Postcards from the Funny Farm

I never understood why they call binoculars the way they do. I mean, isn’t the latin “bi” meaning two supposed to precede the root word, in this case “ocular” meaning about the eye? What’s with the “n?” Anyway, as you can see by my appraisal of this word form, I am more of a scholar than a hunter. I do however have a hunting friend and he uses the most amazing binoculars you can imagine. In that sport, or for watching spectator sports, a top shelf binocular can truly make all the difference.

Nikon’s All Terrain binocular is the top binocular in the sport of hunting. If that isn’t enough for you to acquire a pair, check out this promotion for :Free ATB Pro Gear

From now till December 31st 2008, receive a $25 or $50 gift card for NikonProGear.com when you buy a Nikon ATB binocular.

So if you want some posh freebies and both your eyes (bi) are seeking that eye excitement (ocular) then get your Nikon ATB Binoculars today.

More information can be found here:
http://www.nikonpromo.com/
http://www.nikonhunting.com/atb-binoculars-promotion.html

I was just in a training today learning to make Real Estate blogs and websites. Whenever people heard something that made their life easier through technology, they breathed a collective sigh of relief. Since this is partly a psychology blog, I’m hoping this bit of of tech info will do the same for you.

Zip and encrypt are two words most professionals are familiar with.  In my line of work, teachers are regularly asked to review data and share it with grade level leads, district office leads, and principals.  Because of this, most my colleagues and I carry a keychain zip drive.  These have become increasingly large in disk space, mine for example is 3 GB.  While most zip drives have plenty of space, video and database modernization has taken up more space as well.  For this reason, it makes a lot of sense to zip and excrypt ones files before dragging onto a zip drive.  This makes your capacity much larger.

There is a contest I want to tell you about called “Decrypt and Drive.”  All you have to do is download free zip and encrypt software, by PKWARE the inventor of the .zip standard, and you are eligible for prizes that include a Honda scooter, bicycles, Wii games, gas cards, and more!  This is a product I have on my desktop and it helps me compress files for CD’s, key zips, and email.  I highly recommend you go enter the contest by simply downloading it.  Go to securezip.com now.

You can see in this picture of my wife and I we are into storybook characters for Halloween.  She is Little Red Riding Hood and I am Huck Finn.  This is a few years ago but our costumes every year look a little like this.  As I kid I was more into the gory costumes.  Once I was Frankenstein and another time a bloody Dracula.  For me, Halloween has been such a fun and cool time of the year to scare and be scared and feel the October chill reminding us all that we’re alive. The cool thing about life when you’re young is that you are meant to live it! It’s sad when people choose to sit it out.

My workplace is a school with 600 kids and we won’t be celebrating Halloween.  Between the religious dissent and the people who just think kids ought to study more, there really isn’t the opportunity.  But there is a work PARTY happening and for that we can get services and halloween costumes from a great online service I ran across. Can anyone deny the coolness of a smoke machine and spooky music? We might even try and make a punch bowl with dry ice. The makeup, the excitement, the mystery of the masquerade, it all comes together at Halloween and aren’t you glad!

Ok, putting my blog coach/mentor hat on for just a second … I have a resource to share.  A webhosting rating website.  In plain English: it spotlights the best webhosts out there for you so you don’t have to learn who is good or bad the hard way.

Why is it important to pick the right webhost?  Simple answer: because bad ones go down.  When you’ve been running a heavy traffic site for a few months and you wake up to find out your latest post is not reaching your readers, all you think about is the potential losses: of traffic, of money, of rank.

To avoid starting a commitment with a webhost that goes down a lot, use this service.  They have every point mapped out and you can sort them by different characteristics that you are looking for.  After all, not every blogger is going to need tons of bandwidth and not every coder is going to need Fantastico and other user friendly services.  If you were to ask me what webhost to use, I would start you out at this site. Oh, and they also have sort of a “blog” of articles about webhosting that you will really benefit by. For example, I read this one about the benefits of multiple domains. This is something I have recently invested in.

