Sunday, November 21, 2010

Business Law and the Regulation of Business, 9th Edition Review 0324537131/9780324537130

Business Law and the Regulation of Business, 9th Edition
Richard A. Mann, Barry S. Roberts
ISBN-10: 0324537131
ISBN-13: 9780324537130

This book has detailed and easy to understand text on business law terms. The book provides applicable examples to each topic and makes each business law subject easy to understand. The book also includes tons of real case studies with detailed briefings on how the case relates to the topic, what the facts were in the case and what the ruling was. The end of each chapter also includes a quick outline to study and understand. The back of the book has a glossary of business law terms as well as details on various articles of laws.

I also found a wonderful companion website provided by the publisher. This site provides practice quizes on topics from each chapter in true/false and multiple choice format. It was a huge help while studying for tests.
http://websites.swlearning.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&flag=student&product_isbn_issn=9780324537130&disciplina_number=404

The companion site even had a cenagebrain.com mobile app that led to the site via a mobile web browser.

I also found on the publisher site where it offered an electronic PDF version of Business Law and the Regulation of Business, 9th Edition (Mann, Roberts). The site offered 6-months of secure PDF access to the entire book for $117.99, or you could purchase a chapter for $3.99 each. Chapter 1 of Business Law and the Regulation of Business, 9th Edition was provided in PDF form for free download to give you a sample.
Go to the site below on the right site you will see digital download/purchase information.

http://www.cengagebrain.com/shop/en/US/storefront/US?cmd=catProductDetail&ISBN=9780324537130

The League (on FX) - TV Show Review

If you are a sports fan, a fantasy football fan, a guy, or a girl that likes guy humor you should check out "The League" on FX. The show is in its second season and incorporates fantasy football jokes into hilarious male humor. The show should really be on HBO or Showtime to allow for some nudity in some teams, but even on FX there are some racy scenes that any guy would enjoy along with a lot of great guy humor.


Thursday, November 18, 2010

Baseball Autograph Blog

I just started a blog on baseball player autographs. It documents how I obtained most of my autographs in hopes that it can help others find great ways how to get autographs from baseball players and comment on their experience.

http://mybaseballautographs.blogspot.com/

Paul Konerko
Evan Longoria

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf

In my boredom.. again.. I typed in asdf, this time finding "asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf" to be the longest most random suggested keyword by Google. So naturally I clicked asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf for the suggested keyword and low and behold found numerous sites with useless blog posts such as this. If this is how you found this blog post... leave a comment! Say, "Thanks to Google and boredom I found you!"











And if you like baseball check out http://www.baseballtrivia.net/

If you like random stuff... check out more posts on this blog: http://grblogger.blogspot.com/
Really this blog has no point. I just post random Google searches and pictures on it when I don't know where else to post.

Happy "asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf" to you! Glad your boredom led you here.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

10 reason why I love my Western Digital WD TV Live Media Player





10 reason why I love my Western Digital WD TV Live Media Player

  1. Simple interface. So simple my electronics inept parents can use it.
  2. Boots up quickly
  3. It is small, both the player and the remote and the remote. If you have a universal remote with a learning function you can program the WD TV Remote to your universal remote.
  4. The WD TV Live is silent
  5. 1080p output when hooked via HDMI to a 1080p HDTV (AppleTV does not do this)
  6. It plays everything, AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/2/4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), M2TS, WMV9. This means all your video files play no problem! No need to convert all your downloads to a new file format like you do with AppleTV.
  7. It works with any external hard drive or USB thumb drive and you can use a USB hub to hook as many USB storage devices as you want.
  8. Access media files on your home network – WD TV will connect to your home network allowing you to copy files from your computer to an external hard drive connected to the WD TV or simply play files right off your computer with media sharing. You can also view pictures and listen to music in the same way.
  9. It is affordable, $89.99 (external HD not included). For external hard drive recommendations I would recommend the Western Digital My Passport 500GB External Hard Drive.
  10. Play videos, music and photos from the Internet on your big screen TV – YouTube, Flicker, Pandora and Live 365 built in
If you have questions leave a comment and I'll share my experience with the Western Digital WD TV Live Media Player


   

Monday, September 13, 2010

Review - Western Digital 1TB Portable hard drive - My Passport Essential SE with Case

Purchase Price: $109.99
Where I bought it: eBay - eazeelectronics
Review:

The shipping time was very quick. I want to say 2-3 business days. The product was brand new in the package. It came preloaded with some WD backup manager software. The hard drive was smaller than my Toshiba portable hard drives which was impressive. It is much smaller than Seagate's 1TB FreeAgent GO hard drive.

