Off the Beaten Plan

plan: to devise or project the realization or achievement of

Browsing Off the Beaten Plan blog archives for January, 2010.

Would You Rather…

Would you rather always have exact change in your pocket for whatever you wanted to buy (large purchases like cars and houses included), or a large lump sum of money?

In all the years I’ve asked people this question, I’ve only ever had one person agree with my point of view, and that was my mother.

I would much rather have exact change in my pocket for whatever I wanted to buy. I could buy a round of drinks for a bunch of friends, or pull out a $20 for the homeless guy walking down the street, or buy a new car when I needed one. I could fix my house, I could adopt ten cats (yes, I’m going to be the crazy cat lady eventually), or I could buy a new iPad and all the apps I could ever dream of wanting.

I could pay off the national debt. I could fund the best political candidate. I could hire a housekeeper!

As opposed to having a set sum of money, $100 million, for instance. Your dreams are limited with limited funds.

Just sayin’…

Would You Rather… was published on January 28th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the What If? category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Popcorn!

I thought I’d feature a song here this morning (a bit later than usual – sorry about that). The song is…

POPCORN!

It’s so incredibly addictive. Definitely ear worm material. There’s a really cool techno version on YouTube that may be by Madagascar 5, I’m not sure. But the original version was by Gershon Kingsley, and is quite cool all on its own.

The Popcorn Song has its very own webpage at Popcorn-Song.com, and of course a Wikipedia page.

And really, what’s the point of all this? Just me, sharing a little music for some lightheartedness. Let me create your ear worm for today, why don’t you? :)

Popcorn! was published on January 27th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Completely Off Topic category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

My Eyes, My Eyes!

I admit it – there are monstrous bags under my eyes. Sometimes they get so black that in dim lighting, I get asked whether I’ve got a black eye or something.

It’s pretty bad.

I’ve known for some time that my poor sleep habits are probably the biggest contributor to this particular malady, but I never really looked into it.

I had a scare today. When I got home from work, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I looked completely horrible. My skin is practically blue under my eyes. Concealer won’t do much, as there’s also that funny gash there (see the picture) that gets deeper (or more pronounced) the worse I feel. I can’t be going in to work like this anymore. I don’t like it when people ask if I’m tired, or if everything’s okay because I “don’t look well”.

Time to do something about this.

It looks like something I already knew – lack of sleep – is probably a major factor in my bags and circles. Something else I actually hadn’t thought of was salty foods = water retention. I know I need to drink more – I’ll just have to deal with the frequent trips to the ladies room.

And, of course, one site asked if I was getting enough exercise. No, no I’m not. Why? Because I’m too tired? No. Too lazy? Sort of. Too preoccupied with LOST? Nice try, Nicki – a valid reason, but I don’t think that can be my excuse. I think it all comes down to willpower. I need to make myself do it, even if that means I do it in the morning with my kids whining about how they never get to use the Wii and I do.

And heck, if I went to bed early – even a half hour earlier than I am right now, I could get up a half hour earlier and get it done before the adorable little urchins wake.

Since the rest of the article I’m reading starts talking about retinol injections and eye-lift surgery, and at 32 I feel I may be a little young for the latter, and I flat-out refuse to do the former (needles…ugh), I’m going to have to work on my first three options – water, exercise and sleep – before I start turning to doctors with sharp instruments.

My Eyes, My Eyes! was published on January 26th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Editorial category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Did you know…

…that Mint.com will let you know when your 0% interest credit cards switch from that super low rate to the regular rate? Awesome!

I’ve never been completely sold on the service, never was able to completely dedicate myself to using it, but this might just be my turning point.

Of course we’re all organized enough to keep track of our own information, our own data…our own credit card rates. But when there is a service who will help you watch out for your own interests?

Completely awesome!

Did you know… was published on January 25th, 2010, with the tags , , under the Completely Off Topic category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Exercise…FAIL

So I didn’t get up to exercise early yesterday. And I almost made it today, but a super sore, hurts-to-swallow throat last night sent me to bed early and kept me in bed as long as possible.

Why do I find it so hard to get up early in the morning to exercise? I know I’m not a morning person, but I should be able to overcome that, right?

It crossed my mind that perhaps it would be a good idea to simply establish the habit at the time of day at which I am at my best, or when it is easiest to get a workout in my routine, which is in the evenings. Then once I have the habit strong, I could attempt to move it to a more productive (metabolism-wise) time of the day – first thing in the morning after hopping out of bed.

I don’t have any research to support my theory, but I’m going to have to hope it’s right for now. Because yesterday and today were massive exercise FAILs, and I can’t afford to have any more of those.

Exercise…FAIL was published on January 22nd, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Editorial, Planning category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.