I first heard Etta James sing her classic “At Last” when I was in high school I believe. I always preferred movie soundtracks because you got a variety of songs across genres and it was a way for me to explore my musical tastes before streaming radio like Pandora or Spotify.

Most recently the immortal classic “At Last” was reinterpreted by Josh Kracjik on The X-Factor. His intepretation can be seen below:

Just tonight I heard another tribute to Etta James and her music with a duet between Scott Hoying and Kevin Olusola playing cello and doing his beatbox thing.

Etta James passed away a little over a week ago. She finally succumbed to a battle with leukemia, Alzheimer’s and MRSA just 47 days before her 74th birthday. She will not be forgotten and with musicians like the ones shown above, neither will her music.

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LOOKOUT! It’s an App-alanche!

With multiple Kindles in our family and multiple Android devices, I’ve come across a little bit of an issue opportunity for Amazon to really improve something. Amazon needs to improve app management across users and multiple devices.

I’ve got an Android phone with the Amazon App Store application installed. I also have a Kindle Fire that’s obviously attached to the Amazon App store. I also have a standard Kindle that I got my daughter for Christmas, but resides under my account.

Here’s the problem. When my daughter downloads a book on her Kindle, it automatically gets prompted to be downloaded and available on mine. On the one hand, this can be a great feature. However, the vast majority of books my daughter is grabbing for her Kindle are not ones I want to have to flick through on my Kindle Fire to get to the books I want to read.

The other challenge is that when my daughter (or someone else in the family) decides they want to use my Kindle Fire and download an app, then that app gets pushed for download into my phone as well. Again, seemingly a good feature, but I need a better way to turn it off and tell it to stop trying to be helpful.

Here’s my solution:

• Provide a setting that will turn off the Whispernet syncing of apps and books across devices. This would allow it to be left on if desired for those users that want it or turned off for users like me who’d rather not.
• At the point of purchase of an app or book, be able to specify which devices should receive copies at that moment in time. Perhaps I would buy a book or app that I would like to be available on all my devices.
• Provide the ability to have sub-accounts under my main Amazon account that could then be assigned as primary users for any device that connects to the Amazon Marketplace. This would provide two levels of features:
1. Ability to assign a user to a specific device as needed
2. Ability to control what content is made available to a user on their device. For instance, my daughter is 9yrs old. It would be really good if I could block any kind of mature or undesired content from being both viewed and downloaded to her device at all.

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With the chilly weather descending upon Indianapolis this week, I’m really starting to miss this place more and more.

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There’s a company that’s been around so long that anyone reading this hasn’t known of a world without their products. That company is Johnson & Johnson and their name has become almost synonymous with keeping us clean, healthy and feeling good.

I recently received a “Healthy Essentials” shipment from Johnson & Johnson of products to both bring back memories of my childhood as well as some new items to begin using as I extend my stay on this earth a little longer. Look for savings coupons and offers in your Sunday paper, or you can visit the Healthy Essentials website yourself to register for free savings offers of up to $190 on the following products.

I’m not sure about your household, but ours is almost always looking for ways to save money on purchases. When I can find coupons for items we need I use them. When those coupons and savings are for the items I’m already using like these, it’s even better.

AVEENO® Positively Radiant™ Daily Moisturizer with SPF 15: With natural light diffusers, mica and silica, this oil-free formula works to naturally even skin tone and texture while reflecting light to visibly smooth imperfections. ($16.59/4 fl. oz, available at food, drug and mass merchandisers nationwide)

BAND-AID® Brand by Cynthia Rowley Adhesive Bandages: A glamorous way to cover up and protect cuts and scrapes for better, more fashionable healing! With 7 different designs to choose from, you won’t have to fear clashing with that perfect outfit. ($2.75/20 assorted bandages, available at Target stores nationwide)

Johnson’s® Baby Lotion: Healthy skin begins with proper moisture balance, even for babies. JOHNSON’S® Baby Lotion can help prevent moisture loss from baby’s natural skin barrier. JOHNSON’S® Baby Lotion can be used to “baby” adult skin, too! ($2.99/15 oz., available at food, drug and mass merchandisers nationwide)

LISTERINE® ANTISEPTIC®: LISTERINE® is clinically proven to kill germs, help prevent and reduce plaque and gingivitis germs and fight bad breath. Now that’s a breath of fresh air! ($5.99/1 liter bottle, available at food, drug and mass merchandisers nationwide)

