Steve said that browsing the internet and typing are so much better than on the ipod and a laptop, I can agree with it being a better internet experice than the ipod, becasue it’s bigger, duh. But, as I watch him play with this new ipad, it looks like it is not very “lap” friendly, meaning as he sits with this “big ipod” on his lap he has to type with one hand as he tabs the touch screen with his other. Being a avid laptop and ipod user, I don’t want to have to type with one hand, I already have this experience with my Blackberry and ipod.

My first impression, is that this is a neat gaget, if you want to impress your friends or play games, but not very practical for business on-the-go.

This is just my opinion, would love to hear what your opinion is on the new Apple ipad, leave your comments here and I will be holding a drawing for new ipod, for all who leave comments on this post. Looking forward to hearing from you.

I went on several summer vacations, In June I was in Holden Beach,NC. It was a great vacation, if you have never been to Hold Beach you have to go. It is a small island about 30 miles from Wilmington, NC. It is very quiet and relaxed, with great cozy restaurants, like the Paradise Cafe.

Then in July I went to Myrtle Beach for a week and stay at a resort on the ocean, that was just a few miles from Broadway At The Beach. This is my favorite place at Myrtle Beach to visit. I love dinning at Hard Rock Cafe and grabbing a drink at Margaritaville.  But the best thing by far was relaxing on the beach and watching the waves roll in and my troubles roll away.

I wrapped the month up by heading to Hilton Head Island. I had never been to Hilton Head before and it was truly a wonderful experience. Hilton Head Island reminded me of a small quaint town straight out of the 50′s. Everyone rides their bikes to shops and restaurants nearby and all roads have nice bike trails that will take you anywhere you can go in a car. The beach park was very nice and had to of been the most upscale beach access I have ever seen. It was lined with brick and wood walkways that also housed cabana’s for showing and restrooms. As you walk down closer to the beach you see a huge round bench park, with fountain’s in the middle that beach goers use to wash the sand and salt from their tanned and sunburned bodies. As you start to walk out on the beach you are greeted with a woven walkway that takes you all the down to the sea. I have never been able to walk out on the beach, without getting my shoes full of sand, until visiting Hilton Head.

Well that is a brief description of what I have been up to this summer. I would love to hear about your summer vacations, please do share.

This is a great way to display your talent, win some money and even maybe land a full time Graphic Design Job. Check it out.

Here is a link to a contest taking place right now:

http://99designs.com/contests/20645

My family stays on guard all day the first day of April, each year. I can always get them with the best pranks ever. I will share a few of my favs with you.

#1 One year I called my mom, with panic in my voice and told her that I was driving home that evening and it was dark and raining and I could not see anything. That I had hit a man by the side of road and I needed her to come help me hide the body. This woman who I thought would try to talk me into calling the police, surprised me with her answer. She told me to call my brother, that he was stronger and would know of better places to hide a body. OMG! Once I told her it was April Fools, she then said I was going to suggest calling the police too,… yeah right.

#2 I had just started dating my husband who was really religious and my family knew this. They thought he was a little “over religious”, so I decided to play with this one a little bit. I called my brother and told him that my husband was outside with a fire and an ax and said that because of all the sin in the world he was going to have to sacrifice my poor little dog, who I had since he was a puppy, which was about 6 years. My brother flipped out, he said don’t go near him hold on I am coming over there and bringing my gun, tell him that I will shot him if he does not leave the dog alone and he told me again, don’t go outside. I hung up and gave him a few mins, then called him back to tell him “April Fools”. He was so mad at me.

#3  When my son was  12 and was coming into puberty, he was counting every little hair he would find  “down below”, he was so excited that he was on his way to being  a man. So on April Fools night I got one of my small hair wiglets and placed it in the top of his underwear. When he woke up the next morning and looked down, he was in shock, thinking that he had been touched by the “man fairy” overnight and  could not  believe that this happened. The excitement was short lived when he soon realized it was fake.

Well that’s my top 3. What are some of the best pranks you have ever pulled off on April Fool’s Day?

We took down a list of all the people who commented and/or subscribed to my blog. We then placed all of those names into a bowl, closed our eyes and pulled out one name.

