Asha Anujeeva

Clicksmart.com is a website directory of certified experts in a wide variety of occupations and professions.  Their website lists eight different categories: contractors, florists, home & office services, massage therapists, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, weddings & events, and moving companies.  It is really easy to find what you are looking for.  For example, if you were looking for San Jose Realtors, you would click on Real Estate Agents, then fill in the State of California and the City of San Jose.  Then you would click on “Search” and the website would bring you to the website that shows you the Realtors in San Jose.  It can’t get any easier than that!

I watched the big debate on television last night, as I’m sure millions of other people did. I was really disappointed in how many times McCain was using untrue statements. I used to think that he would make a good president, but now I think that this country would be in really big trouble if he got into office. We don’t need someone running the country that would be resorting to spreading lies about his competitor during the campaign. We need someone we can trust to be honest with us, and he has proven that he won’t be honest with us. That’s really too bad.

In today’s economy, one of the most important things a business can do is to set up an account where they can be involved in credit card processing their sales.  Accepting credit cards makes their business more attractive to consumers like me, who use credit cards for almost everything under the sun!  I use credit cards everywhere I possibly can – I have a rewards card that pays me a cash back reward for every purchase I make, so it is like getting a discount on everything I buy!

The OnlineChecks website at onlinechecks.com is the ideal way for a business to get started in accepting credit cards.  They require no contracts, charge no fees, and supply the business with a free credit card machine.  This sure makes it a lot easier to get set up accepting credit cards!

I was shocked to read a news story on a website called salon.com that there is an international reporter that has worked for both the Obama campaign and the McCain campaign, essentially to scope them out and get a story for her paper, which is called NRC Handelsblad.  What I was shocked about was reading that the McCain campaign was having her (and others) ghost write letters to the editor from fake people who were singing the praises of the Republican candidates!  These letters were to be used by the campaign to be sent around the country to different newspapers to be (hopefully) printed out as “real” letters to the editor!  The intent, of course, was to generate votes for the Republican party!

I was very disappointed to hear that this kind of activity is going on behind the scenes of the campaign!

In this global economy, the Internet is the place to be if you want to advertise your business globally.  Marketing Lane is a marketing company poised to help all businesses, large or small to market their business over the Internet.  I was just checking out their website and was interested to see that they are willing to take on small customers as well as large ones.  Most marketing companies (unlike this one) don’t seem to want to waste their time on the “little” guys with the small businesses.

I was reading an article on the Time.com website about how T-mobile will be releasing a Google phone next month, in the hopes that it will compete with the Iphone.  The initial review of the Google phone was a little bit on the negative side, but the reviewers did say that they needed time to really test it out when it is actually released.  Their biggest criticism was how small the keys were on the keyboard.  So it will be interesting to see when it is released how the public responds to it!

I’ve been invited to attend a paintball party.  I’m not quite sure what to make of the invitation; I’ve never played paintball before.  I think maybe they want to “pick on me” and have a lot of laughs at my expense because I’m not as athletic as most people who play paintball should be! 

But my cousins and brothers are all planning to go to the paintball party.  They all play paintball on a regular basis.  They decided to try to hold this “party” as a way to get more of their friends and family involved in the sport.  They say that they love to use their army paintball guns that they bought from the Ultimate Paintball store.  To hear them talk about playing paintball, it sounds like a lot of fun, but the day of the party I am scheduled to work so I am not going to be able to attend.

I was delighted to read on the health.msn.com website that researchers now say that full fat chees is good for you!  They say that it does NOT raise cholesterol levels, and actually helps dieters to lose weight!  That is really good news because I love cheese!  I have tried the low-fat stuff and I don’t like it – it has no flavor (except for cream chees, which is yummy!)  So I will no longer avoid cheese (I HAVE been avoiding cheese!) and can start buying it (and snacking on it!) on a regular basis again!

My girlfriend tells me that she has just joined one of the newest Christian Chatrooms on the Internet at the christianlifestyle.com website.  She said that she heard that it is one of the most active chatrooms dedicated to help Christians meet other Christians to just make friends, chat, or start a romantic relationship.  She is very excited about the prospect of meeting some new people that share her religious views.

I was reading an article on the New York Times Website that was talking about the probability of many consumers disconnecting their landline phones in favor of using only their cell phones.  I understand that IS probably going to happen, but I don’t plan on doing it myself.  Here’s why:

If we lose electricity in our house for more than a few hours, our cell phones will be useless because their charges don’t last very long.  Landline phones are usually good for the duration of an electrical outage.

Our house is a complete dead zone for cell phones, so we can’t use cell phones in our house.  That is also the case for our cell phones from our house to town, and back again.  In fact, our cell phones are pretty useless to us.  We are thinking about having them disconnected altogether this coming week, as our two week contract has just expired.

So, for this telephone consumer, we will stick with the landlines for a while to come yet!

The Credit Exchange website offers a variety of services related to debt management.  Although they are not a debt management service, they are a referral service that will refer their customers to someone in their affiliation program that can help them with their debt management questions and concerns.  Cred Card Counseling, debt consolidation, debt negotiation, and financial analysis services are all available through their affiliates.

I was looking at their website a few minutes ago and was interested in their page called credit facts.  It had graphs and charts showing how much money you spend on interest payments at different interest rates.  Those kinds of facts sure can scare me into not using my credit cards very much!

I was surprised to read on the Time.com website that Apple is recalling thousands of 3G Iphone adapters.  Apparently the prongs break off in the socket, causing risk of electric shock.  This only applies to the Ultra-compact USB adapters, and the consumers who bought the Iphones can continue to charge their phones using the standard USB adapter.

