Wendy's World Wide Web

Hulu.com

2009-08-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Do you Hulu? I do. I work a full time job and have two children. This means I don't have a lot of time during the week to watch television, but there are some shows out there that I really want to see. This is where Hulu comes in. I am sure I could go to the websites of these various channels and watch the shows there, but Hulu puts them all in one place. I might not know which channel the show is on, with Hulu, I don't have to know or search on the web to find out, I can just input the name of the show. I watched all three seasons of Friday Night Light. I also watched the first season of Dollhouse. Both of these show are on different channels and on at different times, but at Hulu, I can watch them whenever I want to. The only drawback is that there does come a time when Hulu stops showing some seasons of shows, in those instances if you haven't already seen the show, you will have to look for them somewhere else. There are no shows on television that I want to see so much that I would pay for dvds of certain seasons and with Hulu, I don't have to. Hulu also has movie trailers and videos made by other people of their favorite moments on television shows. If you don't Hulu, you don't know what you are missing.

beam-it-up-scotty.com/

2009-08-12T16:30:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wished you could send several files to your cell phone at one time? I am talking about multiple photos, music, videos, etc. Well, now you can. A coworker told me about this site he visited recently and I decided to try and find it and check it out. The site is http://beam-it-up-scotty.com/. Their spiel is, you can download any file to your phone is three easy steps and its free. Have you checked it out yet? What are you waiting for?

People String

2009-07-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Sns1

Have you ever wanted to be paid for what you are already doing? Well I have found the way to do that. There is a website out there that will pay you to read your email. It has a wonderful interface sorta like a dashboard that allows you to access all your email providers, instant messengers, and all the social networks in one place. And they give you money to do it. How awesome is that. You also get money for reading regular snail mail from advertisers. You get money for referring your friends and them referring people. What more could you ask for. If you are like me, you are already doing the things, just not getting anything for it. Now you can. So check them out. The url is www.peoplestring.com. Check them out and let me know what you think.

www.benspark.com

2009-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

Image by BenSpark via Flickr

Do you hate feeling stupid about something? I consider myself very computer literate. I type very fast and somewhat accurate. I can find almost anything online and if I can't find it, I know how to use the internet to my advantage to find it. I am not afraid to ask to find the information either. What I do have a hard time with, is trying to do something and I can't figure out how to do it. My goal is to make money for what I am already doing. I work full time and in my job, we sometimes have crazy hours, so a second job outside the home is out of the question. On the other hand, I am online when I am at home. To me it makes sense to get paid for what I am already doing. To that end, I have tried to find jobs online. I really want to get into the paid for post thing because I am really good at giving my opinion. Paid for post is not an easy thing to get into I have found. In my last post, I told you that I belong to a SocialSpark. SocialSpark is sort of a meeting place for bloggers. SocialSpark also offers opportunities to make money online. The group I belong to is "I'm not a famous blogger" lead by Ben Spark. I suppose I could also call him my mentor in this world of SocialSspark and the opportunities available through it. Recently, I decided to try my hand at CPC or Cost per Click. With CPC, you have a code that you are asked to post on your site, whether it be facebook, twitter, etc. This is where the me feeling stupid comes in. I took a CPC opportunity without having any idea what I was doing, then I asked for help. Ben was very helpful. He dedicated a whole blog to the subject. Here is the link: http://www.benspark.com/what-the-heck-is-a-cpc-opp.html. The post is very informative and walks you through each of the steps of the process of CPC. I was really glad to get this information because I did not know how to make sure that I let people who saw my post for CPC know if was a sponsered post. I don't know if this is something illegal, but it is against SocialSpark's code of ethics and I do not want to be in violation of the code of ethics. I really like being a member of SocialSpark. I like being part of a group and I also like the idea that I have people to turn to when I need help. So thank you Ben Spark and anyone else at SocialSpark that I might have to lean on before I get smarter.

