confoozled.com

could i win a trip to vegas?

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:38:00 -0500

I guess it's been a little while since I've written anything! Last week I came down with a cold, and while it was nothing compared to the one I had in early December, it still had me moaning and groaning and asking for my mommy, and there were a good two days when I was unable to do much of anything other than stare off into space. It was a short cold, though, and I was better by Thursday morning. After that, well, it's amazing how behind in life two days of uselessness will get you.

But I do have something really exciting to share. You already know about this if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, but for those who don't, here's the scoop. Last Saturday night, we decided to join a few of our friends for bowling. Okay, they bowled while I sat and watched. We heard that there was a karaoke competition going on in the bar inside the bowling alley. Sandra and I finally gathered enough courage to go sing, but by then the contest was over. We still sang a few songs, as did a couple of other members of our group, and we all had a really good time. While I was singing one song, Sandra was chatting with the girl hosting the karaoke, and found out that the competition is an ongoing weekly event, and at the end one winner from that location wins a trip to Las Vegas. Deanna (the host) pointed to me and told Sandra, "that girl singing right now has a really good chance of winning; she should come back and enter next week."

!!!!!!!!!!

Amazingly, without a drop of alcohol in me, I agreed to do just that. I even talked to Deanna and got her business card (which I promptly lost; thank God for Facebook!). She told me to e-mail her if there were any songs I wanted that she didn't have, and she would get them for me. I'll also be bringing my microphone stand so that I don't have to have someone hold the mic for me; I'll be a lot more confident that way!

I'm so freaking excited! I feel like my voice is not nearly what it used to be, so to have someone who isn't my friend, and just trying to make me feel good, say that they think I could win feels awesome! I've had my USB microphone and stand in the office hooked up to the computer all week so I can practice and record myself to see what I really sound like, and decide which songs are my strongest. I think I'm going to kick some butt!

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could i win a trip to vegas? originally appeared on confoozled.com on February 25, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

puppy playdate in groton

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:31:00 -0500

A couple of weeks ago we took a day trip to Groton, Connecticut to my former coworker Norm's house. The primary purpose of the trip was to help Norm set up his new business computer, but we also brought Brooskey and Vixen along to play with his two Australian Shepherds, Summer and Merlin. Summer, the adult female, somehow managed to evade the camera, but our two and Merlin, who's just a puppy and an adorable one at that, had a blast playing together all day and Chris got a few photos of the three of them. (The first one, with Chris in it, was taken by Norm.)

The day went so well, and even Vixen did not once get scared of the strange people and big dogs. Merlin had never seen a dog so small and was fascinated with her. He was also amazingly gentle playing with her, as if he understood she wouldn't be able to handle his full strength.

All four dogs were exhausted by the end of the day, and our two slept til about noon the next day. And even after they were awake, they were just barely awake.

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puppy playdate in groton originally appeared on confoozled.com on February 12, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

qwerty flip phone with no contract

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:03:00 -0500

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

You all know that I am a die hard iPhone lover. I love its touch screen and on screen keyboard, and the fact that it responds to the lightest touch and I don't have to apply any pressure makes it so much easier for me to use. For some others, though, that's exactly what they hate about it. Some people like having a phone with a physical keyboard and buttons that they can feel and press down on. And some don't like signing the two year AT&T contract that comes with the iPhone. For those people, here's a new alternative.

It's the SANYO Incognito (model number SCP6760), a new smart phone offered by Boost Mobile. The Incognito flips open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard with actual buttons, and features a 2MP camera with VGA video recording, a music and video player, and enhanced web browsing powered by EVDO 3G broadband technology. It also supports MMS (multimedia messaging), stereo Bluetooth, and is GPS enabled. Boost Mobile offers a $50 monthly unlimited talk, text, and data plan for the Incognito with no contract required. This phone is only $129.99 plus applicable taxes, with free shipping, when purchased through the link in this post.

