Category Archives: Married Life

July 4: On The Vineyard

fff|ggg|vineyard_20050704/P1030314|American Flag|ggg|fff

We had a lovely weekend on the Vineyard. We went to the beach, went for walks, sat on the porch, ate, read, watched multiple Cape Cod fireworks celebrations, and generally had a nice relaxing time. We were even fortunate enough to experience NO traffic on the way down, and NO traffic on the way back. What luck! I had plenty of time for shootin’ photos, as you can see ***here|http://gallery.prwdot.org/vineyard_20050704***… but I still had time to get to read pages 1 through 228 of 291 in aaa|The River Why|1578050847|aaa, eat lots of food, go swimming and kayaking, play Trivial Pursuit (in which I was whipped by Becky), and hang out with the family.

weekend events

After a busy week I was glad to have some of the weekend to spend with my Peter.

We had a nice date on Friday night. I got home from work and we headed out to the movies to see ***Cinderella Man|http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0352248/***. I wasn’t sure that I woud like it…since it was a “boxing” movie and all, but I did! The story was entertaining, even if it was a bit violent and the historical references were slightly forced. I loved having my stereotypes broken. Kudos to the writer/director/whatever that can change my opinion or challenge my preconceived notions.

Saturday was a day spent at home. We did some cleaning and organizing and got some nice productive things done while getting to spend time together.

Falling into the category “Things I probably would not have done/seen had it not been for meeting Peter” was the dvd we watched on Saturday night. It was the second half of the first season of ***The 4400|http://imdb.com/title/tt0389564/***, a USA channel SciFi show. It is an interesting show based on the idea that 4400 people from the 20th century were abducted and then returned in a ‘super human’ form. The plot follows these “returnees” as they attempt to get on with their lives. It is a great SciFi show that has enough plot and human interest to keep my attention.

I had to work on Sunday, but we had a lovely evening as Peter mentioned below.

Sometimes the simple times are the best.

Wild Weekend

fff|ggg|canoeing_nashua/P1030042|The GeekMobile With Canoe|ggg
ggg|pillsbury_state_park/P1030165|The Gang at Balance Rock|ggg|fff

We had quite an exciting weekend:

On Saturday, we were in Townsend to attend a graduation party for a friend of Becky’s family. In the morning, Becky and I, along with Ken, Dianne, and Corey, headed out onto the Nashua River to do some ***canoeing and kayaking|http://gallery.prwdot.org/canoeing_nashua***. We had quite a good time, and got to see lots of natural beauty, all while getting a decent upper body workout.

On Sunday, Becky and I drove up to Claremont, NH to visit our friends ***Jeremy and Angela|http://www.thebiggspicture.org/*** at their new house! On the way, we stopped for a quick, mosquito-infested hike up ***Mount Watatic|http://gallery.prwdot.org/mount_watatic*** in Ashburnham, MA. After arriving in Claremont, we got to see all of the work The Biggses have been doing and are planning on doing on ***the house|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag/P1030197***. After the house tour, the four of us went hiking at ***Pillsbury State Park|http://gallery.prwdot.org/pillsbury_state_park*** in Washington, NH. It was a very nice afternoon for a hike (much better than the day on which the Biggses ***previously hiked|http://thebiggspicture.org/2005/06/we-couldnt-decide-on-title-for-this.html***), and Pillsbury has some really nice scenery… mountains, lakes, and some very nice looking campsites (we’d love to get Site 28 some time, if possible). After the hike, we had all worked up quite an appetite, which we satisfied at the Biggs House with breakfast for dinner… fresh bacon, eggs, French toast, Belgian waffles… yum.

We finally arrived home in Beverly with just enough time to unload our belongings and get some sleep… and now, yet another week of work. Life goes on!

