Almost Random Thoughts

As some of my loyal reader know (no that was not a typo, it was my attempt at humour) , I am in marketing. It is what I went to school for and it has been my day job ever since. So when I read this infomational web page describing what a list broker is, I read nothing new.

I am sure that the company that I work for has used list brokers in the past but we do not presently use anything like that. Sometimes the lists are shoddy and sometimes they are very useful and up to date. The article likely explains it better than I do.

Anyway, my lunch break was over 36 minutes ago so I better get back to it.

New Hip Hop Forum

Seeing as how I am a 30 year old white woman who has a growing collection of overpriced clothing for her dog, most people would not expect me to have an affinity for hard core rap music. Here is the thing, though. I seriously do. That is why I jumped at the opportunity to review one of the very few hip hop forums out there. It is brand new.

Immediately upon landing on the site I was impressed. Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, Ice Cube and Eminem jumped out at me, along with a great colour scheme. The forums are actually interesting; a great mix of old school and new. Black Sheep? Are they still around? Holy Sh*#, that's awesome! I LOVED them when was a teenager.

Aside form the Forum, there was also artist listings and news on when new albums are dropping, among other stuff.

Definitely a site worth bookmarking.

Probably Why I Am Not an Economist.

Unless you live under a rock, you are probably aware that the state of the US housing market is, well, too completely understate the situation, not so good. The state of the Canadian housing market is still going strong but I know that a lot of people who were thinking about investing in real estate are now putting off those plans to see “where the economy goes”.

I wonder if people in other countries are not taking such precautions. The UK and Europe’s economy is not so closely linked to the US as Canada’s but still...they are probably keeping an eye on US happenings. I know I would be.

So, if people are holding off on investing in real estate but they still want to spend (after all, how is putting your money in savings going to help the economy?), what are - or should they be - thinking about investing in? Hmmm...What about real estate? I know I sound like a crazy person, but what about commercial real estate? If you are not worried about a depression, which not many people are really, why not take advantage of commercial real estate and Commercial Mortgages? After all, if people aren’t buying, they have to be renting, right? I think I would like to look into a commercial spot with a profitable apartment above.

California Refinance Help

looking to refinance in California? Well Dollarblvd.com can help you, and anyone else interested really, with your California Refinance. They offer FIVE free quotes, which is very cool, and they have an easy to use, very navigable online quote form.



The DollarBlvd.com site offers help with a lot more than just home refinancing as well, so if you have the time and the need, click the link to check them out.

Bad Credit Score Help

You do not need to be an economist to see that the US has gotten itself into "quite a bit of a pickle", as my grandmother would say, financially speaking.

The stock market is volotile, the housing market is volotile, and bad credit loans are rising by the day. It is a scary sad and it seems like the more we try to prepare ourselves for what is to come, the deeper we dig. As my boyfriend (who likely would have gotten along quite well with my grandmother) would say "Dig up, Stupid."

The best a lot of people can do right now is to whether the storm. I do not mean to sound like a doomsday-er, I think there is a lot we can all do to prepare ourselves, the sooner the better, and the less effected we will be.

I am not telling anyone what to do but if you feel yourself slipping, maybe there are people out there who can help you repair your credit now before it gets worse.

Massage Chairs Save the Day?

Seeing as how I am horribly sick and miserable (if I am exagerating, it is not by much)I do not want a single person to come near me, let alone touch me. I know it sounds like I am being quite considerate but I am not, I simply can't stand human contact if I am not feeling well.

Unfortunately my distaste for people touching me when I have a cold or flu does not help out my achey muscles and joints caused by said cold or flu. I am in dire need of a massage yet just the thought of one makes me go "ewh".

I was on a site today that is selling a product that may appear this achey muscle induced conundrum. The website is called HumanTouch.com and their miracle product is Massage Chairs.


Now all I have to do is figure out how to get one in my condo when I am feeling so yucky!

Prescription Glasses for $8

We are getting well into the New Year here and it seems that the office trend is to get new prescription eyeglasses. It is too bad that half of them have already spent a qazillion dollars or so on their new glasses and i just found out about Great Discovry:$ 8 Prescription Glasses From Zenni Optical. Can you believe it? Glasses from as little as $8!!!! I don't even need to wait for my insurance to purchase these babies! I guess it just goes to show what a company can do for you when it cuts out the middleman.

