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I think Barry Bonds might need some milk or maybe some muscle milk to help get him over the hump. He just faced the Atlanta Braves in a 4 game series at home and one of those games was on his birthday. It seems like the right time to hit a couple of homeruns and would have tied the former Brave Hank Aaron for his record. Barry played in 3 of the 4 games, but failed to hit a homerun during the series. The Braves really didn’t pitch around him either and Barry took some big cuts at the plate. You could tell that he was swinging for the fences, but failed to connect on all the at-bats he had during the series.

Now the commissioner missed the first game of the series. He did decide to make the trip out to San Francisco to watch the rest of it and to see if Barry could become the all-time homerun king in Major League Baseball. I don’t think going into extra innings is what the commissioner had hoped for, when the first game he watched lasted 13 innings and finished up just after 2AM East Coast Time.

I think Barry is over swinging just a bit right now and probably needs to relax just a bit more at the plate. I don’t see anyone right now saying that Barry won’t hit the 3 homeruns he needs to have the record. I just think the longer it goes on will have a more negative view to the baseball community as many of them already have negative views on one of the greatest players to ever play baseball. I guess we will have to sit back and wait to see history being made as this story will continue…..

All over the media these days is the talk about Michael Vick and his dog fighting charges and the NBA referee that placed bets on the NBA games. I believe these two events are getting a lot of talk on the news right now and both commissioners have taking steps to show their concerns on these two matters. I would like to know which one you think is worse? Which person did the most harm to his sport by participating in some illegal activity? I am conducting a poll about Michael Vick and the NBA referee on another blog. Please go there and leave a reply to which event you think is the worse to their sport.

I’m not sure so much attention should be focusing on these two sporting stories that the media are reporting on so heavily now. I think they deserve to be reported on, but giving them so much hype is going a little overboard in my opinion. That is why I titled my post in the other blog as America Craving News Right Now. It just seems with all the problems going on in Afghanistan and Iraq that we could give more air time to the brave men and women that deserve it.

I wanted to make an attempt at getting these two headline sports stories separated. I wanted to focus on which one is the worse to happen to their league. I would really appreciate your imput and please go vote for the NBA referee or Michael Vick and tell me which person has cause the most problems.

I’m not sure if I want another desktop computer or if I might go with a laptop for my 2nd computer.

BP has taking the time and wrote up a fact sheet on the Whiting Factory in Indiana. For all those people that spend time on Lake Michigan or have concerns with the pollution in Lake Michigan, rest assure that BP does not release sludge into the lake. BP releases water from it’s Whiting, Indiana Factory which is treated. It’s 99.9 percent water and is by no means any type of sludge that is being released from the factory, and especially being released into Lake Michigan. A new water permit that is used for discharging does allow for increase amounts of ammonia to be released, but even with the new increased amounts in this permit, it is still less than half of those allowed by federal environmental guidelines.

BP wants everyone in Indiana and the surrounding areas to know that they are always following the state and federal guidelines, and all the regulations that have been put into place for protecting aquatic and human life. BP just doesn’t follow all the rules and regulations in place, but they work on improving them as well. Just in the last 4 years the factory in Indiana has voluntarily reduced its total suspended solids by 40% that is in water being discharged from the facility. The wastewater plant that is now in place is a modern one by today’s standards. Even with the modern  wastewater plant already in place, BP still plans to invest about 150 million dollars to enhance the refinery’s wastewater treatment capability.

BP is based in London and is one of the world’s largest private sector energy corporations in the world today. They did not become one of the largest corporations by not having respect for the environment, employees, and the citizens that live by it’s operational facilities. They would never be where they are today, if it wasn’t for their desire to succeed in energy and being a leader in their field. BP understands they can shape the standards of the energy world and be a good example for other companies to follow in the future. They police their self when it comes to following all the rules and regulations, and strive to improve the standards that are already in place today. This is just another small example of BP’s desires to set the record straight, when they seen the article in the Chicago Tribune that wasn’t dealing with all the facts. BP is always trying to do things in the best way when it comes to things like the environment and taking the time to stop and answer any questions that might arise, or debunk any myths that might be floating around.

