We recently went to a fundraiser at my son’s school and the grand prize drawing for the evening was a trip for four to Florida and WDW hopper tickets. I never in a million years would have dreamed that we would win, but that is exactly what happened.

We have started planning our trip and I was trying to find some Disney ticket information, as we have three children and would need to be buying both another plane ticket and another ticket to the amusement park.

Luckily for me, though, there was a brochure with the prize that had a number I could call for more info. I was told that it would be no problem to add one more child to the trip and it is only going to end up costing us an extra six hundred dollars.

We can’t wait to go and I am so excited because I never win anything.

I have a lot of friends that take special trips down to Las Vegas just to go shopping.  These are usually weekly events characterized with a lot of shopping and watching the many shows available in the evening.  Typically my friends spent a lot of money there and they always come back wishing they could have spent more.

Stacy had always thought that there would be some way that they could spend more money shopping and pay less for the Las Vegas hotels that they stayed at.  So she made it her goal of finding any Las Vegas promotion that they could take advantage of and save money on their accommodations.

After a bit of searching online, she was able to find some Mirage promotion codes that they could use to save money on on each night that they stayed in Las Vegas.  Not only did that mean that they could have more money to shop but they also had the opportunity to stay a couple extra nights each time they visited the city.

And that is exactly what they do.

When my iPod wore out, I was more than a little bit upset. I went to try and replace it and the store I went to was out of stock. They suggested that I buy a Zune with a Zune dock cable if I did not want to wait. I decided that I could not live without it, so I would give it a shot.

I was very impressed. It was as good, if not better than my iPod and my friends all wanted to get one as well. We went back to the store so they could get some and I bought a Zune travel charger, so that I would be able to charge it anywhere, as I did not spend a whole lot of time at home.

My friend, Cherie, bought a Zune car charger and I have used it several times as well. I don’t think, at this point, that I will ever go back to the iPod. I am more than happy with the Zune and I think it was a great decision to buy it.

Sometimes I feel very much like a big geek.  It isn’t the glasses that make me look the part but it is more due to the fact that I work at a software development company.  Though that may not seem to geeky, the truth of the matter comes to light when you ask me what I do.

I design voice encryption software for cell phones.

There I said it.  That usually stops most people from asking any more questions.

But some people continue to ask and I then find myself talking about how to code gsm security software and mention some of the gsm encryption algorithms we use to streamline our software.  Once in awhile, you end up having someone to talk to, but usually once you mention this, the room goes quiet.

So, I try to explain my job as simple as possible - I am a programmer.  I don’t want to have the label of geek assigned to me anymore.

My brother has always been a good salesperson. Even as a kid, he could convince anyone of anything he wanted to. As he grew older, he could have sold lawnmowers in the Sahara. That is just how he is, so it did not surprise me at all when he chose a career in sales.

His job right now is to mainly sell car insurance Ontario. He worked his way up the ladder very quickly and expanded to be the head of the province for the car insurance company that he works for. He is very well respected there and he earns a better living than he would have if he went to school and got a degree.

Whenever anyone I know needs an auto insurance quote, I send them to my brother. He is really good about giving me some of his commission if I get him a new customer, so in a way, his success is my success as well. He is happy with what he does, so tat makes me happy, too.

On my last trip to the optometrist, he suggested that I make an appointment to see a LASIK MD. He said that, as my eyes were not changing anymore that I would fare very well in with the surgery. I decided to look into it further, as I knew I would love the freedom of not having to wear glasses.

I got the LASIK surgery and it was great how free I felt. For many years, my glasses were the first thing that I put on in the morning and the last thing that I took off at night. I loved that I no longer had lenses to clean everyday and that I did not have to grab my glasses in the middle of the night to check the clock anymore.

I was worried about the LASIK eye care after the procedure, but I really had nothing to worry about. It all went very smoothly and I healed very well. It is something that I would recommend to anyone who is suitable, as it has made my life a lot easier.

As a website owner, I am always trying to get the best rankings in the search engines.  Everyone knows that being first is better than second, and I am happy to say that I hold a number of first place rankings for some of my sites.

Though I know that I know what I am doing, unless all of your friends are webmasters, chances are that you don’t have anyone to showoff your skills to.  So you sit in silence, being the only one that knows what you can really do.

But now, there is another option.  You could become a Busby SEO Challenger and show off your skills to those who would actually appreciate it.  Not to mention the fact that you have the opportunity to win prize money, it is the one contest that will let you be appreciated for who you are.

The contest closes on August 31 at noon, so there is plenty of time to get your website going and win.  So what are you waiting for?

Most of my days at work are rather slow.  I work at a home improvement store, and I spend my time selling toilets and showers in the plumbing department.  I have been doing this for a few years now, and it may not be the most exciting job on the planet, but it is the slow pace that makes the job worthwhile.

But, starting today, our company is selling shower cubicles and electric showers for a deep discount.  Okay, it is the first sale that we have had in my department since I started here, and I never realized that people would go so crazy for a sale.

Though it has been a great day for commissions, I have a feeling that my feet will really hurt when I get home.  Hopefully, this isn’t an indication of how the rest of the week is going to go - I don’t know if I can handle the pace for that long.