Flipswap

If you're anything like me, you have a zillion old cell phones lying around your house. We actually had 5 of them, and I would guess there are still a few hiding somewhere. It's bad for the environment to just throw the phones in the trash, so it's best to recycle them. I just heard about a really cool website called Flipswap that allows you to put in all of the information about your old phones, and it will give you a trade-in price. You can either have them cut you a check for that amount, or you can donate it to charity.

Our 5 ancient phones are fetching us $5.00, $4.20, $4.75, and for the oldest two, they're recycling them and planting two trees. And they will be GONE from my house, which eliminates a lot of junk and extra wires, of which we have plenty already. Once you put in all of the details on their website, you just print out a pre-paid shipping label, stick them in a box and send them off to Flipswap.

If you're cleaning up for the new year and trying to be a bit more eco-friendly in the process, I recommend giving it a looksee.

So Thankful

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought I would name a few of the things I am most thankful for, in no particular order...

- My amazing husband Glenn. We've been together over 13 years now (still not sure how that's possible!) and married for 4, and he's still my best friend. I'm so lucky to have a husband who supports me when I'm at my highest and lowest, always lets me know I'm loved and can always make me smile. I am a lucky, lucky girl.
- My wonderful parents. They raised me well, loved me and helped me soar. I can always count on my parents to cheer my successes and give me advice when I need it. I am so lucky to have parents who are also friends.
- My four crazy kitties, Bailey, Zoey, Kenny and Sophie. They keep me company while I work from home, and give me lots and lots and lots of love.
- My incredible friends. In girl scouts we learned to make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. I'm so lucky to have some of those "golden" friends...both those that have been there all along, and those who I've just recently rediscovered. And so many new "silver" friends who have been such an indispensable support system as I've started my business.
- My business, Perceptivity Studio. I quit my job on November 1st last year and can't believe how quickly this year has gone. Looking back at all of the work I've done this past year, I'm amazed at all I've accomplished, and so proud of the work I've done for my clients. Going out on my own has allowed me to really be "creative" again, so much more so than when I was working for someone else, and it means a lot to me to have a portfolio of work I'm proud of. I'm so lucky do get to do what I love every day.
- My "commute" (or lack therefore of). As I was driving down 275 this morning to take Sophie to get fixed (Yeah, did I mention she's in heat? Delightful!), I was reminded how grateful I am to work from home. I used to spend about 1.5 - 2 hours every day in traffic driving to South Tampa, and now I get up and walk down the hall. You can't beat it.
- Being an American. Even with our country in an economic crisis, we are still so blessed to live here. I have a roof over my head, food in my pantry and so many nice things surrounding me. It's easy to focus on the negative right now, but even when our country is in bad shape, it's still so much better off than so many others around the world, and we are so lucky to be here. And I'm also thankful that Obama will become our president in January, and hopeful for how he will change the direction our country has taken.
- My health, and my family and friends' health. Enough said. May we all continue to be happy and healthy.

I'm sure there are many more, but I think that sums it up. I said it many times throughout this post, but it bears repeating: I am such a lucky girl. I am so thankful for all of the wonderful people and things in my life, on Thanksgiving and always.

If you're reading this, thank you for reading, and thank you for being my friend. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Don't Vote, Part 2

I just saw the new Don't Vote video, and I think this one is just as great as the first one. Maybe not as hysterical as the first one (which did get a bit crass), but so well done, and it actually brought tears to my eyes when they were listing their reasons.



So GO VOTE on Tuesday!

Don't vote.

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged. Life is good, and I've been super-busy with work, which is a good thing. And since my to-do list is still quite long, here is the reason I'm taking time out of my day to blog. (There is some profanity, FYI.)



Really, really great message. Both funny and poignant. While I'm sure you are all already registered, if not, what are you waiting for? Hurry up! And don't forget to pass this along.

Homicidal oven

My oven tried to kill me last night...it felt kind of like a scene out of Final Destination.

I was broiling some chicken for dinner, and unloading the dishwasher while it cooked, when all of the sudden there were blue sparks coming at me and a really loud buzzing noise that sounded kind of like the garbage disposal. I screamed bloody murder because it scared me half to death, which of course scared Glenn half to death from upstairs in the office. It stopped very shortly thereafter and the whole oven just died. Thankfully I wasn't touching it when it decided to self-destruct, and it didn't set a fire or anything either. But man, my heart almost jumped out of my chest in the process!

So now I have to figure out how to fix an oven. From Googling "oven blue sparks" I found out it was probably the element blowing out, and hopefully it will be an easy fix. While I'm not the greatest chef in the world by any stretch of the word, it's a pain not to have an oven, stove, timer or clock in the kitchen! :P

Double Standards

OK, I realize that there are most likely a ton of double standards over on my side of the political arena as well, but this just made me laugh.

