Business, Marketing, and New Technology
Life Beyond Work
Streamlining
Feb 4th
Thanks for the guest post by Kennith Kramer
My husband and I have been streamlining our home utilities and the first thing we did was go to Cabletvadvisor.com and up our package. I knew I wanted some extra movie channels and he was dying for the NFL stuff so we did that in lieu of renewing our home security alarm. We live in a really safe area and it just didn’t make sense for us to pay that money. Another thing we did to cut back was get rid of the weekly gardeners. Our yard is small enough that we should be able to do it ourselves without too much work and we’re even thinking of planning a small garden out back to save some money on produce! I can’t believe there are times in our lives where we have to be so careful with money but I guess right before you decide to bring a baby into the world is as good a time as any to really buckle down and try to save. There’s something to be said for being stable!
You Can Learn How to Be Happy
Jan 6th
A long time ago, I heard a quote that has stuck with me. I can’t remember who said it, so there’s no way for me to give credit, but I’ve never forgotten it. It goes like this: “Cheerful is a choice.”
This has meant a lot to me over the years, as I went to work feeling gnarly or grumpy, and just wishing that the world would go away. I would remember that I had a choice in how I greeted the people in my life, and that being cheerful, putting on a smile, and being courteous was a CHOICE. I found that I could do it by choosing to do so, and then, by doing it, somehow, I actually did feel better.
This principle, that we have control over our feelings, our actions, and our internal states, is a crucial one to understand, if we are to have the lives that we desire. No matter what life has thrown at us, we can still choose to respond in this way, or in that way. Which way we choose will have a profound affect on not only our internal state, but on how the rest of our outer world is also.
Unfortunately, we are not taught this in school, or even in our culture. Many of us are floundering around at the mercy of random events, feeling out of control, frustrated, and miserable, because our lives just haven’t turned out as expected. We were never taught to cultivate an anchor of personal happiness that comes from controlling ourselves within. We were never taught How To Be Happy .
Learning how to have internal control is a real skill, and can be learned. It is not the same as taking some pill, or slapping on a temporary bandage, or deadening the pain temporarily with a drug, or even with some activity that acts like the placebo effect . We can, if we decide to learn how, begin to control our lives on the outside, by controlling our lives on the inside.
Home Arcade
Nov 11th
We’ve been cleaning out the garage. You know how things can just pile up, and pile up, and before you know it, there’s no space left? Well, that did indeed happen, and so we’ve been making a concerted effort to get rid of stuff, to make space.
At least, that was the plan. But nature abhors a vacuum, and it didn’t take long for that free space to start filling up again. At least this time, the “stuff” was a bit more interesting. I walked out of the kitchen the other day to find a large white contraption right in the way. My son had brought home a pin ball machine! It was old, a regular classic, with race cars, and lights, and bells- the whole works! How could I complain? I mean, who doesn’t love a classic pin ball game?
When I was young, my grandfather had one in his “game room”. This was a room in the corner of the basement, which he’d paneled, and carpeted, and hung a few deer trophies on the wall. It also had this awesome pinball machine, and we kids just loved it! So, now, I had no objection to having one of my own. We even discussed getting more “toys”, like a pacman arcade machine, and turning the garage into a game room. Now, THAT’s a good idea!
Need a Boca Raton divorce attorney?
Oct 21st
If you’ve watched television lately, you’ll be thinking that either all marriages are sugar and honey, or all marriages end in divorce. There just doesn’t seem to be any in-between. It is all black and white, no shades of grey. I, for one, do not find it amusing to see couples fighting all the time over teeny tiny little things. Even worse, fighting and yelling and arguing over misunderstandings, and then holding a grudge for hours, days, weeks. Perhaps it makes for a sit-com plot, when the writers can’t think of anything else, but it is not my kind of humor. What is this world coming to when two people do not even try to work things out? Of course there will be differences, and there will be opinions that clash, and there will always be two different ways of looking at anything. But whatever became of compromise? or personal responsibility?
Sadly, it is possible that two people can grow apart. After all, maybe it is just too much to ask that two people could live happily together for decades and then decades more. (I am the hopeless romantic that believes it is possible, so don’t ask for my opinion.) As people grow up, and find new interests, and make changes to whatever it s that they believe, it is quite possible that they might find themselves in two different places. That’s when you might just be better off calling it quits. You know, you don’t have to part as vitriolic enemies. There are many people who just drift apart and decide to go their separate ways. I believe this is a new trend, called the “peaceful divorce”.
