Lumber for Slumber, Part 1

Last weekend was the one weekend I look forward to every year: Family Camp weekend. Our church has family camp every year with attendance around 450. There are lots of fun activities for children and adults and great food and exceptional teaching and everyone comes back having a blast. But we never go.

Instead, I view it as the one Sunday a year I get to sleep in. Man, living the life of an atheist is pretty relaxing! No yelling at the kids, no stress selecting their clothes (and yelling), no rushing to get them breakfast (and yelling)… Just peace and quiet. My kids even discovered there's actually cartoons on tv on Sunday mornings too! And did I mention east coast NFL games?? Ahh, such a tempting lifestyle as we sample the path toward delinquency.

So what to do on this totally free (and stormy) weekend?

This was the weekend I decided to embark on my most ambitious woodworking project thus far: a loft bed. Or rather a loft with a bed. So instead of building kid furniture, I'm going to attempt to build a structure for the very first time!

After inheriting scrap lumber from numerous friends throughout the year, my garage was getting full. I needed to build something, anything. And with the boys growing older, they'll eventually outgrow the room they share and need more separation of personal space. I had been combing craigslist for months trying to find the perfect loft bed/bunkbed, but none worked the way I wanted it to work. So with the stockpile of lumber and machinery in my garage coupled with inspiration from a friend's recent loft bed project, I decided it's best to do it my way. Yep, I am the master designer!

The bedroom is an unusual shape with a pitched ceiling going up over 13 feet. What's even weirder is that there's a 16" ledge on top with electrical and cable tv outlets (like anyone would want to crane their neck upward to watch at such an awkward angle). I saw this as premium usable space. I wanted a loft that not only fit a twin mattress, but also have a little area to sit and play games.

The whole project is a like a plan-as-you-go kind of thing. I was figuring out how to do things as I progressed. Even my wife was a little skeptical wondering if I knew what I was doing. I had to gently reassure her with some kind words, "Don't doubt me woman!" The main objective was to avoid having a center support beam in the middle of the room.

Once the platform was secured, the kids couldn't wait to get up there! Just like magic, we instantly gained over 50 sq. ft.! They treat it like a little clubhouse and are already demanding I add more "features" to it. I need to work on the ladder asap because Dustin is dying to sleep (and play) up there. The ladder will be another plan-as-you-go thing as I've never built one before. Stay tuned.

Next week, part 2, when I let you venture into my most private space. Ooooooh.

Cardpool.com

Today as a treat to my readers, I have Cez as a guest blogger. Her and her husband have been fans of my blog from the very beginning. They send me tips and gentle reminders whenever I'm lagging on the blogging (as I have been lately – sorry). If you want to share something that my readers would enjoy, and you don't mind spending some time writing it out, you too can be a guest blogger! Please feel free to send me a note. Enjoy.


I was honored when WhoFongPaid asked me to write on his blog..  "become a guest blogger" he says. Now I feel sick... due to the pressure to write up to his professional level. He couldn't write this himself since he didn't experience it. But I felt that this was an important consumer tip that can not go unnoticed. So okay.. here it goes.

The holidays are just around the corner and if you're like me, I start making out my list now.. checking it twice.. and thinking of what to get for my family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, the mailman, newspaper lady (mine is a lady and I've been sending her a Christmas gift for the past 5 years) etc.. I really try to get something that that particular person would like and appreciate so it takes some time. Now, others may not take the effort and time I do to put some 'thought' into a gift and they go out December 24 to hunt for whatever is left on the shelves.  The easiest gift to get are.... drum roll.. gift cards! Who hasn't gotten any? Or too many? Especially from places that you never shop, eat or visit! What were they thinking?!?! What will I do with $50 worth of Peet's Coffee when I don't even drink coffee?? What a waste.. you say. You should have given me cash. I always take cash!! But they didn't and you're stuck with a $50 worth of coffee bean money.

Or are you like me.. that have a huge stack of gift cards waiting to be spent but you always forget to bring them with you when you get to the store so they never get used.

Here's a solution.. sell your gift card and get CASH back! Okay you can't get the full amount of the gift card but hey.. you didn't spend any money for it so technically you aren't losing any money. Getting some cash for an unused gift card that'll be sitting in your dresser for who knows how long is much better don't you think? And like I said before, CASH is good.. you can buy ANYTHING with cash!!

I had received $75 worth of Regal Theatre gift cards (from generous school parents.. last day of school teacher gifts) and since I'm in Fremont I never go all the way to Dublin to see a movie.. so I decided to sell them. You can't get the full price but what I got was better than nothing. I sold it to cardpool.com and they offered me $52.50 cash or $55.13 amazon gift card. I took the amazon since I shop there all the time. Within 24 hrs of them receiving my gift cards, I got my amazon card emailed to me. I didn't want to bother with ebay and I didn't want to regift the cards so I went this route. It was perfect and I got to spend it on what I wanted. Oh happy day!

