So I wrote in my humor column this week about the fancy, new toothbrush that my wife and I bought earlier this week, but ironically, it hasn’t all been fun and games … in fact, after actually using it for a couple of days, I’m starting to wonder if it’s possible that in the short term it’s going to do me more harm than good…
Of course, the HUGE caveat to this theory is that historically I’ve really been pretty horrible with regards to taking care of my teeth. I only brush once a day, I never floss, and I’ve been to the dentist exactly once in my adult life. That visit was maybe 2-3 years ago and after an hour of scrutiny and lecturing, I left with a $3,000 repair estimate and just never even bothered going back. And that was with dental insurance!
Well, let me think – I may have actually went back once to fill a single cavity or something, but that was about it. Seriously, the list was atrocious – maybe a dozen cavities of varying degrees, and also a couple of crowns and other things that were really expensive, and of course, when I asked about priorities, he said that the most important things were also the most expensive, so I could just rank them according to price. Needless to say, my budget didn’t exactly jive with that particular logic, so I promptly cast the quote into the garbage and didn’t really give it a second thought.
My concern now, though, is that I’m curious if somehow this awesome, new toothbrush of mine is somehow exacerbating those problem areas in a way that my traditional, half-assed brushing never really affected in the years past. The head of the new brush is very much like the one a dentist uses when he cleans your teeth, or so I vaguely remember, and thus I’m wondering if there’s a chance that it’s somehow irritating my gums that are probably already damaged when it’s down there giving them a deep cleaning that they haven’t felt in years.
The reason that I wonder all of this is because for the last two days, I’ve been fighting a mild headache that just tonight started to hint that it was stemming from around my jaw and throat area. I’m a little swollen down there, just on one side, and so in the back of my head I started wondering, “I wonder if this is a freaking root canal that’s just now coming to light…”
Other than that, I actually really like the toothbrush – it really does feel like it does a better job than I would with those cheapy, vibrating brushes in the past, and I like that it’s rechargeable so I don’t have to worry about the battery dying out a month later. Plus, I have to do less work and it actually tells me when I’m brushing too hard or I’ve stayed in one place too long, so that’s kinda neat! I’m just hoping that this $100 toothbrush doesn’t lead to me having to revisit that $3,000 dental plan to boot…
Recommended by the American Dental Association … crap. 
I’ve never really been one who was caught up in that whole minimalist, I have too many things lifestyle, however my trip to the Apple store this evening has left me pondering something along those lines that I probably wouldn’t have expected.
I was looking at cases for my iPhone because I’ve had the thing almost a year and still haven’t taken the time to better protect it from my reliable clumsiness, and I ended up settling on this one that also has the intriguing feature of two sleeves on the back to hold credit or ID cards in addition to the phone itself. I bought it initially, thinking that if nothing else it would make quick trips out to the store on weekends easier when I’m often times wearing shorts that simply don’t have back pockets to hold my wallet, but the more I’ve thought about it, I’m actually wondering if I might be able to get away from having to carry my wallet altogether after introducing this thing into my life…
I started going through my wallet in my head, and then later actually emptied its contents out onto my desk, and the truth of the matter is, I don’t really need most of the crap that I carry around with me on a daily basis. Membership cards to businesses that I visit maybe once a month, and some that technically don’t even exist anymore, business cards that look so ratty I’m not sure why I would want to hand them out if I did find myself presented with the opportunity, an old phone card from about ten years ago that probably has about a minute and a half left on it at this point! Why do I carry all of this junk around in my back pocket with me every single day?!
Or more importantly, could I do without to the point where I can boil my life down to only needing two of them so that I can just carry them around in the back of my phone???
I think it might be possible – right now those two cards would be my driver’s license and the main credit card that Sara and I use for all of our daily purchases. All of the membership and frequent buyer cards, I would think, could be kept at home or in my car for easy retrieval when I drive to HoneyBaked Ham for lunch or something – no real need to carry that kind of thing around in my back pocket. For insurance cards and whatnot, I think I want to try taking scans of them and keeping those on my phone, and then keep the actual cards in my backup wallet that I’d just leave in the car. Mind you, I wouldn’t leave actual credit or debit cards in there, but really, if somebody breaks into my car, I think I’ll be a little more worried about the car itself than the fact that they also managed to get away with my Subway Rewards Card that almost had enough for a free foot-long on it, too! 
