If you were a passer by and noticed the vehicles in our garage, you would think man.. this place is popping. What you wouldn't know however is that all those vehicles have something wrong with them that makes them inoperable.
My car
2001 Chevy Cavalier - wont start, cheap mechanic says computer problem.
My dad's car
1996 Chevy Cavalier - starts sometimes, mostly when cold. Shuts down on you when it runs for awhile and then wont restart. Fuel pump, crank sensor- cheap mechanic's not sure anymore.
My dad's truck
2001? Chevy Truck - started stalling, now barely accelerates and pops when you put the gas down. Cheapo said that it's moisture in the tank but didn't fix it.
My brother's car
1999 Ford Contour - this car wasn't running when he bought it from my other brother. It needed a new alternator. They replaced it. But now it starts every once in awhile but it shut down on my brother while driving. Don't know what's wrong with it.
So, we have all these broken down vehicles and I'm bumming rides to work all this week. On Friday I am hoping to get my car fixed. I had given up on my car, but my wife thinks we should attempt to fix it, since the passenger side door will actually open on it. It's in great shape, other than the 160,000 miles that it has on it. I'm hoping that whatever the problem is I can afford, and then I don't have another problem with it, at least not right away. Ideally, it will last us all of this year or until we can afford a new car. So, I have to get it to the dealership on friday, which means having it towed. I have 1 free tow left on my AAA. I have about 600$ to fix it this week. If it's any more, it will have to wait some more.
My dad plans on getting his truck fixed next week. His car is on hiatus until I find out if my car is fixable.
My brother is waiting til his bankroll gets up high enough for him to invest more money into his car.
I ended last year with no vehicle and now I'm doing the same this year. The great circle of life.
Flamm
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Let's Talk about Next Year: Wealth
The current state of Flamm Financial is not too bad. Income to bill ratio is very good. However, it's more of a credit to the lack of bills rather than the amount of income. My living conditions are fine from a pure human standpoint: roof (leaking now, of course), heat, plenty of room, and plenty of freedom. Other good things are that I can use my dad's vehicle whenever I want and we split all the bills. I also dont have to do dishes or clean any other room than mine. Now, obviously the bad points are that it's not our own place. We don't get the pride and morale that goes along with being at your own place. Also, its a 40 - 50 minute drive to work depending upon the traffic. In summation, it's a decent living situation, but hopefully we aren't here for a whole lot longer.
So, the first goal in this category is to get our own place next year. But, the only possible way for that to happen is to either a) i become a store manager and make more money or b) my wife gets approved for and starts receiving her disability or is able to find a job. Basically, our income would have to increase significantly. Getting a 2nd job while trying to move up in my current job is just really not an option and I don't want to do it anyways. 2nd jobs need to be for extreme circumstances and for short periods of time. It's no way to live your life. If I were to get a 2nd job, it would probably be poker, but even that would be tough, considering the things going against me playing poker, including my wife. Regardless of how we have extra income, we are going to be prepared before we move in somewhere else. By that I mean, I don't want to have to move again a few months later when things didn't work out. We will make sure they are gonna work out before we risk moving.
So besides a new living situation, another goal is extra income. It pretty much coincides with the last one. I either will get my raise this year or my wife will be working/collecting disability. For the latter to happen, we simply have to wait. For the first, i just have to keep working hard and hope that a store becomes available right around the time that I'm eligible to be a SM. I have finished the training books, 1,2, and 3 and I need to learn some more paperwork. I'm not sure what training needs to happen after that, but I have faith that I will knock it all out of the park. Unfortunately, the longer I'm here though the more bad things I hear about the ownership group and how cheap/ridiculous they can be. It's a little concerning, but I'm gonna stick it out. Even if something eventually happens to where I'm completely dissatisfied, I'm sure by earning a SM position with Domino's will help me with another job in management if that's what needs to occur. So, all in all its a win-win by sticking it out. My initial reasons for doing this anyways was for the experience and for the building of my resume.
My 3rd goal is to have plans for the future. Wealth does not happen in 1 year, and so far all of these goals focus on what I want to achieve this year. I need to set a foundation for a future of Wealth. My plans continuously change and lately I'm thinking of being a business owner. I see so many people who run their own business and succeed and I just know that I could do it too. Unfortunately, the fact that I've filed bankruptcy and have terrible credit are gonna force me to work harder, but there's no reason why I can't get around that. So, my goal is to by the end of the year have the beginnings of a plan in place to build upon the following year.
My 4th goal for this is Knowledge. In my opinion, wealth and knowledge go hand in hand. You can be the dumbest m-fer on the planet but if you are the smartest in 1 category or the best in 1 category then that's all that matters when it comes to business. Many professional football players don't know anything other than X's and O's yet, they make Millions of dollars. Even the worst make a couple hundred grand a year. I need a niche. I need knowledge. My goal this year is to actually take at least 1 class in college. Okay, I want to pass the class too. So, taking and passing 1 class is my goal.
These are achievable and these will all help me to improve my life.
