Happy New Years from Central New York and TimmyJohnBoy.com! I just stopped by ProBlogger.net and noticed that he posted a “Happy New Years” post highlighting 10 of his most popular posts from 2008 (from statistics with Google Analytics).
Great idea, Darren! Great way to both take a review of which post topics brought the most visitors AND to perhaps show new visitors some of your best stuff from the year! No good idea should go un-copied, right? So, without further adieu, here are some of the most popular posts from TimmyJohnBoy.com since signing up with Google Analytics:
In the tradition of all things free and cheap, I’d like to announce that I just heard on the radio that people traveling the New York State Thruway this New Years have the opportunity to pull over for a free coffee or tea at Thruway Travel Plazas!
The free beverages will be provided at all 27 travel plazas along the Thruway from 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 31, until 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, New Year’s Day (January 1, 2009).
Thruway officials are trying to help to curtail drowsy driving noting that popular tactics such as blaring music and lowering the window are ineffective. Frequent stops and caffenated drinks, however, offer better short-term advantages. So drink more coffee and stop often – and enjoy the free coffee!
For years, it seems, I have been breaking my glasses. If you have ever seen “A Christmas Story,” that kid and his glasses was me when I was that age, always breaking them (I was never allowed the red rider, but I always seemed to find a way to break them). Anyways, even as an adult, my glasses seem to end up broken, sometimes to the point of being unrepairable.
Well, with the fix I am going to show you today, almost no break will be unrepairable! I have to give the credit to the lady in the optometry office at Wal-Mart for giving me a tip and directing me in the right direction: hardware or automotive! Well, in this post I will show you exactly how easy it is to fix a pair of severly broken glasses (with illustrations done by yours truly)!
My glasses before the repair (as you can see, the damage is quite substantial):
Tools needed:
5 Simple Steps To Fix Those Severely Damaged Glasses:
Get rid of loose peices that can be reconstructed using the tubing and paperclip
Reshape the paperclip in order to reconstruct the broken area
Trim the heat-shrink tubing and use it to connect pieces one intersection at a time
Carefully use the stove burner to heat the heat-shrink tubing until it holds the paperclip to the glasses in the correct position (there are many heat sources to choose from but the stove was the easiest for me to access at the time. You can try a blow dryer, lighter, or even a heater vent if you like):
Let them cool and wear them with renewed dignity and pride!
This fix is for real! I, too, am a proud member of the fix-it-yourself glasses club!
Please note: having the amazing ability to fix almost any break DOES NOT eliminate the need to ever get new glasses ever again. You may need a differend lens persription someday AND heat-shrink tubing does not last forever.
Do you have a lot of photos? Do you want to share them either by emailing them or uploading them to some photo sharing website like Flickr? With the sheer size of digital photos these days, and the file-size limitations in email and photo sharing sites, you need a solution! Don’t sit there for hours on end resizing those photos one by one because there are programs out there to help you do it all at once! Here I have a list of three free options to chose from:
Picture Resizer 3.0 – I came across this free program and was very surprised at the simplicity! All you have to do is download the program file named “PhotoResize400.exe” and save it to your desktop, drage and drop your photos into the program icon, and voila! Your resized photos will have a slightly different name so they don’t overwrite the originals in the source folder. Another cool thing about this one is that you can control the size of the outputted photos by changing the number in the name of the program! Neat, huh?
Image Resizer PowerToy Clone for Windows – Appearently there was available for Windows XP a PowerToy that could resize photos with the (right) click of a mouse button. Well, now there is a clone or remake of this program for non-XP versions of windows and it, too, is simple to install and use. Once installed, when you right-click on a photo or bunch of photos, there will be an option on the menu to “resize.”
VSO Image Resizer – One I haven’t personally tried yet but have heard good things about is VSO Image Resizer. Apparently this program also enables an option on the right-click menu. Giver a try and let me know your opinion!
Not really free but worthy of an honorable mention is Photoshop because with Photoshop you can automate almost any task including resizing!
Choose your weapon and let me know which you like the best! In fact, if you have your own favorite, let me know too!
For those of you who have commented on this blog (or others) and have been wondering why some comments have a cute little picture next to them and some don’t. That’s because that person has a “gravatar” or “globally recognized avatar.” An avatar is a personal representation of a user, whether it is a picture or some other type of figure (read wikipedia’s article for more information).
