Greetings from lovely Wrightstown, WI.  Population 2000.  My in-laws live here and this is where I’m spending my vacation.  I call it “my” vacation because my wife is a stay-at-home mom, and therefore we’re using MY vacation days to be here.

I quickly learned after arriving that it is indeed not “my” vacation at all.  Within 15 minutes of our arrival, my wife and her sister had planned out the whole week.  What they’d be doing, where they’d be going and how often I’d be watching my kids.  It’s been several days of eating Christmas cookies and watching the Food Network for me while they run around and have fun.  My cousin wanted to get together with our families this week, but we just can’t squeeze her in.  My little brother and his wife just adopted three kids and are up at my mom’s house.  Unfortunately, there is a spa day and manicure scheduled that day.  I escaped for a half an hour yesterday to get a haircut, but that’s the extent of my thrilling time here in Wisconsin.

Next year, seperate vacations.  She can come home, and I’m going to Cabo.  Ooh, Giada’s on… gotta go.

It gets faster at the bottom.  So as you can see from my last two blogs, I can’t drive my truck because the tires are too big and the new tires haven’t come in yet.  The dude I work with still hasn’t paid me. (I’m taking him to court next month). And yesterday afternoon…

My computer melted down!  It just froze up and won’t turn back on.  I tried a few of the tricks to get it running again, but I think it’s shot.  The IT guy here at the station offered to take a look but told me not to hold out any hope.

I’ve backed up a few things, but I will for sure lose a ton of pictures, music, and videos.  Not to mention all my financial records for the past two years (I use Quicken).  It’ll work out.  Things always do.  Hopefully Uncle Sam will be good to me and I can get a new computer with tax return money, that’s a pretty tall order for Santa!
 
Ho ho ho!

I’m an idiot.  OK, I WAS an idiot six months ago and I’m still paying (literally) for my lapse in judgement.  Here’s the story…

Back in mid July I was selling my truck.  I was selling that truck and my wife’s truck to buy the Jeep I wanted(see blog New Tires below).  Well I sold Amy’s truck and then I screwed up BIG Time.  There was a guy at work here who was going through a rough time.  He was having to share a vehicle with his kid and he was running his ex all over town and it was making his life miserable.  He mentioned he was going to buy a vehicle and I told him I was selling mine.  He said he was very interested in buying it, but wasn’t going to have the funds for two weeks.  Here’s where I made my first mistake.  I told him since he was in a bind, I’d let him have the truck now and he could pay me in two weeks.  I know, really stupid, but I’m a good guy and I expect people to be good to their word.

He comes over to get the truck and we sign a contract saying he’ll pay me in full in 60 days.  Apparently he’s only going to get a grand in two weeks and the rest will come later.  Should have been a red flag, but I thought “No problem, I can wait 60 days.”  The problem is, in order for ME not to be responsible for the truck while he’s driving it, I have to give the guy the title.  He needs to license it and get insurance.  I know… stupid.

To make a long story short, every time this guy is supposed to give me money, something comes up where I don’t get paid.  A check he’s expecting doesn’t come, or there’s a family emergency, or the ex-wife needs money, or the kid’s in a car accident, or whatever.  It’s been six months and he still owes me $2,500!

That’s a pretty substantial amount of money for my family as I’m sure it is for yours.  The month I had to license my Jeep and my wife’s van, I actually had to take out a loan in order to make my mortgage payment.  And now it’s Christmas and my kids are going to go without presents because this Ass can’t get me the cash he owes me. 

I’ve tried to be a good guy, but money ain’t funny.  It’s time to take this to the next level and that’s where I need your help.  I’ve never sued anyone before or sent the cops after them or whatever.  What are my options?  Legally how can I make this deadbeat pay up?  Or at the very least, get my truck back so I can sell it to someone else and get the money he owes me?

Any advice the “Jesse & Shotgun Throbbing Brain” has to offer would be well appreciated.

I hate sending Christmas cards.  But like many people, I feel obligated to send them every year.  While I get that you want to let the people in your “circle” know that you are thinking of them over the holidays, be honest, if these people were really that important to you, wouldn’t you be reaching out to them and talking with them year round?  Or wouldn’t they be reaching out to you?

My wife & I send out around 65 cards each year.  Of those, there are probably 20 people I enjoy sending cards to.  They are my close friends and the family I keep in touch with.  Then there is the other 30.  The people I was friends with at one time that just remain on the list because I can’t cut the cord and the relatives who don’t keep in touch.  I know communication is a two-way street, but if I didn’t call these friends, I’d never hear from them.  And these relatives don’t call, visit, or EVEN SEND A CARD TO US!  Every year I tell my wife that I’m taking them off the list, and every year I send them a card anyway.

