Morbid Romantic

bringing you quality randomness since 1981

Have you ever wandered around those stock image sites to find a good image to use in your blog, hindered by the fact that you often have to pay an insane amount of money for a single image? Or have you ever used a search engine like Google to find images? If you have, you know for every keyword you type in, you’ll get about 10,000 matches that have nothing at all to do with what you’re looking for.

Acobox is a website designed to make it easy for bloggers to post blog pictures to their website(s). The process is simple enough for anyone to do. I know this because I signed up and tested it out for myself. If you want to use Acobox, first, you sign up for an account. Once you have your account activated and ready to go, you log in and start browsing the galleries for an image you would like to use. This is the image I chose:

What are the perks of Acobox? Well, first and foremost, all of the pictures are licensed and protected by copyright. What does this mean for you? That you won’t be taking someone’s pictures without permission and using them. Using Acobox is also a lot simpler than those stock image sites or search engines. Acobox hosts all of the images in their galleries, so all you have to do is select your image, choose the size you want, and copy and paste the code to your blog. No need for you to crop, resize or upload. Acobox is the package all in one.

If you are a photographer, you can sign up for an account and submit your images for other bloggers to use, too!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Did you know that Kmart has more than 25,000 gifts $25 and under? With that many items to choose from, including name brand items such as Craftsman® and Martha Stewart Everyday, there’s sure to be something for everyone on your list. These economic times are hard, but we all deserve a good holiday. Nothing makes the Christmas season more fulfilling than gift giving. I know how happy it makes me to see the people I love open a present from me. That moment of happiness doesn’t have to be sacrificed with Kmart’s low priced gift ideas. You can still afford a Christmas and not go totally broke to do it!

I went through the Kmart website and picked out a few items that I think my family would like to get this Christmas.

For my mother, I chose this:

You see, she already collects the set. She has the pitcher, the plates, the cups, the salt and pepper shaker, the teapot, the butter holder, the gravy boat… but she doesn’t have these canisters! I bet she’d really love to get this addition to the set.

For my sister, I selected to gift her this:

When it comes to my sister, clothes are always the safest bet. She’s the one out of the two of us who has a closet packed with clothes. In fact, she gives me things from her closet that still have tags on them! Now, my sister is by no means a big spender or a shopaholic, she just buys clothes, loves clothes and frequently tires of them.

Finally, for my adorable nephew, this:

My nephew loves phones. Show a phone to him and he will want to press buttons or breathe into it. He has been like that for, well, since he was born and aware of phones. I let him play with mine and he frequently likes to grab and hide the house phone. Maybe this will deter him!

So, you see? I just shopped for three family members for less than $100. Not bad at all.

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I’m here with a GREAT holiday gift idea. Personally, I am always searching in vain for good gifts, never confident enough in my choices to be comfortable with them. Vistaprint offers a variety of custom printed products like Stationary, Magnets and Custom Calendars. Vistaprint products are great for the office or home, and great to give to people as gifts. If you know someone who would like a personal address stamp, you can buy a personalized one from Vistaprint. If you know someone who collects postcards, you can make your own and give them as a present. They offer so many things there, that you could easily get something different for everyone in your family and not run out of ideas or have to double buy.

I like the idea of a custom calendar. I know a lot of people in my family who would love one. I could take some of our really great family pictures and make a calendar to give to each family member as a present for Christmas. I think it would bring them a lot of happiness to have something like that hanging from the wall or on a desk; I know it would make me happy each and every time I caught a glimpse of it.

There are a variety of calendar styles to choose from. If desk calendars are more your thing, you can choose that. If you like small folded pocket/purse calendars, you can make one of those. If you want to make a specific calendar type for each family member, well, you can do that, too! Using Vistaprint isn’t complicated or arduous. You select your calendar type, select your design or add your own images and photos, and it’s just a matter of filling in some text boxes with information from there. Everything is pretty self-explanatory and as simple as you can get in a website that offers custom products. I went through the steps myself, creating a calendar, and it took me about a minute to get everything all set up and ready to order.

