sluggobear

San Diego Pride is upon us! It promises to be an awesome weekend. If you're going to be in town, here's some helpful information.

There are THREE main events you should know about:

• Parade. Happens only on Saturday at 11am. Free. Many people walk the parade route and then proceed to the Festival. Meeting place, RSVP and details:
  http://SluggosList.socializr.com/event/Jul18Parade
• BearNight. Dance party at Bacchus House. Happens on Saturday night. $5 cover charge. RSVP and details:
  http://SluggosList.socializr.com/event/Jul18BearNight
• Festival. Happens BOTH Saturday and Sunday. You must purchase a ticket to get in. Some people go in on Saturday after the parade. On Sunday we'll be meeting-up for an awesome afternoon in the park. Details are here:
  http://SluggosList.socializr.com/event/Jul19Festival

Once inside the Festival, there are TWO entertainment stages you should know about:

• Pride Green Stage (aka the main stage.) Located near the main festival entrance.
• Over 21 Music Stage (aka the "21+ Stage" or the "Pride Rock Stage.")

In addition, there are TWO dance venues you should know about:

• Pride Dance Floor.
• HiNRG Dance Tent.

Here's the agenda for Sunday afternoon at the Festival:

• 12:30 - Meet for drinks (Pride Dance Floor)
• 1:00 - DJ FunkyBear Martin (Pride Dance Floor)
• 5:00 - The Bird and The Bee (Pride Green Stage)
• 6:00 - The Bobbleheads (Over 21 Music Stage)
• 6:30 - Shiny Toy Guns (Pride Green Stage)

You may also be interested in these acts, though we don't have official gatherings for them:

• Fans of Jimmy Century - electro group (like "Goldfrapp meets Dee-Lite!")
• Spekrfreks - cool electro (and it's a pair of handsome Latino bears!)
• Rio - Duran Duran cover band
• Future Villain Band - offers a mix of rock, rock and rock with influences of rock (features a hot bear named Glen!)
• Jordan Reimer - Acoustic and indie-pop with amazing vocals
• Berlin - Playing hits like "Take My Breath Away" and more
• Midnight Radio - live rock tribute to Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• Radio Star - offers a modern hard rock spin on 80's new wave

General tips for the weekend:

• Be ready for lots of walking... stay hydrated.
• The forecast is looking quite warm and sunny. Wear sunblock!
• Bring cash for tickets, food, drinks, souvenirs, etc.
• Parking can be a real bitch! So be ready.
• Once you're inside the Festival, there is no additional charge for entertainers and dances.
• Don't forget that a good chunk of University Ave and 6th Ave are closed to car traffic during the parade.
• You might save yourself some time by buying your Festival ticket online (requires a credit card), or along the parade route (which may only take cash.)
• The Festival doesn't sell-out, so there's no definite requirement to get advance tickets.
• The lines for beer gardens can sometimes be LONG. (If they're still doing the wristband system, get a wristband EARLY, even if you don't plan to drink early.)
• There's no smoking allowed anywhere in Balboa Park (by city ordinance).
• Be prepared for a long return trip back from the Festival... it can be very hard after a long day outside. Believe it or not, the best option may be to use the public bus. It's easier than you might think, and Route 11 may take you exactly where you need to go! Here are some other options to avoid a long walk: 1) Get a cab. 2) Hire one of those bike-rickshaws. (BE CAREFUL, they can be pricey; they often charge per person; and a gratuity is usually expected. So be sure to agree on a price up-front. 3) Park somewhere between the parade and the park. 4) Use the free shuttle; check the website for more info. (You might have to transfer to another shuttle to get "all" the way back to the parade starting point, but hey... it's free!)
• In general, please be careful. Don't venture around unaccompanied, especially at night. (As you may know, there have been some incidents on Pride weekend in the past.)
• If you plan on catching The Bird and The Bee, or Shiny Toy Guns, I recommend bringing a blanket to claim your spot.
• The Festival has restrooms, food and drink available.
• There's a free, guarded bike lock area near the entrance of the Festival.

As you may have heard, Festival tickets will be $20 per day this year. There will not be 2-day discount tickets will be available at the gate. Some thoughts:

• If you want to try and get free admission into the Festival, there may be a few last-minute volunteer positions available. E-mail me ASAP for details.
• Active duty military with ID get into the Festival free.
• Students 16-24 with ID can get tickets for $10 at the gate.
• If you can't afford to pay $40 for Festival admission, consider going for just one day, instead of two. (I would suggest attending the Festival on Sunday instead of Saturday, due to the exceptional entertainment lineup on Sunday.)
• If you think you can spring for a 2-day ticket, just know that you'll be supporting the community in a big way. As an added bonus, the weekend will be chock-full of bear entertainers: SpekrFreks, The Bobbleheads, and Future Villain Band; plus we'll get to groove to the musical stylings of DJ FunkyBear Martin and DJ Bulldog Mike Castellanos.
• Tickets are considered charitable donations, and are tax deductible.

