I'm selling WebHostWorks.com and I have it listed at eBay.com -- check out the cool, new eBay ToGo widget displaying real time data right from the actual eBay auction page. Pretty useful widget if you want to market 'live' eBay listing on your blog or website.

Tags: Web 2.0, Hosting, Web Hosting, internet, eBay ToGo, Auctions, Domain Name Auctions

O.K. safe to say I'll get carried away and ramble due to my on-going love affair with The Bahamas so let me apologize in advance but I hope you'll have as much fun reading my stories as I've had living and writing about them. I'll try not to ramble off hither and yon.

If you really want to elevate your little 3-day jaunts to Atlantis, Paradise Island purchase the Gourmet meal plan and I'll walk you through why. Atlantis has something like 30+ food establishments, I'm not going to be quite so generous and call them all restaurants because they're not. Anyway, with choices like Dune, NOBU, MESA just to name three and breakfast too. We go off resort for our lunches and that way we get to have a non-resort, local experience because we go bonkers for the fresh Conch and the Grouper too. Back to the resort buy the meal plan and then select where you want to eat each night and make your dinner reservations while you're still at home, and make them well in advance. That really is the only way to eat where you want, when you want and on a 3-day whirlwind it's worth it because dinner is more enjoyable that way and special because the choices at Atlantis are so fantastic the only trouble you'll have will be selecting just one! For our latest trip we dined at Bobby Flay's MESA in the new all-suites, The Cove, Atlantis. We also dined at Dune which is up the beach at The One & Only Ocean Club and NOBU.

As I mentioned breakfast is in the meal plan and The Cove has this interesting dining concept called Mosaic which consists of cooking stations where your food is cooked to order. Everything is incredibly, beautiful, well presented and fresh everything from caviar to fresh figs interspersed in and around the cooking stations. All of this beautiful food is being served in a beautiful, elemental space which is about its wood, glass, natural light & stunning water features. The glass walls play a Zen trick of bringing the outdoor garden into the dining spaces so it's this beautiful, organic experience.

Table side the waiter has left for me the most wonderful tea box and in it are teas from Harney & Sons. Well, neither my friend nor I had ever heard of this tea company but the selection and the packaging were just wonderful so I selected the "Paris" blend. Well, when I opened the package which was foil lined I might add it unleashed these aromas one of which was pomegranate all coming from a silk sachet, triangular in shape. Aroma of the tea brewing in my cup along with the beautiful space and food transports you. But then that is part of why we love going to the Atlantis resort, they handle the details and we love Mosaic we ate breakfast there each day. On our third night we were going to have dinner there but tropical storm Noel caused them to close The Cove and move everyone into the Royal Towers so we're lucky that we popped into NOBU earlier in the evening and had sushi in the relaxing lounge at NOBU which is right off the casino floor so from the lounge you can see the flash of the casino through the glass entryway but you're in another world sound-wise. NOBU is another experience which transports you to a very special place where everything that hits your senses seems to open them wider.

Back to the amazing tea; I stopped drinking coffee over a year ago. I'm one of these people who had to have surgery and ever since I've had no interest in drinking coffee, apparently this happens to some people after surgery. I don't miss it in fact, I'm really enjoying drinking hot and cold tea. The selection at Harney & Sons is simply wonderful so much so that we've ordered three times and given one gift of their teas since we've returned the first week of November.


Here's a great clip about The Cove, Atlantis that I found on YouTube:

Tags: The Cove, Atlantis, Paradise Island, The Bahamas, The Cove, Luxury, Luxury Resorts, Fine Living

If there's anyone left on your holiday shopping list no matter personal or professional a gift certificate is always appreciated because the recipient can select exactly what they want. No returns. No hassles just selecting something they really want and having it delivered to their door. Think about it, how much do you appreciate receiving gift cards? They're not impersonal and certainly not in those instance where you know stores where the person likes to shop. But even if you don't stop and think about places where someone can find anything, like Target or Amazon.com. Everybody knows them and if they can't find anything they like or want you probably would have faired much worse had you actually selected something for them in lieu of a gift card. Think about it.

I mention Target for lots of reasons of course their mix of hip, well designed yet useful products places them at the top of my list so I give and ask for gift cards from them. I love going to Target for my shopping and its where I go about once a month to buy all sorts of things to run my house, life and business. I have dogs so I'm the guy with the 16-pack of Brawny paper towels in the bottom of his cart. But I love snaking through the aisles with my cart and checking out what I need and whatever else pops into my view. I also love checking out the end-cap merchandise that has been marked down. Last time we were there we found this really cool dinner plates in a great color and they cost all of 44 cents per plate. Style and value. Yes, I'll gladly take a gift card from Target.

