Practicing Good Mobile Phone Etiquette

Now that technology has provided us with a means to stay in touch with our family and friends from virtually any populated area on the planet, certain rules or etiquette are being blatantly ignored.  Let’s reverse this trend.

Most people who own mobile phones are not keen on the idea of turning off their phones or leaving them behind in any circumstance.  Business professionals, in both blue collar and white collar specialties, carry mobile phones.  Elderly people know how to text, chat, surf, and speak wirelessly to their grand kids, who also carry mobile phones to school with them.  Rich people carry phones.  Poor people carry phones.  The President of the USA is going to start carrying a mobile phone.  Smart people carry phones.  Dumb people… well, you get the point!  Everybody’s got one!

The problem is that many of these people fail to analyze the situation they're in and wind up in an awkward moment where they are being very obnoxious to the people around them.  For example, movie theaters and libraries are not ideal places for ringing phone noises and elaborate ring tones.  That’s extremely rude and disruptive.  Most mobile phones have a silent or vibrate option standard. Make it a habit to either switch your phone to silent before you enter one of these areas, or just leave your phone silenced all the time and get used to living with it that way.  Also, the microphones on mobile phones are fairly efficient.  If you think you have to yell at your phone for the person on the other end to hear, you should not have answered.

Another problem area is in the retail environment on both sides of the sales counter.  I have witnessed sales associates who have spent the entire time it takes to complete my transaction talking on the phone.  I have waited through countless conversations as the people ahead of me in line focus 5% of their attention towards the transaction at hand and 95% towards hearing some juicy gossip. Make it a personal rule to hang up your mobile phones while participating in any transaction.  People will appreciate it.

Not everyone is a great driver.  Plaster a mobile phone to the side of their head and their skill level drastically reduces.  If you can avoid talking on the phone while driving, please do so.  If you absolutely cannot miss the call, at least use a hands-free device.  Whatever you do, do not EVER text and drive  That’s incredibly stupid and it's illegal!!

Starting a Blog for Your Baby

As a new parent, it’s not always easy to find time to record a baby’s early life in their baby book.  Create a blog for your baby to help you to complete the missing information in their baby book later and give them an interactive window into their early childhood as an adult.

Choose a blogging website and sign up for a free membership.  There are many blogs to choose from.  Find a blog that is easy to use and one with enough features to suite your tastes.  Consider making the blog private and only sharing it with your spouse.  Keep the whole project a secret from your child until they are much older.  It will be a sweet and unexpected surprise for your son or daughter to receive access to so much information about their childhood.  Verify that you are able to download backups of the blog to your computer and do so frequently.

Take lots of digital photographs of your baby.  A mobile phone with a built-in camera is extremely handy for this.  Remember that pictures taken with a camera phone will typically be low resolution and perfect for displaying on the blog, but will not make good printed photographs.  If you wish to print many of the pictures that you take of your baby, buy a decent digital camera and keep it close by at all times.  If you take mostly high resolution photos of your baby, use a photo editing program to make lower resolution copies to post to the blog because they will take up far less space and load faster in your web browser.

Post interesting and detailed blog entries every day.  Write as though you are speaking to your child directly.  Don’t write, “Ate applesauce for the first time today.”  Make the post interesting and discuss things that were happening, not just with your child, but also with family members and friends whom they will be able to relate to later in life.  Don’t share any negative or personal feelings about anyone and don’t talk about your problems or worries.  Keep the experience positive and upbeat.  You can also add brief clips of current events, but remember not to just link to other web sites.  Most websites change constantly, so you’ll want to make snapshots of pages or find files that you can save on the blog or link to.  PDF files are a great format to use for capturing pictures and text in a single document because they display the same way, no matter which browser you use to view the file.

Upload short, compressed video files or sound clips to the blog.  This will require additional equipment, like a digital video camera and the appropriate editing software, but the results are well-worth the investment.  Your child will one day have the ability to watch their first steps or hear their first words by simply logging into the blog, which will be far more interactive than their baby book could ever be.

How to Pour a Carbonated Beverage With Minimal Fizz

Pouring a refreshing beverage can be so aggravating when half of the drink fizzes above the rim of the glass and then all over the counter. I have a trick that will eliminate this problem!

