I am not alone!!

Today during Sunday school, I was in the clerk's office at church entering in data for April's hometeaching. While entering the data many people came in and out of the office. The clerks and a member of the bishopric were around talking about different topics. Somewhere in the conversation Will T (Bishop counselor) said, "Guess what will be my next cell phone. The new iPhone!" I immediately looked up and at him and with excitement said, "I don't have all the money yet, but I am getting it too." We gave each other a high five. I am so excited to know of someone else who will get one. I know the phone is all the hype and those who have had the privilege of using one have said it lives up to the hype. I am just worried the price will keep loads of people away and I will be a solitary man with an expensive phone. I just hope the iPhone won't be hard to get. We will see.

Our trip to Petco

My family and I went to a new shopping center on Saturday to see if we could find a new suit for me. The last suit I purchased was back in 1997 before my mission to Canada. The only suit I have left has been with me since 1996. I haven't changed much in the way of size in eleven years. I got my last remaining suit at the late C&R store in San Diego. It was my first suite ever. It still looks good. Well anyway, as I was saying, we went to the new shopping center and visited the new Nordstrom Rack. The suits were nice, but the prices were our of our reach. We dilly dallied for a while and then headed down the shopping center to the Cingular store to look at phones for Jamie. If we are switching over to Cingular for the iPhone then Jamie is going to get a good phone as well. She likes the Treo. On the way to Cingular, we saw Petco and decided to hit it up on the way back. On a side note, Jamie's mom spotted us in the parking lot as we were walking. Random! As we got to Petco, we looked around at all the animals. As we got to the fish section, we noticed some crabs. The first thing I noticed was the fiddler crabs, which are small, and they have strange pincher's. One is gynormous and the other is tiny. Some had the immense claw on the left and other on the right.

Here is some info from wikipedia:

Fiddler crabs live rather brief lives of no more than two years (up to three years in captivity). During courtship, the males wave their over sized claws high in the air and tap them on the ground in an effort to attract females. Fights between other males will also occur, which are presumably meant to impress the females; if a male loses his larger claw, the smaller one will begin to grow larger and the lost claw will regenerate into a new (small) claw. For at least some species of fiddler crabs, however, the small claw remains small, while the larger claw regenerates over a period of several molts, being about half its former size after the first molt.

Fun day.

Golf is in my sights.

I wish I could say this is where I went golfing, yet I heard the dues were a little much and I needed to be part of a special club. Oh well. I went golfing with my father-in-law (Dave) because I could. He and my brother-in-law (Tyler) introduced me to the joys of golf. Dave had been golfing for years and Tyler is current the Superintendent of a course in palm desert. Therefore, Dave and I went to the executive course at Lake San Marcos, which is about five minutes from my home. The course is short and fun. Many of the holes are no longer then 125 yards. We pulled out our drivers for one out of fifteen holes. We started at 6:00 and finished at 8:15. I did better then I thought I would. I have only been golfing about six times and have not touched the grass for over a year. I plan to go about once a month because the game is really fun.

PPP Direct Launches

I have been posting for Pay Per Post for the last month and a half. I can't say my posts are anything to be proud of gramaticly, but I am glad that PPP provides me an easy way to make money on the side while taking up little time. As many of my readers know I am saving up for the iPhone and PPP has helped a lot. You may have noticed the "Review my post" at the bottom of some of my PPP posts. This is a way to get others to sign up for PPP and I get a cut of the action. Now Pay Per Post has another tool to make me money. The program is called Direct Launches. The process is I put a perminent add on my blog inviting people to advertise on my site. I set a price and companies who pick me can advertise on my site. I get about 90% of the money and all are happy. The only problem I have is I seriously doubt that anyone would want to advertise on my site. I should try it though. If you like blogging, you should check out Pay Per Post.

Invites

When I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ in Canada, I was taught to invite people to come to Christ by listening to our message and praying about its truthfulness. I loved that we were inviting people because no one want to be forced, nor could I force then. No one is forced into heaven and no one must come to Christ if they don't want to. Now people will pay the consequences if they choose not to come to him, but still, that is the choice of the individual.