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qwerty flip phone with no contract originally appeared on confoozled.com on February 10, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

pick me up when i'm down

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:01:00 -0500

Winter. My most hated time of year. Specifically, that long stretch of winter after the fun of the holidays is gone, until it's possible to comfortably wear short sleeves outside again. That depressing, draining, drawn out second half of the season, when there aren't even any work holidays to break up the monotony. (Oh, I know some of you get MLK Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday even... I don't.)

I get depressed at this time every year. And I hate when people ask why or tell me I don't have anything to be depressed about, because that's not what depression is. It's not being sad about something. It's your brain not processing stress correctly, or focusing on every little negative thing in your life and making them all seem a hundred times worse than they are. It's chemicals all out of balance and making you sad, angry, mean, forgetful, super sensitive... sometimes all at the same time, and with no apparent reason. When someone asks you why, you just burst into tears because you honestly don't know why.

I've come to know myself well enough to recognize what is happening, but that doesn't necessarily give me the power to do anything about it. The only cure is the onset of spring: the warmer weather leading to more time spent out of the house, leading to more sunlight, fresh air, and social interaction. But there are a few things I can do to help myself cope on the really tough days.

One of my favorite things to do to get out of my head is to sing. I love to fire up Singstar on the PlayStation 3, pull out my professional microphone stand, and just sing my heart out, pretending that I'm up on stage in front of thousands of adoring fans. In that moment all I am thinking about is the song I'm singing, and everything else just disappears. I honestly think that belting out my favorite karaoke tunes produces endorphins just like exercise does for most people.

They say laughter is the best medicine, and it is definitely up there for me. Our TiVo is set to record plenty of comedic TV programming, and sitting down for a good dose of humor almost always makes me feel better when I've had a rough day. My all-time favorite giggle-fest is America's Funniest Home Videos, but I also get a kick out of Jay Leno's "Headlines" segments and lots of other shows, including The Office, Community, The Middle, and 30 Rock.

My third pick-me-up is similar to the second, but instead of TV, the entertainment comes from my two dogs, Brooskey and Vixen. First, each of them is wildly entertaining on their own. Just last night, Brooskey gave me one of the heartiest belly laughs I've had in a long time. He likes to chase the beam of a flashlight or laser pointer, and he also likes to steal both items, not seeming to realize that if he has it in his mouth, we can't aim it for him to chase. We've often remarked how much easier life would be if he could just aim it and entertain himself. So last night, when he decided to steal the flashlight, Chris got up and turned it in his mouth so that it was pointed forward, and Brooskey actually started chasing the beam around with the flashlight in his own mouth! It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. (Don't worry, we didn't let him do this for very long, for both his safety and that of the flashlight.) But anyway, a whole new dimension of entertainment comes into play when Brooskey and Vixen interact with each other. They can be comical, and other times downright precious, because they love each other so much. Either way, everything they say about pets being good for your health, and good for your soul, is true.

(This post is my entry for yesterday's 3x Thursday: Pick-Me-Ups.)

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making the move to windows 7

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:10:00 -0500

Since we got FiOS we've been very happy with both the TV and internet service, but the change must have awoken some dormant problem with my computer, because my connection to our wireless network gradually degraded until I just could not get online at all anymore (even though I was supposedly still connected with excellent signal). Other computers and networked devices in the house were working perfectly, so I knew it was a problem with my computer and not the FiOS service. The more I tried to fix it, the worse it got, so I finally got pissed off enough to pull the trigger on something I'd been contemplating for a while anyway.

I installed Windows 7.

