Best Blog Contest
In my computer science class (I hated this class because I am terrible with computers and technology) we had to do a group project/ contest having to do with blogs. You could have any kind of web host (we tended to use free ones since we are broke college students and didn't want to spend money on a project ha) and we had to come up with a topic that would interest our other classmates and then blog about it the entire semester.
It was an interesting project and contest. We used this web hosting guide that we found online to find the best blog hosting site we could (that was free obviously) and then we went to work trying to find out what students wanted to know. We found out instantly that students love gossip and as terrible as it was, we decided to use that as our topic. So we made our blog open to other students and we allowed them to post stuff on it (anonymously of course) as long as it didn't directly hurt another student or person. Most of it was silly stuff and we checked a few times a day to make sure that there wasn't trash on it and if so we deleted it to make sure that no one was smack talking about anyone else.
Overall though we definitely had the best project (we won and got an A on it). We ended up keeping the website up for a little bit after the project was over because people were posting events on it and stuff and it was fun to see what was going on and people were able to stay in touch. But then we ended up getting lazy and we stopped checking it and when we did go on once in a while we would find that people wrote some negative stuff on it so we finally deleted it. It was nice to get such a good grade on the project and it really wasn't that much work at all and it was kind of cool to be part of something so big (I'm not great at technology so I was shocked when the website worked out) and I even got in touch with a few people that I knew when I was younger which was really cool and interesting. So I guess A plus for us!
Posted by Jen on Friday, February 27, 2009 @ 9:48 AM
GETTING AN ONLINE DEGREE DURING DAD'S ILLNESS
Originally, I started out going to a traditional college, but when my father got sick, I really felt that I needed to be around more to help my mother out. His illness was really taking a toll on her, after all he needed to be taken back and forth for treatments, and he was barely functional after them, so she pretty much had to do everything. This is what cancer does to you. I don't know which is worse the cancer or the treatment for it. Anyway, I made my decision that I was going to leave school and return home to help my mother. Both my parents had really tried to get me to stay at school, but my heart wasn't really in it since I knew that they were going through so much.
My mother took a job during the day, and I took one in the evenings, so that we could rotate taking care of daddy. I was home with him during the day and really found that except for the general caring for him and taking him to treatments, there was a lot of down time where he would be sleeping and I would be just sitting around. It was during that time that I decided to find out about getting my online degree. At first I was afraid that getting a degree online meant that I would have a lesser degree than at a traditional college, but then I learned that an online college degree is just the same, except it actually takes less time and is more condensed of a program. I made the decision to do it, and they even offered me financial aid, which was a big help, especially with dad being ill. I began doing my coursework online, and the flexibility was so great. If dad was having a good day, then I could do my school work online, and when he was having a bad day I could blow it off and just take care of him. Well, I had to stay disciplined, but with the coursework that I had already done, it only took me about a year to get the remainder of the courses completed and got my degree. I am really glad that I did it that way, because just a few months after completing my online degree my father passed. I can't imagine not having been there to help him and mom through this difficult time. If it were not for online college, I would have had to choose a degree or my father, and that would have been no choice at all.
Posted by Jen on Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 9:23 AM
Servers
There is a website that I found while I was researching for one of my class projects that compares dedicated servers and gives a good in depth summary of web hosting services offered.
I am terrible with computers and besides maybe checking my email and doing a lot of the same things that my 70 year old grandma knows how to do on her Iphone; I really am pretty useless with them. So I (along with a lot of other people I am sure) appreciate when there are websites out there or some sort of information helping you to compare computer or internet products and services. Since I don't know very much (and it is really helpful for my project too) I like to have everything laid out on one page so that I can weigh the pros and cons of the product or service without having to search each individual one and come up with them myself (I'm not lazy, just time efficient ha).
So when I came across this website comparing Dedicated Web Hosting services, I was happy to see that it explained to me all of the details and I didn't have to search around the world wide web for everything myself. The website talks about why and who needs dedicated servers and everything that each company or product can offer.
It also compares the cost and efficiency of each one so that you don't have to find that information on your own. It is nice to see each lined up in columns next to each other. It is like this website took the time out to make your pro con list for you. It also talks about which is best for things like large work loads, which is more energy efficient, and manageable.
