zutroy.net

For two years and a half now I have had what I have always wanted and have blogged about it several times and sent numerous referrals over to Truman Pratt. Truman’s my car guy. It makes me think of the guy in Crocodile Dundee II that ways, “Oh, I don’t need one, I’ve got a Donk”.

Dave was explaining a while ago how easy it was to replace a certain part on my car with this new wondertool or something like that and I asked why I would be remotely interested. And he said something like, “You have to have one of these if you are going to be able to work on your car…” and it just jumped out. “Oh, I don’t need one, I’ve got a Truman.”

But it appears my joy is shorter lived than I had expected. I knew he had to retire someday. No he’s not retiring. It’s worse than that. He’s sold his shop and is moving off to Missouri. I’m happy for him. I saw some photos of his property that they are building their dream house on. It has two big ponds that are full to the brim with largemouth bass and catfish. They boil when you throw cat food in the water.

But as happy as I am for him, (He’s definitely earned it) I am indeed sorrowful when I think of how I’ll have to find me a new car guy. It only took me 19 years to find the first one. I wonder how long it’ll take to find a new one.

From the beginning of November until Christmas, I love to see the snow coming down and feel the cold air outside. I love that feeling of coming in the house from shoveling snow and feeling the warmth on my toes and drinking a big mug of hot apple cider or hot cocoa. I even don’t mind driving in the snow. Until Christmas that is. Once Christmas is over, I wish the cold went with it.

I had a tropical New Years once. I don’t understand why the whole world doesn’t just up and move to the tropics for the rest of the winter. Now that I think about it, I can’t understand why I don’t up and move to the tropics for the rest of the winter.

I took Jonathan sledding yesterday on his new Christmas present. He had a blast. And I got an ear ache. Oddly enough, it’s on the side that had the wind blowing on it. Sure the sledding is fun, but I caught myself wishing for a nice summer day and a big block of ice to ride on. That’s every bit as fun as sledding right? He also got a new bike for Christmas but the basement is a little too small to learn how to ride it well. He can ride ok, but not make the small turns he needs to in order to have a good time with it. Too bad that big long sidewalk outside is covered in snow and ice. That would make a perfect place to ride the bike.

Cari also lost/left her coat at school. And after losing the last 5 coats we have bought her, we’re just going to make her play inside until she finds it at school after the Christmas break. So she can’t very well go outside and play in the snow now, can she? See, if this were the tropics, she would be outside playing right now. I can just picture her and Jonathan riding their bikes down to the colmado to bring back some fresh oranges and mangos. And some bananas. And a pineapple. And some passion fruit. And maybe a couple papayas…

What do I want for Christmas? My two older kids have made their own Christmas lists about 4 times now. Funny how they change from day to day. For some reason, they both feel like they have to start out with a numbered list. I have been trying to put together my own list for about 2 weeks now. Part of me wants to put those crazy things on the list like a new car, a new camera, a boat, etc. The other part of me wants to see money piling up in the bank and not getting wasted on silly temporary things that only push me back further from my financial goals. So here I sit, I figured that when I got to this part of writing this post it would be clear as to which list I should add to the blog. Well it isn’t clear. So maybe I’ll just skip the list. Ooo, how bout this? How bout I put up a list for people other than my wife who want to buy me presents. (Sorry Babe if you’re reading this, all I really want is stuff that doesn’t cost money) On with the list!

A new car. (Something like an Infinity M45x AWD or a Porsche 911 Carrera 4)
A darkroom. (really only costs about $1000 for what I would need)
A digital camera (I know, not too useful with the darkroom but the Canon 1D Mark III would do just fine)
A really nice mountain bike for everyone in the family. (and a bike trailer for James)
A home theater. (I’m not too picky here, just something nice)
A new bar-b-que (one of the nice stainless steel ones with side burners, a grilling torch, and stadium seating)
A hot tub. (why not?)
A 2 week Caribbean snorkeling vacation. (I’ll even bring my own flippers)
Some office space in one of those nice office buildings near Thanksgiving Point
10 New high-end SEO clients.
40 Acres in some mountainous area with a good place to camp or build someday

So there’s the list. Please feel free to get me anything on the list. And if you really have your heart set on something that isn’t on the list, I’ll probably be happy getting just about anything.