100 things to do before you die

How's this for irony? Dave Freeman, the guy who wrote 100 Things to Do Before You Die just died at age 47 before he completed his list. The good news is that he was about halfway done with his list, which included all kinds of neat things, like attending the Academy Awards, running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, taking a voodoo pilgrimage in Haiti and "land diving" on the Island of Vanuatu. I'm sure while accomplishing the items on his half of the list, he saw and did more than the rest of us normally would in a lifetime.

I've had the opportunity to see some incredible places and do some crazy things in my life so far, but now I'm thinking that I need to make my own list so I make an effort to see all of the amazing places in this world that I haven't seen. Like Europe, for one (or several dozen, I guess).

What's on your list?

Can we elect her?

I watched Michelle Obama's speech online last night (yes, I'm a bit behind), and if I could vote for HER for president, I would gladly do so. What an awesome speaker.



I also watched Hillary's speech live last night and think she did a great job with a very difficult situation. I really did think she would make a great president at the beginning of the election, but by the time she and Obama were neck and neck, and trading nasty words, I really didn't care for either of them.

That being said, I wish I were as passionate as Barack Obama as most of his supporters are, and I'm trying, but for some reason I just can't help but be skeptical...of both his relative inexperience and our nation's (not my) ability to see past his skin color. I really wish there were a democratic candidate I really felt strongly about, and that I could strongly support, instead of just voting against the other guy. Sigh.

Virtual School Rant

I heard a report on the radio yesterday that virtual schools may soon become the only way our children are educated, and I almost drove off the road. Instead of actually going to school, our kids may soon just sit at their computer and learn from lessons that teachers post online. Here's what I heard.

The scary part is that they were trying to make this sound like a good idea! School budgets have been slashed, and educating students virtually is so much less expensive than the cost to send them through the public school system. Kids can learn at their own pace, and supposedly kids being taught virtually perform higher on test scores. Currently about a million kids in the US are being taught virtually.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a horrible idea??? First of all, kids learn their social skills at school. They learn to make friends and interact with other people. They learn discipline...they have to be somewhere at the same time every day, and if they're late they get in trouble. They get some (probably not enough) physical activity. If you no longer GO to school, these things will all be eliminated. Not to mention how are parents supposed to go out and work if their kids are home all the time!

My generation, Y, is already causing a drastic change in the workforce. We are a completely different animal than previous generations with our style of working, our expectations and our skill sets. But I feel that our generation is still contributing to things in a positive way. The generation below me will be even drastically more different, growing up with computers and cell phones and texting (don't even get me started on how texting is single-handedly ruining the grammar of this country). Now imagine if the following generation grows up sitting in front of their computers all the time, not even going out in the world to go to school. Can you even picture what these kids will be like when they get out into the real world? Sure they might be wizards on the computer, but how will they interact with clients? Coworkers? How will they learn all of the important non-education-related things that the rest of us have learned at school?

The report went on to say that with education budgets getting slashed left and right, soon virtual schools may completely replace brick and mortar schools, while the alternative could be no education system whatsoever. SERIOUSLY?!?!?

Can we please stop bombing Iraq long enough to give our kids and their kids the future they deserve? Yes, I understand that sometimes war is a necessary evil, but I just can't even fathom how they can spend billions of dollars on a war when they can't even properly take care of the people in our own country. Yes, I realize we are so lucky to live in America, but we still have issues. The education system is one of them. A real issue, not a virtual one. Can we please work on fixing it?

Hey Fay, whaddya say? Stay away another day!

As evidenced by the proliferation of rhyming in this blog title and a late-night trip to Walmart last night (which must really signify desperation because I HATE Walmart!), the hurricane threat is getting to me. :P

I didn't even realize there WAS a hurricane until yesterday afternoon, but now I'm getting a bit worried. While recent projections here and here show it heading to Ft. Myers, you know those pesky predictions are rarely accurate. After all, Hurricane Charley was SUPPOSED to hit us, and it hit them instead. Granted that was a big storm and this is just a little one, but still. After Hurricane Frances became an uninvited guest at our wedding in 2004 (has it really been almost 4 years already??), I'm not the biggest fan of hurricanes. :)

And now for a rant. As I mentioned before, Glenn and I went to Wally World last night to pick up some bottled water and an extra cat carrier since we're up one cat since the last hurricane season. What a madhouse! Every time I go to Walmart, I leave saying "that's the last time I ever do that," kind of like I used to do with drinking in college. But just like that one magic time I finally realized that drinking (and the inevitable miserable sickness afterward) just wasn't worth it, I think this trip to Walmart did the same thing. There were boxes and carts everywhere, it was dirty and smelly (YUCK!) and the people were just as "delightful" as ever. (I won't even get into the people in front of us in line who made the ridiculously long lines manage to take even longer.) We both really felt gross after leaving, like we needed to go home and sanitize. After being in our nice, pretty, CLEAN Target the day before, it was quite the contrast. While Walmart has a new logo, I think the quality of the store, at least the one in New Tampa, has gotten exponentially worse. Boo Walmart!

OK, I'm done ranting. Everyone do me a favor and visualize Fay leaving us the heck alone this week!