Tonite I decided to download iTunes and give it a try. I had 6 caps for free songs. Might as well use them. I say had because I already redeemed one of them. I got “Let Me Go” by 3 Doors Down. I love them, and I love that song. I’ll probably end up buying the entire CD this weekend (since I get paid tomorrow), but I still wanted to get the song.

So … I like iTunes. I’ve only been playing with it for about 45 minutes though. I was searching through the store to see what they had to see if anything sparked my interest. I still have 5 caps … 5 free songs. I’ll probably search for some of the songs I’ve heard recently that I like but would never get an entire CD of the artist. I don’t know if I’ll get any songs beyond my free caps, but ya never know.

I don’t know that I’ll use iTunes as my main music listening device or not. I’ve just been using the Windows Media Player, and that has worked for me. But I’ll see how I like iTunes. My computer is my only way to listen to my CDs at home. My stereo won’t play CDs any more. Hasn’t for quite a while now. Not sure why. But I have had it for quite a while. I haven’t had the money to get one or else I can’t find one I like. My computer works well though. The speakers are still holding up … even though their from my first computer that I got during my first year of college (back in 1994 or 1995).

Now I just wish I had an iPod. I’m trying to get one (see the link at the top), but only 2 of my referers have completed their offers. I think I need to give up on getting the other 3. And I definitely don’t have the money to get an iPod (or any other mp3 player for that matter).

Well … time for CSI. Gonna go veg out on the couch and watch it.

Mood: amused

Last Friday, Kenny Chesney had a concert here in Fargo. I didn’t have the money to go … I was out at Pistol Pete’s instead. Avalanche was playing. So, of course, I had to be there. Had a blast. Thank goodness it wasn’t as crazy as Thursday nite was. I ended up leaving Thursday at midnite ‘cuz the crowd was nuts and pissing me off. Stayed Friday nite ’til close (at 2am!).

Lisa saw this guy walking around …

Of course, Mona had to grab him and get a pic. So … is that really Kenny? I don’t know. Why don’t ya look at the pic and tell me …

Mood: tired

The weather for the past couple of days has been gorgeous … well … yesterday would have been if it hadn’t been for the wind. But the temps have ventured into the 50s and even hit the 60s today. I’m not sure how high it got, but I’m thinking it was around 63° … according to the weather plugin in Firefox.

But I’m not gonna hold my breath. We can get blizzards in April here in North Dakota. But I’m not gonna complain. I’m just glad that all that ice in my garage has melted. I don’t have to use the key to keep the garage door shut anymore … woohoo!!! Found that out last Wednesday.

Mood: blah

I made some homemade chicken noodle soup this afternoon. I had 2 thighs, 2 legs, and 1 breast up in my freezer waiting for me to make soup with them. I bought some frozen egg noodles yesterday (I could have made them myself, but I don’t have a rolling pin).

I’m eating a bowl of the soup as I type this. Talk about nummy. I’m almost tempted to add some dumplings to it. But the kettle is too full. There’s no room for dumplings. It’s still good without ‘em.

I have so much soup that I’m set for meals this week. I doubt I’ll eat soup for all of them, but I could if I wanted to.

Mood: hungry

I just checked my bank account online to see if my paycheck had been direct deposited yet. It’s in there this morning … WOOHOO!!! And get this … it’s dated YESTERDAY! Why can’t they post transactions the day they actually post? Another reason to hate this bank. This weekend, I WILL be researching other banks in town.

Now … off to pay those 2 bills before I go to work.

Mood: happy

I am very close to being screwed … and not in the good way. Yesterday was payday. Usually a good thing. Well … this payday was the first one that was to be direct deposited into our accounts. Well … I still haven’t received my paycheck. It’s not the fault of work though. The money has already been taken out of their account. But whoever we’re going through for direct deposit hasn’t bothered to give us our money yet. Kelly couldn’t find out why either. We’d better get paid tomorrow. I have 2 bills that are due on Friday. Good thing I can pay them online. If we don’t get that money tomorrow … I’m thoroughly screwed!

Mood: pissedoff

I’ve been looking for a new HTML editor this weekend. I’ve been using HTML-Kit for quite a while now. I’ve also tried PSPad and most recently HAPedit. They all have good features, but none have exactly what I want.

I use PHPEd at work, and I really like it. It has all the features that I’m looking for. The only problem … it’s $300. I can’t afford that at home. So I’d like to find something similar that I can use.

