Monthly Archives: November 2008

Lots of reasons for giving thanks

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I hope friends in the USA who celebrate Thanskgiving have had a great day. I am sitting on the couch at my in-law’s feeling like a round ball full of good food. If someone gave me a shove I think I would just roll across the floor!

I like this holiday because I think it is important to spend time thinking about all of the blessings I have received in my life. I am thankful that Jesus sacrificed himself for me. I am thankful to know His loving kindness and tender mercies.

I wonder where I would be without my wife, Michele. And how grateful for my four children as well as extended family. I am thankful to have a job and to have many friends.

Who could ask for more?

Another day of gray

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It is another day of gray here in northern Illinois. I didn’t have a lot of good sleep in the wee hours of the night thanks to Brinley’s restlessness. At least I was able to catch the earlier train to work, so that’s a positive.

The recent election results here in the U.S. have contributed to a deep funk. My attitude and thinking have been mostly negative and as a result I haven’t been a great person to be around, virtually (e.g. on Facebook) or in person. I have even managed to offend others, which is never ok.

I think I invested way too much in the recent election and I’ve come to the conclusion that it was a waste of time and energy.

Simply glad it’s Friday

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I am simply glad it’s Friday. This week has been stressful and draining. I have been reminded of many good things including the fact that God is in control of all things no matter how bad circumstances may be.

Earlier this week in the late afternoon I went to the cafeteria at work to buy a cookie because I had very little for lunch. My manager noticed this and as I walked past him I held up the cookie and told him I needed it to sweeten my sour disposition. His immediate reply was, “You need a bigger cookie!” That was pretty funny.

OCLC tries to checkmate

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This past week I heard rumors about pending changes to OCLC’s policy governing use of records contributed to WorldCat. There was every reason to be concerned about these changes even before the details of what they contain were “leaked.” I just finished reading a post by Terry Reese on this topic, and Terry makes very good points. Basically, based on what I’ve read, I agree that OCLC is trying to checkmate the likes of LibraryThing and others by monopolizing control over library-generated metadata. Oh right, I forgot, this is “for the benefit of its members.” Ugh. Please, folks, wake up and smell the coffee on this.  I find it interesting that Terry raises comparisons with Microsoft (and AT&T), something that I’ve done many times in the past.

Ways we save money

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I wish I could say we are models of economy and money management but we most certainly are not. Even so I think there are some things we do to save money that are noteworthy. Here is a list of some of those things. If you have some good ideas for saving money to share, please add a comment.

– Michele cuts everyone’s hair (she is very good at it even though she hates doing it!)
– I have started to take the train to work instead of driving
– We get a lot of our groceries from Aldi
– We save a bit of money on postage by paying almost all bills online
– We shop at Goodwill especially for clothes for the kids but also for me
– We pay attention to special deals that we read about on the Internet (e.g. Craigslist)
– Michele subscribes to email from Freecycle and we’ve managed to get quite a few things that way including a dryer, couch, and even a popup camper
– Michele always has an eye for closeout bargains at stores we shop at such as Target
– Michele is very talented when it comes to making things and many times that is how we come up with presents for birthdays and such for family and friends
– We decided long ago to get rid of our land line telephone service and use our cell phone service exclusively
– Within our family there are many children at different stages of growth and so we frequently benefit from hand-me-downs from others
– I absolutely despise doing it but I iron all of my clothes that need it rather than spend money at the dry cleaners
– We are trying to limit the number of times we eat out at a restaurant (mainly by not eating fast food takeout from places like McDonald’s)
– Michele enjoys going to garage sales when she has a chance
– We heavily rely upon local libraries for books and movies
– When feasible we buy things in bulk from Costco or Sam’s Club
– IKEA is one of our favorite stores and we always check their “as is” section and get needed furniture for hundreds of dollars less than regular prices
– We rarely go to see movies in the theater
– I make use of Gasbuddy and other similar services to find the cheapest gas possible
– We make heavy use of the option provided by my employer for a flexible spending account (FSA) for pre tax savings on medical expenses

Last but not least, we simply don’t go anywhere if money is tight so that we won’t be tempted to spend money that we don’t have.