Hey, readers. Just a quick note to say that I haven’t forgotten about you all. The same goes for those who have signed up for the newsletter. There is more to come so stay tuned.

This post is also intended to test a plugin I just installed, in case you were wondering:)

I came across this site today that is essentially a social networking site that allows people to leave anonymous messages for you.  The assertion is that friends may not say exactly what they think if you know who’s saying it.  It’s called AY.com (for “Anonymous You”).

I don’t think I really like the idea for a couple of reasons.  First, I believe friendship is built on stuff like trust and honesty.  A true friend will be able to tell you whatever you need to hear, whether or not you want to. Secondly, what is the point of asking or saying something to a friend that you never would otherwise?  What would be the real purpose?

Anyhow, check it out if you must, I just don’t see the point.

Have you noticed that teens these days are for all practical purposes using a different language when typing? It’s a kind of shorthand or text-speak.  There could be many reasons for this, a few being:

• Shorter and therefor quicker and easier to type on a phone
• Quicker and easier to read
• Parents and other adults may not know what they are saying
• A way of showing that they are tech-savvy

I believe it is important, however, that parents know what their teens are communicating.  A while back I blogged about a site or web tool that helps translate what some of this short hand is really saying.

Today I just wanted to share a quick link to another site which offers a similar advantage.  It’s called Teen Chat Decoder and it allows you to enter texting acronyms and find out what they stand for.  Try it out and tell us what you think.

Hey! to all you readers out there!

I wanted to give a quick shout out about a new project I am working on.  I’ve begun brainstorming some ideas for a Timmyjohnboy.com newsletter!  It’s not ready yet but it will be soon.  Here’s a few more details about what’s going on.

The basic idea will contain some of these features:

• Instead of having people subscribe to only receive emails as often as I post blog articles (which may be more often than many people want), it will contain all of the most recent articles in one email.
• I will more than likely add more tidbits that are not in the regular blog posts (so newsletter recipients will be blessed with extra content).
• I will probably also be including links to posts from some of my other ongoing blogging projects such as my staff writing gigs, the ministry site, and I’m even thinking about starting a pet-related blog about the antics of my dog and cats (check out my Posterous blog that mostly features my cat Peanut)
• I’m considering including stuff like polls and contests occasionally so the newsletter experience will be more fun:)

These are a few ideas I’m throwing around.  I’m trying to figure out how often I want to send it out.  I’m leaning towards monthly but if I make it more often, some of the fun stuff like polls and contests will most likely be once a month.

Check out a test newsletter I did up (the layout will most likely be similar): http://mim.io/81bf3

If you have any more ideas or tips, let me know!  If you know me you know I am always open to suggestions.

Oh, and by the way, you can begin to sign up for the newsletter via the form in the sidebar.  You will then receive the newsletters when I begin to send them out.

As ya’ll well know, seeing as though I told you in an earlier post, I was on the lookout for a dog.  Thanks to the Internet and PetFinder more specifically I’ve found a dog that I’ve fallen in love with.

As a side note, I find it interesting how many people seem to be turning to the Internet to find “love.”  Although I would warn you to steer clear of that method, I figure dog hunting is a little less serious.  PetFinder lets you search in your local area for pets that are up for adoption.  You can check out a picture, maybe a video and read a short bio before going out to see the animal in person

Well, that’s where I found Luna.  She’s a lab mix and she’s a year old.  I figure that’s a good age because we still have some time to bond and train, although it is turning out to be a bit more difficult than a puppy would have been.  I do believe she is the perfect match for us though.  She’s already house broken.  She goes number one as soon as she hits the grass and won’t go number two anyplace but the back yard, which is good for walks without baggies:)  I am wondering what she’s going to do should we decide to take her camping with us sometime.

The coolest thing happened the other day with Luna.  I was attempting to remove a huge old rotten stump from our back yard and Luna decided she wanted to help.  As I chopped away, she began to dig all of the loosened chunks and debris out of the way for me!  What a good girl!

We are working on training her to walk on a leash.  She is doing good but she’s also very strong.  When we were using a simple collar she was ALMOST walking US!  Well, I would like to introduce you to what has made this training super simple.  I found this special harness in Walmart and couldn’t help but give it a try.  It’s an anti-pull mesh harness by Yuppie Puppy and it’s amazing!  As the dog begins to pull, the harness tightens a bit letting him know to stop.  It’s cool because it is a lot more humane than the choke collars out there.  Luna loves walks and never comes back wheezing like she used to with her normal collar.  I can actually drink my coffee while walking her in the morning!  Check out this video all about it:

Are you looking for a dog?  Try PetFinder.  Having trouble leash training your dog?  Try the anti-pull mesh harness by Yuppie Puppy.  Need a stump removed?  Ask Luna!  Just kidding.

Let me knowabout your pet!  Where’d you find him/her?  Do you have any dog training tips?  Funny stories?  Talk to me!

Family members and close friends, please don’t let that title give you the wrong idea!  You will hear about a baby BEFORE I blog about it so don’t worry!

What do I mean?  Not meaning to sound punny (ok, maybe I am) but this Spring we are going to be getting a dog.  I wanted one when we first bought the house this last Fall but I thought maybe training a new pet in warmer, dryer weather sounded a bit wiser.

Needless to say, I am excited!  We haven’t had the opportunity to get a dog since we were married because we’ve been in apartments and… you know how that is.  Now, with our own house and a relatively empty backyard, we are ready… finally.

We’ve been putting a lot of thought into this thing.  We know what temperament and size we want.  We are looking for a friendly, calm, patient, good with children and cats type of dog.  We’re also looking for something not too big and not too small (I originally thought I might want a pug but I’m not sure if the snoring would bother me:) so a mid-sized breed is what we agreed on.  All of that together, we think we’re looking for a lab or retriever type of breed.

