My husband and I have been going through all sorts of programs and treatments at a fertility clinic. We started with the fertility medications, and they didn’t work. We had to look long and hard at our choices for reproduction, and we finally decided that we would not give up on having our own children. My infertility has been a strain on our budget, but we finally decided that we would go for the in vitro fertilization that the clinic offers.

They harvested the eggs and sperm, and now we have a batch of embryos ready for the preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) testing, and are anxiously awaiting the results. They decided to go forward with this extra step because I’m considered a risk because I’m over 40. Unfortunately, the quality of eggs declines as a woman ages, so we have to be careful about the embryos that the will eventually implant in me. We would not want to bring a child into the world who had a host of biological or developmental problems. By doing this testing, the doctors can select the healthy embryos to implant, instead. They all may be fine, but we want to make sure that we bring a healthy baby into the world.

Technorati Tags: Fertility Clinic, fertility medications, infertility, Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)

I’m so excited.  I just finished refitting the basement as a bright, cheery (windowless) home office with one of those crazy huge monitors (I ended up going with Dell hardware over Apple because at the end of the day, I know Apple is amazing but I’ve had Dells all my life and I know how to work with them).  The website programming is done, not that I’m expecting to be bug-free from here on out, and our go live date is next week. 

At a last minute thought, I switched the basement to its own line of internet access (this will be easier to determine the necessary bandwidth and also for billing and tax purposes).  I was thinking about getting an internet via satellite setup, but not really knowing the ins and outs I wasn’t sure if it would work in a basement.  Also, I didn’t want my kids picking up the line on their laptops upstairs, so I also nixed the wireless internet service; so much for running my business from my couch.  Actually, that’s a lie, I bought a really long Ethernet cable to compensate, and a ridiculously plush chaise lounge.  Hey, a working girl needs a little TLC.

Technorati Tags: dell, internet access, internet via satellite, wireless internet service

Just when I thought I knew it all about emailing, along comes something I had never heard of. You see, I consider myself to be email savvy. I’m not one of those people who will forward you an email that has the entire previous recipients’ email address list. In fact, that is probably my biggest email pet peeve, but what can I do? I also understand the whole blind carbon copy thing (that’s the BCC option) which means if you are sending an email to a whole bunch of people it won’t show the list of all of their emails.

I also know that if you receive an unsolicited email, then that is why it shows up as spam. That is if it shows up at all. Of course that depends on how you have your spam blockers set up. What I didn’t know about was the whole concept of opt in email. This is a way in which a company can basically get your permission to send you emails which you agreed to get. That way it won’t show up as being spam. That’s because you wouldn’t even be on their email distribution list if you wouldn’t have said it was OK in the first place.

Technorati Tags: email address list, email distribution list, opt in email, spam

I’m doing a paper for my grade eleven economics class on premium financing insurance and I was wondering if anyone knows of any decent books out there on that topic. Or, if there are no decent books out there on just that one area, then a solid book on life insurance would also be a great help. I’ve looked at some book selling websites and my local library, but I’ve only been able to find a book or two and they seem pretty out dated. 

I’ve found some information on line about premium finance insurance, but I don’t want to base my whole project on information I found on the internet.  My teacher also wants us to use other sources, like books, TV news reports and newspapers.

I’m not necessarily looking for in depth information, just a couple of resource books that explain quite plainly what it is besides telling me it isn’t something you need to obtain cheap life insurance and that it is geared towards people who have a whole lot of money they need to protect.  I’m going to have a lot of trouble writing a five paged paper based on just that information, so any help would be appreciated.

Technorati Tags: cheap life insurance, premium finance, premium financing insurance

Everywhere you look, it seems like we’re surrounded with Mischa Barton pictures of her on the beach or Katy Perry bikini pictures. And don’t even get me started on AnnaLynn McCord.  It always makes me wonder:  do any of these people live in cold weather states, or do they all reside beachside?

Maybe they live in Alaska or Wyoming or something, and just vacation on the beach in some tropical isles.  All I know is that regardless of the time of year it is, someone has just snapped a photo of some starlet or model in a bikini.  How is that possible?  Doesn’t any of these women wear sweaters or jeans?  Ever?  Can’t women look hot in a nice ski outfit?  I’m sitting here reading these magazines that just came out last week, with snow coming down outside, and these women have tans.  It’s January!  Where do they find time to go to the beach in the winter? 

Then again, if I had money, I can’t say that going somewhere in three feet of snow would be my vacation of choice.  It just seems weird is all I’m saying.

Technorati Tags: AnnaLynn Mccord, bikini, Katy Perry Bikini, Mischa Barton pictures