time to reboot...

I had a pretty late night last night, especially considering I came into work this morning at 5 AM. After work, I had to do some field inspections which took about an hour-and-a-half of road time. I got home around 7:30 and couldn't connect to the Internet to transmit my orders.

I was so tired and so flippin' aggravated.

After rebooting my cable modem, router, pc, laptop and the table lamp I finally got connected. Yes, I was so tired and frustrated, I just switched off the entire power strip, so yes, the lamp rebooted, too. I finished up with transmitting the inspections I completed, then it was on to making a photo slide show DVD for a client. That little project went smoothly and only took about an hour-and-a-half from scanning to burning. When all the work was finally done, I wasn't sleepy at all, so I tuned in to Survivor and almost made it through The Office, but then I realized it was 1 AM and my behind had to be in this office in a few short hours; I powered down and called it a night before it was time for me to reboot...

BestBuy pulls the plug...

BestBuy announced today that it will be pulling the plug and taking analog TV's off life support as of October 1st. They've instructed all stores to pull analog TV's off the shelves and will no longer sell the soon to be dinosaur televisions. They will be dealing in only digital TV's now - plasmas, LCD's and the like.

It's becoming much more attractive everyday it seems to be the proud new owner of an HDTV. The prices are coming down and I've heard that Thanksgiving and the upcoming holiday shopping season will be one of the best times to buy if you're thinking about taking the plunge into the crystal clear waters of high definition TV before the end of the year...

kickin' the habit...

If you want to kick the habit of smoking, sure, you could stick on a patch, chew some gum, get hypnotized, become a pin-cushion with Acupuncture sessions, puff on a pretend cigarette that looks kind of like a tampon, or finance some of those expensive Chantix pills. Sometimes these programs work, sometimes they don't.

If you've tried everything, and are still itching to light up, there's a new program you might not know about...

Your Cell Phone.

Yes, technology now will deliver - via your cell phone - a conscience like that of a close friend; a virtual quit buddy that will be by your side, or on your hip, to help you through those rough times of anxiety and withdrawal. What will they think of next?

"Immediacy is one of the most critical parts of the program," said Jodi Kopke, media director at Colorado's State Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership (STEPP). "For someone to say they smoke at 7 a.m., 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. and then to get a message right as they are about to get up and light up, that is so powerful."

Colorado's STEPP and Denver-based ad agency Cactus developed a message system on cell phones with an Internet quit program. Initially aimed at high school students in Colorado, the state hopes to soon share its fledgling FixNixer program as a technique for all age groups and geographies.

~ Michele Gershberg NEW YORK (Reuters)

tracking progress...

I cannot believe it's already October - this year has gone by so fast and they seem to go by faster year by year. During September, I set a goal for myself to help our financial situation by earning some extra bucks. Usually, I have to cook the books and rob Peter to pay Paul just to make ends meet, but last month, I decided to bear down and put my nose to the grindstone; now, things are looking up. I made a spreadsheet, set my goal, worked hard and met and exceeded my goal. I made the spreadsheet because I find that if I track my progress, I become more focused; it keeps me honest. Being a quality engineer, I'm all about continuous improvement. So, this month, I'm setting my goal a bit higher and although it's early in the month, I'm right on target...

autorefresh mozilla firefox

Sometimes I need a page or tab to refresh in my Firefox Browser. I’m running Firefox 2.0.0.7 in an XP environment. I did a quick search and it turns out there’s a nifty little add-on called ReloadEvery compliments of by Jaap Haitsma. I installed the ReloadEvery add-on and it’s just what I was looking for. It reloads pages at an interval you select from the drop down menu or you can set a custom refresh/reload rate. You can also access the ReloadEvery menu by right clicking the web page. Cool!

backup!

I've noticed a ton of Chrysler 300's on the road lately. The company I work for 'develops' and sells parking aids and cameras, but I'm not sure if they have noticed that the Chrysler 300 accessory market could be huge for our product because of the stout rear end of the vehicle. I used to ride with a lady to real estate class who drove a Chrysler 300 - it was her company car. She was also in sales and told me that the company she worked for required their employees take a defensive driving class to raise awareness of accidents that happen while in reverse. Not only the danger of backing into a post or another vehicle, but backing into or over a person. This is not uncommon, especially when the salesperson is constantly in and out of parking lots.

Sounds like a lead to me...

multitasking...

I love to watch the food network, but it can be dangerous to your waistline if you have the time to recreate these dishes. If you're the master multitasker like Rachel Ray, you'd have no problem whipping up a 5 course meal in 30 minutes with your berndes cookware while you host a talk show, a reality mini-show and manage 20 or so other food network endeavors.

She makes my head spin.
My version of multitasking is dialing the phone while at the same time asking, "So, What kind of pizza do you guys want me to order?"

buy low, sell high...

Year before last, I did quite a bit of business on ebay buying wholesale clothing and reselling the pieces individually. I made some decent profit on the lots I'd buy then bust up into individual auctions, and I moved all the stock I had in less than a month. I wish I had more time [and a little more cashflow] to be able to delve into that more, but I'm pretty stretched right now; I don't know how many more directions I can be pulled in before I snap...

TPS Reports not included...

I loved the movie Office Space and like many, my favorite character was Milton and his prized possession - his red, Swingline stapler. Now, for all you cubicle dwellers out there, you can own your own red Swingline stapler from thinkgeek.com. Remember, TPS Reports, as stated in the ad, are not included...

pirate party

Tomorrow, I'm going to a Pirate themed party hosted by some friends of mine. Every year, they throw a party with a different theme and this year, it's a Pirate Treasure Hunt. I will be Aretha Lamaze, the captain of the black team and my ship, The Raging Hormone. Yes, we chose that name when we thought it would be guys vs. girls. It appears there'll be more girls than guys there, so the "Hormone" will apply to the Estrogen and Testosterone alike - men have hormones, too.

I went to a local thrift store today and picked up a black vest, some black pants, a pair of chunky black lace up the back boots, and some black material to cut up and tie in various places to make my costume look ragged. I also bought a black tablecloth at the dollar store and am hoping to make that into a sash and/or boot covers.

It should be a fun evening with some good matey's.

tip!

If you're surfing the web and the webpage has a text that's too small for you to read without squinting or pulling out the coke bottle glasses, then this tip's for you...

Hold down the Control Key CTRL, then roll the wheel on your mouse down to make the text on the webpage larger. Or, if you want to make it smaller, then do the same but roll the wheel up to make the text smaller.

Dude, I've got a Dell!

I bought a Dell computer for my home about 3 years ago and I've been a happily satisfied Dell customer ever since. I have used a Dell PC at work for about 10 years and the quality is great. When I ordered my PC, I upgraded several of the options like the hard drive storage, the RAM and the processor type since I was going to be using it for some memory intense programs. It's been a great computer; so far, so good.

As far as my work PC goes, they must have been having a huge pc sale because I just got upgraded to a brand new Dell Optiplex 745 PC with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, an 80 GB hard drive, DVD/CD burner, and a 19" wide screen flat panel monitor to boot. The last upgrade I got was over 5 years ago and let me just tell you, this Dell is screamin' fast...

