New Profession

My husband gives fantastic massages. I don't get them very often and usually he sees it as foreplay, but I'll take them whenever I can. I always tell him he should reconsider his profession choice. But then again, I don't think I want him rubbing naked women, or men for that matter.

The other day I saw a television ad for a massage therapy program online....online? Seriously? How could you learn how to use your hands online?

I realize the Internet porn industry has figured this out, but then again you don't get certified in porn. Yet.

Really?

I have to laugh sometimes at the marketing world we live in now days. Everything - I mean everything is tracked and often "used against you" in future shopping. I don't mean that like they are blackmailing you or anything like that, but as I learn and write more about search and the Internet, I just have to shake my head.

Even the best affiliate marketing program looks to their customers for more info about future potential purchases. Just a reminder that someone is always watching.

Queen of Spam

Continuing from my previous post...

If I were queen for a day, I would abolish spam. Spam of all forms - email, phone, pop-ups, viruses, etc. They are annoying, destructive and offensive. I don't need a larger penis, I don't need to sell my timeshare, and I certainly don't need to know how to product more breast milk.

I do need someone to clean my house, a new mattress set, and how to stretch the 24 hours in a day. Can someone work on that please?

URL Thoughts, not urinal thoughts

Sometimes finding a business on the internet is easy. Sometimes not so much.

URLs should be intuitive. Forget the abbreviations, hyphens, etc. Just use the business name.

Not that I like giving props to them, but WalMart is a fine example. My cable company? Not so much. Might as well use sideeffectsofdietpills.net or stupidnoshowcable.com.

Or even better, stupidurls.com.

My wife's boyfriend?

Have you seen this? Can it be real? I mean, we all know people like this, but a real commercial?

I forgot how much I liked pickles

This is hilarious!

Safety Net

I like having Yahoo as my email service for many reasons. I like not having to change my email address if we change internet providers but mostly I like having access to everything I've ever sent, unless I delete it intentionally. It is kind of like having my own online backup.

Having access to attachments is the best - because I may have sent it from home but if I want it at work - I still have access in Yahoo. This is not a promotion for Yahoo, I was just thinking about this luxury and thought I'd share. I'm nice that way.

The Trail We Leave Behind

It is always interesting to me to see what search words brings people to my blog. Interesting may not be the best word...sometimes it is scary.

Interestingly enough, in the past couple weeks I have had loads of international visitors from everywhere....Egypt, Malaysia, India, Belgium, UK, Mexico. Welcome!

So here are the most recent search words that brought folks to me:

• calories burned coughing
• coughing calories
• romulen
• cupcakes
• if i were a scientist
• how many calories burned coughing
• how does man trap doors work
• calories burnt when coughing
• thanksgiving menu
• how many calories are burned when coughing
• trap door
• thanksgiving menu 2009
• thanksgiving appetizer
• how many calories burned by coughing
• trapdoor computer security
• make over my mother in law/ca
• how trap doors work
• calories burned by coughing

I think a lot of people are sick.

It Is Official

I started Christmas shopping today. It really is the latest I have ever started. This year I haven't even made a list yet.

But I found a great site with some really cute stocking stuffer type gifts and I just kept thinking, "so and so would like this", and "oh look, that reminds me of so and so".

Soooo, "so and so's" will get some gifts.

Everyone seems to be johnny on the spot about shipping. The fulfillment center said it would ship Monday.

Pretty cool.

Virtual Learning in Reality

After I got my Associates Degree, I decided to finish my Bachelor’s Degree online. I had just gotten remarried and my life was a little more complicated than when I was single, working two jobs and going to school. No one cared if I didn’t cook, clean or even be home – except for me and I just told myself to get over it.

I don’t regret that decision at all. Applying my studies to my current job – learning in real life – was ten times better than working in textbooks and normally structured classrooms.

It fit me.

Reviewing schools and deciding which one to apply to was a little more difficult. Important things to take note if you are planning to finish your degree online:

Accreditation. Accreditation. Accreditation. It can’t be said enough. Be sure they are accredited. If they aren’t, you won’t be able to transfer those credits to another school if you decide to continue your education.

Prior life experience. Sometimes this can be applied towards classes and you are able to “test” out of a subject. I did three classes this way. Thirteen years of experience in a particular field was recognized doing being better than learning.

Costs. Be sure to research thoroughly. Some schools are actually non-profits and can cost less. An online university has less overhead than a brick and mortar school who is doing online education on the side.

Specialties. If you are a particular field, say healthcare. Check out schools that specialize in the medical field. An online nursing degree when you are already employed in a hospital setting makes sense.

A school such as Western Governors University offers accelerated programs. These are very useful as an adult student. Let’s face it, we all have a life and want to get back to it as soon as possible. But we don’t want to compromise our education in the process.

