confoozled.com

now sporting a 'new' old iphone

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:10:00 -0500

Drama of the Week: I woke up Monday morning to find a gray stripe down the left side of my iPhone screen, along with some squiggly gray lines at the top. I rebooted and reset it, but the rogue pixels would not go away. It had been just fine when I had used it before going to bed Sunday night, and now it was not.

A friend who works for Apple told me it was likely my LCD was torn and I just needed the screen replaced. The problem: this was a first generation (2G) iPhone, and they don't do screen replacements for them. I've been avoiding buying a newer model, even though I could get a refurbished 3G for just $49, because I want to be able to buy next year's model at upgrade pricing when it comes out. Buying an upgrade now would lock me out of doing so again for eighteen months (unless I want to pay full price - i.e. my first born).

Big sister Dana to the rescue! It seems my timing could not have been better. She had passed her original 2G along to my brother-in-law when she got her 3G last Christmas, and it just so happens that he just upgraded himself... so now that phone is in the hands of its third owner - me! I found it on my doorstep when I got home last night, and promptly began the activation and data transfer process. Now I'm back in business; everything transferred perfectly and it's like the same phone, except the screen isn't borked. Here's to keeping our fingers crossed that this one holds out until the 2010 iPhone release!

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now sporting a 'new' old iphone originally appeared on confoozled.com on November 6, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

rare moment of shopping success

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:25:00 -0500

Shopping for clothes is usually an extremely frustrating experience for me. Differences in the shape of my body, and in my ability to get certain items on and off independently, mean that I have to be very particular about the styles I select. People think I'm being overly picky or stubborn, but it's really just that I know my body and I know what works and what doesn't, and it seems that as time goes on, the fashion world moves further and further away from the styles that work for me. I really wish they would stop that.

But sometimes, I manage to be in the right place at the right time, and have a really satisfying shopping excursion, just when I'm about to give up.

Since the weather has cooled off, I have been searching for some new winter pants to wear to work... well, and everywhere else. The several pairs of cotton jersey knit pants I have been wearing for the past few years have definitely seen better days. They've shrunk, thinned and faded from years of washing, and they have holes in them from puppy claws and teeth. So I've been looking for something similar, but it seems the style this year for elastic waist pants is an extra wide waistband, which is usually not stretchy enough for me to pull down, and a low-rise waist which pretty much makes thong underwear mandatory - and I'm sorry, but I don't do thongs. This is all I've been able to find.

Since I had to go to Target anyway the other night, I decided to look there for pants, even though I've never had much luck with clothes shopping there before (though I absolutely love the store for everything else). Well, this was one of those rare occasions, when I was in the right place at the right time.

Before I even got to the pants, I saw a dress I really liked, so stopped to look at it. It was a long halter dress, brown with purple and teal paisley. It had been marked down, and then marked down again, for a final price of six dollars and twenty-four cents! Yeah, that went in the cart. Then I noticed that they were having a clearance sale on summer items, so I started sifting through the racks. I wear a lot of plain, solid color tee shirts - by themselves in the spring and summer, and then under my sweaters and sweatshirts in the fall and winter. I found one of these, in navy blue, for less than two dollars, and a cute shirt with ruffled cap sleeves for seven and change. When I finally got to the pants, I was disappointed to find nothing but more of the same low rise, wide waist uselessness... until I spotted a display of Hanes mix and match sweats for $6.49 each. The pants had boot cut legs, so they didn't really look like sweatpants. They did have the wide waistband, but it was plenty high, so I decided to try them on anyway.

PERFECT! They fit like a dream, are super comfy, and the waistband is stretchy enough in spite of itself. Plus, being sweatpants, they're much warmer than the thinned-out pants I've been wearing. The only thing I was disappointed by was that they only had one black pair in my size. I grabbed a navy blue pair also, but would have gotten another pair or two in black if they'd had them. That's okay, though, because I'm sure I can find more online. Finally, my hunt for pants is over.

To recap, I got two pairs of pants, two shirts and a dress, all for less than $29. Thank you, universe, for giving me a break!

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rare moment of shopping success originally appeared on confoozled.com on October 29, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

a blue ribbon couples' costume

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:54:00 -0500

Me and Chris dressed up as party hosts Beth and Mike.

The past few weekends have been pretty uneventful, but we did attend the annual Nelson Halloween Party on Friday night. This is the same party to which we went as Peter & Lois Griffin last year. This year, Chris came up with the brilliant idea to have a little fun with Mike and Beth, the party hosts, by dressing up as them. The focal point of the whole costume was Mike's "crappy yellow Jeep", which Chris replicated using a Dell computer box, some styrofoam discs, and a whole lot of spray paint and duct tape (in spite of which it still did not hold together very well). Despite losing a wheel, the Jeep made the costume and got him the first place ribbon for best costume.

