Most of my daily blog entries in June were descriptions of new PDFs that were added to this site, I'll be doing this again in August.

I really do appreciate all the positive emails and requests that I have gotten and will do my best to offer more exciting PDF content. I have a huge library of documents and am really excited to be putting this online.

I will also be offering some Audio and Video collections in August from my large video and cassette collection. So, expect to see some exciting posts ahead!

In September 1999, KRON featured the "Internet Phone" story. This is mystery phone that is located in the middle of the desert for no reason.

Watch the Quicktime broadcast of this strange phone and call the number today to see who picks up the phone. You never know who will be on the other line.

KRON TV is now an independent TV station in San Francisco and the station is currently up for sale. KRON used to be an NBC affiliate until 2002 when it opt to go independent.

Check out a classic clip of a KRON newscast from October 2000 talking about the high prices of gas. Its amazing to see than in 8 years that the price of gas has doubled.

The clip is in Quicktime format. If you are having problems viewing the movie download the latest version of Quicktime.

The above quote is from an old Escort Radar magazine that I found while cleaning. You can download the entire black and white Ad, also checkout some other unique PDFs that I have in the PDF Gallery.

I found this "Ghost in Tomb" story when I was cleaning out this weekend:

In the 18th century the Walronds, a wealthy family of planters, built a rock-hewn tomb at Christ Church, Barbados. It was sealed with a massive marble door, making it more a fortress than a tomb.

One family member to be interred there was Thomasina Goddard, in 1807. A year later the vault was taken over by the chase family-also slave-owning planters - who used it to bury two daughters in 1808 and 1812.

When the tomb was open again in 1812 to receive the body of their father, Tomas Chase, the girls lead coffins had been stood on end upside down. There was no sign of a break-in.

Nor was there in 1816, when the tomb was again opened for the body of a male relative. But the Chase coffins had again been wildly disarranged. That of Thomas. which had taken eight men to carry, was leading upright against a wall of the vault.

By the time of the next funeral, eight weeks later, word of the strange tomb had spread, and a huge crowd turned up for the ceremony. They were no disappointed. Although the tomb was sealed, the four Chase coffins inside were once more in disarray.

The Governor of Barbados, Lord Combermere, stepped in. In 1819 he supervised the orderly restocking of the coffins and had seals put around the door slab. The following year, after reports of noises, he revisited the site.

His seals were intact. But the lead coffins were in customary jumbled confusion. Only the crumbling, wooden coffin of Mrs. Goddard still lay peacefully in its corner.

No explaination seemed to fit the case. Slaves could not have moved the coffins in revenge without leaving some trace. There was no indication of flooding and the earthquakes would have hardly have shaken one tomb without disturbing other in the surrounding area.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle suggested that supernatural forces had moved the coffins to protest their lead construction, which prevented the speedy decay inside. He thought these forces might have been strengthened by the fact Thomas Chase and one of his daughters had committed suicide.

Whatever the reason, the moving coffins caused such a concern that the tomb was immediately emptied of all it's occupants.

Someone posted this Advertisement in the USA-Today Personals in the early 1990s. I don't really know what to make of it:

I always have a hard time figuring out how to enable the RAW mode in my Fuji FinePix e900 Camera. So today's post is the instructions on enabling RAW. Hopefully this will help someone else out there who is struggling to enable RAW on their camera.

The advantage of RAW mode is that you can high quality pictures and do any image compression on your computer. The downside is that you can't take as many photos. Only 109 RAW photos vs 456 high quality photos on a 2GB card. However, it wasn't that long ago when you could only take 36 pictures per roll of film.

If your taking some important pictures, you should consider using RAW mode to get the most out of your camera. However, keep in mind that you won't be able to print your photos at CVS. You need to do some post production work to make the picture photo ready.

How to Enable/Disable RAW Mode on a Fuji FinePix e900 Camera

1. Turn on Camera
2. Click 'Green Arrow' Button
3. Click Menu/Ok
4. Scroll Down 5 to SET
5. Click Menu/Ok
6. Click Left Arrow
7. Go Down to Page 2
8. Click Right Arrow
9. Scroll Down 2 to Raw
10. Click Right Arrow

The hardest thing about writing a multi-topic blog is that you really don't know whose reading the blog. What is my audience thinking? What are they looking for when they visit my blog? So, I created a special email address that you, the reader, can communicate with me.

