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AccuHolidays | Free Christmas Music
2007-12-12 19:09:00
If you are like me, your cd library is rather sparse and the Christmas music section is even smaller. I think I may own one cd of Christmas music which gets old after about 2 plays. About 5 years ago I stumbled across AccuHolidays streamed Christmas music. They have 13 holiday channels: Jazz, Classics, R&B, Adult Contemporary, Pop, Rock, Celtic and several others. There is even a "Build Your Own Mix" channel.This year the music is sponsored by Kay Jewelers. The commercials consist of "AccuHolidays sponsored by Kay Jewelers. 'Every kiss begins with Kay'". Not too obtrusive although I can't stand Kay Jewelers ads. While I am at it I have to bash the Jarrod (sp?) ads on TV. They are obsurd and so over the top, it makes me race to change the channel.Back of my soap box now. AccuHolidays is a great way to fill your home or office with "holiday cheer" without spending money on all those cds you will only use for 30 days -+.Happy holidays.coppertopjsq
More About: Music , Christmas Music , Free

Samsung Monitor Update
2007-12-12 19:01:00
12.12.07Update on the situation:About 3 weeks after calling Samsung and complaining, I received a call from their customer support department. They were offering to replace my monitor with a refurbished one. Of course I jumped at it and swapped the screens out. When I hooked up the new screen it worked fine but made a high pitched whine for about a week. I don't know if it went away or if I just tune it out now. Hopefully this screen will work until have the money to buy a 36" HD tv to hook my Mac to.Thanks to VM for the comment on the October post. I am sorry to hear about your experience. My advice to anyone with a similar problem is to post on blogs and/or post a video on youtube. If you have a legitimate argument there is a good chance that the company will try to contact you to resolve the bad PR.Good Luck and Happy Holidays.coppertopjsq
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Phanton Vibrations
2007-10-17 04:47:00
It was reported in the news recently that several cellphone users have developed phantom vibrations in their legs simulating the phone "ringer'. The are also reporting that they wake up in the middle of the night to check their phones - as if they have some kind of internal cell phone clock.This phenomenon is a sad indicator of the priorities of our culture. I recently changed the ring tones on my phone to caller specific Morse code ringers. Now whenever I am driving down the road I heard random beeping noises and think my phone is ringing. I think the reason for this hyper/faux alertness is due to cell calls being our life. Around the world, cell phones have replaced most modes of communication. Kids used to IM or email. Now they txt or talk. We don't want to miss a single communique as if life will stop without it.I believe these phantom ringers and vibrations are part of the Reticular Activating System. The RAS is the phenomenon where you start to notice 1995 Chevy Caprices aft...
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Don't Buy Samsung Monitors or TVs
2007-10-11 22:43:00
Today I join the realm of consumers taking their unresolved product grievances to the internet. I posted a video on YouTube today stating my distaste for Samsung s tv and monitor customer service. You can read the details here or scroll down to watch the video.A little over 3 years ago I purchased a Samsung multi-function display, I believe it was the 170MP. It seemed like a really cool idea, a computer monitor, TV and composite video input. The monitor worked great until sometime in September of 2006. The video signal became very dim on the VGA input making it almost useless to edit videos on.When I called Samsung, (finding the tech support option on their phone menu is a challenge) they told me that I would have to send the 170MP in to be repaired since they didn't carry that model anymore. The repair time was nebulous and since I used the screen for business, and it happened to be my only TV, I wasn't happy. When I protested stating that I used the screen for business I was told...
More About: Monitors