I enjoy shopping in their online store both their own and their store within Amazon.com. Also, you can use their gift cards in the store and online so that's great if someone likes Target but doesn't have a store where they live, they can shop online and still redeem their gift card.


Gift cards from the following are always appreciated:


AA.com Hilton Sephora
Amazon.com Hyatt SONY
Apple, Inc. Home Depot Spa Finder
Atlantis, Paradise Island Hotels.com Target
Banana Republic iTunes Ticketmaster
Barnes & Noble Kayak Travelocity
Best Buy Kimpton Hotels United Airlines
bloomingdale’s Legal Seafood Wal-mart
Cabela's Macy’s
Circuit City Marriott
Continental Airlines NetFlix
Dean & Deluca Nordstrom
Delta Airlines Northwest Airlines
Dillard's Saks Fifth Avenue
Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts Old Navy
Gap Priceline




Another great gift is a magazine subscription. It helps to know the person but again if you know anything about them you can select a publication for that topic, assuming it exists of course. For friends who like design and architecture I've given subscriptions to DWELL magazine. I love Architectural Digest but this is really great semi-new publication that tends to focus on modern design. Beautiful photography along with quality editorial makes for an interesting issue each time a new one arrives. Love it.


Click here to shop the incredible selection in the Magazine Subscription Center at Amazon.com

Tags: Shopping, Gift cards, e-gift cards, Holiday Shopping, Gifts, Gift Giving, Christmas

WebHostWorks.com and WebHostWorks.org are Domain Names I have owned for years that resold web hosting services. In light of heading in new directions with my business I have made the decision to sell these Domain Names. They are currently listed for sale at Sedo.com. I will entertain reasonable offers but no low ball or fire sale offers. Period. The name "WebHostWorks" has value in the marketplace and is quite brand-able in a marketing context which again adds to its value as intellectual property. Years of awareness over the life span of the brand also created value since its a name easily revived in the land of Google, Yahoo & company. PLEASE NOTE: the 'net' version is owned and controlled by another organization.

Click through the links above for more information and be aware this are NAME ONLY -- NO WEBSITE OR LOGOS ARE INCLUDED -- YOU ARE ONLY BIDDING ON THE DOMAIN NAME ITSELF.

Thank you & enjoy the day.





Resources if you're interested in buying a Domain Name:

Sedo.com

It's all in a name, we've all heard that expression. Right? This links to why liberty.com is so valuable in the Seller's mind. Check it out.

Tags: Web Hosting, business, Intellectual property, Web hosting names for sale, Domain Name Sales, Domain Name Auctions, Website names for sale

Seth Weintraub (computerworld) reports that a survey conducted by Canalys for Symbian “shows that iPhone sales are second only to Blackberry in North America. That means that iPhone has passed Windows Mobile, Palm and Linux in sales in North America.”

Read more…

Source: Apple Hot News RSS feed




Refurbished iPhone, 8GB: only $349!

Tags: iPhone, Apple, Inc., Smart Phones, Windows Mobile, Windows, Microsoft, Blackberry, Palm, Symbian, Treo, Steve Jobs, Steve Ballmer

“With the Intel Macs,” explains Brian Allen, director of technical support at Bemidji State University in Minnesota, “students now have the potential to have both systems on their machines, so they can run both Windows and Macintosh applications. They can easily switch between Apple’s iLife suite and AutoCad. It’s the best of both worlds; they’ll really have two computers for the price of one.” In addition to offering students more flexibility, Allen and his team discovered that “Windows applications run faster on the Mac.” Best of all, dual-booting Mac computers offer BSU “the potential to save $150,000 to $200,000 a year in lab hardware purchases.” What’s next for Boot Camp at BSU?

Read more…

Source: Apple Hot News RSS feed






Check out the incredible selection of all things Mac - iPod - iPhone; you name it's here & at a great price too!

Tags: Mac, Apple, Intel Mac, Windows, Windows & MAC, iLife '08, itunes, iPhoto, imovie, Garageband, AutoCad, Mac, OS X, OS X Leopard, Computers, PCs, College, Beach vacations, Bemidji State University

Tags: News, TIME, News magazines, TIME, Inc., Quote of the Day, business

I have so many things buzzing in my head this morning I decided to just start writing and see where the ride takes us. This post will therefore have a rambling quality but I'll do my best to stay on point long enough to make my point. Wow I sound like a wing-nut. The title of the post is the sidebar here at blogMerit.com is giving me fits (so are some other aspects of the rebuild) but right now I'm focusing on the sidebar, hence the posting title. Please bare with me while work through the kinks on the final phase of our brand new blogMerit.com.

