Cleaning For a Reason December 8, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Society.Tags: advertising, cancer, charity, chemo, chemotherapy, cleaning, cleaning for a reason, donations, free, gift, nationwide
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If you know any woman currently undergoing Chemo, please pass the word to her that there is a cleaning service that provides FREE housecleaning – 1 time per month for 4 months while she is in treatment.
All she has to do is sign up and have her doctor fax a note confirming the treatment. Cleaning for a Reason will have a participating maid service in her zip code area arrange for the service. Here is the link:
Please pass this information on to bless a woman going through chemo for any type of cancer. This organization serves the entire USA and currently has 547 partners to help these women. It’s our job to pass the word and let them know that there are people out there that care. Be a blessing to someone and pass this information along.
Also, please send it on to those you know who have a cleaning service or those who might like to volunteer time or finances to help and serve this cause!
Plan Ahead: Buy Cables Online December 3, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Society, Technology.Tags: Best Buy, big box, cables, deal, Monoprice, prices, Radio Shack, save money
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The Christmas season is here and people are buying lots of electronics. I am putting this message out there to save people lots and lots of money. If you are planning on getting a great deal on a new HD TV or DVD or Blu-Ray player, you are going to need cables to connect them. And if you actually save money, avoid buying the cables at the big box store or convenient electronics store.
Go Online!
Here’s why: At Best Buy, ABC Warehouse or Radio Shack, they will do their best to sell you six(6) foot HDMI cable for $60-90. If you can resist and take the time to look online when you get home, you can find similar and similar quality cables at MonoPrice.com or WarehouseCables.com for $15 to $20…. you can send me half of what you save if you want!
Palin on Oprah… She finally comes clean. November 20, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Society.Tags: funny, honesty, interview, Oprah, Palin
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This remix was put together by Conan O’Brien and company at the Tonight Show… too, too funny!
Movie Review: Away We Go November 14, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Society.Tags: Away We Go, John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Movie, review
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Netflix Synopsis: Buoyed by the news that they are expecting their first baby, Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) embark on a journey to locate the perfect place on the planet to raise their child. But their quest inevitably yields many unexpected surprises. Sam Mendes directs this quirky comedy while Allison Janney, Catherine O’Hara, Josh Hamilton, Jim Gaffigan, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeff Daniels co-star.
Let me start by saying this movie was slow. But, and this is a HUGE but, it worked for me. For some reason, I really connected with this movie. It was touching, sentimental, beautiful, and real. I am so glad I was willing to sit through it and let the movie wash over me. It was slow, but it felt like real life. You have to let go and yet still be fully engaged. The movie, the travels of the characters really emulated the journey of our lives. In each place they travelled there was some problem and yet it could be their home. And they continued their journey until they found it.
The soundtrack was soft and gentle and moving. It fit the movie perfectly. And each place, seven cities, was such a great representation of the location and it really felt like you were there. And one of the cool things about this movie was that it was produced in a “green” way. They put a lot of effort into making sure the impact of filming was very small. That is cool. Kudos to all involved in this movie, for sure!
Book Review: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner November 13, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Politics, Society.Tags: book, E, economics, Everything, Freakonomics, review, statistics, Stephen Dubner, Stephen Levitt
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As the author points out at the beginning of the book, there is no unifying theme to this point. That is true, however, it does not take away from the value of the book. If you like statistics and hearing anecdotal stories about how data can be used to explain real life events, this is a definite read.
The author goes into a wide variety of topics such as investigating teachers cheating, what has caused crime rates to drop since the 1980s, how parents affect the success of their children, and how their names play into that success (or not). Mr. Levitt has an interesting take on how the world works. He uses to mountains of data to explain social and human actions, which is very intriguing for me.
I listened to this book from Audible and despite all the facts and numbers, it was very easy to digest. At the very end he covered a bunch of lists, but the reader (his co-auther) was able to present it in way that was mostly understandable without having to listen to it again. However, that was the only time it was hard to listen to. The audible book was almost seven and half hours and I did not want to put it down.
I look forward to listening to the authors’ next book, Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. If it was half as interesting as this one, it will be still a good read.
How strong would you be? November 13, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Society.Tags: Abby, Biggest Loser, death, Emotion, Family, lose, pain, Strength, Week 7, weight
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In the face of tragedy, how would you react? How would any person react if their life was turned upside down? Tonight, for my treadmill entertainment, I watched Season 8, episode 7 of The Biggest Loser. On it, the contestent Abby was a main centerpoint of the show and ultimately ended up being eliminated, but that is not the point, for her.
Her story is horrific. Two years prior to the show, her husband and two young children were killed in an auto accident. (Another driver was travelling over 100 MPH and smashed in the car those three were travelling in.) She joined the show, in part to lose weight, but it has become more evident that she needed the support and motivation to find herself. After seven weeks on the show, it is quite evident that she was crazy strong – not in a physical sense, but emotionally. She aired her very private lose and while she had grieved and moved on from the lose of HER ENTIRE FAMILY, she also lost herself. This show is hard for its contestants. They have to battle their weight gain and (usually) some underlying cause.
