches on the handle bar, the brake was jammed under the back wheel, and the back wheel was slightly bent. the bend was so slight that i had to spin the wheel to notice it. i couldn't leave my step-dad's new bike in this condition so the next day i drove to a nearby town and bought a new back wheel and a tool to change out the gears. total bill $38.96. total injuries include scrapes on my left ankle, knee, hip, back, arm, shoulder, and right hand. sore back muscles for a couple of days, and 6 days later my side and shoulder still hurt. i have a feeling my should will hurt for at least another 10 days, but i least nothing is broken.

Part 3 - 25 Years

day 9130

tuesday september 20th was my 25th birthday. day 9131 of my life (this includes 6 leap years). this was the first birthday i can remember that wasn't celebrated with friends, but i still had a wonderful time. on my birthday i woke up to my body's alarm clock and not an electrical one next to my bed. that in its self is worth something. after eating breakfast i sat down on the couch and watched a movie on hbo.

then at 11am it was time. time for fun and relaxation in the great outdoors of oregon. it was time to play golf. i've played golf as a recreationally since i was 11 years old. i did quit playing for about a year due to frustration around age 14. at that time in my life i aspired to be great at golf. i'm naturally left handed, but after my game reached a plateau i taught myself how to play right handed and ended up doing no better than what i had done left handed. so i quit. after picking golf back up at age 15 i played quite often during high school and improved my game greatly after joining the golf team my junior year.

since graduating high school my rounds of golf per year have decreased annually while my golf scores have increased. but this doesn't bother me since i could care less how good i play anymore. with this round of golf on my birthday, as with most of my rounds now, i was just happy to be playing. this being only my third round of golf for the year my score did suck, and i had an awesome time sucking it up. i played at mallard creek golf course, host of the pga oregon open. i love playing golf in oregon. everything is so green and so much cooler than in texas.



that evening i had my dinner of choice, lasagna. i love lasagna. it is because of this that i think garfield the cat and i would get along great. i ate so much lasagna that i didn't have room for cake and ice cream, but i'm sure garfield would have.

all in all i had a truly wonderful and relaxing 25th birthday, and to add icing to the cake. when i returned home from my vacation i checked the mail and found that i had received my new car insurance policy. for the first time in 6 years my premium didn't go up. it didn't even stay the same. it went down! when i say it went down i mean it plummeted $100 a month.

vivia la 9131 days!

Part 2 - Crater Lake

the second day of my vacation involved riding in a car for four hours on my way to crater lake. i must say that i would rather drive than ride, but i can't complain too much since i didn't have to pay for food, gas, or the roof over my head during the trip.

here is some extremely plagiarized information about the lake from the brochure i got upon entering the national park.

the beauty and intense blue of crater lake have awed people for generations. five miles wide and ringed by cliffs almost 2,000 feet high, the lake rest in the shattered remnants of a volcano called mt. mazama, which erupted and collapsed into itself 7,700 years ago. later eruptions formed wizard island and other volcanic features, now hidden under the lake. crater lake filled with rain and melted snow. at 1,943 feet deep, it is the deepest lake in the united state and on of the deepest in the world.

we didn't arrive at the lake until later in the day. we entered at the north entrance and stopped to take pictures at 4 different lookout points on our way to the lodge on the south side of the lake. at each look out point there were lots of ground squirrels waiting for food.

after checking into the lodge we went on a small hike on the south rim of the lake. where we got to see the sun set while enjoying the 45 degree weather. that night we ate $28 salmon at the more expensive lodge up the road from ours. my step dad and i were anticipating a chance to see the stars, but it was bitter sweet to have them dowsed by the light of the full moon.

in the morn of the second day it was 30 degrees. the first time i have ever felt below freezing weather in the month of september. we waited for the sun to make it over the mountains and for the temperature to warm up before we went on our hike down to the lake. which according to the sign was equal to going down 150 flights of stairs. it was an amazing hike. i was breath taking experience down by the lake. it is astonishing how clear the water is. i took quite a few pictures during my 24 hours at the lake. i love nature and i fully enjoy capturing it with my camera. i must say that the hike back up the mountain wasn't too hard, but it literally was more of a breath taking experience than hiking down the mountain.


like most of my vacation i wish my stay at the lake could have lasted longer, but alas we had to leave.

