Furniture for kids

Finding the right furniture for kids can be tricky. You don't want to re-purchase the same items every few years, but you also can't put a toddler in a full size bed. Finding pieces that look good and are functional and durable can take time. Fortunately, Great Priced Furniture has a big selection of kids furniture. They've got some really nice beds, colorful rugs, and some desks that are so nice I would like to have one of them. Great Priced Furniture offers a 30 day money back guarantee and they'll get your order to you in 1 to 3 and a half weeks. If you need something for Christmas, get your order in by November 28th, which is in less than a week.

Neighbor's new truck

My neighbor got a new used truck. His other truck was 25 years old and leaked oil all over the street. The new one was a gift from his son who wasn't using it. He told his dad he would like the truck back when he dies. That's the kind of giving you like to see during the holidays. It's yours, but if you die, I'm gonna come get it!

Can you hear me?

There is big business in providing voiceovers for commercials, jingles, cartoons, documentary movies (or even regular movies where the plot doesn't make sense and you need someone to tell you what's going on), answering machines, podcasts, video games, and more.

If you do voiceovers or you need someone to do a voiceover for you, check out Voices.com. They've got job listings as well as a search page where you can find the voice talent you need to complete your project. They are eager to sign up actors and musicians, and if you aren't sure how to make the move to voiceovers, they can help you with that, too.

Happy Thanksgiving

We are a family of vegetarians, so eating turkey on Thanksgiving isn't part of our routine. We'll be having a special meal but not eating to excess.

A good place to learn about Thanksgiving is the Plimoth.org site. It's designed for students and they even have a detective section where you can do some research.

Free online gaming

Online games like World of Warcraft can get pretty expensive with the monthly fees plus buying stuff in the game. And console games are around $60 for the new PS3 and XBox 360, plus hundreds for the machines. Believe it or not, there are plenty of free online games you can enjoy. Excessively.net one of the first two sites allowing you to play classic Nintendo games online, and they are still doing it, all for free. Great games like Pacman, SuperMario, and Frogger are ready and waiting for you. You can even embed the games in your blog. They look just like the arcade versions, too. So if you would like to play free online games, check out Excessively.net and get started with some exciting gameplay. They've got enough games to keep you busy for months.

Family trip to El Capitan Theater

We made the unwise decision to go to El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood today. Not only was the traffic getting there and coming back a nightmare, the street in front of the theater was blocked off for a concert. We spent the majority of our time driving on freeways. Things were so bad on the way there that I didn't think we would make it in time to see the movie. There is a stage show plus a movie and a live organist. We arrived just as the movie started and then stuck around to watch the organist and the stage show for the next time slot. The theater was nice and it wasn't crowded. The Santa Clause 3 movie wasn't too bad although the plot was a little weak. Driving home took about 3 hours on 6 different freeways. Too much work for one day.

And why do they call it "The El Capitan Theatre"? Isn't that like saying "The The Capitan Theatre"?

Where did your family name come from?

Ever wonder who your ancestors were and where they lived? Maybe there are some famous people in your family tree. Or maybe some infamous ones? It's pretty interesting to research your family history and save something for future generations. Our Name in History will do the work for you and will produce a nice hardbound book about your family name, complete with graphs and images for only $39.95. Check it out and see if they've got enough information on your last name to create the book, which looks pretty nice.

400th PayPerPost entry

I just did my 400th PayPerPost blog entry. That is a lot of blogging. I didn't realize I had done so many. I've also done at least 400 more in the same time period, so it's probably close to 1000 in 3 months or around 10 per day. I'm no Perez Hilton, but that's a lot of writing and linking.

Christmas shopping

I have done no Christmas shopping and don't have a Christmas list ready either. I know Black Friday is coming up, but I don't plan to be in line at 3 AM for that $100 laptop. Maybe I'll buy some stuff online, but I need to plan ahead, otherwise I'll end up with a bunch of tech toys that no one wants except me. I plan not to overdo it this year. That would be a good accomplishment.

Memories of Christmas

I have many good memories of Christmas from my childhood. Most involve getting gifts, but making a snowman in the front yard was a real favorite thing to do. Also, visiting with relatives on Christmas was a great time as a child. My grandfather used to wear a special vest with lights which was very entertaining for the kids. He also gave everybody the same gift, but that was okay since there were so many kids. I don't remember any Christmas Elves at any of the Christmas parties, but I do remember them from my dreams since they were setting up the gifts under the tree and helping Santa. Most of my memories of Christmas involve snow, which I never see now, living in southern California.

It's Christmas time already?

I usually wait until December 1st before I put up any Christmas lights. People in my neighborhood go all out with giant displays and characters and sound and more. I try to keep it reasonable. One neighbor already has his full set of giant lights up and on and it's only November 21st. Why so early?

Never miss an email with emoze

In my opinion, email has to be one of the top two things about the Internet, with the other one being the ability to create and browse websites, which might count as two more. I use email much more than the telephone because it's so much easier to deal with and you can do it on your own time. I get news, updates, product info and of course lots of spam via email every day. I'm not away from my computer very often for more than a few hours, so getting to my email isn't a big deal. However, if I had a job where I was traveling long distances quite a bit or spent lots of time in the car or in meetings, not having easy access to email would be an issue. If you are one of those people who needs to get to your email often but you can't get to a computer to go online for whatever reason, Emoze has a solution for you, and the price is right. That's right,
www.emoze.com offers a free mobile email service which will push your email to your cell phone or PDA. You can be just like those people walking around with a Blackberry getting email all day long no matter where you are.

Emoze works with a corporate or consumer email account -- you can use more than one -- and any compatible phone or PDA. The emoze software has an interface similar to most email software, so you can pick it up quickly. And the software is free at www.emoze.com. Just download, install and you are ready to go.

You can use emoze with any Microsoft Mobile or Symbian device with a GPRS or other data connection with Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes Domino servers and POP3 online email services such as Hotmail, Yahoo! and Gmail.

Very soon, you will be able to use emoze without a PC, so no software will be necessary. Good things are ahead for emoze users, so take a look now and think about how much you will save each month by not buying that Blackberry.

Back online

My blog has been resurrected and is online again. I missed it!

Blogger makes > 100k/yr with no Internet access

LATimes has a story about blogger "Perez Hilton" today. It says he makes more than 100k/yr from blogging and does not have Internet access! His blog is about celebrities with some emphasis on gay celebrities. Like many other stories about online sites, the LA Times doesn't include the URL of his website... -- http://www.perezhilton.com/

He does not own a TV or read books and has no Internet at home. He is a voracious consumer of magazines, though, and has a network of trusted friends and tipsters who, he said, have yet to lead him astray.