So, the first goal in this category is to get our own place next year. But, the only possible way for that to happen is to either a) i become a store manager and make more money or b) my wife gets approved for and starts receiving her disability or is able to find a job. Basically, our income would have to increase significantly. Getting a 2nd job while trying to move up in my current job is just really not an option and I don't want to do it anyways. 2nd jobs need to be for extreme circumstances and for short periods of time. It's no way to live your life. If I were to get a 2nd job, it would probably be poker, but even that would be tough, considering the things going against me playing poker, including my wife. Regardless of how we have extra income, we are going to be prepared before we move in somewhere else. By that I mean, I don't want to have to move again a few months later when things didn't work out. We will make sure they are gonna work out before we risk moving.
So besides a new living situation, another goal is extra income. It pretty much coincides with the last one. I either will get my raise this year or my wife will be working/collecting disability. For the latter to happen, we simply have to wait. For the first, i just have to keep working hard and hope that a store becomes available right around the time that I'm eligible to be a SM. I have finished the training books, 1,2, and 3 and I need to learn some more paperwork. I'm not sure what training needs to happen after that, but I have faith that I will knock it all out of the park. Unfortunately, the longer I'm here though the more bad things I hear about the ownership group and how cheap/ridiculous they can be. It's a little concerning, but I'm gonna stick it out. Even if something eventually happens to where I'm completely dissatisfied, I'm sure by earning a SM position with Domino's will help me with another job in management if that's what needs to occur. So, all in all its a win-win by sticking it out. My initial reasons for doing this anyways was for the experience and for the building of my resume.
My 3rd goal is to have plans for the future. Wealth does not happen in 1 year, and so far all of these goals focus on what I want to achieve this year. I need to set a foundation for a future of Wealth. My plans continuously change and lately I'm thinking of being a business owner. I see so many people who run their own business and succeed and I just know that I could do it too. Unfortunately, the fact that I've filed bankruptcy and have terrible credit are gonna force me to work harder, but there's no reason why I can't get around that. So, my goal is to by the end of the year have the beginnings of a plan in place to build upon the following year.
My 4th goal for this is Knowledge. In my opinion, wealth and knowledge go hand in hand. You can be the dumbest m-fer on the planet but if you are the smartest in 1 category or the best in 1 category then that's all that matters when it comes to business. Many professional football players don't know anything other than X's and O's yet, they make Millions of dollars. Even the worst make a couple hundred grand a year. I need a niche. I need knowledge. My goal this year is to actually take at least 1 class in college. Okay, I want to pass the class too. So, taking and passing 1 class is my goal.
These are achievable and these will all help me to improve my life.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Let's talk about Next Year: Health
Okay, so obviously everyone does this, but who am I to change tradition? This year I achieved the important, albeit broad goals I had set for last year. Maybe I can get on a roll, eh? So, for next year's goals, I'm going to be more specific, I think and also think about how I'm going to achieve them.
First and foremost: Health. The longer I allow myself to be this overweight, the more health problems I'm going to have. Eventually it will catch up and with it comes a myriad of expensive hospital visits and maybe even the most expensive disease of all, death. This year is the year I drop a majority of my weight. Unfortunately, it's not going to all go this year, but most of it should be this year. The holidays messed up my diet.. like it does to most, but they are over. Time to get back on track and even buckle down more. I really feel like the diet, for me is the easiest part, because I enjoy even the foods that you are supposed to eat, very much. I love veggies, I love fruits, I eat everything. My portions have to come down and instead of 2 or 3 big meals, I need to take in 4 or 5 smaller ones. Exercise is the biggest issue for me. Simply because I cannot just take a jog. My exercise needs to come in the form of classes or sports. Classes because I can feel an obligation to go and there are also others there. Which is weird cuz I do almost everything by myself, but if I'm in a classroom it feels like I'm part of something. Sports that are available to me to do are Football (that same football league that my brothers and I initially were going out for last year is available again this year and starts in February), Baseball (there is an adult baseball team, that I believe still exists. I was the manager of a team and played for another team between 2002-2004), raquetball (the place my wife has water aerobics has indoor racquetball courts and my dad actually enjoys playing that, so he could do it with me) and... not sure what else. More will present themselves in the spring obviously, but I don't need to wait, there is plenty to do now.
Regardless of what I choose and it will probably be a mixture of each of these, I need to have a plan and a schedule set. If I'm working that night I need to go during the day and vice versa. Cost just doesn't need to matter, because getting healthy has no cost. We have plenty of money we waste on shit, that could go to getting healthy. I need to be a part of something I think at least 3-5 times a week. I have the time, I need to use that time for the right thing. If I have to I would have no problem trying to find a personal trainer. That would obviously be fairly expensive, but again, if we can afford it, that's all that matters in that regard. I'd say, I'm going to join a gym, but I've been a member of a gym before and simply joining a gym doesn't make me lose weight. I need to make a case for myself being able to get up and get at it before I go spending that money on a gym. That sounds contradictive, but simply throwing money away is dumb. I'll prove that I can do it first and then join a gym if I think that I'll actually utilize it.
