My husband and I both have the whole week off — with the added bonus that our son will be in school for three of the days! We don’t have any big plans, but we do have some fun stuff in the works. For example, we’re going to catch a matinée of Spider-Man 3 tomorrow and then head off to the driving range to hit a couple buckets of balls before going to our favorite restaurant for lunch. We don’t have our own golf equipment anymore, so we’ll have to borrow some clubs from friends before we go (which shouldn’t be a problem).

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to spending the next few days with my husband. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to relax on our own without having dogs, our son, or other people to tend to. I can’t wait!

I was at the grocery store today and saw what appeared to be onion rings sitting out on one of the display tables. I got excited because it’s very hard to come by onion rings over here, and I just love them! Alas, they weren’t onion rings after all. Care to guess what this stuff actually is? Ika rings — aka squid rings!!! Um, no thanks….

I know a lot of people who wouldn’t have been able to earn a college degree if they were forced to sit through classes in the traditional way. Instead, these working adults were able to finish school thanks to schools — like Capella University — that offer accredited online degrees.

These days, a distance learning degree is every bit as valuable to employers as traditional degrees, so there’s no reason not to go back to school. Taking classes online will allow you to keep your job, continue to spend time with your family, and study when it’s convenient for you.

I’ve taken several online classes myself and have to say that I definitely prefer this method to traveling to and from campus to attend lectures at specific times. I recommend distance education to anyone looking to complete a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree without having to give up their careers or family life.

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I was at a sporting goods store the other day and I came across a rack full of motivational socks. I’d never seen anything like these before, but thought they were pretty cool, so I bought a couple pairs. The black ones say “cho genki”, which means “super genki” (super energetic and bubbly). I’m totally not a cho genki kind of person, so I bought them for the irony, obviously. The white ones say “shin wa chikara nari”, which loosely translates to “trust is power” (like knowledge is power, I guess).

There were a bunch of other ones too, but they were mostly sports-related. I couldn’t translate all of them on my own, so I’ll have to go back with my husband one of these days to see if there are any other good ones available.

The Chicago Bears drafted tight end Greg Olsen out of Miami with their first round (31st overall) pick on Saturday. I haven’t been following team news much during this offseason, so I didn’t really know what they were looking for in this draft. It’s good to see them switch it up and make offense a priority after the past couple drafts that have emphasized the D.

Olsen was the highest-rated TE in this year’s draft class, but analysts still aren’t too enthusiastic about him. Apparently he’s never going to be the best blocker on the field, so even if he gives Grossman another target across the middle, the Bears will still be lacking a “complete weapon” type player.

Honestly, I’ve never heard of Greg Olsen before and don’t know a thing about him. But if he can help the offense in any way this year, then I’ll be happy!

I spend a lot of time in Japan, and I invariably run across people who would like to leave and take up residence in an English-speaking country. While the U.S. is high up on the list of preferred destinations, it doesn’t seem to hold the top spot. From my personal experience, that distinction actually belongs to Canada.

Of course, Canadian immigration laws are every bit as complex and confusing as American laws, so I’d recommend consulting with a knowledgeable attorney to help you through the process. For example, a good Vancouver immigration lawyer can help ensure that you follow the proper documentation and verification procedures, which in turn will help expedite your case through government channels. Most immigration cases take months or even years to complete, so it’s best to ensure that you do things the right way from the very beginning.

All I know is I would never want to tackle any country’s immigration process on my own! It’s always better to have advocates on your side, so visit LawyerShop.ca today.

I’ve had a digital camera for years now and love nearly every aspect of digital photography. It’s great to be able to preview my shots and snap as many photos as necessary in order to get perfect pictures while on vacation or at special events.

In fact, the only thing I don’t like about digital photography is having to sort through my memory card to choose the pictures I want to print out and put into albums. That’s a time-consuming and tedious chore, so I always try to put that off for as long as possible. Fortunately, that could all change if I buy a digital photo frame soon.

Digital photo frames sound like something straight out of Harry Potter or some other fictional work, but they’re very much real. Instead of printing out a single picture and displaying it in a traditional frame, a digital picture frame would allow me to view all of the photos on my memory card within a single frame! All I’d have to do is insert the memory card into one of these special digital frames, set the transition style and speed, and sit back to enjoy the show.

I’d never heard of digital picture frames before today, but I think they sound very cool! I’m off to browse the DigitalFramez.com website some more to check out these frames in action.

The first round of the 2007 NFL draft has been under way for some time now. The biggest surprise of the day so far has to be the fact that Brady Quinn, a player that many people thought would be selected in the top 10 for sure, and probably in the top 5, plummeted all the way down to #22. Quinn was picked up by the Cleveland Browns, who previously passed on him with the #3 pick.