With the thought of invitations in mind, I have been wondering how I could apply it to other aspects of my life. One kind of application came to me yesterday when I was home. Jamie said, "I sure hope someone decides to do some service by bringing us some cookies. I really want some." When she said that I replied, "I will call your visiting teacher right now and invite her to do you that service." I called, but no one answered. It occurred to me at that moment of light-heartedness (NO, not light minded) that I could use these invitations more often. For example- Brandon G, I invite you to bring me some cookies next week at church. If he doesn't bring them, then I will assume that he forgot or he didn't except my invitation. No harm, no fowl. I also invite all who read this to give me a dollar next time you see me. I will put it in my iPhone fund. I love invites.

My Blog is really in the hole!

I have been doing some long and hard thinking about my blog today...

My mind has been focusing on post quality and my reasons for writing. The conclusion I have come to may be similar to yours. I have lost sight of why I am writing. I use to enjoy writing, but now all I think about is the money I make from the sponsored posts. I have no feeling about the topics anymore.

In an effort to make things right I am only going to make a max of one sponsored post a day. This effort will weed out the chance of junk posts. I make junk posts -like the last Heroes- post because I need to have a regular post between the sponsored ones. With my new rule, I can put some thought into my posts and still make money. I feel better about myself this way.

IRA Funding

* An IRA can only be funded with cash or cash equivalents. Attempting to transfer any other type of asset into the IRA is a prohibited transaction and disqualifies the fund from its beneficial tax treatment.
* Rollovers, transfers, and conversions between IRAs and other retirement accounts can include any asset.
* The maximum for an IRA contribution in years 2006 and 2007 is 100% of earned income or $4,000, whichever is less, for an individual under the age of 50. Individuals aged 50 and older can contribute up to 100% of earned income or $5,000 whichever is less.
* This limit is for Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs, or some combination of the two. You cannot put more than $4,000 into your Roth and traditional IRA combined ($5000 for individuals aged 50 or more).

For example, if you are 45 and put $3,500 into your traditional IRA this year so far, you can either put $500 more into your traditional IRA or $500 in your Roth IRA. However, because this is still before the filing deadline (April 17, 2007) for calendar year 2006, the cash method taxpayer could get the full $4000 limit for the Roth by simply calling the $3,500 a Roth and not claiming the $3,500 above the line (i.e., reduces AGI) deduction and making the remaining $500 a Roth. There may be an additional administrative step needed so that the trustee which holds the IRA proceeds actually retitles or transfers the $3500 Traditional proceeds into the Roth category for their internal bookkeeping to survive an IRS audit.

Heroes on NBC

The finally last night was ok, but Sylar is still alive. I hate that guy almost to the point of boycotting the show until he is dead and gone. At least let the guy erase his memory, so he is not such a butt head. That would be great. I like the actor because he does a good job, but I hate the fact that he kills others and takes their powers. He only becomes stronger and Peter is not refined enough to stop him. It is all crap...I still like the show though.

How can I kick it with a famous person?

Not many of us will have the chance to meet a celebrity. When I was in the San Diego airport my wife saw Tony Gwynn, so that is the closest I have been to a famous person. There is a celebrity named Mirelly Taylor who was on the show Punk'd and other shows who is the focus of a contest for the average Joe to take her on a date. This is an interesting premiums because not many people get to hang with the famous nor take a famous person on a date for that fact. The job of the average Joe to win this chance is done through a video entrance contest. The videos are just a few minutes long and if you win Ms. Taylor will be your new friend for the night. One of the videos (look below) features a guy stuck in the 90's. It just makes me want to put on my hammer pants and dance the night away. You can see the Free videos at GoFish.com and watch the rest of the entered videos and vote for your favorites. Some are good and some are not. But it is fun to see the creativity of some of these people. Who knows, you might win the date. I won't be submitting a video because I am married and it would be a little weird if I did win. You know what I mean.

Here is one of the contestants videos.

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What has my blog become?

When I started my blog a year ago, I just used it to write what was in my head and practice writing. I have put out about 75 to 100 posts. I am proud of my writing to my own standards, but it seems my blog has gone down hill since I started to write sponsored posts. Quality control is down the tube and for what. Well it is all for money. I can make over 20 bucks for only a half hour of work on these posts. I have to put a regular post (one like this) in between a sponsored post to qualify. So I just write some little diddy like this so I can make some money. I am such a sell out. Only until I get the iPhone.... I think.

Revenge on the Jetsons

I am coming to understand that the Family Guy is providing me the revenge I have always wanted as a kid. Much like the Trix Rabbit, George had been walked on for a long time. He now get his comeupance.

