Thursday, May 26, 2011

How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time

Like most homebrewers, I started out with Charlie Papazian's book "The New Joy of Homebrewing". I had the second edition. It was a good book, but comparing it to this text, it seems hopelessly dated.

With the explosion of microbreweries across the country, lots of people got turned on to GOOD beer - and many of those looked into homebrewing. With so many people trying different methods and equipment, over time, brewing became simpler and much of what was deemed necessary in the earlier days was discarded. Many of the techniques and equipment listed here are the results of years of trial-and-error streamlining by other homebrewers. In addition, there's never been so many resources available via mail order and on the net. Homebrewing really is easy at this point.

This is the best basic brewing text I've found. You can start with it by making extract only beers, graduating to specialty grains in addition to extract, then to all grain brewing and making your own recipes and beer styles. The book is linear, presents the information as you need it and the information ranges from the most basic (like sanitation) to as technical as you could possibly want (water chemistry).

For years I've been an extract and specialty grain brewer. I never completely understood the process of all-grain brewing until I bought this text. It gave me the courage to build my own lautering tun and brew my first batch of beer made completely from scratch. It was a pale ale, nothing exotic, but man was it good beer. Check out the author's website and read the first edition online. The second edition is improved, so if you like the online text buy the hard copy book.

There are other good texts out there (the author lists many of them in the back of the book) but if you only want one homebrewing text, buy this one. It's a shame that Amazon doesn't carry it anymore. Track it down.

Sony Bloggie Touch (MHS-TS20/B) - 8 GB, 4 Hours NEWEST MODEL



I've had this camera for about a week now and have been loving it ever since. I've used another "flip" camcorder and the Bloggie Touch puts it to shame.

Pros:
1. Love the quick on and record. Great for spontaneous videos of the little one.
2. The touch screen interface makes it both useful and fun to use the big screen.
3. The still pictures come out brilliant, when the lighting and focus is good.
4. The battery charges up super fast and stays with you for a whole day of shooting.
5. The image stabilization is good. You can take decent video while walking around and panning too. Note that it is not optical, but electronic SteadyShot stabilization.
6. The lens is very good quality and the pictures are crisp.
7. Really like the "snap picture while recording" feature. I find myself using that feature the most. The video doesn't stall while the picture (full 12M resolution) is being taken and since the focus and exposure are usually locked well while you're in the middle of the video, the pictures come out great.

Cons:
1. In low lighting, there is quite a bit of graininess and using the digital zoom makes it much worse.
2. While the lens is good quality, the auto-focus mechanism is really very slow. If you move around the camera too much before focus has locked on, the auto-focus will almost never lock.
3. What I really miss with this camera is a flash. Even a tiny one would help with low light pictures.
4. Minor annoyance: to preview a picture right after you take it, you have to go through at least two clicks. Sony could have designed it so that it always goes to the last picture taken by default, instead of the thumbnail list of all pictures/video on the device.

I decided to purchase this camera over a still camera that can do video because:
1. This one is dead simple. One button to turn on, one to take video and one to take stills. This makes it both easy and quick to use.
2. This one can do 1080p video and 720p at 60fps.
3. Its under $200 and is smaller than your phone.
4. Its got internal flash and USB connector - no more SD cards or cables. 8GB is enough to get you through the day before you can come back to your laptop to dump the pictures.

I decided to purchase this camera over other ones in the same category because:
1. Its got a big display and the touch screen is fun to use.
2. Its got a better lens system than the others.
3. Its got (some) image stabilization.



Monday, May 23, 2011

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

I enjoy discussions about my finances about as much as I enjoy talking about my weight. I certainly need to work on both, but I'd prefer to avoid the topics if at all possible, thank you very much. Can I get an "amen"?

Dave Ramsey, radio talk show host, author and all-around financial guru, is no stranger to this ostrich routine. After his own bankruptcy he came to the conclusion that the key to financial (and physical) fitness isn't knowing all the tricks of the money trade; it's being honest with yourself. "If I can control the guy in the mirror, I can be skinny and rich," he says in his new book THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER.

In other words, you have to get your head out of the sand. Okay, I have to get my head out of the sand.

