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!

So, not counting the travel I have on other airlines, I've amassed 23,476 miles on Continental Airlines alone this year. I've been trying for the last two hours, unsuccessfully, to find a way to boost that to 25,000 miles so I can get Silver Elite status for at least a year. It appears that the only way to do this is to actually fly before the end of the year. Grr. So close. All of this for something that will make me feel important. Silly, I know, but I doubt I'll ever be this close to Elite status again. Sigh. Forever destined to sweat with the masses.

Lemmings

WARNING: RANT COMING. In a soon to be post-Bush world, if we are to get back on our feet in the US, to truly begin a recovery economically, it seems to me that spending spending spending isn't the way! The rest of the world must think we are nuts. They have managed to survive (and often thrive) without the need to purchase a 54" flat screen HDTV with a complete X-Box gaming system, or the latest phone that can call your kitchen and make a pot of coffee, or a behemoth SUV that can run over a fire truck without the driver even noticing. It's time for a wake up call. We're beginning to see that with the Big Three auto makers, who, just maybe, are beginning to see where their arrogance and misunderstanding of what people want has gotten them. They make crappy gas guzzling cars, and - surprise! - nobody wants them.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's awful what's about to happen to the US auto industry. I just hope that we're all ready for some serious reflecting on what it is we really, truly, need here. What about health care? What about education? What about not bailing out the banks, and instead financially helping the people the banks and Wall Street have screwed? What about educating people about money? We've not done a good job with that in the last 20 years or so. There's a whole generation raised on the idea that buying things with money you may never earn isn't really a good idea. Teach them that it's not a reflection on who you are as a person if you don't have the latest shiny "IT" item in your possession.

Teach them about self-respect, and philanthropy, and awareness of the situations of others. Show them what they have, here and now. Show them what it means to live in the greatest country on earth - show them how those of us in the US can be a great example to others by living out what it really means to live in a democracy (not this post-9/11 anti-terrorist Bush world we've been in for 8 years). Let's get our heads out of the shopping carts they've been in, and reconnect with the rest of reality, and then, just maybe, we'll all begin to move toward a brighter future. Amen.