My costume was much easier, and much more comfortable. Beth is an ER nurse at the local children's hospital, so all I had to do was put on a set of scrubs and hang a stethoscope around my neck. To our shock and amazement, two other guests also came dressed as Beth! I guess great minds think alike. However, they both wore generic blue costume scrubs and plastic toy stethoscopes, while my scrubs were purple and my stethoscope real - so as far as I'm concerned, my Beth costume was the best!

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a blue ribbon couples' costume originally appeared on confoozled.com on October 26, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

what does a geek do for fun?

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:59:00 -0500

She builds a URL shortening engine, of course.

It's not something that I really needed to do. I just wanted to. It's what I've been doing to relax during my free time for the past week or so. Writing HTML, CSS and PHP code, and learning all sorts of web server tricks to make things work the way I want them to, is my way of zoning out.

And hey, now I don't need to worry about my shortened and encrypted links disappearing when other URL shorteners experience database failure or go out of business. As long as I have any web sites online, I'll have foozUs. It only cost me a couple of bucks for the domain name, and my existing web hosting account allows for up to ten additional domains at no extra charge.

Ahh. That was fun.

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what does a geek do for fun? originally appeared on confoozled.com on October 21, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

mylife is a few years too late

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:39:00 -0500

When I was in high school I had an English teacher, Mr. Paige, who was probably my favorite teacher of all time. He was unconventional and made his classes fun and engaging, getting kids interested in literature who otherwise wouldn't have been... something for which he unfortunately had narrow-minded school administrators constantly breathing down his neck. True story: We often read on the floor, by the light of candles and flashlights, in forts built with overturned classroom tables - sometimes taking turns reading aloud from the assigned novel, and sometimes just listening to Mr. Paige read to us, voicing each character distinctly, with REM music playing in the background. On more than one occasion, he had to warn us that the next time our class met, we would have a member of the administration observing the class, so the lights would be on, music off, and forts temporarily dismantled.

Despite how much I loved Mr. Paige's class, I struggled. Try as I might, I could not grasp "proper" essay writing, and that was how one's comprehension and progress in a literature class were gauged. My grade in the class slipped to below passing in the second semester of my senior year - and if I did not pass that class, I would not graduate. Recognizing that the class was about the literature and not about the essay, and not wanting it to be the one and only thing to keep me from graduating, Mr. Paige agreed to raise my grade to passing if I would spend a couple of lunch periods a week with him, verbally discussing the material we were reading in class. I was able to show him that I was reading and comprehending the literature; I just was not effective at conveying that in written form. He gave me a B, if I remember correctly, and I graduated with the rest of my class because this teacher rejected the district curriculum's standard, inaccurate way of testing grasp of the subject he taught.

Oh, and how many times in the real world have I needed to know proper essay form and failed at something important because I was never able to learn it? A big fat zero.

Mr. Paige moved to another school district right after I graduated, and I lost all contact with him. I actually did find him online, after all these years, just a few months ago. But I thought I would use his name to test out MyLife, a web site which calls itself "America's #1 People Search". I'm sorry to have to say this, but I think they're going to have to drop the tagline.

He did turn up on my search on MyLife, but I was able to see absolutely nothing about him - because MyLife wanted money from me the minute I clicked on his name. Now, I already know quite a bit about how Mr. Paige's life turned out just from searching his name on Google. And I suspect that if I were to pay MyLife for access to the information they have on him, it would not be anything more than what I already found for free. After all, where do you think a site like that gets its information?

Especially in this day of social networking, 99% of which is free, I don't understand why paid people search sites like this keep popping up and thinking they can actually make money. Even though Mr. Paige would probably not call himself a heavy social media user, do you know where I was finally able to make contact with him? On Flickr, a photo sharing site. Nearly everyone who can be found via the internet has at least one social networking profile out there somewhere.

I'm sorry, MyLife, but as long as there is Google, Facebook, MySpace, and the thousands of other free search engines and social networking sites that are out there, you won't ever see me pay a dime to search for someone.

