Tag: money

New Lower Priced Kindle

On By Michel McDonaldIn eBook, Kindle, TechLeave a comment

There is now a lower priced Amazon Kindle at $299.  Now that’s what I’m talking about.  Although it has a 6″ screen, 2 GB HD (1.4 available for user content) and you can see what else it has…

Kindle: Amazon’s 6″ Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)

It’s not as big as the latest Kindle and it doesn’t have an SD slot, it’s not in color and it isn’t touchscreen.  But the good news is that it’s coming down in price.  Maybe they are seeing that people just aren’t buying the Kindle because of the gigantic cost.  I mean, $300 is still a lot of money but not compared to $489 for the Kindle DX.

If I bought a Kindle for $299 then I bet you anything in about a year they will have a better one for $199 then a year later a better one for $99.  Well, I don’t know if they will drop that dramatically but I think I’m going to wait for them to come down a bit more before I take that leap.

I would love to buy a bigger screen one for Darrin for the newspaper but unfortunately our local paper is not available for the Kindle.  They are digital but with another company so hopefully when the Kindle goes down in price then our paper will see that it’s getting popular or they are getting a lot of requests then they will finally add their paper to the Kindle.

Fresh Air Fund – Half Marathon

On By Michel McDonaldIn Charity1 Comment

Here is something interesting that came to my inbox today.  There is this half marathon going on this August 16th, 2009 and they are looking for not only runners but also sponsors to help out in their fund raise.

Visit Half-Marathon for more details.

I really wish that I could be there to run but I’m certainly in no shape to run.  Ride a bike yes, run no.  Here is a quote from the website.

“Last summer’s NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE was a huge success for The Fresh Air Fund, and we couldn’t have done it without all of our Fund-Racers! Thank you to the dedicated runners who participated through our team and to everyone who came out to support us! We raised more than $125,000 which will go directly to our free programs for NYC children.”

I believe in what they do.  And what is it that they do you ask?  Well, since 1877 they have been providing summer vacations to more than 1.7 million children from low-income communities in New York.  I sure do love summer camp.  Summer camp is the best way for kids to make friends and get away from their parents for a few weeks.  And believe you me, it’s not just a break for the kids but also for the parents too.

So if you live in the east coast, more specifically in the New York area please help these kids by entering as either a runner or perhaps you can donate some money to sponsor a runner so these kids can go to camp this summer.

Bad Tenants

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Ok they are gone so now I can talk about them…

In the middle of April these people responded to the ad that we put in Craigslist to rent the little house next door.  They wanted it so bad so they put a deposit down which would be their last months rent.  See, Darrin wants people to pay first, last and a deposit.  The rent was $625 so to be able to move in you have to give $1250 plus $500 for a deposit.  When they give a 30 day notice to move out then the “last” kicks in so they don’t have to pay their rent for that last month.  This way they can use what they normally would pay for rent as a deposit for another place.

So anyway May 1st comes and they move in.  They pull up in a U-Haul truck and I’m standing there waiting patiently for them to come and I hand them both their own set of keys.  I even help them unload the truck.  I’m such a nice guy right?  LOL

The tenants were a couple, Robert who was unemployed since he was coming here from another state, obviously he had no job so he said that when Monday came he would go search for a job.  His pregnant girlfriend, no, not wife, Sarah used to work at this hospital in town (allegedly) and so they said she could come back to work.

Well, after they were living there a whole day they started complaining about stuff.  Sarah said that she was having to scrub down the stove/oven because it was absolutely filthy.  Well, I take that personally because I scrubbed it for an hour and half way before they moved in.  The previous tenant, Justin, left the place so gross that it took me forever to clean it.  So when she said it was filthy I felt like it was a slap in the face to me.  I spent my own money on the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and I spent my own money on the oven cleaner and I spent like I said, 1 1/2 hours scrubbing it clean.

Then she calls and says they are having such a huge cockroach problem and I told her that you can be the cleanest person in the world and you will still get them at this time of year.  It is in fact roach season when it starts getting hot out and when they moved in was around the time that it started heating up outside.  I mean, it wasn’t in the 100’s but I think it was in the early 90’s.  I can’t remember.  But she told me on the phone that she has lived in Bakersfield for 30 years and she has never seen 1 roach.  LOL Yeah right.  In what reality was she living in those 30 years because I’ve lived here in the 70’s and the 80’s and I’ve lived here since 2000 and the roaches are out every summer crawling in the back yard, crawling on the front yard, they get inside the house and you can’t get rid of them.  But she insisted I was wrong and she was right.

