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Cheap pos was my genuine response when I saw the cost of this one on the site. And no I don't mean cheap "P.O.S" but cheap pos!! The price is really very affordable and the site is well organized so you could easily find what you need and want. This site is out of Indonesia which again shows the Internet is helping the world get a bit smaller everyday in every way. Check it out as it shouldn't be lost in the shadow of the big guys!
I just love this picture. I am ghostwriting a brief article on celebrity adoption and happened upon this photo seen over at Once Upon a Time...Our Journey with Sydney. Sydney is just too precious.... Ok back to finishing this piece.
Here is something I had wondered about before. If someone is looking for voice overs for a podcast or a professional to narrate a video, where should they start looking? Voices.com is an online marketplace specializing in connecting creative producers with professional voice-over talents from all around the world. For your next multimedia project, try Voices.com and let a professional bring your production to life!
I just hate it. I wonder if anyone likes it... I especially hate it this time (3rd in less than 18 mos.) because it all is falling on me alone. My parents are on the mainland and they have always helped in every move since I had the boys. Friends of their's are going to help on Sunday for a few hours and I am beyond grateful for that but this is just exhausting me...and you know frankly I have a feeling even if I wasn't working right now it would be just about as exhausting. Going to work or sitting down to work is a break from this! The toy room is the biggest headache of all and what frustration to know this must represent thousands of dollars of LEGOs... and of course the number of Nethan's cars are nothing to sneeze at... let alone my books..I am trying to pick out some toys I can donate while the boys are at school lest they say NO to everytime I pick something up and ask them...I know I shouldn't ask, but I always worry I am going to get rid of that one toy they come looking for the next day.
I guess that is enough of a vent for now...I sign the lease this afternoon and movers come Saturday morning. Please let this all go smoothly...So double that promise to myself I can't see us moving from here unless I get married or make a phenomenal amount of money and can purchase a home.
Even though we are quickly approaching Halloween, (ask any parent who has a kid!), mortgage loans that end up as horror stories happen year round. This is especially sad as there is a great deal of information on the Internet to avoid becoming a horror story.So exactly what is a consumer to do with regards to avoiding mortgage fraud, hidden fees, and gather as much information in the borrowing process as possible to avoid being a horror story?
Well that is where the link above comes in very handy! There is a great amount of well organized information to help every level of mortgage consumer-whether first time or or mortgage savvy. Mix together the policy of protecting consumer data through SecureTrust which guarantees compliance with FTC, Do Not Call & Spam regulations together with a large helping of helpful forums, an extensive mortgage directory, and knowledgeable industry content and you have a site to be book marked and suggested to friends in need.
What Kind of Title Do I Give This? Nope this is not a PPP. One of the dangers I can now see of posting the maximum of three PPP opportunities in the same day is that everytime I make a post like this about something whacky and off the wall like novelty toilet paper that there will be a perception I am shilling something...Well I'm not... I just happen to like this site. A while back I would often quickpost sites to come back later and make a full post.
Today I was looking through the list of posts sitting in the draft pile. Pretty amazed at the number I have never posted...Several draft posts go back to early this year. So there you have it. If ever wondering if it is a sponsored PPP post just look below at the category and see if it is marked PPP.
It appears from the things I have seen and read on the Internet hat the folks working at PayPerPost have a very entertaining and fun job as well as great team. You can see and hear from this sweetly heart felt and yet comical confessional, it is just like the real world the rest of us live in and there can and will be blips on the screen of life of high stress times. To be expected I guess when there is a lot going on and a ton to do in helping people like myself get paid to blog. I hear all team members are going to be doing video confessionals. Here is the first confessional from Flaming Tamale.
Nope it isn't a typo... not women with cramps but Men with Cramps. Here on YouTube is the 7th part of the documentary. I had no idea the most important events in history were directly or indirectly caused by male menstrual cramps. Certainly explains many things. Unfortunatley also leaves a great deal to wonder and worry about...as if there aren't enough things in this world to worry about already...
On Tuesday October 31, 2006, Halloween, FrightWorld The Movie World Premiere willl take place at Frightworld Haunted Amusement park outside Buffalo, New York.
