August 19, 2008

Tuesday Teaser for August 19, 2008

Can you identify the item depicted above? Take your best guess and post it in the comments below. If your guess wins, you’ll get a nifty prize. Here’s how it works:

1. Write a comment giving your guess as to what the item is. Be as specific as you can. Electronic accessory is generic, HDMI splitter is specific. Sometimes the brand will need to be specific, as when you identified the Enregizer Bunny and auto company logos. Guess as many times as you want, but put each answer in a separate comment, please!
2. First person to identify the item wins. If more than one person provides the correct answer, time and date stamp will determine who was first.
3. The author of this blog will be the sole judge as to what constitutes a correct answer. Sorry - no hints will be given. I will attempt to respond to your answers at least every few hours, but I am not continuously at the keyboard so please be patient.
4. The contest will end in forty-eight hours, whether or not a correct guess has been submitted.
5. Skeet’s Stuff is a do-follow blog, so you get some link value just for commenting.

What will you win?

1. The author of this blog will write a LINKY LOVE POST (review) about the winner’s blog (commercial sites ineligible.) The LLP will contain the url for your blog plus at least two deep links and will be posted here on Skeet’s Stuff, a PR4 PR2 PR0 (bah google!) Ha! PR3 blog. Skeet writes good reviews.

2. The weekly winners will be entered into a monthly drawing for a $10.00 gift card from Starbucks or Amazon or a ten dollar payment through PayPal so they can start saving for those sexy new shoes or a gallon of gas.

3. Drawing for the monthly prize will be held on or about September 1, 2008, and will include all weekly winners for the month. There are four Tuesdays in August, thus the maximum number of people who will be eligble is four.

Comments submitted with commercial links will be deleted. If you would like to market your product, service or website through skeet’s stuff I’ll be happy to discuss your needs and my prices. Please submit your request via email.

Technorati Tags: contests, photos, photo contest, photo puzzle

August 17, 2008

Self Portrait Sunday for August 17, 2008

I’ve only been semi-lazy today. Did some housework and yardwork, cleaned up the herb garden and brought a little of the bounty inside. Can you see the sweat on my glasses? I know you can’t see the salty crust around my eyes, but it’s there, too. We’ve got a brisk wind blowing, but it’s still crazy hot out there. After I cool down a little I’ll make my Sunday afternoon family phone calls. I’m hoping brother will be home when I call because there’s something I’ve forgotten to ask him the last few times we’ve spoken. I’m at that age when a memory upgrade could only be an improvement. Which reminds me you can see my roots, too. Ignore them. They’ll go away soon. Concentrate instead on all the nice folks who are showing their smiling faces today for Self Portrait Sunday. You can join in if you’d like. Don’t be shy!

Technorati Tags: meme, photos, self portraits

Posted by skeet @ 1:47 pm • Photos, Meme • 1 comment  

August 14, 2008

Win a Sony Digital Photo Frame

I have eighteen framed photos on the media center in my living room. I know because I just counted them. They’re not there to impress anyone else - there’s rarely anyone here besides me and the beagle. The photos are there because they please me. Each is a photo of someone I love. I enjoy seeing them there every time I sit down in my living room to watch TV or read a book. I live thousands of miles away from my nearest relative, so the photos help me stay connected. I’d display more of them if I had more space. Alas, there’s just no room for more photos and besides, the dusting … well, okay, I don’t dust very often, but when I do that’s eighteen photo frames to dust and eighteen glass overlays to clean. If Sis ever gets around to sending pictures of my two great nieces I’ll make room for two more photos and have twenty photo frames to dust and twenty pieces of glass to work the old Windex magic on. I’m not complaining, mind you, but there ought to be a better way. Actually, there is a better way. The Sony Digital Photo Frame can display up to a thousand images and only takes up the space of a single frame. I’ve seen these marvels in action and they’re quite impressive. Load your photos and the frame cycles them so that you can enjoy them all, one at a time. The only reason I don’t have one yet is the cost. At $249.00, the price is a little steep for this working gal. My pal Lisa knows how badly I want one, though, and she’s having a contest to give away a Sony Digital Photo Frame! You heard me right! Follow the link to her place and she’ll tell you how you can enter to win. I don’t want you to win - I want me to win, but you’re my friends so I thought I should let you know. Let’s call this my good deed for the day. If you should win instead of me (what a travesty that would be!) you’re gonna owe me, big time! Go! Enter! Please don’t win!

