December 24th, 2008 |
Looking Back
Each year, I write a blog reflecting on the main events that occurred over the past year. In keeping with that tradition, here is my update for 2008.
Travel
We went to Las Vegas 6 times this year. One of those trips in May was with Pat & Kelly to celebrate our anniversary. This was the first time that we ever went to Las Vegas with anyone, and it was the first time that Jen and I went without Arianna. During one of the summer trips, we drove to Disneyland in California. For Thanksgiving, we visited our friends Brandon (aka “Brew”) and Jackie in Las Vegas. With all of these trips to Las Vegas this year, we had no time to go anyplace else! We did however go to Seaside Heights, NJ. My grandmother wanted to go, so I rented a wheelchair and the family took them to Seaside for a day. Grandmom loved spending all of that money on those claw machines!
Parties
Well, we broke the tradition of an annual summer party. We all enjoy them a lot, but for several reasons I have decided not to commit to do this any longer. But, we did host a great party for our friends this year! The “Retro Party” which was a costume party themed 1960s/1970s was a success. We held it on our Retro Room and we all had a blast! Of course, we had a birthday party for Arianna and her friends at our house.
Moving to Las Vegas
We decided to give it a shot and wanted to build the house of our dreams in Las Vegas this year. We prepped the house for sale, put it on the market, then the economy tanked even more than I could have imagined. In 2 months, we only had 2 showings. House values have plummeted. Unemployment everywhere. Danger lurks. So we decided to stay put for now. Now I have a house that has no pictures up (we took them down to make the house buyer friendly), an attic full of packed boxes (to reduce clutter), a brand new 4th bathroom (it adds value when selling a house), and the most depressing thing is, the Retro Room is no more… We dismantled it in order to make the room more buyer friendly. We poured a lot of time and money into that room, and now it’s nothing but a memory. But, I have some ideas for a new “themed room” to take its place!
I lost my belly
In May, I started my “Not Diet“. I have lost over 30 pounds and about 5 inches in my waist. I went from over 196 lbs to under 165 lbs. I went from a 36 inch waist to about a 31. Now I don’t weigh myself everyday like I did for the first 6 months, so I can no longer tell you an exact weight. It fluctuates, but I can say that I still have room in my 32 inch waist pants with some extra room! I never could have imagined that I could have lost so much. I weigh about as much as I did when I was a Junior in high school and I feel great!
New Ventures
This year did not involve any real estate or laundromats (thank God!). I did decide to give programming a shot. Freelance programming that is. I did it for about 2 months this year (Sept and Oct) and did rather well I must say. I made good money, but one thing was lacking… Passion. I just don’t have it in me to go full-force. I was able to go full-steam ahead for 2 months, but I learned that it was not my true calling. So, I am not actively taking any jobs now. I may do some programming from time to time, but I think I’m going to keep it on the sidelines. Instead, I have decided to do something else… Something that has always inspired and motivated me… You’ll just have to wait until 2009 to find out!
December 15th, 2008 |
Humor,
Personal
There’s a little joke that I have about myself and I’ll share it with you. When taking to my wife, I jokingly call myself “50 Percent“. I say this because I do (or attempt to do) many things in my life and for one reason or another, I don’t complete them. For example, I love to read, but I usually only finish about half (ummm… or about 50%) of any book that I read. I put mulch around the trees in my front yard… Well… I did about 50% of them.
Instead of referring to these things as only 50% complete, I prefer to think of them as a “work in progress.“ Sure, it may seem unfinished and abandoned… It’s just that I’m taking a really, really long time to get some of this done. And who knows, things constantly change, so while I may stop doing one thing to start another, life is all about changing your course as necessary, isn’t it?
Think of it this way. I’m 50% further than many people because many of them don’t do anything, so I suppose 50% isn’t that bad. And guess what? Some of those 50 percents wind up being 100 percents which means accomplishment. I guess you need to have lots of 50 percents because that’s the only way you can ever have a 100 percent. At least I do…
“Just do it and then talk about it…”
December 4th, 2008 |
Family
So true. I’ve got a real rockstar family! We’re slightly CRAZY, but we have LOTS of fun!!! And people think we’re CRAZY most of the time. Maybe they think that I am crazy and that I drag my family along for the ride, but make no mistake, the other 2 creatures in my tour bus are not just along for the ride. They’re card-carrying members of the original rockstar family.
Let’s start with my kid. Arianna loves Vegas. She loves late nights at Kids Quest. It’s her equivalent of a Vegas night club. She plays hard and loves every minute of it!!! While she is playing, we are tearing up the town! Gotta love this kid! On a Friday or Saturday night, she’ll be out rockin’ until 1am. NO problem, because rockstars can sleep until noon the next day.
Then there’s Mrs. Rockstar – Jen. Without her, there would be no Mr. Rockstar Len!!! We have been rockin’ Vegas for about 6 years now, but that’s not what makes us the rockstar family. We’ve been the rockstar family since the beginning.
We’ve always done most things as a family. We’ve always been spontaneous, and that’s one of the things that makes our family rock. We’re not always as “practical” as most, but practical is boring. We live it up… Some may say it’s in the fast lane, and they may be right… But let me tell you, we have always had a blast as a family and those memories will last a lifetime.
October 31st, 2008 |
Family,
Personal
7 years. But we have lots to be thankful for. I love you Jen.
October 8th, 2008 |
Financial
FDIC is all the buzz these days. With the collapse of the economy, you probably want to move at least some of your money to an FDIC-insured savings account. Here are some of the top-paying banks where you can open a savings account online:
Dollar Savings Direct (Emigrant Bank) Type: Savings Yield: 3.75%
Flagstar Bank Type: Money Market Yield: 3.65%
Nationwide Bank Type: Money Market Yield: 3.52%
HSBC Direct Type: Savings Yield: 3.25%
ING Direct Type: Savings Yield: 3.00%
More banks and info at bankrate.com.
Now this is not going to make you rich, but the returns are much better than your local bank. It’s all about capital preservation now. You may as well take advantage of these high-yield paying banks. If you don’t need the money in the short-term, you can get CDs for a variety of lengths. They are generally paying up to 1% more than the savings and money market funds.
I chose Nationwide Bank because I have used their mortgage company and insurance company several times. Plus they had good reviews. I also opened an HSBC Direct account but I haven’t funded it yet.
The FDIC now insures up to $250,000 per depositer per bank up until December 2009. This now includes money market funds sold by member banks. View the press release on the FDIC’s website.