ADDENDUM: Added July 16, 2009

• Festival Tickets are considered charitable donations, so they are tax deductible.
• There are some last-minute volunteer positions available. Volunteers are admitted into the Festival free-of-charge. For information, e-mail volunteer@sdpride.org
• If you're planning to go to Bear Night on Saturday night, I suggest arriving early to avoid a line.
• I heard some people are going to Top of the Park on Friday night. If you decide to go, I'd (again) suggest arriving early to avoid a line.
• Active duty military with ID get into the Festival free. Children 15 years and under are admitted free when accompanied by a parent or guardian. For seniors (60+) and students (16-24 with current student id), the cost is $10 at the gate. Student tickets are only available at the San Diego Pride Office and the Festival Ticket Gate. Senior tickets are available at the ElderHelp and the Pride office.
• I mentioned Bus 11 is a good way to get home after the Pride Festival. Note that due to road construction, it is traveling along 4th and 5th Avenues instead of 1st Avenue. (That's actually closer to the Festival, yay!) For more information, check-out:
  http://www.sdmts.com/Bus/detours/SDPrideMTSBusDetours.asp
  http://www.sdmts.com/RouteFiles/images/maps/view/11.gif
• There was a miscommunication, DJ Bulldog Mike is not spinning at the Festival this year; instead he'll be playing his tunes at The Hole. If you plan on going to The Hole, arrive early to avoid a line. (See a pattern yet!?)

Feel free to forward this to your friends!

You're thinking about going to San Diego Comic-Con in July. OMG, so many questions! Where to stay? What ticket should I get? So here are a few of Sluggo's tips for Comic-Con.

Passes

• Register now. Comic-Con calls it a "membership" or "registration;" it's easier to just say "passes." Whatever you want to call 'em, buy 'em now, because they will sell-out, and they do not sell them at the door.
• Plan when to go. The 4-day passes are already completely sold-out, so if you haven't bought your tickets yet, you'll need to buy individual passes for the day(s) you want to visit on. Each pass is only good on the specified day. The geeky-geeks are almost certain to hit the Con hard on Wednesday night (preview), then Thursday, Friday and Saturday. (Often they're so worn-out they never make it to the Con on Sunday!) As far as day passes go, Saturday usually sells-out first.
• What about this Wednesday night preview? You can only get into the preview if you're already registered for a 4-day pass, or if you do a volunteer shift. (Or if you're a mucky-muck, or an industry professional.)
• Volunteer. If you're feeling poor, consider volunteering for a three-hour shift; you'll get free admission on the day you work (plus admission to the preview.) I've actually decided to do this myself.

Lodging

• Check-out Comic-Con's official hotel list. It includes hotel names, prices, distance, parking fees, and whether or not they're served by Comic-Con's free shuttle. You can find the list here.
• Be ready to settle. You want a good hotel, in a good location, for a good price, right? Well, the odds are stacked against you this time, and you'll probably need to make some compromises. (Hotel prices are jacked-up for Comic-Con weekend.)
• Book your room now. If you wait until the last minute, you'll be kicking yourself. Right now you can probably find decent rooms, in decent locations, for about $139+ per night. As the Con gets closer, the prices may go up; and if you wait too long, finding a room could be difficult.
• Try bidding, perhaps. If you're adventurous, use Hotwire or Priceline's Name-Your-Own-Price. You may save a few bucks, but you won't know the name and exact location of the hotel until after you've pre-paid. (The other catch: because it's such a busy weekend, you may not save as much as you normally would.)
• Shop around. You may be surprised to find that websites have varying prices, sometimes even for the same hotel and room.
• Be aware of quirks. It's a busy weekend, and a few hotels have special restrictions on check-in and length-of-stay.
• Ask about parking fees. If you'll have a car, ask whether your hotel charges for parking. Many of them do.
• Know your neighborhoods. Here are some areas that you might be considering:
  
