The Cooch

I cannot wait to get one of these T-shirts!

Doing our part for the economy

We went on a rare spending spree this weekend.

My back-up laptop (the one Amanda used) died last week. We bought a new one on Friday. Court will get it, and her old laptop will be handed down to Amanda. Amanda isn't happy about that, but she's hard on PCs.

Our digital camera has been slowly dying since summer. First, the digital display stopped working. Then the controls jammed. So while we were at Best Buy getting the laptop, we bought a new camera. What's another hundred or so bucks, eh?

One of these days I want a real camera.

We traveled north to Pennsylvania this weekend to see my family and celebrate Amanda's birthday. Rather than stay with my friend Tina as we usually do (in her camper), we splurged on hotel rooms. Court and I booked the jacuzzi suite, which is as big as our entire house. Very nice.

My parents and siblings were not pleased when Amanda showed them the navel piercing she got for her birthday. They're really negative and judgmental about stuff like that.

My friend Tina wasn't happy about Amanda's piercing, either. That's because her daughter, who turns 16 in May, wants a navel piercing. Tina and her husband are against it.

In December, a classmate from high school found me through a class registry. We've exchanged a few emails since then. While in PA for the weekend, we hooked up for lunch and had a very nice visit. She and I hadn't seen each other in 30 years.

She says I haven't changed. I have changed, a lot, in 30 years, but I always take it as a compliment when a friend from childhood says I'm the same person I always was.

By the time we returned to East Jesus last night, we had contributed a few grand to the economy. Honestly, I was surprised at how busy Best Buy was. A lot of people were shopping (and buying big things). I was also surprised at how busy restaurants were. Our hotel was completely booked too.

Our Super Bowl splurge

So the Pittsburgh Steelers were in the big game, and we didn't host or go to a party. I think a few people were surprised at that. But I just get too nervous when it's the Steelers. The Steelers are in my blood.

The three of us kinda had our own party. We splurged on six bottles of Mexican Coca-Cola to drink during the game.

This is coke the way it used to be, the way it ought to be: made with cane sugar. There's not a drop of high fructose corn syrup to be found.

It's the real thing.

Eau de Parfum

I'm not one for cosmetics or fragrances, except for the Garden Botanika Eau de Parfum I wear from time to time. I consider it a splurge, this fragrance, and until Amanda gave me some for Christmas this year, I hadn't had any for very long time. I wear it sparingly.

I wore it last night to happy hour. I wanted to woo my wife.

We gathered at a downtown pub next to Court's office, so she was there ahead of me. I made my grand entrance about 30 minutes after the rest of the gang arrived, and as is our custom, I had a hug for everyone at the table.

Before I could sit down, Court had me take her office things out to the car so they wouldn't clutter the table. When I stepped out, all the women began interrogating Courtney about my fragrance. They loved it.

[Their husbands looked on in amazement.]

And that's partly why I love it. Women swoon over it. They always have. And last night they were swooning over me.

Court was so jealous... and completely wooed.

My new brew

Court and I are trying to live high-fructose corn syrup free. I gave this stuff a try today and it's pretty good.

Quartery shopping time

Today's delivery: a three-month supply of coffee and tea.






The tea carousel:











The coffee carousel:











To read more on our adventures in quarterly shopping, visit Court's blog.

The secret to Tiger Woods' success

These things ROCK

SolarShield.com

She has it bad

Poor Court. She's got a nasty case of poison ivy. She is suffering, especially at night.

Last night she tried Zanfel and it seems to be working. Her legs look way better today than they did yesterday. Had she used it right from the start, I think she'd be over the worst by now.

Another treatment tonight ought to clear up her rash. I hope so anyway. I hate to see her suffer, especially since she was exposed while mowing our lawn, which is my job.

I spent today playing homemaker (I'm exhausting all of my time off from the college, including sick days). I did a lot of purging and have a bunch of stuff to take to Goodwill (including a perfectly good towel warmer that we have no room for). I unpacked and laundered the rest of our summer clothes and boxed up our winter wear. It's late to be doing this, but it has been an uncharacteristically cold spring in Virginia. And we've both been so busy with soccer games, guitar lessons, travel, and second jobs.

