Tag: money

Hemp Jewelry Supplies

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Jewelry1 Comment

While I was suffering with my website, Darrin came in my room to tell me that he had to go to Geico to make his first payment.  Yes, he just saved a bunch of money on his car insurance by switching to Geico.  There, I said it.

He said it was over on California Ave. and Stockdale Hwy so I decided to get away from my blog problems and go with him to get out of the house and get some fresh air.

While we were out I wanted to go to Michael’s so I could buy some hemp cord and some wood beads for making my necklace.  I don’t care anymore about making it my “reward” for when I drop down to 200lbs.  Mainly because I’m in a plateau which is frustrating and a necklace will make me feel better lol.

They didn’t exactly have the beads that I wanted like the ones that are sold at Acajou Games and Crafts but the ones that I did find will do just fine.  The ones I found at Michael’s were cheaper and came with a variety of colors and sizes at only $1.99 with 80 pieces.  I also got a package of wood pony beads for $3.99 with 90 pieces.  I’m pretty sure I have enough wooden beads to last me a long time.

I got my bracelet pattern which will teach me how to make the same pattern for a necklace and since I’ve never made one of these before, the bracelet will be my teacher so I can make the necklace without wasting too much hemp cord.

This macramé project will keep me busy for a while and I will take a picture if it turns out ok and post it lol.

Well I’m just about finished with the bracelet and the pony beads are way too big so I’m gonna have to do something that will hurt me, I’m gonna have to cut the entire bracelet up to remove the beads and put them back in their bag and start all over.  That’s ok because it’s all a learning process, you can’t learn if you don’t make mistakes.

The other bag that I got for $1.99 has beads of many different sizes so I think the little beads will work for the bracelet and necklace.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with all the big beads, I’m sure I’ll find something.

It’s going to be awhile now before I can supply a picture so until then…

Goodbye Bicycle

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well so much for exercise.  I went to the grocery store and as soon as I got on the bike to come home something felt a little strange with the chain.  I rode in front of the store from where I locked my bike at and tried to fiddle with the pedals to find out why the chain was giving me trouble but I couldn’t figure it out.

So I was fine to ride to the street I turn right on but then it started acting a little strange, the wheel didn’t feel right, it was wobbling.  I got off the bike in the middle of the street and had to walk it over to the sidewalk.  At first I thought the townie basket was coming off and was pushing against the wheel so I took the heavy groceries out.  That wasn’t it.

I still didn’t see it because the sun was almost finished going down so it was too dark to see, but then I saw it.  The bolt that goes all the way through the wheel was sticking out too far on the left.  The 2 nuts on the ride side were gone, I don’t even know what happened to those.  So since there was no long bolt to hold on to the frame on the right side the wheel couldn’t keep me balanced since it was only holding on the left side.

I had to walk the rest of the way home carrying 1 heavy grocery bag on my left hand and 1 light but still annoying grocery bag on my right hand while both hands held onto the handlebars.  The entire time I was walking the back wheel was rubbing against the brakes and making this awful noise which I can’t explain how it sounded.  Well, it sounded like some deep voiced animal either dying or giving birth.

I have 2 missing bolts and no idea where they are and no money until next week to be able to do anything about it.  It’s not going to be expensive, well, I don’t think it will be.  I mean it’s just a matter of screwing the bolt centered again and buying 2 nuts right?  Maybe?  I’m sure the nuts aren’t too expensive at Home Depot or maybe the bike store has them cheap.  Or who knows, maybe I have to bring the back wheel to the bike store and have them fix it and charge me $20 for it.

I wonder how this happened.  Last weekend when I rode the bike on my 22 mile trip I tightened everything .  In fact I did a full maintenance job on the entire bicycle to get it ready to ride with no issues.  How in the heck could that bolt screw itself all the way to the left?  It doesn’t make any sense at all.

Whatever, it doesn’t matter.  I’ll get it fixed and everything with be fine… blah blah blah.

Update 2011-01-28: As of this date I still do not have a new back wheel.  I just can’t afford it.

GPS Gives You 4 Days of Your Life Back

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

Study: GPS gives you four days of your life back – Source Dvice.com

This is a very interesting article about how a GPS can give you back 4 days of your life per year.  How can they make such a claim?  Because when you use a GPS to get around it can help you to avoid getting lost as well as avoiding traffic jams.  So basically you get to your destination faster, you use less gas, you waste less time and spew less carbon dioxide into the air.

I personally think that this is a true claim.  Just yesterday I printed directions from google maps to drive to a customers house to deliver some packages for Darrin, he works at a lighting store and he had to make 2 deliveries.  I went with him so we took his SUV instead of his work van because he really can’t have anyone in the van with him.  So anyway, I was telling him where to go according to the printout and we almost got lost because of the street names.  There is Stine and New Stine, we were supposed to turn left on New Stine and stay on Stine when it changes but I had him turn on Stine instead lol.  It’s very confusing.  We got all the way to the dead end and were like where the heck are we?