Apple iPhone Improvements
2007-09-28 04:05:00
So apparently they came out with an update for the iPhone today that will brick (kill) some modded phones. In my opinion this was a stupid move on Apple s part. Why does big business have to mess with consumer innovation? The answer will always remain the same: money and power.Despite my grievance with Apple for their flaws I do think the iPhone is a really cool device. I hope that Apple gets their head out of the sand and makes some changes. For about 4 years, I have had a concept for a phone. When I heard about the iPhone I was excited because I thought it was going to be close to my concept. Unfortunately they have fallen a little short, albeit probably intentionally. So what is my idea? Let's get to it.My dream phone would a marriage of the Nokia N95 and the iPhone along with some additional features. I will list the combined features and then add what they both are lacking.Large touch screenHigh Res. Camera *GPSStable OSLarge file storage that is expandableMedia playing capabil...
More About: Iphone , Apple iphone , Improv , Prove

Save The Drowning Cell Phone
2007-09-18 17:40:00
Two years ago I bought my wife her first cell phone for Mothers Day. A couple weeks later I was switching my old phone to her new number. She was swimming, forgot that she had wrapped the cellphone in her towel, and flung the phone into the pool when she picked up the towel to dry off. We were both pissed and while I tried to save the phone by taking the battery out, it was gone. With the prices for electronic gadgets these days it is good to know how to save them in case of liquid damage.I have heard of numerous people salvaging their phones with these tips.1. Immediately remove the battery from the phone! This will prevent any potential shorting of components that would be permanently damaged.2. If you dropped the device in anything other than plain water, eg. chlorinated pool, soda, rinse the phone in distilled water. Interesting fact: Distilled water is actually an electrical insulator. The lack of minerals in the water prevent electron flow.3. Dry off the phone and submerge it ...
More About: Phone , Cell Phone , Cell , Save , Cell-phone

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)
2007-09-12 04:54:00
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are used in many technological devices today. The are the screens for cellphones, handheld game systems, ipods, you get the idea. As with all technology, improvements have been made over the years; however, LCDs are still a fragile device that require some care to ensure long life.One of the most harmful factors to LCDs is shock. I won't explain how LCDs work but suffice to say that there is a stange combination of quasi liquid and crystals in the device. This means that if the device suffers some trauma, the screen may crack and the liquid will leak out and look like this.One of my cousins had one of the original Game Boys back in the day. Whenever he would lose the game he would smack it against his forehead. Eventually the screen cracked. You don't see as much damaged to LCDs now since they have gotten better at insulating the screen from shock using rubber absorbers. While I am riding the shock train, I will state a big pet peeve: people touching...
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Kissedbykathrine.com | Custom Fashion Jewelry
2007-09-11 00:39:00
Just another plug for the website I finished this past week (the cause of my lack of posts).Site description:Kissed by Kathrine is home to the Kathrine Wintercorn Collection. Each piece is designed and hand crafted by Kathrine. She does not duplicate her work so you can be assured that you will be purchasing a one-of-a-kind, unique piece/set.“I love putting my heart and soul into each of my creations. The colors, the shapes, the sparkle and shine, using old pieces to create new, unique sculptures and centerpieces – each piece is pure joy from me to you. Enjoy! Love, KathrineCustom fashion jewelryhttp://www.kissedbykathrine.com/Go buy that special someone nice, new, one of a kind jewelry today!coppertopjsq
More About: Jewelry , Fashion , Fash

Caring for CDs and DVDs
2007-09-11 00:18:00
I haven't posted in about a week because I have been working on a new website and didn't have the initiative to type a blog after working on the site for 10 hours a day. The site is up and working http://www.kissedbykathrine.com/. My client sells custom fashion jewelry that is quite nice.On to the topic of the blog: CD and DVD care. It appals me to see how many people do not understand the necessary steps needed to keep their CDs and DVDs working for a long time. Many of my friends and family will stack up discs and rifle through them when they want to play a different one. Or worse they will leave them loose in a glove box or some other undesirable location and then are annoyed when the disc starts to skip on their favorite songs. The bottom line is-CDs and DVDs come with cases for a REASON!Anyone who grew up in the era of records should know that if they got a scratch on the record it was pretty much ruined. These new "records" are no different. Instead of a needle catching the ...
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Proper Cable Care
2007-09-03 21:17:00
I have several pet peeves related to technology and today's post is near the top of my list - improper treatment of electrical cables - particularly laptop power cords.How many times have you seen someone, or done it yourself, wrap a power cable or video game controller cable as tightly as possible around whatever it is attached to? Repeated wrapping in this method will drastically shorten the life of the cable. The problem point is where the cable enters the transformer, controller etc. The more you bend that junction flat, the more strain it puts on the wires. After repeated bending like this, the wires will break inside the plastic insulation and the device will cease to work.I have seen several people do this with laptop power cords. This can be an expensive mistake in two ways. First you will eventually break the cord and have to buy a new one, avg. price $65. Second and more importantly, if someone trips on the cable or some other sudden stress happens to the cable when it is...
More About: Care , Cable , Prop , Rope

