We are now a TWO car family...again

Back in October, we made the decision to go down to one car in our lives. There were two main reasons, ONE is that my Grand Prix was starting to approach 100K and we wanted to get some money back out of that car, and TWO we needed to get rid of some high interest debt in our lives. Selling the car worked and we are really on the right track now. After sacrificing and living with only one car for about 4+ months we realized it was time to get back to two again. The last few weeks, we've been doing some research on different cars in the mid-size sedan marketplace and narrowed our list down a little based on what we liked and didn't like. We had out list narrowed down to an Accord, Camry, Malibu (only if we could find a good deal on a used 08 though), Grand Prix, Sonata, Impala (maybe), Milan (maybe), or a Mazda6. We liked all of those and a few others but price was going to be a very important factor for us...the new improved Rasmussen's are bound and determined to make smart financial decisions and live well within our means.

We ended up buying a 2006 HYUNDAI SONATA. Its funny cause I (we) never would have imagined I (we) would be in a Sonata, but Hyundai's have come a LOOONG way since their early days. The 2006 and newer models are getting GREAT reviews from consumers and from editors at various car publications. We went out to look at cars yesterday and drove an Accord and an Altima, and looked a few others. We kept going back to this beautiful Hyundai at the dealership though. We loved how it looked so we asked to take it for a ride. Wow it was SMOOTH and had great acceleration!! We loved it! So, you ask, what do we like about this car?

Here are our top highlights

1. Stylish looks...yeah that matters :-)
2. Great gas mileage, we read review of people who get over 30 mpg with the car
3. Sweet price, well within our budget :-) :-)
   
4. Low miles and in great shape
5. It fits in our garage! Sounds like such a minor thing but we BARELY fit the Grand Prix and Monte Carlo in the garage...the Sonata fits just right.
   

Overall we left the dealership pretty excited. The new car gives us new flexibility in life and will allow for us to have a little independence from time to time if we want it! We found a car for well under the target price we were looking at and we are both very happy with it! Hopefully we'll be saying the same thing in 5 years!

Will the USA Really Elect a Black President or a Female President

Forget about bipartisanship. I want to discuss two topics today.

1. What I want to know is will White America vote in a black present, or are we (I use that term very loosely) still rooted in racism? I read an interesting article today (click title above) which outlines that White America who claim to not be racist may still subconsciously be racist. I refuse to post/discuss about politics on the actual article because all that people post on there is hateful banter with liberals criticizing conservatives and vice versa. I want to see how this goes, how many people actually read our blog, so please, let's hear your opinion. Please, no hateful speech pertaining to either party.

2. Can America vote in a feminist female president? Will the white male be able to put that vote down on the ballot to elect a female present to run the USA? Same rules apply as #1.

By the way, even if you do not have an account, you can still post a comment, either anonymous or you can identify yourself.

Some addictions are bad...others can earn money!

Meghan and I have a confession. We have an addiction and it just won't end. It started out so innocently and now its become full blown...we might need help! ;-)

We are addicted to selling stuff on eBay. We started because we had boxes of stuff to get rid of and didn't want to do another rummage sale (even though we made like $500 at the last one we did). In the past, we used Craigslist to sell a lot of our bigger items and made some pretty nice cash with that money. After a while, most of the stuff we had left was small or just not the kind of thing that sells well on that site. While trying to figure out what we could do with it all, I suggested we get rid of the stuff on eBay. I had sold a few things in the past with limited success but I figured how hard can it be...I am a marketer I should be able to do well on a site like this. We listed a few things and wow we made some money...that felt nice. Next thing we knew we were scouring each others closets looking for things we didn't like on the other person!! I suggest NOT doing this!!

Eventually we knew we would run out of things to sell around the house, so it was either become nudists and sell everything, stop selling, or find a product we could start selling. We chose the latter. We are now full blown eBay sellers that are closing in on a perfect 100 feedback score. We found a pretty affordable product that can be sold with not too much investment (in case things don't work out in the long run) that is fun and easy to ship and sell. We love working on it together and while it probably won't be something that will generate enough income for someone to stop working, it provides a nice extra boost for us. Anyone else out there selling on eBay? Let me hear your story!

You can check out our listings below!

Trevor Should Go To France More Often

I kind of like it when Trevor leaves me for a week and goes to France. Did I just say that? Let me explain. I'm spoiled rotten. I AM SPOILED ROTTEN. Back in June when Trevor went on his first business trip to Paris, he came home with a surprise for me. I love my designer hand bags, so he came home with a French designer hand bag for me. Texier. TEX (as in TEXas)-EEEE (the vowel "E")---AAA (the vowel "A"). Let's say it together now Texier. The leather is so soft. The quality is amazing. I had found my new hidden gem amongst designer brands. Trevor sure knows exactly what I like and found the perfect gift for me.