  • Downtown and/or the Gaslamp Quarter - If you can afford it, this is definitely the most convenient place to stay for Comic-Con. Fun nightlife, and the area is quite walkable.
  • Old Town - Easy access to the trolley. Fun, walkable neighborhood, if a bit touristy. Still it's a great spot to stay in, so I recommend it.
  • Mission Valley and Hotel Circle - This is where you'll probably find some (relatively) decent prices and name-brand hotels. A handful of them are located near trolley stops; otherwise you should plan on having a rental car (or friend or taxi, etc.) This is a very retail-oriented area. (Two malls, lots of chain restaurants, etc.) Most of it is not very walkable. Examples of somewhat-affordable hotels that are in good locations: Doubletree Hazard Center, Courtyard by Marriott, Town & Country and The Handlery.
  • Hillcrest and North Park - These are San Diego's "gayborhoods," and a lot of us locals live here. While it's a convenient and fun area to stay in, there really aren't many hotels here (and definitely no name-brand hotels.) If you're dead-set on staying in the gayborhood, I might suggest the Park Manor Hotel (an older hotel, gay-owned) or the Sommerset Suites. They aren't particularly super nice, but they are clean and they are very conveniently located. The gayborhoods are very walkable, with fun nightlife, and easy access to buses that go downtown. (Rooms at these two hotels start at about $200+ per night for Comic-Con weekend.)
  • Coronado - It's a real nice area but it can be quite expensive. If you're lucky enough to be staying near the San Diego Bay Water Taxi, you're golden; you can take it to the Con each day. Otherwise you'll probably need a car.
  • Point Loma, Mission Bay, Sea World, beach areas - You might find some good hotels near the water. You'll most likely need a rental car.
  • Anything beyond - If the hotel has an address that doesn't actually say "San Diego, CA" on it, you will need a car. (To save a few bucks for parking, consider driving to a Trolley station and riding the Trolley to the Con.)

(Note: my hotel suggestions above only apply to Comic-Con weekend. They'd be a little different for other times of the year! And hotels are usually more affordable than the prices I've mentioned.)

Getting here

• Get a lift from the airport. You're probably flying into San Diego International Airport, also known as Lindbergh Field (its abbreviation is "SAN.") The airport is located very close to Downtown San Diego. If you just need a lift to your hotel, maybe ask a friend to pick you up. Or take a taxi; you can expect to pay about $10-$15 to get from the airport to downtown, or to other areas like Mission Valley and Hotel Circle. Taxis will cost more If you're going any farther than that. If you need to save some cash, consider cheaper options like the Cloud 9 Shuttle.
• Take the train. If you're coming from Southern California, take Amtrak! It stops right downtown.

Getting around

• Know where you're going. Comic-Con is held at the San Diego Convention Center, located at 111 West Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101.
• Decide whether you need a car. If you're staying downtown, I strongly suggest not renting a car (unless you plan on taking trips away from the Con.) If you're not staying downtown, this question will just depend on how close you are to a transit route (or whether you have local friends, or whether you just want to use cabs to get around.)
• Plan for parking fees. If you're going to have a car, be ready to pay $15 to $25 per day for parking near the Convention Center. You may have similar parking fees at your hotel, too. This is especially true if you're staying in Hotel Circle, Mission Valley, Old Town, Downtown/Gaslamp, and some other neighborhoods. Be sure to find-out first!
• Be ready for traffic. During peak times, downtown will be -packed with cars and buses. The only way to really avoid auto traffic is to take the trolley.
• Use the free shuttle. If you're lucky enough to be staying at a hotel on a free shuttle route, by all means, use it!
• Use the trolley. Quite simply, the San Diego Trolley system rocks. It's cheap, clean and it travels directly to the Convention Center; you're practically dropped-off right at the doorstep. There's even a special event trolley schedule just for Comic-Con. The catch is, you need to stay at a hotel near a trolley stop, and that's not always easy to finagle. If you want to try, I might suggest staying in Old Town if possible.
• Use the bus. Lots of public bus routes travel downtown. You can get an all-day transit pass for $5, which includes unlimited rides on area buses and trolleys. (Just be sure to have a nice crisp $5 bill ready when you board for the first time each day.) Do yourself a favor: skip the lame-ass MTS website and just use Google Maps to look-up transit times. San Diego's bus and trolley schedules are fully integrated with Google Maps; you can even access them on the iPhone! Just be sure to arrive at the bus stop early... our buses are sometimes known to arrive 7 or 8 minutes early (or 20 minutes late...)
• Ride with the locals. If you know a 619'er who's going, consider tagging-along with 'em. For the last two years, we've taken the bus to the Con, and it's worked-out well.

At some point in the future, I'll write about other tips (where to eat, stuff to do, etc.)

(Locals or Comic-Con "veterans," feel free to correct me or add your own tips!)

Last year I posted about how I did my taxes online. I did the same this year.

Check-out my original article for details... most of them are still true.

If you go with TurboTax, I suggest starting-off with the free version... you can always upgrade at any point if you need more features. But if you select a paid version first, you can't downgrade, unless you create a brand-new account and start all over.

If you're a California resident, check-out ReadyReturn or CalFile. They're free.

(I'm getting a nice little refund from the feds, and a nice little IOU from the state.)

Dear iPhone users, I'd like to direct your attention to the following three articles. For contained therein are some amazing iPhone tips and tricks. I guarantee you'll find at least one new thing that you didn't know before... even if you're a super advanced user.

There are lots of goodies here; highlights include making a "quick" comma, some clever contraction tricks, listening to podcasts/movies while running another app, scrolling just a frame in Safari, and reducing blurry camera shots.

