POSHVICE

I don’t know about where everyone reading this lives, but where I am, the weather has been pretty nasty. Around 90-95 degrees every day, with INSANE humidity because we’ve had a nightly thunderstorm every day for the past week and a half. And of course, probably because this weather is working it to its limit, this is when the A/C unit decides to start screwing up. I mean, it’s running, but hardly - it’s not uncommon for it to reach 90 degrees INSIDE our apartment this past week.

With a base of 90 degrees, I’m sure you can image how bad my home office has gotten - considering that having the computer on boosts the heat as well as the fact that there’s a TV and an Xbox 360 in this room as well… yeah, it gets gross in here.

I found two things on my beloved ThinkGeek.com
that I ordered today in hopes of making my workspace a bit more cool & livable: the Desktop Personal Air Conditioner ($22.99) - which is powered by water! - and the newly discounted USB LED Beverage Cooler ($14.99), basically a USB-powered mini-fridge to keep your drinks cool even in hot weather.

I’m totally excited for the UPS man to bring my deliciously cold goodies, and I’ll be sure to let everyone know how they work out. If you don’t want to wait for my feedback and feel that you need some relief from the summer heat as well, use coupon code 8CBB
for $5 off any order of $25 or more, or $10 off any order of $50 or more. Knock yourselves out!

If you’ve talked to me at all in the past few weeks, you’ll know that I’ve been increasingly unhappy with my current cable/internet service (yeah, Time Warner Cable, I’m calling you out for being shitty). I’m paying $130 a month for internet and cable TV with DVR, and it feels like the service pops in and out daily, sometimes leaving us without internet access for hours, or even days. And don’t get me started on the whole fiasco that happened when we moved - they sent out some mentally deficient tech who tried to hook our cable up to the DirectTV ports without realizing it, and then told us our cable was just irreparably broken and that we’d have to wait 2-3 weeks for a contractor to come and reroute the entire building. When said contractor got her, suffice to say he was pretty pissed at having to drive all the way out here because Time Warner can’t employ competent techs. ANYHOW.

Point being, is that I finally had enough after the internet went out for multiple hours EVERY SINGLE DAY THIS WEEK. I made the call to a different cable provider and made an appointment to switch on Wednesday, but here’s the interesting part: most of the equipment is being mailed to me and they’ll be walking me through the installation over the phone. Apparently it’s part of how they keep their costs down (by not having to send someone out for each installation) - and it works, because with them I’ll be getting cable, internet, AND home phone for $70. Assuming that their service is good (or at least better than Time Warner’s), that’s completely awesome.

But yeah, in preparation I’m looking into the sort of cables and such I’ll need - like CAT6 cables - and while it’s a bit over my head, I’m starting to get it a little bit. Oh well, they promised it would be easy, so here’s hoping I do it right!

Okay, some of you know that I was COMPLETELY addicted to this season of Bravo’s Top Chef - the competitors were just SO good this time around (um, with the exception of Lisa… ew, ew, ew). I wonder if Gordon Ramsay ever got jealous that his current Hell’s Kitchen crew seem to ALL be no-talent hacks who can’t even fry eggs, while Bravo’s pulling in past Iron Chef contestants. I bet he cries at night about it. I would, especially once it hit my that the executive chef position at my restaurant was going to one of the total failures that make up the remaining players.

ANYWAY, POINT BEING. The winner of this season’s Top Chef was Stephanie, who was one of my top three (alongside Richard and Dale), and she happens to be based in Chicago. I believe she already has a restaurant there, and she’s working on opening a second with her prize winnings, so the logical conclusion I came to after watching the finale was: Let’s go to Chicago and eat Stephanie’s food! So I’ve been looking through Chicago travel guides & websites, and it seems pretty promising - I only live two states over so it’s probably one of the cheaper weekend getaways that I could take. But yeah, if anyone else has suggestions for where to eat/stay/visit while in Chicago, let me know!

I love being self-employed, and from time to time I’ve fantasized about either opening my own store or getting a franchise of some cool, underrated chain (Three Dog Bakery, hello), but I never really knew where to look for information about these kinds of opportunities.

Enter Franchise Gator, a website with a totally weird name but a very useful purpose. Essentially, it lets you browse available franchises by location, the amount of liquid capital you need, and industry/sub-industry. Very cool.

