Back in the saddle

Posted on 09/18/2009 by RLW3

It has been a long time since I worked on a car. I was pressed into service because the rear passenger window no longer worked. I had to get it fixed before it rained.

I took it to a shop and was quoted $290!

That seems like a lot of money…

So, I bought the part from Nissan for $127 and installed it myself.

With that success in the bag, I decided to launch out and replace the fuel filter. I succeeded at that too, but not before I got squirted by a mouth and faceful of gasoline!

I have to tell you, it felt really good to be working with my hands again…

and I had no bloody knuckles!

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Aah, a good nights sleep

Posted on 09/15/2009 by RLW3

If you read the last few posts, you can imagine how tired I was at work yesterday! Last night, I went to be shortly after getting home from work last night and slept through till this morning.

It is amazing the difference one night of good sleep can make on one’s outlook and disposition!

It shouldn’t amaze me. About 10 years ago, I learned the importance and value of sleep.

About 20 years ago, I was extremely frustrated. I had so many more things that I wanted to accomplish than I had hours in a day.

So, I bought a book called The Sleep Management Program and trained myself to sleep less. I went from sleeping 7 1/2 hours per night to less than 6 hours.

For years it was great. I got more done, etc. Then something strange started happening.

This is going to be difficult to describe but I will do my best…

Periodically, I started having this feeling that I was going to cave in psychologically. It was as if my soul was like the crust of the earth but it was getting very thin…like thin ice. It felt like my soul was just going to collapse!

This feeling would usually happen at work and would last for about an hour. At first it occurred monthly. Gradually, I started having them weekly.

This perplexed me because at night, I would meet with and mentor young men, father my children, etc. How could I help other people deal with life and then feel perilously close to just crumpling into a shell?

After much thought, I decided that I just needed to be more efficient in my sleep! I saw a book that I thought might help me, Power Sleep.

I never finished that book.

In the first few chapters, the author described about 15 symptoms of severe sleep deficit. I was regularly experiencing at least three of them!

The very day after I read those few chapters, I went to church and learned that a friend of mine had had a nervous breakdown a few days earlier. He had been working at least 20 hours per day and been under an extraordinary amount of pressure. One day, he went to work and had a nervous breakdown. He just slumped down to the floor and cried. He cried for a week straight!

When I heard this, I realized that if I didn’t make an immediate about face, I was just a few steps behind him. My desire to accomplish things had run up against my physical limitations.

It took many months before I could sleep more than 6 hours. That may sound strange, but my body was trained. I went to bed two hours earlier at night only to wake up two hours earlier in the morning.

Now, I plan to get 7 1/2 hours. It doesn’t always work out that way, but I do try.

My wife is trying to teach me how to to sleep in on the weekends. She has a Ph.D in sleeping in. She can do it on ANY day.

Sometimes, I actually make it to 7:00. My all time best is 7:30!

Anyway, today was a nice reminder of the value of a good night’s sleep.

Good night!

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I’m so smart!

Posted on 09/14/2009 by RLW3

We got into Kansas City at 1:30 A.M.!

At least that was an hour earlier than the night, er, morning before!

We drove one car into Nashville: our SuperCrew pickup. Normal people would just drive the same car home! But, as I wrote last time, I’m not all that good at “normal”.

So…I thought we should at least try to fit one more twist and turn into this trip…otherwise, it wouldn’t be a Castle trip!

Just before we left Kansas City, I got another “great idea”!  My daughter had told me that her new apartment was withing walking distance of the school and her job. So, I thought,

“Then she might not need the Nissan Maxima that we gave her last year….

and we need a good MPG car to replace the Honda…

and I have money from the insurance settlement…

I will offer to drive her car home and use it as my daily driver to go to work. (It gets over 30 MPG!) At the same time, I will put fix everything that needs to be fixed and give it back to her in better condition than when she gave it to me and I won’t have to spend all of that money on a car right away!”

When I proposed the idea, she jumped at it.  A little thought of skepticism crept through my mind, “What did I just get myself into?”

It turns out that the car NEEDS some work…and she didn’t have the money. In fact, the car has been sitting for 3 weeks!

I like that…relatively pain free heroism.

