Mishmash Musings

I always seem to have dark circles/bags under my eyes these days. I wonder what that’s from? I get plenty of rest and sleep, so the problem can’t be related to that. Whatever the cause, the result is just ugly and makes me look several years older than I actually am — which is why I need to start looking around for the best night creams to use on my skin. I wasn’t really expecting to have to use these types of products for another 5-10 years, but something clearly needs to be done now.

Funny, I never thought I’d care much about aging, but now that it’s actually happening to me, I hold a completely different view!

Ugh, I had a bad day as far as snacking was concerned. I mowed my way through a “family size” bag of potato chips all by myself, and then topped it off with several Cokes and some chocolate for good measure. I don’t know what got into me. I just started watching the NCAA tournament and the next thing I knew, I was binging like a fiend. When this happens to me, why can’t I gorge on foods that burn fat instead of foods that will add to my ever-expanding waistline??? I swear, for every tiny bit of progress I make with my diet, I end up taking huge steps back because of my lack of willpower. This sucks!

Yes, it’s March Madness time, which means I’ve spent too many hours filling in brackets the past couple of days instead of doing something more productive. I have to say that although I don’t usually like basketball, there’s something irresistible about March Madness. I think this tourney is even better than the NCAA football bowl season — mostly because we avoid uninteresting matchups in games with ridiculous names — like the Chick-Fil-A Bowl or the Papajohns.com Bowl. At least with basketball we’ll never have something called the www.quicktrimcelluslim.com Game or the Tostitos Game.

Anyway, my bracket picks aren’t that wild this year. I’ve got two underdogs advancing as far as the Final Four (Butler and Baylor), but am predicting that Kansas will take the title. See? No surprise there.

I was out doing some shopping today, when I started getting harassed by some jerk in a massive pickup truck like the one shown here. He was totally tailgating me along a one-lane road, even though I was driving 10mph over the speed limit (doing 55 in a 45). WTF was that all about? I’m not going to risk getting a ticket or getting into an accident because someone else thinks I’m not going fast enough. Plus, I could just tell he’s one of those men who’s using his massive truck to compensate for being small in other places. Yeah, why not just order some vigrx and leave the rest of us alone!!! I feel sorry for the wife or girlfriend (if he has one)….

A friend was showing me the birth announcements she had printed for her two-week old infant, and we got to talking about the best birthday freebies that various stores and restaurants offer. Back when I was younger, I used to go to Denny’s on my birthday for a free meal, but they’ve modified that promotion so it’s now limited to kids age 10 and under who are enrolled in their Birthday Club.

These days, I tend to just go to Red Robin for a free burger and/or to Cold Stone Creamery for some free ice cream. Both of these places are at the mall down the street, so it’s easy for me to grab the freebies.

One year I went to Black Angus for a free steak dinner. That was awesome, but not something I can do every time because we have to go all the way downtown for that. So by the time you factor in gas, parking, and the other dinner(s) for the people you go with, the free steak doesn’t seem like such a bargain anymore.

Do you have a favorite place to go to on your birthday? What kind of freebies do they offer?

Apple started taking pre-orders for the new iPad tablet this morning at about 5:30am PST. The iPad is supposed to be released on April 3 (or sometime thereabouts). From some initial reviews and speculation on tech sites, it doesn’t seem like the iPad is worth the money. After all, many folks say that it’s just an oversized iPod Touch. I have a feeling, though, that it will end up selling very well. People are so in love with the brand that they’ll buy anything Apple puts out just to say they have it.

Not me, though. I’ll pass on this thing.

Ok, so I have a wedding to go to in May, and I’ve been trying to lose some weight to make sure I can fit into the one formal dress that I have. I’ve been really good about not pigging out, and I’ve been jogging and going to the gym regularly. And yet, I still cannot lose that last five pounds. Those have always been the hardest for me, and now that I’m in my mid-30s, I think the task has become darn near impossible.

So I was wondering if it would be cheating to wear a kymaro body shaper under my gown? I probably wouldn’t go with both pieces, but I could definitely use the girdle part. I’m convinced that this would not only make me look better, but allow me to actually zip up that dress I need to get into. Seriously, I’ve tried everything else, so why not this?

I gave in and set up a Twitter account sometime last year. I never post any updates myself, but I do follow a handful of friends as well as a bunch of pro athletes and Hollywood celebrities. Some of the stuff I read on Twitter is useful or interesting, but by and large the majority of Tweets are just dumb.

I think this comic over at The Oatmeal sums up my feelings about Twitter quite nicely. These are definitely things that people should stop sharing with the world!!!