At first I posted an ad on our bulletin board at work. The ad had a picture of the laptop, some of it’s specs and a reasonable price. While I had a few inquiries I didn’t get any real buyers. So I took the ad down and looked for other avenues.

Next I checked eBay for prices on the particular model I was trying to sell. There were a few laptops like it listed there but they were nearing the end of their auction and no one had bid on them. I want to turn this laptop into cash and I don’t want to wait around for an auction to end or give the laptop away for pennies because no one was really interested. Again, I looked for other avenues.

I did a few searches on Google for “selling a laptop” and this is when I started finding shops that actually buy used laptops and other electronics. So I started clicking on the links to see what they were all about. All the sites I found worked the same way: you enter the model number and some specs into a form, choose what condition the electronic is in and then the price that particular site is willing to offer appears. If you find the price acceptable you enter some personal information and you get further instructions. Some of the sites pay for shipping and packaging some do not. *See the table below.

With the first few sites I became a little concerned because they were offering much less than I was hoping to get for my laptop. Before I gave up on the “buy your laptop” sites I found Jay Brokers. Jay Brokers gives you two options: you can see what the FMV or “Fair Market Value” for your device is from historical data via eBay sales or you can fill out a form to get a personalize “guaranteed” quote. The guaranteed quote is “guaranteed” if you are truthful with the information you enter in the form about your device. A quote was emailed to me within 24 hours and it was $100 MORE than any of the other sites. Needless to say I was very happy but still a little skeptical. My next move was to send the laptop to someone I’m not familiar with in hopes of getting the money they guaranteed. Jay Brokers does not pay for shipping and packaging but I knew it would be around $20 ($13 for shipping, $7 for the packaging) from my past experience of sending a laptop out for refunds or repairs. Off to UPS I went and away the laptop shipped.

Two days later I got an email from Jay Brokers that they received the package and will be in the process of testing the device to make sure it works per the data I entered into their form. Within 24 hours I got another email that said the money has been placed in my PayPal account. That was it. A very painless and quick service. From my experience I give Jay Brokers a 5 out of 5 stars for providing an honest and transparent service.

I can only speak of my experience with http://www.jaybrokers.com and from that experience I recommend them for getting rid of devices you no longer use. They offered $100 more than the closest competitor and in some cases almost $200 more.

First came twiturder.com. Twiturder (twit-turd-er) is a device that attaches to your toilet and ‘tweets’ whatever happens while you are on it. Yes, it can most certainly be gross. I tried to create a 1/2 serious and 1/2 silliness look and feel for the site hoping to have people guessing whether the twiturder device was real or not. The t-shirt for this product is a simple “got turd?” design. I also have a Twitter account @twiturder where I occasionally update what goes on at the plant including any new products that come along.

The next product to come out of the maelstrom is ThongDrive.com. During a conversation I was having with a co-worker I swear they said something about a thong drive. While he probably didn’t say anything close to that it sounded like a great idea to mix usb flash storage and a thong. Don’t you think? The site is complete with a little Flash application at the top where you can choose your skin color and preferred thong color. The t-shirt for this idea is a simple “ThongDrive” logo with the phrase “thong + storage = genius”. Usually people get a charge out of this product. I’m still working on a way to convince my wife to actually create one but it does not seem like she’s interested at the moment.

The newest product idea was easy to come up with due to the current scare of swine flu. The Swine B Gone.com product is supposed to be an aerosol spray that you can douse yourself with and remove all effect of the swine flu (H1N1). I had a couple t-shirt ideas for this one but stuck with the “Swine B Gone” logo and the words “swine flu protected” below it.

With each site I tried to make them have a similar theme but be fairly unique in content. Obviously the t-shirt element is in all three but the information about each product has it’s own unique flavor and humor. There are some key elements you should include in your site(s) when you build, develop and/or design.

Key Element 1
One of the key elements you need to include is an easy way to spread the word about your site via social mediums. There are a few ways you can cover Twitter, email, Facebook, Digg and a whole slew of others. I use the Add this menu which lists a number of popular social media methods in nice little package. The idea is to make it extremely easy for your viewers to spread the gospel about whatever page they are on.

