Vacationing Luxuriousely For Less – It CAN be done! 0

Posted by on in Family, Food, Restaurants and Eating Establishments, Vacation and Get Aways





Vacationing Luxuriousely For Less – It CAN be done!

OK so you’re thinking of taking the family or perhaps your special squeeze or maybe just yourself on a much needed get the heck outta Dodge vacation. Good for you! Problem is, like many, you work for some (idiot) that doesn’t pay enough to make the bills, much less a vacation of any sort. So, how can you make this work? Well, here’s a few tips to help stretch those bucks and help you have a good time.

Plan ahead. This has to be the biggest number one tip I can give anyone. If you do your trips last minute you will pay and pay and pay. Hotels and fun places KNOW this and they hike the prices accordingly. So think and plan ahead. if ou’re a member of AAA go get their trip books, maps and talk with one of their trip advisors. This along could be worth the price of your annual membership with them. Plan what you want to do, where you want to go and when the best time to go – based on what you want to do and best prices. Also, once again, Google is your friend.

Watch for venu specials and promotions. Most of the places you want to visit know when the soft spots in their traffic flows are and they push promotions to keep the bodies flowing during those lulling times. Know this and work it to your advantage. The times I like are either just before or after a major holiday season. Between Thanksgiving and Xmas have been great times for me and the first half of January when the kids are all back in school also tends to be nice. Study the university schedules for when their breaks and major exam schedules are. Trust me kids aren’t going to be going on vacation in any large groups when they have final projects due and exams coming up…and neither are their parents. May is also a nice time for me as students are finishing up school work almost accross the board and places can be empty.

Shop your tours carefully. Tour vendors like Grayline can add alot to your trip with their local tours of major sites. Use them and other tour options strategically. Face it, you can get yourself from here to there faster and cheaper than a tour company can. So once you’re there, use them there for what they know and do best. Also you may get better deals if you book your tours for during the week versus the weekend. There’s usually less traffic and demand during the week.

Plan your meals and food wisely. Throw a small cooler in the trunk and use it for drinks, sandwiches, yogurt or whatever you like to eat. Many hotels offer breakfast as part of the deal.

Personally, I really like Hampton Inn’s for this as they are totally family and business friendly. I can a few pieces of fruit, yogurt, put together a trail mix, etc., and take it with me. Finding a small grocery on your travels is usually easy to do. Use that cooler strategically for drinks, sandwich fixings, etc., and you can save a small bundle of chow expenses.

Choose where you stay carefully. You can enjoy your stay and vacation just as easily at a place that is cost effective as you can at one that is woefully over priced and under delivered. There are some chains that are clearly marketing their name and have over priced their product and deliver the same if not less than much better priced options. Personally, this is one of the reasons that I tend to avoid Marriott facilities.

Watch for resorts and venues that offer more family friendly options. Some have special kid friendly events and programs that are specifically designed for kids and the family.

One of my preferred websites after the AAA site is nps.gov. This is the page for the national Park Service. You will find an incredible wealth of information here of places to go, things to do and see that are incredibly affordable and an incredible amount of fun. If you look at the park system, also give serious consideration to the annual pass. I can save you a tidy bundle on the parks with entrance fees. Also check you state web sites and counties for their park systems as well.
Read the travel sections of your local paper with a very discerning eye. Keep in mind that most of those articles you’re reading with all those nice pictures of places to see are probably written by somebody’s public relations group and printed as if they were a feature article. They’re little less than an over written advertisement. They CAN have some really good and useful information, but read them with a big eyes wide open filter.

I hope you do your research and have a great trip.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Holiday Toy Shopping – Some Ideas To Make Life Easier … 0

Posted by on in Christmas, Holidays





Holiday Toy Shopping – Some Ideas To Make Life Easier …

OK, so we’re being inundated already with everyone out there schlepping their schlock for you to buy as gifts for people that for some reason you think you should be buying stuff for at this time of year. For some reason lemmings come to mind. October is hardly over any already you can’t walk through Walmart because the aisles are just over filled with xmas schlock that someone from Arkansas thinks you should be spending your money on.

So, I’ve picked up a few ideas that may be able to help you endure the rites of the season when it comes to getting what you’re wanting for those that you’re wanting it for…

GET THE HOT STUFF EARLY. Yeah, vendors know what’s hot and they’re sure to make sure the prices are highest earlier in the season but if it’s something you need for your list, your best advised to get it while the getting is good. Beating the rush will also let you get in and out of stores with a minimum of battle fatique.

Consider store services. Many stores, including the ubiquitous Walmarts, Targets, Sears, etc., offer local pickup for online purchases. Some use these services for groceries and perishables, but the same service is also available for most anything they sell. If you don’t want to risk a package being left on your front door or having UPS drop your package off at a house you haven’t lived at for a long time, ask the vendor if they have in store pickup. It can also save you time standing in line especially if you’re dealing with a place like Walmart which never seems to have more than 3 lines open for checkout.