Basically, on most blogs (at least the blog’s run by the most famous and obviously best blogging software available today) if you want your picture to show up next to your comments, you need to register at gravatar.com. Don’t worry, it’s free and easy. All you really need is an email address and a picture to upload. The blog identifies you when you enter your email address on the comment form and tracks down the picture you uploaded at gravatar.com.
It’s quick, fairly simple to do, and free! Now all ya’ll can be brave enough to show your faces over here! Go get one and post a comment here to show me what you’ve come up with!
Well, I wouldn’t exactly call myself a coffee connoisseur, however anyone who knows me knows that I love a good cup of coffee every now and then (ok, I mean all the time!). When I came across this recipe on About.com, I just knew I had to try it!
I have to be honest, I haven’t tried it yet, but I will! I was distracted with trying my hand at home made egg nog for the first time. Maybe the next time I’m either bored or I’m heading over to a friend’s place I will giver a go!
Got any recipes for drinks that you like (non-alcoholic, of course!)? Share it with us!
The other day I was working on uploading some pics to flickr when I came across a site called Picnik.com. Basically it is a site where you can do some simple image editing right from your browser! It works seemlessly with your flickr photos allowing you to open them from Flickr into Picnik without having to download or upload anything.
I used it for awhile with some simple color correction and resizing and enjoyed it.
Today I came across another site (thanks lifehacker.com) that allows you to edit photos from your browser only this one had a lot more functionality! I haven’t spent much time with it yet but check it out and tell me what you think!
Between the two, which do you prefer? Picnik with its simplicity and integration with sites like Flickr? Or SUMO Paint with is professionalistic functionality! Comment line is open!
Have you ever been away from home, or the Internet, or a phonebook (do we still know what one is?) and needed to find a phone number? Most people know that they can call “4-1-1″ to get directory assistance on their cell phone and be connected. This method, however, costs a fee.
Now there’s a way around it! Google, believe it or not, has come out with a FREE service called GOOG-411. It’s the coolest thing, all automated and easy to use! Basically all you need to do is dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and you’ll be connected. You’ll be prompted to give the city and state (or the zip if you prefer) and then the business type. The prompts make it really simple so try it for yourself. Here’s the video Google posts on their site:
The other night I found myself on the way to work and I remembered that I forgot to call in a prescription to the pharmacy. I remembered GOOG-411 and gave it a try. Perfect! I called, gave the city and state, gave the pharmacy name, and presto, “I’ll connect you!”
Try it and you’ll see how easy and cheap it is (can’t get cheaper than free)! One limitation: it only works for businesses. That’s ok, though, right?
Has anyone else tried GOOG-411? What’s your oppinion?
UPDATE!!!
For business AND residential, try 800-free 411. I just came across it!
I was just browsing through the posts on lifeofjustin.com and became interested in his post entitled “5 Questions For My Readers.” In an attempt to get to know a few of his readers better, he asked them several questions:
1. What Is Your Name and Age?
2. Where Do You Live?
3. What Is Your Blog About?
4. Why Did You Start Blogging?
5. What’s Your Goal In Life?
He gave his readers the option to answer these questions either in the comments section OR on their own blogs so I chose my blog!
My name is Tim and I am currently 29 years old.
I currently live in Rome, NY (not Italy but we do have a lot of good Italian food in this area!).
My blog is a personal blog where I share many different things that I enjoy, I suppose an online extention of me. My wife, Sarah, and I have recently started a couple of other blogs (or own blog network, if you will) about more niche areas of interest (check out the sidebar for a list of links to them).
Well, I guess it started with some frustration with myspace.com and decided to try to keep in touch with friends and family in my OWN space (I disliked the type of ads and all the spam on myspace). Now, I blog because I enjoy it and I’d love to be able to say that I’ve added something to somebody else’s life. Eventual some income from blogging would be nice:)
My goal in life would be to be able to say that I have followed God and His will for my life, and to see others changed because of it.
My intention of this post was to answer Justin’s, but I’d love to learn more about some of my readers also. I know some of you but not all of you. I’m also sure there are some of you that I KNOW but I may not be familiar with some of these answers about you. Feel free to chime in! Give a shout in the comments section!
Uncategorized | timmy December 31, 2008 | 
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