While I may sound like a lazy person, not wanting to do research (trust me I do my fair share of research in school), I really am not. I just feel like in the society that we live in today we aren't cutting corners by using websites like these and relying on them to find our information for us; we are more or less beating the system ha. You need to know how to be efficient and save time now because if you don't, other people will get ahead. So while I am comparing these services for my project easily, someone else in my class giving a similar presentation may be having a harder time and that will be the difference in the workplace as well.
Posted by Jen on Friday, February 20, 2009 @ 9:18 AM
A NEW BED MEANS A BETTER NIGHT'S REST
Knowing that you are getting the best night's sleep is extremely important. Especially when you are a very busy person like I am. I know that I don't get enough rest, however I began to notice that I wasn't sleeping as well at night, and a friend suggested that it could be my bed. She then began to told me that many people think that a mattress can last forever, but really it becomes less effective in just a few years. I knew I had my mattress for at least the past 10 years maybe more, so I knew I was probably in need of a new one. I told her that I was on a limited budget, and wasn't sure that I could afford to go shopping for beds, but she assured me she could help me get a new mattress and box spring for a great deal. She said that now everyone is looking to sell more and therefore they are always running sales and cutting prices and that now would probably be a really good time to pick up a new bed really cheap. Well, when we went to the first store the prices seemed really high, so I told my friend that this was out of my means, but then she told me about this great discount memory foam mattresses warehouse that offered the very best prices. The only thing was if we were going to go there then we needed to borrow someone's pick up truck, because they were too far away to deliver it to us, plus that would cost us more to pay for the delivery. Well, I decided that we could get Bob's truck or at the very least, have him come with us. He said her was free on Saturday, so the three of us took a ride to see about a new bed. Well, we found something that was perfect, nice and soft like I liked and really inexpensive. We took it back and set it up, and I can't believe what a great night's sleep I got. I haven't slept like that in years. Now I know that getting a new memory foam mattress can make all the difference in getting a good night's sleep and I won't put off buying a new bed ever again. It is definitely worth the money to get a good night's sleep.
Posted by Jen on Monday, February 16, 2009 @ 8:22 AM
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Recently a friend talked me into trying to start my own website. She really thought that it would be a great avenue for me to sell my artwork. I thought it might be a good idea to give it a try, after all, as a student, any extra cash is welcomed right. She told me about a site that was really cheap and that could help me get a domain name and get my pages set up and stuff, so I did all that, but I still wasn't getting hardly anyone looking at my site. I went online to research about getting traffic to my site and learned a little bit about search engine marketing. After reading quite a few articles about it, I began to realize that I really needed to hire someone to do my search engine marketing for me, so I started looking around at some companies, I found quite a few on the web, but I really wasn't sure how I could chose the search engine marketing firm that was right for my needs, and my budget. After all, I really didn't have a lot to invest in my business, but I knew that if I didn't get anyone coming into my site, that there was no way that my art business would ever get off the ground. I went back to my friend Sue who suggested me starting my own website in the first place and she said that she would be glad to help me out with the search engine marketing for my site and that she knew a little bit about it, and thought that she could at least get me ranked higher than I was now. I thought I would let her give it a shot, since the whole idea was hers and wasn't going to charge me anything, which of course was right in my price range. Anyway, I have made a few sales and things are moving along. It is not a booming business, but with the money that I have made so far I may just be able to go to Florida with some friends for Spring Break, so obviously this business is paying off.
