Growing up at Thirty

My Stars

2012-01-27T16:20:00.000-08:00

I just can't keep up with my reader. I was out of touch with computer for so long. My solution, post it!
So here is my long stared reader items that I want to clear out but keep stored in an easier manner. Hope you don't mind the flux of posting to come.

Pack a Bag via Art of Manliness

2012-01-27T16:14:00.000-08:00

Packing to Avoid Wrinkling
The bane of any traveler’s existence is the wrinkles and creases that end up in your clothes after you pull them out of your suitcase. Try these techniques to keep your clothes neat and crisp while they’re en route to your destination.
Alternate Folding
One way to avoid creases in clothing is by placing one garment between the folds of another garment. By placing another garment between the folds, you can prevent a crease from forming.
In this example we’re packing a dress shirt, a pair of dress slacks, a tie, and few t-shirts.
1. Start off by buttoning the bottom, middle, and top button of the dress shirt.
2. Lay the shirt facedown on a flat surface. Put your finger about an inch from the collar of the shirt and fold the sleeve into the shirt, forming a straight line down the edge. Bring the sleeve in line with edge you just created. Repeat on the other side. You should end up with something that looks like this.

3. Lay your tie completely unfolded along the length of the shirt. Place a folded t-shirt at the point where you want to fold the dress shirt.

4. Fold over your dress shirt. Fold any part of your tie over that’s hanging out of your shirt over your dress shirt. You’ll end up with something like this.

5. Now it’s time to fold your slacks. Lay your slacks on a flat surface and place a t-shirt at the point where you plan on folding the pants. Fold.

6. If you want, place another t-shirt on top of your folded pants. Fold the bottom half of your pants over your t-shirt.

7. Flip over your pants, so the waist band is face up. Place another t-shirt where you want to fold the waist band over the rest of the pants. Fold. You should end up with three folds in your pants with t-shirts in between each fold.

Fold and Roll
If the alternate folding method isn’t your thing, you can always go with the traditional fold and roll method.
1. Roll up garments that don’t wrinkle as easily. These include t-shirts, underwear, jeans, and cotton slacks.
2. Fold garments like dress slacks, dress shirts, and dress coats.
3. Place the rolled up garments on the bottom of the bag. Then place the folded garments on top.
4. Place shoes, socks, and your Dopp kit along the sides of the bag.

Find it all at: http://artofmanliness.com/2008/10/16/how-to-pack-a-bag-when-traveling/

Shortcut world via MakeUseOf.com

2012-01-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Currently, it provides keyboard shortcut lists for the following apps.

Firefox
Winamp
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Powerpoint
Google Chrome
Photoshop
Windows XP
Fireworks
Outlook 2007

Certainly, a site worth bookmarking. You might also want to check KeyXL which is another similar tool profiled earlier. Or better go and download some MakeUseOf Cheat sheets.
Check out Shortcutworld @ www.shortcutworld.com (By Abhijeet from Appscrazy)
New on MakeUseOf ...

Now, you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Recommended!
MakeUseOf 'Geeky Fun' - Hillarious Geeky Pics and Videos from different parts of web.

HBR email editing

2012-01-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

1. Delete redundancies. Say it once. That's enough. If you're repetitive, the reader will stop reading and start skimming. (Like you probably just did.)

2. Use numbers and specifics instead of adverbs and adjectives. "The project is currently way behind schedule on major tasks," is not as clear as "The project is 3 weeks late delivering hamburger buns to Des Moines." (If you don't have numbers, still get rid of the adverbs and adjectives.)

3. Add missing context. Does your reader know that hamburger buns in Iowa are required for the company to collect $37 million? If you're not sure, remind them.

4. Focus on the strongest argument. Should those hamburger buns get shipped because the delay is embarrassing for the company, because it's costing children their lunch, or because it's costing the company tens of millions of dollars? Maybe all three, but one of those reasons (and it depends on your reader) will be enough to get buns on the road.

5. Delete off-topic material. The best emails say one thing and say it clearly. One-subject emails also make it easier for the recipient to file the message once they've taken action, something anyone who uses Outlook to manage tasks appreciates.

6. Seek out equivocation and remove it. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" works for Dickens, not status reports.

7. Kill your favorites. Is something in your text particularly pithy, amusing, or clever? Chances are, it's not. If it sticks out, it's probably a tap-dancing gorilla in boxer shorts — hilarious when you thought of it, embarrassing when it gets in your manager's inbox.

8. Delete anything written in the heat of emotion. Will this sentence show them who's been right about the hamburger buns since the beginning? Yes? Cut it.

9. Shorten. Remember the reader struggling to digest your message on the run — a BlackBerry or an iPhone gets about 40 words per screen. What looks short on your desktop monitor is an epic epistle on their mobile device.

10. Give it a day. With time, what seemed so urgent may no longer need to be said. And one less email is something everyone will thank you for.

via: http://blogs.hbr.org/silverman/2009/04/how-to-revise-an-email-so-that.html

Letter Writing via Art of Manliness

2012-01-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

The Art of Letter Writing

What follows is a brief overview of letter writing, taken from Hills Manual of Social and Business Forms. This 1821 publication, has, as we have previously discussed, advice that is as fresh today as it was a hundred years ago. We turn now to Professor Thomas Hill for a primer on the basic ins and outs of letter writing:
You have thoughts that you wish to communicate to another through the medium of a letter. Possibly you have a favor to bestow. Quite as likely you have a favor to ask. In either case you wish to write that letter in a manner such as to secure the respect and consideration of the person with whom you correspond.
The rules for the mechanical execution of a letter are few ; understanding and observing the rules already considered for composition, the writer has only to study perfect naturalness of expression, to write a letter well.

