Category Archives: Entertainment

A Busy Holiday Weekend

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This was a busy holiday weekend! It’s kept me distracted from blogging.

So I thought I’d cover what a middle-class guy like myself does…

On Friday:

After work, I took my daughter to Arabica Cafe. I enjoy their food, but I couldn’t find a drink nor a food item that she liked. What I hoped would be a great father and daughter trip out,  just ended being a waste of money.  Occasionally, my daughter and son get a kid’s hot chocolate from Starbucks (they are fairly cheap). Later I mowed the lawn. Next, I took my son to the (golf) driving range.  Then the kids and I went shopping for a birthday present.

On Saturday:

Most of the morning, we relaxed.  Then for lunch we went to a cheap but good Italian restaurant.  My sister was up for a visit, so we visited her at my parent’s house for the day.  My dad grilled some hamburgers, and we celebrated the birthday.  I had a headache, so I mostly laid on the couch with my head throbbing.

On Sunday:

We finally got around to planting my wife’s Mother Day present (a flower bed).  It was a busy day, tilling the ground and planting the flowers.  The next stage would be to get mulch…  Later that night, we went to a great little chinese restaurant.

Monday:

We went to our favorite restaurant for breakfast (I think this may be the frist Monday we ever went there).  Next, we were going to go boating with friends, but it started raining.  So we decided to visit my wife’s parents, they had just came back from Oregon.  Surprisingly,the storm passed and the kids wanted to go swimming.  So my father-in-law and I vacuumed and skimmed the pool.  The kids had a great time, after getting pizza for everybody, I went swimming too.  It was a good time!

And that’s how I sent this Holiday weekend, not terrible exciting, but very busy…

-MR

My Summer Fun Things To Do List

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I thought it would be fun to create a summer “to do” list.  While I may or may not do all of them, it would be nice to attempt to…  Just to complete the list, I’m going to add contributions from the comments below, but in a different color that black.

  • Horseback riding – My daughter has been asking for this one!
  • Swimming – My In-Laws moved into a house that had a above ground pool.  We’ve already been over once, and the kids had a ball (even though it was cold).
  • Movies – Especially “The Last Airbender”
  • Slip and Slide/Sprinklers – Water fun to key cool in the summer.
  • Biking – At hilton head, and in parks where we live.
  • Go-Cart Racing – We go to such a site that’s close to where we live.
  • Golf – My son and I will do this at least once a month or more.
  • Put-Put Golf – The entire family enjoys this.
  • Waverunning – We enjoy this with friends every year.
  • Boating – An old friend has one of these and the family goes out with them often.
  • Water Skiing/Wakeboarding/Tubing – With the friend with the boat, the family does this too.
  • Hilton Head – Yes, we will go down to the Island again this year.
  • Amusement Parks – We will go to at least 2 amusement parks this year.
  • Mini-biking – I would really like to have my son drive one of these this year.  But I’m not sure where to get access to one.
  • Weekend Vacation – We’ll at least have a few of these.
  • Cabin Vacation – We enjoyed this last year, so we will do this again.
  • Tennis – This is such great exercise.
  • Guitar Playing – Wish I know how to play…
  • Hiking up in Lake Tahoe – a ton of hiking!!!
  • Myrtle Beach and Smoky Mountains – Sounds like a great combination!
  • Lake Huron a few days each summer –  as it is only about 70 miles away, and free.
  • Science museums – That sounds interesting!
  • Zoos– We love the Zoo!!!
  • Super-soaker and water balloon fights
  • Badminton – I haven’t done this in a long time.
  • Four-square in our driveway – Sounds like a fun game
  • Go to Traverse City in the summer for a long weekend
  • Swimming in chilly Lake Michigan – Hmmm, that does sounds cold!
  • Caribbean cruise – 7 day… very nice!!!
  • Curling Bonspiels – I have no idea what this is :), but it sounds fun!
  • Las Vegas – this sounds like a great trip!
  • Brazos Bend Park – I’ll have to google this too, sounds interesting!

Different colored Item above match the contributors in the same color below (these are pulled from the comments section below):

What exciting and cool activities do you plan on doing this summer?

If they are different from my list above, I’ll add them and a link to your site.

-MR

Iron Man II Was Great But It Cost Us $50.00

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Last night we had a great time when we went and saw Iron Man II.  I thought it was well done and overall was a great movie!

But calculating the cost, it ran over $50.00 for the entire experience.  Here’s a break down of the costs:

  • tickets (2 adults, 2 kids): $30
  • Popcorn, drinks and candy: $15
  • gas driving to the supreme theater: $5

Now contrast the cost of going to the theater vs our typical movie watching experience:

  • DVD from Library: (free)
  • Popcorn and Candy: $2.00
  • Gas: (lol, supplied for free by the dog)

So $50.00 vs $2.00… hmmm… 

Of course with the $2.00 route, we have to wait a month or 2 to see that movie but for a savings of $48.00…  I think it’s worth it.

Another great route is via Netflix.  You pay a set amount a month and can get 1 or 2 movies shipped to you a week.  And if you use their online download services, the deal is even better (I believe it’s unlimited downloads).  This is another great way to go, but this is pretty common knowledge now…  Red Box is another great route, but I haven’t tried that yet.

The idea of Red Box is that you go to a box that looks like a vending machine outside of popular stores, and pay $1.00 for a video for 1 night’s worth of view, then you return it the next day.  Although, this may seem cheaper than Netflix, I’m not so sure about that.  After all, it really depends on how far the Red Box machine is from your house…  The gas prices add up more than people think!

It was still nice to go to a quality theater once or twice a year, if the movie is a great one!

-MR

Nascar Is Too Expensive For Me

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When I was younger, I had an Uncle (in Delaware) that tried to get me exposure to different experiences.  During one of my stays there, he paid for me to go in a helicopter ride.  To date, this is the only time I’ve ever been up in a helicopter, it was great!  But I digress, during one of the summer stays in Delaware, I went to a car race.  Other than the hot dogs and demolition derby, I was bored to tears.  It was loud and monotonous.  Although I was young, I just wasn’t impressed.

But to be completely honest, I can’t afford to attend the event… 

Here are the cost calculations:

  • Ticket cost from $52 to $2,243 dollars!  Wow, $2,243 dollars for 1 ticket!  Geez
  • The drive down and back, maybe $250.00
  • Hotel cost? $100 a night minimum (and most of the people I spoke to are staying down for 2 nights
  • Food? Just a conservative guess maybe $150 per person (for 2 days)
  • Beer at the event? your guess is as good as mine?  maybe @20.00?
  • Going out to the bar scene?  This is probably optional, but I know at least 1 friend that is doing this!  I’m not going to guess a price.

So taking the minimum numbers listed above, the conservative cost comes out to be almost $800.  and that’s just for 1 person to go down!  Note, that the 2nd person would be less expensive because of the gasoline required to travel down would not increase (much) nor the hotel costs!

The ironic thing is most of the people I know going down to attend this even are not in anywhere nears as financially secure as I am.  Most are in debt big time.  I’m willing to bet that most Nascar viewers (at least the ones out of state) owe a decent amount on there credit balances!

I would like to say it’s okay and if that’s what you enjoy the live how you want to live, but I can’t!  If you want to become debt free (let alone financial independent), you’ll have to stop spending money and practice a little restaint.  There are plent of things I’d like to do to, but being financial secure is more important!