Grilling, Take Two

I am pleased to report that Grilling, Take Two was successful. This time, we used a new batch of real wood chips instead of charcoal, and used lighter fluid to get the fire started. The fire burned nice and hot, and we were able to get our burgers grilled to perfection. The weather was nice enough that we were able to sit outside and have a backyard picnic. Tonight’s menu:

Cheeseburgers (1/4 pound of 85% lean ground beef each, mixed with Worcestershire* sauce, garlic powder, salt, pepper, celery salt, and just a hint of sugar! Grilled and topped with jack cheese, ketchup, and tomatoes.)
Baked beans
Dill pickles
Ruffled potato chips

And to top it all off…

S’MORES!

With temperatures pushing 70F, it was a very nice dinner.

* A benefit of spending time in Massachusetts is that it’s not too hard to spell Worcestershire. 🙂

Rite of Manhood

There comes a point in every man’s life when he must go out and ***join the other men|http://gallery.prwdot.org/labor_day_03/DSCN3337*** in their persuit of the perfectly grilled burger. For Peter that day was today.

My Uncle Rich and Auntie Julie gave us a baby Weber charcoal grill when we got engaged… and we had yet to use it! Peter got the ball rolling this afternoon as he rescued it from the attic and set about ***assembling|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grilling_take_one/P1020320*** it.

He then made up the ***hamburgers|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grilling_take_one/P1020321*** and my contribution was a ***pair of ears of corn|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grilling_take_one/P1020322***. The grill was moved outside and loaded up with coal. After a few false ***starts|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grilling_take_one/P1020326*** the charcoal started to burn.

Onto the grill went the burgers and corn. Peter ***checked|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grilling_take_one/P1020334*** in a couple of times to see if it was actually cooking. Unfortunately, due to conditions beyond his control, (it was too cold and windy) the grill just wasn’t doing its job.

So, pride in hand, Peter ***finished the job|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grilling_take_one/P1020338*** inside. The dinner turned out delicious!

Keep Scrolling

One of the perils of having a two-author blog is that one author’s long posts (i.e. mine) can force another author’s long posts (i.e. Becky’s) further down the page, and beyond the limits to which people typically scroll.

So this post is just to let you know that if you’ll keep scrolling past my most recent posts, you’ll see two nice, fresh posts that Becky made earlier today, and that I wouldn’t our readers to miss! Thanks!

AT LAST!

Sorry for the title in all caps, but that’s how I feel about this:

ppp|ZERO|ppp

This is the snapshot of our MBNA credit card account, our last remaining high-interest revolving debt. Yep, that’s right… after almost three years of hard work, we’ve finally got that high-interest debt monkey off of our backs.

I was pretty irresponsible with credit during my college years… I had two major credit cards, two store credit cards, and an Apple Loan from MBNA (which I had used to buy my PowerBook, Airport Base Station, and a bunch of other stuff when I realized I could access the credit line using checks). All of my cards and lines of credit were racked up to the max. I would just use them to buy whatever I wanted, without any clear plan on how to pay for everything. I think I realized that I had a problem, but wasn’t willing to deal with it, and I liked all of the stuff that I got with the credit. I just kept paying the minimum payments, and the debt just sat around and accrued interest. It wasn’t until I married Becky that things started to change. Having a financial responsibility to another person was a big wake-up call. With Becky’s help, and some careful planning, we started an aggressive plan for paying off the high interest debt I had accrued. We paid off the highest interest cards first, throwing as much money into the balances every month as we could possibly afford. Becky helped by teaching me to curb my spending habits, taking charge of food and grocery planning, watching for bargains, coupons, and cheap things, and helping enforce a savings plan.

Sure, I do occasionally have those pangs of wanting to go out and buy the latest and greatest gadgets… but I’ve learned that those are pretty irrational, and with some careful planning and budgeting, I have been able to buy some nice stuff without incurring any debt (the new camera, for example). I have also developed a much better ability to be content with what I have. My computers might be 4-5 years old, and they might not be able to run the latest software, but can they do the things I need them to do? Yes, they can.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we’re never going to use our credit card again. A credit card can be useful, as long as it is used responsbily. Don’t carry a balance from month to month. If you do charge something that is more expensive than you can pay within the current billing cycle, pay it off as quickly as possible, and certainly pay more than the minimum payment. Check to see if your card offers any promotional interest rates – for example, if you can get a 0% APR for three months, go ahead and buy that bigger-ticket item, as long as you have a plan to pay it off before the promotional period is over. Otherwise, you are going to be slammed with interest charges.

