Get your Loan On
Posted on August 13, 2007 by Ching under Family, Life, Sponsored Post.
I was looking through the internet the other day and came across several companies that offered some sort of financial debt consolidation for individuals that had High credit card bills, too many credit cards, payday loans or just wanted to consolidate several other loans in order to make one payment instead of several. I thought to myself where was this when my wife and I were in need of consolidation. We went through a company that took our credit cards and canceled all of them and negotiated new percentages with the companies. It was set up so that we could never use those cards again until the program was over. However, this puts a black mark on your credit record. If we had been given the opportunity to consolidate the loans instead then we could have not only got out of debt but improved our credit rating as well, instead of hurting it. What sparked the search in the first place is that we are currently working on a remodel of the house and thought that instead of doing it one room at a time we would take out one of those second home Mortgage Loans and just hire someone to do the remodel. This would improve or credit and get the house done in half the time. My wife and I anxiously want to get into a newer home and we know that we can not do so until we get our current house into better shape. I have also thought about seeing if I can refinance our home and trying to get a little more money there as well. It works out the same with the overall objective to get our home remodeled so that we can sell it. I haven’t decided just yet what to do and I am not afraid to take out a loan because in the end, I will get a better value out of my home when I sell it and I can turn that value around and pay off the loan, its a win win situation. So stay tuned and see what happens. I am sure that we will have before and after pictures of the whole event, those of you that know us know that my wife is a photo junkie.
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Starlite Drive-In
Posted on August 12, 2007 by Ching under Life.
You all know that the Jamaica trip was actually are anniversary celebration this year. Since we celebrated it early, we really didn’t plan anything big for the day of our actual anniversary. We even decided to forgo gifts for each other because the trip is supposed to be it. That’s why I was surprised when I got these..
I hadn’t received flowers from him in years! Seriously. When they say that you don’t get flowers after so many years of marriage, they’re usually implying that the guy has become less thoughtful or less caring. That is not the case with Brian. I know that he cares, it’s just we decided long ago that flowers were impractical. I’m not sure what got into to Brian that made him feel so frivolous on Friday, but there it is.. My beautiful bouquet.
He really shouldn’t have because flowers are expensive, but it was a very sweet and thoughtful gesture. I decided I shouldn’t give him grief about the cost. Although, he was disappointed that they got the type of flower wrong. He asked for stargazers (my favorite) and just got regular white lilies instead.
Friday night is poker night so that’s where we were the other night. Then on Saturday we attended the MKMVPA cook out after the monthly club meeting. It was kind of embarrassing, actually, because Brian and I arrived at the tail end of the meeting. I think everyone knew we were just there for the cook out. LOL. We are horrible as club members.
Anyway, we couldn’t let the weekend pass without doing anything during our actual anniversary weekend. So we decided to just go to the drive-in on Saturday night. It actually worked out perfectly because I’ve never ever been. At least now I can say I’ve been to the drive-in before my 30th birthday. 🙂
We actually had a pretty good setup. We inflated the air mattress in the bed of Brian’s truck, took our back rest pillows, several blankets, a cooler full of Pepsi, snacks, a boombox, reading material, and bug repellent. We figured if we are staying to watch three movies, we might as well be comfortable.
Here are some of the photos we took..
The weather last night was actually perfect. It wasn’t too hot. It cooled down considerably later in the evening, but it didn’t get too cold that we needed to bundle up. In fact, we didn’t even need our blankets. It’s better to be prepared, though, so we brought them anyway just in case. With the weather in Wichita as unpredictable as it is, you never know.
Brian and I were really well prepared for my first drive-in experience. I think we actually might have been too prepared, if there is such a thing. I think we’ve found a new way to watch movies. Brian is kind of fed up with the incompetence of Warren Theater employees and their lack of decent customer service so the drive-in is actually a nice substitute. We can create our very own comfortable space, enjoy our snacks, and not have to worry about being disappointed about bad service because we pretty much just fend for ourselves. I mean, where else can you go to watch three newly released movies for a measly eight bucks? Plus, kids get in for a dollar (or free if they’re under seven years old). It’s a bargain!