I'm lovin' it!

happy birthday smiley?

Seems there's some controversy over when the emoticon, or commonly known, smiley was born. Some credit a professor at Carnegie Mellon University as the creator of the smiley in 1982. Others say the emoticon was penned, not keyed, in the 60's appearing in an issue of Reader's Digest. You can read more about the debut of the smiley controversy here...

this is cool...

Well, it's actually hot, too. It's fire glass and you can use it to spice up your natural gas fireplace. Featured on HGTV, fire glass comes in a rainbow of colors you can mix and match to add some pop to your old dingy, dull fireplace. Get rid of those old gas logs and give your fireplace or fire pit a new look.

let there be light...

My brother from another mother who lives in Chucktown has a beautiful home there. When we visited over Labor Day weekend, I found it funny that I could hardly find an outlet to plug in my laptop. This man has enough lamps, lights, recessed lights, backlights and outdoor lighting in the backyard by the pool to land a small aircraft - he cannot stand a dark house. I guess if the bulb in the lighthouse ever burns out, he could probably sub for it for a few days...

tv: sopranos

It's almost October and according to what I've seen, the final episodes of The Sopranos will be out on DVD so I can finally see what happened to Tony and the gang - or rather, what didn't happen. I've been trying to steer clear of anything spoiler related to the finale which was especially difficult just after it aired. In the mean time, I can reminisce by watching clips from the past...

Remember when Christopher went through drug rehabilitation after his intervention?

burn, baby, burn...

Who would be opposed to burning fat while you work? Not me! I stumbled upon a product today that promotes thermogenesis without loss of sleep or the jitters.

fucoTHIN is an all-natural concentrate with fucoxanthin levels 250-500% higher than wild seaweed. fucoTHIN contains the the first marine algae-derived ingredient with clinically proven thermogenic effect. fucoTHIN supports the metabolism or breakdown of fat in white adipose tissue, including belly fat. When consumed, it does not stimulate the central nervous system nor will not cause jitters or lost sleep.

Thermogenesis is simiply a process where the body increases its metabolic rate, requiring utilization of internal stores of energy, such as fat. So, if I take this Garden of Life product, it should increase my metabolism thus burn fat.

Interesting...

Garden of Life offers a complete line of whole food organic vitamins and natural health supplements to meet your body's everyday demands. Your body was designed to consume whole foods that contain necessary vitamins and minerals. By combining the best of nature and science, Garden of Life line of products offers you a path to healthy living through organic innovations.

Of course, as with any weight loss product, you should check with your doctor and include a healthy diet and exercise routine.

now that's cheap...

I was browsing through the BestBuy circular for this week to see what was on sale. Why is it that you see unbelievable deals on stuff when you don't have the extra cash to buy it? I couldn't believe how cheap the jump or flash drives and memory cards are getting. They're advertising a USB jump drive with 4GB of memory for $39.99 and they're also advertising an SD memory card for $24.99. Best thing is those are in-store prices - no mail-in rebates! Now, if I could just get some cashflow going...

got gmail?

Google mail is a powerful web mail client that I've been using since last year. It's very user-friendly and offers a spacious (nearly 3 gigabytes) inbox. I just happened across this video of clips submitted by gmail fans in a collaborative effort with Google to make this neat video...

online vacation rentals in pigeon forge

Several years ago, my whole family met at a Pigeon Forge cabin rental for Christmas. I've always wanted to go back there during a little warmer weather since the cabin we stayed in had a huge piece of land with a trout stream, horse stable, and beautiful scenery all around. It was just too cold when we went to be able to get out and explore and enjoy it all. There's some really nice rentals online, but I can't find that particular cabin. I wonder if it's still for rent?

speaking of work...

Not only was I evicted from my office this year, but once again was passed over and not invited to go with the group I work with to the annual Vegas trade show. I know I work in Quality, but wouldn't it be advantageous to have a QA rep at the show to absorb customer feedback and use that information to improve products and services? Nah, that would make too much sense.

I've never been to Vegas, never been in a casino (at least not a legal one), and have never seen the bright lights of the big city. I wonder where they'll stay? The Excalibur Las Vegas sure looks nice. I wonder if they have an Elvis impersonator on site?

I suppose I'm just bitter, but they say they dread going before they leave, but when they come back, they talk about all their fun and make little inside jokes to each other during meetings that no one else gets. They have to speak in code about their excursion since what goes on the road, stays on the road and what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Take me with you - I won't tell...

my office...

Well, I call it my office, but it's actually a cube. I used to have a nice office with a roof over my head and a door that opened and closed and locked, but back in February, I was evicted from my office and moved to a cube with no roof and no door. I was the only person who had an office that was moved into a cube when the powers that be decided to close off one side of the building to reduce energy expenses; boy, that did a lot for my morale. I did manage to take my office furniture with me - a modular unit that dropped right into my cube, so I may not have my roof or door anymore, but at least I have a pimped out nice cube to dwell in for my 40 hours...

business idea

I was looking around doing some research and ran across an Arizona luxury real estate website with some beautiful, mac-daddy homes, rather mansions, for sale. I noticed on one of the listings that the photos were not sized to fit where they were supposed to; they were way too large and I wondered why they don't offer virtual tours of these million dollar homes. Being a geek and a real estate agent makes me notice these things more. I'm not working for an agency yet, but plan to sell real estate once our situation will allow me to quit my job to learn the ropes of the real estate business. I am wondering if in the mean time, I could offer up my services to create virtual tours or take digital photos of properties for agencies in my area...

high tech bed & breakfast

Jimmy's always wanted to take a little trip and just drive somewhere, anywhere, and stay in a nice, quiet bed and breakfast. Now, I don't mind that at all, but most of them don't have WiFi capability that I'd need to be able to communicate with the outside world.

NOTE To ALL Bed and Breakfast Establishments:

Recent surveys have shown that one of the most prized amenities in today's vacation market is free high-speed internet service. Offering free wireless internet service to your bed and breakfast guests can often set your establishment apart from the rest.

It's probably only a $25/month investment and shouldn't be any more difficult than installing a home wireless network.

get your photos back!

I haven't had this happen to me [knock on wood], but I've read about others who've experienced memory card failure losing all their pictures stored on the device. I know some people who have large memory cards and don't always download their photos to their PC or back them up which can be dangerous.

I read about a photographer who returned from a shoot and found he had a corrupt memory card. He actually used the program to recover the photos [all of them]. Sweet! I thought I'd share this useful information since so many people use these devices now. The photo recovery program is called PhotoRescue and was designed to undelete, unerase and recover pictures, images, photos and files lost on corrupted, erased or damaged compact flash, smartmedia, memory sticks, mmd, XD, multimedia or secure digital memory cards when other solutions fail. And, it's available for the PC and Mac OS X.

I take a lot of pictures and hope this won't happen to me, but this is very good to know and hopefully it will help someone else recover their priceless memories...

dvd vending machines

What a neat idea, huh? You can buy groceries and rent a DVD in the same store without filling out a membership. I love the idea of being able to browse the latest selection of new DVD's without making a trip to the local brick and mortar video store. All I have to do is check out what's available in the DVD kiosk at the grocery store (which I'm in nearly every day).

