Did you know?

Did you know?

That you can make a pretty darn cool looking clock from those clear plastic cds you get with your cds or dvds?

No?

Well, lets look at what you will need:

• A clear cd or two (for a photo cd) or a blank cd 
  
• Clock hands/motor/numbers (Walmart/Craft Store)
  
• Battery
  

For a different look if you have Lightscribe on your computer you can place an image on the cd.

Ok, here is where it begins!

Clear CD

1. For the clear cd simply place the numbers in order.
2. Place the motor in back, slide into the center and place the hands onto motor and screw the nut in place.
3. Insert battery into the back of the motor. Your done! Hang it on the wall! 

Photo CD

1. For the photo cd, you need a large enough photo to cover cd, or make a collage. Place photo between two clear cds and cut. (maybe some sort adhesive would help here)
2. With the photo in place, simply place numbers in order.
3. Place the motor in back, slide into the center and place the hands onto motor and screw the nut in place.
4. Insert battery into the back of the motor. Your done! Hang it on the wall! 

Lightscribe CD

1. Use lightscribe to place an image on the cd. (I am not going to go over using Lightscribe)
2. Once done,  place the numbers in order.
3. Place the motor in back, slide into the center and place the hands onto motor and screw the nut in place.
4. Insert battery into the back of the motor. Your done! Hang it on the wall! 

Hope this was helpful! These can make great gifts at anytime during the year.

To Success

Here is a list of things that are guidelines to make a great company.

Develop and Maintain

• Work as a team or individually to increase your knowledge, skills, and value to the company.

Adopt an Orientation

• When taking on a task focus on end results. Hunt for important tasks that need to be done.
• Tackle important tasks first.

Expect Top Performance

• Involve your team in setting standards that are achievable, but also require them to use their knowledge and skills. 
• Earn the right to hold others high standards by meeting them yourself.

Commit to Quality and Continuous Improvements 

• Adopt a 10% rule goal to improve everything.
• Focus on people as well as processes.
• Recognize and reward for improvement.

Be Customer Driven

• Deliver what customers want, not what you think they want.
• Build business partnerships with customers by under-promising, over-delivering, and following up to insure they are satisfied.
• Ask for input on how to better serve your customers.

Diet Smoking

No this isn't about some new cigarette that is diet or to help you lose weight. I wanted to discuss the how smoking and weight gain go together.

I have noticed that ever since a lot of people have become obsessed with quitting smoking, which in most cases is a healthy idea, people have gained weight. I would love to be able to quit. They say it on the news and on the radio that America has a weight issue. I believe it all started to get out of hand when people started to quit smoking. When you try to quit, you look for something for your hands to do, or you become really tired. I don't care what anyone says, you feel like crap while your system tries to figure out what you are doing. It has to work in a different way just like when you started.

In the end I guess it is better, you save money. However, people gain weight like crazy when they quit smoking. You start to eat more to keep from wanting to smoke.

The thing about smoking I hate to hear all the time is that every problem that someone has is caused from smoking or second hand smoke. Is this something new? I mean I know that it is not a healthy choice, but how long have people been doing this? I try to respect those around me and remove myself if my smoking bothers them. I am healthy, and can out work those who don't smoke. People who oppose smoking should look around and realize that cigarette smoke is not the worst thing that you breathe in.

So, does smoking keep you thin? Well, I would like to think so. I think most people smoke because it relaxes them, and eat less. Otherwise, you let all the stress really get to you and eat all the time or eat whatever food is around without thinking about if is good for you. Of course it could just be that America has become obsessed with the convenience factor, that everything has to be ready to go.

My Government Parents

Hello, today I thought I would talk about something that really gets under my skin. That would be the control that we as a people keep giving the government, and how things have changed....some good, some bad.

What I mean by the control is, when did the government decide that it was alright to tell parents how to control their children. In many cases now days the children are so out of control, you cant really do anything with them. The government wants a kid to have a career path by kindergarten, crazy as it sounds. I mean think back to when you started into school, the worst thing you had to remember was everybody's names. Now days kids have to know almost everything that you and I learned in our grade school years. I understand that the government wants us to be more up on the education side of things, but what we teach our kids is just as important.

Besides that, lets talk about how dumb our kids have become and how much they have become undeveloped emotionally. Even though in school they learn more than we did as kids, our children have either gotten really head strung or really dumb. I mean think about thinks like lawn darts, growing up when someone threw something in the air, you knew to run like hell, today's kids just look up and stand there. Slowly everything we thought was great as kids is disappearing. Diving sticks, micro machines, and metal toys, I am sure you could list many more, have suffered because of stupidity. As far as the emotional part of things goes, most of this comes from being bullied. We all should know that this is nothing new. We as parents need to make sure that our children are aware of where and why things happen. Don't assume that someone is teaching them these things. This is where the government has stepped in. They tell kids at school that no one can touch them, Spanking ...etc. There is such a thing as abuse, and there is discipline. Most kids think if their parents spank them, the kid is allowed to call the cops and have their parents arrested. Hello, if I talked back to my parents as a kid, I got knocked across the room. Kids get bullied because other kids prey on the weak minded. When I was growing up, I was picked on for a while, but soon it all changed because I became aware of the aspect to know more than those around me. The bullies soon learned that they would need me, for schoolwork or to keep them out of trouble because of their past. Bullies don't realize that if you mess with a kid that is a good kid, when they decide to get even, the bully will still get the blame.

