Foreverpurple blog

Is your dog itching, scratching and stinking beyond belief?

Do you?

*Wash your dog one day, just to have the stink return the next?
*Wait weeks between bathing your dog because his skin gets so dry and flaky?
*Hate bathing your dog because you rinse and rinse and rinse…and still can’t get him completely rinsed?

My little girls aren’t quite this bad off but they are mostly inside dogs and I use people shampoo on them. I do wish they would stay nice smelling more than just one day. I have tried other natural shampoos and find the smell of them to been too much like trees and very short lived. The dog conditioner never leaves their hair soft and nice like my shampoo but I worry about the residue it leaves behind because of how much Maggie licks her fur.

I have known about Dinovite for quite some time and have been kicking around the idea of trying their products to try to cut down on shedding. My girls shed A LOT for short haired dogs and any improvement would be nice.

I know plenty of people with stinky dogs, which are often caused by skin maladies. Some of those skin maladies can come from a poor diet. Dinovite’s all natural dog shampoo. It’s also sensitive on skin and is a natural flea deterrent. I love that it’s free of chemicals, perfumes and fillers. We prefer our pet products to be natural.

Isn’t it time for that new dog smell?

Dogosuds ® Benefits:
• Makes your dog smell CLEAN and WONDERFUL for a long time.
• Lathers beautifully … and RINSES EASILY!
• Contains 100% pure, therapeutic grade essential oils that have natural, healing properties
• Gentle soothing shampoo works well for sensitive skin.
• Is a NATURAL FLEA DETERRENT
• Lathers beautifully … and RINSES EASILY!
• Contains NO CHEMICALS, NO PERFUMES, NO FILLERS, nothing to irritate or dry your dog’s skin!
• Also works great to remove SKUNK odor!

Check out the dog shampoo at http://www.dinovite.com/dog_shampoo.html
And also look at Dinovite’s other products at http://www.dinovite.com

BluFrog energy drink is giving away for great prizes. A trip for two to NYC for NYE is the one I would love to win. I have always wanted to go to NYC at Christmas to see Rockefeller Center. After visiting in August a couple years ago, I am dying to go back. Matt even said if we survive this economic crisis, we will go together. Why wait if I can win the trip right?

If I did win, I don’t know if I would actually go to Times Square. I don’t like crowds and being so short makes it even worse. I have no interest in standing around for hours with a bunch of drunken idiots who are peeing in their pants. I have no interest in peeing in my own pants because I can’t find or won’t use cuz it’s too filthy… porta-potty. That’s not really my idea of fun. I’d rather have a nice hotel room over Rockefeller Center and spend a romantic evening with my boy…so we can ‘kiss and fall in love’ But my ideal trip to NYC might not be your ideal trip so check out all the different prizes you can win and pick YOUR ideal trip!

Anyone can enter to win. You can enter up to three times using the three options BluFrog gives:

Post a blog comment.
Write a blog post (like this one!)
Tweet about it. Be sure to include #bluworld and http://bit.ly/UiiJy in your tweet.

Pretty simple! So check out BluFrog and enter to win before July 17, 2009

Have you ever been hacked? Chances are, if you haven’t, then someone you know has. Have you ever wondered how they do it, and did you know that that knowledge can actually be used for the good?

Im sure many of you have seen movies such as “The Net", “Antitrust". and “Live free or Die Hard". All of these and many more show different ways that hacking can be used for good and for bad.

What is Ethical Hacking? Ethical hacking is a term used to describe someone who helps an organization take preemptive measures against malicious attacks by attacking the system itself, while staying within legal limits. Its basically someone who can think like a hacker and know what to do to stop said attacks.

The role of an Certified Ethical Hacker is an individual who is usually employed with an organization and who can be trusted to penetrate networks and/or computer systems using the same methods as a hacker. Although hacking is a felony in the US and most other countries, when it is done by request and under a contract between an ethical hacker and an organization, it is legal.

While cutbacks are present in most IT departments and businesses, salaries in the IT Security space are actually on the rise. Overall, IT Security certifications grew 0.8 percent over the past 3 months and 1.9 percent over year.

The EC-Council training modality is one of the best around! EC-Council iClass Online Event Venue is a robust learning environment designed to enhance the remote learning experience of our Information Security Students. iClass encompasses current technologies in online Web Conferencing, VOIP Services, distributed Video Platforms, and our new iLabs product allowing every student full hands on access to live servers to conduct labs in virtualized environments. By combining live instruction, classroom interactivity, remote control capabilities, live hands-on labs, and the power of the world wide web, students now have more learning options than ever when it comes to EC-Council titles.

We offer many diversified courses for training in:

* Security Fundamentals
* Ethical Hacking
* Penetration Testing
* Computer Forensics
* Disaster Recovery
* Secure Programming

Please check out our website today for information on starting a great new career with unlimited potential!!

Foreverpurple.com Disclosure Policy

Do it all at Kerchoonz! Kerchoonz pays artists when you listen to their music for free. Unlike some services that allow you to build and embed a playlist of favorite songs, Kerchoonz is legal. That means you can embed it on your MySpace profile and most any other social networking site you use. Fans and artists come together to make sharing music online legal. Right now the content is Indie artists, unsigned artists and small label artists but the site is new. If they do things right they could attract mainstream artists. I have said before that I believe the internet could put the major record labels out of business. Artists don’t need them to promote and distribute their music when you have the ability to reach the entire globe from your keyboard.

Plus the site theme is purple, how can you go wrong with that!?

Here’s a snippet from the site:

Kerchoonz is a full-on social network. You can make friends, create playlists, watch videos, blog, post on forums,play games, create polls & quizzes, chat, join groups and schools, submit current news, and LISTEN TO MUSIC AND DOWNLOAD MUSIC FREE!! Plus, you can keep in touch with and display all your other social networks like myspace, youtube and facebook from within your Kerchoonz profile page under your Networkz tab !

Even although Kerchoonz is now free to join, you can still pad your pockets with some extra cash by referring more bands and artists to the site. When an artist, band, DJ, Industry Pro, or Label subscribes to Kerchoonz by clicking through your referral link, you will receive a Two pounds and Fifty pence GBP (or equivalent in your local currency) credit in your Home account once they have reached approx’ 5000 plays. (keep an eye out for our Kwidget program for more details, it’s coming soon!)

One of the first steps in monetizing your website is to establish you own domain. A lot of really good opportunities for making money through a website excludes free web hosting sites. Once you have your domain you need to secure some server space through a web hosting company. There are a lot of web hosting sites and it can be really confusing as to how they compare or what matters. For most sites you need physical space for file storage, you need bandwidth (bandwidth is used every time your page is loaded), you will probably need the ability to have a database of some type, you will want ftp access and possibly add on domains or sub domains if you want to buy more than one domain name.

Unless you are going to upload a lot of photos, you shouldn’t need a lot of storage. A monetized site needs a lot of traffic to generate money so you need to have a high allotment of bandwidth or unlimited bandwidth. Most web site software these days is driven by a database.

Web Hosting Geeks compiles information on all the top web hosting packages, including lots of reviews and award winning companies. They have done all the leg work and research for you so you can focus on getting your site up and running faster.
Web Hosting Geeks also offers you the security of dedicated server hosting.

Charter is at it again! Last year they gave away some great prizes through their website Charter.com, including a car. Every day in April they are giving away a 22″ flat screen HD tv. Every day!!

Did that get your attention??

Now what do you have to do? Whether you are a new or existing customer, its really easy.

Simply log on to www.charter.com and sign up for a new charter service (cable,phone,internet) and you will be automatically entered to win. It’s just that easy.

That is the daily contest. There is another chance to win one of three grand prizes: 52 LCD flat screen HDTV, Home Theater System or one year free digital cable with HD programming.

Charter offers great deals on bundled services which helps you save money by reducing your monthly bills.

Charter is working hard to change the image of cable companies by focusing on customer service and reaching out to their customers. You can even find them on Twitter (@chartercom)!

I’m a self avowed perfume addict. I love so many perfumes and every year I would ask for new scent for my birthday or Christmas. Often because the price of the perfume made it a splurge so I wouldn’t buy it for myself.