You could also buy discounted gift cards from cardpool.com also. So check it out and get some good ol' cash for those unwanted gift cards!

Cardpool was created by two Asian guys who wanted to solve the problem of having unwanted gift cards. They are based in San Francisco and were recommended on the Today Show (which was where I saw them promoed) and on various other TV stations. It's a service that lets you buy gift cards up to 30% off or sell unwanted gift cards for cash. All orders and transactions include free shipping ( they'll send you a shipping label to print) and are covered by their extensive Purchase Guarantee Program which is if you're unsatisfied with your purchase for any reason, you can return it for a full refund. They guarantee that when you purchase a gift card from them it will be valid at the merchant to the dollar amount specified in your order. Guarantees are honored up to 100 days from the date of purchase.

Now to sell your unwanted gift card, you click on the "Sell Gift Cards" on the top menu, find the merchant of the card ( and they list ones from 76 Gas to CVS to Yankee Candle). If you have a card that they don't list, just contact them directly and see if they would buy it. After you find your merchant, type in the gift card amount. If you don't know the amount or balance on the card, just look it up on the website that should be listed on back of the gift card. Click on "Get Offer" and they will automatically tell you how much they will give you Cash for the card or if you like Amazon, they'll give a few dollars more if you choose a Amazon gift card as an exchange. If you choose 'Cash' they will send you a check via USPS First Class mail within 24 hours of receiving your gift cards. If you choose an Amazon.com gift card, they will send you the gift card via email within 24 hrs of receiving your gift cards. And since they are local, I received my Amazon gift card the day after I sent my cards.

If you're interested in buying discounted gift cards, just click on the "Buy Gift Cards" on the top menu and scroll down to see what they have available. It lists the value of the card, how much you pay and the percentage you save. It's that easy.

So happy shopping!
www.cardpool.com

Adoption Auction

Just when I thought I was going to retire from blogging, an incredible story comes along that just has to be shared: a story of faith, joy and creativity.

Our good friends Hebron and Kitty (the ones that cheat in mahjong) are planning to adopt a girl in China in December. To close the $13,000 shortfall of the $35,000 adoption cost, they've decided to host a silent auction. They've collected items and services donated from their friends and have listed them as auction items. Hebron, the impressive java whiz that he is, stayed up to 4 a.m. the last seven nights hand-coding the entire auction site!

The auction just started this morning and will end October 30 at 3:00 p.m.

I encourage you to help support them through this auction. And if you would like to support in another way, you can also donate new/newish items to the auction. So if you have something to offer, get it to me this weekend as Hebron will be adding more items on Sunday night.

You can read more about their story here:
http://maksters.blogspot.com/

You can visit the auction site here:
http://tinyurl.com/makauction

Watch movies and sports online for free

Lately I've been watching Veetle.com for the latest movies. It's a great place to find still-in-theater first run movies (Expendables, Salt, Machete), as well as older classic high school and horror flicks. The newest movies will tend to be handicammed "theater quality" but as the weeks go by, it will be replaced by a newer, cleaner HD version.

The movies are constantly running and chances are you'll miss the beginning. But after a few tries, you can catch all the parts and reassemble the movie in your head like a Tarantino film. Yeah, it's not the ideal viewing situation, but it's kind of fun when you stumble across a great film you haven't seen in ages. A few weeks ago they were showing the three Sinbad movies back-to-back-to-back. And last night I was switching back and forth between Lord of the Rings and the latest Freddie Kruger movie.

And for those of us in the Bay Area that will never be able to (or want to) see another Raider home game again, you can find it on veetle too (although I prefer atdhe.net for sports). You can also catch the latest pay-per-view fights and overseas soccer games. So be sure to catch the Raiders in the closing seconds snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the comforts of your own home where you can cry in private.

Yesterday, San Diego ran an article about the blacked out NFL games on atdhe.net as well as a few other sites I haven't tried (channelsurfing.net, justin.tv, my2p2.eu):
Web users finding ways to evade NFL blackouts
I guess the Chargers are reaching the same woeful status as the Raiders.

Navigating around on Veetle will take some patience. The channels don't necessarily tell you what's on, so you'll need to click around. Also, you'll need to install a plugin for HD quality streams. And if you have lowband DSL like me, make sure no one else is surfing on your network or else your movie will be choppy. Veetle is also viewable on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, but not all the channels are optimized for it. Still fun though. Enjoy.