unsigned podcast » Technology

FB at Work?

podcaster — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:10:21 +0000

A survey by Liberty Mutual’s Responsibility Project was released todaythat measured the attitudes by Americans toward using Facebook at work.

The responses indicated that 56 percent say “it is irresponsible” to be friends with a boss.

On the other hand, 62 percent said it is wrong to be friends with an employee.

Among workplace peers, 76 percent claimed it is acceptable to be Facebook friends with a coworker.

And with a rising practice in the Human Resources departments, Americans are almost evenly split on whether companies should review a job candidate’s Facebook or MySpace personal profile. From those surveyed, 52 percent said it is appropriate for the HR people and 48 percent said it is unacceptable.

Blogs Junkie

podcaster — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:16:13 +0000

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.

Online SAHMs

podcaster — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:55:56 +0000

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.

Laptop Defects

podcaster — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:13:21 +0000

My last two laptops – really good brands, high end – have both failed for the same reason my son’s just failed. The little connector piece in the back where the power cord plus in gets loose from the inside connection to the motherboard. Once the motherboard loses connection, the laptop is basically toast. You cannot reconnect the motherboard and you can’t solder it back together. This is obviously a design flaw inherent to may different types and brands of laptops.

If someone wants to start up a class action suit against the laptop manufacturers for this defect, I’m on board. I’m about sick of spending about $3,000 every year on a new laptop because one little connector piece breaks. Just once I would like to feel that my investment in a laptop will last for 3 years. Mine haven’t even reached one third of their tax depreciation value before they have to be thrown out.

Sugar and spice

podcaster — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:17:32 +0000

Hasving spent the day with my sister and her kids, I knew that I could be the most help to my sister while she dealt with the funeral home and all the calls from family and friends if I took her daughters out for lunch and got them out of the house for a bit. Even though it was a very sad day for everyone, we managed to enjoy the time together. I took them to a Ruby Tuesday to eat, and we sat in a booth, in the back by the restrooms, and sat around for a couple hours just talking.

I decided that some of the things I could to do to help my sister get through this would be very practical and I wanted to take care of a lot of details that she might not have the time or energy to deal with. I took the girls shopping after lunch to get new dresses and shoes for the funeral home stuff, and I went ahead and bought a couple other more fun outfits for them so they would have something nice and feel a little special.

Last night I even asked the youngest niece what she wanted to do about Halloween. I wasn’t even sure that kids who are 12 and 13 years old even do anything about Halloween, but she assured me that yes she still like to party on Halloween and she takes some of the younger kids in the neighborhood trick or treating, so she wants to dress up this year again.

We got onto the internet at her house and found great Halloween costume stores web sites. There was one site that had a while section of costumes just for teens, which was great. We not only liked the costumes but we knew they would come in the right sizes for teens. My niece sat at the computer with me and looked through the Teen Halloween Costumes with me. She picked out this great costume, one of the officially licensed “Pirates of the Carribean” costumes, so I went ahead and ordered it for her:

Last Minute Savings

podcaster — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:01:13 +0000

Yesterday started off like a normal Sunday, woke up and made coffee, walked the dogs, turned on the computer to check emails. That’s when everything went downhill really fast. I had an email from my sister that her husband had died the previous night, they had tried to call but my cell phone went right to voicemail, so they resorted to email to get the word to me.

Of course, I dropped everything and made arrangements to go to Maryland to be with the family. Thankfully, I was able to find some coupons online to take care a lot of the details for this unexpected trip and I saved some money. First of all I wanted to arrange for flowers and the coupon site had a link to Proflowers, so that helped right at the start. All I had to do was select the sympathy arrangement and place my order, then enter ProFlowers promotion code coupons from the coupon site to get the bargain rate.

The coupons site also has bargain rates for hotels, like Ramada Inn and Holiday Inn.I probably would have stayed at the Holiday Inn, but this way I got a $50 gas card in addition to the best room rate because I made the effort to check the coupons available before making my reservations.

Since I have to fly to Baltimore and the family is already occupied with funeral things, I decided to rent my own car instead of asking someone to pick me up at the airport. I found a discount coupon for Dollar Car Rental and saved an extra 15% off the weekly rate.

It saved me a lot of time by not having to check a variety of other sites. I just go to one place with the confidence that I am getting the best deals. And I can find a better use for all the money I saved by helping my family in this important time of need.