I've been doing some market research on these DVD vending machine kiosks because I'd love to buy one or two. It's a fairly cheap franchise opportunity which one can delve into without having to front a ton of money and quit your job to operate the business. Sounds pretty painless and could be a quick return on investment opportunity - just what I've been looking for to supplement my salary and move towards getting away from working for 'the man'...

surveillance audit

Our surveillance audit for ISO9000:2001 is coming up on the 13th & 14th, so it's getting down to crunch time as far as getting things ready. I say crunch time, but really it's just getting the normal things done that we do on a daily basis. I used to have a boss who went all chaotic prior to the audit, working countless overtime hours going over reams and reams of documentation, attending meeting after meeting to make sure everyone knew what to do.

For the past 3 years, my current boss and I have handled the audit and the prep. I've found that the best way to prepare for the audit is to practice what you preach year-round. Don't try to bypass the system, just follow procedure and promote that to others. My old boss was one of the worst for bypassing the system to get things done, then crucifying others if they were caught doing the same.

So, there will be no Chinese fire drill, no Seagull management here; just a walk-through of the facility and a brief internal audit (which we have to do anyway).

It's simple; do what you say you do and you'll be fine.

i-Caught

Have you watched i-Caught yet? It's on ABC Tuesday nights at 9 PM. It's an hour-long show that I'm an episode behind on my TiVo, but it's an interesting show especially for a blogger like me who likes to stay informed on trends and the latest Internet gossip. The show details videos we see in the mainstream media and things experienced on the Internet and gives you insight into the behind the scenes aspects of the videos. If you haven't caught (no pun intended) an episode, you should check it out...

speaking of searching...

You can find just about anything you want on the Internet. What did we do before Al Gore invented the Internet? :) LOL! Just kidding...

I love to use Froogle to search for certain products that can be hard to find. You know, things kids ask for from Santa like a blanket with a yellow dinosaur on it or a pink trash can - yes - my kids asked for those when they were little. You can find anything from animal print bedding to funky (not in the stinky sense) trash cans on the wonderful world wide web and I'm so thankful for high speed broadband to find whatever their hearts desire, I could just spit...

searching...

I wrote on my other blog over at thedawnster.com about looking for a Charlotte cosmetic dentist or surgeon to perform a surgical procedure for my daughter who is more than ready to get her braces off, but needs to have her underbite fixed before they come off. The orthodontist who recommended the surgery, who's also the only orthodontist in town and rakes in a pile of money, wants me to see a surgeon who doesn't accept our form of insurance, so I'm looking for one that does. When I spoke to him about it before, he didn't want to budge on the referral, but I just can't afford thousands of dollars in medical bills. I think he's referring me to a college buddy, but who knows. I'll get her straight, it's just going to take some time and research...

work's work...

Just venting...

I deal with problems on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. In the world of manufacturing car and truck accessories, dealing with quality audits, and praying overseas suppliers meet specifications, it can, and does, get stressful. Not only the day-to-day aspect of work and job function is stressful, but worrying about our plant being for sale, wondering if I'll have a job next week, and doing the jobs of others who've left the company due to downsizing or just being plain fed-up adds to the stressful situation. Hopefully, things will get better, but I'm grateful that we both have jobs and the things we need...

new computer

Dude, I'm gettin' a Dell! I have a Dell at home and at work, but my work pc is getting upgraded next week. I can't wait to have two screamin' processors making it feasible for me to open and work in some of the memory hoggin' applications that I run (especially during the first of the month - chart & stat time). I know it'll have Office 2007 on it as well, and I know it's layed out much differently than Office 2003, so I'll probably be reporting on that as well...

I'm a chic who doesn't need diamond rings, flowers, or chocolate - just buy me electronics!

Looking forward to getting my new PC & maybe this means I'll have my job for a while longer since they only upgrade once every 5-7 years.

Issue: Quicktime plugin taking over Flash in Firefox

My friend Amy had a problem on her XP system viewing Flash content on webpages in Mozilla Firefox after installing Quicktime although the webpages appeared normal in IE 6; not sure about IE 7. Wherever a flash object was supposed to appear, there'd be a big "Q" with a question mark. I went into Quicktime Preferences and deselected everything except .MOV files, but that did not solve the problem, so I went looking for an answer to this on the web. Here's what I found (the last step of removing the Mozilla npqt*.dll files is what worked for her):

Quicktime plugin takes over Flash - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

If you see a Quicktime symbol with a question mark where the Flash content should be, it means that Quicktime has taken over handling of Flash files. On Windows, open Quicktime Preferences (accessible from the Windows Control Panel), select the Browser tab (or the "Browser Plug-in" drop-down menu option in Quicktime 6 or earlier) and select the "MIME settings" button. Uncheck "Flash media" or "Flash file" under "Miscellaneous" and "FlashPix" under "Images", then restart your browser. On Mac OS, go to the Quicktime System Preferences and deselect the corresponding MIME types, which are found by going to the Advanced tab in recent OS X versions [7]).

If the problem persists, remove the file "pluginreg.dat" from the "Firefox" or "Mozilla" folder in the profile folder location. Additionally, remove any "npqt*.dll" files found in the Mozilla Suite or Firefox installation directory's plugins folder. [8].

office space...

I'm lucky to have a modular desk unit inside my cubicle - I did manage to swing that out of the deal after being evicted from my office with my lovely ceiling and door which I could close when I needed to give someone a drive-by cursing. Almost all the furniture on my side of the building is old and ratty with depressing gray walls and floors and the carpet is so gross. Let's not even go there.

On the other side of the building where the VP's and the Prez reside, there are ergonomic chairs, modern desks and french doors with much newer, cleaner carpet and it's well-lit. They have better office machines, too, but the peons like me have to co-exist with the stiffies over there, so I guess I'll take my chances over here and maybe boost my immune system at the same time!

Troubleshooting Reference

Another helpful resource to assist with PC troubleshooting or if you just want to know what's running on your PC at anytime is a free service called My PC Profile - has anyone else tried this resource? How were your results? Did it help with troubleshooting or resolving some issue?

what kind of file is that???

Ever see a file or process on your PC and wonder just what the hell is that file and why is it running right now? Well, you can find out just what types of files these are at file.net which is a searchable library of Windows file names listed aphabetically. It can really come in handy when you're troubleshooting your PC.

nice rack!

At work, our IT department finally invested in some new servers to accommodate all of us users who have to save every single email, document, spreadsheet and funny video we receive, create, or send. They have a nice ladder rack style server rack that holds all our useful, and sometimes useless, information so it's there whenever we need it. I'm one of those people who keeps nearly everything for future reference and I have to say it's come in handy at times, and it never hurts to partake in a little CYA'ing...

insurance woes...

I've been writing on my other blog about insurance woes. Having to get child insurance for an auto policy is a pain. There are a ton of sites out there that offer online insurance quotes, and some advertise that they'll give you quotes from other companies so you can compare the rates. Not true in North Carolina, though. Why? Does anyone out there know why those sites don't quote several companies at once like they say they do? I know what the disclaimer says, but what's the real reason?

need a break...

