Tim's Ordination

Here are a few pictures from my friend Tim's Ordination and the celebration party afterwards.

Quote of the Day

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both." -- James Michener

The Progression from Mountain Man to Boy Wonder

So 3 years ago I began the quest on the trail of the bearded man. It began as full beard then went to goatee then back to full beard then back to goatee. Recently, the Drew Manchu was introduced followed by the 'stache with the end result of once again arriving at a state of smooth faced. Having facial hair certainly saves on time getting ready in the morning but I believe I'll try the smooth faced look for a while.

July 4th Fireworks

Here are some firework pictures from the park close to where I live as well as looking down at Worlds of Fun.

Stars and Stripes

Here are some pictures from the weekend of June 28-29 where Pleasant Valley Baptist Church set up more than 3000 flags for their patriotic service.

Serve KC

Over the past few weekends, I've assisted with the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church Serve KC projects at Synergy Women's Shelter and City Union Mission. We poured a concrete slab and repaired a fence at Synergy and did a large amount of landscaping at City Union Mission.













Check out more pictures of these events at the Community Faces webpage.

Guitar Tuning

If you ever need to tune a guitar but have no tuner or other intstrument to tune to, never fear, there are alternative methods. If you have access to a dial tone for a phone, the note is an F so simply tune the first fret of the Low E string to the dial tone. Alternatively, if you have internet access, go to tunemybass.com which will play audible notes to tune the guitar to.

Quote of the Day

The irony of the stock market is that both the buyer and the seller believe they made the right move.

Improve Your Gas Mileage

Over the past month or so, I've started driving around 55 to 60 mph on the highway versus up around the speed limit of 65 mph. This has resulted in improved gas mileage of around 1.5 to 2 miles per gallon. I get around 25.5 to 26 cumulative mpg following this new pattern. I'd heard of gas mileage savings by driving at a slower speed but had not previously tried it.

This will end up extending a tank of gas by roughly 1 gallon per tank. I fill up an estimated 26 times per year so at 26 x $4 that equals a savings of $104 per year just by driving 5 to 10 mph slower. Many people fill up more frequently than this so they could potentially save even more. Try it, it works.

To find out the cheapest gas in your area try out one of these links MSN Auto Gas Prices or Gasbuddy.com.

Dierks Bentley Concert

Here are some pictures from the May 29th, 2008 Dierks Bentley concert in the Power & Light District in downtown Kansas City. Dierks is a great entertainer and put on a quality show. The place was packed with several thousand people all over the courtyard and in the balcony.

If you are interested in licensing one of these pictures, please leave a comment on this entry with contact information and intended use.







Additional pictures are also viewable at this link.

Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War

Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War by T.J. Stiles

This is one of the most in depth and well researched biographies that I have ever read. Stiles did extensive investigation into primary sources when performing the research for the book.

There is a great deal of perception of Jesse James as a larger than life myth. Much of what he did was very much grounded in the history of his time and focuses on the Civil War as a driving force behind his actions and behavior.

James's father was a Baptist minister who left the family to go to California during the gold rush in 1849. While there, he contracted an illness and died when Jesse was still a young boy. This left his mother to raise Jesse and his siblings on her own until eventually remarrying.

The James family owned a good sized farm with quite a few slaves and so had a vested interest in maintaining the slavery structure. They were very much a part of the Confederate mindset and supported that side during the Civil War.

Jesse joined his brother as a teenager during the Civil War by banding together with a bunch of "bushwhackers" who were basically guerrillas (or terrorists depending on how you look at it) on the Confederate side. They would walk up to Union sympathizers who were often neighbors and point blank kill them in cold blood simply for being supporters. This instilled fear in the local populace and a general sense of uncertainty and terror.

People from the Union side did similar types of things to Confederates namely Jayhawkers from Kansas. Missouri during the civil war and the days afterwards had a feel like that of Iraq today. People of differing ideological backgrounds resorted to violence and force to push their political agendas and philosophies.

Following the war James stayed with the bushwhackers until they gradually dissipated. At first they targeted banks to rob with Union ties for political reasons. Eventually, however, the targets became less political and more for pure monetary gain.

One of the primary reasons for Jesse James's notoriety and fame was his frequent correspondence with newspapers. He was a voracious reader and constantly maintained his innocence in letters to editors. Newspaper man John Edwards became a champion for James and glorified him and his gang in articles. He cast them as heros and icons for the Confederate political agenda and used them in print to help advance political purposes. In that day, newspapers were very openly partisan and did not try to maintain an appearance of neutrality as news agencies do today.

