I won’t need much room to put 20 tomato plants or so. I would like to have a few more plants. I might buy some tomato plants that are already growing. This way I could have a harvest a little sooner; instead of waiting for the seeds to grow to maturity age. The main reason I haven’t did this yet, is due to my lack of energy and weak health. I am really out of shape right now and I need to slowly get back into shape. A garden is a great way to get extra exercise, but just not sure if I want this much exercise so soon. If I do get to feeling better in the coming days, I will be breaking that ground outside for my tomato garden.

When I go buy my plants at the store, I might pick up some pepper plants. I like to eat fresh pepper and it is easy to grow pepper. The pepper plants don’t need a lot of “tending to”, so it makes it a lot easier on me. I must have my home grown tomatoes, because the store-bought tomatoes don’t even come close. You can tell a big difference in the two. Your home grown tomatoes have a lot more of a acid taste than the ones at the supermarket. I like fresh grown green beans too. They are a lot better than the green beans at the store. I wish growing corn was easy. I love to eat fresh corn on the cob from a home garden.

So right now, just waiting for my tomato seeds to turn into plants. I planted them Saturday night, so they still have a long ways to go. I’m hoping I see a little green stem before this Saturday comes around. I’m thinking it will take about 5 to 8 days to start growing. Then it will take several weeks, before I can even think about getting my first tomato from my 24 home grown tomato seed plants.

Things have changed a lot now, since we have the Internet in place. A whole new platform to advertise and promote on. Internet advertising is a lot different than the usual ad tactics; which consisted of newspaper advertising, TV advertising, and radio advertising. Online advertising is about getting traffic, ranking high in the search engines, and trying to achieve “click-thru’s” for links and web pages. Don’t be afraid of the online world of advertising. Just be sure to know, that you need to set up a few social media campaigns and use blogs for ad help too. Most big companies have their own blogs today. If you don’t have a blog, you can work with other bloggers online for help with your online promotions.

When you choose to advertise online, it can be a little difficult to choose which way to go first. For the most part, any way you choose will be fine. It really doesn’t matter which way you choose first, because you should be using several different marketing methods and social networking tactics for your interests. Start off small in each area, so you can gauge which ways are working the best for you. Once you establish a pattern of effective methods, you can slowly increase your exposure in that direction.

One of the most important things to focus on, is finding where to place your ads on other websites and web pages online. They must be consumer-friendly or in a place that will pick up a lot of “visual traffic“. There are no stats to determine these visual traffic areas on the Net. You just have to use your best judgment and determine where other online surfers will look first or which areas they are most likely to click. You can then place your ads near these visual areas or place them on the other pages, where the links lead to. Advertising on the secondary pages can be a lot cheaper and work just as well as the main pages. As long as these pages have a lot of traffic. When you begin looking at traffic stats, be sure to look at unique traffic, unique hits, or unique visitors. Generally these unique areas of traffic can determine a web page’s value better; than the overall traffic numbers.

It wasn’t just my family, but all the families in my area were excited. We could hardly wait to make our first trip to the mall. As others in our hometown made their trips, we got feedback and heard all kinds of stories. It was really funny when I look back on it now. How someone would take the trip down to the mall and how a crowd would form around that person, so we could hear about all the great deals and what they saw in the stores.

When my Mother decided to take my sister and I to the mall, it was a great day indeed. I quickly had my favorite two places to visit and it felt like Christmas morning. One place I really liked was the pet shop. They had all kinds of animals for sale, but it was the pure bred puppies that I like the most. I could have stayed in that store all day long, but the ladies wanted to check out other mall stores.

We then came across the music shop in the mall and this was my second best place to visit. My sister could play the piano, so she loved the ability to play the piano and other musical instruments. I went straight for the keyboards and began playing them. It was so cool how they had the keyboards out, so the shoppers could play them. For me, it was more like “play with them“, instead of playing them. I’m not really sure what keyboard it was, but I think it was one of the Hammond Keyboards I liked best of all. In fact, I liked it so much, when I got back home, I told my family I was going to save up for a pure bred puppy and a keyboard. Well the keyboard idea was fine, but my parents didn’t want me to get a dog. Especially a high dollar pooch, which I would have to let run loose at night and while I was at school during the day. This made the savings much easier to achieve, since all my money went toward the keyboard then. I would eventually save up about 300 dollars and I went back to buy that keyboard. I’m not sure what ever happened to it, but I wish I would have kept it in good shape, so I still had it today.