- Here are some tips to make your drive-in experience wonderful and satisfying:
- Get there early to get a good spot.
I am anal about being right in the middle of any movie theater so at the drive-in I wanted to make sure that we were in perfect alignment with the center of the screen. You don’t want to be all the way at the front or all the way at the back. So try to get there early to get a good spot. Also, you won’t have to rush setting up your area (cleaning your windshield, setting up lawn chairs or blankets, that sort of thing).
You probably don’t want to get there too early, though. That’s what happened to us. We got there way too early (we were actually the first car there; we might as well have plastered “drive-in movie virgins” to our windshield) so we had to wait a long time before we could actually get in. I didn’t mind, though, because I was at the front of the line. I like being first.
- Bring something to do.
Lucky for us, we brought stuff to do. We brought a magazine and a couple of books. We even brought our travel game set. You can read or play games while waiting in line. If you get there early, as in our previous advice, you still have to wait a while for the movie to start so it can be boring if you don’t bring anything to do while you wait. After we got set up, we still had plenty of time to kill. We didn’t end up using our game, but I did get some reading done.
- Plan your setup.
Plan your setup carefully in advance. You want to be comfortable otherwise you won’t enjoy the movie.
If you are watching from inside the car, make sure your windshield is clean. You can bring something to clean it with or you can buy the stuff they sell at the concession stand (it’s less than a dollar).
We didn’t need windshiled cleaner, though, because we watched the movie from the truck bed. With the air mattress and back rest pillows, our space was comfortable enough to sleep in.
If you plan to sit outside the car to watch the movie, make sure you have enough lawn chairs for everyone. Don’t take over the next space. The drive-in management doesn’t like that.
- Bring a blanket.
It might get cold later in the evening. In our case, we didn’t need it because the weather was just right. However, it’s better to be prepared.
- Don’t forget bug repellent.
You can bring bug spray but you can also light up a bug repellent candle for a more romantic ambience. If you’re on a date, I would suggest going with the candle. 😉
We didn’t have bug spray, but when we stopped by Brian’s parents’ house to inflate our air mattress (his dad has an air compressor so it was faster to inflate it there rather than using the pump that came with the bed) he gave us this terra cotta pot bug repellent kit. You light up the bug repellent coil and you put it in the pot. The incense repels bugs. I believe they are fairly inexpensive. Ours came with four coils and we only used two so we can use the other two coils next time. From then on you can just get coil refills.
- Bring headphones or a boombox.
This is particularly useful if you are watching the movie outside the vehicle. The spreakers provide may not be enough. We brought a boombox but, at even at max volume, it could have been louder. It may be sufficient for most, though. Brian and I are thinking of experimenting and bringing a headphone splitter and separate headphones next time to see if the sound quality improves.
Anyway, I recommend bringing a boombox so you don’t have to leave the car on. I know you can turn the car on accessory mode so you can run your radio without leaving the car running, but you have to do it in a specific way. If you do it wrong, you end up draining your car battery and when it’s time to leave you can’t. If you do decide to forgo the boombox and use your car radio, make sure you have your car emergency kit complete with jumper cables with you. You may not need it, but like blankets it’s good to have just in case.
- Bring lots of soda and snacks.
You won’t be able to sit through three movies and not have the munchies. Take advantage of the time they allow in between movies to hit the concession stand and stock up. If you don’t want to make the trek, then bring your own stuff. Although, it’s a good idea to support the concession stand to keep the drive-in in business.
It’s a good idea to bring a cooler because the concession stand usually closes at the tail end of the second movie. If you don’t have anything and have munchies later on then you’ll be out of luck. You won’t run into this problem if you bring your own stuff.
We hope you find these tips useful. If you have others that you’d like to share, please feel free to post them in the comments.
P.S. Mom and dad, you guys want to go to the drive in one night with the kiddos? Jenni? Jen? Anyone? It is super fun. Way better than going to the regular theater!
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Vacation Home Rentals
Posted on August 10, 2007 by Ching under Flickr, Sponsored Post, Travel.
