Looking Forward to Thanksgiving

I am so excited about Thanksgiving! For years, my oven has been busted. I've had various "handy" friends replace the thermostat and the selector knob, all to no avail. And after soaking so much useless money into the project, I got kind of tired of the whole thing. Because I'd mostly just make dinner for my mom and myself, it was okay to just do chicken breasts in the toaster oven. However, a couple years of that became extremely tedious, since juggling all the dishes was always quite a feat. I'm proud to say I've been able to make some pretty successful pumpkin pies in that toaster oven, though.

But finally, earlier this year, another friend who's an actual electrician poked his head in my oven and discovered there was a short in the connection wires in the back. He was able to strip them back and reconnect, and I have an oven again! So this Thanksgiving, for the first time in a long time, I'm able to do a nice roast turkey with all the trimmings! I am so jazzed! I've been planning all week, doing a lot of shopping, and planning some more. I can't wait to get cooking! ...And eating!

My Latest Time Waster

Back in 2001, a friend begged me to join him in Ultima Online. I had never even played a single game of the Ultima Series, but I gave the online version a go. Holy cow, did I get addicted to that game! There's just something very cathartic about taking out the day's frustrations on pixelated monsters. So often, I'd join my friend in game and he'd ask what I wanted to do -- often it was magery or animal taming or provocation, but sometimes it was "I wanna kill stuff!" which meant logging on with my warrior and we'd go bash monsters. ...Good times...

The subscription fee was a killer, though, and I gave the game up after about 6 months. That was plenty. Since then, I have played the Ultima games (U7 -- both parts -- is pretty cool). But I've lately found myself wanting to play something new, with a low learning curve (just don't have the patience for mountains of homework to play a game), and stumbled upon RuneScape. Free! Hooray! UO-lite! Hooray! Then, after about a week in the game, I realized: Populated by children! Hoo-- wait. Wow. The kids in this game are intolerable. Greedy, self-centered, rude little brats...with hormones that just won't quit. Surely I'm not the only 20-something on there? Am I...? Or are all the people with brains and self-control off playing WoW?

Regardless of the frustrations, I've been spending far more time in RuneScape than I should. I keep wondering what will drive me away first: the kids, or the lack of activities in the "Free to Play" world...? Time will tell.

Bah! Humbug

This is the second year in a row that I have not played Halloween. I don't have any moral opposition (heh, I originally wrote "obligation"!) to the holiday, it's just no fun anymore. When I was a kid, the whole family would dress up and go trick-or-treating. But when I became a teenager and my dad died, that sucked a lot of the fun out -- we didn't trick-or-treat anymore -- but we still did fun stuff for the kids who would trick-or-treat us. Now, as years have gone by, the trick-or-treaters just seem to be doing it under duress. Gone are the days when you would open the door to a riotous "TRICK OR TREAT!!!!!" Now they just stand there, silent, holding out their bags. The parents have to prod them: "Say trick or treat!" Some manage to mumble it, followed up by another puppeted, mumbled "thank you" and then they stagger down the stairs. And forget trying to help them out:

"Oh! Don't you look cute!"
Blank stare.
"What are you supposed to be?"
Blank stare.
"Um. Well, here you go! Happy Halloween!"
Blank. Stare!

It makes me think these parents should just save their kids the misery and themselves the trouble. Just go to the store, buy a bag of candy, sit your kids in front of the TV and let them eat the candy. Boom. Halloween done.

Hopefully your kids enjoy it more than the ones who live around here....

Where Was I?

Hm, apparently my having the freedom to post however I want means I don't post for over a month. Holy crap, life has been insane. I'm part Irish, and I definitely have the Irish Luck. Those who aren't Irish believe that Irish Luck is good luck. Silly, silly non-Irish people! No! The "Luck of the Irish" comes in all varieties. Sometimes it can be good...other times it's definitely not. Good or bad, it's just a whole mess of "Where did that come from?!?"

So I've been saying that a lot this month.

The Universe has taken great joy in kicking me while I was down. I'm still down. I'm still getting kicked. But I'm blogging anyway. If for nothing else, it gives me an outlet to whine.

