Updates Blog

Today I decided to watch bowl games not like a “couch potato,” but also get stuff done at the same time. There’s always a lot of time in between football plays, so why not put that time to good use?

My bedroom is cluttered after having spent so much time on the charity campaign. A lot of design work goes into making the sites that are at the core… Read More of it. I start by sorting all the stuff into different piles.

My cat isn’t sniffiling anymore, which is a relief, although she is back to those whiny pestering ways of hers that I’ve always had to put up with. She decides to camp out for a snooze on a couple of my piles of paper.

The main lesson learned today: Keep my mind in the spirit of the football game, while I’m cleaning up. It really can be done, and I actually enjoyed the game more today than I usually have before I started this multi-tasking experiment. It feels good to get stuff done while I’m having fun watching the game.

I decide to try the metro bus system to see whether it saves time and/or money. On the positive side:

-It only cost $1.50 for a round trip
-The bus was nearly empty, so there was plenty of room
-I enjoyed listening to music without having to drive
-You can call people on your cell phone
-From where I live, it’s only a 100-foot walk to the bus stop

On the other hand…

-I waited 5 minutes at the bus stops. Next time I think that can be shaved to 2-3 minutes.
-The bus zig-zagged through various stops, so it took twice as long to get there
-The ride was bumpy, especially through the melting ice
-Reading was iffy, writing very difficult with the bumpy ride

I can see giving up my car to use the bus. My mother and brother live less than 5 miles away, so if I need a ride (or even to borrow a car) I can probably swing it.

Picasa is a frew Windows program from Google that can scan your entire hard drive for photos and videos, and even orgnize them into folders. Editing features include many additional functions including red-eye reduction and labeling. You can import your images from your camera, send photos to your web printing services, make photo CDs, print photos or upload them to blogs or instant-messaging programs.

There are quite a few places on the Web that allow you to request a free calendar through the mail.  We tried about five of them, hoping to pass on the opportunity to our readers, but we never received the goods.  But you can still print your own calendar:

• You can print your own Consumer SmartCalendar each month. You can print any individual month in “Landscape” mode, which is usually accessed when your computer shows you the Preferences button that appears whenever you print a web page.  Or you can print a 3-month calendar, just look for that link in the Options Menu of SmartCalendar.  The advantage of the SmartCalendar is its great tips for home maintenance, investing, shopping, taxes and college planning.

• It’s fairly easy to print customized calendars from TimeAndDate.com for a number of months or an entire year. You can also select which day starts the week, whether to show moon phases, and different sets of holidays for different cultures.
   
• Online calendars include Calendars Net, AOL Calendar and Yahoo! Calendar.  You can print it and/or add appointments and events that can be made visible and printable by others you want to allow to see it.

1. 2008 Consumer Action Handbook

The 2008 Consumer Action Handbook covers many subjects. Part I “Being a Savvy Consumer” covers shopping tips, anti-telemarketing methods, protection against ID theft, buying new cars,
using credit wisely, health care tips, housing scams, insurance advice, and utilities. Part II “Filing a Complaint” tells you how to resolve disputes and if necessary go to small claims court. Part III “Consumer Assistance Directory” lists many institutions you can ask for help if you have a problem or complaint.

Preview at: http://www.consumeraction.gov
Order by mail:  http://www.consumeraction.gov/caw_orderhandbook.shtml
Download now: http://www.consumeraction.gov/pdfs/2006revisedCAH.pdf
(1.4 MB)

2. Free Guides From State Tourism Agencies

State tourism agencies usually will send you free maps or guides by mail, hoping to encourage a visit. Each state decides what to send out, which may include:

• Entertaining destinations you can visit
• Info on state parks, trails, and scenic drives
• Listings of accommodations and campgrounds
• Calendars listing festivals and other events

See a list of state tourism sites at: http://www.statelocalgov.net/50states-tourism.cfm

Kiplinger recently came out with its annual Best Cities List. You can actually Take a Virtual Walking Tour complete with videos to get a good feel for eight of them. Their priority was to find cities with strong economies and abundant jobs, plus reasonable living costs and plenty of fun things to do. You can take a look at their full criteria and see if they match yours. You can search the rankings to see how well your hometown ranks, ordering 359 metropolitan areas by Population, Cost-of-Living Index, Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class, Median Household Income, or Salary Growth. And for those concerned about real estate prices, it has plenty of research on that too.

Probaly their easiest-to-use tool is Which City Is Best For You?, which asks you eight questions about your priorities and picks the best cities for your lifestyle. Here are this years top eight cities, linked to Kiplinger’s video pages:

Houston, Texas: The Comeback Kid
Raleigh, North Carolina: Work In Progress
Omaha, Nebraska: Paradise on the Plains
Boise, Idaho: Rocky Mountain High Tech
Colorado Springs: Laid-Back Energy
Austin, Texas: Rockers, Tacos and Chips
Fayetteville, North Carolina: Funky Green Valley
Provo, Utah: Pristine Tech Mecca

Kiplinger isn’t the only magazine that does this list: You can also visit Best Places to Live 2008 from Money Magazine.