**all photos are taken by me**

Oregon Vacation Part 1

like most vacations, i wish mine would have lasted longer. one reason is that i did have a wonderful time visiting my mom and step-dad in oregon, and look forward to my next visit there. the other reason is that there is not ragweed in oregon. which is causing my eyes to itch and my nose to run like it is in a marathon.

i left saturday the 17th on a 7am flight from drw to houston. while checking in i witnessed someone get told they couldn't fly! it was a couple and their small daughter in line in front of me. the wife's passport expired oct. 02-2005. evidently the country they were flying to required a passport to be valid for 30 past day someone is scheduled to return home. it was disheartening to see how sad the little girl was when she found out that her mom couldn't fly with them.

i had a smooth connecting flight through houston and onto portland, or. where my step-dad, doug, picked me up from the airport. we proceeded to head towards his and my mom's home in sweet home, or. 1 1/2 hrs south of portland. while going down the highway i saw a sheriffs car on the side of the road, and this wasn't any normal patrol car. it was a 2005 gt mustang! so good luck to anyone who plans on out running the sheriff in oregon. on our way to sweet home we made a couple of stops.

i made a green dot on the map where sweet home is.

the first was outside of salem at a man's house who does classic car restoration. we picked up the chrome grill to doug's '53 buick skylark. next we stopped for food in a little town that i can't remember the name of. after that we proceeded to lebanon where they were having a classic car show. which was sweet. it is so awesome that people rebuild old cars for all to see and enjoy. if someone didn't do that we would only be able to see some of these cars in old black and white pictures. i must say that they are much more interesting 2ft away.

finally we make it to sweet home. how sweet it is. the 75 degree weather was bliss and their four dogs, sandy, ginger, ty, and sugar, where all happy to see me.

A Break From Normality

tomorrow morning i will wake up and do the normal things. take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush my teeth....business as usual, or is it. tomorrow is saturday and i will be waking up around 4:45am. the last time i was awake at 4:45am on a saturday morning was because i didn't go to sleep the night before, and i can't even remember when that was. the sacrifice of my precious sleep is well worth it. for i will be heading towards the airport at 5:15am so that i can board my 6:57am flight on time, destination sweet home, oregon.

i'm going to oregon to visit my mom and step dad, doug. the last time i saw my mom was in january for a day and a half. though seeing her was great. the reason for our reunion wasn't. it was to see my brother off to iraq. not quite a joyous occation. the last time i got to spend a decent amount of time with my mom and step dad was christmas of 2002. my mom, doug, my brother chad, and i all met up in reno, nevada to have christmas with doug's family. that is always fun because the are such fun people. the last time i visited my mom's home was the spring of 2002. wow, does time fly.

i can't wait to visit with my mom, go golfing with my step dad, kyaking, tubing, driving through the mountains, fly fishing, and playing with the dogs. you see my mom lives on five acres of river front property just outside of a blue collar town of 8235 people. her house feels very secluded and is quite peaceful. i love the outdoors and the summer in oregon is about as good as it gets. i'm going to be there during the tail end of the summer. so my fingers are crossed in hopes that it doesn't rain everday i'm there. according weather.com my visit should be sunny most everyday with a high in the upper 70's and lows in the mid 40's. i couldn't ask for a better forcast, but we all know how good the weather man can be.

My Opportunity For Retribution

i opened a letter this morning that contained information about a class action settlement.

title: notice of proposed class action settlement and release of claims

first sentence: this notice is being sent to you because you may be eligible to receive monetary and other benefits as part of a proposed class action settlement.

basically what it says is that from january 28, 1989 trough july 18, 2005 under paid a lot of motor vehicle total loss claims. if i want to be a part of the claim i have to send in the attached form by march 6, 2006. the form is asking about when my claim was filed, what i was paid, the condition my vehicle was in, any major repairs or part replacements in the previous 12 months, as well as any non-factory installed special equipment.

i'm quite happy i've received this letter because i feel that my claim was under paid. the reason i feel my claim was under paid is that i bought a set a brand new tires 2 weeks before my truck was stolen and replace my brake system 1 week before it was stolen. total bill $1,500. also i had a really nice chrome tool box in the bed of my truck that i paid $300 for and a $250 cd player. did my insurance company increase the value of my truck because of this? hell no! so i see this as my opportunity for retribution.

viva la those who have the time and money to take on the mega insurance companies.

