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I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself
is life worth living should I blast myself?
We gotta start makin' changes
learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers
and that's how it's supposed to be
Video Here Changes Video
My wife and older daughter are members of National Charity League Info Here. The mission of the National Charity League is to foster mother-daughter relationships in a philanthropic organization committed to community service, leadership development and cultural experiences.
It has been a great bonding experience and has taught our older daughter the importance of giving back which she now does via community service on a weekly basis. In addition it is a great bonding experience for the moms and daughters in the organization and forms great relationships and connections for them.
I have nothing to do with National Charity League as it is a mother daughter thing but this week I am the beneficiary of having a wife and daughter involved. As a follow up to Jenny's back surgery last week the National Charity League has organized for their members to bring us dinner every night since she returned from the hospital last Friday through next week. Don't tell my wife this but I am eating better now more than ever ;-) thanks to the National Charity League.
My younger daughter has a pet hamster named Teddy Sweetems. For those of you whose kids have had pet hamsters you know the drill. On Tues eve Teddy Sweetems escaped from the cage and crawled into a small space via a hole in the base board, where it meets the cabinet, in the laundry room. We know this because our dogs helped us sniff her out (the dogs love her and sniff and cry with joy when she is near).
We first tried to coax her out with "Monkey Chow" ( a hamster favorite ) and carrots. While we were out of the room she came out, took the goods and went back into the wall. Then I had a really good really bad idea. What if we fog her out of the wall. Yes I know now how stupid this sounds NOW.
Se we took our fog machine (not addressing in this post why we have a fog machine) and fangled a tube out of a big piece of paper. We placed the end of the tube in the hole at the base board and waited for the fog machine to warm up. The thought FWIW was that the fog would be annoying enough to Teddy Sweetems that she would come running out of the hole.
The green light came on indicating the fog machine was ready to do its thing and we counted down from 10 and I pressed and held the button. Within about 10 seconds fog was oozing out of the walls and the seams where the cabinets meet with walls and my daughter freaked out yelling, "your killing her your killing her" and we cut off the fog machine. We sat and stared for the next few minutes as the fog continued to ooze out from many places and no Teddy Sweetems appeared.
At this point I realized just how stupid my idea was and I asked my daughter to leave the room so I could find Teddy. I spent the next 30 minutes cutting a big hole through the side of the solid wood cabinet so I could see if I could find Teddy. With hole cut I looked in and could not see Teddy anywhere and feared the worst.
I placed to carrots through the hole in the wall hoping that Teddy was still alive and would come eat the carrots. I am happy to report a few hours later the carrots were gone, so we did not kill her with the fog machine. I am sad to report she is still in the wall at this time. We continue to put food and water there to keep her alive until we find a way to get her out of the wall.
Continue reading "Fog Machine-I'm really glad I didnt kill my daughters hamster" »
Last week we made a big car shift. We traded in a 12 Cylinder 2001 Mercedes CL600 for a 2008 Prius. The original cost on the CL was north of $100k and it has lost so much of its value it was pretty much a straight swap for the Prius which is priced in the mid to high 20's.
The CL600 was beautiful but with 12 cylinders what a gas hog. I would say it averaged something less than 10 mpg. The Prius is actually a joy to drive. We got the touring model which comes with many high end features such as a navigation system, backup camera, keyless go, Bluetooth support etc etc. All in all it is a lot of car for the price and with only 4 cylinders and its hybrid technology it gets about 45 m.p.g which is more than 4x what the Mercedes was getting. Do they make spinners for 17" wheels???
This weekend was one of those perfect LA weekends. The weather was about 75 degrees, the local mountains all had visible snow on them, the ocean conditions were calm and my Waverunner was SCREAMING my name
I went out both days and did a total of 120 miles in the 2 days. First day did a 40 mile Anacapa loop ride, ran into 2 pods of dolphins (hundreds in each pod). Second day I did the Santa Barbara and back trip. I wore my dry-suit so when I docked my ski in Santa Barbara I could take it off and was wearing my bathing suit and t-shirt underneath so I could go to lunch and not look too weird. That round trip is about 80 miles. I had a great time and my quads are in so much pain today I can barely go up or down stairs, and it feels great :-)
I continue to be amazed at how people's attitude between the center of LA, and those areas just outside of LA are so completely different. Recently, I had a very specific experience with $3 which highlights the example extremely well.
Last week I attended a meeting at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica right on the beach. For those of you not familiar with Santa Monica it is a pretty ritzy area especially if you are on the beach or in Northern Santa Monica. At the Loews they only have Valet parking, no other option. I was there for a few hours. When I came out I had to pay $18 for the few hours then, after waiting about 10 minutes, my car finally came up. I tipped the guy $3 and he literally looked at it, and then me, as if to say, "dude that's it, $3"?
A day or two later I was up in Channel Islands harbor which is also on the water (duh) and about 30-40 miles North of Santa Monica. However the vibe is very different. It is very laid back. Very relaxed and very nice. In fact the NY Times recently covered this area as the Un-Malibu. I got on my Waverunner and headed out to the Ocean. On the way out I always stop at the fuel dock to fill up the gas tank where Ralph, who works there six days a week, is always very helpful.
I essentially sit on the edge of the dock, feet holding my waverunner in place. Ralph hands me the gas nozzle. He hands me a gas diaper in case of a spill. He takes the nozzle for me. He reports the ocean conditions to me. He then takes my money and brings me back my change along with a bottle of water. The change was $3 and I handed it to him and said thanks. Ralph said "thanks so much Richard" with a sincere and appreciative tone in his voice and told me that he really appreciated it.
Both were $3. Perspective is everything, even if its only 30 miles apart.
I have been flying Southwest for many years. Ever since it was PSA :-) One thing that I have found interesting in the last handful of years is how typical it is for everyone to pre-check in online and print out their boarding passes. Just a few years ago as long as I printed my boarding pass out in advance I was always in group A. In the last year that has changed and if you don't print out your boarding pass the day before you end up in Group B or even worse the dreaded "I might have to check a bag" Group C
Then along comes Southwest Business Select. For about $20 extra, at least for flights within CA, you are guaranteed to be in Group A, usually in the first 15, you get a free drink coupon, and extra credit towards your next free flight. I think this is brilliant. For them it is a way to generate additional income, with no added expense, for the same flights and offer a higher level of customer service for those who are willing to pony up a little extra.