It’s been all over the news. There is talks of a $800 tax rebate for low and middle income citizens. The economy is at an all-time low because everyone seems to be poor. It’s a struggle finding a job and keeping a job. Without jobs we can’t afford to buy things, and if people don’t buy things stores go out of business. The government expects us to use the $800 to buy things. That’s their motivation for doing it–to help out the economy. I don’t know about you, but I hope this does get passed. They aren’t going to tell us what to use the money on and I surely know I could use it on a lot. I can use it to pay bills, to pay 2 months of rent, to pay off some of my credit cards. It hasn’t been approved yet but it’s in the works. Bush is for it. Congress is for it. Everyone is for it. I don’t see it not getting approved so hopefully we’ll see some checks in the mail…soon! But remember, in order to get this rebate check you MUST file your 2007 taxes. Each person will get up to $800 and each household will get no more than $1600. I already filed my taxes…did you?

If I’m going to travel all around the world with my luggage then I have to have some travel insurance to go along with it. I can’t even imagine losing my luggage. So many valuable things that I’d have to replace. It wouldn’t be an issue if luggage didn’t get lost often, but I know it does. Last year my mother’s luggage got sent on a different plane and they had to fly it back to Detroit and when it got here they had my number and address. They delivered me her luggage! I don’t even live with her. It was the craziest thing, but at least they tracked us down someway. The people that delivered it to my apartment had a station wagon full of luggage they had to drop off for the day! I didn’t realize that many mistakes happened, but after seeing their daily load just for Michigan I know I want to protect my stuff with some insurance.

I want to travel. I’d love to have a job that consisted of me traveling around the world. Maybe somehow I can find something that will relate to my degree and allow me to do the things I love. For that very reason I’m interested in getting some travelpro luggage. If you’re going to travel around the world you have to have some great luggage!

I want a plasma television but I don’t know where I’d put it. When I get my own place I’ll definitely have enough space. I’m thinking about getting one of those plasma lift. They’re nice and they give you extra storage space so I can even add my stereo and Wii equipment. This is something I’m looking forward to purchasing in the future.

I remember when I was young. My grandfather bought me this swing set because I always wanted one. It took them a while to actually put it up and it seemed like a big ordeal. Back then it seemed like swing sets were popular and I’m the only kid in my neighborhood who had one. There weren’t many kids that lived around me, and certainly not many I would invite to play on my swings. I don’t mind sharing but I don’t like the monkey business. Don’t expect to tear up my stuff and then go on about your way. I don’t think so!

I can finally say that I’m actually using my Netflix the way I should. I signed up for Netflix back in August while I was still working for Hollywood Video. I never let it go because shortly after I joined I found out that my store was going out of business. When school started I thought it would be a good idea to rent Spanish instructional tapes. That was just a waste. I never wanted to watch them and they would just sit at home collecting dust. This semester I’ve been renting movies/tv shows and I’m actually finding the time to watch them. It’s cool because maybe this will tip the barrel a little bit. I did calculations a few weeks ago and I only saved $0.50 by using Netflix. Netflix can save you a ton if watch more than 4 movies a month. I was averaging 4 movies a month so I said if I didn’t start putting it to use I would cut it off. I’ve rented 9 things this month. I say that’s a pretty sweet deal. I’d have to pay $36 if I was renting from a video store but I’m only paying $16 and really, I still have about a week and a half in this month, so yay! If things work out as planned I should have rented 15 movies by the end of this month! That may sound like a lot…but I used to work at a video store so it’s OK, lol.

Valentines Day is right around the corner. This time of year I start thinking about gifts. I’m not big on the Valentines Day gifts because I’ve never received anything so I’m used to feeling kinda lonely around the love. If you’re looking for gifts you should definitely keep Coupon Chief in mind. They have coupon codes for all the great online shops. You can even find Bestbuy coupon codes. You can find something for everyone there so why not look at the Bestbuy deals and give your mate something they’ll really love!

So…tonight wasn’t that good either. There were a few highlights, but not many. I don’t think I like the emotional stories. It seems like they’re laying it on thick. Almost, too thick. Usually when they do those things it’s once we’re down to the final 32 or something. It’s around the time when you want to remember people so you can vote for them. It seems like they’re giving you all these sob stories for these really bad people and you want them to do well, but when they bomb you can’t laugh because you feel bad. If that makes sense. I think that’s the problem with the auditions this season. They said they were going to add more stories so you can know more about the idols, and I agree with them doing that, but I think they should just let the auditions be funny. I prefer the singing part of it and usually the people who love the auditions watch it for just that, and they can’t even get a good laugh out of it!

My favorite audition came from the girl who could impersonate other people. I loved her Britney Spears! I was shocked. Then she came back with the Carrie Underwood. That was nice. And her voice isn’t bad. I think she’ll be interesting to watch, especially when they start covering other peoples songs. She might get lost in the impersonations or something. The dude wearing the all white feather suit with the hat that said “Simon” was crazy. Wow. He wasn’t really bad, I mean, you could sit through his singing. His whole thing was funny but I think they pushed it too much. They were trying to make it funnier than it really was or something. Ooh, and the girl that looked like Carrie Underwood…that was freaky. At first I didn’t see it. I was like what are they talking about? Then she started singing and I was like woooah…

So yeah, nothing that interesting happened. I’m still looking for some stand-out talent. I usually find a few that I like and they’re usually in the finals. Right now I just see the Britney Spears girl. Hopefully the next auditions will be better (or at least funny). They take place in California and they air on Tuesday. Tune in to Fox at 8pm/7pm central to watch!

So tonight was the premier of American Idol. I love AI but the episode wasn’t as good as it usually is. They had a few “sob stories” that made me pretty sad. That’s the hardest, you know, to see these people talk about their struggles and to see them not make it on to Hollywood. Or to see the ones that did make it to Hollywood but not win the cake, or get enough airtime to make fame off of their idol success. I don’t really remember anyone from todays show. I remember faces and whatnot but I don’t remember any names. No one really stuck with me. Hopefully tomorrow they’ll be more talent. Usually they show all of the bad people before they get to the good, so hopefully that’s the case. The bad people aren’t even that funny this year. But then again, this is only day one so hopefully tomorrow will be better. Todays auditions took place in Philadelphia and tomorrow Idol is heading out to Dallas.

Call for desperate measures! Sometimes you don’t always have the resources to cook the food you want to eat. When you’re put in that position you try to cook food with the items that you do have. That doesn’t always work. So instead of starving yourself or eating food that you know isn’t prepared the right way why not get some flame grilled chicken from El Pollo Loco? I know grilling chicken isn’t easy so why not leave that job to the experts!