I still haven't taken a break from all this action. Tomorrow, we'll be going to the lake for a tournament and that's fun, but I need a getaway. I've planned to have a garage sale the first of August, so any vacation time will have to be after that. Maybe I'll make enough money to go online and scoop up a nice Orlando vacation home rental, but I don't think they take change as payment, so I'll have to come up with something else...

coffee table pc...

Microsoft, as you know, is developing a coffee table computer called Surface. I was reading about the gadget and many are saying they've never seen anything like it. One thing you can count on with having a home computer and all the accompanying peripherals is a ton of cables and connections, but with the Surface, there are no peripheral cables; not even a mouse, keyboard or trackball. The pointer is literally the user's pointer - their finger and peripherals like digital cameras and the like are connected merely by placing the device on the surface of the Surface. Hmph, interesting. I need to see the price tag on this before I get excited about adding it as part of my home furniture - anyone out there know how much this thing will cost?

geeky tv freak

I'm definitely a geek and I'm definitely a tv freak. We have a Sony surround sound system (which I wired including going under the house since my husband screams like a girl at the sight of 8-legged creatures). I have 2 TiVo units which are connected through my wireless network. All I need now is an HDTV and some home theater seating to complete the equation. Oh, and maybe a couple of bowls of popcorn...

need to get away...

I've been looking at data all week. Numbers and percentages and formulas. Measurements, specifications and tolerances. Too many numbers, too many charts, and too many blueprints makes for a very tired and burned out me. I need a Florida vacation, or any vacation for that matter. Heck, I'd settle for sipping on a drink with a little umbrella in it while sitting my lard butt in a lawn chair in my own back yard at this point. Then, the only numbers I'd need to keep up with are the ounces of tequila in my margarita and the spf factor of my sunscreen...

virtual tours

I have my NC Real Estate Broker's License, but I haven't taken the plunge into selling real estate just yet. Although I haven't gone to work for a firm, I try to keep up with trends in real estate and technology seems to be one area where a lot of old school agents are lacking. I see a lot of listings online that don't have photos attached to them and I usually skip over those which is probably what most people do. When I do take the headfirst plunge into the real estate game, I plan to use the technology available to me to market my luxury home listings as well as my cozy cottage listings - it just makes sense to use every resource. I wonder if I could offer services around here to make virtual tour videos or just take digital photos for active listings...

Anyone had any experience in this type of service? Leave me a comment...

hosting service providers

Seems there's a whole host of hosts out there to give your website a home on the web. What's good for us is that the more providers there are, the cheaper the service - it's basic supply and demand. Host208 - Webhosting Services offers competitive plans from $4.50 per month including a user-friendly control panel interface, 3 hosted subdomains, dedicated 24/7 customer support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Anyone tried Host208? If so, leave me a comment about your experience.

continuing ed...

I waited until the last minute to take my real estate continuing education classes this year. I met the deadline, but next year, I should probably try to go right after the first of the year when the schedule comes out. The classes are designed to educate licensed real estate agents of changes in laws and to give them a refresher in a back-to-basics approach so they can meet the state requirements to renew their license. I remembered most of the material, but some of it was new. I could take part of the course online and only have to be in the classroom 1/2 the day, but I'd have to take a test - the classroom classes don't require a test; they only require you to be there and basically have a pulse and breath air, so I'll probably do the classroom again next year, and knowing me, I'll probably wait 'til the last minute...

high tech pens

I was looking around for some new ink pens today and ran across some that would make the NASA $12 Billion Zero-Gravity Ink Pen look like a crayon. Of course the 12 Billion -dollar ink pen story is an urban legend, these are real. I saw one pen that has 1 GB storage built in and other pens with calculators built in - that would come in handy when you're balancing your checkbook. I usually use just your regular, run of the mill, ball point or roller ball pen, but these high tech pens have this pen freak drooling just a bit...

to be so lucky...

People who live near water are lucky and the ones who actually live on the water I'm even more envious of. It would be a dream to be able to grill out on the deck with a beautiful view of a slick as glass lake or to watch the people go by with the backdrop of the waves crashing on the sand. One day, maybe we'll own a piece of NC waterfront property. It might be a modular home on a duck pond, but I'll take what I can get...

packed and ready...

I have my bags packed and I'm ready to go. No, I don't have a bunch of luggage, just my laptop bag, purse and a bag of stuff I cleaned out of my office. I moved some stuff around in here today because I can't stand it one way for too long. Only 15 minutes to go and I'll bust through those doors like Seabiscuit coming out of the gate...

design your new bathroom online...

Over at HGTV.com, I found a section of the website where you can use their 3-D tool to design your own custom bathroom. As a real estate agent, I know that the main selling points of a house are the kitchen and the bathrooms - especially the master bath. If you're thinking of doing some real estate investing, don't skimp in either of these areas. Spend a little more to get the higher end kitchen and bathroom faucets, fixtures, and appliances because you will benefit in the end...

tinkering around...

My Dad loves to tinker with things. He's extremely mechanically inclined and could probably make a rocketship out of old golf cart parts. Speaking of golf carts, I'd love to be able to afford to buy him one so he could ride it from the house to his shop and around the pond. It's not that far, but it's all uphill coming back to the house. Right now, he and Mom ride the lawn mower up and down the hill, but being near the golf capital of the world, I ought to be able to find a cheap used one - maybe I could even get him one he could fix up - he'd probably enjoy that...

kitchen gadgets

We all have them in our kitchens - the special appliance or gadget that we see on a late night infomercial that we cannot live without because its going to make our life so much easier or because we'd finally be able to make our own bloomin' onion. The gadgets that really get used are few and far between and most of the ones I've bought take up space in my cabinets for a couple of years, then they either get donated to Goodwill or go into the yard sale pile. My advice, stick with your basic 20 piece cookware set, get some good knives and utensils and leave the Ronco 12-in-one slicer, dicer, chopper, mincer, processor, blender, steamer, broiler, fryer, baker, chiller, freezer in the TV where it belongs...

Ditto on the Do Follow Policy

I read a post tonight on Tricia's Musings about commenting on Do Follow blogs or D-list blogs. I agree completely with her post in that anyone who wants to leave a comment should do so in a meaningful way; don't leave a pitiful little comment just to get a link back to your blog - give me some content - some meaningful relationship to my post, please. Thank you!

Microsoft Surface

I first saw this advertised when I was in Spartanburg, SC earlier this month. It's the Microsoft Surface Table PC. What? At first glance, it looks cool, but then you have to think, how much does something like this cost? I wonder...

If you're thinking about getting one of these one day, check out this video...

PPAP Information

No, I didn't type it wrong - it's not something you have to go to the "big hand" doctor for your yearly physical...

It's Production Part Approval Process or in QA speak, PPAP, one of the many, never-ending acronyms we use on a daily basis...

I'm working on a Level 3 PPAP for a new product for an OEM customer. For those of you who aren't familiar with what a PPAP is, check out the PPAP article on wikipedia.org. If you're familiar with a level 3 PPAP, you know I have a lot of work ahead of me and less time for blogging...

I've been working on a better way to create the PPAP book, yes, the information gathered will fill a 3" or 4" ring binder to the max. One thing that I'd really like to develop is a meaningful spreadsheet or database that interprets dimensional tolerances for different types of callouts on prints. Anyone have any ideas?

