When Amazon announced the Echo, I immediately requested access to purchase one. I read some skeptical blog posts about it, but had high hopes. We received ours back in December and since then it has become increasingly useful.

I will not list out everything we love about "Alexa", but I wanted to highlight one thing we do that has proven helpful. We have one iPad to share among the entire family and that can be problematic with 7 children. My wife came up with the idea of having the kids set a 20 minute timer on Alexa each time they begin using the ipad. It is simple and has changed our lives. The constant questions, "Mommy, can I have the ipad now," stopped immediately. And the amount of time on the iPad for each child was reduced without parental intervention.

Children are happier when they know their boundaries. This makes parents happier too. Alexa was just the tool we needed to reduce the amount of time kids were spending on the ipad and to ensure everyone has a turn.

The kids have also had their eyes opened to how easy it is to stay on the ipad for a really long time without noticing. It's a win all across the board. Thanks to Amazon and "Alexa". And thanks to my wife for the ingenious idea.

(more)

Homeward bound vine.co/v/bUXdvUEw6gj

The post Homeward bound https://t.co/h9iBOxIjsY first appeared on Bigsnit Blog.

I do a lot of surfing around the net to see what types
of home businesses there are out there and a
surprisingly large number of them all have the same
hook, that being the one that I mentioned in the
subject for this email.

Now I have no problem with home businesses or the life
changing effects that they can have on a person's life,
I'd be a hypocrite if I did, but I do get a little
upset from time and time when I see right there in the
headline NOT M'LM as if network marketing was something
negative.

To be honest, when I see home businesses marketed in
such a way I really see them as sort of sneaky and not
the type of business that I would want to be associated
with. The reason is, I think it's underhanded to say
that a business is not network marketing when, in
essence, it truly is.

They are network-marketing companies; they just have a
different compensation structure.

It's mostly the one up programs that make these claims
as if it's above network marketing, but tell me . . .

If the business involves generating leads for a
particular opportunity then making contact with them in
order to sell them that particular opportunity be it
online, offline, or via the phone how is this any
different from network marketing?

Isn't that in general what network marketers do?

The only difference is you only obtain a commission on
one level, but you still have to DO the exact same
things a network marketer does, i.e. recruit and train
recruits to do the same.

The only difference is leverage, which network
marketing has in more abundance than a 1 up or 2 up
program. I would rather train a team and depend on them
then one or two people who could flip flop.

There are arguments to be made on both sides when it
comes to income potential, but when it comes to day to
day interactions they are in fact the same.

It's like the pot calling the kettle black and I just
find it to be dishonest.

To make the point clear, I've had both network
marketers and marketers of these 1 up deals market to
me personally over the phone and their ain't no
difference in what they say except one say it's not
network marketing.

Silly to me

Both involve personal marketing and sales to promote a
specific opportunity where you get paid on both your
efforts and the efforts of those who you bring into the
business yet one claims not to be network marketing, so
I ask you . . .

Isn't it?

As if network marketing was something negative. I know
of no other way that a person can personally empower
themselves to do great things and live the life they
deserve and desire, what's the downside to that?

Just a rant, but it's always important to analyze what
you're being sold and why it's being sold in such a way
i.e. the angle. You find nobility and honesty in some
via this analysis and lies and dishonest in others and
it's not worth working with liars to make a buck in my
book.

There is an extremely limited time offer going on right
below you're noses. Follow the link here and you'll
find a limited opportunity to get access to Internet
ML'M Success for more than half off. Hurry!
==> http://www.opportunity-waits.com

Got back in touch recently with my old road rallying buddy, Garry Deaton. His dad built a biplane for himself. Bob Hower admired it so much, Garry's dad built one for him, too! Garry loaned me this Xmas card from Bob to his dad.

Had to update the file and the code to make this sound work again. Also refreshed the code on that page for a 1961 Brownie projector commercial from the Internet Archive..

Published at LXer: By creating a separate /home partition, Linux users can preserve personal files and settings during OS reinstallations, avoiding data loss and simplifying the migration process....

