AA Blog

The lease on my cadillac srx is up in two months and I need to start looking into a replacement car for me.  Since I live so close to my work, I am thinking about looking into the smaller more economical cars for my next car.  I have narrowed my choices down to the volkswagon new beetle and the chevy Volt.  I have done my research and found that these two cars will fit my needs and give me what I am looking for.  They are both economical on gas, are well within my budget and have good reliability ratings.  I have test driven them both and they both ride pretty well.

Now if I decide to not go with a smaller car, I have my heart set on the honda ridgeline.  This car is just a beast.  I like the way it looks, the way it drives and its price range.  I can definately use it when we go camping or when we do our outdoor family activities, which is almost every weekend.  I have never owned a pick up truck, but this looks like it would be fun and practical.

It is a good thing that I have two more months left on my s=current lease because this will give me the time I need to make my decision.

I am no longer building computers myself.  I used to do this a while ago and have been doing it for over 15 years.  However, times have changed and it is much easier and more economical for me to outsource the building of custom computers and custom laptops.  And the company I have used (and will continue to use) is Howard custom computers.  These guys really know what they are doing.

The great thing about Howard custom computers is the fact that they actually treat each custom build as if they were building the custom computer for themselves.  The actually take the time to ask you the most important question when building computers, which is “what will you be using this computer for”.  The answer that is provided goes a long way in building a computer that meets your needs.  Because of this, you do not end up with an underpowered computer for heavy graphics editing machine, nor an overpowered computer if all you will be doing is surfing the net and using email.

In addition to sizing and configuring a computer to your current needs they use quality parts and components and stand behind their work.  Their turnaround time is excellent and more importantly accurate.  Simply put, you get what you want, when you expect it and at a very fair price.

When looking into managed hosting solutions, the monthly price should not be the deciding factor in making your decision.  Too often, decisions on hosting services is made solely on price and crucial factors, like backup plans, uptime guarantees, access, and upgrade plans and policies are overlooked.  These things are so integral to a hosting plan and usually not thought of until it is too late.

Selecting the dedicated server hosting plan that will meet your business needs must be treated as a cardinal business decision. Once a web server is up and running, you want to make sure you keep the down time to an absolute minimum, and things like maintenance, upgrades and OS switches will dramatically effect this.  For instance, if you want or need to change your hosting servers operating system from Windows to Unix, you will effectively be setting up brand new servers.  Such a switch is not simple, even though it is transparent to the end user.  And, I think it is because of this transparency to the end user that it is perceived to be a “no big deal” to non technical folks.

When looking for hosting, I lean more toward colocation services because I get more flexibility with the plans and packages, and more importantly, because I own my own servers and just need a safe location with reliable power supply and connection to the internet pipe.

My gardener went a little crazy last week and bought, what seemed like a truck load of planters.  When I arrived home, there were planter everywhere.  I am talking outdoor planters as well as indoor planters.  My initial reaction to all this when I first saw it was that of anger.  Luckily, my friends were there to calm me down and after a few minutes, I was able to speack with my gardener in a very calm way and simply ask him what he was thinking buying this many planters.  He responded to me with only the following three words “wait and see”.  So, I waited and a week later I saw.  And, what I saw was a complete and pleasant surprise.  I never imagined how an outddor planter would make such a difference in the way a place look.

The transformation of my landscape was so great that I almost did not recognize my own yard.  The place looked so much better I could not believe it was all due to the fact that there were planters everywhere outside.  During all this, only one indoor planter was damaged. And that was completely my fault.  Because it was so small, I didnt see it when walking in, and stepped on it.

Last spring’s home project was installing Ceiling Fans at my house.  This summer we are enjoying the benefits of having a ceiling fan in almost every room of the house.  I never realized that how much of a difference it would make in lowering the temperature inside the house.  The breeze in every room has a very calming effect and at night, when we go to bed, we all fall asleep faster.

I remember when we went to purchase the ceiling fans, the salesman at Hansen Wholesale Ceiling Fans told us about all these benefits and comforts we would get from installing ceiling fans, but I just thought he was being a salesman and saying anything to close the sale.  I never imagined he was telling the whole truth.  The first few weeks of summer have been very hot.  We have had a heat wave, the ceiling fans in the house provided a comfort that in my opinion is better than air conditioning.  During this heat wave, we were comfortable and just the fact that the air was circulating in our house made things very comfortable.

Summer is here and I have 3 summer birthday gifts to buy.  This year im going to make things easier on myself and get concert and show tickets.

My nephew is into rock ‘n roll so this year for his birthday he will get a pair of Lollapalooza  Tickets.  I think he will appreciate this gift because, simply put, he loves a lot of the bands that will be playing there and since he was planning on going anyway, he does not need to spend money on buying tickets.

For my father, the artist, I will get the Pageant of Masters Tickets.  Now what could be better than an evening at Laguna Beach looking at art from the Masters of the world.  Granted they are re-creations, but from what I understand, they are A level copies.  I think the entire atmosphere will be so relaxing that it will be very much appreciated.

Now the last gift, really is’nt a birthday gift at all.  Rather it is something I want.  I am finally going to get Ozzfest Tickets for myself.  I have always wanted to go to the Ozzfest but it seems as though every time I planned something, something else came up.  This year though, I will by my tickets early and make sure I attend this concert.

Its time to buy my mom a new car.  She has been driving her current car for almost 20 years now, and it is really starting to fall apart on her.  The monthly bills from the mechanic is almost as much as a payments for a new car would be.  So, next week I will take her to shop for cars and buy her a new one.

Thus far I plan to test drive the volkswagen routan, suzuki xl7 and dodge caliber.  All of these cars are pretty much in the same price range and reliable.  My mom does a lot of city driving in stop and go traffic.  She does the food shopping and drives my kids around in the summertime.  So, the SUV / station wagon  type vehicles are very convenient and as an added bonus offer better safety and are much roomier.

I will be taking the kids with us when we go car shopping because they love getting in and out of the cars.  They have fun jumping around on the seats and testing out where they will be sitting.  Things like getting in and out of the car, putting on the seat belt, rolling down the window, child safety features, the view of the road from their seat and their comfort in the chairs are usually strong indicators in my ultimate purchasing decision.  They end up weighing heavily on my decision.   The only drawback in taking the kids is that they are now getting to an age where they are starting to like the sports cars more than the “family” type cars.  My youngest though has a thing for convertibles, and I know when we go into the VW dealer, the VW new beetle convertible will be the car he suggests we buy.