Road Trips

In one of my other posts, I mentioned road trips. It reminded me of this one we took -- and I can't remember if it was when we went to Tucson, or Los Angeles -- but we had no air conditioning in the car. I think it had broken or something just before the trip. Now, I live in a pretty mild part of the country and don't need a home air conditioner -- I just open a window -- but in the car, I have to have a/c, even just tooling around locally. Summer is the worst, but even in Fall a car can heat up pretty badly.

So that road trip was my first and last time to go without cooling in the car. I'll only go through torture like that once! Now I make sure my car's a/c is always working. The kind of car I have now, unfortunately, has a bit of a reputation for a/c problems, so I've bookmarked DiscountACParts.com which -- hello! -- sells discounted auto ac parts, including air conditioning compressors for all kinds of car makes, including the BMW AC compressor. The parts they sell have full warranties, and they offer free shipping, too. How many times have you found a great deal online and then they get you with shipping!? Not here, at least!

Technorati Update

I was just about to post about how I've officially given up on Technorati because EntreCard is treating me soooo much better. Before I lynched them, I decided to at least do one last check on the issues...and discovered I was pinged today! And I've got an authority of 5! And I've got a fan! And it's not even one of my friends who are doing it out of pity! It's a legitimate fan! (I think we discovered each other via EntreCard -- which does totally rock; more on that in a future post.) Howdy, Zyriana! I swear I'll comment on some of your comments soon!

It's Practically Labor Day...

...Which means the end of summer! Did you take a vacation? I didn't -- too busy! Instead, I reminisced with family about past vacations. One I remember was several years ago, my mom and I took a road trip to the Los Angeles area. We hit Disneyland -- where it was mostly overcast, and so there were virtually no lines for our favorite ride, Splash Mountain. We'd ride it, run back around to the entrance, and ride it again! We must have done this a dozen times in a row!

We also heard about the Queen Mary in Long Beach, and after getting lost several times on the way, finally made it there. Southern California is crazy. We tried asking directions from somebody on the street, but they said, "Sure, for five bucks." WHAAAAT!?
We've gotten lost a lot on road trips (we don't seem to plan very well), but that was the first time we'd ever run into something like that! Still, there were also some very nice people. Every night after our day's activities, we'd stop by a Denny's for some omelettes. After several days of doing that, we got to know the night waitstaff very well. They were so cool.

All in all, it was a fun trip -- no matter what happens, isn't any vacation fun? -- but I think it probably would have been more enjoyable with better planning, deciding and booking in advance the attractions we wanted to visit, by using a something like Trusted Tours & Attractions' online tour guides. Their Los Angeles tours include a lot of stuff that we had never even considered doing.

I'm going to visit them when I plan my next vacation. Not only do they make planning a lot easier, but they offer discounted tickets to sightseeing tours in 23 U.S. cities. Like a Kennedy Space Center discount in Orlando. I'd looooove to go to Orlando! And by saving on tickets and stuff, you can afford to squeeze in more activities.

Trusted Tours & Attractions are also doing this thing right now where you can enter to win a $150 Magellan’s Gift Certificate (for travel gear and stuff!) if you sign up for their newsletter.
Woohoo! I love me some contests!

I'm a Bad Blogger

One of the cardinal rules of blogging (or so I've read) is: Always Respond to Your Visitors' Comments.
And I have so been falling down on this! Eek!

Because I know how important it is. I've commented on other blogs, and I admit I've checked back to see if the blogger responded. My heart does sink a little when I discover they haven't. Hopefully my commenters have better self-esteem than I do. But either way, I need to start giving them some love! They deserve it! 'Cause, really, it must be gosh-darn hard to find something to say in reply to all my drivel. *wink*

WordPress Themes

Heh. In my last post, I was comparing Blogger and WordPress. Okay, one of the things I like about WordPress is the incredibly rich theming. There are tons of great WP themes around, and even a lot of the Blogger themes one might find have actually just been ported from a WP theme!

I've tried to dig into layout code on my own, and have just ended up frustrated. And a Google search for tutorials pretty much turns up nothing. Why doesn't anyone want to share? Apparently because a lot of these folks are getting big bucks for their templates, all because they know the "big secrets." Well, the cat's about to be let out of the bag. Finally someone has opened the door to interested theme-builders with a Theme WordPress tutorial DVD called "How to Theme WordPress: From Blank To Beautiful in 2 Hours." Two hours seems totally doable, and a DVD would allow one to grasp the entire concept without being bogged down in text, like a book might do.



If this DVD makes building a WP theme as easy as they promise, I may not have that much deciding to do after all!

Blogger or WordPress?

I find I'm posing this question to myself on a regular basis. While Blogger (which also includes Blog*Spot) seems easier, easier can also mean "limited." I've always been a "switch to advanced options" kind of chick. It seems like WordPress offers more flexibility (hello, static pages!) -- except in the case of content. I'm not sure if their "no paid posts" rule applies if you use your own domain on WordPress.com (for another $10 a year!), but some of their rules would definitely hinder me. Now, there's always the option of using the software on my own webhost, but that just opens up a whole 'nother can of worms.

So I continue to be conflicted. That said, I intend to experiment with WP a bit, just so I can see what it's all about. Then maybe I'll be more willing to break out the can opener.

YouTube Never Fails...