Technorati Tags: blog contest, contest, giveaways, Lisa Reviews, Sony Digital Photo Frame

August 13, 2008

Mabel’s Labels for Back-to-Shool

Have you finished your back-to-school shopping yet? I know it’s a chore many of you dread - the crowded aisles in the stores, the impossible-to-find items that your children just have to have, the expense! I enjoy watching all the hubbub (yeah, I know - easy for me to say!) The excitment in a little girl’s eyes when she spots the perfect Dora notebook, the unbridled glee of a preschooler picking out his very first knapsack, even the supposed indifference of a teen who can’t quite hide the gleam in his eye as he reaches for a goth-themed binder. Watching from the sidelines is a nostalgia trip for me - you’ll understand one day when your kids are grown and gone! Right now you’re probably just hoping to survive all the preparations and get the little imps back in school. Here’s my tip-of-the-day to help you get it all organized: Label everything! As surely as the sun comes up and the sun goes down, kids lose things. You know it’s going to happen. The jacket left on the playground, the notebook under the bus seat - kids have so many important things on their minds that it’s a real chore for them to keep up with their stuff. Labels make it easier for their stuff to find its way home and are a great help to the teachers, coaches, office staff and bus drivers who have to sort though it all. Mabel’s Labels is the way to go! The giant Ultimate Back-To-School Combo has all the labels and tags you’ll need for all their stuff, and at a great price.

Tag-Mates make it easy for you to label all the shirts and gloves and coats. They stick right on the clothing care tag with no ironing or sewing for you! Don’t worry - they’re super-durable and won’t come off in the laundry or peel away when the coat gets rolled up and used as a kickball.

Shoe Lables have a protective overlay that will keep them firmly in place, despite sweaty little feet and rainy days.

Bag Tags are made of sturdy metal and so durable your kid can use the same ones all the way into college.

Skinny-Minis go on everything else and the teachers will love you for using them! Label the pencils and glue, the sandwich keeper and toys - everything!

You’re spending a fortune on all of this stuff, right? Mabel’s Labels can help you (and your children) keep track of the stuff kids lose so you won’t be buying so many replacements. Your Mabel’s Labels agent is Nicole Lee and she’s offering the Ultimate Back-to-School Combo at a great price until September 30th. Let your children help you pick the right colors and icons to represent their personalities, fill in their names and selections and let Nicole take it from there. She’s even got a skull-and-crossbones icon you can put on black labels to make your goth-child smile. Well, okay, goth-children don’t smile at adult authority figures, but you know they’ll love you for it!

Mabel’s Labels - for the stuff kids lose (and for your sanity!)

Technorati Tags: back-to-school, labels, Mabel’s Labels, tags

August 12, 2008

Tuesday Teaser photo verification

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Apparently I’m supposed to stay at home on Tuesdays instead of going out to do little things like making a living or stocking my pantry with food. Whenever I go out on Tuesday’s I come home and find that someone has ended all of the fun by guessing the right answer to the Tuesday Teaser. Just can’t turn my back on you guys for a minute, can I?

This week the traitor is Jillybean. She just couldn’t wait to show off her vast knowledge of automobiles and has posted the correct solution. I detailed the inside of Hokulele (my 2003 Saturn L200) over the weekend. She’s been on my mind lately while I shopped for an auto insurance online quote and I decided she needed a little extra TLC. Ever alert to possible Tuesday Teaser photos, my eyes strayed to the hardware inside the doors. Twenty-some photos later I was pretty sure I had something that met my criteria: common enough to be ultimately solvable, but also common enough that we don’t really pay attention when we see it. The photo snippet I chose is the little stationary post that a car door latch latches onto to keep things snugly closed.

It’s getting harder and harder to find the right items to photograph as time passes (we’ve been doing Tuesday Teasers for over a year!) but I’m already hard at work looking for something to amuse and entertain you with next week.

Congratulations to Jillybean! She’s won a linky-love post and will be entered into the winners’ drawing at the end of the month. Mahalo to all of you for playing. My little game wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without you!

