This last weekend the wife and I headed off to Hilton Head, SC to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. We had purchased earlier in the year a little vacation package. It was one of those things where you go down and listen to a little shpeal about timeshares. The hotel we stayed in was slightly less than appealing. But we were in Hilton Head and there's really no reason to stay in your room. One of the "fringe" benefits was a "free round of golf", which we found wasn't really free. When we got to the golf course, they informed us that we were only getting a discount which made the round close to $100. The Wife and I decided that we weren't ready to pay for that. But the Course Mgr took pitty on us and offered us a two for one deal, which we gladly accepted.
Even though the Wife only plays two or three times a year, she's very good. After a few holes she was hitting the ball very well and making great club selection. I played ok for not ever having seen the course. But I did hit my first eagle ever. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. As for our food, Fri night we ate at a great little spot mostly only locals know. The dinner was great and the wine was spectacular. As for Sat night we ate at a little seafood place on the bay and everything was great. I got to eat Snails both nights and, well, I love snails.
On Sat night the Wife and I took a nice stroll on the beach with a bottle of wine. It was nice to get away and just sit and talk. I fell in love all over again. And I look fwd to the rest of our lives.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
I'm so proud
As of today I have officially brought my best friend down to my level. You might have seen some of his comments here. He posts as "The Big A". That's right folks he now has a blog all his own. Finally I can choose when I want to hear him whine ;-) His Blog is linkable from mine. It's called "I'm surrounded by idiots". I think we can all relate. So enjoy !!
Finally we agree
So we all know that the Fed is going to give Wall Street a huge bail out, somewhere in the range of $700B. I think that's correct. But anyways, in talking to those older and wiser this should be a good thing. It very well could help us avoid another Great Depression, which I'm sure we're all for. But here's where the title comes into play. The Dems are pushing hard for regulating CEO pay while the GOP is saying just push the legislation through.
The bailout is positioned to be a great economic stress relief. The Fed will take on almost every feeble and unsafe bet that Wall Street has. What that will do is guarantee that the market has a safe place to fall when and if it does and that all the money in it is backed and "guaranteed", so to speak. This is a great plan as it will boost consumer confidence and hopefully induce money to be spent/invested. Here's where it gets ugly.
The GOP wants congress to push this legislation through and just give the money out while assuming all that risk. The Dems want to give the money but want to have some control over how much these CEO's are making and walking with. These large CEO salaries and benefits packages are the main reason, I feel, that Wall Street is in this mess. Most of these CEO's have worked under a decade for these companies and have retired (OR BEEN FIRED) with benefits packages that would carry a small country. What the Dems want is assurance that if the Fed comes to the rescue that we won't keep seeing this pattern. And I fully agree. Also the Dems want the companies to set up a form of return payment to pay off these loans. While these companies are operating off of tax payer money, they shouldn't be allowed to give the exorbitant salaries and severance packages. Once these companies are stable enough to repay the loans and stand on their own then they can go back to their own practices of large salaries and such. But they should be forewarned that if they return to their frivolous ways, after we've bailed them out, and they should find themselves again in such dire straights that there will be no next time bail out.
My last question is: If these companies (and I think most are) are publicly traded then why aren't the stock holders going to the meetings and putting the kibosh on these frivolous salaries???
The bailout is positioned to be a great economic stress relief. The Fed will take on almost every feeble and unsafe bet that Wall Street has. What that will do is guarantee that the market has a safe place to fall when and if it does and that all the money in it is backed and "guaranteed", so to speak. This is a great plan as it will boost consumer confidence and hopefully induce money to be spent/invested. Here's where it gets ugly.
The GOP wants congress to push this legislation through and just give the money out while assuming all that risk. The Dems want to give the money but want to have some control over how much these CEO's are making and walking with. These large CEO salaries and benefits packages are the main reason, I feel, that Wall Street is in this mess. Most of these CEO's have worked under a decade for these companies and have retired (OR BEEN FIRED) with benefits packages that would carry a small country. What the Dems want is assurance that if the Fed comes to the rescue that we won't keep seeing this pattern. And I fully agree. Also the Dems want the companies to set up a form of return payment to pay off these loans. While these companies are operating off of tax payer money, they shouldn't be allowed to give the exorbitant salaries and severance packages. Once these companies are stable enough to repay the loans and stand on their own then they can go back to their own practices of large salaries and such. But they should be forewarned that if they return to their frivolous ways, after we've bailed them out, and they should find themselves again in such dire straights that there will be no next time bail out.