Style and Manner

The expression of language should, as nearly as possible, be the same as the writer would speak. A letter is but a talk on paper. The style of writing will depend upon the terms of intimacy existing between the parties. If to a superior, it should be respectful ; to inferiors, courteous ; to friends, familiar ; to relatives, affectionate.

Originality

Do not be guilty of using that stereotyped phrase,
Dear Friend:
I now take my pen in hand to let you know that I am well, and hope you are enjoying the same great blessing.
Be original. You are not exactly like any one else. Your letter should be a representative of yourself, not of anybody else. The world is full of imitators in literature, who pass on, leaving no reputation behind them. Occasionally originals come up, and fame and fortune are ready to do them service. The distinguished writers of the past and present have gone aside from the beaten paths. Letter writing affords a fine opportunity for the display of originality. In your letter be yourself ; write as you would talk.

Purity of Expression

Bear in mind the importance, in your correspondence, of using always the most chaste and beautiful language it is possible to command, consistent with ease and naturalness of expression. Especially in the long letters of friendship and love – those missives that reveal the heart-the language should show that the heart is pure. Let your letter be the record of the fancies and mood of the hour; the reflex of your aspirations, your joys, your disappointments; the faithful daguerreotype of your intellectuality and your moral worth.
You little dream how much that letter may influence your future. How much it may give of hope and happiness to the one receiving it. How much it may be examined, thought of, laughed over and commented on; and when you suppose it has long since been destroyed, it may be brought forth, placed in type, and published broadcast to millions of readers.
When, in after years, the letter you now write is given to the world, will there be a word, an expression, in the same that you would blush to see in print?
Write in the spirit of cheerfulness. It is unkind to the correspondent to fill the sheet with petty complainings, though there are occasions when the heart filled with grief may confide all its troubles and sorrows to the near friend, and receive in return a letter of sympathy and condolence, containing all the consolation it is possible for the written missive to convey.
The length of letters will depend upon circumstances. As a rule, however, business letters should be short, containing just what is necessary to be said, and no more.

Form

To be written correctly according to general usage, a letter will embrace the following parts:
1st, the date
2nd, complimentary address
3rd, body of the letter
4th, complimentary closing
5th signature
6th, superscription
Position of the Various Parts.

Etiquette of Letter Writing

As a rule, every letter, unless insulting in its character, requires an answer. To neglect to answer a letter, when written to, is as uncivil as to neglect to reply when spoken to. In the reply, acknowledge first the receipt of the letter, mentioning its date, and afterwards consider all the points requiring attention.
If the letter is to be very brief, commence sufficiently far from the top of the page to give a nearly equal amount of blank paper at the bottom of the sheet when the letter is ended.
In writing a letter, the answer to which is of more benefit to yourself than the person to whom you write, enclose a postage stamp for the reply.
Letters should be as free from erasures, interlineations, blots and postscripts as possible. It is decidedly better to copy the letter than to have these appear.

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/04/16/the-art-of-letter-writing/

Online Manual Sites

2012-01-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

Just a few sites for looking up lost or missing manuals online

http://safemanuals.com/

http://owneriq.net/

http://www.manualsonline.com/

Photoshop Brushes via hongkiat.com

2012-01-26T13:33:00.000-08:00

50 Free Photoshop Brush Sets You Should Bookmark

from hongkiat.com by Kay

If you’ve got an idea (or concept) but find it hard to present on your artwork because the drawings just don’t add up, try Photoshop Brushes. Brushes are designers best friend, particularly web designers who don’t illustrate graphics much.
Adobe Photoshop does comes with a basic package of brushes but it has not been updated by folks at Adobe for quite some time. Thanks to the great community of designers out there who constantly distributing and sharing their brushes, you can almost find brushes of any patterns these days. Whether you are working on a nature-related artwork looking for floral and wood graphics, or merely adding some torn, burned and cracked effects to your artwork - there’s a free brush pack out there and all you need to do is Google.
In today’s post, we attempt to present you some of the high quality and good ones, those we thought would be generally useful in many occasion and definitely worth checking out and bookmark. Here’s our hand-picked of 50 Free and High Quality Photoshop Brush Sets You Should Bookmark. Full list after jump.
Some useful Photoshop related entries we’ve previously written:

Metal Brushes
9 metal texture brush set.
2Bit-Twilight Brushes
A set of 12 abstract pixel brushes for Photoshop. Compatible with Photoshop 8+ / Photoshop Elements 3+.
8 fantasy butterfly brushes
8 really beautiful and fantasy butterfly brushes to spice up your painting.
A3D Pieces of Tape Brushes
Thirty-seven brushes from various torn, wrinkled, pieces of tape brushes made in Photoshop 7.0
Abstract Brushset XIII
13 awesome abstract brushes.
Astral Flora
Pack contains 8 brushes, including 2 different sized leaves, 1 astral rose, 1 astral flowerbud, 1 astral butterfly, an assortment of whispy, starspangled curves.
Barbed wire brush
Two barbed wire brushes.
Brush Stroke Brushes
Made with thick black poster colours. Just great for those pieces needing brush strokes with hard bristles.
Butterflies with Flowers
Zelink’s Cataclysm Brushset
Can be used for grunge, stars abstract and smoke/forg effects. This set was based upon the stars of the heavens. This set, cataclysm, was designed to bring violent destruction upon the use of other sets. It has many uses and works very well for sigs.
Cracks and cuts brushes
This pack includes around 80 brushes, all cracks, chips and cuts.
Demolished.Cracks
Demolished.Cracks pack contains 12 brushes compatible with PS 7 and up!
Fractal Brushes
There are ten of fractal brushes in total.
CS4 Brushes
New style of CS4 brushes.
Glow Part I
There are 11 big brushes made with Photoshop 7.0
Floral Frame Brushes
Now with these wonderful brushes all you need is Photoshop and the brush tool selected, you’ll create floral frame brushes so awesome that you will love.
Drop Brushes
A set of brushes for photoshop (created in CS3) with sizes range from about 700px to 1600px.
5 Checkered PS Brushes
Label Brushes
The pack contains the the letters of the alphabet, numbers and some extras. Theres a piece of tape and some marks which could be used in white and added to the labels once they’re done to make them look authentic and cool.
TI Graphic Pack 152 Ps Brushes
152 Photoshop brushes made on Ps CS4.
Metal Mesh Brush
Metal Mesh Brush by =SocioBunneh.
Hyper Brushes - PS7
10 Very Big Brushes No.30
MOON BRUSHES for PS7 v.2
45 moon brushes for ps7, ps8, ps9, ps10.
25 Tiny Text Brushes 02
It includes 25 tiny text brushes for icons. The .zip contains an .abr file compatible with Photoshop 7.0 and up.
20 high-res-stamp brushes
20 high-resolution stamp brushes.
122 Brushes
Camera-Stuff
8 brushes for lens, film and camera.
Architectual ornaments
Crack Brushes I
Echolalie-stock 32
The package contains 15 different brushes made of different wall pictures. You will find cracks, scratches and dirty brushes.
Floral brushes
8 large floral brushes, for use on headers and wallpapers.
7 100×100 floral brushes, for use on icons.
Holes, Holes, Holes
These hole brushes are higher res so would be good for higher res projects as well.
Girl Brushes
Andantonius’ Pencil Brush
With this pencil brush and sketch paper action, you can quickly and easily create natural-looking pencil sketches, without the pencil! The brush takes advantage of both pen pressure and tilt to create a very natural feel and look.
Old brushes 8
Oldies set (8 brushes) for photoshop cs-cs2
Barcodes
Line Brushes
A pack of solid and dotted lines.
My Sweet Diary Brushes
The pack contains 70 cute brushes for lines, random scribbles and drawings, animals and a lot of hearts!

See the rest at http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/50-free-photoshop-brushes-you-should-bookmark/

PS Lighting Effects via WDL

2012-01-26T13:27:00.000-08:00

Amazing Photoshop Light Effect In 10 Steps

A smokey light effect complete with glowing particles.

Fire Lines Tutorial

This tutorial teaches you how to create stylish fire lines in only 10 steps.

Luminescent Lines

Iron Man View Interface Effect In Photoshop

This is very close to the amazing effects seen in the movie.

Luminescent Lines

Advanced Glow Effects

A Cool Lighting Effect In Photoshop

End of the World Photo Manipulation

Creating Smoke

See them all at http://webdesignledger.com/tutorials/28-powerful-photoshop-lighting-effects

Photoshop Lighting from lifehacker

2012-01-25T17:25:00.000-08:00

Spice up Your Pics with some Photoshop Lighting Tutorials [Photoshop]

from Lifehacker by Jason Fitzpatrick

Over at design blog Web Design Ledger, they've rounded up over two dozen tutorials to teach you how to add impressive lighting effects to your photos. Whether you want to inject some sparkles, motion trails, sun flares, fire, star bursts or luminescence into your image, there is a tutorial for you. Completely new to Photoshop? Learn the basics of Photoshop in a week. No room in the budget for Photoshop? Check out GIMP, a robust freeware alternative.

28 Powerful Photoshop Lighting Effects

Spice up Your Pics with some Photoshop Lighting Tutorials [Photoshop]

from Lifehacker by Jason Fitzpatrick

28 Powerful Photoshop Lighting Effects

Text Effects from Hongkiat.com

2012-01-23T22:46:00.000-08:00

50+ Great Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials, Part II

from hongkiat.com by hongkiat

Few months ago we showcased 22 best Photoshop text effects Photoshop tutorials here at hongkiat.com, but then we soon realized they were still plenty of good tutorials out there and the current ones aren’t enough to satisfy most designers anyway. So we went searching for more and 3 months later, we beg to show you more.

This time we put together another 50 really nice text effect Photoshop tutorials, making it more than 70 great Photoshop text effects in our archive. Full list after jump.

Text In Stitches

How to convert text to a path and how to stitch that path using a custom brush set.
Colorful Glowing Text Effect
Spray Paint Text
Bling Bling Simple Gold Text Effect

How to make a simple gold text effect by using some layer styles, namely the Gradient Overlay layer style!
Cheese text effect

How to make a stylish cheese text effect.
Reflective Glass Tutorial (Video tutorial)

Incorporates several different techniques to achieve an effect similar to a reflective glass material that is mirroring the scenery around it
Entrails Photoshop Tutorial (Video tutorial)

How to use filters, blending modes, and hue changes in order to stylize some text.
Taco Bell Text (Video tutorial)

How to use layer styles in order to duplicate a unique effect that you may have seen during a late-night run for the border.
Aqua Text Photoshop Tutorial
Chained Text

This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create text wrapped in chains.
Create a Layered Glowing Text Effect

Create this effect using very basic Photoshop tools and layering effects.
Trendy Typographic Poster Design

Creating an interesting and eye-catching poster with a single typographic word.
Spiderman III
Furry Text

This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create text with a furry texture.
Awesome Grunge Text Effect

How to create an awesome grungy text effect. The effect can be used to liven up your website layouts, but can also provide a good way to display logos and other graphical elements alone.
Hell of Tutorial

Create a 3D text with fire coming from the inside of the document like a hole.
Highlighted Chrome

