Song for Food and Abigail Reimer

So you must run out and support local food banks and my girl by purchasing this album. I don't promote many things but this album is super amazing and worth the money.

https://www.shopsongforfood.com/abigail/

Diego got a little more expensive

So it's been a while 'ol blog, I'm sorry for leaving you.  Just trying to stay afloat in San Diego in the busiest season of my entire life.  My job has really become a lifestyle and not so much a set number of hours everyday.  I'm on call almost 24/7 and I feel like I should be on a reality show.  Somehow over the past year and a half here in San Diego, I've managed to meet an enormous amount of people and the loveliest girl ever.  We have officially been dating 1 year as of October 8th!  It's funny how God works out timing in our lives and I would even manage to be in San Diego working 70-90 hours a week and still meet a beautiful woman.

So about that beautiful woman, I decided to do a few sweet things for the special day and one of them happened to be a nice restaurant called Nobu.  Abby and I have eaten so many places around San Diego so I wanted to take her somewhere she or I had never been.  Well, this place was not amercianized sushi, it was the real deal.  You name it, we ate it.  It was a course after course kinda meal, that ended with the sushi, then some desert. :)  Well, let me back up to our ordering process.  Many of the things on the menu, we weren't sure what to choose.  So I saw they had the "chef special" which included the signature dishes across the menu.  I saw it as a way to eat everything, at least get a sample of everything.  The waiter said it was a must.  So we went with that.  Abby was not a big fan of all the food, but it was still an awesome time of trying lots of different things. 

After dinner, Abby got up to use the restroom while I asked for the check.  The waiter brought it over, I opened it up, and found that the "chef special" for $120 was actually per person.  So on October 9th, I officially paid for the most expensive meal of my life, $347.  All I could do was smile and laugh, you can't really get mad.  It was a memorable story.  Abby just looked at my face when she got back, I waited til we were outside to actually share with her the amount of money we had just consumed.  All and all, it was a $347 experience that we will never forget.  I would have been happy sitting on the back of a truck eating Zaxby's with her. 

So I'll spend the rest of the month eating noodles.  :)

Something bigger than yourself

So as usual, life took over and I haven't updated this since I was writing about prostitutes in Costa Rica, which my girlfriend didn't like for me to write about :)

So tonight, I helped a friend with something really special. He reached the point in dating where you spend a few extra thousand dollars and commit your life to that person, engagement. He wanted some help setting up something romantic, so his roommate and myself jumped into the plan. It was a fun night, I gave him my ebay special Land Rover, and off they went on their night, which included one of my favorite places, George's at the Cove. While he was away at dinner, we setup an enormous amount of candles right along with rocks near La Jolla. We made this awesome pathway with candles, and had a bottle of bubbly along with a camera setup in the background. They showed up, the whole thing went down beautifully. We met up with them afterward and she was ecstatic. It was so neat to see her glowing.

It really made me think, this was awesome to be apart of this story. Even doing the simplest things. It was neat to be apart of a story they will share with people the rest of their lives. I got to be a piece of the story and helped push them along down their road.

What made me think even more was how much more I want to be apart of a faith story for so many people. It's cool to be a piece of a story for something that lasts during this lifetime, but how much bigger to be apart of something that lasts for eternity. I was humbled tonight that God wants to use us in the stories of so many people. Of all his power and creation, He has chosen to use sinful and broken down people like us to call people to Himself. How cool would it be to meet hundreds or thousands of people in heaven that remembered you telling them about Jesus. Not that it's about us, but how much more it's about the fact that we pointed people to the King of the Universe. That's a story to talk about.

Costa Rica Night 1

• 5:30 Am wake up
• Hottie Girlfriend Abby takes me to airport - what a sweetie
  
• Leave at 7:30AM from Diego City, connect in Atlanta.
• Talk to a nice woman my mom's age from Coronado about all the fine foods of San Diego for four hours!
• Connection in Atlanta, eat some marinated chicken and rice, then leave for Costa Rica
• Fly into Liberia airport at 7:00PM and no problems getting through
• Take a $75 cab 1 hour away to Tamarindo.  Had a nice conversation with the cab driver Marcos who didn't speak English.  We had fun learning each other's language and finally settled that we both liked Michael Jackson's music and ended our cab ride jamming out to it. 
  
• Met up with J Greezy at a nice lil restaurant Nougi's.  Had some chips and guac. and a margarita.
• Hit a dance club up, got hit on by a prostitute, sorry, I'm taken.
  
