Thu 02/25/2010 1:38 PM

could i win a trip to vegas?

I guess it's been a little while since I've written anything! Last week I came down with a cold, and while it was nothing compared to the one I had in early December, it still had me moaning and groaning and asking for my mommy, and there were a good two days when I was unable to do much of anything other than stare off into space. It was a short cold, though, and I was better by Thursday morning. After that, well, it's amazing how behind in life two days of uselessness will get you.

But I do have something really exciting to share. You already know about this if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, but for those who don't, here's the scoop. Last Saturday night, we decided to join a few of our friends for bowling. Okay, they bowled while I sat and watched. We heard that there was a karaoke competition going on in the bar inside the bowling alley. Sandra and I finally gathered enough courage to go sing, but by then the contest was over. We still sang a few songs, as did a couple of other members of our group, and we all had a really good time. While I was singing one song, Sandra was chatting with the girl hosting the karaoke, and found out that the competition is an ongoing weekly event, and at the end one winner from that location wins a trip to Las Vegas. Deanna (the host) pointed to me and told Sandra, "that girl singing right now has a really good chance of winning; she should come back and enter next week."

!!!!!!!!!!

Amazingly, without a drop of alcohol in me, I agreed to do just that. I even talked to Deanna and got her business card (which I promptly lost; thank God for Facebook!). She told me to e-mail her if there were any songs I wanted that she didn't have, and she would get them for me. I'll also be bringing my microphone stand so that I don't have to have someone hold the mic for me; I'll be a lot more confident that way!

I'm so freaking excited! I feel like my voice is not nearly what it used to be, so to have someone who isn't my friend, and just trying to make me feel good, say that they think I could win feels awesome! I've had my USB microphone and stand in the office hooked up to the computer all week so I can practice and record myself to see what I really sound like, and decide which songs are my strongest. I think I'm going to kick some butt!

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Fri 02/12/2010 11:31 AM

puppy playdate in groton

A couple of weeks ago we took a day trip to Groton, Connecticut to my former coworker Norm's house. The primary purpose of the trip was to help Norm set up his new business computer, but we also brought Brooskey and Vixen along to play with his two Australian Shepherds, Summer and Merlin. Summer, the adult female, somehow managed to evade the camera, but our two and Merlin, who's just a puppy and an adorable one at that, had a blast playing together all day and Chris got a few photos of the three of them. (The first one, with Chris in it, was taken by Norm.)

The day went so well, and even Vixen did not once get scared of the strange people and big dogs. Merlin had never seen a dog so small and was fascinated with her. He was also amazingly gentle playing with her, as if he understood she wouldn't be able to handle his full strength.

All four dogs were exhausted by the end of the day, and our two slept til about noon the next day. And even after they were awake, they were just barely awake.

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Wed 02/10/2010 2:03 PM

qwerty flip phone with no contract

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

You all know that I am a die hard iPhone lover. I love its touch screen and on screen keyboard, and the fact that it responds to the lightest touch and I don't have to apply any pressure makes it so much easier for me to use. For some others, though, that's exactly what they hate about it. Some people like having a phone with a physical keyboard and buttons that they can feel and press down on. And some don't like signing the two year AT&T contract that comes with the iPhone. For those people, here's a new alternative.

It's the SANYO Incognito (model number SCP6760), a new smart phone offered by Boost Mobile. The Incognito flips open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard with actual buttons, and features a 2MP camera with VGA video recording, a music and video player, and enhanced web browsing powered by EVDO 3G broadband technology. It also supports MMS (multimedia messaging), stereo Bluetooth, and is GPS enabled. Boost Mobile offers a $50 monthly unlimited talk, text, and data plan for the Incognito with no contract required. This phone is only $129.99 plus applicable taxes, with free shipping, when purchased through the link in this post.

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Fri 02/05/2010 4:01 PM

pick me up when i'm down

Winter. My most hated time of year. Specifically, that long stretch of winter after the fun of the holidays is gone, until it's possible to comfortably wear short sleeves outside again. That depressing, draining, drawn out second half of the season, when there aren't even any work holidays to break up the monotony. (Oh, I know some of you get MLK Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday even... I don't.)

I get depressed at this time every year. And I hate when people ask why or tell me I don't have anything to be depressed about, because that's not what depression is. It's not being sad about something. It's your brain not processing stress correctly, or focusing on every little negative thing in your life and making them all seem a hundred times worse than they are. It's chemicals all out of balance and making you sad, angry, mean, forgetful, super sensitive... sometimes all at the same time, and with no apparent reason. When someone asks you why, you just burst into tears because you honestly don't know why.

