From the archives: Paying off Debts

As I often do, I bring over a blog entry from my myspace blog so I can keep them all together. I thought this would be a good one to bring over now because I just paid off my 2006 Honda Civic, less than two years after purchasing it (and I had a 6 year repayment plan). I got the Civic when the Altima got a damaged engine due to a defective catalitic converter damaging it. I was already in the process of getting a new car when I found out Nissan would cover it due to the emissions warranty (8 years, 78,000 miles - the car already had over 77,000 miles on it). I decided to go ahead and get the new car, and sold the Altima to my brother. I love my car, but I loved that Altima, especially the sound from the Bose speakers and the seat warmers. If I had kept it, I'd have a paid off car with a new engine and could be saving money over the last two years for its replacement. Oh well, do I love my Honda! I mean, it's blue! What else could you want? And the console looks so cool.







Oh, and I did pay off my student loan, and luckily, even with the downturn in the real estate market, my condo's worth more than I owe.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Paying off debts Current mood: happy Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
I just sent in my last payment for my car. I bought my Altima in 2003 and financed for five years. About a year and a half ago I realized that if I just put in an extra $170 each month, I could pay it off in three years. So I did. It feels good to have that paid for and taken care of.In addition, I just got my tax returns back from federal and state and decided that I would devote a lot of it to pay off credit card bills. Now, I don't normally charge a lot on my credit card bills, but a combination of a fantastic Disneyland trip last September and my dog dying in October (and all the expenses that came with that), and a spending spree I went in I believe to get over my grieving process, I found I have a couple thousand on my cards. I've been paying them off since then, but with my tax return I was able to pay them off completely.And I used a little bit to help pay off most of the remainder of my student loan debt. I should have it completely paid off in two to three months, thus making my 15 year payment plan debt paid off in 7 years! Why post this on a blog? I just feel so great to be basically debt free. I only owe the remainder of my student loan and my mortgage (and of course my mortgage won't be paid off anytime soon - but since my condo's increased in value, it almost doesn't matter - I still have positive equity).Be careful of debt. It's really so freeing to know I'm not in debt. Now of course the big thing is to make sure I increase my savings. I hope that I take good enough care of my car that it lasts me several more years and that I can then save up enough to buy its eventual replacement outright, without financing. Our country is going to be in big trouble soon. Most people are heavily in debt and have absolutely no savings. My own savings aren't anything to be excited about right now, but I plan on working on it. I plan on staying free.
Currently reading : Like a Fire Burning (Work and the Glory, Vol 2)By Gerald N. LundRelease date: By January, 2001
3:55 AM
Dragon_Fire
Wow that is impressive!!!! I'm hoping to be able to say that by the end of this year, now wouldn't that be nice...
You are an inspiration to us all...
Posted by Dragon_Fire on Feb 24, 2006 11:05 AM

Ukiah, Melodie, and getting ready to take the train

I haven't posted since Father's Day. I've been busy trying to clean up my place, driving up to Ukiah for Youth Conference, and being a temporary mom to one of my Young Women. It's been busy.

Last night I went to my friend Melodie's bridal shower. Her fiancee is being transferred to Virginia, so rather than get married in April like they planned, they prayed and are getting married Saturday. I don't know if I could do it. Still, she's 33 and never been married, so it gives me hope there's some great guy out there just waiting for me! (Thanks for the pictures, Joan!)

This weekend I'm heading to Utah to visit my brother for the 4th of July holiday. I'm also going to visit some friends of mine, including my former bishop and Leslie and Jill, who just started at BYU after graduating two weeks ago.

I always love taking the train. I don't always have time for it, but figured I did on this trip and originally planned on driving. I'll save on gas, don't have to stop at a motel if I get tired, and the ride is beautiful (at least through the Sierra Nevadas). It's always such an experience.

Father's Day at Pismo Beach

This weekend I drove a little over four hours to visit my parents who were visiting Pismo Beach with their RV club, the 'Weak-End Warriors'. My nephews Nathan and Dillon were there as well. We had a lot of fun! It was great to spend some time with my nephews. I don't get to spend as much time with them as with my sister's kids, so we had some great bonding time. Both Nate and Dillon are kind of quiet until they get to know you. They both opened up a lot to me. Dillon is so expressive in his face. It's so fun to be around them. Nathan kept saying 'Kirsten' this and 'Kirsten' that. Besides the beach, they loved the ship at the Pismo Sands RV Park.

Dillon looking through the port hole of the play ship at the Pismo Sands RV Park.Grampy and Dillon spending some quality time. Nathan enjoying the sand at Oceano Beach Nathan and Dillon waving at the planes that drove by, either offering flights or advertising ATV rentals. Cars can drive along the beach there.Dillon says the hot tub was 'too hot!' That's all he'd say 'That's hot!'Dillon looking so darn cute!Chloe was enjoying the beach as well! Jewely was snuggling up with Mom in the Ridgeline.

