It’s My Imagination

Happy Memorial Day!

May 26, 2008 on 7:00 am | In My Imagination | 1 Comment

I would like to wish all of my U.S. readers a safe and happy Memorial Day!

We had friends over and we all went and watched the new Indiana Jones movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We spent the rest of the day just hanging out by our pool, eating and drinking and playing pool volleyball. It was very relaxing and really, although it was 95 degrees out, there was a nice breeze (not a high wind for a change) and it was nice to be outside.

Today we plan to do pretty much the same thing, just on our own. So, to all my U.S. readers, enjoy your day! To anyone not in the U.S., I wish you a great day also, even if you do have to go to work.

Tags: Memorial Day

My New Favorite Store

May 24, 2008 on 8:38 pm | In Some of This Some of That | Comments Off

I have just discovered an online store and it has quickly risen to become one of my favorites. This particular shop sells some fantastic items and I can’t wait to place my first order.

The store is call sweaty Betty and what really caught my attention were the Fitflops, a great shoe that looks like a flip flop, but is designed to give your legs a workout while wearing them. They come in amazing colors like chocolate, black and red to name a few, and they look so cute, very fashionable. The chocolate Fit Flops are available exclusively at sweatyBetty.com and that’s a must have color in sandals if you ask me.

The Fit Flop is of course, not the only item sold at sweatyBetty.com. They also sell workout wear, beach wear, yoga wear and even snow wear. Be prepared in all seasons! While they are based in the U.K., they ship worldwide and have a very reasonable return policy.Besides the shoes, they have some very nice swim cover ups, I think I’m going to be taking a further look. See ya later!

Tags: Fit Flop, Fit Flops, Fitflops

A Quiet Day

May 24, 2008 on 7:00 pm | In My Imagination | 2 Comments

I enjoyed a somewhat quiet day today, a relief for my head which has yet to stop pounding.

I started the morning lounging with my coffee, watching sewing shows on t.v., something I’ve NEVER done!  My husband joined me later and we watched Top Chef before I got in the shower.  He then took my daughter to pitching practice  and they were gone a few hours.

The time alone allowed me to very slowly clean up the kitchen and family room.  Going through the stacks of mail and getting rid of things.  I was able to stop and sit a while in between tasks so my head didn’t feel any worse.  By the time they got home I had cleared the counters and done some laundry.  I was then outside working on trimmig some bushes.

All in all, I got quite a bit done today.  I still have to do the floors in the morning before our company arrives, but I always do that last so we don’t get them dirty again too quickly.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Lasik Surgery

May 23, 2008 on 8:47 pm | In Some of This Some of That | 4 Comments

My niece had lasik surgery a few months ago. She’s very happy with the results and her insurance paid for it which made her even happier. My sister had it done several years ago, her insurance did not cover it, but she felt it was worthwhile, she’d worn glasses since she was very young and looked forward to no longer having to wear them. She’s been very happy with her decision.

I’ve been wearing glasses since I was 25 and contacts since I was about 30. The last couple of years I’ve had trouble wearing contacts simply because my eyes are so dry. That just means I’m pretty much always wearing my glasses now, it’s very rare that I don’t have them on.

I could get Lasik in Walnut Creek which is not too far from where my mother-in-law lives, near San Fransisco. I just am not comfortable with the idea of “surgery”. I know that it’s rare to have complications, but I have fears that can’t be overcome. I also know that with aging, corrective lenses will more than likely be necessary some time afterwards anyway. I’m probably just full of excuses, but I think my husband would probably jump at the chance if I told him our insurance paid at least part of it. Lasik Walnut Creek would probably finance whatever the insurance wouldn’t cover

Sadly, the biggest benefit for me would be being able to wear some of the beautiful and really cool sunglasses I see. I found a pair of $75 Brighton’s a few weeks ago and I really would have like to have splurged on them. I didn’t, don’t worry. Since I rarely wear my contacts anymore, I didn’t see the point.

How about you? Have you had or would you consider having lasik?

Tags: Lasik Walnut Creek

Softball Tournament

May 23, 2008 on 4:40 am | In Family | 7 Comments

My daughter’s fastpitch softball team is currently in the end of season tournament.  There are only 4 teams in her age division and it’s double elimination.  They went into the tournament in 2nd place having lost only one game during the season, a very good record.

Tuesday night they played the 3rd place team and won, it was not their best game, but they did win.  Last night they played the 1st place team.  This team had beaten our girls once in pre-season and once during the regular season, they’re only loss.  Our team had beaten them once during the regular season, their only loss.  So, last night was a huge game.

It was very exciting, my daughter pitched the entire game.  The first inning ended with a score of 0-0, almost unheard of in this age group, there are usually a lot of walks and steals.  The second inning was a little tougher, our team scored 4 while they were at bat and they scored 2.  The third inning we scored another 2, but then they came out and got lucky.  With 2 outs, bases loaded, a batter hit out to center field.  Our center fielder was right on the ball when the ball met the exact spot where the grass meets the dirt of the infield.  The ball popped up over her head and rolled several feet behind her.  By the time she was able to recover the ball and throw it in, they had scored 5 runs to make the score 6-7, their lead.