He starts work around 6:30 a.m., sometimes posting 30 times a day, a far more prodigious output than many fully staffed sites. By sheer energy and personality, his site and he are rapidly evolving into a brand. He is in demand by radio and TV outlets as a celebrity commentator. He recently taught a Learning Annex class, "How to Blog Your Way to Fame and Fortune." ("I inspired myself!" he said.)

Track your vehicles with gps

Do you have a vehicle you need to keep tabs on? Maybe do some Teen Tracking with a teenage driver who might get a little too far away from home or a fleet of delivery vehicles where you need to locate them quickly to provide good service? Or maybe your spouse has been visiting somebody else's house a little too often for your comfort? There are lots of cases where you might want to know where a vehicle is and the Brickhouse Security LightningGPS tracking device can do the job for you. Check out their demo and you'll be able to track a car live on a map. Pretty impressive! The tracking device needs to be hardwired into a car, so you can't just slap it on anybody's vehicle and see where they are going. Put it on your own car or install it in your company's vehicles. You could prevent problems or improve service by knowing how well your employees are staying on task. The device costs $489.95 and there is a monthly service fee so you can do the live tracking. I think this would work best if everyone driving the vehicles knew the device was on there rather than trying to surprise people with some bad news about where they were when they were supposed to be somewhere else. Rather than be deceptive, you can head off trouble by letting the driver(s) know that you'll know where they are.

vizaweb letting me down again

Everytime vizaweb has an outage I figure it's time to change hosts. But I haven't done it yet because once the service is working again, I'm happy to keep things as they are. Today is another day with no access to my site. I'm sure they'll fix it but this has become too common. I need a new host...

Make your own coffee

Many people like to start their day with a fresh, hot cup of coffee. My wife is one of those people and I know she would like to have a nice, reliable espresso coffee maker in the kitchen, ready to go in the morning before she has to go to work. Choosing a coffee machine can be a little daunting since there are so many brands with different features and prices. This guide will help you figure out what you need for the kind of coffee you like and the amount of money you'd like to spend. A new coffee machine would make a great holiday gift.

ImageWell works well

I have been using ImageWell for some time now primarily for resizing images before uploading them to the web. It's an easy to use program which works quickly. It has other features like watermarking and drawing tools, but I haven't spent much time with those. It's a Mac only program and frequently at work I wish I had something like it for Windows. There must be something that does the same stuff.

Don't age so fast

Getting old is part of life. Your body changes, and in the process some things which you used to do easily may get harder to do, like hearing people who are talking to you or walking up the stairs or remembering the names of your children. You can do your best with exercise, getting enough sleep, stimulating your brain by reading and thinking and doing crossword puzzles and your income tax, and by eating right, but sometimes that may not be enough.

For many people, supplements can make up deficiencies in diet or damage that is done because of the environment where you live or work, or because of stress in your life. A new product called Proleva is designed to protect your body at the cellular level from free radicals, the molecules responsible for aging. Proleva is made from fruit and berry extracts and gives you the antioxidant equivalent of one and a half pounds of fresh fruit. I don't know about you, but if I ate that much fruit every day, I don't think my stomach and digestive system would like it too much. Taking Proleva each day can protect you from aging at the cellular level and keep your brain functioning at optimal levels. It can also improve your cardiovascular and immmune systems and improve your energy. It sounds like a miracle pill and although it isn't, there is research which shows that Proleva can reduce the damage that free radicals do to human cells by up to 700%.

Proleva costs $59.95 for a one month supply -- about $2.00 per day. If you buy in larger quantities, the price can get down to $1.40 per day. It comes with a 90 day money back guarantee, so you can return it if you don't think you are getting the results you expect. Your health and well being are important and considering the cost of health care and the value of keeping your body and mind in top shape, Proleva is a pretty good deal.

USC Wins

Cal lost. It wasn't much of a game at all in the second half. USC just made better adjustments and controlled the game. No punts to Jackson and very little in the way of Cal offense. USC made the big plays and showed they were better. If they can beat Notre Dame next Saturday I think they deserve a chance against Ohio State and if they get that far I wouldn't be against Pete Carroll.

Delightful Deliveries

Holiday shopping can be painful -- long lines, crowded roads and parking lots, pushy people, hard to find stuff and then there's the problem of figuring out what to buy for some people on your shopping list. And if you wait too long, you can't even get the gifts you'd like to buy without running all over town looking for them. One way to simplify the job is to buy online, and one place where you can do that is at America's #1 Gift Basket Website, Delightful Deliveries. They've got gift baskets, chocolates, gourmet meals, fresh flowers, corporate gifts and more. They deliver anywhere in the U.S. and have various shipping options plus free gift wrapping. A great choice for your holiday shopping if you've got anyone on your list who likes to eat.

Not sure what you are looking for? Check out their holiday gifts. Last year I had problems buying and shipping things to members of my family who live across the country. If you wait too long, the stuff won't get there on time. This year, I'm going to check out Delightful Deliveries early and get my shopping done the easy way -- online. The Ghirardelli's Greatest Hits looks like a winner for a chocolate lover and you don't have to go to San Francisco to get it, although that would be a nice trip to make.

PayPerPost wedding

I watched the live stream of the PayPerPost wedding at 5:00. The wedding looked fun, especially at the end when Ted counted out $1000 for the bride and groom. The Elvis impersonator did a nice job on his second song, Burning Love. His first number was too choppy on the video stream for me to tell whether it was good. Most of the time the audio went in and out and at times the video stopped completely, but it wasn't too bad.

DUI Lawyer in San Diego

I live near San Diego and drive on the freeways to and from San Diego pretty often. It can be a little tricky to navigate the roads, especially at night. Sometimes, people make poor choices and do things which aren't the best or safest, like drinking and driving. Rick Mueller, the San Diego DUI lawyer, can help you out if you get arrested for DUI. Rick's list of successful cases is a long one, and some of them involve situations which you would expect to be pretty solid for the prosecution. So, if you need the services of a DUI lawyer in San Diego, check out Rick Mueller, the San Diego DUI lawyer.

Cal - USC

I expect today's Cal - USC game to be a high scoring game and as a Cal graduate, I'm planning on Cal coming out on top. I think USC's defense has gotten much better, but they've still got some weaknesses and Cal has more offense than the teams they've played so far. USC gets an advantage since the game is at home, but I think if Cal can come out early and get the lead, they will be in good shape. So if Cal wins, USC is out of the BCS picture and Cal gets back into the top 10. On the other hand, if USC wins and they can also beat Notre Dame, then I think they deserve a chance to be number 1.

SuppliesNet light box

With so many people using digital cameras, you might think that the light box as an essential tool for photographers has seen better days. Maybe not. Plenty of people still have slides and negatives hanging around, and a light box can come in handy for those. It's also nice for tracing and for cutting and drawing when you are working on a scrapbook. SuppliesNet.com have lots of stuff for drawing, drafting, crafting and more. Free shipping if you spend a hundred bucks or more.