I've come to know myself well enough to recognize what is happening, but that doesn't necessarily give me the power to do anything about it. The only cure is the onset of spring: the warmer weather leading to more time spent out of the house, leading to more sunlight, fresh air, and social interaction. But there are a few things I can do to help myself cope on the really tough days.

One of my favorite things to do to get out of my head is to sing. I love to fire up Singstar on the PlayStation 3, pull out my professional microphone stand, and just sing my heart out, pretending that I'm up on stage in front of thousands of adoring fans. In that moment all I am thinking about is the song I'm singing, and everything else just disappears. I honestly think that belting out my favorite karaoke tunes produces endorphins just like exercise does for most people.

They say laughter is the best medicine, and it is definitely up there for me. Our TiVo is set to record plenty of comedic TV programming, and sitting down for a good dose of humor almost always makes me feel better when I've had a rough day. My all-time favorite giggle-fest is America's Funniest Home Videos, but I also get a kick out of Jay Leno's "Headlines" segments and lots of other shows, including The Office, Community, The Middle, and 30 Rock.

My third pick-me-up is similar to the second, but instead of TV, the entertainment comes from my two dogs, Brooskey and Vixen. First, each of them is wildly entertaining on their own. Just last night, Brooskey gave me one of the heartiest belly laughs I've had in a long time. He likes to chase the beam of a flashlight or laser pointer, and he also likes to steal both items, not seeming to realize that if he has it in his mouth, we can't aim it for him to chase. We've often remarked how much easier life would be if he could just aim it and entertain himself. So last night, when he decided to steal the flashlight, Chris got up and turned it in his mouth so that it was pointed forward, and Brooskey actually started chasing the beam around with the flashlight in his own mouth! It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. (Don't worry, we didn't let him do this for very long, for both his safety and that of the flashlight.) But anyway, a whole new dimension of entertainment comes into play when Brooskey and Vixen interact with each other. They can be comical, and other times downright precious, because they love each other so much. Either way, everything they say about pets being good for your health, and good for your soul, is true.

(This post is my entry for yesterday's 3x Thursday: Pick-Me-Ups.)

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Mon 02/01/2010 7:10 PM

making the move to windows 7

Since we got FiOS we've been very happy with both the TV and internet service, but the change must have awoken some dormant problem with my computer, because my connection to our wireless network gradually degraded until I just could not get online at all anymore (even though I was supposedly still connected with excellent signal). Other computers and networked devices in the house were working perfectly, so I knew it was a problem with my computer and not the FiOS service. The more I tried to fix it, the worse it got, so I finally got pissed off enough to pull the trigger on something I'd been contemplating for a while anyway.

I installed Windows 7.

My disgust with the situation did cloud my judgment, and I probably pulled the trigger a bit prematurely. My first mistake was that I did not run the hardware compatibility scanner provided by Microsoft. I was going to, but then decided to skip it, assuming all of my hardware would be supported. That did not turn out to be true. First I was unable to install a driver for my wireless card. Now, since this is what was acting up in the first place, it's entirely possible that the card was just dead. Either way, I have a new one on order. I also realized that my sound card was far too old to have a Windows 7 driver available, but this was not a huge problem since my motherboard has a built in sound card which works just fine. I also forgot to look to see which files and folders I was backing up with my online backup service, so that I could reconfigure it to back up the same data. Fortunately I was able to find this information by browsing the backup through their web site.

So, my haste didn't cause any problems that I wasn't able to fix, at least not so far! My system is up and running, and running very well at that. I'm using a USB wireless adapter until my new card gets here, and I also have some more RAM coming to make it run even better. I'm installing the software I need as I need it, and so far haven't had any problems with that. I am however anticipating needing to find a new graphic editor. I have been very set in my ways, running a quite old version of Paint Shop Pro which I don't expect to be compatible with this version of Windows (not to mention I can't find the install disc). My scalable copy of the confoozled.com logo is saved in PSP format, so I either need something which can read that format or I'll need to convert it to something else using my work computer. (I've already tried the GIMP; though it does read PSP format, it fails attempts to open my logo file.) But I'm not stressing too much about it; if I can't find anything that will open it, it will be a good excuse to design a new logo!

I am, so far, very happy with Windows 7 and its performance even without the extra RAM. I do feel like a fish out of water making the move to this from Windows XP, but I am getting the hang of it. Things work very differently, but I think I like most of the changes they've made.

Hooray for total frustration driving one to do what should have been done a long time ago!

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