BP is proud of it’s facility in Whiting, Indiana and want the people living around and near the refining factory to know that this is a great factory for BP and the people in Indiana. The Whiting Refinery produces gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel by the great employees that are already working as a BP employee. In fact, there are about 1,700 employees currently working in Whiting as BP employees and there are another 1,500 contract workers that are employed at the BP Refinery Plant. There are already new plans in the works for modernization and this will create more contract jobs for about 2,000 more people, and there should be about 80 more full time positions available when all the construction is complete. If you would like to know more facts on BP, then feel free to visit them on the web at: bp.com/us

Several months ago, many was predicting this would be the series where Barry Bonds would break Hank Aaron’s all time homerun record. It doesn’t really look like that now, since Bonds has been in a slump lately. Many picked this series with the Braves because Barry would be playing in front of the home fans and would be breaking the record of Hank Aaron who hit the go ahead homer over Babe Ruth as a Brave to become the homerun king of Major League Baseball.

Now by no means is it out of the question that he couldn’t break Hammering Hank’s Homerun record, it’s just unlikely. Barry just needs 2 homers to tie Hank Aaron and 3 to go ahead of him. This is a 4 game series, so just hitting a homer each game would do it, and he could even have a game where he doesn’t play or doesn’t hit a homerun. He would just have to get hotter than he has been showing at the plate. I think even if he doesn’t break the record, but if he could just tie the record, it would mean something to Barry Bonds. I think just tying the all time homerun record against the Braves would give Barry some pleasure. I think more than anything now, it’s just doing it this year some time is Barry’s main focus. He would be in the worse slump of his career if he didn’t manage to hit 3 homeruns over the next  70 or 80 games that the Giants have left in the season.

Now from what I am hearing is that the commissioner Bud Selig will not be at tonight’s game. I’m sure Hank will be watching on the Braves tv station to see how Barry does tonight and throughout this 4 game series. It should be interesting to see what approach Barry takes against the Braves. Bobby Cox will rotate the whole infield around and will give Bond’s the 3rd base line. Barry can hit grounders at 3rd base for singles all day long, but I’m sure the infield-shift won’t stop him from trying to pull the ball over the right field fence. Buckle up if your a Giant’s Fan, because every at-bat from now until the record is broken is going to be getting national coverage and the whole country will be watching every single at-bat as Barry Bonds tries to make history.

Well I took my oldest nephew that is 14 years old to hit some golf balls. We didn’t actually play golf; we just went to the driving range to hit a couple of buckets. It took him about 3/4 of one of the large buckets before he figured out his swing. I gave him a million and one pointers; trying to get him to hit the golf ball far. Some seemed to help a little, but there was one piece of advice I gave him and he really started hitting the ball far. I thought I would share this with you, in case you have someone that you are trying to teach golf to, or maybe you are learning yourself.

Now my nephew is 6 feet tall and he is big for his age. He plays baseball and football, so he likes playing sports. He can hit the baseball out of the park, so I figured he would be able to drive a golf ball far too. Now after all the advice and tips I gave him, there was one thing that really made a difference. I told him to add speed with his swing. Not to just grip the club tight and give a hard cut on the ball, but to swing the golf club with speed. After I told him that, he started consistently driving the ball about 220 yards. Not too bad for his first time at a driving range. He really liked watching that ball travel after he gave it a good lick. I guess I will have to take him again sometime. Who knows, he might be the next Tiger Woods? If you’re wanting to add distance to your stroke as you are teeing off, then just remember to swing the head of the golf club with speed and quickness through your swing, and focus less on trying to get a hard lick on the ball. If you have any tips for hitting the golf ball far at the driving range, then please feel free to offer any tips or suggestions. I’m always looking for ways to try and improve my distance from the tee.

I’m a Jeep man and I love jeeps. I like the versatility that you can have with a Jeep. In the summer time you can take the top off and you have a convertible. In the winter time you can go in 4 wheel drive and go through the snow and ice that forms on the roadways, not to mention you can go off the road and have fun in the woods and mud.

Another fun thing with Jeeps is adding all the bells and whistles to them. I like shopping for the auto accessories you can get for a Jeep. I have bought lights that I placed on the hood. I have also bought screen guards for those lights and on the headlights too. I would like to find a hitch to put on my Jeep, so if I can ever save any money up, I could get a boat to carry behind my Jeep. Just so many things that you can do with a Jeep and I think it’s one of the most versatile vehicles you can buy today.

If you are into gothic or just looking for a friend or companion that is gothic, then look no further for a great place to get hooked up at. GothScene.com is a great place for gothic dating! There is an easy way to search for a man or a woman with their search tool on the website. You will be able to find someone that is in your area. Also, on their main page you can see the “fresh new profiles” of people that have just recently signed up. Once you sign up, it will be easy for people to find you, because your fresh new profile will be on the front page.