Technology Facts You Should Know.
2007-09-03 21:06:00
Growing up with an interest in electronics, I took a lot of what was common knowledge to me for granted. After I got married I realized how little many other people know about electronics and technology in general.The moment I really realized how little some people know happened about 3 months after I got married. I was working with some coaxial cable TV line and had left some excess coiled in the middle of the floor. My wife gave me a weird look and queried"isn't that dangerous, leaving the wire there?""Dangerous, how? Like a trip hazard?" I responded."No, can't it shock you if you touch the end of the wire?" She asked.I burst out laughing without even thinking that she might be offended, "no, it has to be connected to a power source to shock you."I couldn't believe that she knew so little about electrical things, and before someone comes and comments on the theoretical possibilities of induced currents or some other crap, I know about all that already. Over the next few posts I...
More About: Technology , Facts

The EMF Mystery
2007-09-01 03:46:00
There is a strange phenomenon some people are afflicted with called electrical sensitivity or ES for short. A friend of mine, Jim (not his real name), suffers from ES and has been having a lot of trouble with it recently - mainly from modern electronic devices like cellphones. Since he is in the process of looking for a new house, a mutual friend suggested purchasing a trifield meter to check the new houses for EMF (electromagnetic fields).Equipped with this new tool Jim decided to check out his current house for EMF and was incredulous to find that both bedrooms and the bathroom were off the chart. The meter has two settings for reading EMF levels. A 1-3 level, 3 being unhealthy for long exposure and a 0-100 level (the 1-3 is just a "magnified" version of the 1-3 on the 0-100 level). Discovering this huge amount of EMF in the bedrooms seemed to answer the reason for my friend not being able to sleep.I have a decent amount of electrical experience so I offered to see if I could find...
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Writing Your Own Ebook - Make $$$
2007-08-30 06:26:00
In my past two posts I have covered ways to make money from home using just your computer. Today I will cover one more home venture: Ebook s.Ebooks are everywhere. You can find them on Ebay, for free some places and for pay on about a million different sites. The Ebook came to popularity with the dawn of the Adobe PDF file format. PDFs (Portable Digital Files) significantly shrink the space needed to store documents. In addition to size compression, PDFs can be search able, have editable defined regions and contain hyperlinks. The format was perfect for the next wave of digital media storage and propagation.A few questions are probably coming to mind: 1. What can I write an Ebook about? 2. How do I write an Ebook? and 3. How do I sell it?The first question is easy; what are you interested in? If you have something that you are passionate about and have some knowledge in that area then you can share it through an Ebook.Writing an Ebook will be work but not as much as you might think. ...
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Making Money with Affiliate Marketing
2007-08-29 02:51:00
Affiliate marketing is one of the newest fads on the Internet, that you can get involved in. Sellers use any interested Internet user, called an affiliate, to market their products. It's really brilliant because they can have thousands of sales person and they are completely on commission.What kind of products are being marketed? Mainly books, specifically ebooks; however, there are affiliate programs for many other things too like conferences, DVDs and well whatever someone wants to sell.You can get started by searching Google for affiliate programs but I cannot vouch for how reputable the results will be. Two affiliate programs that I have used are http://www.clickbank.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/affiliates. If you have read any of my other blogs you probably have seen books advertised through amazon. When someone buys a book through the link on my blog I get a small percentage. While the percentage is small, the Internet does have a lot of members. Reach 0.001% of Internets 7...
More About: Marketing , Affiliate Marketing , Money , Affiliate , Makin

