robglazebrook.com

It’s days like today that really lead a man to start fantasizing.

I mean, just two days ago, we had sunny skies and 66 degree temperatures. Four hours later, it was 30 degrees, cloudy, and we had 35mph winds. This winter has already been long and cold enough. I tend to like winters overall, but I think I’m ready for the warm temperatures again. And since Iowa doesn’t seem all that willing to do much more than tease me with them, it gets me to fantasizing about trips to warmer climes.

For example, I just used TravelStoreUSA.com to plan a fantasy vacation to Honolulu, Hawaii. I was able to find round-trip tickets for two – leaving from Des Moines no less – and five nights in a hotel just off Waikiki Beach for under $2,000. Total. If Amanda and I weren’t already leaving for Europe in a few short weeks, that fantasy vacation might just have turned into a reality. :)

And if cruises are more your thing, they also seem to have some pretty good cruise specials going on their sister site (CruiseLocators.com), as well.

Personally, anything that got the frost off my toes and stopped my teeth from chattering for a few days straight would be a welcome change. :)

So lately I’ve been considering shooting my friends and family. Come on, admit it – the thought has crossed your minds, too.

Of course, unlike all you scary, maladjusted freaks, I was just talking about shooting them with a paintball gun. Now, I’ve never been paintballing before, but it looks like wicked mad fun. Basically, you carry a big CO2-powered gun filled to the brim with paintballs, wearing protective vests and paintball masks, sneak around a wooded area and shoot the living daylights out of anyone that moves (or, if you’re sneaky enough, even those who don’t). Provided (I suppose) that they aren’t on your team. Or if they are, that they’re being really, really annoying first.

I was invited to go on an August Home paintball outing last year, and I eagerly signed up. Then I spent that entire weekend painting my basement and was so sick of paint by paintball time Sunday afternoon I wasn’t sure if I would really enjoy the sight of all that splattered paint. Not that it would have mattered to my clothes any by that point. Looking back, I’m not sure I made the right choice, and I’ve been waiting for another opportunity ever since.

Luckily, it sounds like there’s a chance my dad might be picking up a couple of Tippmann or spyder guns from Ultimate Paintball in the near future. Which means I might be able to convince him to go out and wage war in grandma’s timber this spring. :)

I’ve been in a pretty good mood this last week, financially speaking. Assuming it’s possible to be in a mood in the financial sense. Regardless, as of last week I am finally out of credit card debt, and that has me feeling pretty good on a lot of levels.

How’d I accomplish that? Through the annual magic of income tax returns. My federal return got to hang out in my bank account for all of 24 hours before being handed over to my credit card company. I’ll miss not having that money to put somewhere else (like Europe, or a new computer, or a high-yield savings account), but getting rid of that debt is the best decision I could have made presuming long-term goals of financial success.

I got a decent sized return for two primary reasons: I pay a ton of interest on my mortgage, and I pay a ton of interest on my student loans. Both contribute to my deduction, so I ended up getting a nice chunk back. Of course, as that list also suggests, that means I’m nowhere near being entirely debt free – nor will I be for many years to come. But I was able to knock down one debt, and that feels really nice.

I was also lucky in that my credit card debt, while certainly annoying and stress-inducing, wasn’t as crippling as the debt other people have. I only had one card, and it wasn’t maxed out. If you’re in greater financial peril than I’ve found myself in thus far, perhaps a bit of Debt Counseling from the folks at DebtConsolidation.com would be in order. They offer a debt analysis service free of charge, and this may be one of those rare occasions where someone’s advice is worth significantly more than you paid for it. :)

So I never really thought I’d write these words, but today I feel a heck of a lot better about my acne problem.

I don’t know if this constitutes TMI or not, but I am afflicted by what those in the know term as “adult acne.” Also a “tendency to ramble,” but that isn’t the point of this article, now is it? Boy – that article, when it comes, is going to be a bear to get through, no? I mean, a rambling post about rambling would just… err, I digress.

For a while now, I’ve tried to hide the signs of my acne due to the social stigma of it all. I mean, puberty was quite a while ago for me, so I should be done with the acne-ridden part of my life, right? Well, maybe not.

Acne, according to this article here, is actually on the rise among adults. From 1989 to 1999, the article says, the average age of patients coming in to have their acne treated rose from 20.5 to 26.5 years old. And that makes me feel a heck of a lot better about myself, considering I am almost exactly 26.5 years old (I’ll be 27 in August). And they also say that “more than half of all adult women and about a quarter of adult men” are currently acne sufferers. Now I’m no chemist, but I’m pretty sure that would mean that a majority of the adult population overall suffers from acne. Maybe the presidential candidates should try to swing the Pimple Vote to win the upcoming election.

So it seems I’m not the freak of nature I thought I was. And that’s a good feeling all around.

Is it me, or is February sort of moving at a speed of which light would be envious? Super Fat Tuesday (Fat Tuesday and Super Tuesday rolled into one inevitably greasy ball) has come and gone. The Chinese have celebrated themselves a new year. And as of today, we have a total of six shopping days until Valentine’s day. And only four shipping days twixt then and now. Yikes!

I have to admit – I’ve been dragging my feet a little bit this year when it comes to V-day. Not because I’m not a fan of the holiday or anything. Last year was a fun time – we stayed in, I cooked a big dinner, we shared a bottle of wine, and had malformed homemade pie for dessert. And Amanda and I decided to keep it low-key again this year (since we’re saving up for vacations and whatnot), so I kept thinking, “It’s no big deal. I don’t need to plan anything. I’ve got plenty of time.”

Of course, now I’m out of time. Funny how that works.

Luckily, I’m pretty sure that’s why places like 1800flowers.com exist in the first place: to save procrastinatory men from being giftless on the Big Day. You can get anything from traditional roses, to perhaps slightly less traditional organic fruit gift baskets. Because nothing says “I love you” quite like pesticide-free oranges.