The Hanging Lamps Project

Most of my home projects are born out of necessity –- necessity for convenience, necessity for comfort. After we built the breakfast counter, I noticed that whenever I sat there, I seemed to crave for... more light. I needed to see what I was eating, and the recessed lighting on the ceiling was too far and too weak. I needed task lighting... pendant lights over the breakfast counter. Need... must... have...

To keep in tune with the house’s Japanese-y, Oriental-ese theme, do I want to use those Japanese paper lanterns from Ikea? Do I want to spend money when I can make my own lamps and post the how-to on eHow as an article and get paid for it? The answer was a no-brainer. So, I looked around the house for materials I could use...

Read about the whole project (with photos!) at my Multiply site:
"The Hanging Lamps Project"

Read my tutorial (with photos!) at eHow:
"How to Make a Japanese Hanging Lamp"

Book Review: Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is by Natalie Pace

Everyone wants to be rich; which is why countless books have been written, suggesting ways to build wealth, by as many experts on the matter. Natalie Pace’s “Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is: Investment Strategies for Lifetime Wealth” may be just one of them, but I appreciated her book because she shared her own experiences and spoke in simple terms to readers like me, amateur investors.

Pace’s approach gives a layman’s view of the forest as well as the trees. She laid out the basic principles of investing, the fundamental guidelines in designing and maintaining a sound investment portfolio, and the various wealth-handling challenges one has to deal with. She stresses that it’s not just about getting rich, but also about staying rich.

What makes “Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is” a compelling read is how Pace reveals her own successes through real-world examples. She shows how she handled her investments over the years and describes which companies she studied, recommended, and built her own wealth on. She shares her personal investment strategies openly and clearly; and she nutshells every major lesson with three important takeaway tips.

“Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is” is a good how-to book in investing that even a newbie can quickly understand and immediately apply. Regardless of whether the overall economic situation is in flux, Pace’s chapters like “The Magic of Stock Report Cards”, “Lessons from Enron”, and “The Top Eleven Investing Mistakes” remain universally pertinent. In fact, the book details how to invest wisely so that wealth becomes recession-proof.

Natalie Pace’s book details practical answers to crucial questions like “How do I choose a broker?”, “How do I buy low and sell high?”, and “How do I diversify my nest egg?” For me, though, the best takeaway of all is her set of tips that describes “The Foolproof Get Rich and Stay Rich Plan.” After reading this book, I feel that I’m psyched to learn more about enjoying a lifetime of wealth.

RightPet.com

A new site for pets has just launched:



It's a place to check out which pet is best for you and your family. Pets and vendors are user-rated so that an online collective wisdom is shared with everyone wanting to find the right pets for the right homes. Drop by and post your pet stories, photos, and videos... I'm sharing my pet fish experiences there.

Night Sounds

We live in Orlando, you know, the city where dreams come true. For several years, we stayed in an apartment located just two traffic lights away from Mickey Mouse's door. Every night we would hear a cacophony of fireworks explosions from Epcot, Magic Kingdom, or Downtown Disney. (Every now and then we would hear heavy walking and late night furniture rearranging from the neighbors upstairs.)

Fireworks are exceptionally loud during holidays like the eve of the 4th of July or New Year's. They usually last about 10 to 15 minutes, so they won't really keep you up. If they ever wake you up, especially the finale super-explosions, you quickly realize it's the Disney fireworks giving all those breathtaken visitors the awe of their lives, and you promptly fall back asleep.

Since we moved to our new place last year, we have a different set of nighttime sounds. We now live about two blocks from Seaworld, where they also have fireworks, although not everyday, and not as loud as Disney's. And because the Orlando International Airport is just 15 minutes away, the traffic of airplanes can sometimes be heard in the stillness of the night.

But tonight, we heard a totally unusual sound. For a second it sounded like someone dropped a piece of furniture upstairs. Only thing is, there's no "upstairs" -- unless someone dropped something on our roof. It didn't quite sound like thunder... the weather was clear all day.

"What the heck was that?"

So, we paused the show we were watching and we stepped outside, looking around for whatever may have caused that thunderous explosion.

A neighbor was taking a stroll. She saw me walk out to our driveway and look up at the clear blue sky.

"You heard the sound of the shuttle," she called out, smiling.

"That was the space shuttle?"

"Yes, the sonic boom of the space shuttle."

"Oh, wow! That's right! They're landing tonight! Thanks!" It was a huge "aha" moment for me!

So, there it was, our first sonic boom experience in all the years we lived in Orlando. Next time we hear a thunderous sound like someone dropped a piece of furniture "upstairs," we'll know to suspect it was another space shuttle announcing its arrival.

A news article said the Endeavor caused a "twin zonic boom" as it came in to land at the Kennedy Space Center. For more about the Space Shuttle Endeavor and its mission, and some tidbits about the International Space Station that's now 70% complete and gearing towards human expeditions to the moon:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

New Articles: Aquarium Design and Decor

How to Design an Aquarium

Designing an aquarium, also called aquascaping, is one of the most exciting and challenging aspects of the fishkeeping hobby. The aquarium is a mini replica (or simulation) of the fishes' natural homes, which means utmost care must be taken in designing, preparing and maintaining the tank's elements and ecosystem. Here are some guidelines in designing a successful fish tank.

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How to Be Creative With Aquarium Decor

Aquascaping or decorating an aquarium involves the bringing together of various elements primarily to simulate the natural habitats of the resident fishes. Setting up aquarium tank décor is a basic task--and after you've done a few setups and seen others, they start to all look the same. How can you make your aquarium stand out? Here are a few suggestions.