Maybe it’s because I’ve hit 40.. (some kind of mid-life thing?). Maybe it’s because I’ve been driving around this old Dodge Caravan for 10 years, and need something more “fun”.  Maybe it’s because it’s the new year, and just time for a change (seems like a LOT of changes going on in my life right now).  But whatever the reasons, I’ve finally bought a new car… well, new to me anyway.  Any not just any ole car… but a red 2005 Ford Mustang convertible!

Here’s the FULL story….

10 years ago I was involved with someone who had FOUR kids from a previous marriage. Certainly needed a bigger car than what I was driving at the time, and so in 1999 decided to buy this 1997 blue dodge Caravan, which has held up very well, and been a good, dependable vehicle over the years.  Even after that relationship ended I kept the van as a good vehicle to carry around stuff in the back, as well as just appreciating driving something a bit higher up, allowing me to see over more cars.

A few months ago, the youngest daughter from that previous relationship was talking about getting a new car, and I helped her do the deal, since it was her first car…  and eventually she ended up with a pretty nice Mustang, and while driving around with her a little to have the car looked at by my mechanic, etc a lot of people commented on the car and it really sunk in to myself, that it was time for ME to get something kinda flashy and fun myself!  — But I am generally VERY frugal, and spending $10-15k on a car when i already have something that works great didn’t seem like the best use of that money.

After another month or two, I finally decided some new “toy” seems like it might be a lot of fun!  And on Dec 31, 2009 went out to buy my own Ford Mustang…. Actually I had spent the week or two before doing some good research… asking friends what they thought might be a fun/sexy car.  I even looked in to a 1987 Ferrari !  (trying to stick around the $10-15k price range).  I was all ready to buy a pretty nice red 2006 Mustang (also with racing stripes) only 36,000 miles and selling for $13000, but after one final check on craigslist, I ran across a very sweet deal — 2005 Mustang CONVERTIBLE… with the special “Pony Package” which includes fancy upgrades like the Shaker 500 sound system, leather seats and steering, tinted windows, and more.  The car DID have 66,000 miles, which sure is a big jump for just that one additional year, but also, it was only selling for $9,800!  — and according to me, that $3200 “savings” with the additional “coolness” factor of a convertible, just threw it over the top.  Of course, I still did have my mechanic look at it first!

I’ve been taking my car(s) to Brad Updegraff who runs the Great Hills Shell station at 10940 Research Blvd for about 10 years now, and would never think about buying a car without his thumbs-up!  After a quick “buyers check” he gave me the run down…. it did have a few issues, as should be expected, but mostly just various fluids that needed flushing, and nothing at all very serious.  So that was that… Headed out to the bank that same afternoon, picked up the cash, and finished the deal…. I was even able to talk the sellers down to $9500 to help cover a few hundred dollars that it would cost to do some of the fluid flushing.

SO, about the car! — red/maroon 2005 Ford Mustang convertible; 4.0L V6 SFI SOHC engine; leather seats and steering, Shaker 500 sound system, tinted windows; powered windows and seats.  Here is a link to the CarFax info.

I’m already having some good fun taking some friends out for a spin with the top down.. Best Christmas / New Year present I’ve bought for myself in a long time =)~

David

Wow! What a post THIS one is gonna be, eh?

