My Favorite Blank

Is goldfish really a cheap pet to buy for the little ones? I guess if you just go on the price of the goldfish their self, you will find most are like 50 cents to a couple of bucks. So the fish aren’t that expensive and if you can find something at home to put them in and some type of food to give them, you can come out of this smelling like a rose. Your fish might be dead in a couple of days, but you could cut a lot of corners to get the fish in front of the kids for a day or two.

Now if you did it right, you would need a nice tank, pump, rocks to go in the bottom, some type of water testers, a net and some fish food too. Now the cost goes up a little bit and you learn that the 79 cent goldfish is nothing compared to the goldfish supplies you will need. However, you can find used fish supplies at yard sales, flea markets and some of these goodwill stores. So if you took your time and started trying to piece things together one by one, you could have some fish for a good bargain. Goldfish is a good pet for the kids and they will love you for it. I just hope they aren’t like my twin 3 year old nephews, because they always want to “pet” the fish. Be sure to feed them very small amounts and keep the water clean and your goldfish should last a long time.

Our house is full to the rim of stuff and I don’t think we have room to put anything else. We have plenty of furniture and odds and ends that take up space in my home and I don’t think we could make room for a new end table or any type of small furniture like that. We have been using the attic to store stuff in and I believe our attic space is running out of room too. We use to only keep the Christmas decorations up there, but now we have old antiques, dish sets, crafts and just a lot more items in bags and boxes. I know I have a lot of sports cards up there in the attic and I was running out of room in my bedroom to store them in. There are just some things you don’t want to throw away, so you save it and after a couple of decades go by, you soon learn that you have a ton of stuff and most of it might just be junk now.

If you find your self needing some extra storage space and you begin storing things in the basement or in the attic like my family has done, I will give you one good tip. Be sure that you label the things you put in storage. Even if you only plan to put a few things in storage, go ahead and label it, so later on when you add more stuff, you can label it too. We have such a hard time going in our attic now and trying to find stuff, because we didn’t label anything. If we would have just got some Primera labels or some type of self-adhesive labels, we would be able to go up in the attic and locate things easier. Instead we have to spend all afternoon looking for one thing, just because we didn’t label our things we were storing. So just make sure you don’t make the same mistakes as my family did and keep everything organized and labeled and in about 20 years from now, you will be glad that you did it this way!

A somewhat exciting baseball game was shown on television last night that lasted into the wee hours of the morning for us on the east coast. The MLB All Star Game went into extra innings with the American League once again winning with a sacrifice fly to right field that happen in the 15th inning. It was the homerun derby champion from one night ago that was the one to step on the plate and ended a baseball game that left a bad taste in the fans mouth once again. We did have a winner this time, but the game was looking at the last batter of the night and this was the only way a winner got determined. If Justin Morneau gets thrown out at home plate and the National League could have manage to sent the game into a 16th inning, that inning would not have happened.

Once again baseball had a problem and they have failed to correct it. They don’t understand that we don’t care that Brandon Webb and Scott Kazmir pitched on Sunday. The fans see a baseball game with a bunch of rich spoiled brats that can’t break a sweat and do a little work for us. We are tuning in to a game to watch the best players play and we want to see them play. We don’t want guys being saved so they can return to their teams all nice and healthy. We want to see action and we want to see the game winner to be determined on the field. If baseball wants to continue to show these mid-summer classics in the middle of the summer, the teams and players will have to understand that the All Stars for their respected teams are going there to play a baseball game and not to sit on the bench and party, while we fans are left holding the check.

