mike utech dot com

One of the challenges that we have had over the past (almost) two years at church is bad instrument/mic cables. We have been buying the inexpensive (read: cheap) cables due to the number of cables that we have needed and the overall budget that we have had. Lately these basic cables have been dying at a rate of about one or two a week. We have now made the decision to change our approach and go with the more expensive “Lifetime Guarantee” cables that our local music store of choice sells a store brand and of course the monster cable variety. Now if we have a cable backslide (yes that was a religious joke) we can take it to the local reseller and get a new one. “How cool is that!?”

I still have that vacation time. Still not sure when I will use it or what I would do but it is fun to dream. One of my dreams someday is to visit Las Vegas. Not really sure if I would do the whole casino thing. I don’t mind making a donation to the public schools of Ohio but Vegas is just a different ballgame. But I would at least want to drive down the strip and see some of the famous hot spots like Caesars Palace.

My name is Mike, and I am a book hoarder.
Every time someone had some books that they were getting rid of, I was more than happy to snatch them up. The only problem is that I have really never read any of them.
Back in my other life, when I was preaching - I got a lot of ‘churchy’ books that for the most part were very closed minded and past times focused. There is nothing wrong with remembering and learning from the past but dwelling on it and wanting to relive it… I mean really, what good does a book on ‘bus ministry’ do me now?
Since we are trying to live within our means I have begun to go through all the old books that I have collected over the years and check Amazon to see which ones I can sell. I finished going through all my CDs a couple days ago, would you believe that a CD of 70’s & 80’s TV theme songs sold for $24 - it didn’t even cost of half that when it was originally bought.

[Big bonus points for any one who can tell me the song/artist the title quotes]

I got an email from my brother today that was summarizing the last couple of months and looking at his future plans.

“I am pretty sure everyone knows that I was diagnosed with diabetes this past Feb. In case you didn’t know this already I am doing fine keeping it under control. I am still in the Navy, but that will be for only a few more months as the Navy is telling me I’m no good to them anymore. My last day will be Jan 31, 2008 and which point I am going to go to an automotive school here in the Chicago area.”

I suspect that before too long my brother will be stocking up on body shop supplies.

With all the upheaval in the sub-prime mortgage industry and the slow markets all over the country I can’t imagine working in
West Palm Beach real estate. Florida has been a really hard hit area. There are so many people that are trapped in homes that they can’t afford for a variety of circumstances and reasons - some of which can be out of your control. The best thing one can do in a situation like this is to get rid of the house, either through selling it via a realtor, selling at a loss (a small loan is better than a large mortgage), negotiating a short sale with out recourse, and then finally foreclosure. Given our house situation I sometimes wonder if we should just get out and accept our loss as stupid tax.