Global Matters

I love thinking about different places around the world. I have never been too far, not even across the sea, although I have been to a lot of places around the U.S. which if you look at a map is still a lot of miles in theory. I love reading books about travel adventures and imagining the landscapes. I love seeing photos of ordinary things from other places, like food, or exterior siding on a house and a neighborhood and seeing if it is all the same or different around the world. I get this feeling of joy and universalism and one-ness. For this reason I am grateful at my job I can read and see pictures from blogs all over the entire world, from Poland to Malaysia to Peru. I love it. As a matter of fact it is one of the only things I like about my job lately.

When I get my own office at home one of the first things I am going to buy is a globe so I can twirl it around and look at the places I have read about and wonder about.

What am I wishing for right now?

I am not exactly wishing for any product or material thing. I wish, that I didn't always feel so much anxiety about the time I have. I walk around in the morning feeling hurried and too busy for my own comfort level. I hate it! I need to allow enough time and trust that I have time for my plans.

Also, I wish I liked going to the gym more!

Hair Products

I would really like to be able to afford nice hair products. Right now I use alberto V05 products because they are very cheap, do a pretty good job and one of the only ones sold at the supermarket that don't test on animals. However, I have not been happy with my hair lately and I think it used to be more manageable when I could afford highlights and cuts more often, and used nicer products. If I had the money right now I would buy one of the really expensive hair straightening irons that don't do a lot of damage to the hair, and I would lay out money for really nice shampoo and conditioner. Sorry V05!

This is what I think I would get:
A list of nice (and more expensive) hair straighteners
A better review of hair straighteners
Probably I would get this one, the gHD Hair straightener, because it received the most votes with an A+ score.

Here is a picture of it:


Next, I would get good shampoo and conditioner. Maybe I would get some other products. I use to love Bumble & Bumble Thickening Products. They are cruelty-free, but not vegan.

Here is a great thread for vegetarian shampoos and conditioners.

Bridget Marquardt

You probably do not know who that is right? Well, a lot of times while I am trying to fall asleep at night I will leave on "The Girls Next Door' cause it is fairly innocuous and I won't have to be startled awake by gunshots or an autopsy on CSI or something (which has happened before and isn't that pleasant!). So anyway, I have started to decide that I would really like to be more like one of the girls on the show, Bridget. She is always so sweet and innocent seeming. Okay, okay, so she poses nude and that is very immoral to some, so maybe 'innocent' was the wrong choice of words. But she seems so genuinely happy and sincere all the time (whatever the opposite of cynical would be). Plus, apparently she is currently working on her second Masters degree! I guess there is no judging a book by their cover, and I admit I am guilty of thinking these girls probably do not have advanced degrees. So she is smart and seems genuinely, nice. Okay if not a little ditzy, but she apparently is smart and what I wish I had more of was her personality. She always seems nice and unassuming.

Pain in the neck!

Today what I want is for my neck to stop being sore! I don't know if I slept on it wrong or from lifting weights after I skipped 2 weeks at the gym, but it is killer! Maybe my neck hurts also from sitting at a desk all day long! I don't know but I wish it would just go away! I have a bit of a headache also. In fact, I was going to see my general care doctor but decided to wait a few more days. I am going to use my parents' massage chair after work and then lay down with a heating pad for a while. I checked at this online medical site and a couple of things helped me to relax. First, I don't have any trouble moving it to any side, in fact stretching it helps a bit. Plus it says to wait a few days and treat with pain reliever and cold/hot compresses. Uh oh, guess this might mean I have to skip the gym tommorrow? How sad!

Flylady Supplies

I recently joined Flylady.net, as a way of helping me gain control of my life and household.

Well there are so many things from their Flylady Shop that I want! I am tempted to spend a lot of money on the stuff but even the Flylady herself I think, would caution me to get my spending under control first before I buy a lot of new self-help tools!

Here is what I want though, for the record:

- the Office in a Bag- with compartments for everything!
- Car Duster - actually what I really want is a cordless mini-vac for my car.
- FlyLady calendar - this was the first thing I wanted because I love calendars and marking things on them, for some reason. Of course it would not be complete without the calendar stickers that go with it.