Save your money and let’s teach baseball a lesson. Forget the plans you had made to go out to the ball park this summer or to buy MLB gear. Let’s save those hard-earned dollars for our gas tanks and show baseball we don’t need them. Let’s let them come to us with an offer we can’t refuse. Don’t pay these guys salaries, when they are not even willing to pitch more than 1 inning, because it’s only an exhibition game. It’s a real game to the fans with real stars that we want to see play. Ludwick’s diving catch in left field and Miguel Tejada’s sensational shortstop plays are what the fans are missing from these All Star Games, because the true stars don’t want to break a sweat or use this time to just rest up. We deserve much better than what baseball is giving us. I will not be spending any money on baseball, until they fix the problems needed. Baseball doesn’t care about us (the fans), so why should we care about them. I urge you to boycott Major League Baseball to send these guys a message, that the All Star Game of 2008 was NOT acceptable. Times are hard right now and our economy is in bad shape and we need to be spending and saving our money on the important issues of life and not to the people that make millions of dollars just so they can pull the rug out from under our feet whenever they choose to. Strike against MLB!

We use to say that line all the time as kids. I really never knew if there was such a thing as bed bugs or not. I now realize that bed bugs do exist and they can be a pain for those that have them in there beds. You can just take a look at the bed bug bite pictures and see how some people are allergic to the chemical these little boogers inject into the human body when they bite. I’m not really sure if my bed has them or not, but I believe now would be a good time to see and maybe I can spray or do something to rid my bed of bed bugs. So the next time your getting ready for bed and someone says “good night, sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite“, there is more truth to those words than you might have thought!

The MLB Homerun Derby is beginning to look like the NBA Slam Dunk Competition. Not enough of the elite stars participating in the event to get fans pumped up for the events. The best slam dunkers don’t slam in the slam dunk contest and the best home run hitters are not in the Homerun Derby tonight. It’s a sad state for baseball to see this and the field is wide open for who this year’s 2008 Homerun Derby champ might be. Here is a list of the ones participating in the Home Run Derby tonight:

Lance Berkman

Ryan Braun

Josh Hamilton

Evan Langoria

Justin Morneau

Grady Sizemore

Dan Uggla

Chase Utley

Not the type of names you would expect to see in a homerun derby. I think Lance Berkman looks like the favorite in terms of power and him being a veteran MLB player. I think Ryan Braun will have a lot of fans rooting for him, because this kid is really special and I think he’s going to have a great MLB career. I think for my winner in tonight’s homerun derby competition, I will go with Josh Hamilton to win it. I think he might just have what it takes to pull it off and I can see him winning this event tonight.

Well it’s still tradition to watch anyway, even though the fans are getting short changed. I will still continue to watch the Slam Dunk Contest the NBA puts on every year and I will be tuning in tonight to see who has what it takes to be this year’s 2008 Homerun Derby Champion.

It seems the term “Christmas in July” gets said a lot. I don’t think any other month, other than December, gets linked with Christmas as much as July does. It isn’t a bad idea to start thinking about Christmas in July. You’re going to need all the money you can save up between now and then, so you have plenty to spend on friends, relatives and co-workers. So its really pretty smart to have Christmas on your mind in the middle of summer. Now you don’t have to start sending off your Christmas invitations yet, but as far as saving money and looking for deals this is a great time to get an early start on things. If you also factor in the economy and the high oil prices we currently have to pay at the pumps, it’s looking like a poor Christmas anyways. So you might want to get the jump on all of the other holiday shoppers this year and start trying to buy your gifts now. Just getting an extra gift here and there will add up by the time Christmas Eve gets here and you won’t have to be one of those last minute shoppers that is forced to buy what’s left on the shelf. So Christmas in July is here to stay!

The talks weren’t easy and neither side was willing to give up much, but an agreement has been reached with North Korea. They have agreed to start disarming all of their nuclear facilities and they will have until the end of October to do this. Other countries and including the United States will return the favor to North Korea by providing them with economic aid and precious fuel in the form of oil. These 6 nation talks with the North Koreans were difficult for all sides, but everyone can take a deep breath with this new agreement that has been reached.