Partners in doing these things would help. I can use my wife for anything water related since she enjoys that, my dad can be used for racquetball and probably other things, and my brother can be used to go to a gym, baseball, or football, as well as other things. I think i get embarrassed sometimes because I seem to be always in this "Fight the fat" stage and i'm sure people get tired of it. But, all I can do is keep trying. People who give up are the ones who end up being 600 lbs and on a TLC special. I was watching one the other day and of course anyone even, someone as big as me sees it and are just like, "how do you let yourself get that big", but in this one they showed a timeline of this guy who was over 800 pounds. They said when he was 18 he was 200, and when he was 26 he was 300, then between that and w/e his age was he ballooned all the way to 8xx. That made me sick for a minute, because I'm 26 and I'm almost 400 lbs. So, I'm already ahead of his pace. Obviously this guy had something happen to him around that age to just explode like that. Most of it is mental and depression can really set it off. Luckily, for me I don't have any depression and I can't foresee something making me let myself go. But, who knows what can happen in the future and how I'll react. I'm in a great state of mind right now, so I need to take advantage of it.
Anyways, so that's my plan. I need to find out specifics on everything and pound it out. I know I can do it. I don't think I'll set a specific weight goal, until maybe I get it going for a little bit. If I'm active the weight will fall, plain and simple.
First and foremost: Health. The longer I allow myself to be this overweight, the more health problems I'm going to have. Eventually it will catch up and with it comes a myriad of expensive hospital visits and maybe even the most expensive disease of all, death. This year is the year I drop a majority of my weight. Unfortunately, it's not going to all go this year, but most of it should be this year. The holidays messed up my diet.. like it does to most, but they are over. Time to get back on track and even buckle down more. I really feel like the diet, for me is the easiest part, because I enjoy even the foods that you are supposed to eat, very much. I love veggies, I love fruits, I eat everything. My portions have to come down and instead of 2 or 3 big meals, I need to take in 4 or 5 smaller ones. Exercise is the biggest issue for me. Simply because I cannot just take a jog. My exercise needs to come in the form of classes or sports. Classes because I can feel an obligation to go and there are also others there. Which is weird cuz I do almost everything by myself, but if I'm in a classroom it feels like I'm part of something. Sports that are available to me to do are Football (that same football league that my brothers and I initially were going out for last year is available again this year and starts in February), Baseball (there is an adult baseball team, that I believe still exists. I was the manager of a team and played for another team between 2002-2004), raquetball (the place my wife has water aerobics has indoor racquetball courts and my dad actually enjoys playing that, so he could do it with me) and... not sure what else. More will present themselves in the spring obviously, but I don't need to wait, there is plenty to do now.
Regardless of what I choose and it will probably be a mixture of each of these, I need to have a plan and a schedule set. If I'm working that night I need to go during the day and vice versa. Cost just doesn't need to matter, because getting healthy has no cost. We have plenty of money we waste on shit, that could go to getting healthy. I need to be a part of something I think at least 3-5 times a week. I have the time, I need to use that time for the right thing. If I have to I would have no problem trying to find a personal trainer. That would obviously be fairly expensive, but again, if we can afford it, that's all that matters in that regard. I'd say, I'm going to join a gym, but I've been a member of a gym before and simply joining a gym doesn't make me lose weight. I need to make a case for myself being able to get up and get at it before I go spending that money on a gym. That sounds contradictive, but simply throwing money away is dumb. I'll prove that I can do it first and then join a gym if I think that I'll actually utilize it.
Partners in doing these things would help. I can use my wife for anything water related since she enjoys that, my dad can be used for racquetball and probably other things, and my brother can be used to go to a gym, baseball, or football, as well as other things. I think i get embarrassed sometimes because I seem to be always in this "Fight the fat" stage and i'm sure people get tired of it. But, all I can do is keep trying. People who give up are the ones who end up being 600 lbs and on a TLC special. I was watching one the other day and of course anyone even, someone as big as me sees it and are just like, "how do you let yourself get that big", but in this one they showed a timeline of this guy who was over 800 pounds. They said when he was 18 he was 200, and when he was 26 he was 300, then between that and w/e his age was he ballooned all the way to 8xx. That made me sick for a minute, because I'm 26 and I'm almost 400 lbs. So, I'm already ahead of his pace. Obviously this guy had something happen to him around that age to just explode like that. Most of it is mental and depression can really set it off. Luckily, for me I don't have any depression and I can't foresee something making me let myself go. But, who knows what can happen in the future and how I'll react. I'm in a great state of mind right now, so I need to take advantage of it.
Anyways, so that's my plan. I need to find out specifics on everything and pound it out. I know I can do it. I don't think I'll set a specific weight goal, until maybe I get it going for a little bit. If I'm active the weight will fall, plain and simple.
Monday, December 22, 2008
I WIN!
I won the money fantasy football league I was in. I'm not sure how much the prize was. The pool is 300$, but I don't know if 2nd gets a piece of it or not. Regardless, I'm the champion! WOOT!
I'd like to thank the many people, without whom this wouldn't be possible...
first and foremost, my mom for having me.. i mean, i'm nothing without her help.
