Category: Finance/Monies

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Bulletproof Microphones

Since both of our parents were killed over five years ago now, my oldest sister is always stuck playing hostess for most of the major family holiday dinners and get-togethers. Since I am on my own and live the closest to her and her family it only makes sense for me to pitch in where the others really can’t manage to do for a variety of reasons, I try and help out in any way that I can.

Over Christmas it was mentioned that we should try doing some karaoke at the next family dinner, which just so happens to be Easter and that believe it or not,  is only a few short weeks away. My sister does have a karaoke machine but it’s been around the block a few times from the look of it and it doesn’t have the microphone that used to go with that particular karaoke machine. I have been looking at various microphones online in my spare time and have been totally surprised at how many microphones are really out there.

I think I finally decided on the right one, the sm57, but what freaked me out was in the description part of the add it boasts that it is bulletproof and how it stands up to road travel and abuse. Guess these are just an added bonus to the whole deal, I really don’t think anyone in my family would get that crazy during karaoke at my sisters on Easter, but in case they do I will know that the microphone will make it through all right! I can’t wait to share this story on Easter day with the family members that manage to find their way there this year.

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Luxury Vacation Rentals, Paris or Greece?

Since it has been so nasty outside with freezing rain, snow, sleet, along with some pretty hefty winds these past couple of days, I do what I only have to do and get myself back inside as quick as possible. The older I get the less I enjoy (yes I used to enjoy) winter and all the ugly weather that it brings along with it, like it or not. Although we have had some pretty mild winters these past couple of years it is still winter and it’s still cold and wet. Not my favorite mixture.

I’ve been going through some boxes that have been in the “Guest Room” for many years now that mainly have papers in them that have needed to be gone through, most of which ends up in the paper/cardboard recycling bin. It’s a slow process and sometimes a painful one that causes me to feel depressed for days. Even though my folks have been gone for over four years now it is still painful and raw. I will never get over it, but am doing the best that I can with the cards that I have been dealt in this life. Living here at their house and running the family farm on my own has been a challenge and will continue to because that is real life.

What I really need right now is when I get my tax refund check is to book one of the luxury paris vacation rentals that I’ve been eyeballing online for years now. I made the mistake of sharing my wants and needs for a luxury vacation some where like Paris or Greece and now she seems to be on a mission to get me away from here and plan the “perfect get-a-way” for me before I lose my mind and health. I don’t want to go alone, but there really aren’t a lot of people that I could spend that amount of time with and enjoy before wanting to strangle them. I’ve been on my own for so long here that I don’t know how I would handle sharing myself 24/7. And trying to find someone that can get away for a week because of their job, or their kids, or their aging parents, or their health or their finances, blah, blah, blah………

 

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Paper Trade Account

This morning I am taking advantage of a nice quiet house, not that it is ever loud, to get online and learn more about the stock market. It seems to me that the huge decline in stocks these past several years or so has brought the price of many stocks down to a price point where there are good opportunities for smart investors. Four years ago if you told me to invest a couple thousand dollars into a handful of stocks, I would not have gotten much for money. The price per share would have been so high that I would not have many shares. Now that the price has dropped to what I call an adjusted level of reasonable price points, the challenge is to find the businesses that offer good value for the investment and that have a good to excellent chance of coming through this recession as a healthier, stronger company.

If you find the right companies for this investment strategy, you will be rewarded in a few years with rebounding share prices. A good friend told me about a web site that is an online stock broker and also a great learning tool. They have a great feature called a “paper trade account” so that you can play the market without risking real cash. Once you are comfortable with the results of your paper trading efforts, you can easily open a real account and manage your real shares. What a wonderful idea that I believe I am going to check out here real soon and would urge others to try out as well, just to get a good idea of how it all works before jumping in.

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The Old Homestead Crying Out For A New Kitchen Undermount Sink

It really shouldn’t surprise me that so many things are in such bad shape around here, but with so little time and little money to put back into the old homestead it sure is frustrating and very disappointing. The latest thing that I have discovered is the need for a new Undermount Sink in the kitchen.

Now instead of going into town and spending the time and money that it takes for the gasoline that it takes for the trip, I have asked my eldest sister to take a look for me on the Internet to help find some sites that have affordable Undermount Sinks. Since she is very familiar with everything around here just about as well as I am and I trust her judgement since she helps out more than anyone else around the house when she is able. Right now I really have my hands full on the farm, this crazy weather makes farming so much harder to deal with, so any help right now is totally appreciated.

I don’t spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I tend to buy frozen dinners that you just toss in the microwave for a few minutes. Eat it while watching the TV or sitting in front of my computer. When I’m done eating, everything expect the fork and the glass that I have used goes right into the trash, so there isn’t a lot of dishes and clean up in that old kitchen, but I don’t want to wait much longer to where it will turn into a real pain in the neck.

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Web Design Tutorials and Templates

In my opinion, design is the most critical aspect of a web site. You can have the most vital, important information to share with your readers, but if the design is crap, most people will move on without reading what you are trying to say. Design is combining art and style with form and function. It takes a talent for composition, a sense of style, an eye for detail and a deliberate learning process that develops skill to be a good designer.

The biggest mistake most beginners make when designing anything, whether is is a flyer that hangs in the convenience store window, a personal scrapbook of family photos and memorabilia, or a web page is to clutter the page with too much “stuff.” Beginners use several different type styles and fonts, making the page look like a ransom note. They use too many “cute” embellishments like clip art, busy borders and doo-dads. And they often lose track of the main thing they are trying to communicate – the original content. Any decent web design company should be well aware of

You can’t teach someone everything they need to know about design in just a few minutes. And some people never “get it” no matter how hard to you try to teach them. But if you have an interest in design and any talent for art or composition, there are a lot of books in the library, if you can find a book store I’m sure that they have a good amount of books about the subject. There are some great website design tutorials along with a ton of free web resources to learn the basic principles and then move on to advanced skills.

