Futon Blog

Ok, I know that doesn’t sound too sexy to most, but to guys like me who have a pretty high mail volume Mailing labels at 50% off sound pretty attractive. VistaPrint has many design templates to help get you started. Order personalized mailing labels with our design templates and customize them to create address labels with text and upload your logo or graphics. If you already have your personalized address label designed, you can simply upload your file for us to print! Sounds good right?

Well, enter the code “Labels50″ to take your 50% Off Return Address Labels when you place your order. I mean, come on, who doesn’t want to get twice the labels for the same price, or just take half the total right off the top? And the setup is extremely simple, VistaPrint has the whole process spelled out for you to create a label from their templates or upload your own custom design (that’s usually my choice). Once you proof your label you’re good to go.

I just found one of the coolest, heat activated coffee cups over at WishingFish.com. At first glance it’s simply a standard black mug with big white letters that say “OFF”. Nothing fancy, but once you add the hot beverage of your choice, the mug changes color to white and in big black letters it states: “ON”. This is great for anyone who might need more “pick me up” than coffee alone can deliver.

So, as some of you may remember, I used to work for a small furniture store in Western Massachusetts. Actually I ran the back end of the business, shipping receiving, inventories, scheduling, furniture repair, hiring, firing, customer service, web design, ordering from six accounts for stock levels were all part of my position (phew, I though that sentence would never end). But, one of the problems that I could never really get a grip on was accounting for the delivery guys when they were out on the road, and I tried to push the idea of vehicle tracking on the owner, but it never really took off. He felt that it was way too big brother, but he thought the Bush Administration tapped his phones because he donated money to the Democrats so I guess it figures.

Anyhow, little did he know at the time (or me for that matter) how useful a GPS vehicle tracking system could be. I found out after I started my own business that the delivery guys were totally sandbagging it when they were out on the road. They were stopping to play frizz bee golf, taking hour long breaks, and running errands in the delivery trucks. In other words, wasting time and money.

If you own a company where theres no accountability on the road, look into GPS fleet tracking. Or, you could just flush some cash down the toilet. The choice is yours.

This Wednesday I will be working at Sienna Restaurant in South Deerfield, Massachusetts to assist in their South American wine tasting. What’s going to be extremely fun, aside from the wine, is the fact that I’ll be coming up with two of the dishes. I was planning on making a tasty tortilla soup and a sweet-chili glazed grilled shrimp lollipop. It should be great, and at only $25 a person for fine wines and five courses it’s a great bargain. Maybe I’ll see you there.

With the economy in the sad state that is now gripping the US I hear more and more often about people getting in over their heads financially. The mortgage crisis is a huge contributor to the problem, with sub prime adjustable rates increasing foreclosures it’s no wonder people are seeking Debt help. With the problem as widespread as it is today, there’s now an abundance of companies offering Debt consolidation & Debt relief.

Will this solve the problem?

In my opinion, no! As long as people are carrying high credit card balances and taking out high interest variable rate mortgages the afore mentioned help will only be a bandaid on a system in crisis. It may alleviate some of the strain, but it’s no cure all.

Luckily, thanks to my number savvy wife, I haven’t ended up in that boat. We purchased out home when rates were extremely favorable and have never carried balances on our credit cards. Even after I started my own business we’ve managed to keep ourselves dept free and then some!

So, find some good financial practices over at a site like Bills IQ and stick with it. You’ll be able to keep yourselves out of dept too.

One of my most recent projects involves an import company called Dharma Boutique. My involvement in the project includes the setup of inventory and product database of some very interesting items which Adam (the owner) found on his travels through India and Afghanistan. Quite a few of the items are fair trade certified, which is awesome, and others have some of the most intricate detailing I’ve seen in some time.

One of my favorite products to be offered at Dharma Boutique are temple statues. I know, you’re probably shaking your head right now. But don’t worry, they aren’t plunder. If a statue gets damaged or cracked in anyway they are discarded as worthless. There are, however, a few suppliers that repair damaged statues and sell them. True recyclers!

So, in the past year I’ve been looking at all the avenues available to me in the world of computers. I can write fairly well, so blogging works out extremely well for me now. But, I’m also very interested in learning new programming languages as well as improving my knowledge in the IT arena. Setting up networks, servers, and computer repair are all areas that I would love to learn more about.

So, how I can learn more about IT?

Enter the Cisco certification programs. With global demand is growing for IT professionals at all levels Cisco can get people like me started along the right path. Cisco has programs for anyone, whether changing, or enhancing my career. My journey into the world of IT career possibilities starts with a Cisco program.

What programs does Cisco offer?

Cisco offers certification programs in design, switching and routing, security, voice, wireless, storage networking, and service provider fields. In other words, all the areas of the tech industry in out internet age. Learning at Cisco will get you ready to work in the back bone of the computer industry, major corporations, schools and universities, or even start your own free lance business. So, head on over to Cisco to see what they have to offer. You might be on your way to a fulfilling career and life path.

Well a town in Sweden knows exactly what to do with them. Mobodarne a village located about 150 miles north of Stockholm is home to Earthship, a five square mile solar heated house that is part of Vaxhuset ecological centre. The folks at Vaxhuset have used around 1,100 tossed tires to build the walls of Earthship. How did they do it? They filled the tires with gravel and dirt and stamped it all down with wooden stamps. After this they added layers of plaster clay and straw to give a plaster finish that can be painted. When all is said and done it gives the appearance of an “average” building. The south facing building with it’s insulated windows stores the heat from the sun during the day in the rubber walls, and releases the heat in the night hours and during cold weather. This is pretty cool and a great way to use resources that are readily available.

Ok, here’s a serious post and I want to use my readers as a sounding board. I just read some info about resveratrol on a resveratrol forum stating that resveratrol may be a cure for cancer. Now, this is the first time I’ve heard anything about resveratrol and I lost my older sister to cancer ten years ago. So, if anyone has anything to add to this please comment below.

So, head over to the forum, read some of the posts and contribute in anyway you’d like.

So every month it seems that our electric bill keeps getting higher and higher. We have looked into about a hundred different options as to things we can do to cut down energy consumption and energy costs. At this point everything we think of will cost us big initially. We have all energy efficient appliances and light bulbs, and we have our faucets outfitted with water saving devices. So outside of attempting to come up with around $2000.00 for a tankless hot water heater (including new wiring, installation and plumbing) and upwards of $20,000.00 for a solar system we’ve decided to put a low flow showerhead in our bath. There are a lot of units to pick from, ranging from .5 gpm to 2 gpm. The most common complaint that I see is that the pressure isn’t as intense as a more wasteful unit, others say differently. I don’t think that we’ll really know until we try one ourselves. We aren’t sure which unit to pick just yet, any suggestions?