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Space Monkey News

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

Ricky Gervais was on The Daily Show Monday night and they showed a short clip from the new HBO show ‘The Ricky Gervais Show.’  It looked hilarious so I took a look around the net and was able to find some of the videos.  The Space Monkey Monkey News video was particularly hilarious.

Rachel and I haven’t laughed this hard in years.  Seriously, there were tears… Watch it!

It may be a little hard to follow unless you’re already familiar with Karl Pilkington or at least know he’s really this dumb.  Then again we didn’t know anything about him until we saw some of the Ricky Gervais videos so you’ll probably do just fine too.

House Officially Refinanced

~ randyaa ~ 2 Comments

We’re a fan of big wins, and refinancing our Mortgage has probably been one of our biggest.  It’ll take about 4 years to recoup the costs of refinancing by what we’re saving monthly but overall the savings are huge.  We’ll be saving over $60k in interest over the course of the loan.

It was a bumpy ride but we learned a lot along the way.  Mostly, that NY sucks and banks are thieves.

  • A Refinance is no different than an original mortgage.  It’s treated exactly the same.  Almost as if your buying the house from yourself and you have to pay all the fees.
  • Monroe County charges a totally unreasonable Mortgage Tax
  • Title insurance doesn’t make any sense.  It’s good for the life of the property but you have to pay it again when you refinance.  No refund, no discount.
  • Banks charge outrageous fees.
    • Loan Origination Fees
    • Commitment Fees
    • Application Fees
  • Bank require you to pay their lawyer fees on top of all the fees they charge you to begin with.

Lots of fun huh?  Good thing it’ll be worth it in the end.

I Drove a Dodge Stratus

~ randyaa ~ 2 Comments

You can talk to me that way now… I drove a dodge stratus.

I’ve never named any of my cars.  I know some people name every one, and really if I were to ever name a car, I should have named my Stratus.

Giving it up is like giving up the last piece of my youth.  That said: On to the next exciting chapter in my life: Minivans (no not really), mortgages and daycare.

We’re picking up our new ride as this post goes up.  A new-to-us 2007 Honda CRV EX-L.  It’ll be the first foreign car either of us have ever owned (not counting the Stratus which for all intents and purposes was a Mitsubishi).  It’ll also be the first SUV.

I expect nothing but good things from the Honda.  It might even get a name.

When a Hunter Should Sue

~ randyaa ~ 5 Comments

Most lawsuits I hear about are completely ridiculous and the people are out to get nothing more than a quick paycheck.  That being said…

I think my Father should sue.

One day, about 3 years ago, he started seeing a tiny spot in his right eye if he looked in one specific direction while turning his head in one specific way.  The next day it got a little bigger so he immediately went to the eye doctor who didn’t know what was happening.  The eye doctor sent him to a specialist.  However; the specialist couldn’t see him for about a week.

By the time my father got to see the specialist, the vision in his right eye was almost entirely foggy and blurry.  He could barely see out if his right eye.  The first thing the specialist says?  “The eye doctor should have sent you to the Emergency room immediately.”

Something in the back of his eye started bleeding and the gray foggy spot was the blood spreading over his retina.  If he had been sent to the emergency room instead of waiting for a specialist they could have cauterized the bleeding and he would still have his vision.  It was too late to do anything and unfortunately he is now blind in his right eye.

I didn’t really think much about it until this year.

He’s been hunting for 50+ years with his right hand and eye.  When he first lost his vision he spent a lot of time trying to learn to shoot with his left.  He even bought a new single shot rifle just to practice with.

This year my father shot at a few deer but he didn’t get one.  He took a lot of crap for it too.  My father, the expert marksman, who had officers placed bets on his accuracy while he was in basic training, has gone from getting 5 deer a year to 0.

Before you say it’s because he’s getting old… Bullshit.  He gets around and travels the woods more than most guys in their teens and twenties, myself included.  He shot at more deer than anyone else I know this year too.  He still has issues pulling up on his left is all.  I could go into details but that’s not really the point.

The point is, some screwy eye Doctor doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing and could likely cause someone else to lose their vision too.  A few things just made me realize it’s affected my father more than I originally realized and more than he lets on.

My Father should Sue.