When Sylvia and I started leasing and managing rentals in Austin in the early 1990s, the business operation was phone-based. I had a phone, answering machine, and spiral pad on a desk in our kitchen nook. All business happened there. I also had a Windows PC, a 386 with a dot matrix printer which ran the DOS version of my property management software. If you don’t know what 386, DOS or “dot matrix printer” means, you’re probably less than 40 years old. Oh, it probably had a 2400 baud modem as well, and a 50 meg hard drive. It wasn’t until 1996 that I put up my first website and started using email for business. All rental inquiries thus originated with a phone call to that one phone. It was a “single channel” communication system. Those callers either saw a yard sign or a 3-line ad in the Rentals section ... Read more

It’s the start of 2016 and already I’ve received a few inquiries from my investor clients wondering whether they should hold on to their rental property, or sell this year. It’s a conversation I have multiple times with multiple clients each year, and it’s a question Sylvia and I sometimes ask ourselves about our own rental property. Especially given the appreciation gains of the past 5 years in Austin. So this article will walk through some of the questions you might ask yourself when contemplating whether to sell your real estate asset, based on how I look at the question with my own rental properties. The first questions to ask yourself are: 1) Do you need the money? and 2) What will you do with the money? I normally don’t make it past those two questions, because the answers for me are are “no” and “I don’t know”. For most, ... Read more

Historically in Texas, homes have appreciated at 4.5% annually (according to Texas A&M Real Estate Center). This is the expected appreciation we use when making real estate investment assumptions as well. For example, a $200,000 home would increase in value to $209,000 if appreciation was 4.5% for that year. If you wanted to save for 1 year a 5% downpayment for a $200,000 home in Austin, you would save 5% of the future value of the home, not the current value. You would save for a $209K purchase, $10,450, not $10,000, if saving just for 1 year. Starting in about 2012, homes in Austin have appreciated at a much greater rate, closer to 8% annually. This makes it harder to save for a down payment, like chasing a vanishing horizon. Also, there are no more $200,000 homes. The median value of a home in Austin is now about $400,000 if ... Read more

BY AE HEE LEE We live in imaginary countries—Etel Adnan When people ask where I’m from, where I’m really from, I ready my permutations. My mélange of autumnal streets, my obscure cities, the countries I found built on a mound of papers and tears, the pebble-sized universe occupying my left shoe—I want to tell them everything. I want … Continue reading A Study through Homes

More and more people prefer staying at home to work. And, yes, today we will have a small talk about it.

The post Home Based Business Guide + free checklist appeared first on MonstersPost.

These days we are all looking for ways to save money and even to help the environment. If you came across this site you are most likely such a person and you already know how refurbishing old batteries can contribute to meeting these goals.

Battery reconditioning at home is the act of reviving batteries that seem to be out of juice. After you learn how to do this you can save a lot of money. You can also even make money doing this for others. There are one or two different methods depending on the type of battery. The cost to recondition are very low and the effort is minimal.

How To Recondition Batteries

recycled batteries

In doing some research on how to recondition batteries at home, I came across this guide: “How to Recondition Old Batteries and Save $$$” by Craig Orell. Note, this is only a review, if you are looking for his website

This complete guide provides an excellent value showing you how to recondition old batteries at home and bring them back to full working condition. This is great for car batteries, laptop batteries, the D batteries required for your old boom box … basically any kind with any volts. The guide covers the following concepts regarding fixing batteries, in detail:

• refurbishing techniques for
• general batteries
• laptops
• nicad batteries
• lead acid batteries
• deep cycling batteries

Reviewers comment on how they were about to throw out their old car battery and spend hundreds on buying a new one, but they found this guide and were a able to restore these batteries at little to no cost.

The best value in this guide is where it shows you where and how to buy old dead batteries and turn them into reconditioned batteries to make extra money.

At first I thought that this guide might be overpriced, $129.00, however it has recently been placed on a limited time offer to sell for $49.97. They also offer a money back guarantee, so there really is no risk in trying the guide to see if you can recondition batteries on your own. I have personally returned many products through the tool that this site uses to process their orders and returns and the process is extremely hassle free.