So maybe if there is anyone secretly reading this, who knows me in real life, they will know what to get for my birthday this year! Hah, knowing me I will probably already buy all this stuff by then (July).

Treadmill

I have been using my room mate's treadmill just about every morning for a while now but when she moves out she is taking it with her. A close relative of mine has offered to buy me my own treadmill as long as it costs under $400. I have gone to Sports Authority and Dick's Sporting Goods to see if they still have the same one that I have been using but they don't have it anymore! I don't know what I will do! The reason I really like the one I have been using in particular is because first, it folds up so you don't have to have this big monstrosity taking up your whole living room all the time and most importantly, it has arm rails so you can swing your arms while you walk or jog. Kind of like an elliptical machine has the arm sticks, thats what this treadmill has. I haven't been able to even find a similar model at any of the stores near me. This is basically what it looks like:


So maybe this is actually who makes it also because the name, Proform, sounds familiar. I am not sure if this is the exact model because in the review of this Proform Crosswalk it says there is no fan and mine definetly has a fan. Maybe I have the next model up or something. This sucks because on the website I couldn't find the model. I guess I have to check at home for the exact one my room mate has. I don't feel like paying $125 for shipping either, so I don't know where else to look besides Sports Authority or Dicks. Sigh. Nothing comes simple in life. Maybe I will just buy the treadmill off my room mate and she can get a new one. My last problem will be getting it upstairs and into the spare bedroom!

A new Car

Well, I know I previously wished for a Mercedes Convertible but that was mostly wishful thinking rather than reality, which is okay. My car I have right now is a Toyota Camry with 300,000 miles on it. Thats right 300,000! Toyota if you are listening I would be happy to do a testimonial in exchange for a new car! Since I love Toyota so much for being so reliable (same engine and all!), I plan on getting a Corolla next. The Camry has been a little too big for my needs. I would like something smaller. I am gonna get a white one too. I wonder if they come as a Hybrid? I hope so! That would be so nice!

Random, Quick Wishes

My random wishes I have been thinking about today.
- I wish I lived somewhere warm
- I wish I lived in Los Angeles
- I wish I could find an anti-perspirant that kept me dry (embarassing, I know!)
- I wish I was into shoes
- I wish people didn't expect me to be a certain way from experience, cause it makes me feel uncomfortable to try something new
- I wish I had the nerve to get hair extensions for my thin hair

Anna Nicole Smith Saga

Today I want not a product but some answers! This Anna Nicole Smith mess has gotten me so intrigued! I keep calling her Anna Nicole Simpson by mistake, I guess cause I am expecting this to turn into another media/legal circus like Nicole Simpson's murder did. Seriously I cannot stop looking for the latest news on this girl. I used to watch her E! show sometimes, now I can't stop humming the theme song "Anna anna anna anna Nicole, you're so outrageous!" She seemed whacked or brain damaged then, not to be mean but she did! She would just slur her speech, kind of like Ozzy Osbourne did on his show. Anyway I was mildly intrigued when her son died. To tell you the truth I really think her son was the father of her new baby, as gross as that is. There was so much secrecy you couldn't help but wonder if there was some kind of incest or something going on! I mean, I can't help it that it has crossed my mind!

So anyway, I definetly don't think Howard K. Stern is the father. I don't know what I think anymore. I feel bad for the baby, but not that bad. That baby will be so rich after all, there are plenty of other babies in this world to feel sorry for!

Here are some good links for keeping up with the Anna Nicole saga:
TMZ- Anna Nicole
Perez Hilton
Pink is the new blog

Cached in Google

I have been working my heart out on these blogs since I have started them, and one thing I really want is to get cached in google already! I don't need PageRank, I don't need a million visitors, I just want to be in there at all in case someone wants to find me! I don't know what I have to do to get my darn blogs cached! You know, I have another blog that I started in January that has 90 entries in it already and it still is not cached. What does a blogger have to do these days? What sucks is I haven't used a lot of SEO tactics to get my blog in Google yet. I have just been trying to write quality posts and also I try to go out there and read other people's blogs and leave comments on them because I believe that is what blogging is all about in the end. So I guess I am paying in the end because I am trying to have some authentically helpful blogs and not artificially pump up my site optimization. Because of my job, I see hundreds of blogs each and every day and I get to see if they have PR automatically because of my enhanced toolbar on my Firefox application. Sites that have way less blog entries than I do, of a lot less quality sometimes are not only cached but have PR of 1 or 2! And they will only have 5 blog entries on them! It seems crazy to me and obviously I have a lot to learn.

