Canada, eh?

If you want to keep track of the olympics, make sure you check out NBC's olympic site. If you missed an event, it is likely you can watch a replay or at least highlights on the video section of the site. A couple of things to note, if you want to watch video, you may have to download the latest version of the plugin silverlight. Also, to watch some "premium" content you may need to input your cable company info for full access. Be sure to check out the video player tutorial and the FAQ sites if you have issues.

Keep track of your money in 2010

Several popular New Year's Resolutions involve money.  Get out of debt, save more, and give more to charity may be among your desired changes for 2010.  If you don't know where your money went last year, maybe these tips will help.  Being the self-professed nerd that I am, I put together a spreadsheet to keep track of our spending.  We use it to come up with our monthly budget and keep track of how we are doing.  You can download it from the link below if you like.  http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2887593/2010%20budget.xls

Another great tool is mint.com.  Mint (which was recently purchased by the makers of Quicken)can import your bank information using the bank's online banking system and categorize it for you.  This is an easy way to see where your money goes with fancy charts and graphs for you non-spreadsheet people.  We use both to see where our money is going.

If you are completely lost and confused about money, we highly recommend taking a Financial Peace University class.  If you don't think you have the time, much of the same information is covered in Dave Ramsey's book, The Total Money Makeover.

In closing I'll leave you with the baby steps to Financial Peace.

1.  $1,000 Emergency Fund
2.  Get out of debt using the debt snowball
3.  Full Emergency fund (3 to 6 months of expenses)
4.  Invest 15% in retirement
5.  College funds for the kids
6.  Pay off the house early
7.  Build wealth and give

For more information see http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/

You can do it.  Have a buddy keep you accountable and make those resolutions last all year.

and to all a good night

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Enjoy time with your family, take a deep breath and relax.  When in doubt, just ask Linus about the true meaning of Christmas

The Evolution of Christmas Lights

It's that time of year again. The Christmas lights are out in full force. I've put together a few photos/videos that illustrate how I view the evolution of Christmas decoration. Enjoy.

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It's been awhile

August 29, 2009. That's the date of our last post. It seems like we have been going almost non-stop since then. Stefanie has been busy with her new 4th grade class and I've been staying busy at work. In our free time we've been on the road quite a bit. We've been to Rogers, St. Louis and Joplin all in the last several weeks. We've visited family and friends and enjoyed spending time with everyone. We finally had a weekend at home to relax a couple of weeks ago, and I did a pretty good job of making it less fun by being sick all weekend. Now that there is a little bit of a lull before holiday season starts, we hope to do some relaxing again.

A Musical History

Musical History

I've thought about putting this together a couple of different times, but have just now got around to it. Music is such an important aspect of many people's lives and I often find myself looking back at my musical past. This is in no way a complete compilation, but is pretty accurate. Sit back and enjoy as I take you on a journey through time.

1. The Basics of Life - 4 Him

2. Yakety Yak - The Coasters

Growing up we basically had two options. Contemporary Christian or Oldies. I now realize why this is. There is a lot of inappropriate material on the radio, and it makes quite a bit of sense for a parent to limit their children to one of these genres.

3. Jesus Freak - DC Talk

"Cool" Christian music, especially for youth group trips.

4. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith

Main track from the movie Armageddon I went to a lot of movies in early high school. I'm pretty sure everyone saw this one. I think the soundtrack was the first CD I ever purchased.

5. Higher - Creed

The 90s rock phase

6. Tonight, Tonight - The Smashing Pumpkins

7. My Name is Jonas - Weezer

8. Lucky Denver Mint - Jimmy Eat World

I have Nathan to thank for introducing me to the foundations of my current music collection.

9. This Bitter Pill - Dashboard Confessional

Every single guy needs to sing along with Chris Carabba at least once.

10. Walls - Emery

11. Reinventing Your Exit - Underoath

In case you're curious, this is classified as screamo. It actually will grow on you, some of you.

12. Giving it Away - Mae

13. Bixby Canyon Bridge - Death Cab for Cutie

The calmer side of my college music collection.

14. The Crane Wife 3 - The Decemberists

Trying to find my corner of the indie music scene

15. Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin

I still appreciate a well written worship song.

I hope you enjoyed your quick glance through my musical history.