Megapixel race...

Since I just got a 6.3 megapixel camera I found this article interesting. The megapixel race.

ASL to the rescue...

When I first was told about my wife's famliy (then my girlfriend) I was intrigued to learn that her younger siblings that were adopted were unable to speak but used sign language mainly to communicate. Since they, 2 of the kids, have downsyndrome their signs are easy to learn and fun to use with them. I was intrigued and began thinking about teaching my own kids sign language to be able to communicate with their family (as the youngest brother is deaf) but also to broaden and expand their minds. Those thoughts were rekindled and strengthened with this article I found. It seems teaching sign language to a child saved this woman's life. I am confident that my wife and I will teach our children sign language and am looking forward to it.

Hosting a murder...

My sister-in-laws birthday was last week and unfortunately we were out of town and unable to do anything with/for her. For atleast a year Becca (the sister in law) has been trying to throw my wife a How to Host a Murder party, this game is rather fun, but time consuming and harder to pull off then they make it seem. We decided to throw her a surprise murder party. The basis of the game is you put 8 people in a room, give them characters and a character guide book and tell them one of them murdered their host. Basically Clue acted out at a dinner party. We pulled out all the stops, got a friend to let us use their "summer home" up in Park City, got a good friend to ask Becca out on a date, got all her best friends in on it, and even dressed in black and acted as the servants. Two weeks in planning all came to an end last night, and it was well worth it. She was surprised beyond belief and when we shuffled her into the other room to get into her costume she had a hard time not jumping up and down in excitement and her mouth open in shock. The dinner was huge with all the courses, I'm glad I married an excellent cook. I'd recommend it to anyone, as long as you get all the people that will get into character and have fun with it. Try your own How to Host a Murder party anytime.

Billary in 2008? I hope not...

With President Bush's reelection it leaves the thought out there: Who in 2008? I have a friend who normally votes democratic but this year voted for Bush, why? Not because she thought he was the better choice necessarily but because she wants Hillary Clinton as president in 2008. I am not a sexist and don't think that a woman would do a good job as a president but Billary in the white house again? Heaven help us. I believe that women make great leaders and can see different sides to a topic or event than men can, but I don't believe that that first woman president slot should be occupied by Hillary. Her husband has done enough damage to the country and the world in his two terms, can we stand to have him as "first lady" and helping his wife during her terms? I'm not a strong politicaly minded man, I believe in the founding fathers and their dream for our country, it was them that paved the way for this country to be as great as it is. My hopes and wishes are that we strive to elect leaders for our country that actually care about the job they do and not just about writing a book when they are done. My request to the country: hold true to the values and the designs that our great nation was founded on; "one nation under God" there is no comma there and nor should there be. With God all is possible, without him all is futile.

Fishing vs phishing

Those who know me, know that I have a passion for fly fishing. Its a great way to get out and enjoy the outdoors, relieve some stress, and have some good ol' fashioned fun.
Recently there has been a new type of "fishing" that has surfaced. While it shares the same name it has nothing to do with the sport I love, it is called Phishing. I have received a few emails that are of the phishing type and want to warn others. Phishing is usually an email or pop up and looks innocent enough. It can appear to come from your bank, credit card companies, or similar institutions; even Ebay.
They have all the look and design of an email that you would get from your bank, some even stating that they are trying to stop phishing and tell you to log in on their page to learn details and provide a link. Don't be fooled, it ISN'T your bank. A good thing to do is to hold your mouse over the link and see where it points. Sadly some programmers are even getting good enough that they can show your banks web address even on the mouse over.

Steps to avoid being caught in the PHISHING net:
1. Never click on the link in these emails - your bank will never send an email telling you to "click here", but will tell you to go to their site and log in. Always go to the website and log in there.
2. Report even suspected incidents to places like: http://www.antiphishing.org/ and also to that institution, include as much information as you can.
3. The Federal Trade Commission is also a great place to look and complain.
4. Keep your anti-virus software up to date.
5. Don't send any personal information via email and also be cautious about attachments you receive.

Here is a good test to test your knowledge on phishing. Also do a search on Google on phishing, you'd be surprised what comes up.

Its sad that a sport with such a peaceful and sportsman reputation shares a name with this attrocious and pitiful crime.

Online Stars... who woulda thunk?

Ever see the star wars boy, there are more people trying to jump on the band wagon and get their few minutes of fame. I tried to get the Flash file to put on here but his site has been pulled. He was around for a few weeks and even made VH1. Here are his updates on MSN no less...

Getting your problems solved...

I have been in customer service for most of my working life. And there are always your irate customers. Noone likes being an irate customer, they just want to get what they paid for or not be taken advantage of. I'm like the next man and when someone tries to take advantage of me I make sure they know I'm not the type to put up with that. I have worked in a call center for the last 4+ years, and have dealt with many different people. I have derived my own strategy on how to deal with getting my problem solved. I was reading online the other day and I found this article. How to complain effectively, some great advice. I am much more willing to help someone that is nice than trying to help someone that is rude and harassing me, but you have to be stubborn and make sure the issue gets resolved. Some great tips I just wanted to share.

How to be Romantic... maybe not.

I was listening to the radio last night and I heard an ad telling men how to be romantic and "nothing says romance like taking your significant other to OutBack Steak House". Well I'm like most guys, I like a good steak every now and then, but my wife isn't the biggest meat eater. She makes the comment "shouldn't they be focusing that towards the girls to take their man?" She's right, on the average a steak house is more of a man's place than a woman's. (I'm not saying women don't eat steak but on average its true.) I responded to her by saying that valentine's day was more of a woman's holiday than a man's. But then I got to thinking, its very sad that OutBack thinks that men are that non-romantic that they can tell them to take their wives/gf's to a steak house. Granted its a nice resturaunt but it just goes to show the general thoughts of men and their being romantic. Granted men in general are stupid when it comes to relationships, we aren't the most focused on our feelings and on romance but guys can do the job when they really try. Come on OutBack give us a break believe in your customers and stop perpetuating these stereo types; Tell our wive's and GF's to take us to OutBack as a Thank You for a great Valentine's!

A great day to begin Blogging...

I know everyong feels like they never win anything. I am one of those people. I have been debating whether or not to start a blog and decided to give it a try if nothing else and today just happened to be a GREAT day. I came to work expecting the same ol' same ol' hum drum. We had this orientation thing at work where if you go you get free ice cream, no brainer I went. We filled out a card for a drawing later on in the day, nother no brainer (free stuff? of course!). Well i get back from lunch to co-workers telling me that I just won. Well I only half believed em, but then I get a call saying "you won come pick up your free digital camera." SWEET! So i go to pick it up thinking its a cheezy cheap one, but no its a 6.3 megapixel camera (gotta give props). So when I get back from my desk I have an internal mail folder sitting on my desk, "thank you for your suggestion, heres 100$ to any Marriott Hotel."
Yeah, I know that I never win anything but I'm on cloud nine today cause I finally figured out how it feels to win. What a way to start off the blogging journey. Watch out world, I'm a winner and here I come! (ok cheezy comment i know but I just couldn't help myself.)