As James et al gained more and more fame and notoriety, public outcry became much more pronounced against them while encouraging local and state officials to crack down and bring them to justice. After stealing from express companies similar to Wells Fargo who operated primarily via railroad, private business interest arose in tracking them down and preventing future robberies.

His gang branched out into other states as well such as Iowa, Tennessee, Minnesota, Kentucky, and West Virginia obtaining national attention.

The Pinkertons a private investigative agency were hired to find them but most of their efforts were fruitless considering the James/Younger gang's support from local friends and their knowledge of the backwoods.

On several occasions, Jesse was injured in gun fights some requiring lengthy recovery times. All told though he personally probably killed at least 20 men so came out on plus side from his battles.

The gang eventually met their match while trying to rob a bank in Minnesota where the people fought back and injured or killed many members of the gang. Jesse and his brother barely escaped back to Missouri once word got out and posses were gathered to track them down.

Jesse never could settle down to a life of honest work which resulted in his downfall. He was constantly suspicious of those around him but gathered a new gang to continue his exploits. A couple of brothers in his new gang plotted to kill him and eventually succeeded, collecting a hefty reward in the process.

Stiles book reads like a combination of a pure history and real life historical novel. The first 200 pages are primarily devoted to the historical background of the Civil War and environment James grew up in. The last 200 pages are focused more on Jesse's emergence as a bank/train/stagecoach robber, leader of a gang, and Confederate symbol. As mentioned on the book cover, Stiles debunks the myth that James was a form of Robin Hood and was instead mostly interested in his own fame and fortune.

At times the book moves slowly and is exhaustive in its coverage of the material but if the reader stays with it, he or she will have a very complete picture of Jesse James and the history of Missouri during the Civil War and the decades afterwards.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know here.

Spaghetti Fiscal Year End

Last June saw the genesis of the Spaghetti Score (see here for original post). Over the course of the year I've eaten spaghetti 58 times. This equates to 1.12 times per week. This feature of the Wisdom of Dre has generated a slight bit of interest offline so plans are to keep it in affect in the coming year. To see the current score, be sure to check in the side column under the Spaghetti Score section.

Drew-Manchu

We now embark on a new chapter in the adventures of facial hair. When we last checked in with our protagonist a little over a year ago (see here for details), he determined to go from fully bearded to the suave/hip goatee. In recent times, he determined to take on a contenance to identify more with the blue collar crowd. Or maybe it was an attempt at the retro 70s look. Or perhaps even hearkening to it's origin in the orient. Regardless, the visage of said protaganist now bears the simultaneous resemblance of both Fu Manchu and a modern day truck driver.

The Automatic Millionaire

The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach

The basic premise of Bach's book is to automate as many financial aspects of your life as possible. With today's technology, this is much easier and more accessible than in the past.

A main focal point of the automation is having automatic deductions from one's paycheck go into a retirement account. The benefit being that one learns to live on the lower net income and does not even notice the automatic deduction. At the same time the investor is saving tax if investing in tax deferred accounts such as a 401(K), 403(b), SEP, or traditional IRA retirement account.

So for example if you take a $1,000 paycheck and deduct 15% to go directly into a retirement account, that would be $150. In contrast if you did not put anything into the retirement account first, you would bring home $800 assuming a 20% tax rate. By "paying yourself first" you avoid tax today on the $150 and rather than only bringing home $650 based on the $200 tax on a $1000 paycheck, you would actually bring home $680 due to not paying tax on the $150. This may not seem like much but can make an enormous difference over time.

The millionaire part comes into play by following this system of setting it up one time to automatically deposit the money and letting the power of compound interest work over the course of a number of years.

He also recommends automating things such as a house payment by having payments drafted from your account once every 2 weeks rather than once per month. This results in an additional full payment each year with the advantage of paying off a 30 year mortgage (if using one that long) in only 22 years. This cuts out a huge amount of interest paid and gets you out of debt that much quicker. Rather than relying on discipline and remembering to send in a payment every 2 weeks you've automated it and don't ever have to worry about it.

An additional idea Bach presents is that most people have a "Latte Factor." This essentially is little things through out the day which you may not think about spending money on such as picking up a $3.50 latte and $1.50 muffin at Starbucks in the morning. While this is ok from time to time, the point is that if done on a regular basis without thinking about the total cost, it can really add up to substantial amounts of money in time. Say for example you did this on the way to work each morning (5x50=250x5=1250) $1,250 per year in coffee and muffins. In my book that's a decent chunk of change.