...to utterly bemuse me. There's this...video...for something called Muchos Fantastic. It's this stereotypical (maybe even slightly racist?) portrayal of a Hispanic guy pimping his "Chopping Network" where he's selling -- get this -- bidets. And then, you find out, portions of his sales...benefit orphans! First thought: W. T. F?



It's like some bizarre SNL sketch from the Dan Akroyd days.

Anyway, I went to the site, and it looks like a real thing. They actually do sell bidets. And they have a page of links to the completely valid humanitarian causes they support with at least 10% of their profits. You know, every business needs a hook -- and I think "Mucho" has actually found a unique one!

Feline Showdown: Battle of the Yuckies

So one of my favorite bloggers posted today about one of her adventures in feline servitude (you don't own cats, they own you). Meanwhile, today, I was having my own adventure with my little darling. Isn't she cute? Yeah, real cute....



So, tell me, what's grosser (if you're squeamish, you may want to skip this):


Shuffling barefoot through your still dark house only to step in cold, wet cat puke -- with hairball!

OR

Finding, on the cat who sleeps on (let me stress on, not in) your bed, tapeworms!

This may be a toss-up. Both are pretty damn nasty.

For what it's worth, mine's the tapeworms. Joy. The rest of the day was spent de-worming and washing blankets. Yaaaay. I almost envy stepping in cat puke. Almost.

Who Knows You Run a Business?

I have several friends who run small businesses, and have done what I can to help them with SEO and marketing, but I can only help so much. I've seen them get so discouraged and frustrated when it comes to marketing themselves, getting into business directories, and being found by clients. I've found a directory at www.salesmedium.com that takes out a lot of guess work in this regard. Not only do they list your business in their directory, but you get industry-targeted advertising, and you're backed up by an actual sales rep who negotiates with users and consumers to drive them to you. The membership plans are really reasonably priced for all the support and promotion you receive. If you run a business, you might want to check it out. After all, what's the point of running a business if nobody knows about you?

Feeling Overwhelmed

I remember -- I know, I start a lot of posts that way -- when the internet was smaller. It was mostly just a bunch of geeks who had actual websites with really busy animated .gifs all over them. Yes, it was crazy, but it was manageable. Now that I've jumped into the blogosphere, I can't help but feel a little dizzy and...overwhelmed. It feels like the entire world is now online. That's a lot of people! And a lot of blogs! And a lot of "noise"! And what am I doing? I'm just adding to the problem!
Maybe I just need to unplug for a little while and go get me some nature.

"Sex and the City" Movie

Have you seen the SatC movie? Pff, who hasn't, right? It stormed the box office this summer (you know, before Batman came along and stomped all over everybody). Like the TV show, the movie started some trends. One was a public yearning to get ahold of the book of poetry Carrie read -- and Big later quoted in emails -- called "Love Letters of Great Men" which was supposed to be a compilation of historical love letters by famous figures like Napoleon and Beethoven. Problem was, the book didn't exist -- until now! Author John Kirkland (whose adventurous lifestyle is pretty darn romantic in itself, making him the perfect figure to create such a book) has compiled a collection of love letters by such greats as Robert Browning, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, Jack London and more -- along with biographical information on the romances behind the letters -- and titled it after the book in the movie, "Love Letters of Great Men." You can Purchase on Amazon right now. It can hold you over until the Sex and the City DVD comes out on Sept. 22!

Technorati is Making Me Crazy

I think I got the hang of EntreCard...kind of. I've been clicking around and commenting on various blogs (though I'm having a hard time keeping track of which ones to see if there are any follow-ups), and I've asked to advertise on several blogs (though, again, I have no idea which ones and I've just figured out how to check which ones -- plain as day!). And though my blog is submitted to Technorati, nothing is really happening with it. For days, the support people have been shrugging their shoulders saying there's a "glitch" causing a "delay" in pinging Blogger.com and WordPress.com blogs. Isn't that, like, most blogs? People on the discussion boards over there are piiiiiiissed. And I can't blame them. While my little blog has only been pingless for about a week (which is plenty when you have absolutely zero authority -- *sob*), there are some who are reporting no pings for close to a month. A month! Come on, Technorati, you're about to lose a lot of "authority" -- and fast.

Mmmmassage

I've had back problems for a number of years. It all stemmed from spending a lot of time writing a really intense hand-written letter on a surface that wasn't the right height for my chair. Ever since that night, my upper back has just gotten increasingly worse. The only thing that gives me even the slightest bit of relief is a massage. But since I'm currently boyfriend-less, I've been having to do without. Imagine my delight when I came across this Takemi Jade Vista 5000 Massage Bed.

The description practically makes me weep: It uses a special wavelength of light called "Far Infrared," which allows for deep penetrating therapeutic heat to the muscles; the design of the bed promotes proper vertebrae alignment to help relieve muscle spasm (which is what my doctor says is wrong with my back); and it applies "deep rolling massage" to the upper and lower body. They say that all of this not only helps you feel good, but also promotes circulation and detoxification for overall health. Fine, fine, fine. All I care about is the back soothing! It's got kind of a steep price for home use -- though that website does offer a practically half-off sale price with a coupon code -- but I would definitely go knocking on the door of any chiropractor with one of these bad boys.