It doesn’t cost anything to start tracking down some of these gothic people that might be living in your area. It’s totally free to sign up! Thousands of people have already signed up for this gothic dating website. Don’t get discourage if you don’t see anyone immediately because there will be thousands of gothic people that will sign up after you. This is really a great place for people to search for dates or just to find a friend in your area, which shares the same gothic ideas as you. Sign up today and start participating in this gothic community!

What should Mike Vick of the Atlanta Falcons get punished with? He has been tied to dogfighting and he has federal charges that are pending on him now. The state of Virginia might also take action and file local charges against the star-quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons.

Arthur Blank has been a bit surprising with his comments to let the legal actions take it’s course. The Falcons have preached for the last few years about having the best guys possible in the locker room. The whole organization has focused on getting guys that are great clubhouse guys, that stay positive, are good role models, give back to the community, and so forth. Now this isn’t the first episode that has came across their table with legal troubles and Mike Vick’s name.

Not too long ago, Michael Vick was trying to board an airplane in Miami where he was stopped and he threw a water bottle in the trash can that had marijuana residue in it. Luckily the Falcons Rich McKay did some legal work in Florida and had a few connections to get Mr. Vick off scott-free on those charges. It never hurts to have money and a GM that practice law in the sunshine state to help Vick with that incident. Then he is known as the guy that flipped his own fans off with “the bird” (middle finger) and came away from that by just giving money to charity. Also, a sexual case that involved a lady that got a sexually transmitted disease from Ron Mexico, which turned out to be number 7 from the Atlanta Falcons.

After all those episodes and the many problems that surround the younger brother of Michael in Marcus Vick, you know that the Vick family isn’t like the Ingles Family from Little House on the Praire. It’s obvious that Michael Vick is a bad seed, and a bad seed with millions of dollars. Since the Falcons are tied up in a multi-million dollar contract over the next few years with Vick, they are willing to overlook a lot of his mistakes. Now the owner Arthur Blank (Home Depot Co-Founder) isn’t willing to step up and take action against Michael Vick. It’s possible that they jumped the gun last time when they had the Miami Airport troubles, when they came down hard on Vick in a press conference and then had to scramble to make sense out of everything, once Rich McKay was able to pull a few strings down in Florida.

The NFL should strongly look at the Miami Airport Case and see that Vick was clearly up to no good, by having that secret compartment in his water bottle, that had marijuana residue in it. It was Rich McKay that did the shady business down there, to get Vick off on those charges. It’s a story that was very fishy and the Falcons never did come back and retract any of their harsh comments that they made against Vick. Now I guess they feel like this is a similar situation and feel like they will let the legal actions play out first. BIG MISTAKE!

The team that was all for getting the best role models in the ATL, are now protecting him to shameful levels and now the Falcons look like the Bengals do. The problems really start on the football field where the Falcons have spoiled their star-quarterback. They have made excuses for him, allowed him to pat, and even allowed him to take shots at his teammates, when all along it’s been obvious that Mike Vick needs a new position. He’s the most talented quarterback in the game, but the play calls doesn’t translate to his abilities on the field. For some odd reason the Falcons feel like they have a better chance of winning if Warrick Dunn gets more carries than Michael Vick does. I know your quarterback isn’t suppose to carry the rock, but Vick is by no means an ordinary QB.

The over-protection on the football field and spoiling him off the field has resulted in the hot water that Michael Vick is in now. This could have been avoided if Rich McKay would have stayed out of the Miami Airport Case and if they had a coach that understood that Vick isn’t a typical quarterback. Giving him a half dozen plays a game is ridiculous, when all the rest of the plays are designed for a traditional quarterback role.

Jim Mora took a horrible approach in the preseason games by only playing Vick very few minutes. The Falcons quaterback has had to get in shape and game ready in the first few real games of the season, because they don’t play Vick enough in the preseason. They don’t play him much because they are worried about injuries and it has happend one time already. Vick has never learned how to play a pro-style game of QB. He needs playing time and the Falcons have made poor decisions by trying to keep him healthy in the preseason. They have achieved that, but now you have a healthy quarterback that isn’t ready to play NFL football on the first game of the season.