• Hit up a place down from the club that was grilling marinated chicken on the street, SO GOOD.
• Hit up another dance club.  Didn't dance.
• Ended the night eating a really huge hot dog with bacon on it! 
  

Tomorrow the plan is to surf and eat nachos :)

Costa Rica Bound

Anyone been to Costa Rica?  I'm going on Friday and would be interested in hearing about fun things you did there.  I plan on doing a zipline and chilaxing. 

Sharin' struggles

It seems that when we share our struggles, we see that we aren't that different than everybody else. At least that's how I feel. In the past few weeks, I've heard and seen so many things that remind me of how broken this world is. I've been reminded of how uncertain so many things are. I hear of friends being really hurt and I am feeling their pain. The only thing that is certain is Him. He is constant, He will never leave you, He will never forsake you. No matter the pain or success we experience in this life, I want to know and look forward to the day I get to meet Him in person. Somewhere in Christianity, we just forget the future and what it holds for believers. It's pushing me to grab old of every good thing I know and have and be thankful for it and look forward to the day He comes to get us.

I'm guilty of pride and sharing that I need prayer, I so do. He's shown me lately the fruit of prayer and I wish it would encourage me to pray more, but I still struggle. I want to feel the Lord leading every step and morsel of my life so bad. Please pray for me if you read this, He listens. I'm rambling. It's scary the things that have happened over the past week, it's proven to me that we don't serve a God of coincidence, He is very much in control and has let me know it. I'll stop rambling and just hit publish post.

San Diegans Like To Grill

So after two back to back "BBq's", I've realized that San Diegans like to be out and about. We have a least 1 grill out per week. I really like it and people are always willing to come out. This is what we will do in heaven, so I believe in practicing now.

God has also taught me a lot lately about His control. It is impossible to fool Him or surprise Him, He orchestrates everything and nothing is outside His reach. I've been blown away lately with how much He is showing it to me. It's neat to know that the God of the universe wants to interact with you. If you don't believe it, you should.

Dear Tony Horton

Dear Tony Horton,

Thanks for your contribution of P90X, but I am writing this to confess to you that your dvds haven't moved in 3 weeks. I would like to say that I have done about 75% healthy eating. I hope to do better soon.

your facebook friend,
JT

Yeah I'm on the road

I realized today that I blog a lot more when I am traveling. I have learned in the past 5 years that we are designed for people. In the last year, I've realized even more how much I need community and how everyone needs community. I enjoy traveling and I really don't mind eating by myself, but there are a lot of times, you really just want to talk about something. You eat something really really good, like a spinach and Gorgonzola salad that is the best you've ever had, and the first thing I want to do is talk about it. You see someone picking their nose in the car, you want to talk about it. It's been amazing in the last few days how much the Lord has humbled my heart. Anytime He deals with me, He really deals with me and it can be so good and so tough sometimes. It's neat that the God of the universe has a personal relationship with punks like us. He knows the amount of hair on a yachts back in Egypt and He knows each one of our hearts, the good and the bad. Have you ever had something happen that you really know that you need to journal it down because one day, you will need to read it again. Sometimes I feel like God does things in my life and I just forget, it seems to be a common theme in the Bible. I'll part the sea for you, I'll set you free, and the next thing you know, people are complaining to the one who saved them.

God reminded me today of how quick this life is and how we can't take ourselves too serious. He has the most amazing ways of humbling His people.

Excited to get on a plane tomorrow and head back to Diego City. I wish there was a big motorcycle waiting on me, I would drive drive drive drive.

If you haven't listened, you should

http://cdn.marshillchurch.org/media/2009/03/22/20090322_marriage-and-men_hd_video.mp4

On a jet plane

For the first time since New Year's, I got on a plane today. It was a little strange driving to the airport after I haven't been in so long. I remember way back in the day, flying over San Diego and thinking about all the things that were going on down there that I didn't know about. Mostly I was flying in and flying out and didn't settle in for any type of community. It was strange to fly out today and kinda miss it. There is something about traveling that always revives me in areas. One thing it does it refreshes my need to read. I usually read more when I travel, today I chose to read about everything from bank robbers, biblical dating, song of solomon, and listened to some Ravi Zacharias. Traveling alone makes me way more intentional with my conversations, party because you can get lonely traveling and it helps to talk with people. I am often visited by a clothes gnome that steals my clothes. He usually sticks to stealing my socks one by one, and moves to my boxer briefs, and occasionally steals shoes and jeans. This time it was jeans. I never really buy big ticket items and you won't find me on a $500 shopping spree. I try to buy things as I go. Well I've bought all sorts of jeans and they just disappear. I am down to I think 2 pair that I actually like to wear.