NEUTROGENA® HAND CREAM Norwegian Formula®: This glycerin rich formula heals seriously dry and chapped hands for effective relief that lasts up to 17 hours ($3.99/2 oz. tube, available at national food, drug and mass merchandisers)

SPLENDA® ESSENTIALS™: this new line of new products from the SPLENDA® Brand gives you more than just the benefit of reducing calories from sugar, they also provide added essential nutrients you need every day. Varieties are available with fiber, antioxidants or B Vitamins. ($4.29/80-count box, available at grocery stores, supermarkets and online at www.SPLENDA.com)

Right before receiving my shipment of products to try, my wife was just asking if I’d seen her bottle of Aveeno hand lotion. I was thinking she’d already used it all, so when I handed her a brand new bottle she was very thankful to have more and combat the dry skin from the winter months. I wasn’t familiar with the Neutrogena Hand Cream Norwegian Formula, but what I found out is that I really like it because it doesn’t leave my hands feeling slippery and it has a fairly scentless smell after you use it. And, we handed the the Baby Lotion to my daughter to use and have for her own in her room.

Just yesterday I was cleaning the kitchen and doing dishes when one of our stemware glasses broke in my hand and sliced my finger open. I’m glad I had some Band-Aids available, and the were the best you can buy, the fabric banded versions. Those things stay on and tight through showers and hand-washings throughout the day.

I’ve been using Splenda for a number of years now and it’s single-handedly reduced my calorie intake significantly just because of my coffee habit. I normally drink 4-6 cups of coffee a day and I would put 5 packs of sugar in each cup. Just in coffee alone, Splenda has helped me reduce my daily calories by about 1000 and the coffee still tastes great without a fake sweet taste like other sweeteners.

I should have gotten this post up a lot sooner because Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies has partnered with FEEDING AMERICA ™. For every coupon redeemed between January 8 – 15, they would donate one meal to FEEDING AMERICA. So, today’s the 15th, you’ve still got time, go grab some coupons and make a quick run to the store.

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies and received products to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

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I’ve had my Kindle Fire now for a couple of months and am still very happy with the device and all the things it can do for me. Shortly after getting the Kindle Fire, I was looking for a good case to use with it and Targus contacted me about trying out their Targus Truss Case and Stand. This is my review.

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I’ve been a fan of Targus products since I purchased my first power replacement cord for a laptop years ago. They’ve always done a great job of taking care of me as a customer, when things go well and if I’ve ever needed additional tech or customer support. I’ve always thought of them for power and other travel related products, but hadn’t had any experience with their cases for any devices, so I was excited to get my hands on their case for the Kindle Fire.

My first thought after receiving the case was that it was made from quality materials. It’s got a sturdy, leather exterior and a soft, terry-cloth like inside cover. The Kindle slides into the case, with some effort. It doesn’t feel like the Kindle Fire quite fits into the case as easily as it should, or the lip of the holder is too firm and tight to really have it slide into easily. Once the Fire is in the case, everything seems to fit okay, it may bulge slightly when completely closed as you can see in the photos.

I do like how the case folds to create a self-contained stand. I’m not sure how they’d do it, but it would be nice if it could also fold or serve as a stand while in the landscape position for watching videos and movies.

Everything on the case is straight-forward and well-constructed. I just think that for me it’s not the right case for what I’m looking for with the device. It’s kind of between the size I’d like. I either want a very slim case, almost a snap-on back cover that has a thin flap that covers the screen as needed.

If I didn’t go ultra-thin and small, then I think I’d like a case that was somewhat like a smaller portfolio notebook. Something where the Kindle could be on one side and then a small steno sized notebook could fit on the other with a pen holder.

For more details and other photos, you can visit the Targus website for the Targus Truss Case and Stand.

UPDATE: I just found out that Targus has released two new cases for the Kindle Fire. One is a portfolio and the other is a Case /Stand. Check them out on their website and you can also pick one up at your local BestBuy store.

• Kindle Fire Portfolio: http://www.targus.com/us/productdetail.aspx?regionId=7&sku=THZ168US
• Kindle Fire Case / Stand: http://www.targus.com/us/productdetail.aspx?regionId=7&sku=THZ166US

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I have a laptop computer setup on our main TV in our living room. The kids use this laptop to access their math curriculum for homeschool each day. I normally have been connecting to the laptop to grade their work and record their process by using Microsoft Terminal Services (a.k.a. Remote Desktop Connections) to access the computer from my own laptop while I’m sitting on the couch.