Technorati Tags: car, car door hardware, photo, photo puzzle, Tuesday Teaser, winner

Tuesday Teaser for August 12, 2008

1. Write a comment giving your guess as to what the item is. Be as specific as you can. A table is too vague - a clamp on a card table leg is specific. Sometimes the brand will need to be specific, as when you identified the Enregizer Bunny and auto company logos. Guess as many times as you want, but put each answer in a separate comment, please!
2. First person to identify the item wins. If more than one person provides the correct answer, time and date stamp will determine who was first.
3. The author of this blog will be the sole judge as to what constitutes a correct answer. Sorry - no hints will be given. I will attempt to respond to your answers at least every few hours, but I am not continuously at the keyboard so please be patient.
4. The contest will end in forty-eight hours, whether or not a correct guess has been submitted.
5. Skeet’s Stuff is a do-follow blog, so you get some link value just for commenting.

What will you win?

1. The author of this blog will write a LINKY LOVE POST (review) about the winner’s blog (commercial sites ineligible.) The LLP will contain the url for your blog plus at least two deep links and will be posted here on Skeet’s Stuff, a PR4 PR2 PR0 (bah google!) Ha! PR3 blog. Skeet writes good reviews.

2. The weekly winners will be entered into a monthly drawing for a $10.00 gift card from Starbucks or Amazon or a ten dollar payment through PayPal so they can start saving for those sexy new shoes or a gallon of gas.

3. Drawing for the monthly prize will be held on or about September 1, 2008, and will include all weekly winners for the month. There are four Tuesdays in August, thus the maximum number of people who will be eligble is four.

Comments submitted with commercial links will be deleted. If you would like to market your product, service or website through skeet’s stuff I’ll be happy to discuss your needs and my prices. Please submit your request via email.

Technorati Tags: contests, photos, photo contest, photo puzzle

August 11, 2008

Almost Tuesday Teaser

Okay, okay - it’s not much of a puzzle after you look for a moment, but you did a double take, didn’t you, wondering what that was?

We have a morning routine that does not include Lance staying in bed. He sleeps near my feet and usually bounds out of bed a moment or two after me. He lets himself out through the doggie door-flap, then comes back in a few moments later. Sometimes he parks himself in the kitchen where he can watch me make coffee, just in case I deviate from the norm and make food magically appear early in the day. Most days he goes straight to the couch and gets comfortable in “his” spot. When I’ve poured my first cup and carried to the couch he shifts slightly, just enough to put his head on my lap for his first nap of the day. We sit in quiet companionship until the first cup is empty, the caffeine has kicked in and I’m ready to start my day.

This morning I was halfway through my first cup when I realized Lance hadn’t come back in. I decided there must be some great adventure outside that needed exploring and left him to it. After pouring my second cup I carried it down the hall to the office, put it beside the desk, turned on the computer and went though my room to the bathroom. I face the bed as I come out of the bathroom and this time I noticed the sheet moving. A little tent poked up, then … thump … disappeared. Pause. Thump … thump! Walking around the bed I saw the scene above and only then realized that Lance had abandoned the morning routine completely. The thumping increased to a staccato beat as he wagged his tail in happy delirium, very pleased with himself for having successfully hidden from Mom, but equally ecstatic that I was approaching and it was time for the first tummy rub of the day. Goofy beagle! Or maybe he was just being lazy. He’s getting a little pudgy around the middle. Wonder if they make Leptovox for beagles? Maybe he needs to shed a pound or two so he can get back to being his usual self. Ah, we’ll see what happens tomorrow before doing anything drastic. Lance and me, we’re creatures of habit and neither of us is crazy about change. He’ll probably be on the couch waiting for me tomorrow morning when the coffee is ready.

Technorati Tags: beagle, dogs, photos, routines

Sunset on the Beach 2008

Sunset on the Beach has come to the Waianae Coast again. It’s a festival of family fun, food, entertainment and community services. It all came together at Maile Beach Park on Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

Sunset on the Beach is a fund-raiser for Valley of Rainbows, a wonderful organization that benefits out local keiki (kids.) They’ve brought together a wonderland of rides and attractions for the keiki, foods, crafts, entertainment and community services. I wandered the midway and tents for a couple of hours. I bought tee shirts and made contributions to support the Valley of Rainbows and Life Foundation (education and support organization focusing on HIV/AIDS in Hawaii and the Pacific,) talked with health, community support, children and family services, alternative transportation and housing services representatives and marveled at how many family and keiki support groups are available right here on our coast. I collected so much swag that the handles of my goodie bag were cutting into my hand before the day was over.

