We Both Travel

Guest post from: Constance Rodgers

My wife and I both travel a lot for work, so most of the time our house is either unattended or only one of us is home. We didn’t mean for things to turn out this way, but we were both given promotions at work at the same time, and both positions happened to require travel. Neither one of us wanted to give up the opportunity for advancement, so we decided to postpone having kids instead. For now, we are both happy in our jobs, but we have one problem. We feel like we need to set up some home security monitoring since we are never home, but we can’t decide how far we want to take it. We don’t have a lot of valuables in our home, but we also would hate to think of anything bad happening. We have thought about setting up a camera so that if anyone does get in, we will know exactly what happened. My wife thinks that would be extreme. She thinks we should just get a normal alarm that will notify police and sound if someone tries to break in.

Get Connected with Copper.net

As many of my readers know, I moved recently and was without internet for about a month (oh, I had access here and there at the library). When it came time to look for internet providers in my area…uh, well, let’s say I didn’t see much that I liked.

Well today I visited Copper.net and man! why do I find things like this after I’ve already made a choice?! If you are in the market for internet service, have a look at Copper.net. They are an American based company- with customer service in the United States. I found it interesting that would be a selling point on their website. Lately, I have had to deal with customer service that I know is based out of India, although not concerning my internet service. Often they cannot understand me (sometimes I find it difficult to understand them but generally I do okay). It would be nice to have someone in the states to address my customer service issues.

Did you know that dial-up internet is still an option?? I would say who would use that but I suppose for those that use the internet infrequently (not me) or for simple things (not sure what that would include!) dial-up may be just what they need. For me (and most people I know) it has to be dsl or cable. To me, the speed of dial-up is crippling and I cannot imagine using it again.

Check out how they compare to the competition. Copper.net also offers free back-up service (up to 2GB) using IDrive. And another very interesting feature is that you don’t have to download any software. I understand why some people do not want to have to download software and with Copper.net, it isn’t necessary.

This post has been brought to you by Copper.net. See my Disclosure/Policies.

Merrill Datasite- for businesses

Recently I visited the Merrill Datasite website. Having no idea was a ‘datasite’ was, I did some research. Basically a datasite is an online document storage service. But Merrill Datasite includes many more services than just storage. They offer security for efficiently dealing with sharing critical business information for electronic due diligence in M&A advisory, banking M&A, mid market M&A review. Merrill Datasite can help with the transfer of small business ownership when selling a company. They offer a due diligence checklist at their website.

If, like myself, you are not familiar with M&A, it stands for Merge and Acquisition. It refers to the merge of two or more companies and/or the acquisition (through whatever means) of a company. Merrill Datasite helps with that.

They also specialize in many other facets of business such as document warehousing, mergers and acquisitions due diligence, succession in family business or when buying a business, IPO and secondary offerings, asset purchases, venture capital due diligence, bio tech licensing, commercial and corporate real estate ventures, bankruptcies, financial restructure, liquidation analysis for bankruptcy, corporate debt restructuring, preparing for exit strategies, and many other transactions that require extensive document sharing.

They also offer legal translation. Merrill Brink International is a leading provider of financial, legal, life sciences and corporate Translation Services for global companies. If your company is in need of language translation services, it can be found with Merrill Brink International.

Merrill DataSite is ISO 27001-certified, meaning that they meet the industry’s most strict standards for securely dealing with international business transactions. They have offices and services in both the US and the UK.

This post brought to you by Merrill Datasite. See my Disclosure/Policies.

Walden University

Walden University has been around since 1970. Shortly after my husband graduated from college with his bachelor’s degree in 2000, he started receiving information in the mail about Masters Degree programs from Walden University. I had no idea at the time that the courses were online. I was still in the mindset of brick-and-mortar college (which they do have campuses). WaldenU.edu offers quality degree programs. 