Roth IRA

Disadvantages

* The main disadvantage of a Roth IRA (when compared to a traditional IRA) is that contributions are not tax-deductible. If one contributes $1000 to a traditional IRA while in a high tax bracket, one can often receive a tax deduction, substantially reducing the initial cost of contributing (or, potentially, allowing someone without much disposable income to shelter more income). This is not the case for the Roth IRA. It should be noted that the money in a traditional IRA is taxed once it is withdrawn at retirement. If one is not able to max out one's IRA contributions, and ends up in a lower income tax bracket at retirement, then one will wind up with less usable cash by choosing a Roth IRA over a Traditional IRA.

* With a Roth IRA, there are heavy penalties for early withdrawals of earnings (withdrawals up to the total of contributions + conversions are tax-free). An unqualified withdrawal of earnings will result in federal income tax plus a ten-percent penalty on the amount. Fortunately there are many exceptions, such as buying a first home and paying qualified educational expenses.

* There is also the risk that Congress over the next few decades may decide to tax earnings on Roth IRAs.

* The perceived tax benefit may never be realized, i.e., one might not live to retirement or much beyond, in which case, the tax structure of a Roth only serves to reduce an estate that may not have been subject to tax. One must live until their Roth IRA contributions have been withdrawn and exhausted to fully realize the tax benefit. Whereas, with a traditional IRA, tax might never be collected at all, i.e., if one dies prior to retirement with an estate below the tax threshold, or goes into retirement with income below the tax threshold.

Roth

Here is some info on a Roth IRA that I think is important for people to know:

* At any time, the Roth IRA owner may withdraw up to the total of his contributions (in nominal dollars).

* If there is money in the Roth IRA due to conversion from a Traditional IRA, the Roth IRA owner may withdraw up to the total of the converted amount, as long as the "seasoning" period has passed on the converted funds (currently, five years).

* Earnings withdrawals become automatically qualified in the tax year the participant reaches age 59.5 or becomes disabled, so long as the account is "seasoned" (established for five or more years).

* Up to $10,000 in earnings withdrawals are considered qualified if the money is used to acquire a principal residence. This house must be acquired by the Roth IRA owner, their spouse, or their lineal ancestors and descendants. The owner or qualified relative who receives the "first time homeowner" distribution must not have owned a home in the previous 24 months.

* If a Roth IRA owner dies, and their spouse becomes the sole beneficiary of their Roth IRA while that spouse also owns a separate Roth IRA, the spouse is permitted to combine the two Roth IRAs into a single account without penalty. Additionally, qualified distributions are also available to other beneficiaries of Roth IRA owners. See IRS Pub 590 for complete details.

* If the Roth IRA owner expects his tax bracket after retirement to be higher than before retirement, there is a tax advantage to making contributions to a Roth IRA over a traditional IRA or similar vehicle. There is no current tax deduction, but money going into the Roth IRA is taxed at the lower current rate, and will not be taxed at the higher future rate when it comes out of the Roth IRA. If a taxpayer is currently in the 15% tax bracket, then a $1,000 contribution to a traditional IRA would provide a $150 reduction in current-year tax liability. If that taxpayer were in the 30% tax bracket upon retirement, $1000 of traditional IRA distributions would incur $300 in taxes. Therefore, the person would pay twice as much for after retirement income as he received in tax benefits from the traditional IRA deduction (and since gains are compounded, this comparison is valid). Therefore, the Roth IRA offers a specific advantage where a person will retire in a higher tax bracket than that used during his or her pre-retirement years.

* Perhaps the greatest advantage of the Roth IRA is its lack of forced distributions based on age. All other tax-deferred retirement plans, including the Roth IRA's cousin, the Roth 401(k),[1] require withdrawals to begin at age 70½ (more precisely, by April 1 of the calendar year after age 70½ is reached), and impose an annual minimum distribution once withdrawals begin at any age beyond 59½. The Roth IRA is completely free of these mandates.

Why I like Pay Per Post

I signed up for Pay Per Post about four months ago. I had to wait about a month after signing up for my blog to be fully excepted because I didn't qualify at the time. Since the day I have qualified I have loved the idea of making money on-line. I have made just under $100 bucks passively posting for PPP. I have been finishing up this semester the last few weeks, so I focused my time on school. Now that I am off for two weeks I plan to post as many PPP as I can because I am saving up for an iPhone. Pay Per Post uses viral marketing as a tool to help web sights get noticed and helps me get money in a simple way and at my leisure. Good stuff.

