As Thanksgiving approaches it does good to stop and count your blessings. For me there are too many to count. My wife and child come to mind first thing. Brennon was the biggest blessing I could ever imagine. To have someone else to love, someone who is a part of both me and Holly. That is so cool. He now has a kind of high squeek I associate with a laugh. He smiles real big now too. When I get time I will upload the recent pictures.

Holly is also a big blessing. In this day and age there is none like her. Our family is not the typical modern day family you see on sitcoms. We are more like the Leave it to Beaver family, traditional and living the American dream. She is not the domineering women while I am the blustering husband. We really do have a partnership. She of course is way ahead in the wifely duties department. She takes care of Brennon most of the time as I can't seem to awaken at night. I think it is my sleep apnea. Recently I have been waking up with the hose wrapped around my neck. Luckily air goes through that hose so I am not suffocating. Holly does not complain, even though she has every right to. That is what is great about our marriage. We do make sacrifices for one another.

Our jobs are blessings too. Just the fact that we have good stable jobs is a blessing, not to mention the income. To have the ability to even fix up our house and sell it is pretty good. Friends are a good blessing too. Ones who come over and play and go out to eat. That is always fun. Now the biggest blessing of all is that we are saved by our belief in Jesus and trust God to lead us on the right path and He always does. I am thankful for all of the blessings the Lord has given us. Large and small, it is Him who does it all. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

So this weekend was Thanksgiving number one. On Friday night Holly and I went to Chili's. Brennon was pretty good and only cried at the very end when we were finishing. On Saturday I babysat Brennon while Holly ran some errands. Brennon is still a cutie. I suppose that makes it ok when he spits up on you. I think he likes to do that. Although there are points where he just wails and I am like "what do you want!" and he says "waaah". We watched the Tech game and cheered us on to victory.

We have now started the packing process. This is going to be intense for a couple of weeks. At first I thought we were not elgible for the $6500 tax credit and then I found out we are so we are moving forward. To start with we are selling our existing home to get the equity out of it for a down payment on a new home. The $6500 can be used for closing costs if we get an FHA loan. That is even better. I think we are saving the economy. It is the second time homebuyers that will pull us all out of this recession.

I am now doing tons of renovations. Today someone comes over to replace a glass pane. Tomorrow someone comes over to fix our sprinkler. Friday the moving people come to take half of our stuff into storage. Saturday the fence people will come to replace the fence. Also, on Saturday the wall people will come to remove the wallpaper. Then someone is coming to give an estimate to trim the trees and shrubs to waist high. Also, someone will come to measure our floors so that we can carpet the rest of the house. I have to say these tax credits are really going to fix the economy. Already we are going to put in close to 10K just to renovate the house. We better sell it for close to what we are offering to recoup that. Otherwise I wouldn't mind staying in it cause it will be as good as new.

Sunday we went to Holly's grandparents house for their Thanksgiving. They like to have it on Sunday so that the whole family can get together. Holly has like 4 or 5 cousins. They all like Brennon, however no one wanted to change his diaper. I think parents are used to that but single people shy away. I know I did. Sunday night I spent moving large stuff from the garage to the curb. As I was doing this some scavengers pulled up in their truck and started looking through it all. I told them if they wanted the waterbed they could have it. However, they did not take it. I think some people make some money driving around on Sunday nights looking for discarded stuff. They were a husband and wife team with a large truck. I wonder if they ever get in trouble. Anyways, my stress level is going to be up for a while. So little to do, so much time. Wait a minute, scratch that. Reverse it.

So last night marked the end of the band again, for like the fifth time. I think it is safe to say having our lead singer/guitar player only show up to one practice did us in. Something I realized years ago was that having two teachers in your band means attendance is mandatory. In a way I kind of glad it is over, because there is alot to do to get ready to move and I already have a guys night during the week. I am, quite frankly, tired of practicing the same old songs.

This has got me thinking about music. There is a big catch-22 in the music industry. The theory is this - when we are young we are the most creative we can be, like from our teens to our twenties. It is at that point when we should be creating new music. The problem is when we are young we usually don't have the musical experience to do anything except makes songs that sound like other popular songs. That is why all top 40 songs are easy to play, have simple lyrics and are stupidly repetitive. Now when you get to be my age you really get tired of listening to and playing the same old classic rock tunes. Last night we were talking about how we played alot of Hendrix songs. Now he was famous in his twenties and that was in the sixties, meaning we are now used to playing almost 50 YEAR OLD SONGS. What's wrong with us? I think I am officially tired of classic rock.

