A Utah Thing That's Cheaper?

I was talking to a buddy yesterday and he asked me what it costs in Utah for auto insurance as opposed to what it costs in Idaho. For us, insurance in Utah is actually cheaper than it was in Idaho. That was a huge surprise for me considering how Utah likes to take as much out of you as they possibly can. For example, it costs three times more to register our vehicle here than in does in Idaho. Apparently, someone in government feels we don't pay enough to drive our cars. Hey, if insurance is the one thing that is cheaper, I'll definitely take it.

Weight Training

My brother in law had me take a look at a ex-UFC fighter to get an idea of what I would need to do as far as weight training goes. Looking at some of these guys, you would think they have been prohormones along with their weight lifting. I'm not looking to buff up my arms or have huge pectorals. I just want to be able to lose enough weight to win the contest at work. No matter what the cost is with winning or losing the contest, I am not going to jeopardize my health for money.

New Opportunity?

The other day I got behind a truck and the usual thing I do is get around the thing. As I'm pulling up along side it, I notice that it is a student driver for a truck driving school. I always thought it would be cool to be a truck driver. To be able to see the country. To just be able to drive and drive and drive. However, I have an uncle who used to be a truck driver. He would be gone for weeks at a time. As a single person, that may be cool. But as a married guy with kids, I think my wife would go insane.

The Pain Of Exercise

I changed my exercise routine about a week ago and it isn't doing me any good. In fact, today I took a jog up and down the street and I couldn't do any more. Apparently, I have shin splints and we don't like each other. I took some pills and I haven't moved around much so I am felling better. Looks like I'm going back to the eliptical machine instead of doing the running. I like that machine better anyway. It has a better angle to the tv in the workout room at work.

Joke Of The Day

I'm so glad I don't have a job where it requires a lot of prescription drugs to get anything done.  I've had jobs in the past where I felt like I needed a few shots just to make it through the day.  At my current job, I don't really need any medications to make it through, although, I do take an aspirin now and again.  In case we get tired, there are soda fountains downstairs.  Ahh, Mountain Dew, how I miss you!!!

Why Does Everything Have Carbs?

My usual routine after coming home from work has changed a bit since starting this new diet. For one, I have to remember to eat ever 2 to 3 hours to keep the metabolism up. Also, I have to look at the label of everything to see how many carbs are in it. Before, I could have cared less about how many carbs were in something. If I could afford it, I bought it and ate it. Now, there is a lot of money on the line and if this is what it takes to get it, then I guess that's how it has to be. I just hope these next 9 weeks go by fast because there are a lot of Snikcer bars calling my name.

Joke Of The Day

The comment was made the other day by one of my work team members that it has become easier to say something bad about someone while in their presence.  For example, say you are talking to someone face to face that you are not really fond of.  Well, thanks to technology, you can use your cell phone to send off bad things about that person, while at the same time talking right to that same person.  Why is it that people skills and common courtesy need to go out the window when technology steps in?  If you can't say (or text) something nice, don't do it at all.

I Want Carbs!!!!!!!!

Part of my new diet is that I can only have 30 carbs or less in a given day. That's not very much. TO give you a little perspective on how little that is in the way of carbs, one Snickers bar has more carbs than I can have in a day. Ya, that's not very many. It also doesn't help when team members buy lunch for everyone and that lunch happens to be pizza. The one thing I love and I can't have it for a while. Then, to make things worse, tonight was pizza night at our house. Again, I'm not allowed to eat it, but everyone else enjoyed it. I really can't wait until the next 9 weeks over. Bring on the carbs once this final half of the weight loss contest is over.

Joke of the Day

So, I have always wondered how acupuncture works. I think it has something to do with nerves and bloodflow or something like that. I just don't understand why people want to stick little needles all over their body, ouch! I wonder who came up with that in the first place and how they figured it out. Did they step on something pokey that suddenly cured their headache and think to associate the poke with the cure? Who knows.

Joke of the Day

My father-in-law once applied for a job and was asked a question about what he would do if he or the company made a mistake. He answered that he would be honest and admit the mistake. Evidently that was the wrong answer. This certain company would prefer people to try to cover up their mistakes so they don't look bad. He did not get the job. It is sad that a company would rather look good than be honest.