Web Games

I'm a part of the original video game generation. Okay, no, actually I'm probably not. Perhaps the kids who grew up in the '70s with PONG are the real original video game generation. I grew up with an old Atari and the then-brand-spankin'-new NES. In any event, I love games. One of the blogs I frequently visit put up this game, and I keep finding myself going back to it. It's incredibly repetitive, but being rather OCD, I love how the little germs shrivel up. Die, you fiends!

Take Another Look at C'elle

Have you guys checked out C'elle yet? The program allows you to easily harvest and cryo-preserve stem cells from menstrual fluid -- which could potentially treat devastating diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, heart disease and stroke in yourself or your genetic relatives. There's even the possibility of using it in anti-aging therapies. There are several links on the site's home page describing all the benefits.

Anyway, I was having a look at the pricing. For new clients, the normal initial processing charge is $699, and then a $99 storage fee per year thereafter. But guess what? Right now they're running a limited time special to get $200 off with coupon code CN200, so your up-front cost is only $499! I admit, I still balked at this but then I did the math. That's only about $40 a month for the first year, and less than $10 a month for the remaining years. Considering a specimen is said to last 15 years, that's not very expensive at all. You can't even get a good life insurance policy for that cheap! And isn't that what this is? A very special form of life insurance, that doesn't just (maybe) benefit your loved ones after your demise, but could actually extend your own or their lives? What is the value of life, after all?

But maybe you can't take advantage of this yourself -- you might be a guy or past menopause -- you can still look out for your loved ones with a gift certificate! Look in to this. And at least consider ordering.

Homemade Tortillas

My homemade flour tortilla experiment, while not a complete failure, was not an absolute success. I followed this recipe but halved the salt and substituted canola oil for the shortening. I've never been big on shortening, especially now that they've discovered how toxic partially-hydrogenated fats are. And I know, the shortening makers are now using fully hydrogenated fats instead, but that still just makes it no better than butter and other saturated fats. So I try to steer towards liquid oils whenever I can. But in this recipe? Way too greasy! Plus, never having made tortillas before (my family is Irish-French and Hungarian -- what do we know from Mexican cooking?), I miscalculated the cooking time and a lot of my tortillas turned out crispy. My only saving grace was that I had no problem rolling them out thin enough. The directed 1/8" is laughable -- you want to practically be able to read through the suckers.

So next time (and there will be a next time, because I always try to fix a recipe before totally giving up on it!), I'll reduce the oil considerably. And I'll do them on medium heat and flip/jerk 'em off the stove just as soon as they start to bubble -- they should still feel a bit "raw." It seems the only way to ensure softness. At least, that's the plan.... We'll see what happens!

My Still Denty Car

I mentioned my car, with the dent. I keep going back to that auto body repair website! I was browsing around some more, and discovered that not only do they have all these stringent standards for the mechanics in their directory, but they also allow customers to review those mechanics. So you don't have to take the website's word for it. And there are a lot of reviews. I honestly don't know of another site to offer this kind of comprehensive information for collision repair specialists. Look out Dent, your number's soon to be up!

Catching Up with Technology: Hulu

As I've said, I was on dial-up for the longest time. It was hell. But now I have DSL, so I can investigate what all the cool kids have been up to! The latest is Hulu.com, which finally, after all my years of whining about its necessity, has stepped up to the plate to offer ad-supported streaming media -- TV shows, movies, etc. My first screening was Groundhog Day. Man, what a great film. Then I found full episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Bliss!

I discovered Jon back in the early '90s, when he was still just doing stand-up, and I was so happy when he got his own (albeit short-lived) talkshow on FOX. Not having cable, I desperately wished he had been Tom Snyder's replacement on CBS's Late Late Show after several successful guest hosting stints, but alas it was not to be. I've ached to enjoy Jon in his recent endevours, and now I finally can! It's amazing. No wonder he -- and The Daily Show -- have taken off. What a talented guy.

After that, I found Joss Whedon's indie web project, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I can't say I qualify as a true Whedonite, but I recognize the guy's talent. He oozes it. Though the ending was a bit...abrupt...and there were a few sluggish moments, overall I found it remarkably entertaining. Made me see Neil Patrick Harris in a whole different light. And some of those songs do stick with you. Good sign!

And then I watched ALF, a show I used to enjoy as a kid. What was I thinking?

Almost September...

I can't believe it's almost September already. Pretty soon Thanksgiving and Christmas will be upon us before we even know it! That's always such an amazingly crazy, fun, busy time. I always try to get my holiday shopping lists made up well in advance so I'll have plenty of time to plan. Because come Black Friday (that's the day after Thanksgiving, when the holiday shopping season officially begins and all the stores have amazing sales), I want to be armed and ready to do battle!

There's a site that's making my job a lot easier. BlackFridayScans.com will have scans of Black Friday circular ads highlighting all the great deals to be had -- before they show up in your newspaper! They'll have ads for Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, Sears, Old Navy, Macy's, Kohl's, Ikea, Circuit City, Best Buy, Fry's, Linens-N-Things, Staples, Office Max, Office Depot -- man, the list just goes on and on!

You can take a look at the ads for Thanksgiving from 2006 and 2007, to get an idea. The ones for 2008 are coming soon. The ads are available to download in ZIP and PDF format, so you can just print out whatever ones you want and take it with you on BF (Black Friday)! You can even sign up for email alerts so you know when the 2008 ad for your favorite store is available!

