I spent a couple hours going through the closets and preparing several bags for donating to Goodwill. There’s a dropbox in the parking lot at Wal-Mart, which is pretty convenient. I have to go to the store anyway, so now’s a good time to drop this stuff off.

What did I get rid of? Typical things, like clothes that my son has outgrown or that my husband and I don’t wear anymore. I also included some kids costumes from past Halloweens, and hope that someone can get some use out of them still. Batman and Spider-Man are pretty timeless, so there will likely be some kind of demand come October.

Anyway, it feels good to get rid of some of this clutter. I need to keep chipping away at it though, because we are definitely running short of storage space!

Have you heard about these Panera Bread shops that operate as nonprofits and just ask customers to pay what they wish for their orders? It’s an experimental thing, with a few stores in Missouri and other places. Apparently, people don’t take advantage of the system that much, and the store is running in the black — which means the profits will be given to worthy programs in the community.

According to the article I read, most people either paid what the meal would have cost, or else gave even more. A few people paid less, and some paid nothing at all.

To be honest, I probably wouldn’t pay anything, and I’d probably go there every day, too. Think they’d ban me after a while? I hope this place comes to the Chicago area soon!

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, file)

Carlos Zambrano has to be the biggest d-bag in Chicago sports right now. I have never liked this guy, didn’t think he was worth the $91 million contract he signed a couple years ago, and am not surprised that he hasn’t delivered results. And after yesterday’s incident, where he completely lost his mind and went toe to toe with Derek Lee in the Cubs’ dugout, I’m writing him off for good. This guy needs to be dealt ASAP — if there’s any other team willing to take on his problems and his contract. Right now Zambrano is suspended indefinitely. I hope he never puts on a Cubs uniform again. Bye bye, idiot.

I came across a couple of Blogspot blogs that had blatantly stolen my articles and republished them without permission. They included my name and said “Thanks to [first name] [last name] for the post.” Uh, whatever. As if giving me attribution like that makes up for the theft.

Anyway, I filled out a DCMA complaint form on Blogger, with links to the offending posts and the original posts on my own sites. I honestly wasn’t expecting Google to do much, but to my surprise, they handled the issue very quickly and satisfactorily. The offending posts were all removed within 24 hours of my complaint. Wow!

Kudos to the big G for protecting the intellectual property of even a lowly nobody like myself!

I have a lot of old papers and letters that I keep around for sentimental reasons. I’m talking about an entire file cabinet filled with tests and papers from high school, as well as letters, post cards, and Christmas cards from high school and college. I know this is basically junk that I should get rid of, particularly since I haven’t looked at any of the stuff in probably 10-15 years. But I can never bring myself to actually throw anything away. I’m not a total pack rat like you see on that new cable show, but I do have trouble getting rid of these papers.

That’s why I think this VuPoint Solutions Digital Handheld Scanner would be perfect for me. This scanner would allow me to quickly scan all my letters, tests, awards programs, and playbills so I can get them into digital form and store the files on my computer. Once I have digital copies, I might feel more inclined to get rid of the originals and reclaim some much-needed space in my home office.

Right now, Buy.com has refurbished VuPoint Solutions Digital Handheld Scanners on sale for $79.99, which is $50 off the price of a brand-new model. That is definitely a price I can live with, especially if it can help me remove some of the clutter from my house. I need to order this thing ASAP!

I haven’t been paying much attention to the U.S. Open this year, mostly because there were a couple of “unknowns” (to me, a very, very casual golf fan) at the top of the leaderboard. But after the third round, I noticed that both Phil and Tiger are in a position to challenge for the win today.

Dustin Johnson came into the final round as the leader with an overall score of -6. But he is +5 through the first three holes, on his way to a massive choke job. Tiger isn’t faring much better, though. he’s +2 through 3 and is tied for 6th.

Graeme McDowell is actually in the lead, having played an even round through the first three. Ernie Els and Gregory Havret are hot on his heels, with Phil sitting in 5th at even par.

Should be a wild finish to this one!

(Donald Miralle/Getty Images)

Well, it finally happened. My 6-year-old Gateway laptop has given out and won’t power up any more. At least I knew the end was near (I’d been hearing strange grinding noises for a couple weeks whenever I turned the thing on), so I was able to back up all my important documents and photos before the crash. Still, this sucks because now I need a replacement, which I don’t really have any money for. Even after looking at laptop deals on Buy.com and other shopping sites, I haven’t found anything that has decent specs at a low price.

It’s going to be a struggle for me to get through this summer semester at school without a laptop. I hate being chained to my desktop like this, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now!!!