Most of you do not know this, but I am a big fan of the game called Carcassonne. I will not go into a whole lot of detail about how the game it played, or about what goes on during the game.  For that, you can go to the Website for Carcassonne. I have all the “large” expansions, and most of the smaller expansions.  I am excited, because this year, they are coming out with 2 more expansions.  There is a “large” expansion coming out called “Bridges, Castles & Baazars“.  Then there is also a “small” expansion coming out called “Crop Circle & Tunnels”, this one is actually a combination of two mini expansions.  But anyway, I am most excited for the “Bridges, Castles, & Baazars”, because I love all of the Large expansions.

I just found what I think is such a wonderful tool.  This new tool that I found is located at Mint.com.  This is probably one of the best budgeting tools that I have ever seen.  I first caught mention of this website when I was helping a friend finish his taxes.  Later, I rediscovered it when I was helping another friend to find an alternative to Microsoft Money, because Microsoft is no longer supporting this software.

Once I got online, I discovered that I with this tool, I can synchronize bank accounts, credit cards, loans, investments, and even add assets that I own.  This tool is completely free to use, and will synchronize nightly.  You can also go through after you have organized expenses, and create a budget.  This is a pretty neat tool, because I can tell how I am doing for the month for anything from groceries, to entertainment.  I have faith that this can help keep me on a better financial journey.

I have mentioned in a previous post that I am trying to get into the whole social networking, and social media.  Well, my quest continues with a new discovery.  I have recently become interested in being able to send out coupons to customers via text message.  I have not yet, been able to find a way to do this.  I know that services for this type of thing exist, but I also need to find something that is very cheap and affordable, and so far I have not been able to find this. 

My goal is to get something where I could get on, and send out a message to anyone that has “subscribed”.  I could send out coupons, special rates, or even a text message informing our guests of what is going on in the Bar.

Lately, I have been playing around with the Beta Version of Microsoft Office 2010.  I downloaded the Professional Plus version, because I wanted to be able to play around with several of the programs.  There are several things that I have liked so far about the new version. One of those, is that with PowerPoint, I can create a PowerPoint presentation, and then have it saved as a Windows Media File.  This has been great for me, because I work for the Rodeway Inn, and we have a couple of PowerPoints that we are trying to save to a video file.  We were able to do it using software that was created for just that purpose. However, unless I wanted to pay $80+ for the software, then there was always a “watermark” somewhere in the video. 

One other feature that I love, is available with all the new Office Products, and that is Sharepoint.  This allows a single file to be worked on simultaneously by multiple users.  All one has to do, is to upload to the Sharepoint “Cloud”, and then give the others the link, and you can all work on the file at the same time.  This is possible with Excel Spreadsheets, Word Documents, Access Databases, PowerPoint Presentations, etc.

For More Info, go to Microsoft’s Office Website.

Another Christmas has come and gone.  This year, felt like one of those where people just didn’t seem to get into the Christmas Spirit.  The part where I enjoyed most about Christmas was, just being able to spend time with the Family.  Krissie and I got some good gifts, but that is neither here nor there.  I just love spending time with the family. 

Krissie game me an early Christmas Present in November, I got a new Digital Camera.  It was one that I had been looking at for awhile.  The reason I got it early was because I wanted to be able to take it with us when I went to the Miller Christmas on the Second Weekend in December.  The Camera that she got me was a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.  I love to take pictures, so this was a great gift.  I gave Krissie a Nintendo DS with the new Zelda game called Spirit Tracks.

I work for a hotel, as I have mentioned in previous posts. One of my biggest frustrations, is with the way they do updates.  The “main” updates are usually designed to add some functionality to the property management system that we use.  However, it seems almost every time that they have to roll out a new update to fix something that they broke with the “main” update
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I like all kinds of music.  Most recently, I have come across an interest in Blues.  I have always knew it existed, but I just never got into very much.  However, back on June 8, 2009, The Insomniacs, came and played at Jo’s Sunshine Lounge in Boise, Idaho.  At this point, I became hooked on Blues Music.  Tonight was another great Blues Musician that played.  His name is Samuel James, and he is from Portland, Maine. I could not find his website, so Sorry.  But anyway, he is awesome.

I haven’t posted anything really in quite some time.  I am sitting here at work, trying not to be bored.  I work at a hotel, and my boss recently went to a regional meeting for Choice Hotels.  He came back, and asked me if I knew about Facebook and / or Twitter.  I knew about Facebook, but Twitter I didn’t know anything other than it’s name.

He said that during this meeting, they (Choice Hotels) talked about using the Social Networking sites to promote the hotel.  Now, this got me excited.  My boss then gave me a .pdf file that talks all about some of the social networking sites to use.  These included YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Yelp.  I started playing with Twitter a little bit more, and have since started tweeting.  I am now on Twitter @antwanchild.  Reading through this document has really helped me to have a better understanding of what Twitter and Facebook are all about.

How to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 12-days

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this week. Over the last decade the only requirement to win the prize was that the nominee had to be critical of George W. Bush (see Al Gore, Mohamed El Baradei and Jimmy Carter).
President Obama has broken new ground here. Nominations for potential winners of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ended on February 1. The president took office only 12 days earlier on January 20.
Let’s take a look at the president’s first 12 days in the White House according to his public schedule to see what he did to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize:

January 20: Sworn in as president. Went to a parade. Partied.
January 21: Asked bureaucrats to re-write guidelines for information requests. Held an “open house” party at the White House.
January 22: Signed Executive Orders: Executive Branch workers to take ethics pledge; re-affirmed Army Field Manual techniques for interrogations; expressed desire to close Gitmo (how’s that working out?)
January 23: Ordered the release of federal funding to pay for abortions in foreign countries. Lunch with Joe Biden; met with Tim Geithner.
January 24: Budget meeting with economic team.
January 25: Skipped church.
January 26: Gave speech about jobs and energy. Met with Hillary Clinton. Attended Geithner’s swearing in ceremony.
January 27: Met with Republicans. Spoke at a clock tower in Ohio.
January 28: Economic meetings in the morning, met with Defense secretary in the afternoon.
January 29: Signed Ledbetter Bill overturning Supreme Court decision on lawsuits over wages. Party in the State Room. Met with Biden.
January 30: Met economic advisers. Gave speech on Middle Class Working Families Task Force. Met with senior enlisted military officials.
January 31: Took the day off.
February 1: Skipped church. Threw a Super Bowl party.

So there you have it. The short path to the Nobel Peace Prize: Party, go to meetings, skip church, release federal funding to pay for abortions in foreign countries, party some more.