Fashion For The Day

I wanted to make this blog more interesting so Nancy told me about another blog with a huge readership that I should look into. It seams that each day the blogger told her readers exactly what she was going to wear for the day and they were looking at it every morning for tips. Well, I can do that too if you are interested so here goes.

Since I will be spending the day home my main concern is comfort. An old T-shirt with V neck is less constraining and the holes allow proper ventilation. This is topped off with a cotton shirt with long sleeves so I wont get cold when I go out for the newspaper. I have always loved this shirt as my 1987 drivers license picture will testify to.

Clean underwear is crucial of course. Mom always told me to put on clean underwear so she wouldn’t be embarrassed if I was killed in an accident. I had told her that if I saw the accident coming the underwear wouldn’t be clean any more but that didn’t seam to bother her. Can you picture the scene? A mangled corps lying on the stainless steel table, the officer telling my Mom “we found him this way, liquored up, still in the arms of two prostitutes, fragments of a small mirror on his lap covered in some white substance.” Then Mom would say “was his underwear clean?” And after the policeman said yes Mom would say “I’m so proud.”

We Give Thanks for YOU at the NMSS National Capital Chapter.mpg

I’m a big supporter of the quest to end Multiple Sclerosis in our lifetime and will tell you more about it later. I had to share this little video with you though for Thanksgiving. These are just some of the great people working in the DC area to make life better for those with the disease and their family members.

If you want some more information or wish to join us, just click HERE.

 

Catholic Education and Car Accidents

No, I’m not saying that education in a Catholic school, or any religious school, is a traffic accident.  I’m just using a theory I learned in elementary school to every day life.  The Nuns drilled into our heads that we should avoid the “near occasion of sin” because this could lead to sin and subsequently pain in Purgatory.  So why not avoid the near occasion of an accident which can lead to pain, death, or at least a drain on your bank account.

In plain language don’t drive in the Left lane at a speed slower than prevailing traffic.  Most of the time you are just going to piss off everybody else and receive the one finger salute or get cut off by those who are delayed when they pass you.  On other occasions you may join the 2% of all accidents and 10.1% of fatalities.  Those are the statistics on head-on collisions.

You may be in perfect shape, not distracted by cell phones or lighting a cigarette, perfectly sober, and with 20/10 eyesight, but what about the person in the Left lane going the other direction.  You don’t know who they are or what their condition is but you do know that you are closer to them than you would be in the Right lane.  If that other driver is distracted, has a heart attack, or is drunk, you could be one of about 10,000 people who die in head-on crashes each year in the U.S.  Why risk it?

Some people believe they are going to single handedly slow everyone down.  First, that isn’t going to happen.  Second, the U.S. Department of Transportation says that going faster or slower than the average speed both increases your chance of an accident.   If you believe the speed is too high, or you just aren’t in a hurry, take another rout. 

And this applies to highways and city streets.  Sure, at 25 mph you probably wont die but you have a great chance of an unscheduled visit with your insurance company and mechanic.  You could also end up in court and paying for the other driver.  It is called “contributory negligence”.

So listen to the Nuns and avoid the “near occasion of” collision.  Your goal in a car is to get from one place to another.  If you want the speeds changed then call your state official.

Get the car you always wanted

Most financial advisors will say that at retirement you should cut down to one car.  This will save money on gasoline, insurance, and repairs while at the same time reducing unnecessary travel.  They, or your friends and family, will probably add that you need a practical, medium sized, “comfortable”, used vehicle to reduce the price, and pay cash.  I say they are wrong.  One car means you are going to stay home, an “age appropriate” car advertises impending senility, and paying cash implies you believe you will probably die before the loan is paid.  Wrong attitude. 

My Wife Nancy and I had two cars, a 15 year old Saturn and a 5 year old Jeep Liberty.  The Saturn had 250,000 miles, burned oil, was showing wear and needed repairs.  We began to look at Fords, Chryslers, Pontiacs, and other low priced “comfortable” cars as a replacement.  Each time we took a test ride we always said the same thing, remember the 59’ Thunder Bird when I was younger, it was a great car.  After several trips to many lots it dawned on us that there was no reason to stop enjoying ourselves.  We both had always wanted a stick-shift sports car.  All those years of trying to be practical, watching our money, and buying transportation had resulted in memories of only the cars from our youth.  Thousands and thousands of dollars for cars that just got us from one place to another, and the only things we could remember were getting passed by better cars and breaking down at the wrong time.  Now we were going to get a “comfortable” car?  Why?  In April we traded the Saturn in on a 1998 BMW Z3, convertible with a 5 speed manual transmission.