Yep. I finally did it.
I’ve been talking about it off and on for many years, but never had the great insurance and/or time (so I thought), or just a matter of it slipping my mind.
Finally, here I have 2 weeks off work, AND some good insurance…
The initial consult was just $40, and then $40 more for the procedure itself.
I had always thought this would take a week (mostly in bed) to recover, and some times that can be pretty tough with my teaching.
I called up my primary care doctor only to find they couldn’t do it, but referred me to The Urology Team, and
the Jollyville location is closest to my home.
I gave them a call Early December, and the quickest they could get me in for an initial consult was Dec 21st. which actually turned out to be perfect, since that was the first day of my two holiday weeks off works.
Went in for the consult at 10:40, and Dr. Giesler told me what to expect, how to prepare, etc. Then an extremely short/quick physical exam, and I was out the door, with actual procedure scheduled for the next day (Tue Dec 22). I was half hoping to get Dr Chopp or Dr. Wang or Dr. Hardemann — I mean, with names like those at a urology center, you just have to wonder if these guys legal change their names, or just some odd coincidence?! You just can’t make this stuff up! =)
That evening I went shopping with a list of items from my “prep guide”…. jock strap, spray-on analgesic, Advil, frozen bags of peas and corn (yes, THAT was recommended!), and Dial antibacterial soap. After getting back home I showered.. spent 10 minutes with the antibacterial soap on the… uh… target area, and then…. as Dr. Giesler said.. the most fun part of all this.. the shaving. And for those of you who’ve never put a razor to it… uh.. yeah… I now have a whole new respect for the women who do this on a regular basis! wow! Needless to say I nicked myself more than two or three times, and at one point even said out loud “Wow! I bet I’m bleeding more now than I will be during the surgery!” Anyway, that ordeal went on much too long, but it was the last thing for the day
The next day, another 5 minutes in the shower with the antibacterial soap, and off to the clinic. I wanted to be sure to get there an hour earlier than my appointment so I could get that extra Xanax to help calm me down… of course, with that, it meant no driving myself home afterwards, so, yeah… uh…. who do you take to the urology center, and sit with in the waiting room for an hour while you’re about to have yourself snipped? Actually, I COULD think up a few people, but my first two choices weren’t available… and I am quite close with my sister, so she made the sacrifice and carted me around. When we first arrived there was a couple things to sign, blood pressure, and then the pills. After about only 30 min I was called back.. and actually a little worried that the pills hadn’t had time to take full effect?!
Once in the room I was asked to drop my pants, lay on the bed/table and the nurse sprayed me (probably iodine), covered me, then left. A few minutes later Dr. Giesler came in, just a minute of quick chat and he was off to work… we kept some kind of random chat going the whole time (I was only in that room about 40 min total! — and the operation itself seemed like maybe 15 min?). First he found what he was looking for in the scrotum, slight pinch/burn as he injected local anesthetic. I could feel a little pull here and there, but nothing more than you might feel if someone was touching your arm, and before I knew it he said he was done with that side, and on to the next! Ouch.. another injection? yeah.. not overly painful I guess, but I’d always prefer even “sting”-FREE. Another couple of minutes and he was done! He said it went without incident, and I was really amazed at how quick and really fairly painless the whole thing was. I was awake the whole time with only the local anesthetic, and when done, another nurse came in to sit me up, take a couple minutes to make sure I was fine, and then out the door with me walking on my own. Well — jock strap on to help keep everything fairly immobile and protected.
Sister drove me to Walgreens to pick up a prescription of Vicodin just incase there was pain, then dropped me off at home where I climbed in to bed to take it easy for a while. Guess I fell asleep for a couple hours. Everything was fine later too… not really any pain, but perhaps a little discomfort. Put a bag of frozen corn in the area to help sooth things. that whole evening went very well… Didn’t take (or need) any pain meds at all, and I could walk around fairly well, although I purposefully took things very slowly.
The next day (Wednesday) was about the same… moving about quite a bit more, and then fortunately most of my time was spent in front of the computer doing various things. I did get a bit of a fever, but wasn’t sure if that had more to do with the fact I was just about fully naked in 70 degree temps. (Winter, ya know). So turned up the heat a bit, threw on a few layers of clothes, took 4 Advil, and felt much better over the next hour or so. Later, I began to feel a bit more discomfort, as I had thought maybe I could go without the jockstrap by now.. I guess I got one with a smaller waistband than I needed? Or maybe they’re suppose to fit REALLY tight around the waste, but UGH! I felt like the tight elastic band was cutting off circulation past my waist! — and so had taken it off for a bit… probably not the best thing… Several hours later a noticed a little bruising… it’s listed as a normal thing, and maybe would have naturally appeared anyway, but I wonder if it was brought on by that lack of extra support for a while. Needless to say, I put the supporter on again, and situated it to a more comfortable fit.
It’s now Thursday (day 3) … and the last “big day” of the whole thing. Most the post-op paperwork just lists what to do / not do up to Day 3, and Dr. Gielser verbally added some other things like “probably best no sex for 10 days” – don’t think that’ll be a problem at the moment… and should probably wait that same time for really hitting the gym again (since I had started getting back to a couples hours there at a time). Today is not much discomfort… just something brief every now and then. Still no other pain meds needed, and walking around more easily.
This will be the last thing I post about it unless some other interesting thing happens… the only “next steps” are to take two semen samples after 15 ejaculations, and another after 10 more, and get those to the clinic to verify “no sperm”. And with that, I’ve probably said too much already. ;)

