I hope everyone had a safe holiday weekend. I did not do too much. I mostly stayed inside and worked on school work. I am off of work for the next couple of weeks. So, I am hoping that things will stay quiet.

I switched to Vonage several months ago. It is about half the cost of using the local land line provider. Since voice mail is a free feature, I no longer have to use an answering machine. Of course, since my cell phone now rings simultaneously, I can answer calls that I would have otherwise missed. I also like that my monthly bill amount is fixed. In addition, as it is extremely easy to view my call history online, I do not even receive a paper bill.

This past week has been relatively quiet. So far, my schoolwork has been easy; I do more complex stuff at work. Rachel and I recently finished The Simpsons Game on the Wii. I am still working on Super Paper Mario when Rachel is not home.

This morning I received a text message from "1119" that stated, "Please login to VG to keep your account active." I do not know whom it is from or what it means. At least I was already awake at 5:30 AM when the message came through.

Recently, the US Government approved a stimulus payment to us taxpayers. The payment schedule was based on the last two digits of the taxpayer’s Social Security Number as well as if the taxpayer’s refund was direct deposited.

Thanks to having a very low number, Rachel and I got our stimulus payment on Friday. Most of the money will go to bills and such. But, we decided to splurge on a Nintendo Wii. Wiis are still tough to find in retail stores. Rachel was lucky to find a Target store with two available.

I know that gas prices are steadily increasing. The only solution is to stop using gas. One could use a vehicle that uses an alternative energy source (such as electricity or human power).

While filling up my vehicle, I made the hard decision to stop driving. It is costing too much not to mention the damage it is doing to the environment. When I completed the fill up, I could not even get back into my vehicle. I know that seems a bit drastic. However, as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.