Give it a shot and see what you can make. Don’t forget how many days are left until Christmas!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Have you heard about the Sears Veterans Day Sale? From November 9th to November 11th, Sears is offering specials on a variety of goods. For those three days only, you can save money on electronics, appliances, tools, clothing, jewelry and more. With Christmas coming, this is a great time to go out and buy some of those gifts on your list and save some money while doing it. There’s no need to wait for Black Friday to go shopping, not when there are so many great sales at Sears this November 9th through 11th. If you’re not looking to buy gifts, this about this: it’s winter and it’s only getting colder. During this Veteran’s Day event, Sears is offering 60% off all outerwear and sweaters in both male and female styles.

If I could buy any item during this sale, it would be the Canon SDHC Camcorder.

I would LOVE my own video camera. My regular digital camera takes video, but the quality isn’t as good as a video camera. I guess I have always sort of wanted one for the simple fact of owning one. Sometimes I think about how many fun family moments have gone forgotten because no one documented them. If I had a video camera, I would be able to film some of our most important moments. And my mother would love it if I could take video of my nephew to send to her.

Popularity: 1% [?]

At any given moment, I am doing two or three things with my hands and my brain. Every one needs a little help from time to time, especially active bloggers or professionals busy with tasks at work. Dragon Speaking Naturally is a voice recognition program that types for you as you dictate, freeing up your hands to do other things. I’m a trained social studies teacher, so I see the potential classroom uses of Dragon Speaking Naturally; it would make for the perfect adaptation for someone with special needs, someone who can’t use regular writing tools.

Check out blogger Drew’s real time demonstration and review of the Dragon Naturally Speaking software:

Hello my name is Brett Bumeter and I write about Dragon Naturally Speaking at Softduit.com (Tip if you are looking for the details on the coupon codes scroll to the bottom of this article). I wanted to share this video with you showing a fellow blogger named Drew who is using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 for the first time. There are some interesting things that you will see in this video that I wanted to point out to help you get a sense of how Dragon NaturallySpeaking works and how it could potentially work for you.

I think it’s important to see Dragon NaturallySpeaking, when people are using it and videos definitely help show you how well the software works these days. It’s extremely fast and can help you to type at 150 words per minute. You can see this in the demonstration that Drew has created as he is basically talking at a relatively normal speed. You will notice that he tends to look with his eyes to the right and up just a little bit.

I mention this not because Drew is looking in some strange direction, but instead because Dragon NaturallySpeaking does use your brain in a slightly different way than what you may be used to. You have to think of the words you will say in your head and then speak it out loud. That’s a little different than when you think of a composition and type it out with your fingers or even more different than when you attempt to write with your hands using a pen and paper. All three activities use different sections of our brains.

There used to be a time a decade ago when using Dragon NaturallySpeaking was more difficult because it would take a significant amounts of time to train the software. These days, the software can be trained in as little as seven minutes. The out-of- the-box experience with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 is flat-out amazing. That said, it will take you a little bit of time to train your brain or compose messages or articles or e-mails by speaking them out loud.

You can type 150 words a minute using Dragon NaturallySpeaking and that’s typically 2 to 3 times faster than your average person can type. 2 to 3 times faster can save you a great deal of time and a great deal of money. This can enable you to spend more time with your family or be more productive at work and get more done and possibly a promotion or raise. Possibly the biggest benefit that you can experience is just staying on top of your workload with less effort.

If you consider also that Drew is looking off to the right a little bit as he’s composing, I will share with you a hidden benefit of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. When you use Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you are not locked into a position physically, where you have to stare at your computer monitor all of the time. When you don’t have the light on your computer screen glaring in your face all the time, you experience a great deal less eye strain. The muscles in your eyes can relax more, as you look around the room and change your focal point. You would be amazed at how much extra energy this will give you as your eyes, and the muscles in your eyes don’t get worn out as fast as they would if you sit at a computer and type all day long.

We often associate sore hands and fingers and wrists with typing, but typing also creates very sore eyes and can even lead to migraine headaches. Plus, it basically just makes you tired sitting in front of your computer. Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you can save a great deal of time and effort and keep your energy level high, because you’re not wearing out your eyes. With a wireless microphone headset like the one I’m using, you can even pace around your desk or exercise on a treadmill or bike machine while you write your emails!

