Wal-Mart

As you probably know, I am a Wal-Mart shopper. It seems that more and more people start to dislike Wal-Mart everyday, which I guess I can understand. It is always crowded and it is very large. It is frustrating to remember that you need deodorant when you are in the laundry section and you have to make your way through a sea of people, including many unattended children, and shopping carts to get to the other side of the store. Of course, it is that way at the other grocery store I occasionally visit, but I never hear quite the same moaning and groaning when I mention that store.

For a few moments, I would like to challenge you to clear your mind of all opinions that you may have or that you may have heard about Wal-Mart. Below are some observations that I have made and some research that I have done about Wal-Mart. When you are done, it will be okay with me if you don’t want to shop at Wal-Mart…I just wanted to share a few of the many, many, many reasons why I choose to shop at Wal-Mart.

I have lived in a neighborhood where Wal-Mart moved in, so I can tell you what it looked like before and after.
Before Wal-Mart moved in:
Many people in the neighborhood did not have jobs. They felt stuck in their situation because they also did not have cars to get them to their jobs. Many of the people’s houses were in ill repair. There was one medium-sized grocery store in the neighborhood that took advantage of the fact that residents traveled by walking and could not buy groceries at other stores. The prices at the grocery store were around 50% higher than Wal-Mart’s prices. The overall situation in this neighborhood was not good.

After Wal-Mart moved in:
Many people were hired on at Wal-Mart. This helped. Wal-Mart’s low prices helped the whole neighborhood by not taking advantage of those who walked everywhere…no more price gouging! People started buying cars and fixing up their houses. Other needed businesses popped up around Wal-Mart; businesses like barbershops, shoe stores, and many others. More and more jobs were available every few weeks. Old buildings that had been vacant for years were cleaned up and were filled with new businesses and a new police station. The neighborhood was definitely on the incline and still is to this day (4 years later).

After doing quite a bit of research, I have found out many interesting facts about Wal-Mart:
• The mission statement is: “Saving people money so they can live better”
• They provide financial and volunteer support to over 100,000 charitable organizations
• Their statement of ethics to their employees is twenty-five pages long
• Has received numerous awards with a small fraction of them being:
o Top 50 Companies for Diversity, DiversityInc, 2007
o Best Company for Multicultural Women, Working Mother, 2007
o Top Companies for Female Executives, National Association of Female Executives, 2007
o Top U.S. Companies for People with Disabilities, poll sponsored by CAREERS & the disAbled, 2004
• They work with several charitable organizations to ensure that communities in need receive critical health information and treatment
• They have recently increased the fuel efficiency of their trucks to reduce carbon emissions
• They save Grant and Amanda between $50 and $100 per month on groceries alone. I have not calculated the amount they have saved us on clothes, home furnishings, electronics, or most importantly, camping equipment.

Old Marrieds

June 3 was our 5th Anniversary. It is so hard to believe it has been so long since our wedding. For our anniversary, we went to Fort Worth and stayed in the same hotel as we stayed in for our wedding night. We went out on a nice date and ate at a very nice restaurant called the Reata. Everything on their menu was a fancy version of old west food. Grant ordered a buffalo steak and I got some strange chile rellenos. After dinner, we went to a movie in Sundance Square (the nice part of downtown Fort Worth). After the movie, we visited Barnes and Noble. We spent a lot of time there when we were dating and after we were married killing time waiting for movies. The next day, we went to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens, where we were married, and had a picnic and our anniversary kiss in the same place we stood at our wedding. We have had a picnic at the Botanic Gardens every year so far and I hope we can keep it up. Below I have some pictures of our trip.

I also thought it might be fun to give a timeline of "Grant and Amanda" as well as I can remember it.
December 31, 1998-We met at a Youth Group New Years Party at our church, Western Hills C o C, Fort Worth
August 18, 2000-Our first date at an improv comedy club called 4 Day Weekend in Fort Worth
August 18, 2002-We were engaged at Fort Worth Botanic Gardens
June 3, 2003-Our wedding at Fort Worth Botanic Gardens
June 3, 2004-Living in Fort Worth
June 3, 2005-Living in Fort Worth, but trying to sell our house
November 2005-Moved to Georgetown
June 3, 2006-Living in Georgetown
December 2006-Moved to Austin
June 3, 2007-Living in Austin
June 3, 2008-Still in Austin
June 3, 2009-Hopefully Amanda has a teaching job...
June 3, 2014-Family completed with a few children
June 3, 2053-Big Party for our 50th Anniversary

Fun in the Sun

Grant took a business trip to Corpus Christi and I went with him this past week. We decided to rent an efficiency condo out on the island in Port Aransas. It was great! In the evenings when Grant was done working we did a few things like riding the ferry, 4-wheeling down the beach, shopping, and visiting the Texas State Aquarium.

On the ferry, we spotted dolphins swimming along side of us! You should know that dolphins are pretty much my favorite thing ever! I even had a dream while we were on the trip that I got to swimming with the dolphins.

