Bank Of America Charging Debit Card Use Fees! Outrageous!

Okay, I know we're in a recession and everyone is desperate for money, but is Bank of America really serious about charging us an extra $5 a month to use our debit card?  I left Netflix because they raised their prices and now I'm parting ways with B of A.  Why should I have to pay for access to MY money?  They get to hold it and invest it and earn interest on it, but that's not enough anymore, now they want to charge me for the privelage of making my money available for purchases.  I think I need to add another line to my "Stooped Peeple" post from a few weeks ago. "When you don't have any cash and you got to buy it fast, don't used your debit card, cause the cost will hit you hard and if you want to know who to thank, just visit your local bank."  I heard a newscaster say something about this earlier that was so true.  I don't remember which reporter, but it was on Fox News "aren't the banks supposed to be the ones that help us SAVE money?".  It just seems like everything these days is leaning toward making us pay more for things that we already pay too much on.  B of A earns money from holding on to our money.  Yes, if we have a savings account they pay us interest, but it's only a portion of the interest they are receiving from investing it by loaning money to people for houses, starting businesses, and other personal or business loans, as well as whatever investments their board of advisors choose to invest in.  I don't understand how this could be any good for their business.  I would think with all of the choices out there for our banking needs they would strive to be more competitive, not to strive to be the bank that costs it's customers the most money.

Looking forward to Courageous!

Our church is going to see the movie "Courageous" when it premieres this Friday and I am really excited to see it!  I have an idea of what the plot is, it's about four men who work in one of the most dangerous job fields there is chasing down drug dealers and other criminals, but haven't spent the time they need to in order to get connected with their children and they have no idea how to do it.  I've seen the other movies they have put out and have been thoroughly impressed.  My wife and I love "Fireproof" and have watched it several times. We've also watched "Facing the Giants" and "Flywheel".  I'm so glad these type of movies are getting more popular.  I know the whole idea is to get a bunch of Christians to the movies so Hollywood will start making movies more like these, and I hope it works.  All of these movies that I've seen always leave me feeling better about the world we live in, like there is still hope for change.  I love the movies where the main character has a heart change that really starts turning things around in their lives and the lives of those they interact with.  I have a feeling I won't be disappointed with this movie.  Of course I'm a huge Casting Crowns fan also, so it probably helps keep the excitement going since I'm constantly hearing the title song they did for this movie that will be on their new CD "Come To The Well" coming out next month.  I hope anyone that gets an opportunity to make it to the movies this weekend will give "Courageous" a shot and help Hollywood to see which direction it should be heading!

Bruce Titus Re-revisited! They let me down!

