Neighbors!

 I am VERY fortunate to ,so far, have great neighbors... I would say that 98% of my time with past and present ones have been great!!!! My current ones Jimmy and Lynn ROCK like Van Halen at Rich Stadium in 1988, I know, because I was THERE!!!! They have introduced me to so pretty cool people and he has showed me how to do a few things around casa de McBride. He works for the natural gas company in the next county and he has some great 'toys' at his disposal. LIKE this!!!! A freaking backhoe!!! WOO HOO!!!!

 The guys is 'OBI WAN' on the thing.... He knows what to do and what it's capable of doing..

I, on the other hand, am very clumsy with it but with some more practice, I will be okie dokie.

 I helped him remove a tree and make a driveway to his workshop. He also removed some old tree stumps around his house. Next time he will bring it home and do the same around casa de McBride.

And in the 'hey I have no job so I have plenty of time to do (INSERT PROJECT HERE)'. One day, I decided to fix my borders in my front yard.

And this is the result after spending a few hours...

I also was bored one day and painted some of the floor in the garage.

"I went to the doctor today, guess what he told me"1 Shout out to Prince RIP! Anyways, Mrs. Boike and I went up to Duke earlier this month for a Dr. appointment and.... AH HELL, this is why I love Mrs. Boike, She explains stuff so much better then me...

" Kate, Andy’s summation below is pretty accurate.  The MD however did explain some more detail that I wanted to share with you.  When he looked @ the MRI, he said that pictures show the atrophy (or decrease in size of the cerebellum) and that the space that is lost is replaced by fluid (as opposed to nothing or air) & we could see that clearly on the pictures of Andy’s brain.  He was, as Andy mentioned, very impressed with no alcohol consumption and Andy being so compliant with doing all of the PT exercises.  Both of these efforts on his part have led to Andy’s status being very stable and also slightly improved.  Dr. Scott says that the progress of the disease shows different rates for different people, but it is not a rapid progress.  What is most important is how Andy is functioning.  Good nutrition, taking multivitamins, exercising, getting adequate rest are very important and will help make deterioration slow.  Andy is doing a great job @ all these things.

PT—he didn’t feel it necessary to go back to PT @ this time, but PT is advised every once in a while, just to make sure that Andy’s techniques and habits are continuing to go in the right direction.  I actually think that Andy’s diagnosis is shrinking cerebellum.  The ataxia is just a symptom of the shrinking cerebellum. 

I’m very proud of how Andy is handling all of this and being so very proactive with the way he has addressed the issues and problems, as I know you are.

Hope all is well with you and Ron.

Pat"

 As you can see, I'm doing A LOT of stuff around casa de McBride. I decided, while painting the garage floor, to wait to look for a job AFTER I go on two trips, one next month and then another in July for a wedding. THEN I will start the search. If you are really bored and want to hear my rational on this. CLICK HERE.

AND FINALLY, in the 'deuce' department. KRIPES just let the picture do the talkin'...

Have a GRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT month everyone...


1. From the song "Nothing compares 2 U" that was written by Prince and performed by Sinead O'Connor

I need to learn the word 'PACE'.....

 With ALL this free time, I am getting a bunch of stuff at casa de McBride done BUT I need to realize that I don't need to do EVERYTHING in a few weeks...  KRIPES! I have almost 8 months to do it!!!!

 Here is my daily routine:

• Get up at 6-7am... Sorry folks, I can't sleep past then...
• Stretch and do some yoga OH AND some ball exercises I learned in REHAB.
• Go for a 1.2 mile walk while listening to my P.T.I podcast. 
• Eat my bagel and a bowl of Cheerios
• Read some stuff on the W.W.W., usually it's news and sports stuff, with my cup of coffee.
• While doing all of this, I ponder what I want to get into that day.
• Depending on the weather, I dress accordingly.
• Work on whatever I think I need to work on that day
• Make some lunch and 'marinate' in front of the computer and read some ,usually, pretty funny statuses on Twitter.
• Go back to what I was working on.
• Take my afternoon nap around 2ish.
• wake up and do some more on what I am working on. 
• make some dinner.
• ponder 'what will I do the next day?'
• Go to bed...

 Even with this routine, I STILL get down about not having a job to go to BUT Boike put it all in perspective for me. "How exactly does it 'stink' you're getting paid, you don't have to work, and you did not even LIKE your job! You just hit the win trifecta here feller!" LET me add that I LOATHED my 'plastic' (FAKE) boss as well..... So I am 'Kool And The Gang' with it all!!!

 I kinda just 'piddle' around and do stuff like paint the brick around my patio

unless Scott S. an ol' buddy from A-TOWN (Allegany),

 who is currently jobless too, comes down and helps me do stuff like cut trees down, scrape the dang 'popcorn' off my ceilings, put up a new fan (I'm redoing the back room), paint or just anything!!! We work on stuff, take a coffee break and talk about old times then do some more work. It's like we are UNION WORKERS!!! HA!!!!

THANKS and CHEERS DUDEZILLA!!!

 I also helped my dad with a project.

Is that a 'PLEDGE PIN' on your uniform???

 If you don't get that, then click here..... HA!!!! ANYWAYS!!! He and I tend to 'disagree' on how projects we are working on together go.... I know this will make 95% of you say that I am going to hell for what I do, but I kinda like saying stuff that will set him off..... We feed off on each other and eventually get the job done. Not gonna lie to ya, I have been looking forward to 'yell-pa-looza 2016' since he sent me an email asking if I wanted to help him.

