How it all began

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot. And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she had been called Amazon Dot Com.

She said unto Abraham, her husband, “Why doth thou travel far from town to town with thy goods when thou can trade without ever leaving thy tent?” And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, “How, Dear?”

And Dot replied, “I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale and they will reply telling you which hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah’s Pony Stable (UPS).”

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. The drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever moving from his tent. But this success did arouse envy.
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Future Flute Player?

Maybe he will advance to more sophisticated instruments, like the tuba.

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Bryson’s Wild Hair

Amber was practicing alternate hairstyles on Bryson after his bath tonight.


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Start! Walking Program

I saw a little blurb on the morning news about this program that has groups of people walking at work. I figured it was a good idea: provides much-needed daily exercise, and gives you a good excuse to leave your desk and talk to your buddies once a day. The boss man thought it was a good idea, so I send off to the American Heart Association to get their information packet on it. Instead of just sending something in the mail, their marketing person came out to talk to me in person and gave me lots of good information.

This morning was our inaugural walk. We went 220 steps down to the basement, and then back up to the 10th floor. I was surprised I made it… my legs were on fire when we finished. I’m sure I’ll get better at it after a few days. Soon I hope to go all the way from the basement to the 23rd floor and back down. AHA set up a special website to track your exercise, set goals, compare team members, etc.

I recommend trying to get involved in this wherever you work. I’m hoping the group will keep me interested and encouraged to be a little more active.

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“Texas in my Corner” –Finally!

I made it to the Tax Office before they closed, with ALL the paperwork I needed and finally obtained a set of license plates.

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Boy Falls Asleep While Shoe Shopping


I think this happens to all males at some point in their life.
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Video of Bryson in Amber’s Flip-Flops

Bryson Walking in Amber\’s Flip Flops

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Trimming Trees

I didn’t intend on trimming the trees today, but I had the pruners in my hand, walking around the yard taking care of a few branches on the plum tree that were hitting the house. I remembered being annoyed by the low branches on the two trees in front, so I started looking at them with more attention. Before I knew it I had a ladder, loppers, and saw in use and had piles of branches everywhere. I even sweet-talked Amber into helping. She showed me up by climbing in the tree.


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Car Insurance Results

I just wanted to let everyone know what action I took on my car insurance.

I was paying GEICO $143/mo for full coverage on our 2 vehicles (50/100).

I’m now paying $102/mo for increased coverage on the same 2 vehicles (100/300), plus I added liability coverage for Betty.

I was very happy with the agent I found. He drove up to my office to get all the paperwork done, which made it very convenient for me. I recommend giving him a call to see if he can help you too:

Kyle Herring
kyle.herring@libertymutual.com
214-618-6880×56326

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Spending My Day off at the Tax Office

I took the day off to get some things done. The first thing on the list was to get Betty registered. I went to the Tax Office up in McKinney and learned I wasn’t able to transfer the title because it was never transfered from a previous owner. They explained that I could get a bonded title, but I’d need to go to the TxDOT office in Carrollton. I get there, take a number, wait, talk to someone, fill out paperwork, wait, and finally I have all the paperwork I need for a bonded title. Now I need a bond.

The same building where TxDOT is at has 3 surety bond companies, so I walk around and get quotes from all of them. $150 later, I’ve got a title bond in my hand… back to the Tax office in McKinney. When I get back there, they were amazed that I was able to get all that done “in only 4 hours”. They were going to charge me sales tax on the NADA value of the car, which was around $11000 because NADA considers a car that old a classic, and assumes that it is restored. Texas has this new assumed value tax law, and this car was not in their system, so they reverted to the NADA value. So they expected me to pay $460 tax on a car that is worth about that much! How stupid is that! After talking to a supervisor, they said I can either produce a bill of sale or get an appraisal and they will use that value.

I contacted the previous owner, and he is going to send me a bill of sale, so maybe next week I’ll have some license plates. I feel pretty beaten. (4.5 hours and 1/2 tank of gas, still not able to get Betty on the road)

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