Bug Out! Preppers On The Move!: Bug Out To Live and Eat After EMP by Ron Foster

Another wonderful book by Ron Foster! What I enjoy about his books is that he shows you, through an interesting story line and engaging characters, how to survive and thrive if "the grid" was no longer. 

Think about how many things you take for granted each day, from cell phones, computers, and TV to refrigerators and ATM machines. What would you do if there was no electricity? If society started crumbling around you? What would you eat and how would you protect yourself? Where would you go? 

These questions and many more are answered in BUG OUT! Preppers on the move!: Bug out to live and eat after EMP. In this installment of the Preppers trilogy we get to see life on the move after technology is wiped out due to solar storms. It's a great way to learn solid survival techniques that just may come in handy some day. I'm prepared...are you?

Preppers Road March by Ron Foster Review

I love stories like this since I'm a prepper too. Or, as I call myself, "a laid-back survivalist." I grew up loving stories like Julie of the Wolves, Hatchet, Robinson Crusoe, and Swiss Family Robinson. What I enjoyed about Preppers Road March (Prepper Trilogy. is that it's got a good story with funny characters and solid prepping information and diagrams in the book. We get to travel along with David and see how he survives during a societal breakdown and ultimately finds his way back home. I found myself holding my breath more than once hoping his survivalist skills would see him through. I can't wait to read the others in the series. Not only am I being entertained, but I'm learning things too! 

Free Vistaprint Business Cards Review

Image via CrunchBaseRecently I got an email from Vistaprint to get 250 business cards for free. I needed some new cards for my writing business so I figured I couldn't lose with this deal. Now, the cards aren't totally free. I had to pay about $5 for shipping and handling, which isn't bad. They have hundreds of templates to choose from and they cover a wide variety of business types; everything from landscaping and dentistry to massage therapy and childcare. 

Their system is easy to use. Just choose the template you like and on the following screen you type in your information. It will show up on the template so you can see exactly what it will look like. After you have your card the way you like it you give it the okay and then go through several screens of special offers. I opted out of them all--I just wanted my free business cards. 

About two weeks later they came in the mail. Here's what I did and didn't like about the Vistaprint free business cards:

Although the font looked really good on my computer screen, it was far too small when I got to see the cards in person. From now on I'll go to their screen that allows you to manipulate the text and fonts and make the writing bigger.

The free cards only came in matte finish and I didn't like how "washed out" they looked. It made them look very cheap too, like something I could print from my computer at home. If I opted for the glossy finish it would have been $10 more.

Every card has a white line down one side. I'm assuming it's from where the machine cut the cards. 

"Vistaprint" is printed on the back. If I wanted a blank back it would have been more money.

Aside from these factors, for free business cards they were decent. However, I would definitely pay for the glossy next time. I probably won't use these cards since I need something more professional looking, but many people may find them suitable. 

I often see specials where they offer the better business cards for $10 which include the glossy finish and a blank back. I'll wait until they're offering this again and get the nicer cards.

Dell Inspiron Netbook Review

Since I work from home all of my business is done on the computer. I prefer a netbook over a desktop PC or even a full sized laptop since I travel a lot and hate lugging around a bulky laptop. For a few years I had an HP Mini 1030 but it only had 15GB of memory. I found myself juggling files constantly and buying memory cards and flash drives to store the extra information. About two months ago I decided to buy a refurbished Dell Inspiron Mini 1012. It definitely has it's good points and a bad point. 

What I like about the Dell Inspiron Netbook:

~It's a lot sturdier than the HP Mini I had. The keys are thicker and very tight and don't seem like they're going to fall off at any minute. (That's one problem I had with my HP) It's a bit heavier than the HP but that's okay. It seems like it's much better made than the other mini computer I had.

~It has 250GB of memory. Yay! No more juggling files around.

~The battery life is phenomenal. I've used it several times for over 6 hours and the battery still had 2 hours left on it.

~The screen is very clear and sharp. With the HP it seemed a bit "dull."
 

~It plays most games pretty well. I tend to purchase games from Big Fish Games or Popcap Games and none of these are too intense. Nothing like World of Warcraft or Call of Duty.
 

~The sound quality is average for a mini computer. When you plug in headphones though it's really good. On the HP it sounded awful no matter what.
 

~It comes with Windows 7 Starter edition which is fine for my needs. I noticed that the Wordpad program is even updated to where it works almost like a regular word processing program. On the HP is was very primitive. 
 

~When I loaded my music onto the Dell it shows all the album covers. That's a nice little addition and something I didn't have with the HP.

~When I open and close the lid it feels good and tight. With the HP mini I had to constantly tighten the hinge screws since they'd come loose in less than a week.

My only complaint: 

~It doesn't connect to the internet via wifi very well. Actually, it's quite frustrating. The HP mini stayed connected fine and was pretty fast. With the Dell Inspiron Mini I'll get "not responding" many times during the day. I'm talking about several times each hour. This is something that really drives me insane though I enjoy all the other features so much that I try to be forgiving. If you have any suggestions on how I can speed it up or get it to connect better please let me know.  It's so bad I thought I might have a virus or Trojan but I ran a few good adware/spyware/anti-virus programs and it came out clean.

Should you buy the Dell Inspiron mini 1012?

If you want to browse the internet quickly or play games with a lot of action then this probably isn't the computer for you. Plants vs. Zombies does well, but games with higher level graphics are very slow or don't run at all. However, if you play smaller games like I do, are a student or writer or blogger, of don't need a computer that's very fast or does too many fancy things, then this is definitely a fabulous small computer to get. Best of all, I bought both the HP and the Dell refurbished from a seller on Amazon.com and I paid the same for them, less than $250 including S&H. In my opinion, I got a much, much better deal with the Dell mini!