Send me your questions/comments/feedback to: blog@cryan.com

I’ll keep the email account active until May 1st. Who knows, maybe I’ll get some really creative blog topic ideas! Perhaps I’ll find that my audiences rather focus on one topic over some other topics.

I recently added a couple of new PDFs to the PDF library:

• Updated Boston Public Schools Calendar - You can get this from their website, but I thought I would be cool to have the Calendar on my site since I have it posted in my office.
• Company Address Listing - This is a list of company names that I created for testing MapQuest and Google maps. You'll find DisneyLand, DisneyWorld, Knotts Berry Farm, Berkshire Hathaway and Wall Drug and 19 other companies on a one page cheat-sheet. You'll also see some names of companies that I did some training at.

I'll continue to update the PDF section with more creative content over the next few weeks. Looking forward to adding some more documents based on the positive feedback that I got last week.

This morning I updated the PDF section with 24 new PDFs. I was able to meet my goal that I set last week!

This was challenging because I wanted to put some cool content on the site, not just any document would make it. I did have a lot of great choices and it was tough trying to narrow down what I wanted to put up. Next time, I think I'll focus more on content than the number of contents.

People don't visit your site because you have 1,000's of documents, they visit your site because you have the document or content they been looking for. Lots of content only works if you can appeal to a large audience. In the PDF world, that might be the famous Adobe Exchange gallery.

I am looking forward to my next website challenge. I don't know when I'll start, or what the project will be. Over the next few days I have some personal projects that will keep me busy. So I'll think about it next week, but for now enjoy the new PDFs!

Well its time to start thinking of cleaning up again. Time to get a jump on spring cleaning.

This weekend I might have some time to clean up some of the clutter the basement. Taking the time to organize my stuff and deciding what I need to keep.

Some advice from Don Aslett, the author of “Lose 200 Lbs this Weekend”

• Don’t just go through stored things, go through them often, since assessments of their value change.
• To avoid backsliding, dump things the day you determine you don’t need them.
• Make room to work and clear a place to put things.
• Don’t dump things on the floor or pile them to “pick them up later.”
• Take a few minutes to draw up a plan of attack.
• Buy the best furniture the first time, and most of your furniture clutter problems will be over.

Do you think that the plain Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate taste boring? Not rich enough for you?

If you want to try something different, put 3 Hershey Kisses in your next cup of Hot Chocolate. The Hershey kisses will melt under the hot water and you'll enjoy an extra rich hot chocolate. It does take a few minutes for the chocolate to melt, but by the time its all melted, it will taste just right.

You can experiment with other chocolate candies, but I find that the Hershy Kisses work the best. This time of the year Hershy puts out a Candy Cane Hershy Kisses which adds a great seasonal flavor to any Hot Chocolate.

Note: The three Hershey Kisses will only add 60 calories to your Hot Chocolate.

Adding Hershey Kisses to your hot chocolate will make your Swiss Miss taste like it came from a gourmet coffee shop!

Thanks to all the Miltary Veterans on this Veteran's Day. The United States and the World is where it is today because of all our heros.

There's a few pages you should read on Wikipedia today, its worth remembering special moments in history on this special day:

Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest of the battles that U.S. forces experienced in World War II. Over 19,000 American dead.

The Battle of the Somme
Over 500,000 Germans were lost in one battlefield in World War One.

Battle of Gettysburg
Fought July 1 through July 3, 1863, considered by most military historians the turning point in the American Civil War.

Also:
Remember the Maine and Remember the Alamo

My new "nickname" is Pideyman. Jenn sent me this song, it was done by Bianca. There's even a movie called Pideyman.

Pideyman Song

pideyman, pideyman,
Does whatever a pider can.
spins a web, any size,
Catches thieves just like flies.
Look out! Here comes the pideyman.
Is he strong? Listen bud
He's got radioactive blood.
Can he swing from a thread?
Take a look overhead.
Hey there! There goes the pideyman.
In the chill of the night,
At the scene of the crime,
Like a streak of light,
He arrives just in time!
pideyman, pideyman,
Friendly neighborhood pideyman.
Wealth and fame, he's ignored
Action is his reward.
To him,
Life is a great big bang-up
Wherever there's a hang-up,
You'll find the pideyman!!!!!

As we remember the events from September 11, 2001, there was another "terrorist" event that happened earlier in 2001 that some people might have forgotten about. Here's part of the story from Reuters on January 17, 2001:

Truck Slams Into California State Capitol
By Joshua Chaffin

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A big-rig truck rammed into California's state capitol building on Tuesday, setting off a fiery explosion just as state lawmakers were finishing an emergency bill designed to ease the state's critical power crisis.