North Korea is a very poor and hungry nation right now. Many of their people need food, water, shelter and medical supplies due to all of the discomforts their leaders have put them in. North Korea has refused to work with other nations and had their own way of doing things for so many years now. During all of that time it has caused many suffering in this nation and their neighbors to the south in South Korea is a whole different story. South Korea continues to thrive each year and a big reason why is with the international trade that gets passed through that country and the friendly ties it has to the U.S. has helped greatly too. Maybe the northern part of this peninsula can start to enjoy some of the comforts that the South Korea citizens get to take advantage of every day. This new agreement to disarm the nukes in North Korea will lift a tremendous burden off of this nation and they can begin to repair the economy and make their people be proud to be living there once again. This agreement has to be a welcome relief for South Korea and they will have to deal with less people trying to enter their country illegally from the North now. Let’s just hope for everyone’s sake that the North Korean deal that has now been reached; will be an agreement that the North Koreans will hold up their end of things.

There is one young man in Illinois today that might not be making plans anytime soon to go to a major league baseball game. There is a good reason why and the young man in question still remains in serious condition at a Illinois hospital. On Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Cubs were hosting the Cincinatti Reds in a typical day game for the Chicago Cubs. A 7 year-old boy that was attending his first MLB game ever was sitting right behind the Cub’s dugout and those are great seats for your first baseball game. Along with having great seats does mean you’re close to the action and this young man was too close to the action. The Reds were in the field and they threw a pitch to the Chicago Cub’s Ted Lilly who was the opposing pitcher in Thursday’s game. Lilly struck the ball from home plate and drove the ball in foul territory where the ball zoomed into the crowd. You see things like this a lot at major league baseball games, but many times the fans are fine or only suffer a minor blow from the ball. This was not the case for this 7 year-old and the ball from Lilly’s bat went right into the head of this poor boy. Doctors and medical staff was quickly on the scene and was later taken to the hospital. The boy stayed unconscious until Friday and it was then when he finally came out of it. The doctors now believe the boy will survive, but he is still in bad condition. I’m not sure what actions major league baseball will take from this horrible incident, but you can be sure they will look into this matter with great concern. If your a fan that plans to attend a major league baseball game soon, be sure you pay attention to the game and keep up with where the baseball is. If you bring kids to the park with you, make sure you look after them too and maybe it will be a long time before we ever see someone else like this, have to suffer through a devastating blow like this 7 year-old did in the Cubs and Reds game.

The weight loss industry is big money these days as more and more people try to find ways to shed those extra pounds. A healthy diet and exercise are two great ways to start controlling your weight or losing some extra pounds. Once you have a daily schedule focused around these two things and you can stay committed to it, you can start to look for other ways to increase your weight loss results. One of the most popular ways to lose weight comes from weight loss pills. A lot of the diet pills on the market today have been proven to be effective in one way or another. They are some weight loss pills that just don’t provide results and some of them provide great results. So before you just buy the first diet pills you see, you might want to do a little research first. A good place to start comparing weight loss pills is at WeightLossPills.net. You will find a lot of great reviews for some of the best diet pills that are out there now. This will help you to make a more informed decision on your next purchase of weight loss pills. If you are someone that wants to lose weight; just remember that you are not alone in this battle. It is easy to sit down and find some great weight loss and dieting tips on the internet and you should have no problems finding a wealth of information online. The key is to compare methods and see which one works best for you. There is more than 1 way to lose weight and the people that get the best results are the ones that do a number of things each day to help them lose more weight. Good luck on your dieting and exercise efforts and just remember to compare the different weight loss pills available and do a little research before you decide on which ones you will use.

I’m not sure how many people actually take a vacation and plan to exercise on it. I did find it interesting that at our hotel in Daytona Beach they did provide an exercise room. It wasn’t anything too fancy, but it did have a workout machine that you could do about 100 things on, a rowing machine, a stair climber and a treadmill. We did take the time to go check it out and we did play on some of the equipment they had. I know my nephew is going to be starting on the varsity football team next year and he wanted to work out while we were on vacation. So I guess some people do have an interest in staying fit while they are relaxing on a beach that borders the ocean. You can get a lot of walking exercise by walking the beach, swimming or just walking up and down the strip checking out all of the shops along the way. There are a lot of hotels and motels these days that offer an exercise room for their guests. Exercise equipment is not the cheapest thing in the world, so I’m sure the hotels would not be offering it, if no one had an interest in it. It just caught me by surprise when I seen the workout equipment that we had the luxury of using if we chose to. I’m not really in the exercising mood these days, so I stayed on the beach more than I did on the treadmill or the other workout machines. So if you’re someone that wants to stay in shape on vacation, you won’t have a hard time finding a place that offers an exercise room.

