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Keeping up with some of the ideas I have can be a bit of a procedure. While talking to my friends we will come up with these things that we want to do and then someone will be like oh yeah, and then it could be like this.

But that’s really just how it is when people get together and start discussing the things they would like to do. Essentially, a few of us have been talking about going somewhere.

It’s about picking the destination.

So we are thinking about going to visit some historic locations in a city near us. I mean, that’s something that sounds fun. The other idea we had was to go to Denver and check out some of the hills there. I’m talking about skiing. This guy I know said that he went to Breckenridge and it was incredible so he wants to bring us with him. So that’s something that we have been detailing. There is a Denver to Breckenridge transportation company he was talking about that I guess can take us there. So then if we have everything that we need I think that it would be ready to go. I have wanted to go skiing and this sounds like it might be what I am looking for so of course I need to learn more about it but seriously I think that is supposed to have some of the wildest courses of anywhere so it seems like a great place to go. And while I am thinking about it I should get some of the things I might need, because I want to be ready to do additional things that they have there. Mostly though I just want to be out there and seeing what it’s like because everything I have read suggests that it should be something I like. And that is why that is the thing that I am going to be selecting if I get t pick. No way though am I going to let this become one of those things that you think about doing and then decide nt to for whatever reason, so my friends and I are going to have this trip and it’s going to be awesome. I’m saying. Right for me I believe this trip is. It’s basically what I have been wanting to do and it will be a good place for me to do some skiing where I want.

This blog is pretty decent for writing down my ideas and as you can tell, I have shared much.  WHen my wife decided that she wanted to start something she asked if she could post something here and I said sure, probably because I knew she would want to, but this is what she liked:

My husband Mark’s 40th birthday is this year in June and I have something special planned for it. I am taking him to Ireland for a full week and I know he is going to be really excited about it. I almost broke down and told him this past weekend but I want to iron out all the details first. Right now I only have our flight booked. I’m not worried about him getting the time off with his job because he always takes off for his birthday and has plenty of vacation time to use. He’s been with his company for over 10 years and is pretty much maxed out with his vacation time. I think he gets 4 weeks plus a couple personal days but I could be wrong.

The other main thing I need to book is the hotel of course. There’s a lot of them to choose from so it is a bit overwhelming. I should also say he has some distant relatives that live over there and we’re most definitely going to be seeing them too. I’ll have to let him take care of those details after I tell him. One thing I want to do while we’re there is go venturing some. Ireland horseback riding is supposed to be fun and being a horse lover and all I want to experience that. I need to look up more information on tours and availability for those. Mark isn’t much of an equine fan but he will go with me as it will be the one thing I want to do while I’m there.

This will be the first time we have traveled outside the country in a long time. For our 5 year wedding anniversary we took a cruise to the Bahamas and that was 13 years ago. It sure doesn’t seem that long ago but as the old saying goes time flies when you are having fun I guess. I am sort of not looking forward to being in an airplane for that long but I will hopefully sleep a good part of the trip. Mark on the other hand can’t sleep anywhere but in a bed and in a dark room.  I always feel bad for him in that regard but maybe he can get a sleeping aid from our Doctor or something.

It should be a fun time and I hope he is taking notes for when I turn the big 4-0 in 2 years.

Thinking about how much I watch TV it’s kind of silly that I still use the same company that I Have always used because I don’t really agree with a lot of what they do. You probably know who they are, it’s the same business that everyone uses. I have been looking for alternatives and aside from some of the options like the thing some people do where they just buy all the shows they watch, there really haven’t been numerous. SO I was looking at ATT Uverse and I think it might be something else I can do. I was going to see if there were any prices I could get, too, since I know they might be doing something. But really the only thing I have been trying to do is locate coupon code att that might apply. So if this works and there aren’t any problems that would be awesome assuming they are giving me the same things I get that I want. I need to be able to get access to everything that I want especially considering that there are a substantial numbers of shows that I watch. Looking at these options it may be something that is doable but I’ll have to learn more about it first. The options for television and stuff are so strange that I don’t really like reading about it. It’s just like there are only a few and you can’t really do much because you are basically given a few selection and you have to go with one of them. No thanks.

So that is why I am glad that there are other management style that are providing some other subscription setups for viewers. Having those available makes it better for people who aren’t happy wit h what they are using, but of course you are still stuck to what is available. But it’s just the thing that you might not like something and want to get away from it and then when you see that there are more choices it becomes something that makes you like what you can do.

