Life Insurance or Retirement Savings?

April 14, 2010 – 8:26 pm

Paying for both life insurance and paying into a retirement savings account is kinda like betting on both teams in the Super Bowl. If you win one bet – you’ve lost the other. It kinda sucks.

How many of you do pay for both life insurance and a retirement savings?

As a person who does like some gambling I’d like to drop the life insurance, but the only problem is that it isn’t me that gets screwed if I lose that bet. I’d like to bet on the retirement savings being the one that does pay off someday.

Maybe I should start a company that combines the two. You basically pay for life insurance but build it up into a retirement savings so you aren’t losing by living your life.

I guess knowing a little something about insurance and 401k/IRA stuff would be helpful in coming up with a plan. I guess I’ll probably keep paying for both of them – or is there something better I should be doing?

By kidpurple | Posted in personal | Tagged , | Comments (3)

Another White Deck!

April 12, 2010 – 1:54 pm

If you’ve played MTG with me recently – you probably know that I like white – a lot!  I’ve had several mono-white decks that I like to play.  Now I’ve added another one – only the online version.  I just put this together tonight and it has been good for a 5-1 start!  I had only 2 lands in my one loss.  It might need a little more land.

This is what it looks like but will certainly have some minor adjustments.

Armament Master (2)
This guy wasn’t a factor in any of the games. I never got him equipped with anything. Not sure he’ll stick around.

Devout Lightcaster (2)
I don’t think I ever played one. Another that might get cut.

Kitesail Apprentice (4)
This guy didn’t do much for me but did get into play. It is a decent cheap solution to your opponent’s fliers.

Kor Duelist (4)
I might have got him into play twice. Once he was removed before he could do anything, the other time was right at the end of a game so he didn’t have any impact.

Kor Firewalker (4)
This dude was a fuckin all-star. I think I only faced red once but the Firewalker did all kinds of damage in each game. I think it was mainly due to the fact that he liked to hang out near the top of my deck.

Stoneforge Mystic (4)
It was very nice to tutor up a Basilisk Collor or Quietus Spike and then have a blocker. That is what he is here for and that is what he did just perfectly!

White Knight (4)
This dude was my MVP. Like the Firewalker, he liked to stick around the top of my deck in clumps. He usually got equipped and wreaked havoc on the opponent. I was lucky to face a lot of black decks in my first 6 games. If I know I’ll face black like that again I’ll add 3 more to the deck!

Basilisk Collar (1)
This was always a good option. I might add another one.

Brave the Elements (4)
Don’t think I ever had to use one of these so I have yet to see if they’ll stick around or not.

Quietus Spike (1)
Game winner in combo with Whispersilk Cloak in one game. Not a factor in any others.

Trusty Machete (4)
Like is says – it was very Trusty. The Machete got lots of use and will continue to do so!

Whispersilk Cloak (4)
This was a big factor in a couple games. I might drop one or two of them, but I think at least 2 will be a part of this deck for a long time.

The deck was a lot of fun to play with last night. Get a deck lined up and lets go!

By kidpurple | Posted in Uncategorized, games | Tagged | Comments (3)

Lawn Care Service in Fargo/Moorhead

April 11, 2010 – 12:38 pm

Who can recommend a good lawn care service company?  I’m looking for someone to fertilize and that is about it.  I always get the stuff that is supposed to go on 4 times throughout the year and then eventually forget to do at least one of them.  I get lots of dandelions and have clumps of grass that has really thick blades that make it look kinda crappy.

Also – where can I take a lawn mower blade for sharpening?  Do anyone have the tools to do it in your garage?

By kidpurple | Posted in personal | Tagged | Comments (1)

KO’d by the wall

April 8, 2010 – 3:48 pm

That is right – I got knocked out by a wall last night.  It wasn’t entirely the wall’s fault.

So I’m playing an indoor soccer game last night, just minding my own business.  I guess I’m already making shit up.  We were playing what has been our toughest opponents since I started in this league 3 years ago, so I wasn’t minding my own business but actually working pretty hard to fuck up their shit.  It was going good too, I had a goal in the first half and we were up 2-1 at halftime.

I started the second half on the field.  Not too far into it there was a situation where the goalkeeper kinda came out of his box to clear the ball.  I put some pressure on him and actually blocked his clearance sending the ball to the corner.  Then it was me and him in a race to the ball.  I think I got there and got a foot on it and a shot from a horrible angle, but he must have been right there with me.  I got knocked into the boards in the corner pretty hard.

The next thing I can really remember was sitting on the bench and one of the referees handing me an ice bag.  I think I sat there and watched the rest of the game but towards the end of the game I looked at the scoreboard to see it was now 3-2 and I had no idea who was ahead.  I asked a teammate that was on the bench at the time.  We were winning and the game ended with a 3-2 victory for us!

After the game one of the guys was asking me silly questions like “Do you know where you are” and “do you remember your last name” – stuff like that.  I was kinda laughing about it because I thought I was fine.  Then they asked me several times what month it was.  I had to think and kept answering March.  I’m not sure I could have told them what year it was either.  Then they told me to go to the ER.

Several hours later I had a CAT Scan done and was told I’d be okay, but my neck hurts like shit.  Concentrating at work today was tough so I took off and got my prescribed pain med, came home and took one.  I think concentrating now would be even tougher.

