Recently in Shopping Category

I've already started thinking about my Christmas shopping. This year I am going to attempt to get everything done as early as I can, including sending out Christmas cards. I was looking for a place to get them pretty cheap online so as to avoid getting out amidst the Christmas shoppers this fall. I figured if I do it early and just have them shipped here then It will save me quite a bit of unwanted stress (and maybe some money as well).

I found some Christmas Cards that I like over at ChristmasCardsDirect.com. There are some really cool designs and you can also get Christmas photo cards as well. One of the things I find interesting is that people I work for and with send those out and I don't even know half of their children. I would love to be able to send photo cards to my family and friends and then send normal cards out to everyone else. Who the heck wants pictures of my children unless they are close to me anyway. I never did see the point of that.

Anyhow, they have a really good selection of cards over there and at a decent price so if you want to get a jump on things and have them sent right to your door go check 'em out.

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Even though I live out in West Georgia I grew up in and around the Roswell area and one of my best friends was originally from Boston. He was a huge Boston fan. We never did get to go but either of us would have killed to get Boston Red Sox Tickets when they came to Atlanta to play the Braves. The only question would be which side to sit on...

One pretty place online that looks pretty good to get tickets is Mongo tickets. In addition to the Sox you can get tickets for other sporting events such as Dallas Cowboys Tickets. Not interested in sporting events? How about Broadway or off Broadway shows. You can get Wicked Tickets at a decent price too.

Hey, if you use Mongo, let me know!

I love leather. Not like that but I do love me the feel of a nice pair of leather boots and a leather jacket. I got the jacket for Christmas but unfortunately my leather motorcycle boots that I have had for years just don't seem to fit me anymore. I can barely squeeze my feet into them and forget about getting them off.

I used to have a great pair of cowboy boots and I have been thinking lately about getting a new pair instead of motorcycle boots. Heck, maybe I will just get both. Right after I pay the IRS for last years taxes :(

Cavender's has some really nice boots I was looking at earlier today in addition to other accessories such as western belt buckles, wallets and other fine creations. They've got all different styles and plenty of western gear from shirts and jeans to boots and belts.

My biggest Christmas present this past year was a new leather jacket. I love my jackets. My friends and a girlfriend chipped in and bought my first one for my 18th birthday. I still have it. Well, the Marine does anyway. I can't zip it up around my gut anymore unfortunately. 23 years ago I had that washboard gut look, now it's a bit more warped, thus the new coat. I've always like bikes if you couldn't tell from pictures. As a matter of fact, here's one of the Marine and myself about 18 years ago.

Makes me feel kind of old, actually.

If you're interested in finding a decent leather supplier you might want to check out The Bazaar Online. They have leather motorcycle jackets as well as just about anything else you might want including chaps and pants, vests, boots, gloves, wallets, purses and packs. The've also got a selection of novelty helmets and DOT approved helmets as well. Go check out the catalog if you are interested. I like the fact that they process orders the same day and offer the lowest price guarantee around.

Just remember, I don't have a vest that fits anymore, and I need a pair of boots. Father's day is coming and I wear size 10...

This is a pretty cool deal. I've used VistaPrint before for business cards and came across a pretty nice deal this afternoon while I was over there. First off, VistaPrint offers custom design and print solutions for businesses, homes, web sites, just about anything you could think of, at a pretty decent price. A box of 250 of their premium business cards are just under $20 and they offer free logo design to go along with it. Business cards aren't the only thing they offer though. Letterheads, car door magnets, marketing materials such as postcards, brochures and rack cards, clothing such as hats and T-shirts, stationary, rubber stamps, labels and more.

I used to print out my own business cards using my deskjet printer, but the quality is just never the same as using a professional service. The ones I did myself printed out in sheets and either I had to cut them (they were always uneven) or they were the ones that were perforated (and they look it too). There's just no substitute for a professional job well done.

Anyway, back to the deal I mentioned at the beginning of the post. I was browsing through their custom magnets section and found out that if you use the coupon code "Blog25FreeMag" you can get 25 free magnets. Put your business name on them, your website, your phone number to hand out to the ladies, whatever you want to do with them, it's entirely up to you. I have a ton of magnets on my refrigerator holding up my kid's artwork, calendars, appointments and other important stuff and they are there. When I want to order pizza I know which magnet to look for, I even have one for the vet when the dog isn't feeling well. Actually I lie. I don't really call and order pizza on the phone any more. I order it through their web site, but the magnet's still there! Anyway, if you want to get 25 free customized magnets head on over to VistaPrint and use the code Blog25FreeMag.

Back when the wife and I were much younger we got talked into purchasing a membership in one of those member only warehouses. The membership itself was several hundred dollars, so I'm sure the guys selling them made a good bit for each one the sold. I was way out toward the area where I live now and we never did use it very often so it was certainly not worth it at the time, not to mention the fact that I wasn't making much money at the time either.