Arthur Blank and the Falcons have failed on getting the best out of Mike Vick and all the talent he has in him. Now they are failing with their fans, the NFL, and the football community too, as they take a back seat to these latest charges of dogfighting. Arthur Blank should be taking the reins on this incident, and should be making all the calls. Instead he has just came out and stated that they will let the legal course play out. I’m sure the pressure will get to them, and they will be making a decision soon against Michael Vick. However, it will just be from all the outside pressures and not on their own accord. The Falcons have messed up just as bad as Vick in this latest episode, and the Falcons organization will just have to realize they have made a mistake that has lost millions of dollars for them. Vick is worthless right now and should never take a pro snap again. His football career is over in the NFL. He might get to play in Arena Football or the Canadian Football League, but will not be in the NFL after this season. It’s possible that legal tie-ups will delay things and Vick might get to play some this year, but he won’t play any more football after that.

Yes, Vick did make a mistake, he is still a young man that shouldn’t be crucified as bad as he has been lately in the media. However, let it be noted that the Atlanta Falcons have protected him over the last few years and are still trying to turn the other cheek, just so they can have the most electric player in the NFL on their side. Arthur Blank and Rich McKay’s shading dealings have just been as bad as the dogfighting charges that are facing Vick now.

WELCOME TO THE ATL MR. HARRINGTON!!! THE PEACH STATE FANS ARE GOING TO LOVE JOEY HARRINGTON!!!

If I were Lindsday Lohan I would keep a low profile in order to meet the conditions of her court order.

Need I say more? Yes, the ol Dow crossed the 14,000 mark today, or I should say finished above the mark. I think it crossed into this territory yesterday, but finished today above the 14,000 mark. It’s a great day to be an investor and things really good for the future too.

It’s not hard finding good stocks right now on Wall Street. These Dow numbers are getting pushed by the big companies. Invest in the names that you know and into some of the largest companies in the world. It’s a great time to be involved with stocks right now, as things are only going to get better. This year still has upside to it, and don’t expect a correction anytime soon. I think we will see slight dips and bigger hills on the charts for the rest of 2007.  Don’t rush out and buy all your stocks at one time. Be sure to do gradual investments over a long period of time, and take advantage of dollar cost averaging. Cheers to the Dow! Don’t be surprised if we are over 15 thousand by this time next year!

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A bird that can take down a deer, is one bird I don’t want to have nothing to do with. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I seen this bird pick a deer up off the ground and throw it down like it was going to be it’s lunch. The power it had to take to pick the deer up is amazing and I still can’t believe there are birds out there that can do this. I would have never believed this story if someone told it to me. I’m only believeing it now, because there is video tape available that shows just what this bird did. This is definitely a bird you don’t want to mess with.

Let’s get you connected with a property manager that can save you money. Connected Property Management LLC can save you money on their Chicago property manager. All investors that invest in land are looking for that investment to start paying for itself. For this to happen you have to make sure you are maximizing all of your efforts, so you can start profiting from your investments. A property manager can help you achieve your goals in real estate investments.

Now the residents in and around Chicago, Illinois can take advantage of the lowest prices and highest value property management services in the area. There are no annual fees or hidden contract costs, and you get to choose all the services that you feel are best for you. Connected Property Management realizes that other companies don’t allow you to choose which services you want, when issues start to occur. So they are always willing to let you choose what additional services are needed when issues do arise. If you are ready to start making profits off your properties, then get in touch with Connected Property Management today and you will be happy to know that they have the lowest monthly fee, out of all the other Chicago firms!

The DOW just made a lot of people happy on Thursday and myself included. It soared to a all new record high and it’s been 4 years since the DOW had any type of gains like that to happen in just 1 day of trading.

This is another positive sign that the stock market is strong right now and the blue chip stocks are leading the way. You don’t have to do a lot of research and find those hidden gems to make money in the stock market right now. Sticking with your blue chip stocks individually or investing in them through some sort of index fund is a great investment right now. Don’t keep your money in a checking or savings account at your bank, that is only drawing a small interest rate. The next few years the stock market is going to outperform any bank accounts, bonds, or even a CD that you might own, that draws an attaractive interest rate. Invest in the blue chip stocks and you are going to have a great return rate over the next 3 to 5 years.

I will try to come back to the blue chip stocks later and maybe we can break down which Dow Companies look better than the other ones do. If we can cut half of the companies out of the DOW that are currently listed in it, we might can maximize our return rates by leaving some of the Dow Companies out of your portfolios. The Dow is right now in positive territory and the market will be closing in 20 minutes. So a very strong finish to the stock market to end this week in July.

