As many of you may know, I’m addicted to caffeine. Specifically, any and all soda (pop to some of you) products. In order to try and curb some of the nasty side effects of this habit, I switched a while ago to diet soda. However, a few days ago I saw a new brand of diet coke that I have never seen before: Diet Coke PLUS. Apparently, Coke is feeling the heat from all of the new health drinks out there (such as Vitamin water, Smart water, etc.) as this new brand of diet coke is advertised as containing vitamins and minerals. Soda that’s good for you? I’m not so sure it’s completely accurate, but I figure it this way: I’m going to drink it anyways, so why not get a few extra vitamins out of the PLUS version?

It tastes the same to me, I suggest that you give it a shot if you regularly drink diet soda.

It used to be that for your computer needs you had one or two passwords at the most. Every once and awhile, you’d have to switch them but it wasn’t too big a deal and it was easily manageable. However, it seems that recently you need a password for everything. Not only that, but with the increased general awareness of computer security passwords have become more complex. This already causes a huge headache, however when you add the fact that they can all expire on different dates it becomes even worse. That’s why I suggest coordinating your passwords so that they all expire on the same day. This way you can take care of it all at once and make the whole process drastically more manageable.

Also, it’s easier to coordinate your passwords so that you can more easily remember them when you reset them all at once. Overall, it just makes your work day a little less stressful, which is always a good thing.

With the advent of streaming music and the multitude of convenient media devices such as the iPod, listening to music while working has become common place. I listen to music at work, and it’s great. However, there is one pet peeve that really bothers me: Getting my headphones all tangled up as I worked. Regardless of how careful I am, they always seem to end up with at least five knots in the cord. Luckily, Lifehacker has posted an article on How to keep your headphone wires from getting tangled..

Give it a shot, I’m going to try it this afternoon since once again, my headphone wires closely resemble some intricate sailing knot.

*Thanks to LinkTipIdea for the heads up.

Considering it’s the weekend, I thought this article from LinkTipIdea would be a perfect read: The Perfect Nap. Apparently, the ideal nap lasts 20 minutes. Based on my experience, I would say that this is a pretty good estimate. The only thing worse than not being able to take a nap when you need it is to wake up from a nap feeling worse than you did before. Personally, if I get anywhere from 20-30 minutes I’m set. Any longer or shorter, and I usually feel more tired than I felt before I took the nap.

Let’s face it: Not everybody is a hardcore developer. In fact, most of us aren’t. However, this doesn’t mean that we won’t get tasked every once in a while with getting our hands dirty with programming tasks. This can be a frustrating thing to do if you’re not terribly familiar with what’s going on. That’s why websites such as Dream.In.Code are a great help in these kinds of situations.

Read the rest of this entry »

When you sign up for a new cell phone service, there’s usually an option to get a free phone in the deal. The popular belief is that these free phones are what can be generously referred to as “base models”. This was my impression as well until I checked out WireFly. They offer some great deals on some actual, honest to god, nice free cell phones. Here’s a few that I’ve found to be particularly good deals:

Read the rest of this entry »

“The only way you can truly get more out of life for yourself is to give part of yourself away.”

This sounds like a pretty good message, and one that is refreshing amidst all of the problems that our society faces today. Coincidentally, it’s also what the new movie, The Ultimate Gift, is based on. This movie premiers on March 9th, and is the screen adaptation of the book of the same name. In a nutshell, a trust fund baby inherits a fortune when his grandfather dies. However, before he can claim that fortune, his grandfather has laid out 12 tasks (the “gifts”) that he must accomplish. The goal is to give the grandson insight not only into himself but into the world around him, to find out what’s really important in life.

Besides the good premise, there are a number of well-known actors in this movie including Abigail Breslin from “Little Miss Sunshine” (shown below in a scene from the movie).

Read the rest of this entry »

Music can be a great way to keep focus on your work while still being entertained in the background. However, usually it isn’t a good idea to blast your favorite techno tune from your computer speakers, as I’m sure not everybody in your office appreciates your taste in music. The solution to this is simple: Streaming music through headphones. The program I use and recommend is LAUNCHcast from Yahoo!. There are a number of reasons for this, they are listed below:

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll start this off with the following statement: I’m addicted to Best Buy. Even if I’m shopping for something else, if there’s a Best Buy in the area I’ll usually stop by “just to take a look”. This usually translates into me buying something, even if I don’t really need it. Unfortunately, this habit can get a bit pricey. That’s why I was happy to find Coupon Chief. Currently they have around 40 best buy coupons and other discounts. They also have coupons and discounts for Dell, which is another favorite brand of mine.

Give them a shot, it never hurts to check to see if you can save yourself a little cash here and there before you make that purchase (your wallet and spouse will thank you).

*This is a sponsored post.

In keeping with my last post (link here), I thought I’d share my potent “get rid of that damn cold” remedy that always seems to do the trick for me. Without further ado, here are the essential components:

Read the rest of this entry »