Using Your Computer to Make Money
2007-08-27 23:25:00
I didn't have time to write any more about the conference while I was there this past weekend so I will try to put pieces of what I learned up over the next few days. When you go to a conference like this, it's like going to another planet. All the speakers are so motivated and positive that it's just kind of weird. A break from the norm, which is nice, however, at the end your brain feels like it's going to explode.Anyway, using your computer to make money. There are several easy ways you can make money on your computer:Adsense (I will cover Adsense today)Affiliate MarketingEbooks1. AdsenseAdsense is the blocks of ads I have on my page streamed from google. Everytime someone clicks on one I get money. It's as simple as that. (PLEASE do not click them unless you are really interested in the ad! It's considered click fraud and I don't want anyone getting in trouble.) The ads are contextual meaning that they are based on the content of the page they reside on.How do you actuall...
More About: Money , Computer , Make Money , Make

Learn How to Work From Home
2007-08-25 04:41:00
This weekend I am attending a conference in Atlanta, GA called Entrepreneur Days. People interested in working from home have traveled from all over the country to attend this seminar. All of the speakers must have earned over a million dollars in their lifetime to be allowed to speak at this event.If you check out their website, you may think that it is some kind of scam; it is not. I am not getting paid anything to write this review, in fact I would like to be in bed right now after the long day of classes.Today we covered:Where Does Leadership Begin?Charlie "Tremendous" Jones5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and WealthRichard Paul Evans, Author of the Christmas Box and other best sellers.How to Create Passive Income with eBayMike Enos, a successful eBay PowersellerHow to Write Web Copy That SellsRay Edwards, copywriter for mega millionairesThis was an information overload; thankfully I took a lot of notes. I will give a couple brief highlights:Anyone can make money on ...
More About: Home , Work , Learn

Black Eyed Peas Salad Recipe
2007-08-23 20:09:00
I like to cook but lack the initiative to find a recipe that I like in a cookbook, go buy all the ingredients and then prepare it. My style is to see what we have on the shelves and create something.Today's experiment turned recipe is for a black eyed pea salad. You can make a large amount of this and eat it for a meal, or just serve little dishes of this as an appetizer. This dish has a great blend of textures and tastes.Ingredients:2 cans black eyed peas1/4 cup green peas1 carrot1/2 bell pepper (I used an orange one)2 green onions4-5 sprigs of fresh parsley1 TBSP minced garlicbalsamic vinegarred wine vinegaroil (vegetable, olive, your preference)saltpepperStart by turning on some music by the Black Eyed Peas (Sexy is a good song or if you are feeling energetic, Let's Get It Started, just don't chop your fingers off.) Ok so the music is going, open up both cans of black eyed peas and dump them in a strainer or colander and rinse with water. Remove all the soupy liquid that comes...
More About: Recipe , Black Eyed Peas , Salad

Shitting a Buck
2007-08-23 19:47:00
You have probably heard the expression "they shit a brick". A local newspaper inadvertantly coined a new variation of this phrase.(in case you can't read the caption)[name deleted] kills first buckAfter one and a half years of treatments for brain aneurysms, Jenny -- decided to take up hunting. On only her second trip hunting with her father Todd --, Jenny shit this nine point buck early one morning. Jenny is doing fine after long treatments at Emory University Hospital, and she would like to thank everyone for their prayers and concerns.coppertopjsq
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Video Editing on A Low Budget
2007-08-22 22:06:00
About 2 years ago I discovered an interest in film and entertainment. Not having any education in this field I decided to go to a one month crash course film school in Rockport, Maine. I learned a lot and my desire to pursue film and the entertainment business in general was further solidified.When I returned home from school I had very little money but I wanted to continue making video projects. What I discovered was that you can actually procure a decent video production setup for just around $1200.In my one month class we became acquainted with Final Cut Pro and Apple computers. FCP is a great editing system and is becoming more of an industry standard, taking some ground held by Avid for a long time. So I needed a Mac. It was just about this time that the Mac Mini was introduced. If you upgrade the memory to 1GB or more a Mac Mini will make a pretty decent editing computer. They now run about $550 - $750 without an academic discount.Of course, you have to buy editing software; i...
More About: Video , Editing , Budget , Video editing