An idea Bach does not mention but which is effective is to give oneself a monthly budget for random purchases. Dave Ramsey calls this the blow category in a budget. Money which can be spent as you please without having to fall in a specific category. If your blow category is $50 for the month, at the beginning of the month you put $50 in an envelope and can spend it any way you choose. But when the money runs out and the envelope is empty, you don't spend any more. It really helps in making you pause to consider a purchase before whipping out the plastic and swiping away that $1,250 in muffins and coffee.

Other elements which Bach promotes are paying off debt and giving money away. Debt will really hamper one's ability to become wealthy so by attacking it, you free yourself to run unfettered towards wealth. The giving aspect helps put things in perspective and give you a sense of wealth and generosity even before becoming "wealthy."

One aspect that I would give caution to the reader about is Bach's chapter on real estate. If not read in a proper context, the reader could get the impression that taking on large amounts of debt or "leverage" great ideas with limited risk. One should always incorporate a big risk factor whenever introducing large amounts of debt. Regardless of how leverage is couched, real estate prices do not always go up as seen recently, and renters do not always make payments. So if taking on a mortgage to purchase real estate, it would behoove the person to make a large down payment and pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible.

Overall, The Automatic Millionaire offers some good ideas on helping to reduce the discipline needed to attain financial independence and comfortable retirement. Automation of investments is a great way to consistently build wealth over a long period of time.

You can also read this review at Helium.com.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know here.

Discount on Bread

If you're ever close to 210 Hwy and Chouteau Trafficway drop by the Roma Bakery off of Chouteau at the red light just after 210 heading north. You can get a loaf of bread for 70 cents a loaf. In the grocery store this usually runs from $1.50 to $2.50.

31 Cent Ice Cream

For those of you who enjoy ice cream at an affordable price, check out the 31 cent ice cream night at Baskin Robbins tomorrow evening April 30th. See the Baskin Robbins link for more details.

Tax Rebate

So are you ready for that nice fat tax rebate stimulus check? If you e-filed your tax return, it should be direct deposited into your account between May 2nd and May 16th. If you filed a paper version of the federal tax return there is a different schedule from May 16th to July 11th. When you receive the rebate is determined by the last two digits of your Social Security Number. Check the IRS website to find out when you'll receive the rebate.

Now, the government's idea is for you to go spend the check to help simulate the economy. Whether this will actually measurably affect the overall economy remains to be seen. However, an even better way to affect your personal finances is to use it to pay off debt if you currently have any, use it to start or build on an emergency fund, invest it in a Roth IRA account. Even if you choose to spend a portion of the rebate, try to at least use some of this serendipitous bonus for financially healthy goals.

The $64 Tomato

The $64 Tomato by William Alexander

In this hilarious gardening memoir, we learn the perils of deer, groundhogs, grubs, weeds, and those ever present squirrels to the garden. Alexander began his gardening hobby in his late 20s when wanting some fresh produce not available to the locale off the coast of Florida where he lived at the time.

This began his lifelong obsession with gardening including all things vegetable, floral, and fruit. His Hudson Valley home in New York possessed an expansive back yard which he and his wife had visions of turning into a delightful kitchen garden. As they engage various contractors to complete the work, they learn some of the perils of the hired contractor market such as shoddy work, over pricing, and late arrivals or not arriving at all to perform work.

Eventually they have a workable garden and are able to proceed with planting large quantities of vegetables including many herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, leeks, potatoes, corn, apple trees, and flowers among others. They quickly learn that not only does the soil produce and nurture the desired vegetables but also a vast array of weeds which require lots and lots of repeated work to remove. The vegetables provide tasty accompaniments to their meals and allow them the ability to add ingredients to recipes within minutes of coming out of the garden.

He faces other creatures who like the vegetables such as deer and groundhogs and resorts to putting up electric fencing to help keep them out. He also has some interesting adventures in his quest to remain organic and still keep out the bugs and resourceful squirrels from his apple orchard. Eventually he breaks down and begins using pepper spray as well as netting which encompasses the entire tree. One especially funny episode occurs when a groundhog he names Superchuck takes up residence and is able to get past the electric fence and munch on the tasty Brandywine tomatoes at his leisure. Alexander resorts to numerous measures to trap or prevent Superchuck from having repeated meals in his garden. Check out an excerpt of the adventures at 64dollartomato.com.

The name of the book comes from a cost analysis he performs to determine how much they've spent over the years to support the gardening habit. With Brandywine tomatoes being a favorite from the garden, he decides to itemize the cost for each tomato for a particular year and comes up with $64 per tomato.

Whether you're an enthusiastic gardener, full time farmer, or just enjoy a good humorous read, you're sure to enjoy The $64 Tomato.

Acronym of the Day

Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth

Read it, Learn it, Love it!