End of the Year Games

podcaster — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:10:18 +0000

Thinking ahead to Christmas and electronics, I think I need to take a survey between family members and see what kind of game console and game systems they have or want. Christmas is the best time to get new games and nowadays you have to make sure you get a game for the right system. There are some exciting new games coming out at the end of the year – just in time for Christmas!

An article in the New York Times had a sneak preview of some of the games expected to be the greatest hits:

Fallout 3 to be released in October (for PC, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3)
Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2 to be released in November (for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3)
Guitar Hero World Tour to be released in October
Rock Band 2 to be released in September for 360 and later for PS and Wii
Left 4 Dead to be released in November
LittleBigPlanet to be released in October
Spore for PC and Mac now on sale

College Bound and Down

podcaster — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:10:10 +0000

My step daughter had decided to become a professional student. She goes to school for a bit, then quits. Then a few months later she regrets having quit and signs up again. Then she find a reason to not go. Then she hears about a scholarship program or student loans and she goes again. I think she will be 30 before she ever actually finishes school.

My son is much more serious about getting a college education and we are in the process of evaluating the different colleges and universities to see where he would like to go. Of course, I would prefer an in state school to help save on tuition and take advantage of the scholarships available to residents through the lottery funded programs. But if he gets his heart set on an out of state school then I’m down with it and will find a way to get the money for him.

There’s a cool website that helps kids with their college applications called CollegeZps. They have tips on their site for students who want to get help with the college application process from CollegeZapps. Here are their top tips:

Proofread your applications for spelling and grammar
Read the instructions carefully and all the way through before beginning
Type the applications and write legibly
Apply to several schools
Don’t use a silly nickname in your email address – get a free email account using your first and last name to appear more serious and professional

Going for a Spin

podcaster — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:52:44 +0000

Normally I don’t read Spin Magazine. I’m not into the grunge rock and punk music, and that’s what they seem to focus on. I think it’s great that some of these kids have a shot at a singing or performing career, but since I don’t have college age kids I just can’t get my head into what they are singing about or how they look. The extreme hair and makeup, the tattoos, the piercings – it’s so boring. Really boring. What I’d like to see is kids that are clean and groomed and take music seriously along the lines of lyrics meaningful to more than just 13 and 14 year old spoiled brats.

But I do like reading the ads in this magazine. You can learn a lot about a variety of things in today’s pop culture by reading the ads. Especially if you have an interest in liquor and electronics. You’ll read about things you aren’t exposed to in any other popular medium. That’s the downside of targeting ads to narrow demographics. The slick marketing pros in NYC and LA don’t always get it right.

Family Ski Holiday

podcaster — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:10:10 +0000

The kids have a great holiday from school in November at Thanksgiving and we are thinking about taking the whole family away since we had to cut back on travel this summer. Now that the kids are older we have been wanting to take them on ski holidays. They love to travel as much as we do, and there are so many wonderful ski resorts that the hard part is picking just one.

I want to give them a chance to learn downhill skiing as well as snowboarding and have fun with some other winter activities, like sleigh rides and ice skating. We don’t get enough snow here in the South to even go sledding. So going someplace that is completely family friendly with a variety of winter activities for all ages is vital to our skiing holidays.

If we want to stay in the United States, I think that Killington is the most family friendly area and I’ve been reading the internet for more information on skiing in Vermont. But I have several friends who swear that we are better off going further north, into Canada and the Directline-skiing.co.uk/Whistler website seems to back them up. If we decide to go on up into Canada, we’ll definitely go to Whistler. From reading the website, Whistler is not only one of the top ski destinations in the world, it is especially great for families and beginners. There are adventure ski camps for all the different age groups, and the beginner trails take them through enchanted forests, past magic castles and there are even lifts dedicated to just kids. This is exactly what I have in mind and there are packages for every budget. This website is great for putting it all together and giving you all the details so you can plan the entire trip with just a few clicks of the mouse.

If we all have as much fun on their first learning to ski holiday, we can plan on a nice winter getaway next year, too. I’ve been wanting to ski France and Italy, and I’d love to bring the kids to Europe while they are young and appreciate being with their family. I’m afraid that once they turn into teenagers, the idea of a family vacation will not be met with as much enthusiasm. I intend to pamper and enjoy the kids as much I can while they are young and fun to be around. I hope that being a teenager doesn’t change that, but I’m preparing myself mentally for that, just in case.