I am not going to get into a lot of details because there is no need. I believe I have done the right things with the money and I know I’ve done some very stupid things with my money. I am 20 years old as of today December 6th, 2011. I am making a commitment to no longer flushing my money down the toilet on stupid crap and I hope you can learn from me and I hope I can help you. As of right now, I will not drink another alcoholic drink until May 26th, 2012. I will save my money to help someone else.

Back to money not being everything but being helpful, I have figured out that if I want something done correct to my standards, And my standards are high, I have to have the best products and best people at my hands. For example, I need my house cleaned so I pay my buddy Andrew to do it. (Yes he has the same name as me, haha) But that of course is not the key to him cleaning it the way I want him to, I pay him $100 every time he cleans. Sometimes it takes longer than others and when it does I usually tip him more. That is more than the market value of course, but I like him and the work he does and I expect you to contact me if you need someone to clean even just one time but I will also expect you to pay him the right amount for his time.

Now onto the good part. (Funny story time) So I had him come over and clean my apartment the other day when the apartment requested to do a walk-through. I have recently adopted a dog named Rocky (Best-Friend) and I do not want to pay the deposit for my dog, you may say this is the wrong thing to do but you will see my Robin-Hood side real quick and see that I actually saved the money from the deposit to pay Andrew to clean it to the point where they couldn’t tell I had a dog even though it had pooped and peed just days before all over the entry way of the inside of my apartment (IT SMELLED RAUNCHY!!!), I put my dog in my car for my walk-through. And guess what the incompetent manager (We will call her Dolly and that makes me laugh because she is definitely not a doll and it might rhyme with her real name) of this complex comes in my apartment wants to argue about? She wants to tell me that I am wrong about wanting my stupid little rain gutter fixed (CHEAP and QUICK fix), and that since the maintenance guy decided that it was not worth his time to fix it, he did not fix it. I only asked twice for it to be fixed and I was told both times that it WOULD be fixed. However it never got fixed. And then she delivered the wonderful news of how even though I’ve been a great resident for around 9 months now (I’ve NEVER had ONE COMPLAINT – I asked twice to make sure), I’m still expected to pay $899 a month if I renew, when I’m paying $699 a month now. HAHAHAHAHA are you **** kidding me? So you want $200 more per month out of my pocket from me but you won’t pay the maintenance guy enough money to fix my stupid little ticky-tacky crap? Oh and just so you know I moved in with this rain drain issue, it’s basically just dented near the bottom and makes me look like a bad driver because everyone thinks I hit it. It’s not like I hit the gutter deal with my car. I will not be renewing in March. 

I do NOT approve of supporting a “rich” person’s habits if they can’t provide me the absolute BEST SERVICE. SCREW THAT!!!!! I’d rather help someone who needs the money (Andrew) and not pay a pet deposit because this place is just trying to screw me anyways. Oh and she slipped up and told me that my roof was not leaking and that I should be happy, well this is where you lose RESIDENCES AT STARWOOD IN FRISCO, TX. Don’t move in here and pay $950 (That’s what she said she was gonna sell it for, oooo wow aren’t you a ****?) a month for my 1 bedroom, crowded 800 SQ FT apartment because the ROOF MIGHT START LEAKING. BAD BUSINESS PEOPLE! She acted like I was crazy by telling her that people read reviews of things because SHE didn’t read those reviews. Well if you really wanna see what people think about this particular complex, GOOGLE the REVIEWS and YOU WILL SEE! (I read them before I moved in but I had to take what I could get due to my criminal record, I’ve never claimed I haven’t messed up.) HAHAHAHAHAHA You’re WELCOME AMERICA!

I love WINNING! I would love to make a billion dollars one day so I could buy the Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban. But helping people comes first. I’m just a 20 year old version of him, I will find the next Dirk if I ever do own the Mavs, I PROMISE!

I’m not taking any credit away from him for what he did on the basketball court, but what I can not stand for is what he did to this great game during the lockout of the 2011-2012 season. 

Jordan is quoted as saying during the 1998 labor negotiations;

“If you can’t make a profit, you should sell your team.”

So why is he now saying that players should only get 47% when we now know the deal was signed on for 51.2%? So that Michael Jordan can make money???? Did Chicago not pay him enough money? People come to see the players, not the owners. You are now the owner, not the player.