Did you know Frightworld Haunted Amusement park is regarded by those who should know, as one of the TOP 13 scream parks in the good ol' USA? According to their site, Frightworld came to life on the outskirts of Buffalo, New York back in 2002. Every year since, the Frightworld has grown in providing more and more immense terror. Now for 2006, Frightworld was selected out of 2500 haunted attractions across America as the seventh best attraction in all of America.
We are not talking your old- fashioned small neighborhood haunted house here. Frightworld is one of the largest haunted attractions in the western New York area if not country. I know there is nothing like it here in Hawaii! Your scary journey will take you through five individual houses and will take considerable time...if of course you make it out Bwahhhhh Bwaahhhhh.
Make certain to arrive at opening time of 6:30 p.m as it will take you quite a long while on an evening like Halloween and you will want to enjoy the movie as well to get you in the mood! Well worth the effort though if you blossom under conditions of terrfying fear. Your natural instinct may be to run like hell but fans really strongly suggest taking time to stop and admire the grotesqueness of every distinctly different room.
Now imagine topping the Frightworld Haunted amusement park with the world premiere of the movie Frightworld! The movie is bound to be screamingly excellent entertainment and a classic to be matched by all future scream fests. The premiere is for those 18 years and older... After all even old fogies can appreciate a good scare! The premiere will include among other things:
Presale tickets are on sale now for a frighteningly good deal of a price at $23! If you don't get a chance to get your tickets a head of time, have absolutely NO fear they will be available at the door for a still frigtheningly great price of $25.
Picasso was born on this day, October 25 1881. Easily considered one of the most well known and greatest artists of the 20th century, he was also prolific. Did you know he created more than 50,000 drawings, paintings,sculptures, engravings, and ceramics in his 80 years? Whoa... This Mother and Child 
is one of my favorites although not as well known as Science & Charity
Via the internet, I have known more than my share of people who pursue shall we say...eccentric past times... One cyber friend is into entering contests and has won some awesome stuff. I was never able to keep it up long enough to get anything as good as her. Another on my August Mommies of 97 e-mail list was known as the Diva of free coupons.
Being a fanatic will get you very far as you can see here. Free stuff was never so easy to find. Shoot from experience I can tell you I knew there has always been a lot of free stuff for babies but I had not a clue it went as far as free wedding stuff! With hundreds of free articles on stuff ranging from free stuff for pets to free food plan on bookmarking it as well as staying quite a while ot at least until money starts to grow on trees!
BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books (book swap and book exchange and book trade).It hasn't been especially fruitful for me yet but I also have not had enough time to enter all the books I would like to swap. I signed up for the forum for a few days and it was a highly active group. One who loves books will do well here... so go add some and take a look around.
Have ya' heard-The Home Office From Hell contest is in its 2nd year? It began yesterday and I imagine the competition will be fierce as we all know what a home office can look like when you are more concerned about bringing the bacon home. To enter you submit your top 10 reasons why you need to move out of your home office from hell. You can also upload a video of your hellacious office and get an extra point.
The Grand Prize winner will receive 12 months of rent at any location posted on Offices2Share.com (up to 12k) plus a paid trip to New York City to have lunch with George Ross, Donald Trump's right-hand man and former Co-Star of The Apprentice.
Check it out as there are additional prizes worth thousands of dollars if you don't get to wear the honorable distinction of winning the Home Office from Hell. If I enter you can bet I won't be including a view of the palm trees in the video...more likely a gecko running across the wall... And NO, I kid you not...Geckos run across my walls in a day more times than I can count...Believe me far better to see a friendly gecko than a heeby jeeby centipede...
I'd like to extend a warm Aloha to
Pictures From My World. Believe me you will be glad she does share pictures from her world...amazing and beautiful pictures... awesome and thoughtful commentary... The layout is elegant and classy... I hope to get a chance to rent from her... I am truly honored to welcome Pictures From My World as my renter of the week and to my permanent blog roll status as a Crystal Clear Gem!
