For 1 Week

Weekend Update: Part 2

The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow.

Sunday: Watched the football game, which had a pretty disappointing with the Giants winning in overtime. Afterwards went grocery shopping with my roomies. Winco Foods is great (just be watchful of expiration dates), it's all about the non-union grocery stores. The whole grocery store strike a while back really pissed me off because instead of the employees paying a little more to keep their already great benefits (like everyone else), they strike to get their way. That just resulted in higher prices passed onto the customers. Thanks guys. Needless to say I'm not a fan of unions.

Monday: I was pretty much a homebody today. Got woken up at 8am for a French Toast breakfast (thanks Nate & Sandra). Ate, cleaned up, went back to bed (What?! I was up late/early the night before). Woke back up at noon and wasted some time on the Net. Got caught up on my travel plans. Looks like everything is a go for Cabo next week. Looking forward to it!

A semi-short week ahead and then it's off to relaxing in much warmer weather.

Weekend Update: Part 1

My every other Friday off has fallen on this week which means that I get to enjoy a 4 day weekend thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. day on Monday.

Here is a small breakdown of the past 2 days.

Friday I caught the noon Cloverfield with Jon, Jesse, Nate & Sandra. The movies was okay, I think most people will see it just to find out what the monster is but the whole handycam vision was making me queasy. Later that night was Luke and Elizabeth's wedding reception. Although their wedding was in Vegas on the 2nd, they headed straight off to their honeymoon in Cancun after their ceremony so we didn't end up celebrating their reception until after their return. The reception was at the Bali Hai restaurant on Shelter Island, a very cool location looking out at the San Diego bay.


Saturday afternoon I hung out with Nate and watched some episodes of Robot Chicken on DVD. It's impressive how many celebrities the show gets to do voices for their clay characters. Later that night I went out and saw August Rush since everyone that had seen it said that is was good movie, and I tend to trust the word-of-mouth recommendations over those of the critics. As it turns out the "mouths" were correct and it is a very good movie. Unlike most movies which try to show that invisible connection between people this one is actually able to show a tangible connection through the making of music.

The Power of Saving and Investing

Here is a news article on a man that became a multimillionaire making only $11 an hour (and that's at the peak of his wage earning career. He started at 75 CENTS an hour!). What was his incredible money making secret which you too can learn if you buy these instructional videos???

Simple, he did it by living frugally, saving, and investing. That sort of thinking seems to run opposite of people today, who live above their means, spend on credit and get into debt.

The choice is yours

or

I especially like his quote, "I'll work for the money, and then I want the money to work for me."

Not everyone will be in a position where they will own a business and have people working(making money) for them, but everyone is in a position to manage their own money. It just takes some time, thought, and discipline.

If you're interested in some more personal finance advice here's a few links:
Top Ten Financial Tips
CNN's Money 101
SmartMoney's The Basics

Time to update...

It's been a little over a week since my last post. Sorry to all my avid readers, I'm sure you were absolutely in suspense this whole time. ;)

A quick memo for my fellow geeks. This Friday (today) I'm going to be wearing my sweet Wifi Detecting Shirt I got for Xmas so that everyone at the office can be jealous (while knowing just how strong the wireless internet signal is).

So how was Vegas???

In one word, "spectacular"!
In more than one word, "it was so freaking awesome, everyone should celebrate the new year in Vegas at least once in their lifetime so that they can experience the spectacle of thousands of people lining the streets while watching a synchronized fireworks show shoot off from 6 different hotels to mark the joyous occasion!".

On a more serious note though, our Vegas trip was great, drama free, and even the wedding wasn't so bad. ;) Congrats to Liz and Luke, we all wish you the very best.

So what all happened? Well as they say, "What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas".

But I'll just give a quick recap, even though it's against the rules.

Day 1 (New Year's Eve): Midnight drive to Vegas, arrive at 3:30AM (courtesy of energy drinks), try to sleep in the car until 11AM check in, sleep some more at the room since the car was so uncomfortable, meet everyone for dinner, hang out in our friend's room until 10PM, walk around the strip/casinos, find a prime spot in the middle of an intersection to watch the fireworks at midnight and ring in the new year, make our way through the crowds back to the room and crash.

Day 2 (New Year): Sleep until 10AM, breakfast at the buffet, relax back at the room for a while, get ready for a long night out, dinner for 20 at P.F. Chang's, bachelor party all night ('Nuff Said).


Day 3 (Liz & Luke's Wedding Day): Check out of the hotel, get lunch, head over to the Little Church of the West (keyword "little"), wait for the bride and groom, have a quick but nice 15 minute ceremony, meet outside for pictures in front of the church (lots of honking since it's right next to a main street, we even got a firetruck to sound their siren), see the new couple off for their honeymoon, head home.




Now for the real shocker. I did what was once thought by many to be impossible. I spent New Year and the bachelor party the following night, in Vegas...COMPLETELY SOBER! I'm sure the first question you're going to ask is, "Why in the hell would you go against everything Vegas stands for?". Well, there are a few reasons really. Recently, I ran into a couple of people who are 21 yet do not drink, I remember how I really slowed down on drinking when I turned 21 so maybe I was trying to remember my younger days, nostalgia I guess. I also did it for the irony of being in Vegas and resisting the temptation of debauchery that Sin City represents. Plus I couldn't remember the last time I went to a party, event, or celebration and didn't have some booze. And finally, plenty of cool things happen when I get a "few" drinks in me, but on the downside, I don't always remember a lot of the fun details. With all those things in mind, I decided to not have a single drink in Vegas. Although, I'll admit I did have one vodka and tonic in honor of Luke (the bachelor) and his last night as a free man.

I must admit, other than the ration of crap I received from my friends (although a few were just speechless when they found out my plan), I still had a great time. Instead of experiencing everything in an alcohol induced haze, I remembered everything crystal clear (even people's names, and you know how terrible I am with those). Now this is not to say that I have given up drinking as my new year's resolution, I've just decided to experience all things sober for a while.

All in all it made for quite a memorable trip (literally).