From the Inside Out

Who doesn’t love getting something for free, especially during one of the worst recessions in the history of our country? Thanks to Whataburger, now you can get free food items every other day leading up to December 24th, 2009. It’s called the “12 Days of Whataburger” promotion, and it includes everything from free shakes to french fries and burgers.

All you have to do is visit Whataburger’s “12 Days” website and provide your email address and zip code. After signing up, you’ll receive free food coupons throughout December. It’s Whataburger’s way of spreading Christmas cheer, and nothing says “Merry Christmas” like free food.

Enjoy!

Nov. 30 is your last chance to get a glimpse of the International Space Station (ISS) as it flies around the Earth this year. You don’t even need a telescope to view it. Weather permitting, it should be visible to the naked eye throughout the US and Canada. The largest man-made object in space will appear as a bright light in the sky, and is much brighter than an average satellite orbiting the planet. On a good night, the station rivals the planet Venus in brightness and can appear up to 25 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. On Monday, it won’t be quite that bright, but at a magnitude of -2.0, it will still still stand out amongst Venus and the brightest stars.

If you want to get a glimpse before it’s gone, check out SpaceWeather.com to get viewing times for your location. Simply enter your zip code and then look for ISS. SpaceWeather.com also tracks other satellites, the space shuttles, and Hubble Telescope. In fact, Atlantis flew over during the Thanksgiving holiday and was also visible to the naked eye. If you’ve never seen a space shuttle glide across the sky at night, it’s a neat sight. You can bookmark SpaceWeather.com and the next time the shuttle undocks from the ISS you can find out when (or if) it will be viewable from your location. Pretty cool, huh?

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Spending time with family and watching the Cowboys game have been our traditions for a long time, and this year was was no different. The unfortunate thing about this year’s celebration was that Gary was sick and running a fever for most of the day. Why is it that sickness always hits you at the worst times? He did a good job of making it through the festivities, but I felt bad for him, being sick ruins your fun (believe me, with as many times as I’ve been sick, I know firsthand how much it stinks).

I have so many things to be thankful for this year. I could never list all of them, but here are some of the things for which I am most grateful:

• The unconditional love and faithfulness of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
• Being able to wake up every day and share my life with my best friend, Gary
• The best parents, in laws, and family a girl could ask for
• Friends who don’t give up on me even when I’m busy and overwhelmed with life
• Surviving the Collaboration launch at work this year
• Holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas
• The opportunity to live in the USA where freedom and liberty are granted to all
• The amazing beauty found in God’s creation
• The Cowboys win (okay, I know it’s trite, but I’m still happy they won today)

Okay, that’s my short list. What’s yours?

Being on vacation is grand! I’m really enjoying my time off this week–reconnecting with friends and family, shopping, running errands, having fun, and relaxing. It’s so nice. I could get used to this!

Tonight, I went to my second Mavericks game. I’m not a big Basketball fan, but when you get free tickets pretty close to the action, why not go?

The Mavericks getting ready to play the Golden State Warriors

Big screen at the American Airlines Center — tiny compared to the new TX stadium screens

Mavericks Dancers

My “date” for the evening

Let’s go Mavs!

The Maverick Maniacs, a crazy group of fans featured at the stadium

Tonight was military appreciation night, honoring the soldiers protecting our country.

During half-time, they had a re-enlistment ceremony. It was pretty cool.

They also had some games during breaks where they featured military members competing against each other to win Maverick’s jerseys. This one was Army against Navy and they had to assemble a puzzle. Army smoked the Navy.

Once again, I’m using my grainy cell phone camera to take pictures. One day, I’ll bring my real camera with me to these things. This was the Mavericks Man jumping on a trampoline and dunking the ball. He had some great aerobatic tricks, but the camera couldn’t catch the action.

Ultimately, the Mavericks lost in the final minutes of the game, but we still had a great evening. Tomorrow is vacation day #2…more fun to come!

If you’re planning on buying a car before the end of the year, you may want to stay out of the malls on Black Friday and head to the car dealerships instead. According to car pricing researchers from Truecar.com, the day after Thanksgiving is the best day to buy a car. These researchers analyzed day-by-day car prices over several years and found that Black Friday is the day that yields the largest discounts for consumers.

So, what should you expect to pay this year? Truecar.com expects the average new car discount on Nov. 27 to be 7.5% compared to 4.7% which is what buyers tend to receive on a typical day. If you are buying a Suzuki SX4 compact car, you can expect even higher discounts, up to 28% off sticker price! Truecar.com also predicts that Nissan Titan buyers can get 26% off and Ford F-150 truck buyers should receive a 20% discount.

Another factor that may sweeten the deal (or the discount) this year is the fact that Black Friday falls very close to the end of the month. It’s a crucial time for car dealers as they are trying to meet their quotas to receive manufacturer incentives and clear out 2009 models.

If you’re in the market for a new car, don’t wait for Christmas to buy it this year. Take advantage of the discounts and end of the month timing to get the best deal now.