While most of us were celebrating April Fool’s Day, someone else was dealing with one of the worst things someone should ever have to deal with. I don’t know Lisa, from Clusterfook, personally, but she is a friend of my sister’s and I found out what is going on with her through my sister’s blog.

Lisa has had her share of problems in the past, and as a two-time survivor of ovarian cancer she is a hero and role model to anyone who happens to know her. I can’t begin to imagine the feeling of finding out that you have cancer, let alone that you have it for the second time. Well, now she has to face another unimaginable reality. She has cancer for the third time, and this time it has spread.

In the comments of her post she mentioned that she would love to take her daughters to DisneyWorld, so a group of her friends has organized a raffle. If you donate any amount to help her fulfill her dream of taking her daughters to DisneyWorld, you could win one of 12 prizes, which are listed at Miss Ann Thrope’s site.

You can make a donation (and enter the raffle) at the link for Miss Ann Thrope’s site, or you can click this handy PayPal donation link and just get the easy part over with now.

The prize list includes a whole bunch of stuff, but the biggest prize of all is knowing that you helped fulfill a mother’s wish to take a vacation to see Mickey and his friends, and spend some quality time with her daughters.

Don’t waste another minute. Make that donation for Lisa, pray for her and her family, then take a moment out of your day to thank God for the things you have in your life.

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I just saw this over at TVNewser, and had no idea he had even gone in for surgery. Yeah, I know, that just goes to show you how close I follow any “cable” or “radio” anything anymore.

Glad you’re feeling better Glenn. Now I have to listen on Monday to find out what the heck happened, huh? When I first started watching the video I thought he was entering drug rehab or some other thing, but it is very clear that what happened to him was physical, and so physical that he needed mental help afterward. That just sucks.

Soon after Gidget started Buttercup Mercantile, she found out that she could file for several different federal and state grants to help her with her business. Some of the grants had ridiculous requirements or “eligibility” rules. One would have required her to be a single mom to get the funding. I know a couple single moms who get state funding and all they do is sit on their butts all day.

Another one would have required her to hire a specific number of minorities to receive funding. Yeah, if she had enough business to hire a few people, she wouldn’t be filing for any Small Business Grants in the first place. Would she?

Many US Business Grants, however, do not have such strange requirements and anyone can apply for them. Grants are not loans, and you can use the money just about any way you see fit, as long as you use it to benefit your business.

If you’re just starting out with your own business venture, I highly recommend applying for US Small Business Grants. It can’t hurt. You just might be surprised when you receive a check to help you cover expenses while you build your customer base.

One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is having no business plan. Many young entrepreneurs overlook the fact that a strong business plan is necessary to build a strong business.

When I had my own company, I had a business plan. I learned that I suck at writing business plans, and if I ever decide to venture down that road again I am going to hire a Business Plan Consultant.

It only makes sense. If I am going into business in a field I am an expert in, I should hire someone who is an expert in writing business plans to help me develop mine.

For years now, my wife has been asking for some sort of barcode labeling system so she can keep track of our home pantry inventory.

Her idea is quite logically actually. She figures if she has some Bar Code Verification Equipment, she can simply add each item to our pantry, and then, when she wants to cook a meal, her recipe software would tell her which items to pull, which she would then scan as she removed them from the pantry. Then, on payday, the software would tell her which items needed replacing, whether it’s an item we purchase from the grocery store, or an item we can ourselves.

RDG has some excellent barcode scanner and Bar Code Verification deals. Having been in the barcode business for 30 years, they are experts in the barcode labeling business.

The company I work for should take a look at them as well. For years, all I have heard is how our inventory control is lacking, and the inventory guy can never seem to find something or even tell us how many of a certain part we have on hand. And when we actually have product going out the door, some people cannot even read the labels he has on the items. Yeah, a scanner, and a Bar Code Verifier would come in handy, so I am definitely telling them to take a look at RDG.

No I am not suddenly talking about early 80’s boy bands, how sick would that be?

I’m talking about Vinny’s cousin, PhotoBoy, who is blogging over at blogspot. Sooner or later we’ll get him hooked up over at Second Rate Hosting, that’s for sure, but for now, check out his site.