My disgust with the situation did cloud my judgment, and I probably pulled the trigger a bit prematurely. My first mistake was that I did not run the hardware compatibility scanner provided by Microsoft. I was going to, but then decided to skip it, assuming all of my hardware would be supported. That did not turn out to be true. First I was unable to install a driver for my wireless card. Now, since this is what was acting up in the first place, it's entirely possible that the card was just dead. Either way, I have a new one on order. I also realized that my sound card was far too old to have a Windows 7 driver available, but this was not a huge problem since my motherboard has a built in sound card which works just fine. I also forgot to look to see which files and folders I was backing up with my online backup service, so that I could reconfigure it to back up the same data. Fortunately I was able to find this information by browsing the backup through their web site.

So, my haste didn't cause any problems that I wasn't able to fix, at least not so far! My system is up and running, and running very well at that. I'm using a USB wireless adapter until my new card gets here, and I also have some more RAM coming to make it run even better. I'm installing the software I need as I need it, and so far haven't had any problems with that. I am however anticipating needing to find a new graphic editor. I have been very set in my ways, running a quite old version of Paint Shop Pro which I don't expect to be compatible with this version of Windows (not to mention I can't find the install disc). My scalable copy of the confoozled.com logo is saved in PSP format, so I either need something which can read that format or I'll need to convert it to something else using my work computer. (I've already tried the GIMP; though it does read PSP format, it fails attempts to open my logo file.) But I'm not stressing too much about it; if I can't find anything that will open it, it will be a good excuse to design a new logo!

I am, so far, very happy with Windows 7 and its performance even without the extra RAM. I do feel like a fish out of water making the move to this from Windows XP, but I am getting the hang of it. Things work very differently, but I think I like most of the changes they've made.

Hooray for total frustration driving one to do what should have been done a long time ago!

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making the move to windows 7 originally appeared on confoozled.com on February 1, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

my 2010 tech wish list

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:14:00 -0500

Okay, so I'll weigh in on the iPad. I wasn't one of those people who went into the announcement with my mind already made up to hate it and to hurl insults at those who don't, but in the end I was less than impressed. In terms of functionality it isn't much better than an iPhone or iPod Touch, except for the bigger screen size. However, I feel you can get that screen size along with much better functionality, for about half the price, with a netbook. The iPad seems to me more like an iPod/Kindle hybrid than a "tablet" - when I hear "tablet" I expect it to behave more like a computer, but this thing doesn't even multitask. If you don't already have an iPod Touch (or iPhone) and/or a Kindle and have been thinking about getting one, this may be the product for you. But it's not for me.

That said, here are some of the tech products I am lusting after these days.

Netbook
I like being able to surf the web and get a little work done from the comfort of the couch. My iPhone makes this possible some of the time, but its small screen and lack of Flash support makes viewing certain web sites impossible. Not to mention that no multitasking means a lot of waiting for apps to launch, close, and relaunch. My initial interest in the iPad was as a solution to this, but since they chose not to address the multitasking issue, and it still might not support Flash (the answer to this question being unclear right now), and given the price tag, a netbook still seems to be the right option for me. Here are a few models I'm interested in.

Digital Photo Frame
I live far away from my family, and have several siblings, not to mention nieces and nephews who are growing and changing every day. I have a few picture frames on my desk at work, but there's not enough room for everyone, and the pictures I have in them are really out of date. A digital frame would solve all of my problems. One frame to cycle through photos of everyone I want to keep close, and easy to keep up to date as my family members send me new photos, even when they are too low resolution to print - not to mention not having to struggle with opening and closing stubborn frames. I'm currently looking at these two models.

RAM Upgrade
I want to upgrade my desktop PC to Windows 7, and in order for it to run well I need more RAM. Need I say more?

LCD HDTV + TiVo HD
I'm getting tired of the dinosaur TV set we have in the bedroom, not to mention the creaking sounds I hear sometimes make me think it's going to one day fall through the top of my dresser! We use the old Series 2 TiVo in the bedroom as an overflow for when we have three shows to record at the same time, but we've definitely become spoiled by HD and hate watching those recordings in boring old standard definition. We don't have the money right now, but an HD upgrade for the bedroom is definitely on the wish list.

