That's never a fun word. Today I was at my dermatologist for the yearly look over, and he spotted a mole that was 'suspicious'. Great. So I ended up having an unplanned minor surgical procedure this morning.
Every time I am around hospitals, or being cut on, I have to stop and think, "Dude, what were you thinking 8 years ago when you were starting pre-med?" As most of you know, I had a stint (no pun intended) where I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life and thought that going into the professional medical field was the answer. The one small problem with that line of thinking was, I don't do well around needles and blood... and, these seem to be two of the more common elements to the medical practice. Like today, when I was getting the local anesthesia, I thought I was going to die as I laid there on my stomach. Then, the cutting started and I thought I was going to pass out. Good Lord, that just grosses me out. I'm getting weak in the knees and fingers just typing about it.
The other main reason I dropped out of the medical program was because of a not-so-fun class called, "Organic Chemistry". I'll let you in on a sick little secret though… from time to time, I will randomly get out my Organic Chemistry book and just read part of it for fun. Actually, I've noticed that I tend to do that sometimes. I go through phases of just reading text books, in particular engineering text books that I have. Yeah, I know that's really disturbing, but a lot of that stuff I find interesting. Particularly the materials engineering books that deal with material microstructure. Fascinating!
Here's a not-so interesting fact about me: At my parents house I have nearly every text book from 9th grade all the way through grad school.
Which do you prefer, top, bottom, or side by side?One of my primary goals in the home-building process was to furnish it with all new stuff: Especially, a new master bedroom suite (because I still sleep on the one that I've had since I was 14)
However, I've realized that due to the unexpected floor plan oversizing, the furnishing will not commence immediately upon construction completion. Now I plan to work on one room at a time until they are all complete. I estimate it may be 6-8 months after construction is complete before the house is fully furnished, unless my friends are mega-generous with the house warming gifts or we win the powerball between now and then.
It's weird though, because oddly, about that time, which is 10-12 months from now it's probable that some sort of change in status may occur and I may not need to buy everything I think I need/want at this present juncture. What's the point in having two 62" HD TVs? You know?
Anyways, part of this adventure includes picking out a refrigerator. In looking at all the different types, I've noticed there are the traditional top and bottom models with the freezer on top, but there is also a new kind with the freezer on the bottom. My parents have the traditional kind. My girlfriend has the side by side type, and that's the kind she wants me to get.
Lately, I am gravitating towards less complex items. For instance, some of the side-by-side refrigerators I've seen are $2,500. When I open them up, all I see along the upper inner door face is an 18" row of digital readouts and computer type buttons. When I see that all I think is, "There's a lot there that can break, go wrong, and be costly to repair." Hence I'm not buying a $2,500 refrigerator and looking for a less costly model.
Then there's the whole issue of the in-door ice and water dispenser. I've never had that in my life, so I don't miss it or see any need for it. It just seems like something else that could break. Of course, I don't spend any time in the kitchen, so if Jawana says that it'll make life easier, I guess that's probably the way to go.
Do you have the in-door system going on? Do you use it? Had problems with it? Curious.
Along those same lines… I was all about those new colorful Kennmore front loading washers and dryers. That is, until I heard one of the SEARS technicians call into Clark Howard and inform us that it costs on average 3x to repair those models, and that they have a high failure rate. When you combine that with that fact that are quite costly to begin with, I'm getting just a plain old fashioned top loading washer and front loading dryer combo.
Really bad financial moves.Call after call today into Dave's show were from couples making good money ($100,000+) who had leased vehicles, and rolled negative equity into them.
Wow, what a horrible mismanagement of money. I'm thinking, "If you're making that much money, why are you leasing a vehicle? Even worse, why are you buying a new car?" That's a rhetorical question. I know the answer: because they don't know any better, and were misled by car salesmen. Leasing a vehicle and/or buying a new vehicle is about the equivalent of purchasing whole-life, cash value life insurance. It's just a bad all around plan that does a severe injustice to the consumer.
Remember the mantra of the middle class is, "I'll always have a car payment." This is what we don't want to be. . . middle class . . . average. You must strive to be above average!
The average car payment in America is $500/month. If you falsely believe you must always have a car payment, consider this. If you get your first car payment at age 20 and maintain car payments all your life until you are 60, that equals $745,000 you've spent on your cars at a 5% loan interest rate.
Now, if you take that same $500/month and invest it in a good set of mutual funds averaging 12% over those same 40 years, you'd have $4.9 million dollars when you are 60.
I'll take the $4.9 million, and drive used, reasonably priced vehicles thank you very much.
Most importantly, don't be mistaken. The $4.9 million isn't for me. It's for my kids, family, and favorite charities.
Life is short. Be smart.
SOUL PATROL BABY. There's something I bet all of you thought I would never say. And that is, something relevant to modern pop culture. Indeed, Jawana has gotten me in to that TV show American Idol. Go Taylor! Wooooooo!
Last night's season finale' was something else, wasn't it? I personally enjoyed the little awards play on the Emmy's they did. The clips were hilarious. My favorite was the one between master chef Wolfgang Puck and Kellie Pickler. Good Heaven's is it possible to be more country-fied?
I'll tell you, one moment that was a little frightening was when Michael Sandecki came out and was all "Clay Aiken" and then when Clay actually came out and Michael began freaking out like a little girl . . . that was disturbing. But whatever.
Oh, I'll tell you what else was incredibly wrong. The short they did called, "Brokenote Mountain". -THAT- was wrong. LOL
Blasphemy against the Moulton SteakhouseLast night, I thought it would be a good idea to take my girlfriend to the Moulton Steakhouse. It's literally a legend in North Alabama for having some of the best steaks around. My friends and I have been eating there for years and have always had good food there.
She ordered the Top Sirloin, and I ordered a Regular Sirloin, because we were unsure as to exactly what the difference was. The food came out, and I immediately began devouring mine, because I was hungry. It was delicious, as always. She offered me a piece of hers and it tasted ok to me. So she proceeded to eat it, but then said something to the effect of, "I don't like the way this steak tastes. I don't know if it's the seasoning or what, but it doesn't taste good."
So I'm sitting there and am like, "Are you on crack or what? I just ate a piece and it tasted fine to me…. I can't believe you don't like it."
I continued to finish up mine. Shayla wanted to eat my fries, so I let her do that, and Jawana gave me the rest of her steak. I proceeded to eat it and was like, "Oh my God, this steak tastes like a piece of. . . Uhhh . . . It's nasty. No wonder you didn't like it." I'm not sure what the problem was, but it was disgusting.
My streak of picking out restaurants is continuing to go downhill...
Cracker Barrell – 2-day old mac and cheese
Logan's – wet grilled cheese
Famous Dave's – greasy hamburger
Applebee's – jacked up nachos
Moulton Steakhosue – steak that tasted like crap