During the year I would pull pages from magazines when I found a new perfume that I loved. I always used those sample rub on things too! Then if it smelled good on me I would save that to remember what I liked for my Christmas list.

Rather quickly my perfume collection began to grow to 20 bottles at least! The problem was that at my job it was pointless to wear perfume because I smelled like TAR no matter what. So it was a waste to even put it on.

Even before I went to work at Reilly, I was given a bottle of Pink Peony perfume by Perle. It was oil based instead of alcohol so a little bit lasted all day. I fell in love with it and then discovered it was discontinued. I still have that bottle though I’m using it regularly now and it’s still only half gone. It still smells great too which is surprise. I did finally find another bottle, though much smaller, on eBay.

So at some point I said enough and decided no new perfume until I started using up some of my current inventory. I wear perfume almost daily now and have whittled the stock down to maybe 10 bottles. To be fair though, I have received bottles of perfume that I didn’t actually ask for. I also have a bottle that I was paid to wear for a survey. Year before last my sister bought me a bottle of J’Adore by Christian Dior that is hands down my favorite. I only wear it on the weekends when I got out or on Fridays to work. Yes that’s retarded I know but its the newest bottle and I want to use up the others first!

Somewhere along the way I picked up my mother’s habit of ’saving’ things for special occasions. Her bathroom is jam packed with health and beauty products. She is always buying and tucking things away. I tell her to stop saving shit and use it and enjoy it. Life is too short! I still catch myself doing it too and that’s part of the perfume problem. No more! I’m wearing it whenever I want because it makes me happy!

The goal is to get down to just 2 or 3 bottles of perfume. At this rate its going to take a few more years.

Two weeks ago I received a sample of Dermalastyl, a new product in the war against wrinkles and aging. I don’t really have a problem with wrinkles but after turning 30 I have been more aware of the need to take better care of my skin. So I was very curious about trying Dermalastyl. I rarely wear more than eye make up but that’s not enough to keep my skin looking young, firm and wrinkle free. Once we hit puberty we ALL begin to lose elastin in our skin. Elastin is what keeps our skin firm and looking young. No other product on the market can reverse this process. So are wrinkles just inevitable? Not according to the maker of Dermalastyl.

Dermalastyl contains 100 times as many amino acids as any other anti aging product on the market. Amino acids are the key component to stimulating collagen production. More importantly, ONLY Dermalastyl contains human Tropoelastin.

Tropoelastin was originally used on the battlefield to heal wounds faster. Now it is being used to fight off wrinkles and revive your skin.

Now only available through on the web, Dermalastyl is the result of extensive research on scarless healing and tissue regeneration by Dr Burt Ensley. Dr Ensley guarantees results in 30 days. I’ve only had the cream for a couple weeks so I am curious about the small wrinkles between my eyebrows and around my mouth. It is easy to apply and light weight. I have sensitive skin but there has been no irritation at all.

Oh mother of all hotness…. please bring me AJ for xmas. Er…at least this dvd:

This book is on my christmas list even though I am dying to read it NOW!


Too Fat To Fish
By Artie Lange
Hardcover, 320 pages
Spiegel & Grau
List Price: $24.95

Listen to Artie Lange on NPR’s Fresh Air. There is also a good excerpt posted there.

Yup Christmas is nearly here and I’ve not even thought about shopping. Mostly because I was looking for a second job just to be able to make ends meet while living on my own so I knew that there was little chance of having money for Christmas shopping. Now that we are back to two paychecks I still don’t imagine I will be doing much shopping outside of gifts for Matt, Misty and the parents. I know there are many other families in a worse position than ours who also have children to buy for. I can imagine the frustration of not knowing how you will be able to make Christmas special on a budget. Buying those big ticket items can be the hardest because it means having the full lump sum all at once. One way around this is to use Kmart Layaway to take the bite out of those big ticket items AND help keep your spending on track with your budget.

With Kmart Layaway you can make a payment every two weeks for the next 8 weeks. Spread your purchase out without a credit card or interest accumulating.

Kmart has all the hot electronics, gadgets and toys for this season and they have black friday prices in effect NOW!

Combine a sensible layaway plan with the continued decline in retail sales and you should be able to stretch your dollars this Christmas. Stores will be doing anything they can to get you into their stores to spend your holiday dollars with them.

Brett at www.softduit.com wrote the following blog entry about the new Dragon Speaking Naturally software. Check out the video and the article below to learn more about how you can Type at 150 WPM for $99!

I just watched a great video by Owen the writer for www.u-g-h.com . Owen is a great blogger from the Isle of Man who keeps a couple great tech blogs and even builds plug-ins and widgets in his spare time from what I understand. I’ve known Owen for over two years now through the blogosphere.

I just finished watching the video Owen created after he agreed to try out Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred. What is really amazing here is that he created this video just a few minutes after he installed the Dragon Naturally Speaking on his machine.

Many people remember the days when it would take hours if not days or a week or more to train a voice recognition software program. Owen was able to install the software and use it to very good effect as you can see from the video above which has been embedded from YouTube.

Now he’s just getting used to the software and one of the things that you will notice is that his speaking style is a little slow and starts and stops a bit in between each sentence. He doesn’t have 2 talk that slow nor does he have to start and stop after each sentence. He could just keep talking in one continuous fluid verbal conversation with his computer. Dragon NaturallySpeaking even has the ability to automatically insert punctuation as you talk. The auto punctuation feature is not perfect, but it is a lot better than you might expect.

Owen is actually using the manual punctuation function where he specifically says each item of punctuation that he wants inserted into his sentences and paragraphs.

Regardless, as you watch Owen’s video and many other videos out there on Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10, you can see just how fast it is and just how useful it can be for anyone that wants to be able to type on their computer and create text by using their voice and speaking to their computer. It’s a very liberating experience and as I write this right now I am using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10, and I am pacing around my kitchen about 20 feet from my computer using a wireless headset microphone. I walk by my computer every few steps and glance at the screen to see if my computer is capturing the text correctly, but I probably don’t even need to do that because it is so very accurate.

That said, it is very important for new users to do a fairly good grammar check on the documents that they create with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. When you first get started, Dragon NaturallySpeaking does learn what you’re trying to say and it improves over time. So you will need to edit a little bit more when you first start, and it’s a good habit to pick up as you go forward because your speaking style is going to be much different than your normal writing style would be if you were typing with your fingers. It’s a different area of the brain and you will get a different result in your written documents when you use Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

This article is approximately 540 words long(pre-edit), and I wrote it in about three minutes. It also took me about two minutes to edit because I was going back and forth into another room to help my kids with their homework. Still, that’s approximately 108 words per minute including editing time!

My name is Brett Bumeter and I’ve been writing about Dragon NaturallySpeaking for almost 2 years now. I think this is a great product, however I also recognize that people really have to see this product in action in order to envision how I can truly help them in their work and in their lives. So I am working to bring many more videos of Dragon NaturallySpeaking to you since you can help figure out if this great tool that costs about $99 could help you type in 150 words a minute. I think it can, and I definitely think it’s worth it. You decide and you let me know what you think. :-)

Best regards,
Brett
www.softduit.com

As temps start to drop here in the midwest we always have temperature fluctuations throughout the office. Most of the women here find the office too cold and then you begin to see a variety of coats and jackets coming out. Most everyone just throws on whatever is handy and it sort of looks like they just came in from outside or something. Shawls and wraps are so much more stylish and attractive. Pashminas are meant to be lightweight but still warm and very silky soft.

There is much confusion as to exactly what the term Pashmina actually means. It refers to a type of soft, warm and luxurious cashmere wool from the underbelly of the Himalayan Mountain Goat. Pashmina comes from Pashm, the Persian word for “wool", and refers to the underfur of certain Tibetan animals, particularly goats, commonly used for the making of shawls.

Answers.com gives a more indepth explanation: http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=pashmina&gwp=13

Apparently there are a lot of rip offs and fakes when it comes to Pashmina so it’s important to make sure you are getting the real thing. Also look for distributors that are child labor free.

Pashmina International is a reputable online retailer. Check their FAQ for information about their company.

