Life of Steve

I'm sold on 4 wheel drive

Back when we were looking to buy my wife (almost my wife at the time) a new SUV we discussed the options that she would want to have in her new car. We got a RAV4 which has a choice between a 4X4 and only a Front Wheel Drive. My wife (of course) wanted the 4X4. I never had the 4 wheel drive in any car that I owned but I am now a believer.

On Tuesday night we had some very icy roads and a lot of snow coming down which made for some nasty road conditions. I needed to get to a meeting and my wife suggested I take her car instead of my Camry. As soon as I pulled out of the garage and up the driveway (on a hill) I realized that my car would not have made it up the driveway. In addition, the 4X4 had no trouble with slipping and sliding after a quick slide of coming out of the driveway into the street (which was probably my fault since I am not used to a V6 engine and pulled out faster than I should have.) The anti-lock breaks and anti-skid features worked extremely well and also prevented me from sliding when I had to slow down.

Anyways, Long story short, I felt much safer and did much better in the typical nasty winter weather we always get here in the Northeast. I was pretty glad to have a car that could handle such conditions. Now I am a believer in the SUV 4X4.

Twins Born to Mark and Tammy!

Early on Thursday morning two new members of of family were born to Mark and Tammy! Tammy had twin girls (Isabella & Maya) and we are very excited to have 2 new Nieces to spoil! Congrats Mark and Tammy on your new arrivals! Can't wait to see them in person! Maybe we will need to plan a trip down to Maryland soon.

Barry is getting Married!

I just found out last night that my high school friend Barry (RED) who was also a groomsman at my wedding just got engaged and will be married in September of this year.  Thinking about the best buddies of mine in high school I realized that his coming nuptials will mean that all of us will be married. Another reason I am excited is that it gives me great excuse to visit Dallas again (I have only been there twice and enjoyed it both times.) I also get to be the Best Man in his wedding which is always an honor and has always been a role in the Wedding I enjoyed (although I recently found out that being the Groom is a pretty good gig too!)

So once again, Congrats Barry! We are very happy for you!

Happy Valentines Day Honey!

A new car! Whoo Hoo!

New Years Day Bowl Games: Another New Tradition?

While I am on the subject of potential new traditions, I think I have another one for the list.

This year my friend Ed had multiple bets on several bowl games with another one of our mutual friends. We had many e-mails discussing the merits of the various conferences in College Football (Which one was better, etc) and we decided to watch some of the bowl games this year together to add to the fun (and the debate.)

We decided to meet at 11am (early I know!) on New Years Day at The Fox and the Hound Pub and Grille to start off the day with Penn State vs. Tennessee in the Outback Bowl. We picked the right place to watch the PSU game since about 10 minutes later a giant group of Penn State Fans joined us to also watch the Nittany Lions win against the Volunteers.

It was all guys drinking beer, watching football, and chatting about guy stuff. After many social gatherings during the Christmas Holiday this was precisely the type of day I needed. Getting up that early on New Year's Day was a little rough but it was worth it. I think we need to keep this tradition going and get an even bigger crowd of guys to join us next year!

First Snow of the Winter

There is something about the first snowfall of the season that fascinates me. Every Fall/Winter when the snow would start to fall the teachers in my elementary school would have to close the blinds since the kids would all be looking out the window at the snow. I was one of those kids staring out the window and losing all concentration. Usually I was thinking "I wonder if it will snow enough that they will cancel any school days this week?"

Today is the first day in Pittsburgh this season that we have snow blowing in the air and accumulating on the ground (but not on the driveway or the road sweet!)

Perhaps another reason I am enjoying the snow more this year is since I am working from home I am less concerned about commuting in the nasty weather.

A couple of other things that amuse me when the snow starts falling:

-People overreacting to the snow. I will turn on the local news today and I am going to bet this will be the lead story. People will suddenly forget how to drive in the snow (despite the fact that they have lived here 20 years and it snows EVERY year) and have a few accidents.

-The dog will try to eat the snow since it is only her second year with snow (and the first year she was a very young puppy.)

-If it is clear tonight the moon will give the earth that strange evil glow when the moonshine reflects off the layer of snow.

-Suddenly anything snow related will sell out. Snow Blowers, Shovels, Snow Tires, etc.  Does everyone really only realize it snows in the winter after it  actually  snows in the winter?

-People (myself included) will not want to leave the house. I am just as guilty with this as anyone else. When there is snow on my car and it's cold suddenly I don't even want to go out at all. Going from my warm house, to a warm (after the heat is on for a few minutes) car, to a warm bar or store is suddenly not worth the hassle.

Still, the snow we have now is a nice small amount. Just enough to make it feel like Christmastime without creating too much work for me (or PennDOT) or causing travel to become hazardous. Will we get off this easy all winter? I'm not counting on it but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Gotta run. Someone I know needs a snowball thrown at them.

More Lights! More Lights!

This past weekend we were trying to get some of the Christmas Decorations up since the weather here in Pittsburgh has been unseasonably warm. (Highs in the upper 60's during the end of November! Sweet!) I love putting up lots of lights and outside decorations but I tried to restrain myself since I was worried that my Fiancée might think it was too much.

Once I got done with putting up the lights and it got dark I turned them on. She looked at the lights and said "I think we need more lights."

Nice! Now I can decorate my house like Chevy Chase did in the National Lampoon Christmas Vacation Movie! Lights on every square inch of the house!

(Which BTW is one of my favorite Christmas Movies. A Classic!)

