Mishmash Musings

I decided to take most of the weekend off, so for the last three days I haven’t done much writing at all. It’s good to have a break every once in a while, but I always find that it’s hard for me to recover after a lot of downtime. It’s like I get used to having all of that freedom, and I end up getting a bit lazy — which makes me swing the other way and just keep working with no time off at all.

Obviously, this all or nothing approach isn’t the ideal way to go about running a home business. I definitely need to keep working on my time management strategies so that I can find some sort of balance in here and not risk burning out.

Anyway, tomorrow is the beginning of a new month, so I’m looking forward to a fresh start as we move into the final quarter of 2007!

My husband and I were hoping to be able to go on a weekend getaway sometime this month, but it never happened. He has been so busy with work that it would be impossible for him to take a vacation right now. But things should slow down by the middle of October, so we’re currently looking at different destinations that we’d be interested in.

Neither one of us has been to Las Vegas, so that city is near the top of our list for weekend getaways. I would love to go spend an entire weekend gambling, eating at buffets, and taking in fun shows. We even have a discount voucher for the Tropicana Las Vegas, so we’d be able to get a great rate on our hotel stay. The only thing we’d really have to be concerned about is airfare, which, unfortunately, could end up being a deal-breaker. It’s kind of hard to justify flying to Vegas for the weekend when there are tons of other nice places within driving distance.

Well, at this point, I guess I don’t really care which destination we choose. As long as we get to go somewhere, I’m sure we’ll have a great time!

I have one of those mini-stepper exercise machines that I use on almost a daily basis. I bought a cheap one, and as luck would have it, the thing broke today. I never read the instructions, so I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to use it for more than 20 minutes at a time. The reason for this is that friction generated from the hydraulic shocks can cause the oil seals to get too hot, which makes them prone to leakage.

Well, that’s precisely what happened to me today. First, oil started leaking out. Then when I tried turning the machine over to see what the problem was, one of the shocks came out altogether, which led to even more oil gushing out. This was completely unexpected and I was caught off guard. The result: a huge oil stain in the middle of the carpet in my office.

I was able to blot up most of the oil, but I know a lot of it soaked through as well. So I need to find an effective way to clean oil off of carpeting. Luckily, the carpeting is very dark, so the oil stain itself isn’t noticeable unless you’re looking for it. But the smell is god-awful (Febreeze didn’t work on that) and makes me gag if I try to sit in here for extended periods.

I’ve checked some home remedy type sites, but haven’t found any good tips yet. If you know of anything, please pass the info on to me!

As you can see, I’ve got my new theme up and running now. I was able to customize the sidebars in far less time than I thought it would take, which is probably the result of having done this stuff so often. I swear, I’ve changed themes on this blog more times than I care to count…. so hopefully this one will stick for a while.

I think part of my dissatisfaction with the themes is actually just dissatisfaction with the blog itself. Even after posting here for almost an entire year, I’m not really sure what direction I want this blog to take. At first, I wanted it to have a more personal focus than my other blogs. I was planning on talking about my family, friends, work, things going on in my life, etc. And while I do talk about those things more here than on my other sites, I don’t do it nearly enough to be able to call this a “daily life” blog.

I also thought of talking about current event here, but then I remembered that I’m usually pretty bored by the news and don’t have much of an opinion on things (especially politics) one way or the other. So that hasn’t become the focus of the blog either.

I’m going to keep plugging away here, of course, but I’m also going to think long and hard about what I want this blog to be about. My other ones are far easier to maintain because they are so focused. I need to stop neglecting this site and get it up to speed as well!

Did you see the headline story on ESPN.com yesterday about how the DEA cracked down on 26 illegal steroid labs across the country? According to the report written by Shaun Assael, the busts were the result of an 18-month probe across 27 states. Furthermore, the DEA intercepted hundreds of thousands of emails and messages from an online forum where people came to find advice about buying the products. So far, no professional athletes have been implicated, but that could very well change once the government has had a chance to sort through all the data.

Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see several prominent athletes become entangled with this latest scandal. It’s been shown time and again that many athletes will stop at nothing to gain an edge on the competition and further their careers. Whether it’s in an individual sport like cycling or track and field, or a team sport like baseball or football, there are athletes doping up right at this very minute.

You know, it’s really no wonder that so many drug treatment centers are filled with athletes and other celebrities who have needlessly thrown away their careers. Just think of all the stories like this that don’t get reported.

What a sad situation.

So I found a new theme yesterday that looked pretty decent in the test run, so I’m going to try to change over tonight and then tweak the sidebars and stuff to get it to look the way I want. Unfortunately, I don’t have a “dummy” blog or anything like that set up where I can preview changes before they go live. So things could get a bit wonky on here later… But don’t worry, I can always switch back to this theme while I tweak, so any problems you encounter won’t be long-term.

