.: bistan.net :.

Our lives have been incredibly busy lately: work, school, t-ball, races, and lots more.  With all of those obligations competing for our time, it is so easy to just zip through the drive-thru instead of preparing a meal at home.  In the last week or so, we have been eating out several times a day.  On Saturday: chicken biscuits after the 5K. On Sunday: McDonalds after church, O’Charleys for dinner. We have been eating out literally every day. That puts a strain on our wallet — and our health.  So for the month of March, we have decided to abstain from eating out.

I have also tried to limit my soda consumption in the past.  Unfortunately, in our combo-centric world, it hasn’t been possible to do so while continuing to dine out.  Who is really going to buy the chicken sandwich combo and fill the cup up with water?  So to take the health thing one step further, I have personally chosen to not drink coke during March.

Here are the terms of the restrictions:

• When there are events at work that have food, it doesn’t count as “eating out” — even if the food is pizza, etc.
• There is one exception: we can eat at Chic-fil-A once (because we have the calendars with the monthly free item).
• I am not allowed to drink any coke, even at the events above. This does not apply to other family members.

Today is day four and it has been tough.  Really tough.  I can’t remember the last time I went four days without a french fry and I never noticed just how many fast food commercials there are on the radio.  Also, social activities in the south are centered around food, so pledging not to eat at restaurants are starting to affect social aspects of my life as well.  The lack of coke has affected my motivation and energy.  It makes running a lot tougher when you take away a primary energy source. I am glad, however, that the symptoms of caffiene withdrawal have passed.

Can I successfully make it through the next 27 days? Tune in and see.

Once again this year, I’m not making “resolutions”.  I do have several goals for the new year.

Fitness Related:

Run a half-marathon in less than 2 hours. (Let’s hope this happens on January 9!)

Reduce my 5K PR to 22 minutes.

Run 1000 miles in 2010.

Restart and actually complete hundredpushups.com.

Commit to and begin training to run (not run/walk) an entire marathon.

Drop my weight down to 160.

Eat out no more than once per week.

Finance Related:

Eat out no more than once per week (this falls under both).

Be completely debt free by 2011.

Work/School Related:

Take two masters degree classes each semester and stay on top of them.

Stop passing up greener pastures.

Home Related:

Spend more time teaching my kids things.

Get rid of more junk.

Computer Related:

Tweet more.

Blog more.

Facebook less.

I think that’s enough for now. I’ll try to revisit this post every few months to see how I’m doing.

Each Wednesday, Tristan brings home a folder from school.  It contains things like school work, behavior charts, PTA notices, notes from school, etc.  This past Wednesday, the folder included a request to “Help Light Someone’s Christmas”.  Basically, it’s the same concept as the Salvation Army’s angel tree: you sign up to purchase a gift for a specific amount and send the gift to the school.

Now we typically help various organizations, from giving in church to volunteering in various things, to sending canned goods to feed people who apparently only eat at Thanksgiving, to making donations, etc. Even with all of that, we have never received joy from giving.  In fact, we hate giving.  It’s like a chore.  We do it though for various reasons — whether political or religious or otherwise.  But because I love Heard Elementary School, I wanted to sign up immediately. 

Kimberlie tried to throttle me back.  We’re already room parents for Tristan’s class.  We donate classroom supplies and send paper money and sell wrapping paper and buy BBQ tickets and support the PTA, so I understood her concern. But being room parents, we’ve met all of Tristan’s classmates.  If there is someone in Tristan’s class, school, or our community who needs a token gift to improve their holiday season, I want to help.  I filled out the form and committed to purchasing a gift at the $15.00 level and returned the form. 

The next day, Kimberlie was picking up the kids from day care when Tristan handed her a paper light bulb.  It said “Jacket for a 6 year old girl, size 6/7″.  Her eyes teared up.  We don’t live in a wealthy community, but it is the suburbs and I never imagined that someone nearby might not even have a jacket.  We thought we were going to be purchasing a token gift for a child who might not have as many toys on Christmas morning as our kids, but instead, we were purchasing a necessity that in our household would never be considered a gift.  And so we were off — to find the perfect jacket!

