Luke's First Plane Ride ...

Here is Mr. Magukas at the airport for his first airplane trip ... to Denver for the weekend with Mom ...

Rich or Poor?

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They stayed with a very poor family. When they returned, the father asked the son what he thought of their trip.

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Google or Yahoo!

Some people swear by Google and others swear by Yahoo!. Which is better? Take a look at this cleaver app ... search Google and Yahoo! at the same time: http://us.searchboth.net/. The homepage of SearchBoth is a little cluttered and even a little confusing, but the results are interesting. Experiment with a couple of searches and see if you would consider switching search engines.

Take a Nap for Memory ...

I knew there was a reason I liked to take a nap! Studies (wish I had a reference, however) suggest that our memories are solidified while we sleep. Our brain does a lot of work during our rest – almost like it is a hard drive busy filing, organizing, and making sense of everything we’ve discovered while we were awake.  When you've learned a new concept or information that you want to retain, consider taking a nap or reviewing it right before going to bed.  This will give your brain the best chance to assimilate the new information.

Blue Planet Run ...

Water, especially good drinking water, is a precious resource and one that we sometimes take for granted. Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World is a spectacular book that is now available as a free PDF download from Amazon. You will be amazed at the conditions some people face thoughout the world. Take a few minutes to "thumb through" the book and then count your blessings. Click HERE for the download. 

Foxit Reader: A Free, Lightweight Adobe Reader Alternative ...

If you spent much time opening PDF files with Adobe Reader you know that Reader is not the fastest application under the sun. Plus, Reader provides its share of annoyances when doing updates. For a free alternative application, give Foxit Reader for Windows a try. Foxit Reader is much smaller than Adobe Reader, so one of the best things about it is how fast it loads and unloads. It also makes it easy to convert PDF documents to text.

In addition to offering a very useful toolbar, there is a tabbed feature that works very much like working with a tabbed browser. You can also annotate PDFs with your own text, highlight text, and much more. But, the best feature is how fast Foxit opens and closes PDF files.

Multitasking ...

How successful are you at multitasking? Here is a quote I like:

"Multitasking is the art of distracting yourself from two things you’d rather not be doing by doing them simultaneously."

I find that to do some thing well, I need to devote my full and undivided attention to it. How about you?

The Ultimate Steal ...

Hey students ... do you need or want the latest version of Microsoft Office 2007? If so, follow this link to the Ultimate Steal and get Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.95. That is a 91% savings! Notice that you can also get Office Visio Professional 2007 for only $55.95. All you need is your .edu email account. Don't let this deal pass you by! Sorry Apple users, this is Windows only.

New Photo Blog ...

Please check-out my new blog, AdamsMarshall, dedicated exclusively to my photography "hobby". Like onlyFH, only photography related items will appear on the AdamsMarshall blog. Let me know what you think. Some day I might reveal why the blog is called AdamsMarshall!

Be Ready Utah ...

The state of Utah has a great web site dedicated to Emergency Preparedness, called BeReadyUtah. A message from the Lt. Governor states:

"This site is designed to be a toolbox to ready you and your family for unforeseen events such as earthquakes, fires, floods, and even personal financial disasters. Be Ready Utah provides valuable information for individuals and families, public safety professionals, business and civic leaders, school administrators and volunteer managers."

Everyone can benefit from spending a few minutes browsing through the site:

http://www.beready.utah.gov/

Google Reader ...

Several people have asked me recently about Google Reader. Reader is one of the best ways to keep up-to-date on web sites you are interested in, including blogs, without actually going directly to the site. Reader constantly monitors the sites you follow and notifies you when there is a change or update. It uses something called RSS, or Real Simple Syndication. Don't worry about that ... just click on the following link for a tour and then login. By-the-way, if you already have a Gmail account - and if you don't, you should - you already have a Reader account!

http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlereader/tour.html

Reader will keep you up-to-date and help simplify your life!

Electricity Costs ...

I saw these numbers recently and thought I would pass them along. You can draw your own conclusions. The costs are monthly averages based on the national average price of electricity:

• TV/DVD ... $8.21
• Lighting ... $10.95
• Refrigerator ... $20.59
• Central Air Conditioning ... $44.35

In general, the hotter something gets, or the larger the motors is, the more electricity is used.

New Family History Blog ...

I have started a new Family History blog that you may want to checkout and bookmark. There is not much there yet, but I have a long list of items that will start to appear. Let me know what you think. Here is the link: www.onlyFH.blogspot.com

Urine Test ...

I got this from a friend and agree completely. What do you think?

I have to pass a urine test for my job. Like a lot of us in Utah, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their butt, doing drugs, while I work. Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

Free Conference Call Service ...

The next time you need to get your family or other large group together to discuss an upcoming event or issue, take a look at a new free conference call service call Rondee. It looks attractive, since you can schedule the call via the Internet and even record the call. Signing up for an account is a breeze.

