Michael Crichton is Dead

Very Very sad news I just heard about 2 minutes ago, that one of my favorite authors and one of the most successful pop-fiction writers in history has died of cancer.  I can remember being curled up in my dorm room on a cold rainy winter weekend in Chico being fascinated with reading "Jurassic Park"  I LOVED his books, he had such a unique style where he could entertain you with fascinating science, and science fiction while entertaining you at the same time.  In fact just two days ago there was a story on 60 minutes about melding humans with computers, and I told Tasha about the "The Terminal Man" which he wrote in the early 70's about a man with a computer chip in his head who found a way to stimulate the pleasure centers of his brain, and as such did so obsessively.  He wrote about genetic cloning, global warming myths, time travel, artificial intelligence, how the media loves to keep us in fear, he created the TV show "ER" He had a super high level of intelligence.  Anyways...he was awesome, and I am very sad to hear this news.

With President-Elect Obama, history is made

Tonight I saw something that I never thought I would see happen in my lifetime.  America has elected a black man to be our president.  It has been an amazing campaign that saw him defeat Hillary in one of the closest primary elections in recent memory.  He grabbed it right out of Hillary's hand in fact, defying the political machine and jumping his place in line.  And with his victory over McCain, Obama has defeated a great man, someone who I have always admired and respected, and who should have been our president in 2000.  

This is an incredible step forward for the evolution of our culture and race relations, Only 143 years ago black people were slaves in the south, then indentured servants, thought of as sub-human, and now fast forward to 2008 and we have Obama who is now the most powerful man in the world.  I can't believe it actually happened.  In fact Tasha and the boys came home from Awana at about 7:55, and I knew the networks would make the call right at 8 o'clock.  I told the boys to remember this moment as we watched Wolf Blitzer call it just after 8...

Congratulations to President-Elect Obama!!

Happy Birthday Susan!!

Today is Susans Birthday...so happy birthday to Susan!!!

Grabbaggar voting guide

(I am only highlighting the big ones ) 

Obama for President (all American Citizens)

McKeon for Congress (if you live in his district)

(Statewide initiatives if you live in California)

Yes on 1A

Yes on 2

yes on 3

No on 4

No on 5

Yes on 6

Yes on 7

NO ON 8!!

yes on 9

Yes on 10

yes on 11

Yes on 12

And if you live in LA County..

Yes on R

I encourage everyone to get out there and vote!!!!

Ben Affleck on SNL

Ben Affleck was hilarious last night on SNL, he did a dead on impression of Alec Baldwin, a German Coat Salesman, a black guy with cornrows, etc.....but he did a stunningly, brutally hilarious impression of Keith Olberman, I was amazed at how funny this one was.  This Season of SNL has been as funny as the show has ever been, and with this show, Ben Affleck has vaulted himself alongside Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, and John Goodman as best hosts of SNL ever...enjoy the Olberman sketch!

Congrats Tasha!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tasha completed her first Marathon today!  She did fantastic....look at the big smile on her face!!  Matt ran with her the final 8.2 miles which was a big encouragement to her.  Tasha you are an inspiration to all of us!!!!  I love you!

Wells Fargo Bill Pay

I was tooling around on Wells Fargo online today, and decided to sign up for "bill pay" This lets you pay your bills automatically through your checking account.  Pretty convenient and all right?  (Yes I know this is not a new thing, I just never have signed up for it)  As I was looking at it I thought great, this is easier than writing checks, and I signed up and payed the ole water bill today for my first bill.  

And then you know what happens next folks?  I get an e-mail from wells fargo that says "Thank you for signing up for bill pay, this service is free for customers with qualifying accounts, all others it is 7 bucks a month"  Guess what a qualifying account is?  Keeping 5 grand in my CHECKING account, not savings, not brokerage, but CHECKING!!  

Not happy folks, I guess the moral of the story is......."Caveat Emptor"...which in latin means "There is no free lunch, or bill pay from Wells"