I signed up to get a free Pashmina from them. I am hoping to get this purple pasmina scarf. When it arrives I will do a follow up post to review it as this will be my first Pashmina!

In today’s strained and groaning economy we are all looking for ways to save money without changing our lives too drastically. Cutting out luxury items is the first step right? No more Starbucks everyday. No new shoes just because there is a sale. Maybe you aren’t someone who splurges to begin with and still needs to cut expenses. That can be harder because you are forced to evaluate the necessities in your life and try to find something you can compromise on. If you or your children wear glasses you know that this is a very expensive necessity. There is no getting out of wearing eyeglasses unless you plan to have lasik surgery, which is not cheap. You can find affordable frames at the mart type stores but let’s face it, most of them are unattractive and not at all stylish. Then you still have to pay the expense of the lenses themselves. You are talking $200-300 easily for a single pair of eyeglasses. That’s what I used to pay and I’m very frugal. It’s been three years since I had Lasik and I’m sure prices have only gone UP since then.

Zenni Optical sells complete prescription eyeglasses beginning at $8.00. That’s not a typo! EIGHT DOLLARS for frames and lenses. And it’s not a scam! Famous penny pincher, financial guru and self made millionaire Clark Howard uses them! Go search his site archives for the story of how he got into a fight with his wife for suggesting his daughter get new classes from Zenni Optical.

I have to say I wish these guys had been around before my Lasik. I shopped around extensively for prescription goggles for riding my Sportster. They were all so expensive that I refused to buy any. Zenni has them for $39.95. Seriously that’s at least HALF of what I’ve seen them for elsewhere. If you ride a motorcycle and wear eyeglasses you know what a hassle it is. I had to wear my helmet all the time because regular eyeglasses do not offer any sort of eye protection from wind and debris. Fit over goggles are huge and dorky. Having a separate pair of prescription goggles is the least amount of hassle.

These purple frames are adorable!

Being the computer geek that I am, I often get asked by people where to host their web site. They want to know who has the best price, who has the best features and which one is the easiest interface to use. There are so many web hosting providers out there today it’s hard to know where to begin sorting them out. You really need to do a side by side comparisons of what the providers offer and what they are charging for those services. Before comparing providers you need to establish what your needs are. Do you need Linux Hosting? Windows? Do you want to be a reseller?Do you need to host multiple domains? How many emails do you need? How many databases do you need? Do you need Ecommerce options? Do you need a lot of storage space? Do you anticipate having a lot of traffic (bandwidth)?

Is your head spinning yet??? You haven’t even started comparing yet! So establish your needs first and then we can move on to choosing a web hosting.

Ready?

Okay I’m not going to make you work any harder than you already have! Now that you know what you need for your website I am going to send you to one site to make your decision easier. Web Hosting Rating has done all the leg work…er mouse work? for you. They offer side by side comparisons of current web hosting providers and they list winners of 2008 awards in various categories such as Best Budget Hosting, Best Blog Hosting, Best PHP Hosting. If you have a specific need you can find the best provider easily on this list. Otherwise browse their extensive list of web hosting providers and find the best fit for your site and your wallet. Take a look at the Top 10 or browse the directory. View all the awards and the ratings.

Web hosting rating also has helpful articles. How do you create multiple FTP accounts? Check out the article and it will all become perfectly clear! Or at least clearer ;)

Let’s face it, the faster you find a host the faster you can get your site up and running. Letting someone else aggregate the best providers out there is a smart use of your time. Don’t get sucked into spending endless hours surfing in search of a web hosting provider.

At one time or another we are all searching for that special someone to share our lives with. Sometimes we find them early on in life and sometimes we have to do some growing up before we find that certain someone. We all have different approaches to meeting people and dating. Some people are social and enjoy going out all the time in hopes of meeting someone new. Others are more comfortable with online dating where they can screen potential dates. I don’t know anyone who is comfortable with blind dates or set ups!! :D

I’ve used a couple different sites and have not been terribly impressed with either of them. One is a free dating site that others have had success with, but I really didn’t. There’s another that is for people seeking affairs that is ridiculously expensive and not at all worth it from my experience or from what others have told me. You can use certain features for free but it’s impossible to actually contact someone unless one of you pays for it. There is another site I’ve used that is another niche site which is so-so, lots of posers though. So I feel like I am no newbie tonight as I sit down to take a look at True.com.

Before signing up you are allowed to search for free. Sign up is free also. This search is displaying 12 of a possible 2,908 based on my zip code and female seeking male filters.

So now I’ve signed up, just took a second, and am on the first of 5 pages to help build my profile. This page is just a couple items, nothing tedious. This page, before my answers says number of matches: 51,538. After my answers it’s cut in half. Page two drops my matches down to 17K. Oof after page 3, religion, I’m down to 2K matches. hehe Smoking and drinking on page 4 and now I’m at 742 matches.

And now I have to sign up with a credit card to get a free 3 day trial. Since I’m not actually seeking a date I’m not going to proceed. I am going to see what else is available with the free account.

There are 10 levels of your profile you can fill out. Some of them are designed to help you narrow down what it is you are looking for. There are lots of free dating tools and you can search based on different aspects. I’m going to try the sexual chemistry match which requires me to fill out a survey. Here are my results and it’s about 50/50. ‘Standard Ways’?? Not hardly!! ‘Not always the aggressor’? Pffft wanna bet?

YOU’RE A TRADITIONALIST!
Don’t let the title fool you. As a Traditionalist, you’re full of heat that so far you’ve released in pretty standard ways. When it comes to sex, Traditionalists are comfortable doing it, comfortable talking about it and good at listening to what your partner wants. Traditionalists tend to be faithful. For them, intimacy comes with trust. You’re not always the aggressor, but boy are you ready to rumble when it’s time for a little one-on-one.

So I did the sexual chemistry search and it brings up 5000 results of which you can filter by your choosing. I like that the search results come up with a little summary on the person’s activity and over all compatibility rating. So thumbs up on the searching, matching and profile questions.

The coaching center gives help on soulmates, photos and videos. Very nice. Tips and Advice looks like a lot of articles but they sort of come across like ads because of how they are displayed on the page. That’s just my personal impression though. *shrug*

The site boasts: Safer Dating

* TRUE screens for marital status and criminal backgrounds.
* We can’t guarantee criminals won’t get on our site. We can guarantee they’ll be sorry. We can and will prosecute.

We provide safer dating guidelines. We encourage you to use good judgment when dating online.
Underage? Criminal? Married?
YOU’RE NOT WELCOME!

This I am intrigued by and now curious how they achieve this extra level of security. After checking out the Safer Dating section I have to say this could be the deciding factor for me using this site. They go to lengths to explain how devoted they are to keeping their members safe and they provide information on keeping YOURSELF safe.

At first glance the site doesn’t seem to be that different from the others. Once you start to explore the site you see that is does have a lot to offer. If you are concerned about safety or just tired of the married men on other dating sites, I’d have to say you should give True a chance.

One of the first steps in monetizing your website is to establish you own domain. A lot of really good opportunities for making money through a website excludes free web hosting sites. Once you have your domain you need to secure some server space through a web hosting company. There are a lot of web hosting sites and it can be really confusing as to how they compare or what matters. For most sites you need physical space for file storage, you need bandwidth (bandwidth is used every time your page is loaded), you will probably need the ability to have a database of some type, you will want ftp access and possibly add on domains or sub domains if you want to buy more than one domain name.

Unless you are going to upload a lot of photos, you shouldn’t need a lot of storage. A monetized site needs a lot of traffic to generate money so you need to have a high allotment of bandwidth or unlimited bandwidth. Most web site software these days is driven by a database.

Web Hosting Geeks compiles information on all the top web hosting packages, including lots of reviews and award winning companies. They have done all the leg work and research for you so you can focus on getting your site up and running faster.

When I lost my job in 2006 I knew it was time to finally do what I really wanted to do with my life. That meant a career change so that I could enter the IT field. To enter the IT field I needed some training and my WIA funding made it possible for me to attend Tech Skills and get started on my training. The IT field is ever growing and there is no end in sight. Computers are not going away and we are more dependent on them every day. There is so much technology out there you can never have too much training. The more training you have the further you will go in the IT field. There is always learning on the job but you need a good foundation and an understanding of the fundamentals before you can begin to handle real world situations.