Clearance Rack

anywhere i go if i see a clearance rack, shelf, or bin i must look through it, but i don't feel compelled to buy something just because it is in a clearance section. my favorite clearance section is at half price books. i know what you're thinking. jlay loves shopping for books? the answer is no! i shop the clearance rack in the cd section. i target cds that cost $1 or less, but will sometimes splurge for a $3 cd. now here is where it gets interesting.

i typically choose artist that have never made it to mainstream radio, or at least i've never heard of them. i choose the cds based upon a combination of the name of the band, the name of the songs, the cd artwork, and the year the album came out. i've bought some 20 cds using this method over the last year, and i'm happy to report that i've only bought 2 or 3 that i didn't like. here is a list of some of my favorite albums that i've bought and would highly recommend.

Eight Stops Seven
Foam
Highway 9
Minibar
Silvercrush
The Mayfield Four
The Giraffes
Everman
Day of Fire
Seventh Day Slumber

Legal Insurance Scams?

this past saturday i was reminded of a hidden tragedy. the majority of individuals with life insurance have either a universal or whole life policy. if they only new how it worked they wouldn't have ever signed on the dotted line.

universal and whole life policies are very similar, and i will keep my explanation simple. they both include an insurance policy that is good through the age of 95 or 100, depending on the state of issuance. also they have a sub account that part of your premium goes into for your retirement.

so lets say that you buy a 500,000 policy and you start paying X dollars per month for it. part of the money going towards your insurance, part of it going towards administrative fees, and part of it going into your retirement account. does this sound okay so far? it does doesn't it. what if i told you that if you cancel the policy within the first 5 years you will not get any of the money that has gone into the retirement account? that's right the insurance company gets your insurance premiums and your retirement premiums. they do not tell you this lovely factoid when they sell you the policy.

well my friends. it gets worse. lets say that you've had your policy for 15 years and you've put 200,000 into your retirement account, and one day while going to work you get killed in a car wreck. the insurance company will pay your family the 500,000 from the life policy, but they keep the 200,000 you've put into the retirement account. this is called option "A" or "1". they normally select this option for you without telling you about option "B" or "2". this option allows your family to get both the insurance and the retirement, or at least that's what they want you to think. what really happens is they charge you a higher premium for selecting option "B" or "2" and use the extra money to purchase a second policy for you for the exact amount that is in your retirement account. so really your family still isn't getting the retirement money. is that not just wrong?

as a financial advisor i deal with the full spectrum of finance. this includes life insurance. i'm proud to say that my company is the only one in the united states that doesn't sell these life insurance policies. we sell what is called term life insurance, and teach families to invest their money in mutual funds. this method allows your family to get both the life insurance and the retirement upon your death. as well as this type of strategy has historically had a much higher rate of return for your retirement account.

Damn Thieves

there are a lot of reasons why i like living in the dfw area. the four main are friends, church, employment opportunities, and entertainment. on the flip side there are reasons why i don't like living here. such as traffic, being away from my family, and crime. i think the one i hate the most is crime. i've had a lot of stuff stolen from me since i moved to dfw, and yesterday it happened again.

since moving to dfw in 1999 i've had three car stereos, two sets of tools, one truck, a car antenna, a propane tank, and as of yesterday i get to add a door mat to the list. a black, rubber door mat that couldn't have cost more than seven dollars. out of all the things that have been stolen from me the mat has been the least expensive, but that isn't the point of my ranting. the point is i hate people steeling my shit! so for all of you who have never seen me mad, which i think is all but ten people on earth, thieves make me mad. as in i'm want to kick their ass for stealing my mat mad. okay i'm exaggerating a bit. i only want to punch them once at the moment, but when my first stereo and my truck were stolen. wow! at those times you would have had to call 911 for whom ever stole my stuff, but since they were not anywhere to be seen i had to resort to breathing exercises and punching my pillow.