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my 2010 tech wish list originally appeared on confoozled.com on January 29, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

the problem with buying early

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:50:00 -0500

What a bonehead I am. A few months ago while reading one of Jen's posts at Spaghetti Harvest, I decided to buy some of her soaps to give as gifts during the holidays. And then I completely forgot about them until now.

I had stored them on the top shelf in the hall closet, and it was the other day when I was putting something away that I smelled them, looked up, and facepalmed in my mind only because I can't actually get my palm to my face. They are clearly a Christmas scent, so it's not like I can just give them out for birthdays or something. Now I don't know what to do with them. Will they lose their potency by next Christmas? I don't even know.

What should I do?

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the problem with buying early originally appeared on confoozled.com on January 26, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

my headache fighting arsenal

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:20:00 -0500

A Plinky writing prompt from earlier this week: "Share how you treat a headache."

As you can tell from numerous posts here, I get a lot of headaches, for all different reasons. If it has the potential to cause a headache, you can bet that for me, it will. Allergies, stress, fluorescent lights, heat, cold, loud dogs barking, eye strain, sudden weather changes, thinking about time travel, hunger, thirst, sleeping in too late... you name it. How I treat them often depends on what's causing them in the first place. Sometimes it's obvious, other times not so much, and other times I just instinctively know what's going to make me feel better.

My first line of defense is a dose of painkillers, and my drug of choice is Excedrin. Excedrin is a combination of aspirin and acetaminophen with a bit of caffeine to boost its speed and effectiveness, and it's the only thing that seems to work for me. Either of these drugs alone has very little effect, and I have an intolerance to ibuprofen (i.e. it makes me vomit). Naproxen (Aleve) also has no effect on my headaches, though I do use it for joint and muscle pain.

Sometimes, though, drugs alone are not enough. And sometimes I get a lot of headaches in a short period, and I dislike taking the painkillers several days in a row. So I keep a few other tricks up my sleeve.

Cold Therapy: I keep a soft freezer pack frozen at all times at home, and I carry one-time use instant cold packs in my purse (activated by squeezing to pop the water pouch inside, setting off a chemical reaction). Sometimes I apply the cold compress directly where it hurts, sometimes to the opposite side of my head, sometimes the back of my neck. It all depends on what feels like it's helping. Most of the time just a few minutes of this will numb the pain enough to let the drugs do the rest.

Vapor Therapy: Often I can tell that a headache is caused by sinus congestion. This happens in one of two ways: either excessive pressure in my sinuses causes pain directly, or reduced airflow causes a sort of oxygen deprivation headache. Either way, menthol and eucalyptus vapors can help a lot. At both home and work I have a small waterless vaporizer which works by heating up a replaceable pad soaked with these oils.

Food: Sometimes I get hunger or low blood sugar headaches. The obvious cure for these is to eat! Sugary snacks, especially chocolate, usually help the most, but sometimes I'll crave something specific. I just listen to whatever my body is telling me, and it's usually right.

Drink: Headaches caused by dehydration are usually helped by downing a couple of glasses of water in a short period of time. Not too much too fast, though; I don't want to end up with water intoxication. Vascular headaches, those caused by expanded blood vessels supplying too much blood to the brain, sometimes need a little more caffeine than what's in the Excedrin, so I'll drink a Coke Zero. This depends on the time of day and how much caffeine I've already had, though, as my heart does not tolerate high amounts of it as well as it used to.

Sensory Deprivation: When all of the above fails, there's nothing left to do but lock myself in the darkest, quietest room I can find, and wait it out. If I can relax enough to fall asleep, most of the time I'll be good as new when I wake up again.

Again, I don't have any scientific method of identifying what type of headache I have; it's just something I know. And I don't necessarily get it right 100% of the time.

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my headache fighting arsenal originally appeared on confoozled.com on January 22, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

am i team leno or team conan?

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:00:00 -0500

I'm sick of hearing about the Leno vs. Conan thing.

