Just Another Writer

My World, My Opinion…

Cost Captain Means Low Cost Software February 24, 2008

Filed under: Money — News Writer @ 3:19 am

One thing that can be a real thorn in the side of freelancers is the cost of software that you have to have in order to stay current with your work. If everyone else you are working with has updated to Microsoft Office 2007, it pretty much means that you have to as well, especially if you are an editor.

One way that many people, including myself, can purchase software at a reasonable price is by buying it from a Microsoft Authorized Education Reseller like costcaptain. People who are students, homeschoolers, employees of schools, libraries and research labs qualifty for academic discounts. For example, at Cost Captain, you can purchase a Microsoft Vista upgrade for $89 and up.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to provide
Cost Captain academic eligibility before your product is shipped. All Microsoft products at www.costcaptain.com are authentic. Gift certificates are offered, which is something that I know from personal experience would make a homeschooling family’s day.

 

Spring Break Is Almost Here February 22, 2008

Filed under: Teaching — News Writer @ 11:45 pm

madagascar.jpg

As a teacher, I seriously count down the days to Spring Break. At this point, it’s only two weeks away! I’m not excited because I’m planning on going anywhere, however. At least nowhere close to where I’m at. During Spring Break, the Texas coast becomes ridiculous with hoards of college students, many wearing bikinis and freezing in the completely unpredictable weather. Prices skyrocket, and it’s just not a really good time to take your eight-year-old to the beach. The thing is, your eight-year-old wants to go to the beach. So the thing to do is to then check out
flights to South Africa. There are plenty of beaches in South Africa, right? And I’ll wager they’re better than any of the ones on the Texas coast, which feature brown water, rotting seaweed, and a plethora of tar that sticks to your feet. If we went to the beach in South Africa, we might even get to see zebras. Although I doubt they’re on the beach. It would be really cool if they were, though, right? It would be kinda like the movie Madagascar, and my kiddo would definitely enjoy that.

At any rate, we definitely need an alternative to the Spring Break status quo around these parts.

 

Playing Blog Detective February 22, 2008

Filed under: Metablogging — News Writer @ 11:16 pm

There’s this cool widget that I want to use for something…I just haven’t decided what yet. What it does is provide a way for people to leave links to their content in a nice orderly list, like over at this site. I know I’m gaining geek points because I figured out if I looked at the source code, I could probably determine how they did it. So I did, and this is what I found:

Mr. Linky! You can register for free, and then grab the code for the type of blog that you have. I don’t know why I think this particular thing is the cat’s meow, but I do. So maybe I’ll have a link party over here someday soon so I can try it out. :-)

 

Get 25 Magnets Totally Free! February 22, 2008

Filed under: Stuff — News Writer @ 11:08 pm

I’ve blogged about VistaPrint before, because they are my absolute favorite company to use for promotional materials. Sometimes, though, I like to think out of the box and use promo materials for other purposes. Magnets are a prime example of this. I’ve bought magnets from VistaPrint many times before. Once, I printed inspirational quotes on them and used them as a giveaway at a training. It’s fun to upload a really cool graphic and use them as fridge magnets. Since you’ll have twenty-five of them, you can give lots away. I like to randomly put one in someone’s mailbox at work now and then–everyone likes magnets, since they brighten up file cabinets!

Of course, you can actually use them as a promotional item. If you want to promote your business,
magnets are great, because they are usually placed in an area where customers see them several times a day. One thing you can do is put a calender on your magnet. By making it useful, you are guaranteeing that customers will be reminded of your business every time they want to see what day Saturday falls on. The very best thing about magnets, whether you use them as a promotional item or for fun gifts is that they are extremely affordable. Right now at VistaPrint, you can get 25 of them for the low cost of free. Here’s the promo code: Blog25FreeMag

Have fun!