Pack your virtual suitcase & passport and join me every Wednesday to travel around the world via webcams! I thought it fitting to start with a few from Guam, where I lived for 2 years. If you live in the States, the best time to check these is late afternoon thru the evening since their night is our day.

Harvest Ministries Weather Webcam (picture refreshes every 30 seconds)
Harvest Ministries Multiplex Construction (picture refreshes every 30 seconds)
Micronesia Mall Webcam (I had trouble with this in Firefox. You may need to view it in Internet Explorer)

More information about Guam:
CIA World Factbook
Guam Visitors Bureau

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About 31 hours after my journey started, I arrived home! My plane left the gate on time from Detroit. (There were a lot of cancellations, so I wasn't sure I would get out!) We sat on the ground for about 2 hours for a mechanical problem and deicing. But we got out!!! I arrived in Minneapolis too late to catch the first flight to Iowa. They were able to get me confirmed on the 5:15pm flight instead of the 10:30pm one. Hooray!

Next time I spend 31 hours flying to my destination, I hope it's to Guam! :-)

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I've now been rebooked for an earlier flight out of Detroit. I'm waitlisted in Minneapolis for two flights and still confirmed on the late flight just in case the others are still full.

They're now predicting 10-14" of snow for Detroit by tomorrow night!

The good news? My luggage made it home! I think that's the first time my luggage made it there before me! :-)

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I left Greenville today for Iowa. My plane was delayed, but we were supposed to arrive only a few minutes late to Detroit. By the time we arrived, I had about 20 minutes to catch my next flight. Ordinarily, that might be enough time, but...the jet bridge wasn't working, so we sat on the plane for...you guessed it...20 minutes! When we finally got off, the gate agent checked & they were about to close the door on my connecting flight at the other end of the terminal.

Northwest was kind enough to put me up in a hotel and give me meal vouchers. Apparently there were lots of delayed flights because the they rebooked me on a 9pm Sunday flight! That means I get to Iowa at 11:30pm. Ugh!

There are earlier flights from Detroit to Minneapolis, but apparently all the flights from Minneapolis to home are full. I'm going to try and rebook on an earlier flight from Detroit and try to get a standby seat from Minneapolis.

Oh, and did I mention there is a storm brewing in Detroit? They're predicting 4-8"

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I wonder, just how many cars does Alamo have available for this reservation if they're sold out and referring me to another agency? (If you can't read it well enough, click the picture for a larger view.)

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Batteries Plus has 10% off all online purchases. They carry batteries for just about everything - cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, watches, cars, ATVs...they sell them all!

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I am looking at making some changes to my internet service - Dry Loop DSL is now available in my area! That means I can ditch my landline phone and save about $36/month! That's $432 a year!

I haven't even used the landline since I've been here. I did plug a phone into it, but didn't give the number out to anyone. After 2 days of getting telemarketer calls (and they had my name!), I unplugged the phone! It's been so peaceful since then!

I was reading some boring fine print and ran across this on AT&T's website:
"Applicable taxes and fees based on the full price of all products and services, and no faxes or fees will be added to any rebate." Whew! I am so glad they are not going to add any faxes to my rebate! I hate it when they do that.

Back to telemarketers. Since I have a VOIP phone and a cell phone, I really don't get telemarketer calls. I suppose it's only a matter of time though. I did get one interesting one awhile back. This lady called urging me to subscribe to the newspaper. I thought I caught the name of it, but wasn't sure. Didn't matter. I wasn't interested anyway. She persisted and started extolling the virtues of local coupons, etc. I asked her to repeat the name of the paper. It was my hometown paper in Iowa! I told her local news and coupons wouldn't be much help. I'm in South Carolina! :-) She apologized and hung up.

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I've often marveled at how our brains work. I can dial a desktop phone about as fast as I can 10-key on a keyboard. But have you ever noticed the keys on the two are set up opposite of each other?

And those paragraphs written with no vowels- you can still read them because your brain fills in the missing letters.

I found this today - it's really pretty amazing. It's a half-keyboard. To type on the other "half", hold down the space bar. I was finding that I was hitting the right keys, but forgot to hold the space bar. I think I could get it with practice! I first tried it with my left hand only because the point is having your other hand free for using your mouse, writing, etc. Then I tried typing with my right hand. I was a little better at that.

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No snow here in South Carolina yet. I'm heading to Iowa on Saturday though where they do have some and expecting more this week! I realized the other day that it's been 3 years since I've seen snow! I ran across this site today where you can make your own snowflake - the kind you did as a kid where you cut shapes out of folded paper! Once you create your snowflake, they add it to the snowfall on the site. If you mouse over the flakes, they'll stop and you can see ones other people around the world have created. There are some pretty fancy ones!

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Today's "Works for Me Wednesday" topic is What do I fix? This is for those days when you're short on time and need to fix dinner.

Since I am single, my #1 "no time" dinner tends to be cereal! :-) I love Grape Nuts and raisins, so it's healthy at least!