The editors also promise lifetime updates to anyone who purchases the guide, so if the guide is ever updated with new techniques or information, you will be notified.
To conclude, if you are looking for a way to save money by rejuvenating old batteries or if you want to start a business to make extra cash, this guide can show you how to do either or both. The guide shows everything you need to know including tools and supplies plus the procedure it takes to bring old batteries back to life.

Easy Methods to Extend Battery Life Information on refurbishing batteries at home.
Any battery used for an extended period will fail , however users often encounter the difficulty of untimely battery failure. This situation can be easily avoided if you follow some simple tips.
Most people think that if they power down their devices, battery life will be extended . Unfortunately, this often results in the opposite outcome . Devices consume more power when they are starting, so turning the device off is not always the best way to preserve the battery.
Follow the recommendations below for improved battery life:

• Cars, Trucks, Boats, Etc
• MP3 Players, PDAs, Laptops, Etc

For any battery, the most important factor to consider is the temperature . Ensuring that the battery is not exposed to high heat can extend the life. High temperatures lead to faster chemical reactions. In addition to the temperatures, a reduction in the number of discharge/charge cycles drastically helps battery service life.

Vehicles

The best way to extend the life of a car battery is to keep the battery charged at all times. It is also essential to protect the car battery from high under the hood temperatures . A proper case or heat shield can protect the battery. It is a good idea to check the electrolyte levels in the car battery on a regular basis during hot months.

A rising trend seems to be for car manufacturers to relocate the battery to be stored in the passenger compartment or in the trunk as a way of not storing it in the engine compartment to enhance the life. Obviously the battery stays much cooler if it is not stored in the engine. This strategy improves battery life as well.

Electronic Device

Battery life can be increased for cell phones, laptops, PDAs, mp3 players etc. by turning down the brightness when it is not needed. For example, when using these devices in a dark room, it is not necessary to set the brightness to 100%. The brightness can be lowered enough so that the screen can be seen without exerting any strain on the eyes can be done. The amount of time the backlight stays on can also be decreased. For iPods it doesn’t have to stay on for

* Nielsen HomeScan - Make your household's opinions count with the chance to win big prizes and earn great gifts.

The government's plans to build 120,000 new homes in the Thames Gateway by 2016 will not work without a series of new and improved transport facilities, an official report warned today...

A row broke out today after councillors in Glasgow signed a deal to build upmarket houses on greenbelt land...

More than 100 families have united to fight for their homes, due for demolition in a 6m GBP Kensington regeneration project...

Residents campaigning to protect a green belt site on the outskirts of Edinburgh have been dealt a major blow after the land was earmarked for housing development by the Scottish Executive.

A new record price for residential development land has been set with the sale of an 11.3 acre site at Stillorgan in south county Dublin for 85m euro...

Thousands of homes could 'overwhelm' Stourport under new plans to change the status of green belt land, Wyre Forest councillors fear...

At NC State University Libraries, the Special Collections Research Center leverages an integrated system of locally developed applications and open-source technologies to facilitate the long-term preservation of digitized and born-digital archival assets. These applications automate many previously manual tasks, such as creating access derivatives from preservation scans and ingest into preservation storage. They have allowed … Continue reading ""Scaling Up Digital Preservation Workflows With Homegrown Tools and Automation""

Wow, it's been an amazing time since I've written on this blog.
Right now as I type, I'm in Kansas City, MO checking out
commercial property and visiting family.

There isn't enough time to go to all the places I want to go
here, but there is one place someone may want to check out.
Yesterday, I went somewhere I hadn't been since I was
around 10 years old.

My father and I stopped by the Liberty Memorial. It's a WWI
memorial. It's at the top of a hill that overlooks KCMO and it's
a place you'd want to stop and see. The statues and monument
are colossal.

Liberty Memorial is quite a sight to see. Take a look and see this
beautiful place.

