I Have The Best Cable Televsion Deal

 I have cable television.  We have tried several times to do the satellite thing, but I always hated how when it got stormy outside, or even just a little rainy, the signal would go out.  I have been with my current cable television provider for several years, and for the most part, I am a very happy, satisfied customer.

I know it can be confusing sometimes to find the best cable deals, so it's nice to have a website that compares Cable TV Deals for you.  Different companies offer different packages and channels.  Heck, even the same company can have a variety of different channel packages.   I subscribe to all the channels, even the movie channels.  We don't go out a lot, so having the ability to watch whatever we want on television is nice. 

I also love my High Speed Internet.  I don't remember exactly how fast it is, but I do know that I have the best speed that my cable company provides. I also have my phone through them, so I only have to pay one bill every month.  Granted, it is a pretty good sized bill, but it is worth the services they provide.  If I were to check out Internet Service Providers, phone companies, and then just have basic cable, I would be paying three bills, and I am pretty sure that added together, it would be more than I am paying now.  

She Needs Internet!

 I hate talking on the telephone.  I always have.  If I have to make a phone call, I dread the small talk.  I just want to tell you what I have to say and be done with it.  This doesn't make me a very good friend, but I'm okay with that.  And so are my friends.

One of my favorite people in the world is just like me.  She doesn't like the phone.  The only problem is that she doesn't have internet at her house, so it makes it hard to keep in touch.  You all know that I am always sitting at this computer, trying to keep these blogs going.  Okay, so maybe there is a little Facebook thrown in too, but every working girls needs a break now and then.  Right?  RIGHT?

Anyway, the reason my friend doesn't have internet it that the cable companies don't run lines out to her house, and every time she has tried to get it through the phone, the reception is horrible because she lives in the middle of nowhere.  I was telling her the other night at Ryan's party that she needs to look into hughsnet.  They are one of those satellite internet providers,   This would be perfect for her, because even living in the middle of nowhere you can get satellite reception.  Going to the library once a week to get online just doesn't work well, and I miss talking to her.

Well, if you consider Facebook messaging and IM-ing talking.

Spy Or Limit?

 I am always on the computer we have here at home, so it's difficult for the girls to get online time.  Junior was talking about this to a guy he works with, and the guy offered to build the girls their own computer.  He gave it to us a few weeks ago, and it is working out really well.  I have it set up right in front of my desk, so when either of the girls are online, I can pretty much keep an eye on them.  However, I am not a naive parent, and I know kids will try and visit sites they know they shouldn't.  Especially kids who are Kasi's age.

I was thinking that there has to be some way that I can see what they are doing, other than checking their history, which we all know can be erased.  I don't want to spy on them, so I was wondering if there was a way to limit the sites they can visit.  After a little research, I found this parental control software that does just that.   Parents get a supervise key, which downloads the software the first time you use it.  When the kids want to go online, they have to plug in an age appropriate key, which only allows them access to websites that are considered safe for that age group.  The keys come in under 9, 9-12, and teen.  If the parent wants unlimited access to the internet, they just have to plug in the supervise key.  I love this concept, because it keeps me from having to spy on my kids by limiting what they can see from the get go.

Would you rather spy on your kids or limit their internet access?

I'm Going To Be Doing A Lot More Checking From Now On

When I signed into Facebook this morning, I found a message from one of my favorite people, alerting me to the fact that she found my 14 year old son on a dating site.  Of course I checked it out immediately, and sure enough, he shows up as someone who has been to the site, though he doesn't have a profile.  I will be asking him about it when he gets home from school, and I might be having to monitor his online activity a little more closely.  I don't want to end up finding out down the road that he has been using roulette chat or visiting other "off limit" sites.  I understand that he is a curious young man, but he may not understand how these things can gt him into trouble.

I am so grateful that I have friends who look out for me and my family.  Had this person not alerted me, I probably never would have known what Ryan has been up to. 

And to the person who messaged me; you know who you are.  You also know that I love you, and I thank you for trying to help protect my kids.

Scary

My son is 14 years old. He loves spending time online, and I have been trusting him not to go on sites he knows I would disapprove of. I do periodically check his history and stuff, and I have never found anything bad. But, I know he is a growing boy, and I know that he will become curious about certain things.

It seriously blows my mind how easy it is to find the things you want online. For instance, did you know that you could buy steroids, legally, online? Without a prescription. How is this possible? I would be lying if I said this didn't scare me a little. I know that young men think they need to "bulk up", and with these "enhancements" so easily available, it is easy to give in to temptation.

