My own personal ramblings

I found out about Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce via the Product Review Place.

I tried it on my grilled chicken and mashed potatoes (that’s part of my usual Sunday dinner) and I must say I was quite pleased with the taste.  It added just enough flavor to my meat without overpowering it.

I also tried some on my stir fry.  I went a little overboard with the sauce that time and it became a little bit too spicy.  Moral of this story…Don’t use too much of this sauce.  You really only need a little bit.

Now for the fun part.  I have the privilege of giving away 2 bottles of this sauce to 2 of my readers.  This giveaway is only open to US residents.  When I pick the winner, I will forward the address to the merchant and the merchant will send you the prize.

Here’s what you have to do to win the prize.

To get one entry:

Leave a comment on this blog post.  Be sure to include a valid email address or I won’t be able to contact you if you are the winner.

To get two entries:

Visit the Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and leave a comment in this post telling me what you’d like to try this sauce on.

To get three entries:

Go to twitter and tweet about this giveaway.  Post the link to the tweet in the comments section.

The winner will be chosen via a random generator.

This giveaway will end on February 23rd,  2010 at 11:59PM EST.

Disclaimer: I didn’t receive any compensation for this post except the free product.

Okay even though it’s Monday, I’m using this writing prompt to get started on my writing projects for this week.   So here goes…
Dusk was long gone and the café was quiet except for a middle-aged man sitting near the door who was typing feverishly on his laptop.  You see he was on a deadline.  He had to finish writing his ebook by the end of the week so he could start promoting it the next week.  He already had joint venture partners all lined up eager to promote his book.  There was just one problem. He couldn’t seem to put everything together in a coherent fashion when he was trying to work at his home office.

Everything kept distracting him.  First of all, there was this exciting playoff game on the television that was beckoning to him.  Secondly, he had his evergrowing honeydo list staring at him.  If that wasn’t bad enough, his kids kept barging into his home office with their various requests.  Finally he had had enough with all of the interruptions.  He told his wife that he was going out for a couple of hours so he could get some work done. So here he is typing his heart out when who should walk in but one of his business associates, Phil.  Now Phil just happened to be an expert in Search Engine Optimization, which is exactly what Dan was writing his ebook about.
“Phil!” Dan waves his hands frantically to get Phil’s attention since Phil was busy chatting on his cell phone.

Phil looks up and sees Dan waving at him. “Bye, Fran. I see one of my colleagues here.  I’ll have to call you back.”

“Hi Dan! How’s it going?”

“Not so good.  I’m trying to finish this darn ebook and I keep getting stuck.”

“Hmm.  What’s the ebook about?”

“It’s about Search Engine Optimization.  I’m writing a simple, easy to understand guide for people new to Internet Marketing.”

“You know that’s my specialty. Hey I’ve got an idea.  Do you have a tape recorder or a video camera on you?”

“I didn’t bring my flip camera, but I do have my voice recorder.”

“Why don’t you interview me and you can use what we say in the interview in your ebook?”

“Phil, that’s a great idea.”

So Dan completes the interview with Phil.  He was so excited that Phil walked into the cafe that day.  That helped him get the meat of his ebook completed.  Now if only he could get some help mowing the lawn….

In honor of  my new arrival, I decided to do something a little fun on this blog.  I found out about this product-Baby’s First Phone Call on The Product Review Place.  Since I had just given birth to a new baby girl, I thought that this product seemed really interesting.

Basically this is how the service works- You record your message via a toll free number.  Then you set up a calling tree with all of your family and friends phone numbers.  Then instead of having to make 20 phone calls after the baby is born, you just make one call and everyone gets the news at one time.

I think this is a very ingenious service.  It’s something I certainly could have used if I had known about it before Hailey decided to come early.   Oh well…

But here’s the fun part…The company has generously given me 5 $50 gift certificates to giveaway.  So here’s what you need to do.

If you’re interested in winning one of these gift certificates, leave a comment to get one entry.  You must leave me an email address or your entry won’t get counted.

If you want more than one entry, here’s what you need to do…

1) Visit Baby’s First Phone Call and leave a comment telling me who you’d give the gift certificate to (if not yourself).

2) Follow me on twitter and tweet this giveaway-Include @deannatroupe and leave the link in your comment.  Do this once a day.

The giveaway will end on 2/1/2010 midnight EST.  The winner will be chosen via a random number generator.  This giveaway is open to US residents only.

