Mishmash Musings

I know there’s still plenty of basketball left to play (it’s still the 3rd quarter), but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the Celts will take the win and the 2008 NBA Championship. They’re currently up by 31 points, 84-53, and the Lakers look like they’ve got nothing left in the tank. Sure, anything can happen in sports, but a 31-point comeback on the road with a championship on the line? No way!

I don’t like Boston sports teams, so I’m not exactly thrilled about the Celtics being the new NBA champs. Then again, I hardly even care about basketball at all — meaning I’m not going to lie awake tonight wondering what could have been if only….

Anyway, congrats to the Celtics and their fans!

We’re not that big on formal entertaining around here. Whenever we invite people to come over, it’s usually for a night of pizza and beer, or a barbecue out on the deck. We never have elegant dinner parties or anything like that — which I guess is one of the reasons that I’m uncomfortable attending such things.

For example, Jerry has several co-workers who host fancy dinners a couple times per year. They go all out with nice table settings, fine china, centerpieces, and of course gourmet food. Heck, Jerry’s immediate supervisor even has one of those little wine refrigerators set up on the sideboard so he can pick the perfect bottle for the meal.

Although the food is usually excellent at these formal dinners, I can never fully enjoy myself. I hate getting all dressed up, and I worry about spilling something on my most expensive clothes. And I also notice that the conversation becomes more stilted and boring at these types of events too.

I guess I’m just too lowbrow to appreciate the finer things in life!

I just got done setting up my estimated tax payment for the second quarter of 2008. I didn’t realize that payments couldn’t be made on the same day, so I actually had to schedule the payment for tomorrow, making me one day late — and therefore subject to extra fees. Oh, well.

Anyway, I had wanted to go through all of my receipts and financial statements from the year in order to make a more accurate estimate of how much I owe in taxes, but I didn’t get around to doing all that in time. As a result, I just made a $250 payment, which is probably too much. That’s okay, though. I’ll just have to make sure I go through all of the paperwork before the 3Q payment and make up for any overages then.

And yeah, $250 is quite low as far as estimated taxes go. But I haven’t been making much money the past few months, so there hasn’t actually been much income to report….

I’ve been watching the U.S. Open off and on all afternoon and am surprised to see that Rocco Mediate is leading Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood by one shot. Mediate has played through 17 holes, while Woods and Westwood have played 16.

Mediate has looked good today, his Callaway irons and putter are definitely getting the job done. But Woods has eagled the 18th hole a couple times during this tournament already, so things are far from over.

It should be an exciting finish coming up. I don’t really care who wins — I just love all the drama here!

Oh, those crazy royals! If it’s not William landing an air force helicopter on his girlfriend’s property or Harry boozing it up at all the top clubs in London, it’s… Eugenie dancing naked on school grounds. Eugenie? Yes, you remember her, right? She’s the second daughter of Prince Andrew and Fergie, and just turned 18 a couple months ago.

Anyway, according to reports published in UK newspapers, Eugenie and several female classmates at Marlborough College, Wiltshire, were caught “frolicking” and dancing around completely naked late one night. The report went on to say that no drugs were involved, but alcohol almost certainly was.

A few of the girls that participated in the incident were reprimanded, though no indication was given if Eugenie was among that number.

Well, this incident actually seems harmless enough — though embarrassing to the royals, to be sure. Let’s see if Eugenie turns out to be as big a boozer as her cousin (or her sister, for that matter!).

I know that we’re not technically in a recession (just a “slowdown”), but it sure feels like we are. Things have been incredibly slow for me on the freelance writing front for the past month and a half, which of course is affecting my income and making the economic pinch even more pronounced.

Maybe I should look into switching careers and joining a recession-proof industry that will yield high profits no matter what else is going on in the economy. The big oil companies seem to fall into this category, as do pharmaceutical companies and health care providers.

I think I can hold out for a couple more months (at least through the end of the summers), but then I’ll have to reevaluate our finances and see if looking for a full-time job outside the home would be in our best interest. I don’t particularly want to go back to full-time work, but I will if that’s what it takes to maintain our lifestyle.

Now that Barack Obama is assured of getting the Democratic presidential nomination, he’s bent on taking his campaign to the next level. One of the new things he’s done is start a website designed to combat the numerous false rumors that inevitably crop up during any political contest.

Obama’s website is called Fight the Smears, and can be found by copying and pasting this link into your browser’s address bar:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/

Some of the “misinformation” Obama dispels on the site include the contention that he’s not a natural-born citizen of the U.S. (he provides a difficult to read image of his birth certificate); the allegation that his wife Michelle Obama used the word “whitey” in a racially-charged manner on tape; and the rumor that he was sworn into the Senate using a Koran.

I actually think a website like this is a good idea for candidates because it could potentially save them from having to answer the same questions over and over again in interviews. They could then use their precious airtime to discuss real issues — a refreshing change, if you ask me!

Well, I finally went and saw Sex and the City: The Movie yesterday. What a huge disappointment it was!! I was never a total hardcore fan of the TV series, but I did enjoy it and thought it was well-written most of the time.

This movie, however, was completely different. Sure, the four women still walk around in designer fashions and expensive vintage sunglasses, but that’s about the only thing that reminded me of the TV show. Almost everything else the women did felt completely unnatural and out of character.

All I have to say is no wonder the movie’s audience dropped off by an astonishing 63% after its first week in wide release. The word of mouth on this film is B-A-D. Needless to say, this is one DVD I’m not going to bother purchasing!