Crazy stuff with the PS3

I hate to read those stories about people waiting in line all night only to have some jerks cut in front of them right before the store opens and end up with whatever they were waiting for. Decent people always lose out in these cases. The PS3 thing is probably about greed -- buying it to sell for a quick profit on eBay. And what is with the goofballs who wait in line to buy one, then take it outside and smash it with a sledgehammer in front of a whole bunch of other people who are waiting in line for one?

SEO'Brien blog

Paul O'Brien's blog is a good one to check out if you are interested in search engines and online marketing. He's got lots of practical experience and shares that in his blog entries. Search Engine optimization and online marketing from SEO'Brien is updated frequently and I always find something new and interesting when I'm visiting the site. His most recent entry discusses the importance for webmasters of the announcement that Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft will all recognize the same sitemap format, making it easier to index websites. Although it doesn't have anything to do with search, I liked the recent entry about the Verrado planned community in Arizona which highlighted some marketing ideas as well as the importance of online and offline networks. The place reminds me a little bit of Celebration, Florida, another planned community where I happened to spend a lot of time some years ago.

PS3 comes and goes at Costco.com

I checked Costco.com last night for the PS3 and it wasn't there. This morning, I should have checked earlier, but came across a link from dealnews.com that Costco would start selling the PS3 online at 8 AM PST. It was already 8:25 when I saw it. I was able to get online and see the price -- $699 for the PS3 with 60 GB drive & wireless model, 1 game, and 1 additional controller. A better deal than the $1079 bundle at Fry's which comes with 8 games. Anyway, I tried for a while but was never able to place an order and soon after costco.com became inaccessible. After about an hour, they were sold out. I guess we could try to find one at the local Costco, but I have no way of knowing if they actually have any and I think at this point I'd rather wait until there are plenty of them and the price isn't inflated.

Waiting for the PS3

Just a few hours before the PS3 will be available. I'm not waiting in line although I would like to get one. Lots of people have been in line for days. I'm sure many will sell theirs for a quick profit, but I won't be buying one for more than the list price. It's okay to wait until everything that's wrong with the first run gets worked out. The $599 model is selling for $1399 and up on Amazon stores. With stores only getting 25 consoles per store, it will be hard to get one after tomorrow.

Need a floor fast?

Looking for a new floor? Check out FastFloors.com. They have a huge selection of flooring materials, including 16,000 choices in ceramic tile alone. It's easy to find what you need -- everything is categorized and you can browse by brand or by price. Fastfloors also provide information about the advantages of each material. Their sales staff are knowledgeable and eager to help you find what you need, whether it's cork, ceramic tile, bamboo or stone. Fastfloors has it all -- check out their Tile and Stone Sale - Fast Floors. And if you don't know where to start, read one of the general articles and get some guidance before you spend your money.

Regents give UCR Medical school the go ahead

After Tuesday's committee approval of the UCR Medical School, today's vote was somewhat of a formality. The UC Regents approved the plans, so UCR can move forward and start planning for their medical school. A final plan will still need to be developed and approved, and if that happens, the school won't open for another six years, but if it does, it will be the first new medical school in the state in 40 years.

Boost your diesel truck

I drive to work in a hybrid car which gets 45-50 miles per gallon depending on how fast I drive. It has very little horsepower (94), so it doesn't do well up a grade and it certainly wouldn't be useful for hauling stuff. Many of the people I see on the road drive diesel trucks, big ones. Most of these are used for work or for hauling things like trailers and carrying dirt bikes. They have power but the diesel performance may not be the best. What most of those people driving trucks don't know is that by using a tuner or chip on a diesel, you can boost performance and improve gas mileage! That's a nice combination. If you could add 100-300 horsepower and still get 20-25 miles per gallon, I think you'd give it a shot.

School holidays are too long

We have had 3 half days in a row now for parent conferences and tomorrow is an off day, then all of next week there is no school too. I don't remember getting all these days off when I was a child in school. Plus we also have 2 weeks at Christmas, then another 2 weeks for Spring break. That stretches the school year well into June. I think it would be better to have a shorter school year since so little gets done at the end, no matter when it comes along.

Waiting for Megaglobe

Waiting for a search engine to launch isn't exactly the same as waiting for the new PS3 which comes out tomorrow or waiting for that new Elmo doll, but somewhere, possibly all around the world, there are people chanting We Want Megaglobe. If you don't know about Megaglobe, it's an international search engine which has an ad insertion system which works something like the ad insertion systems other big search engines have, but this one is friendlier towards the little guy or gal. That is, it's not too expensive so small and medium sized businesses can get in on these ads which are tied to searches and tags and so on. The deal with Megaglobe is that their page doesn't do any searches yet. So if you are like me and you have been to the Megaglobe site a few times, you may be asking yourself if the wait is going to be worth it. I'm guessing that it will and I'm optimistic about that. I'm not impatient yet, but I'd like to see the Megaglobe search in action. Megaglobe makes it sound big, like some of the other search engines. Except for Ask, which sounds personal but not big.

This video is my personal plea for the Megaglobe developers to finish the job and unleash the engine. It may not sound too much like a plea, but I was tired when I made it and it took a long time to think about how many search engines are already out there. This one needs to stand out in order to get some attention.

The poor image quality is thanks to YouTube who like to compress the videos you put there at a setting of about 10% quality. It looked really good on my computer!

Boosters run the school

As if there weren't enough problems with the money that's involved in college football. If boosters at Florida State can persuade the head coach's son to resign by paying him more than half a million dollars, you wonder what other things they are doing with money. The whole thing sounds strange -- he resigned, but he still gets paid for another year at 140k in addition to the buyout of $537,500.

Searching for a credit card?

If your mailbox isn't filled up each week with credit card offers, you are fortunate. These things show up at my house almost every day, it seems. It's better to ignore all that junk mail and seek out your own credit card. Why not use a search engine dedicated to credit cards? The cleverly named creditcardsearchengine.com is a site which helps you findCredit Cards based on whatever criteria you are looking for -- rewards points, interest rate, no annual fee, airline miles, bad credit and more. Actually if you have bad credit, be careful about getting too much more credit until you get your finances in order. It's easy to use and you get all the details you need to make an informed decision. No searching through that form letter in the mail to find out that there's a $99 annual fee and 21% interest rate. Everything is up front and easy to find.

Housing down but not out

Home sales are slowing down in this area. I wonder if the fact that the average price of a home is $410,000 has anything to do with that? The PE.com article doesn't say what percentage of people can afford a home based on their income, but it's got to be a low number. Seven years ago, new homes in Temecula were still available for $160,000. Now you are lucky to find one under $500,000. There's not much land left and the prices are so high and jobs so far away that fewer and fewer people are willing to move out here. Get some local jobs and better freeways and roads and that may change.

