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Happy Birthday to Me!!

I am 25 years old today. I've had quite the year. This time last year, Matt and I lived in Madison, WI in an apartment with our doggie, May. Now we live in Denver, CO in our own house with our doggie, Loki. Lots of stuff good and bad has happened, but I think the good has far out-weighed the bad. Or maybe, I just choose to believe that.

I'm so glad that I've gotten to share the past year with all of you people that are so dear to me. You know who you are. I just luvya. Thanks so much for making the past year and my life in general brighter.

As far as b'day plans go, we're keeping it low-key. But we did celebrate with my aunt whose b'day is Aug 2 on Tuesday with a nice meal and Film on the Rocks featuring The Princess Bride. Magical.

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The Slow Movement


I am one of those people who I used to make fun of. I don't know how it has happened, but my life has become so jam-packed with junk that I'm constantly feeling rushed and like I don't have enough time to do anything … paticularly the things that I want to do. I wouldn't say I'm unhappy. I think I am, by nature, a very happy person. But I have been let's say … discontented. Whenever I actually have the time to do what it is I want to do, I frequently lack the energy or motivation. I don't like that.

While I was in the Bahamas, I read an article about the benefits of slowing down and taking more time to do everything but really making the time you take count. It spoke of meditation as a way to calm, soothe, and re-examine why you're doing what you're doing. Meditation appeals to me a lot anyhow. I kind of think it might help to counter-act my impetuous impatient nature. Plus (and here's the rushed, trying to squeeze tons into a day Jess talking), once you are capable of meditating, it can replace sleep at a 2:1 ratio (or so I've read). Whatever the case, I don't think it can be bad for me. So I got on our library's website and requested the beginning meditation video. I won't go too much into it, since there are some very nice and accurate accounts of the video on Amazon, but I find it to be a very good place to start. Continue reading “The Slow Movement”

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Rebate Game

Well, I got a new computer this past week. We had actually ordered it in early July when CompUSA did this whole midnight madness thing. It's about a $500 computer and we got it for $200 … after rebates, of course. Since we're such geekos in our house, we've always got a pile of rebates to send in because practically anything that's a good deal from CompUSA you have to get a rebate for. Actually, electronics in general, wherever they come from usually have a rebate. We've probably sent in about 10 this year already. They're a pain in the ass, but they won't go away because, of course, they work the way the companies want. 41% of people forget to turn in their rebates. I get a little pissy with all these games, especially when you get two rebates on the same product and they both want the original receipt. C'mon!!!

I'm very fond of places that don't make you jump through hoops for your discount. Usually Target and Wal-Mart (though I hate Wal-Mart in many other ways) are pretty good about this. My theory is that if we all send in our rebates they'll decide that they're not such a good scam anymore and get rid of them … so people, SEND IN THOSE REBATES!

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Harry Potter and the Chocolate Factory Extravaganza

Or was it the Charlie and the Half-Blood Prince Extravaganza? The world may never know.


In either case, the night before we left for Bahamas, we hit the opening night of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was amazing, and stood in line with a few folks to pick up our copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a moderate departure from Willy Wonka, made in the 70s. Johnny Depp was delightfully quirky and cool as he showed the well-cast youngsters around his factory. Whatever bonehead drew a comparison between him and Jacko should have his head examined. WW doesn't even like the kids.

The visuals for this were amazing as well. It is a shade darker than the previous adaptation which makes for more rich and interesting colors. One place I think it's got it made all over the old veresion is the lack of stupid songs. There's no “Cheer up Charlie” and generally there's a lot less moaning period. They get right to the story and don't add all that junk. And did I mention Johnny Depp?? Very enjoyable.

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Atlantis Resort, Bahamas


As I mentioned before, we stayed at the Atlantis Resort in Bahamas. It's located on Paradise Island, just off New Providence (where Nassau is). The setting is beautiful. White sand, gorgeous water, warm weather, warm water, Lovely. Atlantis, however, doesn't measure up to nature.

It's not cheap to begin with. You pay quite a lot for rooms and for your meal plan (which you basically have to get, because it covers most of the resort restaurants and it's hard to get away from the resort – more on that later – and without it, food would be too expensive to consider eating) but it doesn't stop there. Every second you're there, practically, you're handing over the dough by fistfuls. Everything on-site is ridiculously expensive, so that when you get back to the airport, things seem reasonable by comparison. Some if it, I'm sure is import cost, but far more is resort mark-up. And they've got a very captive audience because it's very hard to get away from the resort. It's pretty inconvenient and as usual expensive.

Not being able to get away from the resort is a pain for a few reasons. First, there's zip for shopping. I don't want to spend my whole vacation shopping, but I do love to find some interesting local jewelry or something to take home. There's not much of that. Gucci and Versace abound though. Continue reading “Atlantis Resort, Bahamas”

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Vacation Holiday


As you may or may not have guessed, I've been away the past week (yes, those were pre-recorded posts you saw). Anyhoo, Matt and his siblings (Andrew and Theresa) and I went on vacation to Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. We definitely did our fair share of rest and relaxation and hand a very nice time sampling the various water activities. Continue reading “Vacation Holiday”

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That Makes Sense!

When Helen Adler accidently took the wrong pills, her life was in danger. Her granddaughter Deborah Adler was inspired. She came up with the new Clear Rx packaging being used by Target Pharmacies nation wide. It features a label that doesn't wrap around a curved surface, large easy-to-read writing of the prescriptions name, a handy info card stored on the bottle and a colored ring that you can coordinate to a member of the family or a specific medicine or type of medicine.

I'm lucky enough to only take Zyrtec, but I know this will be of much benefit to others who take a myriad of meds.

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Star Trek vs Star Wars

In case you hadn't noticed, we here at Jesser.org dig sci-fi. So naturally, when I came “The Top 25 Differences Between Starwars and Star Trek” at TopFive I had to share.

25. Star Trek: cardboard sets.
Star Wars: cardboard actors.

24. Star Trek fans sit in front of televisions watching reruns.
Star Wars fans sit in front of theaters that won't even be showing the film.

23. Darth Vader needs the Force to make people gag.
William Shatner merely acts.

22. Some Trekkies are now old enough to have moved from their parents' basement to the retirement home basement. Continue reading “Star Trek vs Star Wars”

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What's on that Wall?


Pictures of Walls has a very interesting collection of photos of … well … graffiti I guess, but not the big, bizarre block letter variety. Just stuff people have written on walls. Some of it even thought-provoking. Take a look.