a few things

1. I had an awesome Christmas. I got a new camera/laptop backpack that's friggin huge and has a ton of compartments and configurable storage. So it's pretty much perfect. I also got a 42" reflector kit with a stand. It works great especially since I still only have one off camera flash. I also got some cologne from K. So I'm sure I'll be smelling much better in the near future. My sister gave me some awesome gift cards and I now have 2 new sets of work out pants! Oh yeah, I had a lot of fun with my family and took plenty of time to contemplate the meaning of Christmas. Between playing with my new camera stuff ;)
   
2. I think I broke my truck. So when I am stupid and I forget not to use the parking brake when it's below freezing. My rear passenger wheel gets stuck. There are 2 ways to fix this. Well 3, but the third is boring. 1, you can stick the sucker in 4WD Low and gun it and hope you knock the wheel loose. And 2, you can bang at the drum brake with a hammer. I opted for # 1 today because, well I forgot about #2. And around my parent's house, they don't use salt so the roads really stay pretty slippery. So I drove about a block with 3 wheels spinning until my truck just decides not to move anymore. At that point I have my sister get out and she tells me that my front wheels were not spinning either. OOOPS. Guess I broke 4WD. So I call the tow company, they bang on my drum and get the wheel loose. I hobble it back to my parent's garage to let it thaw (option 3) My car made a nice squeeking noise the whole way, which was super fun. After the thawing, I drove it around and the 4WD seemed to be behaving again, but I'm still suspicious. So I'm taking it in before making the long drive home to make sure I won't die when my wheels fall off 100 miles out. So I'm stranded! yippie!
3. I can't wait any longer to get the gosh darn Camaro. If I had a fancy dancy new car. I wouldn't have these old car problems. I'd also be so much cooler. As we all know, a car is an extension of one's ego, and often is used to compensate for something. And for me it's to compensate for driving around in a gold compact pickup truck for 10 years! I want a car that I'm gonna love until I have kids. It may be my only chance and I don't want to miss out on this one. I want my gosh darn Camaro! When my truck broke, I got all excited and I prepped myself to overextend my credit prematurely so I could leave Iowa in at least a 2LT/RS Camaro! But just my luck, the dumb truck still drives!
   

(P.S. I'm actually grateful that my truck still runs. It's been pretty much reliable exept for the occasional brake freeze. So I'd like to keep it even after getting the Camaro. We'll see if the money tree lands on my roof anytime soon and I actually get promoted at work... here's to hoping!!!)

Dear America

I have come to the realization that I need your help in a problem of utmost importance. I, a lover of this great country, have found myself in quite a pickle! Because of this fearful economy, my company has refused to give raises this year. and I need you all to stop being afraid that the economy will eat you alive and start working hard and start spending more money, w/o using credit! I know I know, everybody uses credit cards, but seriously, they're bad! Friends don't let friends use credit cards!

You see once you start spending all your extra cash, all the fancy high paid economists and stock traders will all start thinking the whole economy thing is fixed. And you see when they see that, my company will start to think that as well! and you see once they see that, I'll get my deserved promotion and raise!!!

Now you say, "c'mon are you serious dude?" yes! Being the warm blooded American that I am, I want to show my support for this country. And the best way I can think to do this, is to buy a good ol' classic American car brought back to life. And that car is the 2010 Camaro RS/SS with a manual transmission in Auqa blue. But I can't do that until I get a promotion as my current balance sheet won't allow me to pay for such a beautiful example of a performance car. Now, don't get me wrong, wanting a car so badly is awfully consumerist, and I realize this, but I'm only trying to support the economy!!! Don't you want me to support the economy? I know you do, and you should want to support the economy too!


P.S. If you would rather, I'm also accepting shameless donations!

Last Weekend (and Monday)

I had a pretty fun-filled weekend and I really enjoyed it. On Friday, I went hot tubbin' I still can't believe I didn't know there was a spa in the club house all this time... I'm gonna use that thing like all the time now!