Yep that is the total sum of what I have earned thus far from PayPerPost. I have received $22 in my paypal account. Their policy which is understandable, although I find it hard to believe I would ever delete a post once I had it up, is to not pay until the post has been up for 30 days. I originally found out about them from a Google search on: exactly that search: "Pay Per Post blogging".In the beginning I had a few posts not be approved and it was completely my own fault. I either had forgotten to include the invisible tracking image they usually have you include or violated another rule like I hadn't updated my blog within the 7 days prior. Having to have a "regular" post between PPPs is a great way to keep me blogging and coming up with content.
So you can see we have quite a ways to go with regards to paying for Bryceton's braces...However, if they keep having these nifty little $10 posts...that would be $900 a month...Of course most of the opportunities aren't at $10...but it beats the heck out of AdSense for a blog like mine where I go allover the place writing about everything from politics to the boys...
Older moms cope with motherhood just fine says study.
I have to agree with Dr. Ledger though and think Dr. Steiner is missing the point about motherhood and the child in the equation:
Dr. Bill Ledger from University of Sheffield told London's Independent newspaper that he is concerned for the welfare of the children as their mothers age.
The USC study did not address this aspect of giving birth at a later age.
But Dr. Steiner says the concerns surrounding older mothers may be based on prejudice, rather than evidence.
Motherhood is also about the child. Although women are indeed living longer and are healthier than before, the Kindergartener entering school at 5 years old with a 60 year old mother...they are going to get seriously tired of responding to the quesiton, "Is that your grandma?"--"No, that's my mom"...uhmmm think about it...that is also where the research and search for evidence needs to go now...Even at 43 I can tell you it is exhausting and requires not just physical energy but mental acuity and memory as well. I know there are those who will of course counter there are younger women who don't have those or are compromised... well don't go there for this discussion...
A phone conversation a few moments ago with a friend in town, who we are having dinner with latter this evening,had us both chuckling about the absolute drag of aging and the changes in things such as our eyesight, energy level, and memory.
Having tried a number of supplments and vitamin combinations with varying degrees of success, I mentioned to her about Sytropin HGH or Human Growth Hormone . I mean if Oprah takes an interest in it...only a matter of time before someone will be suggesting it to me or I to them.
From what I can gather, Sytropin contains not only true homeopathic quality HGH but the six most potent Growth Factors, and 8 proven amino acid releasers all mixed into one oral spray. Although I would have absolutlely no issues with needles or injections if they really worked and I needed them (remember I went through infertility treatment to become pregnant with Nethan!) most people and rightly so are a bit freaked out to give themselves injections or to receive them from their M.D. Sytropin also is the only HGH supplement to offer a risk-free 90-Day Money Back Guarantee! Trying it out means if you are not completely satisfied, you can easily return it for a full refund! Definitely something to consider...my energy level is truly being tested right now with:
As you can see, this life of mine is quite full and seems the chance of finding some help with Sytropin, which has been called the "fountain of youth in a bottle " is looking like a pretty Crystal Clear choice right now!
National Novel Writing Month, more lovingly referred to as Nanowrimo is about to hit full swing. Will you be partaking? I have Bryceton almost set up to do it with a goal right now of 25K instead of the usual adult 50K... even that may be too much. He is being bribed rewarded with the promise of a new game for his Gamecube. He is going to pursue a fanfiction piece where Starwars meets Bionicles. He has characters and plot....the issue now is that his computer is on the fritz... all the dust and muck of the past few years has clogged up the heat sink on his computer as best I can figure and it keeps overheating and shutting down within moments of being booted up... I feel for him as there is no way I could write longhand... the main goals for me for him are to have fun and to write daily and to skip all TV and video games for the month. Whether these are too much to handle we shall see.
Rumor has it there have been all sorts of madeup stories about PayPerPost, Ads on blogs
,and the founder Ted Murphy. As obvious he and they are of the highest class, truth has it they actually find the tales to be absolutely side-splitting hilarious.Having written over $120 worth of ads for them, I am here to tell you the truth of what is going on behind the scenes:
Crystal Clear the truth can be terribly boring or exotic...but what is really going on here has to do with revenge...Yes sirreee, you see Ted Murphy and the crew at Pay per Post all have something in common, they all have ex-boyfriends/ex-girlfriends who work for the Google empire. Each of them has been dumped by the ex at Google and they all are so terribly bitter they want to mess with the Google algorithms. Then the Googleites are going to have a very very messy time of coming up with a way of determining whether a blogger's post is genuine and heart felt or simple shilling for a few bucks... Pay Per Post knows their plan for conquering Google also benefits small time bloggers like myself even if it might frustrate some readers. Revenge is sweet?
