Mishmash Musings

My brother Rob likes to buy military gear even though he’s a civilian. He wears combat boots the way most people would wear regular shoes and he wears camouflage stuff when he goes hunting. Rob also likes to use military-grade accessories like pocket knives, compasses, and even watches. In fact, I heard that he’s looking at new Luminox watches, which apparently are the kind that Navy SEALs wear. Since his birthday is coming up in just a couple of days, this might be a good chance for me to surprise him with a new watch.

I started checking some websites yesterday and I found several that offer nice discounts on genuine Luminox watches. I’ve got to think of some subtle way to find out which watch in particular Rob likes so I can make sure to get the right one.

I don’t do subtlety very well, however, so we’ll see how this goes!

My husband keeps his motocross bikes and tools in the garage, which leaves us no room to park our cars. This is of course very inconvenient for me, but I put up with it because Jerry was into bikes long before I arrived on the scene, so I have no right to complain. We have no place else to keep the stuff right now, and since we’re not planning on moving into bigger digs anytime soon, I’m going to have to put up with the situation.

Nevertheless, I do have a right to insist that Jerry keep the garage as organized as possible. I’ve told him to go ahead and buy some sort of tool storage unit so he can keep the floor and workbench relatively free of clutter. Hopefully he’ll take advantage of this three-day weekend to finish the project, otherwise I’m going to have to go into full nagging mode until he does!

My son just started at his new private preschool (or “learning center,” as they call it) at the beginning of last week. He goes for just over three hours per day, so it’s not too bad. But still, there obviously needs to be a period of adjustment after the long summer vacation and we’re still going through that right now.  You know, getting to bed at a decent hour each night and waking up on time each morning for starters. Then the whole process of getting ready for school in the morning even when he’s cranky or would rather sit around playing his Nintendo DS.

Things were much easier today, so I think my son is getting the hang of the routine. At least he likes his teachers and has a couple of new friends already — that always helps! Hopefully it will continue to get better from this point forward.

One of the key tasks facing the Atlanta Falcons this season will be to rebuild their tarnished image after the whole Michael Vick fiasco. I think this will actually be fairly easy for the team to accomplish, particularly if they use a good market research firm to help them get a feel for the way fans are thinking. I believe that most fans realize that the organization had nothing to do with Vick’s dogfighting activities, so it won’t take much for them to move on.

The Falcons will still sell out their home games, they’ll still sell jerseys and other logo merchandise (just nothing with #7 on it), and they’ll still generate decent revenues all the way around.

Whether they make the playoffs or not is another matter altogether… but that wasn’t exactly a lock with Vick calling the signals anyway!

I just read an article that said late hotel heiress Leona Helmsley, who died earlier this month, left $12 million for the continued care of her dog. That’s more than she left for all four of her grandchildren combined, as two of the grandkids will get $5 million each and two will get nothing at all.

How ridiculous is that??? Why is it that rich people always seem to make the most eccentric provisions in their wills? I mean, how is it even possible that the care of a dog, even in the most luxurious circumstances, would approach $1 million in its lifetime, let alone $12 million?

Think of all the good Helmsley could have done with that money. The people she could have fed, the schools she could have built, the difference she could have made. But no, she decided to waste the money on her dog. How sad.

Obviously she had a right to do anything she wanted; I just wish she hadn’t been so selfish.

Since I work from home in a web-related field, I spend several hours per day online. I naturally want to make my time as profitable as possible, so I try to find different ways of scoring cash and prizes — even if the methods aren’t directly related to working.

What do I mean by this? Simply that I’ll fill out the occasional survey or sweepstake entry form in order to get free gifts in return. These forms usually just take a minute to fill out (especially if I use the AutoFill feature in my browser toolbar) and I can get anything from pens to keychains to t-shirts to water bottles in return for my time. Not bad at all!

In addition, I routinely visit sites like bid4prizes.com to try to win big-ticket items or even a cash prize. Bid4prizes.com is a unique site where registered users can win free prizes by submitting the lowest unique bid on a particular auction. If your bid wins, you get the prize — without having to actually pay the amount you bid! Bid4prizes even pays the shipping for you, so it doesn’t cost a cent to play. Past prizes awarded include televisions, computers, vacations, game systems, and even a brand-new car.

I haven’t won anything at bid4prizes yet, but I’m going to keep trying. I know one of these days I’m bound to get lucky over there!

You’ve probably heard by now that actor Owen Wilson was hospitalized in Los Angeles Sunday. Different sources on the Internet are saying different things, and while it hasn’t been confirmed by anyone in the Wilson camp, the predominant rumor is that the 38-year-old actor tried to commit suicide. Nearly all the reports agree that he was treated for a superficial cut on his left wrist as well as an overdose of pills.

Wilson’s publicist released the following statement from her client earlier today:

“I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time.”

I’m not a fan of Owen Wilson’s at all (I can’t stand his movies), but I still hate to see this kind of thing happen. Hopefully he can get his life straightened out soon.

One thing that I have to constantly remind myself to be careful of is channel surfing when my son is in the room. We have a lot of premium cable channels, so of course there’s always the danger of landing on a network that’s airing adult-oriented movies filled with bad language, violence, or nudity.

This has never been much of an issue before because my son was too young to understand what was going on, but now that he’s getting older and has a better idea of what he’s looking at, I try to shield him from the R-rated stuff. The last thing I want to do is have him see a movie where characters are dropping the f-bomb every other word or parading around in open tip bras right before a steamy sex scene.

So now we’ve programmed our “Favorites” button on the remote control with stuff that’s safe for my son to see: regular networks, news channels, and sports channels. We’ll save the other channels for after he’s in bed!