I'm not here to cram it down your throat.

So. Alisa and I ventured into the murky depths of time-share presentations last night. Yes, I know, I know. We didn't do it blindly, we both knew it would be high pressure sales. But, what can I say. I kind of wanted the plane tickets to Anahiem.

Anyway, let me take you along on our little adventure, and share some of the things we were able to experience.

First, there is Cole. Cole is the guy who is assigned to us. He spends the first ten minutes or so 'getting to know us'. Which means asking us a bunch of questions about where we come from, our family, how we met, etc. All this information flows around and past him as if he is covered in a thick layer of grease to keep things from holding firm. We then go in to another room to see the video presentation. It showed exotic locales, and people having fun. It was filled with testimonials of happy owners, etc. Anyway, it wasn't bad, it was a video. Then its back out to the room filled with small round tables, where each couple sits with their designated attack dog....er, I mean salesman. Cole begins by telling us, he isn't there to cram it down our throats, if it works for us, great, if not, thats fine too. Nice.

I quickly explain to him that we really aren't interested, and that it isn't in the budget. He responds that he isn't here to cram it down our throats, that he just wants to lay out the options and then let us make an informed decision. After a while of this, we relent, and listen to the whole shmebogen (word invented by co-worker Ben, pronounced like toboggan it just means everthing, sort of). Okay, neat destinations, and wow, what a neat system, credits, etc. You own it forever, followed by stories of how much this helped him and his estranged sister because they never got vacations growing up in their soon to be broken home, and he didn't even have a job when he bought into the program. Wow, Cole. Gotta say, you sound like a financial genius.

Anyway, at the end of his little thing, he shows us the prices. It costs 39,000$. Yeah, thats not a typo, you read it right. However, before you scoff, they can finance it. For only 10% down, and a monthly payment of 1050. Plus of course a yearly maintenance fee of like 600 bucks or something. All this could be mine. They of course had cheaper plans. Cheapest was like 2000 down and monthly of 300. I explain to Cole that its not in the budget. After everything is done, 401k, IRA, savings, mortgage, etc. etc. etc., I got 12 bucks a month (that seems small, but understand, everthing we spend is actually put on a budget line, so the twelve is really just extra). He tells us, for probably the 32nd time, that he isn't here to cram it down our throats, etc., etc. Then he goes and gets his supervisor. Who asks what the hangup is, again, we explain its too expensive (by the way, the supevisor is like 55 super tan, gold chains, etc. it was awesome).

Finally, we are done....not so fast. We stop off at one more table to just give them a 'review of how Cole did'. And are given one more option that would be 99 dollars a month. Sorry, I say, its still more than 12 right? Then its out of the budget.

Anyway, Alisa and I survived, we now have a free trip to Anahiem. And, we both agreed, that it was everything we thought it would be. I told her afterwards that I wanted rebuttal time at the end with all the other suckers (some of which I know where going to buy this thing). Just to point out, that if they took the 39,000 and put it in a simple money market account with 5% interest, they could take a vacation every year that cost 1900 dollars, and never touch the principle of 39,000. But, I really didn't want to cram it down their throats.

Becoming Jane. A not so favorable review.

I watched this with Alisa last night. And I will not speak for her, but if this is anything close to the truth, my estimation of Jane Austen has fallen greatly.

I truly disliked this movie, and found it as far from romantic as it could possibly be. The acting was fine, actually it was quite good, but the story itself. Jane comes off as a lovesick stupid little girl. As ridiculous as Lydia Bennett, or Mary Ann from Sense and Sensibility. As caught up in the idea of romance so deeply that she has no eyes for the substance of actual love.

The object of her infatuation (and I say infatuation, because I don't believe for a second that real love played any part in this story), was a man so devoid of redeemable qualities as to be almost comic. He is arrogant, condescending, immoral, disrespectful, unconstant, disloyal, selfish, and completely disregards her reputation etc..

He shows nothing but disdain for those he sees as 'beneath' him. And not in some mistaken prejudice like Mr. Darcy, no, in a genuine belief that he is better than rif raff that live in the country, or people who would write drivel like jane, etc..

I'm not positive why this movie rubbed me so the wrong way. It may be that it reminds me of the infuriating way in which girls today (some girls) view romance and the idea of love. McAvoy's character came off as somehow dashing and exciting. Which Jane quickly, in her romanticized mind, translated into wonderful. How did he first catch her attention, after being an insufferable lout? Was it to do some wonderful deed for her? Or to be incredibly thoughtful in the vein of Mr. Darcy? No, it was to give her a dirty book. A flat out dirty book. Woo Hoo. How romantic.

Her treatment of the man who actually seems to care for her also does her no service. Why is it that this man is unacceptable to her? Is it that he is ungentlemanly? No. Is it that he doesn't care for her? No. Its because she thinks he isn't that interesting. Does she take the time to know him? No. He just isn't exciting. She treats him poorly, and blames him for something he did not do.

I can't say how much I disagree with the message, tone, and 'romance' of this movie. I truly, truly disliked it.

I realize that mine is not the only opinion. And I respectfully disagree with those who specifically liked this movie. For those who want a differing view. Go here.

