I learned something new today about cell phones - they are really not treated the same as a regular land line.  Though they connect to traditional phones, they are a little more special when it comes to phone numbers.

You see, with a regular phone you are able to just do a reverse phone search and find the name, address, in your phone book.  You can even do the same thing online with many phone companies offering a reverse directory service at their website.

But the one thing that I tried and failed was doing a reverse phone number lookup on a cell phone number.  No matter how many times I tried, it just wouldn’t work on my phone company’s website.

Undaunted, I decided to search online to see if there was a way to do it.  I managed to find a reverse cellular phone directory that would let me find those details previously reserved for land phones.  Though it didn’t provide all the details from all countries, it is nice to see that they have finally started offering this service specifically for cell phones.  It is about time.

I just recently setup my first website and I am pretty proud of myself.  It is nothing extravagant, but it will make a world of difference in my attempt to sell chain mail jewelry.

I have had some success offline with my business, but I thought that it was time to take it to a different level.  I hired a website design firm to help with the site setup and the experience has been great so far.

Now that I have the site up, it is time for me to learn Internet marketing.  I have downloaded some e-books on the subject and have joined some forums related to marketing a site.  It is nice to know that the forums will provide a support mechanism for me should I run into any problems, as I don’t have any friends that are building online businesses like I am doing.

Looks like the first chapter of the book I am starting to read is about the search engines.  I should really get back to learning how to market - the sooner I learn what to do, the sooner I can make some money.

With my son getting older, I knew that at some point I would have to face the fact that he would want to learn how to drive someday.  It turns out that the day he asked me to drive the car came a lot sooner than I had expected, but what parent actually waits in anticipation for that day?

I knew that we were good role models for him in terms of being good drivers, but I was concerned that we couldn’t teach him everything we know.  You see, my wife and I have some bad driving habits, and we were hoping that he wouldn’t pick up on them.

So, we have enrolled him in driving lessons in Walsall, at a very reputable driving school.  They even come pick him up at the door, so that he can take the lessons while we are at work.

I think I will take him out every night for practice once he does start the course, since my wife is scared to do it.  But I think with the lessons that he receives, he could become a better driver than either of us.  We’ll just have to wait and see how he does.

As we get older, we don’t get invited to as many weddings as we used to.  This makes it even more important for us to attend the ones that we are invited to, just for the experience.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to attend the wedding of my cousin Erin.  She is younger than me, but has met a strapping cowboy of a man, Lee, and they decided to have a western wedding.  I really didn’t know what to expect going there, but I knew that a night of dancing was of great interest to me and the wife.

I was amazed at everything about the wedding.  From the small town church (it had intricate stained glass windows that I had never seen before), to the hall, it was perhaps the most amazing wedding that I had ever attended.  And that is high praise from me, someone who really doesn’t care about that stuff.

I would have to say the neatest thing that I found there was the Weddingstar favors that they had ordered.  They were little miniature cowboy hats that were placed on each table.  They fit the theme of the wedding so well and made each table more elegant.

I don’t know how the next wedding we will attend will top this one, but I am sure someone will try.  All in all, it was the perfect western wedding, and I am happy that we went.

I am planning to go on a trip later on this year for a couple of weeks, so I have been saving my money.  The thing is, I will need more than an average person as I will need to cover my bills and rent while I am gone.  So, I am pretty much willing to do anything just so that I can go on the trip.

Being the resourceful young man that I am, I have decided to start my own deck cleaning company.  Now, you might think that is would be tough, but so far it has been pretty easy.  Basically, what I do is use pressure washing to get off the grime and old stain off of the deck.

Depending on the deck, it can usually a half hour or more to get the job done.  But the best part about it, is all I needed was a pressure washer that conveniently fits in the trunk of my car.

So far I have had a couple of clients and the response has been very positive.  As summer continues to approach, I think I should be quite busy - which is just fine by me.

One of the most overlooked keys to success online is traffic.  Most websites teach you how to create that beautiful masterpiece of a site, but they just don’t show you how to market the site properly.  So, what you end up with is a website that looks and works great, but that no one ever sees.

For any new website owner that I have the opportunity to meet, I try to stress to them that they need to promote their site before they can expect to get any sales or visitors.  Even something as casual as listing your site in a business directory can make a big difference - each link counts.

Instead of waiting for free link directory submissions to be approved, quite often I suggest using a link bid directory - quite often you can have instant approval and get a back link to your site quicker than you can blink your eye.

But traffic is not an overnight success - website marketing is something that has to be worked at.  Just make sure that when you are looking at your pretty site, you are not forgetting to market it too - it would be sad if no one were to see your masterpiece.

While it shopping today at a local department store, I found myself browsing through the seasonal section.  They were trying to get rid of all of the winter seasonal items such as snow shovels, snowblowers, and window scrapers.  Moving past the winter stuff I noticed that they had a lot of their summer stuff out.

There didn’t seem to be any items on sale so I moved quickly through the aisle.  As I got closer to the end of the aisle, I noticed a metal cart with a bunch of boxes on it.  Once I got closer, I realized that it was a bunch of canvas wall tents.

I took a quick look at them and noticed that they had a reduced sticker on them but no price.  I found a sales clerk and asked her to do a price check for me and when she returned she informed me that their price was 75% off the last ticketed price of $200.  At that price, I couldn’t afford to pass them up and I bought three of the tents.

I was very happy with the discount camping supplies that I purchased and from now on I’ll make a little more of an effort to find great deals at the store.

There are many things in this world I enjoy: a sunset over the ocean, a walk in the mountains, and the smell of rain in the morning.  Sure, that is not a complete list, but sometimes these simple things just make my day.

But, they are things that I just don’t get to experience on a daily basis.  Unfortunately, I don’t live by the mountains or the ocean, and it doesn’t rain everyday.  If that was the case, I am sure that those things would not be special to me.  So, instead, I have found other things to make my day.

One of the things that I do enjoy is the smell of perfume.  If you get a woman with the right perfume on, the smell for me is just like being in heaven.  It is intoxicating, uplifting, and nothing short of amazing.

Though I don’t have a particular brand of perfume that I like the best, I do enjoy those moments when I do catch the rare, perfect scent of a woman – it just makes my day.

For most of my life I have been in love with books.  It seemed like whenever I had a moment, I would pick up a book and read it.

But, in my busy adult life, I really haven’t had a lot of time to do any reading.  I feel sad about it as it was a big part of my life.  So, today, I took a little time out of my busy schedule when I came across some short stories that caught my eye.

I ended up at a creative writing website that was focused on creating a collaborative novel.  What I mean by this is a site that is an interactive novel - you can write a chapter and contribute to the book.  They have a review process where the best contribution each month becomes the next chapter of the novel.

From what I have read (two chapters at the time of this writing) is that what they have so far is good.  In fact, I think I might give writing a chapter a try and submit my own spin on the third chapter.  But, for those of you who love reading, check out End of this World.  It is destined to be a great read.

With mother’s day quickly approaching, I have been thinking about how I am going to get some flowers for my grandmother.  She doesn’t live here and sometimes it can be a little tricky to ensure that they make it to her.

The past couple of years, I have made the mistake of not planning ahead, and I have been unable to get her flowers for mother’s day.  So, this year, I decided that I would make a little bit more of an effort and order them early.

I went online and searched for a site that would let me send flowers to Romania.  I wouldn’t have thought there was a big market for what I needed, but there were a number of sites that offered the service that I was looking for.

I placed my order online, and they will deliver it to her on mother’s day.  I feel a bit better now - maybe I can get out of grandma’s bad books once she gets the flowers… I guess we’ll have to wait and see.