Media – Page 3 – Not Content to Crawl

Our New Laser Printer

Posted onJanuary 9, 2017

A couple of weeks before Christmas Amazon had a wireless Brother laser printer/scanner on sale for $100 (normally $145). I decided to buy it for my parents since they have a crappy ink-jet that costs a fortune whenever they get new ink cartridges compared to the four times we’ve had to replace our toner.

Keep in mind I’ve been telling my parents for years they should get a laser printer because it’s so much cheaper. So I’m on the phone with my mom and she happens to bring up the fact that the printer is out of ink and I mention the laser printer thing again. This time she tells me she knows it would be cheaper but doesn’t want to chance it because the toner would probably bother her. Ugh!!! How come she never mentioned that before? Also, shame on me for not thinking of it either.

So this is my drawn-out way of saying we got a new printer! I figured it wasn’t worth trying to convince her to try it so we kept it for ourselves.

I’m not even upset because the printer is so cool I was feeling rather jealous when I thought we’d be giving it to my parents. And let’s face it, they wouldn’t have used some of the coolest features anyway, like printing from a smartphone without having the computer on. That is my favorite feature because sometimes when we’re heading out the door we have to print a coupon and it’s annoying to have to boot up the computer just to do it.

In addition to that, I like the new printer because:

1) It’s black instead of cream-colored which helps it blend in on the shelf below my desk where it resides.

2) It has a flat-bed scanner which will come in handy once in awhile since the phone scanning app isn’t great at scanning non-paper items.

3) It’s physically lighter than the old printer.

4) And did I mention I can print to it from my phone without having the computer on thanks to the wireless feature???

Our 13+ year old Brother laser printer still works perfectly but was very basic so I’m not sure what to do with it now. Maybe offer to let my parents try it? At least I won’t be offended if my mom gives it back like I would have with the new one.

Music Nostalgia

Posted onJuly 18, 2016July 18, 2016

Friday we went to Half Price Books since we had coupons and hadn’t been there in awhile. They moved the video game section to a wider aisle which is helpful since it gets more traffic. Now it’s much easier to browse without getting in someone’s way. I was hoping to find a Wii U for cheap since I’d like to have one eventually, but I don’t want to pay full price. They didn’t have any, however.

I enjoyed browsing the store looking at everything from board games, to CDs, to vinyl records. It brought back that feeling I’d get when I would go to shops in the city like Evil Clown (no longer in business) for bootlegs, or one of the old record stores on Clark St. for vinyl. Even both Tower Records locations in Chicago hold a special place in my heart, particularly the one on Clark St. because that’s where I purchased Substance by New Order and bought my tickets to the first Cure show I ever attended in 1996.

I came across a Cure tribute album and wasn’t sure whether I had it so I bought it; with the coupon it was just over $3. Turns out I had more than half the songs already on my hard drive even though I didn’t own the CD. The cover art looked familiar, however, so I’m guessing my ex must have owned it and I had a copy of some of the songs. Now I have them all. It’s not a bad tribute album overall, especially the version of The Walk which is my favorite.

I also picked up DJ Hero for the Xbox360. I’ve always been drawn to the game but never enough to buy it. With the coupon and some credit from selling some books it was only $3 so I figured why not. As long as I get even an hour of enjoyment from playing it then it will have been well worth it.

Once we got home I decided to clean the rat cages and listen to The Holy Hour which is a Cure podcast I recently discovered. I’m now up to episode 17 and am loving listening to these guys talk about all things Cure.

Once I was done with the cages I pulled out all my Cure memorabilia of which I have a decent amount. I have way more vinyl than I remembered. Too bad I don’t have a record player! I had to take a couple of pictures although I’d like to take better quality ones at some point.

That concert last month really did a number on me and I feel like I’ve become a rabid Cure fan. I’ve always loved them more than any band but the obsession has hit me like a 2×4 over the past two months.

New iPhone Accessories

Posted onFebruary 27, 2015May 18, 2020

I recently did a month-long survey that paid $200. Much to my annoyance, however, was that when I went to pickup my payment from the survey company in early February I was given a $200 VISA prepaid card with an expiration date of March 2015. WTF? But I decided that instead of trying to find something to quickly blow $200 on, I’d be smart, so I went to Amazon.com and used the card to buy a $200 gift card that I sent to myself. We buy stuff from Amazon here and there (and more often now that we have a Prime membership) so it made sense since it never expires.

Tuesday I finally got around to researching some iPhone accessories on Amazon so I could use my credit. I hadn’t been in a hurry to pick anything out since battery life hasn’t been an issue with the phone but it’s nice to have some backup power and an extra cable just in case.

RND Lightning Cable & Anker Portable Battery

The battery came with a mini usb cord and a carrying pouch.

The lightning cable is even thicker & sturdier than the one that came with my phone.

Each cost me $15 (I got the blue battery since all the other colors were $20) which was cheaper than other options I’ve seen.

Amazon Prime, Teenage Shows, and Rat Stuff

Posted onJanuary 26, 20151 Comment

Saturday we decided to sign up for Amazon Prime since it was on sale for $72. I like their Prime Music, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to find a decent book through their Kindle Lending Library since you’re entitled to one free title per month with the membership.

We’ll be evaluating their Prime streaming service as well, even though it’s not compatible with our Chromecast which rather sucks. We just want to see if it’s better than Hulu or not since we’ve already decided to keep Netflix since it’s so awesome. Seriously, I watch something on it every single day. My current obsession is The Carrie Diaries which is the prequel to Sex & The City. I’m not exactly sure what it says about me as a person that I like shows aimed at teenagers, though (like Awkward which I just love).