In about 100 days from now we will see kids and adults both searching for their October 31st wardrobes. Yes, it will be Halloween before we know it and everyone from young to old will be shopping for their halloween costumes. I like the Halloween time of the year and it’s a good time to watch all of the scary movies that come on television. I might just have to pick me up a costume this year and I was noticing all of the great costumes that Halloween Adventure offers.

I am a bit picky on which costume I would pick up for my self. I did find a few that I liked and now the hard part would be just deciding on one to get. I think I will go with one that fits my lifestyle the best. I love to stay up late at night and I spend more time sleeping during the daylight hours than I do the night time hours. So I am more like a vampire and I do tend to eat a lot at night too, so the big fangs would fit in perfect. Halloween Adventure has a very nice costume called the Count of Transilvania and this might just be the costume I get for this Halloween. I believe it would suit me very well and most of my friends would agree that this type of costume would fit my daily personality.

Now I have a close friend of mine and she is already talking about her Halloween costume for this year too. She says that she would like the vampire teeth to go with her costume and she even talked about adding in the yellow contact lenses to her eyes with a cat-linear ward. If you ever seen my friend before, you know that she would have a hard time pulling off anything scary. She is far from that naturally and I think she would be so much better off with one of the Sexy Costumes.

Yes, I think she would look much better in this Halloween costume. This is called the Hospital Honey Adult Sexy Nurse and this looks like something that would fit her better. I’m not sure how close I could talk her into wearing something like this for Halloween, but if she was willing to wear this one, I would certainly be feeling under the weather when October 31st rolled around, so she could take care of me in her nurse’s uniform.

If you are getting ready to get a computer for the first time or looking to buy a new one, be sure you find one with a big monitor. Having a big computer monitor makes everything so much easier and it’s worth the extra money to move up a couple of inches in size. All of the text that you have to read on the computer will be so much bigger if you choose to go with a bigger size monitor. The screen size of 19 inches or bigger is what you should be looking for with your next computer monitor. The newest monitors that are out now are really nice and the technology in an lcd monitor or some of the other monitors is incredible. I think it has something to do with the pixels and today’s monitors are sharper and crisper than the monitors that were made just a few years back. I just wanted to make sure if you was debating on a 17 or 19 inch screen size, be sure to go with the 19 inch, because it is well worth the extra money spent. If you find one that is bigger than that and will fit on your computer desk properly, then by all means go bigger than 19 inches! The best money I have ever spent has been on choosing the larger monitor from my choices when I got my new computer.

Living just 40 miles north of the city limits of Atlanta I have recently signed up for a pool league in my area. The league consist of a bunch of different teams and they are from Cobb and Cherokee County mainly. Our home base for our team is at Side Pockets, which is located down old Highway 5 in Cobb County in the shopping center that is directly across from where Chastain road comes into Highway 5. We play every Thursday night and tonight will be my 3rd week with the team. We play a road game tonight and will travel to Big Shots located on Highway 92 in Woodstock. This will be the first time I have went into that building and played pool in about 10 years. I use to go to this building when it was under a new name and shot pool there a lot. It is closer to my house than my home base of Side Pockets in Marietta is located. The old names were the Cue Club and Cherokee Billiards. I believe it has had one or two other names after that and it’s now called Big Shots.

The hardest thing for me so far has been shaking off the rust. I have not played any serious pool in about 10 years. I still remember all the things I need to be doing and which shots on the table I should be taking first, but the skill level of actually making the shots is not there right now. We have about 8 weeks left in this sessioin and then the fall pool leagues will start. Maybe I can utne up my game enough now, so I will be ready for action come this fall. If you have never been in a pool league before, you should give it a try sometime. It’s a great way to meet new people , sharpen your pool game and while having fun too!