There are a few shows I mentioned already that I watch but really I like to go through and see what is on because I never know what I want to view and by doing that I am able to find something that might work. It’s not really that I sit there and watch them all but I like having the TV on when I am doing other stuff and then you might actually start watching a series that way. That is how I found a few of the things I watch and it’s definitely something that I was thinking about when I was deciding which channels to manage. Mostly though I just want something other than what is currently provided.

I am thinking about getting a hotel gift card for my brother because he likes to travel and he is always going all over the place and sending me pictures on my phone that he has taken of the different places he’s been.  I think that I would like to do that, too, but I am busy with other stuff and can’t travel that much now.  So anyway, I was going to get him a gift card from a place like this and see if that would be helpful to him.  I know that he spends a lot of time trying to plan out where to go on his trips and I think that a gift certificate like that would make his planning a bit easier because he wouldn’t have to worry about the hotel.  Of course, I will expect some cool stories from his trip or a t-shirt or something if I do that!  I’m actually just kidding, he doesn’t have to get me anything.  For real, though, he has been to a lot of places, although he mostly goes to places up north because he seems to like it up there and I have no idea why because that’ snot where I would want to go necessarily but I’m not going to tell him where he can and can’t go.  Now, the other thing that my brother does is he will always visit the different museums wherever he goes and he will also try to talk to locals just to see what they are like.  I think he’s trying to find out where the friendliest people are or something.  Now I can agree with some of that because I enjoy meeting people from other places, too, but I don’t know if you can necessarily do that when you are traveling like that.

My brother seems to be able to do everything he needs to do from a computer so he just has to make sure that the hotels he stays at have a business center so he can hop online and do all his stuff and then get back to traveling.  I think he is gone more than he is home!  Actually, I don’t know for sure but that’s just judging from his Facebook page where he’s always posting things about where is is or where he is going.  So I think that I’m going to get him that and see if that can help him out and if so then maybe I might want to get one for myself so that when I decide to go somewhere I will already have the gift card ready.  The only thing I would need to do is get a suitcase because somehow I have managed without a suitcase for all the things I have done and I really must not ever travel now that I think about it.

People are going to be looking for new cars soon.  I  know some people who only keep their cars for  a few years before getting another one.  I even have one friend who only keeps his car for one year before he sells it and buys a new one.  That seems insane to me because I don’t like to buy cars, but I guess since he’s really into it doing it like that works for that.  Now the thing that is strange to me though is why be has to buy them.  Doesn’t he know the saying that a new car loses 10% of its value the moment you drive it off the lot?

So I wonder how much money is is actually missing out on by selling them so soon.

But I don’t think he really cares about that because he gets so excited when he gets the new car that it’s like alright, let’s sell this other one.  Since I have known him he has gotten a new car every year.  He only has one parking spot so he has to sell the other one and he always comes home with his new car and then will want to go driving places so he can drive it.  That’s a cool thing to enjoy, and don’t get me wrong, I like cars, too, I just think it’s a bit bizarre to get a new one so often.  I asked him if he had considered looking for the best luxury car lease deals and just doing it that way rather than buying new one all the time that are just going to go down in value when he has to sell them.  At least if he were to lease one he would only be making small payments on it and then could give it back.  I guess he likes buying it, though, because he feels more comfortable doing it that way.  I don’t really know the terms of how he does everything, I just know that he’s going to get a new car and he’s going to be crazy about it and then he’ll do it again with another car.  But since he enjoys it, who am I to tell him he shouldn’t do it that way.  I actually enjoy seeing the cars he gets and since I live right next to him, I can park my car next to his.  My car isn’t as cool as his but I don’t care.  I park in the same spot.

My butcher friend was telling me that he hasn’t been sleeping much recently.  He said his wife keeps punching him during the night because apparently he snores.  I told him that he should sleep on the couch, or maybe make her sleep on the couch, but he said he’s trying to stay in his own bed.  I’m not sure what is going on but it seems like it wouldn’t be a very good sleep.  I mean it’s one thing if his wife is kept up by his snoring, but it seems that he can’t sleep, either, because she keeps waking him up!  I think that they’re going to have to figure out what to do so that both of them can get some uninterrupted recharging.  Seriously though, snoring can be kind of bad for you and according to this website there are a few different things you can can do that might help you stop.  That’s about as far as my knowledge goes since I don’t really know anything else about it.  The first thing I would try if I were him is sleeping on my side or basically trying another position since I usually sleep on my back and moving to my side would be a change.  Obviously all of this assumes that he sleeps on his back and moving to this side would be a change but I don’t know.  There are also different things you can get that claim to help you stop but who knows.