I gave Bama and Bruce Titus Nissan serious props before for great customer service, but now it's time to reconsider.  Bama still did a great job, he was always pleasant when I talked to him on the phone, but sometimes he didn't follow through with his promises.  We purchased a Nissan Quest minivan a couple of months ago and thought that everything was fine when we left the dealership and we would have our vehicle registration and tags within a couple of weeks just like when we got our Altima not too long ago.  When you buy a new car you can get a temporary vehicle pass to get into military installations like where I work, but you only get 30 days, which is usually plenty of time.  Once you have your registration and new license plates you can get a sticker that allows access until your ID card expires which in my case is a couple of years.  Here's where the problem came in:  We were approaching our 30 day mark and still no new license plates or registration.  I called our friendly car salesman Bama and he assured me he was going to take care of it.  I waited patiently a couple of days before calling to check again.  Bama apologized for forgetting about me and said he would get right on it and I should receive a call within a couple of hours.  A couple of days later I called Bama because I still had not received a call explaining what was going on with our registration.  By the time our 30 days was up I was really frustrated with the whole thing.  We had traded in a vehicle, put a thousand dollars down, and had been driving the new van for over a month without any idea who we were going to send a payment to or where our registration and license plates were.  Soon after this Bama connected me with Scott, who works in the finance department at Nissan.  Scott gave me his cell phone number and said I could call anytime to find out the status of our registration, but at that moment he still had no information.  A few days later he called back and said that it was finally all straightened out and we should have our tags within a week.  I had talked to the people at base and they had given me a couple of extra weeks, so according to Scott's timeframe I would have had almost four or five days to spare.  When I got down to the last day of my two extra weeks I again called Bama, and finally he told me our tags had arrived at the dealership. (They were at the dealership, not already in the  mail like Scott and Bama had been telling me).  I happened to be going that way anyway that day so I was able to pick them up, but it was a very frustrating experience to have to wait until the last possible minute to get what we needed.  When my wife and I arrived at Bruce Titus Nissan in Olympia we asked for Bama since he said he'd grabbed our plates for us.  When he arrived he quickly handed them off and then apologized and said he had to take care of some other customers so he could give them the same great service he gave us.  I understood that, no problem, but Scott from finance came over and seemed really obnoxious asking me and my wife "Hey, what's that? Is that what I think it is?  That's your license plates and registration!  See I told you we'd get them!"  At this point I just wanted to get a printout of my insurance card so I could go to post and get the vehicle registered which I thought would be the least they could do since I had to wait over a month and a half to get my registration and plates, but they acted like it was a problem for me to use a computer.  They had no problem letting me get on when we were buying a car and they needed a copy of my pay slip.  I was very disappointed overall in how this vehicle was handled.  Our experience with the Altima was great, and until we had an issue with getting the registration the experience with the van was great.  I just wish that there was better communication.  If there was a problem with the financing or something else that was keeping me from getting the registration I wish they would have just told me and not let me trade in my old van and drive off with the new one.  I think the customer service level dropped since our last visit. 

Everything Pizza! Just reading this might make you gain weight!

Okay, I like to cook and I like to eat, but most of all I really like to cook and eat any kind of pizza.  I've learned you can make a lot of things with pizza ingredients and it tastes really good.  There are a few items I've noticed that claim to taste like pizza that, while they may taste good, they don't really even come close to tasting like pizza.  I'm thinking of Combos and any kind of potato chip when I say that.  But in case you love pizza as much as I do, here are some ideas for some delicious, scrumptious, make your mouth water just thinking about them ideas!  It may sound gross at first, but if you try it you will become a believer: the pizza omelet!  Just whisk a couple of eggs together in a bowl, add a little milk, some pepper (crushed red pepper if you're a true pizzaholic), and some garlic powder or salt.  Heat up your skillet and either spray it with non stick cooking spray or put some oil in the bottom.  When it's heated up gently pour the eggs into the skillet.  As the omelet starts to cook lay down some pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, sauteed bell peppers, mushrooms, and onions, and a little pizza sauce.  Fold the omelet as you would any normal omelet, and presto chango, there you have it, the wonderfully awesome explosion of pizza flavor for breakfast!  Trust me, you're going to love it!  Another idea I do that's quick and easy for a lunch or dinner is pizza quesadillas!  Just preheat your skillet or I prefer to use a grill pan to get the nice lines on both sides of the tortillas, set one tortilla on the hot surface, put on some shredded mozzarella, or a couple of slices of provolone, some pepperoni or sausage, or ham, some mushrooms, and whatever pizza toppings you would normally like, then some more cheese and another tortilla.  After a couple of minutes flip the quesadilla over to cook the other side.  When finished remove from pan, slice into six and use pizza sauce for dipping!  Here's another great option for pizza lovers!  Johnsonville has started making Italian sausage in burger shapes, so prepare as you would a hamburger, add butter and garlic to your hamburger buns and toast in oven or on grill, use pizza sauce instead of ketchup and either mozzarella or provolone for your cheese and oila! you have the magnifico pizza burger!  Okay, well I could go on and on for days and tell you all of my ideas for pizza ( I have at least as many as Bubba has for shrimp!), but it's late, I'm tired, and now I'm really hungry!  Until next time, I bid you good night!

Where will you be in ten years, ten weeks, ten days, or ten minutes?