Now for the inportant stuff. “”"”"Drum Roll”"”" And the winner is…twohamman, twohamman subscribed to the blog on March 2nd, 2009. Congratulations!

For all those who did not win, your efforts were not in vein, we have decided to extend the contest again into next month. So for everyone who commented in the months of Feb and March, you will be included in next months drawing. We are considering doing a monthly drawing, so stay tuned for that. If you commented and/or subscribed to the blog in Feb and March and continue to leave comments and/or subscribe to the blog from now until April 26th, we will count each entry as 2 entries. Good Luck to all!

Feel free to comment on as many post asnano you would like. Each comment you make counts as a separate entry. Enter as many times as you would like. All of the names will be put into a hat, so the more times your name is in the hat, the more chances you have to win. Tip: Subscribing to my blog will count as 3 entries. To subscribe just go to “Blog Info” at the top right hand corner and then click on “Subscribe to blog”.

The contest starts today and ends on 3/23/09 at that time I will announce a winner. The winner will be able to choose the color Nano they would like and I will ship it out. Happy posting! Good Luck!

Buying a list is always an option, but I have found that the best way is to build your own opt-in list. Building your own opt-in list, you know that you are getting good quality leads, because you know that the people on your list have an interest in your product or website information.

Your website is where you want to start in building your email marketing list. A good way to insure that your website visits are profitable to you even when they don’t click the buy button, is to make sure you get the email address of every visitor to your site. Don’t let their visit be in vein.

For a long time I let customers come and go through my websites and never got any benefit from the visitors who were not buying. I then woke up and realized that I was letting potential customers slip by me. I could be collecting their email addresses, so that I could send them special offers and remind them later about my website. Some people who visit your website, may be just “shopping” around, but when they do reach “buy” mode you want to be able to remind them of your website/product.

I started using the techniques outlined below and I created a huge email marketing list in just a few months.  (I did do a lot of online advertising to “beef up” my website visits.) You can still build a  sizable list in no time, with your current traffic, with very little effort, by following these tips below.

The best way I have found to do this is to create an “intro” page to your website. Make sure that this page gives the visitor good information and intrigues  them enough to want to know more about your service or product.This page should just be a tease and not give away the goods, not until they have entered their email address, anyway.

You want have a section on the page that says something like, “Enter here”, “Want to learn more”, or “Get it now”. Use a phrase that make sense to what your visitor would want, rater it be information or so on.

You want to make sure that before they can move on to get the  “goods”, they must enter their email address. You can create a form that will collect these email address and send them to your designated database, such as a database on your server, or a hosted email marketing solution, like IContact .  Most hosted solutions, will provide you with a code to place on your website, for collecting email address.

If you don’t want to to create an intro page to your website, or if it does not make sense with the type of service that you are offering,  then you need to make sure that are offering your visitors a way to join your mailing list. You also want to make sure that you are are giving them a good reason to join your mailing list, because most people are not going to just join, even if you ask nicely and say pretty please. We all want something for nothing, so offer them free information for joining, free information that they can not get otherwise, or you could even hold a contest and the only way to enter, would be to join your mailing list. Be creative and think about what it is that your target audience would want in order to agree to getting emails from you.

When getting people to join your list, it is a good idea that you provide a link to your privacy policy, if don’t have a privicy policy, then just Google “privacy policy”, you find can some good outlines to privacy policies that you can use and customize to your website business. No one likes SPAM and people are more likely to give you their email addres if they know you are not going to sell their information to every Tom, Dick and Harry on the internet.

Building an email marketing list can take some time, so be patient and keep at it. You will see your list start to grow from day one, with a few emails at a time.  The first way I mentioned, is going to be the fastest way to build an email marketing  list, but any method you use of collecting email address on your website will be very benifitial.

**Be sure to check back next week. I will be discussing ways to drive more traffic to your website, for free. I will show you methods I used to build a massive opt-in email marketing list without spending a dime.

Being a snow day, I thought I would bribe the kids to let me work by promising McDonald’s for lunch, in exchange for 2 hours of quiet work time for me. This kids liked the idea and they were so quiet, I forgot they were here.

