Talking TV Remote Control Holder

This week's "odd gadget of the week" spotlight goes to the Talking TV Remote Control Holder. It's nothing more than a little curved stand that can hold virtually any remote control. Then, when you take out the remote, it will periodically tell you to put it back in the stand. The quotes it has are "Where's the remote?", "Please put the remote back", and "Are you still using the remote?"

This is perfect for those days when you're at home by yourself and don't have anyone else to nag you. Or of course, if you lose the remote, and you can't get enough of your spouse and kids asking where it is, this holder will chime in as well.
Here's my question: if someone went to all the trouble to create a device that irritates you until you put a remote control away, why can't someone invent something that yells at people to stop watching TV, get off the couch and actually go out and do something?

Anyway, the unusual concept and borderline creepy voice that the holder uses are what makes the Talking Remote Control Holder our odd gadget of the week.

More details, including samples of the voice clips, are here.

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The Great American Seafood Cookoff

Besides loving cookies, I also love seafood. I especially love domestic seafood. I prefer to know the source of my food and prefer it to be as local as possible.
Because I love to cook, I love cooking contests. So I would love to enter my own special Crab Pepper Alfredo in The Great American Seafood Cook Off! Or maybe I'd enter my incredible seafood salad that is served in a bread bowl.....or maybe my crab bisque. Of course the three of them make a wonderful meal when served together! Hmmm.....makes me think that i know what is on the menu for dinner tonight!
My special recipe is made with only the freshest ingredients so it would fit right in with this group and their promotion of domestic seafood sustainability. It's an important concept that is often overlooked. As an important part of our food supply, we must protect it.

The Great American Seafood Cook Off features chefs from around the nation fixing the most incredibly yummy foods imaginable. If last years event was any indication, this years event should be a feast! I recommend that those of you who like to cook and/or like to eat, check out the recipes of the latest and greatest. Maybe even consider entering the Cook off yourself! I would love to be able to blog on here about knowing the winner of this years event!
Cook off

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Cookies!

I was going to post a review today about my cookie jar (it's really cool) but decided that it doesn't mean much to have a cookie jar if you don't have cookies to put in it.

I do not like store bought cookies. They lack a certain something. I make mine or get them from friends. My two best friends cook like you wouldn't believe. Jane is the grandmotherly type (she IS a grandmother of 3 after all) and she is a country cook. At her house you are going to be served stews, chili and southern friend chicken.

My other best friend, Judy is a type A, hyper attorney. She cooks things like Pumpkin Bisque, quiche and organic blue corn tortilla chips (with homemade salsa).

They both make outstanding cookies and candy platters....at Christmas (Yule for our Pagan readers). Me, I make cookies all year. After all they are one of the 4 basic food groups for Techno-Geeks (the others being Coke, Cup-o-noodles, and Gummy worms).

Anyway, I invented a new cookie recipe. It's essentially the chocolate chip cookie recipe you find on all those chip bags....but with 1 1/4 cup of cocoa powder instead of the chips. They turn out to be very yummy and a bit like a brownie cookie.

In case you don't have a chip bag handy, here is the recipe:
1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened
3/4 cup of white sugar
1 cup of brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 3/4 cup flour
2tsp vanilla
2tsp baking soda

Mix it all together, drop it in spoonfuls on the cookie sheet and cook about 10 minutes on 350.

I swap the white and brown sugar amounts (always do with cookies) because I prefer chewy cookies.

And that's my cookie recipe!

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Coke on Social Spark

OK, now almost everyone knows I'm a Coke head. For those who don't, here are a couple of examples.

Once, when I was 5, my older brother got me to trade him bedrooms because he promised that I would be able to get Coke late at night when mom and dad were asleep.

This same brother used to give me a Coke when I'd introduce him to pretty girls at the park.

I also made the people at the cola-that-must-not-be-named challenge mad when I could tell the two drinks apart because I hate their product. I told them that then I took my Coke and ran!