If you remember, a month back I wrote a post about Nethan and wondering about his reading readiness. Well I happened upon Get Ready to Read! . It is really more focused towards 4 year olds but after things settle down here at least a little bit I am going to sit down with him and find out the results for him. As far as an update in teaching him to read, we initially were able to sit down and do it but lately things are really crazy. He has been able though to master M,N,S, A, E, and T is emerging. He also can write M,N, A, and T. He is at the point he recognizes and points out frequently when he sees them in words around him. Very cute indeed to see him sitting with his little Baby Jesus of the My Very First Bible Stories Series.His little hands turning the pages... he really looks like he is reading... Very impressive indeed for my little 3 year old!
Weddings are definitely a very strange and yet amusing phenomenon. I know that might sound a bit confusing and strange to hear from a Marriage, Family and Child therapist but I am talking about the whole wedding planning thing..not the marriage part which well uhhh, yep I guess marriage is also a bit strange and amusing as well. Anyway, whether it is a girl thang or a cultural thing, I know my heart still flutters when I happen upon a site showing how to orchestrate the dream wedding or fantasy honeymoon.
Even though I'm not engaged right now (I wish...) or helping someone plan their wedding (possibility-Caela??) there are times I wonder what style I will select for my 2nd wedding or what I would suggest for a bride to be. There are so many to consider I can see how young women can go a bit berzerk from the choices.
Even without the Internet in1989, my first wedding was perfect on just about all accounts and look at how the marriage ended up! Nevertheless, I would have and could have used a thorough and well designed web sites like this dealing with virtually everything you would ever want or need to know about wedding traditions and planning weddings with a budget. However, when you are in the stage of planning a wedding I am in... there is no such thing as a budget...tee hee. That is exactly how I can end up spending time exploring sections such as selecting a diamond and creative ideas for wedding flowers. In real life I know the flowers will again be gardenias as they are still my most absolute favorite... and the diamond thing... well I trust the man I marry to take advice from little Nethan who captures it perfectly when he says "Pretty pretty shiny shiny"... Definitely sounds better when you hear Nethan say it but captures what a diamond wedding ring should be dontcha think?
I almost backed out of our move to the new home. Last year the rent on it was going to be $1825, this year it is $2025! UGH... UP in cost when I have been trying to move towards downsizing to keep being with the boys as much as possible.. Unfortunately and yet I suppose fortunately, I just couldn't back out as the boys are so excited about the move. Shoot I was excited about it too and don't like where we are...but I was a lot more excited when I thought I was only going up $125 in rent and not $325 ...so I started the process of making all the arrangements for our move next week. Although I think I have a good deal with 2 movers at $93 an hour, I was a bit freaked to learn we are going to have to go a WEEK without cable TV and internet service. YIKES! My first thought was I could probably snag some free wifi access from a neighbor or will just use the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf but no LOST? Uhmm nope... I think we are going to have to drive into Waikiki to my parent's condo....
As we sat here in the semi-dark which quickly became pitch dark on Sunday night after the quake with the candles flickering, each of us with our own flashlight nearby (Nethan's- was a cute little one from the movie Cars,
Bryceton's was the mammoth yellow one we use for camping, and mine-the long black heavy one cops can't carry anylonger ) and as we ate our P&J sandwiches, it was Bryceton who brought up how he wish he had night vision goggles to guide him on his trek down the long dark hallway to the bathroom or spy on some bad guys should the need every arise.
With Halloween around the corner and after all the hoopla in Hawaii regarding how Hawaiian Electric, referred to as HECO here, was such a disappointment at handling the power outage, you gotta wonder how soon there is going to be a run on these- fright goggles to Nethan but highly "cool" to Bryceton...Night Goggles! A dream of his in fact to have his own pair of night goggles. I suppose I should be glad he wants the pair above and not the N NVG-7 Gen 3 SELA 64-73 lp/mm Night Vision Goggle, ATN Select Alpha Grade NVD at $2995!!!!( I kid you not and that is $500 off regular price but they do ship it UPS for free :-) )..Fortunately they also have an amazing Holiday Gift Guide that’ll help you pick a sure-to-be-talked-about gift this holiday season at a wide variety of prices.