Amputate the ARM

In this segment, we'll explore a bit of financial surgery. Adjustable Rate Mortgages or ARMs are a particularly nefarious form of home mortgage. People commonly get these based on the lower initial interest rate. However, in 3 or 5 years, depending on the terms, the rate will adjust and almost assuredly it will be in an upward direction. These mortgages have played a big factor in the the subprime mortgage crisis. When rates adjusted upwards people hadn't budgeted for an increase in house payment and got hit hard by the increase.

At current rates, ARMs primarily benefit banks by protecting them from having to offer low rates for a longer period of time. From a historical standpoint, the fixed rates available today are nearly as low as they have ever been. The current 15 year fixed rate posted on Bankrate.com is 5.21%. This is an awesome long term rate.

Now is the time to move if you are in an Adjustable Rate Mortgage and convert it to a fixed rate hopefully no longer than 15 years. Also factor in closing costs but all things considered this is a great time to switch over to a fixed rate.

An additional benefit of a 15 year mortgage versus a 30 year is that you will save a substantial amount of money in interest payments. We'll use the previously mentioned rate of 5.21% with a 15 and 30 year fixed rate on a $120,000 mortgage. The 15 year mortgage results in total interest paid of $53,187 and a monthly payment of $659. The 30 year mortgage results in $117,485 in interest paid with a payment $962. So we can cut out 15 years of slavery to the bank and $64,298. Where I come from that's something you can hang your hat on.

Thanks to DaveRamsey.com for the mortgage calculator.

So, go ahead amputate that ARM!

Calorie King

If you are so inclined to eat healthily, are interested in getting in better shape, or would simply like to know nutritional values of different foods, check out CalorieKing.com. It provides basic nutritional information on a wide array of foods including those from restaurants. Sample information includes calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbs, fiber, sugar, protein, potassium, calcium. As an example the stats on a medium sized apple are:

Calories 72
Total Fat 0.2 g
Sat. Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 1 mg
Total Carbs. 19.1 g
Dietary Fiber 3.3 g
Sugars 14.3 g
Protein 0.4 g
Calcium 8.3 mg
Potassium 147.7 mg

Certified Financial Planner Program

Hello faithful readers of The Wisdom of Dre. A few weeks back, I began an online program with Florida State University to complete the education requirement to become a Certified Financial Planner. The course work should take a little over a year and I will then be eligible to take the CFP board examine. Obtaining the CFP designation is approximately on par with the professional designation of being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Long term, my goal is to get into financial planning/advising/counseling as a profession so this is a step in that direction. If you ever have any financial types of questions, please feel free to throw them my way as I really enjoy this type of thing.

Other than knowing about this new endeavor, this affects you by the possible reduction in frequency of posts. I still maintain a goal of one post per week but the volume of reading required by the program is proving fairly ginormous and may slow down the amount of wisdom, fun, musings, and miscellaneous pursuits seen here. Keep checking back though, I plan to be in action with relative frequency.

Tinyurl.com

If you ever have a long web address to give someone but would rather not send such a long string of text, consider using the website Tinyurl.com. It uses a smaller url and redirects the user to the original website. Simply enter your original url at tinyurl and they'll provide the new address.
For example,
https://communityfaces.kcstar.com/?action=viewall&id=1037&expand=0&s=1&ac=1&ct=1&pc=1&fs=1&stf=1 is a very long and unwieldy address at 96 characters. By using tinyurl, I now have the address http://tinyurl.com/2e7nu3 of only 25 characters, which will take me to the exact same ending website.

Westport St. Patrick's Day Run

Today I shot some pictures for the Star's Community Faces at the Westport St. Patrick's Day 4 mile run. Approximately 3,000 runners this windy Saturday morning. The main race was followed by a kids fun run. There were runners from age 1 to 88 involved in the event which also included an appearance by a leprechaun. Click on the link in the CF section for more photos.

Quote of the Day

"A hound dog can't chase but one rabbit at a time" John Bichelmeyer (butcher)

Upward Basketball

Saturday, I took pictures for Upward Basketball at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church. For those unaware of how the program works, it provides a great way for kids to learn basic basketball skills as well as hear about Christ. The games are structured so that every kid on the team should get equal playing time. This was also an assignment for Community Faces and the link is posted in the CF section to the right. Be sure to check it out for more pictures.

The Beardstown Ladies Common Sense Investing Guide

The Beardstown Ladies Common Sense Investing Guide by the Beardstown Ladies

When you think of your grandma do you associate her with being savvy with the stock market? This group of 16 women aged primarily in the 50 to 80 year old range began an investment club in the early 1980s for the purpose of learning more about the stock market and as a good social outlet. Among the group was a school principal, a secretary, a pig farmer, and assorted other professions.