But the real proof came when I was 15. I was staying at my aunts house in Texas. She is a drinker of the cola-that-must-not-be-named. I hate that crap. She was convinced that that other stuff was fine and no one could tell the difference anyway. I told her about the above incident. She dismissed it. She was that kind of person. Anyway, around 1am I became desperate for a Coke So I convinced my cousin to sneak out with me and we walked 4 miles in a downpour to a convenience store to get Coke We slogged through muddy fields in near total darkness so I could have my beverage of choice, the Elixir of Life: Coke!

Now I'm a member of a site called Social Spark. It's a great site for bloggers and it would be great if Coke advertised on there. I've sent an email to Coke (we frequently email each other) and it would be great if all the other Coke heads would do so as well. Send them to Social Spark. They will not be sorry!

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Dymo Discpainter

OK....I STILL love my lightscribe disk printer. It's great and, best of all, it's free.

Sometimes, however, I want to colour print my disks. Well I have found a little gizmo that does just that. It's the Dymo Discpainter. It prints the label, in colour, directly on the disc. It's great, it wasn't overly expensive and I simply adore it!

Put full-disk, full-color images and titles on your recordable discs with the easy-to-use Dymo DiscPainter. It's fast, too, able to print a full disc in 600dpi in about one minute. How simple is it to use? Just close the lid and print... no labels to line up or hard-to-use trays. The Dymo Discus software includes ready-made canvases and a photo collage tool. Includes one ink cartridge (good for about 100 prints), sample media, USB cable, AC adapter and software on CD-ROM. Requires inkjet-printable recordable discs and either Microsoft Windows XP or MacOS 10.3+.

Get yours from X-Treme Geek.

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View my Video!

Look, it's a first attempt at making a movie on my laptop...so have some compassion. But isn't my little Geena and our little Urs ADORABLE?!?!?

Yeah, I think so too!

This is our first video and it's an ad for bills.com. Really cool site, so look at the video and then check out bills.com! Their site allows you to take a financial IQ quiz, see where you stand financially and then get help with where you fall short on the sound finances profile. Their experts will help you in every area of your finances even with credit cards and budgeting your monthly expenses. What could be better! You can do all of this in the privacy of your own home, so what are you waiting for, click and go!

I made this video using my digital camera and the Microsoft Movie Maker that came on my laptop. it is amazing what you can do these days with those two items. Now go view my video and then hop over to their website and see how much help they can be to you!



Wasn't that great! I really hope you liked it and I also hope that you will head over to bills.com.
Debt consolidation
Debt relief
Debt help

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Steve Madden Women's Exist Boot

I am NOT a shoe hound! I just love boots. All kinds of boots. I just got these, in black of course, and they are my new favorites! The leather is so soft that it caresses your foot. It's lovely. Of course a female Techno-Geek MUST have the appropriate footwear!

The only downside is that there wasn't an option to pick purple boots. Now if I could get these boots in purple I'd be willing to be buried in them!

Oh well, if you want you can get your own Steve Madden Women's Exist Boots.

They are worth every penny!

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Alzheimer's Memory Walk

Here is a chance to do something great for yourself, your family and others....all at once!

Alzheimer's is a progressive and fatal brain disease. As many as 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer's destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies or social life. Alzheimer’s gets worse over time, and it is fatal. Today it is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.

Being a Techno-Geek doesn't mean I am glued to my computer and the rest of you should be desk-chair-potatoes either! Each one of you reading this can do this. We can all do this.

The Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk is the nation's largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research – and it calls on volunteers of all ages to become champions in the fight against Alzheimer's. There are walks in more than 600 communities. A typical Memory Walk is a 2-3 mile walk held on a weekend morning in the fall. That's just a nice afternoon stroll for most of us! Gather your friends and sign up. You will be getting some exercise and helping out a really great cause. It would also be a chance to test your leadership skills by signing up as a team captain. Then you can rally your friends!

By teaming up with the Alzheimer's Association, you can walk with a purpose – and move us closer to a world without Alzheimer's. Together, we can move a nation.

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Belkin Professional Computer Tool Kit (55-Piece)

Lets face it, it's almost impossible to be a true Techno-Geek if you don't have all the right tools. I build and maintain computers (for fun and profit!). You simply HAVE to have a good computer tool kit to do this.

This Belkin kit contains everything you need to get the job done. I should know, I've been using mine for years and I have yet to need somehing not provided.