While we were on the beach, we saw a lot of junk that was brought in by the tide, including lots of plastic jugs, bags ands bags of what we guessed is grain, clothes, some plastic, 50 gallon barrels, and a few large, rusty barrels, I'm guessing they were 500 gallon barrels....aka ginormous barrels. We also saw lots of wildlife while were out there too. There were lots and lots and lots and lots of birds, including about 100 pelicans. As were we driving, we decided to stop when we noticed the "Sea Turtle Patrol" stopped and digging in the sand. They had found a sea turtle nest and were collecting the eggs in styrofoam ice chests. That was exciting!

On the last day of the trip, we visited the Texas State Aquarium. I go there a lot. I love all of the marine animals.


Here are some pictures from our trip:

Zomcon saved my marriage!

Despite my best efforts my wife has joined the ranks of the UNDEAD!
It all began when my parents [who are old] came down to visit for my birthday. All was well at first. We were all sitting around watching a movie called "FIDO" when my lovely mother [who is old] became filled with excited laughter while watching the film. I remember being somewhat concerned as I watched her [in her old age] role around on the floor with glee giggling! And that's when she died! Quickly I ran to her side, knelt down and tried to revive her. Before long the color escaped from my [old] mothers face and I began to realize that I had lost her! I turned away sobbing and my father [who is also old and very close to death himself] was calling 911!
"yes she was laughing and she just...QUIT" he said "I don't know what could have happened... The movie wasn't that good... no... its just... that it has a very silly plot you see and.... OH! Hang On!... she is sitting up now. I think every thing is fine now... sorry I bothered you... you too by by!"
I whirled around to see my mother [Looking older than ever] sitting up with a strange look in her eyes. Thant's when I realized from my rigorous training that the pupils of her eyes had turned RED an obvious sign of ZOMBIEFICATION! I jumped up and yelled to my [old] father.
"go get my new gun!... The classic mussel loading cap-lock that I got for my birthday"
while he scrambled to the guest room I grabbed Amanda in one arm and a chair with another and poked it at my undead mother trying to keep her at bay! But, I wasn't strong enough for her new found supernatural strength! despite all my poking and screaming she grabbed Amanda by the pinkie finger and bit her thumb! Just then... when it looked like all was lost a loud explosion filled the house and my mother turned her attention to my day [He's old] standing in the doorway with a smoking rifle. I took advantage of the situation grabbed Amanda and RAN! just as we were leaving the house I glanced back to see my father [that's right.... getting older by the minuet] being bitten by my Zombie mom who had big bullet hole in her side!

Amanda and I were half way to the hospital when she died and by the time I finished duct tapping her to the hospital gurney she turned. By the time we were in the emergency room she was a full fledged ZOMBIE! Although, all was not lost! The doctor at the ER explained to me that there was a new treatment from a company called "Zomcon" for those who were recently "Undeaded". I told the Doctor to preform the procedure [which strangely, was covered by my health plan] with out delay! To my surprise soon my wife was back at my side. We can live life much as we did before! Of corse she has to take her Prosaic and is no longer "Kidsafe Approved" at church. But her teachers say that she has become a much better student and even though she is now green she is still my love machine!

Grant Maloney
Zombie LOVER

UT Tower

The tower glows when UT wins a games. Here it is glowing for Honors Day for everyone "winning" in academics.

Happy Easter!

Zombie Killer

Fellow Warriors,

I have begun training for the inevitable! I just feel that it is my responsibility to protect my family from the impending attack of the undead! I know that there are a lot of skeptics out there that say that this is all in my head but… you know what… they said the same about Moses too and look what happened to them! THEY’RE DEAD!
My training routine so far consists of lifting weights, regular exercises smashing various melons with blunt instruments, and going on long grueling hikes. I have recently been able to convince several of my “friends” to join me on these training hikes. I know that if I told them of the coming Zombie Holocaust they would laugh and not prepare. However, I have determined that it is easer to manipulate them into participating in the training under the guise of “male bonding time”. Well… I have to go now. I have to test out the Molotov Cocktails before Amanda gets home. Until next time.

Signing off,

Grant Maloney
Zombie Killer

Hiking

The guys went on another He-Man hiking trip this weekend. It was a great weekend to be outside, weather-wise. The hike was 16.6 miles long so they camped along the way. I hear that they had lots of fun on their getaway. On Saturday, the wives hiked in 1.5 miles to surprise them with dinner. We stayed to eat, roast marshmallows, help collect fire wood and then we hiked back out. The girls did a great job and are ready to collect their He-Women Hikers knives. Next time, we should insist that the guys go somewhere that has toilets, just in case we decide to surprise them again ;-)

New Bloggers

I have had a blog on myspace for a little while, but Grant hasn't blogged before. We'll see how this goes. I might have to get some of you "seasoned" bloggers to help me out with posting pictures and what not.

Yea! for trying new things.