I’ve been looking up a bunch of different Thanksgiving recipes lately so I can try and prepare to host my families Thanksgiving dinner this year. The task has been dropped in my lap unexpectedly and I’ve got to find stuff to cook for about 25 people. My normal dinner consists of a Lean Cousine entree and a bag of steamed vegetables, so I really have my work cut out for me. I’m not much of a cook, but I’ve been finding lots of good recipes online, Hopefully everyone will be pleasantly surprised.

For Christmas I’d like some new Nikon binoculars, a Sony Playstation 3 or Microsoft XBox 360, a new video card for my computer with HD-out, a DVD player that can play videos from an SD/SDHC card (I don’t even know if one exists?), a stock pile of CD-R’s and DVD-R’s (I go through them like crazy on my DVR and my video camera), some new lenses for my Panasonic PV-GS320 3CCD video camera, a new Linksys Wireless G router (mine has been acting up lately) and a bunch of other stuff I can’t even think of right now. This is just in case Santa Clause reads blogs.

My nephew has been trying to get his mom to order the Proactive acne treatment kit that he’s seen on TV alot. She hasen’t wanted to spend the money so I decided to go ahead and order it for him a couple of weeks ago. He was super excited when I took it out of the box and gave it to him. He’s already seen a very big change in his complexion after using it for about a week and a half. His mom feels bad for not ordering it for him now.

Last week I picked up some discount furniture from a local furniture store that was having a grand opening sale. The store has been in business for about 9 years, but every 6 months or so they seem to have a new grand opening sale. I’ve never really stopped and checked out there selection until now. I’m glad I did, though. I found a couch, a love seat and a chaise for about 60% off regular price. My girlfriend was pretty excited when I called her.

One of my good friends recently had a birthday and I really couldn’t figure out what to get for him. He’s really not the type of person that always talks about stuff he wants or gadgets and that sort of thing. The only thing I could think of was dog supplies. He has 3 dogs and he’s always buying them new toys or different snacks and treats. I picked him up a $75 gift certificate to a local pet supply store and he was actually very happy with it. Most people just gave him gift cards to restaurants and things like that. I’m glad he liked my gift.

Today I won a new 8gb micro SD card during a raffle at my office. My digital camera uses normal SD cards, so I sold the micro SD card that I won to a friend of mine. One of the guys won a brand new 16gb Creative Zen. I have a 4gb Creative Zen with a 16gb SDHC card in it and I absolutely love it. I haven’t had any kind of trouble with it and it’s probably my favorite gadget. You can find the 4gb model for under $100. I pretty much keep the internal 4gb memory filled with music that I rip from my CD collection and I fill the 16gb SDHC card with videos and things like that. It comes in really handy if I’m flying somewhere or any other occasion where I don’t have anything to do but sit there. The battery life is about 20 hours or so for music playback and 5 hours or so for video playback. You can’t beat that.

I have been shopping for and pricing new televisions for the past two weeks. I finally found the one I really liked a lot. It was a big screen wall mountable high definition style. I never realized by buying a special wall plate that it would really make any difference at all. After speaking with the salesperson at the store, we decided to also purchase a HDMI wall plate. After getting home, hooking our television up to the HDMI wall plate, it is so unbelievable how clear the reception is and how nice it is to have our TV hanging on the wall in our bedroom.

I often work very long hours on my job. This week I am working fourteen hours a day. My usual schedule at work was eight hours a day. After I got off work, I would always go home for approximately an hour or so to relax. I would then go to the gym to work out. It helped my body stay in shape and also was very relaxing to me. After working longer hours this week, I also found out that I will be working these hours quite often. I couldn’t figure out how I was going to fit the workout at the gym into my schedule daily, with these hours at my job. I finally decided to purchase a treadmill and other equipment for my home. It has really been handy. None of the equipment was as expensive as I thought it would be. It’s also been great being able to work out at my own pace and time. I even walk on my treadmill longer. Now, I’m thinking about adding more equipment to the pieces I have now.

Many people don’t realize that the volume of their television or stereo may be bothering other people. The loudness is especially bothersome to others during the evening hours or night time. The best solution to that situation is to use headphones. I use them at night, when unable to sleep and am watching television. There are so many different brands and types. You can often buy a cheaper priced set of headphones that has the same features as more expensive ones. The only difference could be how fancy looking they appear to be.

I changed jobs a couple of months ago. I was getting tired of how my last job was being managed. Everyone’s hours were always being changed and they were constantly being moved from one department to another. When asking for a raise, nobody ever was able to get one. I have always had a job where I worked inside. My new job involves a lot of driving to different areas, towns and places. Many of the places I was having to drive to were not familiar to me. I was constantly having to read a map, look it up on the internet or ask someone for directions. I, then, decided to buy a portable GPS unit for my truck. It makes it so much easier and faster now. All I have to do now is enter the address I am driving to and it tells me exactly how to get there. I don’t know how I lived this long without a GPS unit in my vehicle.