Posted by Jen on Monday, February 09, 2009 @ 11:16 AM
THE WATER DAMAGE RESTORATION SAVES MY ROOM
Since going away to school, my parents decided that they were going to redo my room and make it more of a guest room. I think this is only because they don't want me to move back in permanently, so they decided to revamp the room so that it was not "my room" any longer. It was all okay with me and so I got rid of a lot of stuff and then packed the rest of my stuff up into boxes and put it in the basement. Well, yesterday my mother called me to tell me that they discovered that there was water all over the basement. Apparently, they had a big snow and as it began to melt, it somehow flooded the basement, and half of my stuff is now water logged. She says that she called someone in to assess the damage, a water damage restoration company, and that they are going to get the basement cleaned up and back in shape. Now, she tells me that she has been through all my boxes and has put what is left into some plastic containers and put them in the attic, but that much was actually ruined, including my old posters and pictures and stuff, and honestly I am heart broken. She said that the water restoration company should be done with their work by the time I return home for break, but that some of my stuff just couldn't be saved. She said that she lost a lot of the stuff that she was saving from when we were kids too, and that it was killing her to see so much ruined and destroyed. Who knew that just some water could damage so much? She said that it must have actually been flooding there for a little while because when she opened the boxes there was mold inside, but she said that with all the boxes piled up down there that she didn't even notice, until the one day when she went down to do the laundry and noticed a puddle on the floor. She said the mold was actually in the walls and that this restoration project was going to be a big one, and that they would have to wait on redoing my room upstairs, until next year. Well, I guess it was a mix of good and bad news, on the one hand I lost my treasures, but on the other hand, I get to hang onto my room a little bit longer, and that will be nice.
Posted by Jen on Monday, February 09, 2009 @ 8:57 AM
HOW TO FRANCHISE INFORMATION FROM MOM
Taking management courses st school, I began to wonder if there would be any management openings when I do finally graduate. With lots of companies making cutbacks, it just seems that more and more of the upper management people will be laid off. After all, they are the ones who make the better money, so they are also the ones who will get laid off first. It just makes sense.
All these thoughts were beginning to get me depressed, and so when I was talking to my mother last night on the phone, I began to let her know that I was considering either changing my major or leaving college all together. I mean, I am only going to college so that I can get a better job, and if I can't accomplish that, then really what do I have...NOTHING!
She started telling me that upper management in a company was not my only option and that I could use my degree to open my own business. I told her that I just wasn't sure that I wanted all the headaches of that, and she began to talk to me about a franchise. Now, I know about franchises, I know that 7-11 is one and that the UPS store is one, but I really never gave much thought to doing it myself.
She began to tell me the benefits of buying franchise like, being your own boss, but still having an established company to back you and the fact that you get a break on health insurance benefits, which is one of the biggest issues when you open your own business. She even told me she would print me up some information on how to franchise, and send it out in the mail to me. She also told me about a site that helps you find the perfect franchise for you including location, hours of operation, and initial investment.
She told me that if I decided that this was the right opportunity for me, she and my father would help me get together the cash to get started in my own franchise.
Well, it is amazing how one conversation with my mother, and now I feel much lighter and ready to take on the world again. Sometimes it is just about changing your focus to see that everything is alright in the world.
Posted by Jen on Monday, February 09, 2009 @ 8:44 AM
CHOOSING THE RIGHT LINGERIE CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
Many times women think of lingerie as something sexy that you wear for your husband or boyfriend. I am studying to be a fashion designer, and I can honestly tell you that one of the most important things that you wear every day is not what the people see but what they don't. Wearing the right lingerie is the most important part of the outfit, and by changing a woman's lingerie I can complete change the way that her figure looks. For instance, you can use the right bra to not only hide under a dress, ie. a strapless gown, but you can also make your breasts look larger, smaller, perkier, show more or less cleavage and so forth. If you are a little wider around the middle then wearing a corset bra may be the answer to pull you in just where you need it most.
One of the biggest mistakes people make with choosing undergarments, is getting them too tight. They somehow think that if they get them really tight that will make them look slimmer. Usually it works in the exact opposite however. Normally, too tight undergarments will squeeze you in, but then where the cut off they will usually leave a really big bulge. This many times will look unsightly, even if worn under clothes. The best thing that you can do for your overall look, is to choose lingerie that fits correctly. Doing this can be a bit difficult and sometimes getting the right fit takes getting professionally measured. It is not very expensive, but is well worth looking into if you want to look fabulous in everything you wear.
Undergarments, can and will make you feel and look sexier. Using them properly to shape and mold your body, will get the best possible look out of any outfit. Choosing the right lingerie can take some time, but when you get the right look for you, you will know it. Your body will look better in everything you wear. You will be surprised at how amazing you can look!
Posted by Jen on Monday, February 02, 2009 @ 11:18 AM