That said, the Luck has also dropped a few good things on me. Nothing life-changing, just a couple little things that made me smile. But those are for another post. For now, I just needed to write something to get my feet wet again.

Tra la la.

Welcome Back, EC!

Boy, am I glad I didn't give away all my credits. Certain...events have transpired since I removed my widget a few days ago that now give me the freedom to do more of what I want with my blog. Not a whole lot will change, but I'm glad to have EntreCard back. I found a lot of neat blogs that way.

So we'll just see what happens next. There have been times when I've thought a more appropriate title for this blog should be "How The Heck Do You Work This Thing?" I've never blogged before, and probably haven't been the best blogger out there. ("Probably"? That's an understatement!) But I do aspire to learn and grow and eventually graduate to being a good blogger. I look forward to reading over these early posts and laughing at how ridiculous I sounded!

My Burning Question About Sarah Palin...

Which of the Saturday Night Live chicks will play her? As of a few days ago, producers still had not officially picked their player. I know there's a lot of buzz in the media about what a Tina Fey look-alike Palin is (because she has dark hair and glasses, I guess -- beyond that, I don't really see it). But the problem with this is that Tina Fey is no longer on SNL. Aside from the occasional hosting gig or cameo appearance, they're going to need to appoint one of their regulars: Kristen Wiig, Amy Poehler, or Casey Wilson.

I don't think Poehler has the look or the voice to pull off the impression, but she could surprise us. And though Wiig is incredibly talented (her Suze Orman is spot-on, and I love her in the "Two A-Holes" sketches), she's also incredibly overused. I haven't been impressed with what I've seen of Casey Wilson so far (her Rachael Ray is dreadful; and the only other sketch I can recall her in was the hammy, neverending Quadraplegic Stripper). However, I think Casey might prove to be the best choice for the role.

(Palin and Wilson)

It's quite hard to find videos of Casey online (I was only able to scrounge up this one) but I really think she has the look and the voice to bring Palin to life for our amusement. What do you think?

Sleep Hygiene

I've mentioned in a previous post how I'm a natural "night owl" -- this is partly caused by some pretty frequent insomnia. So I've done a lot of reading about how to reduce insomnia. One of the most popular tips is to practice good sleep hygiene. This means using your bedroom just for sleeping (and, well, you know...) -- no work, no TV. You also need to make sure that your bedroom is tidy, comfortable, and aesthetically pleasing. My bedroom does not meet any of those descriptions! The furniture is mis-matched, inefficient, and not very comfortable.

I've been considering replacing them with new bedroom furniture. I know a lot of people cut costs by buying used furniture in thrift stores, on eBay, or antique auctions, but the recent resurgence of bed bugs should really make you think twice. For me, it's new or nothing!

My first priority is to replace my box-spring bed with a platform. Oh, my aching back would love a platform bed! South Shore Furniture makes some really elegant ones. But I like the platforms that have storage drawers underneath, to help curb clutter. Prepac Furniture makes a lot of those that are very stylish as well. Those links I dropped are to Home and Bedroom, which has some amazing prices for their sets and pieces; they don't just sell beds but also matching headboards, nightstands, dressers and armoires (in addition to lots of other home furnishings). All of which would bring my bedroom's new look together in a really practical but beautiful way.

I'd love my new bedroom to look like this.

I don't have children, but I notice Home and Bedroom also has some really adorable Kids Bedroom Sets, too. Some of the mommy bloggers I network with should definitely check those out.

Let's Hear It For Sugar

I have had a pretty bad day today. It's actually been a pretty sucky year, but I don't blog much about it because it would be really boring and depressing. So instead I mainly just show my "happy side" to my blog. Is this disingenuous? It would probably be considered so. And that bugs me, because part of being a successful blogger is being an honest blogger. People can tell when you're BSing them. Not that I'm lying necessarily, just maybe omitting some of the...darker parts of my life. If only one could do that with life itself! Just erase the not-so-fun parts!

