Three little words you often see
Are articles - an, a, and the.
A noun is the name of anything
As school, or garden, hoop, or swing.
Adjectives tell the kind of noun,
As great, small, pretty, white, or brown.
Instead of nouns the pronouns stand -
Her head, his face, your arm, my hand.
Verbs tell of something being done -
To read, count, laugh, sing, jump, or run.
How things are done the adverbs tell,
As slowly, quickly, ill, or well.
Conjunctions join the words together
As men and women, wind or weather.
The prepositions stand before
A noun, as in or through the door.
The interjections show surprise
As Oh! How pretty! Ah! How wise!
The whole are called the nine parts of speech,
Which reading, writing, speaking teach.

Anonymous

While visiting my friend Kelly for Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to taste coffee from a Thermador! I was excited. That is, until I learned that if I wanted coffee from the wonder machine, that we would have to read the manual. I searched online for video instructions and didn't find anything quickly. So we read the manual, made lots of coffee and had a great time. I whipped out my iphone video and Panasonic Lumix for still pictures and decided I would at least make a video for those visiting my friend Kelly to have a way to learn quickly on how to make coffee or espresso on her Thermador Savor Coffee Machine.

By the way, the official Thermador Savor Coffee Machine User Manual can be found here: http://www.thermador.com/public/documents/BICM24CS%20IU.pdf

Here's what I came up with:

I love technology. So much, that I think I buy some of it just to play with it. In March 2010 I bought a the Samsung LED 7100 series partially because of the screen quality, partially because it was internet ready and the Best Buy clerk told me it would stream Netflix videos wirelessly. Well, after the purchase, the first thing I learned was that I was required to buy the Samsung wireless adapter costing another $100 or so. Second thing I learned is that the clerk incorrectly told me that a Netflix widget was available for the Samsung model I purchased.

Several months later, August 2010 to be exact, I researched home theatre systems with surround sound audio. I learned that I could buy a Samsung Home Theatre system which had surround sound, a Blue Ray player, DEFINITELY had the Netflix widget I dearly treasured and supposedly worked flawlessly with a Samsung TV. I decided the Samsung HT-C6500 Home Theatre Blue Ray unit was the one for me. It too had internet; this time it came with wireless internet built in and I wouldn't have to buy an additional adapter.

After reading the manual, installing the surround sound speakers and syncing the Home Theatre remote with the Samsung 7100 series TV I was ready to finally relax in front of my television and watch Netflix movies. Now I'm no techno slouch, but I did have some challenges getting the remote to work, getting online to work and getting Netflix to work. After several nights after work devoted to setting up the Samsung Home Theatre system, I got it mostly working. I probably called Samsung twice, mostly because there was a card with big red font stating that I should call Samsung technical support before returning the product. At least I got the TV to finally work and then the internet a day later. I thought I was home free.....until I tried to turn off the HT-C6500 system and turn it on again. I made a short video of what happens.

If I am watching the Samsung 7100 TV using the Samsung HT-C6500 HDMI 1 port I have connected to the TV and use the remote (or manually power on/off) to turn off both units, this usually works nicely. The minute I use the remote (or manually turn on both units) to turn on both Samsung units, initially the TV turns on, the HT-C6500 unit turns on and I am watching the last TV station that was on the TV before it last turned off. About 5-8 seconds later, BAM! The Samsung Home Theatre system mysteriously switches modes to DD. 1! On EVERY occasion I must get the remote, make sure it is in Home Theatre unit mode and switch the function back to HDMI 1 mode. Not always, but usually this fixes it.

Other problems I have are that sometimes the TV mode mysteriously switches to TV and I must switch it back to BDC Home Theatre mode; the ONLINE mode goes straight to Pandora and starts playing music, not letting me switch widgets until I unplug the unit for at least 10 seconds; and many times the Home Theatre system won't do anything unless I unplug it.

In attempts to straighten out these problems I've been on numerous calls with Samsung and get different answers every time. I'm not sure what the real problem is but I keep updating firmware for both Samsung products in hopes that they will figure it out and pass the fix to me.

One good thing about these problems is that I am the only one that can watch the Samsung TV; because I am so smart, of course!

If you happen to have a fix for this problem, please contact me. I have searched high and low for a resolution.

Below is a demo of how the TV mysteriously switches from HDMI 1 mode to DD. 1 mode.

