West Virginia Trip

I had to work, but Laura and her family took a family trip to West Virginia for a week. They stayed in two cabins, and all of her extended family went along, including her sister's families and her grandparents. Her dad, Dennis, is from West Virginia, so they enjoy a trip there at least once a year. They got to hike, see the New River Gorge Bridge, go white water rafting, and more. You can see the photos of their trip by clicking here, or the photo above.

TobyLaura.com

Experience from the top

Our training manager sends out newsletters and they often have funnies in them. Here is a recent sample he shared. It's advice from a senior captain:

Never turn down a hotel room from the company;
Never answer your phone on Christmas;
Always tip your van driver;
Always buy the first round at the bar during a layover;
New hires never pay for a meal when you are around;
Weather is always better avoided than penetrated;
Speaking of penetrated, if you want to retire with any money, keep wife #1;
Speaking of weather -- don't ever push it. Five years from now nobody will remember being peeved at you for being two hours late because of weather. Their families will remember forever if you pushed it and killed their relatives;
Never attend a union or company meeting on a nice weather day off;
You can never get back a Christmas you missed with your kids;
Ten knots too fast is way better than ten knots too slow;
Never give a flight attendant your phone number;
Never eat Mexican food at a non Mexican restaurant;
Don't brush your teeth in India unless it is with a new toothbrush and beer;
There is not ever a situation in which being on reserve isn't terrible;
Peanuts and black coffee isn't breakfast;
Every airplane, even the 777, feels like crap if you are flying it at 3 a.m.;
Don't poop in the airplane lav -- ever;
Never slip a Boeing 727 to a landing. A 767/757 is OK to slip a little, but never a 727;
If a senior company official ever asks what you really think, don't tell them;
Never drink with a check captain or the FAA;
Don't trust a Chief Pilot with anything;
Try not to kill anybody or bend any airplanes; and
Deny, deny, deny ...

TobyLaura.com

Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine has some good ideas. This six minute video only has 8 million views . . .



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Bring on the cool air

The entry date of this post is August 9th, 2009 and today is the day we finally turned on our central air conditioning this year. All the global warming has kept central Ohio pretty cool this year. There were several days earlier in the spring and summer where it got fairly warm, but we found that with some fans blowing on us, there was no reason to run the A/C. It's been a real financial blessing. We are on a yearly budget plan for our electricity and right now it's only $44 a month. This is partly due to the fact that last year during the two hottest months of July and August, we were in Hong Kong with our house empty. This year has been nice and cool so the savings has been huge.

Today's high was 96F (36C) so we decided that since we had held out until August, we could turn on the A/C. :o) Man, does the cool air feel great! If you are also on the Total Money Makeover like us, the warmer house feels tolerable because the thought of saving $$ makes it feel okay. Just a few degrees saves hundreds a year, and that's hundreds that can be spent on paying down debt, giving to charity, or enjoying nights out. Since our Total Money Makeover, we look at our money in a whole new way, so we're stoked about it being well into the month of August before we utilized our central air. How about you? Can you spend a few days getting used to 77F (25C) instead of 75F (24C)? If so, you'll be glad you did.

TobyLaura.com

Future Pizza Delivery?

With your volume up, click the pic to see what ordering a pizza in the future might entail . . .

TobyLaura.com

Socialism

With all the spending and government promises, are we on the road to socialism in America? This poster started showing up in L.A. over the past weekend. Many people call it mean spirited but I wonder if they thought the same depiction of G.W. Bush was also mean spirited (in a nationally syndicated magazine, not just a few local posters.)



Of course, there have been other posters popping up on the net: of which my favorite is below.



TobyLaura.com