Over the weekend, I attended a costume party.  Sure, a costume party in April is a little strange, but it was put on by some accountants I know to help celebrate that tax season was over.  They felt that by dressing up, they could take their mind off of all the tax returns that they had done and the couple left that they had to do.

Before the party, I decided that I would dress up as something different than the average person.  I wore an Astro costume as I am the biggest fan of the Jetsons.  Sure, the cartoon was popular years ago, but that didn’t matter to me.

It was nice to see that the attendees at the party recognized who I was and appreciated my choice of costumes.

But, now that it is over, I have to return the costume to the store.  But I know where to get a costume the next time I need to dress up for another party.

I went to the library today to pick out some books.  Usually, I just read works of fiction and I enjoy the escape from my real life that they provide.  Sometimes, it is nice to think that I could be flying on the back of a dragon, or rescuing a damsel in distress – that would be the life.

Now, I usually get some books to read for fun as well as one educational one.  Today, I decided to look in the computer section to see if I could find something new to learn.  There was a lot of programming books on the shelf and only one book that really caught my eye.

The book that I took out from the library ended up being a book about online dating.  Sure, I didn’t need to find a date by any means, but I always wanted to know how they worked and how people were actually able to weed out the weirdos from the legitimate people on there.

I will have a few weeks to read it, but I am sure it will end up being very interesting – maybe I could become an online dating guru!

With the effects of global warming on everyone’s mind, there is been an increasing number of businesses that are making environmentally friendly choices.  Some good examples are companies recycling cardboard from boxes, shrinkwrap from pallets, and even pallets themselves.  It is these little steps that help reduce the amount of waste and pollution created by these businesses.

But there are a number of companies that are taking things one step further.  For example, new Costco warehouses have installed commercial solar systems on the roof of their buildings to reduce their energy consumption by up to 20%.  This not only saves the company money over the long run, but it also reduces the carbon footprint that their business generates.

It would be nice to see more of these large corporations taking up the torch and promoting environmentally friendly business practices.  But the reality of the matter is many of them are more focused on profit than taking care of the world that their business operates in.

When I left high school, I thought that I would never have to do homework again.  Well, I guess I thought wrong.

For those of you out there who haven’t figured it out yet, when you have kids, you will eventually have to do homework.  Sure, you don’t have to do all the work anymore, but rather it is like you are a tutor helping your child.

For example, my son is doing a report on world destinations that he wants to travel to.  Now, except for Disneyland, he really didn’t have any ideas.  So we went to the library and took out some worldwide travel guides to help inspire him.

Now, all he has to do is decide where he wants to go, and we will have to do a write up.  We have a few more days to get it done, so I have told him that he needs to get working on it.  So much for getting away from homework…

My father has run a shoe store for my whole life.  Yes, I grew up selling shoes from an early age and learned the need for good quality shoes to ensure good foot and back health.  In fact, most of my father’s customers have been regulars of the store for years because of his knack for matching the right shoe to the right foot.

Part of the reason for his success is due to the attention that he pays to the customer as well as the quality of his shoes thanks to the shoe storage units that he uses.  By paying attention to the shoe storage, his shoes are always new and “fresh” and that is something that his customers enjoy.

He has even filed a patent for the proprietary shoe storage unit that he has designed and has considered mass marketing them once his patent application has been approved.  It is his innovation and attention to the customer that has made me the businessman that I am today.

I have often wondered if a reader that doesn’t speak English would enjoy reading my blog.  I am sure that some of the stories I share here would honestly be of no interest to them, but there are other nuggets that may make it worth the read.

Now, I only know two languages, and honestly, my French is not as good as it used to be.  So, that would mean that I am in the position that I would either have to hire someone to translate each post on the site (there is a lot), or just find some sort of free website translation service.

I know that the computer generated translations are not as good as a human doing it, but they are close.  At least they work well enough so that another human can read it – and really that is my goal.

When I finally do get something in place, I am going to keep an eye to see if people do really find the other languages available on the site to be useful, or if I am just wasting my time.

My wife and I were able to find a babysitter at the last minute so we were able to go on a quick holiday alone.  We haven’t done something like this since before we had children (many years ago), and it was going to be a welcome break.

We had decided that we would stay in one of the many Las Vegas Hotels, and check out the many things the city offered.  Now, it was our first time in Las Vegas, and we really wanted to see if the city lived up to the hype.

After partying all night at some Las Vegas Clubs (we are not that old), and checking out some art galleries during the day, we realized that we had made the right choice.  It was like the days that we were dating, and we had a wonderful time together.

But, the vacation couldn’t last forever – we had to get home to our kids.  I think that we are considering going back in the fall – we will need the break by then.

I will be going on a trip outside of the country for most of the summer, so I want to make sure that all my belongings will be safe when I am gone.  I have already found someone to house sit for me, now the only thing that I have left to deal with is my yacht.

Normally, I would be fine leaving it at the lake for the summer, but if I won’t be there to check up on her, I don’t feel safe doing so.  Instead I have decided that I should get some yacht storage and keep it safe in there.

Now, there are many companies that offer yacht storage units in town, but I wanted to find the one that offered the best price, but with the best security features.

I ended up getting a yacht storage unit that was further away from my home than I would have liked, but that offered better protection than the others.  It will be sad to store my baby for the entire summer, but at least I will know that she is safe while I am gone.

A writer friend of mine has been teaching a writing course at the local joint vocational school for a couple of years now. A number of her students have written books that went on to be published. Occasionally she will show me some of their manuscripts, particularly if she’s having difficulty assessing the publishability.

One particular manuscript had her stymied. The writing was impeccable. The text flowed from one subject to the next. It was clear the woman knew her subject intimately. Therein lay the problem.

While the first two sections of the book were on creation and use of magick talismans and magick amulets & charms, in the last section she described in detail magick spells & rituals to raise the dead!

I said, “Give her an ‘A’ and tell her no one will publish her book, but if she makes it fiction, she’ll have a bestseller.” And we were right.

I have been designing websites for many years now, and I think that my work is pretty good.  With the steady stream of clients that I have, they must think that my work is good too.

But, I wanted to continue to grow my client base, so I thought that I could setup a website to do that for me.  It would be a great way to showcase my portfolio, and perhaps increase my sales.

I knew that I had the site design down pat, but as for the marketing, that was a different cup of tea.  I had no idea of where to begin, though I guess it was good that I knew that I did need to market the site and not just hope people would show up.

I hired an SEO firm to help me out with my SEM (search engine marketing).  They showed me what I should be doing and how to do it.  I also took advantage of some of their link building packages so that they could do the work for me.  Their help was invaluable to the success of my business.