The "ducking iPhone" article is by far the best. I LOVE this trick! It has almost completely eliminated my frustration with that damn spell check/auto-correction. For you iPhone users, it's a must-read.

Here goes:

• http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2008/11/my-favorite-sho.html
• http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2008/12/more-iphone-shortcuts.html
• http://tntluoma.com/iphone/ducking-iphone

( Behind the cut: An example contact I've added so iPhone learns words I use often (language, not work-safe)... )

For this week's Thursday Tip, I'm gonna serve-up some tidbits for Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

• So I bought this expansion pack, which includes drumsticks, sound-dampening drum pads, and an adjustable pedal. Is it worth retail price ($21.99)? No. But I spotted it on sale at the actual Best Buy store for $9.95... ding! They do reduce the annoying tap-tap sound of the drums from the first Rock Band drum kit.
• Did you lose one of the dongles for your instruments? Need a hub or extension cable? Want a guitar strap or mic stand? Get 'em from Mad Catz.
• Want to take Rock Band on the road easily? Get the portable drum kit! Fancy.
• If you own Rock Band 1 and Rock Band 2, you can export the Rock Band 1 songs into Rock Band 2 on XBox 360. This gives you the better gameplay from Rock Band 2... and then you could even sell your Rock Band 1 game. (It costs $5 to export the bundled songs.) In addition, if you downloaded songs for Rock Band 1, those should automatically show-up in Rock Band 2.
• It looks like all versions of Guitar Hero for XBox 360 are now compatible with the standard Rock Band guitars. If you have a problem, be sure to download any updates that are recommended. Check-out the full compatibility chart here.
• Check-out unlock codes here.
• Want to play against friends on XBox Live? You'll need a Gold account, and they'll need to own the same versions of the games as you. Instruments will all work, but you can't do vocals over XBox Live.
• Do you have Rock Band drums, but want to play Guitar Hero World Tour? No problem. Rock Band will automatically adjust the drum track to match the number of drum pads you have.
• I've recently downloaded a few songs that are a lot of fun to play: Blink-182 All the Small Things*, The B-52's Roam, Devo's Girl You Want and Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood.

* I downloaded it for Rock Band 1, but it comes bundled with Rock Band 2.

OK, let's be honest. Reading LiveJournal posts on your iPhone (and many phones) is cruddy. There are a few ways to tackle this, but they have shortcomings:

• Reading in iPhone's Safari - Text is not very readable. Lots of stuff in the margins that you don't really need to see. Scrolling is awkward.
• Using LiveJournal's mobile view - You only see the subject line; no photos or text, so you have to click each entry.
• Friend list RSS feed - To my knowledge, no RSS reader apps for iPhone support viewing your friends' private/protected entries.
• LJ's iPhone app - Doesn't let you view friend posts at all. (Yet?)

A wise LiveJournal user has devised a way to read your friends list on iPhone (and probably on many other cell phones too!) You can get the step-by-step instructions here. I've been using it, and it works great!

It requires creating a custom LiveJournal layout for yourself... it's a manual process but not difficult.

I ran into a little quirk the first time I did this (an error message like access denied or something didn't exist? I don't remember now.) Not to worry. If you encounter the error, keep trudging along and it'll still work. Just go back and view/edit the layers or whatever, and the new one you just created will be available to edit.

The result looks like the screenshot below... a layout that scrolls perfectly in Safari, and is easy-to-read. You see embedded photos too.

Maybe someday there will be an iPhone app that will perform this task even better, but for now, it works very well!

And that's one to grown on!

If you've always been meaning to start your own business, but weren't sure where to start, look no further than MyCorporation.com.

MyCorporation takes the guesswork out of paperwork required to register a business. You answer some questions, and they take care of all the forms, filing, mailing, etc.

What I liked:

• Easy-to-use interface
• No hunting for state forms
• Personalized follow-up (I received a telephone call later to confirm my order)

What I didn't like:

• Constant attempts to upsell you more services

The service lets you start various forms of corporations and LLC's, but doesn't handle Sole Proprietorships or Partnerships.

Today and tomorrow only, the service is FREE... their standard fees are completely waived. (Normally the basic package runs $149; you still pay for shipping & handling, as well as any fees charged by state governments.) But hurry, the offer ends December 5, 2008.

I did this today and it worked great! Just pay attention to a few things:

• They offer to be your "Registered Agent" for $159 per year. One of their FAQ's says something to the effect of "Your company cannot be its own Registered Agent." But they should clarify that it's actually OK for you to be a Registered Agent, as long as it's in your own name.
• They offer to obtain a federal Employer ID Number (EIN) for you, at an additional $69. Don't buy it! Once your business is officially registered, you can get your own EIN online from the IRS, free, and it only takes a few minutes.
• Be sure to use the special offer code (MYGIFT) when it comes time to check-out.

