Whaz Up?

BODYBUILDER!

This was for LUNGES.

Feelin' The Burn!!

Here I beat yesterday's score AND I unlocked the next round...10 mintues!! (This was 6 mins). I'll maybe try the 10 mins tonight if I can catch my breath after this one!! PHEW! I'm still sweating!!

YOGA MASTER!!

At least in this activity I am!!

This Is For Jennie

Twins Fest

Nick & A.J. at Twins Fest

Twins Fest 2009

Not a clue who this guy is.

Nick - 1st place

Nick only had to wrestle one other kid today so they did a best out of three. First match Nick beat him 6-4 I think & then second match he pinned the kid. No need for a third match.

NU Meet

Zander lost both of his matches, but do you think he cared!? He was thrilled to get another trophy!
He had fun again!

New Ulm Wrestling Meet

Interesting....

This was an interesting article I read today about Obama's new trillion dollar *stimulus* plan.

I’m sure you have heard about President-Elect Barack’s Obama’s new push to pass a $770 billion to $1.3 trillion stimulus package. I couldn’t find a a comprehensive article about the details of the plan, but what’s being reported the most in the media are the tax cuts which make up about 40% of the package. Here they are, and here is why I think they are mostly nonsensical and probably would not do much to lift the economy.

1. $500 tax rebate per worker or $1000 tax rebate for families - I know that every bit of money helps, but is this really the best way to spend billions of dollars in stimulus money? $500 per person works out to be about $40 per month. I guess it’s good for a cable bill, but will $40 per month stop a family from going into foreclosure? Will $40 per month be enough to stop local shops from closing? Another thing is, didn’t we just have a round of stimulus like this from the Bush administration? That one was actually $600 per worker or $1200 per couple plus $300 per kid. Just look at how much that helped and you’ll see how much this one will help.

2. $3000 tax rebate for each job a business creates - This one has so many holes that it’s like a piece of moldy Swiss cheese. First of all, if a person lost a job at business A and then finds a job at business B, is business B really creating a job? It seems like that would be a net gain of 0 jobs to me. Additionally, some businesses are doing well and some are doing poorly. The ones that are doing poorly are very unlikely to hire someone just for the tax benefit because adding an employee is very expensive and it would only make sense to add an employee if the employee’s output of work can bring a profit. On the other hand, the businesses that are doing well may already be planning to hire people and they will get stronger due to the tax rebate, but they probably did not need that money to begin with and again this tax rebate would have been pointless. Another thing is that it’s unclear how long a company needs to keep an employee to claim this tax benefit and what type of employment it would be. If those details are not clear I can see shady businesses exploiting this by hiring some person part time for half a month and then claiming the credit for a profit. Anyway, I don’t think this tax stimulus will actually be an incentive for any logical business to add to their payrolls and I highly doubt that this will bring about a net gain in employment numbers.

3. Corporations get to use losses in 2008 against profits obtained 5 years prior - This particular item isn’t mentioned a lot on the big news sites probably because it’s just bizarre. I see this particular clause benefiting the giant financial firms the most because they have had the most significant losses in the last year, and they also had the biggest profits in the years prior. A lot of companies in other industries did not suffer as badly, and the good responsible companies that were still making a profit in 2008 will not get a boost. Again, there is no guarantee that the companies that receive this benefit will create jobs and expand the economy. In fact, I think in this economy only the strong companies that still have a profit are still hiring because they know that they can get discounted labor and they are in a good position to use the extra labor effectively. It is almost like Obama wants to punish the companies that had good management to make a profit despite difficulties by giving their tax dollars to those who may have been extremely irresponsible and I think it’s plain stupid.

Finally, there is a question that everyone should be asking “WHERE THE (insert your favorite expletive here) WILL ALL THIS MONEY COME FROM?” Oh that’s right, they will just add it to the national debt, and that will be paid by Americans for generations to come. I know that Obama’s plan isn’t finalized, but so far I haven’t heard a single good idea from him, yet.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS??