So Darrin calls Banks pest control and pays $150 for that 1 visit.  Of course she still complains.  On the 3rd day She had asked for a can of white glossy paint so she could paint the kitchen cabinets lol.  He went over there and just lit into her because she was being too demanding and asking for this and that and the other.  He even tells them they have 3 days to move and the guy Robert says well give us back all of our money.  Darrin goes, ok, I’ll give you your money… after you have moved out and I see how clean the place is, then we’ll talk about getting you your money back.  Of course then he has them both by the balls.

On June 1st instead of putting an envelope in our mail box with a rent check in it they put an envelope in our mail box with a 30 day notice to move lol.  Thank god!  Good riddance.

So they are gone by June 30th and they leave 1 set of keys in our mailbox.  I didn’t hear them drop because I was asleep.  I only found them when I got the mail.  So I went over there to see what damage they left for us.  They left what was a clean couch when they moved in but now it’s filthy.  And they took the door knobs in the house which were all original when the house was built.  I don’t know how many they took, I just found out today when Darrin went over there to look.  And the back yard they left a lot of trash and a lot of cigarette butts on the ground lol.

I never met them until they moved in but if I had met them when they were looking at the place I would’ve told Darrin not to rent to them because they both looked like white trash.  I could tell just by looking at them.  I didn’t have to get to know them to know that, I could tell.  Frankly I’m surprised they aren’t either living in a tent or a trailer.  I’m sure that’s next though because Robert got like 3 or 4 of those little post card sized letters from Bank of America that you tear off the sides and the top to reveal it is insufficient funds fees.  I’ve gotten a couple of those in my lifetime but never have I gotten 3 or 4 in 2 days lol.  Plus they’ve gotten a few letters from what looks like collections by looking at the name of the company on the return address.  We threw all their mail out because they refused to give us a mailing address and they took all the door knobs so screw them.  They also aren’t responding to our calls so how else can we give them their mail?

Let’s hope the next tenants who occupy that space aren’t such dicks.

Oh I forgot to mention something.  The whole 2 months they were living here, Robert wasn’t working.  All he did all day long was either sleep or play with his $400 remote-controlled car that takes its own gasoline or he sat on the couch playing X-Box online with other people.  I know this because I had to go over there a couple of times to install stuff like a new light fixture and a smoke detector.  So he had the nerve to make his pregnant girlfriend work while he hung out at home all day.  What a dick!

14 Years Old and 555lbs.

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

Should mom of 555-pound boy be charged with neglect?

That is an article on the SparkPeople website.

The mother claims that she works too much and doesn’t always have any time to give her child the right foods.  She buys fast food for him all the time for his dinner and he has reached a very dangerous weight.  Can you imagine being 14 years old and weighing 555lbs?  I certain cannot.

Ok some may say that because he is 14 years old he is old enough to feed himself but come on, when I was that age if it were up to me I’d be eating candy bars and cake and ice cream for dinner every night.  You cannot let a 14-year-old make that decision on his own unless you have already taught him from birth the right foods to eat.

When I was a kid my mother fed me the right kinds of foods and I was always very very thin.  Ok so I wasn’t model thin but I had a small waistline.  Mainly because I was very active on my bike and running from bully’s and also during P.E. class they always had us running around.  There were times that my family went to McDonald’s to eat dinner and we went to other dining restaurants for dinner too, not just fast food.  My favorite place to go was Bob’s Big Boy (which I’m happy they are coming back to Bakersfield YAY).  But I wasn’t given that everyday so I knew that you weren’t supposed to eat that crap on a daily basis.  Not just because it’s not very good for you but because back then it was expensive.  The burgers were about $2.50 or so and you know, in the 70’s and 80’s money was always tight so it wasn’t too often that we would go there.  It was cheaper for my mom to go to the store.

Personally I think that this kid should be taken away from the mother because they gave her lots of chances to help her son get down in weight by teaching them better eating habits and the mother refused to comply so they took him.