Yeah, there are other kits out there....but this one has everything, a good case AND it fits into my laptop bag!

Trust me, if you knew my car you would understand why anything left outside the computer bag would be is mortal peril!

That's it. People were wondering about my kit and where I got it. Where else but Tiger Direct?

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Open Cisco Certification

Ok, you people know how I am. If it's about computers or the internet, I'm ready to listen. If it's done ON Computers and the internet, sign me up! I needed some up to date, absolutely the latest training in security and wireless LAN. The Cisco Learning Network provided that and more. My VPN was good...now it's great! I learned enough through Cisco to be classified as an expert. They even have a virtual library of constantly updated material to go with their incredible list of specializations and certifications.

Talk about certifications, everyone knows that often it's not what you can do but what you can prove you can do. Certification does that. It proves to potential employers why you should be hired. Cisco is also highly thought of, so that is an added bonus.

But certification is never more important than when you work for yourself. Being able to prove that you know what you are talking about to a potential client who is about to entrust their multi-million dollar network to you is often what will make or break the deal.

The above pyramid shows how you can build from entry level all the way to being an expert, all through Cisco. They take what you already know and build on it. They continue to add layer after layer of the most current information available. That is where they come out above the rest. They are constantly adapting to a changing environment.

If you are working in any aspect of the IT arena, do yourself a favor and check out The Cisco Learning Network. Improve your business and your life.

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Sudoku Toilet Roll

For all those obsessed Sudoku players now you can even play in the bathroom on your toilet paper? That’s right it’s the world’s first Sudoku Toilet Paper Roll. It costs $13 for approx. 240 playing sheets.

OK, I know I'm obsessed with puzzles and games (which explains my love of computers) but COME ON! Even I'm not willing to go this far! This is definitely for the obsessed player.

Of course if someone bought it for me as a gift.....

Anyway, you can of course buy it online. Click here for a Sudoku Toilet Roll!

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Adsense Sharing Widget

This should thrill Google: A widget has been developed to make adsense more relevant to an individuals website. You just go to Urbanread, send them an email and they send you the code. You paste the code in your blog, website...whatever and presto! That's all that there is to it and suddenly your ads or more on target than ever before.

Pretty cool.....so go check it out and let me know how it works for you.

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101 Spy Gadgets for the Evil Genius

First of all, "evil" is in the eye of the beholder. But I loved playing with this book. I'm STILL playing with it and the others in the series. I recommend it to every tech-head, genius (evil or otherwise) as a fun way to have a bunch of interesting gadgets that no one knows about!

The best part is that in building them yourself, you can tweek them to your own specifications. Look into getting your own copy today. Go here for your own copy of 101 Spy Gadgets for the Evil Genius!

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Stem Cell Research Innovation

Now this is cool. So cool in fact that I've ordered several of these kits for family members and close friends. What is it? It's a way for women to collect life saving stem cells from her own menstrual blood!

OK, so I probably just lost the guys...but ladies, we can actually save ourselves and possibly our families (as usual!) by following the ultra simple instructions.

Here is how it works, in a nutshell: You use the medical grade menstrual cup to collect the cells and then ship them back to the research lab. That's it! There is a really great demo video on the website that I strongly urge everyone to go and view. It explains it all in detail and makes it easier to understand.

My concern was about scientific studies. There are several and all are available for viewing by going to the website. I also strongly urge you to read them. The more information you have, the better.

Most impressive to me was the study by Dr. Amit Patel. In this study, adult stem cells were transplanted in a group of patients undergoing cardiac bypass surgery and compared to a similar group undergoing bypass surgery without stem cell transplantation. The group who received adult stem cell transplantation in addition to bypass surgery showed a significant improvement in heart function compared to the group who did not receive stem cell treatment.

Dr. Patel is the doctor that C’elle worked with in devising their system. Peer reviewed and doctor approved. That is enough for me. Especially when I can choose to save something I would ordinarily discard that may save my life or the life of someone I love. I’d personally prefer to take the chance.