2nd, all those haters out there... there the ones that drive me to do me.
Also, a big thank you to Tyler Thigpen, qb of the KC Chiefs. I supported him on my team for weeks, even though I had Romo and Roethlisberger, I counted on the KC QB in the championship game and he didn't disappoint.
All I have left to say is, I rule, everyone else in the league sucks.
-drops mic and walks away-
I'd like to thank the many people, without whom this wouldn't be possible...
first and foremost, my mom for having me.. i mean, i'm nothing without her help.
2nd, all those haters out there... there the ones that drive me to do me.
Also, a big thank you to Tyler Thigpen, qb of the KC Chiefs. I supported him on my team for weeks, even though I had Romo and Roethlisberger, I counted on the KC QB in the championship game and he didn't disappoint.
All I have left to say is, I rule, everyone else in the league sucks.
-drops mic and walks away-
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Who's the Boss?
My store manager went back into the hospital and I guess it's severe enough to where he's expected to be there for a while. They're saying it's pancreatitis, which is the same reason he had went into the hospital before. So, that means overtime for me. But, also next week my other boss is going on vacation. She has had this vacation planned most of the year and it's been on the calender. She doesn't want to reschedule it. So, last nite I was told that next week I'm the acting store manager. So, I'm in charge. She said she thinks that this will be good practice for me. Of course, if I do what my current store manager does, it means I'll have a much lighter week of doing nothing. I don't know what all I will have to do next week, but mostly it will just mean that if something comes up, I have to deal with it. Except for the advanced paperwork and maybe some advanced credit card issues with customers or something like that I can handle everything. I've ordered food to be delivered a few times now and I've handled scheduling issues. So, I don't know how hard its going to be. Of course something completely odd could pop up, but someone important is only a phone call away.
I think once whoever gets back I'm going to demand for my tests to be graded and get my promotion. I'm looking forward to it, only because it will look good for me to be "the boss" even if it is just for a week. What I'm not looking forward to is working Christmas and now possibly Christmas Eve. I was already scheduled for Christmas, which is so F-ing lame. But I asked for Eve off. Well, my boss was gonna work Eve, but even before he went into the hospital he decided he wasn't working it anymore and told my other boss to find someone else. While she hasn't asked me to work it, the chances of finding someone else are pretty damn slim. My wife isn't too happy about me not getting one of the days off, but I only have so much power and leverage, especially up against 2 people that are higher up than I am. I might just have to take this one on the chin and just look forward to the days when I'm the one making the schedule.
I dont know if I mentioned it on my blog or not, but the other day I got my car back out of the shop and drove it around all day, it was fine. Then when I left for work, it just broke down on me a few miles from the house. I was turning right onto a bridge to go to the highway when it shut down. I felt it shutdown and turned into the underpass as to avoid blocking the bridge. I had to call someone to pick me up and then we went back later and the car started right up and we drove it home. It's really frustrating dealing with this damn car. It's been in the shop for 3 weeks and then runs fine when cold but breaks down when it warms up. I've decided to let it sit until January, when I expect to have a lot of extra money and then take it to a better mechanic. I've only been taking it to this same guy because my dad wanted me to. I'm so done with this dude. Hopefully it's something that can be fixed, even if it takes me all of january's wages. I just really can't afford a decent new-used car and probably wont for a few months of really good saving. It scares me to buy a used car, because I don't know enough to pick a good one and I would hate to be out of a big chunk of money on a lemon.
I think once whoever gets back I'm going to demand for my tests to be graded and get my promotion. I'm looking forward to it, only because it will look good for me to be "the boss" even if it is just for a week. What I'm not looking forward to is working Christmas and now possibly Christmas Eve. I was already scheduled for Christmas, which is so F-ing lame. But I asked for Eve off. Well, my boss was gonna work Eve, but even before he went into the hospital he decided he wasn't working it anymore and told my other boss to find someone else. While she hasn't asked me to work it, the chances of finding someone else are pretty damn slim. My wife isn't too happy about me not getting one of the days off, but I only have so much power and leverage, especially up against 2 people that are higher up than I am. I might just have to take this one on the chin and just look forward to the days when I'm the one making the schedule.
I dont know if I mentioned it on my blog or not, but the other day I got my car back out of the shop and drove it around all day, it was fine. Then when I left for work, it just broke down on me a few miles from the house. I was turning right onto a bridge to go to the highway when it shut down. I felt it shutdown and turned into the underpass as to avoid blocking the bridge. I had to call someone to pick me up and then we went back later and the car started right up and we drove it home. It's really frustrating dealing with this damn car. It's been in the shop for 3 weeks and then runs fine when cold but breaks down when it warms up. I've decided to let it sit until January, when I expect to have a lot of extra money and then take it to a better mechanic. I've only been taking it to this same guy because my dad wanted me to. I'm so done with this dude. Hopefully it's something that can be fixed, even if it takes me all of january's wages. I just really can't afford a decent new-used car and probably wont for a few months of really good saving. It scares me to buy a used car, because I don't know enough to pick a good one and I would hate to be out of a big chunk of money on a lemon.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Thank you Brian Westbrook
I made the championship game in the pay league I'm in. At least that's a little consolation for losing way too early in my league playoffs. Brian Westbrook was the only thing that could've prevented me from moving onto the big game and like last year, he choked for his owners when it mattered most. Last year he pissed off half the Fantasy football community when he purposely stopped just a few yards from the endzone. Of course he made the other half happy, cuz he helped them win over their probably screaming at the tv owner. For 2 weeks prior he had done nothing but destroy the competition. But, this week he laid an egg and I'm the beneficiary. Sweet. Hopefully, I can win this league and redeem myself a little bit, not to mention bring home a few dolla-dolla bills.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Did I achieve My goals of 2008?
