Mishmash Musings

Man, this stuff is just scary! Wildfires continue to rage through Los Angeles County today, where hurricane-like winds are spreading the flames very quickly and making them difficult to combat or control. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in the area, and has said that the fires are threatening the L.A. power supply, which may force the city to go to rolling blackouts.

I’ve been looking at pictures of the fires and they look VERY intense, to say the least. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed already, and thousands of people have been forced to flee the area. This is absolutely nuts! I have a couple of friends who live in the area, so I hope they’re ok. I’m going to try to contact them on Facebook later today, though I doubt that they’re just sitting idly by their computers as these fires rage through the area.

I just wanted to make a quick post here to clarify something I wrote a couple days ago. I said I needed an energy boost and was thinking of taking some pills to help get myself going. I didn’t mean to imply that I automatically turn to drugs when I’m feeling a bit lethargic! I just said that because most diet pills have caffeine or some other over-the-counter stimulant that would essentially render the same effects as a tall cup of coffee.

Anyway, no need to worry… I didn’t actually take anything that day, nor will I in the future. I’ll just have to find some other way to get motivated !

I just saw this photo of W magazine, which features Angelina Jolie on the cover. I usually don’t pay too much attention to the super couple known as “Brangelina”, so it’s been a long time since I’ve really looked closely at Jolie’s face. All I have to say is, what is up with her lips???

I know people have commented on her lips before, but they’ve never quite jumped out at me until now. My god, they look so fake and disgusting! It’s like she’s wearing Mr. Potato Head lips or something! Yikes, I’m not sure why so many guys think she is sexy… I think there are much hotter actresses in Hollywood than her.

Gross!!!

I don’t know what’s been going on with me lately, but it seems like I just have zero energy during the day and am having lots of trouble getting things done. This extends beyond work to cleaning the house, going to the gym, and keeping other commitments that I usually have no problems with. I don’t know if I’m going into an early edition of the winter blahs (the weather has been awful) or if it’s just because I’m a bit sick right now, but it’s been mighty hard to motivate myself recently.

What can I do to get an energy boost? I really, really need to get a bunch of things done tonight, so no more excuses. Doesn’t ephedra give you this kind of kick? I think I have some ephedra pills or similar supplements left over… Maybe I’ll pop one and see if I feel any different. Then again, maybe I’ll just hit Starbucks for a mega cup of coffee and ride out the caffeine high!

The Secret Service has already chosen a nickname for president-elect Barack Obama, and the rest of the soon-to-be First Family as well. Apparently, Obama will be known as Renegade, while wife Michelle will be called Renaissance. Elder daughter Malia will be radiance, and younger daughter Sasha will be called Rosebud.

Wait, is the general public supposed to know this stuff? What’s the point of having a code name for the First Family if the names are just going to be published around the world anyway?? I thought a little… secrecy… would be in order here!

I do a majority of my work online, so the temptation to waste time is always there. However, I’m pretty good at staying away from Facebook, YouTube, and all the other sites that can suck you in for hours at a time.

But what I can’t resist is fantasy football. This is by far my biggest time-waster, and since I play in both college and NFL leagues, my entire weekend is devoted to watching games, monitoring scores, and trading smack messages with other managers.

Then during the week, I spend many more hours reading game analysis, predictions, and injury reports, as well as tinkering with my lineups to get them ready for game day. Plus, it seems like I receive and send about 20 fantasy football-related emails per week, which also takes up a significant amount of time.

It’s only Week 10 of the NFL season, but I’m already feeling burned out from it all — and it’s easy to see why. I think I need to take a step back and just chill with the fantasy sports. After all, I’m not even playing for money or any big prizes….

I just read an article about how tuition-free colleges are pretty much the best kept secret in higher education. I’d have to agree with that, as I’ve never heard of such places!

Tuition-free colleges, as the name would suggest, are schools that don’t charge a dime for classes — though students still have to pay for room, board, and (presumably) books. In exchange, students often have to do things like join mandatory work-study programs (College of the Ozarks, Berea College) or enter into service-after-study agreements (West Point Military Academy). Sometimes, however, there are no such requirements and students just go for free with no strings attached (many performing or fine arts schools).

Obviously you’re not going to find any big-name schools on a list of tuition-free colleges, and these institutions likely won’t have any NCAA-Div I sports teams, but I’m sure plenty of students would be willing to forgo those things for free tuition. I know I would have back when I was looking for schools!

With college tuition fees now well into the $20,000+ per year range, I’m betting more and more students will be checking out these free schools. I know I’m going to encourage my son to give them a look!

Ok, after spending the past few days tinkering with this site in order to get it ready for future one-click WordPress updates, I finally had a chance to look at new themes. I chose this one, called “Black n White” because of its simplicity and plainness, and also because it has “Previous” and “Next” buttons at the bottom of each page, which my last theme didn’t. Seems like a basic thing to overlook, but there ya go.

Anyway, I’m glad that all this tweaking and tinkering and FTP-ing is over with. I hate website maintenance almost as much as I hate actual computer maintenance, neither of which I’m particularly good at or vigilant about. Oh, that reminds me: my husband asked me to pick up a new Cat5e patch cable (whatever that is) for his desktop. He gave me the store name and product number, but I still have a feeling I’ll screw up the purchase!

Oh, well… thank goodness this is over! Hopefully there won’t be another WordPress update for another year or so!!