Keep an eye on this one to make your holiday much easier. You want to get your shopping done quick so you'll have more time to spend with your family, because that's what the holiday is all about! So go check this out and start on your lists! If you can afford it, try to put a needy child on your list. And don't forget to get a little something special for yourself, too -- you deserve it!

Cooking Frenzy

I haven't really felt like cooking anything for days -- you know, real cooking. Now, all of a sudden, I'm trying to do chicken and vegetables in rice and chicken fajitas while trying my hand at homemade tortillas at the same time. Meanwhile, I'm also blogging. What is wrong with me that I'm trying to do so much at once!?

How Organized Are You?

I am not organized at all, though I crave organization. Computers have made multi-tasking not only possible but a requirement in these busy times, but computers can also make it really difficult to track information and tasks if you're not organized! And if you collaborate with several people on projects -- be it your family or your colleagues -- tracking things becomes almost impossible!

DeskAway has created a suite of project management tools to help in this problem. One is Personal Reminders. With this, you can send email reminders to yourself and your teammates to stay on time with deadlines. You can personalize when the emails are sent, and they even include links directly to the project at hand.

Second, my favorite, is Project Templates. This allows you to "clone" project aspects to be used in other projects. No more time wasted by telling people over and over how you want your project done! They can just follow the template!

Third, an often underrated but very important feature in any data creation is backup. DeskAway allows full project Export/Backup every day, with lots of info saved.

It all comes together in a really simple, effective application. Best of all, security is a DeskAway priority, so you can sleep at night! The pricing is tiered, so you can find the right package for your needs. You can even try it for free!

Night Owl or Morning Lark?

What are you? Do you bounce out of bed at sunrise, ready to grab the day by the, er, handfuls? Or do you prowl around past midnight and only start to feel human after 10 AM? Or are you one of those lucky people who can thrive on like 4 hours of sleep and are able to be both!?

Me, I've been a night owl practically since birth. School was torture for me. I actually did my 6th grade science fair project on sleep patterns and how to correct them; my mom drove me forever over to the Standford sleep clinic for research and interviews. My project didn't win any ribbons -- nobody "got" it. Top prizes went to the kids with show-and-tell demos. Photos of me looking exhausted didn't cut it.

But lately I'm finding myself forced to be a morning person, up at 7, 8 AM. And sometimes I still don't make it to bed till 2 or 3 in the morning. Holy crap, it's killing me!

Boot Heaven

I don't know about any of you guys, but I'm a bit of a dichotomy. I'm incredibly delicate and girly and nerdy -- but if a house project needs to be done, I can roll up my sleeves and tackle it. I'm especially good at plumbing projects and despite my "ew, ew, ew" tendency, have crawled behind my toilet to fix a pipe. I rock.

Naturally, big jobs require decent foot protection -- sneakers aren't going to cut it if you drop a giant block of wood on your toe. You need work boots, possibly even steel toe boots for maximum protection. And man, am I a boot girl. I always gravitate towards the boots in a shoe store because they look good and, let's face it, they last forever! So it's no surprise that browsing through work boots gives me a thrill as well. I was looking through the WorkBootsUSA.com website, which allowed me to quickly and easily spot a ton of great women's and men's work boots, military boots, and even work shoes and pumps. I was constantly going, "Ooh, look at that one!"

I mean, I could see wearing these babies any day with a pair of jeans.

Awesome site.

A Month In...

Well, I'm now over a month into actual blogging. What a whirlwind. And yet I still don't have my layout/template issues solved. And I've also been doing a lot of (what am I saying? it's mostly) stream-of-consciousness writing, which is kind of embarrassing. Especially when I consider the next step, which I guess is blatant self-promotion. The Technorati and the EntreCard and the various directories all make my head hurt. I'm really hoping it'll be worth it in the end!

Oh, shoot, that reminds me, I need to check in on my pals at AllMediocre!

Logo/Slogan Tees

Have you ever looked into custom t-shirts? I did a few years ago, and came across a number of companies, but I never went with anything because either the quality was really...not great or you had to order like a bazillion shirts at a time. What am I supposed to do with a bazillion t-shirts that say something like "That's What She Said!"?

CustomT-Shirts.com allows you to create custom t-shirts (and sweats, and jackets, and hats, and bags, and undies, and more!) with various printing processes --
digital direct, digital transfer, and flex and flock print. They have lots of selectable designs and a really easy design center, or you can upload your own photo. Plus they don't seem to have a minimum order requirement! But with their back-to-school special right now, with coupon code SCHOOL308, you get 25% off two or more items.

Maybe I'll go ahead and get me a "That's What She Said!" shirt after all.

Blogger Tip of the Day #1

I've labeled this tip "#1" because I get the feeling this type of post may come up a lot. Blogger is...funny. Anyway, after spending many (many, many, many...have I mentioned many?) hours yesterday and today trying to tweak things, I have discovered something.

For all of its wonders, you should definitely not use the Firefox browser when doing an "Edit HTML" on your layout. After Googling quite a number of bX-xxxxxx errors, I came across this post, which indicates Internet Explorer may be your best bet (for now) when playing around with your templates. I switched over to Microsoft's wicked beast and was able to successfully complete a number of edits. Yay!

Other than that, Firefox still rocks.

Do You Know Your IP Address?

This can be a really bewildering question to some people. Your IP address is basically your computer's identity on the internet. It's a number assigned by your ISP.