I'm supposedly in the minority, but I love Jay Leno. He's the only late night host I've ever watched with any degree of regularity. Still, I have nothing against Conan O'Brien, other than the fact that he doesn't do anything for me personally and I find him more annoying than funny. But just because someone doesn't appeal to me, doesn't mean I wish them off the airwaves.

There's no need to pit them against each other. They appeal to different audiences and there is plenty of room in this world for both of them. This is NBC's mess, not either of theirs.

I would be incredibly sad if Jay Leno were no longer on the air. I can't imagine not getting my weekly fix of "Headlines". And, even though I don't care for him, I think it would be a shame if Conan was no longer around as well, all because NBC screwed up.

I hope they both continue to host late night television shows. Clearly NBC cannot accommodate both of them, but that's the beauty of modern television: there are other channels. I don't really care which one stays on NBC and which one moves to another network, or even if they both move... as long as they both stay on TV somewhere so their respective audiences can still enjoy them. And, I'm certainly not going to boycott NBC entirely for making the "wrong" choice. That would be stupid. NBC isn't going to miss me, but there are a lot of shows on their network that I would miss. So who does a boycott really hurt?

So, no, I'm not "Team Leno" or "Team Conan". I'm "Team Let's Grow Up and Stop Making Everything Into a War When It Doesn't Need to Be One".

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my how things change

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:50:00 -0500

I'm again amused by how things change in just a few short years. Here are some more examples!

Almost exactly three years ago, I posted a blog survey that was geared toward us geeky types. Rereading it today, I laughed out loud at the first question and my answer.

Did you not only sigh the biggest sigh of relief ever once you saw that Apple had introduced the iPhone, but you also thought it was totally the coolest phone ever? More like rolled my eyes. Yet another gadget that Chris will insist he must have, but will never use (like his iPod).

One part of my prediction came true: Chris had to have one. But that's the only thing I was right about. Not only is the thing glued to his hand, but so is mine to my hand!

Here's another item from the same quiz that I thought was interesting... and timely.

Did you tell your Broadband ISP to take their Cable Modem and shove it and go buy your own (a real one!)? Yup, and eventually we'll be telling them to take their whole service and shove it when Verizon's FiOS becomes available in our neighborhood.

Finally, three years and one day after writing that, this Saturday, it's happening. We're getting FiOS. I am so excited, and can't wait to tell Cox Cable "goodbye and good riddance!"

Also about three years ago, I participated in Friday's Feast, a weekly five question meme - each question a "course" in a five course meal - which sadly doesn't appear to be around anymore.

Appetizer
Which television shows do you just refuse to miss?
Well I can't give you my entire Season Pass list off of my TiVo, so let's see if I can narrow it down to just the ones that I will insist on watching again if I fall asleep. 24, House, ER, Heroes, The Office, Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Jericho, Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, and Lost.

All of those shows remain on the "can't miss" list, with exception of a couple which have been canceled. But now, I can show you the entire TiVo list, because just last night I took twenty photos to document the entire list just in case we have to rebuild it after the FiOS switch on Saturday. Now, I don't watch all of these shows: some are Chris' shows and some are just filler material we keep a couple of episodes of for those times when there is nothing else to watch. I'll leave it to you to figure out what's what.

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my how things change originally appeared on confoozled.com on January 13, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

fingerless gloves to keep me warm

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:29:00 -0500

Keeping toasty warm in my gloves and jammies.

Lately when I spend time at my home computer, my hands have been getting cold and the back of my right hand even goes numb... a rather unpleasant sensation. It doesn't happen if I crank the heat up high enough, but then my computer overheats, especially if I'm playing The Sims 3. You can tell by how much louder the fans get.