Officials said the driver of the truck, which was loaded with evaporated milk, was killed in the incident, which witnesses said appeared to be some kind of bizarre attack.

"There's no question in my mind that this was a deliberate act," Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg said after he and other lawmakers were evacuated from the building.

Police said they were treating the incident as a possible crime, but had no immediate information on possible reason for the crash, or whether it was an intentional act or an accident.

"That has not been determined," Capt. Dennis Williams, the California Highway Patrol's chief of Capitol security, told a news conference.

Two hundred and thirty one years later and your still doing very well! A special thanks to all those who make this country great!

New reads to this site should read the 'I am the Nation' that I have on this site.

I can't wait to see what the next 231 years will bring!

If you watched Jay Walking on the Tonight Show last night you might have spotted a familiar character. The guy that does the Montgomery Mini Mall Rap was the first person that Jay Leno spoke to.

I thought the guy looked familiar and when he said he was from Montgomery, AL. I knew instantly. pretty funny.

I wonder if the Tonight Show knew that they were talking to a You Tube Celebrity?

come on lets do this dance...
To the left
To the Right
Its just like...its just like, a Mini-Mall...

If you are clueless about the Mini-Mall rap, you should goto You Tube and search for it. Its a pretty funny commercial. There's even some fan base out on the internet on similar commericals. Just another great use of the internet.

On February 16, 2005:

Game Off! NHL Cancels Remainder of Season

By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK - The NHL canceled what little was left of the season Wednesday after a series of last-minute offers were rejected on the final day of negotiations.

A lockout over a salary cap shut down the game before it ever got a chance to start in October. Now the NHL, already low on the popularity scale in the United States, becomes the first major pro sports league in North America to lose an entire season to a labor dispute.

Happy New Year to all my weekly readers!

I am looking forward to an exciting and adventure year. I hope everyone has a prosperous and fun 2007!

If weight loss is on your New Years Resolution, I would highly recomended going to Weight Watchers. Don't be discourage when you go this week when there are long lines. This is normal, and by the second and third week most people will drop out. However, you should stay with the program for at least a couple of months.

Making a weight lost change takes time, don't expect to see dramatic weight loss in a week. You will loose weight, its a matter of time and commitment. Goto Weight Watchers and think positive and think success. You can do it!

Have a great year, and I'll see you at the Top!

Yesterday I weighed in at Weight Watchers and have now lost a total of 35 pounds!

If you Google 35 Pounds, you'll see that other people have lost the same amount of weight, or at least have it as a goal.

What am I doing to loose that weight? What's the big secret? Well I attribute my success to:

Drinking lots of Water
I don't drink much soda any more, anytime that I am thirsty I get some water.

Watch what I eat
Using Weight Watcher's point system its easy to track what you eat. You can still eat at McDonalds and Burger King, but you can't go every day. Don't ever order the supersize meal, no matter how hungry you are! Its not worth it!

Exercise
I don't have a gym membership, yet. Instead, I usually park far away from the shopping center, walk up the stairs at work, and just do a lot more movement than before. Key word is MOVEMENT!

Don't go alone!
Going to Weight Watcher's with someone is a good idea. Its even better if you see them every day. Having someone else along for the ride makes the journey fun and enjoyable.

My father sent me this a couple of years ago:

From Johns Hopkins...

Dioxin carcinogens cause cancer. Especially breast cancer. Don't freeze plastic water bottles with water in them as this also releases dioxin from the plastic. He said we should not heat our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This applies particularly to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.

Dioxin are carcinogens and highly toxic to the cells of our bodies. Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results ...without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. Just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.

Remember when some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper? The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

To add to this: Saran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food, use paper towels instead.

Couple of holiday songs that you might enjoy! Besure to check them out on iTunes!

The Twelve Days of a Guido Christmas
by How You Doin'? Boys

and

The Chimney Song
by Bob Rivers

Recently this site was hacked into, not once but twice in a two week period.

The hacker apparently used the site to distribute some unix files. No files were removed from the system, and there were no security files (Credit Cards or Social Security Numbers) files as risked.

Based on some investigation it also appears the hacker came from someplace in Asia.

I have added additional levels of security and monitoring to make sure this doesn't happen again.

If you have your website hosted, you should do a security audit to make sure that no one can get into the system. You never know when you will use your website for sensitive data.

BTW, a Hacker should not be confused with a Hack. A Hack is someone who got a easy high paying government job because they know someone in the current administration.