Being the bargain-hunter than I am, we ended up with a $40.00 Old Navy jacket.  All of their outerwear was 50% off plus I used a 30% Stuff-n-Save discount to end up spending $14.00.  It could possibly end up being the nicest garment the unknown little girl owns.  Tristan’s birthday is coming up later this week and we actually enjoyed shopping for this unknown child more than we enjoyed shopping for our own child.  The jacket has already warmed our hearts — for the first time since I can remember, we feel good about giving.

Let’s hope the little girl can stay warm until Christmas!

We have a voluntary listserv at work called “Email shop”.  It’s basically an online yard sale.  You email the list to let them know what junk is in your trunk and what you want for it.  I’ve actually sold a doghouse, a camcorder, and a treadmill (before I started running — big mistake) on it.

Here are some samples of things that have come across today . . .

First:

“I bought my 2 ½ year old son a pair of cowboy boots at Circle M Western Store this past Saturday for his cowboy Halloween outfit, but later during the day found him a pair he liked better at another store. I went to take the boots back to Circle M but they would not refund my money, only give me a store credit that can only be used for 6 months. I have no need for these boots and they literally have never been worn and are still in the box/wrapping paper. All I am trying to do is get my money back, which is $45. Again, the boots are size 7/8 and they are really cute:  brown with stars on them and can be worn by a boy or a girl. Let me know if you are interested.

Thanks,

<name redacted>
Associate Director of Financial Planning
Mercer University”

Now there are several problems with this first message:

Her first mistake was spending $45 for a pair of boots for a Halloween outfit.  Her 2^nd mistake was letting a 2 1/2 year old son pick out another pair he liked better.  Mercer’s mistake was to let someone who spends $45 on a pair of boots for a Halloween outfit be the associate director of financial planning.  Tristan has never even had a pair of $45 shoes and would trick-or-treat barefoot before I would buy him a pair.  The shoes I’m wearing didn’t even cost that much.  Perhaps I could have made her some out of duct-tape.

Second post:

“Boy’s Chocolate Brown UGG boots Size 1 (excellent condition, paid $120 for them) – $50”

Size 1 – $120!  Do you know how fast a baby’s foot grows?  We have some really thrifty folks working at Mercer – they must make a lot more than I do!

When I was 18, it was cool to have a credit card.  Flashing that plastic was cool stuff.  Now that I’m 30, everyone I know has a credit card.  It’s just part of life.  Nothing special.  You would think that the days are gone where flashing the plastic impresses the chicks.

Not for me . . .

As any reader of this blog knows, I am a Disney Fanatic.  So naturally I jumped on getting a Disney Visa card when they debuted in 2003.  At least 1% of every purchase is returned in Disney rewards which are good for anything Disney.  Four years ago we spent a week at WDW for free and we went on a Disney cruise two years ago for nearly free.  And we bought Disney annual passes this year and paid for several nights at WDW with our rewards.  I put nearly everything on my Disney Visa (and yes, I pay it off immediately).

You can choose from about seven different card designs and for the last four or so years, I’ve had a Finding Nemo card.  Let me tell you that this card serves as an icebreaker with nearly everyone who I present it to for payment . . . especially hot chicks.

My coworkers couldn’t believe at first how fast I could melt a girl’s heart with my credit card.  Now, they just roll their eyes because they’ve seen it happen so much.  It’s unbelievable. Kimberlie didn’t notice as much at first, until I remarked one day that I should have had a Finding Nemo credit card before I got married.  It would have been so much easier finding girls.

When I’m paying for something with Kimberlie, the waitress/cashier/etc. aren’t usually as vocal about it, but they always mention it.  Some of them, however, could care less that my wife is with me.  Kimberlie used to get a little jealous, but now, she just rolls her eyes too because it happens so much.  Tonight, the very soft spoken waitress at Applebee’s returned my card, thanked us for dining with them, smiled, and quietly said, “Oh yeah, I like your Visa”.