Ted the Catfish - a little scary

Ted may have been suffering from a lack of sleep and food when he made this video. I am not really sure what this is about. Is the catfish the new mascot of PayPerPost? Has Ted finally gone over the edge and lost it? We know he's been working too hard, but I'm concerned about his mental health. I was expecting the chamber he's sitting in to fill up and some whiskers to sprout on his face before he started swimming around like a real catfish. How about an impression of a puffer fish? If Ted can pull that one off, then I think I will accept his claim as a master impressionist. Watch for yourself, but don't be too hard on Ted. He hasn't had a day off in a long time, apparently.



PayPerPost has some strange videos.

Honda Fuel Cell Car

I hope the Honda Fuel Cell Car is in production soon and eventually is for sale rather than just for lease. I enjoy driving the Civic Hybrid which gets around 42 miles per gallon, but it's still using gas which is eventually going to be moving back up in price. The fuel cell car would have a huge ripple effect on the whole gas/auto infrastructure and it will take many years for it to be successful, but in the long run, something like that has to be successful. I just hope the car doesn't look like some of these other Honda electric cars which are a little strange and small with an odd shape.

Need a credit card?

Did your spouse site at home one day and run up a big bill on the Home Shopping Network and ruin your credit? That can make it tough to get more credit, but the Orchard Bank Platinum MasterCard may be a way to avoid that problem. The Orchard Bank Mastercard has no up front fees, a reasonable 14.9 percentage rate and an annual fee between 35 and 69 dollars. Using this card and paying it off each month can help you re-establish a good credit rating and even if your credit isn't so great right now, you can get approved for this card and get on your way to a higher credit rating.

CNNSi or ESPN?

I normally prefer to get my sports news from ESPN.com and sometimes I go to CNNSi.com for a few of the writers there. However, the autoplaying video on espn.com has made me more of a cnnsi reader lately. I can't stand that kind of thing -- it's just as bad as someone's site playing loud midi music with no way to turn it off. The espn site doesn't seem to have a way to set a preference so it doesn't play the video every time you go there. Bad design, particularly on World Usability Day.

Woodworking with routers

Working with wood to build your own furniture is fun, especially if you have the right tools and some good plans for what you are trying to build. I have always liked seeing people work with wood routers to create nice table legs and other pieces. If you like working with wood and you use a router or are thinking about using a router, just-wood-routers.com is a site for you. They've got information about routers, bits, lifts and tables, so if you are looking to upgrade your equipment or just trying to figure out what to buy, check it out.

Searching for MacFormat

MacFormat is a British Mac magazine which I have sometimes seen at Fry's and at Barnes and Noble. It's expensive -- $14.99 -- because it's imported, and although it's pretty good, I don't buy it very often. I also like to look through another British Mac magazine, iCreate, which is similarly priced. Last month's issue of MacFormat had an article about how to program your own game of Frogger using Runtime Revolution. They supply the source code on the CD with the magazine. I only came across the article last week on the Runtime Revolution site and have been looking for the magazine since then. No luck at Fry's or 2 Barnes and Noble stores. I did find that Borders Books carries it, but they already have the November issue and told me that the day the new ones come in, they rip the covers off last month's issue and send it back! So I guess it's time to email MacFormat and see what they have to say about finding a copy.

Second Life in Education

CNN says Second Life is being used in classes at more than 60 schools and educational institutions.

The three-dimensional virtual world makes it possible for students taking a distance course to develop a real sense of community, said Rebecca Nesson, who leads a class jointly offered by Harvard Law School and Harvard Extension School in the world of "Second Life."

"Students interact with each other and there's a regular sense of classroom interaction. It feels like a college campus," she said.

She holds class discussions in "Second Life" as well as office hours for extension students. Some class-related events are also open to the public -- or basically anyone with a broadband connection.

- - - - -

Besides improving the quality of distance learning, educators are finding "Second Life" is a good way to introduce international perspectives. In Nesson's course, students as far away as Korea engage in the classroom discussion and work on team projects.

What's great about PayPerPost...

I wasn't sure what to make of PayPerPost when I first heard about it, probably because the way I came across it was a negative review by one of the more vocal critics of the service. I tried it out once and then waited about a week to get my first post approved. Since then I've become a fanatic about it and never miss a day. I've made a number of videos which has been great fun and I've written about lots of websites and services I would never have known about. I guess the idea of word of mouth marketing through blogs is a good one, but for me, trying to learn to write quickly in an entertaining style (at least most of the time) has been what I've liked the most. Yes, I do like getting paid and I wouldn't do it if I didn't get paid, but I think participating in PayPerPost has helped me use the web in a different way -- less aimless web browsing -- as well as improve my ability to compose quickly and get things done. Thanks!

Mobile office

I've been at my job for about 6 weeks now and I'm still waiting for an office and a computer. The computer may arrive next week and then a few days after IT locks it up and installs whatever software I got, I'll be able to get more work done. For now I've been using my computer at home and my 12 inch G4 laptop which seems even smaller when I work on it trying to get anything done that's more than just writing. So it's been pretty much a mobile office because I can't store anything at work, so I haul it back and forth or leave my files online. I may continue to work this way even when I've got my own office.

Treadmills

A treadmill is a basic part of any gym, whether it's a home gym or one of those places where you pay a monthly fee to use the equipment. Fitness Goals for most people can be achieved through some combination of aerobic exercise and strength training. What's nice about a treadmill is that it provides a consistent environment for walking or running -- no worrying about it being too cold, too dark or too wet outside. I bought a treadmill for home for those reasons and also because I can watch television while I'm on the treadmill. There are many brands of treadmills with different features. I recommend getting the best one you can afford because it will hold up longer. My treadmill is about 10 years old and it still works great.

Palomar Observatory and light pollution

Light pollution is not a type of pollution I've ever heard about before. Apparently it's a big deal when you are trying to use a telescope to see stars and other objects in the sky. At the Palomar Observatory, light pollution is making it difficult for astronomers to do their work.

Nicholson said he worries that Palomar Observatory might suffer the same fate as the Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles. In the mid-1980s, the observatory stopped studying faraway galaxies in favor of closer, brighter stars because light pollution had become so bad.

It sounds like Denny's is one of the worst offenders and they don't care too much about it.

As part of a presentation he gave to Riverside County planning officials earlier this year, Garrett showed pictures of some businesses he thought used excessive lighting.

One of them was the Denny's restaurant in Temecula, which, Garrett said, uses 14 high-intensity, wide-angle floodlights to illuminate its roof.

There's no reason to light up the roof "unless you expect customers to land on the roof," he said.

Debbie Atkins, a Denny's spokeswoman, said the lights help draw attention to the business, which is open 24 hours. It also enhances safety and security, she said.

How about some better food as a way to draw attention to the business?

Is this yourkindaTV?

