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Tweaked & Where Should You Live

I tweaked the colors a bit, mainly to make the text more readable, more contrast and such… I hope it is better for everyone. :)

Hmmm, not much going on, here’s something fun to do, take this test and see where you should live, I took it and it said I should live in the country::

Where Should You Live?


I Should Live in the Country
country-2616578


You are laid back, calm, and good at entertaining yourself.

You don’t need an expensive big city to keep you busy.

You’ll take the peaceful life over the stressful life any day of the week.

Post a comment and let me know where you should live. :)

.

7 Comments

anon16-rounded-5661787 the texan said…

It said I should live in the country too, and I do.

May 3, 2008 5:11 PM

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b16-rounded-4008479 Wretha said…

Hey Texas, I’m not surprised! :) Thanks for the comment.

Wretha

May 3, 2008 5:59 PM

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anon16-rounded-5661787 seth said…

in the country, i did and will again

May 3, 2008 6:17 PM

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b16-rounded-4008479 Wretha said…

Thanks Seth, I’m not surprised! :)

Wretha

May 3, 2008 6:42 PM

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b16-rounded-4008479 Mayberry said…

Thank God I’m a country boy! Now if I could just get out of this city……

May 6, 2008 11:19 AM

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b16-rounded-4008479 Wretha said…

I understand Mayberry, have you set any goals?

A goal is a wish with a date attached. :)

Wretha

May 6, 2008 11:25 AM

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b16-rounded-4008479 Mayberry said…

Yeah, my goal (wish) is to unload this house ASAP, get a travel trailer, save up some money for some land in the country, and set up a homestead (retreat, whatever). I’d like to have this done in 3 years or less.
Craig

May 6, 2008 11:29 AM

…

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May 3, 2008 7 Comments

Magic Jack and Garden Updates

Magic Jack

So far so good on the Magic Jack, I did have a problem with it though, it seemed that I could not call the 2 main people I wanted to call, my Dad and sister. For some reason it would not complete calls to local numbers (in the 817 area code for me), I discovered this is a known issue according to an unofficial forum for the Magic Jack. When I would try to call my Dad or sister, it would ring 5-8 times then I would hear a fast busy signal then a dial tone. I could call any other numbers outside the 817 area code, I could also call any cell phone (didn’t matter what area code). So I decided to contact MJ’s customer service, it’s all on line, I contacted a very nice cs person, I told him what the problem was and that I had already tried using the upgrade on their website (multiple times) and tried every USB port on my computer. I was afraid he would try to get me to do the upgrade again or make me go through some useless processes, I know the problem is on their end since the MJ works for other calls. He was very polite, asked me a few questions, got 3 phone numbers that will not work for me, then he said I would be getting an email in the next 24-48 hours about this matter. After that I went to the unofficial MJ forum, I posted a message about this to their tech section, I copied and pasted the transcript of the customer service contact, I asked if anyone else there had this problem and found a fix or a workaround.

I quickly received a reply from one of the members, he suggested using this format when I called, instead of calling 817284****, to call *678*17284****, IT WORKED! I was able to call my Dad directly, then I called my brother in law, I didn’t try my sister’s number, but I have no doubt it will work with her number too.

So even if MJ doesn’t have a fix, I have a workaround so I am happy. It seems that the * codes (*67 and such) do not work on MJ’s system, at least not the way they work on regular phones. I don’t care, as long as I can call who I want. :)

Garden

Woohoo! I got my garden planted yesterday! I took my packets of seeds and started on one corner, I walked around and dropped the entire packets on the spaces where I wanted to plant them, then I took each packet and planted the seeds. I got them all planted and watered. I can’t wait to see the little sprouts peeking up from the straw mulch, patients! Here is a list of what I have planted so …

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April 29, 2008 4 Comments

Got my Magic Jack

Got my Magic Jack today, it’s been in the mailbox for a couple of days, but since it’s a 12+ mile round trip on a rocky, dusty, dirt, washboard, up and down, in and out road, I don’t get out there very often.

I hooked up the MJ and it installed fairly easily, there was the smallest of hiccups a couple of times, once was because my internet stalling out for a few seconds… anyhoo I got it running and started making phone calls, it works pretty well, one problem it has it for some reason it refuses to call certain numbers, it will ring and ring then I get a busy signal then a dial tone, I have found that when it is giving me trouble, if I call using the software instead of dialing the phone, it works a bit better. I am still testing it out, the sound quality is better than my cell phone.

For anyone who has my cell phone number and needs my new number, just email me and I’ll give it to you.

Check out the poll on the blog, the upper right corner, complete the poll for me if you want to, thanks! :)…

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April 25, 2008 1 Comment
Communities

Vote for Ken on May 1st

Ken Livingstone is the only serious politician running for Mayor and he is making progress on the Environment in Britain’s capital.…

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April 23, 2008 No Comments
Communities

Stay cool

Fight to keep Earth Day for people not multinational corporations…

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April 22, 2008 No Comments
eco20friendly20home20nola-1669635
Communities

Happy Earth Day

Today is Earth Day. We hope that everyone has an enjoyable day and helps to spread the word that self-sustainable living is a great way to help save the world, your health and even your wallet.