If you have a way I can get cached faster that is legitimate and won't get me banned from the search engines, I would love to hear your suggestions. Please leave them in the comments section so others can benefit! Thanks!

An Alarm Clock that will Actually Work!

What I really want more than anything right now, is an alarm clock that will really work to wake me up. I want one that does NOT have a snooze button! I just cannot control myself about not hitting that damn button. Also they should invent one that does not allow you to reset it at all for even a few hours after it goes off. Because you know, snooze button or no snooze button I have become an expert at waking up just enough to set my alarm clock for another half-hour.

How about this alarm clock on a string that raises itself a little bit each time you hit the snooze button? Maybe it should swing from side to side and "clock" you in the head if you hit the damn button- that might be more appropriate!

I wish I could find an alarm clock that will ring for ten minutes no matter what you press on the damn thing- fool-proof for lazy snoozies like me! Can you imagine how annoying that would be after you are up and at 'em and it is still going off? I don't even care, I am ready for it if thats what it would take to get me up! They should invent an alarm clock that shoots water on you when it goes off (apparently they are not quite there yet). Here is an AWESOME list of the Top 10 Most Annoying Alarm Clocks!

It would also be nice if they could invent an alarm clock that doesn't wake you up feeling annoyed with the world. Perhaps those alarms for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder would work?

Looking around Google, I found the absolute neatest alarm clock of them all. You wear the Axbo Alarm Clock on your wrist and set it for the time you absolutely need to wake up by. The gadget detects where you are in your sleep cycle and wakes you up when you will feel most refreshed! So it may wake you up 30 minutes before you need to because of where you are in your sleep cycle. How awesome! Boyfriend, if you are reading this I want one!!!

Hand-Held Vacuum

This may sound really stupid but I have always wanted a hand-held vacuum. I hate having to lugg out my big Electrolux vacuum for any small job! Especially for cleaning my car in the drive way I would like to have something hand-held to get into all the corners. Perhaps I am deluding myself but I always had the notion that if only I had a hand-held vac my house and car would be a lot cleaner looking! The idea of trying to find where the vacuum it is and then trying to find a nearby electric outlet and then you decide to go in the other room and have to replug it in. Maybe I am lazy (judging from my other blogs' topics today!) but this always seems like so much work!

Anyway, I have seen these Target commercials for those new decorative handheld vacuums and I really want one! It would look great on an end table or a shelf and it would always be there for those little messes or if you want to follow the Keep-It-Clean plan I wrote about on my Cleaning and Organizing blog the vacuum will be right there for your one-minute vacuum. Its called a "Kone" vacuum and it comes in 6 colors. I am really tempted to go out and buy one right away!

Help for IBS!?

Well this is kind of an embarassing topic, but my newest wish is for a cure to my IBS! Seriously, it comes and goes but when it shows up it is there with a vengeance!! This morning I had coffee and about 6 hours later I was on my way home from work when I had to start racing, if you know what I mean? I was sitting at a stop light and praying I would make it home on time. Can you imagine how horrible it would be if you couldn't hold it long enough? I have friends who have had the misfortune of not being able to get to a bathroom in time, and I can't imagine how much that would suck even if you are by yourself like I was.

So many people have IBS! You will be talking to someone you barely know and somehow the topic comes up and you realize you both have the same problem where all of a sudden you are running for a john!

Well sorry the wish was for something a bit "TMI" today but I am sure there are plenty of people out there who can relate and will be glad I brought up the topic!