EarthFrisk.Org

For those of you who don't know, Earth Frisk.org is a meta-social Search Engine. Their slogan is "If you can't find it by using this site, it doesn't exist". A pretty confident sounding slogan, I think!

It is a great social search engine with results from all the major search engines. EarthFrisk.org caters to us bloggers, even offering custom tool bars that help our readers find us and may even help out our traffic! I personally like the navigability of the site; it is not all fluffed up with unneccesary info and graphics on the homepage. I hate complicated home pages!

If you have the time, check out this new social search engine and tell me what you think!

Quick Money For Last Minute Shopping?

First of all let me say that the twins, Bill and Jim both won on Biggest Loser. Jim, the twin who was the heavier of the two in the beginning of the competition, lost the more weight than all of the other contestants who were voted off. His prize was $100,000!!! GO JIM.

Bill won the grand prize for losing something like 165 lbs or so. How crazy is that? In an eight onth period no less. He won $250,000!!! Crazy.

I will tell you, those are two guys who will not be hurting this holiday season!

For the rest of us, if we find ourselves in need of small cah advaces or Payday loans, there are lots of online avenues we can take. If you are so inclined, click on the above link and take advantage of a FREE loan calculator!

Elvis, Money Making Opps and More

Okay folks, I was on a pretty exciting site today (my surfing and website-reviewing increases ten-fold during the 9-5 hours of the December/Holiday season. Be prepared!)

Anyhoo, I was on this exciting site today, complete with dolled up Elvis impersonators, a million people who think they can do a better job than Rihanna at singing Umbrella (I am sure at least half of them are right), and FREE money making opps. That is right, this site boasts the ability for us to Make FAST & EASY money with this free opportunity.

So while you are bored at work this December, and I know you are, go check out this site. Upload a video of yourself in all your awesome coolness singing like a rock star. You just might win a bunch of cash. Or join their FREE affiliate program and earn cash with their triple tiered opportunity.

If you do upload a video, make sure to come back here and tell me where it is!

Time is Running Out! BOOK ALREADY!

I am sure there are bunches of people out there who plan to go somewhere over the holidays but have not yet gotten around to making the actual plans. You people (you know who you are) should hurry up! Things are getting booked and deals are running out! Unless of course you go to HotelReservations.com. This site has some great deals on Hotel Reservations, vacation rentals, all of the fun stuff!

For those of you procrastinators, just click the link above or below and get to it already! BTW, this means you too , Michael. It is your turn to plan New Years and we all know you haven't lifted a finger yet!

Trusted Tours And Attractions Free Contest

A lot of my entries on Nanette's Dog Blog are dedicated to one of my favourite hobbies - vacationing. Vacationing really is a passion of mine and I have never been on one that I haven't liked (knock on wood).

Because I am so travel crazy, I am always looking for travel deals, vacation discounts, tips, and travel advice. Well, today I think I have found a site that offers all of the above. In fact, whomever signs up for the Trusted Travel e-newsletter on this site, which (as the name implies) is chock full of valuable information on Trusted Tours and Attractions, will be entered into a contest. The prize is FOUR tickets to tours in a city to be determined by you, the winner! How cool would that be to win? Hmm, if I were to win, where would I pick? San Diego? I have already been there and LOVED it. There is not much that I didn't like about San Diego, I especially loved the zoo and wild animal park. Likely though, I would pick somewhere new. I think that Savannah is a popular choice among fans of the Trusted Tours and Attractions site so I think I would have to pick there.

Now, if you could go on a tour in any absolutely any city, where would you go?

Thinking Back to My Oregon Vacation

By the way, just to add to my last post, how I am thinking back to the time when I had the time to read a good fiction book, I will tell you when that was.

I was living in the States, goig to school. I was on summer break and decided to really take advantage of my break. I drove from Washington State to Oregon and then drove along the Oregon cost. I started reading the Stepahanie Plum series on that holiday, and still think the books are so clever and witty! Anyway, before I got to the Oregon Coast I stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I do not even like cheese but it was quite the tour. I also went to a Wild Animal Petting Zoo and I played with a baby tiger and pet a baby lynx. I made the mistake of petting a goat too, and then the grumpy bugger followed me around the park head butting me in the butt every time I stopped petting it!

I shopped and touristed my way along the Oregon and then the California coast. To be honest, I did not really take my time because I thought the California coast was going to be so much better. It wasn't.