So, I'm laughing this morning, which is actually a normal day for me. Lots of laughter. I live and work in my home, and its home occupied by creative people writer and artist. Living and working at home creates an environment of opportunities. Open, critical thinking, I'm on a constant question open my mind and continue learning and growing because in this environment I'm capable of creating so much for myself and my dogs. We live in a society that has us chasing income instead of creating it. I have a lot to say on this topic because it continues to come up in conversations with friends, family and professional contacts. Fascinating topic to me for a myriad of reasons. But I think that point will be shared via a separate post where I'll share a story and my thoughts on a solution.

So, let's talk about holiday shopping. What are the hot items or hot toys this shopping season? I'm aware of the popularity and scarcity of one item the Nintendo Wii game system. In fact one the reasons I'm laughing this morning is because I've joined a message thread at Amazon.com whereby the posters think they're being ripped off. Let me give you some background. Basically, you should be able to get the Nintendo Wii system for around $250.00. Stores like Target, Wal-mart, Sears, K-mart would sell around that price and they do really well even with limits on how many people can buy. Most stores aren't letting you buy more than two sets. Well, people are buying or bought their two units and resold them on eBay or Amazon.com for a profit. We live in a free market economy so I personally don't have a problem with this. The reason why is simple you don't have to pay or buy anything. Remember, Free Market economy the operative word being free, you're free to choice NOT to buy the item and be patient and not wait.

Perhaps if fewer people defined themselves via their ability to acquire or buy stuff. In other words, don't buy into the bullshit including the bullshit of having to get the toy because your child wants it. I know we want to give the gifts that our children want but we never lack quality items to select for gifts. So what do you do, well instead of whining you need to own your part of this dynamic you'd like to think you're a victim of and start making different choices. Be resourceful and you'll find a creative solution that might actually provide more than some bogus gift obligation.

I say start with finding your joy. Stop what you're doing and really think about what brings you joy. Its yours, own it and become empowered. Jump off the hamster wheel and start making healthier choices for yourself first. Grow and nurture yourself first because once you're empowered you're in position to help your friends and family, co-workers and so on.

I realize it's frustrating trying to run around sourcing all these business and personal gifts. Remind yourself of effective the internet is and stick with it. I've been 'on the net' since the 1990s and I've only learned more become more productive and informed. As a writer the need for quality research is open ended and the internet places the world literally at my fingertips for the majority of my research. In addition to being a very powerful informational tool its also a distribution channel (they ship you the item to your home or office per your instruction) remembering this piece and really leveraging the power of the internet you can make a lot of your tasks more time effective for you. Luckily, I realized that early on because don't we all have other things that we want and need to be doing? It's not like our list is ever truly finished the next section of the LIST is sitting there waiting for you to notice it and the cycle remains intact. Stop and pause consider is this still my best option or best practice?

Back to the crazy holiday shopping period. I'd like to know what the HOT items are this season and except of the popularity of the Nintendo Wii game system nothing else has risen to that status. Please post comments and share your experience so we can open this up to a constructive dialog. If I have solutions I'll get them posted ASAP to facilitate. For example, I was hoping to be able to include a link to the company that sold me my Nintendo Wii which arrived 3 days ago but it's no longer a deal. They've raised their price to $499.00 and I don't blame them. It's a seller's market when you have a white hot in demand item. I would buy from them again it shipped within a few days of the order being placed and arrived as described, brand new. I only paid $349.00 but $499.00 is no deal but want or need one the web page states they have them in stock.

Sorry for the rambling post I'll double-back and edit this post with a clearer head. Enjoy the day.
Stay warm, cool or dry whatever the case may be. Again, please share what's hard to find. What you're buying. What you're still looking for that's hard to find. Or just a question maybe one of us can help.