You never really know what the future's going to hold, so the answer to this question is really hard to come up with, especially if you want to be accurate.  God tells us in the Bible that we don't know when our time on earth will come to an end.  I don't think that means that you shouldn't try to plan for the future though.  You may not know where you're going to be in ten years, but you can try to take steps to at least bring you closer to a goal.  Joseph stored up grains in Egypt because the Lord told him a drought was going to sweep through the land and he made sure Pharoah had his people store up all of their grains so they would be ready.  I think that's what we're supposed to do while we are here on earth.  I think God wants us to to fill up the silos with the souls of the lost so we can be ready for the future.  I'm not a preacher, I haven't been to seminary, but I do know that the Bible tells us to go out and spread the news of God's salvation for the lost.  I've been thinking a lot about the future lately and I think when in the Bible it talks about the man who stored up his riches and then died it's just trying to convey that if you are blessed you should share the wealth and not try to hoard it for your own future.  Does this mean you can't save up for your kid's college, or a house, or even a car?  Of course not, I think it just means that we should look where our hearts are and not do things out of selfish motives.  I don't mean give all of your money to the government either, I think so much more would be accomplished if we would donate our time and money to specific causes or charities so we know where the money is going.  So when you're planning for what you're hoping your life will be in ten years, just remember that the most important future is the one we will have after we leave this earth!

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Okay, so I might have used that title before, but it's true, what else can I say.  If you've been reading my or my wife's blog you know we had a break in a couple of days ago.  Since then the support from our friends and my coworkers (some of whom I consider friends) have been very supportive.  You really do find out who your friends are when a crisis occurs.  We were very fortunate that this break in ended up being more of a wake up call for our home security needs.  The really awesome part beyond the obvious of nobody being hurt is all of the support we've been getting.  Most of our friends have offered us cash if we needed it and have called to check on how we have been doing since it occured.  I know my wife and I both feel violated, after all who wouldn't?  Somebody came into our home uninvited, went through our stuff, and left us feeling like we are more vulnerable than ever.  I am sure we are going to get better, start to feel safer (we put alarms everywhere and added things to keep the windows from sliding open past a certain point) but all the support from our friends is truly the best. My work was even understanding enough to give me the day it happened off so I could handle all the stuff with the police and resecuring our home.  Thank you everybody, it really meant a lot and we really appreciate it. 

Military ends "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy"

Okay, the end of the world is near!  Some may call me a homophobe, others a religious fanatic, but I know in my heart homosexuality is wrong.  I'm not perfect and very far from it, so I don't judge homosexuals, or at least I try not to.  I don't discriminate against them, at least as far as I'm aware, but there is one thing  that really bothers me about this whole thing besides the Biblical wrongness of it.  Being in the Army we are placed in situations where I may be showering with these people in shower trailers.  I'm not worried about being attacked, but honestly I don't think it's right for someone who is attracted to males to get to shower with males.  I don't think they should shower with females either because I'm sure if that were the case some guys would just say they're gay to get to shower with women.  I think if the army is going to let them be openly gay, then let them have their own showers.  I've tried to talk to people about this and have been told "You don't have to worry, just because they're gay doesn't mean they're attracted to you or want to see you naked."  I don't care what you say, if that's the case then what would be the big deal if I showered with females as long as I wasn't attracted to them?  Call me a prude, old fashioned, a Bible thumper, I don't care, but with this new policy it makes me really happy to know that I don't have long left in this military.  It really makes me wonder how long it will be before they start allowing gay military couples to share barracks or on post housing.  What a shame!