Zander's First Pin

Zander's First Wrestling Match

Wrestling St James

We went to St James today for a wrestling meet. This was Zander's first time wreslting. He did such a good job! The best was after his first match (which he lost by a score of 6-3), he came over to Phil with the HUGEST smile on his face. He was so happy & had such fun!! He ended up taking 2nd place. Nick took first. He got ripped by only having one kid to wrestling. Nick was 117 pounds, that boy was 121. AND the sad part...that boy was only a FIRST grader. When it was done & we were getting ready to leave, Nick saw the boy in the cafeteria...he said "mom, do you know what that kid was eating? He had a taco in a bag, hot dog, popcorn, & some candy AND a mountain Dew." I said, ya nick, THAT is why he is 121 pounds...and only 7 years old. Sad. So Nick really didn't get a good match. They try to pair up by grade/age/weight. Hopefully next weekend at New Ulm's match, it's more fair.

OOPS

The below post WOULD have worked well...if we would of checked the dates on the Target ad!!! GRRRRRR LAST week the bundle was on sale for $77. This week it's the regular one on sale. So it was a no go at Walmart. We are so behind from the holidays I didn't get last weeks ad thrown out & that was what we were looking at tonight.

Oh well, he still returned the one & saved about $10.

In other news......we are getting the flu here. Zander complained of a belly ache for a good hour or two tonight...and then finally pooped. Still hurt. Then he threw up & got a bloody nose at the SAME time. Then he was on the toilet having it come out of both ends. This all happened while Phil was at wrestling practice w/ Nick so lucky me (that gets sick herself when dealing w/ this) had to clean up the carpet mess.

Then he finally fell asleep on the couch. Then Zach felt like he was getting sick & wanted to go to bed w/ a bowl. So he did......then about 90 mins later he was up in the bathroom w/ his bowl. Nothing. Came to the couch w/ me & he ends up getting sick.

So you wanna guess who gets sick next?? At least we made it through Christmas. I'm blaming the Myers this year.

The kid is taking after me.

You all know how I like a good deal. Well, I guess it's rubbed off on Nick. Knowing we were getting a Wii for Xmas, Nick wanted to use his bday/xmas money & buy Guitar Hero. So we found it at Target for 99.99 & was also able to save 10% when I used my Target card. So thinking, we got a good deal at $95 w/ tax we were happy. Well then the ads start coming out w/ the double pack (2 guitars) for $120. So we were thinking, we could take the one back & get the other for $20 more. Well, of COURSE everytime it was advertised on sale.....for $90 or $100 or even less they NEVER had it in stock. And it was an item you couldn't get a raincheck for either of course.

So......being the patient kid he is....he didn't open it after we opened the Wii cause he wanted to wait & see if it'd go on sale after Xmas to see if he could get some money back. So he waited & this weeks ad we see it advertised for $88 at Target & $80 at Kmart. NONE at Target, we found Kmart had a few....so we could take the first back & save about $10. For Nick, $10 is $10. So we got it at Kmart today.

Then we are out at Walmart & I see this lady with the Target ad & the Guitar Hero in her cart...except she had the bundle pack which is what Walmart has for $119. I thought about it, but not much.......until I got home. Then I looked at my Target ad once again .......Target was advertising the BUNDLE pack for $88 this week, again quantities limited, no rain checks. SO that lady was doing a price match. Buying it at Walmart w/ Target's ad for $88.!!

So......Phil & Nick are doing some returns as I type this. First back to Target to return the original one for $95.....then to Kmart for today's that we paid $85 (w/ tax) and then out to Walmart to get the BUNDLE pack (2 guitars) for Target's price of $88 w/ tax. I just HOPE they have one left. Neither one of us could remember how many they had. I *think* it was a few.

So....if you are looking to get the Guitar Hero World Tour bundle pack....and your local Target doesn't have it....take their ad to Walmart to price match.