Some of them had a general understanding of the stock market prior to meeting together and some did not but all of them gained a much better understanding of investing and business in general over the course of the club meetings.

The structure was such that they met once per month to discuss various companies and the pros and cons of investing in them. They used various financial metrics on income statements, balance sheets, and analyst opinions to make informed decisions about stocks to invest in. Each member contributed $25 per month to the club and when enough money had accumulated shares of stock were purchased.

Each member of the group was assigned a company to track and perform research on through various methods such as observing local businesses like Walmart, reading the Wall Street Journal, watching financial shows on television, and the nightly news.

From 1984 to 1993 they claimed to have earned more 23% in the stock market but later audits revealed the actual percentage to be closer to 9%. Regardless of the actual return the women became substantially more knowledgeable about the stock market and much more savvy about investing.

The club also provided them with a great social outlet where they swapped recipes and stories in addition to investing money. Many of these women were widowed and the club gave them a great deal more confidence when managing their finances.

The first half of the book describes the club structure and how they originally started and the second half deals primarily with their investing principles and how they went about selecting stocks to buy, hold, and sell. Interspersed throughout are the ladies personal comments about various investing and other topics. There is also a recipe section towards the end of the book.

This book provides a good vehicle for learning how investing clubs work as well as general tips on growing one's knowledge of the stock market and how to evaluate individual stocks. The beginning investor would do well to first thoroughly research mutual funds and their benefits prior to investing in individual stocks.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link.

Air 1

I've recently discovered a new radio station called Air 1 the positive alternative. Here in the Kansas City area, it plays on 91.9 FM. The format is alternative Christian rock music. I really enjoy stations such as Calvary 88.5 and K-LOVE 97.3 but their style sometimes leaves out good music with an edgier sound. Air 1 plays popular bands like Mercy Me, Third Day, Newsboys, and the David Crowder Band that you hear on the other stations but they also have music by bands such as Switchfoot, Sanctus Real, Reliant K, Lifehouse, and Hawk Nelson. This really fills a hole and can be a great ministry tool for people who enjoy the edgy sound and slightly more rock oriented style. Be sure to let your rock star friends know about it. You can also listen online at air1.com.

Prayer and Breathing

Prayer should be like breathing to us, as frequent and constant and necessary as the next breath. In it we find our sustenance and strength, our life line to God. How awesome that the God and creator of the world desires intimate communication with us. As you breath, pray and draw life from the giver of it.

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and mighty things which you do not know." -Jeremiah 33:3.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This is a beautiful story about a young lad from Spain embarking on the journey of life. After completing his formal education, he chooses to become a shepherd in order to help see more of the world. He learns the ways of shepherds and sheep for several years then has a dream about treasure near the pyramids in Egypt. He sells his sheep and travels to Africa where, upon arrival, all his money is stolen by a thief. Back to nothing, he doesn't lose heart but is industrious and trades cleaning services at a crystal shop for lunch. The shop owner offers him a job and he helps grow the business over the next year.

At the end of the year, he has enough money to return to his home and purchase twice as many sheep if he so desired. This however, is not his calling or "Personal Legend" as the book describes it. He instead hooks up with a caravan traveling to Egypt. On the journey, the caravan stops at a town in an oasis. While there, the boy sees an omen warning the town of an attack.

An alchemist subsequently approaches the boy and plays teacher and sage to the boy in his quest to find the treasure. The alchemist helps him see beyond the physical desires of man and go much deeper to the elemental core of man's true desire. He helps him see that sometimes choices involve taking a chance. Though one's current position in life may be comfortable and relatively safe, it can fall short of his or her dreams and Personal Legend.

The boy eventually arrives at the pyramids where he begins digging and is promptly robbed in the process. The evil doers ask him why he's digging and he tells them he had a dream that treasure was buried there. One of them says he also had a dream that treasure was buried under a tree at an abandoned church in Spain but that traveling across the desert would be too long and foolish to follow such a lark. The boy recognizes the church's description and returns to ultimately claim the treasure. His great gain was not in finding the treasure but in developing character and experience through the journey he embarked upon.

Religious elements from the major world religions are woven throughout the story. The boy had training in Christian studies so this is his base but he then works with and interacts with many Muslims so learns about their faith. Also ever present are the philosophies and teachings of Buddhism which seems to be the predominant current running through the book.

Even setting aside the religious elements, the story is a great lesson in seeking out goals and dreams and not settling for the status quo.

If you found this review helpful, please let Amazon know at this link
Article also posted at Helium.com.