Driving conditions

First condition of a idiot behind the wheel, driving 2 mph over the speed limit in the left lane on the expressway.
Second condition of an idiot, when rounding one of those really long curves on the expressway, crossing in and out of 2 or more lanes.
3rd, getting a personalized plate that you have no right to have.

As you might have figured, this has nothing to do with weather or any road conditions. This has to do with people who should get a discount on a bias pass or get a bike.

My father always taught me that the far left lane was designed for passing. In some states, its illegal to just drive only in that lane. What I cannot stand is when people get into that lane because they were behind slower traffic in the right lane and then take 3 miles to pass. Yeah, that's right, they were only going 1/8th of 1 mph faster than the guy in the right lane. Not only that but they most assuredly lane change right in front of me going 10 mph faster. Its almost as if they wanted to see if I was going to rearrange the rear end of their car with the front of mine. What I would prefer to do is meet them personally and sink my boot in their ass, laces deep.

The next part has to do with butt-plugs that can't seem to understand that the lane they are in us their lane. On almost every expressway, the lane is more than wide enough for damn near any road worthy vehicle. For goodness sake, stay in the lane. It gives you almost 2ft on either side on the expressway. On top of that, expressway driving is not nascar jack-ass! When you go around a curve on the expressway you still need to stay in your lane, not yet to "follow the line"! Get real for a change and remember that other people watch you drive like that and want to know if you're drunk shit-head.

Enough of expressway driving, let's look at just stupid people.
1. 2 lane roads, don't just stop in the road to let someone out! Pull over.
2. Letting your dog sit on your lap and hang his head out the drivers window. Yeah dumb-ass, I'm sure that would make it easy to react to one of those driving emergencies, wouldn't it?
3. The idiot the backs up on the expressway or an off ramp.
4. And last, but not least, by far. Its the total dick that attempts to drive as far as he can in the lane that is being closed for construction. This guy, instead of doing the right thing just makes the traffic worse. Butt-head!

Ok, one more pet peeve! The motor cycle guy that, in a traffic jam, decides to either pass on the shoulder or weave in and out of traffic. Me, just for him, I want to open my car door for him as he passes.
Finally, the personalized license plate. Come on FOXY1. Get a clue. I've seen you get out of your car miss piggy. I think a plate that describes yourself should be voted on by the people at the dmv. Start by asking number 94 right after they call number 47.

Well, that's just my personal thoughts on the subject. Let me know what you think.

Later guys!

Evoloution

Taking a look back, I must have been a little delusional.  I remember back, circa 1994, when I had dreams and visions of being out on the golf course and being able to communicate with work or with friends via my new cell phone.  Little did I realize when I signed my first contract what a true pain the ass I was in store for.

Some of you will remember this monstrosity.  Yes, this was my first cell phone.  Made by Motorola and weighing a ton.  I can guarantee that you're not dropping this bad boy into your pocket and heading out for the day.  I will say, based on the current trend of cell phones, you ain't gonna lose this one either.  The reason I say that is, over and over I hear people tell me, "I lost my phone.".  Like I said, Ain't gonna happen with this bad boy.  The pitfalls of this phone (besides the sheer weight and size) were cost of use and coverage.  This thing was the most expensive phone, to purchase and use, that I have ever had.  But I was pretty cool for having it (or at least I thought so).  I remember the nights, out with friends, saying things like, "here, just give them a call.".  Boy, was that an expensive proposition.  Not only that, but half the time the signal sucked so bad you had to call 3 or 4 times to finally finish the phrase, "We'er out at (whatever bar), come join us.".  So, after my first month or two of getting the cell bill, I realized that four "first minutes" was a true bank drainer.  After that, it became pay the monthly fee and leave it at home.

Now look what we have become...

Our phones can do just about anything we want them to.  Make calls, of course, send email, send pictures, organize our schedules, surf the Internet and watch movies.  It's pretty amazing what a simple phone can do now a days.  These little, high powered phone do have a couple drawbacks. 