 This is what we worked on. A pathway to a bench in the back yard that my father says is "a place no one sits but your mother bought these pavers for me to put in" HA!!!!! TOO FUNNY!!!!! Well, we did it and there were things that came up that we disagreed on BUT as a good son, I just did what he said and kept my mouth shut.... BUT if you see him ask why he didn't put any sand down FIRST before putting the pavers in.....

STUBBORN, STUBBORN and STUBBORN!!!

  After a few hours of 'discussing' how to do it, this is the final result...

 Don't get me wrong about BIG Ron and I. WE come to the same conclusion eventually, but in between, we sort of butt heads. He has taught me quite a few things. Heck just a few weeks ago, Scott S. and I were putting up that ceiling fan I was telling you about earlier and I started to wire it. He asked me a bunch of questions about the wires. I told him what the colors mean. He asked me how I knew that and I said that "POPS told me that and always showed me what went where." I can give you thousands of times that I have said "I learned that from my dad".

 And in the 'AH HELL, WHY NOT?" department, I decided the day of the concert to go see Joe Satriani. It's been almost 30 years since I saw this album cover in Dave Donavan's (RIP) room.

I think it's ABOUT time I finally went and saw him, DON'T YOU THINK?

 Finally, I will no get 'political' too much on ya, HECK, I will leave that up to the rest of the INTERNET... I will only leave you with this....

 Have a great month you knuckle heads...

Not going Brazilian BUT.....

 I am trimming and cleaning up the side woods on the right of the house and after finally taking 'my tree guy's', Thompson, advise, I took down the two Bradford Pear trees in the front yard. Any good arborist will tell you that the smaller 'crappy' trees that are growing around bigger ones, steal the water from the bigger, healthy, ones. I'm also taking two more trees that were pretty much randomly planted in areas of the yard by the previous owners.

 ATTENTION!!! 

 This was NOT just a 'weekend thing'!!! I have been working on this for years. The saying 'Rome was NOT built in a day' rings in my head every time I am out working outside. The picture below shows a car of my previous neighbor and he hasn't lived there for almost two years...

 I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wish I had these two little toys to show all the crappy trees around casa de McBride who is boss, ME DANG NABBIT but I don't. So I do a little bit at a time. I have been stung by fire ants, yellow jacket wasps, burned, destroyed a cell phone, damaged tools and basically been riddled with nagging pulled muscles while doing this. As you know, I have a SWEET chainsaw that I named Marvella BUT I am kinda nervous to use it with this CRAP that's going on with my brain BUT that doesn't mean that Boike can't use it!!! WOO HOO!!!! He uses that and I use my sawz all. Say hello to my little friend, NO it's not that big of a deal. it's just a sawz all with CHEAP pruning blades I get at one of those stores that sell really cheap stuff. There's a shocker huh? Cutting or chopping up trees is VERY therapeutic!!! I pretend the tree is a boss or someone that has pissed me off currently or in the past...

 As I have previously mentioned, Boike has come over a couple times and he and my big @$$ chain saw have also 'takin care of business' to some of the big trees that I can't do by myself... We also took out some of the 'CRAPPY' ones too!!! Words cannot express how much I loath holly trees that are on the property.
 

This is all that's left of that stupid maple tree. HA!!!! Being laid off ROCKS because I have all day to just add wood to the fire so it burns ALL DAY and NIGHT!!!

This is all that is left of the maple tree.

 I have created a system of cutting the crappy trees down,

• Cutting them in half with:
• one half I put in a pile to be split (FYI- one of these make splitting wood EASIER than a prom date) and given to my brother for their fireplace.

How the 'other' half live- casa de Mike and Liz

• the other half I just cut up and burn in DA ODE TO BOOB (my fire pit)
• The rest of the wood is donated to some guys that my neighbor 'suggested' I have come out to take some wood! They are a couple of boys from the 'back woods', the really far ones!!! They have a few teeth and really strong accents! They don't care what kind of wood it is because to quote one "it ALL burns".....

 This was just one side, the other side will get done, but not now.  Barb, my elderly neighbor, has 'HINTED' and kinda said that she likes the trees, no matter how crappy they are. She has said that she would 'HAUNT ME' if I took the holly trees down because she thinks they are so beautiful. Well I guess I am going to have a ghost because I am taking them down and I am very happy to. I DON'T have the heart to tell her that they are all on my property and I can do what the flip I want to do. So I will not work on that side for a while. I will act like she is my Grandma Cawley

And just smile and 'DEAL WITH IT' plus I am kinda sick of smelling like a fire...

 Being that I have cleared out crappy trees for the past couple of years, I have plenty of wood for 'DA ODE' AKA fire pit. So if you come over to chill, I will have a BITCHIN' fire for ya, it's how I roll!!!

Here it is:

 The picture on right was taken in the WINTER!!!! That is why everything looks brown!!! HELLO!!!