I’ve also got LogMeIn installed which works great for connecting to the machine if I’m not within my own network at home.

The problem is that here for the last few weeks I haven’t been able to connect using MSTSC because I keep getting an error message about another connection already being live.

I’ve read a few different webpages on how to force close these connections here and here, but neither one of them have actually resolved the issue. I still can’t connect remotely. I thought maybe it’s because LogMeIn was also active on the machine and trying to connect, so I terminated that service and still no luck.

Does anyone have any suggestions how I can force all connections to close and reset? A full restart and reboot also doesn’t fix it. Eager to hear a solution from somone.

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If you’re active on Twitter and in the Indianapolis area, then you’re probably familiar with the name Tod Esquivel. If you’re not familiar with him, you’ve probably been followed by one of his personas instead. Perhaps you’ve seen one of his Twitter account avatars shown below.

Every time I get a new notification that I’m being followed by one of his new accounts, I’m reminded again that I’m confused on his strategy. Does creating all these different personas really work? What do his clients/customers think? Are they pleased with what they get?

Apparently I’m not the only one that wonders about the effectiveness of this strategy either.

I’m guessing that the training service he provides is probably good, I just don’t understand the creating a new Twitter account for every variation of sport he can imagine. All the account icons shown above represent different actual accounts. The various Twitter egg icons are accounts he hasn’t added a custom avatar to their profile and the repetitions of the yellow-indy-boot-camps icons are 25 different variations of those accounts based on different locations around Indianapolis: noblesvillefit, avonfit, greenwoodfit, etc. His normal account name structure is “indyfit” + “sportname”. So, currently I think he’s missing “indyfitcurling” and “indyfithanggliding”.

Whether it works for his clients or not, I’ve never met him. For that reason whenever I get his friend requests or follow notifications I deny and block him. I’m not interested in any of his messages.

Tod, if you’re out there. I’d love to get your response. Is this working for you? I’d have to say it’s got to be since you keep doing it.

Are you a customer of Tod’s? I’d love to hear from you too. Do you actively follow his Twitter accounts for your specific niche? What do you think?

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A little before Christmas I received an email from Sam with a company called ooShirts. They are a custom t-shirt printing company out on the West Coast and offered me a couple of free shirts to see their product and let some people know about it on my blog. So, I responded and gave them a try.

I have a problem. Since I first cruised out the on-ramp to the Information Superhighway I’ve always had this Bnpositive persona. I’ve rarely used my actual photo for avatars and rarely put my real name on comments and other interactions online. I’ve enjoyed the persona, it’s unique and I still love it.

The problem is when I go to conferences, meetups or other events. Nobody knows who the heck I am! Unless I’m suffering from some serious jaundice and smiling really huge (which rarely happens even though I am “Bnpositive”), I don’t really look like my brand smiley face.

I had actually thought about getting a big bobble-head thing made like a mascot head but the price alone was a little out of my budget. A custom t-shirt could be just what I was needing! Alas, ooShirts delivered!

Check that sucker out! There’s my big, bold, yellow smiley face right on the front of the shirt. I’m wearing the shirt today and one of the other things I noticed about the placement of the logo that I hadn’t planned, that little smiley face  peeks out from my half-zipped jacket very nicely. Got a couple of looks this morning in the local Starbucks. I love the boldness of the yellow color I chose for my ooShirt, but I’m not sure if it highlights my brand logo as well as it might have if I’d gone with a different background color. Using their online design lab, I tried a couple of different versions using some of the other colors in my logo. I have a ton of black t-shirts already, so I went ahead with the bold yellow. I think it works.

Now, I can wear this shirt when I’m hanging out at the next social media tweetup and maybe one of these days I’ll make it back out to Blog World Expo and SXSW.

The quality of the t-shirt is very nice too. It’s not thin and light like some other cheap shirts, it’s nice and thick and really looks great when you’re wearing it. The process of uploading my image to the editor and changing the placement was very easy. One thing I would have liked to achieved, but because of the image and t-shirt printing process I’m sure it couldn’t have been done, would have been to really enlarge the graphic so the smiley face really covers the entire chest (you know, like the Superman emblem) and the starbust pattern wrapped around to the back and under the sleeves. But I’m very pleased with the finished product.

I got front and back printed, here’s the back! Had to try and capitalize on the social media love peer pressure.