– David

Last year I wrote a short entry about the importance of knowing your credit score.

I’ve been subscribed to a service (MyCreditInform), which allows me to look up my credit score at any time, as well as giving me some good pointers and advice on WHY and HOW certain items in my credit report are affecting my score, and DETAILS on what accounts I have open, balances, etc.  There are also what-if tools which allow me to “test” things like “What if I cancel this particular card” or “What if I pay this card’s balance down to less than 50% max limit”, etc.  Overall I’ve been rather happy with it.

I DO know we are allowed to get a FREE report from each of the three credit reporting agencies once a year.  If you time each of the three out across the year, that’s a free report every 4 months. The government webpage describing free access to credit reports is here.  The site they refer to is AnnualCreditReport.com which will give you access to all three reporting agencies.

A new (free) site I recently heard about on Clark Howard’s national radio program is CreditKarma.com which seems to have LOTS of the same tools a MyCreditInform for evaluating why your credit score is what it is.  As well as showing what your current score is, and many other goodies.  The only thing this site doesn’t seem to do is give you all the full details about exactly what accounts you have open, and specific account history.  Again, you can get that free at AnnualCreditReport.com (total 3 times a year) or for a small monthly fee at MyCreditInform.com (unlimited).

Anyway, one of the MAIN reasons I wanted to write this particular entry was because last quarter my score had been up around 790, but has now dropped to near 760!  Of course, I had to look in to why, and found some (now obvious) information I thought I’d share to perhaps help others.

The main reasons for the rather large drop is because I was looking to get my first Discover Card and Home Depot credit card to have a few more different types of cards, and since one of my earlier cards was closed out on me (due to inactivity).  So, I have those 2 new inquiries showing on my report, PLUS now that I have them (and they are brand new), they are adding to a reduced “average age” of all my cards, which is now at about 3.5 years.  Since I got a late start with my credit (had been always paying cash), my oldest card is only 8 years.  Along with that, I got 2 other credit cards a few years ago, which now means 4 new accounts in the last 24 months which is having an additional negative effect.  On top of the credit cards, I’ve been looking to buy a new house (property) and not being very picky, so the “looking” has been going on since last October, and so now there have been 3 hard credit inquiries for that spread out over the last 12 months.  And something I hadn’t thought of…. I have a balance (owe something) on 50% of my cards.  Now THIS is a bit odd for a negative, because I do pay off the full balance of all my 12 cards each month, but because 6 of them currently have some balance (even $4 and $12) they are seeming to have an effect.  According to CreditKarma.com, 29.7% of their users have 11-20 cards, but I’m surprised to see that even 21% have 21-30 cards.  I also just finished refinancing my current house with a new lender, and while there is no clear sign of the effect, I am sure that plays in a little as well.

Overall, I’m not worried about the current drop.  As the 2 new cards get some time passed they won’t affect the average age as much, and the new cards will help to build a higher score, and help to keep current usage under 50%.  The hard inquiries will drop off in several months, and I’ll finally make it over 800 for the first time! — I’d say by next Summer that goal will be reached.