Word of Blog.net has built a database of online political ads (or "badges")...nifty and smart...
hat tip: Uncooperative Blogger
As the press release from Schaumburg Real Estate states, " NewCastle Realty Group specializes in the 7 county area of Northeastern Illinois, which includes the City of Chicago, and over 180 surrounding cities. Our agents are committed to helping you find the perfect home, investment property, or commercial location for your business. In this ultra competitive real estate market it is important for a real estate firm to provide their clients with more than just a list of properties for sale."
Even a brief look around their website, shows they indeed do have detailed information on population, school systems, median income levels, houses of worship, access to commuter rail lines and other local areas of interest in the Chicago real estate market. There also are a number of other links as well including a search function. No plans to re-locate to Illinois...but thought you might find it helpful.
Although I am 2 for 2 in getting letters to the Editor published here in Hawaii, I wanted to post the one I just dashed off regarding this one in The Honolulu Advertiser by a local candidate here.
This guy running for State House of Representatives against the highly popular incumbent (R) Kym Pine just opened his mouth and stuck a big ol' slippa in it... You see here in Ewa, there has been an extremely long term traffic problem. The problem was long before I moved here and although I gather people have talked a lot of story about what should be done and could be done to alleviate the ridiculously long (yes even with my Ca perspective they seem long) commute to town, nothing has moved forward over the years besides more and more development and thus more and more commuters making travel time longer and more dangerous. This was also a safety concern for me even before Sunday's quake because the Ewa community has literally only one way into town and one way out. In the event of a catastrophe such as a Tsunami, I know we'd basically be up a creek without a paddle.
Enter Kym, a first term (R) Rep. who comes onto a largely (D) scene and with a great deal of collabortive work is able to get more funds for traffic relief for Ewa than ever before! Recognizing this great achievement among others, the Honolulu Advertiser endorsed Pine in the upcoming election. Now enter the challenger who doesn't have many avenues (tee hee) to drive up and if you want read his article or just my letter to the Editor:
Regarding R. Scott Belford's arrogant letter to the editor (Oct 17)questioning the Advertiser's endorsement of Rep. Pine and his condescending comment, "Voters are too tired to spend time checking facts. We count on the media for this...", I am greatly disappointed and shocked a man running for office would think so little of his constituents let alone so publicly display his own poor judgement for all to read. I can only surmise in making such grossly false statements and accusations regarding voters'knowledge and recognition of facts he can allow himself to ignore our genuine appreciation for the exemplary service of Rep. Pine for her district and people of Hawai'i.
I mean politics can and does often unfortunatley mean candidate attacking candidate...but what kind of mind, what kind of political servant mind sees his constituents as too tired ( read lazy? stupid? uninformed? lackadaisical?) to know facts let alone check them? Ya gotta wonder once you stop laughing.
So I think I made it Crystal Clear, or at least I hope I did, the quake here yesterday morning was really not that big of a deal. Especially or at least in comparison to my experience with the Northridge quake in 1994. However, I have to tell you or rather want to tell you, I am nevertheless still very concerned for folks on the big island and others here who may feel their experiences and reactions aren't warranted or they are over reacting since things so quickly have returned to business as usual and there isn't anything in pictures to give credence to their experience like the collapsed Santa Monica freeway or apartment building.
