Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Alumni Weekend at Huntingdon College. Julie joined me for the annual alumni event down in Montgomery last weekend. Huntingdon has changed a lot since I graduated (for the better) and the most noticeable change is the addition of a football team. I really, really like the gameday atmosphere that the Hawks have established on campus. The stadium is directly across the street from the dorms, the alumni association had a huge tent to welcome graduates back and the field was in pristine condition. Too bad the Hawks lost to Birmingham-Southern! It was a great weekend though and I'm glad my wife was willing to go with me!

This week, I love the Royal Red Robin Burger. While in the Gump, Julie and I had lunch at Red Robin. This burger instantly caught my eye because it features a fried egg, among other wonderful toppings. I destroyed this hamburger. Not only did it taste good, it also symbolized the end of carefree eating for me. Julie and I vowed to start being more aware of our nutritional intake after the trip. Obviously, items like the Royal Red Robin Burger won't be on my menu in the future so I enjoyed every last morsel while I could. Look at that photo. I want one of these things RIGHT NOW.

This week, I don't like Tweet bans. Julie and I share a Twitter account and both get lots of enjoyment out of posting witty quotes and updates. Twitter is so, so much better than Facebook. Little known fact: professional golfers make up the largest group of athletes that use Twitter (per capita). The Ryder Cup (only the biggest golfing event other than the annual major tournaments) is this weekend and the teams have decided to ban Twitter use during the course of the event. Boooooooo! I can think of 6 Twitter users on Team USA (players and coaches). The European team features almost as many users. I guess I understand their thinking but the Ryder Cup would be a lot cooler if we could have access to behind-the-scene photos and comments.

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like taking my lunch to work. Brown-bagging it every day not only saves money, it also helps me keep my sanity. I work in the Riverchase area of Birmingham. Lots of workers here. Lots of single-passenger cars here. Lots of single-passenger cars trying to go to lunch at the same time here. Plus it's still pretty hot outside. Personally, it's not worth sitting in hot car in a long line of traffic to just to go get something to eat (that probably isn't good for you).

This week, I love my debit card. Though I don't have much money to speak of, you will rarely find cash on me. From paying for gas to buying movie tickets online, all of my transactions are performed with my debit card. There's A LOT of people out there that still carry cash and part of my job is to promote my employer's debit card service. I was recently trying to think of new and creative ways to enlighten people about debit cards when it hit me: there's only so much you can say about a debit card. It's like this: if you are under the age of 32 and carry cash as opposed to a debit card, there's no hope for you and no, I would not like to supersize my order. If you are between ages of 33 and 70, you have a window of grace because you most likely grew up in a cash-only world. If you're age 70 or above, you are scared of technology and there's probably no chance of getting you to convert at this point. Plus, actually remembering the presidency of the guy on the $20 bill gets you off the hook. Regardless of your age, debit cards are time savers and once you cash-carriers die off, the US Mint will likely shut down and paper money will be no more.

This week, I don't like insurance. I don't mean health insurance or automobile insurance. I mean the concept of insurance. Where you might argue that insurance helps us afford visits to the doctor or car repairs, I counter by saying the price of visits to the doctor's office and car repairs would not be so expesive if insurance never came to be. The existence of insurance has spawned an upward spiral of costs and has only help pad the price of medicine, car repairs, etc. Think about it this way...if everyone canceled their insurance policies, then we wouldn't be able to afford doctors visits/car repairs, right? Ah, but if no one can pay for their doctors visit/car repair, then the doctors office and collision center have two options: close up shop or reduce their prices. I think that if push came to shove, you would see prices fall overnight. President Obama's proposed health care plan touts that it will make it possible for more Americans to have affordable health care insurance. But what we really need is fewer Americans with health insurance.

So my point is...having to factor insurance into our everyday expenses robs us of the ability afford the nicer things in life.

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Gordon Gekko. My wife (Julie) spotted an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released sequeal to Wall Street and declared that she would like to see this film. My wife (Julie) is not very...inclined to pop culture so I knew without a doubt that she had not see the original Wall Street. So I made her a deal: watch the original Wall Street with me at home and I'll take her to see the sequel in the theater (Just call me Tom Sawyer!). We have watched most of the original film and my wife (Julie) has done her very best to keep up with the story. I've enjoyed watching this movie again because it reminded me of how many great scenes it offers. Like this one, which contains a powerful speech by Gordon that...kinda summarizes the thinking that got this country into it's current situation:

Here's the original trailer for Wall Street:

Looks great right?! I can't find a legal trailer for the sequel but here's a link to what appears to be the film's official website. Looks like the sequel could be a winner even with Shia The Beef!

This week, I love candy pumpkins. For many folks, the changing of the leaves or the cooler temperatures signify the arrival of fall. Not me - I know it's fall when I see/eat candy pumpkins. My sister brought a bag o' pumpkins over last weekend and I managed to eat 3 pounds of the things by myself. If I'm not diabetic already, I am now. Ironically, I'm not big on candy corn...even though it's probably the same thing. The pumpkins just taste better. GRAB A HANDFUL TODAY!

This week, I don't like technogadgets in church. I think I've found something that irks me more than texting drivers - people that text in church. A young professional sat in front of me last Sunday and he was constantly fumbling with his cell phone during the sermon. I know I should have been focusing more on the message but this guy was very distracting. I find this extremely tacky and I'm very disappointed in this guy's inability to realize his insulting behavior. The real kick was the older gentleman just a few pews further up with his iPad. Really, buddy? You can't just grab the provided Bible in front of you? You have to whip out your shinny new iPad? Whether it kills us on the road or causes us to be stuck down from above, technology is going to get us all. You heard it here first.

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Rickie Fowler's addition to the US Ryder Cup team. This is just Rickie's first full year on the PGA tour and he hasn't won any tournaments. But he has played very well and made a lot of money. Captain Corey Pavin isn't taking quite as much heat from critics for picking Rickie as I anticipated. I think that shows that a lot of people know that Fowler is a good golfer with a lot of team-golf experience. The Ryder Cup is October 1-3 in Wales.

This week, I love the Boise State football program. I couldn't stay up to finish watching the game on Monday night because I am old. But what I saw was awesome. For you folks that think Boise's win fouled up the national championship picture, I ask you: how could it get more fouled up? This program is special and what they have accomplished is impressive. Including Monday's win, BSU has won 113 games since the 2000-'01 season. I don't care what conference they play in. They've dominated their conference and have passed a lot of tough tests during that time...especially arguably their biggest test:

This week, I don't like school traffic. Since area schools began their new year, approximately 30 minutes have been added to my drive home every day. I know...boo-hoo. But this really irks me. Why does school add such a drastic change? Bless my wife - she puts up with much worse traffic each and every day and never comes home in a bad mood. But I'm not such a good sport and I only further frustrate myself when I try to think of a solution. But you know what? Bammerhamers aren't going to carpool. There is no solution.