Friday, December 10, 2010

Saving Money with MagicJack !

Ok I was a skeptic for a long time. Why should I buy a Magicjack? I mean how good could it be for $20.00. Well to my surprise it is well worth the $20 a year. Unlimited calls to anywhere in the US Canada for $20.00. We actually dropped a cell phone service and are giving the Magicjack a try for use at home. This will save me $70 a month or $840 for the year for giving up one cell phone. My wife is at home most of the time so why pay for an expensive cell phone. We get a local area phone number that is ours to keep and no monthly bills. Easy to set up, it probably took about 2 minutes total to get going. Just plug in the phone to the Magicjack, then the Magicjack into an open USB port on your PC. It begins to auto load the software and does an update over the internet. You follow a few prompts to set up your local area number and your address for 911 purposes. Within just a couple minutes you are making and receiving great quality phone calls for really cheap. This can also be used on any PC so you can move from one PC or laptop to another. Take it on trips with you and plug into your laptop while in a hotel room and you don't have to pay for using the phone in the room. As long as you have internet access you have phone service. The better the connection the better the voice quality of course. At home I have hooked up the Magicjack to a cordless phone and you wouldn't know the difference from MagicJack to landline phone. So far I am very pleased with quality of calls and thrilled about the money I will be saving.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Long time coming update: Got my bow

Finally got a bow. I am ready for hunting season. September 15th is just around the corner. Planning on going with my brother. This will be my first real hunt. I actually got a brand new Quest: Hammer compound bow. Very nice bow even though they aren't a well known bow maker yet, I am sure they will be. It was actually a gift from my father in law so the cost was just right for me. I've been doing a lot of target shooting. Only problem I have had is my peep sight which popped out. Easy fix though going to take it and have it put back in and then have them serve it to the string so it doesn't happen again. That wouldn't be good out in the woods. More updates soon. Just been really busy lately.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Saving more Money with Straighttalk.com

Well last post I was telling you about saving money with the MajicJack. Today I want to tell you about Straighttalk.com. Straight Talk is actually part of Tracfone. The best thing about there service besides the price is the fact that you do not have a long term agreement for service. No contracts no obligations. There are only 2 plans to pick from. The first plan is $30.00 a month for 1000 min talk time 1000 text messages and 30mb of data for internet. The second plan is $45.00 a month for Unlimited Talk, Unlimited texting, and Unlimited Data. Both plans include free 411 calls. I believe there is a short 15 second ad you probably have to listen to before getting the number but no big deal. You do have to buy one of their phones for this service so there is a cost up front to get started. They have phones from as little as $39.00 though so everyone can find one they can afford. I went with the Samsung R451C which has a nice little full qwerty keyboard with large buttons that make it really easy to text and browse the web. Don't expect a whole lot of great graphics with the web interface though. Its browser is very basic and does the minimum it needs to do. I could have gotten 2 phones and 2 $30.00 a month plans for a combined 2000 min Talk, Text and 60mb data and would have payed only $60 a month for 600 more min talk than I get with Verizon for our 2 phone plan without internet that runs me $135 a month. But since we decided to go with the MajicJack at home and only have 1 cell phone now I will be cutting my phone bill by a great deal.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Planning on buying a bow for bow hunting!

I have been reading about and looking at different compound bows from different companies over the last several days. I would say that Hoyt, Mathews, Bear and PSE bows are at the top of my list. I don't want to spend a crazy amount of money just in case it winds up being a passing fancy for me but I also want to get something I can enjoy just practicing with on range as well as use to do some hunting. I have always been intrigued with hunting but never really hunted with a gun. To me shooting a dear from 300 yrds away while sipping on a coke just doesn't seem to sporty. I am a big fella so if I can sneak up on a dear and kill with a bow from 40 yrds or less then I think there would be a great deal of sport in that. So I'm on the look out for a good bow and something affordable. If you see something I might be interested in let me know.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Started playing a new game. I loved the movie so much thought I'd give the game a try. Well its absolutely stunning. The game is fantastic looking. Great interaction with animals and plant life. Here is a screen shot of the in game. I will post more on it as I get to play more.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Google Adwords for small business!