I want to go to Italy so bad. Italy’s rich history and good food make it a desired travel destination for a lot of people. Now the main place I would like to travel to in Italy would have to be where the streets are made of water. Venice is a city located in northern Italy and a boat would do you better than a car would. The buildings are built around the waterways and it’s just like little roads running through the whole city that just has boats on them, instead of cars. Now cars are banned in Venice, but I’m not sure how much they have to enforce that since floating devices are used for transportation in the city. It’s estimated that there are about 400 bridges that connect all the islands in and around Venice.

If you are interested like me and you’re thinking about a trip to Venice, then you can look at SideStep.com for some of the best deals you can find on Hotels in Venice and for your airfares. There is even some great information that you can read up about Venice on their website. The Island of Torcello has the oldest surviving structure that makes up the greater Venice area. Things like that and more can be found at SideStep.com. One of the best features I like about the website, is the top 10 hotel feature. I can go to Venice’s page and it will show me the top 10 hotels in Venice. So it makes selecting a hotel easy for me when I decide to take my trip to Italy.

If you are Latin or seeking some Latino Love then see if Latina Romance can help you. It is a website that has just been designed for latin singles to put their pictures and profiles on, in hopes of meeting that right man or woman. It’s a great way to search for a friend or maybe find a little romance Latin style.

If you prefer having a Latin partner and are seeking to meet that right person, then sign up with Latina Romance and add a picture of yourself and a profile. Then people will be able to find you and you can search for members that are already in the system. It’s never been this easy for latina dating and you can sign up today and get started! The website is really easy to use and you can search for a man or a woman and even pick the age range in which you seek. There is also a section that shows you all the fresh new profiles that have recently been added to their system. Good luck with your hunt for a Latin partner!

If you are looking outside of the USA for your investments, then why not give Eurpoe a look? They are a lot of strong European companies and some great value can found in some of them. To go about this the safe way, is to maybe seek an Exchange Traded Fund or ETF. I think this is a safe way to expose yourself to the European market and I have found a great ETF that has a solid outlook.

The WisdomTree Europe Total Dividend (DEB) looks to have solid companies in their top holdings.

TOP HOLDINGS

1. HSBC Holdings   2.58%

2. Eni   2.38%

3. Total SA   2.15%

4. BP   1.89%

5. France Telecom   1.89%

6. Vodafone Group   1.86%

7. Royal Dutch Shell   1.71%

8. Lloyds TSB Group   1.57%

9. GlaxoSmithKline PLC   1.53%

10. Royal Bank of Scotland Group   1.31%

As you can see this fund deals with a lot of large cap companies. I think this is a safe way to expose yourself to the European Stocks. This fund has did very well over the last year and I could see it to continue to do well in the near and longterm futures. The shares are selling about $70 a share right now and I wouldn’t mind investing 20 percent of my overall portfolio in this European ETF.

***I do not own this ETF in my portfolio

Do you or your business go through a lot of insurance cards daily from your customers or patients? If you do, then there is a great way to quickly get all of the information off of the card and you will not have to face any errors, like you do with manually storing this information. If you get a medicscan you can then quickly copy the image on the insurance card and electronically store this information. No more human errors or wasted time trying to copy that information into your files.

Medicscan allows you to copy the image, where you can then store it to your files or database. If you have been squenching the eyes and trying to write down or type this information into your database system, then you realize how much time it takes to do this process manually. You now have the ability to speed up the process and copy the image with the Medicscan.

There are many key features to the Medicscan that are available to you. Its easy-to-use and setup process makes converting over to the Medicscan a breeze. You will also get clear and sharp images, automatic card-feed detection, automatic software initiation, automatic image rotation and alignment, and it will support a variety of image formats. You will be able to scan any media including paper photos, ID cards, checks, and even credit cards. If your ready to increase productivity and have less paper work, then get the Medicscan and the ScanShell 800N package today!

I’m not sure if this works or not, but I thought I would try it. Below is a viralink and some of the stars represent a link. The other stars are blank and you can add in you website to one of the blank stars. Now just copy and paste the below image in your blog and then be sure to add your blog to one of the stars that doesn’t have a link yet. You might need to reply back once you have done it, so I can update my viralink on my page. It’s just an experiment and I’m not sure if it will help get a better page ranking or not.

If you add your blog to one of the blank stars then let me know so I can update it on my blog. I’m not sure it will work good unless I keep it updated. Now I just wonder if this will help the Alexa Rankings any?