I admit the reason why I liked those songs and SRV songs is they have a talent that has not been reproduced since their inception. They really are the greats and I am sure teens will rediscover their music for the next 50 years. Just like guitarists will discover Yngwie and Steve Vai, the kings of the shredders. As for me, I need a new genre. I think I know why my friends are into talk radio, it is almost always new and can incite emotion. However I have grown to hate talk radio. The conservative hosts arrogance about the other sides motives and logic has too much anger in it. The liberal jockeys portrayal of modern life is really twisted. What I need is no talking in my music. I think I figured it out. Right now I am listening to the "Watercooler" on XM radio on my iPhone. What is that? It is Jazz. I find it interesting how Hendrix had the same switchover before he died. He was tired of playing his old blues licks and wanted to go in a different direction. A band where all musicians play complex riffs. Yup, he was into Jazz. Time to listen to some Kurt Rosenwinkel, get a top hat, grab my trumpet and be-bop.

Today is Brennon's first day in daycare and Holly's first day back to work. Luckily Holly's teacher friends recommended a lady who lives close to where she works. It is pretty cheap at like $70 a week. Normally daycare runs $200 a week for babies. Wow, I can see why having the mom stay at home is an option. Brennon might even pick up some spanish since the lady mostly speaks spanish. As long as his first words are not "No Habla English" I am ok with it. I often wonder how those Dora watching kids will turn out. Will spanglish become commonplace? Will they be able to communicate with the rest of the world?

So now that Holly is back to work I think it is time to get vaccinated for swine flu. Schools seem to breeding grounds for it. Since we are the primary caregivers of a 2 month old we are in line for it, plus with my metabolic syndrome it would really be bad for me to get the flu. I can't imagine what a CPAP machine is like when you can barely breathe. I think though the news stories have died down about it, but it is still spreading. Today the vaccine has been released at walgreens and Krogers. What if one gets sick from the vaccine? I hope my sweat doesn't turn orange like last time. Maybe that was the V8?

I go back and forth with the storage stuff for half of our house. The initial costs are like $200-400 and $80-120 a motnh depending if we want people to move it for us. I think maybe keeping our cars outside and using the garage for storage would be better. But then I know our big garage is what kept me interested in the house. If it had stuff in it a prospective tenant wouldn't realize how big it is. So many factors to consider. The first step is to get rid of most of the stuff I don't use. So to my friends, come on over and make me a deal on some electronics. Maybe I should have a quick garage sale. Or maybe just move it all out and sort it when we get a new place. The possibilities are endless.

So last night as I started to peel wallpaper I thought to myself ,"should someone else be doing this?" I have never been a handyman, that is why I got a house that was made in 1998, so I didn't have to do much work on it. We are going to get rid of the wallpaper in the kitchen and bathrooms. We think that will help sell the house. That requires some elbow grease and little bit of luck. Some people on the net say to wet it with Downy fabric softener. Other people say to rent a steamer and let it just fall off the wall. I think I will call around and get an estimate to see if it is worth all this effort.

I think I did well in picking our realtor. The next step is picking where we are going to store half of our stuff. We have to make the house show off its square feet so we are putting big things in storage like our loveseat, a couple of easy chairs, TVs, our treadmill and cycle and all of the boxes in the closets. Lockheed has some 10% off discounts for some storage places. So we will attempt to do that. Once that is done then we can concentrate on touching up the walls and getting an energy efficient window giving me another tax credit to go with the $6500. Then after the walls all look good we will get a new carpet. By the time our renovations are complete we won't want to move.

Time of course is an issue. It is like the time to buy is right now and before the end of the year. I got a quote today on 4.75% on a 30 year fixed. That is amazing. I want to get it, but I know we have got to sell first. I am hoping all of our renovations will be finished by December. What that means is I am getting multiple companies to work on different parts of the house at once. I think I can do some stuff myself. I have some books. The question is, would it look good? Probably not. More tests.

So on Friday Holly's mom came over and babysat. That let Holly and I go out to Saltgrass for steak and bowling. It was fun. Our major topic of discussion of course is the house. Saturday I interviewed 3 Realtors. They all came to the house and I explained to them about all of the work we need to do to get it ready to sell. To start with we need a new fence, repair some walls, repaint the walls, new carpet and new tiling in the bathrooms. First we need to get half of our stuff in storage so that we can make the house show off its square feet and make it easier to fix. Then we need to get people over to fix the fence and paint the walls.

