Ryan Fields

30 days television show

My wife and I enjoy watching the television show 30 days.  It is a summer replacement show, I think this is the third year it has been on.  Anyway, my wife tells me that tonight is the season premiere of 30 days, and we are going to have to set up the VCR to tape it - it is on at 10pm, which is past both of our bedtimes!  The topic is something about living and working as a coal miner in West Virginia for 30 days.  Sounds interesting!

Going out to eat tonight

My wife and I love to eat dinner at restaurant at The Senator Inn in Augusta.  There is a good salad bar that I like to eat a lot of salad from, and they have a really good seafood alfredo dinner that my wife and I both LOVE.  They also have some good steaks.  The inside of the restaurant is really fancy, so we like to dress up in our “good” clothes to try to make the night special.  Unfortunately there are usually a lot of people who show up there straight from their job at the farm, wearing their tattered jeans and flannel shirts or t-shirts with rude sayings on them and not even enough class to take off their baseball caps covered with grass clippings when they sit at the table.  We try not to look at those people and try to enjoy our meal regardless of the low class folks that wander in from time to time.  I think that this restaurant is classy enough that they should have a dress code for dinner - like shirts with collars, sports coat and tie.

Anyway, the food is good, and we enjoy eating there when we can!

Snowboarding

This is a good time of year to be thinking about buying winter sports gear - a lot of the stuff is on “end of season clearance” sale prices!  One of the winter sports my friends and I like to do is snowboarding.  We’ve been talking about buying some new Burton snowboards over the Internet from www.christysports.com.  They have a great selection of winter sports gear, and we saw that they have some clearance specials for about 50% off going on for snowboards, boots, and bindings right now, too!  They offer free UPS shipping on orders over $75, and that’s a good deal, too!

Golfing in Las Vegas

A pleasant surprise to me is that my friend Tom and his wife are going to be in Las Vegas the same two weeks that I am going to be there.  He loves golf, and has set up several Las Vegas golf tee times for when we are out there.  He immediately asked me if I wanted to drive the cart.  I said as long as there’s a big cooler to keep our frosty beverages in!  He said “I’m sure there is!”  I told him I might even try some of these crazy games that he likes to play.

We are going to book a reservation to stay a week at one of the golf resorts that we found through lasvegasgolfing.com.  That way we can be nearby the golf course and relax in a peaceful setting while still being close to the Las Vegas strip.

My understanding is that the prices are right and the courses are magnificent.  Of course, I also understand that you can buy special golf balls that when you hit them they go a mile, or so it seems!   The whole idea is to make them go straight!  I’ve seen pictures of the courses on the Internet; they’re beautiful!  I think that just walking on the fairways and greens of these courses is enough enticement to go there.

If you think you’d like to book some time at a world class golf resort, check out the resorts at www.lasvegasgolfing.com.

Going on safari

My friend Tom loves to play golf.  But he really loves to go hunting!  He told me just the other day he was planning on signing up for one of those African hunting safari trips he had been reading about in magazines and on the Internet.  He asked me if I wanted to go with him!  I told him that I would really like to go to Australia, so he proceeded to try to talk me into going to Africa with him instead.  He told me about all the nice trophy animals that he could get (or we could get) and how easy it was to sign up for one of the trips.  And the company would do everything else.  He told me about how nice the places are that you stay in, and how knowledgeable the guides are and they knew just where to take us to get whatever animal we wanted to bring home.  He said that all of the fees were included in the cost of the trip, including transportation to/from the airport, accommodations, trophy fees, and daily laundry!   I told him I’d think about it, because I really like to hunt, too!  (I can’t stand golf!)

Looking for car loans

I find that it is time for me to buy a new vehicle and I’ve been trying to find a really nice vehicle, but I don’t want to pay a lot of money to buy it and I’m going to have to finance it.  This means that I am going to have to get a Car Loan.  I was researching this on the Internet the other day and found that there were several New Car Loans available.

I know that what I buy cannot be very expensive because I cannot afford a huge car loan.  While I was looking, I came across this website by Complete Loan Source that showed me how easy it was to get this loan.  They also explained the interest rate was very low and they accept almost anybody with any kind of credit.  I found the application was very easy to fill out and it took very little time to approve.  The people seemed to be very eager and anxious to accommodate my needs.  They also told me that I should consider a used vehicle if I wanted something nicer for less money.

Cher fans

My friends and I have been longtime Cher fans.  We’ve been mesmerized by her ever since her debut in 1965 as the talented half of Sonny and Cher.  I’m pretty sure the first time I saw her was on the Ed Sullivan Show, but I really couldn’t swear to it.

I bought lots of the Sonny & Cher albums, and then when they split up and went their separate ways I bought a lot of Cher albums.  Eventually I bought a lot of Cher CDs.  I have enjoyed watching her in several of her movies, including Mermaids, Moonstruck, and Mask.  I think that she is one of the most talented women of our times!

Yesterday I was shooting pool with some of my friends, listening to one of my Cher CDs.  One of my friends was talking about how Cher’s farewell tour had turned into her “never can say goodbye tour” and that now Cher is performing at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas!  I thought she wanted to retire!  I guess I was wrong!  Anyway, my friends were suggesting that we go to Las Vegas for a weekend this summer and try to see Cher perform.  I’ve never actually seen her perform live, that sounds like a great weekend!  I’m going to go online and buy Tickets to see Cher in Las Vegas as soon as I can figure out my upcoming vacation schedule.

My friend’s Camaro

My friend has an ‘89 Camaro.  He basically restored it - all he really needed was to pull a few dents, paint it, and replace the chrome that was worn out.  But he went a little overboard - it had a small block 350 in it and an automatic transmission - when he was done (with the new paint and chrome) he added a big block 454 with a 5 speed standard.  The car is gloss black, but it is still hard to see at night.   You ought to see it go!

For some reason, he can’t seem to keep rear tires on the car, it doesn’t matter which size.  He has a problem leaving the remnants of the tire in the road where ever he leaves from!  Last week he told me the State Police were getting tired of getting complaints about the noise that this car made.  I said “which noise, from the tires, or from the exhaust?”  He laughed and said “both!”  He said that now he has to go down back roads and play with it when he wants to, and we all know what I mean by “play with” - screech screech vroom vroom!  He gave me a ride in it, he’s a real good driver, but I don’t want to ride in it again!

My neighbor’s new bed

My neighbors were so proud that they got a new bed from the thrift store for only $10!  They were bragging about what a great deal it was, a nice queen size mattress and box springs, big name brand - a Serta Perfect Sleeper.  It didn’t seem stained, was in perfect condition.  Until they got it home and discovered it was infested with bed bugs!  Boy were they upset!

I told them to go to the Internet for information about how to kill bed bugs. There is a good website there by www.bedbugsguide.com that talks about what bedbugs are and how to deal with them without having to throw away the bed.  I hope it helps them!

Identity theft

Bryce was quite shocked to discover that when he was buying his new 4-wheeler that someone had tried to open a loan in his name!  He was almost the victim of identity theft.  Fortunately it was caught in time and his credit is ok for now.  But it has upset him enough that he has decided to look into buying the lifelock service that we have been seeing advertised on television every day!  Using the lifelock service will protect him from any future attempts at identity theft being successful.  This was one close call he does not want to experience again!