Weird states after taking a nap

Last night I got home from work, took the dogs out to do their business, then was on the couch watching some TV when I got really tired. I decided to take a nap, but not on my bed and not in the normal position on the couch. It was kind of a weird way of sleeping. Anyway, I fell asleep for a couple of hours and when I woke up, I had that weird feeling people (well, at least me) get sometime after waking up from a nap - like something's wrong but you just can't figure out what it is. I thought about it later last night and figured it's kind of a feeling that everybody in the world has gone somewhere else and you're the only one still there, and time and space are totally turned around. It's so weird. It's got to be some imbalance in equilibrium or something. I just remember having almost a panic for about a minute, trying to get everything in order.

Jugfest 2008

The local country radio station around where I grew up (KJUG - the best country radio station) had a country music festival this past weekend, and as I was there already for my niece and nephew's graduations, I went with my mom and our friend Colleen. http://www.westcoastbroadcasting.com/jugfest2008/index.htm The first six acts were all acoustic performances. I didn't really see any of Adam Gregory and only heard most of Emily West's performance, but I did see the Lost Trailers, and got autographs of them (oh my, the lead singer is hot!), and I saw Heartland (I Loved Her First) and Jeff Bates (the Love Song). It was a lot of fun, but it was really hot. My mom even bought me a $5 hat to wear to keep the sun off of me, but my arms got a little burnt. I should have had more cash with me, but it was a lot of fun.

That evening the headliners performed, starting with Paul Overstreet. Paul had a singing career over ten years ago, with such songs as 'Daddys Come Around to Mommy's Way of Thinking' and some other songs, but he's most well known for being a songwriter, so he sang some of those hits, including his biggerst, 'Forever and Ever, Amen' (Randy Travis), 'Some Beach' (Blake Shelton), 'When You Say Nothing At All' (Keith Whitley), 'She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy' (Kenny Chesney).

After Paul, Clay Walker was up. I love Clay Walker, and he was the main reason I was excited about the whole concert. He hardly had any gaps in the songs, just going from hit to hit. That's not to say he didn't have fun with the audience, but he was there to sing! His songs were great and upbeat. Playing 'Then What' with tons of huge beach balls is always so much fun! Our seats for the evening performances were awesome! I was in D19, just four rows back. It was so awesome! I didn't even have to look at the screens to see the artists up close.

Gary Allan was the headliner and last performer. He was great, but my ears were ringing all the next day. His songs are more rock than country, and many of his songs are depressing, mostly due to the fact that his wife committed suicide a few years back. It really was such a contrast with the upbeat Clay Walker (who's dealing with MS). Don't get me wrong, it was a great concert and I really enjoyed hearing Gary sing. I probably wouldn't go see him on his own, so it was great to see him. He sang my favorite song of his, 'Right Where I Need to Be' without his band. It was interesting, as this song is very... guitary on the radio. It's funny, because he and Keith Urban don't rock out my favorite songs by them, but prefer to do acoustic versions of them (my favorite Keith Urban song is 'I Wanna Be Your Everything').

It was a fun day and great to spend all that time with my mom. I'm looking forward to Jugfest '09

Graduations!

I went home last week to attend my niece and nephews graduations. My nephew Timothy graduated from Golden West High School on Tuesday night, followed by Kristina's graduation Thursday night at Tulare Union (yay, my alma mater), and a graduation party Friday night. I got to stay in my parents new 5th Wheel, which is really cool. I get to go in it for real (not in my parents yard) this weekend when I go visit my parents and nephews at Pismo Beach for Father's Day!

The old Commodore 64

I was listening to something this morning that reminded me of the Commodore 64 that my family had years ago. I don't know whatever happened to it, but it was our first 'computer', although I think we only used it for the games we could play on it. I remember some of the games we had, like Q-Bert and Centipede. I played those a lot, but to me the most memorable games we had were B.C.s Quest for Tires and Jumpman Junior. I never got far with B.C.s Quest for Tires, but I loved playing it. I guess I wasn't coordinated enough, but it was fun to see a character I had read in the comics come to life. You had to duck under branches and jump over various obstacles. It was fun and I wish I could play it now (there are software emulations out there, so maybe I will).







Jumpman Junior I was very proficient at. You have to climb up ladders and jump onto different platforms, always avoiding at least one bullet shooting towards you. And in later levels there are more obstacles, like fire. I loved playing this game, and could play it even at fast speed, which I remember my dad being amazed at.