A made-to-measure suit is far superior to an off-the-rack type, especially if the price is the same! In teaching and administration, as in many male professions, a collection of suits in your closet are a must. I’ve written quite extensively about the Northeastern U.S. and the state of education there. Teachers in New York specifically are really innovating the trade. Some schools are using a dress code there to keep the kids focused on learning. In a similar way, some northeastern states are invoking a dress code for the staff and teachers as well. The men wear suits. Principals and teachers in that area, or any area, that want to build their suit wardrobe should check out a site I ran across promoting my.suit

Call me old fashioned, but I feel a suit makes you more professional in the image of the community. While I don’t wear them every day, they definitely have their place in my profession of teaching. I was asked to speak at an evening awards banquet recently and was prompted to get a suit handcrafted for the event. Since then I have taught in it many times and found it helped to command my group of kids. They were more eager to learn.

I like the pin-stripe fabric but whatever you choose and prefer they can set you up with. This suit was one of the pinstriped kind and I’ll probably wear the thing until I die I like it so much. These folks have Made to Measure suits at off-the-rack prices. Give them a try, you ‘ll feel the difference.

Debt consolidation has its advantages when you are in over you head. For example, it can reduce your balances (not just interest rate folks but you balances) up to 50%. With debt consolidation you get one easy monthly low payment and. I think we all could use more monthly cash.
debt settlement can make that happen. It helps you avoid bankruptcy, which can cripple your credit. You don’t need to have good credit, and the list goes on! I think its clear that unsecured debt consolidation is one of the most effective ways to really get out of debt. You can get out within 12-30 months in some common cases. This is a reputable company that I recommend if you are in the market for debt consolidation.

I found an applicationon the web that makes color coding way easier. The program is free and it’s called AdesClrPicker. It installs in a few seconds and there is no spyware or any of that annoying stuff. It’s a color picker tool that any blog or webmaster should have in her/his arsenal. I know at least 5 times a day I run across sites with amazing color schemes I’d like to emulate. Now, I can get the codes for those colors and put them in a Notepad immediately for quick reference later as I am tweaking themes. If this kind of work consumes your time as it does mine, you should really go out and get this little tool.

They say there is a time for every purpose under the sun … In this time of virtual recession, getting Personal Loans can be a hassle. But fear not, I have the solution for you.  You might use it for a Car Loan or the downpayment for a car.  That’s the beauty of this lender, they don’t mind what you use it for.

Getting the cash you need, quickly and easily, when you need it is a must for families.  A Pay Day Loan can make the difference a few weeks or even days before payday. And have you seen the astronomical late fees banks and other companies are charging nowadays? A payday loan can save a family from all that. This is a company I recommend if you need any tpe of personal loan.

GPS is something cool when you are looking for a new location.  I’ve seen some that talk to you … very cool technology.  But have you heard of GPS solving murder mysteries?  How about catching a rapist?  These are things that have happened recently as a result of GPS technology.  There are several ways to harness the satellite signals that drive it.  Today I want to share with you a new one, well it was new to me anyway, GPS Tracking that fits into your pocket.

The way it works is that it records location every second and the data is stored in the pocket-sized unit. The GPS tracking can be downloaded directly from the unit into the USB post of a computer. Google Earth is fast becoming the thing to do online. You can connect to it with this device. It makes connecting with certain locations as simple as an upload. It’s a toy for grown-ups you can do so much with. It’s small so it has ease of access. Check out this video:

This technology and device is used by many organizations around the world. It can save your life, gelp you if you are the victim of a crime, and get you integrated into Google Earth. For these reasons, it’s something worth looking into. Get more enlightening information at their website.

A vacation is a really really good thing for your psyche and sense of well-being.  Most careers bring a reasonable amount of stress and others bring quite a bit more.  When we think of these “tough jobs” we think of cops and Alaskan crab fisherman but the truth is, a receptionist and a school teacher and a shrink all have stress like millions of other jobs.  An intermittent vacation is a must.  So now that I’ve explained they are important, let me tell you about the number 1 vacation home rentals site on Google.

On this site, you can easily work your way through various choices to get the vacation rental you are craving.  They claim to have some that are basic and others that are replete with amenities like a stocked fridge for example.  Just think of what a private pool and/or sauna right at the house you are staying in would do for your psychology.  Folks, to make a self-serving quip, this site will keep you out of the Funny Farm.  I am only half-kidding though, studies have suggested that many in mental institutions remain there because they never master the way to relax and take care of themeselves.  This site will help you build the best vacation of your life.