The quake in 94 was horrendous in mine and everyone I know's memory. I had been through several earthquakes of various sizes and although I didn't like them as many long time residents did, I just took them for granted as part of life there. Northridge changed all of that and also seemed to even change it for the folks who liked them. I truly did think for I don't recall how many seconds or nanoseconds but it was enough... that I was going to die and more frightening to me at the time... die all alone. It was so terribly violent and it didn't stop. It kept going and going. It felt like God had taken my little place in his hands, picked it up, and shook it up and down and from left to right repeatedly. It was very loud. A locomotive coming full force into my bedroom. For some reason at some point, I ended up reviewing my journal from that time and I was surprised to also be reminded as well that it seemed like the earth did not stop moving for days and then weeks. No matter what you were doing you were on guard for a very long time. It seemed like life would never be normal again. For years after,I would look at porcelain and glass nick nacks and all I could think about was they would never make it through an earthquake and weren't worth having. I wouldn't take possession of priceless family heirlooms as I didn't want to have to ever face sweeping them up like all the glass I had that day. I left an IMAX movie that included footage of the SF quake as it was too much for me. So here I sit again and want to share regarding PTSD:
The results suggest that the psychological consequences of earthquakes can be serious and long-standing even when the magnitude of the earthquake is moderate. Psychological treatments that have been proven to reduce fear and PTSD symptoms need to be made available to the survivors. Such treatments may also increase the survivors' psychological preparedness and emotional resilience in view of future earthquakes.
I think that is so true. At Clinicas with some Federal?? funds I think, we developed an Equake team that dealt with the kids in Filmore in the schools. I worry for the kids here. I worry as I have serious qualms with the mental health services provided and received here. For myself,now everything is back to normal and the power is on, it has brought back some very bad memories of terrifying fear. Silly. Yes... and no. One of those silly things I have kept in my mind to keep me safe...or at least the pretense I am safe..is that I wouldn't ever have to go through something like THAT again...now that wishful thinking is slightly shattered...
Silly perhaps as well, but as we walked back across the street yesterday from the Hilton to the condo, I thought about what if this is the last day I have with my boys, what would I want to do?, what have I not done I want to do? I am glad beyond words and thus why this is under the category of Single Motherhood....I was able to even wonder: ...with my boys. My take on these things is that it is truly the best thing you can take from them...what would you want to do or do differently? I knew from Northridge I did NOT want to die alone or at least in the sense I did NOT want to die without having children and being a mother. It was about a year and a half later before I'd get the next major wake up call and almost die in surgery and finally move forward with single motherhood. But it also can defintitely be traced back to the quake. So this time...this quake.. well those thoughts are somewhat relatively personal and yet some Crystal Clear.. Single motherhood is not very easy and I wouldn't suggest it for anyone as a first choice but as far as the hand I have been dealt in life... I definitely came out a winner with two of the most wonderful, beautiful, smart, loving, special, and funny sons I or you ever could have imagined.
Perhaps of all the industries that have excelled at using the internet to promote interest and increase exposure to potential clients, the travel industry has truly used the internet to its greatest advantage and that of tourists. However, this has meant both good and bad news for prospective travelers. A healthy abundance of good sites keep interest and sales strong and keeps wannabe travelers like myself scouring the internet but unfortunately there are a good share of useless waste of time sites that can easily frustrate potential travelers like myself and leave us wondering where that great site with great information we loved was or IS. Having returned from a Caribbean vacation and Caribbean Disney Cruise in August and residing in one of the most highly popular tropical vacation spots of the world, Oahu, leaves me I believe in a pretty good spot to recommend travel sites to you if you are interested in a great site that include reviews of island vacations and cruising and feedback from tourists who have experienced the best beaches, tropical vacations, and cruises this beautiful world of ours has to offer.
The Warm Islands site is organized extremely well. The site makes it very easy to quickly find information about the spots you may be interested in visiting or exploring and providing a great deal of "been there done that" experience on their member forums. I would highly recommend joining the forums at the earliest point when you are either deciding on a vacation destination or have decided on a vacation spot and want the most up to date and current traveler information.
As an extra benefit to get you in the mood or to recapture those great memories, they also have some great recipes available. From Apple Onion marinated pok tenderloin to Baba-ghannouj
there are some quick and easy recipes offered under the food and drink category.
I guess those recipes from Hawaii for poi and lomi lomi or poki haven't quite made it there yet!Nevertheless, even if just in the first stages of thinking about a warm island vacation...check it out.