Two of my friends are doing this. They live in Boca Raton, and have just decided that both will be happier on their own. They found a good Boca Raton divorce attorney
and are working things out peaceably. Good for them. At least this way, there is very little chance that you’ll find them on the Boca Raton News fighting it out.
New TV
Oct 17th
Contribution by Saul Martin
I have been dying to get one of those new LCD televisions. I would really like to get a 60-inch screen for our basement, which my wife has graciously allowed me to turn into my “man cave”. However, my wife said that she had to draw the line somewhere, and she said we could not get the new television until I had figured out how we could save money elsewhere. After all, our utility bills had almost doubled since we moved into a bigger house two years ago. Luckily I had just had a conversation with a buddy of mine about how he saved money on his power bill by going to shopelectricityratestexas.com. I told my wife about it and she agreed that it would save enough money for me to get the new television. I have big plans for the television with football season coming up. I hope to have my entire fantasy football league over to watch a few games on the big screen. My wife may regret letting me get the TV, but I’ll gladly let her watch it during the week.
Camera Philosophy
Oct 17th
Are you planning a vacation? Maybe just a short visit to a friend? Or perhaps you just like to have fun. Anytime you find yourself doing something out of the ordinary is the time to grab your camera! Now, I have always had just a tiny bit of a different philosophy when it comes to picture taking. Most of my family and friends will line everyone up in a row and say, “smile!” But then you end up with an album of lots of people standing in rows.
I much prefer to take out my camera periodically, and just take a picture of “what everyone is doing right now”. Then you end up with a historical snapshot of the event. At Thanksgiving, I always catch at least one person asleep on the sofa after the big meal. Or someone reading in a corner. Or the kids making a card house on the carpet. These sorts of pictures are so much more interesting to look back on, than one-face, two-faces, three-faces, all in a row. Of course, you do have to have the obligatory line up, but that’s ok, as long as there is some reference to what else they might have been doing that day.
Recently, my camera has been giving me a bit of trouble. Fortunately, though, one of my sons noticed, and I’m pretty sure he made note. Ah, Christmas is coming! Perhaps I’ll get a new camera!
Red Dyes and Gooey Stains
Aug 10th
Stain removal has come a long way since the days of beating clothing on rocks, trying to get them clean. And it’s a good thing. We have created thousands of new chemicals with the capability to leave dark spots on just about any kind of clothing. One of the worst stains to get out is the color red. Who hasn’t seen (or experienced) the dreaded Pink Laundry? When you put just one tiny red thing in with a full load of lighter colors, and whoosh, More >
Making Summer Wear Easy
Jun 11th
It’s summer here, and hot as blazes. We’ve had a heat wave for a week now, and it’s supposed to continue for another week. This has driven me to finding clothing that is cool, cool, cool. And what’s cooler than cotton? Seems like in the summer heat I can’t stand anything but cotton on my body. I also like low-maintenance clothing. No dry cleaning for me. Just simple wash and wear, and make it durable, if you please, so I don’t’ have to go out and buy new stuff every other week.
One of my greatest discoveries is to get More >
More Cool Tech Stuff
Jun 9th
My cousin is really into all kinds of electronics. When he was younger, he turned his bedroom into a virtual spy warehouse, buying and selling stuff like miniature cameras, and camera pens, and all kinds of really cool things that looked like one item but really functioned as another. He is a true entrepreneur at heart, and loved the geeky stuff. Well, who doesn’t? It’s not only fun to see what’s new and upcoming, but it’s useful too, like when you want to have something mounted on the outside of your garage, that LOOKs like a More >
Getting the big channels
Jun 9th
Content by Sol Rosales
When I decided I needed to subscribe to the premium channels in order to save money on video rentals, I went to www.cleartvbundle.com/direct_tv_bundle.html to check out some good package deals I had heard about from a friend at work. Now that I’m hooked up at home, I’ve got all the latest movies that I could ever want to watch, not to mention all the incredible original programming that the premium channels like HBO and Showtime offer. Man, I really never used to watch much TV, but you guys know, the shows on these networks are just so darn good! Have you ever seen that show Rome? Is canceled now, but I watch it on demand and it’s pretty much the best thing ever. I also like the old-school shows like Sex and the City and Six Feet Under, both of which I can often find in my on-demand lineup. It’s totally worth the extra money for me to get the premiums since I was spending more than that each month renting videos at the local video store!