YouTube Running Slow...

Anyone else experiencing extremely slow uploads and/or video processing on YouTube? How long is it taking your video to become live? I uploaded a video about 1:00 AM and it's still not live as of 8:30 AM this morning. This was on the YouTube blog:

Monday, June 11, 2007
Videos processing slowly

We're currently experiencing a very high volume of uploads, causing upload times to be significantly longer than usual. This issue should be resolved shortly and all videos that have been uploaded will become live on the site soon. If your video is in the processing stage, you don't need to reupload it. Thanks for your patience!
Posted by Colin @ 2:47 PM

Instant Hot Ice - Cool Video

This cool little video that I found shows you how to make Instant Hot Ice just in case you're bored and need to whip up some. For more cool videos organized by category, go to i-am-bored.com to kill some time and find out what you can do with instant hot ice and if you're so bored, look around and find out why you shouldn't mix diet coke and mentos...



Make Instant HOT ICE ! - video powered by Metacafe

Whogets? You Decide...

Vote for who you think should get the prize at whogets.com. They run an online sweepstakes site where you decide who gets the prizes. Anyone can enter to win a prize - all you do is signup which is free, then find the prize you want and enter the contest's semi-final pool. If you're chosen as one of the finalists, you can plead your case to the voters who discuss the finalists and give their 2 cents worth on the contest's products and sponsors. Get the most votes, and take home the prize. Registration is free and there's no spam. Check out whogets.com for more info and to see what you can win!

Do Follow Badge

As a product of having BAD (Blog Addiction Syndrome), I was peeking around a few blogs this morning and found a neat little 'do follow' badge. I clicked the badge and wound up at randaclay.com where I found a nice post explaining the 'no follow' tag and why you should try to remove it from your blog in order to be able to spread comment love. There are also some badges available in several colors promoting comment link love for those who'd like to add to their site or blog...

Webroot Spy Sweeper Software

Several months ago, my teenage daughter came to me and told me that her computer wasn't working. Not working, how?, I said. To which she replied that it would come up, but wouldn't do anything. I asked her if she'd visited any new sites or downloaded/installed any new programs, but she said she didn't. It was then that I had an icky feeling in the pit of my stomach because I know enough about computers and teenagers to know that this was going to take awhile...

It's one thing to work on your own computer - you know where you've been and what you've done, but it's a totally different thing to try to work on someone else's pc because you don't know what they were doing, where they'd been and they're sometimes reluctant for one reason or another to give you that info.

If you ever have to work on a teenager's computer, the first thing to do is install Spy Sweeper which is a spyware removal program. Kids don't realize how much spyware there is out there in file sharing programs and exchanging other files like music and photos promotes spyware infection. My daughter had a ton of spyware on her pc, so much that none of the programs would even start up. After installing, updating and running the Spy Sweeper program, her pc began to function normally. This program is a must if you spend any time online. It works continuously to detect, remove, and block spyware utilizing an extensive spyware database which is constantly updated and delivered to the user's pc through regular automatic updates.

PDF to HTML to DOC - Oh My!

I am experimenting with converting Adobe Acrobat .pdf files to either .doc or .xls in order to import them to a database.

Here's myproblem: The inspection program that the company I contract for requires me to run does not allow it's users to print any information to text files including open inspections or history regarding completed orders. I'd love to be able to keep information on properties I've inspected previously in a database or at least a spreadsheet or word document so that I could refer back to it once I receive a request to complete another inspection on the same property. Mainly, so I could quickly see a photo, remember what the property looks like and where exactly on a particular street it's located, and the condition it was in at the time of the last inspection. Basically, I'd like to have all the information in one place and the software provided to field inspectors does not allow you to lookup any info on previous inspections except for date completed and order number.

I was thinking, though, if I got my order list converted from .pdf to .doc or .xls format, then I should be able to import that information into a database. Once there's about a month's worth of data is in the database, I should be able to maintain it with little effort which would save time and effort on my part of going through the same iterations of printing, cutting, pasting, scanning and re-printing every few days.

So, while perusing my options, I discovered that GMail allows you to convert a .pdf to .html quickly using their 'See it now' feature. All you do is this:

1. Login to your Gmail account and compose a new email
2. Put your own gmail email address in the 'To' field
3. Attach the .pdf file you want to convert to .html and click 'Send'
4. The message will appear in your Gmail Inbox. Click it, then choose to view the attachment as .html
5. One step further and you can convert that to a .txt file. While viewing the .html file from step 4, just click 'File' then 'Save As' and choose to save the file in .txt format

Neat little feature - and the best thing is, you don't have to install any new conversion software and it's free!

PayPerPost.com Birdo Release

With the latest release, PayPerPost.com has made a pretty big change in the way they're marketing their business model. There are some new interesting features in the latest release, but one of the biggest, most interesting feature has to be the concept and implementation of PayPerPost Direct. In the past, posties like myself sifted through opportunities that were available on the PayPerPost website. But with the latest site update that took place last night, posties can now market their own blog to advertisers via the PayPerPost Direct feature.

The concept should be a win-win for advertisers and bloggers alike. For advertisers, it goes beyond segmentation as another way for advertisers to target the blogs and audiences for which they'd like their products and services marketed. The Direct concept should also prove to be cheaper for an advertiser since PayPerPost Direct only charges the advertiser a 10% fee (which mostly goes toward covering transaction fees) unlike competitors like ReviewMe who can charge 50-100% markup for the same exposure. For bloggers, PayPerPost's Direct tool allows the blogger to advertise their own blog and to negotiate with the advertiser concerning advertiser requirements. In addition, PayPerPost is handling the transaction which saves the blogger time and money.

It's a great plan which may draw more advertisers to PayPerPost. If you want me to
blog ads for your product or service, click on the "Hire Me" badge in my sidebar.

UPDATE on TiVo Bug

After reporting about a possible TiVo bug, I've got my TiVo communicating with my wireless network again. I had to unplug the wireless adapter and the TiVo unit itself. Then, I plugged the adapter back in then plugged the TiVo unit back in which reset everything. The unit then hit the network and I was able to make a connection and get updated programming data. It seems that this happened while I was out of town, but I did notice that the last successful attempt to contact the TiVo service was on May 15th which was the same day that they released a new update to make TV more searchable. Coincidence?

Anyone else experiencing this? Better be safe than sorry because you might not notice until you're nearly out of programming data...

TiVo Bug?

I'm not sure if this is a bug or not, but wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this. I've noticed that my other networked TiVo unit disappears from my "Now Playing" list. It's happened twice since I've had 2 TiVo units networked. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with service updates from TiVo since there was a new update on my TiVo when I returned from vacation - the new search feature. I haven't looked into the problem since I don't normally use the transfer option, but last night I noticed my other TiVo unit was not showing up in the list. I'm going to check into it further tonight if I get a chance. Anyone else having this issue?