Best regards,
Brett Bumeter
www.softduit.com

PS I wrote this article with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 preferred. It took me about five minutes to write the words above, which are proximally 670 in length. That’s about 130 words per minute typing, and it only took me another minute or two to edit, which is still approximately 95 words per minute with editing included!

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Nuance is allowing readers an exclusive 25% Discount Coupon code for Dragon Naturally Speaking, but you must click the image above and use this code: DNSMSBG. The code will not work from other sources. So, if you want to Save 25% on Dragon Naturally Speaking with Coupon Code, just click on the picture above or any link contained in this post and buy away!

If you own a business, you can use the coupon code above and save 25% off Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred. If you are a home user, use the provided coupon code to save 25% off Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Standard.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Have you ever had to drive a car without power steering? If you’ve driven with power steering and then gotten in a car without it, you know how much harder it is to turn the wheel. It is certainly a struggle to fight the wheel to get your car to turn and move about. Power steering makes it so you don’t have to put so much strength and effort into what happens to the steering wheel. As an important part of your car, you need to keep your power steering in top shape. Visit the Power Steering Pros for power steering parts such as the steering box and steering rack. They can get you what you need to make sure you always have that important part of your car. No need to make driving any harder or more stressful than it is!

Popularity: 5% [?]

I bought this website for myself in 2002 as a present for beginning college. When I did, I knew nothing about webhosting or owning a domain. I quite naively went out and bought a small package on a reseller from an amateur hosting company, probably owned by someone no older than me. I ended up being moved around quite a bit from one host to another as each company folded and sold members to other companies. In fact, I almost lost this domain when the owner of the first hosting company lost my password and couldn’t renew it or transfer it over to my new hosting company. When I bought the domain, I was so new to everything that I didn’t even know I was entitled to my password. When I finally found out that I could and should have it, she had lost it.

Through the years, I have gained experience in owning a website and learned what to look for and how to look for it. Yet I realize that not everyone does. So, in the spirit of help, as one domain owner to all of you other potential domain owners, I will help you.

Web Hosting Geeks is a website through which you can find the right hosting for your needs. When looking for hosting, everyone has a different set of desired standards or features. For some people, price is the determining factor. For others, the most important deciding factor is what a company offers in disk space and bandwidth. You can search the Web Hosting Geeks website by your criteria be it budget, blog, ecommerce or more. Web Hosting Geeks offers reviews of their listed website hosts, so you don’t end up buying into a company without knowing what they are all about. Each review will include information like package prices, customer reviews, uptime statistics and available features.

As an added bonus, Web Hosting Geeks has a web hosting blog full of articles about various web hosting subjects and concerns. It’s a great place to start if you want web hosting, especially because you will learn something about the web hosting world through them and their blog. You won’t be some novice getting sucked into a company that turns out to be not worth the money you paid.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I don’t know how many of you know this, but Alfred and I actually met online in a bizarre series of events arranged by friends. We both had friends, two seperate people who didn’t know each other, decide that we were lonely and needed to find a partner. Without us knowing, both of these friends put out online ads for us at around the same time. Mind you, these ads were in the first person as if we were the ones speaking and putting our profile up. They were very sneaky that way! All the while, Alfred and I had no idea this was happening and no idea the other even existed.

Well, one day I get an email that I assume is spam. It’s from ‘Alfred’ introducing himself. I’m thinking in my head, “What? I don’t know this guy.” But, it includes a picture and the guy is cute, so I save it and consider it. Using my web savvy skills, I follow links included in the email until I find out it came from a dating site. My friend fesses up to everything. Later on, I learned that the first email I got from Alfred was sent in reply to the ad my friend put out about me by Alfred’s friend, not Alfred himself.

About a week or so later, after a particularly stressful day of exams, I decide to call Alfred. I was fed up with being isolated and anti-social. Additionally, I had just finished my last exam and I wanted to get out and do something. For some reason, I couldn’t stand the idea of sitting around the house doing the same stuff. The moment I got home, I shed my messenger bag, sat down at my computer chair and called the number given in the email. As nervous and as shy as I can be, I did it. A very confused Alfred answered the phone but asked me to get something to eat with him after he got off of work.

I accepted and it’s all history. It has been nearly two years now this coming November.

