The road of life you’ve been traveling on seems never to end and shortcuts appear to be the easiest way to your final destination.  If you take that shortcut, you might get there sooner, but at what cost?  You might have skipped over an essential part of the trail.  Sure, you might have reached the destination earlier, but you missed important details you needed when you arrived.  On the suggested path you might have met someone along that way who would be your guide and give you important advice about the pitfalls to avoid.  The experience you might receive from...

The time to think about teaching your kids urban survival skills is before they’re out on their own. Basic cooking skills Your kids should know their way around a kitchen.  They don’t need to be chefs, but they should know some basic skills. These include being able to: Properly wash their hands before cooking Properly handle kitchen utensils, such as knives Prevent cross contamination of food Properly clean cooking surfaces before/after cooking Follow cooking directions Measure ingredients Boil water Grill a sandwich Mix batter Cook pancakes or waffles Cook pasta Cook an...

People communicate in so many different ways today. There’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, text messaging, email, phone, forums, comments, face to face, fax and written letter. But sometimes we get so caught up in sending out the message that we forget who we’re sending it to. If we’re not careful the message might not be received or it might be misinterpreted. We need to stop and consider our intended audience. How do they communicate with others in their network? Have they communicated with you in the past? What was their preferred method? If you only...

WiFi service is now free at McDonald’s.  I visited my local McDonald’s just to see how easy it was to use.  I was pretty impressed.  Here is what I found. Regarding Connection: No Login Required Required Acceptance of terms of service & acceptable use. NOTE: This was much easier than the double login required at Starbucks Website Access: Visited all the sites I normally use without issues Visited mrwes.net, Yeah McDonald’s, no gateway or firewall issues. NOTE: Starbucks, had some weird issues with my website.  I’m already “Lovin’...

Something is in the air.  All of the sudden everybody is out shopping.  What is this phenomenon?  It’s not even Christmas yet. It’s not even the day after Thanksgiving day (Black Friday) yet. Black Friday is typically one of the biggest shopping days of the year. So, why is everybody out shopping the week before? Count the cost It seems like many stores are competing early for shoppers’ dollars earlier this holiday. The sales have already begun. Why wait for a sale and fight the crowds when you can get it a few days earlier without all the hassles? Most of the...