Minnesota Winter Desperate Times for Squirrel

This is the view from our front window of our suet cakes we put out for the BIRDS. This squirrel went after a suet cake that hangs 20 feet off the ground. He did get some of it before slipping. At that point, it was hanging by one paw from the bottom of the eve.

His mission:  To either continue seeking food from the eve and risk falling to his sure (well, almost sure) death or try to get back on the roof. It seemed that he realized he was in a position to get more. He didn't seem to notice that he was in deep trouble.

Yes, the squirrel did lose his grip and ended up falling -- but not his "sure death!" The squirrel ran up on the roof again from a tree and tried to get at it two more times before giving up for the day. I tried getting some video but didn't quite have enough time for that. Perhaps next time I'll get the squirrel on video.

Save Money on Batteries for the Laptop

This is great for when the laptop is out of warranty! I can do this project!

Top 5 Poker Rooms in Las Vegas

If you want to experience live poker action at the gambling Mecca of the world, here is a guide to the top poker rooms in Las Vegas. You can read here updated info on each of the recommended Las Vegas poker rooms including their game variety, limits and tournaments.

3 Simple Ways To Save A Bunch Of Money When Buying A New Computer!

For most people, buying a new computer does not have to be as stressful as buying a new car. Nor does it have to be as expensive. If you're like most people, and you have a limited budget for buying a computer, then you need to try to get as much computer for your money as possible.

Here are 3 simple ways anyone can save money when buying a new computer:

Waiting Could Be Devastating, Protect Your Data

Have you thought about what you might do if you had a hard drive crash and required a full desktop restore? Do you have an idea of what you should do to protect your data? Do you know what software to use? Do you know how to protect yourself for next to nothing?There is a laundry list of software on the internet that is available for use. You have the ability, today, to search for any type of software you need to get the job done.

Protect yourself now. Be proactive at home and at work. Did you know you can use techniques at home that multimillion dollar companies use to protect their data? Did you know that you can do it at a fraction of the cost and still maintain a high level of security and data protection? I want to be the one to let you in on a few little secrets.

Can't seem to get ahead financially? Debts piling up?

Maybe you're making some of these mistake unknowingly. These mistakes listed below will help you understand where you may be going wrong and how to get back on track quickly. You can be debt free.

Mistake 1. Living Beyond Your Means

This is the real cause of your worry and stress. If you are spending more than you are earning, whose money are you spending? It's the credit card provider's or the bank's. The cost of this money is interest.

The way out - Make a Commitment to yourself only to spend within your income limits. Maybe you could increase your income (or cash in) by applying for more skilled positions, selling some of your unused articles or assets. Is the second car really a necessity? What about working out ways to make your hobby pay for itself?

Why not find ways to reduce your spending? How much would you save each year if you decided not to have the daily coffee shop coffee? Why not make your work lunch each day rather than buying it? Commit to only buying the necessities.

Mistake 2. Paying Off Less Than the Full Credit Card Balance Each Month

Get this debt under control and your life will be much easier. If you are like many others and only pay the minimum balance each month, the interest on the interest makes those purchases oh so expensive.

The way out - Find ways to put aside more money to apply to the credit cards. It will take time to reach this goal. However, if you don't make a start now you may never pay them off. This situation did not occur overnight and neither will the solution. But, by diligence and commitment you'll get there.

Mistake 3. Not Really Knowing Your Financial Situation

Before you can set meaningful goals and develop savings strategies you need to know your financial situation now. The best, proven and tested method by far, is by developing your own personal budget. This is not hard to do. Please don't give up now. Just follow these simple steps:

Let Natural Talents Guide Your Career

Today, I went to a session called the Natural Talent and Genetic Skills test facilitated by Michael Monroe Kiefer M.S. Through his research, he discovered that the people who are most successful or “Peak Performers” in many different fields had similar characteristics. One characteristic they had was they all set goals. The second characteristic they had is that they also had a positive self image and saw themselves as being successful. The third characteristic of peak performers was that they used their natural talents and skills in their professions.

It was interesting how he compared the sports industry to businesses. Most businesses review their employees, and they look at the 25 or so different skills that the employee does on the job. In this review there would typically be three to four skills that the employee does really well and about three to four skills that the employee doesn’t do well. The rest of the skills the employee does are average. What most employers do is not spend much time with the items that the employee does really well or the average skills but spend the bulk of the time in the review and after the review working on getting the skills the employee is the worst in and improving them. Keep in mind that spending time and effort attempting to hone those skills employees are less adept at -- at best, it would become an average skill. Mr. Kiefer stated that companies that do this are going to end up with average employees.

In the sports realm, they treat things differently. Take a football player like Bret Farve. When Bret Farve was in high school he already had the aptitude to play football and be a quarterback. In college, he continued to learn more about his quarterbacking skills and further developed those skills. At that point, no coach would have told Bret, “Gee, you are really good at quarterbacking and I see that you are a poor kicker; we should send you to more kicker training.” NO! They gave him more quarterback training -- because a professional quarterback is very specialized.

The better thing to do is to give that employee more training in what he/she excels in so the employee can master them to the point of being an expert. This makes the employee more valuable. A manager of a group project looks for the best people to complete each task of the project to assure the project is done to perfection and on time. A business is like a huge project with the project manager at the top.

He states that everyone has natural talents and we should all look at developing our own natural talents. This does make sense to me. I believe that everyone is an expert on some field.

