Mishmash Musings

There’s no question that money is tight for a lot of folks these days. It seems that nearly every personal blog I read talks of that person’s struggles to buy groceries, gas, and other basics for their family, which is depressing to say the least. I’ve also been reading a lot of posts about money-saving tips and so forth, and have actually found a couple of useful ones.

For example, it’s natural that people would want to cut back on extras first when trying to save money, which includes things like going to the movies or renting DVDs. Folks need their entertainment, though, so there have been lots of message board discussions about watching free movies online.

Although I haven’t gone this route myself, there are actually a surprising number of sites to choose from. They all offer free movies online, usually via a streaming source, and include new releases (Dark Knight, Step Brothers, etc.). They’re probably pretty crappy quality though, so there’s definitely a downside to watching this way.

I highly doubt that sites offering free movies online are legal, though. Again, I’m not recommending anything, nor am I linking to any specific sites. Just putting this out there because downloading extends far beyond high school and college students these days!

High school seniors base their college application decisions on a number of factors, including, sometimes, how much of a party atmosphere there is at a particular school. That’s why the results of the Princeton Review survey of the Top Party Schools in the country is one of the most anxiously anticipated lists around.

This year, the University of Florida beat out last year’s champ West Virginia — and everyone else — as the top party school in the nation. School officials believe it has something to do with the fact that Florida’s athletic teams have won a couple of national championships recently, which of course leads to wild celebrations. But Florida students noted that it probably had more to do with the fact that the student body is around 51,000 — which means there’s always something going on.

Here’s a list of the Top 10 Party Schools for 2008:

1. University of Florida
2. University of Mississippi
3. Penn State University
4. West Virginia University
5. Ohio University
6. Randolph-Macon College (huh? never heard of it)
7. University of Georgia
8. University of Texas - Austin
9. UC - Santa Barbara
10. Florida State University

Football is my favorite sport by far, so now that training camps are underway across the country, all is right in my world again. Of course, the start of training camp always means that a bunch of players will be on the move, as some get cut, are released, or join other teams via free agency.

While most eyes are still on the Brett Favre saga, watching to see whether the former Packer great will go to the Jets or any other team, there are other players to consider. For example, I just read that today the New England Patriots signed running back LaMont Jordan, who was cut by the Raiders a couple days ago. Jordan was supposed to be the featured back in Oakland, and although he received plenty of carries, he never quite materialized into the star they expected him to be. Plus, he screwed my fantasy team on several occasions!

Anyway, it’s hard to imagine someone not being able to resurrect their career with the high-powered New England offense, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Jordan make a solid contribution to the team this season.

This sounds like something out of The Godfather or The Sopranos, which is probably why the story is making such a big splash online. The daughter of Salvatore Toto Riina, a vicious Mafia godfather who has been behind bars in Italy since the mid-’90s, was married in Corelone, Italy on Wednesday. The bride was given away by her brother Giuseppe, one of the few family members not in jail right now.

The wedding received lots of attention from mainstream Italian and international media, but didn’t sit well with the families of victims of “the Beast,” as Salvatore Riina was known. One victim’s daughter expressed disbelief and outrage that Riina’s daughter and son-in-law didn’t try to distance themselves from the Beast, choosing instead to thank him.

Just how ruthless was the Beast while he was at the height of power? He was convicted of over 100 counts of murder, and is currently serving several life sentences in prison.

It looks like families in this area are still struggling to pay their mortgages every month, and are either moving to cheaper digs or are losing their homes to foreclosure. It’s getting to the point where I can barely go five or six blocks without seeing one of those big moving pods sitting in the street in front of a house with a “For Sale” sign planted in the lawn. It’s getting to be pretty depressing.

I don’t know how long it’s going to take the country to recover from this foreclosure mess, but I hope it’s not a long, drawn-out process. I miss the strong economy, I miss low prices, I miss the stability we once had… You can bet I won’t take those things for granted ever again!

I don’t know why this always happens to me. I have a consulting gig that I agreed to take on merely as a favor to a former boss of mine. I have no interest in working full-time outside my home at this point, so this gig seemed like a good one for me. It only required that I put in one or two office days per month, and that I spend time writing e-mails and company memos as necessary.

Recently, however, my boss has totally been taking advantage of me. He’s shorthanded right now, so he asked me to fill in for three weeks while he looked for a couple of new employees. Even though I hate working every day, I agreed to do it just to help out.

But now, my willingness to help is coming back to bite me, as my employer has extended my office time to six weeks. I can’t really say no, as it’s in my best interest to have this gig to fall back on should I ever need a full-time job.

But going from working 2 days per month to 20 is really taking its toll on me, as I’m completely running myself ragged. I barely have time to eat properly, I’m not getting stuff done around the house, and I’m not sleeping as much as I need to. I guess on the positive side, I can say that I’ve lost a couple of pounds without having to take any fat burners or supplements, but that’s really a small consolation these days.

Yes, I get paid above and beyond my contract for all of this extra time I’m putting in, but money’s not the point right now. There’s a reason I don’t want full-time work, and that reason is my son. It’s his summer vacation, so I wanted to spend a lot of time with him, but that’s not happening since I’m working so much. I feel guilty about it and feel bad that the boy has to go to a babysitter (albeit my mom) every single day.