Hey Charlotte, if the Bobcats are not good enough this year, exile Michael Jordan as your owner! Don’t go to Bobcats games if they are not good enough! Do not pay for tickets just for something to do, if MJ is not giving you enough reason to come, that reason being winning, then don’t go! If he puts a legitimate product on the floor that can win then go out there and show him some love. I believe MJ needs to sell the team to someone who cares about Charlotte, if they are willing to put some money into the franchise to make them a better team then let them do that and use your money in a business that you will profit in if that’s all you care about. I can respect the Mark Cubans of the world who spend their money to make their community a better place to live and is obviously not too worried about losing money every year on the Dallas Mavericks. I will NEVER forget this years Finals and the Mavs being the champions over the Heat. I can not respect you Michael Jordan if you have not earned enough money to lose some money in making the Bobcats the best team in the NBA, just sell your team to a Mark Cuban of the world.

I can show you example after example after example of people who are addicted to other things that negatively affect their life. Sex, money, power, drugs, PEOPLE, any of these things are all things that can affect you negatively if you are addicted to them. If you are addicted to sex, you will spend too much money getting it, you will use drugs to get it, you will attempt to gain power to get it, and you will use people to get it. If you are addicted to drugs you will steal from people that love you to get them, you will hurt people for them, you will not take care of your kids to use them, etc. If you are addicted to money or power you will screw people over to get the money or the power, you will lie to get it, you will sell drugs to get it, you will sell people to get it. 

These of course are all extreme situations if you are extremely addicted to any of these things. Most people are not fully addicted to any of these. I believe if you have a good relationship with your higher power you will get a healthy dose of all of these things. You just have to choose to do the right thing with the situation you are given. You can not burn bridges with people, good people can help you become a better person. Good people who do bad things will hinder your ability to become a better person.

Marijuana is NOT a drug, it’s a medicine. I will quote the good book, “All seed bearing plants are given to man.” God gave us weed, and if we want to smoke it, we should be allowed. I can argue all day for it, and I know the arguments. It’s a gateway, it’s this, it’s that. But the simple facts to me are, it makes people happy, it makes them hungry, it makes them feel better, it slows their brain down, and that’s about it. I know the good book also says follow the law of the land, so now the good book is contradicted by the law. I will not smoke weed, but I will also tell people it is ok if they do. I think the law needs change. Weed does NOT change the personality of someone to the point that they start acting like a different person. If it does, then weed should not be blamed, that person should be. I will now say this secondly.

Meth is the WORST drug in the history of them all. I’ve been hearing it for awhile, I heard in an out-patient program (Yea, I was forced to go when I was about 16 for smoking weed too much, dumb right?) that if there was a buffet of drugs and you could do any and all as often as you like and you could pick ANY of them, that person in that program told me meth would be the DOC. (Drug of choice) I never understood why, and I’ve heard it over and over and over again about how great this drug makes you feel. 

This is where my content will go from G or PG or PG-13 to R, so if you are offended stop reading now. I have smoked crack and I have smoked meth. I am not a proponent of either one. I say smoke neither. But what I’ve learned about these, is that I like crack more as far as the rush it gives me. However, it goes away very quickly. Meth on the other hand, gives me less of an onset rush and more of a longer lasting focus and I guess you could call it a “high”. Not really the actually high I get from meth goes away just as quickly as crack. And it keeps you up FOR DAYS! It’s kind of ridiculous. What I noticed about meth is that it eats away at the structure of your brain and decision making ability. Meth was created to replicate dopamine which is the chemical your body naturally produces to make you feel happy. I believe meth never did much for me because I was already a happy person. So why poison myself and take away from my ability to make decisions by smoking it? I will NOT smoke it EVER again. Hold me to it, I won’t lie to you if I have but I already know God has given me the ability to be happy without using meth. Thanks God, **** you meth.

The cons of moving in here would be I would not get an attached garage or fireplace. But I called back to make sure that everything was fair on the utilities because here at the Residences they charge me $100+ a month for Time Warner Cable, I think TWC sucks and I called them and they told me if I were to setup service through them they would charge me A WHOLE LOT LESS! You get to pick TWC, AT&T, DirectTV, and something else. And you pick your electric provider. PERFECT! So instead of paying $899 + my $160 a month utilities. I get to go over here right across the way and get a better deal. END OF THE LINE, I WANT TO MOVE IN RIGHT NOW!