We had spent the night in Waikiki at my parent's condo to pick up their fishie and some food as they are on the mainland for a few months. So we weren't at home. My first thought honestly was this could not be an earthquake, I must be dreaming. I was in Sant Monica during the Northridge quake of 94 and still have nighmares regarding it. I only think of Hawaii having earthquakes of the little type that you never actually feel. So as I came to awareness, both boys were asking "What's THAT?" and it kept going. I thought EARTHQUAKE? and then seriously wondered if it was an explosion in the building or nutso N Korea… my last guess would have been an earthquake. The second one left little doubt in my mind it was an earthquake. I would have pegged it as a 4.5- 4.8 direct experience so not surprised it was the 6.7 on Hawaii they are reporting now.After fighting with the boys to get their clothes on as they were pretty freaked out…and needed tons of reassurance the building wasn’t going to come tumbling down, we headed down 15 flights of stairs. Nethan was fussing and absolutely refused to walk so I carried him down the 15 floors. To add to the adventure element we also had RAIN. Heavy rain. We then proceeded to spend the most money I have ever spent on an awful breakfast at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. 26$ for coffee, 2 milks, donuts, and bran muffin. Not to mention it understandably took over an hour of standing in line to get it… Then as we were finishing, there was some muffled Charlie Brown’s teacher voice on the intercom.The worst part was we couldn't’ tell whether they said because of the size there was or WASN’T a tsunami warning. Of all the times to have rain…and it was still pouring... after finishing breakfast I decided although I really didn't think there was a chance of tsunami ,figuring it would have hit soon after the quake, and we were already at 3-4 hours post quake, but figuring we’d be better off on the 15th floor than on lobby level or in Ewa if there was a tsunami and it was raining so with no traffic lights it was kind of silly to head back to Ewa right then..so back up 15 flights of stairs. Bryceton was especially AWFUL the entire day. Whether it was the boredom or the anxiety about the earthquake… he was horrendous when he is usually such a great helper. My dad had one of those lamp/lantern/TV/Radio and so we were able to hear what was and wasn't going on. After several hours of just maintaining in the condo and hearing power was being slowly restored over the island I made the decision to head back home to Ewa around 2pm since I knew we had more food at home than in the condo… Our place in Ewa was still standing but some stuff, silly stuff had fallen over. Shortly after arriving home, Bryceton was trying to open something and sliced under his thumb a good one. If it hadn’t been an earthquake day, I would have taken him to the ER. This morning we were surprised we didn't have power back. The school has power...strange. So now I am here at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf which has wifi. My main reflection as a Cal girl is that I thought it was very very strange there was some strange paid for TV show on but there wasn’t a single TV station available to present information as it came available. What's with THAT??? So the greatest difficulties were with regard to getting information and the power outage. I don't think it should be acceptable to have a TV show available and not have information on it. Even though it wasn't much, the radio station did an excellent job at sharing what they knew and didn't know. Great reminder even though we are coming to the end of Hurricaine season to be prepared for these things...they don't come with warnings... You are supposed to use this as the warning.
PayPerPost blog advertising has gathered $3 million of venture capital financing led by Inflexion Partners with participation from Villiage Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. I am the first to admit I don't know these "players" and yet I can tell you I do agree with their decision to invest.
The hoopla around PPP advertising is only going to grow greater at this point in the cycle. Initially the tremendous amount of uproar by bloggers on both sides of the issue of consumer generated advertising will benefit all, with PPP bloggers putting cash in their pockets most of all. My opinion of this hoopla has actually morphed a bit the more PPPs I have written. At some point I believe the "market" will naturally sort things out whether paid blog posts are the way to go. PPPs don't discredit a blog or blogger...it is always the blogger who makes the choices about what to blog and how to blog about it...And that indeed is a whole other post that can be explored because as I said I have changed my thinking anout PPPs the more I have written the. My highest hope is that PPPs continue to grow and the range of opportunities expands. For when there is a wide variety of paid opportunities to select from the derogatory comments about shilling without disclosure will lose their punch. Whaddaya think?
I don't recall if I wrote about this pay-per-post opportunity or not. I do know Blog to Profit is expanding quickly and are recruiting new bloggers. I would greatly appreciate it if after you check it out and decide to participate you use my email MFCT@hotmail.com as your referral. Just another way to help a single mom help make ends meet!
