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The things in my head go 'round and 'round

This is my life. You can't have it.

Archive for the ‘writing’


I need some cheap eyewear

Ok, maybe not cheap eyewear, but I do need some glasses that aren’t going to set be back a mint. I have had my current glasses for going on a couple of years, and while there is nothing really wrong with them I want a new pair. My prescription hasn’t changed. It has remained the same for quite a few years now, so I am in the market for some inexpensive, ok cheap, eyeglasses.

So I started my search once again, and fired up my favorite search engine. One of the links that came up was from The Chicago Tribune about the options that are out there when you are looking to buy some glasses.

According to the article: “Americans spend $28.7 billion annually on vision products and services, according to the Vision Council of America. Eyeglass frames and lenses make up the largest portion, about $16 billion.

Many of the 147 million adult eyeglass wearers probably don’t know they could be getting a better price because few shop around. Prices vary widely. People can pay more than $1,000 for a pair of glasses, while at least one Internet provider promises a pair for $8. An identical pair of eyeglasses costs from $178 to $390, depending on the optician or optometrist, according to research in seven U.S. cities by Consumers’ Checkbook, a consumer information guide.”

The article goes on to say: “The single most important consumer tip for buying eyeglasses is to relax. Inexpensive glasses pose no health risk to your eyes. Even a bad pair of glasses — lenses, specifically — won’t give you an eye infection or permanently damage your eyes, although they could cause headaches until they are fixed.”

That all being said, zenni optical is the place that I am going to be looking for my next pair of eyeglasses.

Namaste

Making Christmas a little easier

Christmas can be a stressful holiday in the best of economic times. Unfortuantely this year it could be a little more stressful than usual. Layoffs, and the fear of layoffs makes the average family take a closer look at the money they have and they money that they want to spend on Christmas. There are different ways that you can take some of the sting out of your holiday buying. One of those ways is to use a layaway program.

A layaway program is where you go to a retailer, pick out the items you want to buy, and then take them back to the layaway department. There a clerk rings them up, bags them or boxes them neatly, lets you know the total and tells you what you will need to pay each week to keep those items. Yeah, you make payments on your purchases each week. How cool is that?

There is only one major retailer that is doing this anymore. Kmart. I used to work for Kmart and have to tell you that the Kmart Lay-Away is a very popular way to make sure that you can afford the items you want to give your family and friends for Christmas. The program takes some planning, you are choosing items for a futuer period in time. But think of the convenience of walking into the store, picking out your items, and having your shopping over until you go back and pick it up. That is convenience.

I a looking at at Sony 37 inch tv. This one to be exact:

Kmart Lay-away

Kmart Lay-away

I like the idea that I can go into the store, pick out my purchase, and then pay for it over a period of up to 8 weeks. That works for me in a big way.

Click Here

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Namaste.

These boots were made for walking

MLW is looking for boots. And not just any boots. She is looking for a pair of boots that will show her personal sense of style to the world.

Me, I am just as happy with a good pair of work boots. But her sense of style and mine are just a tad bit different.

MLW worries about not only the comfort of her boots, she worries about what outfits they will go with. She is concerned with the boots she buys will stay in style long enough. She worries whether other people are wearing the same boots, because if too many people are wearing the same boots that is not a good thing.

Crazy. When I buy a pair of boots I am worried about whether or not they fit. Go figure.

Namaste.

I do so love my dog

We have had the Roxinator for going on 5 years. Here is hoping that she is finally getting to the age where she is settling down.

Regardless. Every year around this time we are inundated with ads for pet gifts, and pet pictures. Some are cool, some aren’t, but today I came across a site that is having a FREE Pet Photo Contest!

Here are the details:

Is your pet cute enough to win you $300?
Enter the Anamigo Pet Photo contest and find out.
Entries that get the most votes will win daily and weekly cash prizes.
You could win:
- Daily prize of $25. (You have 7 days to win!)
- Weekly prize of $125

Get your camera out and email your friends. Your furry friend could bring you in cash!