Another place that is very popular in KCMO is Gates Barbeque.
My mother grew up with the owner, who name is Ollie Gates.
He's one of the leading entrepreneurs in KCMO. He owns all of
the Gates Barbeque restaurants and they are known for their
famous BBQ and BBQ sauce. He also owns many properties in
town. He's definitely a role model to emulate.

The other BBQ chain is Bryants BBQ. These are two places you'd
want to see if you travel to Kansas City. Kansas City is known for
their BBQ nationwide.

I'm here to check out the commercial property in the area. Many
homes and apartments are boarded up. It's so sad to see. Online
I checked the retail shopping centers that are for sale in the area.
Many of those are corporate owned for unknown reasons. Not
sure what has happened to the economy here, but looks like it's
taken it's toll.

Well today, I'm scouting a few residential properties to get a feel of
the real estate market. If I see something interesting or with
potential, I'll be sure to submit a letter of intent. We'll see what
happens. This evening I'm going to see if I can locate a Karaoke
spot to hang out at.

Well, until then, take care and thanks for stopping by.

Johnetta Matthews
Johnetta Matthews Corporation
President
Work For Yourself
New Search Engine Vulcoo
Commercial Real Estate Investing

Making Home Business Do Big Business: "Everyone talks about the power of the internet, and how people harness millions of dollars from it. Regular folks like you and me are very successful home business owners without risking their financial livelihood."

Making Home Business Do Big Business: "I barely knew how to write e-mails and surf the internet when I started in July of 2002. I was quite desperate back then, because I was unemployed and without any immediate prospects for a job. In my Internet search for employment I came across many home business opportunities, but all too often they looked like 'too good to be true'. Then I discovered the SFI Internet Income Course, and, because it is free, decided to give it a shot.

I knew that I had to learn a lot, because I was a novice. What better way to learn then through a step-by-step training course! "

Making Home Business Do Big Business: "We'll teach you how to earn globally, 24 hours a day, both front-end cash income and residual money, 'do-it-once-get-paid-forever'-style. And there is no ceiling to your earnings!"

Business Development - Be competent in Home Business, Sales, Marketing and Internet Marketing!

Attention Self-starters, entrepreneurs, home business professionals, corporate employers and sales & marketing professionals: Find expert internet marketing advice here serving your personal development and professional training success and leadership. Build yourself a library of business expertise that will save you time, money and effort in the pursuit of home money making business opportunity

The home biz search engine helps you find any information about any home biz to study, research it and use it to improve your lifestyle.

Couplets of Arabic poems in some artworks to enjoy reading poetry in Arabic language online. Get my poetry books, or get some poetry in Arabic language in posters to hang on your walls at home.

The Home Biz Trends Photography shows you how to use your camera to earn extra income offline and online, and succeed even during recession.

The HOME BIZ TRENDS offer three meditation services in business, love & politics. The HBT network helps you improve your life by stepping into the right passion.

"About SBI" explains how I use its all in one place website building and optimizing tools to build e-businesses at home. The "action guide" in text and videos help you achieve work at home goals.

If you wanted to work at home, implement the guidelines in this article. They are necessary for any business that you want to build working from home.

Cinch Home Buyers introduces an innovative cash offer service in North Carolina, empowering homeowners to sell on their terms with speed, transparency, and convenience. [PR.com]

Sunrise Heat & Air is dedicated to supporting veterans, whose sacrifices have ensured freedom and safety. The Free A/C System giveaway is a way of expressing deep gratitude to the heroes and to recognize the unwavering commitment to the country. The "Home of the Brave" event celebrates not only the service but also the importance of providing a comfortable, welcoming home environment for those who have given so much. [PR.com]

The Nyonya Kebaya is a beautiful, translucent, figure-hugging embroidered blouse worn with a batik sarong by Peranakan ladies.

It is this and much more. A nyonya kebaya is a work of art, a labour of love, a heritage, a traditional costume that is timeless. An attire for all occasions, it is elegant, feminine, alluring, sensual, glamorous and fashionable for all ages.

However, an authentic nyonya kebaya tends to come with a price tag that is not within the budget of many people. My passion for it has evolved into a home-based business of making affordable nyonya kebayas. Except for the Exclusive Collection, I tailor every piece. I sew them as close as possible to the traditional style using princess cut (pesak) and French seams.