Some final info (as found on Credit.com)… Payment History accounts for 35% of your score.  Amount of Debt accounts for 30% of score, which is calculated as Total Balances / Total Credit Limits = Your Revolving Utilization, and so having more cards while keeping balances low can have a dramatic effect.  Types Of Accounts determines 10% of your credit score which can be a bit confusing, but described well here. Basically the message here is to have a wide variety of accounts (mortgage, auto, credit card, student loan, signature, etc) – and even historical (closed) accounts count.  Having a mortgage is a “must” (the page says) and auto loan counts big too.. as well as “not too many” credit cards… avoid finance companies… but a lot of this Account types section is more fuzzy than Payment History and Amount of Debt.  Age of Accounts (oldest account and average) makes up 15% of your score.  And finally, (hard) Inquiries over the last 24 months make up the last 10% of your score. A VERY good description and example of how inquires can be bad is seen near the bottom of this page.

Hope this helps someone else too!

David

I recently became rather interested in Personality Tests after being introduced to The Enneagram of Personality.

After taking several online versions:
http://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test.php
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-quick-amp-painless-enneagram-test
http://ancientpathspersonalgrowth.org/test/test.html
http://www.enneagram.net/tests/sampler/samplerlogin.aspx

I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I’m most likely a Type 5, but also very likely a Type 1 or possibly a Type 3!

Even after 2 days of intense reading and comparing Type descriptions (which Type would do that?) I am still not quite sure.

Some things I have read suggest that you really have to look beyond the “actions” of each Type and focus on the “motivation”.  One site (EnneagramInstitute) has some really good Type descriptions, and even several pages on how to identify Mistypes!

After reading up on how Type 1’s are commonly mistyped as 5’s… I found one main difference seems to be that 1’s are more likely extroverted while 5’s are more likely introverted, so I found an online test to “confirm” that too. My results?

Very Introverted

You prefer your own company or that of your partner’s. You don’t have many friends, but the ones you do are the kind that are loyal. You’re always misunderstood as being grumpy, but often it’s that you simply don’t care to talk. If people constantly question your mood, it can actually make you grumpy and you wish they’d stop asking if you’re okay. Ideally, you’d prefer to be in a vocation where you can work alone. A quiet night with a book, movie or computer is preferable to going out and battling with a crowd of people lined up at the popular nightspot in town. You’re a deep thinker and thrive on analysing life, current events and your own original views. You’re mature for your age. If financially viable, you’d rather live alone (or with significant other) and don’t like many visitors. Compared to an extrovert, you’re cooler and probably less neurotic. You can be trusted with a secret. Change is probably something that you don’t embrace a lot, as you prefer familiar and routine. You won’t have nearly as many jobs as an extrovert. They get bored easily. I like you.

Compared to other takers

• 81/100 You scored 76% on Introvertpints, higher than 81% of your peers.

… and although I can certainly accept I am most likely introverted, there are parts of my personality (and time periods in my life) which really point to an extrovert (running Actual Reality BBS, going to raves, I DO like working with a small group of people to help keep motivated and on task, share ideas, etc… I’ve really enjoy teaching for 12 years now, etc).

Along with that, “While Ones certainly do think, they are primarily people of action, and are only interested in ideas that lead to some practical result. Fives, however, are truly a mental type: they can ponder any proposition or idea and do not particularly care about its practical ramifications.”  .. and most often I find myself trying to think about how to get a result or deciding which action to take. “Ones are keenly interested in applying their principles to daily life.”

Here it becomes a little unclear to me: “Ones judge situations from idealistic standards based on what they think should be the case. Fives are constantly investigating and questioning assumptions, not to mention standards and principles.” — I usually do have a strong gut-feeling about how I think something SHOULD be, but at the same time I am constantly trying to research all sides, and question everything just to be sure I’ve got the correct answer.

Another point: “Ones are deductive, operating from principles to specific applications; Fives are inductive, operating from given data to form more sweeping theories.” — For this I actually spent about 30 minutes to research the difference between deductive and inductive and feel that I use BOTH methods to come to my conclusions. I suppose if I have experience with something I’ll use data from that, but if not I’ll probably have general principles to work from.  In either case, when I’m coming to my own conclusion I generally like to gather as much data from all sides as I can — so, inconclusive?

