Month: November 2005

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we drove down to Melissa and Ruben’s home in Houston. Also at the Colunga’s was Mary and Grandma Whaley and we had a great time with them. As you would expect on Thanksgiving, the food was plentiful and tasty and there was far more than could be eaten. You can click the photo below to see a photo album from the trip.


As we left Dallas, Jen drove while I used DallasGasPrices.com to find the cheapest price on diesel fuel along our route. We filled the Jetta and drove to Houston, and then to Galveston (Moody Gardens), and all the way back, filling up at the same station. The trip meter read 610 miles and we could have gone another 60 miles or so. It’s hard not to love the Jetta’s frugality.

Them Germans

Background: Jen and I enjoy cooking. When we met, we both had a full kitchen. We even had his and her Kitchenaid mixers. When we consolidated, my sister Martha was quite pleased to receive our extra for Christmas. We kept mine because it was the heavy duty beast, which I use on occasion to make bread.

I was quite fond of my Kitchenaid and it got a lot of use. However, it has come to my attention that they simply do not hold up to prolonged heavy use. I have mine repaired once and it is in need of repair again (same problem). Since they aren’t cheap to repair or replace, I did a bit of research. What I found was that lots of people that use their Kitchenaid for making bread have the same problem. So what’s a guy to do?

After some research, I discovered the Bosch Universal Kitchen Machine. Unlike the Kitchenaid which can be used to make bread, this baby is designed for it. Surprisingly, it’s actually cheaper (retail) than the Kitchenaid. I found quite a number of very positive reviews from people using them for bread making and then found the biggest problem with them, they’re hard to find! Guess what I got for my birthday?

So far I’ve made 5 batches of bread and I’m quite pleased. Like my Jetta, it seems to be a very well engineered German machine. I expect time to prove it’s durability. Tonight I did something my Kitchenaid can only dream of. I mixed four loaves of whole wheat bread at once. The ‘ol Kitchenaid creaked and groaned when mixing just two. Kitchenaid, this is eBay, eBay, Kitchenaid.

And what post would be complete without a Kayla photo?



iPod + Auto = bliss?

For the past few years Jen and I have been quite fond of using our iPods in the car, particularly on long trips. We pick a book from my Audible.com library and play it through the car stereo via a cheap cassette adapter. It really makes a long trip seem to fly by. After several years of iPod use in the car, I have realized there are three fundamental issues to be addressed: signal, power, and control.

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Financial Freedom

Every so often you run into something that you’d like to share with those you care about. I read an article on personal finance that does a great job of summarizing a lot of collective wisdom on the topic. I highly recommend reading it, as everyone I know that practices such wisdom has achieved, or is on the path to achieving financial independence.

Just for fun, I’d like to present two scenarios, the first is of Average American. Average’s family income is about $60,000, the 2003 average (IRS) for married filing jointly. Each month the Average family pays $300 each on two car payments and $900 for their home. They have 2.3 kids and after living expenses, they have just enough left to make the minimum payment on their $2,000 of consumer (credit card) debt. They seem to be doing well.
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