I was again looking back on some posts. I found the goals for 2008 post and it got me wondering if I did achieve them. Let's take a minute to work it out in this post.
My goals were Wealth, Health, and Marriage. Basically I wanted to improve each of those areas of life.
Wealth: My job at the beginning of the year was poker. I was hoping that through poker I would make enough money that would allow me to go back to school. That obviously didn't happen. But, what did happen was I found my career (at least for a few years) and currently, although the situation isn't ideal (live with dad, don't have our own car anymore, still only make a relatively small amount of money each month) we are doing pretty good financially. We bring in over 3x as much as we have to pay out in bills. We have a little debt but nothing that we couldn't get rid of if we absolutely had to. My wife has even been able to chip in as of late, working a day or two a week, and that has been a boost to both her health and our bottom line. So, even though the way in which it happened wasn't the way I planned, we have improved our wealth. I'd say Goal Achieved! There is still a long ways to go, but that is for the goals of 2009 post.
Health: At the beginning of the year and pretty much my entire life my goal was to exercise more and eat better. The first couple months I did a pretty good job of doing both. I was practicing weekly for football and eating better. Eventually though that came to an end. I'm still eating much better than I was at the end of last year, but besides working, I'm not active enough. At the beginning of the year I weighed 416. Last time I was weighed I was down to 395. That was a few months ago however, and I need to weigh myself again. Regardless though thats a 21 pound loss. Again, not ideal, but it is something to be proud of. Another thing I did for my health was see a doctor. I found out I had no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no high sugar... i was as healthy as a 400 pound man could be. It was my first doctor visit in years. So, while I didn't make the impact I would've liked, I did improve my health. My wife's health was also improved. So, I say that goal was also achieved!
Marriage: This goal came third I think only because the first 2 really had a part in achieving this one. I think if you can't improve your own life, how can you hope to improve someone else's life with yours? This took a lot of work and at times it appeared as though there was no hope. My wife and I spent months apart, working on ourselves and just pondering what we both wanted to do in life. As I type we are stronger than ever (again not perfect) and we appear to both be interested in a long life together. Steps were taken, both small and drastic, but today our marriage is a LOT better than it was at the end of last year. Goal Achieved!
I set broad goals for this year, but they were of the utmost importance. It became a foundation year for me and my wife and something that I hope will springboard us into the future. We still have a long ways to go to get where we want to be, but it all has to start somewhere and I think in the future we will be able to look at this past year as a critical one. All the bullshit was swept aside and we had to lower our noses and just keep pushing. This year could also be labeled "Hard ass work." Nothing came easy this year. I'm pretty happy with myself for what I've been able to accomplish this year and I'm also happy with my wife for coming as far as she has.
Poker hardly ever comes off my tongue these days, but I still think about it. It will always have a place in my heart and I will probably always be in a state of "getting back into", but I think it's pretty safe to say that I will never try to play professionally again. Taking it too seriously ruined it for me and it's too great of a game to allow that to happen. One thing I'm also proud of is that I was able to stay in touch with some of the people I met through poker. Even though they are hundreds to thousands of miles away I consider them some of my closest friends. So, to John, Ryan, Leo, even anonymous, I wish you all a merry christmas, a happy new year, and hopefully good fortune in 2009.
My goals were Wealth, Health, and Marriage. Basically I wanted to improve each of those areas of life.
Wealth: My job at the beginning of the year was poker. I was hoping that through poker I would make enough money that would allow me to go back to school. That obviously didn't happen. But, what did happen was I found my career (at least for a few years) and currently, although the situation isn't ideal (live with dad, don't have our own car anymore, still only make a relatively small amount of money each month) we are doing pretty good financially. We bring in over 3x as much as we have to pay out in bills. We have a little debt but nothing that we couldn't get rid of if we absolutely had to. My wife has even been able to chip in as of late, working a day or two a week, and that has been a boost to both her health and our bottom line. So, even though the way in which it happened wasn't the way I planned, we have improved our wealth. I'd say Goal Achieved! There is still a long ways to go, but that is for the goals of 2009 post.
