My Shrinking Husband

Jeffrey has been watching what he eats ever since Thanksgiving. He's slowly but surely losing weight! I'm happy to see him do it, and I'm really glad he won't have to resort to something like lap band surgery. The LAP-BAND System is the safest, proven weight-loss surgery available today and it is the only weight-loss surgery that is completely reversible and adjustable – for life. Still, I'd rather see him control his own eating.

I'm glad dieting is working for him. Actually, it's more like eating sensibly than it is actual dieting. For some people dieting doesn't seem to work. For them, lap band Houston might be the right choice. Besides the surgery, they also offer extensive follow-up, aftercare, and support. I guess I'll have to be Jeffrey's support - without being pushy. That's the hard part, standing back and letting him do it because it's something he wants to do.

brought to you by JourneyLite

Personal Injury Lawyers

I think it's a shame that insurance companies don't pay when someone is injured in an accident. At least that's the general impression I get. Unless the injured person hires a bunch of Jersey lawyers to get them the money they deserve, they could be fighting the insurance company for years.

Sometimes I wonder which came first - insurance companies dragging their feet, or lawyers fighting for payment. Of course, it doesn't matter now. That's just the way it works, and it's good to know that there are lawyers that will fight to get you what you deserve if you're ever injured. You know they're going to work hard, because they don't get paid unless you win. Also, that means anyone can hire a lawyer, and not just the people who can afford one.

Community Search Revolution

I think we're all in agreement that one company shouldn't control the Internet. The World Wide Web belongs to all of us, right?

With that in mind, Earthfrisk.org is launching the world's first Hybrid Meta-Community search engine on Monday - but you can go check it out now. They bring together all of the best results from all the big search engines, because no one search engine has a monopoly on the best results. Even better than that, they intend to improve on those results by letting the community submit sites, comment on sites, and vote on the results. The idea is that people matter again, and eventually soon what real people think about real websites will matter more than the linking schemes and spam you get with many search engines.

Earthfrisk.org will also be introducing their new ratings system, called Color Value (CV) ratings, which cannot be manually altered by any one company.

brought to you by Earthfrisk.org

Earn Money Online

The question is: How would you like to earn an extra $100, $500, or even $1000 every single day by working 15-30 minutes a day? Well, honestly, who wouldn't?

DataEntryCompany.com claims that, by following the easy directions you too will make money from the comfort of your own home, using your computer and Internet connection. It sounds easy enough. Once registered, you can select companies to work for, and then you type ads for them in online forms. Each form takes about 10 minutes to complete, and you can do as many or as few of them as you want. According to the imformation on the page, Vipul Gupta, who came up with this system, made over $50,000 in one month. I have no idea how many forms he was filling out.

There are claims that you can set your business up and make money on autopilot - even while you sleep. I'm not sure how that works, and of course they won't be sharing that until you sign up. Now, it's not free to sign up for this, but they do offer a money back guarantee. If you don't make money, they will refund your money. It's supposed to be really easy to understand, and you get all the support you need to make it work for you. The member testimonials all make it sound really good.

I am going to admit that having to pay to sign up for something like this kind of bothers me. Right now though, the lifetime membership fee is $47, which is $50 off. There are no recurring monthly fees, just the one. The idea of a full-time income with only part-time work is intriguing. I especially like the idea of not having to leave the comfort of my own home, unless I absolutely want to.

brought to you by DataEntryCompany.com
- this is a limited opportunity

DialaFlight, Take Me Away

A high resolution, aerial photograph of the Vancouver International Airport. Taken from a Vancouver-Victoria sea plane.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After dealing with a teenage daughter I just wish sometimes I could throw up my hands and just forget about it. She thinks she's so grown up and should be able to make her own decisions and do whatever she wants without asking for permission or even keeping us informed. Since I don't do anything around here anyway, I ought to look into some flights to Vancouver and just get away from it all. DialaFlight has cheap flights, and I can book the flight and the hotel all in one place. How convenient is that? I think I 'll look for a hotel with all the amenities and just let them take care of me. I found the perfect hotel right on the front page. It's called Sutton Place. It's a luxury hotel with a spa, sauna, and indoor pool, and it's got a AAA Five Diamond rating. Yeah, that sounds nice. I really will sit around and do nothing - or I could go sight-seeing. I hear Vancouver is really pretty. This hotel is close to the arts and entertainment districts, and steps away from some great shopping.

