Vacation All I Ever Wanted

This is a sponsored post.

I can heartily endorse looking into Maine vacation rentals as a perfect family vacation idea even if it's just the two of you. I have not been to any of the rental homes featured on this particular site, but I did spend the first week of September back in 2005 at a vacation rental similar to the ones featured.

Here is a quick description of one of the homes featured...A farmhouse thatwas built around 1912 and has been lovingly restored sitting is on approximately 1 and 1/2 acres of shore front land with stairs to a private tidal beach. You are free to use the kayaks and canoes. There is a stream running through the back corner that borders one side of the lot. A portion of the property has been left uncut and there are beautiful wild flowers. Old landscaping from back when it was a family home include lilacs, poppies. peonies, honeysuckle, antique roses, rugosa roses and an assortment of herbs.

That reminds me, when we were staying a our vacation rental we happened upon a local fish seller and bought some of his catch. We were quite glad to find just the right herbs to go with the fish right in the garden. There were also wild blueberries nearby, I went out one morning while everyone else was asleep to pick blueberries to go with breakfast. It was dawn and there was a mist in the air. I heard an unfamiliar noise and looked up the beach to see two fox kits (pups) play fighting while their mother kept a watchful eye on them.

I'm not sure what the standard amenities for a vacation home are, but we were amazed with ours. There was a standard coffee maker AND a french press. There was a serious family sized microwave. There was a gas fireplace with a remote control. There was sugar and tea and coffee, and also herbal teas. There was a corkscrew. There were books, I read Picture of Darian Gray. There were beach toys. There was a clothes line. There was a barbeque. I could go on and on, basically we did not want for anything that week.

Stream of Unconsciousness

I think I fall into a trap of thinking that I know Britney Spears. The young woman has a public image that is partly orchestrated by a staff of people and partly the result of Britney's life decisions and random acts. When she uses the excuse that she is country to explain what is considered child endangerment by some people, part of me understands and sympathizes because I am country too. But then I realize that she started living in places like New York and LA before she even hit puberty. She is less county than me and I have the cognizance to keep in line with social norms in an suburban setting. The recent famous pictures, which by the way you will NEVER see on this site, I think too much of a big deal as made of them. Basically we have to assume that it was a display aimed at getting lots of attention. It worked. The best thing that morally outraged people can do is ignore it. I can only assume that some of them did. I saw a commment from a male somewhere that he was very disappointed. Did he think that Britney's genitalia would be somehow different than what regular nonfamous women have? I can't end this post on that topic, so I need to mention that Britney Spears is a musical performer. There is some chance that she will rise to the occasion with some good recorded material soon. I think the lack of product is partly intensifying the attention paid to her personal life.

An Encyclopedia Project

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This encyclopedia is like a hybrid site of sorts. It has information on a variety of subjects ranging from Antique Furniture to Software but it essentially functions as a web directory. If you are looking for interesting snippets of ESL about stuff that people are trying to sell, it is a valuable resource. I found a page with the following recommendation: "With an immense experience of 100 years, the site caters outstanding service." I am a better person after reading that sentence. Unlike conventional encyclopedias, this one does not have articles in alphabetical order, they use a simpler organization of categorizing the articles based only on the first letter in their titles.

Update on Journalism Efforts

No response yet to my e-mail query. I ...SHUDDER... checked my spam folder. It used to be that the subjects in the spam folder ranged from amusing to shocking. Now they are almost uniformly gross. Stop it, ok? I did find one real email in there, which is depressing in a way because it means that I am going to have to glance in there every day now. Ewww.

Figurines And Gifts

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Britney Spears is in a new relationship. I think she is probably well into the gift getting stage of this particular relationship. She didn't even make it that far with the last one. She has recently been observed wearing a Star of David pendant.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching Isaac Cohen is probably fretting over what to buy his new sweetheart. How about a Fairy tale figurine?



She could use this as a example of a conservative hemline.

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Or maybe a sextant, she can use it to plot a new direction for her public image.


The Old Gift Shop has lots of quaint, tasteful figurines. Even though I mentioned them in relation to V Day, you really need to know a person before you deviate from the trifecta of flowers, chocolate and jewelry. For one thing these things are hard and heavy and some of them have sharp edges.