Another: “Both are philosophical, and love knowledge: Ones as a means of perfecting the world, Fives as a way of discovering more about the world.” — I’m not sure I ALWAYS try to perfect the entire world, but it could often be that I see a flaw in something and am trying to fix that, or make others aware of better alternatives. (or is that a Type 3?)  I suppose at some level, I am less interested in making things “perfect” and more interested in just discovering the “right” answer… either for myself (Type 5?), or more likely to apply in some way (Type 1?).

And finally: “Ones tend to be teachers and moralists, not inventors and iconoclasts like Fives.” — 13 years ago I never thought I’d be a teacher, and in fact, even as I started in the profession I was EXTREMELY anxious about being up in front of class. However, after doing it for even just a couple months I felt very comfortable with it, and now see myself teaching for (possibly) MANY more years.  I think I fall in to the “moralists” category as well and don’t feel I fit in with iconoclasts.

Anyway, the distinctions between Type 1 and Type 5 still remain aloof for me.

This brings on a later interesting twist with Type 3!  “Average Threes, by contrast, are efficient pragmatists, not idealists. Threes are driven more by their goals than by standards–they care more about getting the job done than about the particulars of how it gets done. Ones tend to be attached to particular methods or procedures (“This is the best way to do this.”) Threes are more adaptable, and will change tactics quickly if they feel they are not getting the desired result.”  — Which perhaps even seems to fit me better.  I am usually all for IMPROVING a way something is done, and again, it’s more about getting to a result (quicker/better).  When doing most tasks I seem to always be thinking of ways to improve it.  I don’t feel I am stuck in a the rigidity of always doing something the “right way” (Type 1) when there is a better/easier/faster way to do the same thing (Type 3).  I certainly don’t mind (or fear) adapting.

Another aspect: “Threes are more able to mask whatever is bothering them. On the surface, they rarely appear emotionally disturbed for long by anything. Ones are far less able to conceal their irritations and disappointments.” — Which I  can certainly see for myself.  I am quick to let things appear to slide off my back.  And with Threes “the impression of aloofness and of emotional coolness comes more from a detachment from their feelings rather than a suppression of them.”– This is tough, as I am not really sure if I am more detached from my feelings or suppressing them.

However, “Threes tend to present whatever emotion seems appropriate at the time. If seriousness is called for, they tend to project seriousness. If levity is required, they will ‘do levity,’ smiling and being chatty, even if inside they are feeling frightened, overwhelmed, or even sad. For better or worse, Threes are more skilled at projecting charm and ‘personality’ than Ones. However, we can discern the underlying detachment from deeper feelings when Threes are ‘performing’ by the abruptness and ease with which they can adjust their affect from situation to situation and from person to person.” — and this really seems to lock in a Three for me, since I do seem to have an ease at adjusting according to situation and/or person(s).

And finally: “Both types have in mind some sort of goal that they want to achieve. The difference is that Ones attempt to discover which objective means will best lead to the desired ideal, whereas Threes are pragmatists who work backward to find the most efficient means to achieve their goal.”  — I am definitely GOAL oriented in my thinking (as opposed to Fives?), but it’s hard to say if I use an “objective means” as opposed to “pragmatic”.  However, if the words “the desired ideal” as opposed to “their goal” really are vitally important to the concept, then I might have to say I care less about some “desired ideal” that others might see, and generally am more concerned with meeting MY goals… if they match up with some global ideal that’s even better, but not required.  That’s not to say I try to massage the data to fit what I want, but rather I try to find the answers for myself and not overly concerned with what might be a more widely desire/accepted answer.

MBTI

I wasn’t overly satisfied about an earlier test showing I was introverted, although I wasn’t stubbornly opposed to it. Today I took two separate  Myers-Briggs personality tests with these results:

ISTJ   and   INTJ

I guess I should just accept that I’m introverted, but with some very extroverted-like exceptions in various aspects of my life.  The second test also came with these “strength indicators”

Introverted     Intuitive       Thinking        Judging
89                50                  88                  67
I took those tests to help get a better feel for my enneagram type.  There are several pages I’ve seen that elude to some correlation, and in fact this page has a good chart to match up types.  On that chart it shows all Type 5s to be Introverts, while all Type 3s are Extroverts, and Type 1s can be ISTJ or ESTJ.  I still feel reluctant to rule out Type 3.