I'm not a big fan of sites that log and display their visitor's IP addresses to the public. Let's not make a hacker's life easy, folks! And as a private, slightly paranoid person, I'm not crazy about sites/blogs that glean my location from my IP address and log that publicly, either. But behind the scenes, for the webmaster him-/herself, IP addresses and other information can provide great insight into how to serve their visitors better.

IP2Location is a company that offers IP Address Tools for this. They're just simple HTML snippets that you put on your page(s), but they're very powerful. By looking up a visitor's IP address, their tools can reverse translate it to the visitor's country, region/state, and city; their latitude & longitude; their Zip code; time zone; name of their ISP, Net Speed, and domain name. The newest packages (DB15-DB18) now also include the visitors' IDD/area code (U.S. only) and even their local weather station name/code. With this information, you can create a wealth of personalized content to your visitors, like local news feeds, weather forecasts, and much more.

They've got live demos of some of these tools over at their website. Plug an IP address into this one and see what I mean!

Why Does Blogger...

...Rearrange HTML code? I'm trying to get some stuff validated, and it keeps moving my tag attributes around. Really, what is the difference if my code is

<script type="text/javascript" src="blahblahblah"></script>

instead of

<script src="blahblahblah" type="text/javascript"></script>

?

Huh? Why you gotta be all picky, Blogger? I'd prefer to be the anal control freak in this relationship!

My Denty Car

I recently bought a used car for really cheap. It's a pretty nice little car, but the reason it's so cheap is that it's got a huge dent in its front bumper. I have a love/hate relationship with that dent. On one hand, it made my car inexpensive. On the other hand, it's ugly!



I decided to look up an auto body repair place on CollisionRepairExperts.com. It's a directory where you put in your zip code and they present you a list of local repair experts. These experts are members of the FIX AUTO Network, which is comprised of the best collision repairers in the country. They really scrutinize their applicants to find levels of performance that less than 1% of collision repairers can meet. So you know they must be good!

Zzzzzzoning Out

Man, I'm having the worst time concentrating today. I have so much I want to do:

• I've got some ideas for my blog layout
• I'm checking in on some forums
• I'm trying to read and comment on some other blogs
• I'm hungry and need to cook something
  

But I can't focus on anything! I keep buzzing around to different things but never really accomplishing anything. Meanwhile, my tummy keeps saying, "Then go ahead and pay attention to me!"

Have you ever had one of those days?

Get an IT Guy!

I have a friend who's the "IT Guy" for his company. Actually, that was the friend who helped me put my computer together! It's always handy to know an IT Guy. You run into a computer problem, and chances are better than not that your IT Guy friend will be able to help you. You should definitely find yourself one!

The only problem is, they can sometimes talk over your head. Servers and platforms and argh! I've had other friends who've run their own personal webservers, too. It's amazing the power and flexibility they wield, to deploy any software they wish, and also can control the security of their business. I've always been really interested in the ins and outs of servers, and so I've been reading a bit about the IBM AS/400 iSeries on PerfData.com. Performance Data Resources is a reseller of new and used network and server hardware and products, mainly focusing on the AS/400. By doing so, they've really become experts. It's amazing all the products they offer. It's also nice to see that providing excellent customer service is one of their main priorities. After looking in to this, I feel I can better keep up with my IT Guy friend!

My Eyes...Dragonflies

I'm still trying to figure out how I want this darn blog to look. Trust me, I'm no happier with this template than you are!

As I have played with various layouts, I've always wondered why some icons are represented by dragonflies. Eh, companies like to be cutesy, I figured.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "Dragonflies? What dragonflies?"

I can't believe it's taken me this long to realize that these icons are a screwdriver and wrench -- not dragonflies! Am I the only person to have made this mistake?

Web Hosting

So I think I've mentioned that I've run websites before. I still do run a small site, with the domain and the hosting and the whole shebang. I went for a small upstart host, and haven't been too pleased. So when friends of mine who are interested in starting their own sites ask me who my host is, I kind of cringe. For my own purposes, I can put up with the problems of my host (for now), but I'd never want to steer people to something that's not really reliable. Especially if it's for business purposes.

I just read about Concentric's shared web site hosting. They've got some really competitive plans. The "Business Email" plan is mainly just for -- you guessed it -- email. You can only put up a splash page. But they give you 2 gigs of server space with 100 megs of traffic/bandwidth per month for only $6.95/month paid for 12 months or $7.95 paid month-to-month. If you're paying for email service, you should look into this one. It might be cheaper to host your own mail server!

For an actual website, they've got the "Basic" Plan -- which is far from besic in my book. It offers 10 gigs of disk space and 100 gigs of traffic -- plus add-on programs like WordPress and Wiki, so you could use it for a really rich blog, too -- all for only $9.95/month paid annually or $11.95 paid month-to-month. That's actually what my current host charges, but I don't get anything close to 100 gigs of transfer per month! I'm gonna be looking into this one for myself. I'll probably do some online research first, as should you if you're considering this -- don't take my word for it! -- but I really think it's worth looking into if you want hosting.

FroYo

I'm not "lactose-intolerant," my body is just not a big fan of lactose. So I have to drink fat-free milk and avoid heavy cream and stuff, otherwise my body...complains. So that means ice cream is out. No biggie, because I actually like frozen yogurt. Well, certain kinds, anyway. Dryers doesn't seem to know how to make it without totally offending every part of my mouth. Ben & Jerry? They know froyo. As does Häagen-Dazs. The problem is, their flavors are so limited!

