Spicy Orange Tofu
Aloha Friday: A Load of Bunk (Beds)
Saturday was the day. After a few weeks of looking, we had bought bunk beds a couple of days ago. Now, it was time for the boys to say good-bye to their existing beds: NHL, his twin bed, and JSL, his toddler bed.
After saying goodbye, we took their stuffed animals off and packed them away in large bags. Since these are the same bags we use for garbage, we took care to let the boys know that the garbage bags were simply the best storage method and by no means meant the stuffed animals were being thrown away, Then, their sheets, blankets and pillows were removed.
I took apart JSLs toddler bed first. It’s a converted crib and the only bed he’s ever known (at home at least). After that, I leaned NHL’s mattress against the wall, put the box spring in a bag and stored it and the frame in the basement. All this took me about two hours. I was sure it would take much longer.
After cleaning the area up (dust bunnies love hard-to-reach areas), their room was ready. Later that day, the Raymour and Flanigan truck arrived. The kids could hardly contain themselves.
Two guys came and quickly set up the bunks. Meanwhile, the kids were watching intently. They loved seeing the bed get constructed. The men putting the bed together were wonderful and didn’t seem to mind the boys over-attention. Nor did they say anything when JSL asked "Daddy, why does that man not have any hair" or when he responded to my request to explain later with "But daddy, he’s got NO HAIR!!!"
Before we knew it, the beds were put together and the boys were all too eager to try them out. That’s not to say that there hasn’t been adjustments needed. NHL is a bit nervous sleeping on the top bunk. JSL can’t see his night light. I think once these adjustments are over, though, I’m sure they’ll love their new bunk beds.
My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever had bunk beds? Would you rather sleep on the top or bottom bunk?
P.S. If you haven’t already, go visit FollowerHQ and let me know what you think of my Twitter application.
P.P.S. For a bit of fun, try my other Twitter Application, Rout. It’s a +F in Fun!
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
Aloha #120
How To Find A Business Registration In Under A Minute
As part of my stand against a serial cyber-harasser, I’ve been warning individuals and companies that she targets. Her pattern, when it comes to companies, is to claim that her searches for business registrations came up blank. She claims that this is proof that these companies are not licensed and, therefore, frauds. These aren’t tiny companies, either, but some pretty big, even international, companies.
Her method appeared, to me, to be fatally flawed. She was relying on the Better Business Bureau’s search tool. The problem here is two-fold. First of all, businesses don’t need to register with the BBB. It’s voluntary. Secondly, it isn’t a business license search. It’s a business *review* search tool. You can use this to find out if a business had complaints filed against it to the BBB, but you can’t use it to find every licensed business in the US.
As she claimed to be unable to find these registrations, I began to wonder. Could I? I pride myself on my Google-Fu and wondered just how long it would take me to find an organization’s business registration. Once I was consistently able to find them, I figured I’d blog about my method.
For our examples, let’s take a few of the supposedly unregistered businesses: MomSelect, Bendon Publishing, and PictureIt Creations. (I picked these at semi-random. She’s targeted many more businesses than this.)
First, we need to visit the sites and find out in which state they are located. Bendon’s Contact Us page mentions Ohio, PictureIt Creations’ contact number is in a 734 area code which is in Michigan. MomSelect is a bit more complex as their web page mentions that they are part of BSM Media Inc. Therefore, we should really look up BSM and not MomSelect. BSM’s contact page lists Florida as their state.
Now that we have our states, we need to find each state’s business registration search website. Luckily, I found a website called SecStates.com that listed all of the appropriate pages. Some of them were outdated, though, so I tracked down the updated links and tested all of them. Here’s the list:
NOTE: I couldn’t find a license search site for the District of Columbia or Virgin Islands. (EDIT: Thanks to usvirginislands and Sandra Foyt for finding the link for the US Virgin Islands.)
Now that we have the list, we just need to go to each state’s website to search for the businesses. Let’s start with Bendon Publishing. Searching gives two results: one (filed in 2001) that was canceled and a second (filed in 2003) that is active. By the way, Bendon is listed as a “Foreign Corporation”. At first, I thought this meant that they were based outside of the US. However, all this means is that they are registered outside of Ohio. (In this case, Delaware.)
Easy, right? Let’s try PictureIt Creations now. Searching Michigan’s database gives us this registration. Ok, so we’re two for two now. What about MomSelect / BSM Media? Searching for “BSM Media” gives this result. Three for three.
You can use this to find nearly any registered business in the United States. Go ahead and give it a try.
Graphic derived from building and binocular clipart from OpenClipArt.org.
Wordless Wednesday: Saying Goodbye To Their Old Beds, Saying Hello To The New Bunk Bed
Resolutions For 2012
As I was thinking about what I would like to accomplish for 2012, I thought about my "11 goals for 2011". I think this was partly a failure because I set too many lofty goals. As the year goes on, life happens and your plans encounter detours. So I think I’ll make six more generic goals.
Sort My Photos
I love taking photos. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten lazy when it comes to taking the photos off the camera. I’ve been sticking them into an "unsorted" folder and putting off filing them. As I type this out, I have almost 5,000 photos (about 24GB worth) to file. I want to be better at filing.
Improve FollowerHQ
I launched FollowerHQ last year and though I like it, I’m never fully satisfied. I’d like to find some ways to improve on it. I already have some ideas. I just need to put them into code.
Promote Blog Posts
Currently, my promotion of blog posts involves an automated tweet when the post goes live. Occasionally, I’ll tweet about it more, but all too often life takes over and I’ll forget. I need to get into SocialOomph more to schedule tweets. I also need to remember to post more on my Google+ page.
Cook More
I love cooking. Sadly, due to many factors, I find myself reduced to making the same quick dishes over and over again. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve relied on the microwave and/or canned foods all too much. I want to cook from scratch more often and plan out meals again.
Give B More Breaks
B loves the boys and enjoys spending time with them. However, having to deal with them (and their bickering and love of making loud noises) can wear her down. She could use more time for herself. (Either quiet time alone or girls’ nights out.) I want to make a regular habit of taking the boys out (or keeping them in) so B can enjoy time off from being "mom."
More Date Nights
While B could use more breaks, I could too. I’ll admit that there are times when I feel like we have so many things to worry about (home issues, boys, etc) that we don’t have time for one another. I want to find more time for us to go out on date nights.
So there you have it, my resolutions for the coming year.
What resolutions/goals do you have for 2012?
Scroll graphic modified from one obtained via OpenClipArt.org.