Based on the career numbers and the high marks Kobe reached at such a young age. I believe he is a better all around basketball player than MJ. I know many will disagree, but just look at the numbers. Things like NBA Championships, Scoring Championships, Sprite NBA Slam Dunk Winners, and All Star MVP Awards; these were things Kobe was winning or taking home at a much younger age than Jordan. He got more success and scored more points per game in his early 20′s and Michael Jordan did not get these things until much later. Seeing Kobe performing at a higher level and at a younger age, I will give Kobe the nod as to being the best basketball player ever. He also continue to work hard and never had any let downs in his later years in the NBA. He is still performing at a very high level today and he may just beat Jordan at the other end of the age range too.

I do think MJ had the most theatrical career for an NBA player. His games were like the TV movie of the week. He was the hero in his own stories many times. He did win 6 championships and did it in great fashion. He also had his “Robin” if we say Jordan was Batman. The first retirement for Michael Jordan and after he won his first 3 NBA championships for the Chicago Bulls, we saw Scottie Pippen emerge a year later. That season after Jordan retired (1st retirement), Scottie Pippen was no doubt the best player in the NBA that year. He could do no wrong and he was like a robot out there. He had such a great game and it was really amazing to see. M.J. could not win with any other combinations and Pippen was his right hand man. Kobe Bryant has took many different “Robins” over his Batman career and proved he could win with others. Perhaps Jordan could have did it too, but we all know for a fact, that Kobe Bryant can win with different pieces by his side.

Also, back in the day, I will never forget the Kobe and Scottie Pippen match up. Like I was saying, Pippen was a superstar in his own world and he didn’t need anyone for that. In a two game series I will never forget, it was Kobe against Michael Jordan’s Robin. In the first game between the Lakers and Trail Blazers, we saw Kobe Bryant totally shut down Scottie Pippen and he didn’t score any field goals for the entire game. Yes, when Scottie was in Portland, he was a bit older and his skills was on the way down. However, at the time, it was consider a big deal and Scottie Pippen said it was more of a fluke than a tremendous defensive effort by Bryant.

So Scottie wasn’t really wanting to give Kobe any credit, for his 0 FG performance. It was about a week or 10 days later and the two would match up again. Both guys saw this as an opportunity to make a statement. Scottie Pippen came out in the 2nd game and was much more aggressive on the offensive side of things. He was trying really hard to score and prove he could score on Kobe Bryant. However, it didn’t turn out well for Pippen on this night either. Once again, Kobe totally shut down Scottie Pippen and for the first 3 quarters, he didn’t have any shots from the field over Kobe. Pippen did manage a free throw or 2 from the line, when the referees called Kobe for a couple of fouls. But for the most part, it was back to back shut downs for Pippen and this woke the NBA up. Basketball fans then could see, that Kobe was just as good as a defender, as he was at scoring the rock.

No doubt Michael Jordan is a truly great athlete that got all the breaks and had tons of luck too. He had a super career and he worked very hard to achieve his talent and skill level on the basketball court. Let’s just be a little careful when we say “the greatest NBA player ever“, because if we really break it down, the man wearing #24 or #8 in Los Angeles with the purple and gold colors for the Los Angles Lakers, he might just be an eyelash better. In fact, I will go on record now and with complete confidence, that Kobe Bryant was and is a better basketball player than Michael Jordan is or ever was in the National Basketball Association. I don’t see anyone else in the NBA right now, who could over take Kobe’s number 1 spot, but perhaps one day, some talented kid from Atlanta, Georgia will be the top baller of them all. To Be Continued…

A group of musicians or a band have a better opportunity to save money on musical equipment; than those singers or performers who try to go in alone with a solo performance. The savings really add up, when musicians focus on the big Studio & Recording Packages they can buy online or at a local music store. A music package means a consumer will be buying more than one item from a music store. In situations like these, the music store has a great opportunity to load you down, with a number of different items they have in stock and ready to be sold. So the packaging technique definitely works for the stores, but what about the buyers? They really win too, since they get an assortment of items they need now and could put to use right away. Each item in the package, will cost less, than if the music consumer decided to buy each item individually. So overall, it just makes good sense, to look for these recording packages or suggesting your own unique musical package. We all want to find the best bargains and it isn’t any different in the World of music.