Certification programs are geared towards busy adults who are already working or like me laid off and needing to get back to work quickly. Going to a traditional college to study technology is a pointless in my opinion. From what a fellow TS student told me, it’s a lot of theory and not much hands on. Imagine how fast technology changes over the course of a single year…now think about how much will change over the four years you are in school getting your degree. You will still need more training to get current!

I was able to pick my path, desktop support and network support and take the courses that I needed and nothing else. Cert training is focused and highly productive. I’m still in the middle of getting my next certification. Once I finished my courses at TS I knew that I wanted to add additional certifications. Cisco certification is appealing to me. We use Cisco routers at the office and I would like to have a better understanding of router management which is covered in the CCNA program. Further education and training in network management is a must for me based on the direction my job is meant to be going in, which is me taking on more network responsibility at the STL office.

TS didn’t offer a lot for Cisco certification courses and our campus only had one instructor who had any experience and she had only taken the courses. Not really the best scenario for learning obviously. Visit the Cisco homepage to explore the six different career paths they have to offer. Locate a Cisco Learning Partner and get your new career going TODAY!!

I love Sci-Fi specifically the Sci-Fi horror of Stephen King. There’s nothing of his that I don’t love. I’m pretty big on Dean Koontz too.There is a new way to get your Sci-Fi fix online.Leviathan Chronicles is a Sci-Fi adventure story told in segments and delivered in podcasts that you can listen to online. The episodes of this saga can be streamed online or downloaded to listen to later on your iPod or MP3 player. Imagine listening to a riveting adventure while you drone away at your desk! I can see this being wildly popular. Imagine your commute with an exciting book on tape but it’s not on tape it’s on your iPod and you don’t have to stop listening because you got out of the car. I can’t read in the car, I get terrible motion sickness. Listening to music on long trips isn’t entertaining enough and watching movies can be a hassle. But a sci fi saga on my MP3 player? SWEET!! No bulky cd player to lug around either. Forgot your iPod? No problem just log on to the website and stream it! How long before major book publishers pick up on this idea and start offering best sellers and classics in podcasts? Of course those won’t be FREE like the Leviathan Chronicles!

Are you and your family taking a vacation to one of America’s most popular destination cities? Wondering what there is to do while you are there? Check out Trusted Tours & Attractions online travel guides and see some of the great tours they offer in all the top cities.

My visit to New York City last year was probably one of the best vacations I’ve ever been on even though it was just a weekend. The thing with NTC is that there is so much to see and so much to do it’s hard to know where to begin! I took one of the bus tours through downtown Manhattan and it was well worth the money. I saw so much and it’s much easier than trying to walk and look at the same time. Trusted Tours & Attractions also has a list of things to do in New York to help you get started and plan your visit.

This spring I spend an afternoon in Chicago just walking around downtown. I didn’t really have anything in mind to do. I should have checked Trusted Tours & Attractions for things to do in Chicago before I went!

While you are at their site looking for things to do in your favorite city you can signup and win a handheld GPS just by registering for their newsletter.

I have allergies, severe allergies to grass, trees and molds. One of the things my allergist recommended to me years ago was to get rid of my house plants because of the mold that grows in them. But I happen to love the look of house plants. So the alternative for me is to use silk plants instead. They look great and need very little care, the occassional dusting maybe. I really love the look of planted trees also and when I am shopping for items to decorate the house I always look at the faux trees. They are so realistic looking it’s hard for me to pick one I like the best. Not to mention they are so much lighter and manageable. No need for Matt to help me get them in the house and move them around. A girl I work with has a big potted tree that she has to move outside in the summer and back in for the winter and she complains about what a chore it is. Imagine having to haul a real tree up to your 30th floor apartment. NO THANKS!! The other great thing about silk is the flowers. When arranged properly, silk flowers are beautiful! And guess what? No pollen on them either… or BUGS!! Bob knows we are already over ran with ants this time of year and apparently this year it is worse than ever. I just can’t tolerate bugs in the house and as much as I love the scent of flowers I won’t bring cut flowers into the house. I don’t want to deal with the bugs or aggravate my allergies further. With silk there is no reason to harvest trees and flowers. Leave them to grow wild where they belong and decorate with long lasting and realistic silk plants and trees instead!

What would my favorite jeans have to say? Hmm… probably some like: “If I’m your favorite why don’t you wear me more often? Why don’t you take me out on the Harley more often? Why am I not allowed to come to the office with you everday? Friday is not enough. I mean obviously I’m cool enough to be worn to the office every day of the week! How can the corporate suits not see this? Did you tell them how soft and blue I am? I bet you didn’t. I bet you haven’t told them about me at all! Are you ashamed of me and our relationship? There’s nothing wrong with being in love with a pair of perfectly nice, respectable jeans you know. Lots of people do it. Stop hiding your feeling for me, let the world know about our love!!”

hehehe am I being a little dramatic? Probably but it still would make for a funny commercial right?? Dockers has a contest where you can submit your own video commercial about your favorite pair of pants. You can enter the Dockers contest by submitting your own story as a video at Dockers TV Commercial Contest . If your video is the grand prize winner it will be aired during The Tonight Show. SWEET!!!

In case some of you are fans of Bubba the Love Sponge, I uploaded my photos from Bubbapalooza in Merrillville IN to my photo gallery

Since paid blogging entered the scene, google ranking has been a key part of actually making money. But google quickly decided that they didn’t want anyone competing with them and if you use your blog to make money, no more google rank. Rank Spank = losing your google ranking because of paid blog posts. So once you’ve been spanked how do you continue to get paid blog work? Vicious circle that. The collaboration of PayPerPost,IZEA and SocialSpark, as usual, is on the cutting edge. They are the best paid blogging company out there and now they are using their own ranking system strictly for blogs to continue to bring advertisers to their bloggers. I make far more money from their system than any of the others I’ve tried and with greater regularity and consistency. They also take a lot of feedback from their bloggers to bring us what we want most, which makes sense when you think about it. Common sense tells you that with unhappy bloggers, you have no one to write quality posts and who wants to pay for crap? Sadly most companies quickly lose site of the most basic of concepts. Remember when Google was the little guy fighting off the greedy Microsoft giant?? Remember why Google was created and why we loved it so much? How they’ve changed and bloggers are feeling the effects.

If you aren’t a PPP or Socialspark member you can sign up at IZEA and get the real ranking of your blog.

Your real rank is determined by data collected from your blog and is based on real visitors and site traffic. Google page rank is based on how good google thinks your site is based on links to it using an unrevealed algorithm.

IF you ask me Google’s rank spanking is the equivalent of the shady practices used by Microsoft to eliminate their competition.

Did you get rank spanked? Get the badge to prove it!

If you are going to play in a fantasy baseball league, you are in it to win it right? Unfortunately winning is a challenge and you need to be armed with the best tools out there if you are going to pull it off. Having the right software is the key tool to winning. The top software for fantasy baseball is Sports Prophet’s Fantasy Baseball software system.

The software is web based so you can access it anywhere.
Player rankings based on predictive modeling by phd scientists.
It also includes the most advance Draft assistance tool with all the data needed to make the right decision about any player. Get a
full season roster management including updated mid season projections via artificial intelligence. All stats, injury reports and major updates available from within software.

Right now they are running a $10 off special if you use promo code BMC200 when signing up.

When this came out in theaters I was DYING to see it because it looked quite funny. I didn’t get to see it but it arrived from Netflix this week so I watched it last night. covereyes

What a steaming pile of dookie |-| This movie BLOWS. The seemingly funny scenes from the trailer because unfunny within the context of the story. I’ve never liked Sean Williams whatever his name is less and I was mortified to find myself disgusted by BBT cussing who I have always had a dirty little crush on. What a waste of time and disc space. dammit Even Amy Poeller (sp?) was humorless. The young version of the character should have been a fatter kid, he was barely what one would consider a chubby kid.

