Today is November 30th, and tomorrow officially begins the month of yuletide glee. I don’t know what a yuletide is, but it sounds like it’s related to the ocean. Anyways, this is one of my favorite times of year. For one month most people’s priorities change ever so slightly. Greed is replaced with gratitude. Earnest replaced with peace. People seem to cheer up just because it’s the month of December. Maybe it’s fond memories of their past childhood, or dreamy images of tinsel and lights. Maybe it’s promised vacation time that is well overdue, or a final chance to catch up on things unfinished. Or, maybe it’s the end to a bad year…with prospects of a better one ahead. Whatever your frame of mind this Christmas, I hope we can all enjoy the season while it’s here.

So for the past month I’ve been an extremely good saver of money. For the first time in a long time my credit card bill is barely over $100, and that’s primarily from buying gas. Recently however there has been a temptation: World of Warcraft! Kurtis and Kevin have both been playing it, and it sounds like too much fun to pass up.

The problem though is that $50 is a big expense, so where is the money going to come from? I’ve got a wedding ring, honeymoon, and HDTV to save up for…how could I possibly afford it? By taking a fast from fast food. Everytime I would usually eat fast food, or have the urge to buy a snack, I will resist and eat at home. For the next two weeks or so I will document my fast food resistance savings. When it adds up to $50 we have success!

11/30
Ate leftover pizza instead of McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets. $2.16
Passed on buying a soda at CSULB (oooh it was tempting). $1.25
12/1
Skipped my usual pre-staff meeting Sobe. $2.00
Made Mac and Cheese at home instead of Mambo Grill. $6.00
Got a High Schooler to buy me dinner (go Andie!). $1.50
12/2
Ate pizza rolls at home instead of Jack in the Box. $5.00
12/3
Pizza rolls and fishsticks instead of Taco Bell. $3.45
12/5
Ate top ramen at home instead of fast food. $5.00
12/6
Ate leftover pizza instead of Subway. $5.00
12/7
Ate leftover pizza again instead of fast food. $5.00
Mac ‘n Cheese instead of Chicken Nuggets. $2.16
12/12
Parents bought me lunch after church! $5.00
Had a PoT PiE at home instead of Jack in the Box. $5.00
___________
Total Saved: $48.52

If you’ve looked at the photo blog you’ll notice that one of my neighbors has decided to block off the public street in front of their house with cones. I have a new hypothesis for their illegal activity: to show off their Christmas lights.

No one can deny the wave of anti-Christian sentiments over the past decade. Every chance the ACLU gets they try and shoot down something, like the Redlands, CA city seal. There seems to be a major push to completely re-write our nation’s history, like how the pilgrims gave thanks to God. Heck, the constitution is outlawed in Bay area!

Thanks to Hugh Hewitt I found a new blog called Stones Cry Out who has a great piece on this problem. The agenda of the ACLU and atheist’s alike is really no different than those on the religious right. Everyone believes in something…whether that is God or nothing. It’s one thing to endorse a religion in a public institution (which we shouldn’t) but it’s another to completely irradicate mention of it. Go read this now.

Recently I’ve seen some pretty "cool" things that I thought were worth taking pictures of and sharing with everyone. Most people on the web call it "photo blogging." It’s actually really cool because you make yourself more aware of the beauty and interesting things around us that we don’t always take notice of. Here’s a picture from my first entry. Visit the image gallery on the left for more pictures. Hopefully this is something I can update often.

One of the most exciting aspects of moving out is having the authority to purchase a new TELEVISION…with Stacie’s help of course. Being in this prime position for buying something new, I can’t help but be enamored by HDTV. We watched a few HD programs at my Aunt’s house on Thanksgiving and it looks gorgeous. So, with this in mind, I’ve begun researching HDTV’s and alll the different technologies. Take a look if you’re interested.

So I started this blog near the tail end of the baseball season, so you may not know that I’m a huge Dodgers fan. Several of the Dodger players are up for special awards, but one of the most notables is little Cesar Izturis. He’s been a regular on the Dodgers for three years now I believe, and each year he just gets better and better. Below you can find a video clip of a really awesome play he made. I can’t wait for the next season to start and for all the new baseball videogames to come out.

Go Izzy!
(He’s third down on the right)

So the first part of my Thanksgiving weekend has been real nice. Thursday night my whole extended family went over to my Aunt’s house for dinner. They’ve got a gorgeous house in Thousand Oaks and we had a fun time just spending time with everyone. Stacie and I made devilled eggs, mmmm. Tonight we went over to her friend Lydia’s house for her birthday, and it was surprisingly a lot of fun. Lydia and her fiance Joe are getting married two weeks after us, so there was a lot of wedding talk. Some of her other friends were there that we’d never met, but they were a great group of people. They all go to church together and just seem like really nice Christian people, and they were fun too. Tomorrow we’re doing Thanksgiving Part 2 at Stacie’s house…then it’s homework time.