The more features you keep adding to the phone, the more it gets bogged down. 

Our phones are faster than the current provider systems.

Little parts seem to break easily.

And then there is the ability to just lose this little thing.

Admittedly, I am a "Crackberry" user and addict.  The little trackball on this thing seemed to be the coolest thing in the world when I first got it.  Now, as the little ball begins to fail I find myself in a perplexing situation.  Do I replace the $15 part or just get a new phone.  We will see. 

Sometimes you just have to wonder...

Some days you just have to go past a home and ask yourself, "What the heck are these people thinking?". The house in this picture, or should I say, tree in this picture is in someones front yard. The tree itself is a huge, 35 or 40 foot tall pine tree. Not only is it a dominating part of the yard, its covered, and I mean covered with some of the strangest ornaments I have ever seen.

Now, mind you, its not around any particular holiday, but its decorated. This is a typical home in a typical suburban area, not one that is off the beaten path. It just has to make a person wonder what they were thinking. On top of that, its not like they can easily switch out any of these things. There were hundreds of these "ornaments" all over the tree.

For some people, they find this a completely normal thing to do. For me, I just don't see it as being a suitable decoration for a tree. Maybe Christmas lights at, oh yeah, CHRISTMAS, but September 15th! I just don't see it.

It almost makes me wonder what they have inside the house.



What do you think?

There's a Fire in the Furnace

Like I said in yesterdays post, the Burn'in Love burger. Here's the description:

You’ll get fired up for the crispy-fried jalapeño rings, tangy salsa and spicy Pepper-Jack cheese layered on top of our cayenne-seasoned burger. It’s topped with shredded lettuce and fresh tomatoes to cool things off and served on a jalapeño-cornmeal Kaiser roll with Chipotle mayo

To me, this was just the right amount of hot. It had lots and lots of well balanced flavors. On top of that, the Kaiser roll was strong enough to actually enjoy the entire burger without having the bun soak through and collapse into a pile of meat, bread and condiments.

To me, it was a great burger overall!

Thanks Red Robin, you have a winner in the "Burn'in Love" burger.

Scrubbing Bubbles tackles a shitty job!

From the post I put up the other day, some of you can see I wasn't feeling that hot. Well, it gets better.

Situation: The toilet is completely filthy.

Mission: Prepare All cleaning supplies and scrub the hell out of the bathroom.

Execution: Here is where it gets good. For those of you that have looked a little deeper into my blog you will have seen a great deal of cleaning products. Mainly the one and only scrubbing bubbles products. Well, a few months back buying these products at target was a very profitable venture. So, with coupons in hand I made about $75 in target gift cards for the overall expense of about $6. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, its well worth it.

The overall product works extremely well.  The Flushable refills are easy to use and make a quick cleaning of the toilet into a fairly easy job.  On top of that there is no year old brush that has been in and out of the toilet 10 times a week.  I do love the ease in using this product with the easy on easy off handle.  Good stuff.

Then after a good scrubbing, the Toilet cleaning Gel is a pretty easy way to just help keep it a little cleaner.  However, from then events of the other day, I really don't think there is anything that will keep it completely clean (if ya know what I mean).

Now, for the rest of the bathroom The Extend-A-Clean power sprayer does a really good job.  Not as good as scrubbing away like a mad man, but better than just wiping the shower down. 

And here is a little secret:  The Automatic Shower Cleaner works better when you refill the reservoir with the refills from the power sprayer.  And since I got all of these items for free I have actually used them for a change.  Hope I don't have to do a good cleaning for this reason again for a while, however, tonight's dinner was a Red Robin Burn'in Love burger.  Just warning you.  More on that later.

Command and Signal:  If you need to get a hold of Scrubbing Bubbles product just look them up on the net.  They do rock in many ways

Service and Support:  A little Scrubbing Bubbles and a little elbow grease.