Once the two hours was up I had two hungry kids standing by my office door, coats in hand. I wrapped up my work and we headed out the door. Once we arrived at  McDonald’s and I was gathering orders from the kids, I ordered a cheeseburger Happy Meal for my 10 year old son and a chicken sandwich combo for my 13 year old daughter. As I was driving away from the order screen, my son exclaimed,”they forgot to ask if I wanted a boy or girl toy”, to which I said, “well, they probably have unisex toys today”. “WHAT kind of toy?”, my son asked, a little confused. that’s when my 13 year old thought it would be a good time to “mess” with him. “Your getting furry handcuffs, or candy nipple covers”, she teased him. I was in tears as I tried to keep from laughing. My 10 year old son wanted to know more, so I had to stop the conversation right there and just explain what unisex meant. Once I told him he was satisfied.  Armed with this new found knowledge, he reached into his Happy Meal bag, grabbed his toy and said, in a very confident tone, “yep, it’s a unisex toy”.

I scrolled Ebay for all the Blackberry Storms that were under $200 and placed the ones I was interested in, into my watch list. One by one I would watch Blackberry’s go from under $200 to well over $300-$400, this was very frustrating.

What really made me mad, was that people would bid on these instead of waiting until the end. Common sense tells you that if you bid then the price is going to go up, because everyone is going to bid, plus the ones who have let Ebay bid for them (stupid) their bid will kick in and you will  have created a huge upward bidding pattern, before the game is even close to over. The smart thing to do is to watch the item until last few seconds of the listing and then swoop in and take the prize, but that’s whole other post.

Needless to say I was getting frustrated after a week of this nonsense.  I had to find a new avenue in which to obtain my much sought after Blackberry Storm. So I searched the internet for the best deals, I searched Amazon, Overstock and many other shopping sites and some not so well known cell phone sites. After much research and lots of dedicated time I essentially… got nowhere.

It was time to examine my options. I could just “woman up” and pay the $400 + for the Blackberry on Ebay, I could purchase it through Verizon for $499, I could wait until October, when my “New Evey Two” with Verizon kicked in and get it for $199, or… and then it dawned on me.

I am Verizon customer and have been for many years, I pay my bill every month, a very large bill I might add and what thanks do I get? None. Now I was really mad, thinking that a person who has never been a Verizon customer could go straight to the website and order “MY” Blackberry Storm for only $199 and ME a dedicated Verizon customer had to pay $499 to upgrade my current Blackberry to a Storm. This just was not fair.

I had to give Verizon a piece of my mind. So I  called them up… and I waited on hold, going over in my head exactly what I was going to say and how I was going to say it, once that “friendly” repersentive was on the line…”Thank you for calling Verizon, how may I help you today”, I was ready… Well. I said, I am a current,loyal Verizon Wireless customer and I want to upgrade my Blackberry phone to a New Blackberry Storm, but the best price I can get from you guys is $499, but I see that a new customer can get a better deal at only $199 and this is just an outrage. I would like for you to move my “New Every Two” date up to today, so that I can purchase the Blackberry storm for only $199… I paused… and waited for the young girl to tell me how very sorry she was that this request was just not possible. and she understood my frustration, and… just then a miricle happened…She said, “OK”, let me verify your account information and I will help you with your request. Wow, I thought, thats it? No I’m sorry, or we understand your frustration..but.  No, I got none of that. I got. “OK”  and who knew, all I had to do was ask.  I love you Verizon Wireless!

Moral of the story: Great things come to those who…ASK!

Well after all of that hustle and bustle I needed a break, so I took a 10 day vacation to the Great Smokey mountains. I started my trip in Maggie Valley, NC. Maggie Valley is home of the Ghost Town in the sky, it is a mock ghost town that sits high up on the mountain. They have roller coaster rides and a ski left that takes you to the top. It is more designed for kids, so I skipped that adventure. I did enjoy some tubing at Tube World. It was so much fun. It was 50 degrees outside, but somehow they managed to have snow on the hills. I posted some pics of me at Tube World, so check them out.

While staying in Maggie Valley we ate dinner at Granny’s Kitchen. They have the best southern fried chicken and green beans. It is true comfort food. After dinner we rode up the mountain to Cherokee, to the Harrah’s Casino. I went in with $40.00 and came out with nothing to show for it, but a smile. I always make sure to never take more than I am willing to lose in the casino. I see it as paying for entertainment. It is a lot of fun to play the slots, if you know your not betting your house or your  children’s college fund away.

