The Chronic Consumer

When I went to Barnes & Noble last night to browse through wine books, I also started looking at financial planning books. I’m very worried about saving up enough money for retirement because we haven’t even started yet. My husband and I are both in our mid-thirties, but we don’t have a stock portfolio, bonds, commercial real estate, or any other real investments to speak of. The only assets we have are our two homes, but who knows how much they’ll be worth in the future.

So I ended up buying a book called The New Rules of Retirement and am hoping to get some good information out of it. We’re committed to starting some kind of retirement fund this year, be it an IRA or a mutual fund, so I need to get as much information as possible before we invest. I’ll let you know how this book turns out!

One thing I’ve always wanted to do is learn more about wine, so I’m thinking of either taking a class or buying a couple of books on the subject. As things stand now, I’m utterly clueless about what to look for when I scan the wine racks at local liquor stores, and simply have no idea about how to pick out a decent bottle. This is kind of embarrassing, especially when I’m invited to dinner parties and want to bring the hostess something to serve with the meal.

At any rate, I’m going to the bookstore later tonight or maybe tomorrow, so I’m going to try to grab a couple of relevant titles then!

Even though I’ve been playing blackjack and other card games for a couple of decades now, I still can’t shuffle cards very well. This is particularly true when using more than one deck, which is a must if you want to simulate casino blackjack. So that’s why I want to buy this automatic card shuffler that I saw while browsing through a site called PoolDawg.com.

This automatic card shuffler is similar to what you’d find in casinos and can handle up to four decks. It’s suitable for blackjack, poker, and any other game where you want a good, thorough shuffle without having to handle the cards yourself.

There wasn’t a whole lot of information about this card shuffler available in the product description, but it only costs about $12, so it’s not like I’d be going out on a limb by buying it!

I’ve been making a conscious effort to eat healthier foods recently, which means one of the things I’m working on is my nearly constant craving for snacks. I’m not a big on fruit or veggies as snacks, so I’m trying to find healthier alternatives to the potato chips and cookies that I like to eat. One option that I’m considering is air popped popcorn.

Towards that end, I’ve been checking out various popcorn machines and poppers to see which one would be best for my needs. It turns out that the process isn’t going to be as straightforward as I hoped. There are lots of mixed reviews from customers about the taste and consistency of air popped popcorn, making me think that I might be wasting my time on this one.

Maybe I should just get a full-sized theater-style machine and have at it!

I’m not the kind of person to buy aftermarket auto parts for my vehicles, but my husband is. He doesn’t go crazy and put chrome on everything or modify the engine to get additional horsepower. He just sticks to the basics like rear spoilers, mufflers, and wheels.

He’s currently working on setting up his new van, and I have to say that it actually looks a lot better with these changes. The best part are the black wheels that offset the silver body. Sure, we spent $1200 on the wheels, but now our ride looks very cool!

Anyway, for those of you that do indulge in aftermarket auto parts, where do you usually get them from? Is there a shop near you that you frequent? Do you order them from a catalog? From a website?

Let me know!

I run several blogs and websites that serve as my primary source of income. As such, it’s very important for me to stay connected — even on weekends when I’d rather be out doing something else. But of course, this essentially means that I work 7 days/week and never get a chance to spend time with my family without worrying about updating my sites and answering emails.

I desperately want to change that situation without impacting my income too much. So after doing a lot of checking around, I’m thinking of purchasing a Nokia Portable Internet Tablet.

Specifically, I looked at the Nokia N810 and think that it would be perfect for my needs. It’s small and compact, has a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, and features a 4.1-inch LCD screen. In other words, it’s more portable than a laptop, but bigger and easier to use for Internet browsing than a cell phone would be.

The only drawback to this product is the price, which is currently around $420. That’s a lot to pay for something that I’d only use, say, every other weekend, so I’ll definitely have to think about it some more.

I’m currently trying to reorganize my closets so I can fit more stuff in them. Right now, there’s not much method to the madness, as I’ve just got a bunch of jam-packed cardboard moving boxes in all of them. I need to get rid of the boxes and get something a little more conducive to organization, such as stackable bins or containers. Heck, even rattan storage baskets would look better and be easier to comb through when I need something!

With two dogs in the house, I’m always looking for good pet products to try out. I’ve recently switched to organic dog food and elevated dog feeders to help make mealtimes more pleasant, and I’ve also been buying Bully Sticks as a healthier alternative to rawhide chews.

