Tell these people whose jobs are going overseas that it’s media driven.

Hey folks! have a nice day! Take a vacation, buy a pool!”

It’s absolutely not media driven. The media may be contributing to the fear, but they certainly aren’t *DRIVING* it.

It would be entirely irresponsible for the media to say to the public :

“*IGNORE* that you’re paying 30% more for gas. *IGNORE* that you have less money after paying your bills. Ignore that your pay has been declining for the past 5 years. *IGNORE* that you have no equity in your homes to take out home equity loans. You, the general public need to go out and spend the money you no longer have! Be happy, spend money! Get this economy rolling again!!”

Frankly, if you don’t have it to spend, and if you can’t get a loan against your assets, then you don’t spend.

In our corner of the world, it’s a 30% higher fuel cost, leading to higher transportation costs, higher heating costs, higher food bills and lower disposable income. It also doesn’t help that for 100 years, we had factory jobs that paid twice the national wage and those jobs have now gone overseas.

Feel free to complain about a “media driven recession,” but nationwide, people who follow the news - and those that don’t - are all feeling the pain of higher prices, lower disposable income.

Actually, Google maps works better than you know. Here’s the awful truth.
Google’s street view isn’t really new. It’s been around since May 2007, but they’ve been adding new cities.

Last Autumn, before my family vacationed in San Francisco, we used Google’s Street view to take a virtual walk from the Hotel we chose to Fisherman’s Wharf. We were able to “walk down the streets” in Google maps, look around at all the buildings, until we arrived at our destination. A few weeks later, when we were physically in San Francisco, the experience of *really* walking down the streets was eerily familiar compared to our “virtual walk” in Google Maps, weeks earlier.

Here’s a real-world example. Click the arrows on the street to walk down the street.

Here’s when you can see in which US Cities Google provides a photographic street view.

I agree.

Plug and play.

My only advice: Leave the router exposed so that the guest can unplug it to reset it, if needed. Or, so the guest can press the router “reset” button, in the case of an emergency. Sometimes, if the Internet connection goes down, you’ll just need a simple “power down, wait two minutes, power back up” to get it restarted. You can’t easily have the guests take care of it themselves if your router and modem are locked away in a cupboard.

In the past several years, several popular indoor water park hotels have been built very near Cedar Point. Recently we’ve stayed at the Great Bear Lodge and Castaway Bay, which have large indoor waterparks.

Check out these hotels near Cedar Point.

You are planning to travel the US and you need to keep the communication lines open online with a help of an AOL connected laptop. You already have AOL Broadband on your PC. Can AOL Broadband be transferred to the laptop while you’re traveling?

You no longer need to pay AOL monthly fees to keep up your AOL e-mail address. Here are the details.

Transfer your AOL e-mail address to a FREE AOL account that requires NO AOL software.

Then use your laptop with Internet Explorer and Firefox to see the Internet without AOL slowing you down.

And save hundreds of dollars per year that you’re paying to AOL that isn’t really necessary anymore. AOL’s catastrophic member subscription decline is a true indication that AOL was once a valuable product that has now been replaced by a better, free, non-AOL Internet.

Congratulations, you’ve found the one, said your vows, and you’re ready to get out of your hometown and have a great honeymoon. While you’ve been getting lots of marriage advice from everyone and their mother, here’s a good tip that you might actually use. When couples go honeymooning, a hotel seems like the inevitable. There is, however, another option. You can live in a gorgeous vacation home during your honeymoon.

There are many great reasons to choose a vacation home over a hotel. First of all, you’ve just had to endure every one of your friends and family probably since the moment you started planning your wedding. The two of you could use some serious alone time. In a vacation home, there is no one but the two of you. No 12 o’clock ‘housekeeping’ calls, no distracting noise from the next room, and no snobby hotel clerks to answer to. It’s just you and your sweetheart.

Many great vacation homes offer a pool just like a hotel, however, the pool is all yours. You don’t have to share it with other guests, or wait until midnight to take a romantic swim together. And, if you decide to have guests on your honeymoon, with a vacation home, you will have plenty of room. You won’t be cramped up inside a stuffy hotel room.

The good vacation homes are located in the perfect place. You will be just a few minutes away from all of the great places that you might want to visit. Then, when you’re ready to give up on the sights, you can return to your vacation home and enjoy the peace and quiet with your spouse. The homes are beautiful as well, and offer the finest amenities, like big-screen televisions with DVD and cable. They are beautifully furnished and you will be surrounded in luxury. Guys, this is definitely a winner and your woman will love you for it. She will feel like a queen in the vacation home you choose.

You don’t have to stay in a stuffy hotel where you will be surrounded by hotel guests or shut up in your tiny room. A vacation home offers an affordable, lovely atmosphere to spend your honeymoon. After all, before long you will be back in your real home and back to the jobs, family, hustle and bustle. Make this time of your life memorable. Forget the hotel, and get an amazing vacation home. You’ll thank yourself later.

            The blue man group is the newest group to hit Universal Orlando, and it’s a show that you certainly don’t want to miss.  The show has an ‘out of this world’ quality.  That’s not a bad thing by any means.  You will most definitely be entertained.  The show is a combination of music, lights and some comedy. 
 

