Ok I was just browsing the web looking at cars , mostly for the fun of it but also because I really need to get a new one for my daughter.  While I was surfing all the local classifieds and the tons of car dealer websites I ran across my dream car.  The Saleen S7 Twin Turbo.  Now i’m not usually one for the newer sports cars but I found one listed in the auto trader for a pretty decent price.  Now comes convincing my wife that number 1 we can afford it and number 2 I need it :)  Yeah I know those out there will be saying he must be trying to compensate for something , guess what your right.  I’m trying to relive my childhood.  I’m in a mid life crisis for crying out loud and deserver to be driving around in style for a change.  The 700 horsepower that the Saleen offers will definately put a crimp in my weekly gas budget but heck who cares if you drive a sweet looking car like that.  The wife jokingly went out and bought me a model saleen at Wal-mart and left it on my computer desk.  That was just down right dirty thing to do.  Nothing like bashing my hopes for getting my dream sports car, :( . Maybe  I should be looking for a replacement wife instead, lol.

If your a person that likes to help the environment and do their part to conserve our natural resources how far are your willing to go.  There are many that are so wrapped up into living a green lifestyle they shun anything that could be remotely considered not good for the environment.  I’m not one of those I do my part by sorting the trash  and removing the recyclables , buy products that have eco-friendly packaging and try to avoid leaving more of a carbon footprint than necessary.  I even paid a little more and hired a fort wayne kitchen remodeling contractor that is green certified.  Now I dont know how much my personal lifestyle is having an impact on the environment as a whole but I’d like to think that every little bit is helping.  I’m not telling you to go strap yourself to a tree ,  picket businesses or commit offenses all in the name of helping the environment but doing the little things in your daily life can help.  Dont use those plastic bags you get from walmart or the grocery store, bring your own.  If you do use them many stores now offer a recycle bin where you can return them the next time your visit.  Every little bit we do does make a difference even if its hardley noticeable

Today in this environment of layoffs, cutback and poor economic conditions pointing your kids in the right direction for a career choice is essential.  Too many kids go into college without a clue as to what they want to do for a living.  Today on msnbc.com I read an article about the 15 top paying jobs and guess what all of them were in the medical field except two.   Air traffic controller and CEO were the only ones not related to the medical profession that was listed.  Most jobs listed were for doctors or dentists in various specialty fields.  With the average age of the  population of the united states getting older the medical field is going to definately be the wave of the future.  My daughter enrolled in an Indiana nursing school and already has a job in the medical field as a technician where here tuition is paid for until she gets her nursing degree.  Not only will she have a high paying career as a nurse when she gets out but she will not have any student loans to pay back. You will be suprised how many companies in the medical field are paying partial or full tuition for nursing students or those seeking degree in the medical field

I cant really think of anything I rather not do on a Sunday afternoon when the race is on except taking my daughter dress shopping for prom.  Unfortunately that is exactly what I did this weekend.  While I was expecting a horrible day it turned out to be quite an enjoyable afternoon watching my daughter try on some beautiful dresses.  It’s amazing how a little time spent doing something out of the norm with your kids can help bring you closer.  I never would have emagined liking looking for dresses, shoes, and beauty care products but I’m glad now that I didn’t miss it.  It really make you feel old when your daughter who once bounced on your knee is standing before you a beautiful women about to go to her first formal dance.  My daughter in particular hasn’t been one much for chasing boys, going on dates, wearing makeup and other things many young girls do so I was quite shocked to see her in this light.  I must say the young man that gets to escort her to this years prom is one lucky guy.  Of course I’ll sit up all night worring just exactly when she’ll be home.  I remember my prom and how beautiful my date looked.  He better keep his hands to himself, lol.  I’ll update you after its all said and done provided I live through the night without having a heart attacke.

You want to know how bad it can really get just take a look at your 401k results for last year.  Heck I’ve even lost a little so far this year.  This new stimulus package is supposed to be helping the economy by jump starting employment and stabilizing the credit markets  all in an attempt to prevent another huge stock market crash like we had during the great depression.  If you have watched any financial news or read any information on the Stock Market News you might hear predictions that our economy is headed towards the worst disaster ever.  Our increasing national debt, lopsided trade deficit and lack of any significant amount of manufacturing capabilities is crippling our economy.  The doom and gloom over the stock market is just 1 of many concerns Americans should be worrying about.  The only thing that pulled us out of the last stock market crash was World War II.  If we hit an unemployment rate like we did during the first stock market crash I’m afraid even if there was a war to stimulate the economy we wont have the manufacturing capabilities that allowed us to recover from the last national financial disaster.  I hope some of those in Congress and the Senate start looking harder at what we can do to save and improve upon our manufacturing base.  I’d hate to think we would have to rely on Korea, China, Japan or some third world country to produce our military needs.  So while the stock market short comings over the last year have had a huge toll on your 401k, I’m afraid that much worse things than your stock portfolio are likely to come in the next few years.

