Well, I have taken it upon myself to find a healthier solution for my dog Biff.  You see, I have been feeding him dog food from the store for the past year, but just yesterday, I looked at the package and read the ingredients.  Now, some of the stuff on there I was no familiar with, so I took a look on the Internet to find out what they were.  It was here that I learned a little more about how his food was made - and I sure didn’t like it.

It was at that point, I decided to find another way to feed my dog - and I ended up deciding that homemade dog food was the way to go.  I went down to the library this morning to get some books on how to cook food for my dog.  I found a few books there and came home to try it out.

So far, I have made him some dog treats and he just wolfed them down.  I am in the process of making his supper - I hope that he likes his supper as much as the treats - and if so, I think I will be cooking him food from now on.  I just like it because I have more control over his diet.

In life I am pretty focused.  When I choose to do a task, I focus on it and nothing else matters.  This focus has helped me to succeed where others have failed - I can get things done quicker than most people.

My one weakness is the Internet.  Specifically, the fun games you can find online on many arcade websites.  You see, I really never played many video games as a child, so they are kind of like my Kryptonite and make me lose my focus.

I am especially weak when it comes to fun action games and fun puzzle games.  Whether it be shooting some bad guy, or solving a word puzzle, these games entertain my brain in ways that work never can.  I can sit and spend hours of my life playing games and get nothing done.

So, what I have done is setup a timer that I start when I do sit down to play a game that shuts my computer off after an hour - that way, I don’t waste my whole day playing games.  At least it should work in theory….

There are many people that have excellent credit scores and many people that have credit problems.  For those of you that have a good credit score - this article is not for you.  The rest of you should listen up.

If you are like many people who are behind on their credit card payments and bill payments, you may be feeling some stress.  Let me change that - a lot of stress.  You may be feeling overwhelmed - and afraid that there is no way out.

Most of you know about bankruptcy and the fact that it would solve your problem.  On the other hand, it also limits your ability to get a loan or a credit card for quite a few years - depending on your age and situation, this might not be the best idea.

I have a different suggestion for you.  Do you know what a debt negotiation program is?  Well, the simple explanation is that by enrolling in the program, your debts will be cut in half, you will just have one simple monthly payment, and your stress level will decrease.  For example, if you had a lot of credit card debt, if you were to take advantage of credit card negotiation services, they would reduce your debt and payments substantially.

You can also take advantage of credit and bill consolidation help if you are having problems keeping up with your bills.  This is very similar to the last method I discussed, but your monthly payments are less and you can expect that half of your debts would be reduced.

These methods are designed to help relieve your short term stress and get you out of debt in less than three years.  By using either of these methods, your credit score will decrease a little, but it will save your score from the damage it would receive from you going bankrupt.  Just be sure to talk to a professional before you decide what to do - they will help you make the right decision.

I am very thankful for my life, and I am still quite young.  But sadly, I know that my life will come to an end at some point - and I want to be remembered.

Reading the paper each morning I look through the obituaries to see if any of my friends have died - and thankfully not many have.  I have also been to a few funerals over the past year, and only one stands out in my mind.

You see, there was a gentleman I worked with who passed away at the young age of forty.  We were all invited to the funeral, with our boss given the honor of giving one of the eulogies to be spoken at the service.

Now, I never quite realized how creative our boss was, but I watched him for the few days he was working on it - and he was working quite diligently.  I saw some eulogy samples on his desk, but I believe he was only using them as a guideline.  He also had all of us come into his office and tell him our stories about Steve so that he could include them into his speech.

When the day of the funeral came, I was amazed at some of the funeral poems I heard - they were beautiful.  We listened to three people deliver eulogies with the last one being our boss.  At the end of his portion of the eulogy he left us with this:

"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. " - Mark Twain

Yes Steve lived his life to the fullest.  After he read the quote, we all started crying…

I have been going to my local chapter of Toastmasters for the past year.  I joined in the first place because of my fear of public speaking - and over the past year, my fear has decreased.

This month we have been given the assignment to create wedding toasts and speeches.  Now, most of you are probably familiar with these types of speeches, if you have ever attended a wedding.