If you are going to include ice cubes in your beverage, save them until last. Do not place them into the glass at this point!

Hold the glass in one hand and tilt it so that the sides of the glass form an approximate 60 degree angle with the floor.

Start pouring the beverage slowly into the glass. Aim about halfway down the glass so that the beverage makes contact with the side of the glass and then starts to fill the bottom. You should already begin to notice that the fizz is not nearly as thick or there may be no fizz at all if you pour it perfectly. As you pour, increase the speed of flow and also begin to tilt the glass slowly back to it's upright position.

If you are adding ice cubes, don't fill the glass all the way up. Also, you may encounter some fizzing as you add the ice cubes, so add them one-by-one.

If done correctly, you should notice a drastic improvement in the amount of fizz in your glass. This method reduces the number of times that you will have to clean up a sticky mess from your counter. Now enjoy your cool, tasty, beverage!

Making Your Car Safe for Children

Inspect your car, both inside and out on a weekly basis.  Follow all routine maintenance schedules for your car as advised by the manufacturer, including oil changes, and tire rotations.  Keep your state vehicle inspection up-to-date.  Check the tread on your tires and also check the tire pressure regularly.  Look for puddles under the car that may be indicators of serious problems.  A puddle of water from the A/C is normal, but a puddle of oil or transmission fluid is not. While you are spending some quality time with your car, go ahead and wash it and clean all of the windows to provide maximum visibility.

What's in your front seat?

Remove or secure loose objects in the car.  In the event of a wreck or roll-over, loose objects will become projectiles and can seriously injure you and your children.  This includes toys, tools, mp3 players, and anything that would hurt if thrown at your face with force.  All of these things can either be stored in the glove box or in the trunk.

Have your car checked immediately if it begins to handle differently or make any strange noises.  Extreme heat and cold are hazardous conditions for young children.  Always crank your car several minutes prior to letting your children get in and let the temperature adjust to a comfortable level.  Check all metal belt buckles and wait until they are cool to the touch before allowing your children to come in contact with them.  Do not, under any circumstances, leave your child unattended in the car for any length of time!

Buy a new car seat or booster seat from a retail store.  It’s perfectly acceptable to buy second-hand clothes and toys for your child from a consignment sale, but car seats are constantly being recalled for safety issues.  You don’t have to buy the most expensive seat available, but if you buy a used one, you have no information about the history of the seat or whether it has been involved in a crash.  Read the instructions for the new seat and install it to the best of your ability.  Then, before placing your child in the seat, drive to the nearest fire station and ask if one of their “car seat certified installers” will give your seat a proper inspection.  Keep all instruction manuals that came with the seat and check periodically for recall notices from the manufacturer.  Many manufacturers will now let you register the seat and they will send an email alert to you if a recall is issued.

Talk to your children about being safe while riding in and exiting the car.  Don’t allow fighting or yelling or anything that is distracting to the driver of the vehicle.  Buckle your children’s safety belts or harnesses the moment they get into the car and do not let them unbuckle themselves until they are exiting the car.  This may sound extreme, but there is a possibility that another car could impact your car, even while you are parked, and if your children are not buckled, they could sustain bad injuries.  If you parallel park your car, tell your children to stay in the car and then let them exit on the side opposite the street.  Do not allow children to run around in parking lots or parking garages!

Practice safe driving habits and make good choices.  Always drive at or under the speed limit and constantly check your mirrors.  If you identify a bad driver approaching you, do everything that you can to allow them to pass you and go on their way.  Avoid causing or participating in road rage.  Don’t speed up to try and make it through yellow traffic lights.  Always leave early enough to make it to your destination on-time without driving fast.  If you are going to be late, then just be late.  If you cause an accident and hurt your children because you were in too much of a hurry, you will look back and wish you had just taken your time, so always think proactively in order to avoid all of that.  If you will be driving with your children in the car at any point in a given evening, don’t drink alcohol at all!

Evaluate the cars of anyone else who will transport your child.  Give them a safety checklist and see that they follow it.  As a parent, it is your responsibility to keep your children safe, regardless of other people’s opinions or bad habits.  If someone else’s vehicle or driving habits are unsafe for your children, do not let them ride with that person, regardless of what they say or whether it hurts their feelings.  If this person loves and respects your children, they will make the effort to keep them safe too.

