Continuing Education

Many people are searching for alternatives to completing or upgrading their education skills. With the busy demands of our lives these days with many people needing to work to pay for their schooling it is becoming increasingly important of find flexible education alternatives. Capella University is a fully accredited online university that offers graduate and bachelor's degree programs in many disciplines from business, information technology, public safety. Along with other graduate programs as well. In total they offer over 100 graduate and undergraduate specializations. Capella currently serves over 23,000 studens all over the world.
If you would like to get more information on any of the accredited online university degree programs contact Capella University, 225 South Sixth Street, Ninth Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55402, 1-888-CAPELLA (227-3552), www.capella.edu.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Gas goes down

What an exciting day after watching the price of gas climb steadily for months finally some good news, as of tommorrow the price of gas is supposed to drop approximately .10 a Litre here. The bad news, I just filled the gas guzzling beast up last night but at least next time we fill up. With any luck we will continue to see this prices continue to drop over the next few months. The aweful part is all the raising prices that have occured on everyday items over the last few months will never go back down again and we will pay for that for ever.

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Cell Phone Issue

I recently watched a report that had conflicting information, it was stated that using cell phones can contribute to brain cancer in the same report it also was reported that different experts reviewed the same reports and came to the complete opposite opinion. How do we as a consumer understand the risks if we don't know what the real truth is. It is frustrating having such differing opinions developed from the same report.

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Medical assistant software

In today's health environment with added pressure of getting everything done quickly any resource that can assist has to be taken advantage of. Many physicians are using PDA's and computer's to assist them in quickly reviewing medical information using online drug reference programs from companies like Epocrates. The programs allow them to check interactions between drugs before prescriptions are written. With the increased emphasis on technology they have recently released software for the Blackberry device and is working on developing programs for the Apple IPhone. This is a great resource for physicians and allows them to make important decisions without having to leave the exam room. Patients also benefit because these programs can speed up wait times by providing the information needed at the touch of a button as compared to searching through volumes of books as would have been done in years gone by.

This announcement was paid for by Epocrates

Teeth Whitening Products

Have you ever tried any teeth whitening products, we have been considering using something and recently saw and ad for new Crest White trays. I am torn between something like this product but I think it might be a bit messy and some of the strip type products you can buy out there. It would be great to hear your opinion if you have tried any type of product.
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Gas Prices

Yuck, the price of gas continues to rise and is becoming unbearable. I had to fill up the tank in the van tonight and it has been a while since I have had an almost empty tank. As I stood their filling the tank I watched the register go bigger and bigger. In the end it cost 120.00 to fill the tank. It isn't surprising but is seems to be a challange to keep gas going in the tank

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renovation the next stage

Having completed our renovation projects at our home I had to find something to do with my spare time. I have a friend that is completely gutting a massive old turn of the century home. It is a massive job and he is intent on doing it as cost effective as possible. A group from work has been going down a couple of times a week to work on the demo/clean up and we are planning on having the structure gutted to the framing by the fall. This property over looks the water and has a fantastic view that has to be seen to be appreciated. It will definately be worth all the work the first BBQ we get to have there. It's a lot of fun and theraputic destroying the inside of this house
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Lower Back Pain

So if you have read my previous post then you know we are leaving for our summer vacation at the end of the week. Well things have been so busy lately at work getting things ready for back to school specials on school supplies that with all the lifting I hurt my lower back. I am hoping that it feels better before the weekend so that I can have fun with the kids and not have to worry about any pain in my back. This back pain happens quite often and I am thinking about looking into getting a Takemi Jade Vista 5000 Massage Bed to ease the discomfort and make me feel more relaxed. But for now I am just staying focused on getting myself up to par to enjoy my 2 weeks away from work with my family.

Vacation is Almost here!

I hope that this week will go by as quick as all the other weeks have gone by so far this summer. On Friday we head out on our family vacation camping on the beach. We are all looking forward to this time and have been really busy getting things ready and packed. What a job, packing for 4 kids isn't easy by any means but we are almost done and will soon be on the road to fun and family time. We are just hoping that the weather is as nice as it has been the last couple of weeks.

Online surveys

In today's world with the cost of everything raising faster than our pay check I was forced to find new ways to make more money for the household and also cut our expenses to make ends meet. It was challenging trying to make the budget stretch as far as it could for us. Not only is our gas bill raising but every other bill accordingly is going up because of the gas situation. Watch at the grocery store the next time you go through I watch pricing like a hawk and every item went up 10 - 20% in the last 2 months. With no relief in site it was time to find other options. I recently came across a web-site designed to pay you for doing surveys and testing products. Concerned about sending your credit information over the Internet you don't have to worry because they don't use it, you get paid via a pay pal account within 48 hours of doing the surveys. As an added bonus you will get a $20 sign up bonus once you complete your sign up process. The process is easy you go in daily and check for new surveys/tests and simply select the ones you like. Click here to begin your sign up procedure and get more information. Offers on line right now that I'm considering taking advantage of are getting paid $18 to sign up for blockbuster in-store rentals/online rentals for only 9.99 a month. I also found a survey that saves you $12 on gas. I will certainly be using this site to save money on my budget.

