Simple Randomness

Check Your Credit!

A few years ago I used to work for a company that would help people to repair their credit reports.  Basically all sorts of things can happen to your credit report that you might not even know about, and then make it harder for you to get a loan.

For example, if too many companies check your credit that can affect your credit rating.  Or, if you paid a bill on time but for some reason the company reported it as late anyway, that can cause you problems.

This is was it’s a good idea to check credit report details every now and then.  You can get a free report at least once a year, but  you usually have to pay to find out what your score is.  Even then, you can still at least review your report and make sure there is nothing on there that shouldn’t be.

One thing to note though is that if the information on your credit report is accurate, there really isn’t much you can do about it.  But if it is inaccurate and you can prove it, then they have to take it off.

So if you do happen to have poor credit, you should do all you can to increase your credit.  One way to do this is to get a new credit card or something and then just make sure you keep the record on it very clean.  Then, as time goes on you will have a cleaner record because the old stuff will fall off.

There are lots of companies that can help you find credit cards for people with fair credit.  One such site is UnionCreditReport.com.  If you’re in this position, you might want to check them out.

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!

Monster Khaos - One Good Drink!

Ok, so if you’ve been on this blog for any period of time you know that when I’m dragging I sometimes will grab a RockStar energy drink to keep me going.  Well the other day I decided to try something different so I grabbed a Monster Khaos instead.

Wow!  That drink has some really good flavor to it!  You see, I don’t really care for any of the regular flavors of the energy drinks, I’d always rather go for the better flavored ones.  And Monster Khaos is one of the best that I’ve tasted!  I think it even rivals my all-time favorites which are the RockStar Guava and No-Carb flavors.

Anyway, that’s the random topic for the day.  Does anyone else have a favorite flavor that I should try?

Some Really Cool Seafood Recipes

I know I’ve said this before, but I love seafood.  I’ve probably also said before that one of the down sides of living so far inland is that we don’t have fresh seafood.  But that is not reason enough for me to want to move into the South East (sorry, I just couldn’t handle all the hurricanes!).

So I was checking out the website www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com and came across some really interesting recipes. Right now on their site they have 5 of their finalists for the contest, and they all look rather interesting and delicious.

But, if I was going to vote on one, I think I would go for the Texas Gulf Shrimp by Chef Mark Holley from Texas.  Now granted, it’s hard to say that this would be my favorite because I haven’t tasted any of them, but when looking at the picture and looking over the recipes, it caught my eye the most.  Maybe it’s because I love shrimp .

This would be a really cool cook off to go to.  I mean think about it, a bunch of really good chefs getting together to cook the best seafood you’ve ever had?  What could be better?!

So if you’re into seafood I recommend you check the site out and see which one would be your favorite.  The other great thing about it is that you can see the actual recipes and even try to cook them up yourself!  Who knows, maybe you could be a great seafood chef in the making!

Domestic seafood is the way to go.  I know that one thing my wife always liked to do as a kid was go to the pier and get some fresh seafood when she was visiting her grandparents in California.  I never really had those kinds of experiences, but would sure love it!

Another Cool Thing About Quinoa

So a while back I wrote about the food quinoa.  Since then I’ve had it a couple of times and its really quite good!

The cool thing about quinoa is that it goes with anything.  You can just eat it plain and its good, or even better you can mix it in with stuff and it tastes good as well!

For example, yesterday I mixed it in with some fettucini alfredo.  It was good!  Then, I was going to have a tuna sandwich after going to the gym, but I forgot to bring the bread.  So I just mixed quinoa in with the tuna and it was really good that way!

Gotta love these foods that go good with everything!

Credit Cards for Women

I’ve talked on this blog about credit card sites before.  So when I came across this one I was a little intrigued because I thought that they approach was very unique.  How about a site that focuses just on those credit cards that are best for women?  Not a bad idea!

This is great!  They’ve figured out who their main market is and then geared the whole site towards women.  Which makes a lot of sense actually, because I’m sure that in most families women are the ones that do a good portion of the shopping.  Here’s a great quote directly from the site:

A wise and frugal woman is always eager to find a credit card with the lowest APR possible, zero interest plastics being the most appealing bank products.

Well, it is true that getting a card with a low interest rate is the way to go.  It’s also good to look for good rewards and cash back opportunities as well.  So check out CreditRoom.com if you need to find a great credit card for women!

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!

Remembering 9/11 - The 7 Year Anniversary

Seven years ago, 9/11/01, is a day that I think few of us will ever forget.  It’s one of those days where everyone can remember where they were and what they were doing.

As for myself, I was actually living in South America at the time (Chile to be exact).  I was serving as a missionary for my church and we were headed to a meeting with some other missionaries.  On the bus a Chilean told us something about tornados and airplanes crashing into buildings, but we didn’t know what he was talking about.  I do remember at the bus stop seeing people watching a TV with a burning building on it, but I had no idea what it was.

So we get to our meeting and the janitor asks us what we are doing there, that we should be in our apartments.  We didn’t know why.  Then he hooked up a TV and showed us.  I remember all of us just watching with a blank stare, not sure what to think or do.  One of the guys with us was actually from New York City.  We found out later that some of his father’s friends were killed that day.

One of the really scary things about being in Chile during that time is that 9/11 is already a bad day there.  9/11 is the day that Pinochet took over.  If you know anything about Chilean history, he was dictator for a long time, and we helped to put him there.  So it’s not exactly a day when a lot of people are friendly to Americans.  So needless to say, we stayed in our apartments for about 2 days without leaving, wondering if we were going to have to flee the country.

It was a scary time to say the least.  But I also remember walking down the street a few days later and a man that I had never met walked up and asked us if we were all right, and offered his deepest sympathies for what was happening.

That day changed all of us I think.  For me, it gave me a renewed pride in our country for the way we pulled together to get through it.  It also opened my eyes to the fact that there really are people who don’t like us.  Whether out of actual hate or ignorance.

On this 7 year anniversary of 9/11, I think it’s important for all of us to remember that day.  It was tragic, and it changed us…for the best I hope!