My Waterpik

I didn't update on my snow post because it was a bust. Imagine that.

Anyhoo, about two weeks ago, I decided now that I am a grown up of 40+ years, I needed to protect my periodontal investment with a Waterpik. After checking the company website, I decided the hand-held model suited my needs just fine.

Thank goodness there were no hidden cameras video-taping my early uses of the toy. For four days straight, the closest comparison I can think of would be to turn a ceiling fan on high, then throw a water balloon at it.

I now have the technique down pat and love the results. A couple of pointers out there for anyone who is about to use the Waterpik for the first time:

1. Use warm water. Even room temerature water feels like ice when it hits your gums and a throbbing rate. (I tried using distilled water from a bottle - from now on, warm water from the tap)
2. Wear a raincoat.

SNOW!

The last time it snowed in Savannah, GA(not pronounced Georgia, but pronounced "G" "A") was Christmas 1989. I wasn't here for it :(

So 21 years later I am 47 years old and as giddy as a kid in Montana anticipating school closings in September due to wintery weather. By tonight, we could have as much as 3 inches!

Imagine that.

Home Depot, II

Just further proof that the Home Depot ROCKS.

The Loyalty Program

How did we get suckered into the marketing? Who was the genius that came up with the affinity program?

I have become that person who won't buy it unless I'm getting some miniscule kick-back. Cashiers hate me. I whip out that debit card, but then insist they process it as credit - thereby forcing them to produce an extra slip of paper, await my signature - credit gives me kick-back points I can use for Barnes & Nobles gift cards.

I am at the point in my life where I now fly at least 4 times a year. Not impressed, you say? It's a big deal for me. And I'll pay $30 extra to get those onepass miles over a slightly more affordable route. By 2012, I should have my first free round-trip!

The hugest delimna is hotel loyalty. I have points with Hilton, Marriott, and Starwood. When I travel for the job, I don't have the control over where to stay, and I have nightmares over even a 5,000 point bank expiring due to non-use.

The one loser in my little consumerism game is Delta Airlines. I am one of those people who have always used their middle name, and several years worth of skymiles was accumulated with that name. New TSA guidelines show tickets must be issued with the name matching the identification, and my id has my first name, my middle name, and my last name. Do you think that the good people in Delta marketing were willing to change the name on my one pass mile from my middle/last name to first/middle/last name? HELL NO. So, bye-bye, Delta, hello, Continental!

This says it all:

Men are such peacocks

My new favorite show - "Conveyor Belt of Love".
Roosters, peacocks, bower birds, all males are the same. Love it, Love it, Love it!

Liberation

This year's Christmas is like none other for me. Three things factor into the change:
1. This is my first Christmas without Dad.
2. This is my first Christmas without my daughter.
3. This is the first Christmas I haven't bought any gifts. Not a single one.

I had major unexpected expenses this month - $797 to be exact - paying an insurance deductible and buying my daughter a last minute ticket to fly here for her grandfather's funeral. That money had been my Christmas budget plus some utility bills. No cash is left over for gifts. And after a year of listening to Dave Ramsey, there is no way I'm putting anything on the credit card. I would rather be perceived as a Scrooge before I charged a gift that someone will open, smile at, then never use.

Because the daughter is spending Christmas elsewhere, I have felt no compulsion to buy her anything. It would be too costly and difficult for her to receive the gift then ship it back to her home from her current locale.

Dad's death has put a damper on things, too. No decorations have been pulled out, no tree set up and no fruitcake baked. Without him here, those other things just don't seem to be as important anymore.

With that said, I have felt an unexpected liberation from consumerism this year and it is a nice feeling. I haven't felt the stress or pressure of trying to remember who I've forgotten, I haven't fought the cars and people at the malls, and I'm classifying this as a guilty pleasure.