How cool is that? This contest is at Anamigo.com. You have got to check this one out.

Namaste.

Time to order your Christmas Cards

Yes, folks it is that time yet once again. Time to get your Christmas Cards ordered so that you can get them sent out in time for the holidays.

And I have to tell you that there is noone better to order from than Vistaprint.com. And even better they are running a limited time offer of 25% off everything that you order on their entire site. But lets talk cards. They have the traditional ones, they have photo cards where you can put your favorite photo on the card. They also have the 4 x 8 cards that have a photo and your greeting on it, along with my favorite, caricature cards. Caricatures! How totally cool is that?

The point of all of this is that Vistaprint.com has the capability to help you make your Christmas Cards, and you party invitations as memorable as the season. Their website is easy to navigate, their products are reasonably priced, and they can get your order to you in 3 days if you need it that fast. And the very best part is that they not only have Christmas Cards, they also have Business Cards, Stationary, Rubber Stamps, and Magnetic Signs just to name a few of their products.

Vistaprint.com needs to be your place to shop you for not only your holiday card needs, but for everything you might need for your family and business.

Namaste

Corporate America Giving Back

I like to write about companies that do things for their communities. And I know that it is actually the employees doing the work, but hey, if they can get some time off from work or recognition for doing the good works, more power to them. Right?

Cydcor Launches Neighborhood Leaders Volunteer Program

Leading global provider of outsourced, face-to-face sales teams makes it
easy for sales offices to give back to their communities through new program

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (October 22, 2008) – Cydcor, the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face sales teams, has introduced its Neighborhood Leaders Program, a new internal program available to Cydcor’s network of sales offices. The program is designed to assist sales offices in supporting their communities through charity and volunteer work.

Cydcor’s network of nearly 200 independent sales offices located across the United States and Canada will be given financial sponsorships and encouraged to donate their time and talent to non-profit, charitable organizations in their communities. Each independent office is eligible to take advantage of Cydcor’s Neighborhood Leaders Program once annually.

“We’re proud of this new program, and Cydcor wants to support the efforts of current and new sales offices,” said Cydcor President Jim Majeski, “Cydcor believes it’s imperative to not only support the communities in which we live and work, but also to support those communities in which the sales offices thrive.”

In addition to the Neighborhood Leaders Program, earlier this year, Cydcor launched a Volunteer Day benefit for its own team members in which people are paid eight hours annually for time they spend supporting a charitable organization of their choice.

“Cydcor is dedicated to supporting team members and sales office charitable ventures and igniting interest in volunteerism, whether it’s financial or a donation of time,” said Jim Majeski, President of Cydcor. “Our goal is that this philanthropic spirit will continue to be instilled in our team members and becomes ingrained in our culture. It is simply the right thing to do.”
About Cydcor, Inc.
Cydcor, Inc., is the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face sales teams to a diverse client base of companies in a range of industries, including telecommunications, office products, retail energy and financial services. Cydcor works with a network of independently owned corporate licensee (ICL) sales offices providing clients with access to nearly 3,000 sales professionals and 200 offices in North America. The privately held company is based in Westlake Village, California.
For more information about cydcor, log on to www.cydcor.com.

Namaste

Dragon Naturally Speaking

If you spend a lot of time online like I do, you have to get tired of typing. I know that I do. I always have wanted one of those programs where as you are talking, the computer is doing the typing for you. All you have to do is talk. And I can do a lot of that.

Well, I found that program. it is called Dragon Naturally Speaking 10.

Check out this video.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard

Here is what the developer has to say about it:

The video above was created by a blogger that goes by the name, SuperZ.

I couldn’t write that name before using Dragon NaturallySpeaking until I trained Dragon NaturallySpeaking to recognize the name SuperZ. I mention that because I’m using Dragon NaturallySpeaking right now to write this article (notice Dragon new when I said the words right now that I meant the word right and not the word to write).