This past year we have completed the energy efficiency part of getting of our home off the grid plan. We have also starting purchasing our solar panels that will be installed hopefully before Earth Day 2009. We have been more vocal about our choice to become green and off-grid. Started this blog to get information out about alternative/renewable energy, being energy efficient, going green. Even got to the Earth Day celebration by Green Apple Festivals in Washington D.C. Let Washington know that we wanted the environment to be on the front burner, not the back.

Using our information on green and sustainability and sharing it is one of the best ways to bring about change. If we can help one person to rethink the “normal” way of using resources to run their home then we have made a significant change. Have a great day!

See RecycleCindy bag she made for Earth Day

PS You cn help others this Earth Day by donating to the Make it Right 9 foundation. Click the link below to donate to the Eco Friendly Home. Help people in New Orleans rebuild to a more sustainable home.

eco20friendly20home20nola-1669635…

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April 22, 2008 No Comments
b16-rounded-4008479
Communities

Thanks, Magic Jack and the Garden

First I want to thank everyone who joined the PTC sites from my links below, this will not only make money for you, it will help me tremendously, the money earned goes toward my internet expenses, it helps to keep me on line and posting here. :) If you have any questions about how to use the PTC sites, or want to know some tricks that I use to make more money (all LEGAL, I don’t do anything that would jeopardize my membership), just drop me a note via email

wretha @ gmail . com (remove the spaces)

and I’ll be more than happy to help. :)

Phone

I went ahead and ordered the Magic Jack, I figured it would be the best thing to do, if it works for me (and I hope it does), I can drop my cell phone and will not have that expense every month, I will have only one yearly charge for the phone service. The only problem with it so far is they do not have a local phone number for me, so I’ll just get a phone number that is local for my friends and family back in the DFW area, that will not be any different from what I have now with my cell phone. The startup cost on it was about $50.00, that paid for the unit, the shipping and the first year’s service. I did pay a bit extra to get the expedited shipping, I normally don’t do that, but it gave me a tracking number so I will know when it gets to my mail box, we don’t check our mail box very often, it’s a 12+ mile round trip to the mailbox, on twisty, winding, up and down rocky dirt roads. MJ is giving a 30 day free trial, they don’t charge your credit card until about day 31, I’m not sure if that is from the date ordered or the date delivered, either way I should know within a day or so when it shows up in my mail box so I can start using it as soon as possible. When we were in town the other day, I picked up a cheap corded phone, we left all of our phones in Irving when we moved, we didn’t figure we would need them out here, my how things can change… :)

The Garden

We have been working hard on the garden to get it ready to plant, I wish I could have planted before now, but we didn’t have the fencing complete, and I can’t run the risk that something would get in and tear things up.

We just got back in from working on the fencing for the last couple of hours, we were putting up the chicken wire over the top to keep the birds out. We got most of it covered, we …

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April 21, 2008 6 Comments

Singing in the Rain

This years Green Apple Festival celebrating Earth Day still went on despite the rain. At least for a few hours anyway. When the lightening started it was time to start shutting down. Now we can’t say for sure if it over or hoping to wait out the rain as we left when the downpour turned torrential and lightening was regular.

Though it was nice and even the children enjoyed the 3 plus hours we had down there. The speakers were varied and from around the world. Showing that the Earth is not just important to us here in the United States. We were able to visit about half of the exhibitors that were included in the Earth Day Celebration, the other half was a combination of weather and not seeing the rest of the booths across the street. If we hadn’t been huddling under the tents to keep out of the rain we probably would have noticed the second section. Of course we noticed after the heavy rain appeared and had to call the rest of the day a bust.

Also happenig at the Mall was an expo on sustainable living with exhibits put on by colleges. It was very interesting to walk through and see what ideas were being tried out to improve not only our environment but also awareness of the general public. That one we visited on the way in, meaning we were to early for all the booths to be manned and/or ready so not as much information from it was gotten. Though we did find some interesting things that will also be in upcoming posts.

We need to do some more research so we’re not just rehashing the spiel we got from the spokespeople at these great events. We found great ideas such as purifying water with a simple handheld device to running sport cars on solar panels, to playing games to raise awareness, to home improvement and construction companies who make green their only business. So much was available that we hope that others were able to join in on celebrations in their local areas.

Don’t forget that today is a day of noise! Let your elected officials (and hopefuls too!) know that not only do we care about the world we live in but that being able to live in a home that is healthy, self-sufficient is just as important to us. If we don’t tell them they’re not going to be knocking on your door to ask. It’s our responsibility to keep and demand programs that help the average joe to be informed and even give a helping hand so that legislation doesn’t disappear now that people are trying to improve their homes.…

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April 21, 2008 No Comments

Earth Day Celebrations

Don’t forget that the Earth Day Celebration near you is this Sunday. You can click on the countdown on the right or here to see what celebration you can walk, bike, skate, etc. to. You can then go to Green Apple Festivals and see your venue. You will get a list of bands, speakers and exhibitors so you can see who is out there to help us make a change.