Consider layaway. This can be be a good way to lock in a purchase for later pickup and/or payment, thus assuring you have what you need when you need it, especially if you don’t have the cash or credit line to buy it now…or if you just don’t want the little monsters sniffing around boxes to see what the Easter Bunny is going to put under the tree. Yeah, I said Easter Bunny – he’s as real as Santa is…. No, I’m not against Christmas. I just think it’s an over hyped, over marketed day of the year that tends to last for three months each year. I’m one that thinks the TRUE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT is one that should be practiced 365 days a year, regardless of what day in December it is. Perhaps I’m odd that way.

Watch your sales. Many times stores have “sales” which amount to little more than telling you they’re selling something that you already know they’re selling, but the price really hasn’t changed if at all. Be a smart shopper. Compare shopping to the max! Just because stores blast you with “SALE!” doesn’t mean the price has been lowered, it just means they’re selling stuff and have stuff for “sale”. Caveat emptor!

Use the online services like Amazon, Craigslist, etc. Make sure you’re careful who you buy from and I would suggest you use a credit card as much as possible to give you an additional buffer of security if there’s an issue with the purchase. You may even find something in those ever more frequent and annoying spam “suggested postings” on things like Facebook. Gold is where you find it. These items also generally arrive in a generic brown package so the little monsters have less of a chance of knowing what’s really inside.

So, sit back, relax, pop open a cold one and let your fingers do the walking…or maybe your mouse.

And a Happy Humbug to one and all…may the Good Lord bless us all…every one… 🙂

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Fighting Chance of Saving Your Lost Thumb Drive 0

Posted by on in PC Stuff, Software, Wish I'd Thought Of That!





Fighting Chance of Saving Your Lost Thumb Drive

OK, so if you’re like many of us you have at least one of those ubiquitous small thumb drives(aka Memory Sticks). Also, chances are you’re not backing it up and you have half your life and other critical data on it. And, oops…damn, but you just forgot it in the PC drive at the library and now it’s maybe gone forever!

Well, since so many people are using and losing thumb drives, I’ve suggested that my students insert their thumb drive in the PC, bring up the windows browser and RIGHT CLICK on the thumb drive “drive” identifier and SELECT PROPERTIES.

Once in the properties panel for the drive, they can change the volume label and put their name and cell# in it, and hit APPLY when done. Once they do this, every time that drive is inserted and accessed it will be with their name/cell# as the device volid. This doesn’t guarantee that a lost thumb drive will find it’s way back to an owner, but it’s a fighting chance.

The amount of space they have to play with will vary depending on if it’s formatted FAT32 or NTFS, with NTFS giving them more space.

It’s no guarantee, but it does give you a fighting chance at maybe getting your thumb drive back…here’s hoping luck is in your favor.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Happy Halloween Tips 0

Posted by on in Halloween, Holidays






Happy Halloween Tips

OK, so it’s tricks and treats time… It’s also time to plan for some safety tips for you and your munchkins so that all enjoy a fun and safe evening.

Make sure that people can see you and your little monsters while they’re walking around. If the outfit is dark, consider adding some strategically placed reflector tape on the back or lower hems or legs so that others can see them.

Considering that a mask can hinder your goblin’s sight, make sure they can see out of it well (you may have to strategically take a pair of scsissor to the eye holes) or you may want to consider using stage makeup instead of a mask.

When you’re buying an outfit, check to see if it has flame retardant properties. You don’t want your kid and the evening going down in flames.

If a spear, sword or other weapon is part of their outfit, you may want to make sure that they’re easy to handle and not sharp.

Make sure your kid knows your cell phone number and how to use 911. Face it, it’s dark and sometimes kids can get lost.

Check your castle pathways for obstructions. You don’t want any visiting goblins to get hurt and it also helps to keep those over paid lawyers off your backs.

Keep your pets on a leash or better yet, indoors or caged.

Don’t let your kids go out alone or unescorted by an adult or responsible person. That should be self obvious.

Fresh batteries in the flashlight is a no brainer!

Only go to homes with the porch lights on or that are well lit. This is not only a safety concern but it also helps you and our kids from going to homes that aren’t participating in the evening events.

Where possible, stay in a group. Better yet, form a small group and go together.

Don’t cross over yards…stay on the sidewalk. You never know what people have forgotten in their yards when they were weeding it earlier that day.

Don’t presume that motorists can see you! Cross where you’re supposed to and LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE CROSSING!

If you have a concern or something seems out of place or a concern, call the cops. It may be nothing, but then too many “nothings” have
ended up being problems later on.