thesocalledme.net

2009-07-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

Image by ~C4Chaos via Flickr

As a blogger, I am part of a network called Social Spark. I don't quite understand all the opportunities quite yet, but I am trying to get the hang of it. One of the opportunities is blog u back where you blog about someone's blog and they return the favor. The one I decided to check out tonight was The Inner Shopper. I choose the blog randomly, but I am glad I did. When I clicked on the blog tonight, the post that came up was "isn't it funny", to which I can totally relate. I am not sure how to get traffic to my site. It is a little disheartening because although I don't think everyone wants to know my opinion, I would like to think my blogs are not suckish. It was nice to see someone else having the same problem. Like the blogger for isn't it funny, I have signed up for stumble upon and weblog. I have posted links to my blog on my facebook page, I am signed up at SocialSpark, I post blogs to mylot, and I have had one comment on one of my three blogs. I would even be okay with negative comments, just something for me to know that people are reading what I wrote, is that too much to ask. I liked thesocalledme, I like the layout and the blogs. If you haven't checked it out, you should.

Alternativeto.net

2009-07-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

Image via CrunchBase

I have been trying to find an alternative to Adobe photoshop until I can afford it. In this month's edition of Reader's Digest they had a website that offers alternatives to popular programs, such as Adobe. The url is http://alternativeto.net. The website has a lot of website alternatives. I am thinking of checking out Picasa by Google. I like most things by Google, so this should be a good fit. I have gmail and my main browser is Google Chrome. I still like Yahoo for searches though. But back to the subject. I have tried Picnik and I don't pay for premium services, but the basic services are great. I like to edit my pictures by adding text. My desktop wallpaper was one I found at Vlad Studios and edited by adding text at Picnik. I am such an internet junkie. I web surf everywhere, the things that catch my attention are mind boggling. Have you checked out any of these websites? What do you think of them? Check them out and let me know.

Swaptree

2009-07-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

Image by brungrrl via Flickr

I love to read and occasionally when there is nothing new at the library, I have to buy books. I would love to find a site online where I could swap out the books I have with others, so that I could trade out. Otherwise I am stuck rereading books. I decided to see it there was anything like this on the web. Some of the sites I found were:

www.paperbackswap.com
www.swaptree.com
www.bookswap.com
www.bookmooch.com
www.titletrader.com
www.bubbasbookswap.com

I have not checked out any of these sites yet, but I am going to try them out. As I get more information, I will blog about the positive and negatives of each website. Have you checked out any of these sites? If so, what do you think about them?

Yummy Banana Pudding

2009-07-11T10:02:00.000-07:00

While at the library the other day, I was looking through a Southern Lady magazine when I came across a recipe I thought looked good. The recipe was actually part of a picnic theme the magazine was doing. The particular recipe was Banana Pudding in jar. I have not been able to find that particular recipe online, but I did find another that looked really cool. I found the recipe and picture at http://cafechocolada.blogspot.com/2009/02/banana-pudding.html, who got the recipe from a cookbook Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook And here is the recipe:

Banana pudding

Pudding:
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
Vanilla wafer cookies (good quality) or a tea cake recipe included in the book
4 medium bananas, peeled and sliced

Topping:
4 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
5 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pudding: Bring 2 cups of water to boil in heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. In large stainless steel bowl, whisk together sugar, flour and salt. Whisk in egg yolks, followed by milk, vanilla bean, nutmeg and cinnamon. Place bowl over pan of water and cook, stirring until mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon, 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon and vanilla bean. Rinse vanilla bean and reserve for another use. If using vanilla extract, stir it in now.

While pudding is still warm, layer cookies, bananas and pudding in 1/2 pint canning jars or ramekins. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Topping: Whisk egg whites in electric mixer on medium speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar and slowly increase speed as egg whites become opaque. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Add vanilla extract. Whip until whites form a soft peak. Spoon meringue over warm puddings, sealing it to sides of jars.

Bake puddings for 4 minutes or until meringue is puffed and brown. Cool on rack for 20 minutes, then refrigerate for 2 hours before serving. Yield: 8 servings.