Oh yeah, and as for cash … I rarely ever actually carry it around with me anymore anyways, so on the off-chance that I need it, I’ll have had to plan ahead for it anyways, so I’m not really too concerned about that…
Anyways, it’s an interesting experiment, and I can tell one that might take a little getting used to not only for not carrying around the big, honking wallet that seems to be a rite of passage for most men, but also the idea that my primary ID and credit card will be kinda out in the open to the world as I use my phone on a daily basis … that’s admittedly a little weird, too, but I’m willing to give it a try and see if it’s just a social awkwardness that I’ll get over after a while at this point.
Frankly, as much as I thought the idea of being able to pay for things via our phones was a stupid one years ago, now that I’ve got a much cooler phone that I don’t want to spend five minutes without, the thought of even leaving my credit card behind is a bit tantalizing in a world where all I need is this miniature computer in my pocket wherever I go! I believe that Starbucks and some other retailers are already offering apps that tie your rewards card into your phone, so once credit cards are on board, all we need then are electronic state IDs and I’d be all set to walk around completely clutter free … save the phone itself, that is!
In the meantime, though, I think I’m going to try a few weeks surviving on just the two cards and see how that goes – I’ll post a follow-up later to see if I end up going back to carrying a wallet or if my life then feels sufficiently liberated by no longer being bound to this small stack of trivial plastic and paper cards that I’ve seen fit to carry at my side without question for so long! 
I came across this rather interesting announcement earlier today and frankly, was a little surprised that Disney wasn’t making more of a big deal about it – President Obama will be giving a speech (presumably about new travel policies to support tourism) at the Magic Kingdom on Thursday!
I suppose the more I think about it, it’s actually a rather fine line for Disney to walk, though – on one hand, it’s pretty awesome to be able to play host to the President for just about anything and I know that I for one am looking forward to watching live on Thursday just for the sake of seeing Main Street USA in the background, but at the same time it’s also certainly going to be at the very least mildly inconvenient for anyone who happens to be visiting Walt Disney World this week, particularly if they’re planning on going to the Magic Kingdom that day or are staying at the Contemporary nearby, where apparently there will be staging areas for the press and whatnot. Not only will guests have to contend with the mind-boggling concept of Main Street USA being closed as the primary thoroughfare into the park … something that I’m still trying to wrap my head around myself because funneling tens of thousands of people through backstage areas to keep Main Street clear just seems kinda crazy … but also, keep in mind that guests visiting that day will not have any access to see the President whatsoever, as only those with official press invites from the White House will be permitted at his speech.
To their credit, I do think that Disney has probably done just about all the can, assuming that they weren’t able to give more notice to guests for security purposes or whatever. But they’ve said that letters will go out to everyone staying at the Resort this week, and hours have been extended at pretty much all of the other parks in an attempt to deter folks from visiting the Magic Kingdom altogether that day, so it’s not like they’re just corralling off the streets and saying, “Deal with it…”
I remember a few years ago when President Bush came to Tampa for some big speech or something. I worked in one of the skyscrapers downtown at the time, so I had kind of a bird’s eye view of the whole ordeal, and I’ve got to tell you it seemed a little eerie to look out on the freeway where the Prez would make his exit and see it completely devoid of traffic because the Secret Service had shut it down! Although I have absolutely no desire to fight the insanity Thursday morning, I’d also be kinda curious to see the measures that are put into place between Orlando International Airport and the Magic Kingdom while the President is in transit between the two – just knowing that there will be people allowed in the park at all shows that this might be treated a little differently.
For anyone interested in watching along with me, President Obama’s speech from Main Street USA will air live on Thursday at 12:30pm EST at http://whitehouse.gov/live.