The product retails for $119.00 so the price wasn't amazing. I know for a fact you can get deals on the hard drive for $99 during sales times. Also make sure to try to take advantage of Bing cash back whenever you can.

Send me a personal message with any specific questions on the product or the transaction.

UF MBA - Professional 1 Year MBA Program

I just began my first semester of the University of Florida's MBA Professional 1 Year MBA Program.

The Masters in Business Administration will take 16 months to complete and meets about 1 weekend a month. Each 4 month term has between 6-9 credits.

I did consider the Online UF MBA 1 year and 2 year programs before deciding to do the Prof 1 year MBA program. I also considered several other schools in the state of Florida for both online programs and in professional programs.

If you would like details about how well I did on the GMAT, how I studied for the GMAT, my undergraduate GPA, my prior work experience, etc please send me a  personal message. I am NOT going to share anything that is against UFs student conduct policy. I would be happy to share with you my thought process on applying and being admitted to the MBA program, what it might take to get into an MBA program, and what you can expect in your classes at UF.

Also, feel free to ask me about how big of a deal it is that an admissions director emailed or called you. Just remember, their job is to get you to pick their school over another school. They do have a major impact if you get in or not but they are definitely salesmen.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

How websites know where you live

Have you ever wondered how websites know what city you live in? You see adds that have your location built right into the ad. They do this by gathering geographical information using your IP address. Your IP address, or internet protocol address. Think of it as a mailing address for your computer and the internet is the road.


Saturday, April 17, 2010

iPhone OS 4 - sneak peak, multi tasking video, list of new features and more

Apple page - http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/
Steve Jobs keynote speech presenting all this info to shareholders - http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1004fk8d5gt/event/

On April 8th, 2010 Apple released its plans for the iPhone OS 4, which will be compatible with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the second- and third-generation iPod touch this summer, and with iPad in the fall.

Not all features in the iPhone OS 4 are compatible with all devices. Multitasking is available only with iPhone 3GS and the third-generation iPod touch (32GB and 64GB models from late 2009). This is due to the hardware needed to maintain good battery life while multitasking.

Here is an unofficial list of some of the "100+ new features" of iPhone OS 4.
1. iPod Out
2. Bluetooth keyboards
3. 5X digital zoom (camera)
4. custom wallpaper for home screen! (change lock screen, homescreen, or both)
5. MULTITASKING (double-click home button to use) Here's how it works. You can have at least 7 apps in the background, probably more. To keep your device from slowing, every developer can choose which aspects of their app to background. Therefore, the whole app isn't backgrounded: just main parts of the app. NOT FOR 2G iPod, 3G iPhone. Can work in beta 1 by editing one option in a file.
5a. Background audio - music from apps in the background
5b. Voice-over (VoIP) - talk over VoIp (Skype, etc) while in another app
5c. Background location - GPS in the background, indication in status bar of location tracking. This could allow apps to give you Push notifications based on your location such as 'there is a 10 car pile up 20 miles down the highway'. Multitasking opens so many doors for Apple.
5d. Push - (After 9 months, they've pushed over 10 billion notifications)
5e. Local Notifications
5g. Task Completion - finish task in background
5h. Fast App Switching - app stops completely, and starts from where it left off when you're back.
6. Unified Inbox - Don't you hate switching between your different email accounts just to read a few emails??
7. Folders - FINALLY! This is one you will like a lot more than you think. Imagine putting all your speed dial apps into one folder or keeping all your games organized.
8. iBooks Store for iPhone/touch - opens many new doors to the casual user.
9. Enterprise - Even better data protection. It encrypts email and attachments. There will be APIs available so developers can encrypt stuff inside their own apps. Also, Mobile Device management.
10. Game Center - The Apple-made social gaming center. This could be a big deal making the iPhone a somewhat legit hand held gaming device adding to a persons cost benefit analysis.
11. iAds (there have been 1 billion ad impressions per day, Apple wants in) Apple is helping developers (free ones as well) add advertisements to make money. Really... this is Apple trying to compete with AdSense and sticking it to Google after Android OS has cut into the iPhone sales.
12. Spell Check - about time... seems logical.
13. Call data only setting
14. Persistent Wifi - hopefully the new iphone will also have 802.11n support
15. Gift apps - buy your friends apps as a gift easily.
16. Rotate Photos - about time... seems logical.
17. Birthday Calendar
18. Recent web searches
19. Create playlists
20. Top hit in search
21. Sync IMAP notes
22. Nested playlists
23. CardDAV
24. Tap to focus video
25. Upload workouts to Nike+
26. Places in photos
27. People in photos
28. Search SMS/MMS messages
29. Wake on wireless
30. File & Diles Mail search results
31. Edit from outbox
32. Web search suggestions
33. Choose image size in Mail messages
34. CalDAV invitations
35. Larger fonts for Mail, SMS, Alerts
36. Removed the "Rate before delete" popup for apps - thank goodness, that was so annoying.
37. Alphanumeric Passcodes (letters and numbers in passcode)
38. Refined iPod app w/landscape and art in album view
39. Spotlight search includes Web and Wikipedia - hopefully this doesnt slow down the search
40. New streamlined contact screen
41. Borderless document view
42. Email threading
43. Location services indicator (arrow on status bar)
44. Icon revisions
45. Process Kill – the cntl+alt+del for iPhone... too help close frozen apps
46. Accessibility options refined
47. Braille connection
48. Push shows '!' in folders
49. Complete YouTube video rotation (except upside-down)
50. Video viewing directly on the Safari page – awesome.
51. Spotlight dock
52. Keyboard Layouts – thank goodness... perhaps this means T9 word is an option.
53. Note Syncing
54. Failed SMS Notification
55. Smart Links For Dates and Addresses in Emails

