He LIVES! Can I get a Hallelujah?

I've tried to keep a notepad of all the ideas I have for a blog post on my desktop. I'm constantly adding bits and snippets of stuff, but none of them were long enough for a blog post it seemed. So now I'm going to post them all and have a massive read. Sorry about the month long wait. Maybe with the new blog I'll be a bit more apt to keep things updated more frequently...

Netflix Rocks!
I recently signed up for Netflix....so if anyone has movie recommendations, I want to hear them. Here are a few of the ones I have seen so far:

• Scream 3
• Take the Lead
• Second Hand Lions

The next movies I have waiting for me are Equilibrium and Season 3 of Arrested Development. Let me know of your favorite movies of all time and I'll be sure to put them in my queue.

And Speaking of Movies...

I won more movie tickets from work (I'll work my butt off for free movie tickets) so J and I went out to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Very good movie -- a little long -- but I'm excited to see the next one. I thought William Turner's Dad would show up (wasn't too surprised to see that), but I didn't expect the other character at the very end. I don't want to spoil it -- so if you've seen it you know who I'm talking about.

And Speaking of Family Members...

Gableo and T-Dawg rode the train to KC a few weeks ago to visit J and I. We tried to play Frisbee golf, but it was extremely hot. So we opted for indoor activities like Mario Cart on the GameCube and seeing Monster House with more free movie tickets from work (I haven't paid to see a Movie since before Christmas last year). It was fun having Gableo in KC for a few days, and then they rode the train back to St. Louis just in time for school to start.

And Speaking of Visits...

A person I knew in High School was murdered a few weeks ago. J was best friends with her in middle school, so she drove home to the funeral. She brought back two of our friends LostnotFound and Slauber. We had a great time swapping stories, CD's, and pictures. We all went to the Irish Festival here in KC to see LostnotFound's favorite band, Gaelic Storm. I had a great time with them (and they were nice enough to pick up the tab on most everything.) They also took us out to Minski's Pizza and after a few pitchers of Woodchuck cider were pretty hammered -- pictures from J's camera should be posted soon. Thank you guys! I really appreciate you both paying for me. I've been a bit poor lately while I catch up on bills and get my finances in order.

And Speaking of Finances...

Credit Card Companies are thieves! I watched a really impressive investigation into Credit Card companies at www.pbs.org. I haven't been able to find the story online, but if you see the investigation while you are rummaging through channels -- be sure to take a look. Watching that program was the prime motivator for me to make plans to be free of all debt that is not school related in 4 years -- includes car payments and credit cards. I watched this report on CBS and found out some interesting information. I know that credit card companies make more money off of fees than interest...what I didn't know is the small print they put into contracts about making you a "default" customer for just about anything. I checked out my own personal credit card "Terms of Use" that they send and found some interesting entries (translated into English at no cost...)

1.) One of my credit cards allows only two late payments in a one-year period. If you are past your due date by even a day, not only will they charge me $35 in late fees, they will put my account in default -- making the interest rate skyrocket.

This actually happened to me. When I suddenly saw my interest rate shoot up to 23% I was outraged. I called them and threatened to go through a third party bill collector that would give me 9% (and a $50 handling fee -- ick) which was still cheaper than my new payment would be. After I raised hell, they lowered it again. I haven't bought anything on that card in months -- just paying it off. But that episode made me angry enough to not use it ever. I've been a customer for six years! Garr! In the words of Donald Trump..."You're FIRED!"

2.) A different credit card had a clause in there that said if I was in default for any reason with any other creditor -- they could make my account go in default as well. So I don’t pay another company and this credit card sticks its nose in to make trouble also? You’ve got to be kidding me. How is that legal?

So because I fell into default for a short time on one of my credit cards -- now I have to watch the other like a hawk so they don't try the same thing. They are different companies, but if I get a bad mark on my credit score or an account that shows default on it -- this other card will happily join in. No thanks. And if you get a "revised" set of Terms in the mail -- READ THEM! I know it sucks but trust me on this. Because the other thing I found is....

3.) Credit Card companies can change the agreement (affecting all your charges no matter what agreement you had when you made them) whenever they feel like it. Usually you get 15 days after the notification to comply. If they said you have to pay half your debt in 2 months or suffer a rate increase -- they could do that. Right now legislation protects Credit Card companies and their abilities to change the rules. Consumers are largely unprotected and without a choice. Even the government agency that monitors credit card companies is lax in making legislation. Back in the day 23% interest was considered Loan Shark material -- and you got arrested. Now it's common and nothing is done? What happened?? Argh.

So where was I? Darn it. I lost my train of thought with that whole tirade there. So, umm I could talk about...

Some KC Activities...

J and I took the UMKC Culture Bus to the Jazz museum, Baseball Museum, and Peachtree Soul Food Restaurant. Because this was an event J helped plan and organize -- our meals and tickets were taken care of (Sweet, eh? Cheap is good). The fried chicken at that place was hands down the best I have ever had. Period. I took lots of pictures of the restaurant, the jazz band that was playing, and the food we ordered. However, they are stuck on my Razr right now and until I have a few extra bucks I won't be able to post them because...

I Gotta Have Gadgets...

I am planning on getting a Bluetooth USB adapter so I can pull those pictures straight from my phone and post them on the new blog. Here's the item I want... I'll have to really save up (for a $25 dollar item. How sad is that?). I also found this pen-looking gadget amazing. And this remote is cool...but I'd need more electronics to make it worth it...

And in other news...

I read a pretty interesting story on how we are trying to seal off Radioactive waste with a 10,000 half life. The Egyptians lasted 3000 years and Roman Empire lasted 300. Somehow I don't think the US will be here for 10,000 years. So how do we keep people from rummaging through the site like the pyramids? Check out this article about Radioactive Time Capsules that will kill the finder...

And while we are on the topic of weird science projects, I thought this article was a little scary as well.

And since I am testing the features of this new blog, I'm hoping that posting videos won't break my website like it did before. Here's a video of Conner doing some tricks (you may have already seen this one before...)

And I think that should get everyone back on track for the almost 2 months I have been gone. Sheesh. I'm getting so lazy. It would be so much less work if I just made each of these a little longer and posted them individually. It wouldn't be so hard to tag them with labels either. I'll be making my rounds to everyone's blogs. Don't forget to post your favorite movies!