No matter how you may feel about the traditional stem cell debate, none of which applies here, this is one site that should be checked out by all women. Visit C'elle

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Mummy Dearest - Joan Hess

Joan Hess has been a favourite author of mine for years. Her writing is hysterically funny and the mysteries aren't obvious.
Claire has at long last married her cop boyfriend, Peter Rosen, and they are ostensibly on their honeymoon in Luxor, Egypt, accompanied by Claire's daughter, Caron, and Caron's best friend, Inez. Peter, however, is often called away on mysterious meetings with Egyptian police, and Claire and the girls are left to their own devices. Odd things start happening: the girls claim they're being followed by a sinister Arab with a scar, a young American woman is kidnapped in the desert, and murders dog an archeological expedition. Hess throws into this heady mix a deliciously eccentric cast of supporting characters, including one Lady Amelia Peabody Emerson, reputed to be the descendant of famous English archeologists.


Get your own copy of Mummy Dearest!

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Cool New Speakers

See All Computer Speakers

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Wi-Fi Locating T-Shirt

This is a recent birthday gift from a friend of mine who REALLY knows how I am! Yes, I'm a proud, card carrying and unashamed TECHNO-GEEK!

This shirt is really cool though. It has an actual wi-fi location finder in it. The above graphic is accurate, that IS how the shirt looks and works. You can find this and other great items at Think Geek.

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ViewSonic VX2835wm 28" Widescreen LCD Monitor

I needed a new monitor (did so!) and wanted to get a big screen. So I did. I went with View Sonic because I'm familiar with them and have always had good luck with their products. So why change?

This thing is great....I know, I got a smaller footprint with the desktop system and went with a bigger screen. A study in contrasts.

But if you get a chance to see one of these things in action (say a good Warcraft raid) you will understand immediately why you need one as well!
You can get your at Tiger Direct.

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Mini Wash Away Your Sins Soul Saver Pack

A Friend got me this for Christmas....I thought I'd share!

The perfect gift for liars, cheater and wrong doers! This mini kit contains baptism in a bottle for a sanctified soak bubble bath, blessed relief holy water, and a 32-page Goody-Goody Guidebook containing hilarious directions and space to write your wrongs. This kit is mini and will fit in the palm of your hand, but really, how much holy water do you really need?

You can get your very own Mini Soul Saver Pack at Prank Place.

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HP Pavilion Slim s3500f Desktop Computer

Incredible. That is the best word to describe this system. It's incredibly small and has astounding power. It's small enough to hold comfortably in your lap yet is as powerful as a massive tower. I'm a stickler for neatness and organization at my desk. This takes up so little space that you hardly notice it. In my case, it's under the desk, but now I have tons more space.

The system came loaded with the following specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+2.8 GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB SATA II, SATA DVDRW-RAM with Lightscribe, Wireless & 10/100 LAN, Vista.

This is well worth the money (and it wasn't expensive!) and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. This is absolutely the future of desktops: Smaller and more powerful. Get one today at Tiger Direct.

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Hitler Knitting Pattern

OK....now this is one of those things that I really feel that the world could have done without: Kitting patterns to knit your own dictator doll. I'm not kidding, you can't make this kind of stuff up.

A trendy designer has sparked outrage with a set of knitting patterns to make woolly models of the world's most evil dictators - including Adolf Hitler. Rachael Matthews — who has kick-started a celebrity knitting craze — calls the grotesque Nazi doll Knitler.

Her new book has designs for a dozen dictators, with a photo of Hitler doing the Nazi salute on the cover reports The Sun newspaper.

Other tyrants featured are Iraqi monster Saddam Hussein, Uganda’s brutal Idi Amin and Cambodian dictator Pol Pot.

A spokesman for the Jewish Network said: “You would hope people would have more sense than to take a cuddly Hitler into work.”

There is no link to get your own pattern. I probably wouldn't post it anyway.

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World of Warcraft

I didn't intend to become one of "those" people. I tried hard to avoid it. Oh, I like my computer games. Those with a plot, some action and an eventual end. Except for the Sims and Sims2. But I just wasn't going to become one of those "gamer" people who was addicted to some online role playing game. Then my oldest married a Geek. I watched him play a couple of times and it didn't seem all that interesting. Especially when there didn't seem to really be a point to it.