Top of the 4th, our first two batter are out.  We finally get a batter on base and she ends up stealing all the way to 3rd.  The coach tells her to run home on a catcher dropped ball and she ended up being tagged out at home plate.  The game was over.  We lost 6-7 in one of the best games I’ve seen played at this age level.  If it hadn’t been for that unfortunate ball hop in center field, I really believe our girls would have won the game.

Oh well, that’s softball!

Tags: fastpitch softball

Travel to the U.K.

May 21, 2008 on 5:03 pm | In Some of This Some of That | Comments Off

I recently wrote about my memories of my excursion to Spain and now I’d like to share some memories of our travels through the U.K., places I would definitely like to revisit.

When I was a senior attending school in Texas, I met my mom, who was living overseas with my dad, in London. We had an absolute blast together. We walked everywhere, unless we were riding a double decker bus. I recall it was Queen Elizabeth’s 50th birthday and so there were a lot of celebrations in the area. I recall walking around the palace and seeing the security in their bright red uniforms standing guard. They are such an icon of London.

While we were in London, we did a lot of shopping. I had to buy clothes for my upcoming graduation and Herrod’s was the perfect place to shop in my opinion! We had so much fun, I’d never been allowed to go on a shopping spree until then and I had a blast!

We did also travel some outside of London. One of my favorite excursions was when we took the train to Inverness, Scotland. We stayed in a quaint hotel and watched for signs of Nessie in the loch. We never did see her, but I do believe she’s there! Our little hotel reminds me of Hotel Scilly Isles another quaint area of the U.K. with beautiful white sandy beaches and an unlimited supply of wildlife. A boat trip is a great way to see this and nearby islands.

Someday, I hope to return to the U.K., there really is just so much history and fun things to see and do.

I’ve visited London several times, but I think that particular trip with my mom, will always stand out as my favorite.

Tags: hotel Scilly Isles, travel

Softball Tournament Tonight

May 20, 2008 on 12:49 pm | In Some of This Some of That | 2 Comments

Tonight begins the first round of my daughter’s fastpitch softball tournament.  It’s a double elimination tournament.  I know they play tonight and then again on Thursday night.  The championship game isn’t played until May 31, so I’m thinking there must be games next week.  They won’t play over the holiday weekend though.  Maybe I can finally get my flower planting done!

Tags: fastpitch softball

Blogging With SEO in Mind

May 19, 2008 on 6:55 pm | In Blogging | Comments Off

As a blogger, wouldn’t it be nice sometimes to have someone else write your content. For instance, last week I was away on vacation and was unable to write any posts for this site. It might have been nice to have someone filling in for me. And this week, I haven’t felt very well, what with my sinuses and allergies, so my writing may not have been in top form. It might have been nice to have someone backing me up. And then, we all have those days when our brains just can’t seem to think of what to write about, much less if we have the best keywords in our posts.

Why are keywords important? Well, if you’re not concerned with PR or rankings, they’re not. But for many business sites or bloggers who have monetized, rankings are very important and tied to their income. So yes, it’s important to have not only the best keywords, but those keywords need to be placed correctly in a natural setting. Relevant content with keywords placed naturally, will increase the weight given by the search engines.

Besides having great content on your own site, search engines are also looking for incoming links. Blogs can get incoming links by being linked to from other bloggers or by leaving valid comments on other blogs. Not all incoming links are equal however, links from authoritative pages will carry more weight. For example, links on a .edu site will carry more weight than a link on a .com site. One of the easiest ways to get these edu links is to use the services of EduTextLink. They create and maintain pages with over 25 .edu domains all built with SEO in mind.

EduTextLink advises on keywords to ensure businesses get the most bang out of their links once they are placed in content on a .edu site. They will write relevant content using the right amount of text links. The pages will then be monitored to ensure they get indexed, usually within a week.

If you are looking for .edu links, take a look at EduTextLink, the first company of its kind.

Tags: edu link, edutextlink.com, SEO, text link services

Welcome to Texas

May 19, 2008 on 6:25 pm | In My Imagination | 2 Comments

Since moving to Texas just over a year ago, my allergies have been very active.  There are so many different pollens and grasses here and the wind in Dallas is pretty much always blowing, so my allergies apparently are on heightened alert.

Last Thursday, I had a had it with my sinus headache which had been brought on by the allergies.  I’ve had basically one constant headache for weeks, sometimes it’s a dull ache, other times it is so bad I can’t see straight.  So, I went to the doctor.  I was given samples of a different over the counter allergy medicine than the one I’ve been taking.  I was also given a prescription for a nasal spray.  I started using both right away.

Friday night I had one of the worst headaches of my life.  We went out for dinner and as soon as we got home, I went to bed.  My weekend went by with me pretty much baring the pain and trying to get things done out in the yard.  In case you’re wondering, I do wear a face mask when mowing the yard.

