Credit bailout makes no sense to me

Credit is a system whereby a person who can not pay gets another person who can not pay to guarantee that he can pay. - Charles Dickens

Explain to me why credit is so vital to everything? If I don't have access to fast and loose credit anymore, how is this bad for me? Credit is often misused anyway. People now think that wants are needs (eating-out=need, car=need, education=need, house=need, vacation=need, ) and a good old fashioned recession could correct that misconception. Our real needs are:

• oxygen
  
• hydration
• nutrition
• shelter plus basic utilities for water and heat
  
• clothing
• hygiene items
  
• medications
  
• video games
  

See how easy that was! pared down to the basics I tell ya.

Fall and the year's end

This year is over 1/2 done, and I am excited to finish it out. I really can't remember when I was excited for the November December time frame. I have been, for a long time, just unimpressed with them and treated that time as any other time of life. You would catch me saying, "It is colder and you get some vacation days but I like the heat, so summer is better." "Snow sucks to drive in and shovel." "When will it all melt?" "It is too cold to do anything."

Well this year seems different, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas like I haven't since I was a kid. Maybe I will try snowboarding or something, yes I am that much into the idea of snow this year. Anyone want to loan me a snowboard ? Yes, I think I will board down a hill then nurse a concussion and broken leg while playing some awesome video game all winter long, sounds sweet to me.

New Things

Things I recently accomplished:

• installed water heater bracket (for earthquake protection)
• scheduled ward missionaries over for dinner (harder than it sounds)
  
• woke up and went to the gym at dark-thirty in the morning
• upgraded computer RAM to 2GB
• mowed lawn and replaced broken sprinkler head
• helped setup basement room for Ray
  

Things I have not enough taken action on:

• family emergency preparedness
• family history work
• planning weekly date nights
• computer system backup (my backup is old)
  
• personal goal setting
• finishing the garage
  

Anyway I got to write this stuff down. Get it out there and then prioritize, plan and execute.

Wisdom teeth (what they didn't tell me)

Here is what you may not want to know if you are considering wisdom teeth extraction late in life.

"Healing is usually complete after 2 to 3 months from the time of the extraction."

I have this puffyness in my mouth that just does not go away... and because of that food gets caught between my cheek and molars. So I have this gross puss stuff in my mouth after every meal that I must carefully sweep out with a toothbrush while tugging at each of my cheeks in a mirror. If I fail to do this, the stuff begins to stink giving me dragon breath or worse: the foul stuff comes loose while drinking water or yawning or talking. I must also be careful not to sweep it out too vigorously or I begin to bleed at that spot. Well I complain but I guess it could be worse. Rebecca said to take a look around at all the 24 hour emergency dental offices, you don't want to put off dental work until you need to go to one of those. Also, if their is a major catastrophe, simple health problems can become major issues as they cannot be handled when the needed infrastructure has been damaged (utilities, roads, personnel, etc..)

Even so, I still say blah.

Wedding Dinner and Sprinkler System...

We went to Brianna's wedding dinner at Maddox Lodge, it was a long drive and Eleanor was asleep for most of the way up. The food was spectacular, 10oz NY strip steak with a salad and rolls. It mush have cost a fortune considering how many people were at the reception. Brianna was asked to give a speech so she did: "We're in love. The End." Rebecca noted that she had now met all of my uncles. The way home was a cry fest for Eleanor from Ogden to about 100 ft from our house when she finally gave up whining. To be fair I think her feet hurt, she has peeling skin on the bottom of one foot and on some toes. I put some of Grandpa's Emprizone on there and they seem good as new today.

Ugh... replaced another sprinkler head. Our lawn has some swamp areas that are so wet mushrooms grow amongst the grass and then other areas so dry the grass is dead and there is nothing but bare dirt (not even dead grass). I have been getting one or two adjustments or replacements done a week after mowing to try to keep the yard presentable. Rebecca and I want to have family over for a BBQ/ games maybe for Hillary's birthday? Do we need to wait for a birthday for an excuse? How does one set this up?

I got a cool board game from Rebecca for my birthday in July and we have only played it once, it is called Power Grid. So we need some additional volunteers to come play it with us as well. Steven is heading over to play some video games today, it has been way too long. Car's in the shop or I would probably have wanted to see FFXI at his house, yes I still miss that game, I miss it/hate it.

Garage Sale Toy

This morning on the way to the gym at 7:30 am we saw a garage sale. They had a bunch of baby toys, so we went back and browsed around. Rebecca negotiated this very good condition toy for the prices of $3. I think Eleanor and Christopher Robin will probably fight over it at some point in 2009. Rebecca is also thinking of doing pancake mix and jam as gifts for coworkers and neighbors, but I really loved her hand soap gift. I am trying to think of a personalized, non-food, cheap gift that we could do this year and not just do hand soap again nor pancake mix. I really don't want to give out food because food is so overdone that time of year. Also, if Rebecca is making some delicious jam, I plan to be eating aforementioned jam, and not handing it out to some fair-weather neighbor of mine who moves out three months later never to be heard of again. I can just see them snickering in their U-hauls with pancake stuffed mouths and my beloved jam dripping from their double chins. It's a good thing that hand soap is still around to wash up! Ahem, sorry the holiday season does not make me that generous. Maybe if I start thinking about it now, something will come to mind before the holiday rush. Comments on a gift idea are welcome.

Wisdom teeth, the saga continues

I am still recovering from the surgery. I have received a second prescription for lortab because I was up all last night in pain. If you ever get the line from someone, "yeah get the surgery and then you can take off work and just lay around and play games.", don't buy it! It is all bull crap; I can't play games because I am too nauseous and foggy and my mouth is swollen so I can't even snack on candy or anything. Right now it is just a slow waiting game, waiting for my mouth to heal, waiting to feel better.
I complain about this but am sure I do have it very good by comparison to other people in the world. I just have been bad at appreciating how good I have had it in life.

I like to donate blood whenever I can because it makes me feel like I am giving back to the world in a infinitesimally small way. I like donating blood because:

• it is anonymous, the person who gets the blood will probably never know it was mine.
• it is free to do, true it does take an hour of free time and some minor required travel.
• it does not require physical effort, you have to lay there and squeeze a ball...
  
• you get some free snacks at the end, cookies, juice etc...
• if I did somehow contract HIV, they will call and tell me about it for free
• not everyone can do it, I can, and feel a little more important to society (or less like a leech)
• some scouts organize blood drives for their eagle scout project, so I get two for one, help out with a scout project and help save a life.