Health: At the beginning of the year and pretty much my entire life my goal was to exercise more and eat better. The first couple months I did a pretty good job of doing both. I was practicing weekly for football and eating better. Eventually though that came to an end. I'm still eating much better than I was at the end of last year, but besides working, I'm not active enough. At the beginning of the year I weighed 416. Last time I was weighed I was down to 395. That was a few months ago however, and I need to weigh myself again. Regardless though thats a 21 pound loss. Again, not ideal, but it is something to be proud of. Another thing I did for my health was see a doctor. I found out I had no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no high sugar... i was as healthy as a 400 pound man could be. It was my first doctor visit in years. So, while I didn't make the impact I would've liked, I did improve my health. My wife's health was also improved. So, I say that goal was also achieved!
Marriage: This goal came third I think only because the first 2 really had a part in achieving this one. I think if you can't improve your own life, how can you hope to improve someone else's life with yours? This took a lot of work and at times it appeared as though there was no hope. My wife and I spent months apart, working on ourselves and just pondering what we both wanted to do in life. As I type we are stronger than ever (again not perfect) and we appear to both be interested in a long life together. Steps were taken, both small and drastic, but today our marriage is a LOT better than it was at the end of last year. Goal Achieved!
I set broad goals for this year, but they were of the utmost importance. It became a foundation year for me and my wife and something that I hope will springboard us into the future. We still have a long ways to go to get where we want to be, but it all has to start somewhere and I think in the future we will be able to look at this past year as a critical one. All the bullshit was swept aside and we had to lower our noses and just keep pushing. This year could also be labeled "Hard ass work." Nothing came easy this year. I'm pretty happy with myself for what I've been able to accomplish this year and I'm also happy with my wife for coming as far as she has.
Poker hardly ever comes off my tongue these days, but I still think about it. It will always have a place in my heart and I will probably always be in a state of "getting back into", but I think it's pretty safe to say that I will never try to play professionally again. Taking it too seriously ruined it for me and it's too great of a game to allow that to happen. One thing I'm also proud of is that I was able to stay in touch with some of the people I met through poker. Even though they are hundreds to thousands of miles away I consider them some of my closest friends. So, to John, Ryan, Leo, even anonymous, I wish you all a merry christmas, a happy new year, and hopefully good fortune in 2009.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Dammit! There's always next year
Well, this year's fantasy football season has come at an abrupt stop for me. I was one of four in my leagues to make the playoffs in 2 of the 3 leagues, but I lost this week in both of them. That pretty much ends my shot at finishing 1st overall. The highest I can get in the Sal Cap league is 3rd and the highest in the Keeper and H2h Is 5th. An ASPL of 4.3 won't be good enough for first. While it sucks, it was a fun ride. I was in 1st overall for most of the year, but some late injuries and unsure roster changes hurt me. There were probably 3-4 wins between the 2 leagues that I should've had, but because a player was supposedly "injured" or "gonna start" I sat or started the wrong guy and it hurt me. In the Salary cap, I really lost focus in the middle of the season. I began just coasting a long and 1st and 2nd place really got a huge lead on everyone else. I'll definnitely need to watch out for that next season.
But, all in all it was a fun year and I'm glad I just showed to everyone that I still had some skills. I'm hoping someone new wins the league this year and that helps to garner more interest.
I got my Christmas present early this year. The other nite after work at 2 am, my wife and I decided to drive to an overnight walmart and get it. So, we bought an Xbox 360 at 230 am. I also got star Wars Force unleashed. WHich I've heard mixed reviews for, but so far it's pretty damn tight. I felt a little guilty shelling out the money we did, but I haven't gotten a x mas present from my wife in a long time, so it felt nice to get one. Plus we needed a dvd player anyways, so we kill 2 birds with one stone. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
But, all in all it was a fun year and I'm glad I just showed to everyone that I still had some skills. I'm hoping someone new wins the league this year and that helps to garner more interest.
I got my Christmas present early this year. The other nite after work at 2 am, my wife and I decided to drive to an overnight walmart and get it. So, we bought an Xbox 360 at 230 am. I also got star Wars Force unleashed. WHich I've heard mixed reviews for, but so far it's pretty damn tight. I felt a little guilty shelling out the money we did, but I haven't gotten a x mas present from my wife in a long time, so it felt nice to get one. Plus we needed a dvd player anyways, so we kill 2 birds with one stone. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Reading some of last year's posts
This time last year I was posting about how I couldn't wait for the end of the year so I could play poker Full time. My how a year changes everything, huh?
This year, I think it's safe to call it a "foundation" year. I'm not quite ready to make my look back at the year post, but this year was used really just to get everything back to basics and restart. I founded a career. My marriage has never been better. Of course it could always improve and it is by no means perfect. My wife is healthier. I'm healthier. (again, could still use a lot of improvement). Our finances are actually pretty good. We have a permanent roof over are heads as long as we need it. Again it's not ideal, but it's a start and it's all solid. There is evidence that the future brings nothing but goodness and lollipops. I'm flying thru the ranks at work and it has been a big boost in my life to have founded this job and have the support of my boss.
She actually sent me a text last nite, reminding me how great I am. to paraphrase:
I just want you to know how much I appreciate you. Everytime I work with incompetent people I am reminded how great you are. You do a great job.