The next day we headed up to Pigeon Forge,TN, it is about 1.5 hours from Maggie Valley,NC. We stayed at the Grade Resort, complete with 3 indoor heated swimming pools and a full service spa. Our room was as big as my house. It was a luxury suite complete with a big screen TV and jacuzzi tub in the bedroom. We could have fit 3 couples in that tub, if we swung that way;) We also had a huge king size bed. The room was great and the staff treated us like royalty.

While in Pigeon Forge we visited the Apple Barn, they have a winery, restaurant, candy shop, snack bar and gift shop. We visited the winery for some wine sampling, they make the best apple wine. We then headed over to the gift shop and bought some apple cider and cinnamon sticks, we also had to pick up some apple butter. From there we went over to the snack shop and visited the cider bar, where we got some hot apple cider and a fried apple pie, yummy! We had dinner at the Apple Barn restaurant. They start you out with some apple fritters that you dip in the apple butter, it was so good. The food is “country food” at it’s best, featuring fried steak and gravy, chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, okra and so much more.

Pigeon Forge has so many shows to offer too, we enjoyed the Comedy Barn show. It was “redneck” humor at it’s best. It was like a great country verity show, complete with barn animals. Another great show is the Magic show featuring a tiger in the show. The illusions were awesome and it was just an all around entertaining show.

One of the things we did in Pigeon Forge was an ATV ride up the mountain. I was a little nervous at first about riding an ATV up the side of a mountain, as I am scared of heights and had not ridden an ATV in a very long time. The guides are so helpful and give you a crash course before you get started, so that put me at ease. Once you get up on the mountain, the views are so awesome, that you forget that you are riding on the side of a very steep mountain and enjoy every minute of the ride.

Pigeon Forge was a great experience, filled with great wineries, shows, shopping  and adventures. I tasted all the wines, shopped till I dropped, took in some shows and had some great adventures.

After 3 days in Pigeon Forge it was time to head 10 miles to Gatlinburg,TN. Gatlinburg is a cute small town full of village like buildings and great shops. The streets are full and lots of people walking. It reminds me of the beach, in that there is bumper to bumper traffic and everyone walking down busy streets filled with souvenir shops, bars, clubs and restaurants. You can walk to almost anything and enjoy some great food stands complete with corn dogs, funnel cakes, sausages and any other junk food you would think to find at a carnival.

We arrived the day before New Years eve and took in some more shopping and ate at the Brass Lantern, a cozy restaurant right in the middle of the strip. We stayed at River Terrence Resort, located right behind the Pigeon River. From our room balcony we were overlooking the river and could see the Space needle, where they drop the ball on New Years eve, perfectly. Our room was cozy, complete with a fireplace and large bathtub, kitchenette and living room. Our bedroom featured a king size bed with a big screen TV and view of the fireplace.

On New Years eve we ventured out into the crowd of over 10,000 people and ate plenty of junk food, complete with funnel cake topped with strawberries. We picked up some party hats and mingled with people in the crowd. We also visited some clubs that featured live bands and plenty of drinks. Since we had such a great view of the ball drop we went back to our room and sat on the balcony, right before midnight, to watch the ball drop and see the fireworks display. After the fireworks were done, we then headed back down to the street for some more partying.

New Years days we relaxed in our room most of the day recovering from the night before and looking forward to our next stop.

Our next stop was a private cabin up on the top of the mountain. It was a very nice and cozy cabin. The feature for the cabin, was deer. There were deer themes everywhere all through out the cabin. A full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, bedroom, complete with a jacuzzi tub for 4 and a screened in porch that featured a hot tub. We stayed in the cabin for 3 days and did not go out one time. We enjoyed the peace and quiet and relaxed from our eventful vacation, before heading home on Sunday.

I really enjoyed our time in the Great Smokey Mountains. It was a wonderful vacation and staying at the different places while we were there made it seem like we took several vacations that week.

This wonderful vacation cost us a grand total of $350.00. Including rooms, food, shows,shopping, gas and adventures. I am going to tell you how I took a 10 day vacation for $350.00 this weekend, so be looking for that post.