My husband has looked into it a few times but right now he has taken a different path. It was one of only a few colleges that he actually set the information aside for a closer look. *I’ve* looked at Walden University a few times starting when I was a few terms away from my bachelor’s degree. One of the ‘selling points’ of WU is that it can be done online. With my husband’s job, we move around anywhere from 18 months to 3 years; we don’t stay in one place for too terribly long. Online courses are appealing to me personally.

You can learn about Walden at their website. If you are interested in online classes have a look at Walden University's online degree programs. From searching their site and reading the information, WU takes admissions seriously. There is detailed information about admissions at their site but briefly, they evaluate academic as well as professional experience of each applicant. It is possible to earn a bachelor’s degree or certificate through WU as well as master’s degree or even a Ph.D. (that’s not in my foreseeable future!).

This post brought to you by Walden University. See my Disclosure/Policies.

Winter, Winter, Go Away...Come Back Another Day

I'm pretty sure I'm getting sick. I can just feel it trying to settle in. All day today I've had a hint of a sore throat and my shoulders are achy. Tonight I almost swear I have a fever. Do people get sick more often in the winter? Oh, is that a silly question... I've wondered if it is true because it seems that right when the seasons change people are also coming down with crud.

I know it is cold here (right now it is supposedly -8*F but feels like -23*F with the wind) but we have relatively little snow. I feel for those in the more eastern states, such as Missouri and Illinois, that are dealing with blizzards. I think, yes, I'm pretty sure that now would be a great time to visit Hawaii... definitely! Check out this beautiful view of Oahu. Doesn't that just make you want to pack your bags and go?? 

Compare that lovely view to this one in Missouri (photos are from 2007, I think). Here is another cold photo. Brrr. Granted there is beauty to be seen in winter weather, but oh, to be in Hawaii... wouldn't that be nice for a time?

Of course, I was reading at the Oahu mentioned link and it would appear that the economy in Hawaii wasn't immune to the economy slump. It appears that there was hope that it would recover. In 2009, the Star Bulletin (a Hawaii paper) speculated the economy would slip downward still for awhile. I wonder how long? The same paper is reporting bankruptcy of a major hotel recently. Pacific Business News says that bankruptcy reporting is down so far in 2011... But you know, I just want to visit...I don't want to move there.

In only 47 days until Spring though. I think I can tough it out... perhaps. I've not been 'sick' this winter (fortunately) as others have. No flu here, no strep throat, no head colds, etc. But still...Oahu sure looks beautiful -and warm.

A little sweetness

Well, I am in Oregon (yay!) right now. It is almost Christmas...the excitement! Tomorrow more family will arrive and then on Friday the last straggler will come. My sister in law has been busy making chocolate cookies tonight. The specific name escapes me at the moment but trust me, there were yummy!

I personally am not a swell confectioner...but sure like to partake of confections :) I found some items that could be of help to me when making yummy dishes- sweet dishes that is. Check out these cake tins that can be had in different shapes- even of castles or trains! Here is a Williams-Sonoma Sandwich Cookie Cake Pan. Or perhaps you need to be able to have a sauce dispenser that will work for a large confection job. Maybe your family is very large ;) A prince castle sauce dispenser would probably work well for this.

Okay, okay, so maybe the sauce dispenser is a bit more than you need at the moment. How about some chocolate marshmallow sticks? These would make great little 'appetizers'. I only know of a very few individuals that do not like marshmallows and these could make great gifts. There are even skewers to help you decorate your own marshmallows.

So now that I've gotten very distracted by sweet things (or devices to help me make some), I think I will go check on those yummy chocolate cookies ;) 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging. (Actually, that's not true...but I hope to be back to 'regular' soon!) Have a great wonderful Christmas!

Fish/Scales Identification

So while searching through my emails today I came across a deal for Columbia where if you match the fish to the scales you get so much off of your order. Honestly, I wasn't ordering anything...and my matching skills are so bad that I wouldn't have gotten the discount anyway! But I thought I would share the match game with those who might be interested :)

Fishing Game from Columbia Sportswear