My last question is: If these companies (and I think most are) are publicly traded then why aren't the stock holders going to the meetings and putting the kibosh on these frivolous salaries???
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The end of an era
Well it's official. As of waking up this morning, I have left the so called youth behind to start life as (dare I say it) a real adult. That's correct. Today I turn thirty. I know all our lives we think of this day as looming. But just like every other birthday I still feel like me. There's no enlightenment ( other than now DR visits could actually be meaningful and useful preventative measures, scary). Of course I still have a gorgeous twenty something year old wife. That will help me stay young, even if it's only at heart. The worst part I think about this age thing is I used to almost demand to not work on my birthday. And that is no longer the case as I have to go in today. But the Wife and I celebrated last night, so I'm kinda ok with it.
Instead of going out we stayed in and cooked. I went out to a local wine store (which is new and a buddy owns) called Hope Valley Bottle Shop. If you get a chance stop in. I there picked up a nice Italian White and a Spanish Red because at this point I didn't know what I was cooking for dinner. After I got home, the Wife and I went grocery shopping. When we got home I started on dinner and the Wife started making me a pecan pie for dessert as a special birthday present. (Those of you who know me know this is the only pie I like or for that matter I LOVE them). For dinner we had Basil and Cinnamon marinated Chicken Breast over Brussel Sprouts, Parsnips, and Pecans with a Garlic and Thyme Reduction Sauce and a Petite Herb Salad. We drank the Italian white with the meal. It was delicious.
I do have to brag on the gifts the Wife gave me other than baking the pie. One was a few gift certificates to have a massage whenever I pleased. Another was a T-shirt with a saying from the TV show Arrested Development ( which if you've seen it you know how good it is) and the last and most fun is a Visa gift card which I can use to play golf. And it is specifically for that she said. I love my Wife and the thought she put into these gifts. I think I'm at the best point in my life and happy that she is the one making the rest of the journey with me. I love you Babe.
Instead of going out we stayed in and cooked. I went out to a local wine store (which is new and a buddy owns) called Hope Valley Bottle Shop. If you get a chance stop in. I there picked up a nice Italian White and a Spanish Red because at this point I didn't know what I was cooking for dinner. After I got home, the Wife and I went grocery shopping. When we got home I started on dinner and the Wife started making me a pecan pie for dessert as a special birthday present. (Those of you who know me know this is the only pie I like or for that matter I LOVE them). For dinner we had Basil and Cinnamon marinated Chicken Breast over Brussel Sprouts, Parsnips, and Pecans with a Garlic and Thyme Reduction Sauce and a Petite Herb Salad. We drank the Italian white with the meal. It was delicious.
I do have to brag on the gifts the Wife gave me other than baking the pie. One was a few gift certificates to have a massage whenever I pleased. Another was a T-shirt with a saying from the TV show Arrested Development ( which if you've seen it you know how good it is) and the last and most fun is a Visa gift card which I can use to play golf. And it is specifically for that she said. I love my Wife and the thought she put into these gifts. I think I'm at the best point in my life and happy that she is the one making the rest of the journey with me. I love you Babe.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Smart people
I just found this hilarious. You'll have to click on it to read it better.
see more pwn and owned pictures
see more pwn and owned pictures
see more pwn and owned pictures
see more pwn and owned pictures
see more pwn and owned pictures
see more pwn and owned pictures
Monday, September 15, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I don't know what to call it
In a recent poll this question was asked:
"Do you think the Supreme Court should use the Constitution as the basis for their judgments"?
Here's how America responded.
60% of Americans agree that the Highest court in the land SHOULD use the Constitution as the basis for their judgments
To break that number down even further.Of people who are John McCain supporters 82% agree with the above statement.
Of people who are Barak Obama supporters 29% agree.
From this exercise what can we infer about Obama's supporters????
Of people who are Barak Obama supporters 29% agree.
From this exercise what can we infer about Obama's supporters????
Monday, September 8, 2008
To good to last
Now it's been great lately. We've seen gas prices fall and we've even had hopes that it would last for a while (maybe a year or so). I mean we've all known it was inevitable that they would go back up. But here's the great news (read massive sarcasm here). OPEC is about to change all that. They have decided that it is unacceptable for the price per barrel of crude to go back to original levels.