Actually, I wonder if taking a vacation with the daughter would be a better idea than taking a vacation from the daughter?

brought to you by DialaFlight

Domains for Sale

I suppose you noticed I got my own domain for this blog. Not that I said anything or put a big announcement at the top of the blog or anything. I know some of you are thinking about getting yourself a domain, too, so you might want to check out Sticky Web Domains. It's a new domain selling website that has lots of one word and common phrase domains for sale. Perhaps you'll find that perfect Top notch Domain you were looking for.

brought to you by Sticky Web Domains

He Used to Hunt

Speaking of that cute guy I married, back when we lived in Illinois he used to like to go hunting on the weekends. The only problem was that he had to go so far from home and be gone all day long, from early morning to night. Now we live in Wisconsin, right on the edge of the State Forest, and he doesn't hunt any more.

He still has a lot of his hunting gear, so he could take it up again. Of course, he'd probably need some new stuff too. Hunting & Recreation Business Mall specializes in top quality outdoor sports products. He can download the new 2008 Texas Hunter Catalog or order a Deer Feeder or Deer Blind. All products are factory-direct and new.

brought to you by Hunting & Recreation Business Mall

Phone Calls for Your Website

This is interesting. Now companies can add a link to their site that lets their customers call with just one click. Customers simply enter their phone number, hit 'call' and they are connected with the company.

The service is targeted to companies, but I'm wondering if it's something we could use for the live cybercasts we have for church. We have a chat room on the page so people can comment and ask questions, but some people just don't feel they can type fast enough to join the discussion. We haven't had much luck getting them to pick up the phone and call, either. With this service, all they would have to do is click to call. That might get more people involved.

Anyone looking for a way to easily connect with their website visitors ought to check out Ifbyphone - free phone calls from your web site. They have several different plans - starting with the free 100 minutes per month plan.

Press Release:

Ifbyphone Releases revolutionary Phone-Me-Now: the world’s first Zero Configuration Click to Call With 100 free minutes per month Phone-Me-Now

Promises to be biggest Killer App of 2008

Chicago, IL: December, 2007 - Ifbyphone, a voice infrastructure and applications development company providing enterprise class services to Small and Medium sized Businesses (SMB’s), has just released a solution destined to revolutionize the web to voice space: Phone-Me-Now, a zero configuration click to call application. To introduce Phone-Me-Now to hundreds of thousands of businesses that will be able to use it as a sales tool, Ifbyphone is making it available free of charge for 6 months and providing the first 100 minutes per month of usage for free as well.

This patent pending solution can be integrated in less then 60 seconds into any website, email or hyperlinked document and requires no experience to configure. It’s literally the Internet’s first instant voice mash up tool.
"While many companies provide click to call services we were troubled by how complex they are to use. Users had to cut and paste HTML or javascript, rendering these services outside of the technical reach of thousands of businesses. Once we designed this patent pending solution we configured our existing smart click to call services to work with the Phone-Me-Now interface." says Irv Shapiro, Founder and CEO of Ifbyphone. The zero configuration Phone-Me-Now service is literally the Holy Grail of web to telephone integration and ease of use.

Using Phone-Me-Now is as simple as typing:

www.phone-me-now/your-business-number

into any web site, Word Document, Powerpoint Presentation, Spreadsheet, PDF or email. When a reader clicks on the link they are prompted for their telephone number and the Ifbyphone systems call your business, calls the reader and conferences the call. Phone-Me-Now works with any telephone number you register on your Ifbyphone account.

"We wanted to eliminate any barriers to basic click to call, and know that Phone-Me-Now will immediately set an industry standard for rapid deployment. If the Internet is all about speed and response, what could be a more appropriate Killer App for 2008 than Phone-Me-Now, which puts a business owner in instant voice communication with their customers," adds Shapiro.

Free Phone-Me-Now accounts can be updated to additional Ifbyphone packages that include:

- Click to Call with Custom Dialog Forms
- Integrated Call Routing and Reporting
- Find Me
- Virtual Voice Mail
- Virtual Receptionist
- Outbound Voice Broadcast
- Web Configured Voice Dialogs (Hosted IVR)
- Call Recording
- Backend Database Integration
- A Complete Call Management API

All Ifbyphone solutions work with any telephone system and are fully portable if a company moves from one telephone transport vendor to another.