Ok, so there was the fact that I couldn't see buying the software and running it for a month to decide if I liked it. $20 and I might hate it.

Blizzard (the company that owns Warcraft) got sneaky. They sent a round of pop-up ads (which I never click on) through the net. I saw one, killed it, updated my pop-up blocker and was done with it. But all night I kept seeing it in my head: Try it free for 14 days! Download the game for free...play it for 14 days. FREE. With nothing to lose, I went directly to the Blizzard website.

Now I anticipated I'd have to secure it against my credit card so they could automatically bill me when my trial period was up. This was where Blizzard was really smart. I didn't have to do this. I just clicked for a free trial account, downloaded the software and I was off and playing.
So I created a character, which was very easy to do and stood in the middle of a town looking around and trying to figure out what to do. I figured it out quickly enough and before the hour was done I was a level 8! Then a 10! Wow, I'm good at this.

Of course it became more and more difficult to level the higher I got. It also required help from some of the others playing the game. Some quests required several people to bring down the bad guys. So I met other people who like to play.

On the 15th day, when I went to log in, was a very nice message from Blizzard telling me that my free time was up and I would have to subscribe if I wished to continue playing. Either way, they hoped I had enjoyed my Warcraft experience. Now the easy click button to subscribe is not a surprise to anyone. What was nice was the button to remove Warcraft from my system. In other words, they understand that I may not wish to continue and that is fine, but hey thanks for looking and we won't screw up your computer or leave you with a huge set of files to deal with on your own. I liked that about them. It was thoughtful. I clicked the subscribe button.

On December 24 of that year, I was supposed to meet up with my oldest and her husband. She was going to call me so that my departure to their home was in sync with them. While waiting I was playing Warcraft. I found a group of 35+ level players who would run me through the Deadmines (Really tough for a lower level player!). No sooner had we started towards the Mine when my oldest called to tell me to leave. I said ok and hung up. How long could it possible take to run to Westfall and then through the Deadmines? Turns out, to do everything I needed to do in there was about 35 minutes. I thanked the other players for their help and logged out.

Then drove really fast and arrived only about 45 minutes late. My oldest was asking where I had been, so on and so forth. I gave her a hug, gave her hubby a hug and then moved him between the two of us so I could tell her "I was running the Deadmines". She was not amused. He was.

So after a year I'm still playing. I've got a number of characters, including Denarra pictured here.
Yes, I recommend this game HIGHLY! But don't take my word for it. Hop over to Blizzard and try it free for yourself.
Oh, if you are ever in the Realm of Stormrage, look me up!

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Webkinz - A Toy for the Young and the Young at Heart

This little guy is named "Louis" and it's short for St. Louis, his birthplace. I'm a frog lover and founder of the International Forgitarian Temple. The official frog is the Red-eyed Tree Frog. That is what Louis happens to be. He came into my life as a gift from my oldest. She presented him to me in mid January as a birthday gift. Now you may be wondering what on earth I'm doing blogging about a stuffed frog. Well this is more than a stuffed toy. In fact, it may be one of the most brilliant marketing concepts of the past few years. If you notice, there is a tag attached to Louis. Inside that plastic container is a paper with a secret code. After he is adopted and moved into your home, you can go to the Webkinz website and file his formal adoption.

This website is incredible. It's 100% safe for children. Even the chat areas aren't free form chat. It's limited to choices from drop down boxes. There is no way to post personal information or give out identifying information. Instead it's a site with many kid friendly games, all rated "G", and various activities. The most important thing is the care and tending of your adopted webkins! You see Louis has his own room (well now he has a 2 room condo with a nice backyard!) and he lives there. I have to visit him and provide him with food, exercise, a home...etc. It's a virtual habitat for whatever animal you adopt!

I was so impressed by the site that I went out and bought a Horse webkins for the 7 year old daughter of a close friend. I also bought the "Love Frog" (pink with red hearts all over it) for my oldest who is expecting her first child. I can't be with her as much as I'd like, so I gave her something that can. I can't recommend this highly enough for children of all ages.

Besides, Louis is really very cute!

Take a Tour of the Webkinz World
Buy your own Webkins

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