 In other news, I, and the rest of my department, got laid off last month..... Before you ask "WHAT are you going to do now?" I need to say that I have been planning/ expecting this to happen for a few years now, so I have saved some money AND THEY have to pay me (14 years of service) until DEC!!! GOD BLESS those silly bean counters in San Francisco or where ever the bank has them... So I will be okie dokie!!!!! Just to make sure I had my friend Carb look it over and advise me if there is something missing. The only thing that kinda upset me that day was seeing some people with the  'WHAT DO I DO NOW?' look on their face... POOR FOLKS! I just don't know what to do with all my spare time! I need to learn the word 'pace' so I don't do everything I want in a few days....  Basically I get paid to not come to work and just do projects on MY HOUSE!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! I'm on VACATION until December BEEEEEOOOOTTTCHES!!!! I have quite a few reasons that you should NOT do business with ANY MONSTER MEGA BANK but being a 'Fortune 500' company, I know they have just a department solely full of attorneys whose only job is to sue people for slander, so I will save all of the fun stuff for a future blog post... I will only give you this link. Oh and it's not IF a monster mega bank screws ya, it's WHEN!! I DO have one story that happened there BUT it doesn't involve my former employer, BUT about a WHACKY couple that WELL, JUST READ IT!

 This is the way it went down and ‘others’ might have different versions and that’s OK. There will be NO NAMES because I do not feel like getting sued so I will refer to them as ‘person A’ and ‘B’.

 I’m pretty sure this happened in 2010, it was a Saturday morning and I was doing something around the house and I get a text from person A. Now I NEVER got messages from her because she was ABOVE me! She didn’t like other people knowing I had her # because she felt she was better then me. You see, we exchanged phone #s when we started working together so we all could stay in contact if one of us was out or something like that. ANYWAYS, the text was something to the fact of ‘if person B tries to contact you DO NOT reply’. I looked at it and said to myself OK but I had NEVER met person B before so he didn't even have my #..... So I went back to what I was doing. Well Monday came and person A came to my desk and started telling me stuff that went on with person B and how the cops got involved too. She also started showing me some bruises…. I was like, “WHOW WHOW WHOW!!!! Don’t show me anymore!” I was kinda freaked out. I have NEVER seen bruises caused by domestic abuse…. So she stopped but ‘emphasized’ to me again NOT to have any contact with person B. She is CUCKOO for CO CO Puffs so I really didn’t want to rile her up….. So a few weeks go by and I know there is ALWAYS two sides to the story and she is WHACKED and her version might be a little 'construed', also I feel sorta bad for person B because NO ONE will talk to him. So I decide to reach out to him because I’m a guy too and we all need to stick together…… I proceed to email him and tell him that when he is in a heated argument with a lady that he needs to just walk away and say, “we will talk about this later when we are both calmer” And other stuff, basically what an older guy would say to a young one…… He emails me back and says THANKS and he wants to show his appreciation by buying me a beer, WOO HOO!!!! As a red blooded American man, I could NOT say no to that. We met at a local ‘watering hole’ and he just starts from the beginning. He stated that 95% of the time things were great between them but there were times that ‘in his words’ “it was like a light switch” she would be fine but the next second she would start yelling and getting violent. She would claw him and grab him by the ears and get into his face and yell. He stated that he was sick of having to try to explain/lie to his parents where the scratch marks on his face came from. He would usually say they came from a construction project he was on. The night in question started out with a fight but QUICKLY went out of control. Like a forest fire started by a camp fire and quickly engulfing a couple 1000 acres. He is not sure how it started but it involved her slamming a door shut and him following her to the next room to confront her on why she just slammed a door. They start yelling at each other and she hit him or something that was physical. He looked me straight in the eye and said he “had enough of being a punching bag” and so he hit her back. Now if you saw him, he’s short BUT built…. Like Rocky… So I’m sure with one hit he knocked her down pretty good. She wouldn’t give it up, she kept on putting fuel on the fire. This lasted for a few hours and he finally had to call the cops to get HER out of his house. HA! When she was trying to tell me about what happened, she made it out that SHE had to call the cops on him. He told me that this is a ‘trend’ with her and that an older boyfriend that she had when she lived in CT. actually got so pissed that he cold cocked her and broke her nose. He then told me that her mom is whacked and has been married at least 4 times and her latest husband is a REAL ‘push over’ and does EVERYTHING she says. Kripes! He even said that person ‘A’ lived with her aunt and uncle for awhile because her mom and her did not get along too well, so looking at the situation, Person ‘A’ has some family issues. He begged that I don’t tell her that we met. I said “TRUST ME! I really don’t want to feel the wrath of her either so I WON’T say anything." He stated that he goes to see a therapist so he can manage his anger. I say to him “DUDE!!! I would have punched her too! There have been plenty of times where I wanted to ‘knock her into next Tuesday.” ANYWAYS, Steven (I use to work with him) will remember this; He decided to send her flowers at work!! He told me a week before that he was going to do it and asked what I thought. I told him to give it up and just 'WALK ON’ but NO!!!! He still sent them…..She proceeded to give them out to all the ladies on the floor. Steven and I saw the whole thing and then person B texted me asking how it went. I said NOT TOO WELL!!!! She gave them out to all the ladies on the floor. IDIOT!!! I made the HUGE mistake and mentioned that I talked to person ‘B’ and told him what a bonehead move the flower thing was. She didn’t say anything about it BUT 5 minutes later she comes to my desk and proceeds to REEM me out saying that she told me NOT to have any contact with him…. “Oh darlin’ the last thing I am worried about is you and your issues with an old ex.” CRAZY CHICK!!!" I think he was, and still is, hung up on her. Whenever we would talk he would ALWAYS ask about her. It got old quick! I would say MOVE ON MAN but there was something about her that he will ALWAYS be attracted too. After dealing with those two, I can see why they were together. CRAZY loves CRAZY! I knew right away that he was only using me because I talked to her daily and he wanted to know what she was up to. So I decided to use him by showing me how to tile my floor. You will see how that turned out later on in the story.

