James Woosley’s Blog

I can’t hardly believe it’s been one year since I last flew on an airplane. It isn’t a big deal for most people, but I’m not most people (do I really want to use that line?).

As a travelling management and technology consultant for the past five and a half years, I logged more than half a million miles flying the friendly skies. It started before September 11th and through the aftermath. But last year I got off my last flight in preparation for a new position.

I was still traveling, but by driving 100 miles instead of flying 1000. Still a road warrior, just a bit closer to the Mel Gibson version (wheels on the ground, that is).

Now I mark yet another end and beginning. On Monday, I officially start a job that is just over 50 miles from home. For the first time in almost six years, I’ll be sleeping in my own bed every night. I’ll be able to tuck my kids into bed every night. And I’ll be able to fight with my wife over who owns the remote control every night.

Won’t it be grand!?!

Still, after this much time on the road, it’s going to be a major transition for all of us. I have to give up a lot of late hours at the office and peaceful/quiet nights in hotels/apartments on my own. They’ll have to deal with a husband/father and my view of the world beyond weekends.

Heather will have more help around the house and with the kids. Anna can complain to her dad about doing homework. Ian can fight with dad about going to sleep.

Overall, it’s a good thing. But there will be moments. Maybe I’ll share some on the blog. But I probably won’t.

It’s selfish, I know, but there’s a part of me that’s going to miss the travel and time to myself. It wasn’t glamorous travel, as I rarely did anything but work and sleep. And the time alone was too much at once, often leaving me feeling lonely and longing for home (try walking down the baby aisle in a supermarket when you’re a thousand miles from home).

But I’m a bit of a nomad and a loner. That part of the job fit my personality well.

I’m also a bit of a family man. Can’t imagine being single again. So that’s going to fit me well too.

Gotta run now…I need to carve my name into the back of the TiVo remote before Heather gets home!

Lots to catch up with here, so I think it’s time for a speed round update…

FPU Graduation
We had a great class and graduated 41 people, who paid off more than $130,000 and saved over $40,000. We also turned in more than $8.3M in credit offers!

Now we’re ramping up for another class during the summer. If you’re interested, head on over to GazelleIntensity.com.

In other Dave Ramsey news, we also have a group heading to Birmingham on Saturday for a Total Money Makeover Live Event.

TiVo is Great!
There are all kinds of reasons to love TiVo, but tonight I was reminded of another one. I’ve been watching The Unit on CBS on Tuesday nights. It’s a great military action/family show about a group of Army special forces types and their wives. Tonight, CBS decided to air two new episodes instead of just one. My VCR would have been programmed for one (because I’d have done it manually). But the TiVo is SMART! It just kept on recording and grabbed the second episode. Gotta love it!

Easter Bunny Lessons
It’s a bit out of date, but my daughter taught me quite a lesson at Easter. In her Easter basket was a bible book cover and a Narnia bookmark. She asked me to put her Bible in the cover (which I did) and then to put the bookmark in the story Jesus told about the talents (Matt 25:14-30). She’s only five and a few weeks before this I had miraculously found the story when I needed to in order to prove a point to her about taking care of her toys. She didn’t seem that interested at the time, but that five year old sponge of a brain was paying attention.

It’s another reminder that they are paying attention even when we don’t think they are. They notice the good things and the bad.

That’s all for now folks. Don’t forget Mother’s Day!

James

I guess it’s time to venture back into the world of NASCAR. I’ve been off the internet beat for a while, but I’m easing my way back. Maybe one day I can resurrect PerfectParanoia.com…

This year we had to endure NBC’s coverage of the race. We also got to celebrate the fact that it’s the last time NBC will broadcast the Great American Race! Too bad we still have them for the last half of the season. Sorry guys…nothing personal. It’s just that the NBC coverage hasn’t ever developed the right chemistry. Fox has it. ESPN had it back in the day.

Back to this race. I’m torn between saying I enjoyed the race and saying that I didn’t. The weather was horrible for TV. The camera’s couldn’t get the bright and sunny shots expected of Daytona, and the helicopter used to relay in-car camera’s was either too low or grounded for most of the race. So the entire telecast was grey, though you can’t blame NBC for that.