Truckload of Plasmas for $9999

WHAT? 50 Plasma TV's for under $10 grand? There has to be a catch. The deal is that there's a semi truck loaded with over 50 TV's that were damaged during shipment with the insurance claim on most of them being "broken screens". Now, I don't have a clue how much someone could salvage from all those broken TV's, but I do know that a Pioneer 50" Plasma costs around $2,000 and there are 10 of them (including a 60") and a Panasonic 42" Plasma retails for about $1500 and up and there are 29 of these on the truck ranging from 42" to 58" models. Wow - if only 5 or 6 of these 50+ TV's worked and just had minor cosmetic damage, you could recoup the cost. What's more is that the seller has 100% positive feedback rating which is outstanding for a wholesale distributor - or, anyone else for that matter.

Can anyone out there loan me 10 grand?

TiVo Desktop and Windows Vista

I just downloaded TiVo Desktop so I could transfer some shows that I haven't seen this week over to my new laptop and found out that TiVo Desktop does not yet work on computers running Vista. Dammit! Oh well, I'll just be further behind when we get back from our vacation. This is probably not going to be the only compatibility issue I'll find with Vista, it's just the first...

Netvibes Customizable Homepage

It's been around for some time, but those of you who are new to the net or are new to having multiple computers may find Netvibes a useful tool. It's a customizable homepage that you can access from anywhere (if you register which is free).

Welcome to Netvibes!

This is your personalized page, you can now modify everything: move modules, add new RSS/ATOM feeds, change the parameters for each module, etc. Your modifications are saved in real-time and you'll find your page when you get back on Netvibes.com. If you want to be able to access your page from any computer, you can sign in (at the top right) with your email and a password.

Cool! My buddy Ron told me about this site and I'll be spending some time setting up my custom home page.

New Laptop

I finally broke down and ordered a laptop last week. I didn't want to put a whole lot of cash into it since I'll be using it for my part-time inspections job, so I've been looking around since January for a good deal. Last Thursday, I found a nice little setup at BestBuy.com that has a 15.4 inch widescreen, wireless, dvd/cd burner, 1.5 GHz, 60 GB hard drive, 512 of RAM for $399. That's a tough deal to beat, but you can also find Best Buy coupons and coupon codes for other major merchandisers offering discounts on products, services and shipping to save even more!

It does have Windows Vista pre-installed, so I don't know how that's going to work out, but I mainly need it for inspections and general Internet usage, so it should be fine - I'll keep you posted...

Everex StepNote Notebook with Via C7®-M Processor
Model: NC1501

• Via C7®-M processor with 400MHz bus, 128KB L2 cache and 1.5GHz processor speed
• 512KB PC4200 DDR2 SDRAM for multitasking power, expandable to 2GB
• Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media

Viper's Video Quicktags *UPDATE*

Yes! Finally, I have video on my WordPress blog, the easy chair, thanks to Viper's Video Quicktags plugin. If you can't get video on your WordPress blog, try these simple steps to get and use this effective little plugin:

• download the plugin then upload it to your server (FTP) into the 'wp-content/plugins' folder
• Go to WordPress then click the 'Plugins' tab in the WP admin area
• Find the Viper's Video Quicktags plugin in the list and click 'activate'
• Click the 'Options' tab from the WP admin page and configure the plugin
  

After I activated the plugin, I tried to edit a post to include a video, but the buttons weren't there in the WYSIWYG editor. I cleared my cache and refreshed and the buttons appeared and I was able to embed the video into the post. w00t!

AccuWeather.com

I just created a weather widget over at the AccuWeather.com website. It was really easy to do since you just pick from drop-down lists and put your zip code in to customize and generate the code for the widget. You choose the unit of measure (degrees in F or C), the language (English or Spanish), your zip code (over 3 million locations) then choose from 9 different sizes, pick your color or theme and voilà - the code is generated for you and you have a nifty little weather widget to place on your website, blog or myspace page. Check my sidebar to see how it looks. I literally completed the whole process in less than five minutes and best of all, the widget is free!

Viper's Video Quicktags

I just uploaded Viper's Video Quicktags which is a plugin for WordPress users to make video's from sites like YouTube.com and Google Video work. I'm anxious to see if the plugin will do what I need it to do - I'll let you know...

Zeiss Conquest Binoculars

My husband and I do quite a bit of fishing, but not as much as we'd like. If you know me or read any of my blogs, you know that I love the outdoors and just about any type of electronic gadget. I've been looking for a new digital camera and am leaning toward one with a Zeiss lens, but I didn't even know until I did a search that there are zeiss binoculars, too. I was looking around Eagle Optics website and noticed they offer the Zeiss Conquest 10x25B T*P* Binoculars which are compact and waterproof - two essential qualities you look for when you're going to store them in a bass boat. I'd really like to have a pair of binoculars for the boat, because you never know what you might see when on the lake, and next time I see some birds diving for bait fish, it would be nice to see if there was a school of fish churning the water under them.

Free Sudoku!

I was searching around the web and found a site that offers billions of Sudoku puzzles available for free online. I hadn't fallen victim to the Sudoku craze, but I worked my very first Sudoku puzzle - it took a while to finish it, but it's pretty cool. I can see why so many have been consumed by these puzzles - it's very addictive...

Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing. Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square.

VoIP Forum

VoIP is Voice over Internet Protocol, or a phone that's connected through your Internet Service Provider (like your cable provider). Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is a technology that allows you to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line. One of the most popular providers of VoIP is Vonage and I've found a website that provides information, faqs, news, and forums all related to the Vonage VoIP Service. The VoIP variety of phone service is usually much cheaper than traditional landline service and has better packages and plans for local, long distance and international calling...

YouTube Video Plugin for WordPress

I was going nuts trying to get a video to embed over at the easy chair (my WordPress blog) last night. Each time I would paste the embed video code into my post, the beginning and end tags would shift instead of being around the code for the embedded video. I've found this plugin called Viper's Video Quicktags and am going to try it out to see if it helps...here's the skinny:

Tired of copying and pasting the embed HTML from sites like YouTube into posts on your site? Well then this plugin is for you.

Just simply click one of the new buttons that this plugin adds to the write screen (rich editor included) and then paste the URL that the video is located at into the prompt box -- easy as that. You can fully configure how the videos are displayed (width, height, alignment on the page) and much more. Best of all, it won't break your page's (X)HTML validation.

Currently supports these video sites:

* YouTube
* Google Video
* IFILM
* Metacafe
* MySpace
* Vimeo

SecureZip

I have many files on my PC which I often transfer from one PC to another - from work to home PC's and back again. I sometimes use a jump drive to transfer files, but often I like the convenience of using Microsoft Outlook to email files that I use on multiple PC's as well. Many people just assume that the process of transferring files from one place to another is safe merely because of the security of our networks, but everyday there are hackers trying to figure out how to get your information. All it would take to steal someone's identity or empty a bank account would be to decrypt a single file like a tax return or bank statement, but with an app like SecureZIP, you can transfer files through MS Outlook with confidence and security.

SecureZIP - The next generation of ZIP sets the standard for desktop data security. It is the best solution for protecting email messages and attachments, as well as data stored on hard-drives, laptops, and portable media. SecureZIP is a true security application, providing file level security that is as strong as any security application in the world, while it continues to leverage all of the benefits that come with compression.

Right now, the full version (not a trial) of SecureZIP is available for download here.