Makes about 36
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup butterscotch flavored chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°, (325° for glass dish). Line a 13x9-inch baking pan with a sheet of foil, making sure to cover the sites well. Place the butter in the baking pan and melt it in the oven. Sprinkle crumbs over butter; pour condensed milk evenly on top of crumbs. Top with remaining ingredients in order listed; press down firmly with fork. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Chill if desired. Cut into bars. Store covered at room temperature.

Pope John Paul II, the Polish pontiff who led the Roman Catholic Church for more than a quarter century and became history's most-traveled pope, has died at 84, the Vatican announced in an e-mail Saturday.

Wouldn't it be great if you can buy a food product in the supermarket where you can pronounce all the ingredients without a degree in chemistry.

Wouldn't it be great if you could visit Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Disneyland, New York City and buy a souvenir that's not made in China. This is true for most place you visit on Vacation.

Rodney Dangerfield died yesterday. I had the opportunity to see him in 1998 in Vegas. I was lucky enough to sit in the first row and had a great time at his show. Later I ordered one of his classic red ties and still have the delivery box that it came in.

Rodney will be missed.

From the AP:

Dangerfield is most remembered for 1980's "Caddyshack," in which he held his own with such comics as Chevy Chase, Ted Knight and Bill Murray.

After "Caddyshack," Dangerfield continued starring in and sometimes writing films such as "Easy Money," "Back to School," "Moving," "The Scout," "Ladybugs" and "Meet Wally Sparks." He turned dramatic as a sadistic father in Oliver Stone's 1994 "Natural Born Killers."

In 1995, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected Dangerfield's application for membership.

It was the ultimate rejection, and Dangerfield played it to the hilt. Public reaction prompted the academy to reverse itself and offer membership. Dangerfield declined.

"They don't even apologize or nothing," he said. "They give no respect at all -- pardon the pun -- to comedy."

The state Supreme Court ruled today that Pennsylvania's drunken driving law can't be enforced against people on horseback, a decision that inspired the dissenting justice to wax poetic.

Here is the poem that Justice Michael Eakin, who is fond of writing rhyming opinions, summed up the lone dissent with two stanzas mimicking the theme song of "Mister Ed" -- a 1960s TV sitcom about a talking horse:

"A horse is a horse, of course, of course, but the Vehicle Code does not divorce its application from, perforce, a steed as my colleagues said. "'It's not vague,' I'll say until I'm hoarse, and whether a car, a truck or horse this law applies with equal force, and I'd reverse instead."

This past week I have been working on getting some new audio into the Real Audio section. Part of this project was to create a way for me to insert the new audio and yesterday I was able to finish that part of the project.

So over the next few weeks you should see a lot of new content in the Real Audio section. I have lots of sound bytes that I want to put up.

Some people want to know why I selected Real Audio as the audio format. In 1996 I purchased an audio package, Sound Edit Pro, and it included a Real Audio encoder. At the time Real Audio was the most popular format for streaming audio, so that's what I choose. With more people today using broadband, there's lots of choices of streaming media. So, I don't know how long I keep using Real Audio format, but for now, that's my choice.

At 7:44 this morning, this idiot driver decided that the Yield sign only applied to the driver in front of him and he nearly hit me as he pulled onto Winter Street from the 128 south on ramp. I don't think he was paying attention, as he didn't slow down once the car in front of him moved onto Winter Street.

He had a green Massachusetts license plate of 633 GYE. If this car is in your Insurance portfolio, you may want to reconsider your premium.

This weekend I move about 80% of my possessions to my new apartment just outside of Boston. I'll be spending much of the week unpacking about 63 boxes and putting together some furniture.

Some of the things I learned from this move:

• Order all Utilities as far in advance as possible. (Schedule to activate by moving day)
• Building 19 has a good selection of machine made oriental rugs.
• Separate tools such as hammers and screwdrivers
• Measure everything before moving.
• If your moving to an apartment, let your neighbor know so you can have a good place to park.

I am actively looking for an apartment in the Metro Boston area. My main focus is a place along 128, however, I have investigated Framingham and Marlborough.

There are several tasks that are associated in successful apartment hunting:

• Identify rent budget (About 30% of yearly income)
• Identify Target area to live in.
  • Commute Time
  • Ideal Neigborhood
• Network with people in the area
• Use all available resources, Internet, Newspaper, Realtors.
• Constantly check for new listings.

Happy New Year!