The web used to be mostly one way -- people looked at websites and some people had their own sites, but it was mostly one way. Now there are all kinds of sites where you can post your blog, photos and videos. Sooner or later, someone would be smart enough to recognize that some of this "user generated content" is pretty good. Well, YourKindaTV.com in Britain, has started up an awards show for the people who submit the videos to their site. The YourKindaTV British User Generated Awards 2007 are happening on February 4th and will include categories like the best mockumentary, the best candid clip, most original clip, and my favorite, the most dangerous clip. Check it out and Get involved with the daily news and views from YourKindaTV. You might learn something or see something you won't see on cable or satellite tv. Plus, YourKindaTV is priced right -- it's free.

USC is #3?

I don't understand how USC jumped over Florida in the BCS rankings. It doesn't matter too much anyway, because my other favorite team, Cal, is going to beat USC this Saturday and Florida will move into 2nd place behind the winner of Ohio State - Michigan. Florida plays the tougher schedule, but USC started out the season higher, so who knows. Now that Cal's chances for the top 8 are pretty distant, I'll have to hope that USC loses. If Cal wins their remaining games, maybe they can still get in the top 10.

Hp Coupons for laptops and desktops

Looking for a deal on some HP notebooks or desktops? Check out the HP Coupons at CheapStingyBargains.com. With a name like that, you know the prices are going to be good! The site is updated hourly, so get some HP Coupon Codes and get shopping. Some of the deals start at under $300, so you know they won't last long.

Vibrant's used RS6000 servers

removed due to server error

Blogger Beta

The new Blogger is much faster to save and publish than the old one. It also has the easy labels feature which is nice. The link button still doesn't work right for me -- sometimes I get the link where it should be and other times I get an icon of a link inserted into my text as if I never had any text selected. Overall, Blogger beta is going to be a big step up once it is complete.

Soccer photos

Over the course of the ten game soccer season, I took around 6,000 pictures. Deciding what makes a good one is easy when I'm the only one who will be looking at the photo. In that case, I am pretty picky. If it's not sharp, if you can't see a face and the ball and if the image wasn't taken at the right moment when there is some action or conflict, then it's probably not one that I want to keep. However, since I post my images online for parents to see, I'm much less picky with those. If anyone might find it interesting, I'll put it online.

South Bay chat

I guess there are lots of places called South Bay, since that was what they called the San Jose area when I lived there. Near LA, the South Bay is Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and cities around there. A very nice area to live or visit. If you are interested in chatting with people about the South Bay or you want to find out more about what's going on, check out the South Bay forums at southbaychat.com. It's a new site and they are running some contests for free meals, pizza and more. All you have to do is sign up...

Dish HD

Our Dish installer came this afternoon and set up a new satellite and receiver. The picture is pretty nice on the HD channels and it does look very good on close ups. Some stuff is still fuzzy and motion doesn't work well with text, but otherwise it seems good. HGHD is one channel I will watch now when I have some time. There is some setting on the TV which is zooming in and cutting off the sides. It's a little complicated to locate that however and I can't figure out how to turn it off yet.

Bank foreclosures

Bank foreclosures are a sad part of real estate booms and busts. I think my neighbor's house may be in foreclosure right now, although there are no signs out front. They just disappeared last weekend and now the yard is turning brown. However, one person's misfortune is another person's opportunity, so I hope someone else will purchase the house and get a good deal. Buying Bank Foreclosures is certainly a way to save some money on a home and is definitely something worth looking around for. This site can help you locate homes in foreclosure around the U.S. by filling out a form to list a home or signing up for a service to locate them.

Chargers come back and win

That Chargers - Bengals game today was one of the best I have ever watched in terms of offense. I turned it on at the start of the second quarter and the Chargers were already down 21-0. They scored a quick touchdown right away and then when I came back a while later, the Bengals had scored again and it was 28-7. But the Chargers scored 42 points in the second half and held on to win 49-41. It was an amazing game. I'm sure the Bengals don't feel so great about their 500 yards of offense in a loss.

Gifts for stargazers

Sometimes it can be difficult to come up with a good idea for a gift during the holiday season, no matter how many newspapers, magazines and television commericals you look at. Some people are just hard to shop for whether they already have too much stuff or they are just a little bit different from the average Joe and Jane. A unique gift is a good way to make somebody happy. How about a buying one of the Meade Telescopes from Optics Planet? These are high quality telescopes, suitable for the beginner who is just getting interested in astronomy all the way up to someone who has been star gazing for years. Optics Planet has a huge selection of everything optical, from sunglasses to binoculars and even digital cameras, but a nice telescope makes a great gift. Any order over $29.95 ships free via UPS.

In addition to Meade, Optics Planet carries other top brands like Celestron, Bushnell, Leica, Tasco and more. They've also got a list of items which make great gifts in a wide range of prices. Why not check it out for the stargazer on your shopping list? There are many moons, planets and celestial bodies out there waiting to be explored and a telescope is a good way to get started.

500+ soccer photos

I guess it is easier to take pictures when you have no rooting interest in a game. I didn't make much of an effort, but took more than 500 shots at yesterday's soccer final. I normally move around the field to get a wide variety of shots, but this time I didn't do that very much. I only stayed on one side the whole time.

I'm going to post the good ones on zoomr, which had a nice deal for bloggers -- a free pro account.

Dress up your doll with drag and drop

There are lots of ways to create a character online -- you can participate in role playing games, create an alternative identity and roam around in chat rooms and on MySpace, or you could get involved with Dress Up Games and Dollmakers at TheDollPalace.com. TheDollPalace has all kinds of tools you can use to build your own dolls and avatars. The tools are easy to use -- choose a style, drag and drop some clothes and accessories, then save your doll. You can use it in contests on the site or as an avatar in chat rooms or on MySpace. The tools all run in your browser, so there's nothing to download. You can also share stories about your dolls or get help from other doll makers in the discussion boards.

Beta Blogger allows blogging from Google Docs

I use Google Docs quite a bit as well as Google Reader. I noticed today that it's now possible to blog from Google Docs to Beta Blogger. That's very nice! Google Reader must be next. I don't want to say I had this idea myself, but I did...

Wedding favors that burn

Do someone a real favor and give some candle wedding favors at your next wedding. Giftsandotherwise.com have got some nice candles to choose from, and when everyone else is getting chocolates or flowers, you'll stand out by giving a fabulous candle. The Champagne Gel Candle would be my first choice. It's unique and it looks great. My only concern is that when Uncle Joe has had a little too much to drink, he might mistake it for a real glass of champagne and end up sucking down some candle wax and a wick and need to have his stomach pumped. That won't happen with the Palm Tree Candle which will add a nice tropical feeling to the table. However, the same kind of faux-pas could happen with the Wedding Sampler Chocolate Candles, which look like real chocolate but taste like real candles if you actually eat one. Whatever kind of wedding favor candle you'd like, check out Giftsandotherwise.com.