9 years have passed

The morning was about as normal as it could have been.  I had the day off my civilian job and had a little grocery shopping to do.  I remember it so well because it was a beautiful morning that I was going to spend with my daughter.  At the time, she was just 2 years old.  As any 2 year old, she woke up early and I am no late sleeper, that's for sure.  I had already had my morning coffee and grabbed her up and went about our morning. 

Our first stop was, as it always was on my days off, the office.  I needed to do a real quick review of yesterdays numbers.  Just a quick in and out and we were back on the road headed to the grocery store.  We walked into the store just minutes after 8 A.M. . Seemed like a normal morning as I scooped up the groceries we needed and went through the checkout. 

As I pushed the cart through the door my cell phone began to explode with message after message.  In the course of a 30 minute shopping trip I had seven new voice mails.  I was just starting to dial in my code when the phone began to ring.  It was my training NCO at my National Guard unit.  At that point he began to give me the details of what had occurred.  The most shocking words from that conversation are ones I will never forget, "The world trade centers are gone!".

After rushing home, I walked in the door to find my wife and 4 month old son sleeping on the couch.  I woke her up and turned on the news.  In horror I watched the sheer acts of terror unfolding before my eyes.  Footage that will never leave my mind. 

My exact words to her were, "We are going to war.".

Because of my military background, I had a pretty good Idea who was responsible and when the name Osama Bin Laden were uttered on the news for the first time I was not shocked.  A terrorist that we had trained and funded had just used everything we taught him against us.

Due to the fact that I had friends that worked in both the trade centers and in the Pentagon, I had a responsibility to fulfill.  I got my wife and children set up and then them to stay with her sister for a few days.  Me, well I packed up a 3 days bag and headed for Washington D.C. 

For the next 3 days I assisted the Red Cross with families and rescue workers. 

http://www.fdnylodd.com/9-11-Never-Forget/Memorials/Blood-Of-Heroes.html

2,977 victims in the blink of and eye on 9/11.  All civilian.

2,402 military killed and 57 civilians killed on December 7, 1941.

D-Day invasion.  All military.
United States–6,603, of which 2,499 fatal.
United Kingdom–2,700.
Canada–1,074, of which 359 fatal
 
God Bless our troops and those that have given all to prevent this from happening again. 
 
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

A product that I would rather not be reviewing tonight

Since I joined the military 20+ years ago I haven't been too hip on taking any kind of medication.  In the army we call Motrin "RANGER CANDY" and I have had my share of it.  Good old Uncle Sam issues it in 800mg tablets.  What that equates to is 12 mile road march is 1600mg and 25 mile road march, simple enough, 3200mg.  The reason it is called Ranger candy is that's about the frequency that they passes it out.

So tonight, as I travel the river Vile toward the cliffs of Mount Flushmore, I am trying a CVS brand medication.  Just some over the counter stuff.  The reason I am trying it, well, honestly I cannot find a coupon for a new colon on COUPONS.COM.

And that, my friends, is just how shit happens!  Tomorrow I will let you know if it's a stopper or a dud!

Happiness at CVS.

Ok, just like the majority of couponers, I love a good deal. Free is sweet, but extremely cheap is damn near good enough. I have read a ton of blogs and hit all the solid web sites for getting the good deals and, as a man, I am just as accepted as those coupon people with ovaries. As a matter of fact, I can go head to head with the majority of them. There are a few I wouldn’t tangle with, but then again, there are a few I would. Today’s deal is all about clearance. I love being able to save a buck or two, or three or four or five per item. Here’s the deal:

This toothpaste is on clearance for 1.04. Use the $1/1 coupon from the last P&G flyer and its $.04 each. That’s my kind of spending.

My advice, check your local CVS to see if they have any left on the shelf.

Next, you only have a few days left with this one. I really hope you have been playing the Sobe game. Almost everyday you can get your hands on 2 printable BOGO coupons. Either that or mailed a coupon for a free Sobe water. This works awesome when CVS has a BOGO as their sale. Look at the damage that can be done. If they offer BOGO and you use a BOGO coupon, they are both free. Limit 6, so be prepared for a little drive. Do what I do. Take your GPS and download all the locations into it. You might just be surprised as to how many there are near you. Either way, 55 bottles for free is a good deal.