She is stuck. I offer to come in and save the day, she accepts, and it helps me out to! I believe that would be called “win-win.” It is also known and “blessed when I come in and blessed when I go out”!

So, instead of sleeping in the back of the truck while my wife and youngest daughter drove, I drove the Maxima home. Bleary eyed is a fair description of my condition at work today!

Posted in Cars, Money, Parenting, Travel | Comments Off on I’m so smart!

A tornado’s view of Nashville

Posted on 09/13/2009 by RLW3

I planned to get into Nashville at midnight…

But we left NJ an hour late…

and I didn’t expect the hours worth of stop and go traffic when we left D.C. …

So, we got into Nashville at 2:30 A.M.!

This little Nashville diversion all started when I called my second daughter about two weeks ago with “a great idea.”

“What do you think of driving home with us?”

Although she already had a plane ticket, the idea of spending time with Mom, Dad and her little sister seemed very appealing. So she agreed. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

While we were on the phone, she explained all that was going on in her life…

She is entering an intense educational/vocational training program with her church. Since she won’t be able to work as many hours as she has been, she wanted to cut her costs.

Coincidentally, she met some new girls at the church who were looking for a third roommate to rent an apartment that was two minutes from her job and two minutes from the church/school that cost 1/2 as much as her current place.

The big problem is that she is only 9 months into a 2 year lease on her current place. I told her to advertise it and see what happens.

She called me back a few days later to remark on how perfectly everything was going to work out.

“What do you mean?”

“I placed an ad on Facebook and found a renter to take my place that same day!”

“That’s great honey!”

“So, when we drive back to Nashville, you can help me move because I have to be out by Sunday!”

that’s great…yippee…isn’t that wonderful…I have to admit that the thought of moving caused me to lose a little of my fuzz.

When we walked into her existing apartment, I began to realize how woefully incomplete my planning was…Where were we going to sleep?

…in one of Kimba’s roommates bed! Neither my wife nor I was really all that comfortable with that. I had thoughts running through my mind, “What do ‘normal’ people our age do?” But the thought of looking for a hotel at that hour of the night was even less appealing, so we laid down and slept for a few hours.

We were awake by 7:30. By 8:30, we had packed all of our daughter’s stuff into the truck. By 9:30, we had moved her in to a new apartment!

Kimba found her shower curtain, hung it up and we showered and got dressed for church in an apartment that she had not seen before this morning!

While I was in the shower, those “What do ‘normal’ people our age do?” thoughts came back to my mind. How would I know? Who ever accused me of being ‘normal’?

We stopped by Starbucks to meet a bunch of our daughter’s friends then hustled over to church.

Both my wife and I really liked the pastor’s message and philosophy. Kimba is in VERY good hands!

That is a very comforting thought! Although my three oldest children now live in three different states, they are all involved in very good churches.

Then we HAD to eat at The Macaroni Grille! She gets a 50% discount! The food was great

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Hopefully, a part of history

Posted on 09/12/2009 by RLW3

We said goodbye to my family early this morning and headed off to Nashville, TN by way of Washington, D.C.

You might say “Isn’t that a little out of the way?”

Not if you want to take part in what might be an historical protest. We went to be part of the 9-12 Washington D.C. Tea Party.

I personally think that our nation is in deep trouble. Politicians and bureaucrats are plundering the treasury and consolidating their power every day. I figured that if I am not willing to suffer the inconvenience of a few hour drive to express my disapproval, then I really have no place to complain if my freedoms are taken from me.

Fortunately, we had to get off the freeway early to get some gas. While at the gas station, we learned of the local way to the nation’s capitol. I use the word fortunately because we later learned that the freeway’s access points were closed because the crowd was so large.

We heard on the radio that “thousands have shown up”…

hmmm, thousands???…really…

Indiana University has computer software that can count people from an aerial photograph. Their estimate…1.7 million.

Needless to say, we weren’t alone. I’m glad we were part of it.

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Legalized theft!

Posted on 09/11/2009 by RLW3

If you want to know what kind of economic model is being taught to our children, buy college textbooks. It is legalized theft!

The universities and the NY textbook publishers have been steadily working for years to eliminate parent’s options and create a monopoly.

You think I am exaggerating?