I Love Watching Me Some Terry

from time to time at work when things are a bit boring, stressful, or my day isn't going as planned. i watch terry tate videos. i recommend this for everyone.

enjoy.

Terry Tate Office Linebacker

Timeless Game Shows

on the way to work today i passed a billboard for "the wheel of fortune." i couldn't believe it! is this game show really still on the air? the answer is yes. the game show has been around since 1981. people have been spinning the wheel for 24 years. pat sajak has been the host since episode one, and vanna white has been his sidekick since 1982. i can remember watching “the wheel of fortune” as a youngster and i must admit it was greatness. i can remember my grandma was pretty damn good at guessing the answer before the contestants did.

i started to wonder if this was the longest running game show on the air, or even ever. games shows have come and gone, but i know there are a few that have hung around over the years. so i did a search on yahoo. though i didn't think of the answer myself, it didn't surprise me. how could i forget about "the price is right!" now here is a game show that is timeless. it first aired september 4, 1972. that's 33 years folks! i will admit the show is greatness. it is flashy, it has hot women, and the games are simple. bob barker has been the host for the entire 33 years it has been on the air. obviously the women are changed out on a regular basis, but the announcers are only changed upon death to this point. the show is currently on it third announcer. johnny olson was the first announcer until his death in 1985. at which time the great rod roddy took over. rich fields took rod's place after rod died in 2003. i think rod was the best announcer out of the three, but my opinion might be a bit bias because he is the only one i've heard.

another show worth mentioning is "jeopardy." jeopardy first started way back in 1964. it was hosted by art fleming and aired until 1975 at which point it was canceled due to lack of popularity. the network tried to bring it back late in 1978, but it was canceled again five months later in 1979. which brings us to jeopardy as it is today. jeopardy as we know it has been around since september 17, 1984 and has been hosted by alex trebek. the show has been running for 21 consecutive year and collectively for 32. i must admit that this show is the hardest of them all. unlike "the wheel of fortune" or "the price is right", not just anybody can walk onto this game show and win it big. you have to be friggin smart, or at least be able to memorize a lot of random facts throughout history and current culture. though not my favorite game show out of the big three. it most definitely is the one that i've learned the most from.

in the great words of paul harvey, "that is the rest of the story."

Fuel Test Results Are In

last friday i blogged about driving slower to save gas, and the verdict is in. after 307 miles of not driving more than 63 mph on the highway. i am happy to inform you that my gas milage improved about 5 miles per gallon. over the last 307 miles my car go 35.16 mpg. this is compared to the 29-31 mpg i would normally get driving 70-80 mph on a regular basis.

so here is some math for ya. since i use about 50 gallons of gas per month. driving slower allows me to drive 250 miles further. by driving 250 miles further on the same amount of gas i will save 7 gallons of gas per month which at this moment is equivalent to $21. multiply that by 12 and you have a savins of $252 per year!

on the flip side of things, driving slower means it will take longer for me to get from point "a" to point "b". how much longer you ask? lets find out.

if my trip from point "a" to point "b" is 25 miles, which most of my trips are. driving at a rate of 75 mph will get me to point "b" in 20 minutes. if i drive at a rate of 63 mph it will take me 24 minutes. that leaves me with my final question. is leaving 4 minutes earlier for most of my trips worth $252 dollars a year? my answer is yes. what's yours?

Lotto for Relief

while driving down the highway last night i noticed that the mega millions lottery is an estimated $150 million dollars. i couldn't help but think about how much that money could help victims of hurricane katrina. then i started to think about other places it could make a world of difference. it was at this point that i decided to offer up a prayer to God. i said God, if you let me win the lottery i will keep a million for myself and give the rest to where ever you want me too. then i started to think, man i'm being greedy. so i said, alright i'm only going to keep $500 thousand, but not all of it will be for me. i only want to pay off the debt that i have and use the rest to help close friends and family with their financial challenges.

my final prayer to God about this was, if you trust me to do this Lord. let me win. if you don't trust me or if i'm being too greedy or if it just isn't your will, i will understand. i do still want the money to go towards helping those who are suffering. so for who ever wins, i pray that they use the money for those who are suffering and not for themselves. amen.

so if you or you, or you win. i pray that the money will go towards relief and not towards self indulgence.