Anyway, I'm not the only one having a bad day, or a bad week. Some of my blog buddies (I swear I'll get my blog roll back up as soon as I've figured out what the heck I'm doing!) are having bad weeks, too. Money, health, marriage.... You name it. I'm really starting to think 2008 is cursed, because I honestly have yet to encounter someone for whom this year has been totally awesome (if you're out there, please share!). I know the foreclosure crisis and gas prices and the economy in general have everybody down, but there's more to it than that. It just seems like there's a dark cloud hanging over everybody. Bizarre things that you'd never expect to happen to certain people...are happening.

That said, I took about 20 minutes tonight to bawl like a baby, while I was making a snack -- cinnamon toast and some of my precious hot cocoa. I know I'm asking for diabetes with a "meal" like that, but, eh. I decided to stop crying so I could eat it, telling myself I could continue again when I'd finished. But now that I've got all the sugar and carbohydrates pumping lots of serotonin through my brain, I don't feel like crying anymore!

Of course, I'm aware that the buzz is only short-term with refined sugars -- I may be in for a crash later -- but for now I'm enjoying it. Hooray for sugar!

(Foot) Balls

I really need to stay on top of the news a little better. I'm a huge Notre Dame Football fan, and I only just now read that they had their season-opening game today. I missed it!

I'm pleased to see that they at least won, 21 to 13, against San Diego State. I'd like to see that trend continue, because last season was an utter nightmare. I hope I'll remember to tune in next week to watch them play against Michigan!

So Long, EC

As much as it pains me, because it's been so very good to me, I think I'm going to have to deactivate my EntreCard membership with this blog...at least for now. There are some out there who I guess would consider the traffic generated to be synthetic, and I suppose they would have a point.

Still, I seemed to get a lot more attention with EntreCard than I think I ever would have gotten without it. It's a shame, because I just crossed over the 1k mark in my popularity ranking: 1152 today. Not bad for just a week in the system.

I'm guessing the most ethical thing to do is cancel my eight queued ads. I hope the credits they spent will be reimbursed....

Now I suppose I will have to figure out ways to lure traffic more organically. Watch this space for more posts about Sarah Palin, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers! (God, I hope that's sarcasm...)

I Caved...

...and downloaded Google Chrome. So not worth it. First of all, the initial download itself is just another downloader app, which, by the way, takes forever to fully complete on a pretty decent connection. This bugs me, because I was unable to see exactly how big the actual download would end up being. Also, all the "calling home" freaked out my firewall. Strike one for Chrome.

Once it was finally downloaded and installed, Chrome offered to import my settings from Mozilla. "Oh, cool," I thought. Not cool. The screen hung after appearing to import. I had to kill the task from my Task Manager. Twice. It never did actually import my bookmarks (as one of my commenters has said). Strike two for Chrome.

Finally loading the actual application itself, my firewall complained some more (this is typical for a browser; but there certainly do seem to be a lot of calls out), and I was hit by a lot of sparseness. There are few menu options available to the user. And, honestly, I didn't notice much of a speed increase at all. Strike three, Chrome is out.

Back to my old trusty Firefox, which I can tweak to my heart's content! Perhaps once Chrome leaves Beta stage, I'll give it another whirl. Until then, I'm now convinced that I'm not missing anything.

How Many Girls Will the Internet Kill?

So I just read that Miley Cyrus died in a car accident last night. This is only less than a month after reports of rapper Lil Wayne's daughter also being killed in a wreck. Thing is? Neither is true!

The Wayne rumor was circulated by various gossip sites last month, resulting in a flood of traffic and comments to the rapper's MySpace page. His record label soon debunked the myth. But you have to wonder what sort of trauma such lies could do to an 8-year-old girl.

Miley's rumor, meanwhile, seems a bit less sophisticated, and is nothing more than a little April Fool's-style Digg abuse and Wikipedia vandalism. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to have even made a blip on the radar screens of legitimate news outlets.

But it all leads one to wonder: Who's next?

And it also whips up a little food for thought: With the lines blurring between the professional journalists of legitimate media and the amateur journalists of the blogosphere, how long will we actually be able to count on believing the "news" we read? Have we ever really been able to?

Money = Happiness?

We've all heard that money can't buy happiness -- but researchers have discovered there are certain things money can buy that do lead to happiness: Whatever promotes social interaction -- like a new barbecue grill for a neighborhood cookout, or a vacation with friends or loved ones.