I’m sitting inside the apartment complex of La Valencia at Starwood right now, I have talked to 2 people who live here and 1 person that works here. The 2 guys I talked to had nothing but good things to say about this place. My conversation went something like this with the lady who works here.

Me “Hey, do you work here or live here?”

Her “I work here.”

Me “Do you like working here?”

Her “Yes I do! *Big smile*”

Me “*Big smile* Keep up the good work!”

And the other 2 guys had nothing bad whatsoever to say about this complex and all I ask is not to break these good people by raising the rates over and over! If someone is going to sign a contract, then they need to not be broken by raising rates if they are going to continue to stay in a community. I just spoke with the manager, this will not go live on any blog UNTIL I speak with her again. I asked for 5 minutes, she turned me down because she’s too busy. I understand. This is where I will stop, if she doesn’t feel any benefit of speaking to me anymore, I will not tell anyone else about this complex. My website is not live yet, it is in the process, I promise it will be something worth checking into and I promise if you give me a good deal I will tell people about it. This is WHERE I WANT TO LIVE! If you don’t want me here, fine I will leave. Thanks, Ashley, please give me a call at 214-790-9349 and my name is Drew Ragnell….I work for free but I will not continue to write good things about this place if they do not have the time of day for me. 

9:53 PM D811

I’m kind of disappointed I was turned down by La Valencia, I have nothing bad to say about them except that I feel like I’m discriminated against due to my criminal record, what happened to paying your dues to society? I feel deeply for people who messed up in the past and it’s still biting them in the ass. I will move on but I just realized I’m moving out in March and I need a place to live. Oh well, I’ll move on. This community doesn’t want me. They need me.

I had Chick-Fil-A today, AGAIN. This is a very common theme in my life. I go there, they have nice people working there, the food is delicious. Love the frys and the chicken, it’s one of the healthier fast food choices. I move fast, I need food fast they got me. The owners represent a good Christian foundation, they are one of the ONLY big companies in the United States that is not open on Sunday. I think it’s the greatest thing ever. They reward their employees with a day to themselves so that they can remind themselves that they are good people that work hard and make good chicken. 

If you have never had Chick-Fil-A, and you love good chicken with not too much breading and delicious waffle frys and delicious sauces (Try the Chick-Fil-A sauce) then go here and enjoy and return if you like them. I like the fact that the right people work there and they show young people all the time that is a great lesson in life to learn that working hard and being courteous to people does pay off with satisfied customers and a day off for your accomplishments that week.

Remember how back in B1 on D611, when my apartment manager Dolly did her walk through and made me seem crazy for telling her about google reviews because “she doesn’t read them”? Well another worker here at the complex called to make sure I wouldn’t be renewing, which I’m not. And wanted to make sure I wasn’t leaving on a bad note. In fewer words:

Me “I think it’s crazy that I’ve been basically the perfect resident for 9 months that you are trying to raise my rates to $899. This is sucking me dry.”

Her “We normally sell this for $950-999 so of course we have to raise your rates.” 

Me “Ok well your company doesn’t seem to see the importance of people who review things, so I might put it in a blog one day.”

Her “You don’t need to go there.

Me “Oh but I think I do, I have not been treated fairly. Sorry for expecting more.”

Her “You really shouldn’t go there.”

Me “Bye have a nice day.”

This conversation is comical to me because she is not the manager of the complex, it does not really even matter to her whether I stay or go or slander the business she’s working for. She understands the importance of word of mouth and that makes me feel like I am right, which I am. I hope she does not get fired for me moving out because she did not mess up in this department, she messed up in the punctuality department of life which is something she needs to learn NOT to do. Just a quick note on it, if you say you are going to meet somebody at X time on X day then you are obligated by YOUR WORD WHICH IS YOUR BOND to be there at X time on X day. She completely broke that agreement without even a simple phone call to reschedule. This reiterated what I believe about this dumb company that keeps hiring people that PROMISE one thing and I RECEIVE ANOTHER! Like, when they told me they would fix my rain gutter issue.