I know I don’t. They are impossible to deal with. They make it impossible to make corrections to your account. And when your identity is stolen, you will spend on average 600 hours trying to undo the damage.

There are some ways to protect your identity from being stolen in the first place. Most of those ways are things you can do yourself for free but it takes time. I don’t know about you but for me, my time has become priceless and I would happily pay a fee to have someone else secure my identity for me AGAINST theft.

One such company is Lifelock. I’ve heard their ads on Howard Stern’s Sirius Satellite radio show and have been considering signing up for their service. Especially when I think about what it would mean to spend 600 hours trying to fix my credit. Credit I worked hard to make solid. I have had a couple minor changes that I tried to correct and a couple entries that were invalid. After multiple attempts to correct them and failing I gave up and waited for them to come off after their lifespan was up. I can’t even FATHOM having a major error and battling with these three monoliths to get it repaired. purpleshakehead

Now one of the major credit bureaus, Experian, is pitching a FIT because of Lifelock. Every time lifelock requests a credit bureau place an alert on someone’s account to protect it, it costs Experian money. Lifelock also removes your information from junk mail lists which prevents the credit bureaus from selling your information to potential creditors. So Experian is claiming that lifelock can’t legally place alerts on behalf of their customers.

Experian also argues that LifeLock’s business harms individuals and the overall economy. Consumers are deceived into thinking they must pay to have the alerts placed on their records - when in fact the consumers could issue their own alerts for free - and consequently may be deterred from getting them. It also clogs the system with bogus fraud alerts, which may have the effect of devaluing real ones.

lifelock declined to comment on the lawsuit, except to say it intended to “vigorously defend the case.”

What Experian doesn’t tell you is that it derives a significant amount of revenue hawking services that compete with LifeLock’s. It also fails to say that initial fraud alerts raise its overhead costs. Such alerts were only implemented through an act of Congress. They require credit bureaus to jump through additional hoops when confirming the identity of a person or business looking in to a person’s credit.

So yes you can do this yourself but are you going to monitor and renew the alerts every 3 months? Lifelock is offering a legitimate and much needed service and the CRA are in a snit over the impact to their bottom line…regardless of the negative impact to Americans if there were no opportunities to simplify the process of securing our identity.

I mean I suppose that the CRA’s could actually do something for consumers and push for change to make identity theft much harder but why would they do that when they are profiting so nicely from the half assed way things are being done now.

Driving home tonight I was bemused to find loaves of Wonder bread on the interstate, 3 or 4 of them. Out of no where came a memory, of a book I read as a kid about a giant jam sandwich. I remember that the towns people made the giant jam sandwich to lure and trap some insects, mosquitoes maybe it seemed. They actually made an entire loaf of bread, not sure why they needed to make an entire loaf for 2 slices of bread but I digress. I had to come home and look it up.
As I’m Googling the book, Matt leans over and says ‘Hey I had that book! That book is awesome.” Now I think we must indeed buy this little gem from Amazon so I can wax nostalgic about Itching Down.

I haven’t had a sponsored post in some time because I’ve been real busy with work. Tonight I decided to check out the site and I found something that I am definitely going to be reading up on even more.

Uplogix network security management appliance Envoy is the next generation of remote network management. From what I gather from the website this is a single point of access to do about 95% of all network administration tasks. It can automate more than 60% of maintenance tasks. Stuff like OS upgrades, configuration, policy changes and password updates.

Our network is a complex global network and I am still trying to get a handle on how it all works together and where to go to manage different aspects. There are multiple points to access the different servers and nodes on the network and life would be SO much simplier for me if everything could be accomplished by logging in to a intuitive web interface. You can even manage multiple Envoy appliances through the web interface.

Envoy capabilities:
Total control, visibility, and connectivity to the remote infrastructure, regardless of state of the network

Uplogix network security management

What is CRM?
Customer Relationship Management. Which is a business strategy to help your business become more effective by focusing on your customers wants and needs.

If you have a small business you may not have the staff to devote a group just to servicing your customers and in the end that is what really makes or breaks your business right?

Bright Blue offers three different CRM packages with different levels of service to allow you to get exactly the help you need.

CRM consulting can help your sales team overcome the challenges of a competitive market with fewer people and resources.

With sound crm solutions you can make the most out of your marketing plan by tailoring it to your business so you can reach out to your target audience.

I love snow so much this just MADE my day and we may get another 3 inches or so. I can’t wait. I want to go run around outside.

Finally

A little bit of joy
and Christmas spirit
drifted into my life today
it fell from the sky
riding on little white flakes
happy
happy
joy

Stacy Griffith 12/23/99

In other news, I have given in the dark side. I am in love with this McDonald’s ad with the Electric Slide Cha Cha kid. He is adorable.

This is the ONLY way I get my business cards for my various web sites. I have them for Scooter Chick, Crab Street Journal and Ban Puppy Mills but I never thought about getting some to promote this blog. But that’s exactly what bloggers are doing now in this generation of social networking. You can get 100 FREE business cards from ooprint.com, you only pay the shipping and handling. You can customize one of the 10 designs by uploading your images, logo or photo. Easy Peasy Right?

I’ve never heard of this play/musical before but the movie trailer looks good. Says it’s very bloody though so I dunno. It’s another Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/Helen Bohnham movie and I’ve not seen a single one of those that I haven’t liked. I can’t help but wonder if Helen has some sort of fear of hairbrushes. Alan Rickman also stars as the bad guy, which he is so good at! He sends away the innocent Johnny Depp to prison for life. Somehow he gets out to find his wife dead and his daughter, I think, is a captive of Rickman. Todd becomes the demon barber, murdering men to get his revenge while they sit in his barber chair. Bohnham plays his accomplice.

Anyhow in honor of the movie there is a website where you can write, phone or video your own deep dark confessions and share them with the world. Confession is always good for the soul! Look at how successful shows like “Taxi Cab Confessions” are, people love to confess their sins and misdeeds. Make your own Sweeney Todd confession and check out the confessions left by others and see how you rank on the list of the wicked.

The site also has some skins and graphics if you are a big fan of Sweeney Todd. And of course check them out on My Space and visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site

The St Augustine’s Galleries are pleased to announce the St. Augustine First Friday Artwalk weekends. St. Augustine Artwalk begins on December 7th and runs every month thereafter on the first Friday and Saturday, 5 to 9pm. Admission is free and there are free shuttles to several destinations on the artwalk on a continuous loop every 30 minutes. The first shuttle picks up at 6pm at the San Sebastian Winery at 157 King Street.

The artwalk features exhibits, music, entertainment and refreshments from 20 galleries. Stroll through beautiful St Augustine Florida and enjoy some beautiful artwork.

Some of the featured St Augustine artists are:

Beau Redmond
Jean Troemel
Peter O’Neill
Trip Harrison
Jan Miller
Sydney McKenna
Ray Brilli

I have never been to an art gallery but I would definitely go and check one out if it were free. This artwalk is a great opportunity for anyone to visit a gallery for the first time because it’s all free and there are 20 galleries to visit. You know the weather is always nice for a walk in Florida and if you decide that maybe this whole art gallery thing isn’t for you, you can leave without feeling as if you have offended anyone. ;)

My mom has been suffering from joint pain in her back and in her neck for many years now. She hurt her back in 1986 while working on the railroad. She now has arthritis in her back which is exacerbating her pain and discomfort. In 1995, I think, she was in a car accident and that caused the chronic pain in her neck. She has never really been able to achieve full pain relief and she is concerned about being coming addicted to pain meds. She suffers from a very real pain but most doctors seem to very casual in their approach to relieving her pain. She also is trying to stop taking so many prescription drugs and instead use alternative methods of improving her general health and to find pain relief. Because she is on a limited income she has to be careful about throwing money away on bogus claims.

Due to the level of pain she experiences, she has great difficulty falling asleep and then getting any real feeling of rest from it. She has tried several topical (Bengay type) creams for pain relief and most of them fall short. Most of these products are heat based though. Her chiropractor directs her to use an ice pack to help with the pain through out the day. Which means most of the time she has an ice pack stuck down her pants! Not exactly an ideal situation if you want to leave the house for any period of time. Then if she does go out for the day to attend an auction or estate sale (her favorite things!) she needs a day or two to recover physically and to get her pain under control again.