I Miss L.A.
2007-08-22 05:16:00
Last year I set off with my family on an adventure - moving to the great city of Los Angeles. Through a chain of events we lost our vehicle and ended up driving a 28' moving van into the city. We arrived in Santa Monica at about 3:00 am and couldn't find a hotel where we could park the moving truck. After driving around for about an hour we pulled in behind a gas station and parked. We got a few hours sleep in the cab of the truck and continued looking for a place to stay.The streets around Santa Monica are rather narrow and are lined with expensive cars. It was nerve wracking driving through the streets but I made it through without hitting a car. I did have one mishap with the truck and thankfully I had purchased insurance for an extra $75. I was pulling into a gas station to get diesel and realized that if I didn't pull closer to the pump I was going to hit a Cadillac Escalade. As I pulled in tighter the owner of the Escalade started yelling at me and pointing. At this point I...
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Andersonville National Cemetery - Andersonville, GA
2007-08-21 03:15:00
If you read my last post you know that I spent a night in Cordele, GA. Right up the road, about 20 minutes, is Andersonville, GA where the Andersonville National Cemetery is located. You can't be in the area and not stop by if you are a self-respecting American.For those of you who don't know anything about Andersonville, GA, it was a prison camp used during the civil war for Union soldiers. The camp was originally designed to hold up to 10,000 POWs. Before the camp was even completed prisoners started arriving. As the months progressed the camp began receiving several hundred new POWs each day. At the height of the camps occupancy, there were over 30,000 prisoners. At that point they had enlarged the camp from 16 acres to about 28 acres.Even with the enlargement there was still only enough room for a man to lay down. To make matters worse, a band of the most unsavory prisoners had formed a gang who would rob and kill their fellow prisoners. Eventually this was put to an end and t...
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Lake Blackshear - GA
2007-08-21 00:27:00
I had the opportunity to stay at the Lake Blackshear Resort in Cordele, GA this past weekend. The resort hotel and restaurant were attractive and well designed; however, it seemed, based on several items that needed repair, that the property is not kept up equal to the level of affulence they are trying to project. I have included a video of the room we stayed in. It had a king size bed (one of three in the resort), a refridgerator and, of course, tv. I just have to stop and take a moment to state a pet peeve with hotels and guest rooms. Why do the showers always suck? It would seem to me that if you are going through the trouble to create a nice experience you would make a shower that works properly. I have stayed at several hotels (granted they were not five star but they were also not dumps) where the hot and cold water were reversed.When you are in a hotel you kind of expect the water to be hot within a minute or two. After you wait several minutes and the water is still col...
More About: Lack