The Trix Rabbit Finally Gets the Goods.

As a kid I hated the Trix commercials. The Trix Rabbit seemed like a good rabbit, and these kids kept on taking his cereal. Even though it was kids just like me that were getting the Trix, I still thought it was stupid that the Rabbit who was on the freakin box couldn't have his own goods. I was so happy when I saw the Asian rabbit stand up for himself. Not only did he get the cereal, but he also got revenge for the American rabbit. This it the greatest day.

Weird Secretary

At work we have the strangest secretary. She is strange because she turns the most normal word into some odd mixture of letters and sounds. For example- a co-worker was taking her daughter to the dentist and wrote it on the office calender which hangs on the wall for all to see. I thought it would be funny to change dentist appointment to lobotomy. The next day I overheard the secretary reading it on the calender. Instead of saying it right, she said (lo bo tommy). I just put my head down on my desk and laughed for a while along with the girl behind me. We were in the other room, so we weren't caught.

Things I Remember

Two days ago I was getting some lunch for my daughter. I think I was making a sandwich for her and I saw the tortillas. All the sudden a memory came back to me about what I use to put on tortillas as a kid. I haven't thought of this for about ten years, so I don't even know what brought the thought to me. When I was a kid, I was a picky eater. So some foods would be my staples. One of them was to put butter on a tortilla, roll it up , and eat it with just butter. I remember it tasting good at the time, but now it sounds gross. I think I will make one today just for old times sake.

Things I Remember

For years I have wanted to start a journal. Along with that journal, I wanted to write down past memories that should have been written down. I am going to start my journal right here. My first entry is "How I started and stopped cussing."

When I was a kid (between 8-13) I would use the @$$hole word when ever someone make me really mad. I can only remember about three times in those early years screaming that. Well, I truly started cussing about my freshmen year in high school. I had a good friend ,who went to church with me, that started to drop a few words here and there. I was shocked at first to hear him say such things, but then it became common place and others in my group of friends started as well. I felt out of place because I had restrained from participating in the practice of using the f-bomb as a noun, adverb, verb, pronoun, or adjective.

If I was to join them, I would start slowly with the @$$ word. I remember the night I finally joined the ranks of my friends. I was at the Mann theater in Rancho Bernardo with my friend Steve, a girl named Beth (the cow), and I think Derek. I decided that my entry into the cussing club would be the word "Horse's @$$." I loved the way it sounded. I looked for the right opportunity to say it. My heart was saying, "Don't say that word, you don't cuss." While my mind wanted to conform to the whims of friends. With much fear and reluctance, I finally made up a sentence to say so I could take the dive. When I finally said my sentence, which was said with such reluctance, I felt like a different person. A feeling of -stucking it to the man- came over me. I don't think any one notice I had said anything, but to me and me alone I had just stepped into the world of bad-@$$es.

I now thought I was cool. From that point to the end of my junior year, I would drop it down with the best of them. My second favorite phrase was, "I don't gave a flying f$#%," yet to this day my favorite is, "It smells like @$$ in here." That one cracks me up. I would have my friends say it just to make me laugh. Also, one of my current favorites is when the B-word is added to the end of a sentence like, "Its dodge ball time...B#&$h."

About January of 1996 I got a call from my sister who was attending Berkeley. She asked me if I wanted to live with here for the summer and help pay for rent. She is only two years older then me, so it wasn't going to be a cushy trip. I was going to have to take care of myself. Before I moved out there, I had a moving spiritual experience at youth conference which made me evaluate myself and my standing with God. For the first time I started to put some real effort into cleaning up my language. I have to admit it was hard.

For months before my trip, I was cutting back, but I still drop the bad words around. The thing that really got me to stop was my sister. Not because of any specific thing she did, but because of whom she was to me. I had a lot of respect for her. The last thing I wanted to do was to lose her respect because of the way I spoke. So once I move up to Berkeley I stopped using bad words. I didn't have the pressure of thinking I needed to cuss because my friends were not around. I also had the fear of losing my sister's respect. I lived there from early June to a few weeks into August. I came home with chopped off hair (I had long hair when I moved up) and a clean mouth. I attribute my recovery from bad-@$$ land to my sister. I doubt she even knows.