So I came across this interesting new program that my car insurance company (Progressive) is trying out. Basically, the idea is that they send you a gadget to plug into your car that records your driving habits, then give you a discount for being a safe driver.
In theory, anyways!
I think it’s kind of a neat concept, and I’m not really concerned about the privacy angle that some folks are freaking out about, but I do see a few curious loopholes that may prevent me from actually signing me or my wife up for the service…
- Some of the examples of things they measure sound suspicious.
For instance, “driving during peak hours or between midnight and 4am” - while I get that they have data citing that these are the peak times for accidents, not sure if I like the idea of potentially getting penalized for running out to grab a carton of milk after midnight or coming home late from a D&D game. True, we don’t know how many of those instances need to occur to swing your penalty one way or the other, but frankly I’d probably have been a little more comfortable about it if they had just left this one out altogether! Ignorance is bliss…Also, while there’s really no way for them to judge if you were technically speeding because they don’t track location, it begs to reason that they could still say that you’re being reckless if you’re going 80 mph, for example, because I don’t think that any freeways in the country have legal limits that high. And while I may not necessarily drive any faster than that, let’s face it – most freeway traffic tends to float around 10 mph over the legal limit.
- Your premiums could go up.
Mind you, only for a couple of states and it’s buried in the Terms and Conditions, but apparently if you live in Rhode Island, they can actually increase your premiums with this same feedback. Also fishy is that in RI, and also Georgia and South Carolina, a $30 “technology fee” is mentioned for use of the service … which I imagine could negate whatever savings you have coming, depending on your policy! Definitely important to read the fine print…
- If it breaks your car, you’re on your own.
In flipping through other reviews, I did see a few examples of drivers citing malfunctions after installing the tracking device – either a dead battery, burned out alternator, or even the entire electronic dash failing as long as the box was plugged in! Sure, those are probably the exceptions, but just for the record, there is a mention in the TOS stating that you should be careful about these sorts of things, thus basically waving their liability should anything blow up in your face!
I don’t know – on one hand, if I prove to be an “acceptable driver” via the program, it could mean a discount up to anywhere between $160 – $230 per year (assuming 30%), depending on whether some of the “other insurances” like Uninsured Motorist and PIP actually get the discount. But on the other hand, my car hasn’t exactly been doing all that great lately, so I’d hate to plug this box in for the potential to score a small discount and in return end up with another $500 worth of repairs!
Also, my wife’s car (ironically 4 years newer than mine) isn’t eligible because it’s a hybrid, which is kind of a bummer because her premiums are more than mine are and the discount would be a lot more lucrative if we both cars were eligible.
Part of me is tempted to order the box just to try it out and see what happens…
One of the hardest things that I’ve found about being a creative professional is being able to keep quiet about whatever special project I’m working on until it’s actually finished.
The reasoning behind it is pretty simple – as much as I’d love to share every step of the process along the way, the overarching fear is that by the time I actually get the book/website/misc. blah blah done and ready to be unveiled, the audience will no longer feel excited about it. Or I’ll no longer feel as excited about sharing it, and thus won’t be as enticed to do a better job of marketing it afterwards.
Both blogging and Twitter make this a real pain because it’s really hard not to talk about something when it’s been your primary focus for months upon months, not to mention the idea that I’m always actively looking for new things to share via those services anyways. I know that I personally have slipped a couple of times for one project in particular in the last year, namely because it’s pretty much dominated the entire year and all of the little milestones that I made along the way felt like the kinds of things that one should be sharing!
Then again, I probably don’t make it any easier for myself just with the way that I take on work – right now I have some nine projects that I want to get done before the end of the year, which is a huge crunch but at the same time will put me in a really good place for what I want to focus on next year, but on the downside, in addition to being absolutely swamped and working non-stop, it leaves me wanting to blog about my efforts and progress and frustrations with each one all the more!
It does make me wonder – on a much more relaxed schedule (i.e. one thing at a time…), is there wiggle room to share a limited amount of progress publicly while I’m working on a particular project, or is it truly better to save it all for the big reveal? I can think of a couple of instances where webcomics creators shared out samples of their book covers while they were still working out the details, and at least one drove me to look forward to buying the book, so perhaps the answer to this one isn’t as cut and dry as I’ve previously tried to make it.
