Adam White

8 Months

2009-04-01T00:00:00.001-05:00

So today marks me being in SA for 8 months.

The excitment of being in a new place is gone. It is now just a place that I live and work.

Taxes are done

2009-02-10T19:53:00.003-06:00

So I got all the stuff to finish my taxes today.

I am now filed and done. I always have a odd good time doing my taxes. Although this year was kind of boring, as there was no new challenges on how to do any of it.

Hopefully I will have my refund in the next week or two. If it all works out, I will have my return so I can get what I plan on getting with my return in Oregon and avoid the tax. This may not work out though.

Another trip home

2009-02-07T07:20:00.002-06:00

So I bought plane tickets this week to fly home February 26th to March 7th. I am going through Phoenix, and on the 26th I have 3 hours to kill, so I am going to go to lunch with a friend from Nautilus that moved there. Hopefully the weather will be a little better than in December, although this time frame is when snow and ice would normally happen...

Dave Ramsey Live!

2009-02-04T01:46:00.002-06:00

So last Saturday I went and saw Dave Ramsey Live!. Now I went through the Financial Peace University about 15 months ago, so I have heard most of his material. That being said, I really was bored and a bit disappointed with seeing him live.

The place was packed. The parking lot was beyond packed, like 120% packed. It was cool to see that many people interested in getting out of debt.

All in all his presentation was good. I did not like how much "advertising" was going on for the various products that he sells. I can see how this would be a major turn-off to people. Maybe it was just me, as advertising is the major majority reason I do not own a TV. That all being said, the discounts that were offered on everything being sold was good. I got a $25 book for $10.

Now I for the most part have lived my live debt free. The only loan that I had before my house was my car and I paid it off before buying my house. I had a credit card, but I only used it to buy things online because I did not realize that my debit card had the same protection on it.

For me, reading his book "Financial Peace Revisited" and going through FPU, was enough. I also listen to his free podcast every so often. I do like what he has to say. I like most of the ways that he delivers his message. He is first to admit that it is all simple basic stuff, just that he delivers it in a way that people seem to finally understand.

If I were asked if someone should go see him live, I would tell them, that they should just try one of his books and maybe find a FPU class to join. Seeing him live is good, but you will get more out of the book and FPU.

Trip to the eye Dr.

2009-01-30T22:03:00.002-06:00

So today was my first eye exam, one year after having PRK preformed on my eyes.

I have noticed that there are a lot of eye places in SA. Not many chain places, just one off's. I don't know why. I got a recommendation to a place from someone at work. Ends up the Dr. was from Pasco, WA and went to school in Forest Grove, OR. He had been in TX for almost 10 years. He said he still misses the landscape, and it has taken him many years to have TX grow on him.

As far as my eye go, they are at about the same place that they were after my recovery from the surgery. 20/20 and 20/30. Still completely no need to get glasses.

My Texas license

2009-01-30T22:00:00.002-06:00

So I received my TX license in the mail this week, 6 months after I left. I am still annoyed that they took my Washington license.

So does this mean that I am now officially a Texan? lets hope not.

I miss views like this

2009-01-20T20:12:00.002-06:00

Is this thing on?

2009-01-16T18:17:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the lack of postings, have not had much going on. I would have assumed that people would stop reading this thing after a while, but according to the stats, you guys just keep coming back. Thanks, I guess. I will try to do something worth writing about.

Catch 22

2009-01-09T20:35:00.002-06:00

Does anyone else see the humor in this?

I need the razor blade to open the razor blade. I just thought it was funny.

Cake from half way across the US

2009-01-08T19:02:00.004-06:00

So when I was back home during Christmas, I was not able to go to Pambiche. One of my most favorite things there is a cake called Torta Dominó.

Torta Dominó ~
White chocolate mocha cake, soaked with Kahlúa coffee liqueur and café cubano, is filled with chocolate canela mousse and glazed with Oaxacan chocolate ganache; finished with a white chocolate domino and served with crema chantilly.

The whole process of getting it shipped turned in to a big production. I would have thought that they would have the facilities to ship their cakes, but they did not. So I had to arrange to have the cake picked up, prepped for shipping, shipped, and received.

All in all, it turned out great. I got a piece for some friends, a piece for the people that I work with, a piece for the people I live with, and a piece for me. Everyone loved it. Some did not think it was the best cake ever like I do, but I did not expect them to.

With how much this cost me, I don't think I will be doing it again. I think I will make sure to get over there to eat the next time I am back. Plus I will then get to eat all of the other great food as well.

UPS drivers rock

2009-01-05T21:34:00.003-06:00

I am sure this is not how all of them deliver packages, but it sure seems like quite a few of them do. Do you think they are trained on this delivery method?