I haven’t heard anything on the “news” about this recall, but I’ve been too busy to listen to the news – I sure hope that the word is getting out adequately so that all of the folks who bought one of these knows to stop using it!

In today’s economy, more consumers are relying on credit cards to help them get through these rough times.  I like to use credit cards to help me keep track of where my money goes, and I like to use my cards that give me cash rewards.  I don’t usually carry much cash around with me, so if a business does not accept credit cards, chances are that I won’t do business with them! 

A vital part of doing business nowadays is accepting credit cards, and one of the best places for a company to get a merchant account (which means accepting credit cards) is with the online company called Merchant Advisors.  Their website address is onlinecheck.com.  They don’t charge any fees, require no contracts, and will give their customers a free credit card machine.  What more could you ask for?

I was surprised to read on the BBC website an article about how some American cities are trying to (or have) pass(ed) a law against baggy jeans that sag to the point where the wearer’s underwear shows.  The article was talking about a case in a Florida town where a teenager was arrested for having baggy pants that sagged and showed his boxer shorts, and that a judge threw out the case calling it unconstitutional.  I didn’t realize that America was now formally embracing “fashion police!”

What I found very interesting to read in the article, however, was the claim that it is believed that this particular fashion trend (which I don’t like) started in prisons, where inmates are given baggy prison uniforms without belts.  i think that is disturbing – fashion trends start in prisons?  That is a sad commentary on today’s society!

I like to send out Personalized Christmas Cards during the holidays.  The Christmas cards at the christmascardsdirect.com are the most customizable Christmas cards that I’ve seen for sale over the Internet.  These cards you can have your signature put on them, not just your names imprinted.  I was really excited to see that they offer the customer the opportunity to upload their signatures!  I have always hesitated to buy those pre-printed cards with the names imprinted.  I know that those are personalized and customized, but the signature just makes it seem more sincere to me.  They have a wide selection of really nice cards with foil printing, and embossing that make the cards seem really special to send and receive. 

I found out that this company is donating 180,000 blank holiday cards to the Soldiers Angels organization this year.  The Soldiers Angels organization will distribute those cards to deployed members of the United States military for them to use to send home to their loved ones.  I think that is a really nice donation!   I cannot even imagine for a moment how horrible it must feel to be so far apart from friends and family during the holiday season, staying in a war torn area.  I can only imagine how great the families will feel when they receive their cards from their loved ones serving overseas!

There was a really bad train wreck recently in California that left twenty five dead and one hundred thirty eight injured.  I was reading that the investigation into the wreck indicates that the engineer of the train that caused the wreck may have been text messaging instead of paying attention to his job. 

I see so many people text messaging today, and it really bothers me a lot.  Most of the time these people are supposed to be paying attention to someone or something else and they get distracted by a text message.  I refuse to even activate the text messaging feature of my cell phone!  I think if people want to reach me they can call me!

My brother was talking to me last night about the different Antivirus Software Programs that are on the market today.  There are so many of them, it is really hard to make a decision about which one really is the best one to get!  My brother was concerned about making sure that he has the best one out there because one of his best friends recently had his computer hacked into and now his friend is having identity theft issues AND his computer isn’t working right.  He had to take his computer to a repair shop for them to clean it up and is going through some major credit problems because of the identity theft issue.

So now we have been spending a lot of time on the Internet trying to come up with the best possible solutions for the security of computers that are on the Internet almost all of the time.  Personally, I think it would be wise to turn your computer off when you are not using it, as I think that most of the time the hackers get into the computer in the middle of the night.  But viruses can sneak into your computer in a lot of different ways, so that really is not the complete answer.  One good option we are looking into is a suite of software that we found on the cyberdefender.com website.  They sell a suite of software that includes anti-spyware, anti-virus, anti-spam, and anti-phishing protection.  It also has an identity theft toolbar to help protect your identity.

Last night the Dow tumbled again, the worst news in a very long time.  People are scared of where the economy is going.  I hope that when the Presidential election is over the economy will improve.  I know that many of my friends and relatives are frequently talking about just keeping their money hidden someplace at home and not placing it anywhere – no banks, no stocks, just at home in where they think it is safe.  That kind of talk scares me because I know that if and when a house gets “robbed” there really IS no safe place for money to be hidden, and the thieves usually get it all!  So one has to wonder WHAT exactly is the best place to put your money!

My girlfriend Sarah sent me an email today, telling me that she is considering checking herself into the River of Hope rehabilitation center in Cottonwood Arizona.  She was telling me that she has been fighting drug and alcohol abuse issues for several years now, and that her husband has finally left her and is suing her for divorce, and custody of their children.  On top of that she has lost her job, so she is feeling pretty low right now.  Her self esteem has taken a real beating!

So she feels that she has finally hit rock bottom and it is time for some help.  She has started to look around at her options for substance rehabilitation programs.  She said that the River of Hope is a holistic alternative to traditional methods of rehabilitation for substance abuse problems.  I went to their website at www.riohope.com and was quite impressed with their program.

Their program includes biofeedback, equine therapy, meditation, art therapy, and yoga.  This takes substance abuse therapy and rehabilitation way beyond the traditional twelve-step program!

They accept payments from insurance companies, or help with financing through referrals to outside lenders if the patient is uninsured.  This sounds like a good place for her to go to for treatment!

The other day my niece asked me what I thought about women taking martial arts classes.  I told her that I thought that was a great idea – I think that women need to learn how to defend themselves against any attacker.  I told her that I had take karate classes myself a few years ago and learned a lot of things that I think would help me if the situation arose when I needed to defend myself.  She asked me to show her a few karate moves, and I spent about an hour with her showing her some of the things I learned.  She got very excited about taking courses and said that she is going to ask her mother to let her sign up!