Two stages provided continuous entertainment, from local musicians and dancers to keiki watermelon-eating and pie-eating contests. Excess watermelon was loaded on platters and passed out to the crowd and to workers in the community services tent. The aroma of smoking meats lured me to the food booths, where all of the local favorites were being served up. Some booths offered free samples. I had to buy a bottle of Pelekunu’s grilling sauce/marinade after tasting several varieties, but ended up buying a catfish dinner from my pal Ceecee of Mom’s Soul Food for my take-home meal.

Much of the focus of Sunset on the Beach is on providing a good time for the keiki, but you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy the experience. The carnival atmosphere encouraged friendly attitudes and spirit of fun in everyone I met. I made a few new friends today and had a pleasant afternoon, even though I only stayed a few hours. Folks who stayed late were rewarded with a movie shortly after sunset (tonight it was The Bucket List.) The evening wrapped up with a fireworks show that was visible and resoundingly audible from my home as I sat down to start this post.

Technorati Tags: community celebrations, community services, family fun, festivals, Hawaii, Maile, photos, Sunset on the Beach, Waianae Coast

August 10, 2008

Self Portrait Sunday for August 10, 2008

I spent the afternoon at Sunset on the Beach. Took about sixty photos (yes, I’ll be blogging it later, with lots of photos!) Did I have a good time? Yes, I did. Did I meet lots of interesting people? Well, yes - I did that, too. Did I overexpose myself to some of the best food in the world? Well, let’s just say I won’t be dragging out the paella pan and cooking dinner tonight! Did I feel like I was forgetting something all afternoon? Um, yeah. Got back in the car to come home & realized I’d forgotten to take a self portrait. Duh! All those lovely background possibilities, all those wonderful, willing folks, and I didn’t convert one of them into a self portrait photo op! Ah, well! Instead you’re stuck with a picture of me laughing at the silliness of it all with only my car interior for a background. I’ll do better next time. Probably.

Some of the nicest folks in the blogosphere take their self portaits each Sunday and post the links over at Cass’s place. You should join us!

Technorati Tags: meme, photos, self portraits

Posted by skeet @ 5:34 pm • Photos, Meme • 6 comments  

August 8, 2008

Magnalight brightens my life

I’ve spent the last thirty years doing what I do. I guess that makes me an expert in some matters. Since I’ve spent a good portion of my worklife in dark places, one of those matters is lighting. Can you see what I’ve got in my hand over there to the right? Yep, it’s my trusty Magnalight, and I never leave home without it. Actually, it’s only one of my trusty Magnalights. I have three or four of them for work and home. When I find something that’s sturdy and reliable and that does exactly what I need it to do, I’m a fan. I’m a huge fan of Magnalight!

I limit my business to providing termite inspections these days, but I’ve spent most of my career working for full-service pest control companies. When I supervised treatment and repair crews, we needed more than just handheld flashlights to light our way. A treating tech needs both hands to handle equipment, as did our carpenters when they worked in crawl spaces, so we always set up stationary High Intensity Discharge lights to light their work areas and keep their environments safe. The last company I worked for had hid lights that looked that the one shown. I’m not positive it’s the same exact model (it’s been a few years) but I know we bought ours from Magnalight, because we always bought from Magnalight. High intensity discharge lights use low wattage to provide the brightest possible light and are the lighting of choice for numerous trades, not just us bug folks. They can be mounted for stationary use, but portable models can go wherever you need to use them and even be used as vehicle spotlights.

If you’re not a Magnalight fan yet it can only be because you’ve never tried one. You need to correct that oversight. There’s a Magnalight for every task you can imagine, so if you’re like me you need several different models. I don’t do this very often, but here ya go: Magnalight has the skeet seal of approval!

Technorati Tags: HID lights, lighting, lights, Magnalight, work lights