Currrent Situation

So far 2010 has been good!

 

We just recently bought a new car for Lauren - a 2010 Hyundai Tucson. We've only had it for less than a week and it's just a great car! We got the limited, so we're benefiting and having fun with the GPS navigation, XM radio, leather seating, etc. It's VERY nice...definitely the nicest car I've owned. :)

 

As far as work goes for me, everything is going well. A lot of people are asking me if we're moving. The answer: I'm not sure. It's my time to get into a different job, but I'm not sure if that new position will be here in Bakersfield, Houston, or San Ramon. We're doing a lot of thinking and praying about whether to move or not to move. We're not sure what's going to happen, but we're praying that God will lead us in the right direction! Hopefully we'll find out something soon. The anticipation is killing us!!

 

Other than that, Chevron is going very well. They're a very good company and treating us well.

 

The boys are doing very well also! Knight was born last year in June and he's just been a joy to have! He's got a huge dimple on his right cheek and it's very cute. :) Cyrus LOVES playing with him and laughing with him. It's really cute to see them together.

 

I'll post some pictures when I get a chance, or you can check out our Picasa Web Albums.

WiseStamp for Firefox

WiseStamp for Firefox is a cool little addon that I recently found for Firefox.

It allows you to add signatures to virtually any email provider. It's kind of nice because it synchronizes all of your signatures across all of your email addresses (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc.).

I have only been using it for a little bit, but so far, it's pretty nice. Check it out: http://www.wisestamp.com.

Primerica and Network Marketing

It's interesting how many people think that companies like Primerica is a "pyramid scheme."

There are SO many people who think that they know SO much about these types of opportunities, but they 'indeed' do not...

Before you jump all over me, you should know that I am not a representative of Primerica, nor do I personally know anyone in Primerica.

There are MANY different types of businesses out there. The two main types of business models out there are traditional business and MLM (multi-level marketing, network marketing, etc). In traditional business, the businesses rely on spending 90% of their money on advertising, whether it be tv commercials, postcards, telemarketing, etc. The problem with this type of advertising model is that MILLIONS of people don't care: they will throw away postcards, switch the station on commercials, and hang up on telemarketers. However, even though these people disregard the traditional business' advertising, the company STILL has to pay for it right? This is where multi-level MARKETING comes in.

In a legitimate and legal network marketing company the company pays its representatives (Primerica's reps) by the customer. It works very much the same way as a car lot pays it's employees. On a car lot, the salesman doesn't get paid unless he makes a sale. In a LEGITIMATE network marketing opportunity, just because you sponsor someone in the company means nothing, you actually have to help them get a customer or two.

Network marketing provides a way that any normal person can partner up with a company and start to build a true business WITHOUT having to put up the start up seed capital for starting it on their own. The reason why there is a fee is because you are purchasing the RIGHT to become a reseller of whatever company's product or service. Very much the same as ALL the companies out there that offer some sort of affliate program!

Come on guys and gals, do you REALLY think that if Primerica was doing something illegal that CitiGroup would be their mother company?

Do you seriously think that you, someone who spends their time doing "internet research", know the same things that the people who are on the legal team for CitiGroup know? Don't you think that if opportunities like this were illegal, companies like Mary Kay, Avon, Pampered Chef, Kirby, and all the other 198 well known companies listed here dsa.org/forms/CompanyFormPublicMembers/search?action=find would be put out of business? I think so...

Primerica, along with MANY other companies, is a legitimate business opportunity. Not EVERYTHING you see is "too good to be true."

With all that said...

I just wanted to tell everyone about an AWESOME opportunity for income. With Primerica, it may prove to be difficult to find enough business to keep your family afloat. Why? this is because once you have their service, there is only so much that they can do with you until you've made all the money you possibly can from them. Now what?! Now, you have to move on and find another person do either do business with or business for.

There is a brand new opportunity out there that was founded by the grandson of the founder of 7-11. The opportunity is called Ambit Energy. Think about this: instead of getting paid on the rare occasion that someone refinances their house or buys life insurance, what if it was even more simple than that?

