I’ve been on a diet since the beginning of the year (losing weight was one of my resolutions). I did pretty well early on, but have been slipping back into my bad eating habits in the past few weeks and have been gaining back the weight that I previously lost. I’ve got to change things up here, so I’m think of trying a low carb diet.

I wouldn’t do anything radical like eliminate carbs entirely (I wouldn’t survive on the Atkins diet!), but I definitely need to cut down. Eating potatoes and bread every single day doesn’t exactly help get me to my weight-loss goals! I have to start looking around for a good low carb diet that isn’t too harsh as far as requirements go. A few of my friends have had some success with low carb diets, so we’ll see.

But one of my concerns is that if I lose weight with a low carb diet, I’ll have to resign myself to eating that way forever. I don’t think I could handle that, so I’m going to think of my low carb diet as a quick fix while I search for a better long-term solution.

I hate dieting!!

Mother’s Day is just about a week away now, so we’re definitely getting into crunch time here. I’m already set as far as my Mother’s Day responsibilities go: I mailed out a card, ordered flowers, and purchased a very nice gift that my mom had been eyeing ever since Christmas. I’m glad I got everything taken care of early because I know I’m going to be swamped with work every day next week and won’t be able to do anything else.

If you haven’t made your Mother’s Day purchases, it’s not too late. You can still order flowers and have them delivered by next Sunday. You just have to find a site like TheAwesomeBlossom.com that has an extensive selection of floral arrangements and gift baskets to choose from — all at great low prices. They’re even having a special Mother’s Day promo, so you can save an additional 10% on your order. The Awesome Blossom is a leading Edmonton florist, and they limit their deliveries to that area; but even if you don’t live in Alberta, you can still get some great ideas from their website.

So check it out and make sure you show Mom how much you appreciate everything she’s done (and continues to do) for you!

My local electronics store was having a sale the other day and I was able to grab a 2GB memory stick for about $30. I had been looking for a 2GB memory stick for a while, but since the need wasn’t totally urgent, I kept putting it off until I found a price I could live with.

Anyway, I went with the Buffalo brand because I’ve used some of their stuff before and have never had any problems with them. I’ve already transferred some data to my new 2GB memory stick — everything went down without a hitch.

I did encounter a minor annoyance, however: the cap was nearly impossible to remove. I mean, I really had to struggle with it. I actually ended up filing down the edges a bit (it’s just plastic, so it was easy to do), and now it works perfectly.

What, you might ask, do I need a 2GB memory stick for? Mostly to backup data from my main computer or to quickly transfer files between my desktop and laptop. Also, I like to put video files on my PDA memory card, but my desktop unit doesn’t have a memory card reader (my laptop does). So I after I download videos (completely LEGAL ones, I might add ;)) on my desktop, I have to transfer them to my memory stick, then to my laptop, then to my PDA memory card. Quite a hassle, but worth it so I can pass the time with my PDA.

So yeah, I’m glad I finally got this 2GB memory stick!

You may have noticed that I’ve decided to put Google ads over in the sidebar. I’ve been debating this move for a few weeks now and figured that it was at least worth a try. I’ve never had much luck with AdSense before, but I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the experiences of webmasters who have been successful with this revenue source and I’m ready to give it another shot. I’m not going to take all their advice (like putting ads in every conceivable nook and cranny on my site), but I’m going to make a reasonable effort to maximize their exposure. I’ll probably give this test run a couple of months and then re-evaluate at that point. Thanks for your patience!

A couple months ago, my husband and I spent several weeks trying to come up with a decent vacation plan. We considered Australia, China, Disney World in Orlando, and several other places before we simply ran out of time and had to settle on St. Louis and Washington, D.C. I think you would agree that these are two places very few people would actually choose to go to in the winter!

One thing I can say about this experience is that we’ve learned from our mistake and will be much smarter the next time around. For instance, we’re not going to wait until the last minute to make our vacation plans. We’ll start early and make sure we hammer out all the details right away. In addition, we’re going to try booking all inclusive vacation packages instead of trying to take care of each aspect (airplane tickets, rental cars, hotels, activities, sightseeing) separately. Plus, food and beverages would be included as well, so we’d probably end up saving money on the deal.

Our next vacation will be in the fall — let’s see if we can find a good all-inclusive package for a nice destination!