We had our Commodore 64 in our green room which later became the laundry room. I don't know where my parents got it, but I believe it was used when we got it. We got the Commodore 64 with its monitor and several games and other software to run on it, plus a joystick and a rolling ball joystick we used to play Centipede. We had other various parts that I don't think we ever knew what to do with, which is why I think it was used. It was so much fun back in the day. We loved our Commodore 64 and the Commodore VIC-20 we had for some reason.

What a weekend

I started off my weekend by deciding to go see Indiana Jones and the Kindom of the Crystal Skull. I had planned on watching it, but figured I'd go sometime this week as I was tired Friday night and most of my friends that I'd see it with were gone for the weekend. But I really wanted to see it, so decided to go by myself. It was fun! I really enjoyed the movie. It's no Raiders, but it was a lot of fun and I plan on seeing it again.

My niece came into town Saturday with her Color Guard troupe from Tulare Union. They came for a couple of days at Marine World (Discovery Kindgom). I went earlier in the day to Marine World to get my season pass. I parked in the Carl's Jr parking lot and luckily went into the store first before walking over to Marine World. I saw them towing the car next to me when I got back and got my lunch. Anyway, Kris called and said they were on their way, so I met them at the Best Western, and off we went. I hung out with Kris and her friends Tiffni, Alyssa, and Heather. We went on several rides and had fun. We met for dinner with others and I had chili cheese fries. It was a fun night.

Sunday morning I was to drop off Kris and pay for her ticket for that day. I had originally planned on getting a free ticket with my season pass but didn't get it in time, so I had to pay for her ticket. But then I forgot my coupon book, so had to pay $50 for her ticket. I then decided that I might as well get a season pass for her for only $20 more. Unfortunately, once you're in the park, it's $40 more, so it was an expensive day. I normally try not to spend money on Sundays, but my niece was in town and I wanted to spend time with her. I did get to ride on Tony Hawk's Big Spin before I went to church. It was a lot of fun!

After church, I picked up Kristina and we went to Sacramento to see the US Tour version of Phantom of the Opera. I'll have to talk more about that later, but we both really enjoyed it. We got to meet several of the actors afterwards, including those who played the Phantom, Christine, and Raoul.

Monday morning we headed off to San Francisco with the group. I wish they had followed me, as I would have led them into the Pier 39 parking garage where we could have got validations for going to Bubba Gumps for lunch, but instead we went first to the Fisherman's Wharf parking lot and then to Pier 45. We ended up paying $16. Oh well, next time I'll have to be more with it and tell people where the best place to go would be. It was an expensive weekend, but a lot of fun! I love seeing Kristina, and I don't know how many opportunities like this I'll have in the future, with she coming with a group to visit.

A nice compliment

I was asked to speak at Church in the Benicia Ward. For those that aren't LDS (who am I kidding, I'm the only one reading this post), we get regular people speaking in our wards. Once a month, a High Councilor will speak in each ward, and they usually ask for a companion speaker to speak in the ward they will speaking at (they travel to different wards in the stake). At least that's how they do it in my stake.

Anyway, I often get to speak with one of the high councilors, and he asked me to speak last Sunday in Benicia Ward. I love the Benicia Ward. The Young Women there have become good friends of mine up at camp. They're so much fun, so I always look forward to getting to see them.

This was my second time I had spoken in Benicia in six months, and I thought they would be tired of hearing from me, but they seemed to enjoy it, and afterwards, one man (30-ish, married) said that he really appreciated when I spoke there and that he really needed to hear the message I had to give (I spoke on Individual Worth). I could tell he was sincere with what he said, especially when he said they all appreciate the messages I have when I speak. That made my day and definitely made getting up early and the total six hours of church I had Sunday worth it.

From the archives: Disneyland 2005

I absolutely love Disneyland! I wish I lived closer or had some friends that lived down there that I could stay at. I would then definitely have season tickets and go all the time. As it is, I 've recently gone every two years but I plan on going again this year (hopefully). Anyway, here's a post I put up about going to Disneyland in 2005 for the 50th anniversary of Disneyland.


Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Going to Disneyland
Current mood: jubilant
Category: Travel and Places