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Attempt #2 at Real Journalism

There is only so far that I can take this thing without having actual credentials. I have drafted and sent an e-mail to the web development firm that may or may not be responsible for the present state of BritneySpears.com. It was very polite and unobtrusive. There is a 99.99999999% chance that it will be ignored. If I were given the task of managing incoming mail at that company, I would probably trash the one I sent. I put my actual first and last name at the bottom so it would look very business-like.

britney

A New Way to Shop For Cars

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AutoFigures.com is a new car shopping site that provides vehicle pricing, reviews and specifications on more than 50 brands of vehicles. I like the way the site looks, it is very web 2.0. And it has a simple layout, the links for the car brands are just left of center in one tidy table. Even if you are more of a hands on car shopper, this site could help you gauge the market.

You may save yourself time and money by using the Free Quote Request process. These days, Internet sales departments at car dealerships are staffed with highly-skilled, well-trained sales representatives who know how to communicate via the Internet. You can often get a new car quotes via email or over the phone. AutoFigures.com partners with top dealers that have a trusted reputation in the local marketplace. If you use this service, you can expect to be contacted by a dealer within a matter of hours.

Is Isaac Cohen in this for the Long Haul?

I was pretty harsh in a previous post about Isaac Cohen. The fact that he was an infatuated fan of the Britney Spears of a few years ago doesn't have to mean he can't be a stand up guy for her in the present. I would be worried that he is looking at her through rose colored glasses. Basically, I am wondering what happens when the star struckness wears off and real life is a little more stark and in his face.

I think if you are going to spend your life with a flawed person (which we all are), a pretty, wealthy flawed person is not the worst that you could do.

isaac cohen

Who Sent That Text Message to K-Fed ?

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I can imagine a celebrity must sometimes have a use for a Cellular Reverse Lookup. Finding out who called you can be very helpful sometimes. Most conventional reverse look up services don't work well with cellphone numbers.

A far as a personal experience, mine pre-dates caller ID. Well there was caller ID, I was just too cheap to get it. Anyway, my wife was getting these creepy phonecalls, usually when I was at work. One day I was home early and I picked up. When the idiot hung up I did the *69 thing or whatever it was, and got the number. It was a payphone. You would think that would be a problem, except I lived in the country where there only was one payphone. I drove the the convenience store where it was located. The owner said he hadn't observed anybody using the phone just then. The calls stopped. People will often stop bugging you if they know that you can find out who they are. So all you rude people take note that there is reverse cell phone look up now.

Are You A False Tabloid?

In my early morning search for Britney Spears news, I saw some poor journalism on display. There was news that her home is up for sale. Well, that was actually news back in November, and the recent story has whacky numbers too. The earlier report says that Britney sprang for a $130,000 recording studio for Kevin. The new story inflates the price tag all the way to £1.5million. At today's exchage rate that is $2.94 million. This is K-Fed, not Peter Gabriel, ok?

A Place to Find Funny Videos

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Jokeroo.com is a fun site where you can find funny videos. The top video on the front page today is Tiger Woods running down a guy who tried to steal his clubs. That sounds pretty funny. I know a really funny song called Tiger Woods, it is by Dan Bern and you can probably find it...somewhere.

Jokeroo also has an 80's picture of Van Halen in the sidebar. I think it is hilarious, I'm not sure if i am supposed to.

A PPP Puzzle Piece

This is a piece of a puzzle that bloggers are trying to piece together in order to win $1,000. Good luck to all the hunters.

payperpost

The 'Anti-Dr Phil' Exploits The Britney Phenomenon

I had never heard of this awful television show before. It is like the love child of the Dr Phil show and the Jerry Springer Show. Anyway, this video is about Party Moms who Refuse to Give Up Their Wild Ways. Now where did he get the idea for that show, I wonder?

I watched three clips, this show is very exploitative of messed up people who will take direction about how to talk about their own lives in order to get their faces on TV, oh and they probably get paid too (if they don't get paid, then it is even sadder).

Sports Arbitrage

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Why do humans love to put a personal financial stake into a sporting event? For some sports fans, it might just involve placing an occasional single bet on their favorite team as a tangible show of support. Other people may be addicted to the minutia of sports trivia and are really betting on what they consider to be their own superior knowledge.

I can only imagine that the placing of bets has gone hand in hand with athletic events for as long as their have been athletic events.

Did you know that the modern insurance industry arose from what was at first essentially a form of betting? Lloyds of London had its start as a coffee house where rich men essentially had ongoing bets with each other over whether merchant ships would be successful in their journeys. The system became more and more refined and covered more and more possible calamities until it became a form of business.