Key Element 2
Another key element is keyword rich content. If you build a goofy site about a current event you should try to include the keywords in your content about that event. This goes for any site you build. Keyword rich content is extremely important for readability and SEO. Make sure you are conscious of grammar and spelling. People can be turned off by sentences that are difficult to read or include spelling errors.

Key Element 3
An important key element to add is data collection. At a minimum you should have a form on your site to collect emails and names so you can develop an email list. Once your list starts to grow you will be able to use it to spread the word of your newest ventures quickly. If you use Facebook or Twitter more frequently then request their Facebook or Twitter name.

Key Element 4
A key element I try to incorporate is some form of interaction. Generally, this can include a small Flash application that peeks someones interest, a game for people to play, a daily or weekly poll where people can vote on some subject or a comments section where viewers can interact with each other and you. The idea for this is to create a small element that could bring people back because they are curious about the results of a poll or the replies to their previous comments.

Key Element 5
Another key element you can easily include are affiliate marketing links. Obviously people have started putting on their blinders when it comes to banner ads and such but that does not mean they are completely ineffective. Try to think of a creative way to make them look more appealing in your design. There are so many cookie cutter looking sites that just slap them into a column and hope for the best. Try to add a new twist to your affiliate area that might peek more interest. Experiment. Experiment. Experiment.

Just because a venture is not as successful as you hoped does not mean it was a complete failure. Chances are you learned something from the experience and you will be able to put what you learned into use on your next venture. If you sense failure, reassess your position and either make modifications or move to your next venture. If you are just starting out, do not be afraid to fail. Usually in failure we learn enough to make the next attempt successful. Put some thought and creativity into each project you do.

TweetDeck
TweetDeck, in my opinion, is the best desktop application for managing your Twitter addiction account. With TweetDeck you organize those you follow into “groups”. These groups make it easier to follow a particular topic without the tweets being intermingled with the tweets of other people you follow. Say you have a “tech” group and you designated a few of the tech savvy people into that group. When they make updates, their tweets will go into the tech group column where you can quickly scan through that topic. The TweetDeck application just rolled out a new update to incorporate Facebook feeds into the mix. With the addition of Facebook you can now have a column that collects you friend’s Facebook status while giving you the opportunity to update your own status. Other nifty additions to make both Twitter and Facebook mesh, you can “tweet” someones Facebook status or update your Twitter and Facebook status all at once. The TweetDeck application is my personal favorite at the moment for its ease of use, slick layout and in depth feature set.

Seesmic Desktop
Seesmic’s Desktop application is the new kid on the block for your tweeting needs. While still in “Preview Release” Seesmic’s offering seems like a stripped down version of TweetDeck…so far. To organize your follower’s tweets you create “User Lists” similar to TweetDeck’s groups. As the application stands now I am not impressed with its feature set and believe their interface could use some work. As of this writing I could not add new followers after a search for particular topics. There are also iconic buttons that do not have tool tips to explain what they do. I like the effort so far by Seesmic and hope when the application is ready for the full release that it will be able to compete with TweetDeck. I look forward to giving it a good run through when it’s fully released.

Seesmic Twhirl
This is another Seesmic desktop tweeting application and it is a great solution for those not needing to organize your followers. It is very simple to use and has just enough features to keep you reading and tweeting in style. This is kind of an odd observation but I almost feel like I am using an IM client when using Twhirl…in a good way.

TwitterFox
While not a desktop application TwitterFox is a great extension for the Firefox browser. TwitterFox offers you the essentials for following your followers and tweeting when you need to. It’s a simple install and once you log in there’s nothing more to setup. I recommend it for your quick tweeting fixes.

One disadvantage practically all Twitter applications have is they can be extremely disruptive if you happen to be doing work and trying to passively keep up. All of the applications have “dings” and pop-ups signifying new tweets and unless you turn them off you will find yourself halting work and skimming through new tweets every couple minutes.

There are a number of “tweeting” applications that work with the iPhone, iPod Touch and other browsers. I just touched on ones that I have experience using. It really is going to be a matter of choosing the application that suits your needs.