OK, I'm horrible at writing in my journal, and I've recently been thinking of my Disneyland trip in September, so I might as well write it here then copy it in my journal (along with my post about Diego). Just so you know, this will be really long and probably take a few sittings, so don't be surprised if it abruptly stops and I post it. I'll finish it when I can.So, earlier last year I decided I really wanted to go to Disneyland. It's the 50th anniversary of Disneyland and I wanted to go there and ride my favorite ride, Space Mountain. I talked with a friend of mine, and we planned on going. Complications arose, and my friend couldn't go. My mom suggested that we could go together, and go for multiple days. That sounded great to me, so we decided to look into the deals with AAA. We finally decided to go all out and stay at the Disneyland Hotel for four days (there was a deal of 4th night free) with a four day Park Hopper (Park Hoppers allow you to 'hop' from Disneyland to California Adventures). I came to the Orange County airport directly from Utah, where I was visiting my friend Analane and watching the BYU season opener. My mom picked me up, and we started heading towards Disneyland, although we missed the exit somehow and were heading who-knows-where in Southern California. Finally, we made it to the Disneyland Resort (as it calls itself now). We got a little lost there even, until we finally found the right way to the Disneyland Hotel (DLH). We found a spot to park (in the 20 minute parking) and walked in to check out. It was the first time I've been in the DLH. Well, not really, the monorail used to stop right there and you could go to what seemed like the biggest Disney merchandise store I had ever seen when I was growing up. Still, it was the first time I had been in the hotel portion. I immediately saw the Fantasia store and couldn't wait to go see it later and spend some money. Anyways, we checked in and then went back to the car to grab our luggage. It took about three trips, and then I parked the car in the actual hotel parking, up on the top of a structure. Finally, we were in our room with nothing else to do. It was a Sunday afternoon and we talked about the fact we had a four day hopper. We were trying to decide which days to go, and realized that we wanted to go that day, and then take Wednesday off. Thank goodness we chose that option, because we really needed that break on Wednesday, and the 50th Anniversary Fireworks Show only played Sunday night during our stay. More about that show later. So, although I felt really tired and partly wanted to take a nap, we started walking through Downtown Disney and towards Disneyland. We decided we'd wait on Disney's California Adventure (DCA) until Monday (Labor Day). The park seemed pretty full, as there were a lot of people get one last visit before school started (we chose Labor Day week because we heard Labor Day actually wasn't that busy and the rest of the week most of the kids would be in school). By now I've really forgotten what exactly we did at first, although I think it was taking pictures at the hub (where the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey are, with Sleeping Beauty Castle in the background). I don't remember which rides we went on, although I know we ran out of time that day to go on Space Mountain - which was OK, we'd have plenty of time the other three days. The two things I absolutely wanted to see was Fantasmic, which I had never seen before in all it's 14 years because friends I was with didn't want to see it, and the fireworks show. We went on some rides, perhaps the Indiana Jones ride and I believe Big Thunder Mountain. Finally, we made our way to the Rivers of America to watch Fantasmic. I didn't like our spot, so I tried to talk my mom into moving, but she didn't want to. So I did. I moved more towards the middle right of the stage. The show was, well, fantasmic! Those who have never seen it are missing out. You've gotta go! It's a show about Mickey and his imagination, and how the Disney villians try to take over, but the power of imagination eventually overcomes. Very good, with great models and great use of water works to display images. After the show, I met up again with Mom and I think we tried doing something else, like perhaps Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters. Oh, and we saw the end of the Parade of Dreams, which looked really good. That was right after seeing It's a Small World (but now that I think of it, this might have been Monday instead). Then we went to try to see the fireworks show, but the hub and Main Street were packed, and the Disney Cast Members escorted us towards a path to It's a Small World. We saw the show from there, although my mom didn't want to see it where I was, so she sat somewhere where her view would be blocked somewhat, but she could sit down. The fireworks show was truly amazing. They have done an excellent job of fireworks set to Disney clips from Disneyland and Disney movies through the years, including the clip that always gives me goosebumps, Walt Disney's dedication of Disneyland, and the return of some music that never should have left Disneyland, the Baroque Hoedown for the Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade. That's the best parade ever, and I'll talk about it more later when I talk about DCA, where the parade is now. The fireworks show for the 50th anniversary was so popular that soon after it started they had to create a new viewing area for people, so thus the area around It's a Small World. Due to the surface area of Small World, they display images that correspond to the sound clips on it. It's just really great, especially when Tinkerbell 'flys' from the Matterhorn to SBC (the castle, not the phone company).Well, what rides I went on, again, during the next few days were kind of a blur. I went on Space Mountain a TON of times. It's so great now, and so FAST!!!! I want to go again. I also went on the Indiana Jones Adventure, Matterhorn, Pirates of the Carribean, and Haunted Mansion many times during the week. Monday Mom wanted to see Fantasmic again from a better spot, so I told here I'd go on Space Mountain one more time and then meet her there. It took so long I missed all of the Fantasmic show, which was depressing, because it was the last day they were showing it while we were there. We were also sad on Tuesday when we decided to go on the canoes. Evidently, they only run during the weekends. OK, I'll definitely add more later, but I wanted to start this out now.
Currently playing : Ratchet and Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal
Release date: By 02 November, 2004
11:12 AM - 1 Comments -
Dragon_Fire
Oh fine, just rub it in! some of us have money and time to go on trips to disneyland. whatever...lol. Glad it all turned out to be a wonderful trip...at least most of it lol.
Posted by Dragon_Fire on Wednesday, March 01, 2006 at 8:40 PM