Miss Alpha

A Quest for the perfect pillow

2011-04-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

I have about 5 pillows and I feel very uncomfortable sleeping at night...been waking up with neck pain, and this contributes to my pillows all being very stiff (they are all poly pillows). Long ago I used to have a down pillow, and I loved it! However, I had allergies from my beloved down pillow ALL THE TIME, and had to take Claritin every freakin night before bedtime. And after they showed on TV all the bugs and strange creatures that live in down pillows, it had to go.
Thus, my frustrating search for the perfect pillow that will not be too stiff, nor too impossible to bend/shape, and hopefully one that is healthy for you.

1. Tempurpedic Pillow. It sucks. Er, I mean I give it 3 stars out of 5. I got it for Christmas for $50 at the mattress shop on the corner, and it looked very fancy. What I like about it: Tempurpedic feels way better than any of my Poly Pillows, so it's currently the only one I can sleep on. Poly Pillows don't deserve to be on the list at all, because they didn't earn any stars from me (ZERO for support, and negative points for being inflexible and horribly stiff). What I don't like about it: The shape is not helpful, it is just too stiff for my neck, and yet I don't feel "support" from it so I end up bending it and torturing it until we are both so tired of fighting that we fall asleep.

2. Z by Malouf 100% Natural Talalay Latex Zoned Pillow. It caught my eye because it's "green", but I didn't like all the holes in it. I have ordered it and patiently waiting to receive!

3. MY PILLOW. My Pillow looks great on the website - and it advertises what I am looking for, in a pillow - the moldability and softness. So I would put it on my hopeful "winner" list!

4. Organic Buckweed (Japanese) - So far, from reading about it, I am having concerns. That its going to be too stiff for me, and I HATE STIFF! If you like stiff, sleep on your arm! However it received tons of good reviews so...it's on the "low probability" winner list.

5 Westin hotel pillow. - You can buy on Nordstrom site, and they are quite pricey at 70 something bucks. - I am highly suspicious of this pillow, simply because it probably has poly, and that equals stiff and hurtful - and I am done with hurtful relationships in my life.

Soft, but supportive pillows, are you just a dream???

Bethenny Frankel's new Book - A PLACE OF YES

2011-04-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

While shopping at Target last Tuesday, I have put a few teeshirts back and decided to buy this interesting, and eye-catching book by Bettheny Frankel, the bitchy housewife of New York. It's called "A place of YES". I am re-reading it now for the second time, as the book is hilarious, but sometimes it makes you wanna cry. Her book is not so much about how you can "visualise yourself rich" or "the power of positive thinking" - instead it teaches to follow your gut and ACT quickly, how to live your dreams and be unafraid of failure. I had no idea, but Bethenny had this strange idea that she wanted to bake cookies without preservatives (a major selling point) and sell them. Apparently, selling cookies without preservatives was also a fatal flaw in her plan - honestly, I wouldn't care if they had preservatives or not, but apparently, this was a matter of principle.
SO...For many sleepless nights she spends working her ass off and slaving away in the kitchen, trying to lift off a failing business, and then she keeps going...and going...and going. Despite things going awry all the time. What DOES keep her going? Why doesn't she give up? (I would have given up after the first cookie crumbled) Where do you get so much strength?
Of course, she also has more successful ventures, and gets her life back in order, but that's not what gets me. Bethenny has this drive to "follow your truth" and never back down. I find that very inspirational. It reminded me of Davy Crockett, there's just this strength of character, the YES that comes from within, not outside. It's not a YES from the Universe. It's not a YES from your parents. It's not even a YES from your boyfriend.
Best to you in Happiness, Money, and Love and always say YES to be your best!

SIMS: MIDIEVAL IS HERE!!!!