 Let's move ahead a few month shall we, NOW person ‘B’ is/ was a contractor and I was doing some stuff to my kitchen. He always told me that if I needed any help that he would help me out. Well I took him up on that offer when I was going to tile the floor of my kitchen. I never did that and I needed him to help/show me how to do it. During this time we had a very bad hail storm and it DESTROYED my roof. Well he came over to lay tile and said that he really needed the money from the roofing job, I SOOOOOOO have the email where he said that too, and wanted me to give it to him. So being the nice guy I am, I told him to send me a quote and he could start on it. WELL!!!!! The @$$ CLOWN ripped my whole roof off on a Thursday and DIDN’T install a new one until Monday! As you know, it’s ALWAYS a pretty good chance that we will get a thunderstorm in the afternoon during the summer. SO!!!! I was kinda freakin out and watching Doppler radar EVERY minute! He did a very half @$$ed job in ‘tarping’ the thing until a new roof was installed. Kripes! I had to go up there to adjust tarps that he didn’t secure enough and had moved. One time I freakin fell off my roof!!!! Just a lot of bruises! I was getting PISSED and he knew it because I was very short with him….. He acted surprised that I was upset. I said, “HELL YEAH I’M UPSET!!!! I don’t have an EFFing roof!!!!” I was sooooooo upset that I couldn’t eat until it was all done. FINALLY, the Tuesday it was FINALLY done. I paid him with the insurance $ I had and I think it’s the end of him. I pretty much decided to NEVER have any contact with the idiot again BUT. The jerk doesn’t PAY the roofing company so they put a freakin’ lien on my house! I email him and he says he will take care of it…. Let me tell ya, him’ taking care of it’ was simply him filing for bankruptcy! CLOWN!!! I KNEW he was thinking about moving to CA. because some of his ‘friends’ told him about growing medicinal dope. It’s legal out there. Very SHADY but legal. I think the whole roofing job was his way to declare BK and then move out there. Sure hope ya don’t get shot out there buddy (rolling my eyes). SO YOU KNOW, There is NOT any lien on my title!!! THANK GOD!!!!

 I have learned that through all of this, person ‘A’ and ‘B’ are all ABOUT their image! KRIPES!!! Person 'B' made sure that I saw him in a Mercedes rag top one time when we went out for beers...They are VERY concerned about how other look at them and are VERY materialistic.

 Oh and if you are wondering, Wells Fargo made $23 billion last year, AND FINALLY, somethings in your life are better when they are in your rear view mirror!

The man/boy we all affectionately call YETTI, Sasquatch or just plain old BIGFOOT!!!!!

 YETTI, I mean Dalton, one of my neighbor's son, who is like 19 and HUGE!!!!! Hence the name Yetti, was walking between mine and casa de Trull (my neighbors) house to get to DA BOOB (fire pit) where we all were.

 He casually said, "DUDE, you need to make a path between the houses to make it easier to get to DA BOOB..." Usually I would mumble to myself "HOW DARE that damn 'millennial' tell me what I should do." BUT, you know, that kid is right. So I did just that!!! I will call it 'the a good ol' cop a feel' path.... It's like being with a girl and unsnapping her bra and you SEE "the top of the mountain" FYI- And it's GOOOOOOOOD!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!

 I think he mentioned that he got a DRONE for baby Jesus's birthday... So we might have to do a drone-pa-looza 2016 photo shoot of casa de McBride in the future!! HOT DAAAAAAWG! You will be able to see DA BOOB in all of its GLORY!!!!

 Sorry this is so short but I DID give ya two freakin posts 1/19, 13 days ago, soooooo not to sound like a smart @$$ but, GET OVER IT!!! R.I.P Glenn, you were part of the soundtrack on every trip we made to and from Ohio in the 70s, 'New Kid in town', 'Tequila Sunrise', 'Heartache Tonight, 'Lyin' Eyes', 'Take It Easy', 'Already gone', ' Peaceful, easy feeling". Don't think these and other Eagles songs are not on my iTouch. AND I will never forget the sweet time you were on the best TV show EVER!!!!

 FINALLY, with very mixed emotions, I want to say happy trails to my uncle Dick.....

I bet those poor bastards out in CA. WISH they had this problem/ "I can't complain but sometimes I still do." Joe Walsh 1978...

 BEFORE I get into the stuff I did to casa de McBride, I want to apologize for being a moody, self centered, @$$ hole to my parents, my brother and his wife. I just remember what Christmas used to be to me and I can't forget that.... I hate what I am becoming, a bitter hermit, but I think that is what life is directing me towards. I really do live a very undramatic life but I STILL get very depressed on, mostly Sundays.... I think it boils down to the fact that I worry about EVERYTHING that is my my life on that day AND I REALLY don't like this time of the year (READ THE SENTENCE IN RED AGAIN). Also I know that I have to 'deal' with stuff whether my job, the house, my life as of now and what I could have done in the past to change certain parts of it. Also the world lost one of the best teachers EVER!!!! His name was Mr. Mansour  and he was a HUGE influence on me!!! He taught my older brother and was going to retire the year before I was to have him but he told me, not sure if it's ALL true, that he wanted to teach me and then retire...  He was a great man and someone I think of at least weekly.... I could commit a whole blog entry to him but I will not now, MAYBE in the future.  Plus the world lost another great person last month.....Lemmy was not 'so polised' looking but he was a very smart guy with some great stuff to say. Oh and some might say that his band, 'Motorhead' was just a dirty 'garage band' BUT I totally disagree with that!!!!! Now for the record, I LOVE milk but apparently Lemmy did not.