If I wasn't mistaken she might just be in love with me. lol. She has been working a lot at other stores lately, since the new boss came in. It just feels really good to be appreciated and told how great a job you're doing. It really makes going to work not so bad. Anyways, so I'm gonna dig some more in last year's posts and in a few weeks make my end of the year/next year post.
Stay tuned.
This year, I think it's safe to call it a "foundation" year. I'm not quite ready to make my look back at the year post, but this year was used really just to get everything back to basics and restart. I founded a career. My marriage has never been better. Of course it could always improve and it is by no means perfect. My wife is healthier. I'm healthier. (again, could still use a lot of improvement). Our finances are actually pretty good. We have a permanent roof over are heads as long as we need it. Again it's not ideal, but it's a start and it's all solid. There is evidence that the future brings nothing but goodness and lollipops. I'm flying thru the ranks at work and it has been a big boost in my life to have founded this job and have the support of my boss.
She actually sent me a text last nite, reminding me how great I am. to paraphrase:
I just want you to know how much I appreciate you. Everytime I work with incompetent people I am reminded how great you are. You do a great job.
If I wasn't mistaken she might just be in love with me. lol. She has been working a lot at other stores lately, since the new boss came in. It just feels really good to be appreciated and told how great a job you're doing. It really makes going to work not so bad. Anyways, so I'm gonna dig some more in last year's posts and in a few weeks make my end of the year/next year post.
Stay tuned.
Monday, December 1, 2008
2 days later and already some answers
So maybe it's not gonna take a few weeks...
Got my car back on friday night. Before work on saturday I stopped by to get some breakfast and guess what, car wouldn't start. Basically when the car is cold it starts and runs, but when it's warmed up then it wont start. Luckily, my wife had planted a seed letting her family know we might be calling upon an emergency vehicle, a few weeks ago, and so we were able to borrow someone's extra car for the weekend. My car is now back in the shop. YAY.
In fantasy football it looks as though I'm going to make the playoffs in the 2 leagues that have a playoff system. This gives me a great shot at winning in the overall standings now. My teams have been struggling as of late though and if i hope to make it deep into the playoffs I will have to do some waiver wire digging, i think.
My boss did not grade my test papers for my raise.. go figure right?
that job my wife was going to get was temporarily given to someone else, who has til friday to prove that she has experience in daycare, and has schooling. Apparently this lady stepped in and said she had a bunch of exp but then didn't know what she was doing. Let's hope she's FOS. The owner apparently doesn't like the lady, but I guess it's due to my wife not giving an answer right away. IDK. This could very easily fall through and that would be a dissapointment, at least for me.
We had our first major snowfall last nite. The grass is all covered in snow. It's still not cold enough to stick to the streets, so that's good for traveling. Snow is so awesome. Even if it does freeze ur nuts off.
Domino's online, which is an intranet for domino's managers, has a couple of blogs going and they started a new one, that would allow others to submit posts to. I was considering maybe trying to submit a few ideas. I figure it's a decent way to get noticed. Each year they hand out awards to managers and such for the whole country and I like to think that one of those will be in my future. I'm not planning on just being a plain run of the mill manager, especially if I make more money by working harder. From what I understand your income can jump quite a bit if you excel.
I had an idea last nite for a menu option. The current store I work at has a bunch of businesses around it and I feel like they don't take advantage of that. So, I was thinking what would be a great product or how could we change our products to make it more "lunch" friendly? We do sandwiches now, which seem to be a hit, but it just seems like maybe business people want more or at least more options. So I thought of a platter type deal. Basically you would pick your main course, half a sandwich or 2 slices of pizza. You would then get a choice of bread sticks, so it'd be like half an order or breadsticks/cheezybread/cinnastix, and then if you wanted the bigger platter you could then choose between 4 wings or 4 chicken kickers, and finally you would get your choice of drink. The first one we could offer for 5.50, the 2nd for 6.50 or 7$. Now things like the half sandwich are gonna cost more for us to make then teh 2 pieces of pizza. So we could also offer "add an item for an extra 1.50". So, basically people would get a main course, a side dish, a bread dish and a drink for 6.50/7$. That's a pretty decent deal I think. current menu price would be like
half sandwich = 2.50
2 pieces of pizza (1/4 of a pizza)= 1.25
4 wings or kickers = 2.80
20 oz soda = 1.40
4 breadsticks = 1.50
so at regular menu price, the sandwich combo would be 8.20, with the wings/kickers. The pizza combo with wings/kickers would be 6.95, so we would take a little hit with the sandwich one. But, if it went over well we would be bringing in business that we otherwise wouldn't have. We could only offer it for lunch and it would be pretty convenient since we would deliver it to your cubicle or office. we could get those plastic plates that have the seperators built into them and then a plastic clear top. or even some type of carrying bag, whatever. Also, the great part would be that we are offering only current menu choices and wouldn't have to add anything new our menu to do it. Now obviously the bad part would be the waste of pizza. If we make a whole pizza and only get 1 order for 2 slices, well then we just wasted most of a pizza for 2 slices. But, pizza doesn't cost us that much to make and I think honestly the 1.25 we would be getting covers teh whole cost of the pizza anyways. a medium dough pattie runs about 35 cents, and the 1 topping/cheese/sauce is prolly a nickel. So, we would still make .80 cents on it. ALl the other stuff we could prep that way so we wouldn't have to waste any product.