Good job, Residences at Starwood you have helped me prove TWO very good points about business and customers.

I decided to change the subject for something better, I went to a On The Border in Lewisville, TX to meet a guy named Pipe and my aforementioned buddy RJ. RJ introduced me to Pipe. We met up to create my website that at this point does not exist. I will try to make one blog post a day that I think will help people. I was going to slander a big corporation that I think needs quite a bit of restructure, but I do not think that will help anyone at least not for today. When I start getting a lot of traffic in Lewisville, TX I am going to call On The Border I am going to call and ask if they have seen a slight rise in business and if so I am going to ask that they give everyone there a break on their meal maybe $1 off? 

Im not going to bombard you with too many details. Basically there is a guy named Mark that was my waiter, he was not the very best waiter I have ever had. Here is your free tip Mark, the most important thing you can do is keep my drink filled. Please try not to interrupt when I am talking business with clients, I’m not mad at you but I think you can be the best waiter in the world because I believe you will listen. KEEP READING PEOPLE!!!!

This is the best part of the story right here, I left my MacBook Pro sitting on the chair next to me that was slid under the table. I left for several hours afterwards (About 3) and I was talking on the phone with a friend when I realized I had left it. I called the store, Ruthie (I believe that was your name, I believe it may be spelled differently) told me no one had left a MacBook and that she would call me back, I raced to the store literally crying, RJ can attest to this, I was literally crying. Someone had stolen my MacBook a couple of weeks ago and I had bought ANOTHER one for $1600. So I now had over $2400 invested in MacBooks. This included my work. Luckily my FANTASTIC waiter Mark had left my laptop with a manager and Ruthie returned it to me. Obviously at this point they were obligated to return it to me. I did not take my laptop and leave right away. I talked to Ruthie for several minutes, left Mark a $300 tip, and asked her a couple of times to make sure he got that. I will be returning to that OTB in a few days to make sure he indeed did otherwise Ruthie will show up on here. I will buy some more food too because it was absolutely delicious. I will also sit in Mark’s section and make sure I tip him FATTTT!!! He deserves it, I really did not want to spend more money on a MacBook when I need it to start up my website. My friend texted me and said Thank God. I told her I did. He’s by my side all day every day and tonight was just more testimony that he is ALWAYS with you.

12:01 AM D811

AND NOW FROM GERMANY…. NUMBER 41… DIRKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

We cheer for him because he’s the best. And I pay for tickets each year to see Dirk. And I hope he never retires but I know it will happen one day and I do NOT want him to ever be Brett Favre. *Shaking my head (SMH)*

So RJ, I need to show you a great man with a great mustache.

His name is Shahid Khan.

“I think when you’re buying a team, you’re buying a community, too,” said Jerry Mallot…. “We have high expectations that he’ll be a very positive influence on the community just as Wayne and Delores have been.” (Credit BostonHerald.com – For the full article go here – http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/football/other_nfl/view/20111130shahid_khan_a_business_titan_with_passion_for_football/srvc=sports&position=also)

Shahid Khan became a billionaire by selling car parts to people, he didn’t get there by screwing people over and now he is very possibly destined to lose money on his investment, which you know is no fun! But if you can lose some money and make millions of people happy, why the hell not? This is what I saw on Monday night football last night.

People are wearing the fake mustaches and he hasn’t even assumed full ownership of the team yet. It’s expected around January of 2012. That’s called belief in good people, belief in a good franchise, and belief in an overall good system. 