(To Be Read Aloud For 30 Days. Perhaps tape to the outside of a glass-in shower)

I am the source of all health and safety. I effortlessly create a fit body. My mind perfectly crafts inspired thoughts, visions and feelings needed by my ideal fitness state. What I choose to eat is abundant with everything my body needs and desires. My body completely administers the intake given to achieve optimum health. What my body needs and desires, I provide. Situations always occur making choices easy for my body needs and desires. What my body needs and desires to create a lean body, I recognize and fulfill. My body is naturally slender without hindrance or limit. Nothing can stand in the way of my attractively healthy body. The overflowing power of God energy overcomes every mental obstacle, and pours into my body's systems enabling it to process efficiently and effectively all that it needs, easily discarding that which it does not. Blessed is the food my friends, family, restaurants and other food providers offer. I radiate vigor, I radiate nutritional health, I radiate vitality, I radiate a loving body. I radiate a happy metabolism, thyroid, hypothalamus, pancreas, Beauty, Peace, Wisdom and Power. A gorgeously healthy slim body seeks me and rewards me. I am beloved of the body I honor and carry. I am recognized as a body aficionado wherever I go. My body appreciates me. The healthy body I keep is greatly appreciated. The healthy body I have begets everlasting health. Through my vision my body is blessed and beautiful. Through my clear thinking and steadfast purpose, wonderful new opportunities come into expression. My vision is as the vision of the mighty ones. My faith is as the faith of the un-defeatable. My power to accomplish is unlimited. I, in my uttermost God Source, am all health, all safety, all power, all success. I hereby declare my lean healthy body, NOW and henceforth forever.

Will Bowen, who wrote A Complaint-Free World, passed the following, saying it is the greatest consciousness conditioner available to attract abundance andThe Prosperity Prayer

Prosperity Affirmation

(Read Aloud Every Day for 30 days)

I am the source of all wealth. I am rich with creative ideas. My mind abounds with new, original, inspired thoughts.What I have to offer is unique, and the world desires it. My value is beyond reckoning. What the world needs and desires, I am ready to produce and give. What the world needs and desires, I recognize and fulfill. The bounty of my mind is without hindrance or limit. Nothing can stand in the way of my inspired creativeness. The overflowing power of God life energy overcomes every obstacle, and pours out into the world, blessing and prospering everyone, and everything through me. I radiate blessings, I radiate creativity, I radiate prosperity, I radiate loving service. I radiate Joy, Beauty, Peace, Wisdom and Power. Humanity seeks me and rewards me. I am beloved of the world. I am wanted wherever I go. I am appreciated. What I have to offer is greatly desired. What I have to offer brings a rich reward. Through my vision the world is blessed. Through my clear thinking and steadfast purpose, wonderful new values come into expression. My vision is as the vision of the mighty ones. My faith is as the faith of the un-defeatable. My power to accomplish is unlimited. I, in my uttermost God Source, am all wealth, all power, all productivity. I hereby declare my financial freedom, NOW and henceforth forever.

Do you believe in the ability to communicate with others on the other side? You know what I mean – hearing from those that have died on this earth plane. I have wondered about it for years. I never had any definitive experiences but I have continued being curious about it.

While still at work on Friday, February 27, 2009 about 6:13PM I was taking notes on a paper report when I noticed the fluorescent lamp above my desktop was flickering. I stopped working as I was aware of the strobe effect, almost being annoyed for the interruption. Something inside told me that someone was trying to get my attention and to take note. Nothing was obvious so I brushed off the notion and continued working. About one minute later the lamp started flickering again. I stopped again and felt there was something significant about these flashes and to take notice. I paused to reflect inward for a few seconds. Then, I realized that my iPod was playing a song over its speakers. This was no ordinary song. It’s a song titled The Living Years by Mike & The Mechanics. My interpretation of the song is that it’s a story about a son having regrets about his relationship with his deceased father. For some reason, my mother came to mind since she is deceased and is a parent figure. I felt she was the one wanting to communicate with me. It was quite interesting to think that perhaps she was dedicating a song to me from the other side.
Finding the coincident of the events quite novel I decided to call one of my friends. The first friend wasn’t home but I was still intrigued by the situation so I called a second friend. This is a friend that I’ve known since high school and she knew my mother. While the phone call to my friend was still ringing, the lamp started flashing again. Again, I felt it was my mother and this time she wanted me to tell Rosie hello. When Rosie answered I shared the story of what was going on that night and that additionally the lamp started flashing as if my mother wanted me to tell her hello. She too was fascinated. Rosie said that she has been thinking about my mother and even saw a woman that looked like my mother very recently. We delved into all the interesting facts about what was happening, feeling as if this was very real.