Blessed By A Break In

Our house was broken into in the early morning hours today.  I'm a very early riser for work so I actually almost walked in on it while it was going on.  We have a two story home so I believe that the crook or crooks took off when my alarm went off and they heard me coming.  I didn't realize at first that we had a break in, it took my brain a while to realize it.  I started getting ready for work, walked downstairs to let the dogs out, and I heard a horn honk like when someone uses the lock button on their key and didn't think anything of it at the time, I thought maybe one of the neighbors just got home, then I went back upstairs to say goodbye to my wife, and as I walked back down the stairs I noticed our living room window was open really wide.  I walked over to it and was able to put my hand outside and immediately the hairs on the back of my neck went up.  I thought, where's our screen?  I then proceeded to thoroughly check every room, closet, cabinet, and the garage until I was sure nobody was in our house still.  I walked into the backyard and checked for anyone there, and then I went back in to see what was missing.  I noticed our firesafe box was lying open on the floor and after a little searching I realized my wife's purse was gone.  I locked all the windows, double checked the doors, and then went back upstairs hoping my wife had her purse in the bedroom.  She was shocked to see me back already and then I said to her "Honey, I don't want to scare you, but do you know where your purse is?".  Thus I discovered her purse was missing which had our van key in it.  Remember the honking horn?  That was our van, not the neighbor.  Fortunately God was really looking out for us because our car was in the driveway, but our van was in the garage, which they had not gotten into yet.  Had I of been a few minutes later waking up we probably would have been missing at least one if not both of our cars.  But God was really looking out for us because I had done something unusual the night before and kept the car keys in the bedroom.  The next several hours were filled with filing a police report, waiting for forensics to show up, cancelling all of our credit and debit cards before they could use them, and buying alarms for all the doors and windows.  I don't want to dog on the police or anything, it was still dark when they showed up, and they took all of ten minutes to tell us they would file a report but nothing would probably come of it and took a brief look in the backyard to see whatever they could see.  After they left I relocked all the doors and then went out front and started looking around and God had blessed us majorly once again!  I found my wife's purse outside on one side of our house tucked in between the electric meter and cable box.  Of course the money was gone, but everything else including the van key was there!  Praise God is all I can say to that!  I was so worried that we would have to forever keep an eye out for someone trying to steal the van.  Anyway, this is probably the longest blog I've written and I'm not sure where to end it or how other than to thank God that nobody got hurt, my wife's alright, I'm alright, our losses were minimal, and our dogs are fired!  We still love them, but they suck at guarding, I'm going to buy a Lab or Great Dane or something now.

Star Wars on Blu-Ray

Okay, I admit it freely, I'm a Star Wars nerd.  Am I a "scruffy faced nerfherder"?  Well, I hope not, but if anyone called me that I guess that would be a compliment, but I don't think I look anything like Harrison Ford.  When I was in gradeschool we had to come up with our own fingerpuppets and create a skit.  My best friend and I of course chose to do C3PO and R2D2 having an arguement about who was smarter.  I think I won because nobody understood my friends beeps and bloops while C3PO actually got to use real words.  I used to have the entire baseball card collection from Return of the Jedi.  I attended a special showing that had Darth Vader available to talk to after the movie and I asked him where he parked his Tie Fighter!  A Jawa told me that it was on the roof but I didn't see it when I left, so I'm pretty sure he was just lying trying to get me to buy a droid or something.  I just added a list of some of my favorite things to scroll down the side of this blog and of course the newly released Star Wars on Blu Ray is included.  If anyone is interested you can click on these things and order them from Amazon. 

Home Groups

Starting or attending a home group through your church is a wonderful thing to do.  It helps build relationships within the church, makes you feel more a part of something, and provides a good environment for believers to come together and really do some great things for Christ.  We started a home group a few months ago and it's a very nerve racking experience at first.  I am not saying that to discourage anybody, because that part doesn't really last that long and it really depends on the kind of person you are.  My wife and I are admittedly introverts, but we really felt this was something God was putting on our hearts to do.  Our group started out fairly small, we had two couples to start with, went up to three and then down to one. Now it's been a little over half a year and we have nine members total.  So basically we just kicked off our second home group this week.  The first meeting has always been about everybody getting a chance to get to know everyone else so we had a dinner get together with some question and answer time.  This is really hard for an introvert to do because everything in me wants to just be one of the people answering questions, not the person asking and trying to start conversations.  I really think that it's going to get easier as time goes on and we become more comfortable with everyone, after all the one couple that stayed through the entire time last home group we have really started to form a connection with.  That's actually too clinical a term, let's change that to friendship, yeah that's better.  And that's really a big part of what it's all about right?  I know we are supposed to go out and make the world into believers, but I know that's going to be a lot easier when we have fellow believers that we know and trust at our side encouraging us and standing beside us as we work together on the Great Commission.  I think that even Paul couldn't have done all he did without his friends.

