Watching TV on a budget

As I've stated before my family and I have been doing everything we can to reduce spending in our household and save. The reducing spending part has been going really well, while on the other hand the part about saving still seems to allude us. I'm not quite sure how that works, I've looked over the numbers more times than I care to count and I've even had my nifty pirated (well, it's not quite pirated, just really out of date and my brother gave it to me) make all sorts of graphs in order to try and figure out how we are cutting our bills but still don't seem to have any money available to save. I think it is one of those little things that people like Alan Greenspan couldn't even figure out.

Anyway, we quit the cable/satellite companies a long time ago. I don't care what people say in church but it took some getting used to for me and overall I still miss the options and the movies. Nevertheless, not to be a man that doesn't do his best to get his way, I've swaryed into a realm that allows me to enjoy a little TV without having to pay for it, legally.

The Internet: NBC, FOX, ABC are the big guys for the shows I watch, and all of them have their big shows online. The quality isn't as good, and you need a high speed connection (We're trying to be cheap, but I've stood firm on having a high-speed connection) but you only get one 30sec commercial every 10 minutes or more. I'm still able to watch my favorite shows without the hassle of getting my rabbit ears calibrated, my VCR set (I still can't believe I still own one of these things) and not letting any of the kids touch the TV until after the recording. Some cable stations put their shows online but since I'm not as up-to-date on what is on the cable channels I don't go looking for them. Except The Middleman.

PBS: Say what you want about PBS but since it's the channel that comes in the clearest on my TV it's what I watch most of the time. Most of the day their programming is children's programming and it's educational. Most of these shows are mildly entertaining but since I took a stroll around Saturday morning brainwashing I've come to the conclusion that PBS kid's programming is superior. I can't even begin to tell you the loss of intelligence I suffered after watching five minutes of Yu-Gi-Ho, "I do this and now I will win," "Oh, now I will place this card that does -long boring explanation- now you will die" "-inner monologue- Oh, how can I out do that card with just -piece of crap-" Never before have I wanted a group of cannibals to come storming into my house more than at that moment. Anyway don't disregard PBS, especially when you have few other options.

I will go over some of my favorite shows another day.

A Return to Edumacation.

As my family grows (two-adults, two-kids and a dog) my wife and I are constantly looking toward the future and wondering how it is all going to work out. As of now I have a good job with good benefits and is overall pretty stable. The only drawback is all the government crap that goes along with it, but what won't we do to protect our families from crisis and financial trouble? Either way I got my associates degree some years ago and up till now it's been little more than a very expensive piece to a collection of junk on my dresser.

Nevertheless, for years my wife has been bugging me to go back to school. It's been hard with the good job and all. To be perfectly honest I've never been a big fan of schooling since most of the time it's learning stuff you don't really have any interest in, but this year, well, next year I am going back to school. I've got all my paperwork done and I've spent a very unenlightening hour with a academic counselor. I just hope that I get all my classes and that I can turn a blind eye to the amount of student loans I'm going to be getting.

Then there is that whole problem with the parking. Just gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

A couple of frustrations

There are a lot of things that set me off. Over the years I can safely say that this list has gone down but still there are a couple of things that really get my garments in a bunch.

Stay on Task!
I recently took a calling to teach the 4-6 year-olds in primary. I did it back when I first got home off my mission so I felt that I could certainly do it again. My big problem is with the Primary presidency. First, if you have any announcements for the teachers you can do it over the podium and the beginning of primary. Second, once sharing time starts you and all your councilors are doing a certain job. You don't go off to do other things or talk with other teachers. You can take care of business before or after church, sharing time is about the kids, give them the attention they deserve. Third, if there aren't enough teachers to keep the kids calm, then get more teachers. I shouldn't be the only adult during sharing time trying to keep the kids in their seats and paying some kind of attention. Forth, if I'm teaching a class then you should wait until after if you need to tell me something. There is no reason to interrupt my class to tell me to prepare a game for the Halloween party.

Just like Banker's hours, just shorter.
So I've been preparing myself to go back to college this next year and as I do so I've been trying to find out what classes I should be taking. So I got an e-mail informing me of the academic counseling and that I could call from 8-5 so I called at 4:00pm. Turns out all the councilors leave a little earlier than 4:00pm. At least they still had a secretary to tell everyone that they don't work their whole shift.

Good Boys, Good Boys what you gonna do?
So we got a dog a couple of months ago and overall he's been great. The one problem is that when we leave him home he barks to almost no end. We got a complaint from a neighbor so we started to tie him up in the garage when we leave. Well, the other day we left the garage door open. When we came back two hours later we found the animal control officers leaving a nasty-gram (ie. your pre-citation) the cop was very obtuse about the whole thing and as cops usually are very arrogant. Suffice it to say that I've never had a good relationship with cops. I've always been on the good side of the law, but when they pass sixteen-year-olds out past curfew to grab a guy heading home on his bike after midnight then I start wondering about their intentions. They've even pulled me over for not stopping behind the white line at a stop sign, hey I usually do it but this one is set way to far back. Nevertheless, there is a house not a block away that everyone knows is a drug house and the cops are hanging around my house to give me a citation for a dog that was barking for no more than two hours and doesn't do it hardly at all.