I continued working on my reporting project for another hour until around 7:30PM until I was ready to leave. As I packed up my things, I remembered the night’s unusual events and came to realize that the lamp had not flickered once since my phone call with Rosie. For me, this awareness continued to solidify the thought that what I experienced was real indeed.

On Saturday, still excited about the unusualness of what happened I called another friend to discuss the sequence of events and how interesting it was and how real it felt that my mother was communicating with me. As we discussed, I shared that my mother has been gone 5 years now and that in fact I thought today, February 28, was the anniversary of her death. Since I wasn’t sure I referenced a picture of my mother’s headstone that my brother took last year. As I looked at the picture, the death date etched in stone was clearly February 27, 2004. Knowing that yesterday’s event also occurred on February 27th chills went through both of us on the phone.

I’ve learned from a great teacher; words do not teach, experience does. This is my experience that I am choosing to believe.

The lyrics to The Living Years are posted below. Also, you can hear the song available on YouTube by clicking on the link below.

The Living Years by Mike & the Mechanics

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I’m a prisoner
To all my father held so dear
I know that I’m a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I’m afraid that’s all we’ve got

You say you just don’t see it
He says its perfect sense
You just can’t get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defense

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It’s too late when we die
To admit we don’t see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It’s the bitterness that lasts

So don’t yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don’t give up, and don’t give in
You may just be o.k.

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It’s too late when we die
To admit we don’t see eye to eye

I wasn’t there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn’t get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I’m sure I heard his echo
In my baby’s new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It’s too late when we die
To admit we don’t see eye to eye

We've all heard that San Francisco has some of the best dining in the world.

It turns out that I have a friend named TJ that LOVES to eat at restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area. He loves all types of cuisines and people. You should see his face light up when asked to describe his meal at one of his favorite restaurants. It's like nothing you've seen before.

He has lived in several states in the US and now resides in San Francisco. Since he loves restaurants and has many friends constantly asking him for restaurant advice -- including me -- he put together a list of his favorite San Francisco Bay Area restaurants. I took it a step further and found a web site http://www.batchgeocode.com that plotted his favorite dining spots on an interactive map.

So if you happen to be in the Bay Area and want to know Where Would TJ Eat?

Check this out!

http://www.batchgeocode.com/map/?i=efb6c56270a095d5fa1950473eb47360

Suzan

While internet surfing today, I clicked on a stumbleupon link from a http://www.junyor.net blog. It took me to this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsU3B0W3TMs

Very Interesting if you've been around Microsoft Windows for a few years like I have.



Surfin' Suzan

Right now, I like many others are looking for ways to save money on energy costs. I feel okay about how my car uses gas, but I've been uncomfortable for several years now on how my home uses electric energy. To make things worse, a home's electrical energy usage is a lot more complex than my car's. With my car, I can fill up my tank, zero out the trip meter, drive a bunch of miles, feel up my tank again and then calculate miles per gallon. Easy. Right!

With the home, I've got LOTS of electrical appliances. So how can I find out what is potentially using too much energy? Well, this morning, I'd had it! No more beating around the bush. I've already contacted energy auditors over the years, been to energy saving seminars and such. They all seem to be selling something like electric attic vents, which I bought a few years back. Then they proceed to tell you the most common causes of high utility bills such as insullation, energy star rated appliances, weatherstripping, solar screens, gas-filled windows, soffet vents, roofing and such. All are good ideas -- somewhat stale, but good nonetheless.

What I'm about to share is troubleshooting the spinning wheel type of electric meter. I'm no expert and I hope I don't get in any trouble sharing my experience.