Surf the Wave

While playing at the beach last night with the kids I was walking along the water's edge. The tide was just coming in and the water was a little rough and cloudy from the sand. All of a sudden something caught my eye and as I went in to get it my wife thought I was chasing sea weed for my son as he was playing with these long pieces I pulled out. No that wasn't it I chased it down and pulled it out and would you believe a $10 bill was just floating there on the beach. Now we were the only people on the beach at the time so I couldn't ask around to see if anyone lost the money. It made me wonder where it came from, how long would it have been in the water all kinds of thoughts. It was an exciting find that's for sure, the kids thought it was cool to find just sitting there. A once in a lifetime thing I would have to say.

Eyeglasses

I haven't had a new pair of eyeglasses now for many years and I think it is time for a change, but with the price increase on everything these days is making the budget tight so I was looking for a great deal. Well wait no longer now I can get great deals from ZenniOptical.com where I can get $8 Rx frames. If you haven't seen Zenni on Fox then you should check out their website and take advantage of their great deals and get the eyeglasses you need just like I am.

Off for the Weekend!

Well the weekend her finally here and I am looking forward to a couple of days off. I have been so busy working that I am in need of this time off to spend it with the kids. Tonight we are heading to the beach for the first time with our new puppy to see how she likes the water. The kids are excited and we will be heading out shortly and with a weekend full of sunshine and hot temperatures I'm sure we will be doing a lot of swimming.

The Quest for Victory Hair

Being a retail expert I have seen my share of interesting advertising campaigns but I have to say one of the most unique ones I have seen recently is the one created for Extreme Style by VO5 products. They have gone to the effore to creating an online game where you can go and enter a flirting competion online against other users. In the Ultimate Flirting Championship you creat and avatar and join in the fun either as a judge or a contestant, the judge asks the tough questions and the contestants have to do their best flirt to win the judges responses. Also on the side panel you can side chat to the other players also. They have also came up with the term Victory Hair which is basically lingo for the look you get after you have a passionate rendez-vous with the special someone and the look your hair will have after this time. For me Victory hair comes to a new level because we would normally start with a late night supper, after the kiddies are in bed, than if lucky we can lead off to the shower, even luckier if we both end up in their at the same time, anyway you get where I'm going, off to bed and if all the stars align, bang their you have it, "Victory Hair". What's your victory hair night look like?

Stewart making the move

After months of speculation it is offical, Tony Stewart is now 50% owner of Stewart/Hass racing. In a bold move he is taking control of what has been a struggling team in the Nascar world. It has been a long time since any owner/driver has been successful at this level it will be interesting to see how he does. Of course he does have support of Chevrolet, and Hendrick motor sports so he will have the tools. It will be interesting to see who he picks as his teammate and if he will come out of the gates with 2 teams or 3. I look forward to next season, good luck Tony, you'll need it.

The Debt Parade

I find it is increasingly difficult to manage our household finances, it seems that the cost of everything is sky rocketing except our income is staying the same. I have seen many friends and family decide to declare Bankruptcy over the last year as a result of the hard time we are all facing. Bankruptcy may seem like a good idea to get out of swarming debt but I recently discovered by taking the Bills IQ quiz the true effects of bankruptcy are long standing it can stay on your records for up to 10 years and seriously effect your credit ability over that time frame, and it can also effect your employment if your potential employers ask for clearance and this is flagged, they may think twice before offer you a chance to join their team. After taking the quiz I got a lot of useful information, I thought I was doing OK manageing my debt load but when I looked more closely at the suggestions that were given to me from the quiz it appears that Credit counseling should be part of my plans because I am at times struggling with making all my payments on time. The biggest issue we have in our household is the amount of Credit card debt we hold, we are not good credit card people as we normally will spend up to the limit and then struggle to pay it down. We are working with our lending people on a plan to do Debt consolidation next year when our lease expires on our vehicle and we can buy it outright, that seems to be the best time to do that. It will tidy up our payments into 1 loan and make it easier for us to budget our money. We are getting to the stage where we are wanting to take the kids on trips and begin saving for their education and it is important to get this debt paid down so we can help them when the time comes. It is important to get the Debt help it is available out their for you to find, you don't have to manage all by yourself. If you get a budget and learn to stick with it, it might be difficult to live to your means for a while but I think we can all get used to it and finally feel some Debt relief. I know it is the biggest cause for stress in my life and over the couple of years is going to be the biggest goal for our family, reducing the debt load.

Looking forward to a day off

After a long week of working 7 days straight I am looking forward to spending the night with the kids. We are going to have a campfire out in the back yard in the fire pit. For supper we are going to enjoy the bbq and some yummy potato salad. Also for fun we are going to have a swim in the pool while cooking supper. It will be nice to just relax and enjoy the kids on a nice summer night.

