The Chronic Consumer

I was checking out something on Amazon.com yesterday and ended up checking out the Kindle one more time. I enjoy reading user reviews to see what people think of the electronic book reader that has been out for about six months now.

When I got to the Kindle page, I was surprised to see that the price has gone down by $40 since its release! When the Kindle first hit the market, it sold on Amazon for $399. Now it’s listed at $359, though I didn’t notice an announcement or anything to explain the price drop.

Even so, however, $359 is still too much to spend for a device that does nothing except allow me to read electronic texts. I really would love to buy one of these things, but in order to do so, I have to wait until the price drops to under $300 (preferably around $250). That’s possible, right? These types of devices always come down in price. Remember how much the first generation iPods were?

Anyway, I’m going to be keeping an eye on the Kindle price and will post alerts here as applicable.

I’ve been working from home for going on four years now, and my husband is now starting to do more and more telecommuting as well. We’ve always had two desktop PCs at home, but we never bothered setting up our own network or anything to make it easier to share data and tasks between the two machines. With the recent changes in my husband’s work situation, however, this is all going to change soon.

We want to set up a nice workstation here at home so we can both operate more quickly and efficiently. I’ve checked into some of the equipment we need in order to get going, and from what I can tell, it doesn’t look like we’ll have to spend too much money. We just have to buy a CAT5e cable economizer/doubler and maybe a better router.

I’m going to try to buy the necessary components this week so my husband can set up our workstations over the weekend. I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

I usually don’t get behind celebrity causes, but when I heard that Reese Witherspoon, as part of her duties as Avon’s Global Ambassador, was promoting this Women’s Empowerment Bracelet, I decided to lend my support.

According to a blurb on the official Avon website, the Empowerment Bracelet is “Avon’s first global charity product designed to save and improve women’s lives worldwide.” An additional paragraph notes:

Bracelet proceeds will be used to create a new Avon Empowerment Fund. The first $500,000 from bracelet sales will be matched by the Avon Foundation for a total donation of $1 million to UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, for projects that will empower women around the world.

I read somewhere else that part of the empowerment process includes providing help to female victims of domestic violence, which is something that I’m pretty passionate about. That sealed the deal and made it even easier for me to order a couple of bracelets to help support the cause.

The Avon Women’s Empowerment Bracelet is just a simple piece made of blue stretch cord. Each end of the cord is then looped around an end of a plastic silvertone infinity symbol. It’s available in two sizes (Adult Small and Adult Large).

I’ve been wearing my Women’s Empowerment Bracelet for a couple of days now and think it’s great! Sure, it’s just stretch cord and plastic, but I think it’s kind of cool — and it has even elicited a few questions from friends who noticed it on me. Plus, it was only $3, with 100% of the proceeds going to a worthy cause, so I can’t complain.

If you want to join this global movement and get a Women’s Empowerment Bracelet of your own, all you have to do is talk to your local Avon representative or visit the Avon website. I hope to see a lot of these blue bracelets on women everywhere I go!

We’re thinking about cashing in our frequent flier miles for a couple of tickets to Vegas later this year. We’ve never been to Vegas, but have always wanted to go, so this would be a perfect way to get there. We’ve got enough miles for two free round-trip tickets, which means we’d just have to pay for the hotel and rental car.

So while I was out shopping today, I picked up a Las Vegas travel guide to help us plan our trip a little better. Of course we’re going to gamble a lot while we’re there, but we might as well see some sights and take in a few shows or museums as well. The guide I bought is pretty comprehensive and offers tons of suggestions, so we’re going to need a few days to go over everything and decide what we’d most like to do in Vegas.

Hopefully we’ll actually get to our intended destination this year! It seems that for the past couple of years, we’ve ended up landing in boring places like St. Louis and the Wisconsin Dells instead of where we really wanted to go….

I have a generic, no-name PC that doesn’t have any bells or whistles to speak of. It’s currently three years old going on four, but since I don’t have the money to buy a replacement, I’m stuck trying to make do with the thing.

One of the most annoying problems I have with the machine is that there’s only one USB port on it! I take that back: there are actually two USB ports, one in the front and one in the back. But since I have to plug my mouse into the one in the back, that leaves me with just one free USB port to use for my iPod, external hard drives, and any other peripherals that I want to connect to.