Also, after looking on PetFinder.com we have decided on adopting a dog from a shelter.  We don’t need a puppy exactly but a younger dog would be ideal.  We would like to bond with it while it is still young and trainable.  I think under a year or two should be fine for our needs.

Now just to find a dog that fits the description!  I took a ride to Steven Swans Humane Society today to look around and meet some of the dogs.  Pray for us because I think I may have found just the right dog for us.  We will be going back this afternoon to meet her again and decide.  This means we MAY be bringing home a new family member TONIGHT!

Don’t worry, I will keep you posted!

Timmyjohnboy.com has some changes coming through the pipes.  The look and topic is changing… hopefully for the better.  I am writing this article to get some feedback from you, my readers.  Chime in wherever you feel like it:)

Site Design

As you probably have noticed, Timmyjohnboy.com recently got a new design.  I wanted something a bit more fun-feeling and I went with a free theme.

I have some tweaks to do yet.

• First of all, I kinda dislike the contrast of colors in the comments section of each post.  I’m thinking about lightening the background and darkening the text.  What do you think?
• I also need to work on the display of the sharing options.  I’ve been using a plugin to display them and now the new theme has a few buttons automatically inserted.  I need to decide on either a plugin or the default buttons.  I can remove either or even go with a totally new plugin.  Any thoughts?
• What about the front page?  Should I keep the list of the most recent articles or have a more static page introducing the site?

I don’t really count myself a designer even though I love art and design.  Sometimes I just need the input from those who have a better eye than I do.

Writing Focus

For a while now I have been using Timmyjohnboy.com as an outlet to write about tech-related stuff. I thoroughly enjoy writing about technology and the community that the type of writing attracts. However, as I am increasingly writing for other sites, I have been considering semi-changing the direction of Timmyjohnboy.com.

I am planning on shifting the focus from a straight and narrow tech blog to more of a personal blog.  Because of my love for all things tech related, I am sure there will still be a lot of tips about tech going on here.  However, I will also be writing about other stuff.  If I find something useful, funny, or even interesting, whether or not it is tech related, I’ll probably post it here.

Why am I changing my writing focus? For a few reasons.

• First of all, I would like to focus my tech-related writing in other places.  As I mentioned, I write other places also so I would like to not take the focus away from those sties.
• Another reason is that this domain name is not very techie.  I have considered starting a more focused tech-blog apart from timmyjohnboy.com at a later date but I am not sure yet.  I need to come up with a focus that I want to take.  I have considered making it a site to help with the tech-related age gap our society currently has.  By this I am referring to the fact that parents seem to need help keeping up with the technology their kids have embraced.  I’ve had a burden in this area for some time.  Not too sure what my plans are yet so any input would be helpful.

Like I mentioned in the title, I write this article in order to get your thoughts.  PLEASE help a man out here and tell me what you think I should be doing.  Granted, I may or may not take your advice, but your input is greatly coveted!

Check out this hilarious video:

Yep, Google does it again!

Being a blogger myself, I love reading other blogs! I especially love reading blogs that help exact change in other people’s  lives. This is true of LifeButBetter.com. Simply put, this blog seeks to help you make life a bit simpler via small changes. The tips are usually short (easy to digest), easy to implement, and helpful.  In their own words: “LifeButBetter specializes in suggesting better approaches to activities that we already carry out. We don’t need to do extra ’stuff’, just do things a little differently.”  From what I have read so far, they are right.

I think I first came across the blog while on YouTube.  You see, they recorded a video showing a simple tip about headphones and uploaded it to YouTube.  Because they branded the video with the site’s name, I was able to find out where the blog was.  Check out the video:

This blog is a fairly new one but already there are many simple tips to make life simpler.  They seem to post every couple of days or once a week.  Let’s take a look at some of the articles I find interesting and helpful.

How long to hold a door open for someone

Have you ever ran into the uncomfortable situation where you go through a door and someone else is coming in behind you but you’re not sure if they are far enough away that you should just let the door go rather than holding it open for them?  This article tackles the age old question of how long you should hold the door open for someone and offers several ways to make the situation less uncomfortable.

How to pair socks quickly

I think I have a whole dresser drawer filled with unmatched socks.  This is partly because some of the matches are missing and partly because I am too lazy to figure out how to match them.  This handy article gives some tips that may make this job a bit easier.

Very Simple Guide to iPad and tablet computing

Keeping with the theme of keeping things simple, this article breaks down the idea of the iPad in a simple guide.  What is a tablet computer?  How are they used?  Why should you buy an iPad?  How might they evolve?  Want some simple answers to the questions?  Check out this article!

How to make decisions quickly

DO you have a quick decision you need to make?  LifeButBetter.com offers a simple solution to making those quick decisions on the fly.  It’s a quick equation that should simplify your decision making life.  I’ll give you a hint:  There are 4 simple steps and it involves the alphabet.

Pen and Paper vs Cloud Computing

In this interesting article (I say interesting often when I find something humorous) the author continues a debate that has become quite common these days.  I find it interesting because instead of following the common “desktop vs. cloud computing”, they take a different approach and make a point of the old school pen and paper.  I think I just recently had this discussion with my wife after I wrote the article about online grocery shopping list tools.  Apparently there are still some uses for the old style data entry method of writing stuff down.

Top 4 things geeks do that we should too

Ode to us geeks!  I couldn’t talk about LifeButBetter.com without talking about the article giving some credence to us geeks.  This simple lists some things that geeks do that everyone else should probably be doing too.  Are we rubbing off on the world?  Well, we’re at least doing these 4 things right!

There are other blogs out there offering tips to make your life simpler.  I like LifeButBetter.com because of it’s simplicity is advice and design.  What blogs do you like that offer similar tips to simplicity?