The beach in January

2009-01-03T19:29:00.003-06:00

So I woke up today and had nothing to do, so I decided I would drive to Corpus Christi today to see what it was like. I had already been warned that the beaches in TX were a little on the dirty side. They sure are. They let people drive on the beach and there is garbage all over the place. Also there were oil refineries all over the place as I got closer to the cost.

The weather was not half bad. 75, about 5mph winds, in January!

The sand is very fine, not coarse like in Washington, or Oregon.

It was nice to get out of the house.

2008

2008-12-31T23:59:00.006-06:00

January

On the first day of 2008 I had PRK preformed on both of my eyes. I spent 3 years thinking seriously about having eye surgery. My decision to have PRK instead of LASIK was made when I searched LASIK on youtube. One of the first results was a LASIK flap amputation. No thank you, not for me! Also when I had gone to the first two consultations at two well known LASIK places in town, both because of recommendations, they both had me feeling like I was at a car lot. They just did not make me feel good. I decided to go to the Casey Eye Institute at OHSU. It cost me $150 just for the consultation, but what a difference! They totally made me feel comfortable and they were being honest with me and not avoiding answering some of my hard questions.

PRK has a longer recovery time than LASIK, but I was 100% aware of it so it did not concern me much. All in all, it was a good decision, but I do not recommend it to anyone without them doing a lot of homework first them self. Don't just listen to the marketing people, and don't assume that everyone has a good experience with eye surgeries. I am happy to tell people all the details, if they want to listen, but they can be a little graphic. ;)

February

I left the country for the first time (Canada does not count) in February, I went to Israel. So many people thought I was crazy for going, they could not get that I wanted to just go. I still can not sum up my feelings about going in less than 2 hours (sorry for anyone that had to listen to me before I could get it down to 2 hours) so I am not going to drag you though it. You can take the picture tour. Summed up, I loved it.

March and April

My search for a new job started picking up the pace. I got an interview for a company that I would have loved to work for. Just applying for the job was nerve racking, as I did not want to mess anything up. Once I got past the first phone interview, it got a little easier. Once I made it to the in person interviews, I was having so much fun, if I did not get the job I would not have cared, the interviews were fun. The in person interviews were tough. They seemed to be asking questions about things that were not on the job description. When I left, I felt that I had done OK, but not great. After what seemed like 2 months (in reality it was 2 weeks) I got my rejection phone call. I still had fun during the process. Looking back, I would have been a good idea to have had a couple of interviews under my belt before applying for this job, but oh well.

July

After 6+ months of looking, applying, and interviewing for new jobs I finally had a couple of offers. One offer was for a company in Tigard, making what I was looking for as far as pay was concerned. The other being in San Antonio, TX making just a little more than I was currently making. I found out that the place in Tigard was not a good place to work, and the place in SA had an amazing reputation for being a great place to work. I now had the hardest decision I had ever made in my life to make. Take the job in SA, move away from everyone and everything I know or wait and see what other offers I could get.

August

I moved to San Antonio, TX in August. I left Vancouver, with what fit in my car on July 28, I rivaled the Beverly Hillbillies with how funny my car looked. I took 4 days to drive down. It was a fun drive. I wish I would have had a bit more time, and even more so wish I would have had someone with me to enjoy it with. TX is like a foreign country. Nothing was normal. I could not figure out how to get anywhere. I wanted to just start driving back about 2 days after being here.

November

For Thanksgiving this year I went to Houston to visit Linda and David Ling. I had been in TX 4 months and still had not found time to go over and visit. They are the only people I knew in the whole state. It was a fun weekend. I had been told that Houston was not that great of a place, but I liked it. It was a bit of a reminder when I got out of the car at how much closer to the ocean they are than SA, the humidity was gross.

December

I went home to Vancouver in December for Jason and Andrea's wedding. The wedding went off great despite the snow and the 20 degree temperatures. My plans to see a lot of people were thrown all out with the snow. I was still able to see many people, and overall I had a great time visiting. It just gives me more of a reason to come back sooner.

And that was 2008 in a nut shell. Hello 2009.

Here today, gone tomorrow

2008-12-29T03:48:00.003-06:00

So my brother sent me this picture of my deck.

It looked like this less than 4 days ago...

We were going to barbecue something just to say we did, I don't remember why we did not...

My bed is great

2008-12-27T23:15:00.002-06:00

So I bought a new bed back in the beginning of November. After spending a week sleeping on my old bed in Vancouver, never again will I buy a normal bed. This thing lives up to all that it promises.

When I got in bed last week, I felt like a was sleeping on a bed made of cotton balls, absolutely no support what so ever. It really was weird feeling. I got OK sleep last week, but I was rushing to so many places the first couple of days, that I blame the bad sleep on that.

Now that I am back sleeping on my new bed, I don't know if I can blame my schedule at all.

10F

2008-12-26T21:16:00.000-06:00

I have sat in seat 10F on all 5 of my flights.