Good Times and Great Friends

i must say that i had a great holiday weekend. it all started saturday morning when i woke up and cooked myself a good ol' breakfast. i made scrambled eggs, bacon, and a biscuit. oh, and i can't leave out my grandma's home made grape jelly. mmm mmm good!

after that i drove to the north texas food bank to help sort food for the relief efforts of "hk". it was a bitter but so much sweeter experience. so many people showed up to help that i ended up being a greeter at the front door. i can only hope and pray that our community continues to have such a passion to help those in need.

saturday night i went to a poker party to celebrate carter's 21st first bday. all i have to say is that it was fun and what happened at the party stays at that party. all i will say is that rule probably benefits me the most.

sunday was an easy day. i woke up at a good friends house and his wife toasted me some waffles. did i mention he is a good friend? why did i wake up at his house you ask? like i said, the rule probably benefits me the most. after going home to shower, shave and change cloths. i proceeded to go to the labor day parter of the weekend. hosted by non other than sara the keymaster. who i must say threw a great party. which i endulged in wonderful food, soda, water, and conversation. really it was greatness. i got to see so many friends that i haven't seen in a while, and that always makes you feel good.

finally i spent monday hangin' out with my my friend claudia and my little buddy, her son, andrew. i'm humbled that he looks up to me and admires me so. the first thing we did was go to the eat at the olive garden. i love the olive garden. i tried the three meat ravioli this time and i will say that it was good, but it kills me to pay 11.25 for six ravioli. at least it comes with salad and breadsticks. after that we went to the park and played catch with the football and frisbee, which gave andrew a bloody nose when he caught it with his face. of course neither party involved ment for it to happen. then we played on the play ground for a bit. after getting hot and sweaty at the park. we ventured to the mall to get some refreshments and cool air. following the mall i took at nap at their house before getting some ice cream at braum's and going home.

viva la good weekends and even better friends. i would raise some mekong, but i'm told that i have made that imposible. it doesn't taste good anways.

Obeying The Law and Getting a Reward

do you have an answer for $4 a gallon regular unleaded gas? no? well, that's not good enough. over the last two years gas has more than doubled and will continue to rise. it will make it to $4 a gallon. what is your company doing to help you offset the rising cost of energy? that's what i thought, nothing. you know you're going to have to have an answer. i myself declared war june of 2004 by buying a compact car. i've also started a part-time job which i love and hope to make full time. now i'm instituting a 3rd line of defense. i will obey the law.

due to rising gasoline prices i have decided to start to obey the law more often. i'm going to start driving the speed limit on the highway in hopes of better fuel economy. normally i drive 70 to 80 mph around the city highways. i don't know how long this phenomenon will last. it will depend on how much my gas mileage increases. according to toyota my car is capable of getting 42 mpg on the highway, but normally i get around 34 mpg driving over 70 mph. the best i have ever gotten was 36 mpg. i'm hoping to see around a 5 mpg increase.

Yes, I Can Control Myself.

part of why i'm know for being out of control is that some people think most of my comments are testosterone driven. they say that an absurd amount of my comments on other blogger's post have something to do with my sexual preference of women. last wednesday, august 24th, "blonde but not a bimbo" proposed a bet. she bet me that i couldn't go a week without making such comments on other blogger's blogs. the prize was a $10 dinner.

winning this bet wasn't hard, but it wasn't a breeze either. there where a few post this last week that merited a comment that showed my sexual preference.

youthful carter's top five.
teen chaser eric's top five.
kerri the paranoid freak's post on viagra.
the bunny barbara's post about dave's save.
youth group lindsey's post with photos of cute girls.

as you can see the opportunities were there and i had the will power to resist. i must say that my teriyaki chicken at two row's was worth it. i've heard talk about another bet that would last a month. i'm not sure i'm into that. it's not that i don't think i could do it. it's just that i wouldn't want to. if i went a whole month without such a comment i would have to change the name of my blog, and i can't say i want to do that either. at least not at the moment.