DoFollow Plugin for WordPress

I have a couple of new WordPress blogs that I've been working on - one's called the easy chair and it's got quite a bit of content. The other is a brand new blog called Great Day for Fishing which I'm still in the early stages of developing the theme and getting the kinks worked out. One thing I found was a plugin for WordPress called the Dofollow plugin which gets rid of the rel=nofollow attribute from your comments.

Perspective — Upon learning that search engine firms and blogwares endorsed the rel=nofollow attribute, I had some doubts the stratagem would ultimately lead to less comment spam. And from the looks of this interview with a link spammer, I'd even suggest you should get ready for more spam, not less.

Check out the Semiologic plugin

Stolen Laptop

Boy that would really make me steamed if someone stole my laptop, but it's occurring more and more since people are using them more publicly in coffee houses and airports with wifi hotspots. I was configuring a system (**dreaming**) at Dell's site and noticed that they have an option to add-on LoJack which is security software that runs in the background.

Computrace® LoJack® for Laptops is a theft protection service that tracks, locates and recovers stolen laptop and desktop computers.

Software installed on your computer works behind the scenes to silently and securely contact our Monitoring Center, and if stolen, reports its location using any Internet connection.

Our Recovery Team then tracks your computer’s location and partners with local law enforcement to get your computer back. If your stolen computer is not recovered in 30 days, you’ll receive a full refund for the purchase price of the software.

Cool, huh? Their website states that they recover 3 out of 4 stolen laptops. I know I was impressed and you can get a year for about $50 bucks which is cheaper than most of those extended warranties. The software can also be installed on desktops and tablet PC's.

Photoshop

Okay, I've installed Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements photo/video editing software on my computer, now what? I'm looking for some good tutorial websites to help me on my quest of mastering, or in my case, getting started with the software. Who's got some good links? Please leave me a comment about where to go for some info...

BestBuy and Coupon Chief

I am a BestBuy-aholic! My friends and my husband hate it when were shopping and I want to "run in BestBuy for a minute" because they know that I'll be in there for much longer than a minute. The closest store to me is located in Southern Pines, NC, but it's not as big as some of the other ones like Fayetteville, NC or some of the larger cities. I love to check out the new stuff and hot deals offered online. I've been looking for a deal on a laptop recently and BestBuy sometimes mails out coupons, but you can also find coupons, deals and special offers online at couponchief.com. They offer online coupons for BestBuy and many other merchants, too. If you're planning on spending your tax refund online, check out couponchief.com first to make your hard-earned dollar go farther.

USB Turntable

I stumbled upon this at ThinkGeek.com - it's a USB Turntable that allows you to convert your vinyl over to electronic media so you can preserve all those now defunct LP's you just couldn't get rid of. If you're like me, you probably have some out of print albums that you'd like to be able to put on your iPod or mp3 player - now you can with this cool tool. It retails for $149 at ThinkGeek and would make a great gift for someone who was around when albums were and now is entering into the digital age...

jv16 PowerTools from Macecraft

I'm a clean freak - especially when it comes to my computer - I want to make sure that it's optimized and secure. Our family PC could sure use some maintenance in the form of software like jv16 PowerTools from Macecraft Software. It's a Windows Optimization Suite complete with a registry cleaner, registry manager, and software uninstaller. The software is $29.95, but there's also a free demo download available as well. I might just put this to the ultimate test - my 18 year old son's pc - I'll let you know how it fares. If you've used this product, please let me know your thoughts.

Speedtest.net

If you want to know how fast your Internet connection is, then visit Speedtest.net and test your connection. You can see how fast your download and upload speeds are and compare the data with your ISP's stats. Mine looks a little low for the $42 bucks per month I'm paying considering other subscribers on the same ISP seem to be getting better service. Hmmm.

Amazon Unbox on TiVo

Today, I stumbled upon a new service for TiVo users that allows you to download video from Amazon to your TiVo box. It's called Amazon Unbox on TiVo and using a Series 2 or 3 TiVo box with broadband service, you can have your videos download while your at work so they'll be waiting for you when you get home. Not only can you download the latest movies, but you can also download episodes of your favorite TV shows as well. If you sign up by April 30th, you get a $15 credit in your Amazon Unbox account.

21 Must-Have Firefox Add-Ons

I read a great little post today about 21 Firefox Add-ons that gives you a short description of what each add-on does and links to get each of the add-ons. I'm very interested in web design and how different colors marry up with each other to create a striking web page, so the ColorZilla looks right up my alley. The Google Notebook should help me keep track of interesting tidbits I find while surfing that I'll want to remember to share with readers later. There's plenty more - 19 to be exact, so go check them out for yourself.

Make Firefox Quicker...

But don't go overboard! Make sure you read this entire post and comments/updates about this tweak that will make pages load faster in Firefox, but be careful with it or you could shoot yourself in the foot!

CSS Cheat Sheet

You may already know that I'm working on a new blog on my on website at thedawnster.com. I'm learning new things every day and I finally have a theme installed that I can live with for now. I want to change some things about it, but I'm new to WordPress, CSS and web design and need to learn a lot more about CSS first. I found a CSS Cheat Sheet that should help me get started, so I thought I'd share...

Start Stumbling!

I installed Stumble Upon in my browser to see what interesting things I could find out there on the 'net and I like this little tool. It has a thumbs up or thumbs down ratings system sort of like my TiVo and you can send sites you find to your friends via email. You select categories to stumble into from a list provided at signup and just start clicking the Stumble Upon toolbar to find things related to your interests. I've already bookmarked several sites I found today and this tool will help me find interesting things to share with my readers.

Video Conferencing Benefits

In today's global market, one of the most important and critical assests a company can have is good communication. Communication with customers, consumers, and vendors is key to the businesses ability to meet schedules, demands and deadlines and is a vital part of customer satisfaction. Phone conversations sometimes suffice, but the evolution of video conferencing allows businesses to be able to educate, demonstrate, illustrate and communicate at the same time.This allows businesses to build a good reputation by competing in a global marketplace and being able to deliver quality products on time which can ultimately lead to increased market share, sales and opportunities.

Amy's Wireless, Now!

Yesterday, Amy got her shiny, new hp laptop - very nice and she got a great deal on it direct from hp with 12 months, no interest financing. Last night, Amy picked me up and we went to Wally World to pickup her wireless router. Her daughter has an hp desktop computer which she uses mainly for college and surfing the 'net and email, and Amy's laptop will be used mainly for 'net and email apps. She went with the Linksys Wireless Broadband Router which was only $59 and I set it up for her. The setup was pretty quick and painless and the router came with easy, on-screen instructions to follow. I set it up so it's connected to the desktop and Amy connects wirelessly. I have to say that I was relieved that the setup went so smoothly (patting myself on back)...

Best RockStartup Ever!

