“All I want for Christmas…”

I’m six and a half months old and all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. Yesterday I touched and discovered mommy’s teeth and now I want my own. I thought about it sooo much that I think it’s happening. This morning mommy and daddy got excited and kept trying to stick a finger in my mouth to touch my gums. I didn’t like that and kept pushing it out. Anyway I do, I do, I do have one or two lower front teeth coming in for Christmas.

Here’s a picture of me practicing poses for the Christmas family photo.

Great Headphones

Here’s a useful tidbit that I haven’t published yet. A couple years ago I was working on the sound board for our church and the headphones at the board were crap. So, I went shopping and bought a few pair locally (Wal-Mart & ABC Warehouse) and none of those were very good either. So, I hopped online and did a bunch of research. The result of that research was the Sony MDR-V600.

After buying a pair for the church, I found I liked them so much I bought myself a pair and have never given them much thought since. I believe that to be the hallmark of great headphones. Turn on the music, drop them on your head, and enjoy the music so much you forget the headphones are on. Until today, I took them completely for granted. Ricardo, my father-in-law is here visiting Kayla and we just got back from a concert performed by the Vocal Majority. He bought a few of their CDs and after the rest of us tired of hearing them, we suggested earphones.

I grabbed mine, dropped them on his head and plugged him in. While the rest of us enjoyed the silence, he was transported back to his days of singing in men’s choirs. Before long, he went and pulled out his $150 Bose headphones and plugged them in. My headphones sounded considerably cleaner. He had me compare the two and I agreed, mine certainly sounded much better. This isn’t the first time this has happened, my main man, Michael also bought the same headphones after listening to mine. So, if you’re in the market, spend $70 at Amazon.com and you’ll have a set of headphones that are truly wonderful.

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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the big 5

Today I’m 5 months. Mommy said so. What is a month? I can’t talk yet but I can type and daddy loves it when I “help” him type. Today is my birthday and my parents didn’t get me a thing. I think a few 5:00AM wake-ups may help them remember who runs this show.

Grandpa Ruby did remember my special day and sent me Halibut. You can click on the photo below to see larger photos of me enjoying the Halibut.

Grandpa, you sure know how to treat a lady! I’d write more but I’m about to be carried off to bed.
Love, Kayla.