Enough parents complained that Congress addressed the problem through legistlation that goes into effect next July.

What is the big deal? I’m glad you asked

Q:  How much has basic college Calculus changed since Isaac Newton invented it?

A:  Not much. You could probably use Newton’s original notes and do just fine.

So, you would think that you could just buy a used copy of last year’s textbook for $30-50 and head off to class…

Hold on there…

not so fast..

That would mean that the NY textbook publishers wouldn’t make any money! They’ve got to keep up with the Goldman Sachs’s of the world! We can’t have that! No, that will just not do…

The “smart” people in academia solved this conundrum as follows:

If the textbook publishers change just a handful of pages in the book each year, they can call it a new edition. The professors will then require the latest edition for their class…

Since it is a new edition, there are no used books available. Students (read parents) will have to buy new books! Both parties profit handsomely! Problem solved!

How much does that latest edition cost? $239!

What an ingenious way to extract even more money from the parent’s pockets!

I have personally had to, and I mean had to, buy “special” editions of the “new” edition that were made for a specific community college! I have heard of cases where there have been “special” editions made for a specific professor’s class!

But even that won’t stop resourceful parents like myself. I’ve got to at least try!

When we visited Drexel on Tuesday, I went to the bookstore and wrote down all of the ISBN numbers of the textbooks that my son would need so I could try to find them cheaper online.

Fat chance!

One ISBN came up!

So, we had to make another trip back (over the bridge!) into Philadelphia to the Drexel campus bookstore. Steam was pouring off of my ears!

When I asked the manager why none of the ISBN’s showed up ANYWHERE online, I was informed that the ISBN’s that I wrote down “were for the package.”

The latest devious academic assault against parent’s economic well being is to shrink wrap a special online access code that is specific to each class on a computer disk with the textbook. Evidently, I wrote down the “package” ISBN.

So, I quietly asked/demanded the information that I requested on Tuesday…the ISBN for the BOOK!!!

I found three used books and ended up saving $164…but it still cost $500!

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Feeding the government pig

Posted on 09/10/2009 by RLW3

This post might belong on my culture blog…

I’ve got a few things that I have to get off my chest…

Since we arrived on the East Coast, we have been paying through the nose to drive on the dang highway. Toll roads are nearly everywhere!

$8 charge to drive for two hours on the highway to get to my parents house. Then, another $4 to cross the bridge.

Two days later, $12 to go to Hershey Park and another $12 to get back.

Let me make sure you got that…

I had to pay $24 to drive to and from a theme park that is two hours away!

Not to go inside…

not to eat anything…

not to buy gasoline…

just to get there! I was not happy about that!

My wife failed to appreciate my freedom loving indignation. So, she tried to help me see the brighter side of the situation…

“I think its good that they collect the money because they’re using it to fix the roads.”

She probably thought that because of all the work zones. (I’ll get to those in a minute!)

The words no sooner got out of her mouth and wham…we hit a huge pothole…

The kind of pothole that knocks your suspension out of whack! And it wasn’t just one.

“Yeah, I am so glad they are using all of that money to fix their roads. Can you imagine how bad they would be without it?”  (Yes, that would be called biting sarcasm!)

Perhaps I have gotten a little sensitive since I moved to the Midwest…but in my memory banks are video clips of fabulously famous “cultured” metropolitan people from either coast yukking it up on TV about “rednecks” living on washboard, dirt roads…

I’m sorry…but I need someone to educate me…I don’t see the difference?

As we were making our escape from New York City down FDR Drive, we had a car on either side. The guy behind us was driving so close that he evidently wanted to see what we were listening to. I was trapped! There was nowhere to go but forward.

Without warning, a pothole suddenly swallowed the whole right front side of my truck! I started checking to make sure that my family was still inside!

Now, if I was driving on a dirt road, I could pretty much figure out where the rough spots are and try to avoid them because there is usually no one else on the road! Now that I think about it, I could even slow down! And, while I’m on the subject, usually the view on the dirt road is better!

Then there are the “work” zones. I think the whole state of New Jersey is one big “work” zone.

I put “work” in quotations because no one was ever working. There wasn’t even any equipment on the side of the road! I could swear that they were “working” on the same roads 4 years ago when we visited. Hardly anything has changed!