Blogger Beta funny business

When I publish or delete a post in the Blogger Beta, it says "Sorry we were unable to complete your request" but it actually did complete my request. Not a good thing for the user. Incorrect feedback leads to more clicking and publishing and deleting.

Cal loses, no BCS

Cal lost to Arizona in a close one, 24-20. It looked like they were going to win with about 2:18 left when they had a touchdown called back because the guy stepped out of bounds. After that, they moved the ball a little bit but ended up giving it up on an interception. Too bad. They are 8-2 now, and face USC next week in a game that should still decide the Pac-10 title. They were ranked 8th today but that is going to change. Maybe if they beat USC they can get back into the top 10, but with so many 1 loss teams it may be tough.

What the fuchsia?

Ever wonder what exactly a fuchsia is? If you are like me, you thought it was a color and you probably couldn't even spell it right. Treedazzled has lots of fuchsias and things related to fuschia. A fuschia is actually a very nice flower, as you will find out if you check out the fuchsia books on TreeDazzled. Enlighten yourself about fuchsias on this nice looking website with all you ever need to know about fuchsias.

Shine a flashlight on that

Every home can use some flashlights for emergencies like earthquakes, hurricanes, and power outages. It's good to have a few handy just in case. OpticsPlanet.net has lots of flashlights, including headlamps, pocket models, LED flashlights and more. They carry top brands like SureFire, StreamLight and Pelican and they offer free shipping on orders over $29.95 via UPS.

All the flashlights are discounted and with such a great selection, you can find what you need. OpticsPlanet also carries all kinds of other stuff like binoculars and cameras and more, but flashlights are great as holiday gifts. Check out the selection of Maglites, those small and high quality flashlights which are very solid and shock resistant and come in a range of sizes. Keep a few of them handy for the next earthquake here in California or the next time your power goes out. Or maybe you need something more heavy duty like the SureFire L5 Lumamax LED CombatLight Flashlight L5-HA-WH which goes for $189 but lasts for thousands of hours. Take that one on your next trek into the wilderness and you won't have to worry about getting back home safely.

Flashlights are great tools and you may not notice them until you really need one, but plan ahead and check out what they have at OpticsPlanet.net before it's winter.

Looking for a tablet PC?

Tablet PC Reviews

I almost bought a tablet PC about 2 years ago but waited too long and missed out on a great deal. Tablets have some nice features and have really improved their battery life and performance. Tablet PC Reviews is a site which stays on top of developments in the tablet PC world. They have reviews on tablet PCs like the HP Compaq TC4400 which is currently the most popular tablet on the site. Reviews are extremely thorough, with complete specs, lots of large photos and performance testing. If you need to compare tablets, this is the place to go. There is even a page devoted to deals on tablets. Overall, Tablet PC Reviews is an excellent source of information about tablets. If I do decide to get a tablet, I'll check out this site before I buy one.

Backing up the blog and website

After enduring the latest outage with Vizaweb -- 36 hours -- I realize how essential it is to have a weekly backup of everything on my site. There's no automated way to do it that I know about, although there must be some way to do that. I'm going to have to back up things myself every week at least because the pain I would have to go through without a backup would be too much. It has made me realize how important it is to have a reliable host. Vizaweb has generally been fine but they often don't respond to email and don't communicate well. That's not a good thing when it's not working.

ViaTalk for Voice over IP phone service

Voice over IP services are popping up all over the place and they sure offer better deals than I get with my local phone service which is rock bottom and gives me nothing other than the ability to call people in about a 20 mile radius for $16 a month. The ViaTalk service costs about the same -- $15.95 a month, with 6 months free -- but they offer so much more. Included are unlimited calls in the US and Canada (I don't know anyone in Canada, but I could make some friends), callerID, call waiting, and more. Unlimited calls for $15.95 is a nice deal even if you are using your cell phone for long distance. The service is available in all 50 United States, in 2200 metro markets. My market isn't one of them, but that might change as they expand. You can check to see if ViaTalk is in your location by using this page with a handy map. The complete list of services, and it is a pretty long list, can be seen here.

The quality of VOIP has really improved to the point where, for me at least, it is indistinguishable from standard phone service and much better than my cell reception.

School Board changes

Maybe people just don't think educators are the right people for a school board. None of the educators in the race won. The winners were a fire captain, the owner of a business which sells fire fighting equipment, and an accountant. Each is a parent, which may be the motivation for most people to be on the school board. I think I need to start attending the meetings and getting involved at more than my local school level.

PE.com has a wrap up on the victory by fire captain Vince O'Neal.

Supersize your videoconferencing with LifeSize

I've used a few videoconferencing systems and they can vary in terms of the quality and ease of use they offer. LifeSize.com has some very nicely designed Video Conferencing Equipment which offers very high quality audio and video. The video is 1280 x 720 pixels at 30 frames per second, which is excellent. You can set up a demo of their product to check it out or read more about it on their site.
Video Conferencing System

Nothing here any longer

Post removed.

Vizweb dead in the water this time?

Vizaweb's DNS servers got hacked again. Second time in two months. The last time they were out for 3 days. So far, it's about one day, so no email and no access to my sites. I should have learned my lesson and switched to another provider. If I can get to my stuff this time, I will do that. My old Quicktopic discussion on Vizaweb is still active. I hope this isn't a permanent outage, but it also doesn't seem like they learned anything from the last time since there has been no communication from them at all. People who didn't leave last time are probably thinking harder about it now. I know I am. They promised some compensation for the last outage but have not delivered and there has been very little in the way of communication.

Bull Riding is no bull

If you can get PBR Finals Tickets -- to the Professional Bull Riders World Finals, you are in for a wild ride. Bull riding is a crazy sport, with lots of action and the potential for some serious hurts put on the riders by the bulls. Those bulls are huge and they move fast, so even though the riders only have to stay on for a short period of time, it is very difficult to do that. That's one of the reasons why I leave the bull riding to the professionals and don't try to do it myself. If you can get a seat close to the ring, you will hear the grunts and groans and almost feel the pain of the riders.

Adriano Moraes from Brazil won the title this year of biggest prize winner, with more than a million dollars for riding bulls, which is no bull. The finals were held in Las Vegas over the past couple of weeks at the Thomas and Mack Center and at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Start planning for next year's finals now so you don't miss out. Bull riding is a real spectacle with some crazy stuff going on. I like to watch the clowns who run out and try to distract the bulls while the riders get out of harm's way. That is not an easy job. Don't be a rodeo clown, get out and watch an event like the Houston Rodeo, which is coming up February 27 - March 18th at the Reliant Center. Rodeo Houston is the world's largest rodeo event and has more than a million spectators, so Professional Bull Riders tickets may be hard to get.

