aol.

my mom asked me to cancel the paid aol account at her apartment since they don't use the computer anymore.  i looked at the bill which is paid via her phone bill.  my mom pays about $30/month.  when i talked to the representative he was trying to keep us on (of course) by offering lower and lower pricing plans.  I believe before he cancelled the paid service, he offered one that was $4.99 (or was it $6.99?) for basic service which i think came with mcafee virus protection.  i remember not being aware of all these different pricing plans when i set up the paid account many years ago.  it must have changed.   in the course of cancelling, the rep mentioned that we would not be getting x, y, and z services anymore.  apparently, these were all services my mom never used and/or needed.  yeah, i totally feel stupid for making my mom pay the extra $25 when she could have just paid $5 every month.

free unlimited music.

just received an email from pandora radio.  they now have unlimited free music.  yippee!  before you could only listen to 40 hours free every month. (there was only one month where i maxed out my free limit).

cooking.

photo from blogger, cake student.

i have always wanted to learn how to cook.  i can cook simple dishes.  though those dishes don't number that many.  i definitely get deterred by all the ingredients that i need to buy or find.  i would really like to learn how to cook the main dishes, side dishes, and soups.  most of the time, i find myself baking.  maybe it's because the ingredients are few and simple:  butter, flour, eggs, sugar.  the one cookie recipe that i've mastered is the snickerdoodle.  the first few times i made it, i altered the amount of each ingredient until it finally turned out nice, chewy and a little puffy.  i was basically trying to get it like the cookies at diddy riese, a cookie shop in l.a.'s westwood neighborhood.  i actually think mine are better.  yes, i believe they are :) 
my next cookie recipe i want to try is the chocolate chip cookie and i've found an awesome recipe online here.  that recipe i may not have to alter.  it looks perfect in the photo.  after that i may try the soft pretzel.  soft pretzels are one of my favorite snacks.  this recipe is from alton brown's book, good eats 3.

research for ebay.

i went on ebay to see how much the things i want to sell are selling for or rather, have sold for.  there were a few things that didn't sell from other sellers, but a lot of the books i want to sell, have sold.  not including the fees you will have to pay ebay, my items together come out to about $50.