Halo 2 + Halo 3
2007-08-19 17:04:00
I just wanted to let anyone out there reading my blog know that I play Halo 2 online semi-regularly. If you want to be my friend my gamer tag is - did you say "coppertopjsq"? Wow you are good.Halo 3 is slated to be released on September 25th in North America. I would love to be one of the people purchasing it, but I highly doubt that will happen unless I have a windfall of cash and can afford and Xbox 360. You can pre-order a copy of Halo 3 from Amazon by clicking the link below.Donate to my Xbox 360 fund!
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Window Washing 101
2007-08-18 02:59:00
In my post yesterday I recommended washing the windows on your house to make it sell faster. Today I am going to explain the basics of window washing the way professionals do it.First you will need to get some equipment: squeegee handle, squeegee channel (usually comes with the handle), scraper, wand, 5 gallon bucket, squeegee blades, sponge, rag and detergent.You should be able to get all of the equipment I mentioned at your local Home Depot or Lowes in their cleaning section. If you have a variety of window sizes in you house you will probably want to get a channel for your smallest window and one more suited for bigger windows. You can choose to buy the detergent you will find with the window cleaning equipment or you can use some dish detergent. They basically do the same thing.Preparation:Ok so you have your equipment, it's time to get started. Fill your bucket with water and then add about a TBSP of soap per 4 gal of water. This may seem basic but you don't want a lot of sud...
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House Selling Tip - Huge Results!
2007-08-17 04:00:00
For anyone wanting to sell a house, you know that the better your house looks the better chance it will sell and sell for a higher price. Duh! That's a no brainer. So how can you make your house look better without spending a fortune? Wash your windows.Clean windows completely change a room, brightening the room and bringing the outside in. You probably don't know how different your house will look with clean windows because most people never clean their windows. Why? Because it's a good deal of work and is expensive for regular household maintenance. The few people who do try to clean their windows probably use windex type cleaner and paper towels - basically frustrating and next to useless.So what to do? Hire a professional window cleaner. The price will depend on the size of your house and the area where you live, but you should be able to get your windows washed for somewhere between $200 and $500. That really is a bargain considering the improvement your house will get.While...
More About: House , Selling , Results , Huge , Result

Picking A Ripe Watermelon
2007-08-17 03:47:00
I know the summer is almost over and watermelons will soon be out of season, but I want to tell for the remaining few weeks of summer, how to pick a ripe watermelon at your local supermarket or fruit stand.Some people will tell you to thump the melon with your thumb and listen to the sound. While that may work, you need to have a good ear, and know exactly what you are listening for. The tips I am about to describe we given to me by a farmer who has grown watermelons for 70 plus years. 1. Look for color breakdown. As the melon ripens the solid green breaks down and you will see wide stripes of a lighter green running down the melon.2. Look at the stem of the melon. If it is dry and shriveled the melon should be ripe.Now there are some new hybred baby watermelons that are very dark green. These don't break down in color anywhere near as much as a regular melon. With these new melons you can still try to use the color method but the stem may be a safer bet.Enjoy your ripe watermelons!
More About: Term , Watermelon , Picking

Working with Web Code You Don't Understand
2007-08-16 05:01:00
If you have ever wanted to add something to your website such as a custom script or design but don't know how - here is the solution: comment tags.Find a website that has the feature you want on your site. There are plenty of sites with example code but it is rarely exactly how you want it. Unless you have taken lengthy web programing courses then you will not know how to customize the new code.An easy way to work with the code and experiment is to use comment tags. If you want to see what a certain section of the code does but don't want to delete it in case it doesn't do what you think, enclose that section with the appropriate comment tag.Listed are the different comment tags:/* insert comment */ CSS commentHTML CommentJavascript CommentOne of the most convenient uses for the comment tag edit is when you have a value you want to test out but don't want to delete the old one.#eg.{top: /*500px*/ 300px;}I effectively removed the 500px value but I can easily put it back if the 30...
More About: Code , Working , Understand , Workin

Buy a Headstone online?
2007-08-13 19:29:00
The end of last year I was approached by a friend with a business propsal - selling gravestones on the internet. My first reaction was "are you crazy?" I mean who would buy a something so significant and difficult on the internet (...now that I think about it...people do get internet order brides). Money is money so I figured it was worth a shot.It took several months to get the site built and optomized spending 10-12 hour days on it in the begining. The site http://www.monumentsinstone.com went live in February but wasn't really optomized till April-May (optomizing was a bitch). When we first started I thought we were going to be the only company out there selling headstones and monuments on the internet. As it turns out, I was wrong. There are probably 40-50 other sites selling similar products. Trying to one-up them in the search engine rankings was not easy.After a lot of work we are still not the top search result for headstones or monuments but that is mainly due to Google ch...
More About: Online , Tone