Great YouTube video showing the use of the multi tasking and custom wallpaper.




As you see only 50-60 features are really listed.. I believe a number of features are going to be specific to the much anticipated new iPhone release that will likely be announced in the next couple months. The specs of this OS already confirms many rumors that the new iPhone would have including multitasking, higher resolution camera, custom wall paper, folders, and more. Hearing these rumors confirmed leads me to believe some of the other rumors that have been going around. Specifically, the notion that the next iPhone will have an HD camcorder on the back.. and a low resolution 'webcam' so to speak on the front... allowing for video chats via your phone! Imagine being able to have web chats, or video calls with other new iPhone users, computers and probably next generation Andriod phone users. It opens a door that has been barely cracked to this point. iPhone will thrust video calling to become standard and normal and soon it will be easy for that father on the road to still watch his son play baseball, or to show your mother in law their grand childs first steps, or... you get the idea. Obviously, you don't always have to do a video call. If you just woke up, or are driving, or just don't want others to see you you can just call like you always have. But, it will be a nice option to have.
HD recording and 5mp camera... this is all getting ridiculous. Many people thought the Droid and other Android phones was the end of the iPhone. What really happened was Apple got a kick in the butt to push the limits of their hardware and AT&Ts network and stop holding back on features. The iPhone was always capable of, multitasking, folders, and most of the features we're getting. The reality is Apple felt crippling features would lead to more money and more stability for their phone. Now that Android exploited these 'weaknesses' of the iPhone we are seeing Apple wising up and stepping up their game to make the best iPhone, and phone to date.

I will note, while I do love the iPhone.. that I believe the Android OS will push phones to limits we never imagined. iPhone holds the advantage of streamlining the hardware used for their OS... where as Android is an operating system that is dependent on other manufacturers to utilize to their potential. So, if you plan on commenting on why Android is better, please make sure you are either comparing Android OS vs iPhone OS or comparing the iPhone to a specific phone that uses the Android OS (such as Nexus One, or Droid).

Other sources used:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/193824/iphone_40_multitasking_tops_list_of_new_features.html
http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284116

Monday, March 8, 2010

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
The English Alphabet
I just went to abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com and amazingly enough the website was parked. It had no use. I cannot believe such a great website (the alphabet) was wasted. I feel like hooked on phonics or an elementary school program should invest in the website and turn it into something useful. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com could be a great learning tool for reading and learning the alphabet.

Heck, if you google abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz you don't find anything useful. abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com does not even come up as an option. Any opinions?
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

How to build a dog ramp to the bed for your puppy or small dog for cheap - Step by Step instructions

We recently adopted a new puppy to our home. One thing we quickly realized is the dog is too small to jump up and down off the bed. We needed something to help the dog get to the top of the 26" high bed. There were no dog stairs packages that went high enough. We purchased a ramp from PetsMart for $130 that made stuck out 5 feet off the bed that the puppy used no problem. However, it was very much in the way of walking around the bed and extremely pricey. I vowed 'I could build a ramp for this that could run along the side of the bed and cost a quarter the price.'