This woman needs to get a better job where she is able to pay more attention to her son so she can walk with him and maybe get him a gym membership.  Go there with him every day to make sure he does what he is supposed to and not just sitting down listening to his iPod outside in the front of the gym.  She needs to take responsibility for HER actions in getting her kid fat.  If you don’t then your child needs to be in a better home environment.

Well, that’s just my opinion, 1 opinion out of probably billions.

Spoke Wrench

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

I just came back from Snider’s Cyclry, I had to get a spoke wrench for my bike.  I was going to wait until I got my check then have them “true” the wheel but I wasn’t sure how expensive it would be.  The guy at Snider’s told me it would only cost $17 but probably more depending on how bad it was and it’s pretty bad lol.

He asked if I’ve ever “trued” a bike before and I said no but I’ve been doing a lot of research on how to do it with watching YouTube videos and reading tutorials and stuff because I’ve read if you don’t do it right you can screw it up and you’ll have to buy a new wheel.  He said yeah and he showed me how to do it which was nice.

He said that a truing stand would cost like $75 or so which I don’t have that kind of money but he told me that you can put the wheel in your front fork where the front wheel goes and put a zip tie on the fork about where the top of the wheel is as a guide so when you are moving the wheel near that zip tie you will be able to see if it needs to go in which direction.

I’m not quite sure I remember everything he told me but I’m going to do my best.  I just want to save the $17 or so so I can buy my seat next in 2 weeks.

Well, I’m off to go try to “true” my back wheel in the front fork hehe.  Wish me luck.  And as always I will edit this post when I’m finished with a YAY I did it or oh crap I screwed it up and now I can’t ride my bike until I can get a new wheel lol.

Edit: I am happy to say that it worked out.  I didn’t totally 100% true my back wheel but it doesn’t wobble anymore.  I tried doing what he said by putting the back wheel on the front fork but it’s not the right size because of the freewheel (the thing that the chain goes on) made it too big.  So what I did was I put the zip tie on the fork for the front wheel and did a little practice test on the front wheel.  That worked out perfectly because the front wheel needed to be trued a little too.  So then I put another zip tie on the back wheel and I trued that as best as I could and then went out on a test ride and perfection.  Well, 95% perfection lol.  I didn’t want to mess with it too much and end up screwing it up.  But it was much easier than I thought because of that zip tie.

Land of the Lost Movie

On By Michel McDonaldIn MoviesLeave a comment

We went to see Land of the Lost today at the movies.  Yeah I know it’s been out for awhile but I can’t just go to every movie premiere.  What do you think I’m made of money?

Ok so I loved it because I watched the show when I was a kid on Kroft Super Stars in the 70’s.  I was rather disappointed that they did change a few things but I think they did it to add some spice to it.  Although I did find it rather disturbing that Rick Marshall was kissing Holly because in the original 70’s show Holly was his daughter.

I did love the woman who played Holly, she was in Pushing Daisies so I already knew I was going to like the movie because she was in it.

Chaka was hilarious getting to second base with Holly lol.  And him getting high with the guys and almost making out with Rick Marshall was hilarious.

As we were leaving the theater all I heard from people behind me was “boy that was the dumbest movie I’ve ever seen” and “oh my god that was so stupid”.  Sorry, I don’t know what to say but I liked it lol.  I have a sense of humor and some people just don’t and they probably weren’t that into the show in the 70’s so they just didn’t get it.

I mean, come on, the acting in this movie was 20 times better than the original series so you gotta give the movie some credit.  Not to mention the fact that they used real dinosaurs, I mean come on, you know that the T-rex is a prima donna.

Wait, one sec…. what’s that?  You say it was CGI?  What?  But I thought…

Oh eh hem… was this mic on that whole time?  Um what I meant to say was the CGI graphics in this movie was amazing.  They must’ve gotten the same people who did Jurassic Park and Walking with Dinosaurs to do the CGI.

Well anyway, I thought it was good so poopoo on anyone who doesn’t like it.

My Spirit Board

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

I’ve been wanting to make a spirit board for a very long time.  I don’t want to buy one because I want it to be personal, something that I made.  Perhaps when I die I might be attached to it some how lol.

I just haven’t had the money to go out and buy all the stuff for it.  A friend of mine, Alyce, bought me the wood burning kit which I am totally grateful to her for because it’s a $30 kit and even though I can afford to buy that I just would’ve never been able to because there is always something that is going to take precedence over a hobby.

