Online Shopping hints, joys, pitfalls

I have been fascinated with Open Source software ever since discovering computers and the internet. They are labors of love for the developers and free tools for those that can freely grab them. The Firefox browser is a great example.

The biggy for me though is to use something as a substitute for Windows. Not because I need to or hate Microsoft, but because I can. It’s part of living in the Free World that is Open Source. Well lately I have my second Linux based operating system installed and it is a little challenging for my age group.

I have the openSUSE 10.2 that is just out in a release version. It challenges me and for help I frequent the LinuxQuestions.org forum where helpful Linux folks hang out. They had a poll that I would like to share titled “How Old is Everyone Around Here?” It clearly shows that I’m in the minority at age 62 and makes me feel better about being slow. They are all just so darn young.

I was playing around with the idea of creating some tooltips. Those are the neat little pop ups that appear when you mouseover link like text. It’s all done with Javascript and this post is a test of a script by Erick Bosrup.

Here is an example of what Eric calls a Sticky Popup. Put the mouse on it and the off to make it go away, or hover another tooltip link.

I thought I would share a response to my Armadillo Trap page. A visitor e-mailed me today with a success story on the same trap that we use plus some tips on how she did it. This is copied with her permission. The trap we are discussing can be bought at Shopping Warehouse.

From: Trapper80 I bought the same trap and since August ’06 I have captured 16 (I love to count too) Holes everywhere. One morning I filled 97 holes in my lawn. Then I got serious. I put the trap against my house over an exisiting hole. Continue Here…

I’m sure there are a few that don’t have a clue what an affiliate is or what an affiliate web site does. Affiliates are about bringing possible customers to meet online merchants. It’s like a virtual introduction that combines product promotion with advertising.

You for sure have passed through some affiliate web sites and didn’t even know it. Their job is to gain visibility through Search Engine Marketing and hand off their traffic to trusted merchants that they have a formal relationship with. If a sale is made there is a small commission from the merchant to the affiliate. The customer pays no more than if he had gone directly to the merchant site. It’s a very competitive and ever changing environment.

Most affiliates and merchants are linked together by Affiliate Networks like shareasale.com that handle all the sales tracking. Give them a try if you ever feel like taking a stab at this type of Internet business. They have high standards and are respected in the industry.

We are in exile in Shreveport waiting on my wife’s open heart surgery. They moved it out a week while she recovers from a traumatic event that happened the first night in the hospital here. Her roomate died unexpectedly in the night, but this is not about that.

Last night we got a call from a priest friend in Montana. He serves a parish on an Indian Reservation, and had gotten together with a few friends for some special prayer for me and my wife in a sweat lodge. Our friend informed us that one of the men praying for us was in her second grade class there on the reservation. He remebered that I had visited from Tennessee before our marriage and given him a squirrel tail.

The point of this is that you never know what dividends may flow from kindness to a child. A little time invested 40 years ago is paying off big now. To any who may read this please invest a few seconds of prayer for us now.