I can relate to the RockStartup Episode 11: Can't Hardly Weight the best since I've been on a weight-loss program since August 2006. I'm what I consider a perpetual dieter since I seem to have a fat gene in my family and the office-wide weight loss, diet, and exercise program is a cool idea. We actually have a gym where I work, but I don't use it very much because I'd rather walk outdoors than on a treadmill. I have a treadmill in my garage that has dust on it - thank God I only paid $25 bucks for it at a yard sale. Anyway, RockStartup is a very cool reality tv web program that gives you a little insight to the minds behind the PayPerPost concept and allows us posties to feel more connected to the people we are working for to get the word out. I love to see what goes on behind the scenes at the company - who does what and who comes up with all these crazy, great ideas and concepts. It's like a marketing course on crack! The confessionals are great; we get to find out what's going on with everyone and how they really feel about things, who's cheating on their diet; I guess V's confession in this particular episode lets me know that the struggles I've faced in my plan are the same struggles that a lot of people face in the weight-loss battle. It does help to have a buddy system for diet and exercise and with the entire office "involved" in the plan, it sparks a bit of competition - I think these guys and gals are full of competition, so this should be interesting! I love the show and can't wait to see if the Heidi Klum diet and Thermabubbles work for Britt and Veronique. Gimme more, gimme more, gimme more...

Check out the webisode I liked best, here...

Online BillPay, Credit Cards & Late Fees - LOOKOUT!

If you have a credit card and use BillPay or mail your payment, you need to read this, NOW! It may be that I'm just paranoid, but I could definitely see this happening...

Cha-Ching!

If you're new to the blogosphere, did you know that you can make money off your blog? Have you heard of PayPerPost? Well, if you haven't, crawl out from under that rock and listen up! My other blog turned 1 year old last month, and just since August of last year, I've made over $3K with my blogs thanks to PayPerPost.com and their creative marketing strategies. Can you believe that? The incentive of making money blogging just makes me want to become a better blogger and deliver posts content that is both interesting and informative for readers who've surfed over or stumbled upon my little corner of the web. If you've arrived here, I want to let you in on a new affiliate program being offered by PayPerPost.com which allows you, the reader, to review my post - this post, and in the process, will allow you to make your first step into blogging for PayPerPost which is the best game in town to monetize your blog. The review allows me to promote my blog, too. Sounds like a win-win situation, huh?



The PayPerPost folks have released a new beta version of their interface, some parts of the release weren't exactly painless to say the least, but it should be duly noted that they're a new company and are still learning - er - ironing out issues. Anyway, the affiliate program allows the reader to review my post which earns the reader $7.50. But, the $7.50 does not come instantly as you must signup, submit your blog for approval (takes about a week), then once the post you made is approved, you'll be paid via PayPal 30 days from the day you originally submitted the opportunity. It would probably be better if PayPerPost could allow the $7.50 to be instantly transferred to the reader's PayPal account so that the newbie postie could get a "warm and fuzzy" about PayPerPost and not have to worry whether they would ever see their cash.

Motorola RAZR V3C Battery

I have a Motorola RAZR V3C and lately I've been noticing that the battery goes dead (from a full charge) every afternoon. I bought a new battery since I thought that the one that came with my phone may have developed a "memory" but that one does the same thing. I think that it has something to do with the lack of signal available inside the building where I work, or perhaps it's constantly searching for an available network, so yesterday I tried turning the phone on "Home Only" network setting and the battery lasted all day until 10 PM last night. I don't really want to have to keep switching between Home and Automatic networks - has anyone else had this issue? Is there a way to put the phone in powersave mode?

e-cards

Today, for the first time ever, my husband sent me an e-card for Valentine's Day. I almost fell out of my chair and knocked over my cubicle wall when I saw that I had an e-card from Jennings! He's learning, bless his heart. He's the total opposite from me when it comes to computers - I had to teach him how to double click - LOL - now, he's sending me e-cards. He didn't send me the one where you hear hear Cupid's best pickup lines, but a more sweet, loving card. Egreetings.com has some very funny e-cards for birthdays and Valentine's Day that are funny, risque and animated that you can personalize your own message and send to your buddies who have a sense of humor and like funny stuff like me. You can get a yearly subscription for $13.99 (which is probably less than what you'd spend on stamps) and with membership you can schedule when your cards are sent so you never miss that special occasion again. Don't wind up buying a plastic rose and cheesy card at the local convenient store at the last minute - give 'em what they want - a good laugh!


Wanna hear Cupid's pickup lines?


How 'bout some inbox cleavage?


Who wouldn't want Singing Chins in their inbox?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello Blogosphere and Happy Valentine's Day from NC! I hope you all have a nice, romantic Valentine's Day with your special someone. I got just what I wanted for Valentine's Day - A brand-spankin' new fishing rod and reel - I know it sounds crazy coming from a girl, but I'm a low-maintenance kinda girl - no chocolates and flowers for me - just grill me a steak and give me a rod and I'll be happy! Heh.

Lead Generation with Leaddogs.com

As my previous post stated, our company has a problem tracking the sales leads that are generated by customer service reps. It's up to Sales to look at the leads and determine the priority of the leads, identify market needs, and go after the sale. Right now, there's a problem with Sales being able to analyze the data in some form then targeting businesses and distributors to sell our products and services. Lead Generation can be tricky because of the you need good data to support legitimate sales calls, expensive trips, website modification, and sales & marketing promotion. Leaddogs.com specialized in getting high-quality B2B sales leads that are more apt to turn into a sale. They identify businesses that are ready to seal the deal and develop future opportunities. I don't see why we can't try a service like leaddogs.com to outsource some sales functions - our company has already trimmed so much fat during restructuring that we don't really have the workforce necessary to handle all the leads; we're no stranger to outsourcing either. It's the primary principle of business - you need to spend money to make money...

Sales Leads Database

My ex-boss at work who used to be in Quality (and had a hand in everything else), is now in Sales and has decided to take on the task of creating a sales lead database for all the customer service and tech reps to keep track of calls. He decided not to use some of the existing software that the company had purchased, but to make his own. Jimmy may have to use this database, so I'm sure I'll be hearing about it from him and the others - I'll let you know how it's working...

Flucidity for Real?

I ran across an interesting new concept today which involves one thinking and acting on certain ideas, needs and wants to promote achievement of your personal goals and objectives. The concept is called Flucidity and is coined by the author as the Theory of Everything. The basic steps of the thought process are representation, structure and measurement, potential energy, then interaction and association - pretty simple when you think about it, or look at the examples, but the mind is very complex - and the power of human thought is even more complex. This is an interesting theory which shouldn't be overlooked or dismissed. I'm a firm believer in the power of positive thinking, and Flucidity may just take that a step further - I'll have to think about it...

the whole enchilada...

There's been a lot going on over at the whole enchilada blog, from me being evicted from my office to seeing why I need 9-1-1 on speed dial. Oh yeah, I was PayPerPost.com's blog of the day, too! You probably should check it out just to keep up with me and what's going on - it can be entertaining. If you haven't checked out Spicypage.com or MyBlogLog.com yet - you should - you can link to all your friend's blogs there and find some new blogs that might interest you.

E-M-A-I-L

Email Marketing can be one of the least expensive and far-reaching marketing tools of bringing your product or service to light to consumers and businesses alike. I am connected to my email nearly all-day everyday, and so are many other people that I know, so how much more audience does a business need than one whose connected to the lifeline of their product for over 70% of the day.

Here's my video...


This post sponsored by MindComet.com