I can only watch Mythbusters so many times

My parents called tonight to check on me (awwww) and to tell me that their dog was sick too. Luckily, I don't have whatever he had because I don't sniff/eat dead animals in the field behind my parent's house. Charming.

Anyways, my Dad wanted to tell to look something up on "the Google." Cute.

Okay, well, clearly I should not be stuck in my condo for three days. For one thing, I'm SO EFFING BORED. Yet so tired. Also, I'm sick of looking at this place. I need to clean it up and then get rid of a bunch of this stuff. Some of this stuff has been sitting in the same place since I moved in - I'm looking at you, upright fan.

I wish I had never learned this

So, I'm still at home, sick. I woke up this morning and felt like I had been hit by a truck. Although, I've never been hit by a truck.....okay, but I have been the catcher during a softball game when someone slid into my knee with her cleats. And that hurt alot. So, let's say that my pain today feels like that.

I'm sitting here, minding my own business, being bored and decide to watch 30 Minute Meals with my least favorite TV personality - Rachael Ray. But whatevs - I'll watch anything. I'm sick.

But then she kept talking about "sammies" and I had no idea what she was talking about until she got out bread. She calls sandwiches sammies? I'm a big fan of abbreviations (but not nicknames), but "sammies" really bothers me.

Also, I almost accidentally watched "A Baby Story" on TLC.

Yet somehow, I didn't see a single music video

I have been fortunate enough to be sick all weekend. Normally, I'm all for sitting on my couch, but I think I've left a permanent Kara-sized imprint on this couch.

Thank god I have cable. Did you know there is a new show on MTV entitled "Maui Fever"? It's like The Hills or Laguna Beach. (Wait, isn't The Hills a spin-off of Laguna Beach? I can't keep them straight anymore.) I watched a bit of this Maui Fever, since I was home sick (perhaps with Maui Fever?) anyways. What a stupid show. It wasn't even entertaining - it just made me glad that: 1) I'm not friends with anyone like that; and 2) I don't live in Hawaii. After an episode, I had that same dirty feeling I get after reading Cosmo.

However, after watching many True Life specials on MTV today, I was reminded of how easy my life has been/is. I wouldn't do well as a street racer or a sumo wrestler.

I think I'm going to buy some of these for my condo. I'm also considering buying this chair.

Jack has a brother? Did I miss that last season?

Oh yeah - now I remember why I didn't want to create a.....blog.

Because I have nothing to say that I feel warrants being publicly published. And when I do have things to say, I will usually seek people out to speak with. (My friends that have been on the receiving end of my long rambling messages that end with "oh yeah, this is Kara...(insert my last name)...in case you know more than one Kara...your friend from high school/work/college" know this.) (Have I mentioned how much I love living alone? Seriously. Try it sometime. You'll like it...or your money back.)

I'm a little hyper-vigilant about my privacy since an incident in college when some psycho got my full name from my email, checked me against Walgreens' records (he worked there), and then proceeded to send me a message saying that I had a clean mental health history because I hadn't been prescribed any antidepressants. But then he asked if anyone in my family had any allergies....

But the Kara brand of hyper-vigilance involves me having a public myspace, a flickr account that stupidly says my full name (and they won't let me change it) and my email is still my full name. (Although, I no longer slum it with Yahoo. I'm looking at you, people who aren't using gmail.) I am just a very paranoid, very accessible person.

Yeah, so this was like a long rambling phone message. I'm beginning to be embarrassed about this whole thing.

This offer will remain valid

I really enjoy craigslist. In fact, I have craigslist to thank for meeting my wonderful former roommates in DC.

And if I'm bored, sometimes I look through the personal ads on craigslist. Usually, they're guys from the suburbs who want to "watch a movie and cuddle." Pardon me while I vom.

But then I saw this tonight. I can't tell if it's:

• A joke; or
  
• An actual offer.
  

Snaps to me for figuring out the bullet points.

Anyways, I wonder if he won these gift certificates or if someone gave them to him. I'd like to think he won these at a raffle. Unless he bought them for himself, I don't think he can honestly say that anyone is getting a night on the town "courtesy of him."

