randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

I have always loved to shoot pool. It’s a great game combining luck and skill. More skill than luck, of course — I’ve noticed that people who are really skilled at geometry tend to be very good at the game, maybe I should have paid attention at school, eh? I’d be a better player, at least. There’s a special place in my heart for pool tables. Someday, when I have a house of my own, there will be a pool table, maybe two. My parents used to have a table. It was just an old bar table that they bought somewhere. The coin accepter was a little iffy, but we were still able to get the balls out and play a good game. There were many hours spent as a family playing. My step-dad is really good at the game and when you play him you have to call your shots, not just take anything that goes in. The times when my parents were away, my sister and I would be up for hours, sometimes all night, playing pool and laughing. Some incredibly good times were had around that pool table.? I’m a firm believer in the idea that having? a pool table and? a set time every week for everyone to play a little tournament? would make? a great family activity.? My sister and I made up all of these really funny “house rules” that we wrote on a piece of posterboard and hung in the room with the pool table.? Everyone who read the list was amused, there were many references to Happy Gilmore.? My parents got rid of the pool table about a year ago, I was very sad to find that out.? They still have their really good pool cues though, which is nice.? They plan to get a new table eventually, a good quality billiard table, I believe.? That would be a good thing, I always wanted to get my step-dad a set of NFL pool balls, Redskins vs Cowboys.? Personally, I’d like to get the swirled balls for myself someday.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me about web hosting. Perhaps it’s because I’ve had a personal website for over 10 years, and in the past 3 or 4 years I’ve had it on my own domain. That takes hosting, to be sure. The thing is, my host might not be the best host for you. I tend to recommend sites like http://www.webhostingchoice.com. They allow a person to search for a host based on the space/bandwidth needs they anticipate along with the set up cost and monthly fees they can afford to pay. Choosing the right web host is like choosing the right car — it has to meet your needs or it was a bad purchase. Sites like this make it easy for people to choose the right host for their website (personal or business) or blog.

When I was with my ex, my credit was pretty much destroyed. It’s not entirely his fault, I was a bit of a pushover then, and I let him convince me (often) that I should just charge whatever it was he wanted. Even when I couldn’t afford it. Of course, when it came time to pay those credit card bills and stuff, he had nothing to contribute or they weren’t his responsibility. It wasn’t a good situation and almost 10 years later I’m still hearing from those bill collectors, because I still haven’t landed entirely on my feet in that regard. I’m working on rebuilding my credit though. I got a few credit cards that cater to people with bad credit, and I’m getting info on bad credit loans to help me pay off a few things and get back on the right track financially speaking. It’s important, I want to own a house and buy a new car someday. I’m not very likely to get financing with bad credit, so we rebuild.

Eventually, when I have a house of my own, I’m going to be one of those people who spend half of November setting up Christmas lights and doing the big display in the yard. Why not? I’ve always loved looking at the Christmas displays around town, especially the ones that take a lot of effort. I’ll definitely have to invest in some LED rope light for various light sculptures and trims. It might be a higher expense up front, but the savings in electricity (they use about 1/12 the power that regular incandescent ropes use) and the fact that they last much longer makes them well worth the price.

All of my life, I’ve had a love of good period clothing. Particularly, medieval clothing, to be perfectly honest. It’s not just for Faires and SCA events, either. There’s nothing like dressing up in period garb and going out to dinner with your friends, the whole gang in period clothing. I’ve done it a number of times — some friends and I got all dressed up and went to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. I think medieval clothing works best in situations like that. Sure, you get a few stares, but you also get compliments. Especially when you get your clothing at Renstore.com. They’ve got some really gorgeous period garb, and the stuff I’ve been able to get from them has been really well made. As much as I love making it myself, I have to say that they make it easy to say “Oh I think I’ll just buy it.”

I have asthma. That’s not a big deal, it’s actually quite mild, but I’m also a smoker and I have pollen allergies. Most days I’m fine, I don’t smoke 2 packs a day, in fact there are often days that I barely smoke a third of a pack. There are no real issues with breathing or asthma problems. Then there are those days when there’s so much stuff in the air — pollen, dust and so many other unpleasant things that make it difficult to breathe. That’s where air purifiers come in handy. Along with the Whirlpool Air Purifier comes the Whirlpool air filter. Some of them even remove odors in the air, which is nice since I love to deep fry some foods, but I can’t stand the smell it leaves behind. A purifier and a good filter would certainly help eliminate that faster than spraying a bottle of air freshener.

All across the country, the capitals and “special buildings” have set up their holiday light displays. I’ve seen footage on lightings in Colorado and here, and there’s one thing that has impressed me tremendously about both. They both switched to LED Xmas lights. Not just in the displays around capital buildings and major attractions, but the street displays that you see in shopping districts and such. All of the lights that are bought, put up and powered by the city. They’ve switched to Outdoor LED Christmas lights. I thought that was pretty cool. I can certainly understand the appeal. For starters, they last longer and use less power. That’s a great way to reduce the cost of the lights, which enables them to do more elaborate displays if they want to. The fact that they’re much more weather resistant than standard incandescent lights is also a great asset. They even handle moisture much better. Again, making them last longer no matter what weather they endure and reducing the final cost. They also don’t get nearly as warm, so they reduce any risk of fire. Of course LEDs aren’t just for outdoor displays or city projects. They’d be a great addition to anyone’s holiday display. Personally, I’d love to get some LED Christmas tree lights myself. Not to mention some of the outdoor lights and some strands for inside the windows.