It felt like I was interviewing people for a job. Over the years I have had to interview many people to really see if they were stretching the truth or knew what they said they knew. I am known for my hard interviewing skills. I could tell I was making some of them sweat with "How many houses have you sold in the past 6 months?" "What is the average length of time it takes to sell a house?" "What is your marketing strategy?" "Do you take less commission because you will be in on a buy?" The agent we picked really stood out. She has a PHD in business and is one of Dave Ramsey's realtors. She has a team of people to help her out and already has ideas on who she knows who would like to buy the house. I am glad I didn't just impulsively pick someone.

Now we are thinking of Frisco for a house. Right now there are over 2500 empty new houses there at around $60 a square foot. There are over 1000 empty houses in Plano at around $100 a square foot. You get newer bigger houses at a lower price in Frisco. I think maybe because it is north of Plano is it cheaper. It will make travelling west a little longer commute. Anyways, we like to jump ahead to buying a new house, when we really need to concentrate on getting our current one sold. I wonder what's going to happen? Thanksgiving will be at our old house this year for anyone interested in coming, just let us know. How was your weekend?

Ah, so at guys night we stopped at my favorite place - Best Buy. I know, but as a geek that is a pretty cool place. For those who do the added bonus of "reward zone" points there is a place you can go to get more points. It is called rewardzonedining.com Basically it is a free service that ties your debit card to the reward zone points system. For instance we went to Denny's the other night and I got 24 reward zone points. About 500 points equals a $10 gift certificate. Then top it off with our chase rewards where we get a $50 certificate every 3 months we could easily get a game for free every three months. However, I am finding out that there are alot of game trading social networks out there where you can trade in your old games for new ones. Sounds good. I should have come up with that. I kind of came up with that when I purchased eBarTrade.com. Do you see the word Barter in there? It was going to be site where instead of money people trade products and services for products and services. I figure by now someone has already done that.

On Tuesday I went in for another focus group. The last one I was in gave me $200 to answer questions for two hours about developing for cell phones. This focus group was about Google. This time they overbooked the people so as I sat down in the waiting room they gave me $150 for waiting for 15 minutes and I am still elgible for participating in another focus group. That is pretty cool. I don't know how I got on this list but it is very easy money.

I even browsed some of my Lockheed Benifits and found we get like 10% discounts all over the place - like hotels, rental cars, even new carpet and also a preffered realtor. I should have done that earlier instead of interviewing all of these realtors. So all this got me thinking about a new iPhone app. I know I won't take the time to develop it because of the logistics of working with other companies so here is the idea: What if you had a centralized location for all of your company benefits and reward programs? A database that you could type in your product or store type and see that you get points or discounts through your company for a specific store. What that would mean that somehow we would have that information to put in our database. Like if we created a standard format called RewardXML and gave it to companies and banks. Then everyone could post their RewardXML to my site and we would store it in the database. So then you would have a website and iphone app that connects to a database that has your rewards, saving you lots of money. Eh, to get an idea like that off the ground requires a business person with connections to large corporations. I better just stick to little sites from now on. But if anyone wants to go for it, feel free to contact me. I think I am really an idea man.

So yesterday was Veterans Day. I'd like to thank those veterans for their service, even the new veterans. As a result I get that day off. The funny thing is I probably did more work on that day than most. It started off with Brennon getting to go to the doctor's for his immunization shots. He is now 15 pounds and 24 inches long, that's 2 feet to you and me. Yup, he is a growing boy. He is 83% for his height and weight and 57% for his head size. I think that is good as he is like me in that I have a small head as well(well cap size anyways). He cried alot but I was glad to get him immunized as I do not want him to get a rotovirus, that's nasty stuff.

In the afternoon it was time to start the house stuff. This time I have the upper hand. I set up appointments to talk to 2 realtors and also got prequalified and good faith estimates for the value of the house we are looking at. The guy was like, you could do even more if you want, people like you can get $500,000 homes. I was like, yeah right, if I don't ever want to have fun and live in my house like it is a prison living off of hot dogs, no thank you. So then it was time to interview the realtors. Back in the day there were no discounts and no real service. I know it is very important to sell our home first because that is where the down payment is tied up in. It is weird to think but all this time as I was making hosue payments I was really putting money away for the future. That's the power of home ownership.

When I said perfect storm it is very true. Right now I could get 4.7% on a 30 year note with house values staying the same in Dallas and lowering around the country. Then the person who is a first time buyer who buys our home could get a $8,000 tax credit and we will get a $6,500 tax credit. It's like a shift in the classes. We are in a position to get a nice home in Plano and have really low payments, comparitively to others that live there. If we wait, interest rates will go up as well as house values then we'd have to save alot more just to get the same house. Of course, finances and what we want has a big role. For instance if I did not get close to what I am asking for my house then I would not be able to afford a new home. So my range is going to very tight. On the plus side I am alot more strict. The realtors are like,"why are you interviewing us?" and I am like "I want you to give me the best deal." We've got 3 more interviews on Saturday then we will make our decision. Apparently we need to minimize our furniture, so off to storage for a lot of our stuff. Let's see if this all pans out.

