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Showing posts from October, 2014

National Cat Day

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Somewhere I read that it is national cat day.  Do I know if this is true...no.  Am I going to take this time to shamelessly promote my cat and post a picture of him? Does that answer your question? So what does my cat bring to the table other than furballs, pooping near the litter box if it is not to his specifications, and costing me money? I could answer cuteness, but that sounds pretty fru fru.  I think I will go with a NATURAL BORN KILLER.  That's right.  My cat, Fitzgerald, is a death machine.  He is a mouse's worse nightmare.  If you happen to be a bug in the wrong place, Fitz might kill you too.  Because of this, Fitz is my pal.  He makes sure the mice don't come in, and I make sure he has a nice place to sleep. So in honor of national cat day, and his birthday which was a week ago (1 year old), I salute you Fitzgerald.  May you bring many years of happiness to our family, and many rodents to their death! Meow.

Up to no good...

What have I been up to lately?  I certainly haven't written in a while, and find myself sliding through October with a bit of laziness in regards to this blog. Work: So outside of this blogging gig, (which I don't actually do for the $), I have a full time job.  My job takes up a lot of time, but lucky for me I love my profession.  Teaching is always pretty fulfilling, and even though it sucks sometimes, it really makes me happy when I think about it.  So even though their are long hours spent grading, writing, and thinking up new curriculum, it sure is a blast when a kid tells you they enjoy your class. Blogs: I have not been writing on my blog...but I have been reading other blogs.  It is in fact a little bit of an addiction.  I don't know if I'm addicted to reading the other pf bloggers, but I do know that I am addicted to giving my mind a workout and learning new information that helps me conquer life (cue evil muhahahhahaha!)  I also recently started reading th

Cowboys Fan Here: I admit, it's sad.

Yes.  I admit I am a Dallas Cowboys fan.  Yes, I also admit this fact makes me sad some times.  Usually it is because for some reason the Cowboys will throw a game away in the fleeting seconds of the fourth quarter.  Sometimes it is because despite the hype, I know that this season can't possibly be "the season." Well today we have hit a new low Cowboy nation.  I'm not sad because we are losing, in fact quite the opposite is true.  We are winning.  Do I buy into it yet...what can I say?  We beat the Sea-hawks and they seem pretty legit to me. No.  The simple reason I am sad is because of THIS .  That is correct, we employ a thief.  Not even a grand thief, or a smart thief, but some guy who steals underwear and a sample bottle of cologne.  Sadly he makes 495 large a year.  In other terms, four hundred and ninety five thousand FREAKING DOLLARS!  Was he stealing because he couldn't afford the items?  I doubt it.  More than likely it probably is a habit. Regardl

Building our House (part 2):

For those of you haven't read part 1 just click this here LINK and you can check out where we left off.  For those not wanting to read part 1 or for those who have already done so here is a quick refresher... We left last time with the simple fact that we were 4-5k over budget.  This left us with a few options, work, cut expenses, and save more so that we could come out on budget. The Framing: After all of the concrete curing, and french draining, the real progress began.  The house was quickly framed in the basement, the sub-floor went on, and then the main floor was framed.  Next the trusses went up, sheeting went on, and the roof was ready to be done.  (During this entire process, every day after supper at about 5:30 my wife and I would drive out to see progress on the house.  This also allowed us to clean up after the construction crew.  I am not sure how much money this saved us, but I know it didn't hurt in the end!  Cleaning up the materials leftover allowed constru

The "hidden" Cost of Use

What am I referring to in the title my savvy saving friends?  If you guessed the hidden cost is referring to "wear and tear" then you win!!!  Oh.  You seem disappointed.  Maybe you have already left the page and clicked on the next funny cat video in your que, but if you are still with me let me explain... Every time you use an item, it slowly begins to devalue.  Many people often look at what the item costs to operate initially and not what the item costs to operate in the long haul. For Example... Opening the garage door.  Millions of people have electronic garage door openers.  I mean c'mon!  They are freaking awesome and a great luxury item to own.  If I didn't own one I would have to open my own garage door every time I wanted out or in.  We don't really treat the garage door opener like a luxury item though do we?  We hit that button like it is going out of style.  Get home, garage door goes up/garage door goes down.  Wife gets home, garage door go

10 Minute Pep Talk

So I have about 10 minutes before I have to hang the laundry up and I figured I might as well throw out a quick concept which I try and use in my life... Where you are is the sum of your actions. In other words, whatever your current situation is, it is a direct result of your actions.  So if you are not where you want to be, look no further for the problem than the mirror! That's right.  But old school you say I don't, I can't, I won't, I shan't, blah blah freakin blah.  That is what is coming out of your mouth.  BLAH.  That is how you are choosing to live your life.  With BLAH! WHY the frick would you take your power and give it away?  Does life kick you in the teeth sometime?  Yep.  Do bad things happen that are out of your control?  Absolutely. It doesn't matter.  Like Rocky said life will beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it.  Don't let it.  That is the simple solution.  So what if your teachers hate you at school.  So what

Old Schools Net Worth Update: September Edition

*For those of you astute readers out there you may have noticed that I changed my last net worth post to read first edition.  I did this because I miss wrote September when in fact September had not yet happened.  So without further ado here is the September issue of Old School's net worth... Hot off of Mints' press reveals that my net worth is now... $-132,257.33 O.k.  Well lets see where I was last month... $-134,908.26 That is an improvement of... + $2650.93 Woohoo!  O.k.  It may not be hitting the jackpot, but it is a step in the right direction.  How did this change occur? 1. Payed down the mortgage a little (We always put a little extra on our mortgage). 2. Saved some money and hit our $5000 in savings goal 3. Carpooled to work and spent less on fuel The vehicles we currently own did not really depreciate, which doesn't really matter to us because we plan on driving them until they die.     My ROTH actually went up by about $20 and my wife's