For the Listening Challenge about voice:

We sat, sipping coffee, the air between us cluttered like a back alley with junked kitchen appliances strewn about, discarded and wanted by no one. He was at it again. Like a tidal wave of hot air, his low monotone came at me, a stupefying blast of nothingness. Did the man ever speak up? The words slip-slided from his lips, lumping up into a doughy ball as soon as they hit air. I looked to see if his mouth was full of crackers. Perhaps that muffled his tone. No. He was simply the world's most boring person.

Copyright 2007 JO Janoski

How to Add Your Name and Personal Info

Here at Musecrafters, I've found it takes an extra step to make your blog totally your own. Right under your picture, you will see "Name:", "From:", and "About Me:". To make your blog your own, a little trip to the template is in order.  Now, now, I can hear you screaming from here. It doesn't have to be scary. And remember, nothing you do is permanent until you "save."
 
So to begin, login, click on your blog, and look on the menu to find "Template" and click. You will have arrived at "Edit Current Template." Now, the small changes we want to make are further down on the page. Scroll until you find where it says "start blog body." Then scroll slowly until you find "Name: ", "From:", and "About Me:". Once you've found them, you can delete what's there and put your info in. Look on my blog to see what I did.

Once you're satisfied, go to the bottom and click "Preview Changes" to bring up a preview. If you approve of your work, go back to the template and "Save Changes." Voila! You're done. If you aren't satisfied at first, you can continue to make changes and preview them until you are. If by chance, you do so badly it has you pulling out your hair in gobs and  screaming, then simply "reset changes" and the template will return to what you had in the beginning, providing you did no saving since you started. In this case, perhaps the job is best left to a professional.

Remember, it is safe to tinker and preview. If it goes crazy, you can reset and start over. Nothing is permanent until you say "save."  Good Luck!

I found the answer for those bare-bummed UPMC patients smoking out on the street now that they're banned anywhere near the hospital.

Electriciggy: The battery-powered nicotine fix that helps smokers beat the ban
    It could be the ultimate accessory for smokers out to beat the tobacco ban.

                 Read more

When I find something good, I like to tell people about it. Well, I'm a pack rat, constantly clipping bits and pieces off the internet to refer to later, as something to write about or learn from or just send to a friend. I've found a note program that lets you right click and save anything--text, images, clips from Outlook, Excel, and Word. You can even hand write a note or sketch and keep it.

You can get an add-on that lets you clip a selection from any program with just one click. Your selection is deposited in the note program without opening any other window and without another thought about it. It's just copied into the note program automatically and you're on your way! This is the perfect notebook program for impatient people (like me!) who want one-click action. Once the notes are clipped, they can be categorized and sorted any way you like for easy easy storage and retrieval. The best news is the basic program is free. EverNote. Go for it.

P.S. I'm not affiliated with them. I'm just an enthusiastic user of their product.