So I think I've found a solution. I got some knit gloves nice and cheap at Target ($1.50 for two pair), and this weekend I sat down and laboriously cut the fingers off of one pair, and made myself some "typing gloves". They seem to be doing the trick! They do slow down my typing a bit and I took a big hit in the accuracy department as well, but most of the time on my home computer is spent playing games where I only have to hit a key here and there, so I don't think it will matter much. They work so well to keep my hands warm that I've even been wearing them around the house when I'm not at the computer. The hardest part is coaxing all of my twisty fingers into the right holes to put them on, but I am getting the hang of it.

Other things I learned in this process are that kitchen shears work much better than office scissors for cutting through gloves, and that the trick is to pull back on the scissors, rather than pushing them forward. Oh, and that the bottom of my new camera is not particularly flat, and it can lose its balance easily when I press the shutter button for a timer shot.

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fingerless gloves to keep me warm originally appeared on confoozled.com on January 11, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

an alphabetical browsing history

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:27:00 -0500

It's kind of fun to dig back in my blog and see how things have changed over time. For example, this meme I did about five years ago, where one is supposed to go through the alphabet and see what comes up first in their web browser's auto complete list for each letter. I don't even remember some of those sites! (And many of them no longer exist.)

Not only have my web browsing habits changed drastically in five years' time, so has the way auto complete works in modern browsers. Here's today's list.

A: American Greetings
B: online banking for the bank where my accounts reside
C: online banking for the bank where Chris' accounts reside
D: my DailyBurn nutrition log
E: Ebates
F: Facebook
G: Joe's Goals
I use this site to keep track of how many days I have succeeded in staying under my daily calorie limit. It hasn't been used much lately.
H: Holey Donuts
Don't worry, these are low fat, low calorie donuts. Expensive, but delicious. You'd never know they were diet friendly.
I: Instapaper
A tool for temporarily saving web pages you want to come back to later. I always forget to go back.
J: Rhode Island Holiday Tweetup 2009 (#jollytweetup)
An event I went to in December to meet some of my nearby Twitter friends.
K: an accounts payable spreadsheet on my work Google Docs account
L: Logical Media
This is one of the affiliate networks I belong to.
M: my Movable Type dashboard
N: Netflix
This might not stay on the list much longer, considering their poor decision to make a deal with one of the major movie studios to refrain from renting that studio's DVDs for the first twenty-eight days after release. The studio thinks this is going to make people buy the DVD instead of renting it. They are going to find out that they are sadly mistaken.
O: Outbrain
The power behind the little star rating widget you see at the bottom of every confoozled.com post. Which, by the way, I wish people would use more!
P: the same spreadsheet triggered by K
Q: a budgeting spreadsheet on my personal Google Docs account
R: Google Reader
S: SwagBucks' shopping page
T: Twitter
U: the administration site for my employer's healthcare plan
V: Google Voice
W: the login page to pay Chris' car payment
X: that accounts payable spreadsheet again
Y: YouTube
Z: Zenbe Lists
A list making site where I make up our shopping and chore lists, which can be synchronized to both of our iPhones.

Want to play along? Post your list to your own blog, Facebook (be sure to tag me), or here in the comments (if you include links it might get snagged by the spam filter, but be patient and I will rescue it). If the result for any particular letter is private, obviously don't post a link, but at least give a vague description of what it is, like I did for a few of mine.

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an alphabetical browsing history originally appeared on confoozled.com on January 8, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

somebody's phone is ringing!

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:10:00 -0500

Random pet peeve time. Note this has no correlation to any actual events today; it's just something that popped into my head.

I hate when people assume someone's cell phone is ringing whenever they hear a phone ring on TV, and call out, "Somebody's phone!" Especially when it's obviously not a cell phone ringing. I know there are classic phone ringtones available for cell phones, but they do not sound the same as the real thing. And if I can tell the difference, so should you.

Besides, we can all hear it; don't you think if it sounded like any of our phones, we'd check them?

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somebody's phone is ringing! originally appeared on confoozled.com on January 4, 2010. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

what did i do all year?