Sorry Breanne, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Give me Pride and Prejudice, or Persuasion (the older, not the newer). Those are truly romantic movies/stories with men who are deserving of the love that those strong women grant them.

Made me laugh, wanted to share

So, I read a few different online comics. I find them fairly hilarious. They are, without a doubt, super geeky. Two specifically deal with role playing (one online, the other the good ol dice kind). One is about computer/video game geeks, and the third is more sciencey, mathy, geeky. I will freely admit that there are numerous comics in the last one that I still don't get, some I just laugh at because they remind me of Nathan. (Simpson, not Grover).

Anyway, I got to work this morning, and this was the most recent comic in Ctl Alt Del, one of the comics I read. Click Here

Now, a caution. The comic I linked has NO offensive material in it whatsoever. But for someone who reads that one, laughs milk out of their nose, and wishes to go back and read all the back comics (first, I'm guessing you work for the government, because how else would you get so much time), but be warned. This one does have offensive material, just not in the comic I listed, it is, I promise, offense free. Unless you have some sort of weird attachment to flour sacks.

For those interested, here is the link to the other three comics I read.

Order of the Stick : This one is about D&D basically, its by far the funniest one. I don't think you have to have played D&D to laugh, but some of the comics will definitely go over your head if you haven't.

Looking For Group : This one is based on the game WoW (world of Warcraft), but you don't have to have ever played it to get the jokes. It can be hit and miss, but the Undead Wizard is so hilarious usually. This one has little to no offensive anything.

Anyway. That's it for today.

Real Excitement

I'm getting stoked about this season of Real soccer. This will be the first year that I have season tickets, Alisa agreed a long time ago that I could get them once I got a real job. Thanks state of Utah.

This year we will also be moving down to the new stadium in Sandy. Ha, sucks to be all you haters that tried to get the stadium stopped.

I could say that I am cautiously optimistic about Real's chances to be good this year. But I don't do that kind of stuff. I'm a fan, that means I always think my team is going to rule. That's right, I've been a Raiders fan for years, and despite the fact that they suck big time, I still believe that this year will be our year.

I find this bothersome

So, I saw this on MSNBC this morning

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23659238#23659238 follow the link, for some reason this video won't embed.

I have to say, it really bothers me. This reverend Wright isn't just some guy who Obama knows, or someone who happens to be a part of the campaign in some fringe position. This is a man who has been Obama's pastor for some 20 years. He is someone Obama said he was proud to know. He is considered a mentor.

This man has spouted racist, and anti-semitic vitriol. He has called the U.S.A. the U.S. KKK A. etc. He is a hater, and a divisive influence. I don't believe for half a second that Obama never heard any of this kind of thing. I don't believe for half a second that Obama didn't know the reverend's stance on these issues.

Sen. Bradley says we should move on, that Obama has condemned the remarks and that should be clear enough. How expedient. This man was Obama's pastor for 20 years, and the campaign's spiritual advisor, then when there is a backlash in the media about his anti-semitic, racially charged, hate the U.S. filled rhetoric, he is dropped from the campaign. This should bother people.

A friend of mine tried to argue that Michelle Obama's vehement rhetoric regarding how horrible the U.S. is was maybe just someone who is negative, and has a different personality from Barack. But there seems to be kind of a pattern. His wife, and his pastor/spiritual advisor have shown a distinctly negative attitude towards the U.S. and towards 'the man' that keeps minorities down. It makes me seriously wonder how charismatically calculated is Obama's 'hope' campaign. Because it seems like those that he surrounds himself with, by choice, are anything but hopeful for the future of this country, and they are anything but interested in the coming together of different peoples.

Shout out to Brett Favre

Green Bay has never been my favorite team. In fact, I remember as a kid the teams you never wanted to be (as you played schoolyard football), were the Packers, the Patriots, and Tampa Bay. (oddly all three of those have won a super bowl in my lifetime, and yet the Raiders continue to be the trainwreck that makes me weep.)

Anyway. Whether or not I have been a cheese head, I have always liked Brett Favre, that guy is exactly what you would want as a fan playing on your team. He's tough, and he genuinely loves playing the game. He acts like what you would expect if some kid got magically turned into an adult that plays pro football. He may not be the best, but he will continue to be my favorite quarterback to ever play the game for a long long time.

He's retiring, its probably a good call. I'm glad he had a successful final season.

Moving is the worst.

So, the family just completed moving everything into our new house on Saturday. Its our first home, and we are super excited, however, moving is sooo horrible, if the end result were even slightly less fulfilling, I would never, ever, ever move.

The transition wasn't as smooth as we hoped, the sellers had a mix up and thought they had the whole weekend to move, but we needed them out so we could move in. They left, but it was hurried, and made it all a bit more stressful. However, we had a cadre of incredibly helpful people come to help move our stuff, and help clean the new house. All in all, come Saturday night, Alisa and I were very grateful for our family and friends.

The new house is awesome, it has its dings and scratches, and its broken things. But we love it. Cora especially adores her purple bedroom, and Hyrum loves running up and down the stairs, and slamming doors. So there's something for everyone. But, I maintain. Moving sucks. (sorry Mom, its the only word that truly expresses the crappiness that is moving).