They really should require a prescription for steroids. Maybe then, I wouldn't worry so much.

Man, This Is Frustrating

I am so frustrated right now! We have had so much snow and rain in the past couple of weeks, and it is starting to mess with my internet. I don't know if it's because the wire that is buried in my yard is getting wet or if the connections on the pole are water logged, but I keep getting booted offline. I was trying to play a game on Facebook, and every time it tried to load the page, the connection disappeared. I thought it might have been Facebook, so I tried to do a little blog hopping.

It did the same thing. I tried calling my internet provider, and I got a message saying that they have had several calls about the service in this area, and they are looking into it. I guess they don't understand that I work from home, and I have to have reliable service. To be perfectly honest, this is really the first time I have really had an issue with them. But, if it happens now, who's to say it won't be an ongoing problem. Maybe when we move I can talk Junior into looking into wild blue satellite internet. In fact, depending on where we move, we may not be able to continue with our existing service. It's funny how down here in the south, when they build new houses, if there isn't a high demand for cable service, they won't run the wires to those houses. This means entire neighborhoods have to rely on satellites for not only television, but internet as well.

Whatever happens, I will have to have reliable service. I mean, my cats on Happy pets can't feed themselves.

Stop Waiting And Get Going!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

If everything goes as planned, next weekend we will be moving. We turned in the rental application today, but there have been several others who did the same, so the guy will pick the best one. We're hoping that will be us.

If we do get it, I will spend next week getting all our utilities and stuff changed over. I am thinking about upgrading my internet speed when they switch it. Charter offers great deals on their packages, and right now they are offering free installation. I am hoping that even though I am an existing customer, I can still get the free installation.


Having Charter for my internet was a deciding factor in our rental choices. I refuse to go back to DSL. When we moved into this apartment, it wasn't wired for Charter, so we went with the DSL our phone provider provided. After about two days, I was begging Junior to try and get Charter here. We had it at the house, and I couldn't believe the difference in speed between them and DSL. I know it's crazy to expect instant access, but that is what Charter offers, and I love it. I love playing my games online, and also downloading whatever I want, without having to wait FOREVER! Trust me when I say that you should stop waiting and get going. Make the switch to Charter and get high speed internet for only $19.99. That is an awesome price, and I speak from experience.

You can also become a fan of Charter’s Facebook page to keep up to date with specials and programming details.

Real Time Searching

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of LeapFish Inc. All opinions are 100% mine.

There is a new way to search the web, and to tell you the truth, I am loving it.

Are you looking to see who got voted off Survivor tonight? Do you want to see who is Tweeting about it, or posting about it on Facebook? How about New Moon? Are you loving everything Twilight? You can find out all types of interesting things by using real time search engines, like leapfish. Just type in what you are looking for, and you will find all kinds of things about it, related to it, and who is talking about it.

I just typed in New Moon, and there are a ton of Tweets that showed up, and they are from right now, not three weeks ago. Most of the Tweets are talking about tonight's episode of The Office. Apparently Jim gave Kelly a New Moon poster for Christmas, and she freaked out a bit. At least that is what I am getting from the Tweets.


Google also has real time search now, and they used the social media to promote it's launch. I typed in "Survivor Samoa" on Google's real time search, and they also listed a bunch of Tweets . People are really talking about how this week, Shambo's dream of getting rid of Dave finally came true. I now know where to go if I ever miss an episode of my favorite shows, because you can be caught up in a few minutes reading what everyone is Tweeting.

Real time searches are going to be the hot new thing, in my opinion. Immediate satisfaction is great, and getting all the detail with one click is so simple.

I love it.

Knowing Where Your Kids Have Been

I usually try and keep the posts I do here light. This is my "fun" blog, where I share stories about my life and my kids. As a mom, I have certain rules in my house that I expect to be obeyed. But, as the kids are getting older, I am trusting them more and more, and that means I am not looking over their shoulders every moment of every day. At 14, Ryan is becoming more and more trustworthy, but he is also a 14 year old boy. I don't know for a fact, but I can only assume that when he is home alone, he is looking up things online that I might not approve of. Well, wait, I do know that he is doing exactly that.