Check all the candies and other goodies your monsters are given BEFORE they eat them. “Trust but verify” is always a good policy when getting goodies from people you don’t know.

Be careful, use your smarts and have a great evening.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Hey Walmart – It’s not even November! REMOVE THE XMAS CRAP! 0

Posted by on in Christmas, Holidays




Hey Walmart – It’s not even November! REMOVE THE XMAS CRAP!

Ok, so I’m wandering into my local Walmart this morning to snag a paper and some items. It’s October 29. Not even Halloween! Thanksgiving (A REAL Holiday) is weeks away!

So, what’s the FIRST THING I see? Rows and rows and rows of xmas crap! It’s OCTOBER! GEEZUZ people!

Can you say OVER MERCHANDISING???? Can you say TOTALLY DISCUSTING!?

Now we all KNOW that there’s NO Biblical or historical basis for the Christ child to have been born on December 25. That’s a matter of record! BUT WTF WALMART??? Why do you have to put all this xmas crap out in OCTOBER!???

Frankly, you and your ilk are removing ANY spirit of xmas that anyone had at this time of year or later. You’re OVER marketing, OVER selling,and in general just showing to the world once again that you really don’t care about the SPIRIT of xmas, you only care about how early you can start selling your schlock and making money off of people stupid enough to be buy your crap in OCTOBER!

How about waiting until we’ve at least finished our Halloween candy and put the damn turkey in the over!

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.

McDonalds Buttermilk Crispy Tenders – JUST SAY NO! 0

Posted by on in Food, McDonalds



McDonalds Buttermilk Crispy Tenders – JUST SAY NO!

OK so it’s mid afternoon, I’m charging down the interstate on my way to class and hungry after a long 8 hour drive that started too early in the morning.
Popping off the interstate I eye my selections of fast styrofood options and opt for Micky-D’s…I would have gone with Chik Filet, but the one in Dalton Georgia doesn’t have a clue what cole slaw is!

Alas! Something new at Micky-D’s….chicken tenders….OK…I’ll bite… So, I order a box with fries…had a diet coke already with me and needed to save a few bucks after paying a king’s ransom for the tenders. Got to the office and popped open the box… To say that McD’s doesn’t understand standard sizing would be an understatement. This was supposed to be a 10-piece box…the pieces ranged in size from OK to “where the heck is it!?”. Frankly, they should sell them by weight and not by the piece, it would be more accurate for the consumer.

Once you get past the heavy use of pepper in the batter, they really don’t taste that bad… The big downer for me was the honey mustard. This isn’t Marzetti’s by ANY stretch of the imagination.

Frankly, it’s some kind of slime compound that has some mustard and I presume honey mixed in with it. YUCKERS!

The biggest turnoff is the price! $10 for a box of 10 pieces of assorted sizes… Uh, folks I get much better tenders at Publix and their honey mustard is real honey mustard sans the slime!

It was an interesting experiment, but I’m putting this one in the stack of Edison’s first 10,000 lightbulbs that were total failures…not going back for that again. Glad I had a large DC to wash them down with!

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.

Las Vegas – an act of pure evil. 0

Posted by on in guns, Law Enforcement





Las Vegas – an act of pure evil.

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few hours you’re well aware of the act of carnage and pure evil perpetrated by a deranged gunman upon concert go’ers in Las Vegas. Frankly, America, in shock from this senseless event, prays for the victims, first responders and those that are now taking care of all the victims.

But with disasterous events like this, we are sure to find the opportunists more than eager to come out of their closets and crow for their causes celebre. This event is no different.

Clearly the empty talking heads of the perpetually clueless left wing liberal media continue to spew their pavlovian rhetoric of misinformation and biased talking points. Add to this, washed up celebrities with low ratings that are eager to do anything to get their names and faces in the press with the hopes of getting some recognition points by the cadres of their former fans and maybe make a few buck$ for themselves at the same time.

Yes, I’m talking about all the anti-gun, gun control, and advocates for yet more gun laws that are actually seeming to outpace beer ads on the TV in the last few days. These dolts with their sudden high profiles think that only they have the answer to these kinds of events and that their answer is to remove all guns. Frankly, history shows us that once again, their liberal bent is wrong and doesn’t work.

Once again, we have to remind them that this is NOT a gun issue, this is a VIOLENCE issue perpetrated by a deranged individual. Further that history, even current history, is repleat with facts of violence being metted out using what ever means are available to the perpetrator. It can be everything from a machette in a crowd to running a car into a mob of protesters like we saw a few weeks ago in Virginia.

Do you think that any of these all knowing, anti-gun liberals were howling for Ford Motors to stop making cars because a singe asshole ran his vehicle into a crowd? But why not? Following their mentality, it would only make sense.