Despite being constantly nagged to upgrade to additional services, I was actually impressed with the service overall.

This week's Thursday Tip comes from TechCrunch:

• BEFORE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJbs7z0FIck
• AFTER:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJbs7z0FIck#t=1m18s

(At long last, a Thursday tip from Sluggo.)

I hate junk mail. And it makes me sick that resources are spent on printing piles of stuff that will never get read.

But how does one stop it? Junk mail comes from all kinds of different sources. Some companies offer an easy method to opt-out, while unsubscribing from others seem impossible.

Enter GreenDimes.com, a service that helps you get-off of all those mailing lists.

Once you create an account, you can specify the kinds of junk mail you receive. GreenDimes will then give you specific instructions for opting-out. In some cases, you simply click a link to a third-party website; other times a signed, printed letter is required. But don't worry... GreenDimes provide you with a pre-written form... all you have to do is sign and mail it.

I've learned a lot so far! And I've submitted at least a dozen requests. I'm optimistic that I'll start seeing a difference soon.

There's a handy feature that will let you keep track of the tasks you've done (and the ones you still need to do.) There's also an easy way to report companies who don't comply with your requests.

GreenDimes.com offers a free membership and a premium membership. I chose the free membership and found it to be quite sufficient. Do check it out!

So you want to conserve water, but you want to keep your existing shower head. Impossible? No!

Pick yourself up a Soak & Soap valve for just $4 plus $6 shipping. You attach it between the wall pipe and your shower head. With the flick of a switch, you'll be able to temporarily stop the flow of water whenever you want (to lather-up, shave, or whatever), then turn the water back on instantly, at (roughly) the same temperature as before.

It fits just about any standard shower head. I just got one and it's pretty sweet. And it let me keep using my existing shower head.

Here in California, we're staring in the face of a drought... we've been challenged to cut-back our water usage by 20 gallons a day. This could be one way to help us do that.

UPDATE: The hotel is now completely sold-out.

If you're wanting to be in San Diego for ComicCon weekend, you don't have a place to stay, and you're on a tight budget, here's an opportunity.

Travelocity seems to have a special "GoodBuy" rate at the Days Hotel for $99 a night. (This is quite a bargain considering that even mediocre hotels are charging $175-$350 a night or more for that weekend. This town is gonna be packed!)

Rooms are probably gonna go FAST... in fact I haven't found any other websites that list availability at the Days Hotel; you can't even find rooms on the hotel's own website or via their toll-free reservation line.

Pro's: great location, in the middle of everything, free parking (1 car per room), cheap price! And for a Days Hotel (the full-service variant of a Days Inn), it has a decent reputation, getting mostly positive user reviews on Yelp and Travelocity. Also, you can walk or drive to the nearby Fashion Valley Mall (0.4 miles away) and take the Trolley to ComicCon, thus avoiding $20+ fees for parking.

Con's: you have to pre-pay in full. It's only a 2-star hotel. And Travelocity doesn't let you specify a 1 King or 2 Queen room, so you'll need to work that out with the hotel directly; Travelocity doesn't guarantee your preference here.

Normally you can find lots of great deals for hotels in San Diego. Usually I steer folks towards Hotwire.com to look for good prices, but for ComicCon weekend, the pickins are very slim. I even tried name-your-own-price on Priceline for that weekend, but got no bites.

Anyhow, perhaps this will be helpful to someone!

The situation: You can't always keep-up with reading entries for everyone on your LJ friend list. Or you want to make sure you always see entries for certain people who are very close to you. Or you want a minimal reading list to use occasionally on your mobile device. Or you want to stop reading someone's LJ for awhile without "de-friending" them.

LiveJournal has some handy features that can help you solve these dilemmas and more: the groups feature, and the notification feature.

You may already know that custom groups can be used to ensure only certain people see an LJ post. Those same groups can also be used to customize your reading experience. In this case, you're using the group as a filter.

When you use your LJ Friends Page, a little box appears at the top like this:



You can select the drop-down box to choose which group you want to see.

Setting-up your own groups is easy. Just use the Custom groups page. Once you've created the groups, they'll appear in your drop-down box. Now you can select the group of friends you want to read any time you want. Maybe you'll have a group called "Family," one called "Best Friends," or one called "Locals." You can even make the groups private, so no one will know who's on your lists.

If you want to get really fancy, you can create an instant filtered reading list comprised of any combination of your groups. Generate a custom read list instantly here.

If you have a mobile device, you can catch-up on your reading with LiveJournal's mobile site (livejournal.com/mobile). Create a group titled "Mobile View" and populate it with friends whose LJ you want to read on-the-go. (It's much easier to do this on your desktop or laptop first. Make sure you spell "Mobile View" exactly as shown, but without the quotes.) When you logon to LiveJournal's mobile site and click the "Read friends page," you'll see just the headlines of posts from people on that list.