If you have been in business for any amount of time you undoubtedly had to answer questions about the products or services you deliver. Chances are you had to answer the same exact questions over and over again. This is the way search engines work for people who use the web as their information source…which means pretty much everyone on the web. People have questions, they type them into their favorite search engine the results should have the answers. In comes the blog.

Think of a business blog as your repository for information about your business, industry, products and services. When you are in business you gain an intimate relationship with whatever you offer. You know how it functions, it’s quirks and you probably have insight into its future. This information is valuable to current and future customers alike. It builds consumer confidence in your business and leverages you as an authority figure in your field. Incidentally, this is one of the “assets” I talked about in Part 1 of this study. If you use other social media for marketing your business, having a blog(if used correctly) gives your more relevance and clout.

Having a blog is not for everyone. An empty or seldom updated blog is akin to having an e-commerce store where you sometimes if ever process orders. It is useless unless you fulfill its function. The business blogs function is to inform, educate and feed those looking for ever changing information. If you are not comfortable doing research and writing information you have two options. One option is to not have a blog. The second option is to start with small frequent blog posts until you are comfortable delving deeper into subjects. We will touch on this more in Part 3.

Start that blog! If you choose to get your blog rolling…blogroll: list of recommended blogs listed on the sidebar of a blog…you will either need a little technical know-how or someone that possesses the technical know-how. If you have the technical know-how then you will need web hosting that supports the blog software you wish to use. WordPress is a very popular blogging software and is one I recommend. There are hundreds of “skins” for WordPress that can take you from the normal “blah” layout of a standard install to completely sheik in a few clicks. After that you just need to familiarize yourself with the amazing administration portion of the software and you are ready to blog.

If you are not technically inclined there are companies that can help you get your blog off the ground. Solid Cactus is a great company that helps business owners develop their online presence. They take care of everything from e-commerce to search marketing to blogs to a number of other services.

Once you get your blog up and running there are some key things you should be conscious of when writing your posts. We will go over that in the next part of this study.

Shortly after lunch, we headed out to a birthday party. Our friends were great about having foods that were safe for Ryan to eat. He was able to have treats from the prize bucket (tootsie rolls), chips and ice cream. I received notice in advance that there would be cupcakes for the kids, so I made sure to bring a cupcake for Ryan so he would feel included. Ryan had a great time at the party and he even received an ice cream bowl containing treats that were safe for him as a party favor. I can only hope that all the parties Ryan attends will be so accommodating.

We had a special dinner to conclude my gluten free week. Greg helped me prepare a roast chicken with roasted red potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots. I baked a loaf of gluten free bread in my bread machine and we also prepared cold slaw as a side dish. To complete our delicious meal, we had strawberry shortcake. The shortcake tasted amazing and was a great way to finish a very successful week. I am excited to continue to eat gluten free foods and to prepare meals for my family which are healthy and safe for everyone to eat!

This afternoon for a snack I decided to mix things up a bit and have a large piece of oatmeal bake in place of my trail mix. That oatmeal bake has been a great alternative. For dinner I fixed a tuna fish sandwich on a dinner roll and a tossed salad with shredded cheese on top. I found a ranch dressing that is gluten free and topped my salad with it. Looking for something crunchy to go with my dinner, I had some corn chips. Tonight, my sweet tooth struck and I had to have a small bowl of trail mix along with a cup of hot tea. That was a yummy combination!

I am feeling very good after five gluten free days. My body feels satisfied and I do not feel bloated like I have felt in the past. Now I am thinking about extending my gluten free diet for another week to see how my body is feeling. I don’t know that just one week is long enough to make conclusions about the impact of one’s diet.

I decided to prepare ham and potato soup for dinner which is one of Ryan’s favorite meals. Tonight, I made a couple of adjustments to my usual recipe.

Ham and Potato Soup

• 1 small onion
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium carrot shredded
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 cups diced potatoes
• 5 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions: Cook the potatoes and save 2 cups of the water from the potatoes. Melt the butter and sauté the onions. Add the carrots and sauté. Mix in the cornstarch, salt and pepper. Slowly add the milk and heavy cream. Stir regularly while bringing mixture to a boil. After mixture has begun to thicken, add the potatoes, reserved water, and ham. Cook for a few more minutes to warm ham. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese on top.