Why this be, guys? Are there that many people out there who hate frozen yogurt?

On the B&J website there are a total of four frozen yogurt flavors: The overhyped Cherry Garcia, Strawberry Banana, Half-Baked, and Chocolate Fudge Brownie.

I literally mourn their discontinuation of Chocolate Heath Bar Crunch. Oh, sure, they still do Vanilla HBC ice cream...but the Vanilla is nowhere near as good as the Chocolate. Plus, it's ice cream, and, well, it ain't worth the pain.

Helicopters

The other night, there was this...noise...outside my house -- like an airplane flying really low overhead. I went out to see what the heck it was, and it was a helicopter. They were indeed flying low, and circling really close to the house, with search lights over the ocean. I assumed it was a rescue chopper, but then after a few minutes they flew off. It was really off-putting, though, as low as they were flying.

Any time a guest on Dave Letterman's show talks about a helicopter, Dave gets all excited about how dangerous they are -- an engine goes out, and that sucker's all of a sudden just a hunk of lead ready to fall out of the sky. There's no coasting to recover from a stall like the buffer of safety you can get in a fixed-wing aricraft. Because of this, helicopters scare me quite a bit.

This website for a helicopter accident attorney outlines a bunch of facts about helicopter safety and crash statistics. It looks like the site not only provides info on helicopter crashes, but also links to local aviation lawyers. Silly me, I never even knew there was a specialty in aviation accident law...but I guess accidents are becoming common enough to create a niche. And judging by the news links on the HelicopterAccidentAttorney.com website, they happen far too often for my comfort. Thank goodness there's a service out there to provide some relief to the victims and/or their families.

Michael Phelps the Golden Boy

I can't resist a landmark, so I tuned in last night to watch Michael Phelps win his 8th Gold Medal in the Beijing Olympics, during the Men's 4x100m Medley Relay. It's really a credit to him and his teammates, since Phelps' success rested on the shoulders of other men in some events. However, Phelps really displayed his prowess in that race, by taking over the lead in his leg, the third of that race. Jason Lezak also did a phenomenal job by holding and building on the U.S.'s lead against tight competition Australia to win the race.

Michael Phelps is now the winningest gold medalist in history -- both in a single Games and in a single career (he's got a total 14 now). It boggles the mind.

Now we all just hold our breaths in hope that steroid tests come back -- and stay -- negative. It's a shame that the awe and wonder of the Olympics have been tainted by doping scandals. I can only hope that the U.S. team, knowing how focused the world would be on them and Michael Phelps, has kept its nose clean.

Politically Correct Stem Cells?

I've always felt really conflicted about the whole stem cell debate. I can see both sides, especially in the case of embryonic stem cells. But there seems to be so much promise in stem cells -- from Parkinson's treatment to one day maybe being able to regenerate so many vital organs. That's why I've always been really hopeful when I've read news about alternative cell harvesting processes.

One I've read about -- and it may sound icky -- is that new research shows that menstrual fluid contains self-renewing stem cells that can be easily collected, processed and cryo-preserved for potential future use.

The first thought is, "Okay, that's awesome for women, but men don't menstruate." (All the men breathe a sigh of relief!) Well, it seems that these stem cells could possibly also be used to benefit genetic family members, including fathers, brothers, and sons. Not to mention mothers, sisters, and daughters who may or may not be post-menopausal.

There's a C'elle Client Testimonial on their website about all the benefits of this. The C'elle service seems to offer a lot. They send you a kit for collecting your, er, specimens (it only requires two). Then you send it back and they cryogenically store it for you. They say that a specimen can stay frozen for up to 15 years without any known deterioration.

Everybody always talks about the future, but we usually act like it's such a long time off: "I'm going to save for my retirement." "I'm going to exercise more." "I'm going to start eating healthier." But when do we get around to actually providing for ourselves? C'elle seems to be offering a way to provide for our future selves, and not just money so we can spend our golden years in Hawaii! But with actual life. I think it's something to at least consider.

Toonz: Metro Station - Shake It

I have a love/hate relationship with the new single from Metro Station, "Shake It."

Love: It reminds me of the bubble gum pop I used to listen to back in the '80s. I love me some '80s music.

Hate: It's created by kids who weren't even really alive in the '80s. Stop making me feel old, you little whippersnappers! Also, the band is made up of Miley Cyrus' brother, and the brother of her Hannah Montana costar. Which makes them seem even more whippersnapperish.

Whatever. I'll try to ignore the "who" and just enjoy the "what" of the song. I'm sure by the end of summer, it'll be long forgotten.

I'm Drowning in Passwords

I was thinking about this just the other day -- how many services I use and thus all the passwords I've generated. With most stuff, you can just request an email and (if you're still using the address you signed up with!) they'll email you your password or a new one.

Easy enough. But what if you lost a system password, like the ones you use for documents or -- gasp -- Windows? Off the top of my head, I don't think I can recall my OS password. There are some possibilities, and if worse came to worst, I know I'd be frantically jabbing in all of them. I shudder to think that the only way to recover would be a reinstall. My files! My settings! Eek!