2011-04-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

Sims: Midieval is finally here! My Sim, Queen Alpha, has hired an advisor (by using a pigeon to send off a hire letter), and started building barracks. Although she is suppose to be a very classy Queen, Alpha eats with her hands - I kid you not! When you start your game, you select your Sim's traits like in a regular Sims game - but this time, you are required to select one "flaw" of character. Alpha's is "CRUEL" - so she will slap people, and hurt them in more ways than one :)
Last week, Lady Alpha ventured off to the town's square and also went to market to buy a new sword and some food. Suddenly, a woman comes crying to her, that she has been bullied. Queen Alpha immediately arrests the offender. Then she decides to throw eggs in tomatoes at her, while bursting off in laughter:

Bullies in MY kingdom?! I shall not allow it!

Law of Attraction

2011-03-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Today, I will not be reviewing anything for the lack of time, but here's a note of inspiration. I just recently discovered the Law of Attraction after watching The Secret movie on my NETFLIX (thank you, Universe!) and today, I am posting a really cool, and short video about it on YouTube.

How to manage MONEY: make life easier! iPhone APPS that help.

2011-03-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Life. Easier than Auto Pay!

Having hard time tracking expenses like me? If you own iPhone or iTouch, there are APPS that can help you feel much more organized and better about finances. I downloaded 5 , no 6 highly rated apps on my iTouch, but mind you, there are far more to download and review :) So if you own/use one that you feel is better, feel free to email me your own review!

Criteria. First off, I am not easily swayed by UI that is b-e-a-u-tiful. I am looking for an app that is easy to use and does the job done.

~~1. PAGEONCE.~~
I removed Pageonce from my list, because it was not what I was looking for. It was very similar to Mint.com, where you have to be brave enough to enter your bank accounts, usernames, and passwords into corresponding graphs. Honestly, I don't even trust myself with that information.
On to the review. Can I finally be happy? Now, I will be able to track my daily spending and have the ability to backup/sinc with my computer.

Ace Budget. - 4,5 stars out of 63 ratings- Ace was very 1st app that I downloaded. In order to organize better, I needed to know, how much was my income, and how much did I have on my cards/bank accounts. So, just about an hour before posting this, I went to the bank. A scary moment for me, because I not only have a crazy amount of expenses, but also an unhealthy spending habit. PG&E bill is scheduled for 03/11 this month. AT&T charged me a whopping $112 for the 1st month, and will adjust to $30 per month starting next month. 03/15 is for T-Mobile. Its not on autopay, so I realize that I don't even know when is it due. (Apparently I am late, it was due on 3/15). And $200 for tutor. Not to mention gas for the car (about $20/3 days), bridge toll ($6/day), and food (God knows! I hadn't tracked this one, yet, but I know this is going to be a huge one).
Expensense. It was rated 5 stars, but only had 25 ratings. I was a little wary downloading something this new, because it might need to forego updates and minor tweaking/fixes - a common thing for new apps. From the "fairly new" budget apps, there was also Budgetcare and iMoneytracker, which only had 6 reviews, so I did well with Expensense. OK so Expensense is a beautiful software. To enter Recurring events though, you need to enter them separately, rather than just check a "recurring option", which to me is a waste of my time. What I liked: I liked a calendar view, which makes it very easy to see all my transactions. What I didn't like: Double work by having to enter recurring transactions separately. The verdict: 4.5 stars from me for easy use. Overall, the software accomplished what was intended, but didn't give me the sigh of relief after I was done with it.
Pocket Money - rated 4 stars, out of 92 - Using Quicken? One of it's highlights is that you can definitely export your qif files, so this app can replace QuickenPocket.
Lohas Money. Lohas is a very beautiful app, with a theme of wooden board and green leaves. If that doesn't make you think money, what does? Entering of the date didn't take me to a calendar view, but rather to "scroll" of the dates, which was fine. Entering expenses as well as reocurring expenses was easy as well, because my categories were already there! Since it's so comprehensive, I made a few mistakes: for example I entered my bills into "Expenses", not realizing there was an option - that's right, I entered my bills under "recurring expenses", LOL. Unlike Nexus, who has + and - categories, Lohas gave me Expense, Income, Budget, Bill, and Account categories. So I deleted my "expenses" and entered Bills - they are not set to be automatically recurring, you need to go to Bill Date and check "recurring" - as well as you can set them as "Paid" or "Unpaid". Lohas money makes it easier to select Paid by simply giving you an option to check from the calendar view. Is Rent a bill or expense? Hmm. That is confusing. After pondering about it, I saw no reason for the category Bills, as Bills ARE a type of Expense, so I decided to enter ALL expenses into Expenses category, including my bills. Then there's an Export option, which was great for backing up my data - in case if I ever lost my iTouch. Verdict: 4 stars from me. A little confusing, but definitely a pretty app.
Nexus Money. Nexus is a very easy expense tracking program, but it is lacking input for bank account and credit cards. Basically, each day you type whether you earned or spent money and the amount - For expense, just click on minus sign (-) and for income, it's a plus (+). Your balance will be seen on top at all times. What I liked: Easy Input, slide finger forward or backward to various dates, calendar view, easy view of the balance. What I didn't like: We can't talk about budgeting if I can't input a total from my bank. The verdict: 3 stars - will be deleting this one. It is way too simple and not comprehensive enough for my needs
Money by iBear. Besides the fact that it took it awhile to load, iBear was really, really nice. To set up a recurring expense, just go to Planned and select a date. If you are on Autopay, there's an option "Automatic" you can select! That's great! You can assign various Icons for ease of use, which was fun. iBear however didn't have a Due Date to pay off my Credit Card. You can Sinc with computer, which I really wanted. Also, I didn't like that with your expenses, you need to make sure to check Paid option which is not very obvious - its in the second paragraph under the Amount tab. Lohas money makes it easier to select Paid by simply giving you an option to check from the calendar menu (only found under Bills). What I liked: Very straight forward, liked that Expenses were automatically set to be recurring once a month, Didn't like that they were automatically set on "Unpaid" and there's no way to make it "paid" right away unless you are on Automatic Pay. Even with Income, I still have to go back and check "Paid" option, which is a pain. The Verdict: 5 stars, the learning curve wasn't too steep, the app offered everything I wanted, so I am going to stick with this one :) There's also an emotional satisfaction from using it.