# # #


About Ifbyphone

Ifbyphone is a hosted voice application and platform company with a simplified approach to the deployment of stand-alone and web-integrated voice services for small and medium sized businesses (SMB). Combining advanced telephony and web services, Ifbyphone's web-integrated voice applications turn the small business telephone into a powerful tool, increasing lead generation, improving sales conversion and enhancing the customer experience. Ifbyphone makes it easier for customers to connect with you from online and off. All of Ifbyphone's applications are accessible via a click on a Web site, an inbound call to a toll free number, an outbound call or with the help of a programmable API. Our configuration and deployment tools look and feel just like Web applications, and require no previous knowledge of telephony programming or terminology.
Previously available only to large enterprises, Ifbyphone is delivering these converged voice and web solutions at affordable monthly fees, with no major upfront costs. The company's services are available online and through a network of SMB value-added resellers.

Heat in an Emergency

After reading Misty's account of their ice storm experiences and lack of heat due to the power outage, I'm wondering if there is some kind of heater we could get to prepare for such a thing. We lucked out last week and got more snow than ice, but such things can happen here, too. If the weather is really cold and the power goes out, what will we do? My parents heat their home with a wood stove, but we don't have anything like that. We either need to hurry up and get a fireplace, or we need to find a heater that doesn't rely on outside electric power.

I found some natural gas room heaters on the Desa Online Outlet website that do not require electricity to operate. Exactly what we would need - even if only one room was warm. We could all camp out around the heater, until the power comes back on. Family togetherness is good.

These heaters might even be good for regular use, considering how high our electric bill was last winter when we had the electric baseboard heat turned on in the basement. It might be worth changing them out just to save some money on the power bill. They say you can save 15% on home heating this winter.

They also have gas garage heaters that would make it more comfortable for Jeffrey to work out in the garage - even in the winter.

brought to you by Desa Online Outlet

Free Online Greeting Cards

It has been ages since I've sent a letter by regular mail. Once in a while I send a card, but that doesn't happen very often either. Why should I go to the store, buy a card, and have to buy a stamp to mail it when there are so many great FREE online greeting cards? They're so much more fun than those static, printed cards, too. A lot of these cards are animated and have music. Also, you get to add your own text, instead of just trying to find the right card at the store.

One thing I don't like about some greeting card sites is they offer some free cards, but want you to pay for the ones you really want to send. I hate that. Kisseocards is different. All of their over 1000 greeting cards are FREE. They have cards for every occasion and even let you send cards in other languages. Since Cory is taking French in school, I'll bet he'd get a kick out of sending some free online greeting cards - in French. I'll have to send him the link.

brought to you by Kisseo.com

No Surprises

Sometimes life throws little surprises at you, and you need some money fast. For those kinds of surprises, people sometimes turn to Payday loans. You can get the money you need to carry you over until your next payday. What you don't want is a big surprise when it comes time to pay that loan back. Having a handy loan calculator will help to avoid that big surprise. Find out how much interest you will pay if you borrow that $500 for two weeks, and then decide whether it is the best thing to do or not.

brought to you by Payday Loans & Quotes

Are You Styky?

When my kids were in elementary school, I used to volunteer in their classrooms and in the school library at least once a week. One year one of the teachers gave me an address book as a thank you gift at Christmas. It's a beautiful address book, but I've never used it. I have good intentions for using it to keep addresses and phone numbers in - as a backup to my cell phone. If you're anything like me, you don't write anything like that down anymore, either. We have technology, and we use it!

Now, what happens if I lose my cell phone? All that information stored in there will be gone forever. Or not, because now there's Styky. It's a new service that lets you backup your mobile contacts. Then, you can easily access, manage, and even update your contacts from any phone, on the styky website, or on Facebook. I've been playing with Facebook. There are a lot of interesting applications you can add over them. Some of them are fun. Some of them are just plain silly, but this one sounds useful. If any of your friends on Facebook already have this application, you are linked automatically. It also lets your friends add their numbers to your contacts, upon approval. I like the idea of that - less work for me.

One of the Styky features that really interests me (surprise!) is what they call $teals. They're like special coupons that you don't have to clip. They come to your phone, and you just have to show the Syky $teal on your phone.

Did I mention that the whole thing is FREE? Now, to see if my phone is supported...

brought to you by Styky

I Could Get Into Beach Culture

After shoveling the driveway twice today, I am thinking maybe I should live somewhere warm, somewhere on a beach. Yes, that would be nice. I do believe I could get into the beach lifestyle, at least the part where I lay in the sand, read a book, and work on my tan. That's not really true. I also like playing in the water and diving through the waves, and I would really like to play some beach volleyball, if I could find a swimsuit I'm not afraid of falling out of. Maybe board shorts and a t-shirt?

SurfExpo.com is a new news and community web site based on the surfing, skateboarding, wakeboarding, bikini, fashion, apparel, and beach culture markets. The web site is brought to you from Surf Expo, the longest-running surf trade show in the world. Surf Expo holds two shows a year in Orlando, Florida.