I have always thought about going back to Oregon and I was really hoping that a few of my freinds that graduated from Idaho State University would get jobs over in Oregon so I had a good excuse to visit the state. So far it hasn't happened. I think, though that I would like to rent a home or condo on the beach (way better than hotels!).

There is a site that specializes in Oregon Beach Vacations in general and a Lincoln City Holiday Vacation in particular. I should go check them out.



Of course, as we all know, I am Florida bound this February. Luckily there will be lots more vacations and lots more destinations!

Goth Dating Site

I have more than a few single friends who are using online dating and chat sites to meet other (hopefully) single people. These sites have come a long way over the years and I am friends with one married couple who claim to have met online and I am friends with another couple, now engaged, who on a dating site.

The problem with a lot of the dating websites that are out there right now is that they tend to cater only to the mainstream. Other than one site out there that I think caters to dog owners like me that are fanatic about their furry babies, and another site or two that caters specifically to Christians, I have not really heard about any alternative dating sites. Until now.

Darkyria.com is a Gothic dating site that caters to Goths, Vampires, and other interesting people who might not feel comfortable at “mainstream” sites. There are chatrooms, forums and other fun...I mean dark stuff. I know of at least a couple of people who will be interested in this site.

With online dating sites branching out into niche markets like this, you can really see how far the online dating world has come!

Adgooroo - Adwords Supplement

I was just on a site that offers a product called AdGooroo Express. It is designed to help people that using Google Adwords but maybe feel like they are too busy to be getting the most out of their campaigns. Not only does the program run like a gazillion diagnostic tests per day and keep track of all of you natural linkings, it also monitors competition.
AdGooroo Express offers 24 hour, 7 day a week support (including live chat), which is cool and free. Also free is a trial, available by going to their AdGooroo Express website so go check them out, if you are so inclined!

All I want for Christmas is....

Okay, so I know what website I am going to be sending people to when they ask what I want for Christmas. I can tell them that I am not picky, any old thing from JR Dunn Jewellers will do nicely! I can picture it now....

Them: "What do you want for Christmas"

Me: "Oh don't trouble yourself, I don't need anything"

Them: But you are such an awesome person whom I love very much even though I only see you in the gym on Sundays (or walk dog/work in the same building/have been friends with you for two and a half weeks/etc.). I have to get you something"

Me: "Okay, well if you insist, I guess any old thing from JR Dunn would do. You know, one or two corum watches, maybe a solitaire diamond necklace, even a gift certificate would be fine with me."

Them: "Thanks for the tip, amazing lady, I will spend a lot of effort picking out something perfect for you. If I can't decide, I will buy both!"


Yes, that is how it will go. I have played this scenario out in my head over and over again. It always ends the same way.

I love Christmas.

New York New York!

Even though I am within driving distance ( a very long driving distance) from New York City, I have never gone. I have always wanted to and whenever my boyfriend, friends and I try to figure out where to go on New Years (it is a tradition with us that we head out of town), I always suggest New York city. Every year I am inevitably vetoed. How unfair!

My bf does not really want us to go to New York on our mini holiday becase he pictures me going absolutley insane with shopping fever! He pictures me at Bloomingdales and Nieman-Marcus and Normstom's. He shudders with fear and then swiftly suggests Ottawa instead (where we have gone the last two years in a row).

Okay, so yes, I will not deny the shopping appeals, REALLY appeals to me but I really want to go to soak up the culture...to visit the Gugghenheim, Times Square, and the Empire state building. You know, all of the tourist-y stuff.

Well, I have the feeling that this year might be my year(if the whole property tax increase thing doesn't damage my wallet too bad). I just found out that there is a New York City CityPass. For like a fraction of what it would cost to get into all of the museums and tourist places that I want to go, I can buy a New York CityPass, get into all of these places and skip the line ups! How cool is that!? Plus Iget all of the insidr tips and info. It is only $65 to get into like a gazillion places, including the places I mentioned above and the museum of modern art....okay maybe I should leave out the MOMA part when I pitch this to my boyfriend!

Time For a New Car

So Mark and I have decided that we are going to have to get a new car in the new year. With him on nights, it is just too much pressure for me to be driving his beloved baby to work and back every morning. Our next step is to figure out if we want new or used, Honda or Subaru (my two choices :))

There is a website called CarsBlvd.com that has tons of deals. I am going to take a look-see at their site and possibly get a Honda Car Quote.

As I said, we are not looking to purchase until the new year but it is time to start doing te research, that is for sure.