I’m sorry.

Really I am.

I’m sorry for those that are losing their houses.  I’m sorry for those that have lost their job in the past year and are standing in the unemployment line waiting for a check to feed their kids.  I’m sorry for those businesses that have already had to close their doors and those that inevitably will have to shut their’s as well.

Times are hard.

I’m sorry for those that live in West Texas and have seen the benefits of overpriced oil, overly-available jobs and have had the luxury of watching our cities boom.  I’m sorry you have grown accustomed to having money in your pocket at the expense of the nation.  I’m sorry you were taxed so much because you made so much and now the thought of oil coming back down to reality has jeopardized your lifestyle.  I’m sorry your lifestyle has grown accustomed to eating out every meal and drinking yourself into a semi-coma with “clients” or “training in Abu Dhabi” has been cancelled this week.

I’m sorry we had to live through uber-high oil prices, a soaring stock market and pockets being padded to an extent that the average worker locally had very little to worry about… while the rest of America was busy dealing with life and putting food on the table or gas in the car.

I’m sorry things got so comfortable.

I’m sorry that our housing prices have gotten a bit out of hand and that you made 80k off a house you bought 3 years ago.  I’m sorry you put money down to build that house that was priced way out of your league and with the economy bottoming back out your 401k isn’t what it should be.  I’m sorry you have a new mortgage and selling it might mean you being taxed on capital gains.  I’m sorry you have capital gains, losses would be much better I’m certain.

I’m really truly sorry you invested all your time in the oil field, going to school to find the perfect job like your father, your uncle and cousins.  I’m sorry your eggs were forced into an overloaded basket and the thought of a new administration not focused solely on the “drill baby, drill” philosophy will crack a few.  I’m sorry if your eggs are one of the few.  You remember 8 dollar oil barrels and the “suckers” you felt sorry for back then, I feel the same about you too.

I hate to hear your down in the dumps because you can’t get a loan at a whim.  Your credit is bad, your bank is on the verge of selling out and you don’t know if the government will bail them out - I’m sorry.  Sorry that you used all your credit on that new sports car, and that boat and building that new house - based on an income that was blown out of proportion and now you have to figure a way out of it when everything settles back down to reality.

Sorry that your office job where you sit and send funny emails about deer or huge snakes caught out in the field is now possibly downsizing at some point, since oil is down.  Sorry you won’t be making 3 times the normal teacher’s salary to ride around in a company provided truck and “gas up” your jet ski on your way to the lake house on a Friday morning.  Perhaps the worse part being that you will have to go in and do actual work, hate to hear that.

Sorry to those that hate to see equality, hate to see a man of color playing the president in real life… but in movies, that it is perfectly ok.  Sorry that a woman from Kansas and a man from Kenya picked the middle name of Hussein, I’m sure based on their love of Saddam.  I’m sorry that our generation finally has it’s momentous figure to talk about, and its moment that will “live in infamy” - much like you do with your memories of JFK or FDR.  I’m sorry that lady didn’t give up her seat that day years and years ago that even made this possible.  Sorry MLK had that dream… and we haven’t awoken yet.

Sorry for the hope instilled in folks that had nothing to hope for prior.  My apologies for giving young kids a dream of becoming president no matter the color of their skin.  Sorry the civil rights movement is still an ongoing process.  And I’m sorry the American dream is still alive and well.

I’m sorry the line of church & state has blurred so much.  I’m sure our forefathers didn’t really mean that literally.  Sorry our country has become so diverse.  Sorry our country is so great that immigration is now a sour issue.  Sorry we have folks working in the field, taking jobs away from Americans.  Jobs that I’m sure wouldn’t be taken anyhow… but still… accept my apologies for that.  Sorry that America is so promising that people would rather risk persecution just to get a chance to make some money to take home to their not-so well-off country.  Sorry that those Mexican fellows were not at Lowe’s the other weekend and you had to hire out the tile work to a higher bid.  I’m sure it is just a phase and they will be back.  Maybe we are building that fence to high… sorry about that.

Sorry for all the welfare cases.  I’m sure it is just those “abusers” taking advantage of “the system”.  I bet none of them have lost their jobs because of the mess we are in, sure it has to do with them wanting an “easy way out”.  Sorry your tax dollars and social security is going to “support” these “losers”.  Maybe we can get that cleaned up so that we don’t help out anyone in need.  You know… the American way.

So sorry about our occupation of Iraq might be drawing to a close.  I know that hurts your pocket heart.  Sorry we have to cut our losses, and try to end this thing.  We can chalk this one up as a win, because of “the Surge”.  Yeah, that makes it ok.  Sorry to our grandkids that will have to dig out of the deficit created by a war about oil nothing.  Sorry we didn’t find WMD.  I’m sure they were well hidden or they will turn up sooner or later.

I really do apologize to everyone.  I’m sorry about this whole election thing.  Sorry we couldn’t find a better way to satisfy everyone.  Sorry we thought of ourselves, and those less fortunate.  Sorry America needs a revamp, and the only people left to do it is me and you.  Sorry it is going to be so much work, and it is going to take time to fix it all.  I hope we have the will-power.  I know you don’t want to hear this, but we all will have to work together.  And I do mean work.  I know… I’m sorry for that as well.  Sorry we just got a new marketing department for America and you don’t like it all that well.  Once again, maybe its just a phase.

