Now the Smith family was not mine but looking back it could have been. They spent much of their time chasing the Grants and never seeming to find them. It was an allusive goal because the finish line changed by the season. The Grants did not own anything, but the Jones family did and seemed to have the Grants backing. Our little Smith family could see the Jones family from the front door, up on the hills with a very nice cars in the driveways. I did not care too much for the car, but their cable television stood out as a must have! For some reason, we could not become close enough to the Grant family and only those of privilege and luck could. Our father worked very hard with very irregular hours, that it took a calender with lines from 3 different colored pencils to keep it straight. I knew that red was graveyard, blue was swing and green was day shift. No one else at school had heard of it much less lived a unpredictable yet ironically, very predicable lifestyle. I always knew when dad was at work, at what time and what time he would be home. I did not know how the days would go because it would depend so much on my poor father’s strength who would run the shift work rotating every week and every month would run a complete cycle. It was our normal, but not normal at all. The Grants did not care, however, they did not seem to do all the favors for the blue collar family as for the while collar family next door and their new mazda rx7 who had much of the Grants favor.

I was just informed that a close friend of the family is not suffering from heart disease. I went out the web to find more information on heart issues such as irregular heart beat and found great information at www.heartlibrary.com. I was so impressed because it was St Jude Medical who has produced this site, who are a leader in heart disease. This website is full of educational videos, presented by real doctors and with detailed information you need along with visual aids to help describe the specific condition you are researching. The target audience is regular people like you and me, so the doctors speak in layman’s terms to help us understand the intricacies of the heart. It is a very well laid out site, with good patient feedback stories, FAQs and a doctor finder. This is a must see if you or if know someone who has heart disease!

Introducing the Grant family. I was very young, well a teenager, when I first came to learn of the Grants in the neighborhood. We never really knew them deeply, just that so many neighbors wanted to know them better and better. They were the talk of the town and so it seemed, the talk of the nightly news. “Tear down this wall Mr Gorbachev” was exclaimed on the television from our great leader President Reagan and next the finish of the stock market and finally, “that’s the way it is and good night.” The pressure cooker is heard simmering ready to give way at any time and the sound of ice hits the bottom of the glasses, now I know that dinner time has come and the news will be switched on and again three times each half hour for all we knew was network news and the Grant family.

The Grants never moved. The family was mentioned at the dinner table as ruining our lives yet we needed to know them better to survive. It seemed all so crazy. They said it was a decade of decadence and overabundance of the self. The Grants wanted to be a part of family and we were told they would come, but at a trickle.

I have recently began shopping for some new furniture for my home.  One piece that I really like and need are new storage beds which can be found at a very nice website www.furniturefromhome.com Their furniture is just amazing and is not the cheap stuff that we find far too often. You immediately see very nice images of a great product including living room furniture and bedroom furniture. In fact, they include free white glove delivery on their beds and bedroom sets! I just love the dark wood finish on these sets. The website is well laid out, easy to use and most important for me are the images so I can get a good idea what the furniture will look like in my home. I think you will be just as impressed as I was!

One of my dreams to write a story that could be published one day. It will come to a surprise to many of you, however it will continue with the We are Going South and Believing in Change mantras. I have read Dickens, Tolstoy etc and find their writing just amazing. I will not copy their work but will find inspiration from them, especially their sentence structure. My blog will be a great opportunity as a place to practice my writing and get some feedback from many of you.

I plan on using our times and our current situation as the setting. I want to expose the issues of greed, wealth, pride and power as the motivations behind the characters involved. Yes, I know it has been done but I think the current economy has been like no other. Why, because this time the most powerful have fallen. Unlike the Great Gatsby where the rich continue to press down the poor, we have the Madoff’s the world and CEO’s and bonus checks that now the country has scorned from the President down. People no longer strive to be the big fat cat. Again why, because they have all they need. That is why we are in a “recession”. People have realized that they have every gadget, a nice home, food and water. So the story will need to launch from before the recession and then into an era of contentment. “I am content with what I have” is the theme and it will derail the economy which has a GDP where 70% is in consumer spending. There is no more of the “Next big thing” We don’t need it.

I have been in sales now for over 8 years. The last opportunity I took mandated that I use my own car and gas within a very large territory. What I have found and that many large corporate operations are finding is that travel budgets have to be cut. We all waste a lot of time when other methods could be used to maximize travel and business. That is when I found One Source Insight’s Find Prospects by Geography.  Plus, they have a great, clean web site that is very easy to use. They have links to research, client development, sales and marketing. I will be using these guys this year to drive sales!