To go with the soup, we had leftover dinner rolls which were delicious when dipped into the creamy soup. I felt very satisfied after dinner tonight and did not have anything else to eat or drink. As I mentioned in previous posts I have been feeling better. I am not positive that the diet is the only factor but from my reading it certainly can play a huge role.

For breakfast I had my usual bowl of Chex with Craisins. Since finding out Rice Chex is gluten free we have been eating them like they are going out of style. It is a great cereal for breakfast or snack. For my mid-morning snack I had a piece of oatmeal bake with milk on top. I don’t mind eating the same things each day and my son Ryan seems to be just like me. When we find things we like to eat, we eat them day in and day out. Lunch was a repeat of dinner from yesterday, grilled ham and cheese with veggie sticks. For something sweet, I had some applesauce with cinnamon. There is no doubt I have been eating healthier over these past three days. My meals are more balanced with lots of fruits and vegetables. And you know what? I am not at all surprised. I am always telling people how healthy Ryan eats. He is sensitive to tomatoes, but other than that, he is able to have all fruits and vegetables. The best part is that Ryan actually likes to a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Our afternoon snack time came and I opted for trail mix again. I think this will be a regular habit, because there are not a lot of snacks, besides fruits and vegetables that are safe for Ryan. For dinner I tried a new gluten free dinner roll recipe that turned out great! You can find the recipe here: Gluten Free Dinner Rolls. I wanted to coat the chicken with breading and decided to try something different. I crushed Chex cereal and added rosemary, thyme, salt and locatelli cheese. Next I coated the boneless, skinless chicken with egg and dipped it into my “breading” mixture. It went into the oven and baked for about 35 minutes at 380 degrees. Since I was baking my dinner rolls at the same time it made the meal come together very quickly. Per Ryan’s request, we had white rice and corn to top off the chicken entree. Dinner was delicious and now I am beginning to consider having all gluten free meals all the time. It is going to take a little more effort and a little more money, but it is great to have a table full of food, all of which can safely be eaten by Ryan. After dinner I again had a craving for something sweet. Tonight I decided to have oatmeal bake along with my hot tea. Delicious.

For lunch I had leftover meatloaf, potatoes, veggies and a slice of the homemade gluten free bread. Yum! I am a huge fan of leftovers. Next, Ryan and I tried the oatmeal bake which turned out okay. I bet it would be delicious warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. While Ryan enjoyed his ice cream and oatmeal snack, I chose to not do dessert. For an afternoon snack I went back to trail mix, because it is filling and very satisfying.

Time for dinner. I opted for a simple meal since we had been playing outside right up until dinner time. I fixed grilled ham and cheese sandwiches using the same loaf of bread I baked yesterday. Greg, Ryan, Dominic and I all had sandwiches with the gluten free bread and everyone was pleased. The ham came from Heavenly Ham and I found that my local store has a gluten free ham. Hooray! If you check out the website or call your local store you will find that some locations are still be using the old spice recipe which is not gluten free. As a side to our sandwiches we had carrot and celery sticks and sliced broccoli. We used Marzetti’s Sweet Italian dressing for dipping our vegetables. If you have not tried it shame on you. It is my family’s favorite salad dressing and it is also gluten free! You can check out all the gluten free salad dressings Marzetti’s makes at their website. Shortly after dinner, I always find myself craving something sweet. Lately, I have been having a hot cup of tea with sugar and a touch of milk. Tonight, it really hit the spot.