Genealogy Without Sources is Mythology ...

How can you tell if the information posted by individuals on Internet genealogy sites is valid? Some sites have sources, others don't. How do you know what, and when, to believe something you find online?

A good rule of thumb is ... Don't trust anything you find on the 'net (or elsewhere) if it doesn't have sources.

Without sources you can't verify it, and you don't know whether the information came from a reliable source or whether it came from Great Aunt Martha who may have some of it right, but may have mixed up a lot too. Or, maybe the info came from a book written by someone 100 years ago who didn't have access to sources we have now, or who just plain got it wrong.

Perhaps the information was transcribed for a web page from a book source. That book source was transcribed from a microfilm record which was itself transcribed from the original. The chance of human error is greatly increased with each succeeding transcription. Even if the information has a source, you should double-check it personally, either from the original source or from an independent source. VERIFY, VERIFY, VERIFY!

When in doubt, remember ... Genealogy Without Sources is Mythology.

Email Subject Lines ...

Have you ever sent someone an email that you needed them to reply to? Or, do you frequently send emails that are "information only" and don't expect or need a reply? Do you ever get messages that have vague or non-descript subject lines? Here are several tips to make email life a little easier.

If you really need someone to reply to your email, try indicating that fact in the subject line. For example, suppose you send a message asking for some input for an upcoming meeting about a new restaurant idea called the Dog House. Try a subject line like this:

Subject: Menu Ideas for the Dog House ... Reply Requested

When the recipient receives the email, there should be no question that the you are expecting a reply. If you send a message that is for "information only", indicate that in the subject line like this:

Subject: Menu Ideas for the Dog House ... Information Only

How many times do you get an email with a subject line so vague, that you have no idea what the message is about? Or, how about the person that sends a two or three paragraph message just to tell you they will be out of the office next Friday? Here is a way to make the subject line be the message ... use EOM (End of Message) like this:

Subject: I will be Out-of-the-Office Next Friday, August 1, 2008 ... EOM

That's it! You don't need to put anything in the body of your message. Here are some benefits of using EOM:

1. EOM saves your recipient's time. Don't you value your time? Isn't it nice when others value your time too? By keeping your subject line short and using EOM you are showing the people you send to you value their time. They'll thank you for it (when they know what it means).
2. It saves you time. Why write the body of a message if you don't have to?
3. You craft better subject lines. One of the reasons people might glaze over when they receive your email is a subject line that doesn't grab them or give enough information. With EOM, you have no choice but to create a powerful subject line. The space for subjects is limited. You create better subject lines because you can't write a whole paragraph.
4. EOM encourages others to EOM. Once people see the resulting effectiveness of EOM, they will begin crafting EOMs of their own. It's win-win. You get concise, non-time wasting emails and they get the same.
5. EOM forces you to keep email messages focused on a single topic. Good email etiquette says you should keep the number of topics in an individual email to only one. If you have only one subject line to work with, you cannot cover more than one topic.
6. EOM guarantees 100% readership. We've all had the frustrating experience of waiting on someone to read our important email and respond. Sometimes we wait a long time and follow up to find out they haven't even read the message at all. Perhaps the most powerful advantage of EOM is 100% readership. Why? Because your entire message is in the subject line. Your message becomes impossible to ignore because it comes in front and center—no need to double click.

Give these ideas a try. Email is an essential part of our lives - both business and personal. Because most of us send and receive many emails every day, why not be as efficient as possible with our time and the time of those who receive our messages.

Gmail Archive - The Least Understood Button ...

Gmail's archive feature is likely the least understood button found on Gmail's navigation. What exactly does archive mean? Archive does not mean "backup" or some other form of off-site storage. It also doesn't mean that it files things away in hard to reach areas. It simply moves email out of your inbox. That's it.

Archived email is still immediately available using Gmail's search function or by clicking the All Mail button. The beauty of Archive is that it hides emails that you have processed. Once you're read an email, or read and responded to an email, clicking the archive button will save the email OUTSIDE of your inbox.

Once you're done with emails, stop looking at them. Turn your inbox into a place for pending issues ONLY.

Have Fun with Photos ...

There a number of simple tools available to make quick fixes and/or changes to photos. Here is a site that is just fun ... give it a try: http://kyolo.com.

Ink and Toner at Office Depot ...

Several days ago I ran out of ink and didn't have a spare. A new Office Depot opened a few months ago not far away, so I decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised! Not only do they guarantee they will have the cartridge you need, but you get an instant $3.00 credit for an empty cartridge (limit of 3 per visit), plus they have a free rewards program that gives you 10% back for ink, toner, and paper. I checked prices online at OfficeMax, Staples, and HP, and found all were the same as Office Depot, but without the credit and rewards. Any comments?