thank yous

Feeling like I accomplished something, making for 3 days of AM productivity in a row! Actually, I did stuff on Saturday and Sunday, but I'm talking doing stuff like having B write out thank yous to the four classmates that showed for her party on Sunday. (Took a couple hours, but they are done!)

Still have to do a couple other errands, but D is a asleep. I'm gonna fix myself a third cheese hotdog. Yum! I'll read my book and other odds and ends as the hotdog reaches perfection.

final day of birthday weekend.

Wow... after having bought a cake at Ele, I wasn't sure of what to expect with regards to the quality of the cake provided at Magic Castle/Rollandia for B's birthday. I can now say the party was worthwhile and fun for all. Pizza, cake and drinks were part of the package and an extra 2 pizzas could be added for the price of one with the coupon they have in each monthly Reach.

Two hours went by quickly, and we did very little besides pick up/send out invitations. Compared to parties at other venues, I'd have to say the value of Magic Castle fits even a cheap b@$t@rd'$ budget.

day 2 of birthday weekend

Saturday:
I awoke thinking I was alone, but only the girls were gone. J & B needed their hair cut, so were gone until noon-ish. I was shocked I was up and feeling good.
K was quietly on his laptop. I started doing dishes. J had run the dishwasher to apease D last night, so I had stuff to keep busy as my pills settled. I ate lunch for breakfast. J made me put the Ryobi away, so I put it together. It's nice. Went to Sam's to get food for the extended family party we were having today.
J's parents and sister arrivedon time and we had hotdogs etc before opening presents and consuming the cake.
I got two more rsvps for tomorrow's party, so I think we have our 8 guest quota met. Was worried no one would show, but silly teacher held on to the invitations for a week before passing out to B's class!
I'm about 3/4 through TLAF, I am humored. I need to look into game theory. Economics aren't vague and mysterious to me like philosophy. I'm still not sure I get the significance of modernism or post-modernism, but mehism, I get completely.

deja vü or I have been everywhere

So I went to pick up the cake from Elé as my favor to J, and I swear I have come across the girl, who took forever to retrieve the cake, before somewhere else. She had a tattoo on her neck, so maybe a gave her a placement assessment a few years ago?

birthdays and such

Six years go quickly. Middle child is no longer half the age of K, so they'll seem closer in age, I guess. Between cake and parties, I hope she knows how special she is.

Returning phone calls

When we got back from swimming and ice cream, I saw the voice mail light flashing. I checked the missed call, and it was my brother. I am rarely in the mood to talk to him, and I was too tired at that point regardless of my opinion of him.

When I was getting ready for bed I got my phone from J's purse, since I gave it to her when we went swimming and it was locked in a locker while we were at the pool. My brother had called my cell as well, so I sent him a text saying I will call when I have time. He lives three time zones away, so he may have been up, but I still wasn't in the mood to talk.

Today being the next day, K & B went to swim class with J this morning. I stayed home to grout. I did as much as I could before they came home at which time we went to Steak'N Shake. Kids eat free on Saturday, and I was hankering for the Chili Frito Double Steak Burger.

When we got there, the manager promised not to bus our table while we visited the Claw Machine. Claw Machine looked too tempting to give, but it didn't though we spent more than I would have liked.

Food took a while to get to us. Not sure what held up the order, but it was worth the wait. I love the Frito Burger, and hope that it returns to the menu rather than hoping for them to have Fritos leftover. They ring it up as the Jalapeno Crunch, which suggests that I like the Jalapeno Crunch, BUT I DON'T.

Anyways, we went to Wal-mart to get some items that TARGET STOPPED CARRYING. B wanted carried, and I was fine doing so until I felt my feet hurt.

Seems that I grout on my knees and toes, so I stretched my feet to a painful afterthought, just as my hands hurt from scraping.

Got back from Wal-mart and eventually got back to grouting. Upon finishing the floor, I cleaned up my mess and called my brother back. I don't recall the last time I called him. I dislike his voice, so I generally text him if communicating with him cannot be avoided.

Wasn't too bad of a call. Felt a little bad that I didn't know he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle a few weeks ago. I hadn't talked to him since he was in Ohio in April. He didn't call B on her birthday a couple weeks before his accident, which annoyed me.I don't talk to my parents much, but I talk to them more with it being baseball season. Never talk about my brother with them aside from when he's going to a show or Ohio.  My parents didn't mention it, and they saw him last week in New York at his opening there.