When crude originally hit $100/barrel everyone was shocked. And it kept going up, all the way to over $145/barrel. Now it has come back down to near $100 an OPEC is unhappy. They are getting together to decide to shut down some of their production to inflate prices back toward $140. Originally the problems causing the massive inflation were two fold: 1) speculation by investors and others that the supply was running tight and that OPEC should increase production, 2)the power of the dollar was down. Well to fix the first problem OPEC spent time to convince these experts that they didn't need to increase production to help meet world need and that the supply was fine. And now the power of the dollar is rising.
So OPEC has decided that all that money that was originally flooding into their economies was great. And they can't fathom having that endless supply stop. Especially seeing that Americans are now demanding that their government enforce and create other forms of energy. So in order to combat the slight down turn in excessive profits they have started to knock around the idea of shutting down some production to falsely inflate crude prices. That's right folks OPEC nations will STOP producing as much crude in order to make the price per barrel return to those translating into $4/gal levels or higher who knows.
I have no idea what can be done if they do decide to stop production, I'm just mad about it. Any one have any suggestions?? How about our candidates? Do you think they know???
When crude originally hit $100/barrel everyone was shocked. And it kept going up, all the way to over $145/barrel. Now it has come back down to near $100 an OPEC is unhappy. They are getting together to decide to shut down some of their production to inflate prices back toward $140. Originally the problems causing the massive inflation were two fold: 1) speculation by investors and others that the supply was running tight and that OPEC should increase production, 2)the power of the dollar was down. Well to fix the first problem OPEC spent time to convince these experts that they didn't need to increase production to help meet world need and that the supply was fine. And now the power of the dollar is rising.
So OPEC has decided that all that money that was originally flooding into their economies was great. And they can't fathom having that endless supply stop. Especially seeing that Americans are now demanding that their government enforce and create other forms of energy. So in order to combat the slight down turn in excessive profits they have started to knock around the idea of shutting down some production to falsely inflate crude prices. That's right folks OPEC nations will STOP producing as much crude in order to make the price per barrel return to those translating into $4/gal levels or higher who knows.
I have no idea what can be done if they do decide to stop production, I'm just mad about it. Any one have any suggestions?? How about our candidates? Do you think they know???
Thursday, September 4, 2008
MOVE!!!!
It's probably one of my biggest pet peeves. When you are driving on the highway, in the fast lane, and you inevitably come upon someone who feels that how fast they are going is the fastest anyone should go on the highway. (even if they are doing 5 under the speed limit). Everyone of us learned before receiving the PRIVILEGE, not right, of driving that slower traffic yields right of way to faster traffic by moving to the right. Why is it that people don't remember this except when you are in their way?!?!? It's times like these I wish you could nudge someone and it wouldn't go against your insurance or get you in trouble with the cops.
Now sometimes I understand that sometimes the driver in front of you doesn't see you right away. So I gently ride close enough to let them know that I'm ready and willing to go faster as soon as they get out of the way. It irks me to no end when they then look in their rear view only to make gestures that I should stop riding so close. To which, I make gestures of get out of my way and I will ;-) But I have no patience for those who won't preemptively move at night. There is no reason that they can't see me coming. My headlights have been in you rear view for sometime and only getting closer. So OBVIOUSLY I'm going faster than you and you should just MOVE! My wife says I should use this to learn patience. But I say they should obey the law.
To those of you who do understand the laws and yield the right of way to others who are going faster than you, Thank You. Because I see it this way. I like to go about 5 - 10 over on the interstate, as do most. And if there is someone out there willing to go faster and find all the cops for me so I don't have to deal with them, Thank You. Why can't the rest of the world see it MY WAY.
Now sometimes I understand that sometimes the driver in front of you doesn't see you right away. So I gently ride close enough to let them know that I'm ready and willing to go faster as soon as they get out of the way. It irks me to no end when they then look in their rear view only to make gestures that I should stop riding so close. To which, I make gestures of get out of my way and I will ;-) But I have no patience for those who won't preemptively move at night. There is no reason that they can't see me coming. My headlights have been in you rear view for sometime and only getting closer. So OBVIOUSLY I'm going faster than you and you should just MOVE! My wife says I should use this to learn patience. But I say they should obey the law.
To those of you who do understand the laws and yield the right of way to others who are going faster than you, Thank You. Because I see it this way. I like to go about 5 - 10 over on the interstate, as do most. And if there is someone out there willing to go faster and find all the cops for me so I don't have to deal with them, Thank You. Why can't the rest of the world see it MY WAY.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Wedding
Well they did it! August 30th my sister married Derek Shipley. The location was Andalusia, Al. The Wife and I arrived on Thursday to get into town early and see if there was anything we could do to help. But we found that my sister and her future husband weren't getting to town until late Thurs so we couldn't do anything until Friday.