I've already admitted that I never had a chance to learn to surf. I don't know how to skateboard, and the only place I wear a bikini is in my own backyard. Still, I'm enjoying being able to browse this site. There are some rotating slides of featured products. Some of those look really interesting, even for people who don't surf, skate, or even live near a beach. There is some UV swimwear for kids, that will help ptotect kids from the sun, while also being fun to wear. I also like the looks of the rebagz recycled handbags. Clicking on the picture takes you to the product's web site for more information.

Along with information about new products and companies, there is also an interesting section with news from the world of board sports, photo galleries, and blogs written by Surf Expo staff members. It's a good way to learn any and everything there is to know about the world of surfing, skateboarding, and beach culture.

brought to you by SurfExpo.com

Look, No Gears

Now that it's winter here in Wisconsin, the best form of exercise seems to be shoveling the driveway. Jeffrey has shoveled a couple of times, but it usually seems to end up being my job - mostly because I get up first in the mornings, and I can shovel the driveway while Jeffrey gets ready for work and the kids get ready for school. Cory used to get up and help me, but that was before he got into middle school and had to leave the house earlier in order to catch the bus. Now it's just me.

When there's no snow to shovel, I still walk my two miles every morning, unless the wind chill goes lower than -20°. Then I stay in. Otherwise, I walk two miles every weekday, year 'round.

A few years ago Jeffrey bought himself a new bike so he could start getting some exercise. Of course, it wouldn't do him any good in this kind of weather, but he really hasn't ridden that bike in quite a while. I even got a new bike so we could all go for bike rides as a family. The kids already had bikes. We did go for a few family bike rides. Actually, Jeffrey, Cory and I rode our bikes, and Beth came along on her roller blades. It was kind of fun, but I am going to tell you that I'm still not completely comfortable on my new bike. It has gears, and I have to understand how and when I'm supposed to shift those gears. It's a little more complicated than any bike I've had before.

I probably would have been happy with one of these beach cruisers. Look, no gears, and no hand brakes. These comfortable, sturdy bikes are available for under $100 and can be personalized with custom design labels, too. Once I started looking at the bikes, I did get a little distracted. I started looking past the bikes to the beach. Can you really blame me? It's cold here in Wisconsin. I would love to be somewhere warm, close enough to the beach that I could ride my bike there and maybe even ride it along the boardwalk. I remember watching people skate at the beach, but I never thought I could do that. I'd be too afraid of falling down or falling out of my swimsuit. Riding the bike, though. I could handle that. Beth will do the skating.

Optics Planet - Something for Everyone

Last week on CSI they were trying to solve a murder that was committed in this restaurant where people dined in total darkness. It was all about experiencing the tastes and textures of the food without any distractions, but it seemed there were plenty of distractions. And someone had some night vision goggles to keep an eye on things. I have no desire to go out to eat in a restaurant like that, but I think it would be fun to play around with the goggles.

OpticsPlanet.com has plenty of night vision goggles, scopes and binoculars to choose from. They also have a huge selection of binoculars, telescopes, sunglasses, and other optical items. They've got a few things Jeffrey might be able to use to improve his golf game, too. There's a golf range finder and a swing speed radar for golf and baseball. I bet you could find something for everyone on this site. They've got MP3 players, weather and marine instruments, and these digital camera binoculars that I still think are amazing. They've got great deals, a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, and FREE ground shipping on all orders of $29.95 or more.

brought to you by OpticsPlanet.com

Never Forget

Who can forget Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies? If you haven't seen them, you should. My favorite one is still the first, though the other two are pretty good too. I think the first one was just such a surprise, at least to me. I didn't know what to expect. We went to see it because Jeffrey loves tall ships, and pirates have ships, so it seemed to be a movie made just for him. I would have a hard time picking a favorite scene from that movie, but I still cheer, no matter how many times I've seen it, when Captain Jack is sword fighting with Will in the blacksmith's shop, and he throws the ashes into Will's face. Will says, "You cheated!" and Captain Jack says, "Pirate" with a little shrug of his shoulders. It's just a "duh, what did you expect?" moment.

I also really enjoyed Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland. Yes, Johnny Depp can be a serious actor, but there's still the fun in this movie. It's sweet, and it made me cry. I love the interaction between Depp, as J.M. Barrie, and the Davies brothers, especially Peter who took everything so seriously and had forgotten how to be a kid. J.M. Barrie gives Peter a journal and encourages him to use his imagination:

J.M. Barrie: Write about your family, Write about the talking Whale.
Peter Llewelyn Davies: What Whale?
J.M. Barrie: The one that is trapped in your imagination, desperate to get out.

