Simple Randomness

I’m Liking Playlist.com!

So I’ve heard about Playlist.com before, but never really messed with it.  So as I’ve been exploring my musical tastes I’ve come back to the fact that I work best lately when listening to instrumental rock.

Since I don’t have a lot of instrumental rock (yet), I decided that the easiest way to listen to this kind of music was either Pandora or Playlist.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Pandora, but one thing I really like about Playlist.com is that you can choose the songs you want to listen to and just create a playlist (hence the name, clever huh?).

So now presenting to the world my Joe Satriani playlist from Playlist.com!  Enjoy!

Omega Constellation - Good Christmas Gift Idea?

I know it’s a little early and all, but sometimes I like to do all of my Christmas shopping in October or early November just so I don’t have to worry about it. Is anyone else this way?

Anyway, I’ve been trying to think of something that I could get for my wife. I’ve tried all sorts of things but I’ve found that I’m not really the best gift-giver. It seems like most of the things that I give her end up disappearing after a few months, just cause they never get worn or used.

Well, what about an Omega constellation by Omega watches? You can see the picture of the one I think she’s like in this post.

These are really nice watches! The only problem for me is that they are a little pricey! But if I had the money, I think this is one that I would consider getting for her.

That’s one of the great things about watch sites like The Watchery: they have a huge selection of all sorts of watches so you’re bound to find something you like, and something within your price range. So if Omega isn’t your thing, you can always check out what else they have and get your gift anyway!

The Copy Machine is Still There

So when I went to work yesterday I did a quick little poll of some of the guys that I work with to see if they were also aware of the fact that garbage men won’t put stuff in the dumpster for you.  It seems like most of them were aware of this, but a few others didn’t seem to understand my point.

Well, this morning when I took the trash out the printer was still there.  Not only that, but the dumpster was all crooked because they had to try to not put the dumpster down on top of it!

I had some interesting comments from the previous post, and one guy even said that this is common most places he’s been, including the Bahamas.  So I want to start a public awareness statement with this blog:

If you don’t put your trash in the dumpster it’s going to stay there!!!

There, maybe I’ll change the world with this…ok, probably not, but it was fun right?

The Paris Buffet

As I’ve already mentioned several times, I was in Las Vegas last weekend.  Now, Vegas is known for a couple of things, but one thing that I think is really worth going down there for is the good food!  I’ve eaten at a couple of restaurants down there and they’ve all been fabulous.

So on Saturday me and the guys I went down there with decided to go and eat at the buffet located in the Paris Casino.  Wow was that some good food!  I had some crab legs, prime rib,  sushi, pastas, and all sorts of other stuff.

It’s funny, because on Thursday before I left my wife and I went with her grandparents to a local buffet called Chuck-a-Rama (I’ve wondered since I was a kid where they came up with that name…).  Talk about a night and day difference!

So when it comes to buffets, do yourself a favor and only eat at the ones in Vegas.  At least, that’s my advice!

The Best Pet I Ever Had

Growing up I had a lot of different pets.  I had hamsters, gerbils (which got stepped on or eaten by the cats), cats, dogs, etc.  But honestly, the best pet that I ever had was a pet tarantula.

Normally when I tell people this they think it’s gross or something, but it was honestly the coolest pet.  I didn’t have to feed it very often.  And when I did feed it we’d have a good time watching it hunt down and catch the crickets we gave it.

The other great thing about a tarantula is that they aren’t moody really.  You’ll know if its ticked because they rear up on their hind legs, and mine never got into that position.

Also, they molt!  I had a rose hair which is a brown spider with reddish longer hairs.  But right after molting it’s black with reddish hair.  It was so sweet looking after it molted!

So anyway, this was the best pet I ever had.  My spider’s name was Lloth (after the Spider Queen from a series of books I was reading at the time).  Too bad when I got married my wife didn’t like it too much….my spider died at my parents’ house

The Mouse Wanted to Fight!

Every now and then at work (once a week actually) I do a webinar presentation.  When I do these I don’t do them at my desk, but I go across the office to another secluded desk where there is less background noise so the presentation is better.