I succeeded in building my own ramp for the dog. It cost a total of $22 (not including power tools).

Materials used:
A power screwdriver (or, a screwdriver if you want to do it the hard way)
A power circular saw (or, a hand saw if you want to do it the hard way)
A tape measure
Two eight foot 2x4 pieces of wood (2.64 each at Lowe's)
One ten foot 1x10 pieces of wood (9.72 at Lowe's)
20 or so screws ($3 at Lowe's)
10' roll of silverware drawer liner, 24" wide. ($4 at Wal-Mart)

Begin by cutting four 2x4 post the height of your bed. In my case 26". 
Second, measure the length of ramp you will need. This will vary depending on the bed and dog. In my case I cut 7'. So, I cut the 1x10 at the 7 foot mark.
Next I cut 1 foot of the 1x10 for the bottom base. And lastly I cut about 18" of the remaining 1x10 for the top platform. 18" so there is a 6" overlap to bridge the gap between the top of the ramp and the bed. We do not need the small dog or puppy having to jump over a 4" gap to get to the bed.






























Using the 12" of 1x10 base, screw in the four 2x4s to bottom of ramp base as legs. You will want to space them 5" apart. Screw them in with 1 screw each pillar for now. 

Make sure the distance between pillars is the same on both sides of the base. Write down these measurements as they must be equal on the top part of the base.











At the top leave 1 inch of the top of the 2x4 uncovered. This should come naturally if you measured exactly 5" between the stands legs.
Measure angle to cut by placing wood for ramp at the distance and angle you plan and mark the angle. Once you mark the 2x4 with the angle, cut off as shown in the above pictures. This is what the ramp will be screwed into.

Before screwing the ramp to the base you will want to attach the drawer liner to the ramp and base top. This is what will allow your dog to have traction and grip to walk up and down. Without a gripping surface your dog will slip and quickly be turned off by the idea of using the ramp. I used industrial adhesive glue, you can use another type of glue or nails or screws or whatever. After covering the top and the ramp with the gripping surface you can screw in the top of the ramp to the base.

If my instructions seemed unclear or confusing hopefully the many pictures will help fill in the gaps. I did this will little planning and can easily be adjusted to fit your bed or couches specifications. However, in the end it cost around $23. It takes up less walking room than the store bought ramps and is easier to use than stairs and again, cheaper.







Thursday, February 11, 2010

qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Google is fun. I was bored so I typed in 'qwerty' in Google and picked out the longest suggested suggested keyword search and hit search. They keyword was 'qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'. I have no idea how qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz became a suggested keyword. I love how it is actually two words. As if qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm was a word or something, and why on earth is it followed up by abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz? No idea. Hopefully that is not why you Googled the word... leading you to this site which has no answers on the matter.

I will probably look into keyword fun more when I find myself bored again typing random letters into Google. I did this with a similarly random keyword in an earlier post and surprisingly a lot of visitors have made their way to the post and left their mark on the guestbook. If you found this post by doing what I did... searching the suggested keyword "qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" in Google please post on the guest book! To me this is simply fascinating.


Wednesday, January 6, 2010

asdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjkl

Today in my boredom I typed in asdf in google in Firefox and noticed this keyword was surprisingly one of the auto-complete option, it was the longest one so I went with it.

I began wondering the affect a unique keyword such as the the title of this article "asdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjkl" would have on Google or yahoo or even perhaps bing/msn search results. Is it possible to get a simple yet meaningless blog post with a crazy title like asdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjkl to become a top 10 listing on google when this keywoard is searched?


Please post a comment if this is also how you found this post. I am very interested to see the impact of keywords in the title for blog posts in web pages. I find it fascinating!






















Did know urban dictionary actual has an entry for "asdfghjkl" ? How crazy is that. The letters represent the home (middle) row of the keyboard typed out from left to right.
Urban dictionary defines "asdfghjkl" as  "An expression of frustration for IM; Used in desperation when no other words will do."
Here is the link -> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=asdfghjkl

Hilariousness that can come from boredom and google.. and typing asdfghjkl