Tutoring Offered Online

My God, where was the Internet and all that it has to offer when I was in school? A co worker of mine was telling me that her son was receiving tutoring via the Internet and I thought that that was pretty cool. I could have used some Math homework help back in my schooling years, especially middle and high school. Numbers and I have never gotten along, lord knows what I would do with out my handy dandy calculator.

I spent a good amount of time with the little old lady down the street that tutored the neighborhood kids for a small fee. It helped and I got through the school, but it was a real drag, I can tell you that. She smelled bad, like old moth balls and her teeth were always, well, just nasty. Just what a teen aged boy wants to spend time with after school.

From what I understand you can go to tutorvista.com  where they offer folks Free math help and Free homework help for a large variety of subjects, K -12 and even up into the college years. Pretty cool huh? Pass the word it’s all good!

The New NEC DSX System

It has taken the company that sis works at over nine long months to figure out that ABC Telecom has the best business telephone systems to offer. My sister was put it charge of researching the various business phone systems available to suggest to upper management for their review and await for their final approval. She has put a lot of time and energy into this project and has really been looking forward  to the day that the whole system to be installed and put to good use.

That day was today and she couldn’t be happier and her supervisor is thrilled with the whole NEC DSX System that was the talk of the whole company this afternoon. Having the right telephone system is so crucial for good customer service and will keep the employees content as well. Lord knows the receptionist will be in a much happier mood after today.

Hopefully all of my sister’s hard work will pay off when her Employee Evaluation time rolls around. She is proud of what she does and loves her job, but getting a good evaluation can make or break a persons career. Getting a decent pay increase is always a bonus!

Cell Phone

I’m looking forward to ending my 2 year relationship with Verizon come the end of August of this year. I haven’t been happy with their service since day one. I could use a new phone, as this one has seen better days and I’m ready for something with a few more bells and whistles on it.

I know of several  web sites that I can go to and compare different providers and plans that I will be checking into soon trying to get an idea of which provider I go with and what type of phone I think will fit my needs.

A Good Future Career Choice

My oldest sister’s, oldest daughter has finally decided to do something with her life and pursue a career as a beauty therapist, the family couldn’t be happier to see her settle on this career choice, which we all think will fit her to a tee. She has been lolly gagging long enough, with two young kids that need a mother that is bringing in a consistent paycheck to support them with she has been job hopping for several years now and really needs to settle into something such as this recent career choice.

My niece is looking forward to furthering her education and has hopes of owning her own spa at some point. She’s been spending what down time she has browsing the Internet looking at spa related products and accessories, getting a feel for what is out there by way of spa uniforms and spa accessories. that she might be interested in utilizing in the near future in her own dream spa!

She has been sharing some of the links to sites that she is finding of interest with me, we have always had a good relationship and keep in touch via email on a pretty consistent basis. I have to say that I had no idea what the market was like for the spa’s of today. There are many decisions that need to be made and I don’t mind giving her my input on some of the things, but I have to tell you that I pretty much feel a bit out of my element on a good amount of it all.

I’ve never been in any type of spa in my life, so I’m not much help with some of her choices like what type of beauty therapist uniforms would be the best for her needs and wants, although I wouldn’t mind going to one at some point. With spring in full swing, and all the things that need to be done here on the farm, I can tell you that it won’t be any time soon.

Ordered the Wine Barrel Spigots Online

I was hoping to find the spigots that I needed for the wine barrels that we use out back somewhere in town, since I bought the darn things in town many years ago. Alas, that turned into a wild goose chase and I finally decided to go online and find the right ones. I should have just done that from the get go.

Sometimes trying to support local businesses is not worth all the extra time and gas to find what you need. Since it costs me at least $6 in gas to go to town and back, I can afford to pay shipping and handling up to $6 for anything I buy online and come out ahead. My new wine barrel spigots should be here by Monday, at the latest.

wine spigots for barrels
Spigots are made specifically for the 5- to 30-gallon Barrels .

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.

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.

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.

Webhosting Options For Blogging

My 12 year old niece is pestering me to help her get her own blog up and running. She is always checking this blog when she has time on her laptop and really likes the idea of having a blog, so I’ve been spending a little bit of time here and there with her on this issue.  We have both been reading up on the web hosting sites that are available out there for folks like us. We don’t need anything fancy or frilly, but when it comes to webhosting it pays to do your homework a bit before diving in.

One article that we both read was regarding the Top Five Affordable Registrars, I was glad to see that Go Daddy and Yahoo were on their list as those are the two that I tend to lean towards to. Both are affordable, well known, well established and dependable, which are all good points to go on. I really had no idea that there were so many out there these days, things have gotten a bit more complicated than I remember, but we are still researching and will come to a decision by the end of next week. Then I’ll be busy teaching her all the ins and outs of blogging, sigh……..

Takes Money To Make Money

So many people have been telling me that I should start using eBay to sell off some of the stuff around here that I don’t have a need for. Either that or have a couple of yard sales, to be honest holding a yard sale would be nothing but a major pain in the rear. I don’t have the time to gather, sort, fix, price and all the other necessities that are needed in order to have a yard sale.

My sister is going to come over in the next couple of days to assist me in getting an eBay account started and show me what all it takes to get a few items put on there to start out with. I really need to buy some sort of scale that I can weigh the items with for shipping and handling purposes. I thought we had one around here but darned if I can put my hands on it, so I’ll just go ahead and purchase one. After all it takes money to make money, right?