McDonald's Sundaes

Mmm I could go for one right now, come on you know they are amazing. Only $1 dollar, and they are small enough you don't feel like you are completely blowing your diet. I like the hot fudge sundae with peanuts. Their vanilla ice cream tastes so good! Other people like butterscotch but this is a bit too sweet for even my tastes. I don't think they make the strawberry kind anymore? Its too bad, strawberries with vanilla ice cream are amazing!

My all-time favorite, though, has got to be the Roy Rogers Strawberry Shortcake Sundae. Roy Rogers isn't around much anymore, but if you have ever had a McDonald's biscuit, think of that. Take half a biscuit and then put vanilla ice cream and strawberries on top. Oh yumm!

McDonald's Sundaes:


What is your favorite kind of sundae?

New Sheets for my Bed

I wish I could find some great new sheets for my bed. I have an invention I have never seen before but I wish someone would take my idea and make a million off of it! I think there should be sheets that go all the way around the mattress and zip up like mattress protectors do. My boyfriend is infamous for making the sides of the sheets come up and exposing the mattress underneath. It looks so messy and it is such a pain in the neck to tuck them in every morning! So for people like him a fitted sheet that actually went all the way around the mattress and couldn't 'untuck' would be perfect.

Also it would be nice if they came in flannel. I had bought a
sheet set from IKEA last year and its already lost a lot of its elastic. Plus the sheets are very cold and I like warm flannel to snuggle up in the winter. I heard it is best to get sheets that have elastic all around and not just at the corners.

When I buy bed linens again I am gonna get rid of my feather blanket. It doesn't fit in with my personal beliefs anymore. I am not sure what to do with the old one. I don't want to give it away to the Salvation Army or anything cause I don't want anyone saying, "Boy, these down comforters are so cozy when I have the money I am going to buy them for every bed in my house!" because that wouldn't help the poor ducks at all. Probably I will store it away somewhere.

Chocolate Lab

Today I am really trying to figure out how to get my hands on a chocolate Labrador Retriever. You see, my grandfather who has been sick over the last year or so and has been in and out of the hospital, he is always bugging my grandma to get another chocolate Labrador like the one they had years ago. He even has a painted portrait of a Chocolate Lab framed and hanging in his t.v. room. However they just could not handle a dog right now- their yard isn't fenced and they couldn't exactly walk the dog several times a day. It just wouldn't work. So anyway, I contacted Therapy Dogs International in the hopes they would have someone who could come visit but they just won't get back to me and its been 3 weeks. And now he is in the hospital again. I don't know how else to find one. Today I finally emailed a Labrador Retriever club that I found and maybe they will help me. I have even thought about fostering one myself at my own home but my 'landlord' has refused to allow me to do that. Uggh I hope I can find one soon, also I need to find out whether they would be allowed in Summerhill Nursing Home if they aren't therapy-dog-certified.

I wish TDI would get back to me- if this isn't the kind of situation they exist for, then what are they worth?

Massage Chairs

I have always been somewhat of a 'scratch-slut' you might say. In high school I would always flirt with a boy in order for him to scratch my back with a pen or something while I sat in the desk right in front of him in class. I loved getting 'the chills' from boys or girls, whoever. I loved someone playing with my hair or a good ole' massage train. I didn't care and I wasn't choosey about who was scratching my back.

So anyway I have also always loved a good massage, and I almost talked my mom into buying me a massage chair from Brookstone's once a few years ago. This chair was amazing, it would massage even your legs and feet, it had like cradles where your legs went and would massage them all around. My favorite places to get massaged are my extremities- my legs and arms. Such a unique feeling. Anyway I almost convinced her because of some medical problems I have. But nevertheless in the end I felt bad taking her money like that when I wasn't 100% convinced the chair would help my medical problems.

Anyway I really love them and I can't wait until I one day have extra money coming in and I could actually afford to buy one on my own, out right. Maybe when that day comes they will have massage-cradles for your arms, too.

Cool Products Expo

Well I wish I had been able to make it to this Cool Products Expo last year in 2006. What a great idea! You know there are so many neat things out there that we never hear about because perhaps the manufacturers don't have enough money to get it into the spotlight. Its really not fair and probably doesn't serve us any good because, usually it is the small manufacturers and inventors who really care about the customer they have in mind. You know the big companies are out for profit and the bottom line at all costs.

