squoogy.com

It’s become an annual tradition:

You are now 31 years old. That’s:

11,315 days

271,564 hours (as of 3:11PM UTC)

16,293,840 minutes
977,630,400 seconds

977,630,400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 yactoseconds

Interesting Fact o’ the Day:

• 1874 - Grand County, Colorado is created when it is carved out of Summit County

Also sharing your birthday:

• 1895 - George Halas, American football player, coach, and league founder (he owned and coached the Chicago Bears. His daughter, Virginia, is the majority stakeholder in the team).
• 1897 - Howard Johnson, American hotelier (HO-JO!)
• 1942 - Graham Nash, American (British-born) rock musician (of Crosby, Stills, and Nash)
• 1949 - Brent Spiner, American actor

Happy Birthday! I LOVE YOU!

| Posted by: Jim T. | Link to this post |

Just as I pulled up to the house today, I noticed the odometer had just hit 19,999. It seems like I just picked Pepe up a couple of months ago, not a couple of years ago. I’ve been thinking all night about how much my life has changed in the last 745 days:

1. I saved the world from the horror known as ‘Creed’.

2. I turned 30 years old.

3. My baby got accepted to Grad School.

4. We moved to Colorado.

5. I was hired and subsequently laid off by a local property management company, which led me to find a GREAT job.

6 There is no 6.

7. My honeysweetiepielovemuffin turned 30.

8. I forgot what 8 was for.

9. I got married to a woman I both love and adore. And taunt. Next to the birth of my future children, and when I finally get the animatronic-coin-operated-Kimberly-poking-you-in-the-eye complete, this will be the happiest day of my life.

10. We added a fourth cat to the mix. I don’t know what it is about her, but Chloe just wrecks me, she is so cute.

11. I celebrated my one year wedding anniversary.

12. I watched my wife present her Master’s Project.

13. I watched as my lovely wife graduated from Grad School. And cried.

14. I drove my baby to the airport so that she could visit Paris and Switzerland with hermoM. (It’s where the history comes from!)

What an interesting 2 years. I love my life. I love my wife. I love LIFE.

| Posted by: Jim T. | Link to this post |

I found this article about Laker’s coach Phil Jackson to be pretty fascinating. I think the author goes a bit too much into rant mode, but he does make some valid points.

Those of you who actually know me would find it laughable that anyone would try to define me based on some of the rather extreme music I listen to at times, but it happens, which is why this article struck a chord with me. Worth a read, at any rate.

| Posted by: Mark the Bowler | Link to this post |

I’ve seen Bluehippo before, but have never had the misfortune of running across PCDirectBiz.com before.

Basically, PCDirectBiz.com provides financing for computer purchases for people with poor credit. I checked out their website, and found the following:

They have a Dell Dimension 3000 computer available, which they list at a retail price of $799. I configured the Dimension 3000 with the same specs as Dell’s website (with the exception of the RAM… Dell would not let me alter the basic configuration, which has 512MB as opposed to the 256MB listed on PCDirectBiz.com) and the price of the computer from Dell came to a grand total of $528, plus shipping. (although PCdirectBiz.com offers $800 worth of free software, a free printer, and a free digital camera).

So they’re already overpriced to begin with, and then factor in the payments… $99 down, plus $15.00 per week for 36 months. That’s a grand total of $2439. I figured it out, and unless my math is wrong, that’s about a 90% interest rate. You would end up paying over $1500 in interest alone, which is about twice the price of the computer itself.

I find it amazing that companies are allowed to exploit the poor like this. I think that this would be the textbook definition of gouging.

These kind of people suck, and there’s a special place in Hell waiting just for them.

| Posted by: Jim T. | Link to this post |

Here’s a thought in our insular world of blogs and cell phones and broadband internet: Nearly 70% of the world’s population has never made a phone call.

| Posted by: Kimberly | Link to this post |