I think it is An Off that I can refuse though.

I maintain that it was a funny joke

A brief list of the chatting I did with strangers last week

Checkout lady at Rainbow - We talked about how great coupons are and how I should get my groceries at night during the week because it's much less busy


Lady in the elevator at the downtown Target - We talked about how hard it is to find stores when you're walking. You can walk right by a store if it doesn't have a proper awning. Right on lady - I hope you made your way back to the hotel without being lost for too long.

Guy who works at the gym - I actually spoke with him twice last week. The first time, he said he liked my mittens, which of course prompted me to spew forth this: "Thanks, my mom made them for me - they're made from hand-spun wool" - thankfully, he was nice enough to say "yeah, they look like they're homemade, in a good way". And then the second time, we talked about working out in the morning. Nice guy.

Guy at the tire place - This was, by far, my favorite interaction. I had a screw in my tire - so I HAD to make the joke "So you're saying I got screwed!!" - he politely half-laughed and I asked him if he heard that joke alot. Of course he did. But that wasn't going to stop me!


Salad girl at Lunds - Yeah, you're awesome. Right off the bat, we had some great banter going about how we weren't sure if I deserved the lettuce mix. And then she told me about Tom, the sandwich bar guy. Apparently, he is the culprit when the fajita ranch dressing is too spicy. And then she let me try the fajita ranch dressing to see if it was too spicy.


Coat check guy at the concert - We had a conversation about how nice it was that he put my scarf in the sleeve of my coat for me.

That's all I can remember off the top of my head - I think my favorite conversation (this was about a month ago) was when the TiVo lady told me a woman that called to cancel her TiVo and was crying the whole time because she was so upset about not having TiVo.

No solutions

I make no secret of the fact that I sleep with my television on because I'm afraid of ghosts. (I thought I saw a ghost at my last apartment and since then, I always sleep with the television on all night...I used to just set the sleep timer, but that was before I saw the ghost). But last night, the television was working against me in my plan - I woke in the middle of the night to a program about ghosts. More specifically, it was a program about people talking about their encounters with ghosts. It freaked me out, so I turned the tv off.

So, I just sat there for awhile, completely convinced that there were ghosts in my condo, and not sure what to do about it. So I did what any self-respecting 25-year-old would do: I turned the tv back on, changed the channel to MTV, put my sleep eye-cover-thing back on, covered my ears with pillows and went back to sleep.

I also got a flat tire yesterday. Anyone who has spent time with me in the car while I'm driving on a freeway knows that I used to frequently (I stopped letting myself do this as often recently - big mistake) roll my window down slightly, and then ask my car companion if they thought it sounded like I had a flat tire. I never did.

UNTIL YESTERDAY.

I'm still trying to decide if this means I should change my ways (no tv at night, no rolling down window) or if I should step it up a notch (louder tv! more rolling down windows!).

I saved 3.25 this week

UPDATE: Well, my my my. Heloise, I'm on to you. Two days after I post an entry about coupon and coupon organization, you put an entry about coupon organization in your column. Imagine my surprise when I opened the Star Tribune yesterday at lunch, ready to read all of the advice columns (I LOVE advice columns) and there it was, staring back at me. No, it's okay Heloise. Don't worry. But just know that I'm watching you. And I got an A in self defense.


The wonderful Ken has suggested that I write an entry about coupons. And since I am in the midst of avoiding applying for law school (you'd be surprised how much time I devote to NOT applying), I am more than happy to write about coupons.

And before you get all "Kara, coupons are so lamesville" - just remember that if you ever need a coupon, I will be the first in line to give you one. And it won't be expired. Because I throw away all of my expired coupons every Sunday morning. Duh.

How To Acquire Coupons

Well, I'm old-timey, so I get my coupons from the Sunday Star Tribune. You, being a young and connected person, may want to buy yours on eBay. Yes, on eBay. Perhaps you need some ultra-portable laundry detergent? (Actually, I just bought that yesterday and I didn't have a coupon. Now I feel like a fool.) Or maybe you just want some general coupons. (Not a bad idea, for the coupon-user on the go.) I think you can also print them off of websites, but what's the fun in that?


