So for the past couple of years I have been contributing
to the blog, I have typically done a Christmas post. While
somewhat creative, I have felt I have exhausted my efforts in parlaying tennis
themes to Christmas themes, and just thought….Why the hell not vent?
My guess is that most the guys that read this blog are
middle-aged guys, working hard, supporting a family, love tennis, beer , and most
likely “enduring the costs of Christmas”.
So perhaps I can share my day that led me to drinking Mamba Taxis at
MiCocina at 4 PM to get back in Christmas Spirit.
It first started off by taking my car into the shop at 8
a.m. for the 3rd time in two weeks for maintenance and repair. I won’t bore you with the details, but don’t
make the mistake of buying German automotives that have 3 initials. I have owned them twice. They are great to drive, but like a woman
that is fun to drive, they are high maintenance.
I then headed over to the mall to buy the iPhone 5s. Excuse me, iPhone 5s’s, that my wife, daughter,
and son decided to reserve for themselves for Christmas. Best Buy was having a sale for $75 off
iPhones, so why not, right? Since I handle the finances, I had to go over
there and pony up, not only for the cost of the phones, but also for the data
plans that must accompany such phones. My wife sees something for sale and feels
compelled to buy, not thinking through the recurring, on-going costs. I know.
I have a car, that although is paid off, has an on-going recurring
cost. But I bring home the bacon, I get
a break there.
So far, I have been lucky. My daughter wanted the iPhone 4s two
Christmases ago, and being the hard-nose bad ass parent I am, I made her beg,
and told her the only way we would get it, is if she paid for the data
herself. So she saved her hard-earned
baby-sitting money and gave me cash up-front for 2 years of data. In the meantime, I decided to upgrade to the
iPhone myself, and gave my 5-year old Blackberry with no data plan to my wife,
and my youngest son who was 10 at the time, got a basic no data phone to call
for emergencies. I know.
I’m cruel, and paybacks are a bitch.
I get the song and dance of how school is now having the
kids access various study material on-line, and that they need lightning fast
internet with so much data access per month, yadi –yadi- yada.
So I find myself at Best Buy, buying 3 new iPhone 5s’s, and having to convert my wife and son to new data plans. I really don’t care about the cost of the
phone. It’s the increase of my recurring
cell phone bill of $100/month. If you
think about what we pay to stay connected.
Over $200 in cell usage, $100 for home phone & internet, and $100+
for Direct TV. When you include
surcharges and taxes, that’s close to $500 per month or $6,000 each year to
have communication throughout the household.
I’m sorry, but is it really worth
that much to “stay connected”?
I then had my 90 year old father calling me about
something he was needing as I was writing an $8,000 check to Kenneth Mauhn –
Property Tax collector for Collin County, before strategically exiting from the
house from “honey-do’s” so I could go sneak off to the gym and walk on the beloved
treadmill since my knees can no longer handle running on the pavement.
Anyhow, after my so-called “work-out” of treadmill
walking, sauna, and steam room, the only way I could stay half sane, was to go
see my buddy Juan and MiCo and have some nice stiff Mambas to sooth the
pain.
So back to the blog. Maybe instead of the “Twelve Days of Christmas”,
we can come up with the “Twelve Costs of Christmas”. I’ve got #4 with “….4 data plans…”
Can you help me with the rest?.......
CF
