Archive for October, 2007
Friday, October 12th, 2007
I am almost finished with my second audiobook, “The Traveller” by John Twelve Hawks.
For some reason, the title of this book is spelled, “The Traveler” on Wikipedia, but the cover of the book has it spelled, “The Traveller.” Odd, isn’t it?
This audiobook started off kind of slowly. I was used to the other one I was listening to, which was all nature-like. This one was much darker and more wrapped in suspense. I have to say, it is coming along nicely. It has heated up quite a bit and I look forward to getting in the car. The audiobook has five CDs and I am on the fifth. I am hoping to have it finished by the end of my ride home from work today. Once this is finished, I am going to start learning Spanish while driving. I have the whole kit. This should be good. The only problem is that I have no one to practice on. I have to practice in order to maintain my Spanishness. I will have to figure that one out.
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Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
The other day, I got an idea. I thought it would be cool to put together another free classifieds website with some new and different software. I have gotten quite used to the software that I am already using, so I thought it would be fun to play with something new.
I found a really simple script and installed it. I just finished a short time ago and really like it. It does have some shortcomings that I will have to discuss with the developer, but I think it will work out well. If those issues are dealt with, I think this website has the potential to become pretty large quickly. There are reasons for that I, which I am not going to get into. Hehe.
So, take a look at the site and let me know what you think. It is similar to a few other really large ones already on the web. The name of this new free classifieds website is “FigLeeg Free Classifieds,” just in case you were wondering.
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Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
As I was planting our new China Girl Hollys this past Sunday, I came across a cool little lizard. Actually, it was an Eastern Newt.
I think I had already taken up a few shovel fulls of dirt when I noticed the little newt crawling down the mulch slope in back of me. I turned around, walked down to him and picked him up. What did I do next? I ran inside to show Laura, of course. She likes these kinds of things. I asked if she would take a picture of him in my hands.
Isn’t the little guy neat?
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Posted in Landscaping | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
…except the storm never happened.
Yesterday, Laura and I were getting ready to go for a walk. When we exited the house in an orderly fashion, we noticed something very peculiar above us. The sky was completely orange. This was very strange and kind of caught us off guard. I ran back inside to grab the camera. I had to get this on film…or whatever digital cameras catch things on.
Isn’t that weird?
We walked almost to the end of our road and saw a bolt of lightening. I turned around and Laura followed. People have been getting hit by lightening lately and I am trying to not be one of them. I really don’t want Laura to be one of them either.
We made it home with only a few drops of rain, but nothing more. We heard thunder, but apparently the storm traveled to the West of us, over the ridge.
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Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
I can’t believe my parents have been married for 40 years. Well, it’s a little more then 40 years now. It was their anniversary yesterday.
I keep thinking about how fast life flies by. I have now been at this job for five years. I would say that’s about four and a half years too long. I wasn’t even going to take a job when we moved back to Brewster from Naples. It was just there and they offered it to me. How fast that five years have gone.
Well, 40 years is a little longer than five. I am sure my parents are thinking back about how much they have done during their marriage. The way memory works, at least the way mine does, is to think of recent stuff. I am not sure they think too often of the land in Amenia or when the garage door faced the other direction. When was the last time my parents sat at the dinner table and talked about how Mrs. Clancy used to mow her lawn on the Ford tractor in the middle of July wearing a winter hat? Or, going to the beach at Tonetta Lake? I guess my point is that they have done a heck of a lot more together than they even realize. It’s a good thing when you have lived with someone so long you forget half of it, I think.
Anyway, happy anniversary parents o’ mine. Love ya.
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Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
I have been meaning to do this for some time. Our well is in a semi-middle area of our front lawn. As you surely are aware, wells are not attractive contraptions. In an effort to keep our house aesthetically pleasing, I am trying to hide the well as best I can.
Yesterday, Paul and I made a visit to the Fishkill Home Depot. I knew there would only be a few plants left this late in the season. When we arrived, I was surprised to see how many were actually there. We walked towards the back to the Juniper section. I browsed through a few Junipers and decided upon a nice Youngstown Juniper. Well, that’s what the tag says at least. We weren’t completely convinced that that the correct tags were on these plants. This tag says that this plant grows one foot high by four feet wide. Strange, because it’s already about a foot high, and I just bought it.
I think it will grow out nicely to cover the ugly well.
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Sunday, October 7th, 2007
Ummm…yeah, I think I can help you out with that. This is an easy one. Whether you have an online business or a “brick and mortar” one, there are a few places online that can get you the exposure you are looking for.
The first place to start advertising is online classifieds. Here are some very popular ones, depending on your niche…
- Pet Classifieds
- Free Classifieds
- Motorcycle Classifieds
- Boat Classifieds
- Auto Classifieds
Now remember, more than one of these websites above might be right for you. Feel free to advertise on the ones that fit your business.
A second great place to get the word out about your business is an article submission website. The reason these types of websites are so effective is because the articles are written by you. You can include whatever you want, such as a description of your business, what you offer, address and phone number, website, etc…You get the picture.