One of the products featured is the Airboard. This looks like
a really fun gadget for going down hills and snowboarding and
such. You can do so many fun tricks with this thing! Their
website is a bit of a pain to navigate as it doesn't allow you to
feature the product in a normal way. But anyway, judging from
their video about the Airboard, this is something I would really want to try out on my next trip to the slopes! Looks like I would need to go up to Connecticut in order to purchase or rent an Airboard near me. It would be worth the trip though, Connecticut isn't too far and I would love to try out a new way of getting down the slopes!

Gold Cell Phone

Last year I stumbled across this beautiful cell phone. The colors and style were so unique and its a slider phone rather than a flip or clam shaped phone. I tried so hard to get it because at the time I was looking for a new cell phone. Unfortunately Verizon makes it so that you can't use this phone in the United States (I am pretty sure it is only available in Europe). Not sur eif you know this but the American cell phone companies make it virtually impossible to get the same cell phone features other people in the world get. So anyway because the phone is not configured to run on Verizon's ffrequencies, I would never be able to use it. If Verizon accepted unlocked phones it might be a lot easier. When I was doing research on it last year. I found really one of the only possible ways to get ahold of this phone in the United States was if you have service with T-Mobile. T-Mobile seems to be a lot more lenient with whether you can use unlocked 'world' phones on their networks. Hmm, my contract with Verizon IS expiring at the end of the month....perhaps this is my chance to switch and finally get my hands on this beauty?

A New Car?

Well I currently have a car that was passed down to me from my mother when she bought a new car. You would not even believe how many miles it has on it. Last time I looked there was close to 300,000 miles on it. Thats three-hundred-thousand. Toyota should sponsor this blog because I tell everyone who asks they should get a Toyota for their next car cause they really do last forever! My car has the same exact engine and most of its other parts from the day my mom drove it off the lot!

Be that as it may, unfortunately soon it will die. It really is just a matter of time. I don't really know what I will do when it goes, as I don't have a savings plan to buy a new one nor do I make enough money monthly to afford a lease or anything. I will be screwed.

If I could have any car, though, I wouldn't buy anything too fancy although my dream car is a silver Mercedes convertible or a red BMW.

No, what I really want is a hybrid. When I get a new car again one day I will probably get a Corolla instead of the Camry I have now. The Camry has been a little too big for me and too adult-looking. I think the Corolla looks zippier. Can you imagine how much gas I would save? Also I really want seat warmers for those freezing cold mornings. That is one optional feature I used in my old cars. I think the next car I get will have roll-up windows for a retro-look. Also I will probably want the exterior to be white even though I always thought I hated that color on a car! What do you think of that?

Vacation to an Island

If I had some extra money right now I would definetly take some time off and go on vacation. I am thinking a tropical island right about now, what with the wintery weather we are having here on the East Coast (of America). If I could I would hop on a plane to Atlantis in Paradise Island in the Bahamas or even cheaper, some beach in Florida. I do not even have an extra $100 to spare right now so this will have to be put on hold. But oh, I wish I was snorkeling and just laying on the sand in the sun. I had some amazing time at the Atlantis. I remember sitting at the cafe eating conch sandwiches. Going to the Dolphin Encounter and this beautiful calm ocean area near there. Sigh. I could cry thinking about how beautiful it was.

Airline Preference

I was wondering if my readers have a preference as to what airline they use? I certainly think about a number of factors when I am choosing an airline. I consider their flight record (you can check airline incident reports here). It is really important to me that they have a good record. this may be an illusion and not fully supported by facts, but I kind of assume that if an airline hasn't had many accidents they have a good record of checking planes thoroughly. Also I figure the newer airlines have to try extra hard to win the confidence of consumers so they are not going to cut corners when it comes to safety. Now this is all conjecture on my part, mind you.

My favorite right now is JetBlue. I like how they tend to use new planes . Would you want to fly in a plane that has been around, so to speak? Not me!

I also will use Continental Airlines too. They have a major hub near me so they are somewhat cheaper than other airlines.