In the meantime, if you see a gray fuzzy spot in your vision, go to the emergency room not the eye doctor!

2010 Goals

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

Ok, so my 2009 goals were a bit lame despite my efforts. Here’s to a better set of goals for this year and therefor better results! Some of these stem from what I see as some personal failures in 2009, others are just brand new.

Join an activity group on a regular basis. this can be anywhere from Geocaching to Flickr meetups to the ADK club outings to toastmasters. The point is to do something on a regular basis in order to forge some new relationships. We’ve started with ADK but we didn’t keep up with the meetings.

Don’t hesitate when given an opportunity. If I want to do something, do it, if I don’t, likewise. This is something I really need to work on.  I tend to flip flop and wait until the last minute to make decisions on things like this.

Run a profitable Photography business. Given my goals of last year this one almost seems comical. However my first income will be coming in 2010, and my planned expenses are minimal, just some equipment rental for said income. This probably won’t be hard to do.

Do 2 weddings. Along the same lines as above. I’ve got one booked already and I have another possibility. I’d like to start booking some more but if I can manage 2 this year, maybe I can double that next year and then really get something going. If you know someone looking for a Photographer please let me/them know!

Finish the work in the basement. this isn’t a real finishing job, it just means some cleaning (a LOT), implementing some better storage solutions, doing some wiring work and fixing the lighting situation. Still though, some things I’ve been dragging my feet on and just need to get done.

Buy a new house. We pretty much need a miracle for this to happen without selling our current home(which we don’t want to do). We need to though, we’re outgrowing our current home. Not so much the floor plan, but the yard and the storage. That along with a new member of the family coming soon pretty much necessitates a new, bigger house. which brings me to my next goal:

Do everything in my power to ensure the well-being of our new child. This is pretty self explanatory but something not everyone might think about is:

Lead by example. We can’t hope to have a child with healthy habits if we don’t first develop them ourselves. This applies to everything from sleeping properly to exercising regularly to only watching extremely minute amounts of television. This might seem too broad to be a goal, but the idea here is to simply be aware of my decisions and their implications on my own life and for the little one.

Lose 20lbs by May. Lose Another 20 by the end of the year. The first 20 I’ve done several times and isn’t really that difficult for me. the second 20… that will put me back to my junior year of college weight, and will be far more difficult to do. I don’t think keeping it off will be an issue since I’ll have done it by (re)developing better habits, NOT a diet.

Some carry-overs from last year:

  • increase the size of our emergency fund (again!)
  • complete the first floor of the house
  • sell at least one photo
  • EXPERIENCE one sunsets or sunrises a month.  This means actually watching and enjoying it, not just noticing out a window.

2010 is going to be a really exciting year!

2009 – How I Did

~ randyaa ~ 4 Comments

It’s funny, looking back on the goals I set at the beginning of the year, some of them were kind of silly, others weren’t even goals.  Either way, I didn’t do too bad.

  • Volunteer at least 4 times
    • Didn’t happen.. :(.  I volunteered on the United Way day of Caring and that’s it.  Wish I would have followed through on this one.
  • Quadruple the size of our Emergency Fund
    • Check
  • Take a 3 – 4week vacation on the west coast
    • Check
  • Buy a DSLR
    • Check
  • Win at least one photo contest
    • Sadly, Didn’t enter any…
  • Sell at least one photo
    • Sold my services twice, I guess that counts?
  • Reduce my wardrobe by 25%
    • Check
  • See at least 25 sunsets and 25 sunrises
    • Check, some weeks saw many, other none.  It all balances out.
  • Complete and release Mivity
    • Right… Mivity is canned, the Domain expired and I didn’t renew it.  If you have an idea for it feel free, I just decided I had other priorities.
  • Work out at least 3 times per week for 30minutes at a time
    • Started out the year and into the summer very good on this one, Unfortunately due to other obligations, later into the summer and the rest of the year, I Fell short.  I’ll be picking this up in the new year.
  • Finish the 1st floor of the house
    • Didn’t happen but we’re very close, looking like the middle to end of January.

Littl Blue vs Little Blue

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

IMG_0598Little Blue Mountain: a mountain in the foothills of Blue Mountain in Indian Lake, NY near Blue Mountain Lake with an elevation of about 2,800 ft.

