Dave Ramsey Recap

This past weekend LB and I had an opportunity to go see Dave Ramsey speak. It really was a lot of fun, for multiple reasons. I have taken the liberty of breaking it down for you by different segments. I only have 25min left in lunch so I am going to get started.

People Watching
I love to people watch. It’s funny to watch people when they don’t know they are being watched. Sure there are thousands of people around, but no one thinks any one is watching the specifically…I am. It’s not as creepy as that makes it sound, but I really do have a blast watching people. Like the couple making out 10 rows up. Seriously? You’re making out at a Dave Ramsey speaking engagement? I guess they’re following Dave’s advice and saving money by not getting a hotel room. My favorite part about all the people watching, though, is admiring what they chose to wear that day. I am by no means a fashion aficionado, LB even made me change clothes before we left because she didn’t like what I was wearing, but to see what clothing some people wind up in on a day they are going to be interacting with thousands can be quite magnificent. My favorite was the guy in jorts and “The South is Gonna Rise Again” t-shirt…very classy. Luckily for me, he wasn’t wearing any University of Alabama paraphernalia, but then if had been wearing a hat, it would have covered up that sweet mullet. Pony tail half way down his back, complete with perm on top. It was a thing of beauty.

Jock Jams
LB can attest to this for me. As we were having lunch right before making our way over to the arena, I made a prediction. I said that right before Dave came out, they would dim the lights and break out the strobe lights and start blaring those jams that used to get us pumped up before high school basketball games. LB, shrugged it off, but I made a mental note, just in case. I wanted to bring it back up and tell her “I told you so!” while doing the “Running Man” in place if I was right. As show time neared, nothing was happening. Finally a guy walked onto the stage free of entrance music, so I was happy to let it go. He did a 5min spill and introduced Dave. The lights didn’t dim, but much to my delight, Dave came running onto the stage set to those famous 2 Unlimited lyrics, “Are Y’all Ready For This.” I couldn’t have been more ready, Dave!

Jimbo
LB mentioned Jimbo in her recap, but I felt he deserved a paragraph of his very own. I’ll start from the beginning. The place where Dave was speaking was about an hour away from the house. So, LB and I left in plenty of time to get there early. We arrived and pretty much had our pick of the litter as far as the general admission seats were concerned. We settled in and I began my people watching routine. Maybe 10min later, 45min before the show started, with countless, I mean countless other seats available, a rather portly gentleman plops down right beside me. Before he even got wedged into the seat good, he turned and introduced himself to me. “Hey, I’m Jimbo.” We exchanged handshakes with smidgen of small talk and that was it. Or so I thought. The first interesting quirk I picked up on about Jimbo was his clap. When the event was officially starting and everyone began clapping enthusiastically (despite the use of Jock Jams), Jimbo began the perpetual slow clap: clap……….clap………clap. When Dave said something that induced applause, Jimbo began his slow clap again. Every time he clapped I was taken back to that scene from Rudy. One other interesting tidbit about good ole Jimbo. Every time Dave said something funny (which was a lot) he would turn around to make sure I was laughing too. At first, I thought he maybe was looking for someone behind me, but then realized the only time he turned to look was when laughter had ensued. During one of the intermissions, I was sure to bring this to the attention of LB to see if she had noticed it too. She had. She said at one point I was turned, so he couldn’t see me so he leaned back to see if she was laughing.

Dave
Yes the Mullet Man and Jimbo were awesome, but Dave speaking was by far the highlight of the afternoon. I thought Dave was hilarious. Like LB said, the jokes were a little cheesy, but I am a self-proclaimed cheese ball, so I was laughing out loud along with Jimbo. He was very entertaining while being informing and encouraging at the same time. The seminar was pretty much the Total Money Makeover book summarized, but it was much, much more engaging in person. LB and I left feeling more determined than ever to stick to our plan. Our problem is that neither one of us are organized or detail oriented people, so sticking to the budget is tough. Not because we keep going out and buying lavish things, we just nickel and dime it away. It was very uplifting to hear how if we just stick to the budget we’ve made out, we’ll have everything paid off (including the house!) in years as oppose to decades. So, as long we stick to our budget and get creative and get a little more income somehow, we’ll be completely debt free in our early 30’s.