Pirates of the Caribbean is the movie that brought Johnny Depp to my attention, and I really believe that Captain Jack Sparrow will always be my favorite Johnny Depp character. I love how he's so flamboyant. He's just darn good, and so much fun! Now, whenever a new Johnny Depp movie comes out, I'm ready to check it out. Coming this Christmas, Johnny Depp stars in the new Tim Burton movie Sweeney Todd . Be sure to visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site to find out more, and visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace to enter for a chance to meet Johnny Depp. I never really understood the whole thing about screaming fans, but I'm screaming now - even though it's only on the inside. OMG! Johnny Depp! I am so going to win, well, at least enter and hope to win.

Personalized Flash Drives

Remember floppy disks? We still have some of those around here, but new computers don't even come with a floppy drive any more. It's easy to see why. They were so big, and they really didn't hold all that much data. I remember backing up my Quicken file to disk and needing 3 or 4 of them for the file. Now, I just back it up to a flash drive.

I love flash drives. They're so small and convenient, and they hold so much data. Even my smallest one (64MB) holds more data than a whole stack of those floppy disks! Yes, I said my smallest one. I have several, because I think they're so convenient and cute. I even thought the plain ones were cute, but these Personalized Flash Drives are so much cuter. They come in 14 different colors, with 32 different themes to choose from. I really like the tattoos selections - butterflies, camouflage, snowflakes, and more. Engraving is FREE on both sides. You get the design of your choice, and you can personalize the 2nd side with up to two lines of text.

I can see this being a great gift for the kids. They can use them to transport schoolwork back and forth between school and home, and with the personalization, there will be no question who the cool flash drive belongs to. Believe me, that's important at school.

brought to you by pexagon

I Want to Go Hiking

I was browsing MetBoots.com, when Jeffrey looked over and asked me if I was going to get him some boots. That's what I get for sitting so he can see my computer screen. Anyway, I asked him if I get him some hiking boots will he go hiking with me. We have some really nice trails around here, and we don't use them nearly enough. I guess we're still not going to use them, because he said no. He won't go hiking with me. No sense in buying him a gift he doesn't want to use. I guess if I want to buy some hiking boots, I'll have to get some for myself. They have some really nice boots here, and shipping is free on all orders over $100.

I can go hiking by myself.

Tours, Attractions, Things to Do

The last time I was in San Diego was when I was going to college in Pasadena. A group of us drove down one day. Being poor college students, we didn't do much except check out the beach. Of course, I love the beach, but if I ever get a chance to go back, I see that there is plenty to do in San Diego. There's the San Diego Zoo, Old Town Trolley tours, the San Diego Air and Space Museum, Harbor Cruises, and the place I bet Cory will be most interested in - San Diego Legoland.

While I'm no longer a poor college student, I still hate to spend more money on anything than I absolutely have to. That's why I'm interested in Trusted Tours and Attractions. They offer discount tickets to the best attractions and tours in San Diego, and many other cities. They also offer important visitor information such as pictures, weather, city maps, and recommendations of things to do, so planning a vacation is that much easier.

Sign up now to get the Trusted Travel eNewsletter. You'll get interesting stories and travel tips, informative and useful articles, and money saving deals delivered to your inbox each month. Plus, when you sign up now, you’re automatically entered to win 4 free tickets to attractions and tours in one of 21 different cities.

Where will you go? I'm having a hard time deciding whether I want to win tickets for San Diego, or one of the other cities.

So Many Pictures

Ever since I got a digital camera several years ago, I have been taking pictures, pictures, and more pictures. I have pictures on my computer. I use pictures for my screensaver, and I upload pictures to the Internet, to sites like Flickr and Tabblo, to share them. What I don't seem to do is print them. Before my digital camera, I used to take quite a few pictures, and those pictures had to be printed. Then I organized them and put them into photo albums, and we can sit down and go through those photo albums any time we want. It really is fun to see how much my kids have grown and changed. They were so cute.

Here's a scanned photo from my pre-digital days:

Because I don't usually print my pictures, a digital picture frame might be nice. All I'd have to do is load the camera's memory card into the frame, and we could all enjoy a slideshow of recent pictures. Some of these frames can even connect to our wireless network, so I could send pictures from my laptop to the frame without having to connect any cables or mess with the memory card.

If I order by December 10 and pay with PayPal, I can even get 20% cash back.