Then Don’t Forget to follow the day of celebration and information with a day of action. Make some calls to your mayor, local council, governor, state congress, White House (202.456.1111) and Capitol Hill (202.224.3121). Join with others as we make so much noise that the powers that be stop and listen to what we’re telling them. Our voices have gotten stronger in the last couple of years but we need to keep getting louder. Until we’re heard over the money from big interest, that can be hurt by acting responsible for our environment.

Then on Tuesday, April 22, if you have a blog, website, or any other outlet let the world know what you’ve done. If you don’t have your own outlet then join a forum and let them know. Then wish everyone you see Happy Earth Day. The more people who are touched and reminded on Earth Day the more that can become new recruits for making a difference to our Earth.

If you are going to be writing this Earth Day leave a comment or go to the forum and respond to the Earth Day Blog thread and we’ll make sure to link to you in our Earth Day post.…

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April 18, 2008 No Comments
b16-rounded-4008479
Communities

Paying For My Internet Habits

Blatantly asking for your help, if you want to… :)

Before I moved out here, I checked on ways to make money on line, all I wanted to do was make enough to pay for my internet habits (ISP, domains, hosting…). A few months before we moved, I found a way to earn money from clicking ads on websites. Not just any websites though, these sites are called “PTC” or “Pay To Click” sites, these sites basically pay you to click on ads, the ads usually open up in a new tab or window and you have to keep that tab or window open for 30 seconds (some less, some more), many of them then ask you to type in a randomly created code, or ask you to click on a link to close the window, this proves you kept the ad page opened for the requested length of time. Generally you get paid a penny (1 cent) per ad, some pay even better than that, 1.5 to 2 cents per ad, some do email ads (they send the ad to your email address) and those usually pay more, up to 5 cents per ad.

I have all the PTC sites I belong to bookmarked, I open each on in a new tab (I use Firefox, you can do the same thing with Explorer), I sign in to each one, them I click on an ad for the first one, it opens in a new tab, then I go to the second PTC site, I click on an ad, it opens up in a new tab, I continue doing this until I have cycled through all the PTC sites I belong to, then I go to the first ad tab that opened up, by then, usually the timer has counted down, I do actually look at the page, the advertiser did just pay you to actually look at their site so it’s only fair to them to look at the page. Then I do whatever is required to prove I looked at the page, some ask you to click on something to close the page, some ask you to type in a randomly generated code, some just say the time is up, you can close the window/tab. I do that for each ad that is opened, then I repeat the whole thing until no more ads are available to be clicked on. Some of the PTC sites have lots of ads to click on each day, some not as much, I check these sites each time I get on the internet, once the ads are exhausted, I refresh the page from time to time to check and see if there are any new ads to click on. Some of these sites also have other ways to make money, many of them have paid surveys, some have paid offers (some free, …

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April 17, 2008 3 Comments

Lost, Taxes & Internet

Lost

I have spent the last 2 days catching up on one of the few TV shows I watch, Lost, I used to watch this show every week with my Dad, it is “our” show. I think about my dad as I watch the show, it makes me happy and sad at the same time. Anyhoo, wow! That show is getting weirder and weirder each season, for those of you who watch that show, you understand what I am talking about. I just finished watching the episode where Kate gets out of jail and goes home to her baby, I was wondering if the baby was Jack’s or James’ baby, when I saw the blond hair, I thought, yeah it’s James’, then she called the baby Aaron, that pretty much means it’s belongs to neither of them. I’ll wait until this evening to watch the rest of the shows, I think there is 2 maybe 3 more to go then I’ll be caught up, it’s hard to tell exactly how many are left the way ABC does their shows, each show is duplicated once, the original show, and an enhanced version, the enhanced version has, hmmm what do I call it, subtitles? Not for what the actors are saying, but it sort of states what is going on, so and so is lying, Hurley’s driving the car (this was stated before you could see the driver), I watched one show like that, and I decided I didn’t like it, I don’t want to know what is happening before it happens, it’s worse than sitting beside someone in a theater who announces what is about to happen before it happens, I LIKE the suspense. :)

Taxes

I did my taxes on line last night, blah! It took me about 3 or 4 hours to complete them, I used to be able to do the simple form, but not this time, it was more complicated, but I got it done and I’m glad it’s done, I’m glad I was able to do it on line, and I’m glad I was able to do it at my cabin instead of somewhere else.

Internet Update

I checked the speed of my connection today:

4-15-08
4:14 pm
Download Speed: 2194 kbps (274.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 467 kbps (58.4 KB/sec transfer rate)

5:43
Download Speed: 1591 kbps (198.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 349 kbps (43.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

It tends to vary from time to time, but wow! I can’t complain a bit about the speed.…

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April 15, 2008 1 Comment