Uncut Gems Album Released

 Released a selection of tracks today on an album called Uncut Gems.

You can find it on Bandcamp:

Buying a Beginning Guitar for Your Child

There are a few things to think about when you're buying a guitar for your child. I've taught guitar for over 12 years and seen some children be much more successful than others at playing the guitar.

I like to make sure younger beginners have a smaller guitar. How old is your daughter or son?

You also have to consider whether you want an electric or acoustic guitar. I recommend to buy whatever you think will most motivate your son or daughter to play.

I'm sure there are many decent options out there, but the ones I have had success with in the past are Gibson Maestro guitars.

The acoustic comes in 41" and 38" and I would recommend the smaller black 38" acoustic guitar or the natural finish.

There is also an electric guitar in either white or black.

Of course, these are fairly inexpensive options. You will be able to buy a better guitar at higher prices. But that may better in the future.

It can be nice to get a fold-up music stand, too, so she or he has a space to put her music when she practices.



Once you have a guitar, the key is set-up guitar lessons so your son or daughter can learn a structured way to practice. Paying for the lessons will help both you and your child to keep a regular schedule. It is well worth the time and effort.

*These are affiliate links and I would earn a small commission if you purchases from these links.

Roman eBooks - Loose Tooth eBook, Happiness eBook

I recently started posting funny ideas for getting a loose tooth out that my sons and I came up with a few years ago. You can see some of those posts here.
I also published an ebook about 101 Ways You Can Find Happiness. Those posts are available at the same site: romanebooks.com.
Enjoy!

Ways to Find Happiness

 It is hard not to be searching for ways to find happiness in our life. With as busy as our lives are, it is easy to overlook everything we do have to be happy for.

As a way to meditate on all of the things that make me happy, I wrote a book to outline the many ways I do find happiness in my every day life. You will find topics on :

• A happy attitude
• Happiness in the home
• Generosity in your life
• Celebrating life
• Care for your body
• Connecting with family, friends and community
• Simplifying your life
• Taking time to be happy
• Being productive
• Being physically active
• Showing gratitude
• Reflecting
• Nurturing your spirit
• Learning from spiritual masters
• Connecting with nature
• Soothing your soul with music
• Healthy food, healthy mind and body
• Learning for life
• Your loved one

This book can be read straight through, or you can use just one of the suggestions each day or week to meditate on and help improve your happiness level. 

I do hope you find happiness in your life.

Read more on my main ebook site.

Find the Happiness Book on Amazon.

Read my Amazon author page.

Amazon Leverages Core Competency in Silk Browser Design

One of the most fascinating aspects of Amazon's Kindle Fire release today was its Silk browser. Google Chrome has sold itself on its speed and Amazon is promising to take things a step further by harnessing the power of its servers.

This is a beautiful example of a company leveraging a core competency to try and revolutionize an already crowded space: the ubiquitous web browser.

While Amazon could have drawn on the many diverse browser offerings available, it chose to build its own browser and differentiate itself on speed. This can only benefit all of us web-browsers, as faster is always better in the case of loading web pages.

Silk reminds me most closely of Opera's mobile and mini browsers, which sell their ability to "Save money on data charges." Amazon does not mention saving money as a benefit and doesn't seem to depend on compression for any speed savings.

Instead, Amazon outlines the way "machine-learning" will improve the ability of Silk to predict what will be needed when, increasing the load speed of web pages. This predictive web page handling is intriguing and is based on algorithms Amazon uses to suggest items you might like when shopping. How many times have you been amazed at the quality of Amazon's suggestions? I know I have.

In fact, if Amazon begins suggesting what web page I might like to visit next, I won't have to think at all when I browse the web. It will be smooth as Silk.

You Can Read the Giving USA Free Executive Summary

You can now read the Giving USA 2011: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the year 2010 executive summary.

Read the Giving USA Free Executive Summary

I attended a briefing today at the Cincinnati Museum Center in which Melissa S. Brown, former Managing Editor of Giving USA, gave a keynote presentation on the findings. There were two key points to come out of the presentation:

1. Individual donors comprise the majority of giving to 501 (c)(3) s in the United States, somewhere close to 88% when you consider bequests and family foundations. Corporations only give around 5% and somewhere around half of this is in-kind donations.
2. Life events often help define a person's giving. This can be an inheritance, a disease, a tragedy, or other situations. Not-for-profits need to be there for potential donors to help them determine the best use of their money.

Government Reduction in Dollars Toughest Issue Facing Not-for-Profits

The toughest issue both panelists and attendees saw in the current scene and in the future is the drop in the availability of government funds. Throughout the presentation, numerous people reiterated that they did not think any one area could make up for this loss. It will take increases in many areas to bring monetary support back to where organizations need them to be. The need to look at possible partnerships and mergers was stressed by Charlene Ventura, President and CEO of the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati.

Social Enterprise One Promising Area of Increased Revenue for Organizations

Lee Carter, a panelist during the presentation and current Vice-Chair of the 2012 World Choir Games, mentioned that he thought not-for-profits should explore more seriously opportunities to sell what they do best and create a revenue stream apart from giving. This piqued some curiosity and an audience member asked a further question about how to do this. Rick Hulefeld, Executive Director of Children Inc., described how his organization had developed a niche market for research-based children's music which helps them create patterns of positive self-talk to increase chances of success later in life. They sell this music around the world.

At the same time, Hulefeld still insisted that individual donors are the key to successful fundraising.

Trend of Individual Giving Known, but Not Always Easy to Act On

Though the trend of individual giving is known, the event helped attendees who need evidence like this to take back to board members and use in strategic planning. As one executive director mentioned after the event, boards can often focus too much on immediate returns and forget the essential component of cultivating relationships with donors, real people with real interests that organizations must know and care about.

Comparison of iPhone Survey or Poll Applications - Which is the best?

I wanted to create a survey to allow program participants to fill out an evaluation. I wanted this survey to be available for the iPod touch (and also iPhone or iPad) as that is what the students involved will be using. There are quite a few options out there so I wanted to know which survey application was the best.

I still haven't made up my mind, but I did create a very rough guide comparing some of the features of the survey apps I found.

You can view the whole survey comparison chart on this Google Spreadsheet.

The chart is also embedded below.

Please add your thoughts and experiences to the comments. Thanks!