Freeze It offers relief from arthritis, back pain and joint pain through the day AND at bedtime AND it’s in an easy to use form of cream or roll on! This is exactly the product my mom would love! (Okay so I am thinking I would like to try it for my should and neck muscles which are often sore and tight from being on a computer all day.) No more draggin her ice pack everywhere with her when she could drop this in her purse and have relief on the go.

It’s very difficult to see her in such pain and not be able to help so I am always looking for a remedy that addresses all her symptoms in one. If you have ever had a loved one in pain you know how frustrating and upsetting it can be when you feel helpless to make things better for them. Not being able to sleep due to pain is probably her biggest issue and of course we all know that your body refuels and repairs itself while you are sleeping. So if you can’t sleep how can you ever hope to recover or be regenerated?

Winning a year’s supply of Freeze It Gel for my mom would mean a year of pain relief, restful sleep and regaining some of her freedom.

[video:youtube:woAjqsFSekY]

Based on sheer cuteness alone she deserves some flowers! LUV

In reality, Sue has had a really shitty go of it the past two years and as much as I bitch and complain about life dumping on me, she has had it far far worse and held up much, much better than I have.

With Flora2000 I can send flowers to Sue, who lives in the great white north, or to anyone in over 150 countries. With the extensive social networking of the internet it’s not uncommon for e~friends to reside in different countries and to have never actually met but in times of happiness or sorrow they still want to reach out to their friend. The universal gesture is sending flowers. Since 1999, Flora2000 has been helping send smiles all around the world. You can rest assured that the flowers your friend receives will be top quality fresh bouquets and delivered fast.

I happen to have a webhost that I love and he is also a long time e-friend. A couple years ago he talked about getting out of the web hosting business and I was at a loss as to who I could getting hosting from that would rival the service and savings I get from him.

Even though I don’t currently need ecommerce hosting, I have considered opening my own online store because I am sick of paying eBay’s fees and not being able to sell shit. I attempted to set up a free e store and it was just too much for me to try to learn to get it set up and looking professional. This ecommerce hosting deal sounds like the only way to go as they will do pretty much everything for you!

All Ecommerce web hosting plans include:

FREE installation of Ecommerce to your web hosting account
FREE step-by-step Ecommerce video tutorials
FREE transfer of your account from any other cPanel host
FREE account setup, no long term contracts, no hidden fees
FREE daily server backups to protect your vital data

Optional extras for your Ecommerce store include:

SSL certificates - vital for secure online transactions
Authorize.net merchant accounts - accept credit cards quickly and easily

If you have never had your own web site, take my word for this, the services being offered at the prices listed, is impossible to find. The hosting costs alone are very, very competitive without all the free services they offer. Cpanel hosting is the easiest way to go as far as back end management of your site, the interface is very user friendly.

If you are an individual trying to launch your own online store and you are limited on start up funds, cheap ecommerce hosting is definitely the way to go. These hosting plans can have you up and running in short order.

AQHost is a one stop shop that will set you up with site design, shopping carts, free ecommerce installation, SSL certificates and Merchant accounts to allow you to accept credit cards and start making money right away.

AQhosting doesn’t cut corners by offering shoddy support either. They are available 24/7/365 and have some of the fastest ticket response time in the hosting industry.

If you are considering a small business hosting account to launch your online store you should make a point to visit AQHosting and see what they have to offer you.

This is a site that I have been aware of for some time and actually use to find deals on computer hardware upgrades. One of my friends, Derek, used to watch this site daily and let me know about the best buys of the day. Techbargains is updated 24/7. They actually make it really easy to keep up with the deals via RSS feed or email newsletters with the best deals of the week. OR customize your own alerts if there is something specific you are shopping for. You can visit the site from your handheld as well because their site is mobile web capable.

One of the cool things they do every year is post the Black Friday deals so you can do some preshopping price checking.

I am sort of shopping for a new PC as my trusty HP is nearing 7 years old, a relic in the world of technology. TechBargains has dell coupons codes too so you can get the absolute best deal on a Dell.

Want to know who as the BEST price on a 180GB hard drive? Click the link for ‘lowest price’ and enter your search words and let TechBargains scan the web for the best deal.

Want a coupon code? Check out their HUGE list of active codes and these are easy to read at a glance which is something not all coupon code sites seem to be able to do.

Check out who has rebates, look up a vendor or even make a suggestion for items you want to see on the site in the future.

Techbargains has a clean, easy to navigate site that is not loaded down with graphics or ads, just efficient and to the point!

Alzheimers and cancer are probably neck in neck for the place as the most dreaded disease to contract. There is the chance of surviving cancer so maybe that puts alzheimers a step ahead. It’s such a sad thing to witness and I can’t imagine what it’s like to have a parent suffering from alzheimers. My aunt Vernice has alzheimersbut I don’t see her anymore. But for a child to care for a parent who no longer recognizes them or the rest of the family, well it must be so heartbreaking. I mean while physically they are healthy, they have essentially lost their life when they lose their memories.

It is so important to continue searching for a cure for alzheimers but at the same time we have to make sure those already afflicted are receiving the best possible care available.

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America has opened an estore where you can shop for a holiday gift and help the AFA provide optimal care for those affected by alzheimers. There are some beautiful jewelry pieces that honor the caregivers of alzheimers victims. If you know someone who is a caregiver this would be a two fold gift for them. The jewelry to symbolize the work they do AND knowing that the purchase of that gift will help those suffering from dementia have the best care available.

Truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Easily mark some names off of your gift giving list this year by shopping at the AFA estore for sterling silver necklaces, bracelets and lapel pins. Elegant and stylish enough to wear everyday with any outfit.

The AFA A Quilt to Remember project allows anyone to add a piece to the quilt to remember a loved one or friend who has passed or who is suffering from alzheimers. The quilt will travel on display to impress upon people the enormity of this disease. There are directions on how to add your panel to the quilt.

WOOT! New movie by Stephen King

My take on the plot of this movie:
So a group of townspeople are trapped in a local grocery store by a strange, otherworldly mist. And there are things lurking in that mist, deadly and horrifying. Everyone has to pull together to survive. Will human kind prove to be the true horror?

EEEH that sounds good! I love the reflection on our civilization and even more so the study of human beings and the things that drive us. I think we are going to see how selfish and cruel some humans can be. People you would never suspect but they keep that true self hidden deep. I’ve read about how a mob of people will not help a person being mugged or attacked, but a single person will like jump in and help you. I’ve always wondered about the mentality behind the mob behavior where no one wants to be the first to stick their nose out.

I don’t think this is based on a book because I own everything Stephen King in hardback. obsessed I will be going to see this in the theater if I can get a weekend to actually go.

There is a site called Liljas-library that has some behind the scenes looks and information. It is all things Stephen King for fans.

I found the trailer on YouTube if you haven’t seen it yet, looks really good:

The Mist by Stephen King

At work we are getting virtual servers soon. We have 4 servers in our office alone and servers at our foreign offices but a single virtual server can take the place of several other physical servers.

Wiki defines it:

In computing, virtualization is a broad term that refers to the abstraction of computer resources. One useful definition is “a technique for hiding the physical characteristics of computing resources from the way in which other systems, applications, or end users interact with those resources. This includes making a single physical resource (such as a server, an operating system, an application, or storage device) appear to function as multiple logical resources; or it can include making multiple physical resources (such as storage devices or servers) appear as a single logical resource.”

It is far easier to configure and administer one server versus six servers. With Virtual Private Servers you can simplify server administration by either using multiple virtual servers with centralized admin. The other option is to use virtualization to take your existing multiple servers and make them appear as one server and then you can administer then as one server.

Virtual Private Servers are very economical and cost saving.
Your storage capacity on a virtual server is held in a global pool and is available on demand so you aren’t paying for storage space before you are actually using it. Applications run faster and you will spend less time dealing with allocation storage space and resizing drives to make more room. No longer will you physical boxes to get rid or wonder how you are going to be able to recoup your losses out of a server you outgrew quicker than you expected. With virtual servers you just update your account to meet your changing needs.

