Friday, December 31, 2010

Kathy Griffin on New Year's Eve

Contribution by Stevie Kirby

Kathy Griffin is the best New Years Eve host to come along in many years. I look forward to watching CNN this year and seeing her drop the ball with Anderson Cooper. Nothing is as funny as watching her give Anderson Cooper a run for his money. I love seeing him turn red at her jokes and innuendos. The other New Year's Eve shows are boring and hosted by people that are not as funny. I would rather spend my time watching a quality comedian and one that is not afraid to push the issues. Comedians have been too afraid lately to say what is on their mind. I love people that stand up for their right to be funny without being politically correct.

This year I will be watching Kathy Griffin on TVByDirect and enjoying my signal without interruptions. Nothing beats having fun entertainment and being able to enjoy a quiet New Years Eve. As you count down to 2011, please be safe and have a great New Year. Lets hope this next year brings everyone peace and joy and financial stability.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Magazines as holiday gift wrap

Guest post written by Beth Fitzwilliam

I love to read magazines. I read and subscribe to so many of them though that it seems like I'm constantly tossing them out in the recycling because I get so many of them. But I thought that this year for Christmas, I would use some of the especially neat looking magazine pages to wrap up some of my gifts in and even use as tissue paper in gift bags. I thought that would be especially good for my fashion magazines too.

But I wasn't smart or creative enough to think up of that one on my own. I had been online with my Clear internet a few weeks ago and I had been looking for new ways to wrap my gifts with things I already had around the house when I came across the magazine idea.

But the only problem with magazine gift wrap is that magazine pages are so small and they don't really do well for bigger gifts. But a lot of my gifts this year are actually gift cards and smaller things, so magazine pages are just about the right size for it.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Grown up Christmas decorations

Guest post written by Melanie Watson

Now that I'm out on my own, it's weird that I have a place to call my own that I can decorate at my own will. But just because it's weird doesn't mean that it's a bad thing though.

I had so much fun looking up some decorations that I could order and make online with my Clearwire. I've always thought that you could celebrate Christmas with colors besides red and green, so I'm going to decorate with the colors green and purple.

I think it will look really funky, although once I started all of my holiday decorating it reminded me a little bit of Mardi Gras. Besides, Mardi Gras is pretty festive too! I also incorporated some really great gold decorations too, especially with these gold beaded garland on my tree that kind or reminds me of those beaded necklaces from Mardi Gras. I didn't really make that connection until I started trimming the tree, but I do like the overall effect and I decided to just go with it.

Friday, December 3, 2010

iPad Planning

I've been saving up to maybe get myself an iPad. It's probably going to have to wait until after the holidays because gift buying for other people comes first. (I also wouldn't mind waiting until the iPad comes to Verizon, because that would just be more convenient.)

So it occurred to me that when I do get one, I'm going to have to project of loading all of the videos and stuff that I have onto it, including all of the ones that probably aren't in the right format for the iPad. I figured that I can't be only person to have this problem, so I searched around a little for some video converter options. I remembered finding a program to help with transferring some songs off of an old iPod that I had, so I knew there had to be something similar for videos.

Sure enough, I found a site that has a bunch of different converters for all of the video formats out there. They've got an iPad Video Converter, so I'll be all set when the time comes. It can also extract audio from videos and convert audio into a format that's compatible with the iPad. I'm not totally tech challenged but I'm not a real expert either, so I know this will make my life easier.

I also noticed that that have a video converter for Mac, which will be helpful when I want to share videos with those friends of mine who are hardcore Mac devotees. I would make a joke at their expense right now normally...but once I get my iPad I think I just might be joining them.