Thanks for your patience!

When I worked at my last office job, our biggest problem was communication. Some managers would hand out their orders in meetings, while other managers would send instructions via email. Many times, two managers on the same project would issue conflicting instructions, which left regular workers like me stuck wondering what I should do. That was obviously an inefficient way to operate, and really made me wish the company would spring for collaboration software from epazz.com.

Epazz collaboration software is designed to make communication between managers and employees easier and more efficient, thereby improving overall productivity. This software is currently used by a wide range of businesses in all different industries, so chances are it can be integrated into your work system as well.

Epazz is currently offering a free 30-day trial on their collaboration software. By signing up for the trial, you’ll be able to see exactly how easy the software is to use and how customizable it is for your specific needs.

Check out epazz.com today for more information!

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared at Columbia University in New York earlier today. Not surprisingly, he spouted off with some of the crazy b.s. he’s known for, including saying such things as the Holocaust never happened and that al-Qaida isn’t responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Oh, it gets better.

When asked about Iran’s policy of executing homosexuals, he said, “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”

Wow, doesn’t he realize that such statements as this make him sound like a total nutjob?  And to think: Ahmadinejad is certainly not the only leader who believes this stuff.

I’ve been checking NFL box scores to see how my fantasy players are doing, and I noticed that the Patriots blew out yet another opponent today. This time they ran up 38 points on the Buffalo Bills and won by a total of 28 points. The Pats are now 3-0 and have shown zero signs of weakness thus far. Yes, they’ve only had one real challenge through those three games (the Chargers), but at this point, I don’t think they have anyone to fear.

Unless something goes drastically wrong, the organization will be adding to their three Super Bowl trophies this year. That would be New England’s fourth championship in seven years, and would put to rest any debate as to whether the Brady-Belichick era constitutes a dynasty.

I know, I know… I’m getting way ahead of myself here, as the NFL season is just 3 weeks old. But seriously, have you watched the Pats this year? Tell me who’s going to stop them!

I pulled a (voluntary) all-nighter last night for the first time in ages! My husband has been working late for the last few weeks, which makes it really hard on me since I essentially end up taking care of my son 24/7. So yesterday Jerry agreed to let me spend the day (and night) at my friend Ann’s house. (She’s single, so we weren’t imposing on anyone.)

We went shopping, went to the spa for massages, went out to lunch, and then hit the grocery store and video store to stock up on supplies for the night. We then pigged out, drank beer, watched cheesy movies, and of course gossipped the entire time. It was a blast!!

I’m home now and will do a few things around the house before turning in to try to get some sleep before the Bears game. Luckily they don’t play until tonight, so I’ve got plenty of time.

This break from family and home was wonderful!

Forbes has just released their annual list of the 400 Richest Americans. It doesn’t surprise me to learn that every single person on the list is a billionaire, and that 82 billionaires were left off the list as being not quite rich enough. Wow.

Bill Gates is still No.1, with an estimated net worth of $59 billion. I remember just a few years ago when he was No.1 with $40 billion, so the rich certainly do get richer, huh? Investor Warren Buffet was at No.2, and Sergey Brin and Larry Page from Google are tied for 5th with $18.5 billion each.

What could anyone possibly do with a $59 billion fortune? I know Gates has a charitable foundation and gives away more than $100 million every year, but that still hasn’t even put a dent in his bottom line. Once you buy a huge mansion, fill your garage with exotic cars, have a couple of private jets at your beck and call, and purchase an Orlando vacation home or an Italian villa, then what else is there left to do?

I think it’s safe to say that the Gates family and their heirs will be financially secure for, oh, the next couple centuries or so!!

This is going to be one of those days where I’m going to be stuck at home until who-knows-when, waiting on service people to show up for appointments. First of all, we had to buy a new clothes dryer because our old one just suddenly quit working. The delivery is supposed to be for today, between 8am and 11am. I’m crossing my fingers that the people actually show up this time, as we had to reschedule from the original delivery date because of overbooking.

Then I also have to wait for a plumbing crew to come in and check out all the drains. Our homeowners’ association is really concerned about maintaining the value of everyone’s homes. So they arrange for different contractors to check things like plumbing and roofing every once in a while in an effort to nip potential problems in the bud. Homeowners are notified a couple weeks in advance, and can then sign up if they want the service. Each homeowner has to foot the inspection bill for their own house (there is a discount, at least), so it’s completely optional. I think this is a good idea, and have been participating for the last few years.

Anyway, the plumber(s) are supposed to be by in the afternoon, so after the dryer delivery, I’ll still have to wait around.

Oh, well… at least I can relax!