One of the coolest things about living in Florida is that a LOT of movies and TV shows film here. A fun way to take advantage of the industry being so active in Florida is to get on board as an extra when I can.

Extras are those people you see in the background of a scene, or maybe sitting in a restaurant next to the tale for the main actors are doing a scene. I’ve had some friends get picked out of the crowd of extras for a one-line speaking gig or to get a lot of great screen time. Basically, an extra is a living, breathing prop Sometimes extras make a couple hundred dollars a day. Sometimes they work for free. Either way, you get a front seat to see all the behind-the-scenes action and the chance to see your mug on a movie screen.

I see noticed in the local paper from time to time, but common sense tells me I am missing most of the notices by not using a more reliable source for information.

To get info on more opportunities to work as an extra here in Florida (or anywhere, for that matter) it only takes a phone call to the toll-free number at Talent6. Jut talk to a portfolio manager and you can be well on your way to getting that screen time you’ve always wanted.

The number is 800-493-9047. Give them a call. You have nothing to lose and a thousand cool experiences to gain.

You know that super cheap gas I blogged about yesterday? Well, it’s drawn a lot of attention all around the Tampa Bay area.

The local papers ran a story about the low price at this particular station. And, due to all the people who wanted to get in on the deal blocking traffic in the area, the local police ended up stepping in and giving the management three options:
1. devise a traffic plan
2. hire off-duty officers to direct traffic
3. let the police impose a traffic strategy

The station’s management did not choose any of those options. According to police, their corporate offices told them to raise the price per gallon. Management for the gas station, however, said the price increase was due to getting a new shipment at a higher price.

Bummer. I guess that’s why it was higher when I went by this afternoon. (When I went by at 6 a.m. today, they were out of everything except diesel.)

In any event, it’s still the best price in the area.

When I was a teen, I liked to scour the thrift stores for vintage clothing and shoes. As an adult, I went in for shoes for my daughter sometimes, because I often found almost-new designer shoes for kids at the local Hospice store. Other than that, I would only go in on a lark looking for books or board games or old glassware.

With the economy getting worse and worse, I find myself wandering around in the Salvation Army around the corner a lot more often. And it’s not just me – a survey of over 200 resale and thrift shops showed about two-thirds of those businesses reported higher sales in 2008 compared to the previous year, with an average sales increase of 35 percent. They also say they are seeing a lot more middle-class and upper-class customers.

Everyone is looking for ways to cut corners. The disposable income just isn’t there for a lot of people anymore. In the past, people were blowing money on eating out and expensive cruises, luxury food items and trial runs of alli diet pills. Not anymore. Gas, food, and taxes are eating up a larger portion of most people’s paychecks than ever before and those who want to stay in the black are tightening up their budgets.

I know that gas prices are way down all over the place, but today I was on my way to pick up my daughter from school and I saw up a head a few blocks a snarl of cars in the road. I looked a little harder and realized it was a backup of people trying to get into a gas station. I looked at the sign for the gas prices and saw they were selling regular gas for $2.89 a gallon. No wonder everyone was crazy to get in on the deal.

So, here is my dilemma. Is the price that station is offering worth my time and effort to get in the car snarl for my turn at the pumps? I am considering leaving early tomorrow morning to see if I can get there before 6 a.m. and avoid a line. Of course, I am not even sure they will be open then.

What would you do?

When I was selling books and collectable magazines on eBay, I generally stipulated that I would only ship to buyers located inside the continental U.S. It makes things easier for m and eliminated unknown shipping costs and a lot of extra hassle. I know that most of my friends who still on eBay use the same stipulation.

However, the internet is the ultimate global market and when you leave out every single person not located in the United States, you are cutting out a significant number of potential customers.

Here is a great solution to that conundrum: Shipito.com is a package forwarding service that allows people outside the U.S. to bid on and win U.S.-only auctions and use the Shipito warehouse address in California. The buyer is notified when their package arrives at the warehouse and then they make arrangements to have the package forwarded to their actual address. Shipito uses USPS Priority, Express or FedEx.

If you sell on eBay and don’t want to ship internationally, you can refer your customers to the service and pick up a nice commission in the meantime by using the Shipito affiliate program. So, it’s a win-win situation.

I have not worked outside the home five days a week in about eight years now. I’m absolutely, positively worn out. Being a stay-at-home mom to an infant and toddler tired me out, as well – but it was a different sort of tired.

Either way, this is a new chapter of my life, much anticipated, much appreciated, and just a little bit fraught with the unknown. My daughter will be in before and after school programs for the first time in her life and we will both be waking up around 5 a.m. Of course, the early wake up time will be a lot like when she was an infant, so I am not all that unprepared.

Everyone is talking about Zenni Optical.

The hype is out there. Much like any other amazing deal, word of mouth has done the trick. I have mentioned ZenniOptical.com’s fantastic offer of a pair of complete, single vision glasses for just $8 before, and now almost everywhere I go people have heard about.

I have a mailing list for one of my website that has over 2500 members. Someone sent a message last week asking if anyone could remember the website with the great price on eyeglasses and almost immediately there were a dozen replies all talking about Zenni Optical.

Because they manufacture their own product, there is no middle man, no multiple layers of retail mark-up, and no need to try and milk their customers for every last penny. What you see is what you get, and with a large selection of frames that qualify for the $8 deal there is a very good chance you are going to be able to get the deal of a lifetime. The $8 complete glasses even include anti-scratch coating, UV protection, lightweight lenses, and more.

Zenni just added a large number of new frame styles to their online collection. I urge you to take a look. There is absolutely no reason to pay what some of us have been paying for glasses at our optometrist’s office anymore. Think about it. $8 for complete eyeglasses, and S&H is $4.95, no matter how many pairs you order. You can’t lose.