Now I’m turning my attention to pet beds in an effort to make my dogs’ time out in the yard a bit more comfortable. I found these special outdoor pet cots over at Jeffers Pet, and think they look great! They’re durable, weather resistant, and most importantly, they’re washable so I can keep them (and my dogs) clean. That’s exactly what my pets need so they don’t have to lie down on the hard concrete patio or sit out on the lawn in the blazing sun.

These particular beds are very reasonably priced, so I’m probably going to order a couple before summer comes. I can’t wait for my pooches to try them out!

My five-year-old son is a big fan of the entire Mario franchise, and loves playing Nintendo games featuring that character and his friends. From New Super Mario Bros. to Mario Party DS and Mario Kart DS, they are by far his favorites. So when we heard that Mario Kart Wii was coming out at the end of last month, you better believe we made arrangements to buy it right away. After playing the new title every day for a couple of weeks, I’m finally ready to give a review.

Overview: Mario Kart Wii is an updated version of the beloved Mario Kart franchise. As with previous titles, you race karts as Mario or one of his friends around cool tracks while hammering each other with various weapons. In Grand Prix mode, there are 8 different cups to compete for, with each cup consisting of four 3-lap races at different circuits. That’s a total of 32 unique tracks (64 if you include “mirror mode”, which allows you to race the same tracks in the opposite direction), so that’s quite a variety. There are also Balloon Battle and Coin Runner modes, minigames that provide a nice change to all the racing, along with WiFi mode that allows you to compete against players from around the world.

Characters and Karts: From what I’ve read, there are 25 characters available in this game, with more than half of them being “unlockables” that you have to win by achieving various milestones. You start out with 12, and work your way up from there. In addition to the usual crowd, we get the baby versions of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Daisy, plus the ability to play as Miis.

There are a wide variety of karts to choose from and unlock as well. I think I read that each character can have up to 12 karts and bikes (that’s right, you can even ride motorcycles in this version!), but we’re nowhere near that number yet.

Controls: Mario Kart Wii comes packaged with a Wii wheel that houses the regular Wiimote. With the Wiimote placed in the wheel, you actually “drive” around the tracks, which is hard to do at first, but players quickly get the hang of it. I had to help my 5-year-old turn for a couple of days, but now he’s playing with the Wii wheel all by himself. The game can also be played with a Wiimote and nunchuk setup, a classic controller, or a GameCube controller. We haven’t tried any of those, though, so I can’t say how they work.

Gameplay: There are a couple of notable differences in gameplay in Mario Kart Wii compared to past versions. For one thing, it’s much, much harder to gain a turbo boost by drifting. I was very good at drifting in Mario Kart DS, where it’s relatively easy, but here, I can hardly ever do it, so I just use Automatic drift mode whenever I play.

Also included in this version is the ability to do midair tricks and stunts that end up giving your character a turbo boost when you hit the ground again. To accommodate for these tricks, almost every track now has ramps and halfpipes scattered throughout the landscape. This is actually a very fun addition, and now when I play the DS version, it seems kind of boring without tricks.

Finally, there are a few changes to the items you get from the item boxes. Now included is a mega mushroom that grows your character and vehicle to giant size and flattens anyone you hit; a POW box that sends everyone in front of you into a spin; and a thunder cloud that will zap you with electricity and shrink you unless you pass it off to someone else by bumping into them. The mega mushroom is fun, but the other two are kind of annoying while playing — especially since they seem to appear A LOT.

Online Play: The WiFi mode is fun and seamless. There’s a points system that automatically places you with players of like skill level instead of having to manually choose beginner or expert, so that makes things much more even. Plus, since it’s nearly impossible for people to “snake” their way around the track with mini turbo boosts, WiFi gaming in Mario Kart Wii is a lot more fun than in DS.

Verdict: Mario Kart Wii is an exceptional game that will lead to hours upon hours of fun for the whole family. Players of all ages and skill levels can quickly get up to speed on how to handle the karts and bikes to start racing, and everyone can win at some point. This game was a great purchase for our family and is highly recommended!

Every once in a while, I like to read self-help books, particularly ones that have generated lots of buzz. For example, I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad after seeing it stay on top of the bestseller list for so long, and What Color Is Your Parachute? after everyone insisted it was the key to finding my true calling in life. I actually got some good information out of those titles (well, at least out of one of them!) and am glad to have read them.

Now I’m getting that self-help urge again, so I’ve been trying to figure out which ones I’m going to tackle next. I think it’s high time that I finally take a look at The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, a hugely successful book about the Law of Attraction, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, which is supposed to be one of the best self-help books around.

I know this is not exactly beach reading, but I like to change things up from my usual fiction titles from time to time!