Counting Blessings

I know I have done the “counting blessings” e-mail to other friends of mine when they seemed like they were down. Every so often I think I need to remind “myself” that things are pretty good as well.

So here I go:

-I have a job that allows me a decent living

-I have a house (place to live.)

-I have a Fiancée (soon to be wife) to share my life with

-I have a doggie to keep me company

-I have my health (even despite this nagging cold this past week.)

-I get to do fun exercise activities (like Boxing) to stay in shape

-I still have the Pets.com Sock Puppet

-I have my immediate family nearby here in town.

-I get to do fun social things often (like Happy Hours, Dinners, Watching Football Games, etc) with lots of great friends

-I have a nice (but not extravagant) car to get around in.

-I have a DVR so I can not “miss” my favorite TV shows and watch them commercial free.

And finally

-I’m alive.

Saving a life in North Park.

Back in September my Fiancée and me were walking the dog though North Park. While we were walking we saw a strange sight: A crowd of people were starting to gather around a car which had run off the road. Upon seeing this Crystal asked one of the onlookers if everything was all right? The person just shook her head no and Crystal handed the leash of our dog to me and started running toward the car. I asked how long ago had this happened and was told it had just occurred in the last few minutes.

The front driver side of the car was open and an older man was in the drivers seat. From my view point I could not see him moving at all. While this was going on another nurse (in addition to Crystal) arrived and ran over to help. One of the onlookers was on the phone with 911 and was asking for Medical Help to be sent. The 911 operator told Crystal and the other nurse to move the man out of the car on to the ground. Once on the ground they began CPR on the man.

While they were performing CPR the Police arrived with a Deliberator. They shocked the man a number of times and they were able to tell that he had a pulse. Crystal and the other nurse continued to give CPR until the Medics came with a stretcher and all the other equipment. They moved him to the ambulance and drove off to take him to a local hospital. After he had gone the Police Officer took Crystal’s contact information and also thanked them for jumping in to help before the medical professionals could arrive.

A couple of days later we received a call from the Police. We were told that the man was alive and was doing ok in a local hospital. Crystal was worried that he might have suffered some brain damage from not breathing for a few minutes but according to the Police he was recovering.

Yesterday we received another call from the Police. Not only were we told that the man was recovering very nicely at home but we were informed that for her actions Crystal and the other woman were nominated for and selected to receive a Civilian Service Award.

I am really glad that this whole incident has had a happy ending. Not knowing how to perform CPR myself I would not have been able to help. However, Crystal and the Other Nurse were knowledgeable and willing to help. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that they probably saved this man’s life. With so much negative news and stories today I was glad to witness a heroic action and to have a happy story to tell here from Pittsburgh.

The Average American at 300 Million article

I got to warn you right now: If you are a pessimist or hoping to read a lot of bad news this Blog entry is NOT for you.

I recently read an article from Forbes about how the average American Family is doing today vs. 1967. The news is good folks! Let me give you the highlights:

Annual Income is up 32% (Adjusted for Inflation)

Net Worth is up 83%

Purchasing Power is up 8%

So we have more income and we can buy more with that income (Due to low inflation which increases our purchasing power.)

Yet (the bad news) we are not happy.

“A Parade magazine survey conducted by Mark Clements Research in April said 48% of Americans think they're worse off than their parents were. A June 2006 study by the GfK Roper group reported that 66% of Americans said that their personal situations in the "good old days" -- defined by the bulk of respondents as anywhere between the 1950s and the 1980s -- were better than they are today.” (From the Article)

So people do not “perceive” that they are better off today as the facts have shown.

Here are some thoughts as to why:

Expectations are extremely high (and probably unrealistic) for most people. Think about the shows that are on TV. You get to see how the rich an famous live on shows like “The Vacation Homes of the Rich and Famous” and “My Super Sweet 16.” Suddenly we see this and think “I didn’t get a one million dollar 16^th birthday party” or “I don’t have a Private Island” I’m not happy.

The Media reports the economic exceptions vs. the rule. For example: They will profile the person in dire economic straights and portray this person as common when in fact they might represent only ½ of 1 percent of the US. Population. Unfortunately, people will take the negative stories at face value but be skeptical of the positive news. It is well known that people react more strongly to negative news than positive news. If it bleeds it leads, Right? It’s all about the ratings.

Minimum Standards are very high. Let me explain what I mean by Standards vs. Expectations. I expect to live in a house. My parents also expected to live in a house. But today’s Minimum STANDARDS of the size of a house are very different than 20-30 years ago. Maybe that house that the 3 kids were raised in was 1500 square feet and only had 1 bathroom for our parents or grandparents. Today the minimum standards for houses are much larger and more expensive. For example: 4 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms and 2000-2700 square feet would be a standard for the same size family. I can’t afford a house than meets my minimum standards and so I think I am worse off than my parents. After all, they got the house that met “their” standards.

Stress seems much higher today. There can be a lot more to worry about today vs. the older days. I never worried once someone coming into my school and shooting the kids. I don’t believe our parents were as worried (in the past) about terrorism here in the US. Every so often a plane would get hijacked but it didn’t result in thousands of American Deaths. However, I think that the threat of a Global Nuclear War with the Soviet Union could have been worrisome (Back during and before the Reagan Years.) Maybe Stress just “seems” worse today but it was always stressful (I suspect that our parents and grandparents could tell us exactly how stressful the past was.)

Still, in spite of the reasons why we might be unhappy in general. It is good to hear that even with such a great Population Increase that from an Economic Perspective we are better off.