So now we are thinking about new houses and selling our old house. The logistics seem hard to get right. It is all about timing and money. The first part is selling the old house, which has the equity in it to use as a down payment. I am sure I need to get a new fence before I even put it up on the market. We've got to minimize all of our stuff so it looks like a showroom house. Maybe it is time for a garage sale. Preparing our house for selling will take alot of work. Then there is the painting of the walls. Also I wonder about the old carpet. Is it worth it to get a new one or is it better to let the new person do it? I think maybe we will talk to a realtor.

But then I still go back and forth on this. Will houses around here go up in price by $6500 to accomodate for the tax credit? Will interest rates go down or go up next year negating the tax break? Is it better to wait a year and save $6500 myself and then get a house next year, or will the economy bouncing back making our dream house hard to get to? As I look at houses in the Plano area I can see that our dream house will probably be just out of our reach financially. I we had a larger down payment it would work, but that would mean we need more time to save, but that would also mean that the values could go even higher. However, our house value could also increase proportionally so that might cancel it out. I won't be impulsive on this. All things need to be analyzed.

You start to think about bigger questions. If we make this next house the house we will live in for thirty years we should probably get the right one. I remember it took me 2 winters to find my current house because they were always lacking something. So what is our dream house? Well, it is at least 2500 square feet, has 4 bedrooms, has a flat driveway for a basketball hoop, has a swimming pool and hot tub, has a big enough backyard for a grill and a swing set for the kids, has a whirlpool bathtub, has a media room for the projector and is less than 20 years old. That would be perfect. So the question we have to ask, is it worth it to wait since conditions are optimal? Time to visit a real estate agent and maybe we will get those questions answered.

So on Friday Holly and I went and saw the Christmas Carol in 3D at the Studio Movie Grill. I really liked it. I liked the 3D and even the situations reminded me alot of the Alistair Sim version, which I think is one of the best versions. The computer details were so detailed it was unbelievable. I heard that Jim Carrey did the voices for alot of the characters. It was weird though, there were parents in the theater with their 4 year olds who were obviously scared by all of the ghosts. I probably wouldn't take Brennon to see that movie until he was like 7 or 8. Anyways I'd give it a 5 out of 5 stars. I recommend it.

Saturday we loaded up the SUV and headed towards OKC. We went and visited my dad, my aunt and her husband. It was a good time. They all got to see how cute Brennon is. I took alot of pictures and will upload them when I have time. I've got a little technique down on how to get Brennon to smile. My aunt just got back from the Panama Canal. That was interesting hearing about how their ship went through the locks with only 2 inches to spare on either side. My dad got his Mercades S600 out of his garage. That thing has more buttons on it than a space shuttle. It was cool.

Sunday we had lunch at IHOP and drove back to Dallas. All the while I am thinking about the new tax credit that got passed for second time homebuyers - people who have lived in their house for 5 out of the last 8 years. They will get a $6500 tax credit for buying a new house. Interest rates are low right now as well. It seems like the perfect time to buy a new house. The problem - our down payment is tied up in our current house. So we've got to figure out how to sell the current house and buy a new one by April 21st if we choose to do this. I know I do feel cramped in my house and I know Holly never got to pick our current house. It seems like the perfect storm. Let's hope it'll last.

So now I have installed Windows 7 on almost all of the computers at home. They have good networking capabilities and allow you to setup a "Homegroup" of computers that can stream their audio, video, pictures and documents to each other. The navigation is easier with one click access to my favorite websites. The gadgets are not resource hogs like they used to be. It all seems to work rather well. There was no problems with drivers or existing software. It detected them all.

I have also gotten a new beta account at Google Wave. Supposedly this is going to take over in a year and everyone is going to "wave". Basically it is a mergation of gmail, pictures, audio, chatting, gadgets, whiteboard and anything that can be shared across the net. As I look at the interface I hope Google changes some stuff. I will do a complete review on my new site GoogleReviewer.com once I install my review software on the site. I wonder if being a news site will get me a press pass and access to their PR people. That would be good contacts to have.

I did pay for a wave account off of ebay for like $15. It is worth it get a view of an upcoming product. I remember when gmail first came out and the only way to get an email address was to be invited. I think I paid like $30 from ebay for what is now free. But it was so worth it. There are so many Brian Basses out there. I will forever be the one with brianbass at gmail.com. Not brian.bass123@gmail.com. Having numbers in your email address makes it hard for people to write down and remember. I have no buyers remorse about that. Now about google wave, maybe.