            At one point in the show, you may feel as if you are in some other world, with the amazing colored lights flashing and bobbing, and the drumming.  Then at another point, you find yourself laughing at these incredible blue men.  There is a point in the show when the blue men interact with a couple of members of the audience, and it makes for some great laughs.
 

            The costumes the blue men wear are comprised of latex caps which make them look bald, and tons of blue paint on their faces and heads.  They wear black clothing as well.  The blue men work with fluids, lights, and some unidentifiable things.  They make such a great mess that the people in the front row are given plastic coverings to protect themselves from flying liquids, paints and food.  Food?  Yeah.  In one past show, the Blue Men Group actually made an attempt to provide an audience member with a romantic dinner using a Twinkie.  This should give you some idea of what it’s like to see them live.
 

            If you’ve seen the Blue Man Group before, you will be pleased that along with their own theater in Universal Orlando, they have come up with some new acts for this venue.  The Blue Man Group never talks.  Throughout the whole performance, they manage to entertain, make people laugh, and create a spectacular show without uttering one word.
 

            One of the greatest things about the Blue Man Group is that you can feel free to take your entire family to the show.  There is nothing that is ‘adult’ about the show.  You don’t have to feel nervous about taking the kids to the show, unless they are very young and might be scared of big blue guys who play with colored lights and paint.  Most children actually love it because of the bright color and unusual sounds.  This is one show that is unlike any other.  If you haven’t seen this show, it is most definitely something that you should do.  It’s a guaranteed good, unique time! 

Sea World in Orlando, Florida is a 200 acre marine life park that features daily animal exhibits, attractions, and many other amazing things. If you’ve never considered visiting Sea World, then you most definitely should. There’s good news for those of you who have been there before as well. There are some great new features that are remarkable.

This is one of the greatest places to take the family when you’re on vacation in Orlando. Kids love seeing the scheduled animal performances and interactive lessons. The adults will be surprised at how much fun they will have as well. At the waterfront, there are several places to grab some good food, take a minute to rest your feet, and catch a street performer doing his or her thing.

If you decide to visit, one of the things that you must do is visit the ‘Journey to Atlantis.’ This is a water splashing water coaster that features 2 steep drops. These are guaranteed to get your heart racing and your blood pumping. Sea World is also one of the best places to see endangered Manatees. These gentle giants are dying in large numbers due to the injuries from boat propellers. The people at Sea World rescue Manatees and give them a great home.

One of the greatest parts of Sea World is The ‘Odyssea.’ This is a half hour long show that features an acrobatic show that’s sure to delight the kids and the adults. It’s an underwater themed show, and has been compared to Cirque de Soleil. Kids will love posing a picture with beautiful Clydesdale horses, and being able to feed the dolphins. At the ‘Dolphin Nursery,’ tourists can see the newly born baby dolphins, and watch them swimming around in the water.

The best thing at Sea World, and something that all families and individuals should see is the ‘Pets Ahoy’ display. This show features all different kinds of animals, from dogs and cats to skunks and pot-bellied pigs. They put on a great show that is funny and charming, and show off many learned behaviors. Many of these animals were rescued from the local animal shelters. It truly is one of those things that you just have to see to appreciate it. It’s incredible. Sea World is an amazing place to visit, with so many great things to see. This place definitely gets an A+.

Can you recommend where we can get some quality interior artificial plants in the Orlando area?

Answer:

For what it’s worth, in our rental homes we’ve been slowly moving away from artificial plants because of the dusting maintenance hassle. Our complaint is that artificial plants show dust very quickly and the housekeepers aren’t very keen on cleaning them.

Yes, I know we can use anti-dust products. You can dust artificial plants by hand, dunk them in the pool, take them outside and hose them down, but the problem is that it’s another task, and in my opinion, it’s a great plan to eliminate repetitive tasks to keep your costs down and to free up your own time for more important things (enjoying the weather, for example).

We still (sparsely) use nice dried flower arrangements, but we’re replacing artificial plants with other decorations like ceramic art, birds, cast metal objects, decorative bird houses, that sort of thing. They consume space just as well but are much easier to dust, according to our housekeepers.

Just wanted to ask some advice.
We are limited to traveling during school holidays. Up to now we have always booked our flights as early as possible, but it has always been expensive. Since finding the forum I have seen some really good price offers for this period, some under half what I have paid. Are there always offers or is it better to book early?

Answer:

I am currently in the Myrtle Beach airport -
I paid $16 round trip to fly here from Detroit

Last week I flew from Detroit to Boulder Colorado for $100 round trip.

The week before that, I flew from Detroit to Orlando for $16 round trip.

As I write this, Spirit Airlines is offering a special airfare from Los Angeles to Guatemala for $18 round trip.

Regretfully, you’re mostly screwed.

The airlines know when school breaks are. They know when travel is most desirable, and like any good business, they charge the most at times of greatest demand and conversely charge the lowest when people are least likely to travel.

Here’s my advice:

To get the best airfares, you need to sign up for the “special deal” notification lists from the airlines, and you have to be ready to pick up and go *when they tell you to go*

If I’m planning to go somewhere and my travel dates are not flexible, I usually sign up for a fare alert service like Travelocity’s farewatcher alert. If a good fare sale pops up I take it, but I rarely wait any longer than 2 weeks before departure to buy airline tickets.

Good luck.