Later guys!

Just stopping off at Rite-Aid

Ok, I now have more than an adequate amount of toothpaste.  Yesterday I decided to pick up a few bottles of 7-UP from Rite-Aid.  Why would I do this you ask?  Well, it’s pretty simple.  Cheap soda is almost as good as free soda.  So here is the math:

Buy 4 bottles of 7-UP for $5 and use the following coupons:

$1/2 2 bottles of 7-UP (another great 7-11 find for me)

Pay a total of $3 plus the Michigan $.10 deposit

Receive a $2 UP reward and repeat the transaction again.

Total works out to 8, 2 liter bottles of 7-UP for $4 dollars with a return of a second $2 UP reward.

Take the $2 UP reward and grab this: 

They are on sale for $2.99.  So, make sure you grab a cheap filler to do this.  I used the $1/1 crest toothpaste and the $2 UP reward making my filler cost all of $.32 cents.  I did this a second time and again got more $2 UP rewards.  I was able to get 3 packages of toothpaste for $1.50 total.  Not quite as good as the CVS deal that I will be putting up next, however, I am working on a solid stockpile and would rather get it now then need it tomorrow.

Finding unlikely deals just sitting on the shelves

So, I do a little shopping now and then, I admit it.  Usually I can find a good deal or two.  Sometimes even on items I don't go through that quickly.  Not that I am a huge Ramen noodle fan, but I do eat it on occasion.  So, finding an entire case of it for 10 cents a piece, I was happy.  Nothing huge in the score area, but it will do in a pinch.  Ramen is a staple in the army.  We take it just about anywhere we travel, so I have become accustomed to it.  Not a bad, quick snack for a dime.  Thanks for missing the mark-down Rite-Aid.

The other thing I just ran into was this:

Now, I have been known to grab a tear pad or two in my travels.  About a month ago I came across a tear pad for .50/1 Colgate MaxWhite.  There were only a couple left on the pad and I haven't seen these very often.  While looking through my binder the other day I realized they were about to expire and was a little sad about that, since I hate wasting coupons.  Again, the clearance fairies answered my prayers.  CVS has this on clearance for .82 each.  So, it's not the .20 I paid for the Crest products the other day, but with a shelf life good until next October, I'm good.

IKEA in the words of an Airborne Infantryman

There are not too many times that I am thoroughly impressed by a department store. I spent several years of my life working retail while serving in the army national guard. Today, I walked through, or should I say was walked through a fantastic store. The reason I say walked through, is the fact that I had no choice. The store made me do it.


It was the Ikea store that made me want to buy a house again. It made me want to furnish, and modify and buy, buy, buy!

Now, what kind of s store would want to make me spend like that? One that is laid out in such a way that I am forced to see the entire store.

With a warehouse atmosphere like a Walmart and the style of interior design like a home depot expo, I traveled the path. What I really dislike but love the principal behind it is that you have to follow the path. There is no running in and running out. With the design of this store, you just gotta go with the flow. I dislike it from a run in, run out perspective, but I love it from a retail point of view. You have to travel the entire store.

The store had a ton of great kitchen, bedroom and closet ideas that made me want a house and, oh yeah, about 25k worth of spending cash. At this point, I am not 100% positive about the overall quality of the goods, but it did look damn good at a pretty reasonable price. if you have had experience with Ikea, let me know.

U.S Army W.T.F Moments: I fought for you!

U.S Army W.T.F Moments: I fought for you!: "Us, Veterans Know this feeling and we would do it AGAIN!" Never forget the prices that have been paid.