Create some cool smooth chrome with soft blue highlights, great as a text effect..
Honeycomb Text Effect

This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create a honeycomb style text.
Icey Styles in Photoshop

Create an icey-cold effect using layer styles and that you can apply to different objects.
Linked Letters
Gold Plated Text

Learn how to turn text into gold using Photoshop’s Layer Styles.
WarCraft Font
Dirty Grunge Text
Design a Lego Typography in Photoshop

How to make Lego blocks and use it for typography designs.
Metal Wires Text

How to create metal wires text effect.
Paint Effect
Paint Splodge Text

How to simply create a paint splodge looking text using blending options and the pen tool it will take only around 5 minutes to complete
Colored chrome text effect

Create a colored chrome text effect.
Killer Metallic Text
Simple dark but vivid text effect

Create a very simple text effect. A dark, colorful text effect.
Stunning 3D effects in 30 minutes

How to create this cool effect in just 30 minutes.
Decorating Text

Pick and mix which techniques you use or just try all of them and end up with an image like this.
3D Text effect

This tutorial shows you how to create a nice 3D text using only photoshop 7.
Glossy Candy Text Effect For Kids

This is a very tutorial for making colourful text, ideal for any kids decoration or web sites.
3D Cliff Text

How to a text that look like it was formed by cliffs of mountains.
Text on rust
Scrabble Text

How to make a cool scrabble text effect using various tools, layer styles and a wood pattern.
Retro Text
Scanline Text

Here we will create a style named ‘Scanline Text’ which is basically text which glows like bright scanlines, with a smart reflection as well.
Shining Neon Text Effect in Photoshop
Creating the Sky Logo

Very simple and straightforward way of creating Sky’s latest logo.
Create a Spectacular Graffiti Effect
Gold Text effect

A very easy and basic tutorial that doesn’t require much knowledge and experience with photoshop.
Star Wars text effect
Super Cool Frilly Bits Typography

How to mix some vectors with letters to create a really nice design.
Delicious Chocolate Text

Learn how to quickly design some delectable, rich dark chocolate flavored text!
Moon Shine Text Effect

This Text Effect Quickie will show you how to easily create a soft glowing moon-like text.
Pop Text Effect

This Text Effect Quickie will show you a real simple way to create a vibrant, poppy type in just a few minutes.
Making a Rusty Text
Wanted Sign Into A Piece of Wood

Make an awesome wood emboss effect, put bullet holes into the wood, and finally smoke ‘em up to a gnarly Wyatt-Earp-just-walked-past look.
Wood Inlay Text

How to create a wood inlay effect using wood textures, layer masks and a few creative selection techniques.

18 Photo Editing Websites from Webupon

2012-01-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

18 Photo Editing Websites: Make Fun, Crazy and Beautiful Photos

from Webupon

63 Photo effects at Photofunia

Image Source

Ever wanted to see yourself on a wall banner? Well, you can! Just go to “PhotoFunia”, select an effect and have some fun. You become an astronaut, Santa Claus or even be on a Paris Hilton's CD cover.

Black & White

Image Source

Sometimes we see awesome looking black & white photos. It looks like those photos were drawn with ink. We can also make a photo like this. All you need to do is go to “Magnigraph”, upload your photo and press one button. After few moments you'll have a great picture. You can also choose its size or even change the color.

Edit your photos on the internet

Image Source

You don't need to buy or download a program to edit your photos. All you need to do is just go to “Splashup”. Here you can easily edit your photos for free. You won't find as much effects as “Photoshop' has, but “Splashup” is perfect to make few adjustments on your picture. You will also find some effects and many drawing tools.

Make a name card

Image Source

It is very useful to have a name card, but to make one is very expensive. To save money, go to “Deyey” and make a name card there. You can make a beautiful and colorful name card with all notes you need. After making one, just print.

5. Become a star of your favorite magazine

Image Source

Many girls dream to become a star of “Vogue” magazine, and every musician - to be on the cover of “Rolling Stones” magazine. Now everybody can become a star by going to “Magmypic”! Here you can upload your photo and appear on a cover of 30 popular magazines. You can also make a funny joke, by putting your friend's photo on a “SEXY” magazine.

Make personal games

Image Source

Aren't the old “Solitaire” cards boring? We can make cards with our photos! You can make a personal game at “Kickplay”. All you need to do is select a game and upload your photo. The main game character will be you!

Rounded corners for your photo

Image Source

Photos with rounded corners are more beautiful than ordinary ones. To make such a picture, go to “Roundpic”. Here you have to upload a photo, select how round the corners should be and leave the rest to “Roundpic”. It will make anti-aliased rounded corners for your image.

Beautify your photos with frames and effects

Image Source

If you want to show your photos to your friends, why not make them more beautiful? At “Loonapix” you can put your photos in various 23 places (just like at photofunia) and add fantastic frames (in the picture you can see six love category frames).

Protect your images with custom watermarks

Image Source

From now one nobody will use our images without our permission. We can protect our pictures with a watermark. To do that, go to “Picmarkr”. Here we will have to upload our photos, choose where to add a watermark and type the watermark text.

Card with your face

Image Source

When we play with cards, we see the old boring kings and queens. But we can see ourselves! Just go to “Festisite”. Here you'll have to choose a card on which you want to see yourself. After that, upload your photo and your face will appear on your chosen card. After that just print it and play!

Plastic surgery on a picture

Image Source

“Fotoflexer” offers you many options to make your photo more beautiful. You can make a muscular man out of yourself or just add some effects. On the picture you can see what you can do at “Fotoflexer”.

Internet barber shop

Image Source

Want a new hairstyle but don't know what to choose? In that case, go to “Hairmixer”, where you can change your own hairstyle. I think this man on the picture looks great...