Well, it’s getting late, and I’m sure I’ll be at this more tomorrow.

The Blackberry Pearl finally went through a wash cycle, and has died.

Long live the NEW BlackBerry (Tour 9630) !

So, yes.  I’ve got this new BlacBerry Tour 9630 smartphone I’m starting to play around with now.  Probably a bit overkill for what I need, but the main advantages (buying decision points) that it has over the Pearl are (in the order of importance to me):

1) Much larger screen size and resolution
2) 3.2 Megapixel camera (as opposed to 2) with autofocus and image stabilization
3) Longer battery life
4) QWERTY keyboard (finally)
5) 3G connection speed
6) GSM (worldwide) network service (although I probably won’t use this much)

The very FIRST things I’m enjoying are the new holster and belt clip that came with the box, as opposed to my old Pearl which had some flimsy  pouch thing which I discarded after the first day.  The lack of a good holster and clip was probably the MAIN reason my Pearl got dropped over a dozen times.

After the new phone was activated, I tried taking it and the Pearl to Sprint so the data could be transferred, but since the Pearl would not even power on, they said there was nothing they could do!  I found that VERY bothersome… I KNOW the data is probably on some chip, unharmed, or at least MOST is recoverable.  Another Sprint rep approached while I was making a fuss, and let me know that the Sprint techs there have very basic skills, perhaps capable of replacing a cover, fixing various small issues, but certainly nothing like unscrewing the phone mechanisms and getting to the motherboard where the internal data is stored.

He DID add one other bit of advice… telling me about Skydeck.com which is an online web site that can get access to your phone (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon), as well as  importing contact lists (directly from your phone, or Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, MAC Address Book, and more).  From there it can keep sync’d to your phone, and always show up-to-date info about current contacts, as well as save/store all phone text messages, voicemail, calls, etc both incoming and outgoing. As well as provide you with a way to send messages from the site, or place calls via help from Google Voice using your computer, use a search function on all your text/voicemail, and more. Anyway, I got signed up today with Skydeck.com as well, and am very impressed this first couple hours of playing around with it.

Tomorrow I need to contact someone at AustexPCS to check on pricing of data recovery from the old Pearl.  Their card (and site) show quite an extensive list of services, including data recovery from water damaged phone.  Being the digital packrat that I am… I guess I am most interested in getting the 1.5 years worth of saved text messages off the phone, and certainly my always important contact/address list.  It is an extra hassle to have to find, download, and reconfigure ALL those nice Blackberry apps I already had set up on the Pearl, but I’m pretty sure nothing can be done about transfering my app configs (which includes GPS locations etc), but I’ll ask.  Ultimately, this is another FINE example of my growing lifestyle where I do not want to store data on any particular device, which could get lost or damaged…. data should be able to be stored (and sync’d) to remote places, as automatically as possible for safe, off-site storage/retrieval in a none proprietary way.

It looks like Google has a new app (Latitude) which will share your GPS location on a Google map, AND show you the locations of all your friends who are showing their locations too! Yippie!  I’ve wanted this from Google for a couple years now, and I think more friend’s phones are capable of GPS tracking.  Should add a lot of FUN to social networking :)  You should be able to see my live tracking map right under my main picture on the far left column of this blog site.

It’s late. I’m off to bed, but will add more to this post as I get more Apps set back up on the new phone.

I’ve recently found a new app for my BlackBerry Pearl which seems to do some great GPS tracking of my phone.  I guess I’ve been thinking it’s cool to have friends and family be able to “know where I am” at any given moment… perhaps get a better feel for closeness.  Also, the new app (GPSed) can store a route (collection of locations) and overlay that on to a Google Map.  Even better, when I take photos with my phone, another app (ITookThisOnMyPhone) will automatically upload the pictures and make them available online.  These two apps can talk to each other, so the pictures an up getting posted on the map right at the location they were taken!  Today was one of the first days I really started to get things working out smoothly.. so here is a link to the route/map/pics !  I’ve also got my account on Facebook linked up as well, so every time I create a new route, it’s posted for all friends to see.