Disclaimer- I received no monetary compensation for this review.  I just received the 5 gift certificates to use for the giveaway.

P.S.  Here’s a picture of Hailey…

What is a protector? According to dictionary.com, a protector is a person or thing that protects; defender; guardian.  Do you have someone in your life that is a good protector? I do.  My husband is an awesome protector.  Even though sometimes he gets on my nerves with his over protection, he is really good at what he does.

So what exactly does it take to be a good protector?

I’m glad you asked.

In my opinion, a good protector is someone that will do whatever it takes to make sure that whatever it is they are protecting is safe.  Let’s go back to my husband again as an example.  He knows that mold will make everyone in the house very sick.  We also happen to live in a basement apartment that is prone to flooding if it rains heavily.  Now my husband will stay up all night checking the floor to make sure that the carpet is still dry.  I know this sounds small, but it allows me to sleep peacefully knowing he’s got everything handled.

So how can you be a good protector? Why should you want to be a good protector?

Well maybe you are a single parent or maybe you are a teacher of some sort.  Heck, maybe you’re just a concerned citizen that wants to help keep your neighborhood safe.  You can be a good protector simply by paying attention to what’s going on around you.  If you see a kid about to run into the street, yell at the kid so they won’t run into the street.  Notify the police if you see strange people wandering around your street.  You may even want to form a neighborhood watch program for your block.  These are just a few things that you can do to be a protector for the people in your life.

I have been busy over the past couple of weeks.  I just started a new job and I upgraded my web hosting. Now my blogs each have their own domain name. Pretty neat, huh? Now I have to upgrade them to the latest version of wordpress. I wish wordpress would give us a little break in between updates.   It seems like I’m updating my blog software every other week.

Since today is the day that Americans honor the memory of Dr. King (and Atlanta usually gets lots of attention on this day), I thought it would be fitting for me to write a letter to Dr.King for today’s post. I know I won’t get answers from him, but this is what I’d say to him if  I could.

***start letter*

Dear Dr. King,

It’s been an eventful last few months. I’m happy to tell you that we’ve elected the very first Black President! His name is Barack Obama and from what I can see, he seems to be a very intelligent and capable person.  I’ve got a few questions to ask you about this recent turn of events.

1. While this is quite an accomplishment, do you think this means that we can act like racism is dead?

2. I still have to put down what race and gender I am on job application forms. Is this what you had in mind when you gave the “I Have A Dream Speech”?

3. There’s still incredible poverty in this country due to the greed of a few wealthy people. Blacks are still on the bottom rung of society.  What would you do about this situation?

Well Dr. King, those are the only questions that I have for you. Thanks for what you did for our country and the world.  We’re still trying to keep the dream alive.

*end letter*

What do you think? What are your suggestions to help us come together as a country and address the problems that we have today? I’m interested in your suggestions. Leave them in the comment section.

P.S. I usually volunteer for the Hosea Williams Feed The Hungry Foundation, but I couldn’t do it this year due to some personal problems so this was my way of giving back.

If you’re on twitter tweeting anything Dr.King related could you use the #MLK hashtag? That would be awesome.  I’d love to wake up and see the #MLK tag trending on twitter search.

This book is about a family that gets shipwrecked. They have to survive by their wits. As usual, James Patterson has integrated an interesting twist in this book. Check it out by clicking on the link below.

Yup, it’s happening again. In case you missed the last one, you have another opportunity to attend an Atlanta Tweetup. Here’s the pertinent information. There’s a map at the bottom of this post.

Date: 12/4
Time: 6 – 8 pm
Location: Sheraton Gateway Airport- 1899 Sullivan Rd College Park, GA 30337

What to bring: Yourself, Digital Camera, Laptop (if you have one), Pen and Paper (you’ll want to write down the twitter handles of all the cool people you’re going to meet) and a great attitude!

View Larger Map

If you’re a John Grisham regular, this book is a shock to the senses. It’s a great book, but it’s a shock because it’s a departure from his usual subject matter. The main character of this book is a has been NFL player who is “forced” to play overseas thanks to a less than stellar NFL career. This book is a must read for any John Grisham fan or anyone that is a fan of football (the American version). Buy your copy today by clicking on the icon below:

There will be a job fair sponsored by Good Morning America on Thursday, Nov. 13 2008. Doors open at 9:00 AM.  They want you to register on their website before you attend. Click on the words job fair in this blog post for more information.