Mishmash Musings

I had a bad day today from beginning to end. I woke up about 45 minutes late, which threw off my entire morning schedule. I was late getting my husband off to work, and didn’t even bother to take my son to preschool. So then he was home with me all morning, and was whining about not having anything to do, meaning I had to try entertaining him at the expense of not getting any work done.

Things deteriorated from there, as I just lost all motivation to complete the tasks on my daily list. To top things off, I didn’t do any housework, nor did I cook dinner.

I essentially had a day off without getting to enjoy it as such because I felt guilty about being a slacker the whole time.

This is one of those evenings where I want to run a hot bath, play soft music, light some candles, turn off the bathroom lights, and just sit there for an hour, not thinking or worrying about anything.

Isn’t it crazy how 45 minutes can end up throwing an entire day out of whack?

Last week I successfully completed my first Tuesday Project of the year, which was to organize my office desk drawers. It took me several hours to go through everything, toss out the junk, and put the remaining papers, supplies, and other stuff in order.

This time around, my project will be to create a weekly dinner menu for my family. This project is a bit different because it will be ongoing (I want to do it for each and every week, not only this one), but hopefully I can manage.

There are a couple of good reasons I want to create a weekly menu. First, it will help me buy the right ingredients when I go grocery shopping on Sundays. As things stand now, I usually end up going to the store several times a week to pick up a couple of items that I need for dinner. That’s obviously a big waste of time and gasoline, so I want to cut that out.

Second, by having dinner planned and the ingredients on hand, we’re less likely to go out to a restaurant. Sometimes when it gets to 5 or 6pm and I haven’t started dinner yet, I just give up on it completely and ask Jerry to grab some takeout before he comes home from work or tell him that we’re going out to dinner. We spend a lot of money that way, so hopefully this will help our monthly budget.

Anyway, I’m just going to plan six simple meals, and then a nicer one for Sunday dinner.

Let’s see if this works!

I nearly had a heart attack a bit earlier. My husband came home from work and said he’s going to go shopping later tonight. He then asked me if I needed any body shop supplies since he has to pick up a few things for himself.

Now here I am wondering why my husband is suddenly interested in shower gel and loofahs, but he set me straight pretty quickly.

He’s not going to that Body Shop; he’s going to pick up some tools so he can work on his motocross bike!

Do you remember how I posted earlier this month that an old high school classmate of mine is currently an Associated Press journalist?

Well, I decided to reach out to him, so I emailed him a quick note to say hello and to tell him that I was proud of him. He wrote me back and thanked me for looking him up, and we’ve been catching up ever since.

I really liked this person in high school, so I’m genuinely happy that we’ve reconnected a bit. I hope our correspondence continues well into the future because I could really use a few old friends right about now!

I used to have a full-time office job, and it was there that I learned — often the hard way — about the importance of backing up all computer data.

The office was located in a brand-new industrial park where there was near-constant construction all year long as new factories and warehouses went up around us. Because of all the digging, we lost power on many occasions, as the work crews inadvertently hit underground power lines.

This wreaked havoc on our data the first few times it happened, but then we smartened up and started copying our files as frequently as possible.

Things would have been even easier had a service like Fast-teks existed back then. Fast-teks provides, among other things, easy and affordable remote data backup for small- and mid-sized businesses.

As an additional precaution against mishaps, the data is secured before being backed up. It can then be retrieved whenever necessary, thereby giving you the peace of mind that comes with knowing your important business data is safe no matter what happens at the office.

If you’re interested in remote data backup and storage or any other service that Fast-teks offers, visit their website today for more information.

Like many Americans, I would love to be able to visit Cuba someday, but I can’t because of embargoes that have been in place since 1959. So now only certain professionals, researchers, and government officials can go there without worrying about repercussions from U.S. authorities. The rest of us have to wait for an improvement in U.S.-Cuba relations.

Or do we?

According to an article I read on MSN Travel, tens of thousands of regular American travelers go to Cuba each year. It’s easy enough to do if you’re willing to take a few risks. For example, forget about flying directly from the U.S. to Havana; that’s an impossibility. Instead, you’d have to go in from Canada or Mexico.

The problems come up when you try to return back to the U.S. Most of the time, Cuban customs agents just staple a paper visa into the passports of American travelers so the trip isn’t documented. But if you happen to get a regular stamp, be prepared to answer tons of questions upon reaching American soil again. You might even be subject to fines or other penalties.

Though I’d love to be able to visit the place that my favorite author Ernest Hemingway loved so much, there’s no way I’d risk fines or extensive interrogations for it. Guess I’ll have to wait and see what happens after the Castro regime ends.

My wedding anniversary is coming up soon, so my husband asked me to give him some gift ideas. I haven’t gotten back to him on that yet though because I really have no clue what I’d like!

Should I go for jewelry? Something simple like a gold anklet or perhaps a pendant?

Should I go for clothes? Maybe a nice leather jacket or a shopping spree at my favorite store?

Should I go for a trendy gadget? A new Blackberry Pearl would be nice, and of course I’ve been wanting a new iPod for a while now.

Don’t get me wrong: I know the gift is the least important part of our anniversary. Celebrating our love, our time together, and a great future is what the day will really be about. But it’s still fun to get a present, so I’m definitely excited!

I’ve been debating about whether or not I should go see the new sci-fi thriller Cloverfield in theaters. On the one hand, it has gotten pretty good reviews from top critics around the country, and has done extremely well with average moviegoers too (if its current 8.1 rating on IMDB is anything to go by). Moreover, there are tons of Cloverfield-related searches in the top 100 on Google Trends, which means there’s plenty of buzz.

But on the other hand, there are elements to the film that I’m not at all excited about. For example, I absolutely hate the hand-held shaky cam technique that so many directors seem to favor these days. Plus, sci-fi usually isn’t my cup of tea, though there have definitely been some fantastic films in this genre that I’ve loved.

Anyone want to help me decide here? Should I go see Cloverfield now, or just wait for the DVD?