Monthly Archives: February 2011

Calgary Alberta is Electrical!

Posted on February 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

My wife and I recently had the pleasure of visiting the absolutely electrical Calgary Alberta! We had never been to Canada before and so for this year’s vacation we chose a location that perhaps might not be at the top of everyone’s list of places to see, but as we’ve found sometimes it’s the more obscure locations that offer the most unique experience.

Among our adventures in Calgary we visited the Titanic artifact exhibition which was a real treat! My wife is a die hard fan of the Spielberg movie so I wasn’t getting out of this one. Of course we couldn’t miss the Calgary Tower — the city’s most famous and identifiable physical landmark, offering a breathtaking 360-degree view of the city! Then of course there was the zoo where we saw a surprising array of animals from all over the world.

My wife and I like to fly by the seat of our pants and so most of the attractions we visited were those we were referred to by our hotel staff. There was one in particular however which we had always wanted to see — a national historic site called Fort Calgary. As much as we Americans like to poke fun at “the Mounties” their story was actually a quite fascinating one.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to take everything in with one weekend so we will be going back, eventually. Electrical indeed!

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What Is An Enrolled Agent And How Does One Become One?

Posted on February 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Do you ever worry that the IRS is going to come after you one day for something you’ve done? Have you been assuming that all you need is an attorney and some extra money? Well, you may be right but in all likelihood you are going to need something they call an enrolled agent.

Before this last week I had never heard of an enrolled agent and when I did at first was completely confused. It turns out that in order to interact with the IRS on behalf of an individual you need to have a sort of certification and that is where the enrolled agent comes in. In order to be recognized as an enrolled agent you need to do one of two things:

- Either take a standardized written exam

or

- Have sufficient IRS experience

The second option of the two I’m not clear on. Do you need to have worked for the IRS, and if so what kind of time period are we talking about? The short answer is that I’m not sure, of course if you have worked for the IRS I expect this is the sort of thing you’d know, feel free to share in the comments.

So if the IRS is knocking on your door about something maybe it is time you find someone qualified to represent you. Good luck!

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I’m Scared To Start the P90X Program!

Posted on February 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’ve been trying to get stronger lately. I’m one of those lucky girls that can eat just about anything (and I eat everything) and not gain weight. The problem is that I don’t really look strong, and I’m probably the weakest adult woman I know. Sometimes, I have a hard time lifting groceries out of my car. I’m seriously that weak.

A lot of my friends have been talking about the P90X program for working out and toning the body. They say that they all feel more powerful and stronger after just 3 months of working out. I’m hoping that it can do the same thing for me, but even just yoga in the P90X program kicks my butt. I went over to my friend’s house to work out with her, and I felt embarassed about my wussy body.

The P90X program is famous for literally transforming bodies, and I hope that it will be able to help me strengthen mine. I just can’t start law school and have a hard time carrying my own back pack. I can run and run for miles, but that doesn’t really help when you’re trying to walk from class to class with heavy items. Hopefully I can get stronger before the new school year starts.

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Support Modest Wedding Dresses!

Posted on February 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Fashion is interesting. I think that it is a reflection of society’s overall views on morals and values. While that even sounds cheesy and old-fashioned to me, I still think that it is true. Maybe I feel that way because I was raised in a fairly religious community where many people stressed the importance of modesty. However, even in the most liberal of modern societies, walking down the street naked is still taboo and will still get you arrested in many places for public indecency or something equivalent. Considering that fact, it is obvious that our society still places some value on modesty. Still, one can easily see which direction fashion is going in terms of modesty.

Every year, fashions seem to either get a little tighter or a little shorter. Music videos provide an excellent example of this. Music videos were not a huge problem when I was growing up. Most Lady Gaga or Britney Spears videos these days make the Victoria’s Secret fashion show look prudish. The sad thing is that many young girls see pop stars like those mentioned and try to dress like them. Modest wedding dresses are even becoming rare these days. Luckily for me as a parent, modest wedding dresses are making a comeback in some places. There are even businesses that specialize solely in modern wedding dresses. When my daughter gets married years from now, those will be the first places that we check for a wedding dress.

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Wyoming Summer Camps

Posted on February 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

I think that summer camps for teens are a great idea. When I was a kid, most of my free time was spent playing outside. My friends and I would spend most of our time playing sports. Occasionally we would turn on the hose and race boats made of popsicle sticks down the gutter along our street. Sometimes we would doorbell-ditch our neighbors. I was in the Boy Scouts and we would go on Wyoming summer camps once in a while. We had no cell phones, no Facebook, no Xbox, and yet we still found plenty of things to do. I’ve got a sister who is a teenager right now. It’s amazing to watch how her world crumbles without her cell phone.