The mid-summer classic is fast approaching and it’s a time to see the best baseball players in the world competing against each other. I look forward to watching the all star game every year and it’s always fun to watch what big league player will step up for his team and be the hero. The winner of this game does get home field advantage for the World Series, so there is something at stake for these superstar baseball players.  I will be rooting for the National League since I am a Braves fan, but the Amercian League has the better team in the All Star Game. If you had a 7 games series the American Leauge would win, but since it’s just one game, anything can happen. So maybe the National League can win this game on July 15th and get home field advantage for this year’s 2008 All Star Game that will be played in Yankee Stadium.

I really hate election years. All the commercials on television is the worse part about the election years. It doesn’t get much better when all the news stations are only focusing on the election and who said what and how this might help or hurt their chances of getting elected. There is not much hope in Obama beating McCain in the election this year, but if Hilary Clinton decides to run as Obama’s vice president; then I think the democrats would have the winning ticket.

Oil is now the number 1 concern for most Americans. This tops all the talk about Iraq and other political issues that the canidates are facing. Obama and McCain neither one will step up and just talk in normal terms and give yes and no answers to the questions ask to them. I really hope that someday we can see a politician that will step up and speak their mind and not worry about trying to cross all the “t”s and dot all the “i”s in their speeches. Honesty is the best policy and we as Americans can understand when a canidate makes a mistake. I just wish November was already here and we could stop all of the election talk. We still have months to go before the big voting day and the closer the election draws near will just be more of the ads on television we will see. So yes, the presidential election for 2008 is already old news for me and congratulations to the winner!

There are so many things that are available out there today for touching up websites and blogs. You should have no problems finding anything you need if you’re a webmaster looking to build or spruce up your website. So many new things come out each day that enhances websites and it’s incredible to see so many sophisticated websites online today. One thing that webmasters might want to check out is a digital signage. This can be a great tool to have added on to your website that can help with flash animations, text tickers, PowerPoint files and audio. Another great thing is the ability to broadcast live feeds from your website and live broadcasts or RSS Feeds that can be live and in real time is great eye candy for a website. I think the popularity for web based content that is in real time or live is going to continue to grow in the years to come. So if you’re a webmaster and looking to touch up your website just a bit, see if a live broadcast or a real time ticker might be something your guests might enjoy while visiting your online web pages.

The winningest mascot in Georgia Bulldog college football history passed away over the weekend. The team won more games under UGA 6th, than the previous 5 english bulldogs that were before him. He will be missed in Athens and sad to see such a great college sports icon gone. The University of Georgia is looking for UGA 7 now and should have one before the Bulldogs take the football field this fall. UGA 6 is also the only college sports mascot that has ever graced the cover of a Sports Illustrated magazine. The funneral for UGA 6 was held at the south west corner of the stadium on Tuesday and a small ceremony was held for the most winning bulldog to walk the sidelines, since Georgia started using one as their mascot. I do believe the lucky dog that becomes UGA 7 will be coming in at a good time, as the Georgia Bulldogs might just have the best team in college football next year. Go Dawgs!

As the weather warms up and people head out to the lakes to go fishing, camping, boating or just to have picnics, the accident rates go up as well. A lot of these accidents could be avoided if one simple ingredient was left off the boat. That one ingredient is alcohol! It is just as dangerous to be impaired driving a boat, as it is to be driving a motor vehicle impaired. Arizona State Laws does have an alcohol limit of .08 in the blood stream, so if your blood alcohol count is .08 or higher, you will be arrested! The term that boaters need to be aware of is OUI and this is Operating Under the Influence. Let’s keep things simple and safe on the water this year and leave alcohol off the boats.