They have a better approach optimize your face to fact contacts in three ways: First they will help target lists by using radius searches within the territory. Second, they will help create a travel window each metro area so then you can start planning early. Third, You call the prospects by geography and make that planned trip a reason to meet.

I just reviewed the latest Pew poll results in the USA today. It is still amazing how different demographics are attracted to certain cities, large or small, rural areas and mid size. What was most striking to me was the the lowest cities that people did want to live in were major NFL cities like Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota and even the Super Bowl team Pittsburg! So did the “build the stadium and they will come” mantra work? Not really. Fans live all over the states and so I must guess that they would say they root for their hometown team but never would want to live there. Wow, what pride is that? Why did owners go to such an extent to get new stadiums made where no one wants to live. They are not stupid, but how would any other business make that kind of decision?

Looks like the young love the big cities and those in the middle still like the burbs. Not too suprising there. Women did not like the rural areas as much as the men did. Perhaps this should be another personality question when people are finding each other? My point I am trying to make here though is that home is where the heart is or even, wherever you go there you are. You cannot escape yourself and trying to find a better shade of green grass is not going to solve your problems? Or would it……

One of the issues that we must face is trying to get our sites out to as many people possible. What we need is a honest site providing high quality SEO services which can be found at hubshout.com. They have 15 years of IT experience working with Fortune 100 clients and people like you and me. Its sad to say but there are so many other sites who say they help, but their practices are questionable at best. At Hubshout, transparency is the key! Further, what their basic premise is to turn your web site into a hub of relevant information for your target audience and then broadcast it out for you. Hence, you will find new people and new customers. Its a great site and easy to use, to find their service plans, track your rankings and follow your paid search dashboard. A first class operation.

Perhaps its just me but I am not getting too excited about this year’s Super Bowl. Sure, its great to see the Cardinals get a chance at it and perhaps see Kurt Warner redeem himself. I’m sure St Louis is loving life right about now! If there is one takeaway it is that on any given Sunday, any NFL team has a chance to win. Some teams do not even have any prayer whatsoever, like Detroit, but the product is still good. Money is spread out well but perhaps there are too many teams and not enough top talent to fill all of them. Its still great for Football that someone like the Cardinals are in, but now they have to perform. Their showing could determine just how much merit we put into my argument which not very original but one I believe in. What would be very cool is to see Kurt Warner make a great show and be a great inspiration for all of us.

One of the great struggles we all encounter while blogging is making sure we have found and are using the best in web host company available. They are not all alike. I went out shopping for the best site and came across webhostinggeeks.com They are just not a site with a list of hosting companies. Instead, they go to great length to make sure you make a very informed decision. My favorite page that walks you through the selection process. This page starts by assessing your needs, the rate you need, technical help, Data Transfer, scripts and pages needed and control panel. I strongly urge you to read through each detailed paragraph. Next, you can review the Best sites in Hosting for such things as Best Budget, Best Blog, Best Windows, Best Unix. Then you can review the Top 15 Free Domain Name sites and then free Google and Yahoo marketing. This is a true one stop shop for finding the best in Web Hosting which always needs to be tailored to your needs. You will really like their articles in for topics in How to Make Money in web hosting to Dedicated Servers for Ecommerce. Plus, I am always critical on web sites themselves, and at webhostinggeeks.com I found a very nice, clean and easy site to navigate with only a few ads that do not hang or get in the way. You must try out this site!

I dont know about your children, but our kids have just gone crazy with webkinz. They have been around a few years now, but we just caught on after the holidays. Basically, you buy a special stuffed animal at the store that comes with a Webkinz logo and id number on it. You come home and get signed up. Now you can have friends, trade items, buy stuff and especially have fun decorating your new room My kids have had a blast all along and so have many of my parent friends. Its harmless and the games do not seem to eat up too much time.  In fact, some of their games take a lot of thought and problem solving skills. When you run out of webkinz tokens, you just play the games to get more and then go the store. The only thing that I thought was a little over the top happened to our good friends. They bought a webkinz last year and then this year, they got a message saying they needed buy another webkinz to keep their account up to date. So, they collected their 10 bucks and bought another. Everything else is great about it though!