So here’s a hint for all of the single guys out there: I’m happily married, but Nemo can have any chick he wants!

When we found out we were going to Las Vegas, I thought I was going to hate it.  I loved it!

When we found out we were going to Baltimore, I thought I was going to hate it.  I loved it!

When we found out we were going to Boulder, I thought I was going to hate it.  But, I loved it, too!

So naturally, when Kimberlie’s class was scheduled for New Orleans, I knew I would hate it.  My vision of this place was people who eat weird food, drunks wondering between bars checking out strippers and ignorant people that don’t pay attention to hurricane evacuation warnings.

Of course, I LOVE IT HERE!

Yesterday on the way, I added two new states to the list of state that I’ve been to: Mississippi and Louisiana.  Today, after checking out the local mall (which is fabulous — better than any Atlanta mall), I took the kids and drove down to the French Quarter to take a steamboat ride up and down the Mississippi River.  The French Quarter was awesome . . . tons of history, interesting people, and beautiful architecture.  Parts of it remind me of Savannah but also reminds me of Nassau.  We didn’t have much time because we had to pick Kimberlie up not long after our boat returned, but I can’t wait to go back tomorrow.

After picking Kimberlie up, we went back to the mall so that the kids could get stuff from the Disney store and make an overpriced bear at the Build-A-Bear factory.  Then we hit Acme Oyster House.  I got the New Orleans sampler: jambalaya, red beans & rice, sausage, mojo potatos and gumbo.  I hadn’t tried any of it before and I’m usually funny about trying new things but all of it was delicious.  These people really know how to eat here!  Before I ordered, I asked the waiter to describe each item.  This would be the equivalent of him going to Georgia and asking what barbebue and bruswick stew is.  He even brought me some free oysters since I had never tasted them either.  They were great as well!

Tomorrow we hit up Storyland, which is a giant playground, and then chill for a while until Kimberlie gets out of class. Then its back to the French Quarter for some more culture!

Monday we plan to tour a cemetery before heading back to boring Macon.  My Day Two post may have to wait until I return home because I’m too frugal to pay this hotel another $13.00 for another day of internet.  I guess I can’t complain since I got the (really nice) hotel for $60 a night.

The past few weeks have been so busy!

We enjoyed our trip to Colorado. While we were gone, temperatures in Macon reached 102 but in Boulder the high was only 75 on the same day. Boulder is the healthiest city in the country and bike and pedestrian trails were everywhere! If only Macon could do something similar.

We travelled to Rocky Mountain National Park — perhaps the most beautiful place that I’ve ever been to. We drove up Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest paved road in the country — 12,000 feet above sea-level. At that altitude — even in June — there was six feet of snow remaining on the ground. The wind was blowing 40 mph and the high temperature for that day and location was 48 — much better than the 102 that Macon was experiencing! Of course, none of us had ever seen six feet of snow, so we stopped for a while to play around in it. As usual I had sandals on and couldn’t really feel my toes after a few seconds but it was a blast!

We also visited Columbine High School and Jon Benet Ramsey’s final home. Morbid? Perhaps, but I won’t digress into the “American history or pop-culture” argument that I had with a co-worker.

When I returned to work the following week, we basically were given a blank check to purchase whatever technology we wanted. You just have to love that end-of-the-year spending! The kids had a week of vacation bible school and then two weeks of swimming lessons. Mackenzie celebrated her third birthday. And I neglected to blog about any of it. I’ll add some photos over the next few days of Colorado, swimming, the birthday, etc.

I’ve also had two freelance web projects in the past few weeks, one of which I’m wrapping up today. After doing web stuff all day for pay, blogging hasn’t really appealed to me.