I’ve been writing articles and reviews about Dragon NaturallySpeaking for close to two years. I’ve had a lot of experience with the software, and I wanted to reach out to other bloggers and see what they thought of the software.

SuperZ tried out the software and as you can see from his own video, the results that he’s getting after having used the software for just a week are pretty amazing. His computer is keeping up with just about every word that he says, and typing those words out for him in text.

Well frankly that’s exactly what Dragon NaturallySpeaking is supposed to do these days and it lives up to its claim of achieving 99% accuracy and I’ve clocked it typing faster than its claims of 150 words per minute.

That’s right you can type 150 words a minute with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. You do have to spend a little time editing from time to time, but you type so fast that editing doesn’t take that long. You get the typing done faster and the editing is a breeze because you only have to look at the way that you phrased words. Dragon NaturallySpeaking almost never makes a spelling mistake. It types out the entire word based on the vocabulary that has stored in the machine. So it really can’t misspell a word it’s pulling the word straight out of a dictionary.

The only exception might be the case when you run into a name like SuperZ, which is not in your dictionary yet. When you run across a name like that, all you have to do is add it into your dictionary and train the software to recognize that new word or name. It just takes a second and after that you’ll be able to say SuperZ all you like and Dragon NaturallySpeaking will know exactly what you are talking about.

Sincerely,
Brett Bumeter
Softduit Media
www.softduit.com
PS this article includes about 381 words that I wrote with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10. It took me about 4 minutes to write and 4 minutes to edit this article. The writing time included the short amount of time it took to train dragon to recognize the name SuperZ. Editing took 4 minutes because I’ve been working all night and I’m not reading too fast! J

Lap-band surgery comes to the US

Lap-band surgery is a form of weight loss surgery that is less invasive than Gastric Bypass Surgery. When looking for a surgeon to perform this type of surgery you are looking for someone who has a large amount of years doing surgery, along with a good after care program.

Dr. Richard Collier is a Lap-Band Surgery Specialist with 30 years of surgical experience in The Woodlands, Conroe, Houston, Kingwood, and Spring, Texas areas. He would be the one to see if you are considering lapband houston, and surrounding areas.

Namaste.

Web Hosting 101

Anyone who has a blog has had the same quandry. Which webhost should I use? Who has the best service, the best technical support, and isn’t going to head off to Jamaica with my money?

We all want the most “stuff” for our money. It is an American sort of obsession. I give you cash, you give me a bunch of stuff. But if you enter “webhosting” into your favorite search engine you had better step away from your monitor, because you are going to be completely overwhelmed with the amount of information that is going to be there.

Enter a webhosting blog by webhostinggeeks dot com. These guys have a great site full of information for someone just thinking about setting up a website. They have a blog where they talk about what is going on in the industry, along with a number of links to articles that will help you pick out a site, and get it up and running. They have “how to’s” about “Three Web Hosting Mistakes to Avoid“, and “What Type of Hosting Do You Need“.

They also have articles where they rate webhosts by who offers free domain names, who offers multiple domain name hosting, who offers free google adwords. This is a great site for those who are just getting started, to those who already have a webhost and want to see what else is out there. Like me.

Namaste.

Muscle Car Mania

I am originally from Michigan. Automobile heaven. I do love me some Detroit Rolling Iron. Especially the supercharged ones. Like that Dodge in “Fast and Furious”. That was a beautiful car.

But I don’t live in Michigan any longer. Though I do have a friend who is in love with Pontiac cars with superchargers. Matter of fact he has a GTO that he has a supercharger on. His Pontiac sounds like a jet taking off when he fires it up.

I keep telling him that he needs to find a nice import to supercharge. I tell him to buy a mercedes supercharger and put it into a nice 450SL. He just laughs. He only like American cars. But I did tell him about superchargerpros dot com. He went and checked out their website, and ordered some parts for his Pontiac. He liked their prices, and was really happy about the fast shipping.

Check them ou.

Namaste.