Ever since returning home from New York City in August I have been thinking about going back. I had so much fun and it’s an amazing city. Relatively speaking, I didn’t even see much and there is so much I still want to see. One of the places I have wanted to visit for about 10 years is Rockefeller Center, at Christmas time so that I can see the tree and the ice rink. I can’t ice skate but it always seemed so romantic. When I was there in August I took a bus tour on Saturday and it was such a great time, totally worth the money. I wish I had more time to take more of the New York City Tours because there are so many parts of the city to see. I took one of the double decker bus and rode on top. The weather was amazing and couldn’t have been more perfect. I took the New York City Tour downtown loop. That took me to the Ground Zero stop so I could get off and walk down to the site. All of the tours let you get on and off as much as you want. You just jump back on the next bus that comes along and they run all day long. This is THE way to see the city. Walking on the sidewalk you don’t really get a chance to look around and take everything in because you have to watch where you are going all the time. These tours are a couple hours or more so if you want to do more than one in a day you better get an EARLY start! It’s money well spent if you want to see as much of NYC as you can in a short visit.

New York City Tours also run at night and I am pretty sure there is a special Christmas loop as well.

Trusted Tours and Attractions is one of the two big tour companies in NYC. They have a large list of tours available, far more than I realized after seeing the website. Look at all they offer:

Top of the Rock Observation Deck - Self guided
Double decker bus deluxe tour
New York splash tour
Madame Tussauds New York Wax Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Central park bike tour
Complete harbor cruise
Harlem Soul food and Jazz
Sopranos sites
NY Bateaux lunch or dinner cruise
Spirit of NY dinner cruise
Taste of NY helicopter
Double decker bus deluxe and museum of modern art
Double decker bus deluxe and Statue of Liberty ferry
2 or 3 hour photo tour
Central park 2 or 3 hour photo tour
Central park movie sites
City lights twilight cruise
NYC tour in a foreign language
NYC tour and Statue of Liberty in a foreign language
Classic double decker bus tour
Discover Brooklyn
See Uptown and Harlem
Discover the Bronx
Double Decker Downtown Manhattan
Double Decker and Top of the Rock
Full Island cruise of Manhattan
Gateway to America harbor tour
Happy Hour harbor sunset cruise
Harlem on Sunday-add brunch
Harlem on Wed-add brunch
Lady Liberty harbor cruise
Lady Liberty helicopter tour
NYC official heritage tour
NYC pass
NY See it all tour
Water taxi combo
NY helicopter tour
NY see the lights tour
Double decker bus night tour
Romance over Manhattan helicopter
semi circle cruise of Manhattan
Sex and the City hotspots
Big Apple helicopter tour
TV and Movie sites tour
2 day on/off water taxi pass
Double decker bus of uptown Manhattan
NY World yacht brunch/dinner cruise
Brooklyn attractions pass
Bike Rental
Brooklyn Bridge bike tour
NY See downtown/midtown tour
NY Splash tour and all loops tour combo

If you can’t find a tour on this list that sounds fun or interesting, you have no business being in NYC in the first place because you are a stick in the mud.

They have Boston Tours too or any other major city you would want to visit.

No it’s not some iron man in the desert thing. :)) The
BP Solar Decathlon is a challenge to create a completely solar powered and energy efficient home. BP and The U.S. Department of Energy are sponsoring this contest where 20 teams of builders and designers are building their own solar powered house. They will build their house and this month those houses are transported to Washington DC to be at up in a solar village. From there they compete in 10 areas to see which is most efficient overall. The competition begins tomorrow! This is the third decathalon.

I often blog about going green at home and with ever rising electric bills it would be awesome to have a solar powered home. I have heard about geo thermal heating and cooling which sounds pretty awesome. Too bad most of this stuff is so expensive to implement at the outset, I think that deters some people.

U of I, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana has a team competing this year, go U of I!!!

The BP Solar Decathlon website has information on increasing you energy awareness and savings. You can also estimate your savings by going solar.

Additional facts about BP’s involvement in the quest for alternative energy solutions:

• BP is investing $500 million into the Energy Biosciences Institute in which the company will partner with the University of California Berkeley, the University of Illinois and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab to find bioscience solutions to reduce the impact of energy consumption on the environment.
http://www.ebiweb.org/

• BP produces more than 200 MW of solar technology every year. Did you know that an area 200 miles square covered with solar panels could provide all the electricity the world needs?
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9013388&contentId=7026234

• BP’s jointly-owned Nerefco wind farm generates enough zero-carbon energy to power 13,000 average homes. Wind can potentially provide around a 10th of the world’s power. That would cut down dioxide emissions by a billion tons a year.
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9013393&contentId=7026238

• BP has created a website for people to understand how they can reduce their impact on the environment every day using a concept called the greencurve.

o Wonder where you are on the greencurve?
http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9014982&contentId=7028647

o Check out how you can reduce your impact on the environment every day.
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=2224&contentId=7028332

Link: http://www.faucet.com/decor/static.pl?S=promo/Moenstore

Any fan of Howard Stern can tell you how important your faucets are. Not because they provide your house with water. The most important thing about your faucet is who it’s made by. If it ain’t MOEN it ain’t shit. One of the most quotes lines from King of All Blacks is from his on air fight with Angry Black, “My faucets is MOEN“. King is a guy who prides himself about being on the cutting edge and having the best of any product available. What makes this funnier is that he is a former garbage man from New Jersey. Apparently that’s a high paying job. Who knew? But King of all Blacks would not brag about Moen faucets if it wasn’t the best there is.

Moen is a well name brand that has been synonsis with quality and style. If you are redecorating your entire kitchen or just updating, check out Moen faucets shopping guide. have a look at all the sleek, stylish models available from Moen. The site takes the confusion about replacing your facets.

You can shop online and then order online. There is an 800 number where you can call for help, satisfaction guaranteed!

PCWorld and MSN have discovered a site I have been talking about for years. I discovered it at least 5 years ago and was addicted to it. At the time I read every single item on the site. Then there was a major lull in updating. If you are a people watcher you will love Found Magazine The site now has a blog so you can subscribe to the feed… SWEET!

They also recommended Funny or Die which is another video site but it’s all humorous stuff including videos submitted by popular comedians. The mention of Sarah Silverman submitted videos is what hooked me. I plan to spend some time screwing off on this site. :D

Plan 9 from outer space the worst movie of all time. I’ve never seen it so when it was on this past weekend I had to watch it. It is truly horrible. hearts

The Devil Wears Prada Howard recommended this movie so I watched it on Sunday night and it is a pretty good movie. You can guess the outcome of the story but I love Meryl Streep.

Blades of glory Hilarious I watched it twice!
Will Ferrell as an ‘ice devouring sex tornado’ is hysterical considering he’s anything but attractive. Funny as hell but not a handsome man. covereyes

Sunday’s episode was another difficult one for me. I’m going to get the little stuff out of the way first ;)

So Mason is Carolyn’s sister?? How did I miss this connection? I actually put it together while reading on the site not from anything in the show. I also am a bit lost as to what is going on with Arthur, May and the ex. I guess I missed something in a previous episode or there are just some assumptions being made here.

I am still having a hard time liking Carolyn. In my eyes she is ruining her relationship and totally degrading and emasculating Palek, all for a kid. Go adopt for christ’s sake. I guess I will never get that whole ‘I MUST have a baby’ thing.

Watching Jamie struggle is rough but I feel like that was her decision ya know? The fact that we never saw Hugo through the entire episode really drove home the fact that he had shut her out. At least the man is honest. Jamie’s couple friends at the bar, well the man, said something that struck a chord with me. He said that monogamy is only good for about 6 years or so.