I was one of the millions that was in Boston celebrating first night. It was one of the better first nights since the temp was warmer than usual. I believe it was around 33 degrees.

The only glitch was that the Boston harbor fireworks didn't go off at midnight. This was confirmed with many people at the warf cheering a few moments before the fireworks went off. Overall is was pretty much an exciting night in Boston.

Tips for visiting First Night Boston:

• Plan to eat dinner early
• If you plan to watch the family parade, pick your viewing spot at least a half hour before the parade starts.
• The Family Fireworks last 12 minutes and the main Fireworks only last 10 minutes.
• If you buy a First Night button, buy it before Christmas to take advantage of the discount.
• if you plan to take the Red Line, after the fireworks, you are best to pick up the train at Downtown Crossing to get a seat.

Merry Christmas!

This morning's midnight mass wasn't as crowded as it has been in the past, however most seats were taken up by 25 minutes prior to the start of services.

Concord Mass did have enough snow on the ground to be a white Christmas, or using the meteorology terminology, a partly white Christmas.

My website has been under heavy traffic this week due to a Quicktime posting of the controversial interview that Joe Namath did last Saturday. As of this evening, 775 people download the 1 minute interview. Which is amazing since I uploaded the video clip on Monday and the file size is 5.5 megs.

Looks like it will be a White Christmas in New England! Dispite the recent warm weather much of New England will have snow on the ground!

On Monday I encoded a one minute clip of ESPN's interview with Joe Namath, in which he appeared to be drunk. Google index my site within a few hours and the traffic increase about 50%!

Many people have asked how I encoded the video clip so quickly. It's a pretty complex process and I'll put together a development page sometime next week. In short, its a lot easier using a Macintosh and having Media Cleaner makes it easy. :)

I went to Walmart this morning to do some last minute shopping and was suprise to see the Supermarket next door was busier than Walmart. I am sure as the day goes on, more people will be in Walmart than the Supermarket.

Our family will be attending the midnight mass at Our Ladies Help of Christains in West Concord, Massachusetts. Also tonight WBZ has its annual best of sports during the 11pm sports segment.

This weekend the Malls around New England were very crowded!

Around the Natick and Framingham section of Route 9, traffic looked like Highway 101 in California during the dot com boom. Most of the traffic congestion centered around Shopper's World and the Natick Mall.

The Solomon Pond mall had an bomb scare around 2pm on Saturday and evacuated a parking area in front of the mall. The Mall itself wasn't evacuated.

Bomb scare puts a crimp in shopping

Just before 2 p.m., authorities ordered shoppers back inside J.C. Penney's.

Parking rows 28 through 30 were cordoned off with yellow tape in front of the department store.

Fire officials learned of a suspicious item in the J.C. Penney's parking lot early yesterday afternoon while responding to another matter at the mall, said Deputy Chief Robert Rennie.

While the worries over the item turned out to be a false alarm, shoppers were barred from going to their cars and eventually ordered back in the store while Marlborough and Berlin fire crews called the State Police Bomb Squad to help investigate the suspicious device.

Internet Exclusive:
AP reported that the first flight re-enactment didn't go off as plan this morning due to heavy rains. This isn't the only time in history this has happened at a century event. It happend in Concord Massachusetts in 1875! During the century celebration it poured and was recorded as a distaster since many key people never showed up. The famous Minuteman Statue was unveiled during the rainy ceremony.

AP Wire: A bald eagle soared into the sky Wednesday, a symbol of flight, as a poncho-clad crowd cheered the 100th anniversary of man's first powered, heavier-than-air flight. But a heavy downpour scuttled plans to re-enact the flight 100 years to the minute after the seminal event.

Today I purchased a car to replace my 1993 Saturn SC2! A 2000 Subaru Impreza with only 28,000 miles! This isn't a fully loaded car, so I might have to do some customization, such as changing the radio and other upgrades.

It was fun looking at all the used cars out there. Dealing with pressure salesman was not fun. My favorite experience was in Framingham. A sales person wanted to sell me a Dodge Neon with 8,000 miles. However, I could not test drive the car since it was blocked in. Nevertheless, he wanted me to put down a deposit before I left. Also he was talking to a couple who were looking at a Jeep while he was going back to his manager. Good thing I didn't buy the Neon, as it didn't make the "Consumers Report Reliable Used Car" guide.