If you want to make absolutely sure you see every LJ post from a particular user, use the notification feature. To do this, visit a person's LJ profile page, then click the thumb-tack icon (also known as "Track this.") Place a checkmark in the box next to the options you want... in this case you probably want to select "screenname posts a new entry." Choose how you want to be notified (e-mail, TXT or IM... or any combination thereof). You can even set-up these notifications for people who aren't on your friends list. And you can manage these settings at any time here.

Hopefully some of these tips will save you some time. Good luck!

For more information, see LiveJournal FAQ articles What are custom groups? and How do I subscribe to events on LiveJournal and receive notifications?

Well boys and girls, it's time for another Thursday tip.

This week I'd like to introduce you to a totally rad website called SparkPeople.com. I learned about it from my sister Suzanne (aka cooling1018) awhile back.

SparkPeople helps you live a healthy lifestyle, even if your goal isn't necessarily to lose weight. You can:

• Set health-related goals and track your progress.
• Use an instant search to get nutrition statistics about thousands of different foods, including fast food.
  
• Explore tips about nutrition and physical activity.
• Find, contribute, and rate food recipes.

You already know my beliefs about the rebound weight re-gain when you reduce food intake to lose weight. So I really like SparkPeople because the emphasis is placed on healthy living. You don't need to focus on weight if you don't want to.

Say for example, you just want to concentrate on your sodium consumption, or fiber, or you want to drink 8 glasses of water per day. Perhaps you want to reduce (or eliminate) alcohol or caffeine. Reduce your triglycerides. Eliminate high-fructose corn syrup. Maybe you want a way to track how much physical activity you're getting every week. Whatever your goal, SparkPeople will help you track it. Here are some of my goals, for example:



(NOTE: The items listed above are based-on my doctor's recommendation for lap-band patients. Your actual goals and numbers may be much different.)

What else do I like about SparkPeople?

• It's totally and completely free.
• No junk mail, no obligations, and NO CATCH. Unsubscribe at any time.
  
• Well-designed, easy to navigate, useful.

I like receiving the "SparkPeople Food Showdown" e-mail newsletter. Every day they pit two foods against each other, then tell you which one is better for you. What's great is that they pick foods that you'd probably actually eat... the Whopper vs. Big Mac, for example. Sometimes the results are obvious, and sometimes they're surprising. And often they'll throw in useful tidbits... like "hold the mayo and save another 120 calories."

There are a number of other features, some of which are useful, others not. You might find the community features helpful, and you might even create your own SparkPage or gather friends into a SparkTeam. Or you may just want to join to get the e-mail newsletters and do nothing else. You can pretty much decide what level you want to participate at, then go with it.

No matter how big or small you are. No matter if you've had weight surgery or not. SparkPeople has something for everyone, and I highly recommend it.

You got yourself a TV, a receiver, a DVD player, a cable/satellite box... maybe a DVR... and a few other things (VCR, game console, etc.)

Now you have a pile of remotes to deal with. You have to set the input on the remote for the receiver, but you have to change the volume on the remote for the TV, and you have to remember to hit the TV/VCR button if you want to play an old VHS tape. Or you have to remember to put the TV on channel 3. Or you adjust the volume, but then you realize you need to adjust it in two places now.

And god help you if you lose one of the remotes, or if one breaks.

In the past, the options all sucked:

• Buy a cheap ($30-ish or less) universal remote that didn't really work, or took forever to program. (Worse, they "forgot" your programming when the batteries died.)
  
• Buy an expensive ($300-ish) shnazzy universal remote with all kinds of bells and whistles most of us don't really need.
• Settle for the cable/satellite remote and its limited "universal" capabilities.
• Live with that nasty pile of remotes.

But perhaps you haven't heard of the Logitech Harmony. Let me introduce you.

The Harmony series has been around for a few years, but a lot of people haven't heard of it... or they see it in the store and kinda skip right by it.

I've had a Harmony for three years now, and I completely love it. It's the first remote I've ever owned that truly replaces all the others. (Quite literally, all the old, individual remotes are gathering dust in a box somewhere in the house.)

What's great about the Harmony?

• You configure it using your PC. You connect the remote to your PC with a USB cable, and follow a wizard on your screen. You'll be asked for the model numbers of the entertainment center devices you own, and you specify any special options you need. The software then updates the remote for you automatically. No device codes to look-up. No programming (unless you want to.)
  