We ended up getting there but we could’ve gotten there sooner if Darrin had a GPS instead.

Having a GPS not only saves time, gas and the environment but it also saves money on paper and printer ink.

Doctor Visit

On By Michel McDonaldIn DoctorLeave a comment

I went to my regular doctor today and told him that I’m still having shoulder pain despite the steroids and muscle relaxers the RN from the Neurologist gave me.  I told him that she was going to give me a referral for another specialist but that could take weeks, months even and I just can’t suffer like this for months.  She said that I would have to see a specialist before I could get a cortisone shot.

Well, my regular doctor said if they had those x-rays they could just give me the shots there.  I called the neurologist office and asked them to send the x-rays to my doctor’s office because I’m tired of messing around.  This has been going on for too long now, 5 weeks in excruciating pain.

In the meantime he gave me a prescription for Vicodin (SWEET) and that should be ready soon.  The thing is, I’ve taken that for this pain and it doesn’t help.  Well, then again, that prescription expired on 2/09 so maybe that has something to do with it lol.

When my toenails were taken off I was in a lot more pain than this and the vicodin numbed the pain so if it works for that then it should work for this.

Sad news about my doctor though, today was his last day.  He’s moving back east and he said something about making more money so that’s good I guess.  It’s not easy working for the city in a clinic I guess, you just don’t make as much as you would’ve thought you would when you went to Medical school.  I’ll miss him and have to get used to yet another doctor.

Clay’s Restaurant

On By Michel McDonaldIn RestaurantLeave a comment

California Avenue IHOP becomes independent eatery

November 28th 2008, IHOP in Bakersfield became Clay’s Restaurant.  We’ve been going to that IHOP since 2000 but we don’t always have the money to be regulars.  We only go once in awhile.  But we actually haven’t been there at all since they changed their name to Clay’s.

Well this morning Darrin wanted to go out for breakfast and the place that he chose was closed for some strange reason.  So he said well let’s go to Denny’s.  I said that’s too far.  He said where do you want to go and I said “well we haven’t been to Clay’s yet” so that’s where we went.

We get there and are seated right away.  There was a person we knew who was leaving so Darrin wanted to talk to him before we sat down.  Our host had our menu’s sitting open on the table waiting for us which I thought was very nice.

So we order and our food comes, I ordered the #6 2 eggs, 3 bacon, 3 sausage, hash browns and pancakes.  Darrin ordered chicken fried steak with gravy, eggs, hash browns and toast.

I can’t speak for him but he didn’t complain about his food.  My food was pretty good.  The sausage was different though, it wasn’t over cooked and wrinkly, it was a nice light shade of brown and it was smooth.  The bacon was also very flat and smooth and it tasted good.  The pancakes were smaller but I guess they can’t sell pancakes that look exactly like IHOP’s so they just made them smaller.  The hash browns weren’t crispy which is IHOP’s signature hash browns but that was fine.  It was still good.  Normally scrambled eggs are 1 solid color but mine weren’t mixed completely so you could see the yellow and white.  That’s not a bad thing, the eggs were good but it was just different.

Our waitress was Donna and she was a very nice woman.  We asked her if the business has suffered since they changed their name to Clay’s and she said that there aren’t as many customers as when they were IHOP but the customers are coming back.  I can say that I would definitely come back because the food was very good.

Clay’s Restaurant is located at 1530 California Ave. in Bakersfield, CA.  There are also other Clay’s, I just know about this one and the one over by Valley Plaza on Ming.  I would recommend Clay’s and I give them 5 stars.

From One Thing To The Next

On By Michel McDonaldIn HealthLeave a comment

Well good news is I can start to sense that my shoulder is getting better.  I’ve been using the BenGay patches and the Icy Hot stick and it feels good.  Most of the time I have pain but not constantly like before.

New problem lol.  I have a toothache now.  I just ate a bowl of Malt-O-Meal and the roof of my mouth on the right side hurt like hell.  I think it’s abscessed lol.  Great, just great.

If it’s not one thing it’s another.  So tomorrow I have to make an appointment with Western Dental and get it looked at.

Oh and I got my handlebars today and put it on and over tightened the screw and it snapped in half rofl.  What the hell?  So we had to go to Home Depot and thank goodness they had it.  It was a big longer than the original but that’s fine, it sticks out the bottom and nobody cares lol.  And it’s a black screw same as the stem so it blends in.  The handlebar is silver though and I was going to spray paint it but I figured that it would probably not end too good so I left it.  I may remove everything at some point and spray it, maybe.

I also got a new gel seat to put over the ergo seat but I figured that I’m having such a crappy day that I would wait to cut it up and sew it into the shape I need it until when I’m not having a bad day.  I don’t want to screw it up too much.  Sure it was only $10 but money is money.

Can’t Wait to Exercise

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

On Monday August 3rd it will be 2 weeks that I haven’t been on the bicycle and I will still have to wait to ride it until my shoulder is totally 100% healed.  I’ve been trying my best to make good food choices but when I can’t exercise at all because of the excruciating pain in my back and shoulder it takes all of my motivation away.