The last (for this post) great place to advertise your business is in a business directory, of course. There are tons of people out there every day searching for businesses close to their homes. They remember the business name, but not the phone number or address. They search Google or Yahoo! and type in only what they remember. Chances are, if you listed your business in an online business directory, you will appear and get that phone call you are looking for.
Until next tiime and good luck.
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Sunday, October 7th, 2007
Although I have been noticing a lot more color in the trees around here, I would have to say that for October 7, it’s still pretty green.
I ran down to Home Depot this morning to return a dying Boxwood and White Pine. Just in case you were curious, I traded them for three nice China Girl Hollys. Since I am planting them late in the season, I hope they don’t have the same fate as last year’s Hollys. Anyway, during the trip to the store, I noticed a lot of leaves falling on this back road that I like to take. I pulled over and took a picture. Then the camera went dead. Good thing I got a pic.
Oh, and just in case you were curious, the winter damaged Holly from last year did grow new leaves this year. Here is a photo…
There isn’t much new growth, but there are leaves. Maybe next season there will be new growth.
Below is a photo of a new China Girl Holly that I just got today. See the new sprouts up on top? That’s what I like to see. Even my Boxwoods are sprouting with new growth. I guess they do that late in the season.
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Posted in Autumn, Gardening, Landscaping, Trees & Shrubs | 1 Comment »
Sunday, October 7th, 2007
My sister, Lauren, asked me recently how our new stainless steel pots and pans are working out for us. I told her that they were doing well. She is considering making the switch, I think.
As I mentioned, we tossed our old Anolon non-stick cookware and upgraded to a T-Fal Elegance 10 Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set. The Anolon stuff was supposed to be really good. You know, it had all those warranties and guarantees…all that sales stuff. In actuality, the non-stick coating fell off, or scratched off in about a year. In my opinion, all those pans suck. There are so many rules to them. Don’t use metal, don’t use high heat, don’t put them in the dishwasher, don’t look at them funny…you get the idea.
I have never been all that good at handling limitations. My mother still has her set of T-Fal non-stick pans. She has had them for over ten years. I don’t know how she does it. I guess she is much better at behaving than I am.
Ok, so here is my early review of the new stainless steel cookware. In the beginning, everything stuck. I was making mess after mess. Then, I began cooking at a lower heat. I started noticing that fewer items of food were sticking to the pans. Hmmm…this made me think, and you know how much I like to think. Now, I cook at about 3 out of 10 (heat setting) and don’t have a sticking problem anymore. I have also noticed that olive oil isn’t the greatest lubricating agent out there. Margarine is much better. I actually cooked two huge pancakes this morning without issue.
So Lauren, my advice is to get the stainless steel pots and pans. I think they will last a lot longer and, for us, we won’t have to struggle anymore with cooking on pans with no non-stick coating left. For more opinions on this topic, you can visit this website.
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Posted in Family & Friends, Food & Drink | 4 Comments »
Saturday, October 6th, 2007
Ahhh…my first audio book. I don’t know how Laura finds these things, but she does.
I like to think of her sitting at her computer, very studiously analyzing and contemplating my psyche. “Who is Jay?” she would ask herself. “What makes this guy tick?” In actuality, she probably sees what is popular that day on Amazon, but we try not to think about that.
I can’t get over the clarity of the new stereo I installed in my car today. Just a moment ago, I walked outside, across the driveway to it. I sat down in the driver’s seat and turned the key. The radio came on so I could hear 95.5 WPLJ, down in the city. I changed the channel to 100.3 Z100. It’s remarkable how clear the radio receives the signal. My old one never did that.
I opened the package of the audio book, “Wandering Home - A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape: Vermont’s Champlain Valley and New York’s Adirondacks,” by Bill McKibben. I really didn’t know what to expect. My mother has been raving about audiobooks ever since she lived back in Brewster. I think they helped make her drive everyday to work in Danbury a little bit easier. She used to say, “My car can steer itself on the trip to work. That’s how used to it I am.” I think she really believed that at times. Well, when she told the story, she sounded very convincing.
I pushed the CD in the brand new slot. Everything is so shiny. The radio stopped and the CD started. A very faint, but clean guitar sound started. It got louder, and then a very soothing voice, that introduced himself as the author, Bill McKibben, began to speak. I though, “Ooh, this is going to be good. I listened for a few minutes and turned the key back, so the sound stopped. I didn’t want to ruin the first part of the story during a time when I wasn’t focusing on it. I turned the key forward, so the CD turned on again. Yup, it picked up right where it left off. This was going to work out fine.
So what’s the story about? Well, Bill’s website tells it like this…
“The acclaimed author of The End of Nature takes a three-week walk from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks and reflects on the deep hope he finds in the two landscapes.”
That’s not all, you can read the rest here.
As you can see, I am quite excited about using my frontal lobe even more than I currently am. It is going to be nice to break out of the mold of NPR and bad local radio. Yeah, it’s going to be nice.
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