How to Protect Pictures and Video of your Family

Digital cameras continue to grow in popularity.  It is becoming the norm for precious memories to exist exclusively in a digital format.  The average person copies photos to their computer and saves them, but how many of those pictures are ever printed on photo paper? What happens when that computer eventually crashes?

One method for sharing, organizing, and storing photos, which is becoming very popular are the online photo sites.  They allow members to upload, organize, share, edit, and print pictures.  The problem with these sites is that once the photograph is uploaded to them, the member will eventually have to pay that company each time photo prints are needed.  That’s fine as long as the company stays in business, as long as their quality remains intact, and as long as the member doesn’t need pictures in an hour.  These are several things to consider and should encourage everyone to at least keep backup copies of photos whether the online photo websites are used or not.

Saving pictures exclusively to the family computer that everyone uses is not very secure or reliable either.  A computer that is used daily to connect to the Internet is exposed to many dangerous threats that can corrupt data and ultimately destroy, not only pictures and precious memories, but any hard work which is stored there.  It’s alright to save files and pictures to that computer, but precautions should be taken immediately to protect them.

Use a hardware firewall to protect that computer from the Internet.  Firewalls are available at all electronic retail stores that sell computers and are easy to install and configure.  Use a trusted antivirus program to monitor the computer for harmful viruses, Trojans, and worms.  Install a spare hard disk drive into the computer and either manually copy important files to it or use a software backup utility to do it automatically.

An even better idea is to build a stand alone computer that is used exclusively for storing pictures, important file, and videos.  Do not connect this computer to the Internet and be sure it is password-protected and logged-out when not in use.  Install a DVD writer in this computer and make DVD backup copies of all important files and keep the DVD’s stored in a locked box or filing cabinet in a temperature-controlled room.  If this computer needs to be networked to the computer that uses the Internet, then it is possible to block Internet usage on the backup computer and still send files back and forth between the two.

Protecting Your Family from Home Invaders

The security of your family is very important. Not everyone can afford home security systems or guns. This article describes several easy and inexpensive ways to prepare a home to protect your family.

Always know that if someone wants to break into your home badly enough, they will find a way. That doesn't mean that you should make it easy for them to do so. It is surprising to me how many people have told me that they lock the doors to their home only while away. This is very dangerous! Purchase a deadbolt lock for any doors that are easily accessible to the public and keep these doors locked at all times. Start a habit of locking all doors at all times. If you leave to go to the store, lock the door behind you. When you get home... lock the door behind you. Teach children to lock doors behind them and to always see who is knocking at the door or ringing the doorbell before opening the door.

If the home is equipped with wooden window panes, use a power drill to drill a hole in one corner of each window where the upper and lower panes meet. Make the hole large enough to insert a heavy gauge nail. The nail should be easy to remove in case of emergency. It's not a bad idea to tie a piece of string to the head of the nail to make it easy to pull out. The point of the nail is to make the window difficult to open from the outside.

To secure a sliding glass door, cut a broom handle or stick to fit the space in the track behind the door where it slides when it is opened. It is very easy to bypass the latch on a sliding glass door, so be sure to leave the stick in position while the door is not in use. If you have a fenced-in yard, be sure to lock the gate when not-in-use. Also lock storage sheds with a lock large enough that it may be seen from outside the fence.

Leave a light on during the night, both inside the house and outside. This may just deter someone from breaking in if they think someone may be awake inside the house. Also, it's easier for crooks to operate in the dark. If you own a dog, give them full run of the house during the night. They have amazing hearing and will let you know if someone is snooping around outside.

Cover all windows with shades or blinds at night so that it is difficult to see into the home. If it is easy for someone to see from the outside that you own the latest game system, a huge expensive TV, or maybe some expensive artwork, then it may prove tempting for a would-be thief to put your home at the top of their list. Actually, if you can afford all of these high-dollar items, then a home security system is probably a wise investment too. The bottom line is that your family's safety comes before all material things. If you find yourself in the situation where someone has entered your home, let them take your money or some of your belongings if it means that they leave without harming anyone. Then call the police and file a report