Furniture Needed

When we moved here from our home in Pocatello, we moved into a house where the amount of furniture seemed small compared to what it looked like in Pocatello. In fact, we have a whole room that has no furniture in it. We have been talking about getting new furniture for our family room so we can move the current furniture in there into the room with no furniture. We're not talking about adding home theater seating or anything, we just want some comfortable furniture that everyone can use. One final thing, the furniture must be good for napping on.

Plan Your Vacation

I was just mentioning to my wife the other day that we need a vacation. Not so much a vacation from the routine, but just a vacation to relax and get away from everything, including the kids. Now, I know that may not happen very soon for a number of reason (money, new baby, not enough vacation time, etc), but that doesn't mean we can't start planning for one now. Usually what happens is if you plan on doing something on a specific date with specific details, you tend to set aside everything in order to get it done. The first phase of taking a vacation is to plan on where you are going.

A good place to go is Branson, Missouri. If you don't want to worry about putting everything together like hotel arrangements or entertainment ideas, don't worry. If you go to bransongetaways.com, they have packages there all ready to go. They have packages that include a 2day, 3 night stay with gift cards to Red Lobster or Olive Garden, to packages that include a 4 day, 3 night stay that are combined with tickets for shows. They even have family packages as well. In addition to the great food available there, they also have a them park that you can visit called Silver Dollar City that have all the great rides you love. For your next vacation, think seriously about Branson, Missouri. To begin your vacation plans, got to www.bransongetaways.com.

Joke of the Day

There are pros and cons of working on salary as opposed to an hourly wage. The best thing is that you are guaranteed to make a certain amount, but the bad side is that you don't get extra for working overtime. But I don't mind really, salary is great. What this cartoon really reminds me of is Utah construction. It seems that they make sure to take as long as possible to get anything done, probably because they get paid by the hour.

Is It Friday Yet

Is it Friday yet? I don't know what is wrong with me this week. I don't have any motivation do anything. I've been trying to get excited about going to work, cleaning the house, or even mowing the lawn and it's just not working. On top of all of that, I'm exhausted and I feel I can't get enough food. It has truly been an off week. What is really weird is that I honestly though yesterday was Thursday or Friday. I honestly just want one day where I can sleep all day and not have to worry about putting anything off on my do to list.

Joke of the Day

I haven't seen too many instances where this joke holds true, but I know there have to be places out there where it is true. I haven't seen anything in my workplaces where the attractive ones can get away with doing nothing. My work stresses the fact that everyone needs to work and work hard, but still have fun. Those who don't want to put their efforts don't last very long. If there are attractive people in my workplace that have done what the joke states, they must have been replaced by the non-attractive, productive ones.

Blast From The Past

I hate acne. When I was a teenager, I had it much worse than I have it now, but I don't remember it hurting as much as it does now. The reason I say that is the pimples I get now always show up in the worst places. They show up in my ear, in the crevasse between a nose nostril and face, or on the side of the nose or nose nostril. The skin in those areas are already super tight that when you get a pimple there, it hurts just to touch it because of the skin being stretched. Thank heavens they don't show up every day. In high school, I could only dream of the acne I have now.

Free Stuff

I'm not exactly sure how my wife signed up for it, but she is always getting free samples in the mail. They can be anything from dish soap to promotional products. In reality, it is merely a gimick by stores to get in there and buy their stuff and that stuff in particular. I don't care what game they are trying to play, we still get free stuff in the mail. What is really great is even if you don't go and buy the stuff, they still send you free samples.

Need A Picture

It doesn't happen very often, but once in a while, the whole house gets clean. I mean really clean. The kitchen counters are cleaned, the kitchen and bathroom floors are mopped, and the bathrooms are cleaned. What we really need to have during that time is a picture to remember what it looks like. Within a day or two, the house looks like nothing ever happened. Why is it the goal of toddlers to destroy everything that gets cleaned? Is it human nature to mess up what is clean just for the sake of messing it up? It's enough to wonder why we clean the house at all. But when it is clean, thanks mostly to my wife working hard at it, it sure does look great.

Joke of the Day

Have you ever worried that if you do a really good job at something that people will always expect you to do exceptionally well? Of course you want to do a good job to keep your job, but what if everyone begins to expect more and more from you because you do so well? So is it better to always do your best and hope you don't get overloaded, or keep your work slightly below your best and live in mediocrity? Just something to think about.

Joke of the Day

Have you guys with kids ever noticed that as soon as you are talking on the phone the kids suddenly get louder? They need something, they get in a fight, they start screaming for no reason, etc. This is not good when you are on the phone with customer service trying to fix something like the laptop wireless card.