I flew into Washington early today, but too late to go into the office, so I didn't want to just sit in the hotel room, so I went to the mall. I did something today where I actually changed the way I think. In the past, I DO NOT LIKE to try things on. I'd like to just pick up a pair of something and take it home. I usually stay about the same size so it works. Well today, I changed. I went into The Buckle. Now, I've been in there before, but never to buy jeans for myself. It was actually a good experience, I humbled myself and let the sales people help me. I actually tried on multiple pairs of jeans. I am glad I did, because some of their stuff can be really baggy and REALLY tight. It was a good experience and I had a good conversation with the nice people at The Buckle.

I am about to start the Bible in a year plan over again. I struggle to stay focused. It feels good knowing that the God of the universe knows our heart and wants good things for us. I'm glad to know I can trust Him and He never fails.

Does anyone ever have really crazy dreams? I've had some really crazy ones lately and friends of mine too. It's neat to know the Lord can use dreams.

Prayer

Ashamedly so, I haven't fasted in a long time. There were some things I wanted to really pray through. I decided to fast, I don't say this to brag that I fasted but to say that I enjoy food more than God. That is a sad statement to make. I could see people eating, commercials talking about it, and listen to people talk about it, all I could think about was food. I realized that I'm supposed to see creation, think about Him, see people and their gifts, and think about Him. I'm so far from that. At least it pointed me to where I lack. So many places.

Ever feel like your heart might just implode? I like knowing that no matter what ,we serve a God who is in control, and by following Him, we know we are in His will and we can discern all things. It doesn't mean that the process is always easy. I trust Him. I want to believe I do.

I want to get on a motorcycle.

Abby singing at Lestat's

Abby singing at a local venue here in San Diego. I'm famous as well as both of her songs are about me, what what. Well, they are about our relationship. It can be scary when you date someone who writes songs, you never know what will come out. I guess it can be the same when you are with someone who speaks to big crowds, even trade. She can flippin sing. Starting the process of making an album and meeting with a producer this week, so we'll see. Sad to say how crazy the industry is. Her website will be up soon! www.abigailreimer.com

Dang

Seriously, all I can really say about the last couple of weeks is DANG. If I was a cussin man, I might even drop a little profanity. :) I never really liked cussing. I do say "pissed" sometimes but only when something really bothers me. Anyway.

I just volunteered at an Acts 29 conference here in San Diego. I got to meet Mark Driscoll and just listen to some really neat guys who are following Jesus in crazy cool ways. The last few weeks, to be honest, God has broken my heart down. I'm just going to be a straight shooter and say that my heart has been straight mush for the past few weeks. I feel like He never lets me get too far away. He is a jealous God and wants the biggest sacfrice of all, our life and heart. I know it is so cliche, but dang it is the truth. Lately, there are opportunities opening for me to preach again and they are coming out of nowhere. It seems that anytime God really wants me to do something, he makes it so dang obvious. I've just got to this point in my life where I'm just taking off anything that isn't neccesary and dropping it at His feet, asking for Him to give me what He wants.

I'm realizing that I'm 29 and that I am a grownup. I know there are a lot of 20 somethings that are just waiting for that thing to happen down the road. I've waited for too long for that next big thing, today is that thing. Today is the day where God has planted you and wants to use you. Stop thinking about what or who is around the corner and focus on now. I'm a dreamer, so it's tough for me to stop and use what is now. I am supposed to speak at a homeless ministry of a few hundred people on Saturday, so you can pray for that. It's been that fire in my bones and I absolutely love speaking, very few things compare to that.

All that to say, man He is so good. Also to say that my girlfriend Abby is amazingly hot and will be hitting the charts soon. I just bought the domain this week and the website should be up in a month or so. This girl can can sing like would not believe and will record an album very soon. I can't wait til it drops. We sat out by the beach tonight and had dinner as the sun was setting just amazing that God has allowed us to live in a crazy cool city.

Yep

After a long week, well not so long, I lived on Sunset Cliffs. 

Either way, just a quick note to say, He's good.