Tips on Saving Energy

With the raising costs that are hitting all of us what can you do to reduce your energy use and try to save your money:
1: Switch your light bulbs to new CFL(compact Flourescent) bulbs, you can save up to 45% on your lighting, these bulbs cost a little more but they also last longer than regular bulbs.
2: Plan your trip so you don't back track, avoid area's that you know have traffic issues to avoid idleing, this will save you gas.
3: Unplug un-used appliances, a lot of appliances and electronics use electricity even in the off mode.
4: Turn your heater down in the winter, use a sweater.
5: Summer time keep hydrated to stay cool and use less air conditioning
6: Turn the hot water heater down in your house, you won't even notice but heating it a few degree's less can make a differance.
7: Purchase new appliances with the Energy Star Rating, these will use much less energy than your old appliances.
8: Use rechargable batteries (saves money and is better for environment)

Good Luck, let me know of any other idea's you might have.

A golfing Vacation

We are planning a trip and would love to visit some of the best golf courses in the world we are checking out Golf Packages in Portugal as we have never visited Portugal and we have heard they have some of the most challangeing and beautiful courses around. They have 4 and 7 day excursions that get you set up on the golf retreat with beautiful accomadations.

What a Beautiful View

When we were at the beach the other night I snapped this shot of my wife looking out into the water at sunset. I thought this was a beautiful picture both of her and the scenery around us here in our new home. The water was fairly warm and the kids had a great time playing in the sand and getting me to tow them around on their boogie boards.

Internet Collectors

As a collector the internet has become a very useful tool for connecting collectors with the items they are looking for. You can quickly search the internet and find those special or hard to find items. I have found all kinds of very interesting and unique things that I'm sure you will feel the same way. You can search for sports memorabilia, stamps, models, coins and even presidential dollars. The Collectible Shopping Network is specifically designed to do just that and creates a great environment that is easy to navigate. They feature secure checkouts that you can trust. They ensure product authanticity and will get you great products that you really want.

Mr. McLobster

Sometimes walking on the beautiful beaches around here you never know what you might find. Last night while walking along the beach Blake and I found this big lobster on the shore line. It was pretty cool looking at this guy on the beach with Blake, Kohl and Trinity. They usually only see lobsters in the tank at the grocery store so to inspect one up close and personal was fun. What will we find on our next journey off to the beach?

Reducing our Footprint

It took a long time but it seems as though the general public is becoming more aware of the severity of issues with the Environment. It is great to have the general public becoming more educated about green options as such but what really needs to happen is to have the Governments around the world become more serious and force industries to come up with solutions, faster to reduce emmisions, energy consumption and environmental impacts. We are seeing dramatic changes in our World today as a result of our poor management of resources. With warming climates a shrinking ice field and raising sea levels we could be on the path to disaster. It is important for everyone to become more Carbon Neutral in their thinking and use less energy and recycle as much as possible. Everyday little things we don't even think of can impact our carbon footprint. Would you even think that something as insignificant as sitting at your computer using a Search Engine would have an impact. Your impact so small but when millions of people are using the energy involved to produce the searches are added up it does actually ad to our carbon footprint on the environment. It is a challange to change our way of thinking and doing what ever small things everyday to change our environment, turn the light off a little sooner, put on a sweater and knock a couple of degrees off your thermostate, recycle that pop can instead of tossing in the trash. We all need to work together to fix our environment for tommorrow.

Summer Time

The summer is finally here, after a long weekend of working, I finally got to take the kids to the beach last night and it was really nice, the water maybe a bit chilly but that's not all bad when it's super hot. They had fun and after the beach they still wanted to swim some more so we had to swim at home in the pool too, they've been asking me all week to get in the pool with them.

Clothes shopping

We are getting ready for back to school soon and with a teenager it is becoming harder to shop for him, he is beginning to shop on line alot to find stuff he likes and thinks he will feel "cool" in. It's alot easier as he is also hitting that stage where he doesn't want to be seen with us in public so we are better this way. He is getting into a stage of wanting comfortable clothes with lot's of pockets and things. He found some cool 5.11 Tactical Pants that should fit the bill for him nicely.

Bringing Employees and Employers Together

It is an ever increasing challange to bring employees and employers together but the team at Regency Beauty Industries have taken it to the next level by creating a free website to service the Beauty Industry and bring potential employees and employers together in one space. Employers can post their jobs in beauty for employees to search. Employees can add their information to the online database so employers can find them easily. There are many of today's salons like Great Clips, JC Penny salons, Regis and Life Spa that use this site to connect with potential employees. The easy to use site allows users to review job postings and resumes by zip code to match up to their needs. Bringing employees and employers together is an ever increasing challange it's important to explore every opportunity that is available and this service is free to use.

Our new Family Member

After a long deliberation we finally got our Puppy this weekend. My father had a Beagle and had a litter of pups so we decided to get one for the kids to have. Breigh came home with us and is having a great time and the kids love her, of course she is a lot of work right now with the house training and general puppy needs but she is a great pup and everyone loves her.