I think in his mind it was perfectly innocent, but it was still unacceptable and led me to delete his youtube account. One day a few weeks ago, I checked my email, and had a message from someone on youtube. I used my email address when we opened Ryan's account so that I could keep tabs on what he was looking at, and apparently I wasn't paying enough attention. I don't want to go into too much detail, but he commented on a video that was a little racist. All hey said was "shut up", but it angered another commenter. The response I received was full of hate, and it blew me away. I immediately deleted Ryan's account, and he is no longer allowed on youtube without me sitting here with him.

But, like I said, I have no idea what he does when I am not home. I hope he doesn't go where I told him not to, but come on, we were all teenagers once, and I know I didn't always listen to my parents. This is where NannySoft can come in handy. This program can show you exactly where your child has been while online. You can monitor keystrokes, seeing exactly what your child has typed in and searched for. You can also see screenshots of the websites that were visited. Add to this the email alerts you receive when the rules are violated, and you can know exactly what your kids are doing.

Is this an invasion of their privacy? Maybe. But as a parent, it is my job to keep my kids safe, and if that means keeping tabs on their online activities, so be it.

Let VenalTech.com Get You Noticed

I love to blog. I love writing every day about what is going on in my life. I love that I have been able to make some very good friends over the past two years. But, like every other website and blog on the internet, I want more visitors. I want my blog to be noticed.

This is where social media marketing comes into play. We all know what SEO means (search engine optimization), and we know how important it is to be on that first page, preferably at the top. VenalTech.com can take all the technical stuff related to your website, or blog, and do it for you. They know how effective media marketing is, and they are great at it. They have worked with several Fortune 500 companies, and when MovieForumz.com was active, they made it one of the top 500 websites in the world. In fact, company president Brian Holt made his first millions when he was twenty due to his internet marketing skills. I wouldn't mind having his company help me.

If you don't have a website yet, but have an idea of what you want, they can help you set that up, too. They are involved in every aspect of making your dreams of running a successful website come true. Whether it's a service or product you want known, let VenalTech help you get noticed.

New Internet Speed

I am spoiled. I know this, and am okay with it. I mean, who doesn't like being spoiled?

I'm not talking about material things, or getting everything I want. I'm not talking about my husband doing every little thing I ask of him. I am talking about my internet connection.

Okay, keep laughing, but try and let me explain.

I used to have dial up. This was when I first discovered the internet about six years ago. I know, I missed out on a lot not being online, but before that I was raising kids and working, and I didn't have time for myself at all. After using dial up for a while, my phone company came out with DSL. I was so excited that I could be online and talk on the phone at the same time. It was heaven, or at least that is what I thought.

Until the day we decided to get cable. Before this, the kids were young enough that they didn't care if they watched Nick or Disney Channel. When we called to get our cable installed, our local cable company told us about their package deal, where we could get cable, phone and internet through them, for one low, monthly bill. We said sure, and that is when I fell in love with Charter.

Their phone and cable service is great, but their internet speed is what my love is based on. It is so fast. I don't have to wait to be connected like with dial up. I don't have to wait for pages to load. It's almost instantaneous. Right now, I have their highest broadband connection. I didn't think it could get any better than this.

Until today.

This morning I read about Charter’s Ultra60 Mbps service. It is not available in my area yet, but I can not wait until it is. It is one of their new PhatBand speeds, and it makes gaming and watching movies online better. I am constantly multi-tasking online, and would love a faster speed. It would probably make dropping my ecards a whole lot easier. I am not all that good at explaining the technical stuff, so check out the Ultra60 Information Page if you have questions about this new service. I hope it is available in my area soon.

To keep up with all things Charter, follow Charter’s Twitter Feed. I think I am one of the few people left in the world who aren't addicted to Twitter. Yet.

Stop Pop Ups

I hate pop up ads. I especially hate them when I am dropping ecards. Nothing slows me down like waiting for an ad to load just so I can close it down. I have found a new program that will block pop ups and embedded advertising. It's called Ad Muncher, and it can block ads in all browsers, including internet explorer and firefox. It speeds up page loading, and protects your privacy by blocking third party tracking systems. You can try Ad Muncher now by downloading a free trial. What have you got to lose? It may make your internet experience more enjoyable.

So Many Choices

I am extremely happy with my internet provider. I know I have mentioned this is the past. I wish my provider had services available nationwide, because I would recommend them to everyone. If you are looking for Internet Services it can be overwhelming. There are so many options out there. Digital Landing has articles and information that can help you make sense of all the information out there, so that you can make an informed decision when it comes to deciding on what internet services you want and/or need. Let's face it. We are living in a digital age, and for those of us who aren't the most computer literate, we can use all the help we can get.