The Chronic Consumer

I have never been on a cruise before (riverboat gambling doesn’t count!), but have always dreamed of going on one. I think it would be amazing to travel across the ocean to an exotic, fun-filled destination — all while being treated like a queen on board the ship, of course.

My ideal cruise vacation would span at least one week, and would take me through the eastern Caribbean to places like the Bahamas, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turk. While on board the ship, I would spend time shopping, playing blackjack, relaxing on the deck with a book, or treating myself to a massage at the spa. At the various ports of call, I would go sightseeing, snorkeling, and shopping, and just have a fabulous time all around!

I would love to take one of Carnival’s Caribbean cruises in the near future. I’ll be starting grad school soon, and know I’ll be too swamped with work to do anything fun, so if I could somehow manage to book a cruise in the next month and a half, I’d be set. Or, I could save up and give myself this dream cruise as a graduation present. Yes, that sounds like the right idea! Think I can make this happen??

I just got done reading an interesting article about some of the many, many well-known companies that have filed for bankruptcy protection recently. This does not include Bed, Bath & Beyond, Circuit City, or the Sharper Image. These filings are more recent.

Here’s the complete article if you want to read the details, and here’s the list if you just want to peruse it quickly.

• Phoenix Coyotes
• Hartmarx
• Six Flags
• Crabtree & Evelyn
• Filene’s Basement
• Extended Stay America
• Eddie Bauer
• Crunch Gym
• Pilgrim’s Pride
• The Daily Blossom
• Debt Relief USA (rather ironic, isn’t it?)
• Chicago Tribune
• City of Vallejo, CA
• Lear Corp.

I’m not a coffee/cappuccino/latte/espresso/mocha drinker at all, but judging from all the damn gourmet coffee places around, most of you are! Anyway, I wouldn’t know the quality of McDonald’s coffee from anything else, but if you enjoy free stuff, then you’ll definitely want to stop at your closest branch every Monday from now until August 3. That’s because McDonald’s is giving away FREE samples of its new iced or hot mocha drinks between 7am and 7pm on those days!

No other purchase or coupon is necessary for Free Mocha Mondays, though the fine print says “while supplies last”, so maybe that means they’re just giving away a limited number each time?

Anyway, you’ve got four chances to make this happen: 7/13, 7/20, 7/27, and 8/3.

Sigh. Here we go again. It seems like I’m always trying something new for my acne problems, doesn’t it? From jojoba oil to zinc tablets to new soap, I easily spend hundreds of dollars a year trying to keep acne under control.

Well, I can add another $10 to that total, as I’ve decided to try fish oil supplements. Fish oil has many health benefits, and can even help regulate your good and bad cholesterol levels, so I think this is something that I should be taking anyway. But I’ve also heard that it is sometimes effective against acne flareups — and that of course is the real reason I bought the stuff.

I’m using Nature Made and got a small bottle of 120 softgel capsules for about $10. I’m supposed to take four per day, so this is a one-month supply. There were much more expensive options at the store and I’ve heard that quality matters for fish oil, but honestly, I don’t know how to determine what’s good and what’s not. Is it just from price??

Anyway, I’ll use up this one-month supply and then right another post telling how the stuff worked on acne (if at all).

I’ve been reading some more about the recent oatmeal recalls, and am somewhat surprised at how long the list has grown. When I first heard of the oatmeal recall last week (or whenever it was), I think only Malt-o-Meal was mentioned, specifically, the Maple & Brown Sugar Instant variety.

But after checking this FDA page, it looks like there are about 30 other brands that might be affected as well. Wow, what a nightmare that could be.

Anyway, if you haven’t heard, the oatmeal recall is because of a potential salmonella contamination in some non-fat dry milk manufactured by the Plainview Milk Products Cooperative. Any instant oatmeal product using this ingredient should not be eaten by consumers.

I happen to eat instant oatmeal for breakfast 90% of the time, so this story has the potential to affect me directly. But fortunately, Quaker, the brand I buy most often, isn’t on the oatmeal recall list…yet.

I’ve always heard that air-popped popcorn is one of the healthiest snacks around, but I’ve never actually owned a popper that didn’t make use of oil and/or butter. Now that I’m on my health kick, I’m definitely looking into buying one of these machines.

Slate ran a good review article that contained excellent info on six different popcorn poppers out there, and based on their recommendation, I’m going to buy the Presto Poplite Hot Air Popper. It’s less than $20, which is a great price, and has a very good 4.5 star average rating after 275+ customer reviews.

I’m not sure when I’ll be able to buy this thing, but hopefully it will be pretty soon. As of now, it’s going on my wish list.

If you’re a Michael Jackson fan or if you just want to be involved in the ongoing media circus related to the singer’s recent death, then you might be interested in attending the public memorial to be held on July 7 at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. But to get in, you’re going to have to rely on a lot of luck, because the only way to score these Staples Center Michael Jackson tickets is via a public lottery over at StaplesCenter.com.

If you want to register, you have until 6pm Pacific Time today (July 4). After that, a drawing will be held, and lucky winners will receive two tickets each. A total of 17,500 tickets are available for the event, with 11,000 granting access to the Staples Center itself and 6,500 more giving admittance to the Nokia Theater across the street, where large TV screens will broadcast the memorial live.

I’m sure there will be scalpers out on the street trying to make a profit off any free tickets they receive, so that might be another option if you really want to attend.

Flying to L.A. for an event like this isn’t an option for me, so I’ll just watch it on TV like most everyone else!

I don’t think I’m going to be able to do much shopping for fun stuff in the near future, because today I found out that I was accepted to grad school! Even though the program is comparatively cheap, it’ll still costs me thousands per semester in tuition, which is nothing to sneeze at.

I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do about this blog. I definitely want to keep it going, so maybe instead of focusing so much on product reviews, I’ll spend more time posting coupon codes and other shopping deals — whatever doesn’t cost money to write about. Or maybe I can get another part-time job. I’ve seen a few ads from companies that specialize in insurance lead generation and medical billing — stuff that can be done from home. That might be a good option for me and would give me some much-needed extra cash.

I’m not going anywhere, but I need to rethink the direction of this blog.