Music

2009-06-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Do you ever find yourself listening to the radio and catch a song in the middle of it? You like the song, either the lyrics or the beat, but you don't know who sings it. I do this all the time and feel the need to to try find out all I can about it. This past week, I looked up a few to find out the artist and title. One was "That's just the way I roll" by Adam Grant and Robert E. The other is "Big Green Tractor" by Jason Aldean. Both songs I found by going to Yahoo and typing in a sample of the lyrics. I then usually go to Myspace to hear the song all the way through. Myspace music is exceptional for music finds. The music links let you find what you are looking for by artist or song title. The player allows you to hear the song all the way through. For me this is great because just because I hear a little of the song doesn't mean I will like all of it. It also allows me to listen to any other songs the artist may have recorded and decide if I like it. I think it helps you become a better fan. Another song I looked for this week was "Goodbye" by Kristiana DeBarge. A friend of mine heard part of it on the radio and liked it, but wasn't sure who it was by, so we looked it up. I also check out songs on Youtube and see if there is a video included to see if I interpreted the song the way the artist meant for it to be interpreted. I also check out other videos by the same artist. I like different genres of music and I like some songs by artist, but not others. I haven't yet found a song by Jason Aldean or George Strait that I didn't like. So let me know how you go about finding music or artist that you like.

Social Networking

2009-06-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

I have tried just about every social network out there. At one time, I was a member of Friendster, HI5, Classmates, Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook. I have since got rid of all my accounts except for Myspace and Facebook. The overall reason I use either site is that I have no patience for writing long emails detailing what is going on in mine and my families lives, but I do like to update people so they know I am well and doing okay. I also like the sites because it allows me to keep up with family and friends that I may have lost touch with.

I like Myspace for the search capabilities. I can search by the first name of someone I know, which comes in handy if you are looking for a female who might have gotten married since you last talked to one another. I can search by last name in a particular city where I know that the person may live. I can search for classmates. I can search for children and relatives of people who may not be online, but can be given a message that I would like to get in touch with them. These are also some of the same reasons I don't like Myspace, sometimes it is too open. In my opinion, it is much to easy to find someone and see all their information without them even being aware that you have done so. I do not post pics of my children here because I really can't control who sees them. I can make my profile private, but then people who are looking for you are given such limited information. I could set the album itself to private, with only friends being able to see it, but then I have to screen who I let be my friend. I have more random friends on Myspace than I do on Facebook.

I like Facebook because I feel like it is more private. I have tried the search at Facebook and it gives me conniptions. It is really good, almost better than Myspace for finding an old friend using their maiden name because most females register with their given name and married name. It is not so good for finding someone city/state wise. You have to be very specific. I have people I really know as friends on facebook, not so random. I can post picture of my children and set them to be seen only by specific people. (I am also addicted to farm town).

I tried Twitter, but I deleted my account. I think Twitter is more for those people who text a lot more than I do. It lets you offer little snippets of your day to your "followers". I did not have anything I felt like I needed to update people on that often. I also didn't like logging on to my account and have a pageful of tweets from the people I was following like every five seconds. I decided I didn't need to know that much about anyone and their day.

I'm afraid I very rarely used the other social networking sites I mentioned, therefore I don't feel like my opinion of them really matters.

So what is your favorite social networking site and why?

Genealogy

2009-06-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

I am a sometimes genealogists. This means every once in a while, I work on my family tree. I sometimes work on it religiously, hours at a time and other times I don't think about it at all. Usually when things are going smoothly, (I can find people and events), I can work on it for hours. It is when I hit a brick wall that I get frustrated and stop altogether. For me, it is extremely frustrating sometimes because I know lots of information on one side of my family and almost nothing on the other side. So when I find information pertaining to the side I know nothing about, I'm not sure I am getting the correct information. I can also search for hours and not find anything I want at all. This is when is gets frustrating, I know the information is there, but I don't know how to get to it. My favorite site to use for genealogy is ancestry.com. I don't know how anyone finds anything without this site. The free portion of the site is okay, but you really should get a paid membership. I have been a member for about 2 years now and I couldn't imaging living without it. Familysearch.org is doing a reasearch pilot that is also very helpful. I also like to use the SSDI thingy at rootsweb. These are my random thoughts and I would like to hear your opinion on them, whether you agree or disagree.