Anyways, the government let many of us grow up being able to buy cigarettes for our parents, lead paint, metal and dangerous toys...and much more. Now, these things are bad and dangerous. I survived, as did many others. So they are basically saying that we screwed up, and now we want to make it right. Here is some advice for the government, let me take care of my kids. I am financially responsible for my kids, so unless I am receiving a support check, or beat my kids stay out of my home. Kids have no idea really how much easier they have it today than their parents did growing up.

Well, I planned on writing a little more into this, maybe update later. But for now, I think I made some points, so thanks for reading.

A New Social Security-A New Health Care Program

There has always been talks about social security and its future. Well it won't end here either.

Here is what I think the government should do with it....roughly.

Ok, here goes. First, everyone that retires at full retirement age in the next 10 years will receive full benefits. Anyone that retires in the next 20 years will receive partial retirement benefits. Social Security should be privatized and out of the governments hands. The next part takes care of the rest of us, and the health care issue.

Everyone knows that you may not be able to retire anyway, I mean look at the work force and know that many are old enough but can't afford to retire. Most of your paycheck goes for your insurance now days..and most of us have insurance that isn't worth crap for what we are paying. Here is the solution I believe to help with that problem.

Everyone pays into Social Security...if you work anyway. So the money is already gone from your check, this goes to the government for your "retirement". With Social Security being privatized, this money will not go towards your retirement. What?? I know what your thinking. Most of us know that the money that we pay in right now goes to those on social security now. So, we must find a way out of this hole that was never meant to last this long anyway. So, with that in mind, what do we do?

Well, the money that you never miss or ever see now will be used as an account for insurance that the Privatized company will handle. This makes sense to do this. You have social security taken out of your check, on top of paying for insurance. Now you will have more of your check, and in a way insurance that you do not have to pay for out of your pocket (sort of). I know it comes out your paycheck, but lets be honest, most of us don't even look at it unless our check is short...right?

So, with your Social Security tax going to this insurance program, everything should be covered, no matter what. I know there has to be caps ...etc. but, I am not an insurance agent nor with the government, they can figure this crap out. But at least this way they can make sure that everyone that works has insurance, and the people that work there butts off just to take care of their families can be less stressed about taking their baby to the doctor without getting another job.

I know I could go further into this idea, but I think you get the idea of it.
Thanks for reading!

Portable Apps

I know how everyone likes to save space on the computers, and everyone is usually on the go. There is a platform that does save space and you can use it on the go...like anywhere.

Welcome to Portable Apps!

I have used this platform for awhile myself. Others have to ...
So what is a portable app? Well let me tell you.

A portable app is a computer program that allows you to take it anywhere.

Now even though this is made to be portable on a usb device...you can still add it to your computer as kind of a stand alone start menu. I'm not going to list all of the programs you can get with this, however I will tell you that you can add or delete programs that you want.

Over 300 Apps: All 100% Free, Legal and Portable
all installed for you and automatically updated in the PortableApps.com Platform.

This Menu will tell you the free space you have on your computer or on your usb stick. It is right down on the bottom of the menu.

I really do like this platform. It allows everyone in the household to have there own web browser...using the larger versions also. Also using this allows for more privacy for when there are visitors and you don't want them messing up your settings, like saved passwords,,etc.

Take a look at it. I'm sure you will use it more and more at home or on the go.
Just remember that if you plan on using this on the go, it must be installed on the usb. Just jump on over and take a look here.

If your ready to download, then head on over to the download page here.

Digital Artwork

I figured since I was messing around with the computer today I would add some off the work I have done in the past. Hope you like it.

 I did this one for me!

 I thought that this looked pretty cool with the horse running free and out of the photo.

 I thought I would mess around with photoshop a little and came up with this little guy.

 I really love panda bears. Created this wallpaper so I could brighten up my computer.

I put two photos together to come up with these little guys getting some sun.

'Nuff said.

Thanks for stopping by!

How to Draw a Flower (Easy)

Getting Started

I have drawn this flower about a million times. Once you get the
hang of it, you can do one in about 3 minutes. Many people have
wanted me to show them how to do this, most of them can not draw.
Even if you think you can not draw, I bet you can draw this. Once
you practice over and over, you can impress your friends.
Things that you need: Pen or Pencil, Colored Pencils (optional),
Blender or Q-Tip (if you want to be more artistic), and of course Paper.
At the basic you should have Pen or Pencil, and Paper!