Of course, there’s also a LIVE TRACKING MAP right here on this site (rock808.com) also… just look in the lower left, under the Green Navigation column.

David

Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything here! — VERY busy I guess… many things…

But this post is about the work / progress with the house!

Things are coming together VERY well, and I thought I’d post a few pics of the “work in progress”.  Much has been finished even since these pictures, and I’ll have the most recent ones posted soon, but for now….

David

Yup! I took the plunge!

Bought a new digital SLR camera to play around with…. try to get a little more professional with my photography. I decided on the Canon EOS 40D.

There’s not really much I can say about it right now, since I’ve just barely opened the box, but from several reviews on the web it seems to be among one of the top notch prosumer level cameras out there. 10 megapixel, 6 frames/sec, and a host of other cool features. I’m sure I’ll be posting some new pics here and on my Flickr account soon!

Until then, here’s more specs:

 

Canon EOS 40D Kit W/ EF 28-135mm IS

The Spirit of Photography.

• Superb image quality: 10.1 Megapixel CMOS Sensor, extensive noise reduction technology, and 14-bit conversion for outstanding color tones and gradations.
• Outstanding performance: 6.5 fps, burst rate up to 75 consecutive JPEGs or 17 RAW images and DIGIC III Image Processor.
• Strong, rugged build quality: magnesium-alloy exterior, shutter durability-tested to 100,000 cycles, top speed 1/8000, top x-sync speed 1/250.
• New AF system with 9 cross-type sensors, and world’s first diagonal high-precision cross-type AF at center point with f/2.8 and faster lenses.
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System, Picture Style settings, Spot metering, and Highlight Tone Priority for advanced in-camera image control.
• Large 3.0-inch LCD monitor and advanced Live View Function with new options for reduced shutter time lag and quiet operation.
• Wide range of accessories, including interchangeable focusing screens, extensive remote control options, and new battery grip BG-E2N.

Welcome to the next generation of digital SLR photography-the Canon EOS 40D. The EOS 40D combines Canon’s tremendous know-how in both the digital and photographic worlds, creating a camera that not only does everything one would expect of a traditional digital SLR, but one that incorporates staggering leaps forward in technological innovation. With new features like Canon’s EOS Integrated Cleaning System, Live View Function, a more powerful DIGIC III Image Processor, plus a 10.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, a 3.0-inch LCD monitor and more, the EOS 40D elevates digital photography to new heights, enhancing the shooting experience, and delivering images one could only expect from a Canon. (http://www.camerax.com/show_item.php?140-19017@1794)

For the past several years I’ve found it VERY important to keep a good credit score. Not only for the obvious of being able to buy something on credit, but I’ve found that potential employers might look at that information too, as well as other establishment, housing, etc. With identity theft so rampant these days, and your credit score being so important for more aspects of our lives than most people know… I do highly recommend you keep tabs on it on a regular basis. I am set up with a site that allows me access to my score and report at any time.

This month, it looks like this:

Your Current Equifax Score is: 777

Over time, your score has changed as shown:

738   743   746   777   Apr ‘07 Jul ‘07 Oct ‘07 Jan ‘08

Well, I’ve decided it’s probably best to start meeting new people again, and trying to spend a little time hanging out with old friends I haven’t seen in a while.  So, I met up with someone new last night.  Totally out of the blue, after exchanging a couple flirty emails, a brief phone call, and before we knew it… off to… uh.. where.. let’s see.. it’s already 10pm!  We decide on IHOP.  I thought that if she flaked out, or turned out to be someone totally different than her profile, at least I could eat some dinner.  But no.  She turned out to be very fun and interesting and cute.  We just chatted for a bit, and then decided it probably best not to be sitting around and went outside to walk around some nearby shops.  Of course I HAD to tease her about a little thing here and there, and she played right along.  After a couple hours (it was already midnight!?!) I decided it best we continue on another day.  Yeah, not a whole lot of details here, but that’s not my style. The bottom line is that it felt good to get out, have fun playing around, being flirty and have them flirt back, being spontaneous, etc.  We are planning our next get together for Sunday. :)