Materials are of select Indonesian embroidered fabric with intricate lace-work edging in floral, fauna and geometric patterns for the hems, sleeves and lapels. I do not make to measure but take orders in standard sizes of small, medium and large, which would fit most people.

You are invited to view the Kebaya Collection available now on-line. Select your favourite piece today and own a fabulous kebaya!

American Cancer Society HomepageThe mothership- American Cancer Society Homepagemore info hereOriginally Posted on 11/06/2005 21:40:06Content source: http://bobrboobd.blogspot.com/2004_04_13_bobrboobd_archive.html#108192415493448834

This resource is for those who are considering online homeschooling. If you're someone who is interested in your children or grandchildren being homeschooled, you'll find resources to help in your decision. click for more information

HSI High School Online Introduction Home Study International (HSI) launched an Internet on-line high school curriculum in September 2000. Field-tested in 24 public school systems over a two-year period, the curriculum covers more than 20 high school subjects that reflect...

Home Schooling in Science If your child is among the 700,000 to 1,150,000 currently being schooled at home in the United States (Ray, 1996), you may have questions about the science he or she should be learning. Though children schooled...

Much walking around of display homes today. Before I get into the houses we've looked at I'll just quickly discuss the market that we see our home targetting and the requirements we believe these segments have.

1. Two mid level income couples with no children or 1-2 very young children.
2. Couples looking to downsize with no children at home

With these two segments in mind we see the primary requirements of the house as being:

1. High street appeal, a front elevation that is fashionable and attractive. But nothing too 'leading edge' that may look dated too quickly.
2. Internal fixtures that give an impression of quality without going too over the top. The suburb where we are building will not support a house that is fitted out with the best of everything, but certainly some improvements will be looked for by younger couples looking for some 'wow' factor. These improvments will largely be confined to the kitchen and bathrooms, as these allow for the greatest amount of individualization.
3. An internal layout supporting either a young family, or a couple with diverse interests. To us this translates to a 3 bedroom or 2 bedroom + study configuration. It also means that a separate master bedroom bathroom (en-suite) and living area are vital.
4. 2700mm (9ft) ceilings for a feeling of extra space.
5. Covered outdoor entertaining area.
6. Low maintenance modern garden.

Based on these requirements, and the size of the land we found ourselves looking at the villa homes (suitable for a 8.5-10m (28' to 33') frontage) and courtyard (suitable for 38' to 43'frontages) homes. The width of our land (11m, 33') means we are restricted to single garage versions of the courtyard homes which are almost universally double garage designs. We are happy to settle on an existing design of a contract builder as we believe this will lead to the house being completed faster and will lower the overall cost of building.

The two designs we saw today were the:

Heathcote 180 - AV Jennings

This is a nice design, a courtyard home and with a single garage pretty well suited to the size of the block. I particularly like the way the bedrooms/bathroom are separated from the living area. The only real downside to design of the house is the width, the courtyard down the side of the house would be quite small. The other major downside is the price, the base price is $105,000, which is a lot more than what we wanted to spend. It does, however, include a lot of things as standard that other builders charge extra for.

Hamilton - Fairmont

This design is the real minimum of what we wanted to build. It meets all of our requirements but the front lounge feels small and we did not like the bedroom doors coming off the main hallway. However, the price is right, just $89,000 for the base price.

No need to make a decision yet. We're still waiting for a lot of design brochures to arrive from different builders, I'm sure we'l find what we want.

Take the home environment as a source of inspiration, 8 Floor Games has produced another jigsaw collection.

What to look for when choosing home gym exercise equipment.

What features you should look for when buying a treadmill.

Tips and ways to eat healthy by preparing and cooking your meals at home.

Main features and extra features to look for when choosing a treadmill for the home.

The best types of exercise equipment for your home gym.

Great ideas for home gyms.

Setting up and designing the perfect and ideal home gym

Fitness equipment suggestions that are inexpensive for your home gym or office.