• Everything's integrated. You don't need to remember to select an input. You simply push a button, and everything happens automatically. For example, press the "Watch a Movie" button, and your TV, receiver and DVD all power-up; all the inputs are automatically selected and you're ready to play your movie. Press the "Watch DVR" button, and the input switches to your Tivo (or ReplayTV or whatever.) All the buttons work consistently. When you're done, just press the "Off" button... everything turns-off, all at once.
• Customizable. If you want to get geeky and program macros, you can do that. For example, switch the surround-sound, widescreen display, or digital input options at the touch of one button. I have ours configured to always run the sound through the A/V receiver, to never play sound out of the TV, and to never adjust the volume on the cable box. Many additional options are available... you can even configure certain devices to stay-on all the time, if you need.
  
• Variety of models and features. You can get a basic Harmony remote for under $100... perhaps even under $75. Other models are available if you want more features, but the entry-level Harmony will probably have everything you need. (Hint: to find prices that are a bit cheaper than Logitech's retail price, try Amazon or Google Product Search.)
• Support for lots of equipment. The software connects to the Internet to get remote definitions; Logitech claims to support over 225,000 different devices. It even supports Windows Media Center, videocameras, satellite radio, and the infrared remote features of XBox 360, Wii and Playstation.
  
• Expandable for the future. I believe Logitech has proven that they're committed to supporting new devices. The Harmony software automatically connects to the Internet to get new remote definitions. So a year from now, when you buy that beautiful new big TV, the Harmony will work with it.
• Convenient. It doesn't forget its programming if the batteries die. And the software is easy to install.

Spending that much on a remote might seem like a lot. But I think it's a wise investment... my Harmony remote is still working perfectly, even though my entertainment center equipment has changed over the last three years. And I'm kicking myself for ever bothering with those lame RCA and Radio Shack remotes ($10 to $35 a pop) that ended-up being completely useless.

Quite simply, this is my favorite remote.

A quick clarification about my most recent tip about web hosting. Indeed, Google Apps is marketed as a way to collaborate amongst a team, group or organization... it's not a traditional web hosting service per se. Google is marketing it as a way to share documents, store files, work-on spreadsheets, and more. The graphical editing features are very limited. But the service could still be used to create a web-presence quickly and with minimal effort. (If you go this route, choose the free "Standard" edition. The $10 charge will come later, if and when you want your own domain name.)

There are many, many other ways to accomplish the same thing; some give you more flexibility. I mentioned Weebly, which I was impressed with (I test-drove it, but didn't actually become a customer.) I have had great experience with WordPress.com. Though it's primarily geared towards blogging, it also lends itself well to easily publishing pages. You can select different themes, and no technical knowledge is required. You can get a subdomain, totally for free (i.e. yourname.wordpress.com), or you can purchase a domain name for a yearly fee.

By contrast, my experience as a customer with Yahoo Small Business Hosting has been quite sad (I'm still a customer of their hosting service, but that could change.) I've had problems. Their online configuration tools suck. And their customer service is half-assed and pathetic.

I also did not care for Valueweb or Affinity hosting, but that's just me.

Anyhoo, just wanted to add all that!

What if you could go online, choose your own domain name, register and be up and running with your very own website in a matter of minutes? And what if there was no software to buy, and no training required? And it included more storage, bandwidth and e-mail addresses than you'd know what do with?

What if this service cost $10 a year, with no long-term contract, no monthly fee, and no set-up fee?

Sound gimmicky? It's not. You can do it. With Google Apps.

I used it and was very impressed. The process is easy. The website was up and running, with the actual domain becoming accessible globally within a few minutes. Literally, you pay $10 on your credit card and you're on your way.

If you already own a domain, you can use the service as well.

Drawbacks? So far I've only found one... right now they don't offer the ability to upload via FTP or FrontPage. (This could change, or they may offer another method of uploading, who knows.)

Alternately, you might check-out Weebly. I've not used the service, but I test-drove their demo and was pretty impressed.

(UPDATE: Please see the following clarification on this post.)

This week's tips are for you Twitter users out there.

You've probably already discovered Twitter can take a lot of time away from you, and overload you with TXT messages. Here are some things you can do to keep your "tweets" under control.

By the way if you haven't already done so, I might recommend creating yourself an entry for Twitter in your phone's address book. (In the U.S., the number is 40404.) This will help you easily identify tweets as they come in.

• Turn off mobile device notifications for certain people. You can always still see their tweets on twitter.com, or on Twitter's handy mobile site, m.twitter.com. I'll be honest. I've had to trim my mobile notification friend list way back. Otherwise the TXT's get out-of-hand.
  
• Minimize the number of "@" replies you are subjected to by changing your notification settings. You can choose to receive @ replies to the people you follow, all @ replies, or no @ replies.
• You may have noticed that if you've turned-off mobile notifications for people, they may post an @ reply to you, but you obviously still aren't notified. As a sneaky alternative, use the tracking feature to still get alerts so you know when people mention you. From your cell phone, TXT the following command:
  
  track SluggoBear
  
  (obviously, you'll replace "SluggoBear" with your own Twitter username.)
  
