Kashi wants to make 2010 your healthy year blah blah blah resolutions blah blah blah. The point is: they’re giving you free stuff.
You can get a free sample of either:
Click here to sign up!
Urban Outfitters has released another free sampler with 25 songs, featuring Beach House, the Dutchess and the Duke, Maps, Fanfarlo, and a bunch of bands that I don’t recognize because I’m getting old. Click here for details (and then click on the iTunes button to download).
Then you’ll like this:
For a limited time, you can get a free download of “As You Are” by Fran Healy & Andy Dunlop (from Travis) from Amazon!
Today I started reading “Cheap (The High Cost of Discount Culture)” by Ellen Ruppel Shell. I’ve had this on reserve from the library for a long time, and it finally came in (along with 3 other books I’ve had reserved for a long time – why do they always come at the same time?)
I’m not very far along, so I don’t have thoughts to share yet, but I’m hopeful that it will give me some insight into what it means to be a responsible consumer. Not to mention its relevance to this blog.
Has anyone else read this?
There are moments in life when I really feel like an adult:
I’m not a benefits specialist, but I have worked in the area for a few years. I worked for a Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance broker for a couple years, and I also worked in a benefits communication consulting group for a couple years. I’m no expert, but I feel fairly competent in discussing benefits on a casual level.
I’m going to skip talking about LTC insurance for the moment and instead focus on a benefit that many companies offer: a Flexible Spending Account (FSA).
If your company offers an FSA, I implore you to use it. With an FSA, you are allowed to contribute money to a personal account pre-tax (meaning the money is deducted from your pay before your total pay amount is taxed). The personal account is for paying for items and services that are health-related. I don’t want to get into a long explanation of FSAs, but if you really aren’t familiar with them, here’s a good place to start.
The reason I’m bringing this up is because of an article I found about using up what’s left of your FSA by the end of the year. One annoying part about having an FSA is that at the beginning of the calendar year, you decide how much per month you want to set aside for health-related expenses. Sometimes you may not set enough aside and you wind up paying for expenses with post-tax money, and sometimes you overestimate how much you’ll need and you wind up with money in your account at the end of the year. FSA rules do not allow you to rollover leftover money from the previous year, which means that you need to spend what’s left in your account before it goes away.
If you do need to spend FSA money, this article mentions 10 things that are considered FSA-eligible that the average person might not know. I found the article last month and I meant to post it here but didn’t. I mention the date because many FSA plans run January-December, but not all. My company’s enrollment year runs September-August, and that’s not unusual. That is my defense for posting this in January. 
If you do not participate in an FSA and your company has it, please do it. You don’t have to contribute a lot. Even if you consider yourself a healthy person, you can still find things to purchase with FSA money – like eyeglasses and contacts, for example. That stuff isn’t cheap! I’ve set aside extra this year so that I can finally buy new glasses – for the first time in 7 years. I think I’m due for a new pair.
Also, for those of us who aren’t good at saving, an FSA allows you to set aside money before you even have a chance to get your grubby hands on the cash, and then it forces you to only spend that money on health-related things – instead of, say, cute shoes and cupcakes.
Being an adult isn’t always fun, but it’s the right choice.
It’s been a while since we’ve talked about recipes. I haven’t been cooking very much lately, but in the past week I did try a couple new ones.
First up is roasted cabbage with bacon. I rarely buy cabbage because I just don’t really know what to do with it. But this recipe was so popular I thought I’d give it a shot. And it was good – but greasy. I loved the cabbage, and I of course love the bacon, but the grease from the bacon was a little too much. That said, I still enjoyed it. However, the leftovers were soggy and extra greasy.
The other problem I have with this dish is that I only like bacon when it’s super crispy. Some of the bacon became very crispy during the roasting process, but some of it stayed soft. It was still cooked okay, but it just wasn’t at that primo crispy stage. I’m not sure that I would make this again, but I’d still recommend it.
On to the second recipe: garlic noodles. I give it a meh. I don’t think I’ll make it again, but it wasn’t terrible – just average. And now my apartment smells like garlic, which can be good to an extent. However, this garlic smell goes just beyond my threshold of acceptable.
Made anything good – or meh – lately?