This woman truly demonstrates a strength that is admirably. I think she is starting to know this on her own, but she is an inspiration to many people, not for the way she performed on the show, but for the way she is living her life.
On another note from this episode, one contestant managed to set a new record for weight lose on this show. He lost a total of 101 pounds after being on the “ranch” for only seven weeks. Yes, that is almost 14.5 pounds per week – 2 pounds each day! That is crazy.
Protected: Genius Idea – how do I get a patent? November 11, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Society.Tags: genius, idea, patent
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Filling up 32GB on an Apple Touch November 10, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Family, Fitness, Society, Technology.Tags: 32GB, Apple, contacts, gMail, iPod, iTunes, music, Pictures, podasts, present, Touch
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So, I have had a few weeks with my new iPod Touch 32GB 3rd Generation…. and I have to say it is all I expected and more. It is very easy to use. Even the free-est of free apps are quite good. I have already managed to download 4 additional pages of apps, mostly games, and have enjoyed all but a few.
One thing the Touch has caused me to do is clean up my data. I have managed to find and remove numerous duplicate copies of music of my library. I have also consolidated all my contacts from my phone as well as my other mail progams into GMail with which the Touch syncs pretty seemlessly. Although the default contacts app is pretty lame. My next big project is to start utilizing Google Health so that I have access to our family’s health records any time, any place. Well, with the Touch it isn’t exactly that completely available – having only WiFi does have its major limitations. But you would be surprised at how many unlocked wireless connections are out there. Just this morning, I tweeted outside my son’s day care on someone’s wireless connection.
It would be very nice to have anytime/any place access, but I am still not ready to pay $40 bucks month to get it. Granted, I am als missing out on GPS apps that don’t work on a Touch, but since the OS does not allow 2 apps to run at once, I think that functionality would be disappointing anyway. The new Motorola Droid will probably do that thing kind of better once there are more diverse applications available for it.
So, my favorite uses so far? I haven’t quite figured out tweeter and I am not addicted to Facebook yet, but I guess that is the anti-social side of me. Those are two excellent uses for the Touch for sure. Like I said, I consolidated all my contacts, so I do like the fact that I can now carry around my whole address book, although I still need do some work to keep that in sync. And my biggest benefit all along has been to keep my podcasts in sync. It obviously works seemlessly with iTunes, which has every podcast under the sun (and any other podcast can be subscribed to also). And with the 32 GB, I have room for my entire 20 GB music library. I am starting to carry around pictures too. And then there are games. Sadly, my favorites are old classics, a brick breaker game, a toobz game, a real GTI is very cool, sudoku, maj jong, air hockey… like I said, I now have four screens to apps.
I have yet to pay for an app or a podcast, though. As much as I love the apps I have found, I would be very tormented if I spent money on something that ultimate is just a time waster. I would want to get my money’s worth, but I also would not want to waste time on this machine. It is certainly a fun, entertaining, useful tool and I am so lucky my wife loves me so much that she worked as hard as she did to win it for me. ‘Nuff said!
Movie Review: Firewall October 21, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Society.Tags: Firewall, Harrison Ford, Movie, review
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Netflix Synopsis: State-of-the-art security system creator Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) has cemented his reputation as a man who’s thought of everything. But when a criminal (Paul Bettany) finds a way into Jack’s personal life, everything Jack holds dear is suddenly at stake. Virginia Madsen, Alan Arkin and Robert Patrick co-star in this taut thriller from acclaimed British director Richard Loncraine (Richard III, Wimbledon).
I watched this one a couple of weeks ago and am finally getting around to writting this up. This movie was ok. The suspense and the twists and turns of this thriller made me keep watching. And I appreciated the realistic technology used as opposed to some movies that just make stuff up that people won’t understand. But as a whole it played a little flat. I think the storyline left me asking “why?” throughout the movie and then the ending was a “really?”. There are better movies in the category, but if you like Harrison Ford in a non-Indiana Jones movie, this will probably works for you.
Movie Review: Couples Retreat October 17, 2009
Posted by shwaldman in Society.Tags: Couples Retreat, Movies, review, Vince Vaughan
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Here is my first post using my new Apple Touch. My wife worked hard to win a raffle and this was her motivation, a prize specifically for me. Anyway, I am trying to use the WordPress app. I say “try” because it is certainly more difficult trying to type on this little screen than it is on normal keyboard.
So, let me get on to the review before I ramble on any further. Couples Retreat is a funny movie – not necessarily as funny as some of Vince Vaughan’s other movies, but still funny. What I found most interesting about this one is the amount of “truth behind the jokes” there is. Every couple is different. What makes them tick, what makes them work is always different. And there are ups and downs, but the couples that stay together figure out ways to work through their problems through teamwork and communication.
So, I did enjoy this movie, but when you watch it you can’t help think about how important what you do, what you say, and how hard you are willing to work really is.
