Each year as Thanksgiving approaches, I can’t help but imagine the Thanksgiving scenes from TV shows. Not necessarily the details of them, but how the get-together is made into a much bigger deal than the usual family dinner together.
This year my dad got a job that had to be done over the holiday weekend, which had him working on Thanksgiving Day. This really didn’t bother me at all, because work is slow, and you pretty much have to take what you can get when you can get it these days until things pick back up some. He made it home in time to eat dinner with everyone though.
The disappointment was how my Grandma decided she wanted to treat the holiday. Sometime on Wednesday, she told my mom that she wouldn’t be coming down to join us; she lives right up the same street as we do. She has been in contact with what is my uncle and his family, or her estranged son, and was invited to go out and eat with them for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day comes, she decided not to go with them but was going to have an evening dinner with them, but also decided she would come down with us as well. But as she normally does, she said she wouldn’t be eating because she had just ate something before she came down. She has done this year after year. I’m almost certain this is due to us having pets, but millions of households have pets, and our house and kitchen is very clean. I love her to death, but I just cannot understand why she insists on doing that.
Billy & Alicia have been renting the same apartment for the last 5 or 6 years and have been happy with it so far. It’s always been a little on the small side for them, but they coped with it and it has worked well, up until a couple of weeks ago. They had their vehicles broken into and numerous tools stolen along with a lot of devices that were in the service vehicle for his work. The police officer recommended that they find another place to move to because the part of town they were living in has just been going downhill as far as calls regarding crime has gone over the past few years, even though this is the first time for them personally being violated.
They were fortunate enough to hear of a nice single family house for rent, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, on a good sized lot in a nice subdivision. We’ve spent this weekend helping them move all of their stuff and get settled into the new place. Billy is very excited about having a 2 car garage, and Alicia is just as excited about being in a place where she will feel safe again when she has to stay alone while Billy is out of town working. I’m just as excited and very happy for them as well! I think they’re going to really enjoy the extra space and the change from living in an apartment building. And it’s like I told Billy on a trip tonight moving some stuff, you may not be buying a house yet, but it’s a step on getting you to where you ultimately want to be.
I usually don’t have any luck at all at winning anything, but today I actually did. I just happened to check my Twitter account after lunch to see what was happening, saw the question posted from Chick-Fil-A, did a little quick math, and low and behold, I won! There must have been some way off answers seeing as how I won with being off a few billion, but I was very surprised to see my name on there.
When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich.
The House bill would impose a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 a year and households making more than $1 million. Source
Maybe I’m in the minority here, and in no way do I fall in this category, or ever will, of earnings, but I just don’t get why everyone thinks the rich should pay for things like this. I hate knowing that the taxes that I already pay are going to be distributed to some people that are just too sorry to get out and make better for themselves. Too set in their way of free handouts to ever want to make something out of their lives. I understand that we need social services. There are people that are born disabled, become disabled, or what have you. They do indeed need help with the cost of living. This is something that cannot be avoided. But there is too much fraud, too much neglect in the systems that we already have, to expand them and make the rich carry the price tag for such. Where does this take the motivation to become successful and rich in America?
A few photos from this set
Right now at work, my health insurance is $12 per paycheck, or $24/month. I don’t know the full details of it, other than it has a $500 deductible, but when I signed up for it my parents said that was an extremely good deal. With the merger that my work is going through, we’re unfortunately going to lose our awesome policy and be forced to go with the company that the other office has been using.
With the change, the deductible is going to be $1000 and the number that is floating around right now is about $150-200/mo for the policy. Since everyone would be seeing a decrease in take-home pay, everyone will receive a raise to cover this initial jump in cost, but any increase each year after that is normally felt in the insurance market would just have to be soaked up by the employee. Not to mention that everyone in our office would be considered out of network, so our coverage wouldn’t be as good or would cost us more if we were to go to the doctor.
I need to buy myself a riding jacket soon. I hate missing out on riding through the cooler months of the year, and I’ve got an old friend that has asked my brother and I to meet up and go riding a couple of times already since it’s cooled off out. I don’t know about brand, size, or anything yet, but I think I’m set on just a solid black full leather one if I can find it. I don’t really want one with bright colors or logos all over it. Just something nice fitting, warm, and best of all, protective.
Dropbox is software that syncs your files online with other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on. Along w/ the sync, is file sharing to people you invite to specific folders or albums, online backup to their servers, and best of all, the ability to undo changes or even undelete files.
I’ve had a Dropbox account for a while now, and really enjoy using it to transfer some of my personal files between my work PC and mine at home. I used to use my flash drive for all of that, but it pretty much stays at home now. Which I actually prefer, because I was always afraid I would end up dropping it somewhere while getting something out of my pocket and not realize it.
The sad thing is the girl’s thoughts are probably exactly in line with this comic as much as mine are at times. This should be a reminder to myself to think more optimistically.
This was Dalton’s newest Starbucks, which was only open for around a year, or maybe even less. Prior to Starbucks building there, there was a Chevron gas station, and if I remember correctly, it sold the location for a very large amount of money. I’m speculating that either McDonald’s (which ironically is pictured in the photo as well) introducing the McCafe, and/or people just deciding that Starbucks coffee just wasn’t worth the price with the economy like it is, contributed to it closing down. It’s a shame that such a nice building, and even nicer location (right off the interstate), will probably sit there vacant for possibly years to come.
People have to face regrets. Becoming mature means learning to accept what you cannot change, facing unresolved sorrows and learning to love life as it really happens, not as you would have it happen. When someone attaches unkindness to criticism, she’s angry. Angry people need to criticize as an outlet for their anger. That’s why you must reject unkind criticism. Unkind criticism is never part of a meaningful critique of you. Its purpose is not to teach or to help, its purpose is to punish. Life isn’t supposed to be an all or nothing battle between misery and bliss. Life isn’t supposed to be a battle at all. And when it comes to happiness, well, sometimes life is just okay, sometimes it’s comfortable, sometimes wonderful, sometimes boring, sometimes unpleasant. When your day’s not perfect, it’s not a failure or a terrible loss. It’s just another day.
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© Copyright 2007-2012 Shane Holden
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