I’m tired of dealing with all the problems that come with having hard water here at the house, so I’m just going to bite the bullet and buy a water softener as soon as we can afford it. I’ve been doing a little checking and it seems like this Fleck water softener would be a pretty good deal. It has all the features I want and the price offered by PuriTec is the best I’ve seen so far. I’ll have to have my husband take a look at it later and see what he thinks about it before I place an order though.

I wasn’t able to catch SportsCenter on Sunday or yesterday, so I never saw the highlights of Reggie Bush’s 4-TD game against the San Francisco 49ers. I knew I could count on YouTube users coming through, though. Today I found that someone uploaded the SC clip, and even though the quality was terrible, it was good enough for my purposes.

Man, Reggie Bush is going to be a superstar in the NFL. I can’t believe the Texans passed on this guy with the first pick in the draft. What were they thinking?? That’s just one of the reasons Houston is 4-8 this year while the Saints are 8-4. Look for the Saints to make it to the postseason if they do reasonably well in their last four games. As for the Texans, well, they’ll finish in the cellar again and have another chance to screw up a high draft pick next April!

Link to YouTube highlight clip.

I mentioned in an earlier post that my husband and I have been spending way too much money this holiday season. Although securing a short-term loan isn’t such a pressing matter anymore, it definitely would make things a lot easier for us, so we’re still comparing different companies and checking out different offers.

I recently found a site that makes it very easy to get a payday cash advance. This site makes it easy to search for loan resources that are near my home. I live just a few miles outside downtown Chicago, so would certainly be able to take advantage of the debt management, personal financing, and cash advance resources that the PayDayCashAdvanceLoans.biz database generated for me.

So while my husband and I go through the should-we-or-shouldn’t-we debate about getting a payday cash advance, I think I’ll keep this site handy just in case!

This might be worth taking a trip downstate to see! I just read that Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg is going to be managing the Peoria Chiefs next season. Sandberg was the Cubs second baseman from 1982 to 1994 and was my favorite MLB player when I was growing up. He made the #23 famous in Chicago before Michael Jordan arrived on the scene (well, for me at any rate!).

I was kinda surprised to see that Sandberg is only 47 years old. It seems like forever ago that he and leadoff man Bobby Dernier were known as the “Daily Double” around Wrigley Field.

The Peoria Chiefs are the Cubs’ Class A affiliate in the Midwest League. They play at O’Brien Field in Peoria, which is about 3 hours away from Chicago, if I recall correctly. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out that way!

(Photo from the NY Times archive)

There are several people on my holiday gift list who I don’t know very well at all. For instance, I have a few clients that have given me a lot of business this year and I’d certainly like to recognize them for that. But since our transactions took place entirely over the Internet, I really don’t know the first thing about their personalities or what kinds of things they enjoy in their free time — which makes shopping for them virtually impossible.

Right now, I’m definitely leaning towards purchasing gift baskets for these people. Gift baskets usually appeal to everyone and are just the kind of thing I need. They’re neither too personal nor too impersonal; I think they are perfect for the people I have in mind.

I was checking out a site called dot flowers tonight, and saw several gift baskets that I’m interested in buying. I’m going to spend some time narrowing down my choices, then I’ll probably order a few gift baskets this weekend. It’s such a relief knowing that this is one holiday task I’ll be able to cross off my list quickly!

I just read an article that said Minnesota is the nation’s healthiest state. This conclusion was the result of a study conducted by a nonprofit group called the United Health Foundation and took into account things such as obesity, workplace deaths, car-related deaths, premature deaths, infant mortality, etc.

I have to say that I’m very surprised by the findings. I spent two of my college years living in Minnesota and seem to recall that cheese curds, pizza, buffalo wings, fried steak, and french fries were the items I was most likely to find on restaurant menus. In fact, I didn’t even know what cheese curds were until I lived in Minnesota!

Anyway, other states at the top of the list were Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Utah, and Maine, while some of the states at the bottom included Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Florida.

As a writer, I’m always on the lookout for new article ideas (or blog ideas, for that matter), so I try to keep a digital camera and a voice recorder with me whenever I leave my house. Of course, being the absent-minded person that I am, I usually forget these things and end up having to rely on my shaky memory to recall the details when I’m ready to write.

But now I’ve got an easy way to send memos to myself, and all I need is my cell phone, which I always have anyway. I just found out about a completely free service called BrainCast, which is essentially an Internet- and phone-based reminder system. I signed up for the service on the website by simply entering a valid email address, and activated my account via a confirmation email. Then I submitted a couple of phone numbers that I’ll likely be calling from (my two cell phones) and the email address that I want the memos to be sent to.

It was that simple! Now, whenever a brilliant idea strikes me, all I have to do is speed dial BrainCast, record my memo, and I’ll have an email waiting for me when I get home. Very cool!!

So this Tickle Me Elmo tenth anniversary doll is supposed to be one of the hottest toys of the season. I’ve been checking it out online, and you basically can’t buy it from any of the usual stores like Wal-Mart, Target, or Toys R Us. However, there are other retailers and eBayers that are selling the doll for $200 or more. Bear in mind that this is for a $39 toy!!

I can’t imagine why any parent (or grandparent) would pay that much more for something just so his or her child (or grandchild) could have a toy by a specified date — December 25 in this case. I mean, surely if you tried buying TMX Elmo on, say, January 10, there would be no problem getting it for the regular price of $39. I’d wait two-three extra weeks to save $160, wouldn’t you?

A good friend of mine is a very savvy Internet entrepreneur who earns his entire living from operating websites and selling products online. I’m always amazed when I listen to him talk about his business ventures because it seems incredible to me that anyone can distinguish themselves on the Internet. There are just so many products, services, and websites out there that I don’t know how any of them are able to stand out. The key, apparently, is an excellent marketing team.

I did some research of my own (yes, I have stuff that I’d like to promote too!) and discovered that a company called USWeb is one of the better known online marketing firms out there. They’ve been around since 1995 and in that time have established themselves as an industry leader as far as brand awareness, audience development, and customer retention go. Furthermore, USWeb knows the ins and outs of search engine optimization, which is a critical component of success for any online business.

Sounds good to me, so check them out if you’re trying to get your products or services noticed online!