Anyways, I think it would work.. it would make us a little busier during the day and we would have to make some changes in the computer to be able to handle the ordering of each platter, but I like it. I got the idea from thinking about what I used to order at jobs where I had a lunch and we would eat there. I would order chinese (platters), chicken appeal (platter), Imo's lunch special (small pizza/small salad/small drink for 5.99 or a platter) maybe go across the street to hardees and get a combo meal. It was never just order a pizza or a sandwich. Main, sides, drink. That's the lunch platform I think.
Got my car back on friday night. Before work on saturday I stopped by to get some breakfast and guess what, car wouldn't start. Basically when the car is cold it starts and runs, but when it's warmed up then it wont start. Luckily, my wife had planted a seed letting her family know we might be calling upon an emergency vehicle, a few weeks ago, and so we were able to borrow someone's extra car for the weekend. My car is now back in the shop. YAY.
In fantasy football it looks as though I'm going to make the playoffs in the 2 leagues that have a playoff system. This gives me a great shot at winning in the overall standings now. My teams have been struggling as of late though and if i hope to make it deep into the playoffs I will have to do some waiver wire digging, i think.
My boss did not grade my test papers for my raise.. go figure right?
that job my wife was going to get was temporarily given to someone else, who has til friday to prove that she has experience in daycare, and has schooling. Apparently this lady stepped in and said she had a bunch of exp but then didn't know what she was doing. Let's hope she's FOS. The owner apparently doesn't like the lady, but I guess it's due to my wife not giving an answer right away. IDK. This could very easily fall through and that would be a dissapointment, at least for me.
We had our first major snowfall last nite. The grass is all covered in snow. It's still not cold enough to stick to the streets, so that's good for traveling. Snow is so awesome. Even if it does freeze ur nuts off.
Domino's online, which is an intranet for domino's managers, has a couple of blogs going and they started a new one, that would allow others to submit posts to. I was considering maybe trying to submit a few ideas. I figure it's a decent way to get noticed. Each year they hand out awards to managers and such for the whole country and I like to think that one of those will be in my future. I'm not planning on just being a plain run of the mill manager, especially if I make more money by working harder. From what I understand your income can jump quite a bit if you excel.
I had an idea last nite for a menu option. The current store I work at has a bunch of businesses around it and I feel like they don't take advantage of that. So, I was thinking what would be a great product or how could we change our products to make it more "lunch" friendly? We do sandwiches now, which seem to be a hit, but it just seems like maybe business people want more or at least more options. So I thought of a platter type deal. Basically you would pick your main course, half a sandwich or 2 slices of pizza. You would then get a choice of bread sticks, so it'd be like half an order or breadsticks/cheezybread/cinnastix, and then if you wanted the bigger platter you could then choose between 4 wings or 4 chicken kickers, and finally you would get your choice of drink. The first one we could offer for 5.50, the 2nd for 6.50 or 7$. Now things like the half sandwich are gonna cost more for us to make then teh 2 pieces of pizza. So we could also offer "add an item for an extra 1.50". So, basically people would get a main course, a side dish, a bread dish and a drink for 6.50/7$. That's a pretty decent deal I think. current menu price would be like
half sandwich = 2.50
2 pieces of pizza (1/4 of a pizza)= 1.25
4 wings or kickers = 2.80
20 oz soda = 1.40
4 breadsticks = 1.50
so at regular menu price, the sandwich combo would be 8.20, with the wings/kickers. The pizza combo with wings/kickers would be 6.95, so we would take a little hit with the sandwich one. But, if it went over well we would be bringing in business that we otherwise wouldn't have. We could only offer it for lunch and it would be pretty convenient since we would deliver it to your cubicle or office. we could get those plastic plates that have the seperators built into them and then a plastic clear top. or even some type of carrying bag, whatever. Also, the great part would be that we are offering only current menu choices and wouldn't have to add anything new our menu to do it. Now obviously the bad part would be the waste of pizza. If we make a whole pizza and only get 1 order for 2 slices, well then we just wasted most of a pizza for 2 slices. But, pizza doesn't cost us that much to make and I think honestly the 1.25 we would be getting covers teh whole cost of the pizza anyways. a medium dough pattie runs about 35 cents, and the 1 topping/cheese/sauce is prolly a nickel. So, we would still make .80 cents on it. ALl the other stuff we could prep that way so we wouldn't have to waste any product.
Anyways, I think it would work.. it would make us a little busier during the day and we would have to make some changes in the computer to be able to handle the ordering of each platter, but I like it. I got the idea from thinking about what I used to order at jobs where I had a lunch and we would eat there. I would order chinese (platters), chicken appeal (platter), Imo's lunch special (small pizza/small salad/small drink for 5.99 or a platter) maybe go across the street to hardees and get a combo meal. It was never just order a pizza or a sandwich. Main, sides, drink. That's the lunch platform I think.
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