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mylife is a few years too late originally appeared on confoozled.com on October 15, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

the confoozleds do the moster mash

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:28:00 -0500

Here's a lovely Halloween dance video for you to enjoy! (Note: If you're reading this somewhere other than confoozled.com and can't see the video, click here.)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

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the confoozleds do the moster mash originally appeared on confoozled.com on October 14, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

recognizing breast cancer awareness month

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:07:00 -0500

As I'm sure you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Think breast cancer is something only older women need to worry about? Think again. In recent years, more and more women in their twenties and thirties have been diagnosed. And this year, eleven year old Hannah Powell-Auslam became the youngest known survivor of breast cancer in the US. And yes, men can get breast cancer, too.

This past Saturday, WaterFire Providence held their fourth annual Flames of Hope celebration to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research and support. I've not yet been able to go to one of these, but I want to. My friends Crystal and Eddie went this year, and even ran in the inaugural Gloria Gemma 5K earlier that day. Crystal got a beautiful photo of the Rhode Island State House all lit up in pink for the event.

If you can - and I understand some of us can't - make a donation to a breast cancer related charity this month. There's Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Rhode Island based Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation, and the American Cancer Society. Visit The Breast Cancer Site daily and click the big pink button to help fund free mammograms. And here's a list of online stores I've found which are donating a portion of their proceeds to help fight breast cancer.

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recognizing breast cancer awareness month originally appeared on confoozled.com on October 13, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

support bloggers with your holiday shopping

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:58:00 -0500

As you begin your online holiday shopping, I hope you'll remember to support your favorite bloggers and purchase through their affiliate links whenever possible. For confoozled.com, you can shop my affiliate mall. There are not a lot of stores listed yet, but if you're looking for a specific store you can always let me know and I will find and apply for their affiliate program. You can also sign up to receive e-mail when I add new stores, and optionally, when stores I'm affiliated with have special deals and coupons available.

And speaking of coupons, here are a couple of codes for AccessoryGeeks, which is a great place to get stocking stuffers for the gadget freak in your family. Enter coupon code AGEEK1010 at checkout to get 10% off your order of $10, or use AGEEK1050 to get $10 off of $50. Hurry, these coupons are only good through October 31!

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support bloggers with your holiday shopping originally appeared on confoozled.com on October 7, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

getting ready for halloween

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:34:00 -0500

Now that it's October I'm thinking about Halloween (and yes, even Christmas). Did you see this month's creepy confoozled.com masthead? By the way, I know I said for September I was trying to avoid the obvious themes for the masthead, and most of the time that's true. Halloween is one of the exceptions - I love Halloween, and this site's colors being what they are I have to give the holiday a nod. Other exceptions to the rule are Christmas, and sometimes Valentine's Day and the Fourth of July, which happens to be my birthday and my favorite day of the year. Hmm, I guess I use spring images in those months, too, just because I'm so happy to have winter over and done with. Oh fine, there isn't really a rule, except that it's my site and I'll do what I want. I do have a nice, obscure theme planned for November.

So back to Halloween. My goal this week is to do a little bit of decorating around the house. I didn't even get to decorate last year because Brooskey was into everything and, I'm sure, would have destroyed all of my decorations. This year he is much better, but I still probably won't decorate to the extent I have in years past. I imagine fall foliage garland around the bottom of the TV would be just a bit too much temptation. I need to find our existing stash of decorations, decide what I no longer want to keep and give it away to someone who will use it, and possibly pick up a couple of new, more doggie-friendly decorations.

We've been invited again to our friends Mike and Beth's annual Halloween party, and have to come up with a costume idea. I fear we just can't top Peter & Lois Griffin... Other things I need to do to prepare for the "big day": purchase candy to give out to trick-or-treaters, purchase some goodies for us, and send out some Send Some Spook this Halloween with Free Ecards from Halloween e-cards to friends and family.

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getting ready for halloween originally appeared on confoozled.com on October 5, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

a blogiversary and puppy birthday

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:48:00 -0500

Yesterday marked seven years since my first blog entry. In those seven years I have written 514 entries. 406 of those entries were written in the past three years, which goes to show how much more active a blogger I have become in that time.

It was also Vixen's second birthday yesterday, something which I'm ashamed to admit I forgot until just now. I'll have to do something special for her this weekend.

Happy birthday, princess, and happy blogiversary to me!

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a blogiversary and puppy birthday originally appeared on confoozled.com on October 2, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

a wonderfully silly and fun video

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:16:00 -0500

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a wonderfully silly and fun video originally appeared on confoozled.com on September 30, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

help me by rating my posts

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:21:00 -0500

Have you noticed the rating widget on confoozled.com's entries yet? I'm trying to get a better idea of what type of content really interests my readers, so I've installed a five star rating system. I'd really appreciate it if you'd go back and give each of my posts over the last couple of weeks an honest rating, as well as any new posts going forward.