Sunset Cliffs

View Larger Map



So this week I am house sitting for a friend of mine at Sunset Cliffs. If you have ever been to San Diego, you know the place. The place I am staying is literally a block off of the main cliffs and you can see the water from the house. See the pictures above. The more and more the days go by, the more I realized how much of a blessing it is to live in San Diego. I'm just blown away by how amazingly gorgeous it is here. It is sad to say that I haven't enjoyed it as much as I could over the past year. I got home tonight just after sunset and realized that I haven't spent hardly any nights hanging out and watching sunsets as girly as that sounds. When I first moved here, I had lots of plans for all the things I wanted to do, it's amazing how quickly life can crowd out the good stuff. Seeing beautiful things just isn't the same when you aren't with someone to enjoy it. It's the same way when I ride motorcycles, I'm good for the first 30 minutes, then I'm bored. Life is meant to be shared. Dang gina.

I realized today when I was at my own place a few additions I want in my house if I ever build one.

• Urinal - I am a man and why waste all the water when you just gotta pee.
  
• Bidet - I am just being honest. It would make me so happy.
  
• hide away pooper (some call this a "water closet") This is perfect for when you get married, you can both be "in the bathroom" but not really. My goal is to never see my wife do that. Okay I said it. I'm sure there are many more that feel that way. I feel that is a private matter and I just don't want to be part of it.
  
• Two switches for the bathroom, one for the light, one for the fan. I don't like when the fan comes on automatically when you turn on the switch.
  
• A very large granite counter in the bathroom with two sinks. You know, because I like to use at the same time :)

I just realized that all of these items are in the bathroom, I will just stop there and continue more later. I check out the bathroom first in almost every hotel I go into.

Okay, I'm going to play with the dog I am dog sitting this week, Bailey, a boxer that brings me red toys to play with.

money aint a thing

I like that Jesus talked a WHOLE lot about money.  I like that the Bible emphasized Godly men who struggled with women and had really rough times.  This should all point us to a place that makes us totally focus on the Lord and doing things in His strength.  Sometimes it's easy to focus on the things that are wrong in our lives, and it is really during those times that we should try to love Him more. 

He has blessed me more in the past year than any other year in my life, but I find myself just wanting to know that the things I do on a daily basis are in His steps and the choices I make are guided by Him.  He is teaching me that it is okay to rely on people and I don't have to try and do everything myself. 

I can't help but to think about how Christians make decisions and compare it to how the world makes decisions.  I can't imagine just going into a big question mark without guidance from above.  He's good. 

Friday Thoughts

After a really crazy past few weeks, I've come to conclude that God's hands hold our lives a lot better than ours.  I am at that point where I'm realizing more and more how much I want to know that my steps are in His. 

I was driving home yesterday and I saw this guy pull up beside me.  He had a business look and probably had a job just like mine.  He was rubbing his eyes and I could just tell that he was beat down from the week and had probably been working his butt off.  I wanted to just roll down my window and tell him how familiar I was with being beat down by a job and wanting to just veg on the couch!  It made me think of how Jesus is that to us.  He came as God in the flesh, lived just like you and me, and was literally beat down with this life and the people in it.  The Bible says that "He was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering".  It was written about Him in Isaiah like 800 years before crucifixion was even invented.  I love how He is our advocate and that He knows everything we can or could go through because He ultimately went through it all.  After a crazy week, it's been assuring to know that I can rest in Him knowing that the chastisement that brought Him pain, brings us peace. 

I went with Abby to a little music venue the other night called Lestats.  It is quite the interesting place.  It's right beside a coffee house and has shows to promote local music artists and she sings there sometimes.  We've been praying through where we are in our relationship and where we are headed.  We took some time apart to just pray and seek the Lord and during that time, she wrote me a song.  She has actually written me two songs that are quite amazing.  Well, she ended up surprising me and singing both of them at the show.  She was the last person to go on and closed out the night.  The first song was written for my Christmas present and just described our relationship and how much we both just want to grow in Jesus.  The craziest thing happen afterwards.  This guy with a really shaved head and lip ring walks up just in awe of what he heard.  He couldn't even really describe what he was feeling.  He just looked at her and knew that something was happening in his heart through the words he heard.  The background was this guy showed up to what he thought was an AA meeting.  He happened to sit in and listen to her songs.  He probably was about 21 or 22 years old it looked and just began sharing his struggle with alcohol, lying, and stealing.  He knew he didn't want to continue walking down this path.  God used her words to strike a chord literally in his heart.  I was able to share a verse 1 Cor. 10:13 with him that goes through temptation and how we can overcome it.  We said bye to him and met a few other people and had some really neat conversations.  It's neat that neat things can happen when Christians are just out in the world doing their thing.  Crazy cool.