If we really want to see just how good gun laws really work we have to look for further than the daily crime statistics of Chicago. Wake up.

So, if people think that removing all guns is the solution then I have to ask: Why not tell Ford Motors to stop making cars? Clearly drunk drivers are using cars to kill people at a quantifiably higher rate than the events in Vegas this week. How about the alcohol consumed by the drunk drivers
– I don’t hear liberals and the empty talking heads of the media crowing to Miller Beer to stop making High Life! Why not? The concept is the same!

OH, well, maybe they think that only guns can kill people….cars and drunks can’t. I see… Interesting logic, but then, we are talking about liberals.

Remember back when Timothy McVeigh used a rented truck with a fertilizer bomb to blo0w up the Murrah Building in OKC? Did the liberals or anyone else call for all trucks to stop being manufactured? NO. Did they call for all rentals to stop? NO. Did we remove any fertilizers? NO. We removed Timothy McVeigh….and way too humanely from my perspective. This may be considered cruel by most liberals, but there are a very few times and crimes that I firmly think we should consider bringing back things like crucifixion, impaling and the wheel. McVeigh clearly fits these scenerios.

Let’s look at a few other things:

Cigarette smoking kills about 480,000 U.S. citizens a year. Alcohol kills about 90,000 U.S. citizens a year. Medical errors by doctors and nurses kill 250,000 U.S. citizens a year. Illegal drugs kill more than 60,000 U.S. citizens per year. U.S. citizens that are murdered by guns are about 13,000 per year and it’s really interesting to look at the demographics, causes and targets of these events. Before you let an irrational liberal friend try to sway you on making guns harder to get, ask that friend what he or she is doing to make tobacco harder to get…inb ANY form! And don’t get me going on abortion . . .

Wake up America. THINK FOR YOURSELVES and don’t follow the empty talking heads that think they should decide what you should be thinking.

This isn’t a gun issue any more than drunk driving is an issue for Ford Motors. It’s a violence and mental illness issue. And, it needs to be dealt with aggressively and vigorously.

Punishing millions of law abiding citizens for the evil of a single person or a few is NOT the answer.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Hell – Endothermic or Exothermic? 0

Posted by on in hell, religion






Hell – Endothermic or Exothermic?

On this august occasion of my 59th birthday, the question of weather hell was endothermic or exothermic came up, as these kinds of subjects sometimes do during times of celebrations of great events. I’m also presuming that there were no insinuations in the conversation as to where the participants presumed I would end up after my demise.

In pondering this weighty question on this momentus day, I reflected back to an internet posting purporting to be an extract from a mid-term exam given some time ago at the University of Washington.

The question was: “Is Hell exothermic(gives off heat) or endothermic(absorbs heat)? Support your answer with proof.”

Well, in true academic attempts of pontification, most of the students wrote proofs based on their beliefs using Boyle’s Law (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some mutation thereof.

One student, however, is supposed to have written the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate which they are leaving. I think we can safely presume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave.

Ergo, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s first look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls will go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. How we look at the change of the volume of Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added.

This gives us two possibilities:

1 – Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure win Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2 – Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature will drop until Hell freezes over.

So, which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me that Ms Therese Banyan during my Freshman year that “it will be a cold day in hell before I sleep with you”, and take into account that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then: (2) cannot be true and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic.

I leave you with this point to ponder as you celebrate the best day of the year, September 19th.

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.



Windows vs. Ford 0

Posted by on in Laptops, Laptops and Tablet PC's, Windows






Windows vs. Ford.

OK, I know it’s been a long time since this COMDEX and COMDEX has been replaced by CES, but since some times some things don’t change very quickly and there are just some things in history that you never forget. Enjoy a good chuckle.

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX) : Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill’s comments,

Ford issued a press release stating:

If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1…. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash………twice a day.

2…. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3…. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4…. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5…. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6…. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7…. The airbag system would ask,”Are you sure?”before deploying.

8…. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9…. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10…. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.

11…. Periodically we will automagically download a new program so that things on your dashboard will be in new places we didn’t tell you about. Unless you find a setting we don’t tell you about, this will usually happen when you are going over 50 MPH. (not part of original – suggested by a learned reader )

PS – I’d like to add that when all else fails, you could call “customer service” in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!

I’m Don Rima and that’s how are From Where I Stand…



F*E*A*R* 0

Posted by on in Management, Point(s) To Ponder, Self Improvement





F*E*A*R*

I ran into an interesting lecture from Jack Canfield today. He refers to the word “fear” as an acronym.

He defines FEAR as Fantasized Experiences Appearing Real.

This reminds of me of Winston Churchill’s “the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”…. Add to this Henry Ford’s “If you think you can’t do something, you probably can’t….”

Just a few thoughts to ponder.

Go forth and conquer!

I’m Don Rima and that’s the view From Where I Stand.