Of course this sucks, so I’m currently looking at buying a multi-port USB hub. I saw a 7-port hub from Belkin for just $19.99 (after a $10 rebate) and free shipping over at Buy.com, which I think is an excellent deal.

Too bad this is shaping up to be a rough week financially, as both my estimated tax payments for the second quarter of 2008 and my monthly credit card bills are due on the same day (tomorrow). Those payments are going to wipe me out, so I doubt I’ll be able to buy a multi-port hub this week. Hopefully it will still be on sale when I get some extra spending cash, but for now it looks like I have yet another item to add to my wish list!

Even though I’ve had my cell phone for about a year and a half now, I haven’t purchased any of the accessories that I usually buy for my devices. For example, I always get a screen protector for my digital cameras, iPods, handheld gaming systems (Nintendo DS, PSP), and phones, but for some reason, I didn’t do it this time. No, scratch that… I did buy a screen protector, but it came off after a couple of months and I never bothered to replace it.

Anyway, I finally went out today and bought two new accessories for my phone since I still have a good 8 months left on my contract. The first item I purchased was a micro sd card so I can transfer my photos from my phone to my computer, and the second was another screen protector to prevent any further scratches.

Having these accessories has revitalized my interest in my phone somewhat. I was seriously thinking about ditching my current contract and paying the early cancellation penalties in order to be able to get a new phone, but now I think I can stick it out for the rest of the term!

I’m not much of a golfer, but I do have to say that I buy golf apparel all the time! I especially love golf hats and visors because they’re much more suited to my tastes than other headwear. Whereas most other companies produce flexfit hats, which I absolutely hate, golf companies still manufacture adjustable baseball-style hats — something I need so I can slip my ponytail through the opening in the back.

Recently, I decided I wanted a new hat for this summer, so I went to the local sporting goods store and came back with this white Mizuno golf hat. It comes with an adjustable velcro strap in the back, a sturdy bill, and an embroidered logo on the front.

Another thing that I particularly like about this hat is the the way that it keeps its shape in the front area and doesn’t slope too much — which is a problem with softer, floppier hats on the market. I hate the way those soft hats look on my head, so I always try to find a sturdier one like this Mizuno.

The hat also came with a logo clip and magnetic golf ball marker. The clip snaps onto the bill of the cap, and the magnetic marker can be removed and replaced easily when you’re on the putting green. I doubt that I’ll ever have to use this accessory, but it was kind of neat that the hat came with it anyway.

Overall, this Mizuno golf hat is a good-looking cap that will keep my head and eyes protected from the harsh sun all summer long. At a retail price of about $25, it was a bit on the expensive side as far as baseball-style hats go, but I’m willing to pay extra to avoid the flexfit trend!

I don’t know about you, but I always associate the summer months with parties. Between graduation parties, barbecues, wedding receptions, and even the Fourth of July, there always seems to be something going on!

We do our fair share of entertaining during the summer as well. But unlike other people who seem content to either phone their invitations or, even worse, send a cheesy “e-vite”, I prefer to contact my potential guests the old-fashioned way with real invitations delivered via snail mail.

I usually just grab blank cards from the store and fill in the details, but this year, I’m thinking about getting custom party invitations from VistaPrint instead.

I’ve known about VistaPrint for a couple of years now, as they’re world famous for offering a wide variety of custom printed goods (such as calendars, checks, business cards, magnets, and more) at rock-bottom prices. However, I’ve never had a chance to try out the company for myself — until now. Buying custom party invitations from them would be a terrific way for me to learn firsthand why they get all the rave reviews I’ve read!

I’ve looked over their custom invitation page, and was impressed by the selection I saw. VistaPrint sells invitations for birthday, holiday, graduation, wedding, and general parties, and all the categories have numerous designs to choose from. Of course, I can always upload my own images to use instead, so that’s another option to consider.

I love how VistaPrint gives customers complete control over the design process from beginning to end. For example, I can choose everything from the font size, style, and color to the actual text and layout of my invitation. In other words, I can get exactly what I want without having to settle for someone else’s idea of perfection. The design wizard is fast and easy to use, so I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with a fabulous invitation in no time.

If you’re planning a big get-together soon, check out the custom party invitations available at VistaPrint.com. I’m sure you’ll be as happy with their selection and prices as I was!