Life is a Big Q and A by valmg

A master list of storm names is put together years in advance. The list can be seen on the National Hurricane Center website. The list used to contain only womens names but mens names were added in 1979. Now the names alternate - one female, one male, one female, one male and so on. A list of names is recycled and reused after six years. The only time names are removed from the lists is if the names were associated with extremely deadly, costly or damaging storms. If a name is retired another name replaces it after being chosen by the World Meteorological Organization. Different areas of the world have different lists, so a name can be on several different lists and could have storms with their name in different years. For example the Atlantic list includes the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. My name (Valerie) is on the list for the year 2012. The Northern Australia list constantly recycles itself so my name could theoretically be the name of a storm more than once. Is your name on any of the lists?

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If you blog regularly or read blogs regularly, there’s a good chance you know who Lori is. Lori is the blogger behind A Cowboy’s Wife and Blogging Cents. Lori decided to create a blog just for female readers. She did so in January and called it All Chick Stuff.

The header on the plaid background is the first thing I noticed. The header, containing “girly” things like shoes, purses, jewelry and makeup, fits the theme of this blog well. The theme loaded quickly. The text is clear, of good size and easy to read. Navigation of the site’s pages is up at the top, which I love. All Chick Stuff offers an about page that Lori did start work on but I’ll bet with everything she juggles she hasn’t had a chance to get in there and finish it. (You can tell she isn’t finished because some default text is still there, with her text. Oops.)

The double sidebar is neat and organized. I think the categories should be moved up a bit higher, to make it easier for a reader trying to find something be able to look for it. I noticed a white spot in one where a Photobucket image wasn’t loading. I recommend not using Photobucket because I see this all of the time. If you can use host your own images, if not use a more stable system like Flickr.

Lori has kept page length to a reasonable length, allowing only four posts to appear on a page. One thing I’d love to see on this blog is a little more color by way of adding pictures. Some pictures would draw attention to a post and break up the white post space. Plus, we’d all benefit because Lori is a terrific photographer. Her writing style is personable and friendly, and when I read her blogs I can actually hear what she’s saying in my head. Watch one of her videos and I bet you’ll be able to as well. Readers are invited to leave comments. Leaving a comment on All Chick Stuff is easy as it requires no registration or login.

Lori’s done a nice job getting All Chick Stuff up and running. Go check out the site for yourself, and when you do please tell her that valmg sent you.

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I was, and I didn’t even know it. You’re probably thinking that what I’ve just written makes no sense so let me explain. Shortly after doing our taxes my Dad saw a link on the New Jersey State Division of Taxation website that read unclaimed property. Curious, he clicked on it. He saw a message saying that the State of New Jersey did endorse a site entitled Missing Money to help locate unclaimed property. For these purposes, unclaimed property refers to money. Now more curious, he called me over to the computer so we could try it. To use it all you need to do is enter your name and the state you’re in. There’s no charge. We put his in and nothing came back. We put mine in and a message came back that I had unclaimed money. I clicked on the link provided and it asked me to verify a little more information, in this case my address. I put it in and was given a form to print and mail in. I mailed it in. What could it hurt? I got a letter back last week that told me I had a payment of $85 plus interest coming my way from an old health insurance policy, and that the check would take 4-6 weeks. The check arrived today. Very cool! Everyone should take a moment to see if they have any missing money, just in case.

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In recipes, a sprig usually refers to a 2 to 4 inch piece of an herb plant. Before substituting with a dried version of the same herb check your recipe. Often a spring is called for because at some point the recipe calls for the spring to be removed. Springs can be removed but dried herbs cannot so the end results might taste stronger than intended.

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Summer squash usually has thin and edible skin, soft seeds, tender flesh, mild flavor and cooks quickly. Most varieties of summer squash peak from early to late summer but select varieties may be found year round depending on where you live. Look for brightly colored skin with no bruises or spots when shopping. Summer squash can perish quickly, usually within days, so don’t buy too far in advance.

Winter squash has thick skin, thick seeds and takes longer to cook. Most varieties of winter squash are available year round, but many people feel winter squash tastes best in fall and winter. Look for a deep colored hard rind with no blemishes or spots when shopping. Winter squash will keep for a few weeks if stored in a cool dry place.

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I watched a policemen gearing up for an outdoor event yesterday in Philadelphia while I was stuck in traffic. I couldn’t believe the amount of stuff he kept putting on his uniform and belt., and it made me wonder where policemen buy their equipment and gear. I was curious, so when I got home I checked it out. They must buy their gear at websites like LA Police Gear. This place carries things we’ve all heard of, and a bunch of things I wasn’t familiar with. They even everything from apparel to vests, including Galco holsters. LA Police Gear was founded by members of the LA Police. They even have a closeout section. If you’re looking for any type of police gear, this would be a good place to start looking.

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One of the ladies I work with asked me this recently. I thought the answer was 55, because I was thinking of those big drums (my Dad used to get kerosene in those), but I wanted to be sure.  So when I got home I went online and did a little reading. Oil doesn’t come in those big 55 gallon drums like I thought. I should have known it by the wording. Oil comes in a barrel, not a drum.

One barrel of crude oil contains 42 gallons. One barrel of crude oil produces approximately 19.4 gallons of gasoline, as well as home heating oil, diesel fuel, kerosene type jet fuel, coke, heavy oils used as fuels in industry, marine transportation and electric power generation, liquefied refinery gases, still gas, asphalt and road oil, raw materials for petrochemicals, lubricants and kerosene. That’s a lot of stuff!