The Z3 only cost us about $10,000 which is a lot less than we thought we would pay and it gets about 30 miles to the gallon.  On weekends when we should be weeding the garden and watering the plants we are driving around the countryside, with the top down, going to vineyards, outside restaurants, the beach, and events we normally would have passed up.  Within a month we both felt 5 years younger and were having a fantastic time.

What I am saying is, don’t settle.  If you want a big Buick, get one, but don’t get it because it matches your age.  You didn’t get the sports car when you were younger because you had to cart your kids around or carry stuff for work.  Want to take the Grandchildren out, use their parent’s car.  The parents will be more than happy to drive yours.

In closing just remember the words of John Mortimer “There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward.”

Makes Sense (and Dollars) on Road Toll Taxes

Many states have lowered highway costs by replacing numerous electronic equipment and human toll takers with electronic passes such as EZ-Pass. The incentive to us for using the passes is staying out of maddening long lines and not having to carry change. What is confusing to me is that most of these States now charge us a monthly fee to use something that saves them money.

They don’t need to purchase or maintain credit card machines, coin accepting machines, coin sorters, phone lines, vehicle stopping mechanisms, or personnel at each toll booth, administrative and supervisory personnel, equipment and facilities at each toll location, much of the equipment and personnel at a central location or all that cash on hand needed to make change. They don’t even pay for the pass, we do, either as a purchase or a one-time rental fee. So why should we pay a monthly fee varying from 75 cents ($9 annually) to $2 ($24 annually)? Well we don’t.

I was driving through Illinois and stopped at a plaza for coffee. I found a booth there for anyone who wanted an I-Pass which is good in about 14 States (all EZ-Pass States included). A $10 one-time lease for the electronic pass, $40 to pre-pay tolls, credit card number, some personal info, and I was off. No fee, I can check my usage on-line, they charge my Discover Card when my balance is low (and Discover credits me for the purchase), and the devise attaches to my windshield and is easily removable. I also found out that I didn’t have to go to Illinois to get an I-Pass, I could do it on-line from anywhere at https://www.getipass.com/ipass/OrderSelectAccountType.jsp.

So, why be stuck in long lines, wasting gas and chafing your patience, or pay monthly or annual fees (taxes) no matter how much? Even if you are only on a toll road once a year, this makes sense, and dollars.

Lebron James "Rise" Commercial & Cleveland's Response

I read that the Dallas Morning News reported LeBron James was very upset with his Dallas Cowboys Sunday and, through his twitter, called them the worst team ever. “Never thought I’d say this about my Cowboys but they are officially the worst team in the NFL right now even though the Bills are Winless!”

I don’t know LeBron, maybe Chris Bosh convinced them to turn their backs on Texas also and go to Miami. You know how that goes, right?

Clocks and stuff

First, if you were early for work Monday let me tell you something, the rest of us turned our clocks back on Saturday night. If you did turn your clock back but still felt you missed something, it was the batteries. Every time we change our clocks we should also change the batteries in our smoke alarms.

Stay safe.

I Hate Chai Tea

Yahoo and Michael Calderone reported that the U. S. and India had an agreement to allow 8 U.S. reporters into the Hyderabad House to cover talks between President Obama and Prime Minister Singh. At the last minute India reneged and would only allow 5 reporters. Our Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, stood up for the American reporters and threatened to pull the President out of the meeting if India did not abide by their own agreement. From the pictures it looks like they even tried to bar Gibbs from entering. Gibbs got them to back off and the American reporters were allowed in. Way to go Gibber, don’t let anyone disrespect the United States.

Something disturbing about the story though were the posts readers made on the Yahoo site. I can not believe the idiots who attacked Gibbs and the President over this. Don’t they realize that Obama is our President regardless of who they voted for? Don’t they realize that this was a total disrespect to our country? Come on people, politics only goes so far. Stop being political and start being Americans like those signs you carry say you are. You are a bigger insult to the flag than what India did.