How To Use the Coupons

Well, duh. But, beware. Of course, different stores have different policies. For those of you lucky enough to live in the general vicinity of The Best Grocery Store in the World, Harris Teeter, you can (unless this policy has changed since October 2005) DOUBLE all double-able coupons valued under $1.00. This, of course, makes 75 cent coupons very valuable. Treasure these, my friend. The 75 cent coupon is your new best friend. (Sort of like how Jello is my new best friend, thanks to WeightWatchers.) (BTDubs, look at Harris Teeter looking out for you and protecting you from whatever "coupon fraud" is.....aren't we lucky to have such a crusader in our midst?) Of course, HT does occasionally have Triple Coupon Weekend - just know that Triple Coupon Weekend can change your life.

But for those of us who live in an area with sub-par grocery stores, they will only double up to 5 coupons, valued at less than one dollar, on Wednesdays. Yeah. Sucks to be us, guys.

And don't think you're limited to grocery stores - I regularly use coupons at Target.

How to Easily Store Your Coupons

I store mine in something that vaguely resembles this, but is much much smaller - dare I say, it's coupon-sized. However, investing in something fancy is fun, so why not buy the Coupon Organizer? Or maybe you want the World's Ugliest and Most Cumbersome Coupon Organizer? (Award-winning? I want to know who is giving out awards for coupon organizers OTHER than QVC.) I move mine directly into the correct section every Sunday in date order, by expiration date. And then I remove the expired coupons.

Okay, so, yeah, those are my coupon tips. When I first started using coupons, I kept a spreadsheet that kept track of how much I was saving each week. (Did you know that I'm THAT nerdy?) I eventually stopped doing that because it felt worthless because I was saving so much money with coupons anyways. Also, I tend to lose receipts, so it was hard to keep track of it.

I feel like I should write into Hints from Heloise - I would BLOW THE MIND of some of those readers.

Welcome to Earth

I just watched Independence Day (I'm not going to link that to imdb because if you're reading this and you don't know what I'm talking about, then I'm not sure why we're friends).

I am terrified of aliens. I know they're out there. I have no proof - but it's a very strong gut feeling.

A better web journal-er than me would back this up with some sort of web-based proof. It would probably involve many links.

But I'm lazy.

The Moving Walkway Is Ending

I am in the habit of getting too excited about small things. I almost feel bad for people who are around me when I use my lovingly-clipped coupons. The Legend of Triple Coupon Weekend will never die. And I feel even worse for those that I force to use my coupons on their own purchases. But seriously - that's 60 cents back in your pocket, sir.

But I digress. I LOVE to go into the airport when I pick people up. I think I got this habit from my parents - it was always very exciting to come down the escalators in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and see my parents waiting there. People just always look so....something in the baggage claim area. Happy, irritated, tired, whatever - I think it's awesome (for lack of a better word). And everyone is coming from somewhere where they did something. I've always been a fan of hustle and bustle (unless it's too hustle-y and bustle-y...I don't want to be involved in a hustle and bustle that involves people brushing up against me).

It's also much easier to just go in than to attempt to coordinate the timing of a pickup at the doors by arrivals. Something will inevitably go wrong - bags get lost, plane is slightly delayed at the gate, broken wheel on wheeled luggage (okay, that has never happened to me...but I'm sure the wheels on my luggage are just biding their time and waiting for the most inopportune moment to be assholes). Doing laps around the airport is such a bad idea. It stresses me out just thinking about it. DC and Seattle have cell phone lots where people can wait until they get the call and then drive in to the airport. Makes perfect sense to me, other than the fact it robs people of the ability to go into the airport.

And it's always so clean by the baggage claim. I really appreciate clean spaces.

Andy and I went to pick up Casey last night at the airport and poor Andy had to listen to me talk about this for about five minutes straight. And 48 hours earlier, he was on the receiving end of my excitement about coupons. What a trooper.