All I need now is to buy the piece of wood to burn the letters and numbers.  I’ve mainly been waiting all this time because I wanted to practice wood burning to make sure I’m good at it before I even try to attempt it for fear of screwing it up.

So when Alyce first sent me the wood burning kit we went to Wal-Mart looking for cheap wood to burn on and I found these little pieces of wood in the craft/hobby section for .99¢ but the wood is so difficult to burn on so I just figured that since it’s so cheap I will do my best to try but no guarantees on it.  Well one of the pieces I ended up using to cut the Planchette with yesterday and I burned the Charmed triquatra on it.

my-planchette

It’s not perfect by any means but it’s mine.  Of course I’m going to stain it a little and put lacquer on it to keep it clean.  Then I’ve got to put the bottom pieces on it to make it slide easily on the board.  Here is what the board is going to look like:

55125012

I like this wood, I like that it has the bark on it and I think it’s about $20 or $30 at Michael’s.  I don’t remember.  Of course I want a very big piece.  I think the piece that is probably the better size because it is paper size is about $15 or $20.  I want it to be bigger than paper to give the planchette a lot of room to work with.  Also I don’t want the letters/numbers to take up the whole board because eventually I’m going to add a pattern around the whole thing to give it character.

Ok I know what people are going to say about spirit boards.  They are dangerous and they open up a portal that you cannot close blah blah blah exorcist yadda yadda yadda.  Whatever.  I don’t believe in all that.  Personally I don’t think this is going to work with just 1 person anyway and I can’t ask Darrin because he doesn’t believe in the spirit world.  He is taught as a born again that the only spirit he is supposed to acknowledge is the “holy spirit” despite the fact that he has had an encounter with a ghost cat in my bedroom.  He knows they exist but he’s not allowed to acknowledge that because of his religious beliefs.

Well, I don’t go to church, I don’t believe in organized religion.  I don’t believe that if “God” does exist that he would want us to sink all of our money into a church to worship him/her/it when we can do that at home.  But that’s a debate for another time or never lol.  My point is, I do believe in ghosts and no church is going to tell me that I can’t believe.

Well, in July I’m going to buy the board to make this because I want to.  I’ve already made a commitment to buy some other things like a new seat for my bike which is about $30 – $50.  I’m thinking of just buying the cheap $30 one even though it’s probably hard as a rock but then in August I can buy the sheepskin cover for it.  And I’ve also made a commitment to buy a cigarette kit for Chips cousin for her birthday on July 4th.  It’s the injector for around $5 plus a cartons worth of tubes and a can of tobacco which should only be about $25 total.  So I’m pretty sure that after all that I can still afford to buy this wood to burn on.  Plus I want to buy some other wood burning accessories to go with it all lol.

Of course when I make this I will post the board picture.

Bike Seat Issues

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike1 Comment

Lately I’ve been coming home from my 2 hour bicycle ride numb in an area that would normally make me blush to mention.  I know that it’s my seat that is causing the problem because of the “nose” of the seat (yes, my crotch sits on a nose for 2 hours lol).

I have one of those gel cushions for my seat because the seat (they call them “saddles”) is really hard and I refuse to sit on a seat that hard with my body weight.  I can’t recall how much the gel seat cost me, maybe it was about $10 I’m sure, I bought it from Nashbar and that is how much they charge for them.  I’ve been using that all this time, last year for a couple of months and now this year for a couple of months.

It hasn’t bothered me before but lately I’ve come home from my bike ride and go to use the restroom and notice I can’t feel anything in my appendage (giggle I said appendage).

So I decided that it’s time to find out what’s going on and what to do about it.  Apparently it is a common thing for men who sit on a bicycle for hours and hours.  It can cause temporary impotence (YIKES!) in men and it may also probably lead to serious problems in the future because you are pressing down on your arteries and your colon so you can expect problems.

There is a solution and it is a new type of seat which has no nose, instead your butt takes all of the impact.  Here is a picture:

large_seat_b

This seat is going to cost me $63 plus shipping of course because it’s coming from Canada.  It is called Spongy Wonder and frankly I can’t wait to get it.  It is going to relieve a lot of my issues and I won’t have to keep standing on my peddles during my ride to relieve myself down there all the time.  They have an optional seat cover for an additional $16 which I will not be able to buy right away but perhaps in August I can buy that.  I’m going to have to wait until July to buy this seat because I am flat broke right now but there’s only 2 more weeks until I get more money so I can wait 2 weeks.