Fried Rice is a pretty simple delish dinner to whip up with stuff I usually have on hand.
1. Cook up a batch of rice in the rice cooker or on the stove top. (Rice cooker is my favorite way. Start it & forget it!)
2. Heat oil in a wok
3. Crack a couple eggs into the wok and scramble as they cook
add vegetables. Depending on what I have on hand I use fresh or frozen. Usually peas and carrots. Last time I had "Asian blend vegetables with schezwan sauce" (microwaved first) and used that. Very yummy!
4. Add rice
5. Stir until rice is browned
6. Add a few dashes of soy sauce and stir in.

For variations you can add bacon, green onions, SPAM, garlic, brown some chicken for chicken fried rice, experiment with different sauces and oils, vegetables, etc. If it sounds good, I throw it in!

French toast, grilled cheese & tomato soup, sub sandwiches, fruit/yogurt smoothies or meat cooked on the George Foreman Grill are a few other quick-fix ideas that work for me.

I have also been making some dinners when I do have time to cook and freezing them in individual servings . Those are quick and easy to pull out and warm up. Here are a couple that freeze well: Cheesy Mostaccioli and Creamy Italian Chicken (sans mushrooms. blech!) I serve the Creamy Italian chicken with rice and freeze the rice in the same container so it's all ready to grab, thaw and reheat.

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Two great features the United States Postal Service offers are online postage and carrier pickup. Carrier pickup is only available for Priority Mail and Express Mail. I can pack, pay and mail all from home! I just wish I could do this for media mail. :-(

Last year I ran to the Post Office with my package (carrier pickup is not available on Guam). I had already paid it for using online postage. It was right before Christmas, so the line was long. I went to the nearest window that was technically closed, but there was an employee there. I asked, "Where can I drop this box. It already has postage." She took it from me & I walked out the door avoiding that long line!

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I ran across the "5 Minutes for Mom" site recently and decided I needed to participate in their Tackle it Tuesday. So I'm not a mom, but I can still pick up tips & tricks from others that post there! :-)

My project today was my work area. I work from home and currently my office doubles as the living room. It had been driving me nuts for awhile, so this blog motivated me to clean it up!

For background noise and entertainment, I turned on The Princess Bride and started tackling! (see previous post).

It looks much better now and I feel better too without all that clutter! Here are the before & after photos:

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I read an article yesterday about a new technology that will eliminate high speed chases. Equipment mounted behind the grille of a police car will allow the officer to target the fleeing vehicle with a laser and launch a small GPS transmitter that sticks to the back vehicle.

The officer pursues long enough to attach the GPS, then backs off and lets the technology do the work of keeping track of the vehicle and follow at a safer speed and distance. When the suspect slows down or stops, the officer then can speed up and move in.

You can read more about this technology on FoxNews or the StarChase website.

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I listed a (barely) used cable modem on ebay today. While I was there, I browsed a little. With Christmas getting near, I thought I'd look to see what the hard to find Nintendo Wii was going for. Normal retail price is $249. One guy is selling one for 10 million dollars! I think I'll pass.

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I grew up in Iowa where it can get pretty cold in the winter. I spent 7 years in Wisconsin and endured 30 below temperatures at times. And 10" of snow at the end of April. And yet, in Greenville, SC, I freeze when it gets below 60! People laugh at me for being bundled up in a sweater and a light coat. I really want to wear my warmer winter one, but when it gets "really" cold I won't have any more warm layers to put on!

Please understand, living on a tropical island thins your blood. If you get too cold inside the air conditioning (or air con as it's called there), you go outside to warm up!

I will be in Iowa for 3 weeks over Christmas. I think I'll turn into a human Popsicle. They've already had snow there. It will be good to be with family, but I think I'll be wishing we could all be together on the beach - where I spent Christmas the last two years! They don't know what they're missing! :-)

If the weather gets cold in your area and you need a new coat, I found some on clearance (50% off or more) at Amazon for women and men. Christmas idea for the sports fan in your family - the men's clearance had quite a few different styles of lightweight NFL jackets 60% off!

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Click on the pictures for more information about these CDs. Regular retail price is $17.50. Sale price through Christmas is $12!

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I finally decided it was time my blog had a new look! I updated a few new features as well using the new draft version of blogger.

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I played fetch with the neighbor's dog today. Toys? Who needs them when you have rocks! Yes, she plays fetch with rocks! She is so funny! If I didn't throw it fast enough, she'd bark at me to hurry up! There is a chain link fence between us and she runs over and pushes it through the fence to me. Apparently if there isn't enough dirt on the rock it doesn't taste as good. Every so often she would run over to a dirt patch and cover the rock with dirt then bring it to me again. Silly dog! BTW, she does have dog toys, but likes rocks better. She'll even catch it mid air sometimes!

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I can't believe it. I just found out today that The Princess Bride is 20 years old! It is one of my all time favorite "classics". So many great quotes and dry humor!

Who can forget the impressive clergyman?
Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam... And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva... So tweasure your wuv.

or:
Murdered by pirates is good...
As you wish.
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die.
You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.

Another great scene is the rhyming on the boat. Anybody want a peanut?

I think I need to get my copy out and watch it again in honor of the anniversary!

I have also read the bookby William Goldman. The movie is pretty close to the book with a few exceptions. Shrieking sharks instead of shrieking eels. And they it into further detail about [use your raspy voice here] "The Pit of Despair" There are probably others, but I'll bet it's been about 20 years since I read the book. I'm getting old & my memory is failing...now what was I talking about again?

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