Show your photos to the world

Image Source

If you took many photos this summer, why not show them to your friends or even the whole world? After registering at “Picoy” we will be able to create an internet photo album. Photos will be beautified with frames so it will be even more interesting to look at them.

Do you look young?

Image Source

Some people want to look young and others more solid. We all probably want to know how old do we look. To find it out, go to “The Age Project”. Here you can upload your photo and see how old do you look. Other users will see your photo and will try to guess your age. It is fun too, to try and guess other user's ages.

Photo album on the internet

www.photwo.com

Image Source

If you didn't like “Picoy”, why don't you try “Photwo”. Here you can register and get 200 MB for free to store your photos. It is very easy here to upload your photos, you will also get your own album address.

Pictures from letters

Image Source

When we write an email or chat with our friends, we always use smiles using letters. However you can draw something more than smiles. “ASCII-O-Matic” can make any picture from letters. If you whant to use this website, be sure you have “FlashPlayer”.

Make an impressive mosaic

Image Source

Ever have seen a picture, which is made from smaller pictures? It is very hard to make such a miracle, isn't it? Well, it appears it isn't so hard after all! This service is offered by “PicArtia” (it is free of course). Here we can upload our photo and choose gallery from which pictures, your photo will be made. Try it, it is very impressive!

Reflect effect

Image Source

Soon we won't need photo editing software, because free photo editing websites will replace them. One of them is “Picreflect”. It will give your image a reflect effect. All you need to do is upload your image and press one button.

This is all! Hope you liked my article and have found something useful.

*All images taken directly from the websites. Get links to websites through Image Sources.

Finance Talk with your Partner from Sense to Save

2012-01-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

When to talk about finances with your significant other?

from Sense to Save by Kacie

Blogger Sheer Blind Luck at My Financial Goal had a great question:

When you’re dating someone, at what point do you start talking about money? My boyfriend and I know each other’s habits, but I don’t feel right talking to him about what I think he should do with his money. For example, he was looking at laptops until he found out that he wont be getting a stimulus check. He said “maybe they have a lay a way program”. I said “or you could put it into savings and see if you can find a better deal later on?” and he stuck his tongue out on me. Oy, money and drinking are probably our only challenges (right now). When do you take that next step?

I think the point where it’s appropriate to take the next step and start discussing each other’s finances comes at the point where it will directly impact your own finances.

For example, if your boyfriend buys a laptop, but he doesn’t share expenses with you (bills, groceries, etc.) then it’s pretty much his business at that point.

However, you’ve noticed that he was interested in making a purchase without having the means to pay for it. That’s a big red flag, and if you two are serious in your relationship and plan to marry someday, it’s a topic worth discussing.

And, if you do become engaged, you absolutely have to have a series of discussions about finances before the wedding.

Topics should include exactly how much debt each of you have, how much in savings, your financial goals, and plenty of “what if” scenarios asking what each other would do if faced with certain situations.

It’s important to know each other’s attitude toward debt and budgeting. Are your views the same?

Finally, setting up a budget is key. At first, your joint budget will change often since it can be difficult to predict your first few months of finances as a married couple. Be committed to revisiting your budget throughout your marriage.

What do you think?

From the blogosphere:

Have the money talk before marriage (a guest post here)

Money and marriage: 7 things I have learned so far at Christian Personal Finance

Marriage and finances: Til death do us part? at Clever Dude

Lies, Money and Marriage at Gather Little by Little

Marriage and money 101at Kiplinger’s

Finance Discution for Marrage from Art of Manliness

2012-01-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

5 Personal Finance Discussions To Have Before Getting Hitched

from The Art of Manliness by Brett & Kate McKay

Photo by mbtrama

When a couple gets married, they’re not only joining lives, they’re joining bank accounts. Each person brings to the relationship different attitudes and ideas about money. One of the keys to a happy and successful marriage is to get on the same page with your spouse about finances.

Here are 5 things that a couple thinking about getting married should consider before getting hitched.

1. Review your credit history and debt together

Before you get married, sit down and look over each others’ credit report. One person’s bad credit score is bad for the both of you. You don’t want to find out when you apply for a loan that your lovely wife racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt to pay for a shoe shopping habit while in college. By then it’s too late. Finding out each others’ credit score before you apply for a loan can help you decide whether to leave the person with the crappy score off the loan application so you can get a good rate. If you don’t do this, you’ll end up like this guy:

Popout
The guy is kind of a douchebag when he says he wouldn’t have married his wife if he knew her credit report. But the commercial gets across the point that it’s important to know each others’ credit report before getting married. It will help you make decisions when taking out a loan.

2. Discuss financial goals

Find out each others’ financial goals and attitudes about money. Is your wife a spendthrift or a frugal monger? Does she want to save for a down payment on a house or does she want to be a renter? You can preempt money tension down the road by getting your goals and attitudes out in the open from the very beginning of your marriage. If one of you likes to spend and the other likes to save, your marriage isn’t doomed, you’ll just have to come to a compromise. Establish what this compromise is going to be at the beginning of your marriage.

3. Decide whether to have joint or separate accounts

The choice to have joint or separate accounts is entirely up to your personal preference. Each has their benefits and drawbacks. It also doesn’t have to be either/or. Many couples have a joint account for home expenses and maintain separate accounts for personal ones.

If you do decide to open up a joint account, make sure you both are aware of how much is in the account. You don’t want to have pay unnecessary overdraft charges.

4. Draft a budget together

Budgets aren’t sexy. They’re tedious and boring. Creating a budget with someone else makes it even harder because each of you have different priorities on spending money. While you might want to allocate more money for entertainment, she might want more money for groceries.

