Melinda Musil dot Com

This is his personal website- basically just a manifesto of his crazy ideas!
Save The Planet Protest

Today I had a SUPER productive day!

In honor of that, and of the relative happiness associated with that, I am linking you to this, an entire page of photographs taken in Russia before World War I. All of these photos were taken by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, a Russian photographer. These really offer a glimpse into a lost era. They are phenomenal images, and it’s just amazing to imagine that this was Russia in the early 1900s. Wow!

It’s been a busy week, but a good week. I’ve had lots of work, which is always great. It’s so reassuring to watch my bank account balance rise. I mean, I’m not wealthy, and I’m really not even close to the point where I could pay for retirement stuff like term life insurance rates. Good thing I don’t need to be at that point for a long time! I may even look into getting health insurance again soon- if only I can find a company willing to insure me!

I have lost count of the number of times I have considered opening an Ebay business. I like selling things on Ebay and I have been fairly successful in the past. But, I just don’t know where or how I can find wholesale distributors and start a business relationship with them. And you’d pretty much have to have some kind of access to wholesalers so that you can get items cheap and sell them for a (modest) profit!

Hard to believe it’s already September. Soon, I should start thinking about the “Christmas business” I’ve been thinking about for a few years now. You know how most people include a letter with their Christmas cards telling people what has happened in the past year? For several years now, I’ve taken our information and written our letter in the format of a poem, in the same rhythm as a famous poem or Christmas carol. It’s lots of fun, different from everyone else’s cards, and a thousand times better than those boring photo Christmas cards! I really should do this…

A few weeks ago, I was asked to review the Polar Bottle brand of reusable insulated water bottles. I was looking for a good bottle to use when I run, so I jumped at the chance.

I was skeptical when I first received a bottle. It looked nice enough, but I wasn’t sure if I would be happy with it in the long run. To my (pleasant) surprise, I’ve fallen completely in love with these bottles and I think I will be using them for many years to come!

When I first got the bottle, I figured I would use it for exercising and that would be all. I did use it for exercising (more on that below) but on my mother’s suggestion, I took it with me when we traveled to Europe, and I’m very glad I did!

When you are traveling just about anywhere new, you can’t totally predict how much you will be able to find drinks or snacks. Being dehydrated is pretty miserable, and I discovered that I could avoid dehydration by filling the bottle with water in the morning and taking it with me. Believe me, when you are in a foreign country and you are parched, it is really nice to have a water bottle with you! Most days, we carried a backpack, but even when we didn’t have that, it was easy to hook a carabiner the bottle’s integrated loop and hook it to a belt buckle or carry it. My mom didn’t like to include ice when she filled it up in the morning because she was afraid it would “sweat” and soak everything in the bag, but it really didn’t sweat, even though it kept the water cool. Also, it didn’t leak AT ALL. We had it in bags, on its side, upside down, you name it. It never leaked a drop. It proved to be one of our most valuable travel accessories. I will definitely be taking it with me on any future vacations!

Once we got home and I resumed my almost-daily trips to the gym, I began using the bottle to provide water while I exercise- the original reason I wanted this bottle. I like a bottle that has a wide mouth for filling, so that it is pretty easy to add ice. (Plus a wide mouth makes it easier to wash!) But I also like a fairly small spout for drinking, so that I don’t spill water all over myself. I’ve used several different bottles, and many of them have been good, but very few of them included this wide mouth-narrow spout combination.

The spout does a remarkably excellent job of keeping any fluids from spilling. It is reasonably easy to pop open (a fact which my orthodontist would appreciate) yet not so easy that it spills. Since it doesn’t “sweat” (like I said above), it is not hard to maintain a good grip on it while I am running.

The bottle is a bit more “firm” than any other bottle I had used up to that point, and at first I was concerned about getting a sufficient amount of water out of the bottle without needing to suck on the spout. That’s not so bad when I’m standing still, but I am not a coordinated person, and it’s a bit of a challenge to just get a drink of water while I run. I don’t need any additional challenges! But I discovered that, although this bottle is quite firm, it is just flexible enough to squeeze out one mouthful of water.

I also like the size. Polar Bottles come in two sizes- 20 oz. and 24 oz. Very soon after I began running, I discovered that I have to really resist the urge to constantly drink water because my mouth is sorta dry. When I do that, it really throws off my electrolytes, and I finish the workout feeling dizzy and sick. Sometimes it doesn’t make me dizzy right away- then I have a fun dizzy spell later in the day. Anyway, my old “water bottle” was a cheaply-made freebie that I’d picked up somewhere, and I’m sure it held at least 40 oz. I would always wind up drinking too much water because it was there. 20-24 oz is about the perfect amount of hydration for a 30-60 minute workout.

If you can’t already tell, I like this. I like it a lot. I can tell that a lot of thought went into the design. Now it’s your turn. Go out and buy one. You WILL be glad!

…create stuff that winds up on this website.

Today, the publisher of the Oxford English dictionary announced that the internet may phase out the printed Oxford dictionary.

What a loss! Everyone should have the experience of looking up a word in a (paper) dictionary. The internet is definitely a fantastic tool, and as a writer I have to admit that I use online dictionaries all the time. (I’m partial to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary- they also have great word games!) But I hate to see the printed versions disappear. I guess I understand why, but it just seems so sad and nostalgic.

Boy oh boy. Remind me not to agree to work more than 24 hours in advance- then the time comes to work and I’m not in the mood. *grouch* Ok I know that didn’t make a lot of sense but hey, it makes sense in my mind and that’s all that matters, right?

I need to work on catching up my RSS feeds. No complaints, I totally love Google Reader.

Today I was toying with the idea of creating another website, topical… I need to investigate topics to find some good topical RSS feeds. If I can do that, it just might prove worthwhile.

I need to find a good “bookmarks” method. I’ve just never enjoyed using a service like Delicious, but at the same time as I create more websites, I need to find a quick and easy way to access and maintain those sites.

Can’t think of much else. It’s been a moderately stressful day, for reasons that I can’t really publish on this blog right now (hopefully soon though!). I’m worn out and I still have 2 more articles to write tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will include a trip to the gym. We shall see.

I’m in the process of straightening out the affiliate code for my Bluehost account. They’re just a fantastic host and totally worth the space in my sidebar. But apologies for the odd spacing of the sidebar in the meantime!