Rumsfeld Force Quit

This image is a nice summary of Bush throwing Rumsfeld to the lions. If I was betting on the next person to leave, I would go with Dick Cheney who was equally as hard line as Rumsfeld and also seemed to never admit a mistake. However, he's the Vice President and they almost never quit, so he's probably not going anywhere. I bet his wife isn't calling up Nancy Pelosi for a lunch date, however. Maybe Karl Rove should quit. Or at least explain what he meant when he said to the NPR reporter about the polls before the elections that you have "your math", but I have "the math" and my math says it's going to be a Republican victory. Not quite.

Free free free

If you like free stuff, and who doesn't, Freebie Fanatic has you covered. The site has a huge list of categories of free stuff and links to places with free stuff like free education stuff, free food stuff, clothing for free and more. Lots of stuff is free! There's a section on computer freebies and one for free wedding stuff. How about some free audio books to keep yourself occupied when you're not busy searching the web for freebies? Maybe some free Metamucil to keep yourself regular if you aren't eating enough fruits and vegetables? You might even get the fruits and vegetables for free if you get lucky. How about a free trade magazine like InfoWorld?

School Board results disappointing

My Vizaweb site has disappeared again, so I've got no place to blog but here.

The Temecula Valley School Board race had a disappointing outcome. Two incumbents were re-elected and one new person joined the board. Top vote getter only got 4813 votes, which seems very low in a city with close to 100,000 people. I guess not too many people get involved in the School Board race. The disturbing thing for me is that the people who had the new ideas, at least from my perspective, did not do well at all. In fact, the guy whose platform was to recover money lost to children of illegal aliens and to void any curriculum not meeting his standards got more votes than the people who were pushing more art and music in the curriculum and more parental involvement. Also, the people who are actually working in the field of education did not get elected.

Bob Brown does support arts and music and he was re-elected, and so does Vince O'Neal, who was the only newcomer elected, so maybe people didn't overlook that entirely.

Candidate's positions were summarized here.

One real disappointing thing was that I got one of those automated phone calls for 3 of the candidates. Unfortunately, it came this afternoon, 18 hours after voting ended.

Not just for inventors

Are you an inventor or maybe just someone who likes inventions? Or maybe you're a business owner who would like to license an invention for sale or as part of another product. If you'd like to keep up with what's happening in the world of inventions, the Invent-Tech Network is a website for inventors and all things related to inventions. The home page is where you will find the
Invention Blog from Invent-Tech, a source of breaking news, updates on what's happening with the Invent-Tech Network, and the latest on new inventions, trade shows, and licensing agreements. The blog is updated frequently by Juan. C. Blanco, Invent-Tech's Director of Product Licensing. Juan writes about his experiences at invention related trade shows and the ins and outs of licensing inventions to third parties. Trade show buzz is one of the blog categories, so if you'd like to see all the invention trade shows, Juan has you covered pretty well. He even includes photos from some of the events. If you read his blog entries, you get an idea of what kinds of things companies are looking for -- toys, health and beauty products, automotive products. Someone's got to come up with new product ideas, and that might be you.

Juan's blog also highlights inventors in the news. He links to stories about inventors and their products, things like The Golf Training Aid, invented to help golfers improve their putting skills. Or how about the Car Recorder, a device to help elminate confusion during traffic accidents. For people who like to customize their cars, you can read about the Esrever Rims or Parallel Tires, which help you parallel park. You won't need to buy that high priced Lexus to let your car park itself. Juan's got lots of interesting stuff about inventors and their inventions on his blog. Check it out to see when the next licensed product by Invent-Tech hits store shelves. Maybe it will be an idea you came up with!

Vizaweb disappears yet again

I probably should have learned my lesson with the first outage with Vizaweb, my web provider. That lasted 3 days or so and was highlighted by a real lack of communication from Vizaweb. They still have never followed through on their promise to compensate users in some way for the outage. That's fine, but today my email is not working through vizaweb today, my website is not accessible, and vizaweb.com is also not responding. This may be the final signal that I need to relocate...

Dippy Chick stuff

Dippy Chick is a company started by Christine Hanisco a couple of years ago in New Hampshire to sell dip mixes and "Squirrel Bait" snacks. Both products are gluten free. Christine and her sons have Celiac Disease, which means they get sick if they eat gluten (a protein in wheat, barley, rye and some other grains). It can be difficult to find gluten free products, so this is a nice option for people who need them.

Christine also donates to various charities, so it's an all around good thing to shop on her site.

Top 10 Web 2.0 lies

SFGate has a top ten list -- the Top 10 Lies of Web 2.0. My favorites:

#4 Online advertising will pay for everything. As if click fraud is any kind of a threat.

#5 These sites are so easy, my mother could use them. And they're so geeky, she has no interest in even trying.

but of course, the real problem is that

#2 This is not a bubble. Hot parties, overheated PR pitches, and five or six dozen social networking sites are just healthy indicators of a new boom.

It seems to be getting a little crowded with all these free sites to share photos, make videos, record you voice and pay for everything with Google Ads. Some of them are not going to last.

Use your voice over and over

If you make your living with your voice, and not just by using it to yell at your kids, but to actually speak clearly and articulate your words properly while you read something someone else has written, Voice123.com may be for you. Voice123.com specializes in voice overs for all kinds of voice over project. If you are a voice talent who is looking for work doing voice overs, they've got job listings for lots of interesting work -- business podcasts, commercials for radio, tv, and the Internet, documentaries, audiobooks, and even voicemail recordings. Employers are looking for old, young, and middle aged men and women who speak English, Czech, and Spanish. Speaking French might help too, because you never know when someone's going to need something for the Quebec market or for some kind of food commercial where you need a French accent to say it right. If you are a voice over talent, you can also register on the site and get automatically notified when projects which fit your talents come available. You don't pay Voice123.com to list your services -- the client pays you directly. They've even got a voice auditioning system called SmartCast which will help match you up with potential jobs. Check out the testimonials from satisfied voice over job seekers looking to do voice overs.

Weird hot weather

It was really hot here today. Over 90 degrees is pretty hot, especially in November. I hope this doesn't last too long as I was starting to enjoy the cooler weather. We get enough heat from April to September, it's time for a break.

Save money on your home purchase in Dallas

Buying a home is an expensive proposition, and considering the money you are going to put into it, saving a few bucks on the deal can be a nice thing. AlCan Realty Partners, LLC offers buyers a 1.5% rebate on their purchase of a home in the Dallas Real Estate market. You get the 1.5% cash rebate at closing, so on a $350,000 home, you would get back $5250, which is a nice amount. Buy yourself a hot tub with that or pay for a couple of months at Stanford for your child. Better yet, send your child to Rice University over in Houston, where it's free. If you are interested in Dallas Real Estate check out the buyer rebate program at AlCan, while YouCan.

Fremont A's not such a good idea?