Sub Pop Records has released another edition of their Cyber*** Sampler. (You may remember their sampler from last May.)
Check it out! It features songs from Beach House, The Album Leaf, Flight of the Conchords, Nirvana, Fruit Bats, Grand Archives, and more.
(Thanks, Anika!)
Today’s daily deal at Amazon is The Ting Tings’ “We Started Nothing” for only $2.99. According to commercials I’ve seen for “Saturday Night Live,” The Ting Tings are playing tonight. Coincidence?
I’m sure we’ve all been keeping track of the developments in Haiti and we’re probably all aware of ways to donate. But just in case you’re still looking for an organization to give to, check out World Concern, who have staff actually in Haiti – some of whom haven’t been accounted for yet.
According to the web site, WC:
World Concern has worked in Haiti since 1978 and currently provides hope to 125,000 people. Our work with the poor includes microfinance, agriculture, disaster response and small business development. World Concern’s goal is to transform the lives of those we touch and lead them on a path to self-sustainability.
Wherever you decide to give, may it touch the lives of people in need more than we will ever know.
The new Vampire Weekend album, Contra, is available a day early on Amazon – and it’s only $3.99 today! Check it out.
I apologize for the lack of posting here. I started my new job this week (which I’m very grateful for), and I’m really tired. I’m not used to working 8-5 every day!
Obviously, I now have less free time during the day to blog. I will still keep blogging, but it’s probably going to be a little slow for a while – at least during the week – until I get adjusted to this schedule. (I’m soooooooooooo not a morning person.) I really do have things I want to write about, so stay tuned.
Happy 2010!
It’s this time of year that we are always inundated with commercials and ads for exercise equipment and weight loss programs. While investing in one’s health is always good, sometimes those investments don’t quite pan out. The New Year’s resolution fades away after a few weeks, and the brand new exercise equipment begins to collect dust. (That is why if you are interested in buying exercise equipment, you should check out Craigslist for bargains on used stuff!)
I am a fan of doing things for free, and a couple years ago, I decided to try running – because it’s free. There’s no gym membership or expensive equipment needed. (Actually, I found that to be not quite true. I did eventually buy a good pair of running shoes, and I highly recommend that. Go to a store that specializes in running shoes so that you can get a pair that fits properly, and be prepared to spend around $100 – it’s worth it!)
I’ve never been a runner, and while I always envied runners, I never thought I would become one. I didn’t (and still don’t) find running enjoyable. But I was at a point where I had a lot of free time, not a lot of money, wanted to lose weight, and was in real need of a self-esteem boost. Enter Couch to 5K.
Couch to 5K is a running plan for people who don’t run. By the end of nine weeks, if you follow the plan, you’re able to go from couch living to running about the equivalent of a 5K race. Now I’d actually heard about Couch to 5K a few years before, but I knew there was no way I was going to try running while constantly checking a stopwatch. I just wasn’t that motivated.
But then I heard about the Couch to 5K podcast, and that is what changed everything. A dude in California used the Couch to 5K schedule to make podcasts – 3 days a week for 9 weeks. It’s basically like a mix CD (that you download for free from iTunes – 9 total), but he talks to you at various points telling you when to start running, when to stop running, when to take breaks, and offers a few words of encouragement throughout. That way you don’t have to even look at a clock. It’s pretty convenient. The downside though is that the music is … well …. awful. It’s basically techno music. While I’m a fan of running to music with a good beat, I really really don’t like techno. However, I found having my ears assaulted with this music was worth it – because of his guidance throughout the runs. Also, in some twisted way, because the running part was not fun, it almost made sense to do it while listening to terrible music.
While I found the running process to be difficult, it was not impossible. I was able to successfully complete every run, and I did it in about 7 weeks instead of 9. I’m not Miss Fitness USA either, so if I can do it, pretty much everyone can. I highly recommend this program. And even if you really can’t run, you can at least walk to the podcast instead.
For the price of new shoes and an iPod shuffle (I bought a used one on Ebay), I began an exercise program. While there are cheaper (and free) ways to work out, I’ve found that investment in running gear to be quite worth it. Though I never did bother to officially run a 5K race, I do still run, and there’s no way I would have done it without the Couch to 5K podcast!
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