Thanks for the guest post by Donn Schroeder

I was home sick from work today and so bored! All I did today was sit on the couch and watch television. The weather was so nasty and I felt horrible. I felt really bad, but I didn’t feel bad enough to sleep the entire time. I surfed the internet for hours. I found my self searching and clicking everything from texas electricity provider links here to reading all of the on-line gossip websites. My friend sent me an e-mail when I told her that I was so bored about a website that she gets on when she is bored. It is called Stumbleupon.com. When you join the website, you select what you are interested in. The site then generates a bunch of random sites that you scroll through and click on things that you like. It was awesome! It definitely helped with some of my boredom throughout the day. I never thought that I would say that I was ready to go to work, but by the end of the day, I was really ready to get back to work! Sick days aren’t as fun as they used to be when I was a kid.

Companies like BizzClick offer some great tools for both advertisers and publishers to capitalize on the PPC market. For advertisers BizzClick has some great tools to help you identify which keywords are the best value for your campaign and helping you save money. For publishers they offer several solutions to help you incorporate PPC ads on your site that work seamlessly with your current site. They offer a site feed that will allow to host content loaded sites that are ad friendly and then you just help drive traffic to the site. Capitalize on your traffic and team with BizzClick to create a new revenue stream.

The battle is on to claim the top prize in the Pimp My Cube Contest  . With only a few videos that have been uploaded you have a great chance to win. The contest is simple: You upload a of why your office space is the worst in the US and then have friends and co-workers vote on your video. Use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and get people to vote for your video for more chances to win. There will be a second place drawing that will be randomly chosen from the remaining videos. You have to hurry because the contest closes at 1/31/2012 at 12 PM.

You want to make your video funny and show off why your office space should win the grand prize. I have seen a few of the office spaces that have been submitted and they are pretty funny. It is amazing to see some of the working conditions that exist. I worked in a corporate environment for about 6  years and while our office cubicles were not that bad there were some improvements that could have made life a little better. So don’t let 2012 be another year that goes by where you are working in the same dreary office cubicle and take a chance to enter Pimp my Cube. Imagine the envy in the office if you win and you space may just become the new hangout.

The popular search engines like Yahoo, MSN and Google are looking for links that direct them to your website. So having your link on other websites is a good way to boost your search engine rankings and your PR rankings that Google provides. You really want the links that are relevant to your website and those are the best places to put your link at. There are lots of people with websites that will exchange links with you and you just need to search for those people and see what you need to do to exchange links with them. Be sure you learn more about how to archive back links and this will help you move up the ladder too!

The main thing is to stay active and try to do a little something each day to promote your website. There are no short cuts so do not be fooled by ads saying that they can get you top ranking positions in days. They may actually do it but it will be a short term solution and you need action for the long term. Find success and then build on that. A specialized firm in online promotions will help you understand all the channels available and how to maximize your investment.

We have learned that Express Scripts will no longer be a partner with Walgreens so that their customers are not able to get their prescriptions filled. Just as an FYI for those that are not aware of how this works large PBM’s (Prescription Benefit Managers) contract with major pharmacies to fill prescriptions for their customers in exchange for a small fee. In many cases the PBM may want their customer to fill through their mail order program which may or may not save money for the company. This has led to a conflict between Walgreens and Express Scripts. Unfortunately the consumer is caught in the middle and some are very upset. This would mean that those customers impacted would have to change pharmacies or go through the Express Scripts mail away program. Even those who use Tricare, which is the military health benefit plan,would be impacted. This is because Express Scripts has the contract with the government to manage their pharmacy benefits.

Walgreens has been trying to negotiate a possible deal and in the meantime they are offering a special discount on their Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens now through the end of the month. Walgreens is a large provider for many consumers and they are conveniently located across the US. This conflict has the potential to disrupt the relationship between the patient and their pharmacists. If you are impacted and would like to have your voice heard you can contact your local media outlet or follow Walgreens on Twitter or Walgreens on Facebook to stay up to date on the developments.

We’ve all been there – you’re off out at the weekend but you’re stuck for something to wear… you look at your wardrobe and decide there’s nothing for it but to go shopping (again). But what if you decide not to buy a new outfit?

What if – shock, horror, you dig out some of the things from your wardrobe you haven’t looked at for a while, maybe because you’re bored with them, or because they’re not smart enough or interesting enough for a night out… and then change them completely into an outfit you can’t wait to wear? It can’t be done, you think? Well, it might be the same jeans or same dress that you’ve owned for years, but it won’t be the same outfit – and therein lies the key.

It’s all about the accessories, you see. Different shrug or wrap, different shoes, different tights, jewellery and different handbag – and you’re set. Unlike clothes, accessories are often inexpensive, and can be stockpiled for the express purpose of changing an outfit from boring to brilliant in the blink of an eye. Even if you’re not a fan of trawling the high street, the internet is a great place to track down interesting and unusual accessories to complete any outfit. You can buy fascinators, shrugs, belts, jewellery and ladies handbags online – to be delivered straight to your door, and unlike with party dresses, you don’t even need an excuse to get out there and shop, shop, shop for accessories.

Of course, if you’re keen to be on-trend, the fashion accessory you need to know about this winter is the tiny box clutch – you’ll have seen them on the red carpets everywhere, in the delicate mitts of the famous and well-accessorised. A great way to set off your party outfit, they come in a range of shapes and colours, making them a real statement piece – as well as being a useful place to stash your phone and your lippy. If you click on www.cafelamoda.co.uk, you can find some inspirational ideas there.