Obviously, sports arbitrage is limited in its scope and will not become what the insurance industry is now. It is technically gambling. It's interesting to note that stock investments can sometimes be a higher risk than most arbitrage strategies. I guess that's why brokers have to be licensed and such.

Some people use a system to exploit the vast odds making system in such a way that they are making what they feel is more of a relatively low risk investment. The range of return on investment may be from 2% up to as much as 20%.

What are the risks? They include price changes midway through the arbitrage bet, bookmakers refusing to honour the wager, or even bookmakers being unable to remain solvent.

JuiceTrading.com is offering a FREE 1 Week Trial Period - You WILL believe!

They feature and example where you are placing a lot of money with two betting agencies and regardless of the outcome, you win between $10 and $18. That is basically what arbitrage is.

Really Poor Quality Video Of Britney WORKING

Yes, Britney was filmed doing her job...and she was caring for her children at the same time. The work consisted of going over some choreography with her dancers. The video is noisy, and shakey and filmed through a video, possibly while standing on somebody's shoulders.

I personally think that this woman can earn back some respect quite easily, it all comes down to avoiding the actions that get the bad press almost all of the time. I think there must be some kind of magic number of times per month that you can party without being heralded as an unfit mother by the tabloids. The trouble is that when your as famous as Britney, you get about three days of press for every time you go to a club.

Try A Little Tenderness

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I'm sure it's not all tenderness, but when I tuned in to Wally's R and B online it was pretty sweet and laid back. I wish I could be rolling down an avenue in a big old boat of a car listening to this. This Rhythm and Blues radio is running smooth with my media player.

I am a musician and I always find it interesting that while some sounds go out of fashion while others have been repeated in popular music right up until today. For example, stars like Christina Aguilera owe a lot of their vocal hooks to golden era R'n'B. I think it's about time the harmonica made a comeback. I think Karaoke junkies should keep tuned in to this station for some potential crowd pleasers.

My Attempt at Actual Journalism

I made a phonecall to the media rep at Viget Labs, the people who were/are responsible for Britney Spears' web development. I wanted to ask them a few questions.

1. Is it still your baby?

2. How do you think things are shaping up?

3. Is she a hands on kind of client?

Really professional sounding stuff like that. I got his voicemail and then I hung up. I hate talking to voicemail.

I may try again or I may just email the dude.

Get Some Ink Done

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I am doing a quick review for a site from whom you can order a printer cartridge, a toner cartridge or other stuff like that. The first thing I noticed is that they sell both original and compatible cartridges. I have always wondered what the differences really were, so I started checking it out everywhere online. Forums say stuff like that the cheap compatibles might smear on photo quality paper, that you will void your warranty if you use them, stuff like that. I have generally always had printers last until the end of the warranty. I don't try to make photo quality prints. So I am the type of customer who strongly considers going with compatibles.

How much cheaper are they? Compare this compatible to the original
so $2.46 compared to $11.42, something to consider for sure. I have been in a situation before where I had to use a compatible because the local store was out of stock of original.

As far as this particular site goes, it is great. It has a good search function. It has live chat support. It is a BizRate Gold Honoree which means that they provide satisfactory service and that they are proactively committed to monitoring their customer's satisfaction by allowing every customer to provide feedback to BizRate.com directly at the point-of-sale check-out.

Jive Records Vs Britney Spears

Officially, these two entities are very happy with each other. The rumors that Jive is bothered by Britney's personal life and work ethic and well, her music are abundant.

I just want to make one observation. In the blogosphere, people are starting to refer to reciprocal linking as LOVE, which I think is just wrong. Britney Spears' official site ranks first on google for the search Britney, while Jive records operates a site (with actual content) called Britney.com that stands at #2. There is no link love between these two sights. No LOVE.

britney spears

Does Hoodia Really Work?

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Is hoodia weight loss a viable strategy to get where you want to be with your body? The active ingredient that is harvested from a cactus-like desert plant was actually patented in 1996 as an appetite suppressant. Pfizer could not figure out how to effectively make a synthetic drug and have released the rights to the ingredient in 2002.

Caution should be taken by any dieter considering hoodia. High doses may have undesired effects on the liver. Another problem is that almost half of the hoodia products on the market DO NOT CONTAIN HOODIA. Natural Health Hoodia is certified by an independant lab to contain the active ingredient that is reported to suppress hunger.

I intuitively think that an appetite suppressant like Hoodia is a better decision than a stimulant. I would stick to the minimum effective dose and try to live a active lifestyle and have a healthy diet.