So yesterday I’m doing my presentation when all of a sudden I look down and there’s a little field mouse staring at me!  Well, I didn’t really want to kill it, so I just stomped at it in surprise to make it go away.  I figured this would make it go back to it’s little hideout and I could get back to my webinar.  Not the case…

This thing kept coming out and staring at me!  And at times it would actually act like it wanted to fight!  It kept trying to stare me down, peeking around the corner of the cube or showing up under my feet like it wanted to sucker punch me.  Not cool.

At one point I actually put the class on pause to try and catch it.  No luck.  Then I just told everyone that I had allergies and had to clear my throat.

Half way through the presentation I have an intermission, so I grabbed one of my bosses to see if he could help me catch it, but the mouse was no where to be found.  He then accused me of ‘crying mouse’ jokingly, but that sneaky little thing wouldn’t show his head again!

I’ve had very few encounters with mice, but this one really surprised me as to how bold the little guy was!  Maybe I should have squished him…but I didn’t want to have to clean it up.

Getting a Handle on Your Debt

I think it’s safe for me to say that a lot of us have way more debt than we’d like to admit.  Anyone nodding their head right now thinking, “Yeah, that’s me?”

Well, you’re not alone.  I’ve heard it said before that the average American household has at least $8,000 in credit card debt alone.  This is a problem people!

So what can you do to get out of debt?  Well, you need to have a plan and then get to work paying off the debt that you have.  The nice is that there are also companies out there that have a lot of plans and services to help you to consolidate debt. And with the economy the way it is right now, it’s a good idea to do whatever you can to save money!

There are a lot of different options for consolidating debt.  Here are a couple:

• Credit Counseling - enrolls your in a debt management plan and can possibly lower your interest rates.
• Debt Consolidation - combine several loans into one bigger one.
• Debt Negotiation - try to negotiate a better rate
• and others.

Bills.com is one site that can really help you to figure which type of plan is best for you.  Always check into the side effects of different plans as well.  I’m no credit counselor, so I can’t really say which is best.  That’s why it’s again nice to have companies that can help you to figure it out!

Looking Forward to the Weekend

This is one of those weeks where I’m really looking forward to the weekend.  Some weeks it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I’ve been waiting for Friday to come since Wednesday.

I guess it’s just been a stressful week!  I’m still debating if today needs to be a Rockstar day since my head is still cloudy from having so much going on this week.

It also helps that after work today we’re headed up to a cabin with a friend of mine to hang out until Saturday evening.  I’m looking forward to it and hoping we’ll have a good time.

I need more weekend vacations like this.  Hopefully in the next couple of months my wife and I will be able to plan a weekend getaway for just the two of us.  That would be nice since we haven’t been able to do that for some time now.  But I guess that’s just how it goes with two small kids!

Driving Without A/C?

This summer has been pretty hot.  Granted, where I’m at it’s been a little rainy lately, but I’m sure by tomorrow we’ll be back up into the 90’s.

This got me thinking: how would I make it through the summer if I didn’t have auto air conditioning? Simply put, I don’t think I would!

Thankfully I’ve never had that problem. But if you’re driving around in the heat without A/C in your car, I think you’re crazy!  Good thing there are companies out there like 1AirConditioning.com that have air compressors that you can use to get A/C in your car again.  Check them out if you’re one of those people!

Cool Zip Code Locator for Businesses

I love it when I can go to the website of some company and then use some kind of a store locator that helps me to find out where they are in my area or some other place that I might be visiting in the future. It makes it so much easier!

Well, if you are a business owner and don’t have this type of service on your website (and you have a physical location/storefront), the good news is that there are companies out there that can help you get one of these services! These programs help you set up a program that will find your stores based on their zip code.

One such company is the ZipCodeWorld Store Locator Live. And the best thing about it, its free!

Here are some interesting facts about their program:
a) The ZIPCodeWorld Store Locator Live is supporting 1089 companies and total of 30692 unique stores and growing.
b) The ZIPCodeWorld Store Locator Live is supporting 33 countries worldwide including United States and Canada.
c) The ZIPCodeWorld Store Locator Live is free for business with less than 100 stores. The only thing we would like in return is to display a banner linking back to our Web site.
d) The ZIPCodeWorld Store Locator Live is also available in .NET and PHP. Programmers can install it in their local servers.
e) The company also provides comprehensive ZIP code and postal codes resources for United States, Canada and Mexico.

So if you need this type of service on your site, check these guys out!