Now that I am back in TX I have to remember to keep my oppinion about the place to my self. :)

Less than 24 hours left

2008-12-25T19:05:00.004-06:00

Like Cinderella before midnight, I have less than 24 hours before I fly back to SA.

I have not got to see people I would have liked to have seen. I did not make it to Seattle to see my friends up there. We were not able to get to our family Christmas gathering due to the snow, so I have not got to see my grandma, or any of my aunts or uncles. A few of my friends in the Vancouver area, we just never were able to meet up... oh well I guess. There is always next time.

Gingerbread house

2008-12-23T22:40:00.003-06:00

So I put together my gingerbread house today.

The roof is covered in a mixture of peanut butter chips and cinnamon chips. The walls have some andes mints on them. The front walk is reeses pieces and the timber framing is cinnamon sticks.

I think my niece and nephew will like eating this.

Home covered in snow

2008-12-21T22:38:00.004-06:00

So this snow is getting to be a pit of an inconvenience. Some snow is fun, but I can not remember ever having this much snow for this long. It normally is melting after a day or two.

This is what my deck looked like on Saturday, about 7". Tonight it was 10" and going.

--- Update ---

Woke up to 12" and the end of the ruler. We tried to upgrade to a 15" ruler, but could only make it 4" in the snow till we hit ice. So we can now measure up to 23" total. Lets hope not.

This is my sisters front yard from today.

Jason's friend Mark, who was in from Chicago, was commenting on the way home from the wedding, that it was starting to look like Chicago.

Snow wedding

2008-12-21T22:28:00.003-06:00

So Jason and Andrea's wedding went off great. The snow was not going to stop this day. The snow only added to the memory of the day.

There flight to Mexico was canceled, but they got another day at the Hilton downtown, and people are doing all they can to get them on a flight.

Home

2008-12-19T10:25:00.002-06:00

I am home. It is nice to be back. To go to some place you are so familiar with is great. As we were landing, I could recognise a bunch of places from the air. When I got off the plane, there was no confusion as to where to go. As we drove across the river, to my house, I knew all of the roads and exits. It is great.

My house was bare looking because my brother moved some furniture around for the poker table. I was told it needed more space than it really did. Oh well. I cleaned up and put stuff back this morning and it looks much closer to how I left it.

I could keep going on and on, but I won't.

It is good to be home.

Bachelor party

2008-12-19T10:15:00.002-06:00

So Jason's party went well. Everyone that said they would come, came. We played poker with a professional poker dealer for 3 hours or so and then some of us went out and got a quick bite to eat. In the end when we removed the limits, Jason ended up winning the last hand. No one just gave it up by any means.

My flight coming in to PDX from SFO was delayed almost 2 hours, so they went without me to get there tuxes and then picked me up on there way back. It worked out well.

I need to remember to never have a connecting flight at SFO aver again. That airport sucks. No signs, way too many people. I had to exit the secure area and walk to another terminal for my flight. So I had to go through security again.

One flight down

2008-12-18T09:49:00.002-06:00

It is true. it is always a sunny day above the clouds. :)

"I'm leaving on a jet plane"

2008-12-18T08:00:00.007-06:00

And the rest of the song does not make a bit of sense in this situation, but it makes for a catchy title.

I will be sleeping on the plane most if not all of the flight because I have only got about 5 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours. Once I land, Jason should be picking me up and we are going to go strait to pick up our tuxes for his wedding. After that we will be having a bit of fun for the rest of the evening. Assuming there are no issues with the weather.

I might try posting something from each airport from my phone. Why, I don't know, it is not like people read this multiple times a day. Or as if I have been gone for years and this is some sort of momentous occasion worthy of "live" coverage. Just it might be fun.

I bought the "cheap" tickets about 5 months ago. Some how, it is cheaper for me to have three flights to get me from SA to Portland. If I were to buy them about a week ago, they would have cost me about $150.00 less and would only have one stop, not two. Oh well.

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Cinnamon chips!?!

2008-12-17T06:41:00.003-06:00

Have you ever heard of cinnamon chips?

Well if you have, good for you.

If you have not, join me in my exciting discovery of the day.

So I bought a cinnamon chip muffin today at the grocery store. I thought it was just a cinnamon muffin with what looked like butterscotch chips on it. But NO, they are actual cinnamon chips!

Looking in to this this morning, I found that Hershey's makes, or at least use to make them. The only places I found to buy them was eBay and Amazon. There is something wrong with buying food that they list the expiration date of 1.2009 in the auction. Plus they seemed like they were charging an arm and a leg for them.

I found another make of them here.

Hershey's still has a big list of recipes for uses of there cinnamon chips. Not like you really need them, as you could just substitute cinnamon chips any where and every where that you would use chocolate chips and instantaneously have a better thing.