Ugh. I don’t know what to do. I just wish my boss would get his act together and find new employees ASAP!

I read an interesting story yesterday about a salon in the DC area that has been using “garra rufa” carp, commonly called “doctor fish”, in order to give people pedicures. The fish nibble away at dead, flaking skin, and, according to salon owner John Ho, are more effective than using a razor for the procedure.

Ho charges customers $35 for 15 minutes or $50 for 30 minutes to soak their feet in a warm bath littered with the dead flesh-eating carp. Thus far, about 5,000 customers have tried the fish pedicure, and most apparently rave about the results.

At first, I thought the whole idea of a fish pedicure seemed a bit gross, but after reading more about it, I’d definitely be willing to try it if it were ever offered in my area. I have terribly rough feet, and would certainly benefit from a pedicure of any sort at this point! The fish pedicure looks interesting, and if it works, then all the better. If not, I’d still come away with a great conversation piece for my time and money!

(AP Photo)

I’m the kind of person who needs nearly complete silence when I sleep. The slightest noise disturbs me, and sets me up for a night of restless tossing and turning. So you can imagine how freakin’ annoyed I was last night to hear the shower faucets in the master bathroom dripping constantly. Ugh! It was pure torture having to listen to that drip, drip, drip into the wee hours of the morning, and to make matters worse, I didn’t have any earplugs on hand to block the noise out.

I finally gave up and went to sleep on the couch, even though we didn’t have the AC running downstairs. It’s a good thing I had the day off today, because I would have been completely grouchy and useless at work.

I’ve already put a call into a plumber, and he’ll be by on Wednesday to see what’s going on. Hopefully it’s just a minor problem with an easy (and cheap) fix!

I don’t watch very many awards shows, but I almost always tune into the Emmys. I enjoy this broadcast much more than the Oscars because the show isn’t interrupted by dumb skits and interminable song/dance numbers.

I’ll definitely be tuning in for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards this year, as many of my favorite actors and shows have been nominated. I would love to see Neil Patrick Harris, Alec Baldwin, and Hugh Laurie win, and would be excited if House finally got some recognition as Best Drama.

At this point, I’m not planning to go all out and invite my friends over for a party, so there won’t be any need for champagne, hors d’oeuvres, or home theater lighting. That could change, though, depending on how many of my television-loving pals want to get together for the night.

Jason Taylor, who made a name for himself off the football field as a Dancing With the Stars contestant, has been traded from the Miami Dolphins to the Washington Redskins for a second-round draft pick in 2009 and a sixth-round pick in 2010.

Taylor, who was a six-time Pro Bowler for the Dolphins and the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, started to wear out his welcome with Miami management after deciding to film Dancing With the Stars instead of participating in offseason workouts. As a result, the team didn’t even do anything to publicize Taylor’s appearance on the show, despite the fact that he was clearly a favorite with audiences.

Taylor has said in the past that he wants to play only one more year in the NFL before setting his sights on Hollywood. He has already spent 11 years in pro football, and at age 33, retirement wouldn’t be completely unheard of.

I think this is a good move for both sides. Whatever the issues, it clearly wasn’t going to work for Taylor and the Dolphins, so it’s better to move the guy now before training camp really gets underway in earnest.

I know this isn’t exactly original, but “Is Google broken?” has become one of my favorite phrases to use when people ask me for information that they could easily find online by themselves. Maybe I’m just irritable because I’ve been working at my outside job far more than anticipated this past month or maybe just being in an office environment again has made me snarkier than usual. But whatever it is, I can’t stand it when people are too lazy to find stuff out on their own.

For example, in the past few days, I’ve been asked about things as diverse as investment options for retirement, the latest diet fads, and even the best reno hotels. I don’t have the slightest clue about any of things, nor did I ever give the asker occasion to believe that I did. Google is always my first stop when I need info…. I guess I just figured it was the same for everyone else!

So a couple readers who have been following my orthodontist saga for the past year and a half asked me to describe the braces removal process. Even though I had braces as a teen, I didn’t remember anything about how the braces came off, so prior to my appointment, I just read a few other stories online. It seemed that most other people thought the ordeal was uncomfortable and time-consuming, so I mentally prepared myself for a couple hours in the chair.

But it didn’t turn out that way at all. My orthodontist worked very quickly and efficiently, cutting wires and removing brackets at lightening speed. It only took about 10 minutes to get all that stuff off.

The next step — that of removing my molar bands — was a bit more uncomfortable, however. They had been on for a year and a half, and were actually pretty tight. So not only did the ortho really have to wrench on the bands to get them to come off, but they also made this horrid cracking sound in the process. I seriously thought my teeth were breaking!!

Once that was over, the ortho switched over to some air tools (like a grinder, vacuum, and polisher) to remove the remnants of the bonding agent and to polish things up. Aside from a god-awful smell of burning enamel and a bit of pain caused by cold water hitting my sensitive teeth, this part wasn’t all that bad either.

On the whole, I was in the chair for about 45 minutes and experienced only a little bit of discomfort and pain along the way. The results were worth it, though, as I couldn’t wait to get out of those braces!!