What I learn in finding a Used Car

1. Use the Internet to find available cars. You are better off checking specific dealers websites than sites like Vehix.com. Not all dealers will use global sites.
2. Research various cars, use Consumer Reports Reliable used cars as a guide.
3. Do not be afraid of walking away once you see the car you like.
4. Find out the total cost of the car before putting any money down.
5. Test drive the car.

2000 Subaru Impreza Feature List

Power Sunroof Air Conditioning Cruise Control Power Steering Power Brakes Power Door Locks Power Windows Cassette Player Alloy Wheels Gauge Cluster Clock Trip Odometer

Tachometer Tilt Steering Wheel Tinted Glass Interval Wipers Rear Defroster Remote Trunk Lid Driver Side Air Bag Console Front Bucket Seats Reclining Seats Cloth Upholstery Body Side Moldings

Center Arm Rest Maintenance Free Battery Courtesy Lights Map Lights Child-Proof Locks Fog Lights Anti-Lock Braking System Passenger Side Air Bag Am/Fm Stereo Radio Rear Spoiler Dual Electric Mirrors

At 10:30 this morning a Tow truck from Tracy came and towed my 1993 Saturn SC 2. The car will be auctioned off at Capitol Auto Auctions with proceeds to be donated to the Salvation Army.

I purchased the car on September 12, 1994 with 19,936 miles. Today it had 133,484 miles. It was a fun car to drive, and sometime in the next few days I'll be purchasing a used car.

So far I test drove a Toyota Matrix, Toyota Celica, Toyota Camry, Pontiac Grand AM, PT Cruiser, and Mercury Cougar.

This morning while driving to Harvard Square the car I was driving broke down on route 2. Lucky for me the problem seems to be from a broken water pipe and should be replaceable.

I just signed up for a new domain name this morning! It will take a couple of days for the registration to go through since this is a Holiday weekend. Once its up and running I'll report on the progress.

After a few months of looking at various cars, I have decided that a 2001 Toyota Celica will probably be the car I'll be buying.

Used Celicas are hard to find in New England. In particular a manuel certified pre owned 2001 Celica with low miles.

Want to learn about the last time I drove my 1993 Saturn SC 2?

 

Top things successful job seekers do to improve their chances of being employed

1. Update Resume
2. Idenitify Key Job Sites
3. Research the market place.
4. Know how to sell your skills to employers
5. Identify your job skills strengths and weaknesses
6. Work on improving weaknesses
7. Create Opportunity
8. Identify what opportunity that you want
9. Keep a record/journal of the job search
10. Develop a game plan
11. Think like a champion

Tip #1
The best way to find a lost ball is to look for anything that is bright white, and not specifically for a golf ball. Often times golfers don't see the ball even thou its right in front of them, this is because their brain is looking for a round ball. By changing your focus to a white object, you'll notice anything that is white, this should help find more golf balls.

Tip #2
If you find a golf ball that is not yours and then see someone later looking for the ball in the same area. Ask what brand of golf ball did they loose. If you volunteer the golf ball name, some people will claim that's the ball they were looking for, even thou it may not be.

I updated my website to include an archive of some of my feature Quicktime movies this morning. Also I added several new videos including a classic Star Wars commercial from 1982. This was taken off a VHS tape that my parents had.

Over the next few days I'll be continue to add videos so that I have at least 18 in the archive. Also at some point this summer, I'll be migrating many of the Real Video movies to Quicktime format and closing the Real Video archive.

At 7:45am this morning my car died while driving to Boston on Route 2 near Waltham. This is the famous car that got me to and from California. It appears the problem might be the transmission, and I'll have to make a judgement call to decide if its worth fixing or is it time to buy a used car.

What Happened
It sounded like something hit under the car, and all of a sudden some smoke appeared from the engine and I could see lots of smoke in the rear-view mirror. I was in the center lane and there wasn't that much traffic around me, so it was pretty easy to quickly pull into the breakdown lane. I didn't notice that the car was not accelerating when I stepped on the gas. This would have been a problem if I was in an area where there was no breakdown lane.

Car Towing History
This is the third time my 1993 Saturn SC2 required towing. The other two times happened when I was in California. Once due to an alternator problem in 1998 after leaving the Gilroy Garlic Festival, and the other because of a dead battery in 2001.

Could have been much worst
A car failure never happens at a good time. I was on my way into work to begin a very busy work week, and a dead car wasn't in the mix. However it would have been a lot worst if it happend any other time in the past 48 hours:

• Sunday Night on the Sagamore bridge during heavy weekend traffic
• Friday Night on 93 in downtown Boston during the evening rush