It wasn’t so long ago that people here in the Tampa Bay area did nothing but complain about the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. That was back when they were still called the Devil Rays, before the days of Evan Longoria (brother to Eva) and other newly lauded players. People dissed them, they were the butt of jokes and it seemed like there was absolutely nothing they could do to sell seats to the games.

Things have changed now. I suppose the locals are fair weather friends. Now that the Rays have made it to the playoffs, people are taking off work and skipping school to watch the team in action just a couple hours from now. Start time is 2:30 pm.

The websites for our local television stations are all decked out in Rays colors, with most of the front page information devoted to the team. Fans have been showing their support this week by getting “Rayhawks” – essentially Mohawks – on the sidewalks outside of Tropicana Field.

Fan loyalty is a delicate thing, though. I have to wonder what will happen in the future if there are bad season ahead.

This afternoon I went into my daughter’s Kindergarten class to volunteer. Her teacher was introducing the October book box and had a lot of Halloween and autumn decorations out on a table. Halloween! October has crept right up on me and I suppose now it is finally time to give in and buy the costume my daughter has been haranguing me about.

Gigi wants to go as Hannah Montana this year. I’m still mentally mourning the fact that this is the first year she did not want to be a Disney princess. I dressed her as an angel for her first Halloween, but she has been a princess since her second Halloween. Not only was aI hoping to reuse one of the costumes in her dress-up chest, I also think I have been holding onto the innocence and youth of the princess obsession.

I broke down and bought a long, blonde wig last month for the Hannah Montana costume, and I have some funky tights and shorts to make up some of the other aspect of her costume. Gigi has a cute pair of old school black high-top Chucks, too. But, I want to consult some online Halloween Costume Stores to see if there isn’t anything cute I can add to the costume that I do not already have.

I have Gigi the weekend before Halloween as well as Halloween itself this year. My sister and my best friend and I will take our kids to one of the massive, annual Halloween community celebrations here in the south part of the county the weekend before. Hundreds of businesses set up in a gigantic loop and give out the coolest candy and freebies. The, Halloween night I will go up near where her Dad lives and meet up with some of my friends and go trick-or-treating in my old neighborhood. That way I can just drop her at her Dad’s afterwards for his weekend.

By the way, I skip the local Halloween stores in favor of shopping online. I have found that the prices and the selection are just unbeatable when I stick with online stores. Besides the better shopping selections, there are generally easy returns and free shipping available when you order a certain amount of merchandise. Why drive to the stores and spend my precious time going from shop to shop looking for the just he right items when I can do it all from my comfy computer chair?

I regret that I do not have more time to seek out the wisdom of those around me who have the benefit of having lived many years. I lived in Florida where we are surrounded by the aged. However, my life generally feels too busy to stop and listen.

Last night I was at the library with my daughter. I lost track of her and finally found her having a grand old time with an older man in the DVD section. They were laughing and trading stories and making movie recommendations for one another. When I walked over, he introduced himself and I was gladly invited into the conversation. Mr. Stein is 82, it turns out, and as we stood chatting I heartily appreciated his stories. As we talked about today’s economic crisis, he relayed his own memories of being a child during the Great Depression. He remembered the men on his street who hung themselves after losing jobs, he remembered the people who took jobs digging ditches, only to keel over dead from heat and exhaustion. He remembered the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and people putting in vegetable gardens. He learned a way of life that lasted all his years, and that he passed to his own children.

We talked also about life up North, day trips to enjoy the Civil War Battlefields, the museums in Washington, DC and cool fall weather.

My daughter has a particular affinity for the elderly. A friend of mine says that it’s a gift. I hope she will glean more wisdom from her interactions with the aged than I have so far.

So, I accepted a job at a high school. I actually got two calls from the county today about job offers, but I passed on the one at the middle school simply because I think the early hours at the high school will benefit me and my daughter in the long run – ample time for afternoon appointments, lots of time for homework, and no rushing home to cook dinner right away.

I started thinking a little more about how I have not really been in a high school setting, aside from some time tutoring about a year and a half ago, since I graduated high school over 20 years ago. 20 years. *gulp*

The posturing, the acne treatments, the need to have just the right shoes and go to all the right parties – those things are so far removed from my life right now that I am sure it will take me some time to get back to where I can see things from a high school kid’s position. Of course, on the other hand I have often admitted that somewhere inside my little head I still feel like I am 18, so getting used to the grind should be pretty easy in the end. One thing that has changed, though, is that I definitely like older guys now,…as in men nearing 40. That’s sure not something that would have struck my fancy back in high school.

I wonder if this new job is going to make me even more sad to miss my reunion this month.

My daughter is really taking off academically. I have had her in preschools for two years where they had an advanced curriculum and lots of structure, but until now she was just not ready to focus on reading, writing, and such.

Two weeks ago I noticed she was showing an extraordinary interest in math. I bought some workbooks so we can work past the stuff they are doing in Kindergarten and she is positively excelling. Math might just be her gig, which makes me pretty happy. Her fther and I were both more geared toward reading and writing. For us, math was something we were good at, but it took some extra work.

This past weekend, though, Gigi broke down and started writing out her full first name. Until now she would just write Gigi, because her real name intimidated here – it has 9 letters. She just suddenly broke through a barrier, though, and announced she is ready to use that name all of the time. She is also spending hours upon hours with a pencil and paper just sitting and sounding out words. Of course, she is using invented spelling, but you can totally tell what she is trying to write. It shows her phonemic awareness in blossoming.

I want to do something special and cool to really keep her fired up about reading and writing. I am thinking about having some personalized pens made for her, since we never see pens or pencils or mugs with her real name on them – it’s just not that common.

Anyone else have a cool idea to motivate her?