I’ve also come up with an ingenious hustle. I’ve been making about $100 bucks a month for doing pretty much nothing! This isn’t a work-at-home pyramid scheme, but more of a “Jonathan is outsmarting the system” scheme. Nothing illegal of course, but it certainly falls into the “It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission” category. I may blog more details soon, but I think that if too many people get in on it than there is less reward for me (not that anyone is reading this blog anymore anyway).

Tomorrow we head out again . . . this time to New Orleans, Louisiana. Kimberlie has NDT training at a hospital there and I plan to tag along and explore the city with the kids. That should be interesting considering that New Orleans is not exactly the most kid-friendly place around. I’m sure I’ll have some blogging time while I’m there.

This is only my 8th blog post this month.  Sad.

This month, my blog made $65.23.  That’s $141.68 since this blog began on July 15, 2008.  I’m a loooong way from being a professional blogger.  Thanks to whoever is clicking on my amazon links and purchasing stuff.  Also, thanks to those who are clicking on my adsense links.

I uploaded my final C# project tonight.  I am 1/10 of the way towards another masters degree.

I ran 37.2 miles this month, totaling 458.19 miles since I began running in February 2009.  That’s a pathetic average of 35 miles per month.

Hopefully, that chart will start to look more like an upward curve.  Then again, the summer heat is not a runner’s friend.

This fall, I plan to run 4 10Ks, a 13K, and a half marathon — all in preparation for the 2010 Goofy Race at Disney.

That’s enough math for tonight!

Macon’s Cherry Blossom Festival kicked off about an hour ago, but we’ve already had our fun.  Frugal Jonathan knows a secret.  The Thursday night before the open ceremonies, all of the rides and attractions at the park are open to the sponsors, volunteers, vendors, dignataries and people who know about it like me — for free!  We stopped by last night and rode the rides for free with no wait.  The kids had a blast and I left with the same size wallet as I came with.

Here’s another gallery post that you are all so tired of seeing, but when you have kids and you love photography, you have lots of pictures to show:

Make sure you get out and enjoy the festivities.  This is one of the few weekends that there is actually something to do in Macon!

Six years ago when we got married and moved into this house, we did what was pretty normal at the time: we got a telephone line.  From the time the line was turned on, we were inundated with calls for the P… family.  I’m guessing that they had our number before it was assigned to us.  

My first clue was that Georgia Power wouldn’t let us use our new number to have power turned on for our address, because the number was associated with a delinquent account.  After that, it was credit card companies and even Gillead Christian Academy (a local extremely conservative private school).

Joel and Sonja P… are the main culprits and their son Jonathon gets almost as many calls.  Here is how the conversations for Jonathon would usually go:

Bill collector: “Hello. Is Jonathon there?”
Me: “This is Jonathan.”
Bill collector: “My name is blah blah and I’m calling about the money you owe me blah blah.”
Me: “I’m sorry, you have the wrong number.”

Do you think the bill collectors bought it?  Of course not!  Once they confirm there is a Jonatha/on here, they think I’m changing the story when I tell them they have the wrong number.  So here we are, six years later, still getting harassing calls for the P… family.  

So how am I smarter than the bill collectors and why all of this tonight?  Using my common sense approach to researching on the internet, I’ve found them all.  Joel works (or worked) at the local Honda dealership, Jonathon is currently in the Marine Corps and Sonya (and possibly the others) attends a baptist church that is 1/2 mile from my house.  The latter two are on facebook, along with extended family, cousins, etc.  Why can’t the bill collectors use google?  It certainly would increase their recovery rate.

The number actually forwards to my cell phone now — our land lines are long gone — and when this AT&T contract is up in 2011, the number I’m referring to will be gone as well. 

Now, even though hardly anyone reads this blog, I’m calling these people out.  They deserve it after years of telephone calls and dinner interruptions.  I did hold back a little.  I haven’t published their address here.  They moved into their current house (which they paid $84,000 for) in November 2002, about 5 months before I got stuck with their number.  It’s all about research!