Leaving the skinny to other books, Ramsey is a prophet to those who want to be rich but would settle for being financially stable. It's clear that this is a large group, given the popularity of Ramsey's radio show and books. After reading THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, I can see why they flock to him for advice.

Ramsey's principles are simple and straightforward. Pay cash. Pay off debts from smallest to largest. Create an emergency fund. He provides easy-to-understand answers to many seemingly complex questions about budgeting, retirement funds, saving for college education, and more.

Large pullout quotes scattered throughout the book offer bite-sized financial advice and factoids in Ramsey's typically direct manner:

"A new $28,000 car will lose about $17,000 of value in the first four years you own it. To get the same result, you could toss a $100 bill out the window once a week during your commute."

"Looking to spend $100 per month on life insurance? You could pay $7 a month toward term insurance and invest the remaining $93. But go with a cash-value policy if you'd rather have someone else earn interest on your investments."

"49% of Americans could cover less than one months' expenses if they lost their income."

"If your mortgage payment is $900 and the interest portion is $830, you will pay that year around $10,000 in interest. What a great tax deduction! Right? Otherwise, you'd pay $3,000 in taxes on that $10,000. But who in their right mind would chose to trade $10,000 for $3,000?"

All of this advice is helpful and eye opening, but what Ramsey really excels at is presenting inspirational tales of those who were once, but are no longer, in financial disarray. Their stories make up at least a third of the book, and the cumulative effect is that of a published pep rally designed to get people pumped up about saving money. And it works.

This is a must-read book for anyone whose looking for a little basic financial information and a whole lot of courage to finally put away the ostrich suit.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Do you use a smart phone?

my favorites

I own this one and it is my goto phone



this one is also pretty cool



there are lots of options, make sure they are the right one for you, the right carrier, the right size, wont break in your chosen storage area... like your pocket or purse.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Affiliate Marketing Software

Affiliate marketing software is the perfect solution to everyone's problems when it comes to keeping track of your income and your earning potential. Affiliate marketing is something that many people get involved with, but few people actually know how to manage it. The use of an affiliate marketing software can not only help you succeed in affiliate marketing, but can help you maximize your profits.

The affiliate marketing software that you choose will help show you which products and affiliate programs that you will be able to maximize your profits with. There are so many affiliate programs available that it can be incredibly difficult to decide which programs are the best programs to get involved with, and which ones will bring in the most money. Some affiliate programs will offer more money per click or a higher percentage per purchase, but the sales that result from that do not tend to be as high, which in turn hurts your profit.

The affiliate marketing software will take away all the guesswork involved with trying to decide which programs or products turn the most profit. They will supply you with reports that will allow you to see which ones have had the greatest amount of return for other people, so that you will be able to sign up for their program.

The affiliate marketing software is specifically built so that instead of signing up for every affiliate program out there which can make your website look jam packed with spam, and can draw attention away from the big money making marketing plans. You will be able to select the top earners, so that you maximize the amount of traffic that flows through these select marketing plans which in turn will earn you a much greater amount of money.

Most affiliate marketing software will not only help you select which specific affiliate programs that you should sign up for or get involved with, but will help you track your income as well. You will be able to see which programs are bringing in the greatest amount of money. Depending on the affiliate marketing software that you decide on, you will be able to receive affiliate marketing training so that you will be able to know how to design your website to help maximize profit. Most affiliate marketing software will allow you to set up everything you need to so that you will be able to maximize your profits. There are many affiliate marketing software programs that are available. It is surprising how much easier it will be to get started and begin making money rather quickly.

To learn more about affiliate marketing software that can put 5 figures a month in your pocket while you lazily do nothing at all, click here!

http://eridlon.lazyafrich.hop.clickbank.net

I just joined lazy affiliate riches 1 minute ago and already have 17 page views

Absolutely love the layout and ease of this, so many tools for beginners to advanced, I will be sure to update as this progresses!

Friday, May 13, 2011

I watched a webinar with Jeff Dedrick last night talking about Lazy Affiliate Riches

thinking this looks pretty cool, I just dont have any funds to jump in on this at the moment, but if you do you should!

check it out here:

Click Here!