Here is an article that I found about his system:

Google Voice, Make Free VoIP Calls

We all have heard of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). The main web based service we all hear about is Skype. I had been toying with Skype for a few months as an additional way to call people and not burn cell phone minutes. Skype offers free Skype-to-Skype, video calls, instant messaging and screen sharing.  Then, to call land line phones and mobiles, and do SMS messaging they have a pay per minute or pay for month programs.

Their prices are very reasonable and I can see taking advantage of using Skype for international calls. When I tried it out in late August, with a Skype-to-Skype call to my brother-in-law, and I thought the quality was pretty good through my internet provider (IP).

Being frugal, the only thing that I really didn't like was the cost to line phones and mobiles, and to SMS messaging. Not that it was overly expensive but, I already have other long distance cell phone service that is included from my cell phone provider.  

What was introduced to me earlier this week was a free service from Google Voice. Google Voice is available as an internet-based application, through your Gmail or iGoogle account, easy to set up and has a simple and clear interface. There are some other great features for Google Voice.

Make Free VoIP Calls from Google Voice

For a overview see the video below

6 Quick Tips for a Successful Holiday Job Search

Author: Michelle Dumas

If you have ever conducted a job search during the holidays-if you are conducting one right now-it is important to understand that the holidays offer valuable opportunities not seen at other times of the year. Whatever you do, don't believe the misconception that looking for work during the holidays is a waste of time. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If anything, the holidays are a time to step up your job search. You should continue to set regular goals and take positive action steps on a daily basis toward achieving those goals.

Not only will you have less competition in the job market during the holidays, you may have increased employment opportunities as many employers are still interviewing and hiring. Some are seeking new staff to fulfill certain business goals before the end of the year and others seek to put new employees in place, to have them all ready to go at the start of the New Year.

Here are some quick but essential tips to help you maximize the success of your job seeking efforts during the holidays:

Are My Files Safe With Online Backup Services?

I use Carbonite to back up all my emails, photos, music and other irreplaceable content of my computer. It is easy to install, set up takes just one minute and it's completely automatic. As soon as you add or modify a file Carbonite automatically backs it up to their secure servers. You don't have to do anything!

Carbonite saved me a few times. I have Carbonite on two computers. On both computers the hard drive failed only a week apart and the hard drives had to be replaced. On another occasion my Outlook Data file on one of the computers got corrupted and I used Carbonite to restore just that data file.

It really works great and I know it's worth it!

And the best part is, it's only $54.95 per year - no matter how much stuff you need to backup. Check it out.

Try Carbonite Risk-Free today!

Now onto the article

- John


Are My Computer Files Safe With Online Backup Services Like Carbonite?

Microsoft warns of Java exploit rise

Both my sister and my wife sent me a document that refers to this link: Microsoft warns of Java exploit rise | ZDNet UK.

I looked into it and it seems valid. I updated my Java and removed the old version. I'm posting this for my friends who read my blog so you can have this information for your benefit. Here is what was on that document:

December 2010

Increase in Java Exploits
From the Desk of Bruce Showel 

Java is a programming and computing platform widely used for stand-alone and web-based applications/applets, including utilities, games, and business applications. The platform was first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. Many applications and websites require end-users to have Java installed, and the software is used extensively because of its flexibility. Once a program has been created and compiled in Java, it will run on a variety of software and operating system platforms (such as Windows and Macs). 

What are the potential cyber security concerns?
There has been a rapid increase in the amount of malware that attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in Java. In the second quarter of 2010, there were an estimated 500,000 exploits, up from virtually zero a year before. Between Q2 2010 and the middle of Q3, that figure had increased to more than six million.

The attacks are based in part on older versions of Java. When a newer version of Java is released and installed on a machine, the older version does not automatically get uninstalled. This behavior was intended to provide an easy way to roll back to an older version in case of compatibility issues. However, there is an exploit code publically available on the Internet that hackers are using which detects whether previous versions of Java are installed on a user’s machine and exploits the vulnerabilities that exist in those versions. 

What can I do to be safe?
It is important that users are installing the latest version of Java released by Oracle. To confirm the correct version, visit the following site: http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp. 

Because older versions of Java are not automatically removed when newer versions are installed, it is recommended that users take the extra step of uninstalling the older versions if they are not needed. The uninstallation can be accomplished by using an application known as JavaRa, which is designed to remove all traces of older Java installations on your system.

Home users typically do not need the older versions of Java installed once they have upgraded their Java software and should follow the steps below to remove the older versions of Java.

Happy Ending To Eden Prairie Man’s Tireless Job Search

Happy Ending To Eden Prairie Man’s Tireless Job Search � CBS Minnesota – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, and the Best of Minnesota

I met Kevin Sperbeck through the Job Transitions Group that meets Tuesday mornings at Easter on the Hill Lutheran Church in Eagan Minnesota. If you remembered in the news about the people who went to the Minnesota State Fair with Resumes on a Stick? Yes. That's the group. He is a very energetic person, and I am glad to see that he landed a job. Networking is the key!

Twelve Days of Christmas Gifts Graph

Footage of the collapse of the HH Metrodome roof on December 12, 2010, due to heavy snow

This is incredible! It's almost like a scene from a movie. At about 20 seconds into the video you can see see someone running down the sideline toward the Viking end zone.

Dogs sliding in snow

This is a great video. Dogs sliding on their backs down a hill and loving it!