Something to Ponder

I wonder....

Why do the phrases "slim chance" and "fat chance" mean the same thing?

New Orleans

I'm not ready to bring political debate to this blog, but I found this article so intriguing that I wanted to link to it from here: Wizbang!

Bahamas, Here I Come!

Well, okay, so I won't actually be anywhere near the Bahamas for another 13+ months, but I am planning on going. My SIL* suggested we take a cruise together, and I cannot be more thrilled than I am now. This is a SIL that I really like, but we live several hours apart and don't often see each other, and I am really looking forward to spending time with her away from the guys. The cruise doesn't sound too shabby either.

We don't have many definite plans yet. We're thinking we'll cruise out of somewhere in Florida (yes, I know, that doesn't narrow it down very much) to the Bahamas on a 4-day, and it won't be until October or early November 2007. She has never cruised before, and I have cruised on Disney and Royal Caribbean, both to the Bahamas. I can't imagine a more wonderful budget-conscious** vacation. It's true that cruises aren't as all-inclusive as they used to be, but based on the information I've found so far, they're still very reasonably priced. Plus with over a year to save up for it, that'll help cushion the blow to the budget. Of course another down-side to living in the midwest is that you have to buy airfare to get to the cruise port. If I lived in Florida.... (Oh, wait, I already did an "I miss the South" post.)

I'd be happy to hear from anybody who has cruising advice. Specific things I'm comparing right now include the following: Carnival vs. Royal Caribbean; Nassau and a private island vs. Nassau and Freeport; and travel agent vs. on-your-own.***

*Technically she's not really my sister-in-law. She's my husband's brother's wife, and that's one too many removed to be a sister-in-law. But "SIL" is so much simpler to type than "my husband's SIL," so that's what she's going to be.

**I can imagine several more wonderful vacations, but they all would involve the liberal use of somebody else's credit card, and that doesn't seem terribly realistic.

***I should note that I worked in the travel industry for years, and I'm familiar with the fact that the travel agent gets the commission from vendors, not from me. But there have been new fees that have cropped up in recent years while I have been out of the travel industry, and I haven't decided yet if I need/want a travel agent or not. I am a micromanager by nature, so planning is fun for me. The travel agent would be there just to call in case something goes wrong and/or to handle any trip insurance issues or logistical nightmares caused by cancelled flights, etc.

Heather's Geneology Meme

Heather has tagged me for a meme.

1. Which famous person would you most like to learn that you are descended from?

Richard Feynman,



in the hopes that I had inherited some of his eccentricity,



his ability to find the fun in solving practically any problem,



and his not giving a damn about what other people think.



2. Which famous person would you hate to learn that you are descended from?

I would hate to be part of the Kennedy family.

3. If you could be ancestor to any living famous person, who would it be and why?

I'd just be thrilled to be anybody's ancestor.

4. If you could go back in time and meet any known ancestor(s) of yours, who would it be?

My paternal grandfather.

5. Tag five others

Steve, Katherine Coble, Kathy T, Vera, and one more to be named when once her blog is up and running later this week.

Stay tuned to this channel for further information...

Friday we went to the state fair. I took a lot of snapshots, and a few of them were even decent. I'll post those and a little commentary soon, but not today.

The Great Minnesota Get Together

It's that time of year again, time for the Minnesota State Fair. It started this morning and runs through Labor Day, and we'll be going tomorrow.

We already bought our admission tickets (you get a discount for buying them ahead of time), and we have our Blue Ribbon Bargain Book full of discounts and buy-one-get-one offers on merchandise and food.

Speaking of food, check out this list of what's being served this year: 2006 Fair Food. I dare you to find a more mind-boggling list, or one more grease-laden.

This will be my fourth year going to the fair, which means I've managed to get there each year I've lived here. Though I never pass up an opportunity to tell people how much I miss living in the South, I will admit here in writing and preserved on the internet for all time: I love the Minnesota State Fair.

My one day visit each year always proves exhausting, but it's thoroughly enjoyable. I still haven't learned my way around too well, so you'll always see me carrying my map-on-a-stick, trying to orient myself while listening to my husband tell me for the 213th time that Dan Patch was a famous racehorse. He says it every time we go by any of the signs for the street named after Dan Patch, which, if you know the layout of the fair, is quite often.