Sleeping with the Fish

It’s no big surprise what dangers can happen on the water if laws are not in place to protect people swimming and other boaters. Boating Education Online is a great place to get started before you head out to the area lakes and rivers this summer. Safety should be the top concern for anyone that plans to drive or ride on a boat in Arizona this summer. Arizona Boating was intended to be fun and a activity that family and friends could enjoy on the weekends or anytime during the summer. It isn’t like that when a few careless individuals get out in the water and they have been consuming alcoholic beverages. They just don’t liter the clean waters of our lakes, rivers and streams, but they also cause bodily harm to their selves and other innocent boaters just trying to enjoy the water. We can all enjoy the fun in the sun this year on the lakes, but please keep the alcohol off the boats!

Arizona Game and Fish Department

No one should have to worry about making a trip to the lake this year. There is more watercrafts out there and more dangers creep into place when this number goes up. Just watch out for your fellow boaters, swimmers and always keeping your eyes on the water ahead as you travel across the water. Safety must be in place at all times and if everyone does their part, we can limit the number of accidents this year. So to all the Arizona residents out there, go have fun and enjoy your time on the water. If you’re a visitor that is planning a trip to Arizona and you want to go boating, please make sure you’re aware of the state laws and regulations and we hope you have a great time during your stay in Arizona. One last time, please, please, just don’t even bring the alcohol out to the lake! Boating Operating Under the Influence is a serious crime and those violators will be caught and punished!

It won’t be much longer until we get to see the best men and women showcasing their tennis skills at Wimbledon. This tennis tournament has been around a long time and tennis players all over the world try their best to get an opportunity to play on one of the 19 rye grass courts that Wimbledon has to offer. It’s not just the tennis players that like to make the trip, but tennis fans go to extremes to try and get Wimbledon tournament tickets. This year’s tournament will start on June 23rd and will last for two weeks ending on July 6th at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The men’s side of things should be pretty interesting and a lot of good players have a shot to win it all this year at Wimbledon. The leading player in the world right now is Roger Federer from Switzerland and right below him from Spain is Rafael Nader. I could see anyone of these two men taking top honors at Wimbledon in July. The rankings leader for the Americans is Andy Roddick and he is currently 6th overall. He will have a lot of support from the United States along with James Blake who is ranked in the top 10 too; to bring the trophy back home across the pond.

The women’s side should prove to be very good too and they are a big attraction every year at Wimbledon. At only 21 years old, Maria Sharapova is currently the leader for the women of tennis in the world. She will be facing some tough competition from players like Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams. I think one of the dark horse favorites in this year’s Wimbledon could be Amelie Mauresmo from France.  She’s been working her way up and playing some very good tennis right now and should be interesting how she does if she gets to play one of the women that is ranked in the top 10 in the world.

I have never been to a Wimbledon match in person, but have watched it on television for many years now. I would love the chance to go there on the final few days of the tournament and get to see games played on Court 1 or the legendary Centre Court. Both of these courts are where the final days wrap up at and the other 17 grass courts are used to weed out the field. I’m sure tickets for a seat at Centre Court would not be cheap, but I believe it would be an experience that would last you a lifetime. Good luck to all the competitors competing in the 2008 Wimbledon Tennis Tournament and I can’t wait to see it all start on June 23rd!

Well it finally got here and it didn’t take it long. The national average for gas prices has now reached an all time high of 4 dollars a gallon. It was just a few years back when you could get a gallon of gas for under 2 dollars. So now the skyrocketing prices have climbed more than 100% and it still might not be done going up. We may find ourselves paying 4 dollars a gallon come this fall when prices are suppose to drop and it’s not going to surprise too many people to see gas prices go to $4.50 a gallon this summer.

The main thing Americans can do to battle these high costs is to drive less. The prices at the pump continue to soar and we have cut out other things in our life, but we haven’t stopped driving less. If you want gas prices to go down, then you must plan your trips more wisely and cut down the times you are filling up. It’s gonna take commitment from everyone to get these high prices back down to a reasonable rate. As long as we keep driving our normal amounts each week, the gas companies are just going to continue to raise the price of gasoline. We don’t have to worry about the 5 dollar mark this year, but in 2009 the price is expected to go over 5. So why we’re complaining now, gas prices are 1 dollar cheaper than what most of us will be paying for it next summer.