While vacationing at an all-inclusive resort offers many benefits such as endless amounts of food, bottomless drinks, and maid service, it doesn’t really offer a lot of privacy. Granted, most resorts offer some romantic places for couples to enjoy. At COR for instance, they had several private jacuzzis hidden in the garden path. They are covered by lush vegetation so that does afford you some privacy. However, there’s nothing to keep other people from ignoring the occupied sign. The only place truly private is your room.
For couples who want more privacy, renting a guest house, villa, or vacation home might be a better option. Then you have the entire property to yourself. When we went on the glass-bottom boat tour, we actually saw several of these properties along the coast. The tour guide calls them guest houses. There was also one right next to COR. They are all beautiful. Some have their own swimming pools and jacuzzis. Some have gazebos. And all of them have ocean access.
Our room was on the far end of the resort building so we could see the pool area of the guest house next door from our balcony. At first we thought that the area was part of the resort and we were trying to figure out how to get there. But the next day we noticed there were some kids swimming in the pool. That’s when we realized it was a totally separate property.
The one pictured above is farther down the coast. It is probably my favorite out of all the ones we saw during our trip. Our tour guide said it is owned by an American. Most of these properties are available for rent. You can even find information about them online.
I think vacation homes are a brilliant idea. It’s even better if you are going as a group. Most homes will accommodate several people, which is great because then you can split the rental cost several ways. This is probably the way to go if you are looking for a great family vacation at minimal cost.
I’ll probably pitch this idea to mom and dad. You know I’ve never been to Disney and they’ve got great vacation rentals in the Disney area. These Disney vacation rentals are packed with great features and amenities. The best thing is you pick the property that suits your needs. I think it would be great for all of us, including the kiddos, to go on vacation together.
From browsing the different properties around the Disney area, I found this one. Check out the pictures. It is a beautiful property with lots to offer. Mom and dad, are you reading this? You guys want to go to Disney?
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Trip Recap Continued: Day 7
Posted on August 5, 2007 by Ching under Travel.
Much like the other days, we began this day by having breakfast at the patio. The plan was to spend the entire day at Tower Island. We had to cut that short, however, because we scheduled a one-hour couples massage at Oasis, the resort spa.
Here are some photos we took at TI..
Generally speaking, photography is not permitted at TI. However, as long as you are only taking pictures of each other people don’t usually care. You have to be discreet, though. If it looks like you’re taking pictures of other people then the guests will protest. So Brian and I only took pictures of each other, and only when we were by ourselves.
Although Kent, Dawn, Bob and Mary got some really fun group pictures there one day. You have to do it either really early (before other people show up on the island) or really late (after everyone else has left). You can find some of their pics here.
I didn’t take pictures of the spa because it’s not really anything spectacular. We just got a regular couples massage in one of the treatment rooms. I didn’t realize until the day of our appointment that I could have requested an outdoor massage in the garden. We figured we could add it to our list of things to do on our next visit.
That night we had 8:30 PM dinner reservations at Le Gourmet. However, we really an hour early. We figured we could take this time to bump into some people and visit. We ran into John and Wilma at the internet booth. They were checking out their son’s graduation pictures. He and his girlfriend both graduated at the same time so she was in the photos also. They make a handsome couple.
Anyway, John and Wilma had 7:30 PM dinner reservations and asked us to join them. The maitre d’ was nice enough to accommodate the slight change in their reservations. He found us a table for four so Brian and I were able to get in early. They usually frown upon these last minute changes, but John and Wilma can pretty much get away with anything because they practically live there. They’ve been visiting the resort annually for several years and the last couple of years they’ve stayed for three weeks. They pretty much know everyone.
After the wonderful dinner we had, the four of us headed to the piano bar to meet up with the rest of the TI crew. This was our last hurrah because Brian and I were leaving the next day. Michael and Vicky were leaving the next day also. Their flight leaves an hour ahead of ours. We thought we would be on the same bus to the airport but their pickup is an hour earlier as well.
Here are some pictures we took at the piano bar..
It was on this night when Brian and I realized how old we really were. The last couple of days we spent at Tower Island we noticed another group form consisting of younger people. They all kind of flocked together on the island. You kind of bond with people you hang out with on the island and end up making plans with them at the resort, maybe hanging out after dinner and such. Well, the younger TI group came into the piano bar that night and recognized our group as fellow islanders. One guy screamed, “Tower Island! Woo hoo!” as he walked by. Here is the younger TI set and Brian and I were with the more mature, older TI set. I thought, “Wow. A few years ago we would have probably been with the younger TI group.” How time flies!