I am envious of the guy. He’s already lined up an interview with Justine Ezarik, you know her as iJustine, for his podcast. Wow. New to the blogosphere and he bags an interview like that?

Why not show a little linky love and pay him a visit. It’s not everyday we actually get new members of the blogosphere who are actually talented.

Sometimes we just need to listen, or read anyway.

So what is 1081081081234?

As long as I can remember, I have hated shaving. If I shave too often, I get very painful razor burn, and if I wait too long in-between, I get more ingrown hairs than you can imagine.

When I was younger, people gave me all sorts of hints to prevent razor burn but no matter what I tried, it didn;t work. After shaving, my chin and neck would end up feeling like they were on fire, and it would look like I had been shaved by a parkinson’s patient without medication. It wasn’t pretty. A few people recommended electric razors, and although the cuts weren’t there afterward, the painful razor burn was.

As I’ve gotten older, the ingrown hairs have become more of a problem. They aren’t too painful, but they are unsightly that’s for sure. If I time it just right though, I can sometimes avoid both the ingrown hairs and the razor burn. But why should I need too?

The cost of Laser Hair Removal has dropped considerably and with websites like the Hair Removal Forum, I can find a laser hair removal specialist in my area. The Hair Removal Forum offers consumers a resource to research the specialists in their area along with the procedures they perform. All of the service providers listed in the forum must maintain a minimum level of service to maintain their membership and they even offer a free consultation to find out if laser hair removal is an option for you.

The Hair Removal Forum will help answer your questions about laser hair removal in the bikini, underarm, back, and facial areas. Me? I don’t think I would be too interested in the bikini area. That just sounds too painful, but I would give anything to go a week without razor burn, and at my age, I deserve it.

Who knows? They may even give me a deal if I can convice the wife to have her chin hairs lasered at the same time.

I love hiking and now that the weather is turning cooler, and the fact that I have my new Canon SD1000, I am sure we’ll be taking a nice trip to the mountains.

I have always loved the mountains. Whether I was hiking up at Mt Charleston outside of Las Vegas, near Duck Creek in Southern Utah, or Amicalola Falls in North Georgia, I am always at home in the mountains.

One thing we make sure to do when hiking it to carry out any items we carried into the area. Most times we end up carrying out more than we took in, as we try to help keep the area clean for other hikers when they come to the area.

We figure if we all do our part to help keep the environment clean, we can all enjoy it that much more. I decided long ago that when I die, I want to have my ashes scattered in the mountains, preferably next to a mountain stream that is home to beautiful rainbow trout.

It turns out that Richard Lamb New traditions offers biodegradable cremation urns for people like me. I would hate to be cremated only to have my ashes sitting next to a fireplace, or on someone’s shelf for the rest of their lives. I would rather be placed into one of those biodegradable urns, and placed into a pond at one of my favorite fishing holes. What better way to be sent off on your journey than in an urn that is environmentally friendly and biodegradable.

I think this is the perfect alternative for those of us who want to look out for the environment, and still be put to rest in our favorite places. Just think, at the end of the hike there would be one less item to carry out.

Over the years I have tried a number of ways to make money. I tried my hand at a lot of different businesses, but the funnest one of all was when I had my sandwich shop. I had two problems though, that being a novice in the industry were bound to doom me from the start.

The first was location. The area I opened my shop had no other businesses like it, so you would think it would have done good, but being the only store of your kind isn’t always a plus, especially when accessibility becomes an issue for people.

The second problem I had was that I had very poor credit, and virtually no reserves to fall back on. If I had an Unsecured Line Of Credit I could have used it to purchase some of the equipment I needed or to help cover some expenses during the slow time of the year (aka winter with lots of snow).

When I had my shop, places like FinanceCreditLine.com didn’t exist, so finding someone who would help finance a young guy striking out in the sandwich making industry were hard to come by. They also offer business startup loans, commercial mortgages and unsecured personal loans.

It would be nice to think, as a business owner, that you don’t need credit lines and all that, but more often than not, most businesses couldn’t survive without them.