Littl Blue Mountain: a mountain in South Colton, NY overlooking little blue pond at an elevation of about 1,800 ft.

Easy to confuse the two. Lots of people think Littl Blue is spelled Little Blue and don’t even know there IS another (real) Little Blue Mountain. It’s even spelled wrong on lots of maps.

I had the same problem but always thought it was weird that Little Blue Mountain was so far away from Blue Mountain. Now I know why: it isn’t.

I’ve corrected our posts and tags to reflect the proper spelling. Sorry about the confusion.

A Vehicular Crossroad

~ randyaa ~ 5 Comments

Rachel’s car has finally hit that point.

The point at which we need to choose to keep it till it falls apart or get rid of it now.  For the second time in the roughly 60,000 miles that we’ve owned it, it needs a head gasket.  The car is a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu with a 3.1L v6.  From what I’ve heard this is an extremely common problem with this engine.  Awesome.

So, our dilemma…

The car is paid off.  Irregular maintenance has not yet turned into regular maintenance, so monthly costs have been negligible for the better part of a year.  It’s in good mechanical condition (besides the recent development), although it’s in extremely poor cosmetic condition.

The cost of repair is approximately $1200.  We can safely assume if we were to buy a new (to us) car to replace the Malibu we’d be looking at payments somewhere between $200 and $400 a month and a minute trade in value.

At those costs it would only need to last us another 3-6 months before the benefit of repairing it outweighs the cost of a new car payment.  Of course, this assumes that we don’t have any other major issues with the car in that 3-6 month time period which is big possibility.  On the other hand, we haven’t had to do anything to the car (and it’s been paid off) for almost a year, so really it’s already earned the new head gasket.

It’s a gamble, we either bet on our car to last another 6 months or we bet against it, and move on with our lives without the complication, but with a little added cost.

One last thing to consider: We only drive 1 car on a regular basis as I ride the bus to and from work.  Therefor; having one unreliable car has been something we’ve been prepared to live with for a while.

What would you do?

We haven’t decided but if someone decides they want to give us an offer… let us know in the comments.

Avatar

~ randyaa ~ 8 Comments

It’s not for everyone but Avatar might just be our favorite movie of all time.  It has a lot going for it and Rachel and I both agree: the estimated 500 million dollar budget was worth every penny.

After 2 hours and 40 minutes, I left the theater in panic mode because it was over and there isn’t yet a sequel.  In the 10 years it took him to make it, James Cameron created a world I don’t want to just visit every 5 years when they release a sequel, I want to live there, now.

To me, that’s a sign of a great movie.  Every movie I’ve ever truly loved has left me with some desire for a part of it to be real.  Everything about Avatar is completely different from the norm and that’s exactly the point.  It’s so unique and different that I wish I could experience it myself.  They even create a rational for how things work rooted in (a tiny bit of) science.  The characters quickly develop into emotional connections, to each other and the audience.  On top of that the effects, the animation, the scenery, everything about the movie was stellar.

We didn’t watch it in 3D, but I’m seeing the movie again with coworkers this Tuesday at the IMAX in 3D so we’ll see how that changes things.  From the first viewing I can only assume it makes it even better.  There wasn’t a ton of gimmicky things flying towards the screen, just a lot of really stunning scenery that would be all the more impressive in 3D.

Filled with even more anticipation than I was before. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer:

Please turn on javascript. Movies require javascript to play.
http://movies.apple.com/movies/fox/avatar/avatar-tlrf_h.480.mov

Although written sunday, this post isn’t going up until I’m sitting in the theater on Tuesday.  Wouldn’t want to spoil it for my coworkers by giving them expectations before they see it.

Old Pictures of Downtown Rochester

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

I love seeing old pictures of Downtown Rochester.  Historical photos of places we see all the time are just so interesting.  On top of that I work in one of the most historical buildings in the city, the old Aqueduct Building, with the statue of Mercury on top close to it’s original place.  The building is located near main street on the Genesee River.  As such, our building is almost always visible in these old photos.

The following is a Panoramic picture from 1906 of the Genesee River area.  You can see Mercury in it’s original position above the Cigar factory.  Just across the canal (what later became broad street) you can see the Aqueduct Building.  I found the picture (amongst others) on the Rochester Subway site.

So damn cool.