But creating a budget together is vital. It will help bring your spending habits more in-line with each other. It also makes BOTH of your aware of what’s going on in your finances instead of just one person being in the know.

I recently found a great (and FREE!) spreadsheet program based on the envelope budget system. It’s simple and easy to use. Download it, sit down with your gal, and get to cracking on a budget.

5. Decide who is going to head up the finances

The days of having the man have sole control over a couple’s finances are over. Couples these days often choose who is going to tend to the bills and bank accounts based on who has more of a desire to do it. It always seems that within a couple, one partner has more of a knack and interest in it than the other. If neither of you are inclined to head it up, you can always divvy up the tasks equally. Still, things tend to run smoothest when one person takes on most of the responsibly. But even if one partner does the lion’s share, the other spouse should be kept actively abreast of what is going on and be a part of all major decisions. You don’t want your wife to die and suddenly realize you have no idea what the state of your finances is.

Download Your Free Guide to Being a Gentleman in 2008.

Check Out These Related Posts:

Reader Tips from Blissfully Domestic

2012-01-23T22:08:00.000-08:00

Get More Out Of Google Reader

from Blissfully Domestic by Shannon

Google Reader is one of the most popular feed-reading tools on the web. If you are still reading blogs by visiting the sites one by one, you are missing out on a lot of time-saving functionality. Give Google Reader, and the tips below, a try.

First, use the bookmarklet. In GReader, click on "manage subscriptions" and then "goodies." Scroll down and drag the little "subscribe" button to the bookmarks toolbar. When you are on a blog you want to subscribe to, simply click the bookmarklet in your toolbar and you will be forwarded to GReader for subscription options.

Second, make use of the folders! If you are adding feeds to GReader and simply seeing a long list of items to wade through, you're sure to be overwhelmed. I have a folder for A-list blogs - the ones that are most important to me - and I check that folder first. I also have folders by topic: Moms, Social Media, Blogging Tips, Homeschooling, Friends, and News. When I subscribe to a new feed, I add it to my "Testing" folder. I monitor these feeds for a week or two to see how often they are updated and if the information continues to be of interest to me. If I decide to keep the feed, I'll then decide what folder to place it in. To set up folders, click on a feed, then select "feed settings" from the upper right corner of the page. You can then add the feed to an existing folder or create a new folder.

Third, try keyboard shortcuts to make navigating GReader faster and easier. Some of the most common shortcuts include:

j/k: item down/up
o: open/close item
s: toggle star (another tip: use the star to track items you want to go back to or blog about)
m: mark as read/unread

There's an in-depth article covering keyboard shortcuts at LifeHacker.

Finally, if you want to tweak GReader (two-click subscribe, bypass iGoogle choice page, change fonts, maximize items on the page) check out the Better GReader add-on for Firefox.

I've heard people say they dropped GReader because they were overwhelmed by seeing the "1000+ new items" to read every day. I encourage you to read this post on Making the Most of Your RSS Reader, which says, "Life's too short to worry about it, aren't you glad you read what you were able to find the time to read?"

Little Steps With Big Rewards

2008-07-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

Since I moved here to Spain, my biggest handicap is my inability to speak the language. I don't have any friends here out side my boyfriends family and acquaintances, and I never had money for lessons. Slowly I have picked up words and phrases thought my time here, but never enough to really be fluent.

Finely, I had decided that if were going to make it here, it's time I really set out and found a way to speak Spanish. After a bit of searching and brain storming, I came up with the idea to offer lesson exchanges, via a yahoo group called FreeCycle.

I posted my add and meet with great success! Not only have I found tutors to teach me, but I have started a second yahoo group dedicated to the idea. My first full lesson is on Thursday, and our first group meeting is on Wednesday.

I am excited eager to meet new friends here in Madrid, and to finally learn Spanish. It's amazing how often being a little innovative and brave can often pay off.

My Yahoo group is entitled MadridTalk and can be found via this link.

Customs Adventure, Part 2

2008-07-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well after getting up at 8 am and out the door with out breakfast or coffee, my friend Pablo and I, made our way to customs. It was a short subway trip to the bus terminal, and an extremely long trip on the bus. Once we reached the end of the line, we were fortunate enough to have a nice bus driver who told us the way to customs. It is on an industrial outstretch of the airport, adjacent to a big highway we had to cross with out street light. Always exciting!

Once there we had a short walk around the urine smelling building to the hidden entrance along the side. Luckily because we left early there wasn't any lines and the employees were still in a good mood. Having my friend Pablo translate for me, we explained the package was a gift from my mother. It was sent to me for my birthday and all the contents were for personal use. We were promptly informed that "There are no gifts as far as customs is involved." Apparently a company motto as they all repeated it often.

Fortuity the nice woman who had taken our claim was quite helpful. She asked permission to look in the box then stepped out of the room a few short moments. When she returned she informed us that the fee was waved and we could pick the box up for the 4 euro surcharge and be on our way. She also explained to us the reason it was stopped is because it contained food items.

If you plan to ship food to a person in another country, be prepared for some hassle. The crack down on meat, fresh produce, and chemical contents is at a high. Even items containing animal products will be stopped. The care pack from my mother had only a few sweet treats and none of them contained chemicals on the no ship list.

We were then free to walk way and make the whole lovely trip in reverse. This time with a large and heavy box to add some entertainment. In all our trip came from 8:45 am when we left the house, until almost 1pm in the afternoon when we returned home. All to speak for under five minutes with a customs agent and pay a 4 euro surcharge.

