Eeew!

Wow.

I guess this is as good as it was going to get, considering I only had my King, eh?

Is this necessary? Really?

So I'm browsing the aisles at Costco last night, and amongst all the
school supplies is a spiral notebook three-pack. With an inordinately
large amount of packaging. Hello? Who comes up with these stupid
ideas? Hello? Costco will be receiving an email from me later today
regarding their idiotic overpackaging practices. So there.

How to spend a cloudy Sunday afternoon....

New Discovery!

I always suspected as much........

Almost Time for My Trip!

In two weeks I will be on the Belize Aggressor, eating, sleeping, and DIVING! It will not come soon enough!

Will this day ever end?

Been waiting for this!

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/07/01/gmail-labels-are-now-more-like-folders/

Sent from my iPhone.

Smile!

Another year, another half dozen trips to the dentist. Today, I had a temporary crown replaced with my $hiny new permanent one, then a cracked molar drilled away (which at this point is mostly a filling), a post put in, then a temporary crown popped on. But wait, there's more. Next to the cracked molar was another tooth that had some decay way down deep under an existing filling. Oh, then there was the tooth that had some decay that my dentist decided to poke at for a bit (and this part of my mouth was NOT numb). By the time I got home, after spending over an hour driving home, the pain had started. Ow. Then I remembered the Vicodin from last year's abcessed tooth. Ahhhhhh.......

Pachelbel Rant

Ok, so because I'm a geek I listen to classical music. I listen to just about anything, although I'm not terribly fond of country or opera. However, there is one piece of music I hate. HATE. And comedian Rob Paravonian sums it up nicely. Thank you Rob.

Sigh....

It hasn't been the best of starts for us Yankees fans. Chien-Ming Wang can't pitch his way out of a Little League game. The bullpen. Let's not even go there. Ridiculously overpriced tickets. A manager who, in my opinion, isn't going to be around after this year. Even with all of this, I decided to try and get me some tickets for a game. Figuring that since I was off this week, I could catch a game, I went online in search of tickets. I actually scored a pair of field seats for tonight's match up against the A's (yawn), and they didn't cost me a whole paycheck. And now? And now it is about to rain. It is about to rain the way it rains when there are floods. And it is cold. And windy. And the game is likely to be made up this Wednesday. When I am in Florida. Sigh.....it's going to be a long season.

Vacation Time!

Yay, we're going on vacation! I am now officially out of the office until the 27th. Sweet.

Mmmm...

As part of our money saving plans, we've purchased a Tassimo brewer. Instead of shelling out $4 a pop at Starbucks, why not make the stuff at home? It's not quite the same, but it'll do. Right now I'm sipping on a decent latte, and the cost was about 80 cents. I figure by the end of the day I will have OD'ed on caffeine.

App Addict

Hello. My name is Nancy. I'm an App Store addict. Today, I downloaded three Apps. Yesterday, two. I can't stop. Please help me.

Achoooooo!!!!!

It's that time of year. No, not baseball's opening day (although I am very happy about that). It's spring. Which means pollen. Which means about 2 weeks of misery. Please pass the tissues. And the steel wool so I can scratch my eyes out.

WTF??

Imagine my surprise to wake up to SNOW. Isn't it supposed to be spring? Haven't I already discussed how much I'm ready for spring? You know, spring, when it's warm and green out. Not cold and white out.

I'm Ready

Spring arrives this week (finally), and I am ready. I am more ready for this season than I have ever been. I am ready physically. I am ready mentally. And I am ready with a mop. I woke up this morning, and looked around the house, seemingly for the first time since fall, and thought, EW!

Recovery.gov

Spring is (almost) here, and we've embarked upon our own Recovery.gov plan for fiscal responsibility. Call it a monetary spring cleaning, if you will. The last few years have left my financial house of cards in a pile, due primarily to working full time, being in graduate school many nights a week, and dealing with my late mother's estate. It's a difficult thing to sit down and spread your financial life out in front of you, under the harsh light of day. It is also a difficult thing to look at where you've made mistakes along the way.

That being said, we're unloading a Disney timeshare, and cashing in an un-needed life insurance policy to get ourselves back on track. While it may be painful to take that first peek at the personal balance sheet, in the end, it's good to come out of the exercise with a plan. Of course, this involves careful prioritizing of our needs and wants. Needs are fairly obvious (house, car, utilities, etc.). Wants are a little harder. While some friends and family might categorize a timeshare as a "need," for us it falls under "wants," therefore it is not a necessity (and selling it is a source of a little $$). Once this exercise is finished, it's easier to see just what needs to be done. And with a clear path to fiscal rebuilding before us, especially in these dark financial times, we can rest a little easier having subjected ourselves (and our habits) to a little scrutiny.