How Do We Ask The Right Questions?

This idea just came to me and it seems so obvious, but so many people, including myself, don't always ask the right questions when we meet new people.  I recently asked a guy what he does for a living only to find out he was currently unemployed.  Then, continuing to stick my foot even further in my mouth I asked if he had any kids.  The answer was no and they had been trying for a while.  I can definitely relate to that one.  My wife and I have been trying to have children for 14 years.  While it used to be a sore subject I think we've gotten used to the question and try to answer gracefully, but it leads me back to my question, how do we know what to ask if we're trying to forge new friendships without possibly offending anyone?  One book my wife is reading suggests that we ask if they would just mind telling us a little about themselves instead of asking for specifics.  While I like that approach I tend to be very forgetful and will probably not remember to think to ask that.  Once you find out about a situation someone is going through, how do you show concern without touching a sore spot?  I know a few people who are currently unemployed and I want them to know I'm praying for them but it just seems rude to ask "Have you found a job yet?"  Maybe a better way is simply to say I hope the job search is going well, and I've been praying for you.  I think the world would be a much better place if we all just put a little thought in before we spoke.  I know that I've done this to many people and I am truly sorry for anybody I've unintentionally hurt through these type of questions.  I think most people wouldn't tell you that it bothered them, but I still think it's worth trying to be more consderate. 

Remembering 9/11

Most of us remember where we were and what we were doing when we found out about an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center.  I was working a temp to hire accounting job in Daytona Beach, Florida.  A coworker had his radio on and was talking to a friend of his on the phone.  His friend told him a plane had just crashed into the tower and he immediately passed the information on to me.  I remember the song that was playing on the radio, it was Nickelback's "How You Remind Me".  He hung up and we both tried to figure out how such a crazy accident could happen?  Then a few minutes later he got another call from the same friend informing him that another plane had crashed into the second tower.  All theories we had of student pilots went out the window, we knew there was a lot more to it.  The next few weeks were a news filled haze with images that will never leave any of our minds.  There's no need to replay the footage even though of course they will, those pictures, stories, struggles, sacrifices, and the way this country came together will be permanently burned into the minds of those of us who lived through that time in our country's history. A lot of people turned to God, which of course in my view was the best answer to all of the pain caused by these terrorists.  For the first time in a long time politics were laid aside, we still had Democrats and Republicans of course, but they were all unified in the decision following that day to pursue these terrorists until they were brought to justice "Dead or Alive!" 

It took a few weeks to seep in to my brain what I really wanted to do.  I didn't feel right sitting behind a desk pounding computer keys.  I was feeling more and more like there was something more I could be doing.  Balancing books for a timeshare company was not doing anything for me, I felt like I should be doing something to help our country.  I'm not saying I wanted to go to war, but I did feel it was time to serve my country and actually do something about that feeling inside, I think it's called patriotism.  I wanted to join the Armed Services, so I tried the Air Force first.  I weighed 270 pounds at the time.  I'm 6 foot 6 inches tall, but that was way too fat according to their standards.  They told me I should try the army so that's where I headed next and have stayed for the past ten years.  I got down to 212 in basic, and was stationed in Germany after completing AIT.  In a foreign country with my wife, just four short months go by and we're informed that my unit will deploy to Kuwait within a few months.  On the day we went to the airport to fly into Kuwait we were put on standby due to the "Shock and Awe" campaign.  We were held in Rhein Mein for a day and then flew to a base in Italy  where again we were held over a couple of days.  One jet flying out after another set off the skies at night with a loud roar and bright flames from the turbo thrusters.  These guys were loaded for bear with missiles anywhere they could fit them!  It was an amazing sight to see.  I know there's a lot of banter about how the different branches of the military treat each other poorly or there's some sense of one branch thinking they are better than another, but I can tell you firsthand that when times are tough and we are at war, I don't care if the guy that's fighting with me is a soldier, marine, airmen, or whatever else you want to call him, as long as he's an American! 