 One last thing while I am on the 'Andy's COMPLAIN-PA-LOOZA 2016', I LOATH and HATE to say this but I can only do on major thing at a time and I have to take breaks OFTEN because I loose my balance more often when I am tired. So that is another reason this blog entry is so late....

  SORRY to be such a 'downer' today and for posting this later than usual (It has rained A LOT the past month and I am not a big fan of having to work in the mud......) GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!! Enough of me whining!!!! Sorry AGAIN about that 'poor old me' moment. LET'S get to the 'meat and potatoes' of this entry. When it rains, it pretty much runs down the side of my house. With the fact that I am trying to ACTUALLY grow grass back there and make it presentable, I built a wall to TRY to prevent all the grass seed and soil from running off into the abyss!

DANG NABBIT!!!! The battery died while I was out running some errands!!!! FYI- this was the first time that I used the 'time lapse' feature on my iTouch so LESSON learned!!! Plug it in at all times!!!

WOO HOO!!!! I know how to operate my iTouch so here is what I did the following weekend.

  CURSES!!!! The dang sun wreaked havoc on the process, so there are parts of the movie you can't see because the sun light is soooooooooooooooooooooo strong.... SORRY but here is what I did on the 2nd day.

Here is the final result:

 I also had to make my run off (I guess that's what you call it) wider. So after SEVERAL Saturdays, one in a freaking rain storm, I was soaking wet and thank God I didn't wear white like this girl did, it's done!!! UGH! Working in the mud soooooo suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks!!!! I spent ALL of the MLK holiday weekend working on this just so I could FINALLY post this entry.....

 HA!!! ANYWAYS, Here is the result and I am very proud to say that the rocks in it are from:

• Sunny Hill camp ground (Bolivar, NY)
• Jane (My NANA) and Russ Terman's old house (Mansfield, OH)
• Kaye Fleming's house (Erie, PA)
• The athletic field (I played baseball and ran track there) (Allegany, NY)
• Casa De Zynczak (Apex, NC)
• My cousin Chris M's house (Mansfield, OH)
• Grandpa and Grandma Cawley's old house (Bolivar, NY)
• The Brew farm, Boike's EX WIFE'S land (Marshall, VA)
• Casa Dan and Melissa (St. Cloud, MN)
• Casa de Trull (my neighbors) Lancaster, SC
• A bar in Fidley Lake, NY
• The former Casa de Sonnaborn (Erie, PA) 
• Mike and Lisa Kiener's house (Allegany, NY)
• Allegany Central School (Allegany, NY)
• They demolished an old shopping center where K Mart was and dumped all of the broken up concrete there. 

 Now on to other projects like redoing the back room...

HA!!!! This is soooooooooooooooooo going to be me when 'I kick the bucket'....

Oh and remember kids "You don't owe anyone ANYTHING except your GD mom who brought you into this world". I need to remember this the next time I think it's a good idea to push my mom's buttons about something....

 

DA BOOK!!!!!!

 This was the first blog entry that I DID NOT use DA BOOK (FaceBook) to announce that I posted a new blog entry. The last few years I have (slowly but surly) weened myself off of it. This is my thinking on it, as if anyone cares. DA BOOK is GREAT to get info to and from people ASAP because let's face it, EVERYONE is on it, BUT, it can soooooooooooooo cause 'issues' for ME!!! You see, I tend to say stuff on there that some may not appreciate. It's like crack cocaine to me!!! I can't just NOT say something if I deem your statues DUMB then I will say that and I have a few people that I have riled up and they have complained about it to others who then tell my mom about it and she then has a little chat with me.... ALSO I have been know to say stuff to old friends that are females that their husbands, fiances or boyfriends don't find too funny. So it's better if I go 'cold turkey' on it and use it ONLY when I need to communicate with someone and I don't have any other way to talk to them... 

'HAPPY whatever doesn't offend you'!!! Version IV

Welcome to the 4th annual... Because I like MOST of you, I'm here to give you some knowledge about finance, computers, cars and a few things in between so YOU can have a net worth of $1 MILLION DOLLARS like me! HA!!!!!! KIDDING OR AM I!?!??!!? You decide............. SO YOU KNOW, being this is the 4th edition, I add links as I think about them throughout the year and they are in RED!

The majority of stuff I am about to give you is FREE and info that I think will help you out! WOO HOO!!!

FINANCE:

• www.mint.com/ It's a great way to MANAGE your finances. It downloads all of your bank and loan accounts. 

• www.everydollar.com Dave Ramsey's team has one as well, BUT you have to pay to have your bank download your transactions. Until it's FREE, I will not use that feature BUT I used it to set up a budget. FYI- BUDGET is NOT a foul word and setting up one is NOT rocket science.

• www.feex.com/ So with ANY investment you have, 401K and stuff like that, there is a FEE the company running it charges you. This site runs the #'s for you and tells you what the total fee will be when you retire! Sure it asks you for the log in to your investment BUT IT IS TOTALLY LEGIT!!!! KRIPES if Clark Howard mentioned it then I am soooooooooo cool with it!

• www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free  I can't speak for you BUT, I hate paying taxes! If I have to do it, why not for FREE!!! That's right kids, you can file your taxes for FREE instead of paying for Turbo Tax or something.

