New Years Resolutions 2009

So I suppose its time for the obligatory New Years Resolutions Post. Here it goes... Blogging etc... This year I am going to try Blog more often and make better use of the technology available to me to organize things. I am going to try integrating google calendar and other services into my everyday life. I suppose in general I could use some organization this year. Money Last year we did pretty well financially. We met the majority of our goals including drastically reducing our debt obligations and increasing our savings. This year I would like to increase our investment contributions. I would like to contribute a minimum of $2000.00 to each of Roth IRA accounts this year and increase our general account by two to three thousand. I would like to finish paying off my car this year. It appears we may soon be in the market for another vehicle. I would like to have money to put down and a short term loan for any additional needed financing. As we have no real outstanding credit card debt I would like to continue that into 2009. Although we did well this year in all honesty we could have done better. Looking back I realize there are times we spent money rather frivolously. I would like to cut back on eating out and possibly reign in some of the expenses that seem to nickle and dime us to death. Business 2008 was an intersting year for AMI. Early in the year I almost dissolved it, however this year will be the most profitable yet. The problem is I really haven't put enough effort into it, 2 years into it and I have yet to give out a business card or make a company website. I've squandered a lot of opportunities this past year. This year I will get the company finances in order and get the company on track or I will dissolve it once and for all. Work I am rather pleased with 2008 as far as work has gone. In previous years I spent too much time working or at work. Last year however my work hours trailed off into the realm of normal. Though I fear I may have grown too fond of the somewhat lackadasical pace, it has taught me a lesson about slowing down that I hope I take with me into the next year. Friends I have been distant from friends and somewhat of a homebody last year. I still need to work on keeping friendships open. Overall I need to improve my communication in this area. Family I didn't see as much of my family as I should have in 2008. Although I lament this fact, I know that I have only myself to blame. Time once passed can never be reclaimed. This year I need to try and see my relatives more often. Marriage We have had our ups and downs but overall I thought 2008 was pretty good. I think perhaps a goal for 2009 will be to spend more quality time together doing things (activities). Additionally we are talking about planning for a family this year! In general I've learned or realized a few things in 2008 that I can hopefully apply to 2009. In general I think I need to watch my sarcasm in regard to its frequency and my audience. I am going to try and watch my cussing this year and try keep my attitude more outwardly positive. I am going to try and be quieter in general this year. Right or wrong, good or bad, not everyone cares what I have to say. Thats just the way of it. I need to resist the urge to interject my opinion regardless of whether its needed or not. To the same end I'm going to try and my words count more when I do speak. I was still pretty passive aggressive in 2008 but this trend started to give towards the end of the year. I would like to be more direct instead of taking the passive aggressive approach. If I'm not willing to do something about an issue then I need to just be quiet about it until I am. Anything else is either whiny or just trying to acheive the result without addressing the problem. Basically if it real bothers me then say something, otherwise Shut Up! I need to do more things myself and by extension take more responsiblity for things. If I need something I should get it. If I don't know something I should learn it. I will try to stop filling my own voids by assigning to other people. In the end if I want it, its ultimately my responsibility.

Papa Murphys

A few days ago we had my wife's sister, her husband, and daughter over to play some games and check out the Nintendo Wii. They brought with them a pizza from Papa Murphys. I like pizza in general and I'm not very picky as far as toppings. I generally dislike only single topping pizzas but thats about it. They brought with them on this occasion however a single topping pepperoni. At first I wasn't sure that it would be enough so I went ahead and fixed frozen pizza we had as well. The Papa Murphys pizza was fantastic! I was really impressed and this was only a single topping pizza. So today we decided to get pizza again and this time we decided to try Papa Murphy's ourselves. We got a large half supreme half pepperoni and black olives. The pizza was again fantastic, just the way I would make one myself and there is plenty left over. So if I you haven't tried it I definitely recommend it. Just a note they don't cook the pizzas, they are take and bake.

Asus Our story begins

Well I went to the website a few days ago and submitted a support ticket. In it I outlined my 3 key issues. Yesterday I received the following email with my ticket attached at the bottom. Dear valued customers, you could the send in the machine to have it serviced for inspection, you could contact our service department for more information. Sincerely, Edward PerezNotebook Technical SupportASUS ACI. I have to be honest the grammar and punctuation didn't give me a warm and fuzzy and kind of played into some of my fears, but I decided to look past that and call the number. A positive attitude is said to bring positive results. Today I called the number and outlined the same issues. I have to say the gentleman I spoke to was very polite and agreed that I would need to send the machine in. He gave me service number and followed up with two emails regarding shipping information. The conversation helped to renew my confidence and I am generally feeling better about the situation. Tomorrow is a holiday so I believe the earliest I will be able to ship the laptop will be January 2nd. I'll keep you posted.

Asus The Saga Begins

Around May of 2008 I purchased 2 Asus M50Sa laptops. One for me, and one for my wife. Overall they are nice machines, and we chose them because the hardware was "beefy" enough to meet the demands of both our work and play. Aside from some minor problems they weren't too bad. However shortly after receiving them my laptop screen began to squeak. I don't mean your little random *squeak squeak*, its more of "plasticy" creaking sound that is triggered by even the slightest movement. Aside from being extremely annoying its made using the microphone very difficult as it attached to the LCD and each creak gets picked up. The other issue I have had has been with what I believe is overheating. The laptop simply freezes randomly or even worse it will often times just suddenly completely power off. At first I thought it was software or games that were causing the issue but as time went on it would often happen after a fresh restart and with only an IE window open. I have noticed that efforts to lower the temperature often lead to extended time between these incidents but they still happen much too frequently. Overall I'm really kind of bummed. I really wanted this computer to work out. However both machines came with with a 2 year warranty as well as 1 year accident warranty. In a perfect world all I should have to do is submit a ticket or call the number, send the machine in and everything will be fixed and sent back, and that's still a possibility. To be fair I have no idea how this process will go, but I'm going to try and keep a positive outlook and hope for the best. Additionally I'm going to track everything I do concerning the matter on my blog. Hopefully everything will go really well and I will have a shining example of what great customer service they provide and walk away with an overall "warm and fuzzy" about my buying decision. Hopefully! -stay tuned-

Can't Sleep, Clown will eat me!

