Say What?

Tammy and I met with a financial planner last week to get an idea for where we are in positioning for our pending retirement in six years. It's not cheap to have them do an assessment for us but failing to make the proper decisions now can be much more expensive in the long run. We met with Bridget for over two hours while she gathered all sorts of information about us. Not just the basic things you'd expect but a lot more including our philosophy about investing, saving, spending and how we prioritize our financial commitments. We'll meet again in a couple weeks and go over her recommendations for us. We made it out to the State Fair on Friday. The traffic was gridlocked three miles from the fairgrounds but that's just all a part of the experience so you take it in stride. It was Rachel's 16th birthday and rather than have a bunch of friends over she told us early on that she'd be happy with a couple tickets to see the Goo Goo Dolls and Lifehouse at the fair ...

Okay, I admit it, I'm having difficulty accepting that I'll soon be 50. I never experienced this when I transitioned into my other decades so why now? I think I've always associated people in their 50s with those on the other side of life. That side of life where people are more often described as crotchety than effervescent. Where they're (thankfully) less inclined to drive while using a cellphone but more likely to drive for miles with their turn signal on. If they still have a VCR it's likely blinking 12:00 and if they're online they're probably using AOL—the internet on training wheels. I don't want to be lumped in with that group. I know that what I just wrote is totally unfair but isn't there a hint of truth to it? I'm not saying I'm hip or even cool. I'm just saying that I'm still the same person I was 10, 20 or even 30 years ago—really. As I said, I'm having a difficult time grasping this new age I'm becoming. I admi...

My two week vacation is over but I'm not all that sad about it because it also means that two weeks of having our home in a state of upheaval is also over. We wrapped up our flooring project and got everything put back in place so now it's time to relax...not really...as I said, I'm back at work today. I suppose this has been what is referred to as a working vacation. The guys from Above All Hardwood Floors in Prior Lake did a great job for us. I don't think there's any way Tammy and I could have done anything near this nice had we done the work ourselves. I can't get over the difference the wood floors make in the richness of the rooms. We're very satisfied with the outcome. I chronicled the project on video for my YouTube account and spliced the scenes together tonight. You can find the video here I ventured on my bike into Minneapolis on Wednesday in an effort to try and get some photos of the collapsed bridge on 35W. I didn't have much success...

We're slowly getting our home put back together after having hardwood floors put in on most of the main level. I'm an organized type and not accustomed to having stuff in such disarray but disarray is a necessary part of the process. I hope to have a YouTube video of the steps involved in the project later in the week. It's been a trying week at times as the project hasn't all been as easy as we'd hoped. The main problem was a new dishwasher which didn't fit. The new floors add 3/8" in height and that's enough to create problems. We had them remove the wood flooring under the dishwasher and now it just barely fits. I'm sure it will be a fine addition to our home but up to now, it sits as a piece of junk which doesn't work. There isn't anything complicated about installing a dishwasher...a couple of water line connections and some wire connections. For whatever reason, the water won't flow to the unit and yes, the water was turned on. I...

I just got a call from Adam at the BestBuy corporate office stating that the letter I'd written them last November has come to their attention. BestBuy is apparently aware that they have many unhappy customers. They want to put together a training video to include those disenchanted with their store such as myself to try and educate their workforce about customer satisfaction. Adam wants to bring a film crew to our home and do an interview but they want to do it early next week and we're still in the middle of our flooring project. He suggested that we could possibly meet at their corporate offices in Bloomington. I said I was fine with that. I told him that my experience with them was frustrating beyond belief and that they weren't just words when I told them in my letter that they'd lost a good customer. I mentioned that we'd recently purchased kitchen appliances and never set foot in BestBuy whereas before we'd likely have at least checked out what they have...

I came home from work yesterday to find Tammy busy ripping out the carpet in our family room. I love the way she's not intimidated by projects such as that. I thought we were going to leave the carpet removal to the crew from the flooring company but she thought it would be an easy way for us to save some money on the project. I'm at work as I write this and I just noticed a message on my cell. Tammy called to say the workers arrived before 8:00 this morning to do the stairs...a day early. Fortunately, she was home to let them in as we weren't expecting them until tomorrow. She said they told her that Above All Hardwood Floors is a very good company. The guys doing the stairs are contracted through them. I did a search on Angie's List and found only positive reports. Back to Tammy...when I first met her in the spring of 1999 she owned a townhome in Maple Grove. It was a nice quad unit with a basement and fireplace. She did a lot to renovate it in what spare time sh...

Over 19 years ago I walked into A Wet Pet in Apple Valley and bought my first aquarium. It's what is referred to as a '45 tall'. I had no idea then that I'd make the aquarium a part of my home for all these years since that day. Today brought an end to my fish keeping days...sadly. With our home flooring renovations, I had to dismantle the tank to make room for the workers to do their thing. Over the past year, I've been losing enthusiasm for keeping the aquarium going so I figured that now was probably a good time to find a new owner for it. And so I did. I posted it on Craig's List a few days ago and one of the calls I got was from Chris in Belle Plaine about 35 miles southwest. He called while I was out on a ride this morning and said he was very interested in my add. I cut my ride short as I wanted to get some video of the tank before I took it down. I also wanted to get a photo of the Clown Loach you see above. I've had him for over 15 years and ha...