Step Away From the Cake

We had tons of running around to do today, and more tomorrow. Guess vacation really is over :( Last night we watched Ghost Rider. I am not a comic book fan but I really liked that movie. I like that they left it open for a sequel. Or course, they will probably beat that to death - they usually do. But as we were watching it I was really wishing for some home theater seating . If we get a place big enough we are definitely considering this. I was sitting on the couch and after a while I was slouching on the couch and that screws up my back. I hate that. Well, I'm very tired so I'm heading off to bed. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

One more thing. I've been reading a number of blogs and articles about people shocked and outraged when Pepsi came out and said Aquafina is just tap water. I laughed my butt off at the reaction. I mean seriously, where do people think this water comes from??? The Pepsi plant here in Hawaii is in an industrial area. Now, if you think logically, you would wonder where they were getting the water to bottle. In the area they are in there is only 1 answer - the tap. There are no artisian wells, or crystal clear geysers, or any of that other crap where they are located. It's tap water or it's nothing. Also, if you spend anytime in the mountains, you know not to drink the water without treating it. There is some nasty stuff in mountain water. Well, do you think a major company is going to take mountain water and bottle it??? I don't think so. If they do, they will treat it and purify it and guess what??? That gives you tap water. Aha!!! It just cracks me up how...

This week has been good though, very good. I had reached a point where I was getting so stressed out from work my neck and shoulders were giant knots. The knots are now gone. I am sleeping good and really feeling great. So this week off was a total success!! Yesterday was pretty busy and today will be also. I did a bunch of mystery shops yesterday and today I have a bunch more. I wanted to use this week to really see how much mystery shopping I could do, is available, and how much money could be made. As it turns out, I could not replace my salary but I could make some nice change. So between mystery shopping and blogging for dollars, I can pick up some nice extra income. Also, mystery shopping and blogging will allow me some tax write offs which I desperately need since I pay way, way too much taxes and don't use any of the freaking government hand out programs. Woops!!! I'm stopping right there before I get going on a government/tax tirade. The bad part about this ...

Was up and out early today, after my workout, and on the road for hours. I'm glad to be home. Hey, I'm on vacation, I should be resting not driving...... This is very cool. A while back I told you guys about Canvasondemand.com. A service that takes your digital pictures and puts them on canvas. As a benefit for posting about them I got one free. It arrived this morning before I left on my adventure. Here it is: They are sitting next to a picture of themselves. You can not believe how nice this is. Here is a picture of just the picture. This is amazing. I can not believe how nice this came out. I'm taking it tomorrow to get it framed. I definitely want to hang this puppy (hahaha). When I heard of this I thought it was a great idea, I'm even more impressed with the actual result. This is a 16"x20" and it's good sized. It makes the kids look almost life sized. I'm so happy with this. This would make and awesome gift, to yourself or someon...

So I did go for my bike ride this morning. It was good. Have I mentioned recently I love my Garmin?? I set it for biking and took off. I got about 1/2 way through my intended ride when I ran (or rode:) into my boss. She was very depressed because her 12 year old Golden Retriever is going downhill fast. It's really sad when dogs, I guess people too, get near the end of their lives they just decline so rapidly. It is sad. My boss is going to her daughter's wedding in 2 weeks and is afraid her dog won't live through the kennel experience. So she's trying to decide if she should put him down before she goes or what she should do. This is the hardest part about responsible animal stewardship. Anyway, after I ran into her I lost interest in my ride. I ended up only going about 7 miles in 33 minutes. I'm thinking I can do the 40 mile option of the Century Ride. I'm going to work on getting some distance this weekend and see how I do. If I can do 20 miles ...

I am pretty good with computers but I don't work with them much because I get frustrated (and bored). Frustrated because I can deal with the logical (which is basically computer language) but when it doesn't follow logical paths it makes me crazy. Of course, logical to me and logical to a programmer/designer might not be the same thing - but that's not the point!!! Then I get bored because you know how when your good at something it either comes easy or it doesn't come at all. Yeah, that's how I get. So I'm trying to change things on my blog here and I can't get a picture in the header. I know it can be done. I've done it before. But for some reason it's not working and it's just pissing me off. UGH!!!!! On a good note, my boss was nice enough to mail me my paycheck yesterday. That was nice. She's lucky I'm the only employee and she can do my check by hand. Otherwise she would need some payroll software to keep everything stra...

We have a huge drug problem here in Hawaii. Some of you may remember my murdering, drug dealing neighbor. Not only are street drugs a problem, so are prescription drugs. Many people here need pain pill addiction help . We have a good friend, one of hubby's poker buddies, who is without a doubt hooked on prescription drugs. A few years back he suffered a back injury at work. As required by his insurance he went to a medical doctor. Well, they determined there wasn't much they could do outside of surgery. So he went ahead with the surgery. I was floored. I could not believe that he jumped into surgery so quickly. I would have investigated all alternatives before allowing anyone to cut on my back. Anyway, fast forward 5 or 6 years, he's had 3 surgeries, he's in constant pain, and he is addicted to painkillers. Sometimes the pain gets so bad he has to go to the hospital and get shots of morphine. I firmly believe he needs prescription drug addiction treatment . I...