JaMarcus Russell was #1 overall, as expected, and will be in a Raiders uniform this season. Calvin Johnson was #2 (Detroit), and Joe Thomas, an OT from Wisconsin, went third. The Bucs picked up Gaines Adams from Clemson with the fourth pick, and Arizona grabbed former Penn State OT Levi Brown at #5.

The rest of the top 10 looks like this:

6. Washington Redskins — LaRon Landry (LSU)
7. Minnesota Vikings — Adrian Peterson (Oklahoma)
8. Atlanta Falcons — Jamaal Anderson (Arkansas)
9. Miami Dolphins — Ted Ginn, Jr. (Ohio State)
10. Houston — Amobi Okoye (Louisville)

I have a good friend that runs the sales department for a pretty big company that is local to the Chicago area. He is responsible for managing a sales team of 15 reps to help ensure that they meet their monthly volume quotas, and as such, he relies on such things as fresh lists of sales leads purchased from reputable marketing firms.

Good sales leads are hard to come by because a lot of companies out there think nothing of passing off recycled lists as fresh content, which makes finding a reputable marketing firm such as Martin Worldwide all the more valuable. These leads save time, increase productivity, and ultimately increase sales volume, so savvy managers out there know that they’re worth every penny. Check them out for yourself right now and see if they help increase sales at your company.

I’m heading to Kyoto on Saturday to spend the day sightseeing with my family. I’ve been to that city 4 times already and I absolutely love it. It’s definitely one of my favorite places in Japan and is the only place I recommend to all first-time visitors.

We don’t have any solid plans for the day. We’re just going to drive around and see if anything catches our fancy. We can’t do too much though: my husband sprained his ankle at work and is experiencing extremely limited mobility right now. Bad timing… :(.

Everyone has heard of auction sites where the item up for grabs goes to the person who submits the highest bid. That’s pretty much the standard practice, and often leads to people paying more for a product than it’s actually worth.

Well, I’ve just heard of a site called Bid4Prizes that reverses this trend and awards free gifts to users that submit the lowest unique bid, not the highest! There are several great items to bid on every day, including things like Apple iPhones, Scion XB cars, plasma televisions, designer handbags, or even a cash prize.

Bid4Prizes.com is free to join, and once you become a member you can start submitting bids via text message from your cell phone or online through the site itself. As a bonus, you can earn points for every bid you make and can redeem those points for even more cool products in the Bid4Prizes store. The only thing you ever pay for is shipping, so this sounds like an awesome system!

I’ve read through the instructions on how to get started with Bid4Prizes and have to say that it’s very straightforward. All you have to do is fill out a very short registration form and you can get started immediately. If you enjoy sweepstake style games, then you’ll love Bid4Prizes.com. Check it out now!

I found another new (well, new to me) Kit-Kat flavor at the store yesterday. It’s called Brandy & Orange, and actually contains alcohol!! (You can see the disclaimer at the lower left corner of the package.) I’ve never seen this flavor before, so it could be one of those special limited editions that often come out in Japan. At any rate, it’s very different from the usual Kit-Kat varieties — but in a good way. Who knew you could get a buzz from Kit-Kat ;).

I shop online a lot, which means that I inevitably have to contact merchants at one point or another to make inquiries about products, track my orders, or dispute a bill. This is a chore that I greatly dislike, but at least it’s easier when I can do so via an online form rather than email.

When websites make online contact forms available to users, it really simplifies the whole process. I don’t have to worry about copying and pasting an email address or about choosing appropriate descriptions for the reason I need to make contact in the first place. That’s because if merchants use the kind of HTML forms generated by Forms4Free.com, they can specify custom fields on the forms to make sure customer questions find their way to the right people.

Anyway, I wish these online forms were standard practice across the board. It would definitely save me from a lot of unnecessary headaches!

I don’t know what’s been going on in the last few days, but I’ve been getting a ton of comment spam about Gabrielle Reese (you know, the professional volleyball player?). Does anyone know what the deal is on this? I mean, I can understand spam for online pharmacies, pills, adult sites, etc. But what’s they point of pimping Gabby Reese??? Is she even popular anymore? I haven’t heard her name in ages… Honestly, this type of spam makes no sense to me.

One of my friends regularly vacations in North Carolina, and on the strength of her recommendations my husband and I have been wanting to spend a few days in the Outer Banks sometime in the near future. I’ve only heard the place mentioned in terms of the 100-mile stretch of beaches that greet thousands of tourists each season, so I was surprised to learn that the Outer Banks is home to some historically significant events as well.

For example, the Wright Brothers completed one of their first successful flights in the area back in 1903. In addition, the Outer Banks is where the first person of British descent was born on American soil. I love visiting historical places, so this is just another reason we have to get to the Outer Banks soon!