Some teenagers these days are so attached to their electronic devices that they would rather text somebody in the same room than have to have a face-to-face conversation. I hope that when my child reaches that age that we can have a conversation in person instead of just texting each other. If my kids can’t do that, I think that I will enroll them in some Wyoming summer camps where they can get back to reality and realize there’s more to life than phones and Ipods.

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Electronic Cigarette to Prevent Emphysema

Posted on February 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how using an electronic cigarette might have changed my uncle’s life. I’ve read that using an electronic cigarette can prevent emphysema, and that’s what he died of. I’ve avoided smoking cigarettes because of the loss that I felt with him, but I have quite a few friends who smoke. I want to encourage them to use an alternative method or quit, and electronic cigarettes are something that can help with that.

I just can’t bear to see them go through the same thing that he did. Using a nebulizer and being on oxygen when you’re still so young isn’t a great thing, not to mention how sad it was to see that he couldn’t be active or play sports anymore. He used to ride BMX bikes, and he had to stop doing that completely because he passed out on the bike a few times coughing.

That’s why I’m trying to get all of my friends to buy Luci cigarettes. I hear that they’re a good brand, and they are reloadable. I also think that the case that they come in is classier than some of the other ones I’ve seen around. It’s obviously the second best thing to quitting.

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Electronic Cigarette

Posted on February 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

The electronic cigarette is proof to me that there is still a lot of good left for science to achieve in this world. I know that the jury is still out on whether or not there are any health risks with the electronic cigarette, but to think that they developed something that actually allows smokers to smoke a cigarette without exposing the rest of the room to second hand smoke is incredible to me. For the record, I’m not a smoker, but if I were I would definitely take up electronic cigarettes. On top of the high probability that e cigarettes would lower my risk of lung cancer or emphysema, I would be able to smoke them around others without being concerned about whether or not they are annoyed with the second hand smoke they’re being exposed to.

Think about it, smokers get to have their nicotine, they still get to look like they’re smoking a cigarette, they are likely at less of a risk of serious disease, and nobody else is exposed to their smoke. It’s a win-win… win-win. Next up on science’s to-do list should be time travel. I’m just throwing it out there. I know that would certainly come in handy in my life.

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Porn Addiction is Real

Posted on February 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

Sadly enough, porn addiction is becoming a much more prevalent part of our society. Pornography is not only wide spread, it is seen as socially acceptable as well. This should not be the case as porn addiction negatively impacts everyone involved.

My very good friend’s dad was found with a porn addiction, and it almost ruined their marriage. Because they still have young kids, the parents are together, but the wife has made it very clear that as soon as the youngest has graduated high school, a divorce will be in order. This has ruined the children’s relationship with their father, as they have seen him choose pornography over their individual needs. He has become a shadow of a father.

Pornography is so totalizing for the viewer, they begin to see people as bodies and sexualized imitations of what they once were. Love fades as lust and greed take over as the prominent aspects in a personality.

While help does exist, it is often hard to identify a problem, and it is hard for those outside to identify the problem of a loved one. Once a problem is identified, help should be sought out immediately. The longer you wait, the longer everyone is in agony.

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Why Use The Enclume Pot Rack

Posted on February 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

Storing your pots and pans inside of your cabinets can be difficult because of the limited amount of space. That is when you should know about the reasons why you may need to use the Enclume pot rack. When you use these you could see that it is going to make the storage rather easy and that could lead to you being able to have more of the pots and pans that you want to have.

One reason that you should use these is that they are going to help you know that your pots and pans are stored. This is going to be a nice feature since you will not have to worry about them being in your cabinets and you will also know exactly what you have available to cook in at any point in time.

Another reason that you may need to use these is they are made out of high quality items. The steel that these items are made out of is generally of very high quality. Since they are of such quality you will not have to worry about them being damaged or even worse yet falling down.

Being able to store all of your pots and pans can be a challenge because you could have a limited amount of kitchen cabinet space. That is when you should know about the reasons why you may need to use the Enclume pot rack. Once you know about the reasons to use these you could see that they are going to far outweigh the cost of getting these.

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Supply Chain Collaboration

Posted on February 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

When I was younger, one of the favorite games my siblings and I played was simply called “mailbox.” We would set up our own mailboxes in different rooms of the house, made from and decorated with ordinary household items.

In fact, we loved anything to do with the mail man, mail boxes, and letters in general so much, that we all used to run own the stone steps of our house to race for the mail. This was such a dangerous thing for us to do, as I learned by tripping on one of the steps and slicing open a large cut on my forehead. I got sixteen stitches and have a scar that you can still see today.

But back to the mailbox game. One day, during a particular long instance of the game, I ran out of envelopes to “send” my letters. I knew that my sister Chelsea had some, but she wouldn’t give my any of them. When I went to my father, a very business minded man, with the problem, he said that I had a problem with supply chain collaboration. Being only seven years old at the time, I of course did not understand what supply chain collaboration was. However, I did end up trading a pink marker for two envelopes, and the game of mailbox ensued!

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