Ray Ratto's not onboard with the A's moving out of Oakland. His story is that they would rather move to San Jose, but because that city has lots of political problems, it would take way too long to build a downtown stadium there, making Fremont the next best choice. Actually, he says Oakland would be the second choice, but they have the same problems as San Jose and can't make a move fast enough. Fremont has no downtown, says Ray, just sprawl, but they are eager for the stadium and that's that.

Read about your family name

If your family name is Roosevelt or Gates, you may already know the history and origins of your name. For other people though, learning about your family name could be an exciting piece of history.

Our Name in History creates a personalized book about your name, with information about the origin, literacy statistics, Civil War allegiance and distribution of the name throughout the United States. Every book is custom-printed and personalized for you when you order it.

2nd test

another one

Oakland A's moving to Fremont

It looks like the A's will finally get out of Oakland. SFGate says they are going to Fremont to a new ballpark on land now owned by Cisco. Will they become the Fremont A's? I doubt it. Maybe they'll stay as the Oakland A's or become the Bay Area A's. They deserve better than they've gotten in Oakland -- many winning seasons and very few fans. There are more people in the south Bay who will go to games in Fremont, speaking from the experience of living in San Jose. More money, more people should mean a better stadium and better team.

S3 and OpenFount InfoMirror

If you are buying some online storage using Amazon.com's S3, take a look at Openfount InfoMirror. It's a system which provides online backup, file sharing, data synchronization, and file mirroring application all in one, at a reasonable price compared to the alternatives, which can be pricey if you've ever checked them out. OpenFount even has iTunes backup so you can save all your music quickly and easily. Check out the screencast. OpenFount InfoMirror is an AJAX application, so it runs on any platform. You can compare prices with similar services using this handy chart. The site also has a blog if you want to track what they are doing, and some nice screencasts so you can see how things work even if you don't have an S3 account yet.

Soccer playoffs start tonight

They don't waste any time between the end of the season and the playoffs. The season ended Saturday and the playoffs start tonight in the under 10 division. 4 games, 8 teams. The winners play Wednesday and then the final is Saturday. So after a 10 week season of one game per week on Saturdays, you play 3 games in a week, two of them at night and have no time to practice. It should be exciting anyway.

Waiting on the MacBook Pro

I started to get impatient last week waiting for my MacBook Pro to arrive at work. I've been using an old no-name Windows computer and my 12" Powerbook G4 to get my work done. The problem is that I can't put the Powerbook on the network unless I use wireless and I can only do that outside. So I've been doing some work on the Windows PC and other work outside. There's some other software and hardware I'm also waiting on and it's making it a pain to get some things done. The IT department told me the MacBook Pro won't ship until Nov. 16th, which means another two weeks without it...What's taking so long? by then I will have been on the job 6 weeks without the right equipment to do my work.

Heritage Cities in England

England has a very rich and long history, which makes it an interesting place for the traveller who wants to do a little more than be a tourist. Heritagecities.com is a new website with information about Britain's Heritage Cities. These include Bath, Brighton, Chester, Oxford, Stratfort and York. With more than 5,000 buildings listed as architecturally meritorious, Bath UK is an exciting place to visit, one of the finest cities in Europe. Brighton, made famous for me in Graham Green's Brighton Rock, is a coastal city with a great beachfront and lots of shopping. I have been there myself and enjoyed it. Oxford is known for architecture and the world famous university. I've also been there and although it was a little rainy, it's a place worth visiting.

Heritagecities.com is a colorful and informative website. Illustrated with lots of photos and full of useful and practical information, it's a great place to check out before you plan your visit to the UK.

PS3 in ten days

SFGate has a long article about the new Playstation 3, coming to the U.S. on November 17th. At $499 and $599, it's very expensive. Sony hopes that people will appreciate the fact that it includes a Blu-Ray DVD player, which currently sells for around $1000. I don't know about that since those players should start dropping in price quickly and the PS3 probably won't drop too fast. With a limited supply available, the price will stay high and they will be for sale on eBay at even more than list price since so many people won't be able to get them. I have seen only one review of a PS3 game and it wasn't very positive. The game didn't take much advantage of the 1080p resolution. I'm sure there will be some great games eventually, but I think we will wait before buying the PS3. At least I'm hoping we will wait...

I have had a few loans

The big loans I've had are a mortgage, second mortgage, refinance as well as car loans. In the case of the car loans, the price is a little too high for a payday loan or personal checks, at least for me. I don't have that kind of money available. I usually set things up ahead of time with my credit union on the loan and then if I'm buying my car at a dealer, I see if they can do better. Many times they can, but they also may have some contingencies which they don't always cover in great detail. One guy lied and told me I had to take some accessories on the car or I couldn't get the lowest loan rate. It wasn't legal to do that, I found out later. Once you get the loan, you may need lots of checks to pay it each month, and checks in the mail is a good way to get checks at a nice price. You can order personal checks online and save yourself some money when you need to make payments on your loan.

Athletes and their political contributions

I was surprised by the listings on newsMeat about the political donations made by athletes and people in the sports world. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that so many people with lots of money give their money to Republicans, but some of the choices surprised me a little. Peyton Manning supports that guy Corker in Tennessee, okay, but golfer Paul Azinger gave $4200 to the Katherine Harris for Senate campaign in Florida? That doesn't qualify as good judgement in my book.

It's an interesting website which tracks all contributions greater than $200 since 1977.

An engaging website about diamonds

Engagement Rings are something most people don't think about too often, but around the end of the year holidays might be one of those times. With something as important as an engagement ring, it's a good idea to look around and see what's available in your price range and to have a good idea of what you want to do before you get talked into more ring than you can afford. DiamondsUSA.com is a nice website with lots of information about engagement rings as well as other diamond jewelry. They will help you find a good deal and they can also help educate you on the process of buying diamonds.

portable tablet using a Mac Mini

I've been thinking about buying a Mac Mini to use as a home entertainment center, but I think I'm going to wait until January and MacWorld to see what else comes along. Something I never thought of was using a Mac Mini as a portable computer. Peter Green has rigged up a touch screen with his mini and built a stand. It looks nice and he's got a battery which will run it for 3 hours. He's got photos on his own site and there is an article about it on TUAW.

Help with Federal Grants

Some people complain that the U.S. government is always giving away too much money for all kinds of stuff. Why not check it out and get your fair share? You can find federal grants and loans at FederalGrantswire.com, a free service which helps you find grants by type, name, Federal Agency or by subject area. Check out the Department of Education grants, for example.

YouTube and the elections

The LA Times has an interesting item today which doesn't seem to be online. It's called Sticky Tapes and it lists 6 politicians who have been impacted by videos posted to YouTube. George Allen, Joe Lieberman, Bob Corker, Tramm Hudson, and Conrad Burns are the people involved and they've had both positive and negative results from videos posted either by themselves or by opponents. Allen has some serious problems thanks to his videotaped attack of a staff member of his opponent. It will be interesting to see if he loses after the ugly stuff about him came out. It may or may not be enough.