Anyway, Brian and I turned in early that night to prepare for our departure the next day. I filled out the room service door tag so we could get our breakfast delivered to our room bright and early. We packed most of our stuff that night. The only things we left out were clothes for the next day and miscellaneous things like toiletries.
The bus ride to the airport was pretty uneventful. Brian and I opted to sleep this time, we’d seen the roadside view on our bus ride to the resort. Between the excursion bus trips and cab rides, there really wasn’t anything new to see. There was a long line at the Delta check-in counter, nothing we didn’t expect though.
After that we went through the security checkpoint. Once again long lines. Although, we were there early enough that we didn’t have worry about it. At this point it was around 1:00 PM. Since we had time to spare, I convinced Brian to grab a bite to eat since we didn’t really know when we would be able to do so from here on out. He is hypoglycemic so he really shouldn’t go without eating for extended periods. Otherwise he gets sick.
I tried to talk him into eating at the Air Margaritaville but he just wanted a pizza. We ended up getting a small, personal pizza for him, a hotdog for me, and a bottle of Pepsi. I have to say, if you can avoid eating at the airport do so. Airport food is not really the best and it is so expensive. Those three things cost us $20. I’m glad we still had plenty of cash to spare, otherwise we couldn’t have eaten.
We ran into Vicky and Michael at the Delta gate. Their flight was delayed. Ours was delayed also, but I was optimistic that this wouldn’t cause us any problems because we had a two and a half hour lay over in Atlanta. Was I wrong.
We get to Atlanta and it took almost an hour to get through immigration and customs. Customs took two seconds but the immigration lines were really long. They had a separate sections for non-US citizens and US citizens. I must say, I’m glad that I am a US citizen now. For one, Brian and I didn’t have to be in separate lines. Secondly, our section was moving much faster. They were paging interpreters every two seconds at the non-US section. Different lines were needing interpreters and the lines were barely moving.
You think you’re home free when you pass customs and immigration, but that wasn’t the case for us. Baggage claim was the worst. Atlanta is an international hub for Delta. Apparently, they had 20 flights arrive at about the same time and they were shorthanded. This caused delays in getting the cargo out. We waited at the carousel over an hour before the first bag from our flight came out. There were roars and cheers when this finally happened.
Brian and I were lucky that we didn’t miss our flight. There were several couples who did and had to be redirected. We barely made it to the gate the designated departure time. Come to find out, our flight was delayed also so we still had to wait at the gate a few minutes. We were thinking that it was delayed because of all the bags they had to sort through (you have to re-check your bags after claiming them; I’m not sure why they don’t just go directly to get loaded on your connecting flight). Come to find out our bags never made it on the plane.
Brian and I went back to the airport the next day, Sunday. We had planned to sleep in that day and recover from the trip, but we couldn’t do that because we wanted to retrieve our bags. One bag was on the 10:20 AM flight and the other was on the 12:45 PM flight. It was pretty bad. Brian wrote about the fiasco here. There isn’t much to say other than we will never fly with Delta again. Although, I’ve heard that most airlines are pretty bad these days.
One of the valuable lessons we learned from the experience is to never check any luggage because you can’t rely on the airlines or the airport to get them anywhere without hassle. We will just do carry-ons from now on. Brian and I joked that if we spend most of our days at Tower Island, we won’t need to pack that many clothes anyway. =P
This is the end of the travelogue. I hope you enjoyed the recap. If you have any questions about the experience or want tips and advice about going to an all-inclusive resort, an au naturel resort, entering another country, or just flying in general please feel free to post your questions in the comments section. We will be happy to answer based on our experience or point to you some valuable resources online that may be of assistance.
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Trip Recap Continued: Day 6
Posted on August 4, 2007 by Ching under Travel.