Back to Dave and Katie…
When Dave and Jeff are talking about the upcoming anniversary and the celebratory sex, Dave just plasters a smile on his face and pretends everything is fine. This seems to be his way of ‘handling’ the problems in his marriage also. Either Dave is in deep denial and truly believes there are no problems in his marriage or he’s afraid to face them. He still acts as if Katie is doing something TO him by going to therapy. At the birthday party Dave and Katie are the happy couple to anyone looking at them but isn’t that always the way? How many happy couples do you know that ended up divorced much to everyone’s surprise? Isabella’s lingerie selection (It’s purple!)seems to unseat Dave on more than one level. First there is just the discomfort of buying lingerie in the first place. Second he is confronted with the idea of buying a gift that is meant for the bedroom and we all know there ain’t NOTHING going on in the bedroom so what message does this send to Katie? But Dave just goes along with it instead of trying to redirect Isabella towards something that is less prickly. The scene in the restaurant is comical but again instead of Dave putting his foot down and telling Isabella that he will give Katie her gift at home, he brings it and then goes along with her opening it. This had to be so uncomfortable for Katie, besides being embarrassed, there in that box lies a symbol of all that is wrong between her and Dave. Later in their bedroom, when Katie says ‘I’m not wearing this, right?’ I really was hoping that Dave would encourage her to put it on at least but maybe that would have just been worse. Dave is so excited over his TiVo that he kisses Katie on the mouth and as he lingers there, that moment heavy with palpable anticipation, I am trying to WILL him to reach out with his hand and just touch her arm or something. They were right at the brink and he let her go. This is repeated when he says “I love you” and Katie says “but?” and he just lets it hang there. One final time she opens the door for him to do something, anything when she picks up her book and he lets her go again. This is so raw and real for me because I am living everything right along with Katie and it breaks my heart to watch. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for Dave to reach out to her. I mean emotionally and physically because he can’t admit there is even a problem at this point.

HBO continues to astound me with their quality of programming. I have not forgiven them for killing off Deadwood a season early but I think I am going to have to go back on my promise to cancel our subscription to HBO after Big Love ends, that is if Tell Me is still being produced. I won’t watch network tv aside from the animated shows I like but I am GLUED to my tv when Sunday night rolls around.

Tonight you can catch up on the first three episodes all back to back on HBO.

Below is the synopsis:

Directed by: Patricia Rozema
Written by: Cynthia Mort

Palek visits the fertility specialist to make a sperm deposit (with a little over-the-phone help from Carolyn), and he passes the test with flying colors. “Beautiful motility, beautiful count,” the lab technician tells him. Later, at another couple’s house for game night, Palek and Carolyn find out one of their friends is pregnant for the third time. “We’re officially trying,” Palek announces, over-exuberant and a little tipsy. Angry, Carolyn follows up by recounting to the group how they just found out about Palek’s superior sperm. At home, the two take a few shots at laying blame on each other but eventually find their way to makeup sex.

Dave and Katie both, dreading their anniversary for the same reason, deal with it in different ways. Katie vents in her session with May that she hates how everyone suggests they spend the night alone. Dave, when his friend Jeff alludes to Katie “taking care of” him, just nods with fake enthusiasm and tells him, “She always does.” The couple’s discomfort reaches new heights when Dave succumbs to Isabella’s insistence on buying Katie lingerie for their anniversary. After presenting the gift at dinner – with the kids in tow – Dave and Katie find themselves sitting on the edge of their bed, feeling awkward. “I love you, honey,” Dave tells Katie, to which she responds, “But?” He doesn’t answer.

Jamie, trapped in a lease for an apartment she won’t be sharing with Hugo, hangs out with Mason, smoking pot. Mason suggests having sex with someone to get over her engagement, “just like a hangover.” Jamie calls a handful of past hookups, eventually ending up at Marcus’s apartment after work. But, after a few minutes of making out, she can’t go through with it and takes off, leaving another angry voicemail for Hugo on her way home. Mason tries one more time to motivate her friend, taking her to a bar then later to a strip club, but Jamie’s not in the mood for a lap dance. “You’re like a human f**king Valium,” Mason tells her.

Arthur drops in on May at her office, agitated. When he tells her he had a “good talk” with John, she becomes angry, saying he had no right to do that. Arthur wants May to meet with John, he tells her. “I want you to see him and then come home to me.”

I think for most people the idea of going to a therapist for counseling seems like a daunting task. Once you’ve decided to do it how do you find a counselor? Do you ask friends and family or is that just too awkward? Do you open the yellow pages and start cold calling to find a therapist that fits your particular needs? Do you call your HMO and get a referral from them? Are you like me and you research everything online? www.findcounseling.com is a searchable directory of therapists all over the U.S. Findcounseling.com has been around for 26 years and was the first searchable online directory available. They invented the concept of sorting therapists by treatment area, modality, language, managed care, gender, and location. Other sites have taken the format created by Findcounseling.com and used it as the structure for their sites. They are on the forefront again as they rebuild and relaunch with a new high tech search engine.

So if you live in say, Miami, and you want to find a listing of Miami Psychologists you would log on to Findcounseling.com and search in Miami and you will be given a list of therapists. You can search by the therapists field of practice or even by your insurance provider to find in network therapists. Being able to do all of this in one place is really a time saver compared to the time it would take for you to do this with the phonebook.

[digg_plugin]digg_this|mode:compact|position:default|[/digg_plugin]

Okay so Tim the toolman Taylor I ain’t but I am not handy enough to tackle just any home improvement project. Remodeling Misty’s bathroom went fairly well for me but I had major issues with the archaic wiring in the light fixture and of course figuring out how to use the miter box to cut the ends of the trim to fit the corners. To most men this probably sounds incredibly easy but I think that for a girl I don’t do such a bad job. I actually don’t mind doing home improvements so long as I have the right tools and some directions or guidance, after all knowledge is power! Not raw, over the top 300 horsepower, just regular old get the job done power. ;) I have a couple books on do it yourself home improvement projects but they are a bit lacking. The electrical book is strictly electrical and it doesn’t cover unusual situations (like the fixture with 6 wires!?!?). The other book is huge and covers a plethora of topics but not with any real depth. A website like www.doityourself.com would have probably been of more help. They have thousands of articles and over 100 forums all devoted to DIY, plus it’s all free! I can see that if I had done a little prereading on the miter box my trim probably would have turned out better than it did. But at least I am now armed with this website before I start some projects around our house. If you are going tosell your home those projects can pay off in the final sale price of your home but not if they are done half assed!

Earlier this summer a rock put a nasty chip in my windshield. Last week I finally got around to calling my insurance company to get it fixed. They waive the deductible for a repair. If you’ve never had this done it’s quite cool. They are able to fill and seal the chip making it nearly invisible and stop it from spreading. They come right to your house or job if you need them to. Obviously you need to get a company that guarantees their work, and is licensed and all that good stuff. You don’t want some backwoods mouth breather doing some kinda amateur repair on your windshield. I was able to get a referral from my insurance company for the place I called. If you live in Minneapolis or St Paul you can call St. Paul windsheild repair. They offer affordable prices, OEM parts and the repairs and installations performed by certified installers are backed by their lifetime warranty.

Is there anything worse than having your computer crash and losing all of your data? Realizing that you haven’t made a back up in months? I am terrible at making back ups. It takes time and disk space and some of my stuff is too big to even fit on one dvd. I Drive E has the ideal solution! No extra hardware needed, no expense, just automated, encrypted back ups online!!

Online Backup is the way to go whether you are a novice computer user or an experienced user. They have two plans, 2GB FREE storage or 4.95 a month for unlimited. $5.00 bucks a month to have all your data backed up off your local hard drive and encrypted. How many hours does it take to back up all of your data yourself? Sure the disks are cheap but today time is money and none of us have enough time. Forget the time spent creating the backs ups….what about the loss of your media or business related files? Things that you may never be able to recover. Would you be out of business if you lost the data on your computer? I don’t see the downside to using this service.

Features

Mapped drive support

Open/Locked file backup support

Versioning**

Block level incremental backups

Bandwidth throttle

No limit on the upload/download size

Notification on the status of scheduled backups

Ease of Use

Windows Explorer like interface for easy restore

Add to Backup set or perform interactive backup from Windows Explorer

Drag-and-drop option using drive interface

Quick Search and restore option for any file or folder

Access of Backup/Restore log information from web

Security

Encryption on transfer

Encryption on storage