We do still have a fair amount of student loan debt kicking around. However, the interest rate is pretty low, and we’re on a fixed schedule for paying it off, so it is not as big of a concern. Granted, it is a pretty big chunk of money that we’re paying every month, but the education it helped us attain was well worth it. And of course, now that we’re no longer making huge payments to MBNA, we have the option of sending those funds over into our student loans – or savings accounts or other accounts as desired.

Anyway, this whole thing is really to say a big “Thank You” to Becky, for helping get our spending and debt under control. I don’t know what I’d do without her.

Update
I should mention, by way of full disclosure, that we do still have one debt account other than our student loans… this is the credit account that I got through my dentist when I had to get a root canal. But it is 0% interest for a full year, and we do have a solid plan for paying it off, so this won’t cause any problems for us.

I ate the whole thing!

Becky and I just got back from a nice Friday night outing. First, we had dinner at ***Bennigan’s|http://www.bennigans.com/***, which is one of those places we go only if we have a coupon or some other incentive. In this case, we had a coupon to get the “Big Irish Deal” – their “Big Irish” hamburger, plus unlimited french fries, for $7.99. Plus, if you managed to eat the whole hamburger and all of the fries, you could win a free dessert for your next visit. Well, I am quite pleased to report that I did manage to consume the whole burger and most of the fries (Becky nibbled a few). I believe that the burger contained two 1/2 pound beef patties, plus lots of American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles, and an extra bun in the middle. In fact, it was actually quite a decent burger. And I don’t feel too bad after having eaten it. I didn’t take advantage of the unlimited fries, because I ended up being full (!). I did, however, get the coupon for a free dessert on our next visit (aha, another ‘incentive’!).

After we were sufficiently satiated, we went to Market Basket for some much-needed groceries. I did a bit o’ photography, and tossed the photos up in the ***Grab Bag|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag?page=1***. (The Grab Bag is sort of our equivalent of the ***flickr|http://www.flickr.com/*** photostream… a bunch of random photos that I don’t feel like putting in their own albums, arranged in reverse-chronological order. Start on page 1 to see the most recent photos.)

ggg|grab_bag/IMG_0212|Market Basket: More for your dollar!|ggg

Send her some love

My dear wife is home sick for the third day in a row today. She has a pretty awful respiratory bug that has had her up coughing every night, and feeling crummy during the day. She finally got a decent night’s sleep last night after I got her some NyQuil, but she’s still feeling pretty rotten.

Won’t you be kind and send her some well-wishes? I’ve disabled commenting on this post, so please drop her an email or an IM directly. If you don’t know her address or screen name, you can find that information on the ***Contact Us|http://prwdot.org/contact.html*** page linked from the top left corner of ***our site|http://prwdot.org/***.

My (Self-Assigned) Title

Chief Purchaser Of Unnecessary But Nonetheless Yummy Grocery Items

I think that the proclivity that caused me to assume this title is something that I picked up after 20 years of living with the King POUBNYGI, my father (Mom, I am sure you can chime in with some examples…). Becky is usually far too sensible, health-conscious, and thrifty to make such purchases herself, so the extremely difficult task usually “falls” to me.

Tonight I picked up a bag of “Hint of Lime” Tostitos, a package of AriZona diet iced tea mix, and two half-gallons of Edy’s ice cream. (Side note: at Stop and Shop, there is almost always at least one brand of ice cream that is on sale. This time it was buy-one-get-one-free for Edy’s ice cream.)

A POUBNYGI’s job is never done.