• March 23, 2013 •

Good afternoon! Yesterday I cooked snausage for breakfast & then went to work on the house which ended up taking SEVEN HOURS. Most of that was working on my inbox. I cataloged 3 books from my inbox into the appropriate master pc files & then put them away in the bookshelves. Just 3 books took hours. I have my inbox set up so that the largest books are at the top of the pile. As I get through my inbox, the job will become faster & faster because the books will become smaller. The 3 I did yesterday were all large & took a very long time ... but the good news is that they're done now. After the 3 books I finally got to the rest of the house ... cleaned the bar stool, neatened a shelf in the freezer & pulled out some hamburgers to thaw for dinner which turned into 3 amazing bacon BBQ burgers later in the evening, mopped the living room, went through my bookshelves & pulled out a word search book & took a quick break while enjoying a page, the FD got toned out to a controlled burn, I fed the pets, & swept the kitchen. I created the eBay account for the business Pete & I are starting & then went to work for a short time on my own eBay business before Pete got home for the evening & we entered into our nighttime routine. My Sim-self had a more productive day than my real-self did. She worked on her inventing skill & completed something that she'll sell at the consignment store next week, spent time with the pets, watched the fishing channel on TV for bit, showered, made goopy cabonera for dinner, & headed to bed. Back IRL I took the dogs out this morning & then got dressed & ready to go out to start a bank account for Kyle w/ Pete & Kyle & then stop by Creative by Nature & pick up gardening supplies for the season. Kyle's choice of bank is closed on weekends, my choice of bank (for Kyle) is closed on weekends, Pete's choice of bank is OPEN. Guess who got our business? Kyle opened a High School Checking account at Chase Bank (great bank!) & while we were there we upgraded Pete's account to the best one that includes a business account which he already had & then Pete & I opened a joint account together. So now Chase has Pete's master account, then branching off of that is Pete's business account, Kyle's Student account, & our joint account. All for one LOW price & it includes lots of perks. Free money orders, cashier's checks, safety deposit box, etc, etc. $15 a month for ALL of it. I'm also FINALLY with a nationally recognized bank. Before people would ask me "Who is your checking account with?" I'd say "ViewPoint." & they'd say "Where?" I'd try to do something online & it would say "Please choose your bank from the dropdown box ..." ::: scroll, scroll, scroll ... ::: No ViewPoint. Quicken only recently recognized ViewPoint as a bank. Now I'm FINALLY with a bank that everyone has heard of. Chase even has an APP. YES! An app! My banking just got SO much easier! Setup in Quicken ... instant. New account ... please choose your bank from the dropdown box (or choose one of the well known banks) ... CHASE! No dropdown box, no scrolling, it was right there ... front & center. It's nice. :) AND they're open on weekends (not JUST the drive-through) & the lobby is open past noon on Saturday. Also, I'm with the rest of the family now. I no longer feel like the outcast who wasn't really connected to anyone else in the family as far as banking. I feel much more connected now & that's a very important feeling to have when you're part of a family. Actually FEELING like family is good. This also makes deposits from Pete much easier. He used to have to take a chunk out of his day twice a month, find a ViewPoint bank before it closed, & make a deposit. Now all he has to do since I'm in the same bank is make an online transfer any time that's convenient for him. The accounts being linked makes it even easier! After the banking was done we just came straight home. We can get gardening supplies next weekend. The banking was a very productive errand, it's cold outside, it's muddy from this morning's rain, it's cloudy ... yeah, gardening stuff can wait a week. Let's see how it is next Saturday. My Sim-self went fishing 1st thing this morning & then went home & cleaned the house. Back IRL I have an officer's meeting to attend tomorrow at the station.

56% of American dog owners sleep w/ their pet dog snoozing right next to them in bed.

Almonds aren't nuts. An almond is actually a drupe, which consists of an outer hull & a hard shell w/ the seed (or nut) inside.

Chase:

Do your banking right from your mobile device.
You can manage your accounts, make deposits, find ATMs and more.
Now it’s easy to do banking 24/7, right from your iPhone® or iPod touch®. To start, just enroll in Chase Online.
MONITOR YOUR ACCOUNT
•See account balances & transaction history
•View your credit and debit card rewards status
PERFORM TRANSACTIONS
•Pay bills and credit cards
•Transfer money between Chase accounts
•Make deposits with Chase QuickDeposit℠
•Send wire transfers
•Make changes to pending transactions
•Send and request money with Chase Person-to-Person QuickPay℠
FIND LOCATIONS AND CONTACT CHASE
•Find the nearest Chase branches & ATMs
•Speak with a service representative
CUSTOMIZE ALERTS AND PUSH NOTIFICATIONS FOR:
•Deposits
•Account balance levels
•ACH transfers
MANAGE YOUR CHASE CREDIT CARD
•View your credit card balance and activity
•Make payments
•View Ultimate Rewards information
MANAGE YOUR CHASE LIQUID CARD
• View your balance and transaction activity
• Make a deposit with Chase QuickDeposit and reload your card
• Transfer money to a Chase Liquid card
Accolades
•Best Use of Smartphone Camera 2011 – Webby Awards
•"Best in Class" for mobile banking in 2011 – Javelin Strategy and Research
• #1 in Mobile Website and App Categories 2011 – Keylime Interactive Best Mobile Retail Banking Solutions
• #1 overall in 2012 – Keynote Mobile Banker Scorecard
Disclosure
Some features are available for eligible customers and accounts only.
iPhone and iPod touch are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.
There is no charge from Chase, but message and data rates may apply. Such charges include those from your communications service provider. Delivery of alerts may be delayed for various reasons, including service outages affecting your phone, wireless or internet provider; technology failures; and system capacity limitations. Any time you review your balance, keep in mind it may not reflect all transactions including recent debit card transactions or checks you have written. A qualifying Chase transfer account is required to transfer funds via text. Phone Alerts are not available for Chase Basic Checking℠ account.

