CostcoWarrior

TW’s boss emailed me asking for his help in a super secret undercover operation.  At their engineering group’s annual Christmas party, they were going to highlight a few of their team members–TW was one of those few chosen.  Would I be willing to help him out and tell him things about TW that the team didn’t know, so they could get to know TW better?  And would I keep it a secret from TW?

Of course I would!….but that “keep it a secret” part lasted only 5 seconds.  I called TW right away and teased him about all the things I was going to tell his co-workers.  :)  I’m much nicer to him in the spotlight…

     TW is the official “shopper” in our family.  He loves to find a good deal, and he’s an expert at it.  Whether it’s for kitchen gadgets, roofing supplies, computer parts, professional tile-layers, electronics, or even that car we are NOT shopping for—TW tracks down amazing deals on anything—daily.  This is probably why his wish list changes hourly.  If you need a deal on something, hire TW to find it for you and you’ll still save money in the end.

     One time, TW’s “deal radar” found a sale at Costco on long-lasting compact fluorescent light bulbs—something crazy, like 50 cents per bulb.  I wasn’t with him that time.  Now we own a lifetime supply of long-lasting compact fluorescent light bulbs in multiple shapes and sizes.

     One reason TW is so good at finding deals, is because Google likes TW more than any other person I know.  Any normal person wanting to find information on, say, how to build a bridge, would type in a Google search and come up with links to architecture and engineering documents.  It took me 5 different searches to find the same link TW got: “How to Burn Bridges with People Symbolically.”

     TW isn’t the kind of person anyone wants to burn bridges with, though.  He’s kind and compassionate and confident.  He’s been taught to be generous, and he’s willing to give time and resources to all people in need.  TW is the perfect kind of perfectionist—eager to work tirelessly on the smallest details, but able to wrap it all up without agonizing over every possible mistake.  He recognizes the value of good humor, yet tempers a laugh with sincere praise for all those around him.  All these things make him a remarkable asset for any team—both personally and professionally.

CostcoWarrior schedules have been super tight these last few months with full-time school and full-time work.  Evenings are crammed full of classes and homework and projects and reading–it’s hard to keep up on the ordinary tasks of living, let alone fit in time to fulfill personal goals like losing weight or finishing craft projects that have been lying around for years…

So.  What about eating?  We are on a strict budget, and can’t eat out every day.  That would also be SO counterproductive to the aforementioned weight loss goals.  Instead, we have refined the interim “prepared food” plan:

After testing a number of sandwich flavors and combinations, we nailed down the two best options:  PB&J and Turkey&Cheese.

On the weekend we buy 2 loaves of bread, 2 lbs of lunch meat, and we splurge for the pre-sliced non-processed cheese.

We spend 1 hour at the kitchen table–one person busting out the Turkey&Cheese combos, and one person stacking up the PB&J.  We sandwich until the bread is gone.  Then we bag and label:

And finally: Freeze.

Now…hold the judgment for a minute.  We were skeptical too.  But we gave it a try thinking “what’s the real harm?”  And we love it.

We spend all evening on our work and get to bed late.  The next morning we’re usually in a big hurry to get out the door–and we love that it takes 2 seconds to grab a lunch.  At work they thaw pretty quickly just in the lunch bag, so by lunch they’re perfect–no taste difference at all.

As mentioned, this is one of the interim solutions to our menu/time/money struggles.  And while some day we may have more time to actually prepare dinners and lunchs every evening, in the meantime we’re loving the frozen program.

So this last weekend I found two really amazing book-lover websites and I’m totally hooked.  Not only are these cool sites–THEY’RE FREE–which totally pleases my super tightwad, budgeting soul.

For the reader who is always wishing for more time and bemoaning the busy-life that makes it hard to curl up in a blanket with a good book:
www.dailylit.com

For the reader who never has enough money to buy any/every book they desire; and for the reader (or spouse of the reader) who wants to clean house a bit. Swap out the old for the new!
www.paperbackswap.com

Today we showed this picture to our sunday school class of 5 year olds:

We asked a bunch of questions, trying to get the children to focus on the picture and understand the event it depicted.  We asked “What is Jesus in?” expecting answers like “clouds” or “the sky” or “heaven”.  What we didn’t expect was the excited answer of one of the little girls: “Jesus is wearing a fairy costume!”

So the school thing is fun and interesting and generally a good thing…

When is it not such a fun, interesting, or generally good thing???

When you have to stay up on all of your day-to-day homework AND

When you have a 20 page first draft paper due in 3 days  AND

When you have a 10 page final draft paper due 5 days AND

When you have a 20 page final draft paper due in 9 days AND

When you have a class powerpoint presentation due in 10 days AND

When you have an online ALL ESSAYS final due in 12 days AND

When you have an in class ALL ESSAYS final due in 17 days.

It’s crunch time, folks, crazy crazy crunch time…

For all those who remember what school-life was like, please have pity!