You'll have to view each post live on the site to see the rating widget. It will not show up in your feed reader or on LiveJournal or Facebook. To vote, just click the star corresponding to the rating you wish to give - for example, if you wanted to rate a post four out of five stars, you would click the fourth star from the left. The stars will turn color as you hover over them, and the text beside them will indicate whether you would be rating the post as "bad", "boring", "OK", "good" or "excellent".

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help me by rating my posts originally appeared on confoozled.com on September 29, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

sleeping doggies make happy mommies

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:37:00 -0500

We call him "doormat".

Does Daddy need deodorant?

Last week was rough on Brooskey and Vixen; we weren't home much. By Saturday they, Brooskey especially, were unbearably hyper and anxious. Brooskey could do nothing but wander around the house whining, and crying pitifully out the window every time he saw anyone outside. He was bored out of his mind.

So, we put them in the car and took them down to Warwick City Park. We parked by the beach, took Brooskey out on the sand to see if he would approach the water (he wouldn't), then went for a brisk walk on the walk/bike path (okay, Chris and Brooskey ran ahead of us girls a bit). When I started to feel like Vixen and I would not make it back to the car if we went much farther, we turned around and probably broke some kind of municipal law by walking the wrong way on what's supposed to be a one-way loop. (Too bad, not everyone can walk three miles at one time.) On the way out we stopped to let Brooskey run in the dog park for a few minutes while Vixen and I played dead in the car. It didn't take very long before he was done, too, and we headed back home.

And those two sweet, peacefully sleeping creatures you see in the photos? That's what we had for the whole rest of the weekend.

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sleeping doggies make happy mommies originally appeared on confoozled.com on September 28, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

charter giving away a sweet car

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:25:00 -0500

Have I mentioned how much I hate my cable company and wish we Rhode Islanders had more choices? Choices like Charter Cable, who recently finished their two month long laptop a day giveaway to new subscribers, and have now replaced it with their new Camaro Sweepstakes, in which they are giving away the super fast, hard to get, 426 horsepower 2010 Camaro 2SS. They will even pay the sales tax! This contest began on September 15 and ends at noon on November 26.

Just like last time, Charter is also giving free gift cards to all new subscribers to one or more of their services: $25 for signing up for one service, $50 for two, or $100 for three. These gift cards are from major restaurants, clothing retailers, home and accessory retailers, among others. You can also choose a prepaid Visa reward card, which you can use anywhere that accepts Visa credit cards.

Charter could very well be the most generous cable company in the world! Last year they gave away a hybrid car, Xbox 360s, and daily HDTVs to lucky new customers. Become a fan of Charter on Facebook to keep up with more exciting news from the company. Or, you can also follow Charter on Twitter.

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charter giving away a sweet car originally appeared on confoozled.com on September 25, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

plans for relaxation were foiled

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:34:00 -0500

It's been a busy week in terms of after-work activities, and all I wanted to do yesterday was go home and plop in front of the TV for several hours of fall season premieres. We had to meet a friend of Chris' first to try to diagnose a misbehaving laptop, so fine, I thought, I can sit at the bar for an hour or so and fill up on Diet Coke. It was determined that the laptop was infected with a pretty nasty virus, so we decided to take it home where there's an internet connection to aid in its recovery. We said our goodbyes, paid our tab and headed out to the car.

The car had different ideas. All Chris could get out of the ignition was an awful clicking sound - it sounded a bit like a taser. After calling AAA and being told it would be about an hour before they could get to us, we we went back inside to the bar to wait, where a sympathetic patron bought us a round of drinks.

AAA sent a tow truck just in case it was more than a dead battery, but they were able to get the car started with jumper cables. The tow truck driver told us a "battery truck" would meet us back at the house in an hour's time, to test the battery and see if it needed replacing, and sell and install a new one if necessary. He told us to keep the car running until the other truck arrived, to see if the battery would charge back up.

It took closer to two hours for the second AAA technician to arrive, during which we stayed outside with the running car and the dogs, who needed some good playtime anyway after being home alone for a very long day. After running for over two hours to charge the battery, the car still would not start on its own, so it was obvious the battery was shot. The tech replaced it, which in itself took quite a while, because Nissan apparently has come up with a rather silly design for the bracket that holds the battery in place, and it was not easy to put back on.

So by the time the whole ordeal was over and we headed back inside, it was 10:00! So much for a night of fall premieres. We turned on CSI: Miami, but Chris was asleep before the opening credits ran, and I, not long after.

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plans for relaxation were foiled originally appeared on confoozled.com on September 25, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.