I've finally gotten around to clearing off my computer. After at least a month of delay I was able to save what I wanted to save and deleted the rest. Unfortunately I forgot to save a few of my favorite game saves but I can always play those again if they're worth the effort. Half Life is really the only one that I regret not saving - especially since I was so close to beating the game. At least I remembered to save my StarCraft replays.
My favorite Christian Rock / Metal group released their second album last week - Demon Hunter: Summer Of Darkness. In my opinion it's a great follow up for their self-titled debut. The songs on the new album are similar to the debut but there is enough new style to keep things fresh and interesting. A few guest musicians also help out. Overall it's a highly recommended album for fans of hardcore metal. There are two new great sounding MP3s on the official Demon Hunter website. (www.demonhunter.net)
Yesterday was Beth's 24th birthday. I had a couple gifts for her as a surprise. She wasn't expecting anything - possibly because we haven't had money for much recently. Fortunately I had picked up a little something for her. I got Hebrew Terms of Love and Endearment (Booklet and CD) from Shalom and Joy (www.shalomandjoy.com) and picked up one of Beth's favorite movies on DVD - Almost Famous. We got a strawberry flavored Angel Food Cake for Strawberry Shortcake to celebrate and we had a family time together to celebrate her birthday.
Money has been tight and bills are due. We don't really spend much money on extra things… ok, maybe we got a few things (for Beth's birthday and a little something for myself), but I really don't think we go overboard on spending. Thinking back, most of the years in the past I was always the person to come to for borrowing money. Unfortunately, with Beth losing her job and having extra expenses with kids we have been slowly depleting our savings. Now it's become a real balancing act. I hope that this month everything will balance out okay since Beth has been looking for a job (and keeping up with her unemployment claims). She went in for testing last week to apply for a job with CitiGroup. She passed the testing but now must wait to start training. Hopefully this works out. I'd really like to be able to afford to get the air conditioner fixed.