I’ve been finished with the steroid meds since yesterday morning and so some of the pain caused from the side effects from that medicine are gone but the pain that I was taking them for is still there.  I still have 3 more weeks worth of the muscle relaxer medicine to go.  I sure hope I won’t be out of commission for 3 more weeks, that would suck.  It’s basically voiding the last couple of months of hard work.  I’ve already started gaining some weight back.

When I get my check I’m buying a new handlebar which is about $10-$15 (hopefully) and the grips for about $5 I guess then I can start riding again.  Of course it is possible that my brake cables aren’t going to be long enough so I’ll have to buy new cables lol.  If it ain’t one thing it’s another.  And I’m going to buy a new gel seat cover for this new ergo seat so that should top me off lol.

I’ve been out of money for the last couple of weeks now so I haven’t had some of the foods that I love so when I get my check on Monday I’m gonna go nuts because then I can finally buy some coffee grounds and some creamer.  Oh I miss coffee.  I hate being broke so much lol.  Luckily I still have some slim fast though so that I haven’t been worrying about and Darrin buys milk when we’re out so that’s not a problem either.

Monday Monday Monday hurry up and come faster!  The last 2 weeks are going toooooo slow.

Trinvo Talking Translator

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

I just found this neat gadget on the Dvice.com website.  It is the Trinvo Talking Translator Knows a Dozen Languages post.

When we were thinking about going to Italy a few years ago I was trying my best to learn Italian.  We bought CD’s from Costco and I sat here for hours at a time for weeks trying to learn and I just couldn’t learn it very easily.  And the words that I did learn I don’t seem to remember at all.

I was looking to buy something that would act as a translator for me and I found 1 way but it would cost hundreds of dollars.  I would’ve had to buy a PDA and buy voice recognition software with languages and of course I would’ve had to pay for each language that I needed and it wasn’t cheap, about $50 per language.  We never did make it to Italy though.

But with the Trinvo Talking Translator it makes it so much easier.  Although it is still a bit expensive and since it’s only for sale in the UK via the Gadgetshop website, you are looking to spend quite a bit of money.

The gadget itself is £34.99 and with shipping to the United States they tack on an additional £28.00 as their shipping charge for a grand total of £62.99 which translates to $103.86.  Without that bogus shipping charge the gadget still costs $57.70.  But who wants to pay the same amount for shipping that the gadget itself costs?

I suppose if you were to buy it at the airport you would end up paying over $100 anyway.

Home Laser Hair Removal

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

laserhair

Are you tired of shaving and don’t want to have to pay the high price of getting laser hair removal?  Then why not pay $549 for a product that you can use in the privacy of your own home.  Holy shit dude!  $549?

The Silk’n Store International™ sells this product through their website as I said for $549.  This thing uses a lamp that only lasts for 750 flashes then you have to replace the bulb.  It comes with 2 lamps or you can pay the same price for 4 lamps (it’s on sale).  They sell extra lamps for $55 per lamp.  You can buy 1 lamp or you can buy 3 or more and just pay $55 for each.

They say it takes about 3 months to notice that the hair is permanently gone which is a bit of time to see results I guess but as long as you keep using it then you should be ok.

It says you can use this on your underarms, legs, bikini line etc.  What exactly is the etc part?  Can you use this on your face?  I for one would love to never have to shave my face again.  Men can use this on their chest (as the picture on the MySpace ad shows) but I wonder where else men can use this.  Could you use this on your balls?  No seriously, I’m not trying to be gross.  I wonder if it’s safe for your balls and maybe even your crack too.  I for one can’t stand the gross unnecessary hair on my ass lol.  Why do I need hair there?  When I go to the bathroom… ok this is starting to become too much information.

Anyway, I think that if you have $550 to spend on this product with 4 lamps go for it.  After 3 months are up and you have no more hair to laser off then you can sell it on eBay to get your money back or at least half of your money back.  When you sell it on eBay you are gonna have to buy some lamps to sell along with it because you can’t just sell it with no lamps.  That wouldn’t be right.

Back Pain

On By Michel McDonaldIn HealthLeave a comment

Well apparently this back pain is a bit more severe than I thought.  I just called the chiropractors office that I used to go to in 2005 and had to leave a message so I hope they get it by tonight so I can make an appointment to hopefully come in tomorrow morning.  I have a doctor’s appointment with the neurologist for my carpel tunnel syndrome near where they used to be but they aren’t too far from there so I will be able to walk there from my neurologist.

I was thinking of bringing my bike with me but I don’t have the proper locks and I’m afraid that my new seat and/or my wheels will get stolen.  I don’t have the money to buy 2 new locks/chains so I’m screwed and have to walk there from the bus stop in pain lol.  Maybe I can think of something though, we have some padlocks that maybe I can borrow from what they are locking and look for some chain that I can use.  Now that I think about it I’m going to start looking for those so I can at least chain up my seat for now.  I really don’t feel like walking all that way tomorrow especially with this back pain.