That was certainly the hardest knock I’ve ever taken to my head.

FFC (that’s my team) has a perfect record with our 2 toughest opponents out of the way!

By kidpurple | Posted in personal, sports | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Abyssal Persecutor for the Loss!

April 7, 2010 – 12:20 am

abyssal-persecutorI got in a game of Two-Headed Giant last night with nealyb123.  We’ve played several games in his basement but this was my first attempt at the format playing online.  It was more fun that I had anticipated.

The game started out bad.  I was on the play and didn’t take a mulligan with only a single land.  I was playing a W/B ally deck.  I missed playing a land on my 2nd and probably 4th turns of the game so it was a painful start. Every ally I brought out was Doom Bladed or killed with some other form of Black removal. Eventually I was able to keep a Bala Ged Thief alive.

Our opponents played the Abyssal Persecutor. A 6/6 flying trample was scary because I had nothing that could block it, but it also prevented us from losing the game as long as this guy was in play!

Eventually they were hitting us pretty hard and taking down our life fast. I was hoping to pull a land off the top of my deck because I needed one more to play the 2 Hagra Diabolist that I had in my hand. Those would set up the Join the Ranks that was also in my hand. That was pretty much game over if I got those all out in a row.

Our life kept going down and down and eventually below 0 but we were still alive thanks to their buy 6/6 flying monster. I had 2 Bala Ged Thief, 2 white soldier ally tokens, and 1 Hagra Diabolist on the board. Turn n-1 I play another Hagra Diabolist for 12 damage. Turn n I play my last Join the Ranks for 30 damage and game!

That whole while the Bala Ged Thief pair made sure our opponents didn’t keep any cards in their hands that might be able to sac the Persecutor when they got us to 0.

It was a fun way to win a game for sure!

By kidpurple | Posted in MTG | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

My Favorite Operating System

February 10, 2010 – 1:39 am

My new favorite operating system is Xubuntu – its like the light weight version of Ubuntu. If you have an older computer (any computer really) that is getting bogged down, installing Xubuntu would be a great idea. It doesn’t require a lot of beefy processors and tons of memory to run smoothly. For the average computer user it will do everything you need just fine!

I just installed Xubuntu on the 2 older laptops in our house. I currently have Ubuntu on the only desktop we have, but that will be getting changed to Xubuntu soon. Those laptops really smoke now, they boot up and get me online faster than they ever did, even when they were brand new!

I did have a 2 day long battle getting my crappy Canon printer to work over the network with these laptops, but they are both working now. This is not an issue with Xubuntu, in fact the only Windows computer left in our house is the only computer that currently can’t print.

So just tonight I was working on the last laptop up in the living room I’m going through setting and changing stuff around and printing test pages. I look at a website that is admin for the print server and it looks like they are all failing. I eventually decided to re-install Xubuntu (which I had just installed earlier in the evening) to start over. The CD that I had then would not work so I had to download Xubuntu and burn a new disc which is a fairly time consuming project.

After I got everything back up and running again I tried to install the printer. Print a test page and see the same result. So eventually I go downstairs to the printer to see that it had actually been printing just fine all along. Several hours wasted for nothing. I was a little bit pissed off, but also relieved that it was actually printing.

So go check out Xubuntu if you think you have an old computer that is getting slowed down by Windows. It will give your old computer new life!

Xubuntu seems to be the shit! I’ll write more about it some day after I’ve been using it for a little bit longer. There are still 2 things that keep windows on one of my computers – Visual Studio and Guild Wars. I’m gonna try to set up Guild Wars on the Linux computer, but Visual Studio will probably have to stay windows.

By kidpurple | Posted in computer | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Guess what I’m having for 3rd meal

January 26, 2010 – 3:56 pm

This is from a while ago.  Can you tell what led up to me eating this one night – and what is it?

Guess what is for 3rd meal!

By kidpurple | Posted in food | Comments (6)

I did something horrible

January 17, 2010 – 2:07 am

I don’t even know why I would want to admit this – but I’ve been feeling kinda guilty. I did something that will have a long lasting negative effect on me. I don’t feel like a decent human being anymore and I don’t know if I will be able to again.

Sometime you do something and maybe regret it for a day – but then it is forgotten about, right? This is not that. It may be a long time before I can look at myself in the mirror.

************ WARNING – The link below my not be safe for work (NSFW) ************

I can’t even bring myself to say what it is – just click here to see what I saw.

What have I done????

By kidpurple | Posted in movies | Tagged | Comments (6)

Great night for a bike ride!

January 15, 2010 – 1:00 am

It was a great night for a bike ride. Too bad most people think I’m crazy for biking in January. Even without studs you could get around pretty well on this stuff today I think. So who is with me for a bike ride sometime this weekend?

Jake in January

By kidpurple | Posted in bike | Comments (0)

Going camping this summer

January 5, 2010 – 11:25 pm

I have reserved the normal SE group spot for this summer. Put it on your calendar today – it is for the last weekend in July.

I think I’m gonna ride my bike out to the campsite this year. Can I get a ride home with someone? Can my bike get a ride home with you too? Does anyone else wanna make it a short one day bike tour trip with me? I guess I’ll either have to have someone else bring some beer for me or I’m drinking straight whiskey to keep my bike load down.

By kidpurple | Posted in personal | Tagged | Comments (4)