A little about my situation. I have never received any formal education for website design or Search Engine Optimization but I have learned a great deal from research and articles on the internet over the last 6yrs or so. In 2004 I started a car club online. Within just a couple years I had 4 car clubs running online. Their sites were generating a nice bit of revenue from vendor advertising through the sites as well as Google Ads. This was my first experience with Google and their advertising system. I was hooked after the first couple months of using the ads on my site as a means to make money to help pay the costs of the server and security for the sites every month. I sold the sites several years ago now and have not started any new sites. I found myself out of work about 5 months ago and ran into an old friend who hired me to work for the company he owns as a dispatcher. After starting to work I got interested in his website and his websites lack of traffic. I talked to my friend and told him a little about my former success with Google's Ads and asked him if he would be interested in trying the Google Adwords system as a means to get our ads on relevant search pages for the business we are in. In the first week I was still learning the system and how to set the max bid for keywords we wanted to target, as well as creating well thought out text ads to be displayed on Google's search pages. We did receive several clicks the first week but no generated business. In the second week so far though we have received 5 new customers thanks to the new Google Ads and the week is only half over. I believe with more tweaking and some changes to his companies website we could possibly get to where we are generating more than 15 to 20 new customers a week. Since it is a service we provide and not an actual product we sell I believe this is great. I have definitely been pleased with the results so far and look forward to the results of the next month or two as we get into warmer months. Since the service we provide spikes during warmer months I believe we will see a great response soon. If you have a small business and want to see a quick results to a targeted set of words Google Adwords is the way to go. Give it a try for a month and see what you think.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Possible End of an Era


Well I'm almost broken hearted tonight. Saints beat my boy Favre and the Vikings. No I am not a big Vikings fan. I am a Favre / Pakers fan who just couldn't stop pulling for Favre when he went to Jets or to the Vikings. The game was tight scoring but stupid mistakes is what wound up costing the Vikings the game. Several fumbles and an interception sealed it at the end. My hats off to the Saints for getting the win. I have a feeling this was the last game for Favre. I would almost bet he will call it quits now. He took a lot of hits this season and especially in the Play Offs. I just don't think his body could take another year. If so I will be pulling for him but I honestly don't want to see the guy hurt. He has given me years of enjoyment and hope he can enjoy a long life after the NFL. So if tonight was Brett Favre's last game then I congratulate him on a long and successful career in which he has thrilled millions. I don't think there has or ever will be as fun a quarterback as Brett Favre. He has enjoyed the game as much if not more than I have enjoyed watching him play.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Movie Review: Avatar 3D


Let me first tell you Avatar is the first 3D movie I have seen since the early 80's when I was a kid. If any of you remember those goofy cardboard glasses with one side red and one side blue. I will say this, 3D movies have come a long long long way. I could not believe the 3D movie experience. I am sure this would make practically any movie a ton better but when you have a great movie like Avatar and toss in the 3D version you have an epic movie. Great story line, great acting, the best special effects and CG I have seen in a movie yet. The action was almost non stop in this movie which helps to keep your attention because its not a short movie. It is right at 3 hours play time. I suggest not drinking too much soft drink at the beginning of this movie so you don't have to duck out in the middle of a great scene. This is a definite for any Sci-Fi or action movie lover. Please don't see this movie in a regular theater though. You really should pay the extra $3.00 for the 3D glasses and see in 3D only. No these are not the old cheapo glasses these are a nice hard plastic pair that will make you not as embarrassed to wear. This is a movie I plan on going back to the theater to watch again, as well as purchase the DVD to add to my collection. So go out and see this great movie and tell your friends about it. Hopefully if it does great enough at the Box Office we can get more great movies like it in the future.

Pest Control for South Carolina

I recently ran into an old friend at my nephew's Christmas program for school. While we were talking, the subject of employment came up. I was currently unemployed and had been for almost 3 months. I was working a high stress fast paced job that was starting to really get to me, mentally and physically. I left this job voluntarily which I will admit was not the best idea I have ever had. My old friend told me he was looking for a dispatcher for his Pest Control Company. Well I have been in dispatch and Operations for the trucking industry for almost 16 years so this was very similar to my old line of work but in a whole new industry. I am now happily employed at Walker Pest Management based in Travelers Rest SC. We have several technicians dedicated to there local routes. We service Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Taylors, Greer, Duncan, Pickens, Easley, Simpsonville, Piedmont, Mauldin and surrounding upstate SC. The technicians are all trained and certified and all take courses every year to keep learning about this field. What I have learned is there is a lot of information you need to know to do this job correctly. So if you ever need a Quality Local Pest Control Service just visit Walker Pest Managemetn online and give us a call. We will treat your home or business like they were our own. And when you call you will probably get me on the other end of the phone.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Whats Happening In Mack's World

If you haven't figured it out my name is Mack. No its not my real name but its the name that anyone who knows me online knows me by. My real name is Josh McCall. I live in Greer, SC. I am married to a wonderful woman who has put up with me now for almost 16 years. This is my first blog site and this is just a short introductory into my life and who I am. I am what is commonly referred to as an Online Gamer. I have been playing games online now for 17 years. My wife may call it an addiction. I call it fun and safe. There are a lot of other things I could be into after all. If you think about it, its actually a pretty cheap hobby as well. Much cheaper than say yachting or even golf when you add up the cost of clubs and greens fees. I work for a company called Walker Pest Management where I am a Dispatcher / IT guy. If you live in upstate South Carolina give them a call they have great service and great employees (wink!). Well that's enough about me for now. I will give you more later.