Wayne and Delores are the current owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars, they bought the team in 1995 as an expansion (That means they were a brand new team) and became one of the most successful expansion franchises in the history of ALL sports. They brought football to a city that desperately needed it as I believe do all cities need sports. And if you can do it right, like I have experienced with the Mavs and Mark Cuban (Owner) it helps me realize once again that giving back to a community is probably one of the greatest possible things you can do, especially if it is done right. That’s why I did what I did for you earlier this year. Mark Cuban LOST money this year with the Mavericks. It’s kind of insane to think about it considering the Mavs have had an amazingly strong fan base for around 12 years now and all he had to do was be right one time about Dirk. He gave him a chance, and Dirk delivered. 2 finals appearances in the 10-11 years that I have been enjoying the Mavs has been the greatest roller coaster ride that I have ever been on and maybe the top of the ride just happened this past year in the Finals, but I can not tell you how much it has made me happy to see the HUGELY under dogged Mavericks beat the HIGHLY favored Miami {c}Heat! I can reiterate once again that money is not everything and loyalty does pay off in the end because look at our humble superstar Dirk. Hardwork, motivation, and a pay cut is what he took to stay in Dallas. LeBron Lames however took more money, and didn’t play in the 4th quarter of FINALS games! C’MON MAN! Sure we had our ups and our downs, but when I know that Mark Cuban has lost money this year on the Mavs it does make me cringe just a little bit because I LOVE Mark Cuban and I LOVE DIRK! They prove to me each day what being a good person gets you in the end. Everything you could ever desire. 

So this is just for you RJ, I hope you can appreciate what a person of similar descent and background has done for a little community in Jacksonville, Florida. And I’m not going to take the time to look up whether Shahid Khan is Muslim or not but I imagine he is and I know you are, and I like your moral values and beliefs and I trust them which is the highest compliment I can give someone. I will teach you sports if you ever want to learn, it’s always a great reminder that the best things in life require the utmost character and can be enjoyed by the largest amounts of people. Remember I am not a Denver Bronco fan but I am a Tim Tebow fan and he brings me great joy in my life. I hope Shahid Khan can help you do the same.

What does JG do instead? He doesn’t call the timeout, Romo doesn’t notice the clock or know how many timeouts we have (Typical Romo right?) and he runs down the field and wastes a good 13 seconds or so lining up to spike the ball to stop the clock. So now there is 7 seconds left, we still have TWO un-utilized timeouts, and a 50 yard field goal on the table. Ok good thing we have Dan Bailey on our team right? He will hit it right? Well we line up and kick the field goal and make it good job we just won!!!! WAIT ONE HOT MINUTE! THE REFS RAN IN AND CALLED IT OFF BECAUSE OF A TIMEOUT???? Damn! The other team just iced our kicker. (It’s a strategy in football where you call a timeout right before the other team kicks the ball just to mess with the kicker’s head, doesn’t always work, sometimes does. Sometimes backfires, whatever.) 

Wait a minute, is that Jason Garrett looking all confused talking to the special teams coach and then walking calmly over to the ref and calling a timeout like he knew what he wanted to do all along? You know what happens next, we miss the next kick from 50, kickers fault but hey he ain’t gonna hit all 50 yard field goals! Give the kid credit he has been doing GREAT this year! He did indeed hit the first attempt he had. So we lose in OT BLAH BLAH BLAH I am upset once again with play calling and the leadership of the Cowboys! What’s new? FIRE JASON GARRETT!! NOBODY PAYS ME WHEN I PLAY MADDEN ON MY FREAKING XBOX TO MAKE THAT CLOCK MANAGEMENT CALL YET I DO IT EVERYTIME AND I NEVER MISS IT! WHY DOES JASON GARRETT GET MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO MISS THAT CALL!??!?! FIRE HIM IMMEDIATELY! HE’LL BE FINE! HECK, MAYBE HE WILL LEARN! 

JG nearly devours my soul alive when I know that he is making millions of dollars a year, and he goes into the interview after the game and MAKES AN EXCUSE instead of MANNING UP (Eli and Peyton – Both SUPERBOWL Winners) and TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR ******* UP!!! But I am strong so I’ll be fine! *Wide grin*

And you know what else burns me up every time I see JG? He has no emotion what so ever? WHY NOT? I love good football and I hate bad football! Chew out players when they make bad plays, give credit and praise when they make good plays. I don’t see him doing that and I don’t see the Cowboys beating the Packers in the playoffs if JG is our coach! Hire someone that gives a damn! PLEASE?  

P.S. – Winning changes everything, go to the Super Bowl Cowboys and we can forget about this horror against the Cardinals. This also resonates with why I like Tim Tebow so much, he has so much less talent to work with and is even considered less of a talent than Romo, but he is STILL winning like he ALWAYS has. It helps me have faith in the good Lord. Does it help you? 

Well I think it’s time for a shower at 7:55 AM D62011

Keep checking in!