One of my favorite resources on the web is a blog by a designer who really knows the Internet. His posts are short and to the point, and they cover a wide range of talking points. This is not for the beginning designer, but anyone who has successfully completed a dozen or so projects will most certainly appreciate his comments and suggestions. If you are interested in learning some of the intermediate and advanced techniques, you should check in with the web design blogger site once in a while. He talks about more than just design. Recent posts include topics like search engine optimization, determining your Google page rank, web design tutorials and web site templates. So you can see that there is a variety of useful information presented and worth the time to click over there.

web design tutorials

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Weather, Yards and Gardens

Today I woke up to the buzzing sound of a neighbor’s lawn mower. Oh good grief, can it be that time of year already? I guess I need to drag my lawn mower out of the depths of my garage and make sure it starts and runs again this year. My immediate neighbors all take great pride in their lawns and landscaping. Several of them pay a professional lawn care company to come mow their grass once a week. I am sure that they enjoy having someone else take care of that chore, especially when it gets hot in the summer time. But I enjoy being out in my yard and doing the work myself.

I like a more natural look for the shrubs and flowers rather than the sterile, edged lawns across the street. I am going to do some gardening this year – nothing too big and fancy, but I want to get outside and enjoy the sunshine on the weekends, and I like picking fresh vegetables and fruit from the yard to include with my meals. Home grown is always a good ingredient to be able to toss into your meal at the last minute. Hopefully I will be one of those people that will bringing in a variety of fruits and veggies and leaving them there for the other employees to take and use. Lord knows I’ve taken home plenty of these freebies so it will be good ton be on the other side for once.

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Interning For The Summer

My oldest nephew is heading overseas in seven weeks or so, for his summer intern job in Amsterdam. My sister has been working closely with him over the phone and by instant messengers to help him find cheap accommodation Amsterdam by using a web site called www.shortstay-apartment.com and searching their database for an apartment or even a room in Amsterdam for the month of June. They are on a shoestring budget and would much rather spend the money on activities to take advantage of being in Europe for a month rather than spending it all on some place to sleep.

Last year the same nephew spent the entire summer as an intern for a big law firm in Philadelphia. He agreed to take the position without knowing much about the actual job function. He just trusted his college liaison to place him in a company that would further his interest in helping the environment. Philadelphia is a great city for young people. It has a lot of history, culture, and professional sports to keep people active and stimulated. The cost of living is high because of its location on the East Coast and so near to New York City. But for a lot of people, Philadelphia is a lower cost alternative to living in NYC or the north Jersey area. This year he is traveling to Amsterdam and working with an engineering company. He is looking forward to learning about the European approach to generating, using and saving energy.

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Role Playing Games

My brother has discovered an awesome role playing game on the Internet called World of Warcraft, which I’ve heard about, but know nothing about. He was telling me about the game and wants me to join in the fun and play along with him. From what I understand, you download the software and sign up for the game online and then you buy a wow game card so that you have unlimited access to the game web site for a month.

The game card is like a subscription. There is a place online where you can buy a world of warcraft game card, and they have special deals where you can get a 60 day subscription. Instead of having to drive to the local game store, park your car, go inside the store to get waited on, pay for the game card, then drive home with it, you can just go online and get your wow game card code right away. They send it to you in an email and you have it in minutes instead of all the time you would waste buying it from a local store. That all makes sense to me, as I really would prefer buying things on the internet. I’m just not sure if I will have enough free time to spend playing this role playing game and that I’d be just throwing my money away. I’ll have to go over to his place and watch him play it and see if it is even something that I would want to do.

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Wrapping My Brain Around Half Chaps

The first time I heard someone talk about half chaps, I just couldn’t wrap my brain around the concept of just half of a chap. Now chaps aren’t something that are discussed much, so I hadn’t really thought about the half chaps that they are now selling of which so many of the equestrians of the world are wearing these days.

So when my oldest niece asked for a pair of half chaps for this Christmas I had to look a bit online and see what they are all about. Theequestriancorner.com is a great website for all kinds of equestrian gear and equipment which has a good amount of half chaps of which I took some time and checked out. They were actually cheaper and better looking than I had thought they were going to be, so I ordered her a pair for Christmas. The look on her face when she opened up the package was just fantastic! Her mom actually got a video of her shaking the box, trying to guess what was in it and then just ripping it open and the look of surprise and happiness when she got it open and realized what they were.

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Domain Names

My blog was not set up to be a big public blog, but it has gotten some interest from people in faraway places, for one reason or another. I find that very flattering and hope that any visitors to my site find something enjoyable or worthwhile. A few of my real life friends have asked me for help in setting up their own blogs.

So here is what I did, and I’m sure anyone else can do the same. I bought a domain name from a company that sells domain names. I wanted my own name, of course, and this site let me search to make sure it was available, just in case there are others in the world who might have claimed this domain name before I thought of doing it.

Then I found a web hosting company. I used the webhostingchoice.com web site to compare the rates and hosting plans among the top 10 web hosting companies. Once I decided which hosting company to use, I had to transfer the domain to that site so it would appear online. I liked the webhostingchoice.com site because it was quick and easy to find out what I wanted to know. They compared the rates and had a learning center with articles on everything I needed to know to get started.