One Day at a Time
by Abigail Reimer

Just the other day
I was tellin' a good friend
That I did not want the Lord
To send a man cuz I was content
And I was serious, oh so serious

But it was not long before
We were playing Connect Four
Had a long talk and you said
That you were quite interested
And you were serious, oh so serious
(Let's take it)

One day at a time
One day at a time
I think we'll be fine
if we just take it
One day at a time
One day at a time

For the first time in my life
Sharing my heart feels so right
And I do look forward to
How my future might unfold with you
And I am serious, oh so serious

If this isn't for forever
I want you to know
That more than anything
I want you to grow
in Jesus

Baby, forgive me if this feels too slow
I'm just scared of where this could go
One day at a time

If you read this, please just pray that I would follow Him closely and He would guide me in major and minor decisions.  I want to know that everything I do, He is all up in my business. 

I'm 29 and still don't like organizing

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.  Dang gina. 

I'm sorry blog, I have missed you too

Some of the stress of my job has subsided and it feels good to have a little more breathing room.  We started installing the entire city of San Diego a few weeks ago.  We will have 30,000 devices in the ground in a few months and my job will get crazy again.  It seems vague what I do and people ask a lot, so I will sum it up. 

The company I work for makes electricity measurement systems.  They start from big computer systems in an office and spread all the way down to the electric meter that will soon be installed on your house.  All of the electric meters talk to each other like a big family.  So in a city like San Diego, we will install over 2 million devices and they all talk to each other like a big 2 million person family.  I am responsible for running the system and making sure the family talks well and consistently.  We are providing a green technology and the environment I work in is very fast paced and can be stressful.  The first few months we will install 30,000 to ease everyone into the system, then we will ramp up and install the remaining few million over the next two years.  These devices can remotely disconnect someone from the electric grid, provide real-time measurement of power for the utility, and soon provide you the homeowner real time access to the energy you are using through a home thermostat.  Doesn't all this sound fun?

In other late breaking news, some pigeons made love on my balcony and have produced a few eggs.  I am happy to report that the baby daddy brought in some aide and helped build out the nest.  The baby mama sat on the eggs and the babies are finally here. 

Lately I realized that despite an unreal amount of hours I spend in a job, I have to do something in ministry.  The first year here I really wasn't able to get involved like I wanted to, I barely made it keeping up with a job.  Being on the outside of some type of ministry has made me stale.  I was made to create disciples and honor Him.  I miss speaking at random places.  I haven't spoken anywhere in almost a year.  Some opportunities in San Diego might open in the future and I pray that they do. 

In other news, I moved into a new place.  It is an unbelievable blessing.  God has blessed me more in the past year than any other time in my life.  I confess that I have struggled to give back to Him and have not been giving my first fruits to Him.  It's neat how He works, I wanted to change this and start giving, literally the day I started, my friends surprised me with a surprise party.  My birthday was a few weeks ago but we didn't do anything special as a group, well I came home and there were a ton of people!  We had a nice cookout and it was pretty stinkin cool.  Not only that, but my girlfriend asked me to hold up while everyone walked downstairs to my condo (we were grilling up on a deck upstairs).  Well when I got down and we walked into my place, there was a PLAYSTATION 3 sitting on my entertainment center.  They pulled all their money together and wanted to get my a blu ray player, well a PS3 is that, so they got it!  How awesome is that and how neat is God to show me Himself through people that love Him. 

Life Cereal

For some reason, I started thinking about Life Cereal. Did yall ever eat that? I liked it, but only with a lot of sugar on it because it didn't have much taste without it.

I took the last few days of the week off, 3 in total. It was absolutely amazing. It took me a whole day just to get out of the working mode, I found myself actually wanting to read my work email and respond to emails. This is so strange. After about a day of not, it got lots easier and I finally relaxed for the first time in a long time. It's crazy how quickly life took advantage of me. I should say, how quickly I let life take advantage of me. The day was made for man, we are to rule, and I have been ruled! It was good to do nothing for a few days, and I mean nothing. I haven't played XBOX 360 (Call of Duty) in months and months, and I think I played for at least 4 hours straight one day. I didn't wake up til about 11AM. It was just marvelous.