During the holidays a group of family and friends get together for a crazy night of computer gaming.  The latest session was held on Black Friday. We met at MostYellow’s house, to take advantage of their newly finished basement. During the first few hours of playing everything was working fine. During the pizza break a couple people showed up and started up their PCs. As soon as they powered up the circuit flipped.  Apparently running 8 gaming computers on one breaker isn’t a good idea.  So we ran an extension cord to power up the 2 additional computers.  After a few hours of gaming we noticed one of the cords, that was powering 5 computers, was HOT to the touch.  Rather than shutdown the computers we opened the window and ran the cord outside to cool it down.

We had a great LAN party playing Far Cry 2 and Call of Duty 4.  The evening was a success and we were able to leave without a trace, except maybe a slightly higher power bill. 

——- UPDATE ——-

I was a little distracted while writing the original post, so I added some clarification.

As a sidenote here is an approximation on the cost of powering all the PCs for a 12-hour game day:

8 computers @ 400 Watts (avg) = 3,200 Watts (3.2kW)

3.2 (kW) x 12 (hours) x 0.07 ($/kWh) = $2.69

If you ask me that is a great value, when you consider the $/fun ratio!

So my blog stats are down.  Can’t say I am allowed to be too depressed about it, because it’s my own dang fault.  I wonder if I’m holding back on the posting side so I don’t get as addicted to blogging as I was the first time around?  Maybe I just need to get over it.

This last week I’ve been sicker than sick.  Sicker than a dog, except we don’t have one.  So I guess that makes me sicker than our neighbor’s dog that incidentally barks at anything and everything and is so big I think it’s going to crash through the fence one day.  Meanwhile, back on my sickie-chickie ranch, if what I have the is precursor to this season’s cold/flu virus, may God bless you all with mercy.  It’s been horrible! Sore throat, cough, headache, muscle aches all over, ear aches, sinus pressure, no appetite, trouble sleeping, and the list could go on, but it would start to disgust you.  I sat through work on Tuesday completely dazed.  I missed work completely Wednesday and Thursday. I have spent the entire weekend in bed and still wonder if I’m going to make it out of here tomorrow for work.  Let’s just say, last night I sneezed, and it was so painful that I wasn’t sure it hadn’t turned my body completely inside out.

Yesterday TW worked with Jose’ to install some fancy schmanzy remote controlled light dimmer switches.  Jose’s roommate Chad took on the role of supervisor since he had “been known to have done some electrical work in his day”.  Never mind that he was still in his red fleece pajamas.  I was worried they were all going to kill themselves on current.  But the roommate “supervisor” assured me that getting shocked isn’t that bad–just a bit of a wake up call.  Hmmm…Like a wake up call on the other side of the veil.  But in the end the lights came back on and no one was dead.  Chad was super pleased, although I don’t think he touched any tools himself.

We had our first MBA class the other night.  We really like our teacher.  He’s well educated and very animated.  At one point in the lesson he was coming up with an example and he asked if anyone played an instrument.  I raised my hand and a guy behind me raised his hand.  We both played the piano.  Then the teacher wanted to know which of us played better. Neither one of us wanted to admit that, but TW saved me so graciously by piping up with: “I bet the other guy is better.  Let’s just put it this way: We OWN a piano and I’ve never heard my wife play.”  Um.  That’s not true.  But that didn’t stop the entire class from rolling on the ground laughing.  It’s a good thing I have a sense of humor.

Well…I’m taking my sick body back to bed now.  Until next time…if I live trough this.

This afternoon WarriorWife and I took a trip to the local thrift store for some cheap workout clothes. While in the checkout line I over heard a young teenage girl say to her sister, “Don’t touch me! I’m sterile.” After which the older sister burst out in laughter and their mother sank behind the shopping cart in embarrassment. After regaining composure the older sister said to the teenage sister, “Do you even know what that means?!” To which she replied, “Yes! It means I’m clean. Really clean.”

So now I ask you. Define sterile.

TW

Since WarriorWife and I have been living at our house we’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the out-of-control flower beds. Back in June we started pulling, digging, and lifting. Then we leveled the dirt, made it pretty and let it sit… and grow a weed garden!

After a few months WarriorWife decided that weeds weren’t her flower of choice, so she put her work pants on and started re-pulling, re-digging and re-leveling. With her determination, and the help of me and “Jose”, we wrapped up the whole project in 1 week. We all love the finished result, and now we just wish we had gotten it done months before. But I guess it’s like they always say, “Best things come to those who wait.”

Here’s a little peek at the finished results:

an email The Warrior wrote to his family today:

Dear Family,

Since I can’t remember who we have and haven’t told I thought a mass email would be a perfect way to make this announcement.

WarriorWife and I are going back to school (for MBA degrees–one each).  We will be attending the DeVry University at the Jordan Commons, and NO class will NOT be in the movie theaters nearby.  We start school in 3 weeks and should graduate April 2010.  We planned a small school break during Summer 2009, so we can attend our family vacations.

WarriorWife is super excited about going back-to-school.  I’m not sure if it is because she loves reading, and this is the perfect excuse.  OR if she just wants to prove she is smarter than me (something all of us already know!).

As for me… It’s not quite as exciting as it was when I got to go back-to-school to show off my fancy new shoes, pants, shirts, and see old friends.  Although I’m glad WarriorWife will be there with me.  I think it will be something that we can look back on with fond memories.  And I know I will be glad I did it, no matter how daunting the task may seem.

Love,

TW and WW