In fact, I was recently asked to be the Maid of Honor in my best friends wedding.  So I had been working on my Maid of Honor toast for awhile.  It has been coming along nicely, but I figure it needs some tweaks.

That is why tonight when I go to my Toastmaster meeting, I will be participating when others read wedding toasts.  This way I can get some feedback about my own toast, and learn about how I can improve it.

I’ll be the first to admit it - I love a good crossword puzzle.  Whenever I have a free minute, I sit down, break out a crossword book and get right at it.  I have been know from time to time to sit at the computer and do some free online crossword puzzles as well.

You might wonder where my love or fascination of this activity came from - I blame genetics.  You see, my mother and her mother before her did crossword puzzles, so I guess I was destined to do them as well. 

I love the fact that this simple activity helps me with my spelling and keeps my mind sharp - I wouldn’t want old age to slip in.  In fact, lately I have been trying out some free crossword puzzle makers to try my hand at making my own.  I figure that I could make my own and give my mother and grandmother them to try out.  So far, I have had mixed success - but I am going to continue trying.

Alright, time to take a break - where is my crossword puzzle book…

I was recently hired by an entrepreneur that works from his home.  Now, one of my first assignments was to purchase the home office furniture that I would need to have a work station.

We went to the local office furniture store to buy what we needed.  I didn’t get a lot of say on what type of desk or file cabinet I would get, but that didn’t really matter to me.  Quite often, these two items are very similar no matter what you get, and I didn’t feel that it would make any real difference for me.

But I did want to put in my opinion for the chair.  In some ways, your office chair can make or break your happiness at work - and I was going for a comfortable chair.  Out of all the selections, I found the mesh office chairs to be the most comfortable - so we picked out one of those.

We carted our purchases back to the office and laid them out.  Seems that my second assignment is to put everything together - with all the pieces, it looks like it is going to take all day.

This past summer, I worked as a nanny for a family of five.  Their children ranged in age from four to nine - and there were three of them.  Both of their parents were doctors so they worked long hours - so I lived at their place.

They didn’t let me know until the last minute that they were taking me on the family vacation to Universal Studios and Disney World.  I was so excited when I found out - I have wanted to go to both of these places since I was a child.

When we arrived at out hotel (one of the Disney World Resort Hotels) I couldn’t help but stand there in awe.  I have never stayed at such an amazing place and I was truly thankful to the Stevens for taking me.

We were there for just over two weeks.  I felt that my trip was so amazing that I chronicled my trip in a thread over at the Disney World forum.

Well, this past summer is not a summer that I will forget in awhile.  It was very much like a dream come true.

I am in dire need of a job, and there are a few ads in the local newspaper that I have looked at that seem interesting.  You see, I don’t want some run of the mill job serving coffee or fries, I want something challenging that will help me grow as an individual.

With that in mind, I’ve decided that it was time to learn how to write a resume.  In the past, I had used an online resume builder to make my resume, but for the jobs I want to apply for now, a cookie cutter resume just won’t cut it.

Earlier today, I went to the library and picked up a book on how to make a resume.  I have read almost half of it today, and at the same time that I am reading the book, I take breaks to work on the resume.  I am using the book as a reference, and I am tweaking the resume accordingly.

I want to get the resume done tonight, as some of the jobs have a deadline of tomorrow at noon for applications - I better get to it!

I have had a number of mobile phone providers over the last few years and let me tell you they are not all equal.  Some of them offer good service, good reception, and good incentives whereas others just plain suck.

I also like to look at what incentives are given if you signup for different lengths of mobile phone contracts - sometimes a long contract can be worth it.  Now, some of these rewards are too gimmicky - say like getting a Frisbee for example (and yes, I have one from a provider - don’t laugh).  What I have been looking for is something substantial - some incentive that makes signing up all worthwhile.

So I ended up checking out Orange mobile deals.  They have some exceptional offers going on right now - with some phones you can get a Nintendo DS, and they even have a few that offer cash back - something that everyone needs. 

Don’t just get suckered by the incentive, it still pays to do some research on the company to ensure that you get a good provider as well.  But a little gift, never hurt, right?