We started this day with breakfast at the patio. This day was supposed to be the day we would spend all day at Tower Island. However, since Brian got sea sick yesterday and we couldn’t do the snorkelling excursion then, the snorkelling excursion got moved to today. After breakfast we swung by the watersports office to sign up for the 11:00 AM snorkelling excursion. Then we were off to Tower Island. We got a really good spot because we got there early.
Around 10:30 AM we got ready to go back to the resort for our snorkelling trip. We just left our stuff on the island. Brian was really paranoid that someone would move our stuff and take our lounges. I assured him that no one would, though, because everyone knew that we would only be gone for a bit and be back.
After snorkelling we had lunch before going back to the island. We fully intended to spend the rest of the afternoon there except I saw on the activity board that there was a salsa lesson at 3:00 PM so we were going to go back to the resort for that. Besides, that we ended up getting talked into going on the shopping trip to Island Village. Jimmy told Brian about the lady that rolls cigars and Brian was sold. We wouldn’t have gone if it were just the two of us, but we found out the Jimmy and Dorenda were going so we decided to with them. They are repeaters and said that Island Village was actually one of the better shopping centers where you can just browse the shops at your leisure and are not pressured into buying stuff.
We went to the salsa thing in the squash courts. There were only two other couples besides us. Brian and I ended up leaving after 30 minutes because it was too hot in there. We just ended up hanging out at the resort for a while before the 4:30 PM shopping trip. Basically everyone just meets at the lobby. At the designated time the bus comes and takes us to the shopping center and then comes back to pick us up two hours later. There were a lot of people who wanted to go shopping that afternoon. Well, actually some people just wanted to go to Margaritaville. It’s the same bus because Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville is located inside Island Village. There were three bus loads from our resort. We got on the first bus with Jimmy and Dorenda.
Island Village was nice that day. Even with our three bus loads of people, it wasn’t crowded because there were no cruise ships at port. We wandered around for a bit and collected our free stuff (the resort gives you an envelope containing a bunch of store coupons). We actually got a free color change tote from Del Sol just for walking in the store. No purchase necessary.
Jimmy told Brian about the cigar rolling station
Here are some of the pictures we took at Island Village..
We got back to the resort just in time to get cleaned up and make our dinner reservations at The Bayside. The Bayside is most everyone’s favorite resto. I think Brian and I prefer the food at Le Gourmet more. We actually had dinner there on Tuesday night and made reservations again for Friday night because we liked it so much. Anyway, Thursday is the day to go to The Bayside because that’s when they have lobster night. I found out later that the patio had all you can eat lobster on the buffet too. I don’t know how that was, though. Maybe if the buffet just opened it would be okay, but I certainly wouldn’t want to eat lobster that’s been sitting out. I got two lobster tails at The Bayside and that was more than enough for me. They were delicious, by the way.
Here are some pictures..
After dinner Brian and I opted to skip most of “Showtime” and decided to go to the game room. Much to our disappointment, the dartboard was out for repair. We ended up shooting pool. The funny thing is, I won every game of pool and every chess match we played while on vacation. Well, I won the chess matches legitimately (after all, I did teach Brian how to play the game) but the pool I usually won via suck-out (we all know I’m awful at pool; thankfully, Brian is not that great at it, either).
After a couple of games of pool, Brian had had enough so we went to the patio to check out disco night. There was no one there!! Except for two couples maybe, but they were just sitting there. The music wasn’t too bad so I talked Brian into dancing with me. I said, “I’ll be damned if I don’t get to do any dancing on this trip!” Another couple came up and started dancing, too. They sat back down after two or three songs, though. LOL. I guess they didn’t have the endurance and thick skin that Brian and I do. For a while there it was just Brian and I, and also Suzanie and Ricardo, two members of the entertainment staff. We were just goofing around. Darcy and Colin came by. They’d been doing some late night swimming. I could tell because they were in their swimsuits. They ended up dancing around with us for a bit. It was just us, though. No one else. Darcy and Colin left after a few songs. Brian and I called it quits shortly after. I was really proud for Brian for keeping up with me through the hour of non-stop dancing. He did great.
Here are some pictures..
We had a pretty good workout that day between snorkelling (which actually can get tiring after a while because your legs get worn out from swimming) and dancing. We both slept really well but were kind of sad because we knew that the next day would be our last full day at the resort.
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