The Scream Asylum

I can't say that I am a connoisseur of spook alleys but I can say that I've been to a couple. I don't spook very easily, in fact in all of the haunted houses I've ever been in not one has really gotten me spooked. Except for that one I went to as a kid and that a guy actually hung himself and no one noticed until they were closing that evening. But that more spooked me when I read about it the next day. My favorite one was the one in Provo that was a fund raiser for the Mental Hospital, I stood in line for almost two-hours to get in and it sure was a lot of fun. It's a shame they closed that one down.

Anyway, my wife and I had the rare opportunity to have a date night, so I thought it would be fun to take her to one of these haunted houses, especially since she has never gone into one. She thought that it was going to be hokey and tawdry, but I insisted that The Scream Asylum has sounded like it could be pretty decent. She took my word for it. I really had no idea, I had heard the commercials and seen the signs, but you can't ever trust them.

When we got to the The Scream Asylum it was in an old warehouse in downtown Provo. Their address says they are 600 South University Ave. but I'd say they are more 600 South 97 West, almost beneath the overpass that goes over the train tracks. They have a part that uses 3D colors and you are provided with 3D glasses once you pay your entrance fee ($15 regularly, $13 if you bring a coupon that can be printed from their website). The price was a little on the high side for me but I wanted to give it a chance. They certainly did not disappoint. My wife was freaked out almost right from the start to the very end. All of the players seemed really into it and most if not all were very intimidating in their presentations. We went on a slow night so the actors were available to follow us around which made for some very entertaining screams from my wife, who spent most of her time screaming, hiding and cowering (afterwords she confided that she almost peed her pants, twice). At one point they scared my wife so much that she grabbed onto another client and almost scaled her to escape from some of the actors, I was forced to pull my wife away from the woman, which only worked to scare my wife even more since she thought it was one of the actors that was trying to pull her away.

Overall I would certainly give The Scream Asylum, 3 1/2 of four stars. My only problem was that it didn't really scare me but certainly made me feel uncomfortable. Which is more than the other houses I have been at.

A big thank to all of the actors there for making a very entertaining evening for my wife and I.

The only consistent feature in all your unsatisfying relationships

One of my favorite demotivators is one called Dysfunction. It says The Only Consistent Feature In All Your Unsatisfying Relationships Is You.


Today of all days is way I feel. My worst fear for my kids is that they end up as friendless as I am, as I have been and probably as I will remain. Now this isn't for lack of trying, I have a very acute distaste for social gatherings but I have spent a good part of my life going to them despite how I feel and I make the decision to have a good time. More often then not I do have a good time, but as always, if offered the opportunity not to go to a social function I will always choose not to go.

In high school I had a number of friends but once you break that High School barrier then something happens. People move on. Only two of my friends have remained friends from graduation through the mission and partly through marriage. When kids start to come into the mix then things get even a little more strained, especially if your friends don't have any kids.

Nevertheless, over time I've been left with one friend of which I only see every couple of months. All of our other attempts to cultivate new friendships have usually led to very little if anything at all. The last couple that we got along well with just vanished from one day to the next, we tried to maintain contact but it felt kind of one-sided. We kind of understood it because they had moved to another town, but recently they moved back to town and never contacted us. I feel like the hint is that they don't really want to have much to do with us, my wife feels the same way.

So here we are pondering on what it is that makes us so unlikable. My wife says that it's not us, but I think otherwise. Heck you have to have something wrong with you when you've been in a ward for over 4-years and they've never asked you to talk in sacrament once!

Then there is that little thing about how I can't even seem to be able to get my family to read my blog, but that's a whining session for another day.

It's so much fun bieng a Dog owner

If you've spent anytime looking at those wonderful pictures that I have on my little slide show then you know that I have a dog.  There is one primary reason we own a dog and that is because my wife loves dogs.  She grew up with dogs and some of her fondest memories of her childhood have to do with her dogs.

We had a dog once before but she ran away.  We believe that she was stolen, but we don't have any good evidence so we are just going to say that she ran away.  Anyway, it's been a few years since we've had a dog and I finally gave in, again, to have a dog.

The best part about having a dog is the house training.  I can never get sarcasm to come out the way I want it to when I write it down.  Nevertheless, it took a couple of weeks but our little Shelby is house trained and only has accidents when we don't pick up on the signs he wants to go out.

Well, yesterday since it was my day off my wife and I stayed up late and watched a movie. ("Hitman" to be exact, not a bad filc, but not for the faint of heart and not to be watched more than once.)  Once the movie was over we went to our bed where our daughter has taken up residence ever since our son was born and also where Shelby sleeps.  My wife crawled over my daughter and left the opposite side of the bed for me.  Once I walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down I came to the very sudden and horrible realization that our dog had vomited in the bed.  I immediately shuffled off to the shower leaving my wife to clean up the mess.  Sitting in dog vomit I think excuses one from having to clean it up.

The Funk

Every little once and a while everyone, at least I believe everyone, falls into a funk.  My wife had it last week, and still kinda has it.  This week I've got it, bad.  Often I will try and do something I've been putting off in order to get a feeling of accomplishment, the idea is that the feeling of accomplishment will overcome my feelings of uselessness, worthlessness and all those other icky feelings.  Most of the time it works but this week it doesn't seem to be working.

It's not depression pre se, it's just an overall feeling of apathy.  I should go out and try to do something else I've been putting off.  I can think of at least two more things I've been putting off.  Either way this mini-depression is no fun whatsoever.

Even some of my favorite readings aren't as interesting as they usually are.