Tags: Shopping, Wii, Nintendo Wii, Target, Wal-mart

As blogMerit evolves and grows the tone is taking on natural, added character and this is one of those times. Don't be offended its me but its some of the 'me' that I've been curb checking so as to appeal to the broadest audience. However, I do have some very strong opinions so I will begin sharing those here, and as always all my posts are open to comments. That said is also one of the features that's not back online yet. It's being sorted and will be live again very soon.
Oh, and by the way I want to say I create, upload and manage my websites with this wonderful application from a company called Real Mac Software, its called Rapidweaver. I believe the current version is 3.6 and yes, its "Leopard" ready. I work on a Mac and I have for years. Jumped right into iPod and iTunes when they became available. I always upgrade my OS X I tend to upgrade pretty quickly when the updates come out; they're pretty scheduled about every 18 months there's a system upgrade and unlike Windows there's no confusing upgrade paths to try and figure out. If you have one Mac you'll probably buy the single user license but if you have more Macs say an iMac and MacBook you'd buy the Family Pack license for only a few bucks more then you can legally install it on up to five (5) Mac and all this is $129.00 - $199.00. What's that saying, of that's it, It's a no-brainer. More on these wonderful resources for Mac users later. I'm marking this as one of my Cool beans topic for later followup postings. iPod, iPhone, OS X "Leopard", iMac, iTunes, Safari just to name a few.
iPhone gifts they'll love. Give iPhone with signature gift wrap and free shipping. Maybe's its time you take another look at the Mac. I mean, come on what do have to lose?!

Tags: Apple, Inc., MacBook, Mighty Mouse, Mac, Apple TV, itunes, Final Cut Express, MacBook Pro, iLife '08, iWork '08, iPhone, iPod, iPod nano, iPod Touch

download your photo and include it into the gift card which makes in more personal. Grand kids, whatever makes sense. photo. of a trip you took together. In short, a memory as a digital image included as an element of the gift card that arrives with your gift card.
This is a new e-gift card apparently available from Macy's. I'll post a link as soon as I locate it.

I love gift cards, for example I have a lot of friends who love Target and shop there all the time. Well, giving them a gift card is very thoughtful because they shop there already and love it so it's something they'll enjoy. From my perspective when I'm given a gift card its always somewhere I shop or can for a specialty item I'm looking for. Point is the recepeinet gets to buy exactly what he or she wants.
I really like the nice graphics on both the cyber and brick and mortar e-cards. I love them and my friends and family do too.

Tags: Gift cards, e-gift cards, Gift Certificates, Holiday gifts, Business gifts

Here we go again, more recalls of products manufactured in China. This time it's in the baby industry. Read the news excerpt that was released earlier today, Sept. 21, 2007. As far as the title of this post well I haven't seen this packaging yet but a friend mentioned this to me because he'd read it in TIME magazine. Rushing to extremes isn't necessarily the answer but this issue doesn't seem to be dissipating. Read the breaking news below for more information this clip is quoted from a WSJ.com email notification I receive as a subscriber. Be safe. Be well. Enjoy your read.


QUOTE:
Sept. 21, 2007

U.S. regulators are recalling about one million Chinese-made baby cribs, branded Simplicity and Graco, after the cribs were linked to at least two infant deaths. In both deaths, the cribs were assembled incorrectly by consumers. The recall is the latest tied to Chinese manufactured items, and comes amid new focus on the role of faulty product design. Earlier in the day, Mattel issued an extraordinary apology to China over the recall of Chinese-made toys, taking the blame for design flaws and saying it had recalled more lead-tainted toys than justified.

END QUOTE.



Subscribe to both the print and online editions of The Wall Street Journal and get 8 weeks free.

Tags: China, Toxic Chinese goods, Chinese Made baby cribs, Baby cribs, Mattel, Chinese imports

Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale Ends Soon - Hurry! {INSERT CODE HERE FOR AD.}

Tags: Nordstrom, Shopping, Fashion

DownloadedFile

Tags: Design, SOHO, Organization

INSERT C.M. CLIP & LINKS

Tags: Toys, Mattel, China, Product Recalls, Recall, Safety Recalls

I have been reading "The Wall St. Journal" daily since 1991 and I'm not at all happy about the prospect of News Corp. buying Dow Jones, the publisher of "The Wall St. Journal", Barron's as well as the magazine, "Smart Money" and don't forget the indexes and all the other enterprise media that would be under the control of Rupert Murdoch controlled News Corp. I fear for the Wall St. Journal's editorial independence under his ownership. I trust and love the editorial content of my Wall St. Journal and I love having the paper on Saturday too. Please Bancroft family don't sell to News Corp.!

Tags: Dow Jones, Wall St. Journal, Mergers & Acquisitions, News Corp., Barron's, Rupert Murdoch, Smart Money