Category: Tools

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It’s All About The Data

There are so many ways to safely keep copies of your documents, photographs and digital music or video files, that it can be overwhelming trying to to keep up with them all. I have a tiny home office and as I was moving things around to make room for a new computer desk, I came across an assortment of media with backup files on them. I found floppy disks, zip drives, DVDs, and flash drives. What I really need is to check out the newest data storage systems and convert all the old files off the old media. After all, new computers do not even have a floppy drive anymore. How am I ever going to access the files on those old floppy disks now?

I’m sure the guys in our IT department at work are laughing at me. They have a lot bigger fish to fry, with protecting the data bass for our entire company. They have to worry about archiving years worth of business records, daily backups for every computer in every office, and data recovery in case of a natural disaster.

Their worries are huge compared to mine. Even so, I would be very upset if something happened and I lost all my years and years of photographs and special documents. I spent days scanning all my old files and organizing them. I was surprised to find how many papers I had saved over the years. Everything from medical records to high school report cards and souvenirs from all the concerts, trade shows and special events that I’ve attended over the years.

I remember when I worked at the law firm and had to keep track of the daily disk backup. Every morning I would come to work and rotate the disks from the servers to the storage area. And each night I would give the latest backup disk to the senior partner for him to put in his briefcase and take home with him so we had secure offsite storage. Now there are much faster and easier ways to accomplish the same thing. I do love progress!

data safe and secure
Operationalizing Spark with MemSQL
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Tooth Paste

I’m getting to the age where my teeth are getting sensitive and I’ve had to start buying the type of toothpaste for folks like me that don’t like pain. I have to be careful with hot things, sweet things and cold things that I try and place in my mouth which is a real drag. I’m glad that they (the toothpaste industry) have something that helps prevent such agony.

my teeth hurt
Tom’s Tooth Paste
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Green 911

The farm has always had issues, at one time or another, with a variety of pests, so I’ve always got my eyes open for different organic pest control info that would benefit us all the way around. This year the corn earworms are supposed to be hitting us bad, which is very disturbing news indeed, considering that corn earworms do major damage to other plants as well. The tomato plant and cotton also is a favorite of these nasty little moths and I don’t look forward to having to deal with this time around.

Organic bug control is the only way to go, in my mind. Too many chemicals have been used in the past around here at the farm, but those days are over and I intend to change a lot of things that I have in power to do so. I’m all about going as “Green” as I possibly can, when ever I can.

I’d like to share with you the following video that can be found online on YouTube. It is a five minute segment that speaks of Safer® brand and its wide range of OMRI Listed® Organic pest control products in a recent show, that I have found most informative and interesting and very relevant to this organic pest control.

 

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Paper Less World, Ha!

Something that I over looked when I took over the place was the amount of paper work that would be involved in running a farm. Paper work and I are not on the best of terms these days, I’m so tired at the end of the day these past few months, that I find it hard to stay up after getting a bit to eat and shuffling papers around. Thank goodness for the Internet, they have really wonderful programs to help with today’s bookkeeping needs, but we still need to use and rely very heavily on our paper supply!

There is still a great need to correspond via the US Postal Service and I wish that I had taken the time to order some decent return address labels that I could just slap on all the envelopes that leave my desk each week. I’m tired of writing by hand, over and over, the name and the return address. So I think that the next time I go online for my personal use I will start looking for some deals on some nice quality but affordable return address labels. It shouldn’t be that big of deal.

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The Perfect Pens

It just seems to me that if you are going to spend money to advertise your business that you would give a little thought into making the decisions on what you want to say about you and your business. There are so many marketing options out there in today’s highly competitive business world.

One concept that has been around for ever is giving away pens that have your company’s information on them. I have so many pens and pencils here that my parents collected over the years that they lived here on the farm. They were here for a very long while and got to the town grow throughout the years, so it’s no wonder they accumulated so many writing utensils from all over the county. I have weeded out the real old crappy ones these past couple of years. It amazed me to find so many that didn’t work or were of very poor quality that it made writing with them a real chore.

Many of the ones that I seem to enjoy keeping and using are found online at http://www.penfactory.com/ at some very appealing discounted prices. If you want to give away decent pens I would encourage people to send a few more pennies and order the ones that are clearly a much better quality like the ones pictured below. But that is just my opinion.

affordable advertising
Clicker IV Affordable Custom Pens
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Lap Band

Lap band seems to become a very popular way for people to reduce their weight, which is a good thing all the way around. I’ve just heard that a family member (a distant cousin) who lives out in California, just received this surgical procedure and couldn’t be happier or healthier. He has been struggling with weight issues from day one, that side of the family comes from “large stock” but he is the first one to have this done, so I’m sure the rest will be following in suit soon.

He had the procedure done by a company that he located online at Topsurgeons dot com, where he read lap band testimonials a plenty and called their toll free phone number of 1-800-GET-SLIM and talked at great length with their top surgeons before consenting to have this new and improved procedure done for himself, which has changed his life so drastically.

To watch their lap band before and after video, one only has to go to their website, it has a lot to offer people that are contemplating this type of procedure. You may also receive a free lap band finance evaluation and see all the other procedures that they are offering in their many California locations.

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Scrubs For Today’s Fashion Conscience Medical Professionals

Surfing the net I ended up at a site that offers a wide variety of surgical scrubs for sale. We all have been seeing a lot more folks wearing some unique scrubs that have come on the market these past few years. The days of our medical personnel only wearing  those awful white medical lab coats are long over with. Today’s fashion conscience medical professionals are now sporting some pretty cool uniforms that helps them express themselves more and more.

Check out the different men’s scrub hats that are out there……

And this colorful women’s scrub hat that is made for folks with long hair that is put into a pony tail….

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Television Service Providers

With so many Direct TV Options available with their program packages, you can’t go wrong with choosing them for your television viewing needs and pleasures. I’ve switched over to DirectTV satellite since coming back home to the farm, my parents had been relying on cable for so many years that I figured the place was due for an upgrade.

Since I had previously been a customer of DirecTV,  it didn’t cost me anything to have it transferred over to the farm house, the whole process was easy and economical as well. And since I have all ready earned a few hundred dollars from referring customers to them, I eagerly look forward to earning some more cash rewards with folks that I run into that are not currently subscribers with Direct TV and are looking for a change due to the digital converter boxes that are soon going to be needed by many people.

Mytvoptions dot com is a good resource tool for figuring out which television service provider is best suited for your needs in your particular service area. You only have to place your zip code in the box and the information for all pertaining to available providers is there for your choosing.

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Sheetz For Convenience

I have to say that Sheetz gets my business for their gas, their cigarettes and their milkshakes. Sheetz usually has the cheapest price in town for gas and there isn’t anyone anywhere that can beat their tobacco prices. Their milkshakes I discovered by accident but I’m glad that I did because they are really good milkshakes at a decent price.

Getting three cents a gallon off if you have them scan your Sheetz card. That is a big plus in my book.

three cents off a gallon of gas
Sheetz Rewards
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Mending Fences

Today I spent all day mending fences – literally.  Last night a drunk driver ran off the road and through a large section of my fence.  Thankfully the police notified me that the fence was broken before I let the cattle out into that pasture.  I would have been really upset to have to try to herd the wayward cattle back after they had escaped!

So today I had to spend most of the day mending fences.  The worst part about it was the memories it brought back about how my parents were killed by a drunk driver.  I think that all cars should be equipped with a breathalyzer box and the car refuses to start if the driver has had too much to drink!

mending fences
Fencing For Cattle