There might be something more here to explore next year after all…
I honestly have no idea how I stumbled onto this particular topic today, but for whatever reason I started wondering what my family tree looks like. I know that there have been other relatives in the past who showed an interest in this – I think someone even put together a little “book” on their findings, but I’m guessing that there isn’t much online for the digitally curious like myself.
It’s something that I’m both mildly curious, but also somewhat afraid to explore because I do see the potential for a kind of neat project in there – some sort of interactive family tree where distant family hunting for genealogical data could plug their piece of the pie into the larger Sevener dessert buffett, to make a food analogy out of it! (I wonder if all Seveners love food?) I’m not necessarily looking for anybody’s life history or anything, but it might be kind of neat to be able to explore a tree that shows geographic locations, professions, special interests – that sort of thing.
Of course, the fear part comes in because I’m sure this would be just an absolutely massive task and I certainly don’t have the time for it right this moment, but at the same time I can also see the value in it not just for my own curiosities, but hopefully for a good number of people who eventually grow curious about their past. Maybe that’s just another sign of getting old, that I finally care to learn about my own heritage – I don’t know…
Does this type of thing already exist??? I really have no desire to reinvent the wheel or anything, but when I searched all I came across were some genealogy forums and a bunch of paper forms that you could download to have people fill out, whereas I’m basically picturing more of a web-based, pseudo-Facebook sort of app that stores everything in a database and then makes it all neat and pretty for people to browse.
This might be something to explore when I travel up north for Christmas here in a few months. Maybe…
Just like fall itself, I guess this one sort of snuck right up on us, now didn’t it?! And here I’ve already put nearly a dozen new posts up on that goofy, little pumpkin site of mine, not to mention the schedule is quickly filling out for the rest of the season as well!
It often amuses me that this site is still even going, seeing as I first created it four years ago as a joke just to help distract myself from wedding planning stress back in 2008! And yet now the site is pushing 150 posts and will likely hit 200 by the end of the year, and not for nothing, but it also happens to get a surprising amount of traffic to boot…
It’s kind of weird because although just about every year I worry that I’m not going to be able to find enough new pumpkin stuff to actually review, things always seem to work out when I finally get into the swing of things and more often than not, I’ve even found myself with too much stuff to cover! Plus, I’m trying to incorporate in some new features to try and make up for a decreasing number of actual products – things like last year’s All-Pumpkin Meal Plan and the recipes that I’ve made a point to highlight more this year.
I honestly have no idea how long this gag is ultimately going to last, but I suppose as long as it keeps being fun and I don’t get to the point where I’m just absolutely sick of the thought of pumpkin, and as long as the pumpkin itself doesn’t run dry, I’ll be here.
Sometimes I feel like food goes bad in our house a lot quicker than it really should.
For example, today I had some bread that I had picked up at Target last Sunday with a bowl of soup, and it was kind of crusty and I ended up having to pick a couple of moldy pieces off.
I also find myself almost constantly throwing out strawberries in particular if I literally don’t eat them the same night I bring them home. Plenty of other veggies have a similar result, which is making me wonder if it’s just living in Florida that is the crux of my problem or if somehow possibly an even greater mischief might somehow be afoot.
The only thing I would even really know to check would be temperatures, which is a pain because the fridge that we have now doesn’t have the convenient temp controls on the outside like our last one did, but I’m really tempted to go find a cheap thermometer to leave in there overnight to see if maybe it’s just not keeping things at the right temperature for optimal freshness.
The ice maker is broken, too, so at this point it wouldn’t entirely surprise me…
On the other hand, I’m really stumped on the moldy bread. I mean, we’ve been keeping our AC a little higher than we used to (think 77 vs. 73 degrees) so as to avoid making an entire mortgage payment directly to the power company … is it possible that somehow the bread hasn’t taken to the climate change quite as well as us people have???
