Random Thoughts

Occasionally, there are several topics I like to discuss but not enough days in which to talk about them. Thus, the importance of Random Topic Fridays here on "Luke's Ponderings". No central theme is followed - just three different topics that I'm pondering about.

Election Day

Election Day isn't that far off now, and how thankful I'll be when it's over. Honestly, I've never seen such slanderous political ads like I've seen this year. Our district for the U.S. House of Representatives will be electing a new representative this year and the two candidates are slinging mud back and forth amongst their ads. One is accused of supporting a national 23 percent sales tax while the other was quoted as saying that seniors at the end of their life are costing tax payers too much. Their advertisements are the most vindictive of them all - even more so than the ads for the candidates running for governor. And I swear, at every commercial break, these TV spots keep getting played. I mean sure, political ads are fine, just so long as they don't get overplayed, which they are. And I know I'm not the only one to feel this way, not just here in the U.P., but nationwide.

New Television Soon?

So I definitely need a bigger TV for my living room - a fact that I've known since I moved into my house last year. Right now I have a 32 inch which is sufficient. It's still an older TV which I received as a gift about five years ago. But I definitely have the room in my living room to upgrade to at least a 50 inch TV. I guess I am waiting for the price on the LED TV's to come down. They are supposed to be the latest and the greatest TV's on the market and they consume much less energy than the current Plasma's and LCD's. I am keeping my eyes on the sales ads that are coming up and there's word that prices on TV's are supposed to come down quite a bit as we head towards the Christmas shopping season. And better yet, a new Best Buy store will soon be opening up in the Marquette area, which I'm hoping they'll have some decent grand opening sales on TV's. So needless to say, I'm definitely interested in getting a new TV but not quite serious about it yet. That is - until I see a really good deal on what I want!

My Dad's Old Car

The car my dad drives back and forth to work is literally falling apart. I followed him home from work one evening and I witnessed the tail pipe from his car begin to drag along the surface of the roadway. And then eventually, it came right off. The rest of the muffler is pretty loose as well, although he reassures me that it's stable and won't fall off. And now he tells me that the fuel pipe going to the gas tank is leaking. This along with the struts on the car which are in bad shape. But this is the dilemma he has - he can retire from work at anytime, but he's planning on retiring in 2012, during our next contract year. His goal is to keep the car running as long as possible; hopefully until he retires. The car has 277,000 miles and he says he's never had a car that's accumulated that many miles. This is the same car I drove for nearly a year when the frame of my other car nearly cracked in half and the one which needed a new transmission. It certainly proved to be the right decision to have a new transmission put into it at that time. He doesn't want to have to buy another car for work, especially when he's so close to retiring. So he's going to make minor repairs to the car when he can, otherwise just keep running it until it dies. I believe it's going to last him much while longer yet.

That wraps it up for this week on Luke's Ponderings. Have an enjoyable weekend and be sure to check back Monday for the latest blog posting!