Aaaahhhhh!!!!

I can't take it any more!

I'm Going to Disney World!

We've finally gotten our act together, and are spending a few days at Old Key West in Orlando in April. Gurgling Suitcase, here we come! It's nice to have a sister who has organized pretty much the whole trip.

Oh my.

The Amazon Kindle. I have no need of this device. But I am a geek. And I am a reader. A voracious reader. If you've ever been to my house, you know about the piles of reading material. Everywhere. In fact, right now, on the kitchen counter rests a large stack of material I read this morning. All of which is available on the Kindle. Drool. I have no need of this device. But I want it. It's so sleek and sexy. And if I ever see or touch one in the wild, I shall have to purchase one.

Boat Drinks

Damn, I've had enough of this cold. I agree with my sister. I'm ready for a boat drink or five. 

Ow.

I am normally a lover of winter. No longer. Last week, I slipped and fell while walking. It was a patch of black ice that did me in. That and my own clumsiness. I managed to re-injure my busted ankle, smash the right side of my face, sprain my right thumb and wrist, and twist my left knee. All in one shot. Top that.

Day. Interrupted.

I have been so very fortunate of late, not having suffered a migraine headache in over a year. Last night and today, the Migraine Fairy paid me a visit. Fortunately, her stay was not long, and I am now able to function as a human being once again. What is most maddening about this is that I lost 24 hours. When any other part of my body hurts, I am still able to go to work, drive a car, etc. Not so with a migraine. The best I can hope for while under her nasty spell is to dream up ways to kill myself so the pain will stop.

I WANT SNOW!

Let's make one thing clear. I WANT SNOW! Not this slushy, icy, sloppy mess we're going to get AGAIN today. At the risk of sounding like an old lady, I'm going to say things like "when I was growing up, we had LOTS of snow" and "remember when we couldn't get out of the house for DAYS because of the snow?" Yeah, I'm annoyed. Maybe I'm not remembering the past the way it really was, or just maybe it really IS warmer this year, and last year, and the year before that. Either way, I WANT SNOW!

Come Fly With Me

I finally did something I've been thinking about for some time - I created a travel blog. My current blog, which you are of course reading right now, is more of a rambling discourse on everything, yet nothing. I wanted to have a little more focus, hence the new blog. Since I love to travel, and manage to get away several times a year, why not write about it? So come check it out.

The Drunken Baggage

2009

I really don't like New Year's resolutions, but after the year I had in 2008, there are a few things I'd like to do differently in 2009.

1. Get more sleep. After spending the last 8 years in graduate school at night, I have a lot of catching up to do.

2. Spend more time reading. Let me rephrase that: spend more time reading what I want to read, not what I'm told to read for a class.

3. Take better care of myself. This one will be tough. After said 8 years of grad school "diet" food, dropping massive amounts of sugar, caffeine, and fats out of my diet is bound to be hard. This also means exercising.

4. Finally clean out the basement. Ok, I sort of started this before, but now I'm really serious.

5. Organize my legal and financial papers. This includes updating my will.

Ok, there, I've laid it out for all to see. Here we go!

My Review of REI Cargo Weekender Bag

Originally submitted at REI

Whether your plans are spontaneous or thoughtfully planned out, this cargo duffel bag will meet your organizational needs, weekend or weekday.

REI Cargo Weekender Bag

A real workhorse of a bag

By nukediver from New Jersey on 1/2/2009

 

5out of 5

Gift: No

Pros: Good Capacity, Easy To Access Items, Easy To Carry, High Quality, Easy To Identify

Best Uses: Long Vacations, Weekend Trips

Describe Yourself: Comfort-Oriented, Practical, Classic

Primary use: Personal

I've logged over 25,000 air miles with this bag as a carry-on this year alone, and I love it. I've also used it for weekend getaways. The ability to use it as a backpack, especially when schlepping through airports all over the world (not all of them modern), has been a life saver of a feature.

The size of the bag is deceptive, as it seems to hold way more than it looks like it can. It's great for clothing, and other non-fragile items, and the variety of pockets aids in the packing process. This bag has been a great all-around travel bag and I wholeheartedly can recommend it.

(legalese)

A new year brings a new vice

Happy New Year! I now have a new time waster: the brand spankin' new MLB Network, where every day brings baseball. Am I happy? Hell yeah!