So sorry for those that get left behind.  Those that wait for something else to happen, something else to blame, someone to point a finger at - I’m sorry.  Sorry if your tax rate changes, or you have to work a few more years to ensure a safe retirement.  I truly am sorry for that.

I guess what I am trying to say is…

I’m sorry.

Tags: Make A Difference, Money, Personal, Self Help by James
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I know a few of you were wondering if we were forced out of our house for mere pennies, or did the private Christian school do the right thing.

They did.

It has been super stressfull, too damn busy and overall sucky for the past couple months.  But we made it.  We got what we needed and we will be moving into our new house in November. 

Overall we upgraded.  Our new house has 4 bedrooms (we only had 3), 2 bath, 2 car garage (which we didn’t have before), about 400-500 more square foot, 2 living areas (we only had 1 before), a sunroom (we didn’t have one of these) and its on a cul de sac (we were on a very busy street with all the school traffic).

How’s that for an upgrade?!?!

So now we begin the whole packing, inspecting, appraising, financing, moving… all that crap.  Yay.  My favorite part.

We are getting new carpet put in all the bedrooms and living room of the new house and we are going to redo the living room before doing so.  On top of that, we are going to put up a new fence before we move in as well… so we have some work to do, but we are excited to get on with it.

If there is a moral to this story…

If you work hard enough at something, “it all works out“.

Don’t get me started.

Tags: Money, Personal, Self Help by James
8 Comments »

***UPDATE***

 Just FYI… this has been sold, sorry for those that had interest afterwards.

**************

I know this isn’t BBQ or Garden related… but what the hell right?  This is our website, we can do what we want.

When the Nintendo Wii came out, we stood in line for hours and picked up our Wii that we had preordered and couldn’t be happier.  The first 3-4 months we played the crap out of it and we probably got our money’s worth at that point.

Here we are almost 2 years later (right?  has it been that long?) and we simply do not play it anymore. 

So in an attempt to downsize a few things in our life, get rid of the clutter… we are going to sell it.  Now we planned on doing it on Ebay, however we thought it would be nice of us to offer it here first for a discounted price.  We appreciate everyone that comes to our site, EVERYONE.  We love to read your comments, the help you provide us almost daily and not to mention the great content some of you provide with your own blogs as well.

So here is the deal.

We have the following included in the package…

1 Nintendo Wii System (w/ all the connections/manuals that comes with it normally)

4 Nintendo Wii-motes

4 Nintendo Nunchucks

1 Classic Controller

1 Gamecube Controller (it works with it for Gamecube games)

1 Wireless Guitar (came with Guitar Hero)

1 Mario Kart Steering Wheel (came with Mario Kart)

1 Set of HD Component Cables

Also these games…

Tiger Woods Golf 2007

Wii Play (12 games in one)

Wii Sports (5 games in one)

The Godfather: Blackhand Edition (bought from Gamefly, no case)

Guitar Hero III (wireless guitar included as mentioned above)

Mario Kart

Smarty Pants

Mario Party 8

Havest Moon (for Gamecube - can be played on Wii)

Also…

Super Mario Brothers (downloaded on the virtual console)

Zelda (downloaded on the virtual console)

Not bad eh?  Of course we have the boxes and such for the majority of all the stuff.  Not the controllers, but for the system, Guitar Hero III & the games.  We have probably spent over 1000$ on all of this and could easily sell it on ebay for 600-700… but, we would like to offer it to those of you that visit our site that might want to suprise their kids or perhaps themselves! haha

So we are asking $500 for the entire thing.  If you are local obviously no shipping, but if you are somewhere else - you will have to pay for shipping (that you choose).   So if you are interested or know someone that is… let me know in the comments section or hit up our contact us page and shoot us an email.  I will respond as soon as possible.  It is a first come first serve package… so if for some reason you are not fast enough and someone gets it, I apologize in advance.

Tags: Money, Personal by James
8 Comments »

With tax rebate checks hitting American’s checking accounts and mailboxes this past week (and today), people are wondering what to spend their tax rebate check on.  This is a hard decision; however it can easily be made a bit clearer by eliminating some of those things that you are thinking of spending your tax rebate check on. 

We tried to span these across the ages some - I really doubt that my Mother is wondering if she should buy the latest star wars toy… but she might be planning to gamble her’s away.   So use any that apply to you… pass them on to those that might enjoy it. 

Whatever you do - be sure to spend your tax rebate on something worth while and well thought out.  Here are some suggestions on 4 ways NOT to spend your tax rebate check.

[Read more →]

Tags: Money, Self Help by James
4 Comments »

Simple & Easy Money Saving Tips For Frugal Living - Just A Guy Thing

Need some simple ways to save up some money?  Need to be able to put more in the bank that you are now?  It is simple, follow the tips that Justaguything.com provides in this article to cut costs where it counts, without killing your lifestyle completely.  Rememer, saving should be easy - unless you decide you want to really hit it hard.  Just by cutting a few things in life, you can put more and more money in the bank.

Tags: Link'age, Money by James
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