• I found an RC airport - spent a few hours there, met some cool guys
• I listened to Mark Driscoll's debate with some atheists on "Does Satan Exist", watch it here. Quite amazing.
• Hung out with one of my boyz from back home and his wife, they flew out and surprised me.
• Was tempted to buy a new RC airplane, electric so I can fly with the new friends I met.
  
• Realized that my time on P90X was abruptly ended and I am starting back this week as it is 90 days til summer and I'm a fatty.
  
• Move into a new place on April 1 and it is PIMP. 50" plasma, pimped out couch, hardwoods, and I have almost a month overlap on my place I'm in now, so my bro might come out to stay with me a few days.
  
• The biggest thing I learned on my days off is that I need more time with God and the Word. I so struggle in this San Diego culture to fight for that time. There are no excuses, it is a struggle here. My girlfriend is a good lil challenger and she is always so disciplined in her reading, even when she is really tired. I admire that.
  

I don't know why I got all happy with the nice lil bullets, but anywho. If I buy the airplane, I will be posting a video of it before it gets crashed!

Work is good for ya

Please watch this video from Mike Rowe of my favorite tv show, Dirty Jobs. It is pretty neat the perspective he has on working and I found myself thinking a lot about that over the last few weeks. It's easy to get wrapped up in your job and to see everything through one lens and go with the status quo.

I realize that I am probably in the craziest job in the world right now, our company is about to start a deployment of 1.4 million devices and I will be responsible for technically managing the problems that arise with them. What? The thought of that is absolutely crazy but I really do like challenges.

Back to Mike Rowe, he spends a lot of time in the talk speaking on how normal everyday joe's really like their jobs. How they are some of the happiest people in the world. He talks about how the guy who picks up "road kill" actually whistles while he does it. I am not trying to be over dramatic, but it reminded me of Foxes Book of Martyrs and the number of Christians that it documents. People that are literally being persecuted by hot coals or burned, but yet sing praise songs until they are killed. That was totally a tangent.

On another note, I start P90x this week. My boy Jgreezy already got ripped up and lost 10 lbs in a month. This is going to be rough!

Some things I want to do

• Run on a dirt bike in a race like the Baja 500 or one of the 250s
• Try doing some stand-up comedy and see how it goes
• Finish developing my voice for a voice over future somewhere in there
• Have a few babies here and there
• Do a cross-country trip on a motorcycle

Just Tired and my girlfriend is hot

You know it is a crazy world when I don't even blog. I just finished my first year in San Diego and it has been awesome. It has definitely kicked my butt in no other way I have ever been kicked. The workload is more than I could have ever imagined, but I am also willing to sacrifice a lot for a few years to make the rest after this job a little easier. We'll see. I should be more of a blogger soon :)

On another note, my Christmas present from my little girlfriend was a song she wrote for me. You shall see her on American Idol soon.

Driscoll. :)

Psalm 51:17

Years ago, a good friend of mine wrote me a card and included Psalm 51:17. I have never been a fan of the "sinners" prayer but when you need a prayer of repentance. Psalm 51 is it. All the things David did, all his mistakes and sin. It helps you understand his writing when you see the path his life took just before forgiveness.

Celebrate "Fat Dog Eating Something Interesting"

Today my famous youtube video has hit 100,000 views! Who knew my neighbors dog would become so famous!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P110rNn0Vsc

Taxes

I understand paying Caesas what is Caesars.  But, does it make sense that when you make up to a certain amount of money you can deduct student loan interest, but when you make over a certain amount of money, you can't.  What is the difference?  You are penalized for bettering yourself and making more money so you can pay off student loans quicker?  Is this really the way our IRS system is set-up?  This type of stuff I find very frustrating.  I work really hard and actually had to pay for college myself by taking out loans.  Other people lied and report income lower than what their parents made, received TAX PAYER money from the government in the form of GRANTS that they would NEVER have to pay for.  I am actually working hard, paid for my own education, and being penalized for making more money now and can't even deduct the interest.  This is the law and I respect it, but it doesn't mean that someone shouldn't speak up and say this is not cool.  :)

Woot.com

If you have never been to www.woot.com.  Well, please take the time to go there.  If you are a techy, you will really enjoy it.  Unfortunately, I have bought a few things on there :)

I did get an HD camera for 129 bucks!  Woot woot.