We where happy that the 100 to 6,000 euro charge wasn't applied to us. (On the notice we received from customs it said we would be charge between those amounts, even if for personal use.) I still don't understand, if nothing was wrong with the box and no one did anything illegal, why we had to pay anything at all. I'm not going to dwell on that though, it worked out and thats all that matters.

If your ever wondering why customs is so bad, I have found the truth. Across from the postal and customs building was this.

Yes, it all makes sense now!

Customs Adventure, Part 1

2008-07-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I get the pleasure of enjoying a trip to Spain's customs agency to negotiate release of my package. Never once, since I was a small child, have I ever had an issue with customs. I have been vacationing, traveling, and sending mail back and forth for many years. Of course I have at times payed a little extra money for tariffs or taxes when it comes to some packages crossing countries, but thats to be expected.

This time however, they have withheld my package until I appear at the airport. Not only will this be extremely inconvenient, but it is likely to be both expensive and time consuming. Then of course, I need to ask a friend for help, because I am not fluent in the native language. All of this because, well I can't really figure why. I have had bigger and more expensive items shipped to me in Spain. I pay my tariffs and taxes and life goes on.

By no means am I looking forward to tomorrow.

I will send an update after this affair is settled and hopefully I will receive an explanation on what went wrong and how I can avoid it in the future. Wish me luck!

Ah.. Silence at Last!

2008-07-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

A while back I wrote a post complaining about my neighbors from hell. Well, it seems we weren't the only ones who had enough with the noise levels. The neighborhood community set out a campaign to lower the outrageous amount of noise past midnight. After the third notice arrived last week, warning about the crack down on violators, the late night street parties have seemed to diminish.

It's nice to sleep at night once more! Now if only the other neighbors would stop deep frying sardines in butter, it would be perfect. At least they don't eat at the same time as us. This way we can at least enjoy our food before the smoke and stink of burnt fish and butter fills our home. God I love apartments!

Just2Wrong

2008-07-05T07:53:00.001-07:00

Here is a link to a blog for humor. It will have jokes and pictures of humorous things, but some of them may be considered offensive to some people. Listed below is the page description and warnings for Just2Wrong.

Just2Wrong is a blog for humor. This is a collection of jokes that make you roll your eyes and look away, even though your snickering on the inside. We will avoid explicitly sexual and violently raciest humor, other then that no one is safe.

Any content that may be considered too extreme will be filtered out, any off color items will be off site linked. This way no one is exposed to more then they care to be, and the site will remain work and child safe to view.

In no way do the jokes express the blogs or my own stand points. This is just some thing to laugh at, most images and jokes here are FICTIONAL, and should not hold barring on the people they poke fun at.

If at any time you feel a topic is past the limit, please feel free to comment and it will be off site linked. There will never be any nudity openly shown on this site.

Link: http://just2wrong.blogspot.com/

Happy 4th

2008-07-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

To all my American friends, and any other who wish to celebrate today, Happy Fourth of July!
I hope every one can enjoy this clip =)

I have to give Credit to Neatorama for finding it.

Email Safety: Before You Forward That!

2008-07-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

I have noticed a lot of forwarded letters from friends and family. The act of receiving a mass mailed letter doesn't bother me one bit, not even chain mail. Seeing my email in a huge list that has been given to countless numbers of people does. Here is a little bit of short and simple information for email etiquette to help you and your mailing list stay safe.

Protect Others

Use BCC

If you have to forward an email to several people use the BCC, this will allow all the people you are sending it to to remain antonymous. No one want's 300 spam mail letters to their email account.

Protect Your Self and Your Family

Don't forward with your personal signature attached.
Don't use email with your full name for social letters.
Never give even basic personal information in email or chats that are not encrypted and with a reputable source.

Email can reach limitless amounts of people with a single froward, do not allow personal information to fall in to the wrong hands. With a name and a phone number a good criminal can obtain enough information to use your identity. Even if people can't access your money or credit, they can use your name, phone number, and address in other circumstances.

For example, a few years ago my friend received a notice he had a bench warrant in an area he has never been. As it turns out some one who had his full name and address gave it to the police as his own when receiving a jay walking ticket. My friend had to travel to another state and have the issuing officer verify he was not the man he wrote the offense out to.

Protect your family and household!

Never spread an email that lets people know you have children or live alone.
Never spread an email with dates or times your not at your house.

With your phone number alone most people can find your home or work address. This makes it easy for a predator to break in to your house, stalk you, or worse. People with children and elderly need to be extremely careful of online predators, they are predators off line too!!!

Here are some links to help you find out how vulnerable you are and how to help protect yourself and your emails.

E-mail safety information

Prevent Spam Mails

See what others can with your phone number alone:
whitepages
yellowpages

Odd Happy Birthday Greeting

2008-06-27T01:19:00.001-07:00

This morning as I was opening my mail I found an odd Happy Birthday greeting. Star Gate Worlds, a new MMORPG in development, sent it. I am registered with their forums so I guess it's a polite feature they added. I have been playing MMOs since EverQuest came out 9? years ago. This is the first time any of them have sent me a Birthday Greeting, I found it quite nice of them.

As you can see it's short and to the point, no adds or subtle catches. Just thought I would share as it was an unique experience to receive one like this. For any one who is wondering you can find the game trailer movie here. The game is in development for later this year, and has not yet reached beta.

30 by the Morning

2008-06-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

When I wake up tomorrow morning I will be 30. I look froward to a quiet day with my boyfriend, a good meal and a movie with snacks in the living room. Of course the meal we will eat out, no dishes on birthdays, it's an international law of mine. The following morning we will be going out to the families house to see his mother, It was her birthday last week.

If I don't get another post in before Tuesday, don't be surprised, but I will have all three posts up next week.

Have a great weekend!