Although there still seems to be a few bitter and jealous people who would love to see me fail here in Hawaii-no, we are not moving back to that state. The home we wanted a year ago here at Iroquois Point is finally coming available later this month!
It is highly likely this will be our home for a very long time. I can't see us moving until I marry a wonderul and fantastic man and we own a home. Where we will be moving is walking distance to the beach, walking distance to their school, 4 bedrooms, and a standalone home with a side yard for an affordable rent of $1800 a month.The floors in all of these places are absolutely atrocious. They have those awful institutional vinyl tiles. The floor in the new place at least appears to have a greater shine than this one. I still also hate the preponderance of bugs here and don't feel much more fond of the geckos than I did a year ago but I suppose even living in Hawaii has to come with some "buts" besides the cost of living here is astounding.
On other fronts, yesterday was especially rounded out by really and truly enjoying my work and being grateful for the flexibility and freedom I feel I have right now to dedicate so much of my energy into being mom to the boys. This agency is tops as far as leadership and living and walking their talk. I don't know if I could ever say enough positive things about them.
Additionally, we have been blessed by having a mother from Nethan's classroom be my childcare provider on an as needed basis. She and her family are awesome and a true life godsend. Because of her generosity and flexibility at only paying her when I need her, I am able to spend more time with the boys and not have to worry about covering the extraordinary costs of childcare I have always had to pay. Also having my family around for help during vacations is huge and a wonderful thing for the boys. They adore their grandparents and are pretty heartbroken Grandma and Grandpa are away in Phoenix right now for a few months. Not having to budget 7-9 thousand dollars a year for childcare has made a tremendous difference financially and in the overall quality of our life. I also continue the ghost writing and it is pretty challenging on a number of fronts even if it isn't quite yet as financially rewarding as I need. With less doctor appointments on the horizon and more stability in our lives, I feel there is slowly becoming more time available to dedicate to building my practice. So all in all you can see despite some challenges I have and yet won't get into here, when my boys are happy and healthy and I have time to care for and enjoy them, my life is very very sweet indeed.
Finding a wide selection of model bathrooms and showers in real life like you can find online at Taps 4 Less can be especially challenging here in Hawaii where retail space and shippping costs are so costly. With free time-yeah right!- I often browse around the worldwide shopping web and gather
links of designs and ideas for the home I plan on dream of someday owning. I imagine many contractors and designers around the world also use the internet to select and purchase aesthetic and affordable taps, showers, bath tubs and shower enclosures.
Yep you can safely? or sadly say you have reached the status of adulthood when you get excited and amped about an awesome selection of bathroom taps and showers and are pleased to be able to share it.
| A Bionicle Music Video featuring Jaller, Matoro, Hahli; Titans and the Piraka Videos.If you have a 9 year old in your house you will be hearing a great deal about this! | |
According to Random House dictiaonary, trivia is defined as:
matters or things that are very unimportant, inconsequential, or nonessential; trifles; trivialities.
However, from stuff you never had time to go look into such as coughing and 10 things you didn't know about Jukeboxes, the 
Aviva Trivia Blog is loaded with tons of facts and tidbits many of us find considerably consequential. It appears this all started back in May 2006 with an initial post about trees presenting stuff that could win you more than one game show and since that time there have been posts as wild and crazy as Burial customs and curiousities to my favorite-10 things you can do with hairspray. Of course I will keep checking back cause a girl has to wonder, why call it the Aviva Trivia Blog?
This past weekend I was playing a little game with a friend about great quotes from great movies. I don't think the quote from The Graduate is a great quote on its own when you read it aloud but I know I still always chuckle when Benjamin is floating in the pool and the guy says " I want to say one word to you. Just one word." Of course, Benjamin replies ,"Yes sir." and the guy continues, "Are you listening?". Benjamin replies "Yes I am." and the man says "Plastics".
I guess this cracks me up too because who would have thought the Plastics Industry would be part of a joke in a classic movie and be so dead on right? The delivery and the situation of saying Plastics is orchestrated so well. And in caveman times, what was the word? "Granite"? Can you imagine this scene now or rather a few years back with a guy saying for the one word, "Yahoo"? I don't think it would have the same comic effect. Just think though, someone is giving fatherly advice right now- what is the new word?