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By visiting the Heart Library website and viewing their heart anatomy video. This site presents lots of helpful information about the human heart and common conditions and disease in easy to understand every day language. There are a number of terrific videos created by the Heart Library physicians and St Jude Medical that contain animations that illustrate what the physician narrating is explaining.

I recommend the site highly to anyone that has a heart condition or knows someone that does, as well as anyone that just likes to learn. I’m always interested in learning about the heart because my youngest son has aheart defect, and because heart disease can effect anyone.

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By going to the Nourish Interactive website. The Nourish Interactive website was designed to teach families the importance of proper nutrition, making good food choices and exercise. The children’s area contains interactive educational games and challenges. The parents area contains an educational area, a healthy meal planner, worksheets and interactive tools. The site is free to join. Why not visit Nourish Interactive today and check it out for your family?

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I hadn’t heard of Naked Naturals until I was recently given a chance to try a sample of one of their products. Naked Naturals makes a line of natural shampoos and conditioners containing the plant protein called Keravis, which is supposed to make your hair up to seven times stronger. Naked Naturals contains no harsh chemicals so it’s better for your hair and the environment. Naked Naturals doesn’t contain a chemical fragrance, which is important for me because I work with a woman who can’t breathe whenever she smells strong chemically produced fragrances. And I was thrilled to see the products contain no animal extracts, and they aren’t tested on animals either.

An envelope arrived with my sample packets of shampoo and conditioner. I was disappointed I’d received the sample for color treated hair as I do not have color treated hair. My hair is very fine and naturally oily, and I recently had a spiral perm done. Nevertheless, I was still looking forward to trying it the next day before work, partly because I was looking forward to smelling it. The sample I got was awapuhi and lavender. I love the smell of lavender!

The next morning arrived and as usual I was pressed for time and didn’t want to be late for work. I cut the sample packages open and headed to the bathroom. I forgot to take a picture of my hair before getting in the shower. I started to apply the shampoo and had less than half of my hair done with I ran out! Did I mention I have A LOT of hair? It’s very long. I’d only applied the shampoo and washed the top of my head and the top of both sides. So there I am, running out of time with only half of my hair washed. I finished the back and bottom of the sides with my regular shampoo and went on my way to work.

I forgot to bring my camera to work, which stunk because I’d wanted to take a picture of my hair after using the shampoo. My hair stays wet for a long time because there’s so much of it but by the time I went out for my walk on my 10am break my hair was finally dry. I’d already discovered, being one of those people that occasionally plays with their hair, that the hair on the top of my head seemed softer. We went outside and one of my coworkers asked me if I’d gotten highlights. I replied I had not and asked why. She said it looked like I had some highlights or streaks. I checked in the nearest car mirror and was surprised to see that she was right. My naturally lighter hair (you know, the little pieces of your hair that get lightened by themselves from the sun) looked more noticeable. My strands of gray hair looked the same unfortunately. Yes, I was hoping.

I’m thinking about buying a bottle of the Naked Naturals Fortifying Citrus product. I do get a fair amount of breakage so I really want to try the product made for hair like mine. Have you tried Naked Naturals hair care products? Which one did you use and what did you think? I hope for your sake it smelled half as good as the one I got.

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Hands down the answer here is Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield. Until last month I had health insurance through them and I was never thrilled with the service (or lack thereof) that I received. I have been doing medical billing for a while now and if there’s one company that stands out apart from the others it’s Horizon. I feel they have poor customer service, poor quality, poor training of new hires, poor handling of incorrectly processed claims, poor hold times, poor rate of solutions vs problems, poor processing of claims, poor correspondence and poor listening skills. Can you tell that I think they really stink? Do you like your insurance carrier? For any billers out there, is there one company more than any other that you really hate to work with?

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By reading the 2008 IT Salary and Skills Report, which was published by Global Knowledge and Tech Republic after taking surveys and compiling the data. The data the report is based on contains salary history, job and salary satisfaction and educational information. Although I am not in the IT field anymore I still like to stay informed on what’s happening in the field, so that I can always keep my options open.

While reading the survey I was not surprised to learn that salaries are still increasing. The biggest factor that impacts a person’s success in the IT field is continuing education and certifications in the field, both of which coincide with one’s level of proficiency, skill level, age and experience. The more training that is received, the more specialized the training often gets which makes that employee more knowledgeable and therefore more valuable. This report could be helpful and valuable to both people already in the IT field and people considering entering it, particularly the list of “Highest Paying Certifications”.

This list of top certifications could be used as a guideline to what would help you grow professionally and strengthen your skills. For example, if I were attempting to work in this field again I might want to get ITIL training. It is an area that seems to have grown much in importance since I left the field, demonstrated by the fact that two of the top ten certifications on the list relate to ITIL. Anyone already in or interested in the IT field should take a look at this report, it contains some interesting information.

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I love it! Wireless is truly the way to go. We redid my home network to be wireless today. This was so I could get online with the laptop that I just got. I’m really enjoying being able to blog from somewhere other than the desk for a change. Earlier this week I was finally able to get my bluetooth headset for my cell phone to work. I did it because of the recent law change about driving and using a cell phone, but to my surprise discovered that I liked being able to talk without holding the phone. I think moving forward more and more things will take advantage of wireless. Do you connect to anything wirelessly?

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