I am impressed that so many more schools are acknowledging social media using it to their advantage, as well as the student’s. Recently I read where this last fall may be the last where the majority of college students pack up their clothes and go off to school. The majority is shifting to online education because of the convenience, flexibility and I would imagine the cost.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll consider a graduate degree online in the future.

What is a tweet?

This is hilarious. This is how I feel when I attempt to explain Twitter to...anybody.

But yet, I like to tweet.

What did we do before Google?

I was researching holiday cocktails and found one that required Jagermeister. Now I have a fairly extensive liquor collection but this is one I've never tasted. I wondered what it was similar to - whiskey? amaretto? schnapps?

So I googled "what does Jagermeister taste like". The answer?

"Imagine you took a black crayon and melted it with some rubber, then added sugar. Finally, mix in some mouthwash flavored like dark purple cough syrup."

I think I'll pass, but thanks for the descriptive answer.

Bags Galore

I've been shopping. Surprised, I know.

I went bag searching on Etsy and hit the mother load.

These are perfect bags. Perfect size, perfect weight, perfect strap length and perfect pockets.

They are all three identical except for fabric.

And the greatest part is because they are identical, I can switch purses at the last minute real easy because you know where everything goes.


Perfect size pockets for the blackberry, cellphone, keys, sunglasses, thumb drive and lipstick - all the modern woman's essentials.



CreativeJenV is the talented maker. Check out her Etsy store. You might find a few things you like too.

Social networking is for the dogs

Seriously.

Zootoo is the social networking site for your pets. A place that brings pet lovers together to help pets and each other. It is pretty cool and best of all – free.


The coolest part? You can review local groomers, vets and pet care facilities. As a new resident to Louisville, I wish I had found his a year ago.

I discovered it while searching for information on Murphy’s condition or non-condition (hopefully). But you can also sign up to get and review samples of dog products. You can be sure I did that.

Actually I was wrong, the coolest part is the activity you create on Zootoo results in free pet food for animal shelters – now that is cool.

I guess I should load it on Murphy’s “paw pilot” so he can hook up.

Jackpot

Remember the wonderful crostini I raved about at the wine tasting?

Well thanks to Lisa Rene's suggestion, I began the hunt for an online source and found a gem.




Allyson's Kitchen not only carries these treasures but many more. Those who live in the Oregon area - check it out. It is probably a good thing that I don't.

Besides the crostinis, which I stocked up on, I got some Walnut Oil and Himalayan Red Rice.

Levi, the store manager, was very helpful and communicated with me regarding the products. That level of customer service you rarely find anymore and I certainly appreciate it.



So if you are looking for some special products, check them out. Their shipping is amazingly fast. I feasted on crostinis with brie yesterday for lunch.

A Month of Food

I can do this, of course I can do this.

Can I do this?

July's Nablopomo theme is food. The object is to blog every day about food.

It isn't the inability to find content, it is the time to blog.

But I will give it a shot.

Being as I flew home today (boy my arms are tired), the food I have to speak of is airline food.

It wasn't bad. And that surprised me.

In these days of charging for everything including your bags, I actually received a light meal/snack on both jaunts of my trip.

The first was cheese pizza and a salad.

The second was a turkey sandwich and chips.

Not gourmet, but certainly edible and helped to make a four hour flight tolerable.

Besides really glad to see my hubby and puppies, I am so glad to be home and to be able to cook. Two weeks of eating out sucks, regardless of how great the restaurants were at times.

So watch for food coming at you daily.

Wine and Roses

With very limited wifi access, I can't tell you every detail of my trip to wine country but rest assured I have stories, photos and wine.

A bullet list of teasers in no particular order:

• coast
• vineyards
• Hitchcock
• baby deers
• sex
• and the city
• bull's blood
• jewelry
• olive oil
• mountains
• fire
• emergency room
• and brie

Details to follow.

The Edible Word

The official "gathering" of the foodie book club - The Edible Word - is up for viewing.

Check it out.

It's A Small, Small World After All

I had the extreme pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger and his wife tonight.

Paul and Julie from Wondering were in Louisville visiting family and we met at a local institution - Homemade Ice Cream & Pie Kitchen - for dessert and coffee.

What a pleasant couple. We sat there for 2 1/2 hours talking and it seemed like fifteen minutes. Trust me, my husband doesn't sit still that long - ever.

We shared stories, laughed, and communed about the blog world, the real world, and the loves in our lives. Theirs being nature and each other.

I discovered Paul's blog quite by accident several years ago and him living in northern Arizona "off the grid" intrigued me. I've followed their adventures from hiking the Grand Canyon to co-existing with larger reptiles than I would care to.

Over the past year we discovered another commonality - Paul is from Kentucky and attended Southern Baptist seminary here. We've had some interesting discussions about organized religion.

So when they were in town to visit family, we made arrangements to meet.

It was such fun and they are such great people. I look forward to a continued friendship and who knows - maybe we'll actually make it to Arizona sometime to visit them.

We Twittered Them Out