I put BLAME this exhausting Tuesday morning on the following;

• Day off school for most kids and Gov’t workers in Canada
• Strong Canadian dollar
• Christmas Shoppers
• Rookie bargain hunters.
• Map Quest for giving everyone the same option to cross into Canada
• GPS systems that pretty-much give drivers only 1 option to cross back into Canada.

Picture this… a family of 5 stuck in a mini van for 3 hours (traveling 2 miles during this time) and this, after a full day of shopping. And this didn’t include the other hr you had to drive to finally get home.

Yep the joys of cross-boarder shopping to use the muscle of the strong Canadian dollar. Going down to NY State is a norm for us since we use our Sams Club membership quite often, but 3 hrs just to cross the freaking boarder? We finally get up to the security checkpoint area (customs) and so we don’t have to leave one of the girls as payment for duty we owe, we started a conversation with the wonderful customs officer about how hard their job must be having to deal with all these cranky shoppers. The conversation lasted quite a long time (long time if you were stuck behind us waiting to get cleared ), that’s when she explained that it seems when most shoppers plug in shopping or an address in Buffalo NY into Mapquest or one of those gps navigation systems, it gives them directions using the Queenston / Lewiston boarder crossing. Thus causing this massive amount of traffic, all trying to get back into Canada from one entry point.

Did she mind all this traffic NOPE! She mentioned that not only does it keep her busy and make her shift go faster, she remarked that it assures her that her job is safe. Someone must be here to check all these people before they enter Canada.

We had a good chuckle, she said had a good night folks and we smiled all the way to the toll since we didn`t have to pay any duty on the purchases we made this LONG day.

………………………………………………………………………….

Here`s my pet peeve for this week! In case you`re wondering, NO! I DIDN`T HAVE A GULP ALREADY. This seems to be the norm now when you purchase a cup of coffee from Tim Hortons on Concesion Street in Hamilton. Maybe I got the discounted rate for the coffee that`s missing from the cup.

FYI, so you’re not totally clueless when you’re blamed…
STRESS PUPPY: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whining all the time.

XEROX SUBSIDY: Euphemism for nicking free photocopies from one’s workplace.

PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE: The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

ADMINISPHERE: The rarified organizational layers that start just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the “adminisphere” are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve. This is often affiliated with the dreaded “administrivia” - needless paperwork and processes.

404: Someone who’s clueless. From the World Wide Web error message “404 Not Found” (meaning that the requested document could not be located).

OHNOSECOND: That minuscule moment in time when you realize that you’ve just made a BIG mistake (e.g. you’ve just hit ‘reply all’).

WOOFies: Well Off Older Folk.

CROP DUSTING: Surreptitiously farting while passing through a CUBE FARM, then enjoying the ensuing sounds of dismay and disgust. Usually leads to PRAIRIE DOGGING.

Lately I’ve been visiting a lot of blogs trying to find ideas for a new blog I want to launch in the new year. I already know what the content will be, I’m just looking for ides on the actual layout of the page. For me a website (or blog) is similar to dining, if it doesn’t look good or appealing I’m turned away very fast. Good presentation just attracts me to stick around and read what this person is blabbing about!

I’ve noticed that everyone seems to be doing the same thing when it comes to monetizing their blogs. So when you visit one, if you didn’t read the content, you’d think you were at the same blog you just clicked away from. Adsense ads, contextual ads, blogrush, hire me to write, pay per post… you get the friggin picture. Same old ads, shoved at the top right side of the blog.

Here’s some creativity for you…

BTW, why is it just about every entrepreneur’s blog comes with the title “make money” in it? If they all had the secret to making all this cash, shouldn’t they be retired and enjoying their money they had the elusive secret too!

Sounds a bit rude, doesn’t it! I got an email from a friend (one of those chain ones) which I thought would make a good post this cold and gloomy Thursday. I’ve made several posts in the past about health risks associated with sitting in front of a computer at home all day and not really getting any sort of exercise. Take a moment to read this and feel free to share it with your friends.

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured
everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) …..she
said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she
appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest
of the evening.

Ingrid’s husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been
taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had
suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs
of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don’t die….
they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this…
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3
hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke… totally. He
said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then
getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is
tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the ‘3′ steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.
Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke
victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to
recognize the symptoms of a stroke .

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three
simple questions:
S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. It is sunny out today)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911
immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke ——– Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Ask the person to ’stick’ out his tongue.. If the tongue is
‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an
indication of a stroke.

The name John Chow seems to be the most famous one when it comes to blogging. Just about every blog you go to, there is some reference to Mr. Chow. There are many other big names (reminds me when everyone was an Internet Marketing guru) in the blogging world, but with over 13,000 readers subscribed to his feed, you know he’s doing something that attracting a lot of attention.

Are you keeping tabs on the people who are successful in your field? Remember how when you first started your job you were told to shadow that person who’s job it was to train you? It’s time you started to shadowing again.

If you blog or have dreams of making a living online, here are a few sites you should know…

John Chow

Darren Rowse, Problogger.
ShoeMoney Be sure to read “My Top 10 Worst Ideas To Make Money” post. Nice to know the “big dawgs” also have dumb ideas that flop
doshdosh

Do you have any to share? Leave a comment.