There were a record number of lead changes, which is good, but the racing was still largely single file up front. How is it the Busch cars can have a better aero package for the plate tracks?

In the end, Jimmie Johnson in the 48 won the race. Somehow, that shouldn’t be a surprise. By kicking his crew chief Chad Knaus out of Daytona for cheating (let’s not mince words, okay?), NASCAR simply motivated the team to want to win even more. It seems to me this has happened before. Ban, fine or punish a team and they somehow win the race anyway.

Now we wait for the additional penalties for the 48 team, to include suspension of the crew chief, monetary fines and points deductions. If NASCAR follows the well-worn patterns of the past, expect a four race suspension (to include Daytona) and probation for the rest of the year, $25-50K fine, and a mere 25 point deduction.

When was the last time the winner of the Daytona 500 didn’t go to the second race of the season without the point lead?

As a side note, whoever decided to double the amount of confetti fired in victory lane will make note to halve the order next year. Preventing a sponsor’s logo from being read is cardinal sin numero uno in NA$CAR!

TiVo Notes: I love watching the races and fast-forwarding through commercials. Just a few seconds and it’s back to racing, and I’ve saved about 20% of my time by watching on a slight delay. I can get home from church and just catch up on my own time. I bet NASCAR hates TiVo, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the teams on pit road use them to record and review the race as it’s happening.

Next week: California and real racing without restrictor plates!

I’m not really the hands-on type of guy. I can manage to change light bulbs and drive nail into a board when needed, but I’m better with software (undo is so handy…why isn’t there an undo button for real life?).

This weekend I installed stereo units in our cars. I’d never done it before, but figured I’m not dummy, so why not try. Both of our 1995 cars still had the factory units in them, and they weren’t fancy. No CD, and certainly no MP3!

I researched for about 6-8 months before deciding on a unit. I went with the Sony CDX-GT200. The number one feature I wanted was a front auxiliary jack for my iPod. Check. Then I wanted CD/MP3 playback. Check. And for ease of use and installation, I wanted them to fit in both of our cars. Check. After that, the remote and other features were icing on the cake.

I’d had a $100 gift certificate with Amazon.com for months and decided to use it. Amazon sells the unit using Crutchfield.com. My father used to get Crutchfield catalogs and had used them before, so I figured it was a safe order. I peppered them with questions before ordering (just to make sure all the freebies would still come–they did).

I placed the order last Monday morning, had confirmation a few hours later, and that afternoon got an email saying I needed to contact them with my vehicle information. I called, they put the order in process, and it was shipped that night. The package included all of the installation gear, and arrived Wednesday afternoon (free shipping, too!).

I had three hours on Saturday available so I started the install. It wasn’t pretty at first. My brother-in-law Mike came over to help, and I had to call tech support once for help, but we managed to run all the wires (all the way to the back of the Explorer), splice the wires and get it working. It didn’t lock into place, but it worked.

Sunday I started on my wife’s Accord. Under the center console I found dove shaped confetti from our wedding (1996) and a receipt for gas from Ames, IA dated May 1997 (our trip to a wedding in Minnesota). Her install was much easier, though I did call to make sure I got the blue wire for the power antenna right. But again, her unit wasn’t locking in place.

One more call and I managed to figure out the locking problem. Simple and easy, if only the instructions had been a touch better (overall they were great, but included a lot of extra similar vehicles and speaker replacement instructions, too).

There was only one other problem. My wife said her CD player wasn’t working, so I had to troubleshoot it. It was making a very loud annoying noise. I had tested it with the radio, but didn’t have a CD before she needed the car. It turned out to be a speaker wire splice that didn’t stay in place, so I had to redo it. That was it!

All told, I spent about 4-5 hours installing two stereos in our cars this weekend, and taught two FPU course, spent time with my kids and wife, attended church and a Valentine’s Day dinner, but I missed the first NASCAR race of the year.

The TiVo was aimed for Saturday night, but rain delayed the race until Sunday afternoon. I was in a media blackout because I didn’t want to hear who won before I could watch it. I sure hope it’s sunny and bright for the Daytona 500 next week. The TiVo will be running again, and I’ll be on the couch between church and FPU to see what I can see, and finish it after class. So no, I can’t change that light bulb that’s out next Sunday. I’ll have to take care of it Saturday.

James