Passware has software for this - Windows Key. It'll create a "reset password" CD, USB Flash Drive or a floppy disk. If you forget your Windows Password, all you have to do is use it during the boot process, and you can reset your Administrator or other account passwords and Windows security settings. No reinstall necessary! Whew!

Blahlympics

I know there are a large amount of people out there who only consider the Summer Games the "real" Olympics. Some find the Winter Games so boring they wouldn't care if they went away altogether.

Me, I feel the exact opposite.

I'm far more excited by figure skating and skiing than track and field. That said, I still usually watch the Opening/Closing Ceremonies and some of the events during the Summer. This year? Nada. And I'm not sure why. I mean, yeah, I know boycotting is huge this year. And while I'm sure the intent is admirable, I don't have any strong feelings either way in that regard towards the Beijing Games. I was a little put off by the recent reports of all of China's fakery in the Opening Ceremony (and elsewhere, I'm sure), but even that isn't enough to drive me away.

No, it's just a general apathy. A preoccupation with other things that prevents me from even bothering to tune in. And that's quite something for someone without cable -- my other choices are severely limited! I don't know.... I've turned it on a couple of times -- and usually get volleyball -- but just can't engage. Oh well. Perhaps I'll have more zest for Vancouver, 2010.

Ever Been to New York City?

As I've mentioned, I live in a smallish town in the middle of nowhere. However, one of my dreams has always been to visit New York. The problem with this is that I would be terribly out of my element if left to my own devices. The best way to see any new place is if you've got friends or family there, right? But I don't have friends or family in NY.

I may have found a solution. A company called Family in
New York offers personalized tours of tourist attractions in New York City.

The website design has the feel of the hand-built sites I remember seeing back in the '90s, before all this Web 2.0 sterility. And the service seems really cool. They help you pick activities and create a schedule. And they really seem open to accommodating your needs. They pick you up at your hotel and then, whatever you have planned, they take you on 9 hours of New York fun!

Plus, they even offer a service that picks you up from the airport first!

It really is like having Family in New York!

Yay! I'm Mediocre!

In all my time publishing things to the web, I have never been desperate. Until now. There's something about blogging that strikes a certain...neediness in the writer: Please read what I have to say. Please comment. Please link to me. Please love me!

It can be hard to be lovable. You gotta be witty and insightful and educational. By doing so, you may get lucky enough to be on AllTop.com. But most of us have a long way to go before we reach the Top, if ever. The rest of us, we're just Mediocre. And that's where AllMediocre.com comes in.

AllMediocre was created just recently. It started as a joke by a fellow blogger as a response to AllTop. As we all know, the best jokes are rooted in truth, and the idea caught on. Now it's a legitimate list of "The Web’s Best Blogs, You Just Don’t Know It Yet!"

And I was accepted!

I don't even know if I'm living up to that standard yet. But in time I hope to find a bit more of my voice (my blog title gives me a little bit of leeway in that) and be worth reading. I look forward to interacting with my fellow AllMeds. It sure was lonely with just the crickets!

Blog Contests

In my last post, I mentioned...

1. needing to buy a new mouse
2. being broke

...and then I noticed a giveaway on a blog I frequent. The blogger behind WorldOfMom.com is a pretty cool chick anyway, but now she's become even cooler by running contests on her blog. The latest is for a $10 Amazon Giftcard. And I got to thinking, "Amazon sells mice. Mice sell for around $10. I need a mouse. Fate!" So I'm going to enter. But I thought I'd post about it because, well, we could all use a little promotion, and I'm happy to promote anyone who might get me closer to a new mouse!

If you need a mouse, or anything else 10 bucks at Amazon could buy, you should enter too! The contest ends the evening of 8/12.

Cordless Mice

My whole life, I've always taken people's hand-me-down computers. (I think I've mentioned being cheap.... Well, cheapness comes along with being broke!) Anyway, about a year ago, I decided I wanted a new computer, and I wanted to build it myself. Fortunately, I met a person who became a fast friend and helped me with that project. I'm very proud of my system, which I stuck together with my own little hands. My friend insisted at the time, "You must dump your ball-mouse and go wireless." So we got me a Logitech LX-300 keyboard and mouse.

This choice was mostly my friend's. I have a pretty bad history with Logitech, mainly its mice. My first hand-me-down computer came with its original old two-button IBM mouse, and it lasted forever! Then I thought, "Ooh, wheel mice!" and got a cheapie one of those. It lasted a little while and then started acting crazy -- the cursor would go on a self-possessed rampage across my screen. People said, "Get a Logitech, they're good," so I got a Logitech, and it was good. For a bit. Over the course of about 5 years, I'd say I burned through not one, not two, not even three, but four corded ballsy Logitech mice. I thought maybe it was the ball. I think I thought wrong.

The LX-300 is a wireless keyboard/mouse combo. The keyboard took some getting used to. The keys seem to be closer together than some of my previous keyboards, so there were (and, admittedly, still are) a lot of typos. The mouse's usability is fine -- there are lots of programmable options for the wheel button, and it seems to respond well -- but its realiability is questionable. Its first big test was a long RPG. That ate up its batteries like crazy. So I thought I'd just invest in some rechargables and a charger (have yet to get around to doing that -- have I mentioned I'm broke?). But before I could, even with fresh regular batteries my mouse seems to be having sensor problems. As it is lately, I have to have the mouse right in front of its wireless receiver, or its goes all flaky.

