Healthy Living - Yahoo Shine

5 Habits to Break Before It's Too Late : 
"'Someday,' you say, 'I'm going to get my health back on track, after this next project,' or 'when I get back from my cruise,' or 'when the kids get a little older' ... C'mon, you know your list of reasons -- or what I call EXCUSES -- better than I.
Look, if you're waiting for some magical day to appear, you just may be waiting forever. These days do not 'show up'; you show up for THEM. I have identified five critical areas, bad habits that many people mindlessly follow. Do you realize that each and every day of your life that you do not reverse these dangerous trends, you get farther and farther from your ultimate goal of living a fulfilling life?
Take a look at each area, determine how you stack up, and then make the fix today:"

I haven't posted anything health related in a while, so here's one that I'm sure will interest you. The reason this article caught my eye is that the habits are very easy to break. Some exercise but NO grueling forced marches in the heat of the noon day sun, no extreme will power needed, just some minor adjustments to your day. It makes sense, and it's easy.

Sears Starts Black Friday Deals Now

Sears Black Friday From Now Until Christmas: 
"HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Sears kicks off the holidays by celebrating Black Friday deals now -- offering them weekly -- with layaway options for these deals just in time for Christmas. Starting Saturday, Oct. 31, and continuing every Saturday until Christmas, Sears will offer Black Friday deals making gift giving even easier and more affordable with guaranteed best prices through Christmas on the best brands. From home electronics and kitchen and housewares to jewelry and apparel, shoppers will find incredible selections and values for their holiday shopping needs."

Well here's a surprise, Sears is starting to use the dreaded "C" word in their advertising for "holiday" sales. I wonder when the rest of the retailers will start putting Christmas back in their vocabulary? Hey you never know, maybe they'll put up Merry Christmas signs in their stores, and ...... gasp... allow their staff to wish customers a Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays.

It looks like the only up side to this Depression were in is that some merchants are admitting that the time span from the day after Thanksgiving to December 26 is called The CHRISTMAS Shopping Season, and that's the reason people spend money to buy their wares. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that people don't buy Christmas presents for some nebulous "holiday season", they buy for Christmas.

Sorry I'm redundant but I was always a great fan of The Miracle On 42nd Street, it's a movie about Christmas don't cha noe.

N&O Friday freebies

Sue Stock's Friday freebies:
"Friday freebies...
Submitted by suestock on October 30, 2009 - 1:34pm.
It's Friday..."

I know, it's Saturday but I was busy trying to get some personal things squared away.
The coffee samples are always a good find, I save them for when I run out. You know how it is, if it's not on the list you forget to pick some up at the market. I used to think shopping lists were a Senior Moment thing, but I've come to the realization that it has to do living out in the sticks and not being able to walk out your front door and walk in to a supermarket.

Million Dollar Nest Egg

Six Simple Steps To $1 Million:
"Let's face it; we all don't make millions of dollars a year, and the odds are that most of us won't receive a large windfall inheritance either. However, that doesn't mean that we can't build sizeable wealth - it'll just take some time. If you're young, time is on your side and retiring a millionaire is achievable."

I know, I know, at our age we've done all the savings and retirement planning by now. But I thought that I'd Boomer this one so that you can share it with your children and grandchildren. It's very tempting to make a political statement about Congress and ................................ Never Mind

A Slick & Cool Internet Music Player For YouTube

TubeRadio.fm - Music Player For YouTube: 
"YouTube is not only about crazy videos going viral. It’s also a huge archive of videos of the musical kind. From garage bands to the platinum artists, you will find them there. I don’t know whether you have the feeling (or not) that watching music videos is not exactly the same thing as listening to them. Sometimes you just like to be left alone with the tunes. That’s where TubeRudio.fm starts playing."

For all you Golden Oldies fans. It might surprise you that You Tube is a fantastic archive for finding Oldies But Goodies that you don't have in your Vinyl or CD collections. I personally found two songs that I used to have in my stack of 45's when I was in my teens, but somehow I lost them over the years. I also found some Rolling Bones and Animals sound tracks that had somehow become corrupted on my original CD.

While TubeRadio.fm allows you to listen to the videos, a little known web site I found called Video2MP3 allows you to convert the Video to an MP3 file that you can then store on your computer or iPod/MP3 player. That one is a keeper also.

It's Groovy!

Winter Home Emergency Kit

Put Together a Winter Home Emergency Kit:
"Creating a home emergency kit can be a simple to enormous undertaking depending on the level of energy and preparation you want to invest into it. Most people are on the 'Stay warm and fed until the power comes back on' camp, not the 'Prepared for zombie apocalypse' camp, and though it never hurts to prepare for the worst we'll be focusing more on the former than the latter."

For those Northern procrastinators like me, winters coming  and it's time to start thinking about Old Man Winter. LifeHacker had this great article on how to prepare for a rough winter, Global Warming or not.

Are Blind Spots a Myth?

Blind Spots - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com:
"In an effort to reduce lane-change accidents, some automakers are trying radar to eliminate blind spots that could conceal an adjacent vehicle."

Every time I go to the car wash they move the settings on my drivers seat, and futz around with the rear and side view mirrors. They do this because they have to drive the car 15 feet into the car wash, and 20 feet from the car wash. I've found a way to easily adjust the drivers seat, but the mirrors took me a few days to get back in sync. I finally ran across this great article from the NYTimes of all places, and thought I'd share it with you. It may be a life saver for someone.

Walmart to offer In-Home Install Crew

Walmart to rival Geek Squad: "Starting sometime before the holiday season, Wally World will be partnering with N.E.W. Customer Service Companies in order to offer in-home installation to customers buying anything from a wireless router to a HTIB. The service plans will be sold on prepaid cards ranging from $99 to $399 in value."

Full disclosure: I shop at Walmart, I dispise the underhanded tactics the Unions are using to organize their employees, I dislike Walmart bashing, I like Walmart better than Target or K-Mart.
That being said, this article made my eyes pop out of my head. First of all, who would let someone from Walmart touch anything electrical, much less a computer or router? Second with the price of computers dropping to zilch point shit, and Home Theaters (HTIB) starting around $300, who would pay $99 to $399 to have one set up for them? Sometimes I thing I'm in the wrong business, or at least on the wrong planet.

Wallpaper Roundup: All Hallow's Eve and Spooky Scenes

Wallpaper Roundup: All Hallow's Eve and Spooky Scenes: "The great festival of candy binging and spooky stories will be upon us soon. Take a moment to browse these Halloween-themed wallpapers to dress your desktop for the occasion."

Another installment of "For those of you who like wallpaper for your computers, this one's for you." This time the wallpaper theme is Halloween, a time that brings out the children in all of us.

Friday freebies

Sue Stock's Friday freebies:
"It's Friday, so let's do freebies!"

Click on the link for Sue Stock's Friday Freebies. This week is not one of her best, but give her a break she tries real hard. Sue is one of our local legends. She started her Shopping/Savings Blog as part of her job as a junior Consumer Affairs reporter for The News & Observer and it caught on like wild fire. She has a tremendous following in the Triangle area and has branched out to include giving courses on coupon clipping and consumer savings tips. It's been amazing watching her mature from "cub reporter" to a "cult leader".
Hat Tip to Sue!