I didn't plan on going to war, but I did want to do something to serve my country.  9/11 stirred new found patriotism in our nation, a common bond between all of us forged that we knew we were going to get through this, and come back better than ever.  It's been ten years since that life changing moment.  I don't regret joining the Army.  I know it's been a huge sacrifice for my wife, but I know she doesn't regret it for a minute either.  She married me when I was still going to college to become an accountant.  That used to be my dream and who knows, it might be what I go back to after I get out of the military.  I thank her so much for the sacrifices she made by allowing me to pursue a career serving my country.  I know it's been said so much it's bound to sound cliche, but it is so true: the toughest job in the military is that of the military spouse.  Just try to listen to Lonestar's version of "I'm Already There" with the messages from home and you'll see what I mean.  Honey, if you read this, I just want you to know that I love you so much and I really appreciate all of the sacrifices you've made over the last ten years!

The Med Board Is A Long, Long, Long, Long, Long, Long, Long, Process!

Okay, so the title may sound bad, but I guess it's not really that long.  When I started my Med Board with the initial briefing in March we were informed that it has been taking about 10 months to get to the finish line.  I just got read my narrative summary yesterday and will hopefully be signing the finalized copy of it soon.  When I went in to have it read to me the doctor's words were "The clock is now ticking!".  My initial thought was "doesn't Tricare cover this?".  He went on to explain that according to Congress there is as of the sixth of September 90 days to complete everything. I should get my declaration of fit or unfit for duty within 30 days, my disability percentage rating within 30 days after that, and orders within 30 days of that.  He told me now is the time to consider how much leave I have left and what all I need to get accomplished before I get medically retired out of the army.  (It will be a medical retirement because I know I will get over 50% and you only need to get over 30%.)  If you take into consideration how long the process has taken for other people it's really not too bad of a timeframe.  According to the doctor I spoke with yesterday even though I went to the briefing back in March, my Med Board process didn't officially begin until May.  That's when the commander's notification was sent out and my Medical Records were submitted to the VA to determine which civilian doctors I would need to visit to verify my claims.  As for the form my Commander needs to submit, well supposedly they sent it to him in May and haven't received it back yet.  I've talked with others going through this process and they suggested I fill out the paperwork and just submit it for his signature.  I understand, our unit has been very busy preparing for an upcoming deployment.  So I filled it out and will give it to him tomorrow, hoping for the best.  But regardless of what my commander does, the "clock is ticking."  I am ready to become a civilian again.  I love my country, I proudly served next to numerous brave people, and will carry these memories with me for the rest of my life when I'm out.

What is love? No I'm not talking about the song by Haddaway!

What is love really?  I just saw a guy on the Bachelor Pad telling a girl that he loved her, and wouldn't it be worth it to pursue that?  I just have to wonder if he's really only thinking of romantic love.  There's a lot more to real love than a feeling.  I've learned a thing or two about the true meaning of love!  Love is not a noun, it's a verb, an action.  Love is not just about physical attraction.  Sure that's a part of it, and it's definitely the part everybody seems to focus on the most.  But the truth is love is the actions you take to show your commitment to the relationship.  It's about living up to your vows when you are married, and making your spouse more important than yourself.  If both people in the relationship do this then everyone gets their emotional needs met and you will have a very happy and fulfilling relationship.  Love is about sticking around even when you don't want to.  It's about swallowing your pride and saying you're wrong when you get in a fight.  Love as a physical attraction won't last forever.  We get older, we lose our sex appeal, get wrinkles, get forgetful (what was I talking about), and if we are fortunate enough to be in a relationship that has real love in it, our partner will still be around to help us get through all of that!  Love is going to a chick flick with your wife when you really wanted to watch Die Hard 2011 since it was going to have Bruce Willis, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan. (Not a real movie as far as I know, but wouldn't that be great!)  Love is eating fish when you'd rather have pizza.  Well, I think you get the point.  Love is about simply being selfless and making your spouse feel loved!