Saturday was a very busy day. I woke up at the crack of dawn.... well 7AM... so that I could get to the DMV to have class M added to my license. However, I was planning on going up with Kristin, but when she came over that morning, she forgot her course completion certificate (that you need to waive the written and riding test) so I decided that I'd just go on Monday. In the afternoon, Kristin, her sister, and I went to Lynfred Winery for a tasting and a tour. They gave us a lot of wine, and at first I was trying to drink it all, but eventually I asked for less in the glass. Kristin and her sister asked for a lot less after their first "samples." It was pretty fun though. After the winery, we needed to walk off all that wine so Kristin and I went to the local nature center and park and I explained the finer subtleties of milkweed and Kristin told me all about the park. After the enlightening walk, we both went to church and then met up with the church's youth/young adult group for a BBQ. Everybody was nice, but it seemed like everybody was just too nice and it made me a bit uncomfortable. I like it when people don't act all fake. Who knows maybe they're all just genuinely nice. I'm just not used to that.

2008 Chevrolet Camaro

But the day wasn't over! Next we went to see the Transformers movie. It made me want to buy the new 2009/2008 Camaro instead of the new 2008 Challenger. GM is doing a much better job keeping the Camaro on people's minds than Chrysler is with the Challenger. Chrysler is keeping the Challenger development pretty secret and most consumers know just about nothing about the thing except to expect only a high-end SRT version the first year and have the regular models come out the second year. Nobody even knows for sure if a manual transmission will be offered on the base models. If they don't that'd be sad and I think a lot of people would be upset that it was not an option on a powerful sports coupe. The Camaro will definitely have a manual option, which is what I'd get if I bought a sports car. If you can't handle the manual, you don't deserve to have a sports car :P But back to the movie, It was very action packed and it made me remember my childhood days. Kristin was right about it though, it was a guy movie. I'm glad she came anyway.

After all that fun on Saturday, I relaxed in the morning on Sunday and then Kristin and I went to a wave pool in the area and we relaxed for at least 4 hours. I have sunburn! I put tanning lotion on my lower arms, face and neck because those are the only tan parts of my body, so none of that is burnt, but I have a red patch on my body that looks like I was wearing a sizzling hot t-shirt. It's fun! After that, we went on a long bike ride around the area and we raced and Kristin won. Shhh don't tell anybody.

I missed lunch technically because we went to the water park around 12:00. So I was hungry at about 5:00. We decided to go to Bahama Breeze and eat some Caribbean food. I had the jerk chicken pasta and Kristin had a Cuban sandwich. I wasn't too impressed with either however. I could not taste any jerk flavoring on my chicken because it was sliced almost deli-style. But the food definitely had a good flavor. I just wanted jerk-flavor! Kristin's Cuban, seemed American, with it's salami and lettuce and tomatoes. It had plain mustard on it too, which I'm not a big fan of. I blame my dad for forcing us to eat it on our sandwiches as children! I love brown, spicy, honey, Dijon, and about any other mustard, just not the plain. After the restaurant we watched Arachnophobia. It was not as exciting as I had hoped it would be. By today's standards the movie was very slow and not very suspenseful. It really is amazing how much movies have changed since 1990. Back then, people thought that movie was awesome.

Since I didn't get my license on Saturday I decided to wake up at 6AM on Monday to make it to the DMV at 8AM. I thought I had read that they opened at 8AM. Well, they do on Wed-Sat. But after arriving at 7:40, I find that they are closed on Monday and they open at 9AM on Tuesday! So I still don't have my license. But I plan on going around lunch and getting it done for sure!

At work, they are starting to force people to get their new ID badges. I was trying to let mine completely fall apart before I got my new vertical-oriented badge. I mean it was only half peeled and the clip was holding together pretty well with tape. It still had a lot of life left in it! But now I like the new badge because it is all pristine and not warped or peeling :)