Have you or someone in your band bought a musical package before? What is the best bargain you ever heard of someone getting, when it came to musical instruments or recording gear? I know looking around online, you can visit the Guitar Center or their webpage online and find some recording packages available there. If you took the time to break down each package, you found on the website, you would find the items cost a little more, if you bought each one separately. This is why we are highlighting the music packages, so you (the buyer) are getting more bang for your buck!

Times are tough and the dollar doesn’t quite stretch like it use to. The “starving actor” isn’t just for Hollywood anymore. You know as well as I do, the musicians are doing their own share of “starving“. A band or putting together a musical group, is really the only way to make it out there these days. Since it does take a little extra money, to buy all the things you will need, when you start playing out at bars, clubs, restaurants, or those high-paying gigs, like a corporate event party. Unfortunately, even the corporate gigs aren’t paying bands and musicians as much as they use to. If you don’t make the final 3 or 4 spots on American Idol, then it will be up to you and your band mates to keep the music playing. You can survive these hard times and it all begins at the music stores. Never take a discount on the quality of your equipment. You must keep buying the best microphones, speakers, amps, mixing boards, and musical cables. Just remember to bundle or search for these cheap recording packages, so you can save money and not musical quality.

However, this money hasn’t been enough to support all of these new retirees. Many are just now finding out, they didn’t put enough funds back during their working days, to have an income they could live on today, once their retirement date does finally arrive on the calendar. The lack of finances, has put a strain in these people’s lives and the ones who are able have decided to go back and resume a job or previous work career. The ones going back to their old jobs or finding new jobs to work are the lucky ones. It really has been a hardship case for those retired folks who are unable to perform a regular work duty on a job.

I really think stocks are the best bet for most folks who are 50 years old or younger. Those over 50, may want to play the markets a bit safer. Trying to maximize your earnings through a 401K plan, a money market fund or account, or other high interest earning accounts. Even over 50, you can still expose 10 to 19 percent of your portfolio on stocks. So turning 50 does not end the stock market game for good. Just be sure to lower your exposure to stocks at 50 and work it down to 19 percent or less in stocks, for your entire portfolio.

I found it interesting that in this article, they seemed to think this was a new way of doing business, which is not the case.We offer some CPA advertisers on some of our sites. There are several vendors that we deal with and the payouts for some CPA offers are as high as $50. That sure beats the .50 to $1 you may receive via ads that run on your sites. We believe there will be a great synergy between the two forms of advertising, and have found that they can co-exist on the same site. We look to follow this closely, as to help monetize the traffic that we are currently seeing on our main web pages.

I did not even realize that there was a direct tv centennial specific webpage. I guess I assumed there was just one general webpage from the company about its TV and service providing no matter the location. Boy was I wrong! There are just pages after pages of different locations the company provides services in and my town is no different. I guess I was not expecting that sort of individualization of its services. I mean its such a large company, but still has this small business feel in that it dedicates specific pages to specific locations. I do not know that the location pages differ all that much, but honestly I prefer anything that is close to small business service. It always seems like my best experiences buying products or getting services set up were with smaller service providers. That does not mean they have the best products out there, but sometimes, personalized service makes up for it. In this case, it seems like the TV provider is doing both, providing high quality service and somewhat personalized service as far as I can see.

It was fun watching the Braves play at Turner Field tonight. I hope we get to see more games like this one; than the first 4 games against the Mets. Perhaps the confidence is there now and it will continue, when we finish up this home series with the Mets in a day game tomorrow.