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THIS IS IT!

It really is that easy. If you have a big name concert coming to town and you are stressing about locating tickets, and want to ensure you get in on the presales make use of Google Alerts.

In my case Neil Young was coming to town, so I set up an alert for Blog searches of “Neil Young presale”. And the next morning biggity bam an e-mail was delivered with all the relevant info that had surfaced while I was sleeping.

In my case it turned up a hidden away Musictoday site, that appears to be some reseller arm of LiveNation. Which was able to get me my tickets before Ticketmaster & LiveNation presales even began.

WOOT! Thanks Google Alerts.

Want to save money? Eat only the finest? Buy Local? Then you need to get your hooks into the Underground Meat Market.

Steps:
!) Find a Hutterite Colony that sells chickens, turkeys, and other meats.
2) Put in your order. No funny business.
3) Promise to meet them in a grocery store parking lot.
4) Meet them at said grocery store parking lot at said time.
5) Collect the goods.

This is fantastic in a multitude of ways. First off you are buying frozen meat out of a van. Secondly, you aren’t paying taxes (that you can see at least). Third, it’s the mad cheap. For $49.65 I got one 19.57 lbs. Turkey, and two BIG chickens. Lastly there is an opportunity for exercising the barter system, makes me wish I had some skill that was tangible & useful, and the “fix your computer” card will never work.

Caveat emptor, you will be grilled to smithereens about your conviction to actually go through with the deal. These are obviously cash only deals. And, there won’t be any pop-ups in these turkeys to tell you when they are done, Butterball has nothing on this.

Hutterite Receipts and Turkeys:

&

BONUS: While I can’t say for certain at this juncture, I am 97% certain that these carcasses will be fit for turning into a fine stock. Which if you have ever tried to make stock out of a store bought chicken you know it is a hopeless endeavour.

Farmer’s Markets are seen by most as fulcrums for hippie power leverage. But there is more to be gained than helping your community, eating healthier, and an aire of superiority. And that is premium foods at reasonable prices!

Peep game, 35.75$ brought home:
2lbs Wild Blueberries(10)
600mL Cherry Granola (3 - That’s right Granola)
2FT of garlic chili farmer Sausage(4)
1/2 lbs. Smoked Pike (7)
1 Jar Ginger Marmalade (3.75)
1 Jar Butter Chicken Sauce (6.50)
1 Puffed Wheat Cake Square(1.50 - snacks!)

While I admit the Blueberries were a bit pricey, all these things would definitely be more at your grocery store ( yes, even SuperStore) plus they aren’t even from the forest. I know I have shelled out over 5$ for Robertson’s Ginger Marmalade, AND SMOKED FISH! That’s the apertif du jour. The butter chicken sauce might end up being a bit of a gouge, we’ll see.

Want to front like you slaved over some home-style baking? Go to the Farmer’s Market. Need Moccasins? Try the Farmer’s Market. Safeway got you bleeding out the pockets for fresh herbs? Farmer’s Market has your back.

Rare and precious meats like bison, pickeral, and goat(???) can also be got en mass.

And the best part by far is you pay whatever the sign says. If it says 4$ you slap down a couple toonies and that is all. It’s like shopping at the Convenience store for Nerds , and GoldMine BubbleGum before tax was a big deal.

WHAT’S THAT! You got a new cashmere sweater under the tree this year! Or, maybe you just picked one up on the cheap, in the post Christmas bonanza. But, before you rock debonair, take some time to treat it so it isn’t leaving its little hairs all over your ensemble.

1) Fill a tub, bucket, some large container with cool water.

2) Submerge the sweater in the water and gently move it side to side. It may take a few moments before it starts to take on water.

3) Gently knead the sweater like dough. Feels nice.

4) Dump out the water and repeat steps 1-4 until the water comes out relatively clean.

5) When time comes to dry, DO NOT wring the sweater. Instead mash into a little ball, and gently squeeze out the water.

6) Lay flat to dry.

7) Hit the Alumni Lounge and ask what’s up.

Or, drop some dollars and just get it Dry Cleaned.

Either method will keep your clothes underneath from looking woolly.

When doing mindless office work, like mulitple copy/pastes, or data-entry I am lucky to stay on task for more then 5 minutes. When doing mindless physical activity like wieghtlifting, or running my body gives up before my mind does. I have found that by trying to exact the same workout mindset on monotonous, work related tasks, it seems to ease the mental non-strain of it all.
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If you aren’t already on this, you’re sleeping. Whether a doctor, a 14 year-old with a sick MySpace, a techno super producer, CA, or a paid in full(time) geekboxer, having two monitors attached to your PC will change how you use any and all applications. Here is a mélange of points to consider whilst obtaining nirvana.

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So I have had my iPod for awhile, and have just been manually managing songs when it gets full. LIKE A CHUMP! Turns out all you need to do is uncheck the checkboxes that appear next to the song and then they will be taken off your iPod. WOW! Of course I didn’t even realize this till iTunes 7 since there is no apparent way to get into your iPod’s “library” and start removing things, instead you just get a pretty iPod management screen with a bunch of tabs, where you can find my new favourite checkbox “Only synch checked items”. Call Robert Stack, another mystery solved.

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Traineo.com is a site dedicated to allowing it’s users to track there progress and workout goals through a very simple interface. Keep track of current wieght/BMI, workout intensity, and diet. One of the sites main focus seems to be recruiting “Motivators”. Motivators are basically a buddy list of fellow Traineo users that are notified of your progress, and vice versa. There isn’t a whole lot of versatility yet, but keep in mind it in barely a month old, with new feautres being added all the time. I have been using it for the past month and it works pretty well to keep me on track. Check my profile out if you’d like