Grill for a man, feed him for a day. Give a man your old worn out grill, feed him for a lifetime.

I've had a great Weber charcoal grill since we got married and I love it, but I'm not one of those die hard types that just has to cook over charcoal every time. Most of the time I just want to fire up the propane and grill my hot dogs. Thanks to my buddy next door, I can now do that! She's just a homely hand-me-down, and you must exercise caution when igniting, but I'm loving my new-old grill!

The church told me to buy a computer for myself. I haven't shopped for one in several years so I hardly know what's out there right now. I'd love an Apple, but that might be a little too expensive. I don't need an enormo system, but I'd like to think I'm a little ahead of the Acer's at Walmart. Give some input, but again, be reasonable.

I love it! Picked it up yesterday and I was pleased with the job they did on the paint and body work, especially for the price I paid. Took it straight away to get the windows tinted and keyless entry installed. And I think Charlie was asking about the price, it was $130 out the door for my keyless, but this shop was extremely reasonable.

It still has the old Honda tape deck in it and since the power had been disconnected I had to have a code to get it to work again. I found the code hidden on the side of the glove box last night, punched it in, and was amazed at how good the sound was! I really wanted to get it working again before I installed a CD player because I didn't know if the speakers would be shot like in my last Accord, but this thing really sounds great.

Being an EX model, it has several upgrades over my old LX. Not the least of which is a rear swaybar. One thing that has helped with is keeping the stock shocks and springs in good shape, so the ride is much better than my old car.

It is an automatic and feels more sluggish than my old one, but I'm finding that the other perks are worth the trade off. I plan to keep this thing for a very long time.

I was listening to the radio last night on my drive home and heard a story about a family who had driven more than 10 hours to get to San Fransisco for the Olympic Torch Ceremony that was supposed to be held there. It was canceled because of protesters, and the kids were robbed of a great experience they never would have forgotten.

When the Olympics were hosted in Atlanta back in '96, we got to have a big Torch Ceremony right there in Hiawassee where I grew up. The flame was carried in and put into a special lantern where it stayed the night. Thousands showed up at the event, which was huge for our small area. My dad got to sing the National Anthem. I was 16 years old and it was a pretty amazing feeling, it felt like something really big and important. I bought a t-shirt that night and after wearing it throughout the Olympic games, I folded it neatly and put it away as a keepsake. I still have it, along with my lifeguard shirt. It just made me feel sad for all the kids who lost out on that.

And for what? Because China is holding Tibet. Funny because the same people who are protesting for Tibet's liberation are also protesting against the Iraq war, which liberated an oppressed people. Perhaps President Bush should announce that we're going to invade China in order to free Tibet. That would leave the protesters so confused because they wouldn't know which side of the picket line to jump on, then the Torch Ceremonies could go on and little children could have their memories.

Many of us have known about this for quite a while, but just in case you didn't, watch the video to check out the church of Oprah.

my new zoom zoom

I bought a car on Saturday! It's a bit of a project but it will be totally worth it, especially for the deal I got. It's a black '97 Accord EX, I'll post pictures soon. I really wanted another Accord and was shocked that I found this one at the back of a dealer's lot over in Panama City. So here's the rundown.

First off, it's an automatic transmission. Yeah, I know, but the whole reason I took that guy's offer on my other Accord was to get something Audra could drive too. My old one was an LX, which is kind of a mid level trim, while the EX is the top level. It's got leather, sunroof, 4 wheel disk brakes with ABS, new brakes on the front, the stronger VTEC engine, and about 30,000 fewer miles than my other one. The leather is in really good shape, it just needs to be cleaned. The engine runs smooth as silk, transmission shifts just fine. The AC is much colder than my other one and it is better equipped in general (power seats, internal radio antenna, variable intermittent wipers, little perks like that). The body is also straighter, with only a couple of very small dings as opposed to several on the other one.

The "project" part comes from 3 different areas. The first was the cracked windshield, which I had replaced yesterday. The second was that it needed new CV axles, which I'm in the middle of completing right now. While I was at it I changed all the fluids, filters, front wheel bearings, and the transmission output shaft seals.

The 3rd area is the biggest area, it was involved in a very minor fender bender. The front bumper cover was damaged, and it pushed the bumper bracket into the front of the frame about a half an inch. Because of that nothing will sit perfectly straight without having the frame pulled. I got a quote yesterday to have the work done, I'm getting another quote tomorrow at a different place, and expect to have it in the shop by next week to get everything made right, including a full new paint job. After that I'll have the windows tinted and a keyless entry and cd player installed and we'll be done.

How can a guy as cheap as me possibly afford to have all this work done? Well that is where the super deal comes into play. After I drove the car and checked everything over, I went over every single thing I perceived to be wrong with this trade-in and told them I'd buy it for $1500, and 20 minutes later I was driving home in my new car! I got enough from my other car to take care of all these things that needed to be done, and since I've got the money right now I don't have to wait to save up and do this stuff little by little. I'm like a kid at Christmas!

And that, my friends, is why I pay cash.