I've Gone Mental

I have been having fantasies all day about the many events that could potentially happen that would lead to a news story on the cuteness of my baby. I have the cutest baby ever. I know all parents think that, but I really do have the cutest one ever. Couldn't it happen that one day we are in public, say at a zoo or something, and someone who works for a local station happens to see my cute baby and decides to do a personal interest story on how cute babies are, with mine as an example? That could totally happen.

That said, if I am ever watching the news and there is a story about how babies are cute, I am going to be IRATE. I will stomp to and fro, shouting, "This is not news!" It would be quite the scene.

Enjoy your complimentary address labels!

Charities are smart. If they are going to send you requests for money, they're already paying for the paper and postage. It cost them next to nothing to send you free address labels. And then, perhaps you feel guilty if you get and use free address labels from said charity, and so then you send them a little bit of money.

Despite our rampant frugality, Possible Flurries and I have donates some money to charities in the past (mostly environmental and animal rights groups). When you donate money once, every other group that is tangentally related in subject matter to that group starts sending you things asking for money. We'll never have to buy address labels or write our own addresses again (I'm starting to forget our zip code, I so rarely need to write it). Because we keep getting them, hording them, and using them but getting more at a faster rate than we use them.

So here's a long-term bit of frugality advice. Donate money to an animal rights group once. Then you never have to worry about address labels again.

(Of course, it's probably better to actually donate money from the heart, not for the exploitation of address labels. Don't you feel bad taking free address labels from a charitable organization? Maybe you better send them a bit of money, too).

And that's how the cycle continues.

Sven's keeping busy

As a student teacher I receive all sorts of emails and newsletters about happenings at schools within my district. Today I was pleased to see our namesake, Sven Sundgaard, had made an appearance at his Alma mater, Oltman Junior high. He was the guest speaker in a ceremony to honor, honor students. I bet those kiddies love him!

Breaking free from the tyranny of Netflix

For the frugal entertainment enthusiast, a Netflix subscription is a great tool. A monthly subscription typically costs a little more than it would cost for a couple to go to a movie theater at night. If you watch frequently, you can often end up spending around a dollar per disc. Netflix really helps cheap people stretch their entertainment dollars.

But there is a downside. If you're frugal, you always want to get your money's worth. That means you watch movies and TV shows on DVD all the time. You feel constant pressure to watch the disc and get it sent off so that you can get the next disc. That means a lot of lazy spectating, and a lot of time devoted to watching that could be spent doing other things (playing games, reading, exercising, or things less productive or healthy). You also end up with a lot of movies that you really aren't all that excited to watch, and often you'll spend an evening watching a particular movie or show not because you want to, but because you feel you have to.

For the Pacifist Viking/Possible Flurries/Fox/Sue Ellen Mischke household, no more. We've broken free and cancelled our Netflix subscription. I already feel liberated. Now I can spend hours online looking at nothing.

Names that sound made up: Kare 11

It's time, it's time, it's time! What you've all been waiting for, what we've been building to for months: we look at Kare 11's anchors and reporters and guess what names are made up. Let's look at what Kare 11 calls their "personalities."

Remember, this is all guess-work. We're not accusing anybody of having a made-up name; we're just accusing people of having Ron Burgundy, Wes Mantooth, Veronica Corningstone quality names that sound made up.

Among the main anchors, we think Belinda Jensen and Julie Nelson sound real. Mike Pomeranz is just too much fun to say to be real, though. Diana Pierce sounds like a made-up authoritative anchor name, and Randy Shaver is Kare 11's Champ Kind.

Among the other anchors anre reporters, we believe Allen Costantini is made-up (but only because it is fun to say). Boyd Huppert sounds made-up. I've never met a human person with the first name "Boyd." Rick Kupchella sounds made up, and Tim McNiff DEFINITELY sounds made up. Tim McNiff. A little too much assonance. For some reason, we suspect the authenticity of assonance more than alliteration. Eric Perkins and Ron Schara sound made-up, as does Greg Vandegrift. Greg Vandegrift. Man, that sounds made up.

Of course, we have complete trust in the realness of Sven Sundgaard.

Irish and St. Patrick's Day

As you can see on his blog, Sven Sundgaard was grand marshall for St. Paul's St. Patrick's Day parade. As Sven says, "I don't have an ounce of Irish blood in me, but they still invited me to be in the parade."

I am also zero percent Irish. But my wife is: once at a family gathering, one of her relatives asked me how much Irish I was. "Zero," I said. Anyway, I generally don't celebrate or recognize St. Patrick's Day. It doesn't make any sense to me. I'm not Catholic, I'm not Irish, and I don't make excuses to drink--I just do it.

But good for non-Irish Sven enjoying the day.

Daytime TV

Is TNT just going to change its station name to "Law and Order" already? I also find it slightly interesting that the "Law and Order" cast has prominantly featured three pretty well-known stage actors: Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin, and Sam Waterston.

"Dr. Phil" is a total dick. I once heard him say something like "That sounds like ____ to me, but I'm not a doctor. Er...I'm not that kind of doctor." Yesterday he had a guy on with a sex addiction. Everything the guy described about his life fit the description of a sex addiction. But Dr. Phil kept calling it a "so-called" sex addiction, "what you are calling" a sex addiction, "you claim it's a" sex addiction, etc. No, he didn't outright deny that sex addiction is real, but he kept choosing prejudicial words to make people think it is a sham.

Chikage Windler is sort of cool. I don't know what it is about her, but I like watching her talk about the weather. It's probably just the wonderful name.

Back?

I've been sick of this blog, so I was abandoning it for a few weeks. Now maybe I'm back.

I saw on Kare 11 the other anchors were discussing Sven's tan, comparing their skin to his, as he had just come back from a vaction to some Southern clime. I thought: what does his tan have to do with any sort of vacation? He's that tan ALL THE TIME. If that guy doesn't frequent a tanning booth, I no longer believe in TV.

I've started vexing about what to do when the Republican National Convention comes to the very city I live in. Should I go away? Get a week's worth of groceries and hide in my house for a week? Go join in some anti-war protests? I'm not looking forward to it.

The quest to live cheap and watch a lot of local news goes on. Sorry for the brief hiatus from PV.

Cavemen on TV!

I just read an article that ABC is going to make a 30 minute pilot based on the Geico's cavemen. PV may finally find out what the caveman's mom has to say!
Read more here.

"Lousy Smarch weather"