So now that Thanksgiving season is upon us I have been thinking about "works". In Christian circles that means good deeds, helping the less fortunate, and helping those who are suffering. Before Holly and I got married we gave food to the homeless of Dallas for many years. We officially met through that ministry. Back in the day I felt a calling to be there. But things changed and laws changed and it felt like we would no longer be needed. So we decided to stop doing that ministry.

But, a big hole was left that we were able to fill with marriage and a family. However the Bible says that faith without works is dead faith. It means you don't do anything for God, but you are still saved because you have faith. Now this put me in a crisis of conscience. What kind of ministry should my family get involved with? Part of the crisis involves the thorn in my side, pride. I did become prideful of the homeless ministry. Basically whenever I do something good for others I think like I am getting a mansion in heaven. So I am now thinking about ways to help the suffering without becoming prideful about it.

Money is so not the answer. If it were Jesus would have mentioned it. It is also very easy to become prideful about tithing and gifts to others. So I know the answer is found in service instead, but what kind? It requires at least 2 elements - help those that are truly suffering and be in a non important position. Hmm I am still thinking. I think I'll ask God ;-)

So I installed the new Windows 7 operating system on my laptop at home. I must say it is so much better than Vista. I did the upgrade instead of a clean installation. That meant I didn't have to go back and reinstall everything. It was stuck at 62% for hours and I thought I was going to have to do something, but after 10 hours when I was at work it got past it. So I come home and there is my new operating system.

What I like about it: for one it is much faster than vista in loading applications. Then you can pin your favorite websites to the windows bar and just click once to get to them. Less clicks makes things easier. Also you can control some apps like media center directly from the taskbar so you don't have to open it. The media center feature makes having picture libraries easier as well. Also, the gadgets feature that was in Vista hogged so many resources that most people quit running it. Now it seems to be fixed. You can even drag a gadget anywhere on the desktop. Their file search is quicker too. Their help system is better. Their networking feature works much better as well.

Here is what I predict: Windows will overtake social networks. When a microsoft live account has more information than facebook and you get to keep your files your computer and their cloud this will enable you to eventually become your own hub. You will be able to control your personal cloud on your computer. That's pretty cool. The options become limitless.

I am currently part of MIT's Rideshare consortium. They called me up one day and invited me to come out and speak. I, of course, agreed to be part of it but could not spend the money to fly to Boston, get a hotel and speak considering RideSearch has now been delegated to a hobby that makes no money.

So anyways I get a newsletter from them and apparently the state of massachusetts is looking for an online ridematching service. They are asking for a RFP(request for proposal) from interested parties. The problem I see is the fact that I have no budget for getting millions of dollars of insurance. If you want to read it go here:

http://www.commute.com/downloads/Ridematching_RFP.pdf

What do think? Should I even try to submit some kind of proposal? As usual there are about 15 other companies that will be submitting so chances are unlikely from the beginning. Thoughts?

On Friday Holly, Brennon and I went to Macaroni Grill for "date night". Brennon behaved well. I think around 7-8 he starts to get sleepy. We watched Amityville when we came back. I always thought that movie just kind of ended and it was not that scary. I guess maybe I had seen it too many times. Maybe I am old and scary movies no longer phase me. Saturday was Halloween. We left a big bowl of candy on our front porch and went to the fall festival. This time as a spectator instead of a helper. That was fun. We walked around with little yoda Brennon on our arms and got "look there is yoda!" "How cute!" from alot of people. I added some pictures of Halloween to our album section.

On Sunday I went to Sunday School for the first time in a couple of months. It is good to get back in the rythym. It is like a support group for sinners which we all need to help keep us on track. I know how the dad perspective on things so things just feel different. Holly was at home this time, watching Brennon who decided to be very fussy that day. Later on I watched the Cowboys win another game. I think if we can win next week we will be a major contender.

I also got some licenses for Windows 7. Because Motivium Consulting, Inc. is still around and incorporated I am still a partner with Microsoft. By subscribing to their action pack my company got 11 licences of Windows 7 and more licenses of Office and Vista and Windows 2008 Server for only $299. That's over $3,000 in software. There are always advantages to being incorporated. It makes me think that even though I considered RideSearch a business failure, Motivium Consulting was easily a success for many years. Having contracts with Lockheed Martin and the Boy Scouts. I should probably work on getting a side contract for Motivium next year so I can stay incorporated. Know anyone who wants a website done?