Finished (Color)

Step 1

First, start with drawing a simple small circle in the middle of the paper. 
This is our starting point, and the center of our flower.

Center

Step 2

Now we need to draw the petals of the flower.
These are easier to do if you start on the circle we started with, go out to a point, come back down to the circle.
The more you practice the easier this will become. Don’t worry if the petals overlap. As you can see I have done this. Every flower will look different than the one before.

Petals

Step 3

Now we are going to add some more petals to the flower. If you want to draw on a
smaller scale you can skip this step. Every flower can add more or less of these.
Make sure that each petal is started and ends between the previous petals.

Few More Petals

Step 4

Adding the leaves.
Start this just like you would if you were adding the petals, only bigger.
Remember to start and finish at the base. In other words, start next to
a petal, skip over a petal, come back down on the next one.
You can experiment with everything, bigger petals than leaves. For this
tutorial, the leaves are bigger.

Leaves

Step 5

Add some Details.
Now we are going to start adding detail to our flower.
We need to add the veins of the leaves.
Just start somewhere near the petals, then draw a line to
the end of the leaf. This will look like you split the leaf in two.
Next, draw lines that come off of this center line, alternating
back and forth. You should have two lines on each side of
the line.

Details (Leaves)

Step 6

Add some more leaves.
Again, just like before, and with the petals,
add some more leaves. Of course, if you skipped
Step 3, you might want to skip this step too.
At this point, add veins again, as in Step 5.

More Leaves

Step 7

Now add some more details.
Start shading in the petals. This can be done with a
colored pencil, shader, or just shade with pen or pencil.
The color of the petals is up to you, it is your flower.
Try different colors, maybe your favorite.
For this tutorial, I will use red. This will be done later.
You do not have to add color until you are done
drawing your flower.

Shading and Details

Step 8

Tails and Fox Tails
We want to add a little more detail to
our flower. In order, to add the Tails,
draw a line starting between two leaves,
go out to open space, loop around,
and lift pencil.
Then, do it again, only this time, to get
a good effect try to draw over the same
line, only do it faster this time.
You will not get an exact line over what
you drew before, this is what we want.
We want to lines that look like they
belong to each other.
Continue this around the flower, I did this six times. Yours may be different.
Now for the Fox Tails, simply draw a line out from the flower anywhere you like.
These are short lines, (see Picture) that just flow out.

Vines and Foxtails

Step 9

Final Details
This is the time when we add the final details to our flower.
Draw small half circles around the Tails. These can placed
wherever you want. For the Fox Tails simply, make some lines
right at the end of the smaller lines. These lines will be sideways.

Final Details

Step 10

Color
At this final stage, we will add color. This is optional.
You may want to keep your flower in black and white.
If you do choose to color your flower, the colors are up to you.

Color

Try it Out!

You can mess around with different things with this flower.
Add more petals, more leaves, whatever.
It is all up to you!
Good Luck!
Happy Drawing!

Rediscovering Walmart

Hello and thanks for reading!

First I would like to start off by saying that this is what I think Walmart should do in order to become a leader in the world of giants again.

We all have had the same problem when going to Walmart, you go in pick up some items that takes 5-15 minutes....and then to the register you go to wait forever....

This happens to be the biggest complaint, I believe.

You I am sure dread this..that is why most people do not like going to Walmart. To make money you have to spend money. I'm sure everyone has heard this...and Word of mouth is the best advertising a company can have. With that in mind, this is how I see a solution.

Walmart should hire enough cashiers to keep half of their registers open at all times. This will make people feel better as they enter the store. After all the first impression is what leads to what comes after. Walmart then needs to hire about 15 people to assist people throughout the store. These 15 people will be a key to success later. Helpful people to find items, and recommend items makes people feel valued and wanted in the store. Now, these 15 people serve as a multi-purpose position. By helping customers, they can help increase profit, and prevent thief by being present. Also, during the busy times...like around the 1st when everyone gets their food stamps, holidays, weather, or Walmart just gets busy...these 15 people will join the other cashiers up front to open up all the registers available. This will let people know that everything is being done to get them out of the store as quickly as possible.

Now Walmart might think or get a crazy idea that they either they can use the people they got or the can use these new people for more than described. This has not worked for them. As I said before Word of mouth is the best advertising for a company. When word gets out ...and it will fast...that Walmart is listening to its customers by doing this ....Walmart will be busy all the time...

Think about this if you doubt what I have proposed, if you knew at anytime you wanted to go or had to go to Walmart and you could go in and be out in half the time or less than before, Would you go more often?
Many people do not go to Walmart unless they have to. I would rather go somewhere else, even if I have to pay more. If I knew that there would be people to help me find things, and cashiers to get me out of the store and on my way, I believe I would go more often than I do.

Of course with all this said, there are smaller details to the planning and execution of this but I don't get paid to analyze or anything from Walmart. This is an idea that Walmart needs to look into very much. A giant can only get so big before it fall from its own weight.

Well Thanks for reading, hopefully this outlook will make someone see that something has to change.