Second Trip to Paris. January 13-18. A dreadful, long, monotonous, desolate week. By myself. Me and Obie. One of the first times Trevor called from Paris this time, I get a request. "Honey can you do some laundry before I get home. I will be out of clean underwear when I get home." My response to him. "Yeah, I think I just put on my last clean undies after my shower today. I'll have to do some today." My plan was to do a load of lights and a load of darks. Do the darks first. They get done. Go to change the loads and put the darks in the dryer. Open the dryer. "What the **fill in choice word here**" A box in the dryer. Note attached from Trevor. Open the box. It's the SHEETS that I've wanted since day 1 of our marriage. It's the sheets that go along with our comforter/bed skirt/shams. We (HE) weren't (WASN'T) willing to pay $170 for the sheets. So we didn't get them. Every time that I went to Bed Bath & Beyond I went back to the bed section to see if they were on sale. To no avail, they were never cheaper. So that is the pre-Paris gift.

He got home Friday a bit after 5. We said our hello's and rekindled our love that was long forgotten (sense the sarcasm--I'm over dramatic when he leaves me!!) He has ANOTHER present for me. Were the sheets not enough? Welcome French designer No. 2 to my collection. Lamarthe. Phonetically: LA-MARRRRT. Say it in that sexy French accent now and roll that "R". It's actually very catchy. I can't stop saying it myself. Onto what he got me since he didn't actually buy the designer for me. He bought me a gorgeous red leather wallet. Help me out with some synonyms for gorgeous because gorgeous simply does not describe it. Why am I so spoiled? Why am I so lucky? Okay here's a picture of the wallet.

Now girls, I know all your guys cannot be like Trevor. Actually, I know they're actually far from perfect like my Trevor is. But you know what. There can only be one perfect guy in the world, right?

A traveling man...

I got my first real example of being a big world traveling businessman this past week. My boss asked me to take a trip (alone) to Paris to train our newly (6 months ago) acquired company how to use a CRM program that I manage. Initially, the thought of traveling across the country alone, to train people who speak a different language, made me apprehensive. I agreed and Sunday night I took a taxi to the airport to catch my red-eye flight (which is the ONLY way to go for this kind of flight). The benefits of flying to Europe with my company is that because of the length of the trip I get to fly Business Class!! The ticket seriously cost $5500...can you believe that?!?!

There are some nice perks that come with your $5500 ticket, though it would NEVER be worth that much of MY money. Right now, I am sitting in the United "Red Carpet Club" which is where the really special people, who spend too much time flying, get to hang out. You get free access when you spend $5500 though...a nice perk. The seats in Business Class are very nice: They recline almost completely making sleeping much more enjoyable, you get a nice 3 course meal (with free alcohol if you so choose), and you have much more space to yourself (no middle seats). My flight in was quite enjoyable though the trip from the US to Europe takes a toll on your body...I woke up at 4 am unable to sleep during my first night.

This is now my second time in Paris, with my first time being to attend the AirShow at Le Bourget. While the airshow was quite memorable, I enjoyed myself more this time because my entire week wasn't planned for me. My new co-workers were very friendly and went out of their way to make sure I was able to enjoy their city. Tuesday night Cedric (an IT guy I was working a lot with lately) took me to Paris for Thai food (which was AMAZINGLY good) and then he took me on a tour de Paris via car. He showed me all the major sites that I learned about in junior high French class including: La Tour Eiffel, Champs Elysees (avec l'arc de Triumph), the Mayor's house (which puts the white house to shame), Notre Dame, Sacre Couer (from a distance), la Louvre, le Musee d'Orsay, and much more. It was absolutely fabulous to see all of these monuments in person after learning so much about them.

The next night, the President of this company took me to le Centre du George Pompidou which is an amazing museum of modern art. I am not an art buff...and especially not modern art...but seeing Picasso's work in person was something special. Some of the art was "tres bizarre" but others were "c'est magnifique," even from a skeptic like myself. Then dinner was on the top level of the museum which overlooked the Mayor's house, Notre Dame, and la Tour Eiffel (in the distance). It was a very memorable night. I found the French people to be amazingly friendly and more than willing to accommodate me and my English (with occasional French speckled in as I got more comfortable)!! I was shocked to see how many people could speak English (and quite well).

I can't wait to come back here sometime when I can have my wife with me to experience it. I made it a point to skip going to the really big attractions so we can experience them together one day!! I found Paris to be the most beautiful city I have seen in person. The details in the building and the materials they are built with are just stunning. Buildings in America are built to last for a century...theirs are built to last for a millennium!! Much like Americans, the people of Paris love their country and feel it is the most wonderful place. I didn't feel any animosity or contempt from the people there though...while we hear about their dislike of Americans, I didn't feel this at any point. I was warmly embraced everywhere I went. Anyone who enjoys traveling must put Paris on their agenda...they even have EuroDisney if you need a splash of America while you are there!!