There is a new shop that I want to check out that just opened next to my favorite little cafe.  I’m not sure if I’m going to get to go there soon but I think that I’m going to try.  They sell all sorts of art things and that is something that I’ve been trying to get more into recently.  I’m not really much of a visual person but I enjoy drawing and I’m going to try and get better.  I don’t really know if that’s something you can learn or if it’s just a matter of practicing until you get better on your own, but I’m going to see if there is a way.  I also want to maybe take a class and see if they can teach me anything or at least get some instruction from someone who knows what is going on. I want to be able to draw realistically and the things that I draw usually don’t really look like what they are. Well, they do, but they aren’t really that detailed.  So that’s why I want to get some lessons.

I may be moving pretty soon.  Generally I don’t really like moving, but I will be moving now because I’m getting another job so that would be good.  I’ve been thinking about changing jobs for a while now, anyway.  It’s not that I don’t like my job, it’s just that a new opportunity came up and I’m trying to take it.

One thing I need is to find a place to live if I am going to take this new job.  I’ve been looking at Charleston real estate to see what is available in the event that I end up going there.  It’s not too far from where I live so I’m kind of familiar with the area but I still wanted to see what it’s like there.  I suppose I could stay where I’m at now and just have a longer drive to work each day, but that’s probably not going to be much fun.  I prefer to have a short commute, like under 15 minutes each way, because it’s easier that way and gives me more time to do what I want after work each day.  I do have some friends who live kind of far from where they work who work from home a few days a week.  That’s actually kind of cool sometimes as it means they don’t have to sit in traffic but do I really want to sit at home and work?  I don’t want to associate my home with working.  That doesn’t sound like fun.

So anyway, I’ve been looking at houses in the area and trying to decide where I want to think about living.  I have a few friends in the area, or who used to live there, so I’ve been asking them where their favorite areas are.  Of course, it takes a while to buy a house so I’ll end up living here for a while in the beginning anyway.  And this is all assuming I end up getting the job.  I haven’t finished the interview process yet and remember that interviews work both ways.  They are trying to see if they like you and vice versa, although I don’t know too many people who have said no to a job after the interview.  I guess it could happen.

Ok well I’m going to get back to looking at places online now and finding some I like. A friend of mine has given me some suggestions for areas to look and like I said I’m already kind of familiar with Charleston, anyway, so I have some idea of the areas I want to be looking in.

I missed one of my best friend’s bachelor parties last month because I had something for work that I just couldn’t get out of.  Fortunately my friend understood and was pretty cool about the whole thing.  After seeing pics and hearing about how it went, though, I’m super jealous.  They all went to California and did some partying and stuff like you would expect, but the main reason I’m jealous is because they went surfing!  Well, it would be more accurate to say they took a group surf lesson since I don’t think anyone there had ever been surfing before, but from the pics it looked really exciting.

I’ve always wanted to learn to surf.  But, you know, living in the middle of Texas it’s not like there are really man opportunities to do so.  There are plenty of rodeos and football games, but not much surfing.  In fact, after hearing about their experience in California, I started looking at various surf camps online to try and see if there was anything relatively close.  I figure now that all my friends have gone surfing, I might as well give it a try myself!

So the rest of the bachelor party was just spent doing the normal type of partying things.  A nice restaurant, some bars, etc.  Nothing crazy or anything.  It wasn’t like the movie the Hangover or anything (and if it was they would’ve told me!), which is a hilarious movie by the way.  Ed Helms’ character cracked me up.  I think he’s funny as Andy in The Office, too (although he hasn’t been on much this season), but I could related to his character a bit in the Hangover because he was with a woman that he didn’t really like and who didn’t really respect him, and throughout the movie he found the confidence to finally stand up to her and leave her.   Like he kept trying to be a good guy and treat her well but she didn’t appreciate him and basically just disrespected him all the time.  Poor guy.  But it had a happy ending, but I don’t want to give anymore spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.