At least that's what it feels like. I've been up all night so far and I am now well into the next morning. I'm not sure why I couldn't sleep, perhaps its just general anxieties getting the best of me... or maybe I'm having a traumatic psychotic episode that will cause me to break with reality and go on a rampage pumping round after round into people and animals alike!!! Nah, probably just anxiety, probably!

ITunes App Store

I love the possibilities that are available with Apples new introduction of Apps for the IPhone and Ipod Touch. I am however constantly dissappointed in how people choose to explore those possibilities. For example: Of the Top Paid Apps (Apps that cost money to buy) all of them are under either the Games or Entertainment category. What is the current Top Paid App you ask? IFart Mobile - Fart Machine. Sad, is the only word that comes to mind. Sad that people actually pay for an application to make fart noises. Sad that its the most popular app. Sad that apparently from the review its not very good but people keep buying. Sad that there are in depth commentaries and advice on how to improve such things as juicieness. I love humor and novelty so don't me some random prude. I'm just dissappointed that this is the form of choice for expressing human creativity. Unlimited potential for the development of better sounding farts... :(

Props to Apple

So as I said in a previous post, my wife got me an Ipod Touch for x-mas. While visiting relatives for x-mas dinner I was enlightened to a few more of its growing capabilities. I was particularly impressed with its ability to make voip calls. Not the choppy computer to computer chat of the 90's but real phone calls. To enable this and some other features I wanted to get a few things from the Apple store. So the day after x-mas, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, that's exactly what we did. The mall the store was located in was packed as was the Apple store itself. There were literally people everywhere. Even with all the people and commotion I was able to enter the store and find exactly what I want and even ask questions very easily. What really impressed was when I went to pay for my items. I was approached by an associate who asked if I was wanting to check out and if I was paying by credit. The answer being affirmative to both items he offered to ring me up right there in the middle of the store! He then pulled a small Point of Sale device from his belt, scanned my items, swiped my card, and asked if I wanted my receipt emailed to me. That was it, all done. The experience as a whole goes against what we believe are the established guidelines, it should feel wrong but it doesn't. You start to wonder why you've ever accepted anything less. In any case Kudos to Apple, I have to give credit where credit is due. Apple catches my eye with increasing frequency. I am however a Microsoft .Net Developer by trade so I suppose there are limits to how far the trends can mesh.

Christmas 2008

So, another x-mas come and gone. The trend seems to be a traditional "lewt" listing so I'll follow the herd... somewhat.

Ipod Touch

My wife got me this, and let me just say it was completely unexpected. Oh I had yammered on about one some months ago, but I didn't really think I would get one as it was a little outside our preset x-mas budget this year. I guess the receipt for it had been right under my nose for day but I just never noticed. The gift is awesome and the surprise was fantastic.

Fleece Blanket

Quesdilla Make

Clothes, etc

My mother got us this really neat, very soft, king sized fleece blanket for our bed. When you first see it its all folded up and held together with a strap, and from the look it wouldn't appear to cover a king sized bed. When I unfolded it however it was voluminous. Rather slyly my mother had also tucked some money into the blanket which rained down as I opened it.

At first glance you might not think a Quesdilla Maker is anything that spiffy, but I think it really neat. It so happens I am a big fan of Quesdillas and I am really hoping I will be able to use this to replicate some of the restaurant items I like.

Clothes are somewhat a dangerous item to buy for me as of late. My weight has fluctuated greatly over the year. Even after it reached equilibrium I seemed to slowly loose inches. To give you an idea I have gone from XL shirts to small and my waist has gone from 38 to 28. In any case the clothes seem to fit and they are my style so I was very happy.

Cordless Drill

Tools

My father and stepmother got us a DeWalt Cordless Drill and an assortment of tools. My last cordless drill somehow got a bit stuck in the end of it, and in an attempt to remove it Dad kind of disassembled it into the great beyond. I think he felt kind of bad, though it wasn't a big deal. The drill and tools will be great as I am working on a few projects here at home including finishing my basement.

Picture

Money

My wife's parents got us a set of pictures of them in a very nice frame and some money. The picture is really nice as we do not currently have one hanging of them.

Crucifix

My brother in law got us a very nice wooden crucifix from Israel.

Looking back it seems like a lot of money was spent on us this year. Sometimes I feel a little bad however as I know I didn't spend as much on everyone else. Its not that I'm stingy or anything, we just really didn't have it to spend. Were not destitute or anything we just know our limits.

Test

This is a test.

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Food Journal - Day 1

12/01/2008 Breakfast:

• 2 pieces Cinnamon Raisin Bread with low fat butter and cinnamon sugar
• 1 glass Orange Juice
• 1 Really Really Big Sugar Free Red Bull
• 1 Milkyway midnight (sorry)
• 1/4 can diet coke

I intended to just have the cinnamon raisin bread and orange juice but I was so dead to the world that after dropping my wife off I stopped by the gas station to get something else.

Lunch:

• Half of a diet coke
• Spicy Chicken sandwich and some fries

Dinner:

• 8 Chicken McNuggets or Nicken ChickMuggets as I call them... don't ask
• Some fries

I'm definitely off to a healthy start... NOT.