What do you think? Do you like it? If so, you can be the proud owner of your own Bnpositive ooShirt! There are only two in existence and you can share the cool factor with me and get all the ooh’s and aah’s yourself.

If you’d like the shirt, and promise to wear it (and that doesn’t mean for doing things like changing the oil in your car, field dressing a deer or being the next guest star with Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs), I’d love to send it to you. Just leave a comment on why you’d like it and what you think.

If you don’t want my shirt and would like to make your own, personalized ooShirt, be sure and check those guys out at their website, on Facebook and on Twitter. They’ve got a ton of different shirt styles (even hoodies and shorts) and colors to choose from and it would be perfect for sports teams, clubs, family reunions or those people who get the matching shirts printing for their trip to the amusement park! Whatever your reason for needing a custom shirt, I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the results!

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When I left the house today there was something missing from my driveway. It’s been there for years now and I had come to rely on it being there for quite some time. Last night they came and took away my 1996 Toyota Camry.

If I remember correctly I purchased the car from a friend 4 years ago this past November. I paid $1800 for it and it had a ton of miles on it then. I remember having to make statements like, “It’s a Toyota Camry. That’s still a baby.” I aged it well, I believe it was sitting at over 276,000 miles on it when I pulled it into my driveway for the last time.

It had been showing it’s age. Leaking oil out of various places like a sieve. It got the point where I was putting a few quarts of oil in it every week just to keep the oil light from blinking it’s bright, red face at me on a regular basis. On two occasions I waited a little too long to pacify that red light and my beige beauty made me regret that decision. The engine started to seize on me on the highway one day. I was able to get it onto the shoulder and let her sit and cool down and then was able to coax her to the office and fill her oil pan. The last time she did it, I just don’t think the engine could hold oil long enough to last at all. I was close to home and literally coasted her into the driveway.

I could still get her started, her engine would turn over and purr, but as soon as you pressed the gas it sounded like you dropped a silverware drawer into the engine block. It wasn’t pretty.

I’m a guy. Would I like to drive a nice, cool sports car? Of course! Is it worth it to me? Not really.

There’s a freedom in driving a car and not a status symbol. Once in a school parking lot, I had a lady not pay attention as she was pulling into a parking space and slid the bumper of her nice SUV down the passenger side of my car. She got out completely panicked about how her husband was going to yell at her. I told her, just worry about your husband, don’t worry about me or my car. It was fine.

There was the time I was cleaning out my garage and the wind caught our portable basketball goal and slammed it across the hood of the car. I didn’t care. It’s just a nice dent and some scratches.

Prior to it leaving my possession, Kelley Blue Book wouldn’t have even slapped a “FAIR” condition sticker on it. It didn’t matter to me. It got me from Point A to Point B and up until the very end I was averaging 27-30 MPG. One of the things I loved about the car in the winter? The heater would heat up almost instantly. It was so warm on a cold morning. The A/C wouldn’t hold refrigerant for very long at all, but I always preferred the windows down and fresh-air anyway. Oddly enough, my biggest concern was that if it were in a wreck and totaled the “value” I’d been given for the car would have been far less than the actual value the car was to me. PAID FOR. COMFORTABLE. LOW-STRESS transportation.

I’ll miss you my Camry. I’m sure within hours you’ll be stripped of all your valuable metals and parts and be crushed in a junk yard. Farewell old friend. You aged well. Thank you for taking me where I needed to go. Here’s to finding an acceptable and affordable replacement to you very soon.

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It was 2191 days ago today that things continued to develop along a course that would change my career. Originally they didn’t impact too much of my “full-time” gig, but the desires and hopes for what I started all those years ago has definitely impacted where I’m at today and what I’m doing with my life.

You see, it was half a decade ago today that I wrote my first post on one of the original blogs I wrote for on the b5media network. It was a post titled “Meeting of the Email Gurus” on the Microsoft Weblog. The site itself doesn’t exist anymore, but the post can still be found on one of the descendants of the b5media blog chain at EveryJoe.com

Since that time, I wrote on a number of different b5 blogs covering a wide variety of topics. Those blogging experiences lead to other writing jobs online which led to other contacts and opportunities. More interest in online marketing, getting my feet wet in social media and continuing to establish great friendships with people over all those years that I still call friends yet haven’t met most of them in person.

Although b5 changed their course and terminated mine (along with everyone else’s) writing contracts, I still proudly wear my tattered b5media baseball cap and Second Skin jacket almost daily.

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