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:18:00 -0500

Well, here it is, my last post of 2009. It wasn't an extremely eventful year, but there were a few highlights. I went to Oregon to visit family and old friends. I turned 30 and celebrated in two parts: a surprise party thrown by friends, and a day on Block Island, RI with my sweetie. And we went to a few weddings, including the long anticipated wedding of Joe and Sandra, for which Chris was the best man.

Checking in on the bucket list I started in January...

~~Get the hell outta Dodge... I mean, Hood River.~~
~~Go to Disney World.~~
~~Ride on a boat in the ocean.~~
Go on a cruise.
Drive my own vehicle.
~~Swim with dolphins.~~
~~Make contact with my biological father.~~ *
Compete on a television game show.
~~Have someone call me Mommy.~~
Have someone human call me Mommy.
Visit Australia.
Travel somewhere solely for the purpose of meeting an online friend in person.
Own an actual house on my own land. (new)
Get a prize winning video on America's Funniest Home Videos. (new)

* I Googled his name and found a listed address in the right area for where we thought he'd be living. I wrote a letter, and mailed it. In the letter I stated that I was not sure I had the right person, gave some details that would identify who I was looking for, and I also promised that I would not make repeated attempts at contact if he did not wish to have any. I received no response. If it wasn't him, the person who read the letter didn't see fit to let me know as much. If it was him, he made his wishes clear.

So, not much progress on the bucket list this year either. I've added a couple of new items, but I don't expect to get very far in the coming year either. Now that I have my new camera I guess I can at least work on the AFV video and some application videos for game shows. Who knows, maybe one of those will happen in the next year.

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what did i do all year? originally appeared on confoozled.com on December 31, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.

i guess we made the nice list

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:38:00 -0500

Mondays can go jump off a cliff. Especially the ones that follow a long weekend.

Today's misery aside, I had a pretty awesome Christmas. I totaled up $330 in cash and gift cards toward my new camera - the one thing I wanted this year. I went Saturday and got a Canon Powershot SD980. It's a sweet little camera. It's a member of Canon's "Digital ELPH" series, super compact for what it does, but not too small for me like many of these cameras tend to be. 12.1 megapixels, touch widescreen, and shoots HD video.

One of the main reasons I wanted a new camera was so I could use a gift I got last Christmas from my sister Dana: my 2GB Eye-Fi SD memory card. This thing is awesome. It's wi-fi enabled, and uploads your photos to your computer wirelessly as soon as you power your camera on within range of your wireless home network (or wherever you choose to set up the software). For a $10/year subscription, it will also automatically upload to any photo sharing web sites you choose out of the thirty or so that are available (this is a free feature with the more expensive versions of the card). With Eye-Fi I will almost never need to fiddle with manually connecting the camera to my computer, unless I need to upload video (something else the more expensive cards do but this one does not).

Apart from the camera, Santa also brought me some clothes, the "World Adventures" expansion for The Sims 3, and Wii Fit Plus (just the software as I already own a balance board). Chris got a TomTom GPS and a Griffin PowerDock 2 (a dual charging dock for both of our iPhones), clothes, cologne, and lots of underwear. His parents gave us some money to put toward a new couch at some point in 2010, and our crazy friends Joe and Sandra got us a toaster oven.

Even Brooskey and Vixen made out. Brooskey got a new bed from us, and two new toys from Auntie Dana and Nana (Chris' mom). We got Vixen a soft, plush blanket to cuddle up in, Dana sent her a pretty pink coat/harness, and Nana got her a rawhide bone almost as big as she is - just the size she likes them.

I hope Santa was as good to you as he was to us! What was the best gift you received this year?

(FTC Disclosure: Product links are affiliate links which will generate a commission payment to me if purchases are made through them. My opinions on these products are not influenced by this compensation.)

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i guess we made the nice list originally appeared on confoozled.com on December 28, 2009. If you believe this content has been republished without authorization, please notify me.