For example, I’m looking through Ohio listings right now, and some tech place called NERD FORCE! is looking for franchisers. It would be better if it was Nerd Herd, though, right (Chuck needs to come back with its new season already)?

Baskin-Robbins also needs franchisers… and I sorely hope someone with $100,000 in liquid capital will jump on this, because Columbus sorely needs one! Seriously, I don’t know of any Baskin-Robbins in this state, even. It sucks.

For the record, the cheapest franchises looking for Ohioans are vending machine companies at around $9,000 required LC; the most expensive is something called Austin Grill, needing $500,000. I’m so amused by looking through these listings for some reason!

I have a desktop computer, and while I definitely prefer it that way (owning laptops has never worked out well for me - they either get stolen or break in some exclusive-to-laptops way, or… both - yes, i’ve had a busted laptop stolen, haha) I can’t deny the irrefutable fact that sometimes, laptops are just handier. For vacations, when you’re moving large distances and your desktop is all packed, or any other set of circumstances that pop up that require you to have a computer or internet access without having your normal, at-home computer at the ready.

So I thought it was really clever when I came across this website offering laptop rentals (though they offer quite a bit more - desktops are also available, as is a lot of various audiovisual equipment, flat screen/big screen televisions for the big game (a WAY better idea than buying one on credit and returning one the next day, which I’ve seen some people do… ew) and even VIDEO WALLS and computer kiosks). You have to fill out a form with valid contact info to get a quote, and since I don’t actually need to rent a laptop right this moment, I didn’t want to waste their time, so I’m not exactly sure of the prices… but I still thought it was a really cool, useful idea & service that some people might be interested in. If anyone does rent from them, shoot me a comment here and let me know how it went.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned it on here before, but after a bunch of life changes took me from a size two who worked out for at least two hours almost every single day to a gimpy girl rocking a broken foot and a new job that required being glued to my desk chair for hours on end… well, let’s just say that I’ve definitely noticed that I’ve put on a few pounds.

And what’s worse is that it seems like my metabolism chose this particular time to just completely slow to a snail’s pace - literally, it seems like even though I’ve started dieting and working out again, I’m not losing weight - I almost feel like I’m still gaining weight, even though mathematically that DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. Taking in only 1200-1500 calories a day + hitting the treadmill for 3-4 miles each day = weight gain? What? Okay, obviously I need some outside help - and that’s where diet pills come into play.

It’s more than a little overwhelming, considering the vast amount of choices - which formula is right for me? Are they safe? Do they actually work? Is there a difference between the name brands and knockoffs…. and so on and so forth. I’ve tried a few already with various levels of luck - don’t worry, I’ll write about them all someday - but I’m looking to you, my readers, for any personal recommendations or stories you may have. Help me out here!

I’ve always been a complete & total sucker when it comes to snazzy new gadgets - I pretty much worship all those online shops & mall stores that sell them, even when they’re admittedly kinda gimmicky. I mean, for example, I have a USB-powered plasma ball - betcha didn’t think anyone still was entertained by those, huh?

But recently I stumbled on something so incredibly cool that it managed to evoke my classic OMG MUST HAVE WANT BUY BUY instinct without setting off any silly/tacky/pointless alarms. Ladies and gentlemen, I am now lusting over a digital frame. If you haven’t seen them before, they’re basically dynamic photo frames - you can display any image from your computer or digital camera on a what is essentially a LCD monitor styled to look like a classic white picture frame. This means that you can change the image whenever you want without any fuss - and most of all, it just looks so effing cool. I want one SO bad.

I know that ankle bracelets aren’t as trendy as they used to be, but come summer every year I still do see a few girls rocking them. I’m not a huge jewelery person (I don’t even have my ears pierced - mostly because I know it’d be pointless as I NEVER remember to even wear what jewelery I do own, and the holes would probably close right up anyhow…), but I have to admit, there is something that I find kind of classically young and summery about a thin gold anklet when the weather gets warm. Silver is okay, too, and I usually prefer it over gold, but in this one instance I always notice myself favoring gold - maybe it’s because I associate the warm tone with summer, which, to me, is anklet season? Who knows.

Is anyone out there wearing an ankle bracelet this summer? What kind? Do you prefer thick or thin, gold or silver, plain or bejeweled? I just realized I hadn’t even THOUGHT about anklets for ages until I saw a girl wearing one at the store today, and it got me wondering.