Fond memories are huge joy boosters, because they often only get better over time. Quick -- think about your last pleasure trip. Now think about whatever toy you bought at around the same time. Which thought makes you happier?

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that taking a break for a little while and charging my "happy sectors" just makes me feel alive again. I'm more vibrant and productive when I return to my "daily grind." So I think it's really great when certain companies reward their employees (and, in some cases, their customers) for excellence/loyalty with "experience rewards" -- like dinners and retreats and vacations -- rather than just "stuff rewards" -- like cash or a new TV. And, really, sometimes you have to almost force a hard worker to take a vacation!

There's a company called Bellwether Rewards that specializes in such "corporate incentive programs" -- though any business could take advantage of this because of the tiered reward levels. A business could gift a few of its top performers with a higher-level 7-day getaway to a Caribbean resort, or spread the appreciation around to even more stars with a little trip to a Canadian retreat or a spa in one of several U.S. destinations. Even the weekend getaways to some great places in Canada, California, and Florida would be a fantastic rejuvenating treat.

Bellwether takes care of all the airfare, accommodations, and ground transportation for the lucky travelers. All the boss has to worry about is promoting the incentives to his/her employees! I know if I ever worked at a place that offered such cool rewards for hard work, I'd really bust my butt to win!

'Cause have I mentioned? I need a vacation!

Come On, Bedtime!

You ever have days when you're just counting down the hours until you can climb into your bed and go to sleep? I'm having a day like that. It's not like it's a particularly bad day, I'm just sooo tired. And I realize that's the least interesting thing a person could say on a blog.

I mean, yeah, I could blog about, oh, I dunno, Sarah Palin. 'Cause, like, nobody's said a peep about her since she was selected as McCain's running mate, right? Or maybe I could blog about the giant, 50' spider that's running rampant through Liverpool, England. (Relax. It's a robot. They've dubbed it "La Princess" and keep calling it "art" which makes it about 1,000 times less cool than just calling it a giant robot spider.) Or I could even blog about Raquel Welch who, either by the miracle of Botox or a deal with the devil, still looks fan-damn-tastic at 68 years old today.

But instead, I'm just gonna slack off and whine about being tired. Much less effort that way.

My Credit Confession

I have a rather controversial confession to make. Ready? I don't have a credit card. I never have. Well, kind of....

My mom has had credit cards (and racked up a lot of pesky debt because of it -- any wonder I'm gun-shy?), and at one time I was the "authorized user" on them. For some internet transactions, this was a necessity. However, I've mostly just gotten by with debit. But then recently I thought maybe I'd try to establish some credit of my own. I didn't want to carry a balance or anything, just create a credit history. So my first step was to look up my credit report. Was I in for a shock! Not only did it list all the cards I had ever been an authorized user for, but I discovered one of those sneaky companies had made me a joint account holder without my permission! I was able to get myself removed from the cards where I was an "authorized user," but that one -- which I always assumed I was just an authorized user for -- remains. No matter how many calls I've made, how much I've protested that they did it without my permission, they refuse to let me out of it. I am not happy about it.

So, even if you're just someone's "authorized user," I strongly suggest you check your own credit report. Make sure there's nothing there that shouldn't be! If I had stayed on top of mine, I might not be in this mess.

That said, I still have an interest in establishing my own credit. But this situation has made me ultra cautious about it.


I was recently made aware of CardHub.com, which is a credit card index site. I've been to sites like this before, but I honestly really like CardHub the best. They help you filter cards based on your credit standing, and then you can filter further by multiple factors, like intro rates, annual fees, etc., all of which are plainly listed with each card. The cards they feature are all pretty well known -- no shady underground companies you've never heard of. But best of all is their education center. I've learned a lot from the few articles I've read (I'll be reading more later). They really take you by the hand to teach you all the ins and outs of how credit cards work and how to be a savvy applicant.

I'd love to find something that I didn't like about my experience at CardHub, just so I could make this a balanced review, but I can't find anything that I feel needs improvement!

Thanks to what I learned at CardHub, I'm definitely going to be paying that little extra to get my actual FICO score, so I know exactly what my credit standing is. That way, I know CH will be able to help me find my perfect card.