Just one of those things I guess. Now that I am making enough I don't use anything like that, although with directbuy you get to choose from brand name stuff at manufacturer prices. That's why they have to offer a membership, otherwise the company wouldn't be able to make any money since there is absolutely no markup on the stuff. That's pretty nice, particularly for stuff like furniture, which has HUGE markups.

I really hate the fact that with some of the health codes that went into effect back on the first of December I can no longer wear a watch at work. It seems almost stupid but I am sure there are good reasons. I can understand not wearing jewelry on the hands because washing them might not get all of the bacteria out from under rings and such but my watch in no way comes in contact with any type of ready-to-eat food.

I like wearing watches and just got a brand new one last fall that I can no longer wear, at least while on the job. It's put up in me desk along with a couple of others that I have retired. I really like some of the newer luxury watches I have seen but have pretty much decided against spending any kind of money on them now.

I got an email from a friend the other day. Seems that a few bloggers are getting together for dinner tonight in Atlanta. I lucked out on that one. One of my manager's is supposed to be off this weekend but he is wanting to go skiing the weekend prior to my vacation with some buddies and wanted to know if I would trade days off with him.

I thought that was a pretty good idea. My weekend off wasn't supposed to roll around until that weekend four days before I start my vacation and I am pretty sure I would have lost at least one of those days off once my boss looked at the schedules. This way I still go on vacation in three weeks AND get THIS weekend off. Sweet. We even found a babysitter for the girls for tonight, so the wife and I will both get to go. She's made it to a couple of blogmeets with me but not had the opportunity to just go hang out with them.

Today is the boy's birthday but I will post about that later today. It's kind of sad because this is the first time he has never been with us on his birthday. I think I will call him shortly and see if he's awake. He has a pretty bad cold in addition to being miserable because he has no clothing to speak of. Maybe I can send him some Sports Authority coupons :)

Actually he already has received his birthday present. He wanted the Orange Box version of Half-Life 2 and since he lost the password for one of my Steam accounts and can't seem to get it reset, that was perfect.

I mentioned yesterday when I was posting about the trip to the Bahamas that I like to listen to Clark Howard on the radio. Since I haven't commuted to work since 2003 I don't get to listen as much as I used to but I still enjoy it occasionally. I wonder if his show is on the Internet? I may have to check that out.

Anyway, one of the things that I heard about quite a bit on the Clark Howard show was the fact that a lot of people use Canadian pharmacies to get their medicine. There are some gives and takes in our system. Lot's of Canadians visit the U.S. for their health care because it is so much more advanced and some of the medicines and treatments we have here are not available there, but there are just as many if not more people that use a Canadian Pharmacy to get their medicines because the cost is so much cheaper.

For instance, I take Protonix and Vytorin for my ulcer and my cholesterol. A 30 day supply of Protonix costs me (after insurance costs) somewhere around $50. I can get the same drug from DrugDelivery.ca for slightly less than that BEFORE my insurance. I may have to look into some of the mail order stuff and see exactly how much I can save. The biggest thing is that I will need to make sure and get a couple months at a time since it's mail order and I am bad about running out of the stuff before I renew my prescriptions.

I love coffee. Ever since I was about ten I have been drinking coffee and I don't go very long without drinking it. Heck, I even have it at night. I can usually drink it up until about eight PM or so without having any problems falling asleep. I don't know that I would consider myself a coffee connoisseur but I certainly love the stuff, hence my motto 'sleep is just a cheap caffeine substitute'.

I drink everything from canned Folgers as well as Waffle House and Starbucks coffee. Right now my favorite by far is Starbucks but that is because of consistency. Most of the gourmet flavors that I have picked up from the grocery store have a greasy oily taste that I just don't like. There are some places around to get great coffee though and I found one that I am going to have to try. Apres Cafe has quality exotic gourmet coffee on their web site that is available to order 24 hours a day. You can even call them on an 800 number listed on the web site as well. Along with coffees, they also offer tea and chocolates, a must at this time of year. Who doesn't like nice dark chocolate. Very soothing.

I am particularly partial to very dark roasts and am pretty interested in trying their Sumatra Mandheling as well as the Midnight Special, one of their darkest roasts. I would also like to try their Kenya AA Lenana. The brew has a deep complex aroma of smoke, grapefruit, berry, hints of butterscotch and dark chocolate.

Apres also offers recurring deliveries, subscriptions in other words, so that you never have to run out of your favorite brand of coffee. At the rate that I drink the stuff, if it's any good this will end up being a necessity for me. With recurring deliveries they also give 15% off on shipping via UPS ground, you get free samples of their coffees as well as other special offers on coffees and teas.

I'll let you know how I fare toward the end of the month and compare it to my favorites that I am able to buy locally.

Sponsored by Apres Cafe