At some point during the night I must have decided I was going to do the Honolulu Century Ride , because I woke up this morning saying I'm going for a bike ride. I think the century ride will fit in better with my goals this year than a marathon. My PF is definitely improving and I haven't run in 2 weeks I think. After my hike on Sunday it hurt for a while but it calmed down fairly quickly. So my unconscious made a decision for me. That's cool. I wish it would do that all the time :)

since my last post. While there I had to stop at Lady Foot Locker for some shirts (they have the best t-shirts at 5 for $19.99 - sweet) and picked up the local race magazine. On the cover is the Honolulu Century Ride. The ride is on September 30th, almost exactly 2 months away. This is a ride I've wanted to do for years. It rides along the east coast of Oahu. It's a beautiful, rugged ride that I've been afraid to try on my own. With a large group it might be a little better. I am considering this ride. I am seriously considering this ride. I don't have to do 100 miles. They have 20, 25, 40, 50, and 75 mile options also. In 2 months I should be able to do 25 or even 40 miles. Hmmmm...... This is tempting. Also, you get a very cool bike jersey :)

that's what hubby calls what I do. It's really a nice little way to pick up some extra money. It's also a great way for advertisers to get the word disseminated about their site or product or whatever. Blog advertising is definitely the wave of the future. I read a lot of blogs that do pay blogging and I've noticed a real trend. When this all began lots of people took all kinds of opportunities and sometimes wrote about things that weren't really related to their blog. Now, people are getting more selective. The opps taken are more in line with the theme of the blogs. Also, some of the opps I've taken I've really learned things from. I've become a customer of a number of the products I've gotten paid to talk about. Well, if it interests me it's easy for me to write about. Anyway, this has been more blogging for dollars :)

I have spent all day cleaning up my office room. I am was a terrible procrastinator. I would put the mail on my desk and just let it pile up. I would then add things I wanted to read or info I thought I needed to keep handy. Every once in a while I would go through and file/throw away things. But I never really got a handle on the problem. Today I did. I straightened out all my files and made sure I had a file for everything I needed. I then went out and bought a little stand up rack for my desk so I can keep the stuff I'm working on now. Also, since I'm an independent contractor for the blogging stuff and also the mystery shopping, I got some notebooks and file pockets so I can keep track of receipts , mileage, expenses, etc. A very productive day.......

I can say that because I am a bird person. We are weird. Dog people are pretty normal, they usually like to go out and about with their animals. Cat people can be a little bizarre (not including the lady down the street with 25 cats - that's just crazy). But bird people are a little strange. If you have never had the pleasure of getting to know a bird you are really missing out. Birds are intelligent. They all have distinct personalities and they can be a lot of fun. Bird people also tend to lean towards certain types of birds. Me, I really like big birds - parrots - although at the moment I have cockatiels. Some people like birds that are very people oriented. Others like birds that don't need a lot of contact but are fun to watch. I've begun to notice that finches are becoming very popular. People that I know that have them have a lot. They never seem to have just 1 or 2. They tend to have them in large aviaries and like to just watch them. Finches never seem t...

I tend to make grandiose plans that seldom live up to my expectations. I've been working on being more realistic and while I'm getting better I'm still not perfect. For my vacation I had planned to get all my files organized, rearrange my room, get the bird cage set up again (we are bird sitting in 2 weeks), clean some areas that haven't been cleaned in a while, things like that. Well here it is Tuesday and I've done none of the above. Not that it's all bad. I'm really quite rested and relaxed and that was the major goal of this break. I feel like doing some of those things today, so I will. I've been doing this Turbulence Training and it is kicking my butt. I did my workout this morning and it was a killer. I love that. I've been wearing comfy, elastic waist, shorts all weekend so I can't tell if I'm losing weight. My shorts are my true indicator - not the scale. Okay, I'm going to do some paid posts then get to work on my offic...

This is my 1,000 th post. Wow. I can sure spew out a lot of cr *p!!!! I was listening to the news and some random thoughts crossed my mind. - A burglar here in Hawaii broke into a house and fell asleep. How exactly does that happen?? - People are surprised that Aquafina comes from the tap. Where exactly do people think the water comes from?? I test bottled water for Aquafina and a number of local companies and they all come from the tap. They are filtered and purified but they are tap water. - Bill Walsh died. That's sad. We were lucky enough to be season ticket holders during the '80's. It was an amazing time for football fans in the Bay Area. The 49 ers were the team of the decade. They haven't made a playoff in a while but with Bill Walsh gone it definitely is the end of an era. - At the other end of football, Michael Vick's co defendant is going to testify against him. Looks like he's in deep trouble. - Tom Snyder died. Honestly, I didn...

You all know I'm an animal lover. I currently have dogs and birds. I've also had cats in the past. I've had turtles. I had a snake once. A 12' diamondback python. Her name was Sabrina. She was cool. But I had to feed her live animals and that just got to be too much for me. So I've had a few animals in my time. I figure I will have animals the rest of my life. I love them and I love having them around. Animals really add something to your life. I actually feel sorry for people who aren't animal lovers. You guys are missing out on something. What I don't like and something that really pisses me off, is impulse buying of animals. Animals are living creatures. When an animal is adopted (yes, just like a child) it should be with the understanding that it's a lifetime commitment . You are now responsible for another living creatures well being. Humans domesticated them, it's now up to us to take care of them. This is why research should ...