• www.creditkarma.com/ https://secure.creditsesame.com/signup1 These give your credit score ###### NOW IT'S NOT YOUR TRUE FICO SCORE BUT IT'S CLOSE AND GIVES YOU A 'BALL PARK' FIGURE!##### 

• www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action Why go do this?????? BECAUSE!!!  

• www.chrishogan360.com/ This guy and his site RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULE because he has a "R-I.Q" that tells you if what your saving for retirement is enough or if you are screwed and gonna TRY to live off of social INsecurity...

• www.clarkhoward.com/ and www.daveramsey.com/home/ -THESE two are my 'GO TO GUYS' when I have ANY financial question, WORDS can't describe what I have learned from them!!!!!! They rock like KISS at the Thomas and Mack Center at Las Vegas in 88!!!! I KNOW BECAUSE I WAS THERE AND 'Rock 'N' Rolled All Night and Partied Every Day'!!!!!!
• www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/personal-finance-credit/credit-freeze-and-thaw-guide/nFbL/- THIS is one of the only ways you can protect yourself if your ID is stolen. It's not 'STEEL CLAD' but it's worth doing because if someone that has stolen your I.D tries to apply for more credit then they will get rejected because your 'credit' has been frozen and only YOU have the codes to thaw it....So in conclusion, DON'T believe all the crap companies like LifeLock and others try to sell ya (they work like this, they monitor your credit AFTER it's been stolen! This is the ONLY way to protect yourself!!!! BE PROACTIVE!!! If you MUST (rolling my eyes) sign up for some I.D protection then why not do it for freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee www.allclearid.com/enroll
  If your state is on this list then I STRONGLY SUGGEST you do this for your kids! www.clarkhoward.com/maryland-wants-tackle-child-identity-theft-problem
  If not then ask your state representative WHY you can't protect your child's ID. www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/personal-finance-credit/sample-letter-request-credit-freeze-legislation-mi/ngXG7/  
    
• https://investor.vanguard.com/ -OH AND THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL STATEMENT so settle down! More than likely WE, anyone under 50, will NOT have social security or it will look completely different when it's our time to retire. IT'S SIMPLE MATH!!! This is a good way to prevent being on the 'Alpo retirement plan' (That is when you can't afford 'people food' and you have to eat dog food to survive. They make it as easy as a prom date to set up an I.R.A and their customer services reps are knowledgeable and NOT a freakin' call center in India! They can also help you set up a 529 plan. Watch out because I am about to get on my soap box!!!!! Being an expert on MY opinion, I think it's YOUR duty as a parent to save for your child's education. You need to start right when you find out you're 'knocked up'!!! Don't be that mom/dad that has to expose your child to student loans because YOU weren't prepared and you have to look your child in the eye and say 'I'm sorry' when they are 23 and have over $30+ in student loans they have to pay back. Speaking of kids, If you have a 'special needs' one then you can do this!! It's basically a 529 plan but instead of using for higher education, you can use the money for future needs.... http://blog.aarp.org/2014/12/22/new-529-plan-created-for-people-with-disabilities/
  
  
•  www.missingmoney.com/Main/StateSites.cfm, http://unclaimed.org/ Almost ALL 50 states participate in this... Any $ that is owned to YOU has to be given back to YOU! Use these site to find any $ that MIGHT be owed to you and the state HAS to give it to you. 

COMPUTER:

• http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage -This is a FREE anti-virus program for your home computer. It's all you need TRUST ME ON THIS! I have been using it for YEARS and I have had no problems ever!!!

• www.newegg.com/ - NOT FREE but D@MN good to have so you are NOT 'up a creek' if your computer dies..... You'll be glad you backed up your pictures from your 'experience' at Mardi Gras 99!!!! 

• www.openoffice.org/ -So you're all set to pay a lot of $ for Microsoft Office? WELL!!!! This looks a little different BUT is basically the same thing and it's A LOT cheaper then Microsoft Office!!! IT'S FREE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, and Google Docs is cool too! Happy now Karen? 
• www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcareper.html -This FREE program scans your computer and fixes 'issues' that are making your computer run slow.....

NOT A HIPPY but energy stuff is ALWAYS on my mind:

• http://www.arcadiapower.com/how_it_works -Not 100% sure how it all works BUT I think it's worth it for you to at least check it out.
  

AUTO:

• www.recalls.gov/ Don't be that guy/gal that has possible 'issues' with your car because you weren't aware of a recall that was issued by your auto maker months ago! Register your email and they will send you a notice if there is a recall on your car!

• www.scangauge.com/products/scangaugee/ Sure it costs money BUT it's worth it!!!! You will recoup it by driving smarter...... I have had it for almost ten years and it ROCKS!!!! It plugs into your OBDII connection (the computer on your car). KRIPES! It's all they do when you take your car to a mechanic.... They plug in to it to see what's wrong with it.  

MISC (STICKING IT TO 'DA MAN'!!):

• www.antennaweb.org/ It's ALL good if you think of me as a NERD, I'm cool with it, but I know about TV and radio stuff (HELLO! I'm a 'TV and radio production' degree holder from ASU, YEAP I went to college, SHOCKER HUH? ALL stations in the USA are mandated by the FCC to broadcast in HDTV! I know the reason they did this but I will spare you that info, all you need to know is that you can get a 'CRAZY' amount of channels (network TV, NOT ESPN and stuff) just with an antenna! ********** AGAIN! NETWORK TV NOT CABLE STATIONS************* BUT don't fret because you can ask Shonteea, coworker of mine, about some reality show and she will give you detailed events of each episode (THANK GOD FOR MY iTouch! But seriously, Almost all of the network (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX) plus all the cable channels, ESPN, CNN, BRAVO, ALL have the shows on their web sites so you can download and watch them and this will help you put it on your TV instead of the screen on your computer.