It was a breezy, sunny day today; a perfect day for hanging laundry outside to dry. I just love the smell and feel of line-dried clothes. And line-dried sheets are to die for. Unfortunately, with road construction right next door, there is just too much dust flying around for that. It could be next summer before I can hang laundry out to dry. Damn.

When you care enough to send the very best

HAT TIP

Makes me want to buy one

HAT TIP

You paid how much for that coffee maker?

We recently came into an unexpected cash windfall* and have been spending some of it on our long-held wish list of goodies. It's been a fun run of purchases, including an audio system for the new TV, a Kitchenaid mixer, a breakfast-nook table and chairs, dinnerware, and this Keurig coffee maker.

I love good, fresh-brewed coffee of all kinds. But I loathe paying Starbucks prices for a cup of joe. I thought our Keurig purchase a bit extravagant until I read about the Clover 1s, a single-cup coffee maker that can be yours for the unbelievable price of $11,000.

For that price, my morning coffee should should do a heck of a lot more than taste good and wake me up.


*The consultants gave me a substantial raise on recently completed projects.

Check out the Chill Mat

Court's laptop runs really hot. The fan is constantly on overdrive and makes an annoying whirring sound.

All. The. Time.

Lately her laptop has been overheating and shutting off. We thought we'd have to buy a new one.

While shopping at Target today we saw this $30 "Chill Mat." It runs off the laptop's USB port. I was a bit skeptical, thinking nothing could save Court's crippled laptop.

The problem is completely solved.

Silence is golden.

This almost made me hurl

Have you seen the commercial for the PedEgg?

Disgusting.

I just about hurled when it was on TV tonight. This blogger describes it far better than I can:

The Ped Egg is pretty much an egg-shaped cheese grater for the bottom of your feet. It scrapes off all of the dry skin and wears down calluses. The foot shavings are collected inside of the Ped Egg. The commercial shows people rubbing it back and forth across the bottoms of their nasty feet. This is undeniably gross.

But the Peg Egg commercial does not stop there. Then, without warning, the Peg Egg is opened up and a mound of nasty foot dust shavings is dumped into a trashcan. Sick. The quantity of foot dust is atrocious. It will make you want to throw up.

I had to turn my head away. Court thought my squeamishness was funny. She grabbed the remote and kept replaying the commercial. I must look quite comical while gagging. She laughed hysterically.

Gross.

Not Suitable For Teenagers

"Unbuckle your seatbelt for this, the first-ever manual of sex positions for in-car entertainment! Fully illustrated and packed with helpful, practical, model- specific advice, this glove- compartment- sized guide contains everything readers need to rev up their sex drive!"

SPSS 16.0 Sucks

Not that it means anything to my one or two readers.

I live and die by this software, and it's always been reliable. That is until version 16 came out. It sucks out loud.

After downloading and installing software patches and contacting tech support, I fixed everything by reinstalling SPSS Version 15.

Suddenly, my urge to shoot someone is gone.

Mistaken Moleskine

For Christmas, my in-laws gifted me a 2008 Moleskine monthly notebook from Barnes & Noble. Like many planners, it has a variety of useful pages detailing major holidays, weights & measures, international dialing codes, etc.

I recently discovered a problem with my planner's US time zone map (click on the picture to enlarge). Can you spot it?

It looked so much smaller at Sam's

Set in our wee little cottage of a house, our brand new 42" HDTV is humongous.

We are enjoying a snow day with a movie marathon.


Sweet!

What's that I smell?

I'm so confused

This career move has to be one of the toughest decisions I've faced in a very long time. At issue is health insurance. I'll have to provide my own.

There are so many plans out there. And the terms of each plan are so confusing. Lucky for me I have friends in the human resources office at the college who can look over the variety of plans and help me choose. Even with their expertise, we aren't quite sure what is what.

Thank goodness for the Internet. There are several helpful sites, like HowStuffWorks, that provide thorough tutorials on everything from coinsurance and co-pays to out-of-pocket caps.

I tell you, a genius (which I'm not) will feel like a complete dolt when trying to understand and compare health insurance plans.

EDITED TO ADD: I'm so discouraged I could cry. I just talked to a representative who told me that because of our psychiatric needs, my monthly premium will be more than $900 per month. Co-pays and prescription costs could add another $200-$300 per month.

Fuck. Me.