Or maybe it’s just that Target sells crappy bread – that option’s definitely still on the table, too.
I’m not sure if I’m ever going to feel 100% comfortable with tipping.
It’s not that I don’t necessarily think that the recipients deserve said gratuity (sometimes), but there’s just so many different scenarios – as soon as I think I’ve got them all under wraps, along comes something new to throw me for a loop all over again! Last year, our ginormous road trip had us staying at a lot of hotels that required valet parking, something which I’ve hardly ever had to deal with before, and even one particularly upscale establishment in Washington, DC that basically required the use of the hotel staff for just about anything … including when I wanted a simple, ordinary bucket of ice, which really bugged me, but I got through it just the same.
Today’s situation that I encountered most certainly threw me off guard, namely because I do it all the time and have honestly just never given it a second thought up until now.
Specifically – are you supposed to give a tip when you’re picking up a pizza for carryout at a pizza parlor???
My gut instinct at first was no, but then I remembered that recently I came to terms (thanks to some friendly feedback via Facebook) that it’s still decent to tip a couple of bucks when you pick-up a to-go order from someplace like Chili’s or Applebees or the awesome Chinese place nearby that I don’t indulge in nearly enough these days. The logic there is that the same wait staff normally waiting tables, where people usually tip at, also have to take time to put together the to-go orders as well. And so while I don’t give 15-20% or more like I would for good service sitting down, I still feel justified in adding a couple of bucks to the takeout receipt for their efforts.
Should I be classifying my pizza tipping experiences into this very same bucket?!?!?!
Mind you, I don’t think I’ve ever tipped at the counter for carryout before, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I shouldn’t be! And I know that technically those credit card machines just spit out receipts with the Tip line on them because the restaurant is setup to do them for everybody … but what if there’s a handful of people/suckers who do give a tip for carryout orders simply because there’s a line on the slip to do so?
Help me, Internet! I don’t mind tipping for good service, but I also don’t want to be taken like a fool with an open wallet…
It’s not like I have anything against cable or anything – I’m just trying to figure out how to save us a little money this summer after getting our latest electric bill that’s rapidly approaching the size of one of our car payments!!!
And yes, we did suck it up and turn the air up a few degrees in our initial response, even though it seems really hot around here, but anything helps, right???
I guess that’s why I just have to wonder if there’s anything that can be cut from the entertainment portion of our budget. I mean, we pay a lot of money each money between our bills to Bright House (cable) and Verizon (cell phones), not to mention also maintaining a Netflix subscription AND lately we’ve been hitting up the theater a lot because there are actually movies worth seeing up on the silver screen for a change! It probably doesn’t help that I’ve been working so much lately that I personally use almost none of our cable and Netflix subscriptions, mainly indulging on nights out at the movies with the wife when I’ve made sufficient progress in my mind to have “earned” a night off.
There have been a couple points where I’ve pondered the thought of whether we could just give up our cable package and switch to a pay-as-you-go service like AppleTV or Amazon or something, but I feel like the interface itself would be counter-intuitive about how I do watch TV when I have the time, and how my wife typically watches as well. We’re both big channel surfers, often times settling on just random, stupid stuff to pass the time (or in my case sometimes act as background noise while I’m writing), and so I’m not sure that it would be the same knowing that each crappy show is costing $2.99 a pop.
Another big problem is that our preferences really are spread out across all of the services, which prevents us from simply dropping one and keeping the others – most of my seldom TV watching is stuff on the movie channels, which we pay extra for and you can’t just get by themselves, and yet we couldn’t exist on Netflix alone either because sometimes I want to just watch something stupid now – not in a day or two. And yet we still like to keep Netflix around because it’s cheaper to use them for big name movies when they’re first released than paying $4.99 to watch them On-Demand.
Although admittedly the current disc at the top of my queue has technically been sitting here for a good two months now, meaning I could’ve just bought the damn thing several times over by now!
I guess I’m just picky, and the penalty means that I’m paying ridiculous bills to three different companies for the privilege each and every month. Anybody out there have a good success story about breaking away from cable tv without sacrificing selection?
