One of my favorite recipe blogs is Lori’s My Wooden Spoon. It is a great place to go for a Key Lime Pie recipe or some of the greatest contests ever. She is always willing to lend a hand and answer any question you may have. She has the best pictures when she shows you how to make the various recipes. I wish I had the time to do that with my cooking blog (I think two little ones hanging off me makes it a tad more difficult). She also has the funniest tag line ever: Where it’s perfectly legal to use a little pot. I giggle every time I see that (is that wrong?). I also love that with her recent contests she is also giving a wooden spoon as part of the grand prize. It is just so fitting. If you want to read a great cooking/recipe blog, My Wooden Spoon is your one stop shop.

One of the best crime shows out there is Criminal Minds.  Its a tad gory since it is stories about serial killers.  I find the show very interesting, and you have a hard time guessing the endings.  They did a great job over the last season or so when they added new characters.  Not only do you get caught up in the drama or the crimes, you also get catch up in the drama of the characters’ life.  This is one of those shows that you catch once, and you find yourself addicted.

I am a person who never ever knows where she is. I do not have the internal sense of direction that everyone else seems to have. My guy instinct is usually not the right away. I have this problem here in Chicago (which I have an excuse since I did not grow up here), but I am still just as lost in Green Bay, Wisconsin (where I did grow up). When we were on vacation in Arizona, I had no idea whatsoever where we were. We drove up and down the main drag there several times, and I could never tell you which direction our hotel was. I swear, Bill wants to pull his hair out at times due to my inability to locate where I am. That is why I personally love GPS units. We have our own personal portable one (and yes, we did bring it to Arizona with us).

However, I use to work at Schneider National when I lived in Green Bay. They had a GPS tracking system (not sure if was the GPS Insight vehicle tracking system or not) that they used. The GPS devices were attached to all the cabs of the trucks we had. At all times, we knew where each one of the semis were. We also were able to track to make sure they were taking their breaks when they were suppose to and they were going the speed limit (and we had a rule that they couldn’t go over 55 mph. It was pretty easy to determine when they were over that internal speed limit that Schneider has set). I know when I left, they were looking at possibly outfitting all of the trailers also. That was going to be a tad bigger feat, since we had trailers all over the country. However, they didn’t even know where all their trailers even were!

This is just one of many uses for using GPS Insight. It costs around $1.50 - $2 per day per vehicle, but you can see what your employees are really doing. I can definitely see this being used in not only the trucking industry, but also in sales, the trades (like HVAC, plumbing, etc) , delivery vehicles, etc. The best part is that almost anyone can install this on their own on their vehicles. They also have GPS Insight support wiki for customers and a Blog for GPS vehicle tracking too. They make it easy for the customer to install, customize, and get help for any issues that may come up. For the business minded person, this is definitely something you should take a look at for your company.

Every so often you come across a service that really fits into your life. Diigo is that for me. I never understood what the excitement was over sites like delicious. I never saw any practical use for it. However, I see many uses for Diigo. A big one for me is how you are able to use it as a research and knowledge tool and how it will allow me to be more time efficient. For one of my freelancing jobs, we talk a lot over email since we are all over the country. I hate when I find a cool article and then I have to send it to each person (I am still trying to figure out how to make email lists on Gmail).

This service would allow me to bookmark the article and each person on my team can then decide if it pertains to them (instead of me trying to figure that out). You can set up different groups too. My personal group wouldn’t have to wade through my work bookmarks. Another feature that I love is that you can highlight articles and leave notes for yourself. Currently, I have a ton of bookmarks that I did, and I can’t remember what was important in those articles and why I bookmarked them. When doing research, I would love to be able to note that I have already looked at different web pages.

On the more personal side, there are several features that are just fun to play with. First, you have People Like Me. That feature will show you what other people who have bookmarked the same site as you also bookmarked. It will also suggest people that are close to you in your bookmarking behavior. You are able to import your bookmarks from other sites, so you don’t have waste your time doing that again.

Today, Diigo is releasing version 3.0 of their service. They have added over 100 new features so there is a feature for everyone here. It is a tad overwhelming at first when you are trying to figure it all out. However, it is worth your time. This video will show you the new dashboard and some of the new features you should expect:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0RvAkTuL02A

When you try it out, let me know what you think.

If you are not a member of this bank yet, you really should be. This bank shows true customer service at every turn. We have been with them several years, and I have never been unhappy with them. They helped us sign up for accounts for the kids. We are going to meet with them about setting up college accounts for the kids. They have online bill pay (I know I love this feature!). They also have a Debit Card Rewards Program. The more you use your debit card, the more rewards you earn. The reward points get turned in for gift certificates for places like Best Buy and Red Lobster (sorry, no foot of bed tv lifts or anything like that!).

According to their fee schedule, they will charge you if you need a copy of an old statement. I went into the bank on Thursday and explained my predicament. My old laptop blew up (I lost the hard drive) and I found all of 2007 statements (which I need to be able to do my taxes) except for Jan 2007. I just needed a print out of that. The wonderful personal banker I had worked her magic and got me my printout without having to charge me. I am grateful. This is just one great customer service experience I have had with them over the last several years.

It is a rarity to actually get good customer service, so when I see it, I like to let everyone know about it!

How many of us remember that song from when we were kids? I know I do. That is why when I saw the Fisher-Price Musical Tea Set. I had to buy it for Madison. I can say I am happy to report that it is awesome. Granted, hearing the I’m a Little Teapot song gets a tad annoying after about hundred times in one day, it was still a great buy. First, I love it because it isn’t dainty. It can take a beating. There are no small parts that I have to worry about Will getting into. The set includes four cups, saucers and spoons, creamer, sugar bowl with lid, and everything fits on the tray for serving. The only part of this set that sings is the teapot. It makes a cute noise when you pretend to pour. If you press the top of the teapot, that is when the song starts. This is great addition to anyone’s toys.

I saw this over at Mom Reviews and I had to pass it on. Having been in the marching band in high school, this definitely brings back some memories. The kids in this marching band are definitely cool.

Usually, if you are in the marching band, you are a geek. It isn’t like the outfits you wear for the marching band are trendy. You don’t get anything like sexy boots to wear. However, we never got to any formations as cool as this:

These kids are definitely cool. The funny thing is that you can tell how old you are by how many formations you recognize. Why is this on my review blog? Well, this is one of the best marching bands I have ever seen. Tetris or Zelda, anyone?

These kids definitely deserve some time at some very fancy las vegas resorts. If they can’t afford that they should look into some cheap flights to new york or other cheap flight deals. Since hotel reservations are super easy to make nowadays, any one of these student should be about to get discounts on hotels and some great hotel deals. I am not sure about cheap car rental though. Since these kids would be under the age of 25, it is a tad more expensive for them to rent a car.