Game Review: GTA 4 (PS3)

2008-06-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, the whole idea of shooting police and prostitution was never appealing to me. When my boyfriend bought himself a copy of GTA 4, I rolled my eyes and went on about my day. After a few weeks went by hearing and glancing from time to time at him play, my curiosity got peaked. Eventually I gave in and decided to give it a try, after a short time playing, I was impressed.

The content is still extremely adult, but the game box is rather explicit in emphasizing that it's not for children. The story lines are rich, there are plenty of cut scene, and most unwanted content is optional. I find it to be no worse then a rated R movie Any scene your not interested in you can fast froward threw.

One of the features I like about the game is the ability to change the story line and determine your characters nature by making choices for the character. The fact that allowing some one to live or die has future rolls to play in the game is a nice aspect that gives it good replay ability.

The ability to make and keep friends, gain favors, date, save cars, change clothing, shop, and even use the in game Internet (not real Internet), are interesting side tracks from the daily grind of missions and story line. There is no lack of mini games either, between ramp jumps, side missions, races, and pigeon hunting. They even included some puzzle style video games you can access from the arcade machines.

What I don't like about the game is the countless repetition in missions. I do appreciate the fact they tried hard to make hours of play for content, but doing the same thing 10 ways is some times annoying. The fact that a professional hit man some times tries to do things in irrational ways is some what annoying to me as well.

While some people may enjoy walking in to the middle of a room and gunning every one down, I prefer a little more tactics. If I was going to assassination a person, I would not wait in front of his house then chance him threw the streets in a car. Needless to say, stupid people annoy me and that includes in video games.

There are few bugs to speak of, once in a rare while you get a graphics bug, but nothing game stopping. As far as auto and visual it's a nice game. The occasional camera angle may drive you mad, or completely block your view, but this is the same with all games. Some of the game issues I find discouraging is th lack of customization to the controllers, and weapon swapping.

With the controllers there is only two settings and they are pre-configured. There is no ability to change driving and camera controls. The aiming can be a bit much in some times too, as you have to cycle threw targets with auto aim. As for the weapon swapping, it is again cycling threw the weapons until you get the right one. This is all during active play, you can not pause and do this.

In all I would have to give GTA4 a good review, I am enjoying the game and eager to see how the story plays out. While I am not a fan of games with such violent and adult topics, the labeling is clear and the characters seem to discourage a lot of it.

For more on this game feel free to view some professional game reviews.

Sugar Alcohols: Round Up

2008-06-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

Sugar Alcohols are natural occurring chemicals found in foods, most commonly starches and sugars. Their chemical make up closely resembles that of both sugar and alcohol, but the substance does not contain either one. It is technically a group of carbohydrates called Polyols.

Each Sugar Alcohol is different and the pros and cons may vary. The three most commonly used in current food production are: Xylitol , Sorbitol, and Maltitol.

These are often used in combination with each other or with artificial sweeteners. Most often they are used to lower calorie, carbohydrates, or sugar levels in food. This however, is not the extent of their use. Commonly you can find them as flavoring, bulking agents and to add texture to foods.

Below are the good, bad, and some times ugly sides of Sugar Alcohols. Please understand these effects can vary greatly due to the amount used, the kind, and your tolerance to them.

The most common benefits of Sugar Alcohols are:

Lowered Calories
Lowered Glycemic Levels
Lower Net Carbs
Oral Health

Here is a chart from About.com on the sweetness and glycemic index of some Sugar Alcohols.

This chart compares the different polyols.

GI=glycemic index

Cal/g=Calories per gram

Bear in mind that the glycemic index is a range, rather than a fixed number. Different studies yield different results. This chart is mainly sourced by the Livesey research reported in Nutrition Research Reviews, December 2003.

Comparison of Sugar and Sugar Alcohols

Ingredient Sweetness GI Cal/g

Sucrose(sugar) 100% 60 4
Maltitol Syrup 75% 52 3
Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate 33% 39 2.8
Maltitol 75% 36 2.7
Xylitol 100% 13 2.5
Isomalt 55% 9 2.1
Sorbitol 60% 9 2.5
Lactitol 35% 6 2
Mannitol 60% 0 1.5
Erythritol 70% 0 0.2

Common disadvantages to Sugar Alcohols:

Dehydration
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Diarrhea
Rectal bleeding
Vomiting
Weakness
Dizziness
Persistent urge to empty the bowel
Flatulence

References

Growing up at Thirty

My Stars

Pack a Bag via Art of Manliness

Shortcut world via MakeUseOf.com

HBR email editing

Letter Writing via Art of Manliness

The Art of Letter Writing

Style and Manner

Originality

Purity of Expression

Form

Etiquette of Letter Writing

Online Manual Sites

Photoshop Brushes via hongkiat.com

PS Lighting Effects via WDL

Photoshop Lighting from lifehacker

Text Effects from Hongkiat.com

Reflective Glass Tutorial (Video tutorial)

Entrails Photoshop Tutorial (Video tutorial)

Taco Bell Text (Video tutorial)

18 Photo Editing Websites from Webupon

63 Photo effects at Photofunia

Black & White

Edit your photos on the internet

Make a name card

Make personal games

Rounded corners for your photo

Beautify your photos with frames and effects

Protect your images with custom watermarks

Card with your face

Plastic surgery on a picture

Internet barber shop

Show your photos to the world

Do you look young?

Photo album on the internet

Pictures from letters

Make an impressive mosaic

Reflect effect

Finance Talk with your Partner from Sense to Save

Finance Discution for Marrage from Art of Manliness

Reader Tips from Blissfully Domestic

Little Steps With Big Rewards

Customs Adventure, Part 2

Customs Adventure, Part 1

Ah.. Silence at Last!