On Friday my dad drove us over to the wedding site. It was gorgeous! Originally my sister was going to have the wedding at the Kiwanis building in Andalusia, but for some reason it fell through. My guess is God had something better. Anyways, my dad was in Wal-Mart shopping and asked if anyone knew of a place. Lo and behold someone did. As it turned out the place they suggested happened to be owned by an old high school buddy of my dad's brother. It looked to be a fairly new place (maybe 3-5 yrs old). And most of it was built with lumber from the owner's land. The owner gave us a great deal on the place too. (Either that or I'm just used to big city pricing).
When we were first driving to the location I was worried a little bit just because of how far I felt we were away from town. The driveway snuck up on us. We turned off the road onto what looked to be the power company's gravel road. After about 300 yards we pulled into a clearing right next to a small lake. From there I could see this beautiful place. To get to the building you have to walk across a wooden bridge. But it was amazing. You could see fish swimming in the water. On either side of the lake were beautiful wild flowers.
As you walk up the steps into this log cabinesque building you feel as though you are in your own world and the stresses of life melt away. The cabin also doubles as a Bed and Breakfast. As you walk into the main room you sink deeper into the feelings of being in a simpler time. The decor is made of antique tools hanging on the walls and a large fire place on the main wall. Across from the fire place was a large open set of stairs leading up to some guest rooms. The main room was used for dinner service both for the rehearsal dinner and for the reception, seating up to 80 people. I wondered around the cabin and looked in each of the 6 or 7 rooms for rent. Each room had it's own bathroom and rustic decor. In each of these bathrooms the sink, toilet and sometimes the bathtub were each refurbished antiques. In one room, if you stood at the right angle, you could see etched into a pane of glass the date 1898!
The wedding was set to happen at 6:55 pm. Just late enough for there still to be light but not be Southern Alabama scorching hot. We had the rehearsal at that time on Friday. My sister being who she is had no real plans for the wedding. ("You guys come in here and stand maybe over there; we'll come in like this, maybe, and well there's no real need to rehearse the whole thing"). After rehearsal the keepers of the inn fed us a turkey and dressing dinner with all the fixins.
Saturday finally came. We showed up about 2 hours early to get some pictures made before the wedding. Man was that HOT! I spent a lot of time coordinating things. Not really a job I'd signed on for, but it seemed no one else was taking charge, not even the bride. Hannah was the antithesis of Bridezilla. After pictures Hannah went upstairs and changed out of her wedding dress to come down and hang out with people. This I've never seen out of a bride before. Not long after people started showing up. And because of the heat most congregated inside the cabin. So it took me a while to get them hearded outside to where the wedding would actually take place. Derek and some of his buddies were the music for the event. They started to play while we moved people around, and tried to heard Hannah back upstairs to get dressed. She's never been one for doing things traditionally.
We finally got everyone in place and could start the wedding. We escorted the mothers and grandmothers to their chairs. Now it was Hannah's turn to walk with my dad down to see Derek. She came down the stairs of the cabin to the little yard where we all waited. She was GORGEOUS! As she walked down Derek played guitar and sang to her. The song he sang was from The Wedding Singer. It's called Grow Old With You and it's the song Adam Sandler sang to Drew Barrymore in the movie. It was moving. The ceremony was brief but poignant.
After the ceremony everyone went up into the cabin for the reception. For diner this night we were served BBQ. This was to my delight because I'm not the biggest fan of BBQ here in eastern NC. The reception was very informal just like everything else. There was some dancing outside on the porch but mostly people sitting around in rocking chairs enjoying the great company and catching up with old family and meeting the new. At one point in the night there was some excitement. To light the way around the pond and back to the cars there were no electrical lights. The owners had tiki torches. When the owner went out to light them, due to dry weather, somehow a flame jumped and started a small brush fire. By the time I got over to it there were a few guys already helping to bail water out of the lake and put out the fire.
As the night wore on the party slowly dissipated. Funny enough the bride and groom were the last to leave. It had been a beautiful wedding. I couldn't have asked for a better time in a better setting.
Some of the flowers growing wild around the lake
This is the view from the parking lot when you pull up.
This is a view from the side of the lake
Looking up at the cabin
Looking out over the lake back at the parking area.
Just below is where the ceremony took place.
Inside the main room of the cabin
Derek (with his back turned) warming up with the band on the porch.