Ah, but all of those orange cones are a beautiful sight to a political bureaucrat. Why? Because those orange cones authorize them to also put out orange signs. Those orange signs inform the traveling public that traffic fines are doubled in “work” zones!

Such an ingenious, innocent, completely understandable way to FEED THE GOVERNMENT PIG…er…I’m sorry. I got a little wound up there. I meant…increase revenue!

Do you think I have a bad attitude?

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I don’t heart NY

Posted on 09/09/2009 by RLW3

We went to NY city today.

I wanted to see where my oldest daughter lived and worked when she did her internships with Donna Karan and Vera Wang during the summer of her senior year.

I have often heard people say that going to New York just changes you. I have to agree with them.

Before we even parked the car, we were all acting like we had lived there for 20 years…raising our voices, getting frustrated, talking with our hands, etc., etc.

Tolls every 12 feet (not really that close but…), small unclear road signs, getting lost but somehow still getting off the wrong freeway at the right spot only to make a wrong turn and finding ourselves in exactly the same spot 1/2 hour later had more than a little to do with it!

We were going to park near the place where Bean stayed. However, she was no help in finding the place. She didn’t recognize anything! Eventually, I realized that while she lived here, she figured out how to get where she needed to go and that was about it…which is pretty good for a 20 year old who has never really been to the city or lived on her own before!

We bought day passes for the subways and then got on the wrong train! On the next leg, we missed the train because Kimba, our second daughter, had trouble getting through the turnstile because the sensor had trouble reading her brand new ticket! Then, when it finally read it, the turnstile trapped her leg!

I love NY…

NOT!!!

We finally got to the Donna Karan building…I thought this would be a big deal but when every building in the whole city is over ten stories, it’s no longer special. And besides, you only get about 5 minutes of direct sunlight per day, you can only see a sliver of the sky and there is NO grass!!!

We then headed to Times Square…you know, where the New Year’s ball drops, where all of the action is…

My daughter announced our arrival, “This is Times Square”

“Where?…This?…This is it?…You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ll take the the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica any day.”

I turned to my son: “DBTH”

“What does that mean?”

“Don’t believe the hype.”

We stopped by Bergdorf & Goodman, “the most exclusive retailer in the nation” according to my NeimanMarcus employed daughter. As soon as we walked in, I saw men’s bathing suits.

“Hey, I need a new bathing suit”…

$555! I am not kidding!

Central Park is beautiful. The Apple store is really creative. The fascist art in the lobby of 30 Rock was, to quote Doc Holliday in Tombstone, “very instructive”.

People say that New York inspires them. It had a similar effect on me…

I am REALLY glad I don’t live there!

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Hurdle #2 crossed

Posted on 09/08/2009 by RLW3

We drove into Philadelphia today to visit Drexel.

First, we took some paperwork to the admissions office to complete my son’s file..

“Oh, we don’t get those.”

“Who does?”

“The athletic department.”

Over to the athletic department…

“Oh, these go to admissions…”

I decided to make sure that everyone and his brother had a full set because it is a long way from Kansas!

We then met the wrestling coach and a few members of the wrestling team, including Big A’s mentor. My first impression is that they are good guys.

And I like the coach.

So, our son has a good group of Christian friends to push him spiritually. He also has a good group of wrestling friends to push him athletically. All that remains is for him to find some really smart friends who will push him academically!

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Treasure in the boondocks

Posted on 09/07/2009 by RLW3

I lived in Southern California for 31 years. The LA area is theme park Mecca with at least 4 major amusement parks: Magic Mountain, Knott’s Berry Farm, Disneyland and Universal Studios.

I am not a theme park kinda guy…

About a week ago, my mother called and asked if we would like to go to Hershey Park. My youngest sister and her husband had a bunch of free tickets…

and their two young daughters really enjoy the park…

and I am here to spend time with my family so…

I believe that I can say that it is the best amusement park that I have ever been to. It has great rides like Magic Mountain (without the gang banger/teen sleaze atmosphere) and the family atmosphere of Knott’s with better rides.

I wouldn’t mind going back…

Of course, it didn’t cost me anything either!

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