This morning, I woke up with my head still hurting.  I’m so tired of this.  I called the doctor’s office first thing and got in this afternoon.  This time I was given an antibiotic for a sinus infection along with the nasal spray and over the counter allergy med.   At this rate, I’ll be so drugged I won’t know if my head hurts or not.  I just hope I can sew a straight line, I have a bag I need to finish.

Tags: allergies, sinus infection

Great New Computer Game – Review

May 18, 2008 on 9:19 am | In Some of This Some of That | Comments Off

I was recently given the chance to play and review a new computer game, The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes. After a quick and easy online download, I sat down with my 12 year old daughter and we got busy playing. While the game is designed for one player, it’s very simple to sit together and work through the challenges and puzzles together, not competitively, but as a team.

The game begins with Sherlock Holmes and his trusty friend Watson discussing the purpose of the game. The dialogue is very easy to follow especially with it being subtitled at the bottom of the screen. There are quite a number of cases to solve and they go in order, solve one and it unlocks the next one to be solved. I believe they become more and more challenging as the games progress. We played the first two and felt sufficiently challenged!

As each case begins, easy to follow instructions are given. To solve each case, certain puzzles must be completed. We were given two pictures and had to find 7 objects that were different in each. After completing that, we had to solve a Find the Hidden Objects game. These were more difficult as some of the items were quite small and harder to see. I do recommend this game be played on a full screen monitor, the bigger the better. There is a handy magnifying glass that can assist in viewing onscreen and we used that quite extensively. If you really get stuck, players can ask for a hint.

Once those puzzles have been solved, other smaller puzzles are completed to narrow down the suspect list. During all of these, we were given a total time limit of 25 minutes. This puts the pressure on, but did make it more fun. We managed to complete both of the first two cases in under 15 minutes apiece. If we hadn’t had to stop to eat dinner, I’m sure we would have continued to play.

We both really enjoyed the game and the graphics were very good with very clear instructions. I highly recommend this game to anyone who like puzzle solving. The following is the official press release.

LEGACY INTERACTIVE’S THE LOST CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY GAME NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD
Puzzle Adventure/Hidden Object Casual Game Includes 16 Original Cases to Solve

LOS ANGELES – May 7, 2008 – “Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot.” Legacy Interactive today announces the release of The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes, a whodunit casual computer game of theft, espionage and murder in which the player must tap their own powers of observation to solve puzzles and identify the culprits. The game is now available for download at Legacy Games.

The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes is the first computer game officially licensed by the Conan Doyle Estate. It features familiar personalities including Sherlock Holmes, Watson, Mycroft, Inspector Lestrade and more than 100 historical characters that will launch players into the world of the eccentric and famous detective. For each of the 16 individual cases, an overall storyline is revealed and a list of potential suspects is whittled down until the perpetrator is ultimately exposed.

In each case, set in Victorian London, players encounter the following puzzles: a hidden object puzzle, Sudoku, find the difference puzzle, and a picture memory game. There are also additional puzzles and mini-games such as anagrams, cryptograms and jigsaw memory games, which are available at various levels. Legacy has gone to great lengths to insure that the puzzles and mini-games are relevant to the period and storyline of the game as the player journeys from locales such as the British Museum, Big Ben, Kew Gardens, the Royal Theater and others in search of clues that are then evaluated back at 221b Baker Street.

Game Features
* Play as part of the venerable team of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.
* There are 16 different mystery cases for players to solve.
* Over 100 visual puzzles and mini-games tailored to the subject and period of the game reveal a cohesive storyline as you play.
* A wide variety of mind-bending puzzles including hidden object, find the difference, picture Sudoku and picture memory games.
* Realistic and relevant clues for each case.
* Gamers can easily begin their adventure where they just left off; there is no disruption in game play.
* Players can explore 40 historically accurate locations around Victorian London.
* Officially licensed by the Conan Doyle Estate.

Pricing and Availability
The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes is available for download at Legacy Games for $19.95 U.S. The title is rated E-10+. The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes is part of Legacy’s MyLife GAMES® series dedicated to smart entertainment for the busy mainstream game player. Online content syndicate uclick is distributing the downloadable game through portals and online destinations. Later this month, a retail version will ship to stores, distributed exclusively by Navarre Corporation. More information on the game and “The Sherlock Holmes Hidden Object Contest” can be found at www.sherlockgame.com.

About Legacy Interactive
Legacy Interactive (www.legacyinteractive.com) is a leading developer and publisher of casual games for people of all ages. Entertaining customers since 1998, the company has built a reputation for developing intelligent, realistic and engaging games for a broad audience. Located in Los Angeles, Legacy is known for its TV-branded games, such as Law & Order and The Apprentice, as well as for its popular simulation games Pet Pals: Animal Doctor, Emergency Room and Zoo Vet. Through Legacy’s online casual game portal at www.legacygames.com, customers can download and try more than 500 casual games plus read and write reviews and share play lists of their favorite games. Legacy has ongoing distribution, marketing and content strategic partnerships with a number of companies, including Vivendi Games, Universal Studios, Ubisoft, Mindscape, Majesco Entertainment, and Scholastic.

Tags: Legacy Games, Sherlock Holmes