I'm thinking of getting a wired optical mouse. Because ballsy mice are annoying. I'm sold on the optical part, but wireless...nah. Perhaps when I do invest in a charger (which will have to be soon, since I fear for the Eneloops I bought for my camera, used up, and are now just sitting there waiting to be charged), I'll try wireless again. Till then, I can't take the heartache every time I turn around and my batteries/mouse start dying or flaking out. The thing that kills me is that I'm still looking at Logitech. I guess I figure, If everybody else has success, why can't I have success too? Corded/optical is my last Logitech mouse experiment. If I still have problems, I guess I'm going to have to find a new brand.

Any suggestions?

How Ironic

So I just dove in and purchased a domain name for this here blog. I find it rather ironic that I just committed a name to a, by definition, label-less notion -- Identity Crisis Girl. Ha ha.

As I've mentioned before, the Internets are not mysterious and new to me -- I've registered domain names before -- but lately I certainly seem to have more than ever. I have my same old trusty first one, plus a couple I'm maintaining for some web-phobic friends, and now this one. From 1 to 4 in just the past six months!

I likes my privacy, so I'm all for WhoIs cloaking. I used to use GoDaddy and their partner DomainsByProxy. I've heard some horror stories, but GoDaddy and DBP never treated me badly (but I only had one domain with them), however dealing with two companies (and sites, and customer IDs & passwords) was cumbersome and they wanted $18 a year for each domain! That's crazy. So with my new domains, I switched to NameCheap, who offer free WhoIs Guard for the first year, thereafter it's just another $3 for 1 domain, $5 for 2, and $8 for 5. So for about the same price to protect one at GoDaddy, I can protect five at NameCheap! Woohoo!

I finished transferring my original domain from GoDaddy last night. A little bit of nail biting, but all is good now. I hope to be very happy with NameCheap.

Blah...

Wow, this week kind of sucks. I feel like my family, my life, my responsibilities are changing way too fast. I had a hard time keeping up with things before, when life was comparatively easy. And now? I have absolutely no idea how I'm managing. God's got my back, I guess.

Keep it up, Big Guy! I need it!

Strogan...ish

Just as an addendum to my last post. If anybody [*crickets*] out there [*more crickets*] is also a ChaCha Guide, perhaps you'll agree with me when I say:

?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Okay, now that we've taken care of old business, on to the new.

One of my passions in life is to take a recipe that's really bad for you and make it...not so bad for you. It's the rare sinful treat that I can turn into health food, but I at least attempt to remove a good portion of the guilt.

Now, I should preface this by saying that I don't recall ever in my life eating honest-to-God real, legitimate, genuine beef stroganoff. The last -- and perhaps only -- version I can recall eating was a Hamburger Helper variety. I'll wait while you snicker.

In my attempts to be healthier, I have tried to get away from packaged food stuffs. If you cook things yourself, from scratch (or close to it), you can control what goes in it. And most of the time, you can even pronounce what goes in it!

So I scrounged up this beef stroganoff recipe online. I don't eat beef much because a) it's fatty, b) it's kinda gamey tasting, and c) I saw those cattle videos on the news. I know, chickens may be treated just as badly or worse, but I've gotta eat something, so ignorance is serving its proper amount of bliss on that topic.

Anyway, I made that stroganoff recipe for the first time a couple months back. I used ground chicken instead of beef, but followed the recipe and its reviewers' suggestions pretty closely. It turned out weird. So tonight, I modified it. A lot. So much so that it's hardly even the same recipe.

My version follows. And I find it pretty darn good.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package ground turkey or chicken
• few dashes salt
• few dashes ground black pepper
• 1 tbl oil
• 1/2 to 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbl all-purpose flour
• 2 tbl corn starch
• 1 tsp Chicken "Better Than Bouillon" in 10 oz Water (this is what I have on hand - no MSG! Broth or stock can be used)
  
• 1 teaspoon Grey Poupon country-style dijon mustard
• 1 tbl worchestershire sauce
• 2 (4 oz) cans sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup neufchatel (AKA light cream cheese)
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, in 1 tbl oil, brown the chicken/turkey, seasoning with the salt and pepper.
2. When brown, plate meat. Add the onions and garlic to pan and cook slowly for 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Dissolve flour and corn starch in the bouillon broth. Add to pan of onions and garlic. Bring to a boil and stir constantly until mixture thickens.
4. Stir in mustard and worchestershire sauce. Add the meat back in, and the mushrooms. Allow to reach boil again, then lower heat and simmer.
5. Five minutes before serving, stir in yogurt and neufchatel. Heat briefly and serve over pasta or rice.

My Eyeballs are About To Fall Out

So, I have been a ChaCha SMS Guide for a little over a month. They're all secretive over there, so I don't think I'm supposed to really divulge a whole lot what it's like to be a Guide. Easy as pie to pass the tests. The actual work is another story. I just did it here and there for the first 4 weeks. But now that my financial situation has changed a bit, I've been Guiding a lot more.

A lot more.

And it's driving me crazy!

The system could be better. The questions could be much better. But it keeps food on the table, so I struggle on. We Guides recently got an update about some system improvements. They'd been promising these changes "in a few weeks!" since I began, but now they actually seem to be rolling out the first stages this week. I'm looking forward to it. Anything to spare me some of the really off-the-wall questions!