I received a bunch of literature from the allergist and began to adjust Ryan’s diet to try to eliminate wheat, peanuts, and food dyes. In the beginning it was a challenge making sure that each food item was free from Ryan’s allergens. I had a list of ingredients commonly found in foods that the allergist said were not to be trusted as safe for Ryan. These ingredients could possibly contain wheat even though wheat was no where to be found on the food label. From time to time Ryan would have a reaction to something that he would eat and I would feel frustrated that I fed something to him that he was allergic to. Then Ryan began having skin problems and his eczema got worse. After speaking with the allergist we thought that Ryan might be sensitive to dairy. So Ryan went on a dairy free diet as well. For about two years Ryan avoided dairy until I decided to gradually start introducing it again. Thankfully Ryan seemed to do fine with dairy products which allows him to eat more foods and have a more balanced diet.

When Ryan was three he was retested to see if he had outgrown any of his allergies. Unfortunately, Ryan’s wheat allergy increased and we found that he is also allergic to tree nuts. One hopeful thing is that Ryan’s peanut allergy decreased. In addition to Ryan’s food allergies, we found that Ryan is also very allergic to dust mites. We continued with Ryan’s diet and made adjustments to reduce his exposure to dust mites. Thankfully there are many products on the market now to help people with allergies. We enclosed Ryan’s mattresses and pillow cases with dust mite covers to prevent the dust mites from escaping.

Ryan has been such a trooper with his limited diet. When we go out to dinner there are very few foods that are safe for him. We usually bring some food from home to go along with one or two things that Ryan might be able to eat. The one food that is safe for Ryan is salad without croutons and salad dressing so this is what Ryan is stuck eating each time. Kids always want a treat after having dinner so I pack treats that are safe for him. Almost every dessert in restaurants seem to contain wheat and/or nuts. Going to birthday parties has been a challenge. I bring food that is safe for Ryan to eat along with a gluten free cupcake. Our friends have been great supporters. They try to have foods that are safe for him to eat, so he is not left out. Ryan has become very aware of his allergies and always asks before eating something when at a party. This awareness is crucial in his dietary success along with possibly outgrowing some or all of his allergies.

I believe it is difficult for people, including myself, to truly understand what people with food allergies experience on a daily basis. Recently I read an article in the magazine Living Without about a dad whose son has Celiac disease. To experience his son’s diet the father ate gluten free for a week. I was inspired to try a gluten free diet so that I may experience a little of what Ryan has dealt with over the past three and a half years. I will also avoid nuts and food dyes since Ryan is unable to eat those as well.

Day 1
I have not been to the grocery store in several days and did not get a chance to go yesterday. I was feeling apprehensive about starting this gluten/nut/dye free diet without making sure there were plenty of safe foods for me. Yet, this is what Ryan would have. Already I started to feel guilty about the variety of foods that are available for Ryan. For breakfast I made gluten free waffles, something I made in the past and I have already tried. They were very good but no where near as tasty as regular waffles. For lunch I had some pizza, pretzels and carrots sticks. For yummy gluten free pretzels check out gluten free pretzels. I found a great pizza crust for Ryan that I enjoy eating as well: gluten free pizza crust. I make Ryan’s pizza in a batch and freeze it for future meals. There were only two slices of pizza left in the freezer, so Ryan and I each had one slice. Ryan was not so crazy about me eating “his” food. Since he cannot have a lot of the food that my husband and I eat, he must find comfort in the food that is usually just for him.

Feeling hungry a couple hours later, I made some gluten free trail mix. It is no wonder that Ryan asks for trail mix nearly every day. Rice Chex, Craisins, pretzels and Hershey’s chocolate chips. This was very satisfying treat. Had I not been at home however, I don’t know what I would have had for a snack, but it probably would not have been that good.

Now, what should I make for supper? Generally, I try to cook something for supper that is gluten free or at least a gluten free version. I wanted to clean out my bread machine for a while now and attempt to make gluten free bread for Ryan. Finally I did it. The bread baked and came out great, but during the mixing process the mix in the machine was not looking like it was going to turn out well. I used a recipe from Bob’s Red Mill for the bread. Next I made a gluten free meatloaf with a new recipe I found. It had chopped broccoli, carrots, lemon juice and lime juice. I cooked up some mashed potatoes and steamed frozen vegetables. Dinner turned out to be very successful and the bread was delicious! Ryan really liked the bread and even my husband tried and enjoyed it. The whole day has been a success and now I have a great bread recipe for Ryan!