Unique

Sinclair Gas Card

Awhile ago, when gas was through the roof, we signed up for a Sinclair Gas MasterCard. It literally debits 7% off your gas purchase right off your credit card bill when you fill up at any Sinclair Gas Station, and 2% from any other gas station or actually any other purchase. You dont get a check, you dont get gift certificates, it just comes right off your statement. Its awesome.

I was just barely looking at this months statement, and this year so far, we have had $511.87 refunded to our card. Thats amazing to me. Its another $511.87 I didnt have to earn. Thats a better return than my savings account. Thats even a better return than funding a home mortgage at 5.5%. Ill bet its even a better return than some of your investments, especially now.

Of course this only works if you pay off your entire statement every month (which we do) otherwise you get hit with the 15.49% interest, which will end up being more than what your saving anyway.

But in our case, thanks to Sinclair for the $511.87 this year so far.

Crystal in the Morning

Epic Quote

I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want--an adorable pancreas?

- Jean Kerr

New Car - Sorry Daniel

Im gonna eat some crow here, and I know it.

So I have been a big fan of cheap cars for awhile. I havent had to pay for a car in a long time, I always got the ones my parents were getting rid of. But the time came for me to actually purchase my own car, and last March I bought a 2000 Chevy Prizm for $3000.

It was sweet. Its was the trashmaster deluxe, and I was happy as a clam to be driving my own piece of junk, while everyone else drove their nice expensive cars. Its fun knowing you paid sometimes 1/10th of what they did for their cars. Sure its nice to drive a nice car, but I was spending my $400 on myself, while they were sending it to some bank to pay for their car.

Well, its been 8 months since then, and I have grown to really dislike it. 2 hours a day in driving, and Ive come to really hear the road, and the wind, and the engine for too long. It gets on my nerves that I cant hear who Im talking to through my bluetooth headset, and I have to blast the radio to hear the talk-shows.

So Ive come to the conclusion that there is a happy medium somewhere between the amount you spend on a car and the comfort it affords you while you drive it.

So as of about 1 week ago, I started looking for a quieter, smoother car. I knew I had to go larger in order to achieve it, but thats ok. I only had a few requirements. It had to be white, quiet, smooth, and have a bench seat in the front, and be around $9,000.

I looked at the Lincoln Town car, the Cadillac Deville, the Chevy Malibu, and I just couldnt really settle on one. The nicest ones were just too big, and the small ones werent as nice as the big ones. So I went to CarMax.

CarMax is great. You can drive anything you want. I told them exactly what I wanted (white, smooth, bigger, bench seat, etc) and they let me try a Ford Fusion, a Chevy Malibu, a Cadillac ST, and none of them were quite right. I told them the Cadillac was too big and the Malibu was too small. Then he said, "Well, there is the Chevy Impala, its kind of in between the mid-size and full-size" so he let me drive one of those. And it was gorgeous. Sure, it wasnt white, and it was $14,000, but it drove like a dream, and had the bench seat, and had about 29,000 miles on it.

So, I didnt buy anything and left in my trashmaster.

I poked around KSL.com, and I stumbled on the most amazing deal ever. A 2007 Chevy Impala, with 17,000 miles, for $9,900. AND IT WAS WHITE!!! And plus it had tinted windows in the back (BONUS) and the feature where the engine turns off 3 cylinders while its cruising or idling (DOUBLE BONUS). On the freeway it gets about 34 MPG and 26MPG in the city. Thats even better than my trashmaster!

I immediately called the guy and tried my hardest to pull out of him why the car was priced so low. He said simply that he was in dire need of the money.

So I went over there, checked it out, drove it around, looked at every thing I could possible think of, made sure he was a decent person (which he was), he lived in a normal house with his wife, owned a local Fantastic Sams and had alot to say about hair.

Since I couldnt find any red flags, I went ahead and bought it and drove it away. It was his wifes car, and she honestly got a little emotional while signing the title over, she said its the best car she has ever had.

So thats it.

Its beautiful. I called my wife on my bluetooth earpiece to let her know, and I could actually hear her. It even has a CD player, which my trashmaster doesnt have. It even has remote lock, which my trashmaster doesnt. And it drives like a dream.

So I need to apologize especially to Daniel for giving him such crap about his car. I have seen the light and realize that there IS a happy medium when it comes to cars. And I hope I have found mine.

DRE700 For President

Voting Machines Elect One Of Their Own As President

Game: Catan Card Game

This game is fantastic. It costs $20 and is for 2 players only. For an additional $20, you can buy 6 expansions for it. But I have only played the base game so far.

The most surprising thing about this game, is its depth. Especially for a card game. In its simplest form, you are trying to build a province (complete with Knights, Cities, Roads, Harbors, Libraries, Churches, Farmers, etc) before your opponent does. The resources with which to do this with are limited, hence the competition. Different accomplishments award you points, and the first one to reach 12 points wins. One accomplishment for example is to have that strongest army of Knights. Another is to be the province that does the most commerce. And another is to simply build a city. You gotta beware of the brigands who steal resources, and the plague which sweeps your cities every now and then, and you gotta prepare yourself for the Knight Tournaments which happen fairly often.

All that, in a card game? You betcha. Awesome!

The expansions add things like Dragons and Wizards, Politics and Spies, and I cant remember all the others. I think there is even a Pirate expansion.

Anyone up for a challenge?

Epic Quote

That which you tolerate, you encourage.

Election 08

The greatest thing about any election is to watch those who vehemently opposed or supported one side or the other, have to swallow their pride.

It makes me all giddy inside.

Halloween

Everything that happens at my parents is awesome. Everything. Every year we go there for Halloween, and every year it is spectacular. We played games, talked about shtuff, watched some scary shows, ate food on top of all the candy, stayed up too late, and generally had a good time.

Crystal, Rooker and Bailey all made the long route with me and Joe this time. I even had rollerblades on, and I was really tired by the end. Poor little Bailey, her bag got so full of candy it got to heavy for her. So I would carry it between houses, and then she would drag it to the door. Rooker got tired by the end too. When we finally made it back to the house, they were all glad they stuck it out cause they had a huge amount of loot.

We slept there Fri and Sat nights and then we all went to Dan and Rikis ward for their baby blessing. Afterword we all had a good time hanging out at their house and eating even more.

My life, my wifes life, and the life of my kids is perfect. We always have somewhere to go and something to do every holiday weekend, and we never bore of each other.

Its so nice to always be happy and content.