Mishmash Musings

I just got done reading a NY Times article about how Pope Benedict XVI has authorized the use of a modified form of the traditional Roman Catholic Latin Mass.

I’m not a Roman Catholic, so I haven’t been following this story or the attending controversy very closely, but I do think it would be cool to have a Latin Mass every once in a while. I studied Latin for many years and love the language… I think when used in a church setting, it brings an air of real reverence, solemnity, and mystery to the proceedings that is noticeably absent when the Mass is said in English.

Who knows, I might have to stop into a church one of these days to hear the Latin Mass!!

I haven’t done the Manic Monday meme in a long time, so I figured I’d do it today. Remember, I’m not officially participating in this meme (I’m not doing it for links or anything like that) which is why I’m not using the buttons or whatever. I hope that’s not breaking some kind of blogging code that I’m unaware of!

What is your most despised household chore?
I hate a lot of household chores, but if I had to single one out, I’d say the garbage. I can’t stand physically handling trash, especially if it contains food remnants. Disgusting!!

Pick out the most important item in your wallet/purse and tell why it’s important to you.
I don’t carry a purse, so I have to check my wallet for this one. There’s really not much in there. I guess the most important thing would be my driver’s license. I’m not sure what I’d do if I couldn’t drive anymore!

What was your first car? What was your favorite car when you were young?
My first car was a 1988 Ford Taurus that I received as a Christmas present from my mom in 1994. My favorite car when I was young was a DeLorean… Back to the Future, of course!!

The Ford Taurus was one of the best-selling cars in America throughout the late ’80s and the entire ’90s. I remember not being able to take a five-minute trip down to the corner store without seeing at least 10 of them go whizzing by in that short span. Heck, I even got in on the trend myself, as the first car I ever owned was a Taurus.

However, due to declining sales and lower profitability, Ford Motors decided late last year to stop production on the Taurus. Of course there are still tens of thousands of Tauruses on the road, and those cars will obviously need to be serviced at some point. This can be a problem, considering the fact that Ford is notorious for using parts that are tailored to a particular model year’s engine specs.

So that means replacing something like a Taurus radiator isn’t exactly a simple matter that can be taken care of at any car dealership in town. You’d have to get in touch with a parts shop that carries OE-certified radiators, and your best bet of finding a place like that is to check with Radiator.com first.

Personally, I had a ton of mechanical problems with my Taurus so I’m just glad I don’t have to deal with that car anymore!

If you read this blog regularly, then you know at least a little bit about my saga with estimated taxes. I’d never heard of estimated taxes until this year — on April 16, to be exact, when my accountant finally thought fit to tell me about them. And yes, that was the deadline for the 2007′s first quarter estimated payment. Nice.

Anyway, I kept putting my taxes off after that because I had just gotten done with the 2006 stuff and wanted to take a break from all the government paperwork, payments, and general bullshit that comes as part of the package.

Then, by the time I was ready to do the estimated stuff, I had already parted ways with my accountant and had to figure everything out on my own. I hate reading through government forms, so I put the stuff off yet again.

Next, I found out I had to register with EFTPS.gov in order to make electronic payments, so that took another week or so. By that time, my estimated taxes weren’t even a priority anymore and I wasn’t really working hard to get them done (obviously).

Well, I’m standing before you today to let you know that I have finally made my tax payments and am now caught up through the first two quarters of 2007! I’ll probably have interest penalties assessed on my late payments, but I don’t really care at this point (it won’t add up to much anyway). I’m just glad to be done with it!

And I was really surprised at how simple it was to go through with the transaction on EFTPS.gov. It literally took two minutes!!

At least now I know how it’s done and I’ll be able to make the September installment on time.

I don’t normally keep up with MySpace happenings, but I do have a login so I can check out some specific profiles when other people mention them. That’s precisely what happened today when I read an AP article that said Paris Hilton posted a new message on her MySpace blog. In it, she mentions how she just got back from a vacation to Maui, and then she wishes her readers a Happy 4th of July, saying

“…remember to be responsible and have a designated driver! Just looking out for you all.”

Gee, thanks, Paris. Cuz I never would have thought of that on my own .

By the way, I’ve always wondered why Paris didn’t have a designated driver herself on that night she was pulled over by the cops. If I were that rich, I’d definitely have people chauffeuring me everywhere I wanted to go.

Paris Hilton’s MySpace Blog

I frequently talk to people about taking college courses online, and I’m continually amazed at how misinformed these folks are. They seem to think that it’s simply impossible to earn a college degree without ever attending classes on campus, and believe that there must be a catch. They’re afraid that a degree earned over the Internet is not going to hold the same value as one earned in a more traditional manner and that they would just be wasting their money.

Well, that’s not the case at all — as long as you take classes from an accredited school like Capella University. The fact of the matter is that colleges and universities must comply with very strict standards in order to receive accreditation from an independent accrediting organization, so that should give you a pretty good idea of a school’s commitment to academic excellence.

Schools that have received accreditation are proud of this achievement and display the information prominently for all prospective students to see. Schools that haven’t received accreditation go to great lengths to try to avoid answering any questions on the subject.

Capella University is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, so you can be sure that the online degree you earn will be completely legitimate and valuable in the eyes of future employers.

If you’ve got an extra $135 million sitting in your bank vault, why not consider buying Dracula’s castle? Apparently, an heir of the Habsburg dynasty is putting Bran Castle in Transylvania, Romania up for sale. This is the castle that inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and is still used as a backdrop in many horror films.

In case you’re not familiar with the history of the castle (I wasn’t), this AP article gives a brief overview. I had no idea that Count Dracula was based on a person named Vlad the Impaler and that he only spent a single night in the castle. Some basis for a legend, huh?!

One of my close friends has been having a big problem with her 7-year-old son recently. It seems that he’s been going through a bedwetting phase, which is odd because he has never done this before — not even when he was a toddler.

They went to the child’s doctor to make sure there wasn’t a physical problem, and are now stuck trying to figure out what the root cause is. In the meantime, my friend has gone ahead and purchased incontinence supplies such as pull-on plastic underwear to help cut down on overnight messes.

I can see that this whole situation is really taking a toll on my friend. I wish there was some way I could help her out!