Personally, I think his being hit is Karma.

Mid-week Birthdays last a week...

Strange day in that I did all of the driving, when I usually drive shotgun. I rather not drive with people other than the kids, but sometimes it makes sense for me to drive regardless of my preference. I had to get some things at Meijer's while the kids were at swim class, so I drove to swimming and dropped them off.

My daughter turned 4 on Wednesday, so we had cake and ate out on for her birthday. We gave her gifts today, so we had cake from Ele and Little Caesars today. I figure that you need to order a cake if you invite people from out of town to your kid's birthday. Homemade cake for such an occasion is tacky unless you do it for a living. We also had mixed fruit from Meijer's, for those that weren't into veggie or pepperoni pizza or chocolate cake alone.

It was a good time, I assume. We had both sets of grandparents over, and the floor was decked in pink wrapping paper scraps before long.

Only annoyance is I had to put a hold on the floor project that I had been working upon. When I start something I like to get it over and done. I have tomorrow and a while beyond to complete it, but the longer I let it linger the more likely it will not get done at all. I also got slowed down on Wednesday when I had to do a number of things since the wife was home. I'm doing the floor because she wants it done, so she can't complain about that delay, nor today's. In the grand scheme of it all we both acknowledge one thing: Birthdays are what make being little great, so don't sweat the little things that can wait.

Bias Confirmed

It being a certain little girl's fourth birthday, we ate what she wanted regardless of it being Wednesday.

I printed out the coupon for the Jalapeno Crunch from my inbox and thought I'd give it a try.

It wasn't meant to be for they didn't have the salsa made, when the rest of our order was ready.

Since we're regulars, they knew we'd be back again and offered a comp burger next time we were in, and I was offered the choice to wait or get a different sandwich. I could have waited 10 minutes, but I was fine with the triple. Either way I would get a comp Jalapeno Crunch, but I was hungry.

I had coupons for the chicken finger meals, but couldn't use the free drink with a sandwich coupon. We generally have the same waitress, and she brings our regular drinks when she takes our order. Interestingly, we rarely are charged drinks during the week, and we weren't today. The difference is about the same as Kids Eat Free Weekends.

The original check was for $15, but the bill was adjusted for coupons and my Jalapeno Crunch was removed, so we were billed under $9. We always get decent service so I have no qualms tipping accordingly.

Upon leaving, I was offered the opportunity to take home a complimentary Jalapeno Crunch since the salsa was made upon check out, but a certain person suggested that I shouldn't.

I guess my family wants me around more than the life insurance $.

I like Steak'N Shake, but the kids like it too much. Sure we could save $ by eating at home, but the difference isn't much when you consider the intangibles of happy kids winning stuffed animals.

Loopholes

The two constants in life are supposedly Death and Taxes.
People are willing to spend a lot of money to stay alive as long as possible, for they can't take their money with them. It's the insurance and pharmaceutical companies' fault that the medical bills are to high.
People pay people to find loopholes to avoid paying taxes. It's the fault of the rich that they don't pay more.
 
It is human nature to not want to over pay for goods, services, and taxes.

Unfortunately more times than not, a certain adages like, "You get what you pay for" and "there's no such thing as a free lunch," hold true.

I don't understand what people expect when they want free healthcare and free education.

Do they expect teachers, doctors, and nurses to be their slaves and to work for nothing? No, but they want someone else to pay without having skin in the game.

I'm still annoyed that MCA died. I never bought a Beasties album, but I didn't hate hearing them when my brother played them. I didn't care for a lot of my brother's collection, while some of it I liked a lot.

Cancer sucks. There was a time it was a seemingly instant death sentence, but modern science has come a long way in terms of giving hope. Curing cancer for good is still a long ways away. Drug companies have to do research and development to invent new means of treating diseases. R&D makes it take years to get a new medication on the market. Manufacturing the end product is relatively cheap, but the costs of the R&D need to be recouped for the company to break even. Only a short window of opportunity exists for BIG PHARMA to reap profits and Joe and Jane America are the lucky ones to patriotically pay the tab(Lott, 2007).

Yes, I finally finished Freedomnomics, and I would like to wish its author, John R. Lott, Jr., Ph.D., a happy birthday. His book gave a good counter-balance to Freakonomics which works well with my philosophy of conflict indifference. I see that he has a newer book out that I feel needs a cursory perusal.