At the end of the day, I guess I’d rather take the time to send cards to people I don’t think should get them, than run the risk of them being offended by not getting one.

Happy Holidays… I’ll be watching my mail!

Is there a bigger rip off than buying new tires?  I’d be hard pressed to find one!  I bought a new Jeep (well new to me) this summer and the existing tires are almost as bald as yours truly.  So with the forecast calling for a few inches of new snow, I figured I’d better slip & slide my way to the store for new tires. 

Jesse told me I’d get off pretty cheap with my truck.  Boy was HE WRONG!  First of all, they didn’t have any tires in my size.  (I know. I thought that pretty ridiculous, too!)  The guy told me I should buy the next size up.  “Always go bigger,” he says.  So I look at tires in the next size bigger.  They aren’t cheap.  I point out the cheapest tires in that size and ask the guy what he thinks of them.  He tells me they don’t channel well and will pack up with snow and lose traction.  I ask him what he recommends and he points out the most expensive tires on the rack.  I think these guys see me coming.

Oh, well.  Six hundred dollars later I’ve got four shiny new tires.  Blue (I mean, white) side out.  Big ‘ol knobby treads.  Ready for anything winter has to offer.  Then I get home and pull into my garage, and realize my spare is now a size too small.

UPDATE: The guys at the tire shop got the right size tires in and swapped them out for me for free yesterday (12/20/07)!  Life is good!

Well this was the year it finally happened.  My oldest daughter, Kylie, had a sleep over for her birthday just before Thanksgiving and the seven tweens stayed up all night talking about Santa Claus… or the lack thereof.

About a week later, I was tucking her into bed, like I always do and Kylie asked me the loaded question… “Is Santa Claus real?”  Not being privy to the late night conversations at her slumber party, this caught me off guard.  I told her that belief in Santa Claus is something that each of us has to carry with us in our own hearts.  I’ve believed in Santa my whole life and he’s never let me down.

It’s tough to be that age when all your friends think it’s cool to not believe, but I think it’s best to look around and see the love and caring that this holiday brings… and not hedge your bets on extra loot!

Merry Christmas!

There is a lot of talk these days about the new Nicole Kidman/Daniel Craig movie The Golden Compass which comes out this Friday.  The religious camp is upset because the book was apparently written by an atheist and the atheists are upset because they don’t feel the movie is anti-religious enough.

Here’s the deal.  Unlike most of the people doing the talking… I’ve read the book (the series actually - there’s three books).  The main gist of the books is there is this “dust” that falls from the sky and is less attracted to kids.  It starts collecting on them when they hit puberty.  The church believes it to be evidence of Original Sin.  Nicole Kidman and the Magistrate (the Church) are trying to find a way to destroy this dust.  The story centers around Lyra and Will(who we don’t meet until book two) who have to fall in love to put everything right with the world.

Don’t over think it.  It should be a pretty good young adult action flick and Nicole Kidman looks smokin’ hot.  The second book stunk in my opinion and the third, while still stinking, is pretty good to wrap everything up.

We were talking about the contests for drink tickets at this year’s office Christmas party and I’ve decided I really want to win!  There are three contests.  I don’t own any sweaters, so the Tackiest Sweater contest is out.

The next contest is the Tackiest Tie contest.  I can WIN this!!  Here are the options I have it narrowed down to.  Please click on Comments and let me know which one I should wear.  The tie with the most votes wins!

Or if you don’t think I can win with those, I’ll enter in the Jesse James Look-A-Like contest.  I’m a shoo in with my costume.  What do you think?

Christmas Shopping is one of my favorite parts of the Christmas holiday.  There’s nothing I like better than going to store after store looking for just the right gift to surprise someone under the tree on Christmas Day.

Men and women shop very differently.  In general, men decide what they want ahead of time, go to the store to buy that one specific thing, and get away fast like the place is on fire.  It’s a very efficient way to shop.  Women on the other hand, like to browse the store, and maybe even go into different adjoining stores to see what they have to offer.  This may not be as efficient as the men’s way, but it often leads to a better gift idea or a better deal on the same item.

This past weekend, my wife and I did the annual switcheroo.  She takes one child and I take the other and we go shopping.  I take the girls shopping for their sister and mom.  Gillian shops like a man.  No nonsense.  “What did we come in here for? Where can I find it? Let’s Go!”  We were in/out and done in 30 minutes and that included lunch.  Then we went home and I dropped off Gillian and picked up Kylie.  Kylie shops like a girl… and admittedly so do I.  We had to go pick something up for my grandmother and were gone for three hours.  We could have stayed out longer, but mom started calling wondering where we were.

Between Amy and I, we got about 80% of our Christmas shopping done.  So, we’ll see you in the malls this weekend!