Mishmash Musings

Since immigration is such a hot topic now, I thought I’d take an abbreviated version of the U.S. citizenship test. This came from Blogthings.com and consisted of only 10 questions. I got one wrong, and can tell you that I obviously didn’t study for the quiz at all. If I had, I know I would have gotten them all correct. The only one I got wrong was the year that the Constitution was written (I’m very bad with dates). I put 1786, but it’s 1787.

Anyway, here’s a link to click through and take the quiz if you want.

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations – you got 9 out of 10 correct!

When I was in college, I made lots of bad choices that ended up having a negative impact on my life. I was hanging out with the wrong crowd, drinking every single night, and even skipping classes during the day. It wasn’t long before the school counselors intervened and told me that I would either have to attend an approved alcohol rehab program or face expulsion.

Fortunately, my parents found a good treatment center close to home. I stayed there for a couple of weeks, talked about the nature of addictions in general, and discovered the causes of my own destructive behavior. Thanks to the timely help I received, I was able to turn my life around. I now have a college degree, a great family life, and am successfully self-employed. But I still remember what it was like when I was plagued by serious problems, so I can definitely empathize with others who are going through the same thing.

Today I came across a website that I think is very helpful to those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction. It’s called alcohol-rehab.mobi and is a place where people can share their stories of addiction, treatment, and the positive changes that they’ve made in their lives. I read through several of the entries on the site and was struck by the sincerity and inspirational nature of the posts. Reading the words of others brought back floods of memories about my own troubled times, and I have to say that I’m glad that we all made it through.

If you’ve got your own addiction story to share or if you’re looking for referrals for good rehab programs, you might want to check out alcohol-rehab.mobi today. Get the help you need so that you can have the good life you deserve.

Well, not officially. You may remember that some time ago MIT decided to open up a bunch of its courses to the general public by making the syllabi and assignments accessible on the Internet. You can then follow along with the course and learn what real MIT students would learn — except without the benefit of classroom discussion or instructor input.

I’ve always wanted to take a writing course, so I’ve decided to work through an MIT course called Reading and Writing Short Stories. I’ve gone so far as to order one of the textbooks used in the class and am excited about reading the sample works and lecture notes. I may even try to write a short story myself — we’ll see!

About a week ago, I received some sample packets of a pain relief gel in the mail. It’s called Freeze It, and is supposed to be effective on arthritis pain, sore muscles, strains, aching joints, and the like. I would have loved to try this product for myself, but, embarrassingly enough, I lead such a sedentary lifestyle that I have no aches or pains to complain of! So I let my mom have my Freeze It samples on the condition that she report back to me about how the gel worked out for her.

My mom has arthritis in her knees, but she doesn’t let that prevent her from taking an aerobics class three times a week. Of course, the price she pays for staying in shape is some pretty intense pain throughout the day. She doesn’t regularly use any of the other gels or creams on the market, but she is familiar with many of them. At any rate, she was just thrilled to be able to try something for free.

The first thing my mom noticed was that Freeze It doesn’t have as strong, lingering smell like some of the other products. While it’s not odorless, the smell wasn’t offensive to her, so she didn’t mind using it. Another thing she noticed right off the bat was that Freeze It gel went on without a mess. It was absorbed very quickly, which meant she didn’t have to wait for 10 or 15 minutes before putting her jeans back on. Also, she told me that Freeze It didn’t feel greasy at all — another point in the product’s favor.

But the real test, of course, was whether or not Freeze It would relieve my mom’s arthritis pain. She said that she did indeed feel some relief after about 10 minutes, and it wasn’t just a burning sensation that masked the pain (like she tends to experience with other products).

I checked on the price of Freeze It gel for my mom and told her she could get two 4-ounce tubes for $15.48 on a well known shopping website (that comes out to $7.74 per tube). She thought that was a fairly good deal compared to other national brands and would consider buying the full-sized product at that price.

I also found this Freeze It commercial on YouTube that explains a bit more about the product, so check it out and try Freeze It for yourself the next time you feel the onset of arthritis or muscle pain!

As expected, my cousin finished her copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows already, and she has passed it on to me. I’ve got to read the final few chapters of A Passage to India before getting started with Potter, but that should happen later tonight. I have been trying to avoid all spoilers and news about the Potter book, and thus far it has worked. I am very excited about finally sitting down with the last installment of the series, so I’ll likely stay up late tonight to try to make some decent headway in the book.

I’ve spent most of the day just watching television. I’m trying to catch up on Season Three of Lost (I gave up on the show after the S3 pilot, but have been told that it might be worth watching the whole season) and am just now getting into Ugly Betty (thank goodness for DVR!). Lost is really difficult to watch because the storylines move at a friggin’ snail’s pace. It seems like just one tiny development occurs in each ep…. not very fun at all.

Ugly Betty, on the other hand, has been pretty good thus far. I think America Ferrera is great, as is Vanessa Williams in her as the evil Wilhelmina. I’ve watched four eps of Ugly Betty and am ready for more!

Later tonight we’re going to a barbecue party at my friend’s house. I’m looking forward to it because there will be some people there that I haven’t seen in a long time.

Well, I’m off to get ready now! Have a great weekend, everyone!

I absolutely love when companies promote their products by handing out free samples. Many of the items I get, such as t-shirts, pens, calendars, calculators, and so forth, are actually useful and save me the time, trouble, and expense of actually buying those products.

Like most people, however, I’m not likely to find out about giveaways unless I happen to see an ad or promotional booth in person. This means I’m only encountering a tiny fraction of the free offers that companies put out there, which is why I’m so happy that I found a new website called TheFreebieSource.com.

The Freebie Source serves as a directory of freebies and lists a bunch of great offers that you can sign up for online. After spending just 30 minutes on the site, I’ve already been able to sign up for free samples of Folger’s coffee, Dove hair care products, and even Shania Twain’s new perfume! Not a bad haul, and I’m going to go back for more later on tonight!

I have a feeling that The Freebie Source is quickly going to become one of my favorite websites! I’ve already bookmarked it and will keep checking back daily to take advantage of all this free stuff!

Yes, I’m a Harry Potter fan, so I can’t wait for the upcoming release of the seventh and final book of the series. But I’m not a totally crazy, hard-core fan, so that means I’m not going to be attending any midnight release parties or anything like that. I’m not even going to get the book on the first day (probably) and when I do get it, I’m not going to stay up all night reading it.

But I’m still excited about everything and am anxious to find out how the series ends. In the meantime, I’m not going to read any spoilers or fan pages. I want the entire book to be a surprise!