One of the new struggles my family is facing is the fact that our grandparents are using a wheelchair full time and are in need of dependable transportation to get to and from doctor visits etc. You just cannot go out and find any type of van, it has to have special equipment. That is when I found mobilityworks.com who sells vans that have an electric wheelchair lift among other items to suit your access needs. They have 12 dealerships around the country that look and work like any other auto dealership. They have hundreds of new and used vans from all the major van manufacturers. You may want the typical minivan or a full size Econoline van. Perhaps you just need a lift to attach your scooter, they have those too. Their website is great! They have a very cool link to YouTube to watch videos to demonstrate their product. They have a link to their conversion van inventory. I looked into their current specials and found everything from $9,000 to $30,000 vans with all different kinds of ramps for wheelchair access. Make sure you read on their EZ lock docking system to find out just how your loved one will be secure once the van is on the road! Finally, what will be great for my family is that my grandfather is a veteran and they can help you through the process of getting the VA to help pay for the system as well as for Medicare and Workers Compensation programs. So its not just a nice site with an inventory list. Its much more with customer service, financing, great videos on YouTube and rental information. It is truly a one stop shop for wheelchair access vans!

When you cannot event, buy someone who can. My heart goes out to Pfizer. They have tried for years to bring a new pharmaceutical to market with no avail. Lipitor is not there own. They had to buy Warner Lambert at I believe 80 billion dollars. Not bad when Lipitor generates over 12 billion a year. But here is the catch. Now they need to replace it soon and they are still trying to replace Zoloft another billion dollar molecule now on the cheap list at most pharmacy chains. I believe Viagra was their last product they made on their own. So it should come to no surprise that they needed to buy Wyeth who is just blasting away with a new pediatric vaccine. They too have lost Effexor and are trying to replace it. So its just another great marriage, well lets hope so. Today’s WSJ reports that the banks were willing to help with the purchase but only if they can keep their Standard and Poor’s rating high. Hopefully this will mean more money for other top notch companies. I guess we will have to wait and see how the layoff go because they will no longer need that many sales staff or research analysts. We all need to understand too that it is no cakewalk to bring a new product to market. Years and years of billion dollar investment has taken Pfizer almost no where. Its too bad. It also speaks to the fact that the FDA is very hesitant in new drub applications and make the process very slow sometimes. Then you have to hope that your new pharmaceutical will work and not cause too many side effects. Its takes billions and if Pfizer cannot do it, who can?

Its hard to believe but yes now Christmas is over for a month and its time to think about buying flowers for Valentines. After all your hard work buying just the right gift for Christmas, its great to know that buying Valentines Candy and flowers is still and always be greatly accepted by our love ones. FTD has been around for as long as I can remember and with their website our challenge of buying just the right gift for our that special someone is even easier. Right now they have a 10 day sales event where you can save up to 50% off. I found great gift ideas already set up for you such as arrangements, gifts and glass blocks that outline just what a Soul Mate is. How clever! My wife loves the puppy with a set of red roses in its mouth and the stuffed bear holding onto a flower vase. As for me, I will end up buying her the Mrs Field’s Chocolate Covered Strawberries and the Passionate Petals Valentine Bouquet for her. I should include the stuffed animal, but I need to be original on my own you know! Whats more is that with FTD, you know you are going to get great customer service. Plus, their website is very well made with great images to show just exactly what you are going to buy along with easy pages to click through. Have a great holiday and stick with what works!

I have to admit that the one item that saved me on huge trip to China was my Baby Sling! I strongly encourage you to look into baby slings here and see what a life saver this can be. What I especially love was the comfort level and the bonding I had with my new baby. It was easy to pack to a foreign country and its washable. I was there for 14 days in a very crowded country where the sidewalks are packed and the cars are so small, it gave me sense of providing safety for my child. My personal favorite is the moby wrap which comes in several styles such as the Hand Painted Moby, Mini Moby for kids, Moby D Silk and the Stretch wrap. Further, not only are there slings but also carriers! The website is very nice and easy to use. You can choose by style, price and see several photos to get a good idea on how the style will look and fit on you. They also include links on nursing your child, love letters from very happy mothers and a solid FAQ site. I have very fond memories of picking up my daughter in China and getting all kinds of comments from the locals on my babysling. It is very unique so get ready to have some very interested people asking how to get one!