Other models I have seen cost around $79 and up and this is just the right price.  The cheaper the better.  Well, cheap in price but hopefully the same good quality you know?  I’m probably going to be bashed for buying outside of the US during our bad economy but I really don’t care because I need something that I can afford and I really need this now because it is becoming a medical issue.  I will be looking at other websites, after all, I do have 2 weeks to decide before I place my order.  If I do find another place that is US-based then I will choose that and of course you know I will be making a post about it lol.

Update: I am looking at the 2 other noseless seats and the one that is $79 is also from a Canadian websiteTesco-Shopping and it looks exactly like the $63 one.  Then there is the Spiderflex which is $110 plus $12 shipping so I definitely will not be buying from them.  I don’t know if they are in Canada or not, they aren’t releasing that information but they ship there and to Europe but in their shipping page they do show a map of the US showing delivery times lol.  I’m pretty sure that these 3 companies are the only ones who are selling these seats but I will keep looking.  I’m willing to pay $63 because it is a small price to pay to prevent colon problems and/or impotence lol.

I found it! Bicycle Seats | Ergo Seats this is perfect.  It’s basically the same as my regular seat but without the nose so it’s basically a half seat.  The positive of this is the price.  It’s the right price for me at $30 – $50 plus $30 for a sheepskin cover (optional).  I’m thinking maybe I can get the seat in July then the sheepskin cover in August.  That is if the seat is really that hard that I need to buy the sheepskin cover.  This is the perfect seat.  Check out the link for pictures.  Oh and by the way, this website is in Washington State!

Thumb Sucking Adults

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog4 Comments

What is up with thumb sucking adults?  I’ve seen teenagers with a pacifier in his/her mouth or sucking their thumb.  Today we passed this lady in her car sucking her thumb while driving.

I’m not here to make fun of anyone but I just want to know why they do it?  I’ve been reading up on it and apparently it’s all psychological.  But there are problems associated with thumb sucking.  Such as your teeth grow so that your thumb can stay in your mouth and your tongue gets this white coating on it.  Your thumb also can get sores on them where the teeth are biting down on them as well as your skin becomes red and infected because of the constant moisture from the inside of your mouth.

Not only that but your fingers are digging in your purse or pocket, intermingling with objects outside of the mouth such as poles, door handles, money… etc.

It’s a disgusting habit and these adults need to grow up and stop sucking their thumbs and teenagers especially, it doesn’t look cool to either be sucking your thumb or have a pacifier on a necklace around your neck.  Come on, seriously, pick up a different habit because you look like you belong in a psycho ward.  It’s hard to look like a thug with a pacifier in your mouth.  If you come up to me with your jeans around your knees showing me your boxers with that street thug strut, don’t expect me to take you seriously when you have a pacifier or your thumb in your mouth.

Bike Cam Video

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

I went back on the bike trail today with my camcorder hooked up to my mount that I made and when I came home I immediately hooked the camcorder up to the computer and it didn’t fail the import, it failed on Saturday morning.  I’m still confused as to why it did that but that’s ok because watching the video showed me how much I need to stop moving the bike from left to right so much when video taping lol.

It’s always a learning experience right?

So anyway, now that I have it on the computer I can make it go fast and add some music to it.  It’s a 20 minute video but I’m going to speed that up so it fits about 2 or 3 songs so hopefully about 8 or 9 minutes.  I don’t want to bore people too much but at the same time I don’t want it to go so fast that you can’t see what’s happening you know lol.

So, I’m going to be working on that for awhile.  I can’t upload it to YouTube until I get some money because this program that I use which is the best program, Pinnacle VideoSpin.  It’s a free program with conditions.  You get I think 2 weeks free use out of it then after that you have to pay $15 for the codec, otherwise you won’t even be able to import your video into the software.  I’ve tried other programs like windows movie maker, I also bought Adobe Premiere Elements 3 and those 2 programs won’t let you make your movie for YouTube to be able to have it in widescreen.  Your video ends up having the bars on top and bottom but also on the right and left.  That’s no good.

So, until I get the codec for it when I get money then I will upload that video.  I’m also going to take the opportunity to do some other videos while I’m at it of some video games then just do them all on the same day.