I hope having the Prime membership won’t encourage us to buy stuff we don’t need. It has already come in handy, however. I ordered these straw brushes so I can clean the straws I use with my reusable tumblers.

Last week we had also placed an order through Amazon for a couple of things – a bluetooth speaker for Joe’s car so he can safely have work-related conversations while driving, Cards Against Humanity, which I can’t wait to take over to my parents’ house and play, and some items for the rats. I wanted them all to have a space pod and hammock in their cages, so I ordered one of each since I only had two of each currently. I was very excited when the package was delivered by the post office, surprisingly, on a Sunday afternoon.

I ended up rotating the hammocks since the one I ordered is so large and only fits in the big cage. I don’t think Milo and Gizmo like it, though, because I haven’t seen them use it once. Maybe it’s because it’s not nice and colorful like the one on Amazon’s site, but a bland grey and black instead. Doug and Steve, however, love cramming their fat butts into their new space pod. They also have Milo & Gizmo’s old hammock since I gave their hammock to Marshmallow, which he loves. So at least 3 out of the 5 rats are happy! I’m gonna be bummed if Milo and Gizmo end up not using the new hammock, though. Plus I’ll have to head to Petco to get them another one like they used to have because I like to spoil my little ratty babies. :)

College Buddies, Free Food, & Petting Snakes

Posted onJanuary 5, 2015

Joe had to work on Friday so I spent a good portion of the day spending time with the rats and cleaning all their cages.

Before doing that, though, I called an old college friend of mine and we had a nice hour long conversation. We hadn’t spoken since last July when I drove out to visit her and meet her kids. She’s very busy with three young kids and doesn’t do social media so it’s tough to keep in touch. I sent her a Christmas card which had triggered her to write me a very sweet letter that included asking me to call her. She thought I had changed my number since she had texted me awhile back but didn’t hear back. I never got those texts though so I’m not sure what happened. I wish we were able to see each other more often. She’s one of the very few people I feel comfortable enough around to be myself and not feel weird.

Saturday it was alternating between raining and snowing so we spent most of the day at home just watching stuff on Hulu and Netflix. We got a free two month trial of Hulu for buying the Chromecast and I signed up for a month trial of Netflix. Neither seems to have any current movies we haven’t already seen, but they are great for binge-watching old TV sitcoms and clips from SNL. Netflix is especially great for watching comedy specials, so we watched the latest from Chelsea Peretti, Aziz Ansari, and Bill Burr. We also watched a movie called Peep World that wasn’t as good as the trailer promised. So many familiar faces too, but it seems like that’s how most of the IFC films go. For instance, I had been dying to see Skeleton Twins starring Kristen Wig and Bill Hader ever since I heard about it, which we rented it from Redbox the first week it was out. While it was better than Peep World, because it actually had a plot, it still was pretty disappointing. I guess I just prefer action and comedy movies instead of weird independent film dramadies.

We did leave the house briefly to get some groceries at Aldi, pick up Joe’s repaired sweaters from the tailor, and grab some Qdoba. They sent me a BOGO coupon for my birthday and a coupon for free chips and guacamole because it was also my anniversary signing up for their rewards program, and they let us use both coupons together which was nice. They were also extremely generous with the food portions, almost too much. I decided to try the pulled pork burrito bowl and there was too much pulled pork in it! It’s been awhile since we’ve eaten there so I was surprised to learn that you can get their three cheese queso and guacamole on your burrito for no extra charge. Needless to say, I had them load mine up and I swear it weighed a pound! It was so filling that I didn’t end up eating dinner, though, so that helped a bit with the calories.

Our first stop on Sunday was at Jamba Juice so I could get my free birthday drink. I also got two $15 gift cards from Groupon for only $15 total, so we used one of them for Joe’s drink. Then we headed over to the arboretum since we had always talked about seeing it after a fresh snowfall which had happened the night before. The road in the arboretum was a bit slippery in places and one of the cars ahead of us actually got stuck. Everyone in “line” had to back up so they could back up to try and make it up the small hill they were getting stuck on. Three bicyclists who were sharing the road actually had to push their vehicle to help them gain traction.

After that we decided to leave instead of visiting the other half of the arboretum. We ended up going to Willowbrook Wildlife Center. I love the two resident gray rats and got some cute photos of them.

One of the volunteers offered to take one rat out so I could get a better photo of her since their aquarium glass was smudged, but she was so hyper she would barely stay still! Her fur was so soft though! I also can’t believe how small she is compared to my boys especially since she’s full grown.

After that the same volunteer brought out a milk snake that I was able to pet. It felt a lot softer than I was expecting! Unfortunately I couldn’t get a great photo of it because it too wouldn’t stop moving.

We picked up some litter from Petco, some carrier oil from Whole Foods (to be used with the jasmine essential oil Joe gave me for Christmas), and then had lunch at Noodles & Company (free bowl of noodles for my birthday). Gluttons that we are, we headed over to Red Mango after lunch to cash in my free $5 of yogurt they put on your membership card for your birthday.

So if anyone is keeping track, so far I’ve consumed the following free items for my birthday – Red Robin burger, Qdoba burriot bowl, Jamba Juice five fruit frenzy, a bowl of pesto cavatappi at Noodles & Company, and frozen yogurt. The irony? My one goal this year is to lose weight. Hahaha!