Hannah and Derek dipping their feet in the pond
The bride hugging her mother
On Friday my dad drove us over to the wedding site. It was gorgeous! Originally my sister was going to have the wedding at the Kiwanis building in Andalusia, but for some reason it fell through. My guess is God had something better. Anyways, my dad was in Wal-Mart shopping and asked if anyone knew of a place. Lo and behold someone did. As it turned out the place they suggested happened to be owned by an old high school buddy of my dad's brother. It looked to be a fairly new place (maybe 3-5 yrs old). And most of it was built with lumber from the owner's land. The owner gave us a great deal on the place too. (Either that or I'm just used to big city pricing).
When we were first driving to the location I was worried a little bit just because of how far I felt we were away from town. The driveway snuck up on us. We turned off the road onto what looked to be the power company's gravel road. After about 300 yards we pulled into a clearing right next to a small lake. From there I could see this beautiful place. To get to the building you have to walk across a wooden bridge. But it was amazing. You could see fish swimming in the water. On either side of the lake were beautiful wild flowers.
As you walk up the steps into this log cabinesque building you feel as though you are in your own world and the stresses of life melt away. The cabin also doubles as a Bed and Breakfast. As you walk into the main room you sink deeper into the feelings of being in a simpler time. The decor is made of antique tools hanging on the walls and a large fire place on the main wall. Across from the fire place was a large open set of stairs leading up to some guest rooms. The main room was used for dinner service both for the rehearsal dinner and for the reception, seating up to 80 people. I wondered around the cabin and looked in each of the 6 or 7 rooms for rent. Each room had it's own bathroom and rustic decor. In each of these bathrooms the sink, toilet and sometimes the bathtub were each refurbished antiques. In one room, if you stood at the right angle, you could see etched into a pane of glass the date 1898!
The wedding was set to happen at 6:55 pm. Just late enough for there still to be light but not be Southern Alabama scorching hot. We had the rehearsal at that time on Friday. My sister being who she is had no real plans for the wedding. ("You guys come in here and stand maybe over there; we'll come in like this, maybe, and well there's no real need to rehearse the whole thing"). After rehearsal the keepers of the inn fed us a turkey and dressing dinner with all the fixins.
Saturday finally came. We showed up about 2 hours early to get some pictures made before the wedding. Man was that HOT! I spent a lot of time coordinating things. Not really a job I'd signed on for, but it seemed no one else was taking charge, not even the bride. Hannah was the antithesis of Bridezilla. After pictures Hannah went upstairs and changed out of her wedding dress to come down and hang out with people. This I've never seen out of a bride before. Not long after people started showing up. And because of the heat most congregated inside the cabin. So it took me a while to get them hearded outside to where the wedding would actually take place. Derek and some of his buddies were the music for the event. They started to play while we moved people around, and tried to heard Hannah back upstairs to get dressed. She's never been one for doing things traditionally.
We finally got everyone in place and could start the wedding. We escorted the mothers and grandmothers to their chairs. Now it was Hannah's turn to walk with my dad down to see Derek. She came down the stairs of the cabin to the little yard where we all waited. She was GORGEOUS! As she walked down Derek played guitar and sang to her. The song he sang was from The Wedding Singer. It's called Grow Old With You and it's the song Adam Sandler sang to Drew Barrymore in the movie. It was moving. The ceremony was brief but poignant.
After the ceremony everyone went up into the cabin for the reception. For diner this night we were served BBQ. This was to my delight because I'm not the biggest fan of BBQ here in eastern NC. The reception was very informal just like everything else. There was some dancing outside on the porch but mostly people sitting around in rocking chairs enjoying the great company and catching up with old family and meeting the new. At one point in the night there was some excitement. To light the way around the pond and back to the cars there were no electrical lights. The owners had tiki torches. When the owner went out to light them, due to dry weather, somehow a flame jumped and started a small brush fire. By the time I got over to it there were a few guys already helping to bail water out of the lake and put out the fire.
As the night wore on the party slowly dissipated. Funny enough the bride and groom were the last to leave. It had been a beautiful wedding. I couldn't have asked for a better time in a better setting.
Some of the flowers growing wild around the lake
This is the view from the parking lot when you pull up.
This is a view from the side of the lake
Looking up at the cabin
Looking out over the lake back at the parking area.Just below is where the ceremony took place.
Inside the main room of the cabin
Derek (with his back turned) warming up with the band on the porch.
Hannah and Derek dipping their feet in the pond
The bride hugging her mother
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