  
• As you may already know, you can send commands to Twitter directly from your cell phone. To temporarily turn off your mobile notifications, just send Twitter a TXT message with the word off.
  
  When you're ready to start receiving tweets again, send a TXT message with the word on. Remember you can always go back to the website to catch-up on things.
  
• Use a third-party tool like Twitbin, an add-on for Firefox. You'll be able to see tweets in a sidebar while you browse other sites.

Dilemma. You have tickets to a concert, theatre show or sports event. But for whatever reason, you can't go.

Or, you desperately want to go to a concert or sports event, but it's sold-out.

The good folks at StubHub hear your cry, and are here to help. I recently used their service, and was quite impressed.

StubHub was acquired by eBay last year, and it's apparent that the service is well-supported; it even has official partnerships with the NFL, NBA, and NHL.

StubHub's marketplace successfully overcomes a few nasty hurdles that you'd face otherwise:

• Payment is secure and guaranteed.
• You don't have to deal directly with potential buyers and sellers, and you won't get stiffed by flakes or frauds.
• The tickets are guaranteed to be authentic.
• They let you name a price for your tickets, and if they're not selling, automatically lowers the price gradually over time, using dollar amounts you specify.
• The buyer gets a refund if the event is canceled.

If you're selling the tickets, you set the price. StubHub provides the marketplace, guarantees the transaction, and provides a FedEx label so the tickets go exactly where they need to.

It's pretty slick!

Some of the ticket prices do appear to be rather high. But it's important to remember that the price is specified by the seller, and they will probably want to get as much as they can. But be patient... some ticket prices go down over time. And sometimes you can find great deals from people who are desperate to sell tickets when it comes down to the wire.

StubHub takes a modest cut from the sale price, and they do have some very strict and specific requirements. (Sellers must have the tickets in their possession, must use FedEx, and must specify the exact section, row and seat numbers. Buyers must use a credit card where the billing address matches the shipping address, etc.) I found all of this to be quite reasonable for the transaction at hand.

Anyhoo. Recommended!

(I know, I know. I sound like Martha Fucking Stewart when I do my Thursday Tips. OK, I'm a bit of a ham, but I do like to be useful sometimes, so there ya go.)

So what kinds of Thursday Tips would you like to see? I can't promise I can fulfill every request, but I'll see what I can do.

Here are some thoughts to get your noggin started. Pick one of these, or even better, let me know your own idea:

• How to post mobile pics on LJ and/or Flickr
• How to better manage your time reading/responding to LJ
• How to find good reviews for electronics
• How to make your own mini-movie from video on your digital camera
• How to post your own YouTube video
• How to add a Non-LJ blog to your friends list
• How to choose a restaurant with a friend or spouse (when no one can decide)
  
• How to use RSS feeds
• How to find the best airfare
• What hotel to use to earn free nights the fastest?
• How to buy and sell concert tickets (legally, and even if the show is sold-out)
• Cool Google stuff
• How to play Priceline's "Name Your Price" game
  

Here are some additional topics that I dabble in: Flickr, RSS, Outlook, LiveJournal tricks, Windows, Windows Mobile, Google, Amazon, Craigslist, Simulscribe, Greasemonkey, PayPal, Firefox, Netflix, Digg, OpenID, Picasa, Yelp, Priceline, Facebook, Google Earth, IMDB, RCDB, Drop.io, TinyURL, Wikipedia, YouTube, Evite, Twitter. Or, instant messaging, mobile phone stuff, online banking, video editing, digital photo organizing, blogging, screen capturing, GPS, online music services, online mapping, bear sites. Or, time saving, task management, collaboration, social networking, roller coasters, travel, heck I'll even throw-in dating, if ya want.

Everyone knows that waiting in line at the Post Office sucks. But there are a few ways to avoid it.

• Print postage at home. I use it. It's free. It works! Get yourself some Avery 8126 (or similar) labels. Keep them on-hand and you can print your own postage any time you want.
  
• Stock-up on some flat-rate Priority Mail envelopes or boxes. These are great because you don't need to weigh anything; as long as stuff fits in the envelope or container, you know exactly how much postage you need. Pick 'em up at the post office, or order them online free. And get them delivered to your mailbox, totally free. No joke.
• Buy prepaid envelopes. Handy.
• Request a hold on your mail while you're on vacation. Do it online, free... and yup, it works.
• Make personalized greeting cards online, then have them mailed automatically. No printing, stamping, sealing or labeling.
• Use this Automatic Postal Center thing. They're pretty handy, and they're turning-up in many Post Office lobbies. It features an integrated scale; you can do multiple mailings on a single debit or credit card transaction. (Just hope you don't have to wait behind any slow customers!)

(Now, if you're really geeky, look at the USPS Strategic Planning site.)