A huge thank you to Crest and CVS

I really wanted to say, “Thank You” to Crest for finally giving the consumer a better than status Quo. For me to say this takes just a very little effort. As a former smoker, dipper and coffee drinker you can bet your sweet bippy that my teeth might be a little discolored. 20 years in the US Army can have such a negative effect on your teeth and the white color they are supposed to have.

Here is exactly what I have recently found:

The new Crest Pro-Health series actually, without having to but the expensive whitening strips, does a damn good job.

So far I have tried the Pro-Health nighttime toothpaste and it is a little gritty. Hold on; let me qualify that a little. Your teeth are pretty solid and the best way to clean a solid surface is usually with a light abrasive compound. This makes total sense to me. So, I say gritty, but really it’s just an abrasive that, OMG, removes the gunk that forms on your teeth normally. How crazy is that? And the rinse seems to be really doing the job it is supposed to. I have found that the best sequence for me is: floss, brush and rinse.

At the same time, I want to thank CVS for the great deals they have had on these products. Through Saturday, August 28th, if you have the $1/1 Crest coupons from the last P&G insert, they end up being damn near free. You pay $2.50 and get a $2.50 ECB. And you can do the deal 10 times with either the Crest Pro-Health Clinical Gum Protection toothpaste or the Crest Pro-Health Glide floss. If you don’t have any Extra Care Bucks to start with you have to pay a little out of pocket the first time around, but each transaction following will cost you about $.20 each if you roll the ECB’s.

This was my last CVS shopping trip. TP was the big thing, however, with the $5/$15 coupons that keep spitting out like candy it made it a little more affordable. I spent a total of $8 out of pocket. Gotta love a good deal when it comes along. If you are looking for deals, try this: afullcup.com it’s that simple.

Pennies from Heaven

Well, not exactly pennies, more like a buck.  A couple months ago I went on one of my epic Target runs.  I printer as many of the Sobe BOGO coupons as I cold get to computers.  I also printed as many Target .50/1 coupons as that little bugger would let me print.  While shopping at Target, I noticed the new black caps.  The wonderful heads or tails game.  Well, since I ended up with about 100 free bottles of Sobe I made sure to have an adequate amount of those black caps in my supply. 

And yes, I already called this in, SORRY!

As I drank the free water everyday anyway, I started into the black caps.  Every winner went right into a pile.  Then, when the contest started online I began to enter the codes.  WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!  So, here is what I have started to receive in the mail.  All free stuff is good stuff!

Army WTF moments!

Some days in the army are what we call "WTF moments". These are those times when something completely out of the ordinary happen and make you just have to say, "What the fuck?".




As I have had the opportunity to spend not only 20 years in the military, but 2 years in Iraq, I have seen my share. Since yesterday was a reminder of those 20 years I have decided to share one of those "WTF moments".



February 2004, my first convoy on my second tour in the worlds largest ashtray. We rolled out of Balad. Its one of the largest airbases in Iraq. Roughly a couple hours north of Baghdad. So, as we roll out, I'm the guy with the most combat or at least the most current combat time. All seems to be good until we run up on traffic being stopped on the highway. Ok, so we cross the median and pull up right behind an EOD vehicle and they tell us there is an ied on the south bound lane. To most of the members of our convoy this is an exciting thing. To me, been there, done that plenty of times. I had just left this shit-hole a couple months before. So, EOD needs to do their thing.



As I watch this highly trained explosive specialist prepare 2 separate poles with a block of C4 attached to the end of each, I then realize there are two separate ied's here. Dressed in his bear suit, he moves slowly toward the devices. He places one pole so that the C4 is next to the item. After attempting to place the second one for about 30 minutes, he begins to move back towards his truck. Now mind you, his truck is maybe 20 ft in front of us. He removes the blasting cap from the pole he could not put into position and tells our vehicle that he will attempt to detonate the first ied, then go back for the second if it is not destroyed in the blast. Ok, sounds like a plan, right?



"Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!". Pop! Yes, pop! The guy detonates the one in front of his truck. Now, picture this, the radio blasting cap, laying on top of a block of C4 explodes.