Of course this is a good thing when you are on the phone with someone you don't want to talk to. You have a good excuse to say, "Sorry, my kids really need me, I gotta go" instead of "Can you please stop talking? I don't want to talk to you."

Mondays

I have never been a huge fan of Mondays. I actually don't know anyone who is. I don't want to be an employee who just works for the weekend, but here lately, I want to be on a weekend the whole time. Maybe it's just because the days are getting cooler and shorter and I want to be hibernating more. I'm not sure, but there never seems to be enough time off in relation to how much time you have to be on. If only there was a way to earn money without doing anything by sleeping. There's always welfare, but I was raised better than that.

Can't Catch Up

i have been sleeping horribly the last couple of nights. I'm not sure what it is since I usually sleep like a rock. I stayed home from work today to help the wife take care of one of our kids who was sick through the night and still sick today. In staying home, I also allowed my tired wife to get some much needed sleep. Me on the other hand, still needs to catch up on sleep. I'm exhausted and just want to sleep for a long time. Too bad things like work and life get in the way.

Joke Of The Day

Nothing is more frustrating than working on a project where you know few of the requirements or the requirements change. At my last job, they gave me a project to work on and told me basically what they wanted it to do. I got to work. When I had something basic to present to them, they were shocked. They actually didn't want me to start working on it even though they had this whole big meeting to present the project. Then as the project was nearing completion, they changed the requirements. I'm no expert, but I think it is much harder to change a product right before it goes out, than changing a project in the beginning. For all those executives out there, remember this: requirements are required, not just recommended.

Running Joke

There is a running joke at work that we should update our resumes just before a big release of a product. We have even joke about this when a huge enhancement is about to be undertaken. Now, being in Utah, these resumes aren't San Francisco resumes, but they definitely seem to do the trick. However, I am definitely glad my employer understands that there may be things discovered in the software that could not be discovered in house. Because of that, updating our resumes can stay as a running joke.

To The Lab

These days, there seems to be a home health monitor for anything. There are those meters used to monitor your blood pressure, there are pulse oximeters, and home heart monitors. Pretty soon, at this rate, those who have all those things will be filling their bedrooms with more monitoring equipment and it will look like one of those science labs you see on tv. Maybe they will go mad like the scientist on tv, too.

Weight Loss Update

Okay, time for an update on my weight loss. As of this afternoon, after exercising, I was down 13 pounds!!!. Woohoo, go me. Now, it hasn't been a quick weight loss, but I do feel better about myself. I've basically lost the spare tire I was beginning to carry around and I am half way to my weight loss goal. I attribute the weight loss to not drinking soda as much and eating right and exercising regularly. No magic pill, just the basics. Too bad everyone else in America can't decide to do the same instead of looking for the magic pill. Perhaps we as a nation would not have so many health problems.

Interesting

A few weeks ago, gas prices in Utah were the 3rd highest in the nation. The only states with higher prices were Hawaii and Alaska. Basically, Utah had the highest gas prices in the continental United States. It's pretty sad that the only states with higher gas prices were Alaska and Hawaii since their gas prices are always high. What is interesting is that the prices in Utah were not moving while the rest of the nation saw their prices plummeting. To top it all off, when the governor announced that they were going to investigate why the prices were so high, gas prices dropped immediately. Now, in the last 3 weeks, the prices have dropped by over 40 cents. Why is it that the prices were stuck high forever, then, as soon as the governor announces they are going to see why they are so high, they drop to nearly the national average? Sounds like the stations in the state of Utah were hoping that no one Utah watched the news and would notice their prices were so high.

Joke Of The Day

At my previous employer we had quite a few of our engineers quit in one year, but they wouldn't hire new ones, so the rest of us still had to do all the work. That is definitely not the way to keep employees happy and increase productivity. My new employer is great, when they know they need more workers they hire some more. Simple. Employees work much better when they aren't overworked and stressed, thus increasing productivity.

Joke of the Day

These days it seems as if Google is taking over the Internet. I recently read about a new browser they have come up with called Chrome. It is supposed to be better than IE and Netscape (like that's hard), but unless I try it I am not going to say it's better than Firefox. Basically they made this browser to direct more traffic to their search engine and the ads therein. It's all about the money. Google is like WalMart, slowly taking over the world one new idea at a time.