That is why I am a HUGE advocate of online dating. Online dating sites like True.com are available to help people find someone special. True.com is a great solution for people who are shy, who don’t like a lot of social scenes such as bars or clubs, or don’t have the time to get out and meet people. Life is pretty hectic without the additional stress of trying to maintain an active social life. Not everyone can be the type to love crowds and busy places. I hate them. It can be really disappointing and stressful to try to meet someone. One of the great benefits of online dating is that you don’t have to deal with jerks buying you drinks to charm you. There’s no sense of intimidating confrontation when you have to reject someone. If you don’t like a profile, just don’t reply. At True.com you can also search for free. Singup is absolutely free, so you have nothing to lose and perhaps something to gain.

It’s not good to be alone and there are a lot of online success stories. I’m one of them! Now go out and get someone, everyone.

Popularity: 6% [?]

I am an avid eBayer. I have spent entirely too much money on eBay buying doujinshi and Vampire Chronicles comic books, but I regret absolutely none of it. In fact, I love the ease of online shopping in general. One thing that I have noticed, though, is that a lot of sellers online do not offer international shipping. I’ve seen notices that certain stores or sellers offer products to the ‘US Only’ more times than I could possibly count and probably a lot more than I’ve even noticed.

Now there is a service that allows international buyers to purchase from sellers who do not ship internationally. Shipito.com is a package forwarding service that will provide a US address to someone outside of the US, which can be used when purchasing goods online. For a fee, when the Shipito.com warehouse gets a package, they notify the purchaser by email and calculate appropriate shipping and handling fees to be paid in order to send the package overseas to the buyer. Shipito.com will send your package to you no matter where you are in the world. All you have to do is pay the cost and you can have what you want regardless of the initial limitations of the seller. Shipito.com also offers a service in product purchasing by which they will buy online, after money is received, what goods or services are requested.

You can also sign up for their affiliate program and make 10% commission from fees.

The website is really user friendly and the FAQ tells you everything you need to know about the actual process of using a Shipito.com address. Bookmark the page so that the next time a seller won’t send to where you live, you’re not hindered by it.

Popularity: 3% [?]

I wear glasses. I have been wearing glasses since the age of about 12, which by now is more than half my life. Having blue eyes has also made me very sensitive to the sunlight. My eyes react badly to sunlight; sometimes when I go out on a bright day, my eyes close themselves and refuse to open. I bought transition lenses for my eyeglasses, but they don’t darken enough and I still squint or wind up with terrible headaches.  It’s uncomfortable to be out in the sun, to say the least.

So, I’ve been thinking about buying a pair of prescription sunglasses. Problem is, I am broke. I can’t afford to go out and spend money I don’t even have on sunglasses no matter how badly I need them year round. In the car yesterday, driving into the direct and painful desert sun, I brought this up to my mother and told her about Zenni Optical at ZenniOptical.com.

With eyeglasses starting at only $8, I can definitely work that into my budget. For only $4.95 more, I can have my lenses tinted with sunglass tint. Perfect. Prescription sunglasses at just under $15. Of course, the frames I like are a little more expensive:

Even with the frames above, with Zenni Optical’s prices, I could get a pair of glasses with cute brown frames and amber tinted prescription lenses for about $25.

Of course, you get more than sunglasses at ZenniOptical. You can also purchase regular prescription lenses, bifocals, sunsensor lenses and progressive lenses. If you need sunglasses but don’t want to go all out and purchase a seperate pair of glasses, you can add on a sunshade for $3.95. The selection of frames is large but stylish. You would think that paying $8 would mean getting something awful like a grandmother would wear, but I quite like many of the frames Zenni Optical offers. And the frames range in material from plastic to titanium so you’re not getting some cheap material that will break after a few uses.

Do you have kids who wear glasses? Zenni Optical is a great option for parents because kids go through many pairs of glasses as they grow up. I know growing up that I broke at least 5 frames, which each had to be replaced at $100 or more.  I also grew out of countless more.  My mother would have loved a place like Zenni Optical when I was growing up.

How can they offer so much for so little? Zenni Optical keep their costs low by avoiding all of those middlemen steps and extra retail costs. If you need more to base your decision on, Zenni Optical just recently gotten a good review on The Clark Howard Show.  Definitely check out the website and see what they have to offer.  Why not save money when and where you can, right?

Popularity: 4% [?]