• https://twitter.com/, www.facebook.com/login.php?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fhome.php%3Fsk%3Dapp_2915120374, https://plus.google.com/ TWITTER and 'DA BOOK' aka Facebook and Google+  are SO a 'double edged sword' BUT they can be GREAT because of all the info you get from them! PEOPLE! I get all the information I can handle about football and other stuff by 'following' people from current and past players of the Buffalo Bills and news outlets from around the country. KRIPES! I knew Ryan Fitzpatrick (one of MANY Ex-Bills QB) was going to throw an interception because he tweeted that he had a hang nail early in the day. HANG NAIL= INT!!!!! PLUS Famous people will reply to you if you ask them a question! KRIPES! I almost FAINTED when Thurman Thomas 'retweeted' me!!!! MY life was complete at that moment!

• www.republicwireless.com- One of those contracts that most companies make you sign are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO '20th century'. Republic is a contract FREE phone service that RULES. It runs off of WIFI but if there isn't WIFI then it runs off the Sprint network. I, ANDY McBRIDE, HAVE NEVER HAD 'ISSUES' WITH NOT GETTING OR SENDING A CALL!! I pay $10 bucks a month for it and I am not sure what thier business model is BUT I do love saving money and their customer service is 2nd to NONE!!!! I am one happy camper!!!!!! 

• www.startsdownload.com/picasa/ - This is for all of you that are over the age of 60!!!!! This is a free photo editor. So the next time you take pictures of your grandkids and they are sideways or scanning something and NOT cropping it. I think YOU should edit it through this site BEFORE you post and, cause me and others, a kinked neck trying to view it.

There are other sites but I can't think of them right now but I hoped these helped ya out a little. MERRY CHRISTMAS KIDS and I hope Santa gave you everything you asked for this year.

P.S. I wrote this to all of my coworkers AFTER 'THE MAN' laid off most of the people in our department AKA 'BLACK WEDNESDAY', oh this was 1 1/2 years ago and they have slowly but surely 'dwindled' the work force even more. AHHHHH The JOY of working for corporate America: "OKIE DOKIE! The past week has REALLY put things in 'perspective' so I decided to write, as my co worker Shonteea would say, the little 'ANDY BEEEEEEEEEOTCHIN' investment guide'. I want to get this out because I want y'all to know this if they decide that we are not needed anymore. This will be short and sweet but I think you'll get the gist of it so you are NOT on the 'Alpo retirement plan' (You are soooooooooo broke when you retire that you have to eat dog food because you can't afford 'people food'). FIRST OFF, I think it's pretty cool that you ask me for financial advice, contrary to popular belief, I like helping people BUT I DO have my limits! Just ask my cube mate!!!! ALRIGHT, enough of the warm and fuzzy cr@p, let's get down to business. 

- ALWAYS remember that the turtle beats the rabbit EVERY TIME. Apply this phrase to your investing. You are NOT looking to make the 'quick buck' in the next week, month or year because there is a really good chance you will loose it just as quick.

- K.I.S (keep it simple and yes DULL! Boring mutual funds= less risk. Single stocks= A LOT of
  RISK. Look at mutual funds that have been around for at least 10 or more years and average a
  good track record.

- DO NOT use the news as your financial adviser, the news is all about DOOM and GLOOM!
  KRIPES, their motto is 'IF IT BLEEDS, IT LEADS'!  

- Look at what your 401k is in once in a while, I'll be the first to tell ya that I am bad at this. I just
  looked at mine today and when I was helping some other people out a few months ago, for the
  first time in years. BAD ME!!!

     1. You can adjust your funds that you are in manually or you can keep them in one of the
         'target market' funds (just figure out when you want to retire, the year, and put your money in
         that. It's like 'auto pilot' for your money. It's personal choice....).
     2. Well Fargo matches up to 6%, so set your contribution to at least that and ALWAYS add to
          it no matter what. 'Catholic Kate' AKA my mom (NO I don't call her that to her face) instilled
          in me to ALWAYS contribute to it. She also did a fabulous job with the whole 'Catholic guilt'
          thing!!!
     3. There are some GREAT references that they offer us that explain the 401k plan A LOT better
         than I do. Just log in to your account and on the top of the page there is a tab called
        'Planning and Education' then click 'Education Resources Center' and read to your little
        heart's content . Also just search '401k' on the internet.  

 I could go on and on about this but I won't because I you to roll you eyes at me and say "OK!
 I get it old man!' "

I HAVE THE POWER!!!!!!!

 Pretty sure it's all a P.R move so people stop thinking about this, but the folks at my power company, DUKE ENERGY, asked me if I wanted a FREE 'energy audit'. FYI- They had me at FREE!!! Plus, it was a great excuse for me to take off of work one Friday afternoon.

 So a guy comes to your house and basically checks it out for you. Crawl space, attic, and your actual living area AKA the inside of your freakin' house. After he checks it out, he sets up his computer on your kitchen table and asks a bunch of question regarding your energy consumption. Which I don't use too much anyway.... HELLO!!!! Single guys like me don't need too much power. Sorry about that little outburst, ANYWAYS, he suggests stuff that he observed that might help reduce my energy and he gave me some ideas that I can make future projects!!!! One of those projects was adding this stuff to the attic... So my cousin Chris came down and we spent about 2 hours up there until this happened...