Despite my grandiose plans each year to actually see some of the animal exhibits or watch the parade or ride one of the Midway rides, I never seem to get around to it. People-watching and eating food-on-a-stick are the activities of choice, interspersed between looking at exhibits of blue-ribbon-winning pies and quilts, and artwork from elementary school children, and listening to the politicians spout off on the politics of the day. I have yet to meet a politician-on-a-stick, but I'll keep my hopes up that this year is the year.

Free stuff is always plentiful, unless it's the coveted yard stick that everybody but you seems to be able to find. Post-it notes and Scotch tape from 3M are always around, as are pens with zillions of different companies' logos. Junk, mostly, but once in a while you find a treasure. Last year at the then-new Jack FM's booth there were goodie bags with coupons and flyers, including a $5 off coupon for groceries at Rainbow Foods (we picked up 4 and made back the cost of admission), and The University of St. Thomas's purple visors were a blessing in the noontime sun.

I think I will take my camera for the first time this year. Maybe I'll get some interesting shots of various foods-on-a-stick, and if I'm lucky, I'll get a picture of a former coworker of Heather's at the Axel's booth.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the thunderstorms that have been predicted for tomorrow morning really are confined to just the morning, and that we can find the new-to-us location of the Express bus pickup without too much difficulty. And as long as I remember to take our tickets and bargain book, and lots of cash, the rest of the day should take care of itself.

See you on the flip side. I'll be the one that smells like I've been batter-dipped and deep fried.

TV shows on DVD

I have all the seasons of M*A*S*H that have been released so far on DVD (Seasons 1 - 10). The final season (11) will be released in November of this year. I'm seriously considering preordering it:



After that, we're thinking about buying the Star Trek: Next Generation DVDs. They're considerably more expensive (grrrrr), but we both like TNG, and we don't have the luxury of reruns since we don't have cable or satellite. Currently I'm drooling over the first season:



I may just break down and buy it even before we're done with the M*A*S*H collection.

I miss the South

There's something intrinsically wrong about hearing "sweet or unsweet?" when you order an iced tea. As if there were any kind other than sweet! And northerners can tell me until they're blue in the face that I can just add a packet of sugar to make it sweet, but it's not even close. All that does is make gritty unsweet tea, and that's just criminal.

I've tried to sell my husband on the merits of living in the South, but he is unmoved. (Literally as well as figuratively.) I think at this point we'd have to win the lottery, and then we'd have a summer home and a winter home.

Pardon me while I wander over to the Powerball website to see how high the jackpot is.
:-)

And now a word from our sponsor...

A perk that comes with using coupons and sending in for rebates is that I often get to try new products for free. Listerine has a new product called Listerine Agent Cool Blue that was free after rebate recently at Walgreens, and this week it's free after Extra Care Bucks at CVS.

Marketed for kids, it's not just a mouthwash: it's a pre-brushing rinse. It's like those little red pills I remember from my elementary school days. Remember those? You'd chew them up and give a big grin only to see red all over your plaque-covered teeth. This works the same way except that it's a rinse that you spit out, and it's blue.

I tried it for the first time today. I brushed and flossed first, so that I could use the rinse to see how much gunk I had missed. I have to say that I thought my flossing technique was better than it apparently is. There were traces of blue between each tooth.

Next time I'll try it before I brush and floss, so I can get the full before vs after effect.

So I probably sound like a commercial, but I suppose there are worse things that I could sound like. And I do enjoy trying out new products for free.

It Sounds So Cliché...

...but the check really is in the mail. And this one is the final payment on our credit card debt. Granted, it still has to make its way through the US Postal system, get processed at the payment center, and then clear the bank. But the check is in the mail.

The only debt left is the mortgage, and that doesn't bother me a bit.

There are no student loans, no other credit cards, no car payments.

I feel like celebrating already, even though it won't be official for a few more days. So I'm off to clip a few coupons while I grin from ear to ear.

Connie

Connie -- [noun]: A level headed person who always makes the wrong decision 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

The Obligatory First Entry

This is the point in the blog where one is required to state the following things:

This is my first post.

I have never had a blog before.

When will I get better at HTML?

What will follow is Evitable. Don't blame me if you get offended/drowsy; you've been warned.