Lastly, don’t forget that shoes can be the finishing touch that really makes or breaks an outfit. A pair of show-stopping killer-heeled party shoes – whether they’re designer label or just something outrageously gorgeous from the high street – can dress up a pair of jeans and a sparkly top into a real look-at-me outfit, or launch a so-so dress from dull to delightful. Combine the shoes with a matching clutch bag, and of course just the right amount of lip-gloss… and you’ll look and feel a million dollars.

This year has been a great year for accessories, from hats and headpieces to hard jewelled clutch bags and oversized rings – so dig through that treasure trove and finish off your outfit with just the right extras to really make it pop!

This morning, while I was researching home alarm systems on TOTALalarmsystemS.com, my sister in law called. She was really excited and said that she had some really great news. I only talk to her ever so often, but we do get along really well. She asked me if I was sitting down, when I told her yes, she gave me the news. She and her husband were expecting another child. It will be the second grandchild in our family. She has a six year old daughter already who is a wonderful niece. I have so much fun with her, she likes makeup, clothes, and everything girly. Now, she is going to be a big sister. My sister in law said that she had been keeping it a secret for the last three months. She wanted to make sure that everything was ok before she started telling everyone. They even found out the sex of the baby already too. They are going to have a little boy! I’m sure that my father in law is going to love having a grandson and my husband is definitely going to love having a nephew!

We were just alerted that Qualcomm stadium the home of the surging San Diego Chargers will get a temporary name change to Snapdragon Stadium from Dec 18-29. I don’t believe this is something being done to help the playoff chances of the Chargers, but a great marketing move since  Snapdragon processors by Qualcomm are the digital brains inside mobile devices made and are found in many of the new tablets as well. The main events that will taking place over the course of this eleven day name change are:

The Sunday Night Football game between the San Diego Chargers and the Baltimore Ravens. A huge game with playoff implications for both teams.

Two college bowl games: The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (Dec. 21) and the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl (Dec. 28).

I think this is a brilliant move based on the timing and the link between Qualcomm and Snapdragon. With the speed and agility that these processors possess they are the market leaders behind the brains of most of the smartphones like those made by HTC, Samsung, and Nokia. With smartphones being asked to do so many functions a processor was needed to run simultaneous applications and also not drain the battery. That is why Snapdragon processors are the chip of choice in the mobile world because of their proven success and reliability.

All companies that have employees are at risk of a disgruntled ex-worker getting on a site and bashing the company. It is even worse if a customer writes a negative article about your company and you only find out after sales start slipping. MatrixMT can also help to rebuild your company reputation in the event of bad press. They have the ability to help market and grow your brand pro- actively through extensive SEO, and Brand Equity management.

MatrixMT has the resources to to deploy on the companies behalf an extensive pro-active campaign to minimize the situation. Through aggressive search engine optimization campaign to take back the top 10 on the major search engines, or compile a list of offensive blogs/sites/ezines to be delivered back to your legal team for appropriate action.an exhaustive compilation of offending blogs/sites/references to be delivered to legal council.

If you work in an office then you have probably had conversations with your co-workers on what could be better. As companies look to improve margins the workspace has moved to the bottom of the list. You can watch episodes of the Office and some of the content does hit home if you have ever worked in an open work space environment. This is evident by companies encouraging employees to work from home, and even sharing work spaces. This has created an environment that  de-motivates the employee to take care of their work space or work area.

While it may not be practical to give everyone their office to help increase employee engagement or motivation then having some decent perks for those that are in the cubicles can produce huge returns. For those that want to take matter into your own hands then enter the Pimp My Cube Contest  that starts now and runs through January 31,2012. The grand prize is one of three prize packages with a value estimated at approx. $1200. You can get an upgrade to high end PC, better office furniture, or new entertainment package which includes an espresso maker. How cool would that be? So start by uploading your video and the funnier the better. The should be show your current work space and what you would like to change. Once you upload your video then you want to alert your co-workers and friends and have them vote on your video because this will increase your chances to win. There is a second place prize of a $200 gift card chosen randomly by the contest judges. It is early in the contest and there very few videos so you have less competition. Good Luck!

We looked at the Samsing Mobile D900, one because of the features and two because it was free. It offers a 3 MP camera, MP3 Player, and is quad band enabled, meaning it will work across a multitude of networks.

They also have to offer the Samsung YPZ5Q Silver which is not currently avaiable in stores. It looks like a MP3 Player  that has phone capabilities. Here are some of the features:

Once you get them to your site, make it a worthwhile experience, and keep the shopping experience easy and quick.

Here is a scenario that parents are very familiar with: We are traveling with our kids and a few of their friends to a soccer game and the car is relatively quite with a few giggles every once in a while. I look back in the mirror to see them all on their phones texting. My wife asks who they are talking to and they giggle again and say each other. I can’t understand why they feel the need to communicate via text when they can simply talk to each other when they are sitting next to each other. I guess this way the parents are not aware of what or who they are talking about.

The explosion of cell phones and their adoption at the teenage level has grown exponentially over the past few years and most of the use is mainly texting. This is why phones like the LG DoublePlay™ are so popular. Available exclusively from T-Mobile these phones offer a dual screen for surfing and texting at the same time. With it’s multiple texting modes from Cloud Texting to Group Texting this phone is a teenagers dream. With it’s split Qwerty keyboard it makes connecting through your social network sites and texting your friends easy for anyone. I know that I send about 1000 texts a month and only a few hours a month using my phone to check in on popular sites like Twitter and Facebook. My daughter and her friends far exceed that limit.

For our readers:

How many texts do you send in a month?

How would the LG Double Play help you in staying connected with your friends?

Leave us comments and share your thoughts and how about the funniest (clean) text you have received.