I’d prefer freeware (’cuz I’m cheap), but I am willing to shell out some money if it’s a product that I like and will use. I’d like to keep it under $50 (closer to $25 would be even better). It has to have syntax highlighting that is customizable (I like to have my code colored a certain way). I’d also like to find something that has a project management feature to it.

I’ve asked this question on a couple message boards, and have gotten some recommendations. So far, haven’t found anything that screams “Use me!”. So … I’m hoping maybe one of my readers can give me some recommendations. I don’t want any WYSIWYG editors … I’m beyond that stage. I don’t want anything too bloated (like Dreamweaver … I already have it anyways) either. Just a good, solid code editor.

Mood: lazy

First off … why is free stuff call swag? Who decided to call it that? Where did they come up with that word?

Anyways … I got some swag today. If you read this regularly (is there anyone who does … LOL), you know I talked about that seminar that I went to last week in Minneapolis. Well, we got our swag from it today. We got a “cool” tshirt. They actually called it “cool” on the site with the info on the seminar. The shirt has a seminar “tour schedule”. The funny thing … Minneapolis isn’t on it … LOL. There were also 2 nifty (my word … ) temporary tattoos. Okay … I think they’re silly. They say “Microsoft .Net Connected” on ‘em.

We also got CD with SQL Server 2005 Beta 2 Developer Edition on it. There is also a Resource DVD and Hands-On Lab DVD on it, but I don’t have a DVD drive on my computer. I’ll have to check it out when I go to Ma and Pa’s next time. I don’t know if I’m going to try installing the Beta on my computer or not. I might just so I can play around with it for when we go to that at work. I’m not sure if my computer could handle it … LOL. I just looked at the CD. It has “Trial Software 547 Day Limit on Use” on it. 547 day limit … where did they come up with that? Why not just say a year and a half (okay … I opened up the calculator to figure that one out … ).

We also got Visual C#.net Standard (version 2003). I think that’s cool. Too bad I don’t know C#. I suppose I could install it and play around with it and learn (they’d probably love it at work if I did). It does say something about limited functionality if you install it on XP Home Edition … and that’s what I’ve got. I might install it. It wouldn’t hurt. And I pick things up quickly … I mean, when I started this job about 8 months ago or so, I knew nothing about MSSQL (only MySQL), and not I’m crankin’ out stored procedures and stuff on a daily basis. I could probably pick up C#, at least the basics, by playing around with the software. I’ll have to see.

Mood: dorky

I love my camera. I still need to learn about some of the settings and stuff, but that’s more of a photography lesson that I need to take than in learning how to work the camera. I’m used to a point-and-shoot camera. This one has lots of manual settings that I need to learn how to best utilize.

Anyways … when I take pics at the bar of Avalanche, when I got them on my computer, I always thought they looked dark, and I lightened them up. Now that I have my lovely new monitor, I’m starting to think it wasn’t the camera but the monitor. When I look at the pictures that I had lightened, they look too bright. When I look at the originals from the camera, they look fine. Here I’ve been lightening them up all this time when I’m not sure I needed to.

Why don’t you let me know? Check out the pics in the photo gallery. Do they look abnormally lightened or bright to you on your monitor? Maybe it’s just that this new monitor is so bright, I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. I have 2 sets of pics yet that I need to process (I should have done them last weekend, but I got lazy. I’ll do that this weekend … I PROMISE!!). If I don’t need to lighten them up, I’m not going to.

Mood: lazy

Rachael Ray better watch her back. LOL I could give her a run for her money on 30 Minute Meals. Okay … maybe not. But I’ve got some good ideas that she could do on there (but only if she gave me credit). I made a nummy chicken pasta for supper tonite. I made it when Lisa was here last. Really quick and easy and delicious. I’ll even share my secret with you … but don’t tell.

Becky’s Quick and Easy Chicken Pasta
Ingredients:
pasta (Whatever your favorite is. I like the bow tie stuff for this.)
pasta sauce (Again, whatever your favorite is.)
chicken breast - skinless, boneless
cheese (for garnish)

Cook your pasta according to the box (don’t forget to drain off the water). In the meantime, start heating up your pasta sauce. Cook your chicken breast … I do mine on my Foreman Grill (I LOVE that thing). I pound it out a bit first to even it out. Season and throw on the grill or in the pan or whatever and cook ’til done.

Cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces when done. Put in with pasta sauce and toss to coat. Pour the pasta sauce/chicken mixture into the drained pasta and mix well. Then eat. I top mine with parmesan cheese and mozzarella.

Eat and enjoy.

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If you try this, let me know what you think.