Everyone has heard how bad the economy is but if you like me you never expected it to get down to your level.  No I havn’t lost my job, house or car, but our local little league association is feeling the pain.  Most of our little league  funding comes from donations from schools, parents and local businesses sponsoring our teams.  Unfortunately do to the fears over the economy many of the local businesses and private donations were used to getting just arent going to be there this year.  Our little league association has decided to pass on buying new baseball and softball equipment this year and start buying used little league softball and baseball bats.  You wouldn’t believe the savings we have found buying secondhand catchers equipment, bats and helmets.  Yes some of the equipment especially the catchers equipment need some new straps,  tape on the handles or minor repairs but compared to the price of new gear this is a no brainer.  We are actually going to have a surplus of helmets, bats and catchers pads for the first time since I’ve been involved with the little league.   I wish we hadn’t waited for a bad economy to decide to go this route.  Now if there were only a way to refresh old baseballs and softballs we’d have it made.  I’m sure were not the only ones having this type of problem so hopefully this helps other little league teams save some money.

I’ve been playing with wordpress for a while now and keep running into all sorts of thing I would like to do but just can’t seem to find a plug in for them.  My work has asked me to start a site for them but I’m not sure wordpress would be right.  I’m not overly technical by nature and learning a new content management system like Joomla or Drupal might be a bit out of my league.  I know many people that have been switching off of wordpress, blogger and others in favor of Joomla.  There seems to be a lot more Joomla Templates that appeal to me more than Drupal.  I’m not real sure what type of add ons are available but I’m sure with its popularity joomla should have everything i’m looking for.  I went to their site, logged on and ran through the Joomla demos but still not certain if its exactly what I want.  I think I’ll download both Joomla and Drupal this weekend and get them running to see how complicated they are and which one I like better.  I’m just getting tired of the same old same old with wordpress and it’s time for a change.   If anyone has a suggestion as to which content management system is the best to use let me know.  I’m also interested in finding some more good locations for templates.

February bring all sorts of headaches for me.  There are two Birthdays , Valentines Day and a wedding anniversary party to tend too.  I really didn’t think much about the Birthday until my daughter started asking for some fancy purse one of her friends has.  Prada bags as it seems are all the rage among teenagers these days.  Whoever the marketing genius was that got the younger girls wanting these expensive handbags should be shot.  I doubt seriously she’ll be getting one of those.  Perhaps I can swing buying her a Used Mary France Handbag, coach bag or one of the less expensive designer bags instead. 

Then there is the dreaded valentines day to contend with where I’ll have to make sure and do something very special for the wife.  The good thing about it is that it also happens to be our wedding anniversary so I can kill two birds with one stone and buy just one gift.  When we decided to get married on that date I really hadn’t considered this nice little benefit.  Just in case she happens to read my site and is looking for an anniversary gift for husband might I suggest a nice new watch.    Something in a nice gold or silver that will match my wedding band would be nice.

After looking for different ideas of places to go with my family during spring break, I’ve decided to head for the hills.   The Smoky Mountains to be exact.  I ran across a site that had a great review of a Smoky Mountain Family Vacation and I like the pictures the author posted showing all the waterfalls in the Smoky Mountains that it convinced me to head their this year.  I’ve never really stayed in that area of Tennessee, North Carolina, or spent any time to speak of in any mountainous area so this should be a great family adventure.  I’d be happy to hear from any of you that have stayed in the Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge area that might have some suggestions on the best place for my family and I to spend our week in the national park.  I’m not overly interested in camping.  A nice mountain cabin or a quality hotel  would probably work best.  I looked at several sites with reviews of accommodations in the Smoky Mountains but many seem to just be rehashed versions of the same thing.  If you’ve been to the Smoky Mountain National Park recently feel free to leave your recommendations in the comments.

Welcome to my little part of the internet where I will discuss many differnt topics as they relate to life, working and traveling.  I like many others work and slave 40+ hours a week to make a living in the hopes that some day my wife and I can retire and do some traveling.  I will be using this site to complain, brag, dream about things in my life.  If  you find the need to make a comment please be courteous and post something useful to the topic being discussed.  Spamming my comments just for the sake of promoting your travel site will only get deleted.  I hope you find something here that will in some way make you more informed, motivated or amused.