  Don't worry, everyone is fine, It was just kinda scary to see my cousin hanging on a rafter for dear life so he didn't fall all the way down.... Needless to say we stopped doing that little project for the time being.... We installed a garbage disposal instead!!!! WOO HOO! Oh and we pruned a few trees for a future blog post I am currently working on.

 The other 'recommendation' took a whole 10 minutes to do.... You see, you need to seal everything because air will escape it. He suggested that I seal this up.....

 It's the air intake for my heat and AC unit that I haven't used in YEARS because the A/C part of it leaked all the Freon in it and I am TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cheap to get a newer one. HA!!!!! Where was I? OH YEAH, SO I DID!

 The guy also gave me a box FREE energy efficient stuff!!!!! WOO HOO!!!! OH and for all you Republicans, AH HELL, anyone out there (FYI, I'm a not a huge fan of the CR@P he pulls either BUT facts are facts), those 'Obama phones' that were FREE, well, that's just a myth KIDS!!!!

 As you can see from this graph, I hardly use any power to begin with

BUT that is not enough for me! I WILL have a metal roof and then SOLAR panels (hopefully the ones they make in Buffalo, NY) installed so the big bad power company has to PAY ME!!!!

 WARNING! I'm about to give you MY OPINION and I'm an expert in it!!!!! HA!!!! The majority of people will NOT go 'green' until it's cheaper for them and they can see the affect. It's like that with ANYTHING in our lives. Whether it's our health, financial OR ANYTHING, if we DON'T see a result, sooner than later, we STOP doing it and revert back. An example of this is, back in the early 80s, my step grandpa Russ made a decision to install a solar heating system on his roof. So you know, It was NOT as 'advanced' looking like the one I made a link to. It was the early 80's!!! HELLO!!!! It was just a bunch of PVC pipes painted black... Not too fancy BUT he did it because he saw that he could save money and yes, it was very cheap because he built and installed it himself.... I'm not sure if he saved A LOT of money doing this but I do know that my cousin told me about the day Russ got the power bill. He was all excited but when he saw the amount he was 'saving', he said "That's it?". I think he was wasting more power just pumping the water up to his gizmo. So I don't think he used it too much after that.

 OKIE DOKIE!!!! It's safe now because I am off my soapbox!

 All this rambling about using new energy sources and stuff pays, you ready for this? $34 a month for electricity! HA!! 99% of you will be like "AHHHHH HELL WTF! I pay that much just to power my house for a freakin day!" Anyway, have a great month and I leave you with your moment of zen!!! ENJOY a guy in a t-rex suit doing American Ninja obstacles!!!!

 Oh and I will say it AGAIN!!!! KIDS, make sure you have your F.U1./Emergency fund ready because a storm is coming AND is getting STRONGER by ther day! ..... Some CLOWNS, actually it's just one, we work with will TRY to spin it and say that "As long as we are the best at what we do then we will be fine". AHHHHHHH NO BUDDY!!! That's NOT how it works tool! We are #'s and cost $ and if that is too much then we will be cut loose.... I've been there 13 years and have seen my share of this!!! Heck I have been laid off myself twice..... WOO HOO!!! Corporate America RULLLLES!!!!!!!

1. A lady that I sit next to told me that her dad told her "have your F.U fund ALWAYS ready and have atleast 6 months of expenses". So I thought that was a great name for an 'emergency' fund and that is what I named mine.

They call me the WORKING MAN and I guess that's what I am!!!!!!

 AND THIS MONTH, I exercise my right to use my blog whichever I want!!! You see, there is one rule to 'blogging'. 1. It's MY BLOG and I can do what I want to it. So I created a little 'montage' of me WORKING on casa de McBride the last ten years...

 Oh and don't worry Alex and Geddy (They wrote this), no one reads or sees this blog anyways. So no need to call the lawyers to sue my @$$ for copyright infringement.

 I actually did a couple of things to casa de McBride this month... I got a REALLY CHEAP screen door for the back. I painted it up and sanded it for days to get the perfect slam of it when it closes. I felt like Steely Dan (if you are old enough to remember them, you will know what I am talking about), so what do you think?

 After all of that, I filled in all the holes I accidentally I drilled in it, put another coat of paint on it and put back in the screen. Not bad for a $20 dollar door...

 I also 'dethatched' and over seeded my yard... If you have kids, then there is NO NEED TO DO THIS STUFF. Because it's time consuming and I can promise you will BE 'that guy' when they and their friends play on it....
 

 HEALTH ALERT!!!! So I am doing some PT (physical therapy) so I can cope and adapt with some 'issues' I have with some balance stuff. It helps but I found that I already do 90% of the exercises already when I work out in the morning. The other 10% was taught to me by a SUPER HOT therapist! GOOD LORD!!!!!!! Ask my friends and family and they will tell you that I can't stop talking about how hot she is!!!! So here is my dilemma, do I keep going mainly to see the HOT therapist or just incorporate the stuff I have learned in my workout routine and be done with PT???


 OH and one last thing, I hope you don't mind me using you as my 'emotional tampons' but I have to vent about something. FYI ALL politicians, Republican AND Democratic, running for president, WE DO NOT live in a democracy!!! FOR THE LOVE OF BABY JESUS! We live in a 'republic'!!!! OKIE DOKIE!!!! Thanks for that!!! I feel better.