What if you were paid every time someone paid their electricity or gas bill? Would it be easier to find customers? What if this company offered travel rewards for all their customers every time they paid their utilities bill? What if this company offered the ability to get FREE GAS AND ELECTRICITY for the rest of your life just for you, as a normal customer, referring 15 people to use their services? Would it be easier to find customers? Would it be easier to sell? Are you REALLY selling? How you can sell something that someone is already using? What if the price of gas and electricity is cheaper through the new company?

If I have piqued your interest in this company as customer, go here:

jaress.joinambit.com

If I have piqued your interest in this company as a consultant, go here:

jaress.ambitenergy.com
Click on "Our Opportunity" on the bottom right
If you are not in any of the states on the top right, choose "Texas"

The compensation plan for this company is OUT OF THIS WORLD and blows the top off of Primerica!

Visit the site today for more information. Feel free to email me at ambitopp@gmail.com or call at (661)302-4494

Before contacting me about being a consultant, please watch the video on my website first...

Global Domains Internatioal (GDI)

The question was: Have you ever heard of Global Domains International?

My response:

Yes. I have heard of Global Domains International. I was actually a part of it. I do think it's a legitimate way to make money. It combines the network marketing business model with the internet to make a legal and legit way to make some extra money.

It's probably one of the cheapest Network Marketing companies to be a part of (since it's free to start and then only $10 / month).

I did it for a few months and I made $0...

This is not to say that making money cannot be done with this program - I just didn't.

Once you get your website, you have to really market it yourself. I didn't have the time to put into this. I would say, if you know how to market something on the internet, then go ahead and give GDI a shot for a month. You'll only lose $10.

If you're worried about the cancellation policy, don't worry about it. I canceled my account and it was no problem at all.

Gmail

Man...Gmail just keeps getting better and better!

I know that a lot of these features that I just started using are not new; I think they've been around for a long time...but I just discovered how cool Gmail is.

I didn't really understand what the label feature was for. I thought it was kind of useless, but I just started using it and once again, Google proves me wrong. The label feature is kind of like a folder structure that you can create. You can use labels in combination with filters and have your email automatically sorted for you as it arrives in your inbox. For instance, you can create a filter to say "Whenever I get an email from any address with a domain name of "Godaddy.com," apply the "GoDaddy" label onto it, mark it as archived, and mark it as read. It's pretty nice.

I used to use Outlook for all my email accounts because I only had to boot up Outlook and it would retrieve all of my mail for me, but I don't mind having to sign on to Gmail anymore. The features that they have are pretty nice. For instance, the calendar feature...AWESOME! I have been trying to find a way to upload a public calendar online somewhere. This is the easiest thing that I have found, plus, it's free! AND, I believe it also integrates with Gmail, just like outlook integrates with its calendar function.

I just discovered that you can change the colors of your labels so that certain labels can catch your attention better. It's just an overall good system! Very happy.

There are, however, some changes that would be very beneficial:

1. I've noticed that when you reply to an email and you have your signature saved on your Gmail profile, instead of attaching your signature at the end of your message that you're currently typing, the signature gets attached at the end of the entire string of messages. Basically, when you reply to someone, your signature shows up at the bottom of their message instead the bottom of your message. I wish this was fixed so that your signature goes in the right place.

2. I would also like a way to have your signature be in HTML format instead of plain text. My signature looks so boring in just plain text...

3. Labels: sub labels...this would be nice.

Anyway, that's my take on Gmail. What's yours? Leave your comments!

Houses

My wife and I bought a house!! We're excited about it! It's gonna be so awesome.

When I first told her about it, she was SO excited! I've never seen her so excited.

The house that we're buying is a REALLY good deal. It's a 1684 sq ft, 3 bedroom 2 bath house. It's one of the end houses on the cul de sac, so it's pretty safe for children. It's got a pretty big lot with a decent size backyard. We're going to replace the carpet in the house before we move in. The house is foreclosure, but it's in pretty good shape. Not too much work needs to be done to it. We're only paying $169,000 for it! It's fantastic!!

Anyway, we're pretty excited about it.

Apple's Brick

Wow...I just saw this link:

http://cultofmac.com/hoping-apples-brick-is-first-all-screen-laptop/3230.

I really like Microsoft, but Apple comes up with some REALLY cool stuff!! This is much better than the .NET framework 3.5! Check it out!!