Dump Your Dialup

Dial up service is so slow and it ties up your telephone line so you cannot make or receive phone calls while online. But satellite broadband does not use the telephone line - you use a satellite dish. If you have a clear view of the southern sky and a Hughesnet Satellite dish, you can access the internet for fast pageloads and fast downloads. And your games go faster, too.

Hughesnet has a special offer for a mail in rebate on the cost of the satellite dish and installation, with low monthly service rates. So if you are sick and tired of slow dial up internet access and want broadband service, you can go to their website or call their toll free number to order your satellite connection.

Blogs Junkie

Each morning I try to read the online versions versions of 3-4 newspapers and then I try to reach 5-6 blogs of people or groups that I like. My very first exposure to a blog was just a couple of years ago when I accidentally came across a dot com that was a blog and I read it out of curiosity. I was hooked immediately.

When I decided to write my own blog I looked into the various formats and decided on using WordPress. It is easy to learn and use, and it is free to download and install. If you are looking for help with blogs, start with WordPress.

What You Don’t Know About Lawsuits

Most people think that getting an attorney and starting a lawsuit means they will be coming into money in a few months. Wrong.

In today’s world, finding a lawyer and getting a good lawyer are two different things. For most cases, if the lawyer doesn’t think you have a good case and a chance of winning but they are desperate for money, they won’t just work on a percentage of the case proceeds when you might win. Most want their expenses covered and often an hourly fee paid each month as time goes by whether you win or lose your case. And if you are lucky, and have a good lawyer and a good case, you might come out with some money in about 2 years. But 95% of the lawsuits end up with little or no money actually ever collected.

Desktop Audit

My blogger friends are sending around a “Meme” that asks you to post what’s on your desk. At the office I work in a cubicle with a wraparound desk and overhead bins that close and hide the mess. Here’s what’s actually out on the desktop and my little cubbie’s bulletin board:

• my laptop and docking station
• a cheap personal laser printer (for quick printing rather than going to the company network printer)
• a little desk lamp that I brought from home to soften the flourescent lighting
• my company phone
• a docking station for my cell phone
• four in and out trays
• a Big Dogs coffee mug to hold my pens, scissors, highlighters, etc.
• this year’s Predators team calendar
• photoframe with snapshot of my buddies and me at my Hooter’s birthday party a couple years ago
• a map of the U.S. divided into our company’s sales regions
• printout of the company phone directory
• a stack of business magazines

Kinda boring desktop, isn’t it? I have a policy of not keeping any personal stuff on my desk except maybe one or two photos. After the last job when I got fired and escorted to the door for being ethical and not doctoring the numbers on the sales reports that my boss demanded, I want to be able to leave with just one box of my personal belongings in a box and be gone with just one trip out the door to my car.

So, come on and tell me what’s on your desk and send me the link to your blog so I can read it!

Online SAHMs

I have a friend who would love to start blogging but she has no internet connection at her house. She is a stay at home mom, which is an important job, but let’s be honest, it doesn’t pay the bills. So I recognize the sacrifices that she and her husband are making for her to stay home and be a full time mother to her kids.

Still, I can’t help but think that there might be ways to help her without chipping away at her dignity. If she had access to the internet she could do so much - save money on things by comparison shopping and printing coupons, finding lots of free entertainment and activities for her family, blogging to stay in touch with family, and even taking some online college courses if she wants to.