They made a sequel but I haven’t seen it yet.  I’m kind of behind on my movie watching.  I’ll usually wait until they come on TV and then record them and watch them later.  Except sometimes I don’t watch them for a while and my recorder gets really full and I can’t record anything else.

So I’ve been busy today. I stayed at work until 6pm. Oh, let me clarify; that’s late for me. I usually leave at 5pm. So I was working on this new project all day that is kind of getting to be a pain in the butt because the scope of it keeps expanding and expanding . At first it was cool. Our boss was like “hey, we need you to do this thing” (I don’t really want to get into it here, so “thing” will have to suffice). So we do our research and stuff but our boss keep adding new stuff to it. It’s like, right when we think we have everything figured out, some new parameter gets added.

Ugh.

If they would just give us all the information we needed from the beginning we could be done by now. Instead, it’s like do this… oh, but you also have to keep this other thing in mind… oh, and this third thing… etc.

That’s actually like a metaphor for my job, except normally it’s on a smaller scale so it’s not that big of an issue.

Not the last week, though.

My time over the weekend was spent away from work, but I spent a few hours of it looking for an attorney in Sarasota because I got into a bit of trouble last weekend. But I don’t want to talk about that anymore. I will say, however, that I think the cost of getting an attorney to represent me will save me money in the long run. It’s still going to cost me, though. I guess I won’t have as many funds as usual for the next few months.

I did something I’ve never done before: I ate a mushroom, and it wasn’t totally gross. It seems like everyone loves mushrooms except for me. I don’t like the texture. I think they feel like rubber, and they taste like dirt. But I had some mushrooms with this chicken and pasta meal today and I could almost say I liked them. Maybe it was just because they were mixed in with everything that they didn’t taste so mushroomy. I don’t know. But I’d definitely try them again.

It’s really weird, too, because I loved mushrooms when I was a kid. I used to get them on pizza all the time. And then one day I just realized I didn’t like them. But maybe I’m starting to like them again, and that would be cool because I know they’re pretty healthy.

Have you ever noticed that there is a lot of pressure to be a certain way?  Look at commercials on TV; what do you see?  Beautiful people doing exciting stuff.  It’s designed to make you feel insecure.  Are you beautiful?  Better buy whatever product they’re selling to make yourself desirable.  Are you doing something exciting?  No?  Then you’re left out, because that’s what all these cool people are doing.

They say the best consumer is someone who is insecure with lots of money to spend.

It’s probably true.

I’m saying, have the courage to do what you want rather than what advertisers think you should do.

Most people get into a habit of highs followed by lows.  They start to feel insecure and then they think “If I buy a new car, I’ll be happy!”  So they buy a new car and they feel awesome, but that feeling only lasts for a few months, and suddenly they’re feeling insecure again.  They decide they need to buy something else.  New clothes.  New headphones.  A new TV.  They think stuff will make them happy.  After all, all the people in the ads have cool stuff, and they sure seem happy.

And that’s exactly what the advertisers want you to think, because it gets you to keep spending money.

Stuff can bring you joy, but only if you’re a happy person to begin with.  You need to switch your mind over to seeing consumerism for what it really is.  See if you can step outside the matrix, so to speak.  Do you see a bunch of people buying a bunch of stuff to try and find happiness?  They don’t really want the stuff; they’re looking for happiness.

People also buy things because they want to give off a certain appearance.  If your neighbor gets a new BMW and you’re driving a 10 year old Honda, would that bother you?  A lot of people would answer “yes” to that question.  Would buying a new car make them happy?  They think it would, but it wouldn’t after the initial excitement goes away.

What if the person with the 10 year old Honda was happy with their life, though?  Do you think they would care if their neighbor gets a new BMW?  Of course not.  In fact, they’d probably even prefer not to spend the money.

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy a new car if you want a new car, it just means you shouldn’t buy a new car (or anything) thinking it will make you happy.

Do you want to exercise and get in shape?  Go to the gym.  Go because you like the way it makes you feel, not because you feel like you’re “not good enough” if you don’t.

Do you want to lose weight?  Diet and exercise and try green coffee bean extract if you want.  Do it because you want to be healthier, not because you think you have to.

Do you want a new car?  Buy a car that you can afford that you like.  Don’t buy it to impress your neighbors or feel good about yourself.

Disconnect yourself from the consumerism mindset and try to find what makes you happy in other ways instead.