Something simpler always seemed obvious to me. Why didn't anyone talk about troubleshooting and identifying exactly WHICH appliance or device was making my electric bill so high. I have even asked several energy advisers this very question. What I have now done twice, with success, is watch the electric meter spin when I thought it shoud not be spinning so fast. It takes just a little experience to get an idea of how fast it should spin. Example -- trust me on this one, especially if you are in Texas -- is to wait for the air conditioner to turn on and then watch the meter. It's my opinion, that in my home the A/C is the biggest electric usage I have. Notice how fast the meter spins. This gives you some type of benchmark. When the A/C turns off the electric meter's spinning wheel slows down.

My first time performing a do-it-yourself electrical energy audit was in 1987-ish. Back then, I was experiencing HUGE electric bills. I called the landlord to let them know and they were no help, probably because my high utility bill didn't affect their bottom line. Then, I called the electic company to find out if there was a mistake. They said, "No." I was desperate. I had no extra money at the time and had to solve the mystery. What I did was to take a scientific approach at solving through process of elimination. I did this alone too. I went outside looked at the spinning meter. Then, went inside and unplugged one appliance at a time. Eventually, I thought I unplugged everything and the meter was still spinning at a good clip. I went through the apartment one last time, when I saw that I had my waterbed heater still plugged in. I unplugged it went outside and the meter stopped. I was surprised. I went ahead and replaced the waterbed heater, which let me just tell you is no easy task. Since that replacement, my electric bills went down significantly. It turned out my waterbed heater had a short. Who knew? How could I know? It was still working and I wasn't fried to a crackly crunch. But, the mystery was solved and that's what mattered.

Fast forward, I don't know if I should say this, but two months ago my electric bill was $800, give or take a nickel. This morning I awoke feeling inspired to tackle this energy hog. I knew the air conditioners were off and went outside to check on the electric meter's spinning. Hmm, I thought to myself, this seems to be running quite fast for no A/C units running. Time to start the process of elimination. These days, I have a bigger home and lot more appliances using electricity. The approach I took this time was to use the electrical breaker box to shut down electrical areas to identify the enerty hog. I found two breakers when turned off, significantly affected the spinning. One was the refrigerator. Well, that makes sense. It's only about 2 years old, so I'm not so concerned about the fridge just yet. The second offending breaker was the pool equipment. This usually has to run about 8 hours a day. I always heard the pool equipment should NOT use but about $75 worth of energy. Where I am right now is that I'm questioning a few things around the pool. The pool repairman has mentioned in the past, more than once, that my relay switch board was going out. Maybe that's the culprit. So I will be making an appointment with my favorite American Pacific Pools serviceman Gary to come check it out. I am truly hoping that I identified the energy waster. I also plan on getting a new downstairs air conditioner this winter when the prices are more reasonable. At least I feel better about knowing what besides the Air Conditioner was contributing to the high electric bills.

I intend to update this article as I learn more about the pool equipment.

Remember that you CAN help reduce your utilities without professionals and spending a lot of money. As the Nike slogan goes, "Just Do It!"

Signed...

Self Trained Energy Auditor Suzan

As many people today still are unfamiliar with wireless routers and the complicated minimal settings, I decided to write this article and keep it up-to-date with the latest. I need reminders too, you know!

While I don't go into each router manufacturer's how to do the below tips, I still want to list the laundry list of tasks to do during a router set up.

1. Change the SSID router name to something different that it's out-of-the-box name. It's the name you see in Wireless Networks Available lists when trying to connect from a wireless connection. If the SSID automatically says "Linksys" or "Default", for God's SAKE, change it. This gives potential bad guys a clue as what to do next with your router, should they be interested in disrespecting it. Tip: do not use a name that gives a clue as to who you are or where you are.

2. Choose the best encryption: WPA2. WPA2-AES is a good one.

Note: Recently, WPA-TKIP encryption has been said to be crackable. WEP is also known to be cracked. And, you don't want your router shouting "I've been violated", do it right. Actually, the odds are low that you would be hacked at all, but if you want the industrial strength protection, it's WPA2-AES. If your router only does WEP, get a different router or update the firmware if you are seriously concerned with someone cracking your password to get on your network.

3. Set up a connection password.

4. Turn off WAN administration. This means if your router is unsecured and or hacked the bad guy can make other changes to your router settings.

5. Turn "OFF" UPNP (Universal Plug N Play). It keeps programs on your own computer from changing the router settings without your knowledge. Note: XBOX 360 will not be happy, but there is a work-around.

That's it for now. I hope to update this article with anything else I learn and more details.

Signed...

Super Suzan!