Stupid Commercials

Okay, I had no idea what I was going to blog about tonight until it hit me right in the face!  I was watching television with my wife and a commercial came on where a bunch of people were sitting around a table at a restaurant, the waitress comes up and asks "Okay, who had the yummy cereal, and who has the one that's good for your heart?"  And then of course you have all the people saying whose is whose and their all the SAME cereal!  But that's not the stupid part!  I have trouble believing any large group of at least semi-intelligent people would go to a restaurant to eat cereal!  I mean, I like Honey Nut Cheerios, but I could probably buy a whole gallon of milk and a great big box for what you might pay at a restaurant.  Who thought that was clever?  And what about the one with the guy and his fiance/girlfriend, and her dad?  The phone starts vibrating and a picture of a spider pops up and the dad grabs his shoe and repeatedly hits the phone until it stops vibrating and then after a few seconds gives it another swat.  What's up with that?  First of all who uses a spider as a background photo, and why didn't he say something  right away like "hey stop, that's my phone!"  And then there's the dumb one with the guys who do stupid things with smart phones.  I usually like the Geico commercials, but this one just really annoys me,  I hope it goes out of circulation soon. Okay, I know there's a ton more, so if you like feel free to comment and add some of your own!

Why I cancelled Netflix

I cancelled my Netflix account yesterday.  I used to think it was a great deal.  We were paying ten bucks a month for unlimited streaming content and one dvd out at a time through the mail.  They were pretty fast on getting dvd's out too.  Usually we would mail it out and within three or four days our next movie would be here.  Now they are jacking up their price in hopes that people will strictly go to streaming video and forget altogether about dvd's.  I know that things change as time goes on.  We moved from eight track cassettes to records, from records to cassette tapes, and from cassettes to cd's, and from cd's to mp3s, mpeg, or whatever else there is for streaming music.  I know movies fell along the same path, we went from reel to reel to video cassettes to those big discs that looked like records to dvd's, and now streaming video.  I think it's really great the technological advances our society has made over a relatively short time.  I think it won't be long before my idea for cars will come into play where there are basically a bunch of tiny windmills inside the body of the car that rotate from wind resistance built while driving that store energy to continually run the car.  You would only require a little gas and some battery power to get the car started, but it would then power itself as long as it was moving.  Anyway I digress, the point is that technology moves on, but I don't think that Netflix should jack up the prices of their movies just because they don't want to pay for shipping dvd's anymore.  They don't even offer all of their movies on streaming anyway, so what's going to happen if there's a movie you want to see and they don't have it available?  I'm switching to Hulu or Blockbuster or something, I don't want to pay extra just to keep what I have and those services also offer streaming with more choices!

Man Throws Son Overboard!

I don't know how many of you watch the news, but occasionally if you do you will see some people that clearly  do not deserve to have children because they simply don't know what to do with them.  I don't want to sound judgemental, but how can a dad come on television and say a boat load of people lied about him slapping his ten year old son several times and then throwing him overboard?  I've seen the interview myself and the first thing the guy did when he started speaking was touch his nose!  Isn't that what Bill Clinton did when he said "I did not have sex with that woman!" when asked about his relationship with Monica Lewinski?  I have got to admit, he's either pretty brave or pretty dumb (see my post about "stooped peeple" from a few days back), my guess is the latter.  For those of you who don't know the full story it starts out with a bunch of people calling 911 after they see a man throw his child overboard after slapping him because he was crying.  They think the kid was crying because the man was arguing with his fiance.  The man insisted on the interview that he was not drunk and he was horseplaying with his child.  According to him he had discussed jumping in with his son, but his son couldn't get over the rail so he threw him in and then jumped in right after him.  According to the phone calls to 911 he threw his son in and once he saw people calling 911 decided he should jump in after him, but by then it was too late, the son had been picked up by another boat.  I have a hard time believing this guy on any of this.  I believe he made a stupid mistake and I would have had much more respect for him if he would just own up to it.  Taking a line from Bill O'Reilly, I would say this guy is a real pinhead!