Website...

...so as some of you know, I've been real busy helping Alexa get her career off the ground. It's been a HUGE project and I have put everything I have into this with her. She's like one of my own so I would do anything to see her succeed. There are lots of things involved with getting a CD off the ground - who knew?

You might surprised but it's many hours in the studio, many hours of listening and fine tuning things, a website needs to be perfect, the CD Packaging needs to be perfect, the cover photo needs to mesh with the vibe of the CD, the rights to the songs needs to applied for, the CD Release needs to be planned, the CD's need to be ordered, the band needs to get organized...then is radio promotion, Gigs to promote the album, a trip to Nashville in the New Year....the list goes on.

It's a lot of work so anytime you can get some help from a pro in each of those areas, it's a huge weight lifted from your shoulders. When we started talking about the website - the stress began. How do we do this? Who do we call? Do we have to code out a site? How do you buy a domain name? What the hell is a domain name? LOL...as you can see we were pretty novice at this.

I called Register.com...afterall it's down the road from my office and I know tons of people there...good starting point. I have to say, Register.com is the most organized, helpful, amazing organization i've ever had to deal with. You do get moved on from person to person but each person knows exactly what part of the process you are at and the flow continues like clockwork. It's not like when you call a company and they pass you on and you have to start all over again. You get moved to the next person when you're done with the first. I never repeated myself once. By talking to them in a series of phone calls they set up a proof. Then you review and keep doing that till it's done. After every call you get an email notifying you of what part of the process you are at and what's to be expected the next time. It's the easiest thing ever. I know absolutely nothing about websites and I ended up creating this:
www.musicbyalexa.com

Check it out! I'm real proud of the way it turned out! They helped with write-ups, layout, font, picture placing, all the different tab ideas...EVERYTHING! You have to pay a monthly user fee and it's so worth it cause when you need something changed or added you can just fire off an email and within 3 days it's done! Easy, Easy, EAAAAASY!

Register.com: You guys really do amazing work! Thanks :)

Extreme Couponing...

...so I watched the above show last night. I had seen it before but really got into last night as it must have been a marathon or something. These people are nuts, in a good way! They spend about 40 hrs per week clipping coupons, researching grocery sales and organizing their stock piles. One lady went to the store and 9 hrs later she bought over $1100 worth of stuff for $8.00. It's crazy!! She had a big trailer to lug the stuff back home.

Keep in mind that our grocery stores don't have the same promotions as the US stores so it wouldn't be as easy to do here...but could still be effective. This one lady had a bunch of coupons for cereal. It didn't specify the size so she bought the mini cereal boxes. Her coupon was for 50 cents off and the cereal was on sale for 25 cents per box. The store doubled the coupons so on each box she made 50 cents! She bought 1200 boxes and MADE herself $300! It's nuts!!! She used that to buy things she didnt have coupons for like fruit and veggies.

It's totally addicting and amazing. I dreamt of groceries and food all fricken night....and woke up starving....ugh....

Rosie...

...so Rosie O'Donnell is back on TV. She started up again last week on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) at the 8 PM slot. I've been watching and I gotta say, I kinda like it. Rosie always made me laugh cause she's so loud, opinionated, raw, sometimes annoying...sorta like me I guess lol! She starts the show with a bit of stand-up and audience interaction then moves on to a couple guests and ends with a game of some kind.

I find her interviews are very interesting cause of her little stories and comments in between. It's like she's talking to them in their living rooms and nothing is off limits. She rolls with it...I like that. Kinda mindless interviews, nothing too intense like Oprah's show. The one thing that does annoy me is the voice of the announcer lady. She has a high-pitched, fake, annoying speaking voice...makes me cringe. Sorta like a high-pitched Fran Drescher.

Watch it and tell me what you think! I can see it wouldn't be for everyone as her type of humor consists of her making fun of herself and everyone....but makes me laugh! Let's face it people, in our culture we all make fun of ourselves and everyone else...Rosie just does it publicly!

"It's the Rosie Show..." - Rosie Theme

Apple...

...so Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple has died at the age of 56. He'd been fighting Cancer for a number of years and just couldn't win the battle. Steve Jobs has a pretty amazing story...a school drop out, started Apple in the garage of his parents house, failed and started over again a million times and was always second to Bill Gates until he developed the ipod, ipad and itunes. Since then he's been the leader in the industry. It's extremely sad and it makes you think about your life and those around you. We all want to have more money and have a more meaningful life. We think that if we had that, life would be perfect. He had all that plus lived a very healthy lifestyle and here we are today talking about his death at such a young age. It's just a reminder that we have to live for today, be happy with our lives and not strive for what others have...live YOUR life and live it to the best YOU can.

"I've seen fire and I've seen rain..." - James Taylor

Sale of Clearwater??...

...so I read in the paper that a firm in NB is looking to takeover Clearwater. Clearwater is the largest seafood export company in the Province. Many of the lobsters that are caught around here go from the buyer to Clearwater then out around the world. According to the article in the Chronicle Herald today, they are worth over $70 Million...wowza! It's hard to understand in the article but the jist of it is that this new firm wants to buy many of the shares at a higher than market price. Due to some corporate restructuring done by Clearwater founders, John Risley and Colin MacDonald, if this new firm did what they wanted to they would own the majority of the company. I'm not sure how this will all play out, but it appears to me like these two firms don't like each other and are going to fight.

What does that mean for our Lobster Fisherman? Well, I would think it could be a problem because if someone pays top dollar to buy a company then they need to see some hefty profits to recoup they're money and then make a return. The only way to do that is to pay less for things and have a higher mark-up to the consumer. The gap between the two prices is a profit...hummmm....I don't know. On the flipside, a new company might want to come in and make a good name for themselves and build a strong rapport with the people. Let's face it, they'll make money. Companies that are dead in the water aren't the ones being bought. Too big of a risk.

The more they argue the more we'll read about it...could be interesting!

(http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1266508.html)

Taxi...

...so there's an unemployment problem in Yarmouth - that's a fact. Do you know what another fact is? There are next to no cabs in Yarmouth. Saturday night, Hubby and I went out with some friends are were gonna do the right thing and cab home. We waited an hour and a half and still no cab. I called over 8 numbers, reached two drivers and one said "i'll be right there" 3 times (cause I kept calling as time went on) and the other said "it'll be 20 minutes" after I said I was going to Plymouth. In the end, one of my friends had to drive some of us home, leaving hubby and Colgate Smile behind to roam the streets in search of a cab....then had to turn around and go get them as they STILL couldn't get a cab! I got home at 2:30 AM and Hubby was after 3:30!!! Not acceptable...NOT ACCEPTABLE!! Why doesn't the folks who are looking for work drive a cab? Are the rules too strict? What's the deal? It's no wonder people drink and drive...other than that you may have to stay on the street! I was so mad. I'm very thankful for my lovely friend who really didn't have to go out of her way to make sure we got home. Two of us had kids with sitters so we HAD to get home and she was very sympathetic to that and it's much appreciated. I was in panic mode by 2 AM...sooooo frustrating.

Nova Scotia Music Week will be in Yarmouth in early November. They better get some more cabs or there will be a lot of people walking the streets....or drunk at the wheel.

"Taxi Cab, Taxi cab at the light....won't you take me on a ride?" - Bruce Springsteen