Countries in the world where humans are most likely to be attacked by a shark top 10:

1. Continental USA
2. Australia
3. South Africa
4. Hawaii USA
5. Brazil
6. Papua New Guinea
7. New Zealand
8. Mexico
9. The Bahamas
10. Nova Scotia

Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79 (2011):

On this day in 2011, actress Elizabeth Taylor, who appeared in more than 50 films, won two Academy Awards and was synonymous with Hollywood glamour, dies of complications from congestive heart failure at a Los Angeles hospital at age 79. The violet-eyed Taylor began her acting career as a child and spent most of her life in the spotlight. Known for her striking beauty, she was married eight times and later in life became a prominent HIV/AIDS activist.

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London, England, on February 27, 1932, to an American art dealer and his wife, a former actress. In 1939, the family moved to Southern California, and in 1942 Taylor made her film debut in “There’s One Born Every Minute.” At age 12, she rose to stardom in 1944’s “National Velvet,” later moving on to adult roles such as 1951’s “A Place in the Sun,” for which she garnered strong reviews. As one of Hollywood’s leading stars in the 1950s and 1960s, her credits included 1956’s “Giant,” with Rock Hudson and James Dean; 1957’s “Raintree County,” with Montgomery Clift and Eva Marie Saint; 1958’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” with Paul Newman; and 1959’s “Suddenly, Last Summer,” with Clift and Katharine Hepburn. The latter three films each garnered Taylor Oscar nominations, before she took home best actress honors for 1960’s “Butterfield 8,” with Laurence Harvey and Eddie Fisher, and 1966’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” with Richard Burton.

Off-screen, Taylor’s colorful personal life generated numerous headlines. In 1950, the 18-year-old actress married hotel heir Conrad Hilton. The union lasted less than one year, and in 1952, she wed British actor Michael Wilding. The couple had two sons before divorcing in 1957. That same year, Taylor wed producer Mike Todd, with whom she had a daughter. A little over a year later, Todd died in a plane crash. In 1959, Taylor married singer Eddie Fisher (who left his wife Debbie Reynolds for Taylor); the union ended in 1964. Days after her divorce from Fisher was finalized, Taylor wed Welsh actor Richard Burton, with whom she co-starred in 1963’s “Cleopatra.” (Playing that film’s title role, Taylor became Hollywood’s highest-paid actress at the time.)

The public was fascinated by Taylor and Burton’s lavish lifestyle (among his gifts to her was a 69-carat diamond) and tumultuous relationship. The couple, who adopted a daughter, divorced in 1974, remarried the following year and divorced again in 1976. Taylor later called Mike Todd and Burton, who died in 1984, the great loves of her life.

In 1976, Taylor wed Virginia politician John Warner, who went on to become a U.S. senator. The pair divorced in 1982. In the 1980s, Taylor, who battled addictions to alcohol, drugs and overeating, spent time at the Betty Ford Center. In 1991, she married construction worker Larry Fortensky, whom she met at the treatment center. After a wedding ceremony at entertainer Michael Jackson’s Neverland Valley Ranch in California, the couple divorced five years later. In addition to her addiction issues, Taylor suffered from a variety of health problems throughout her life, ranging from hip replacements to smashed spinal discs to a brain tumor.

In addition to her film career (her last silver-screen appearance was a cameo in 1994’s “The Flintstones”), Taylor’s legacy includes her work as a pioneering activist in the fight against AIDS. Starting in the 1980s, the actress helped raise millions of dollars to combat the disease.

Taylor was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, the same place where her friend Michael Jackson was interred.

May a crazed auto mechanic hotwire your sister. -Johnny Carson 1977

On a 10-point scale, if I'm at level 2 in any field, & desire to move to level 5, I must 1st take the step toward level 3. "A thousand-mile journey begins with the 1st step" & can only be taken 1 step at a time.

Over half of the shark attacks worldwide involve male surfers. Will male surfers become an endangered species?

State Capitals:

Geography and US History teachers and students rejoice! Learning the state capitals just got a lot more fun with State Capitals Spelling.
State Capitals Spelling is an uncomplicated game that helps students learn to identify and spell the capital cities of the United States of America. When you begin, a picture of a US state appears with a star representing the capital - but the city’s letters are jumbled. Players must rearrange the letters to spell the city correctly by dragging the letters into the correct boxes. This app goes a step beyond state/capital recognition. The player must first identify which state she is looking at, determine its capital, and then be able to spell it right.
Scoring is based on how many you get right in a row, or “streak.” The “best streak” and “current streak” is displayed on the screen. This scoring method encourages healthy competition with others as well as motivates players to beat themselves.
Teachers, parents, students - sharpen your state capital identification skills with this fun, straightforward, and inexpensive app!

US leads the shark attack list w/ a total of 36 total attacks in 2010! Hasn't anyone seen any of the Jaws movies?

When lunching w/ your boss, put ketchup on your steak.