Conclusion: I really enjoyed my journey, and playing around with apps has made me less afraid(or should I say, completely UNAFRAID, of my finances). Before, I was so overwhelmed with my bills, that it make me think they were much more than they actually are! I am now much happier, knowing that my bills were not as scary as they seemed, and that managing my money has become much easier and fun. TRY IT!!!

VIrtual Worlds and what they are all about

2011-03-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

My Sim, who is a cook, just came home from work and is checking her email.

Hey there. Last time I talked about different Blog platforms, out of which I liked Blogger and Tumblr the most. SquareSpace was also one of my faves, but it was a paid platform, so it lost out in the competition. I believe for $8/a month, you should be able to get "content", such as powerful graphics and videos, not just a platform - but that's just my humble opinion!

Moving on to today's topic, Virtual Worlds.

I don't know about you, but there's something captivating about being enthralled into a virtual space of wealth, beauty, and wishes-come-true. I have discovered 5 that are out there, my favorite being Sims 3. They are:
1.SIMS 3. It costs anywhere from $30-$60 and there's XBox and PC versions available for immediate download. I have both.
You might know Sims from downloading it on your iPhone/iTouch, but Sims are quite a journey! It's not fast paced, the world of Sims is whatever you create or whatever your alter ego desires to be. You can create a family/household, get married, have kids, and even have them grow up right away. You can have unlimited wealth. You can travel the world. You can learn "skills", such as cooking, fishing, and more. You can encounter death, Grim Reaper, vampires and ghosts. And, with "Medieval" version almost here, (you can pre-order it and get a free "Stuff's pack"), it's a make-me-happy game! One factor you should be aware of though, is Sims is not a social platform, so you don't get to meet "real" people - which makes it fairly safe for your kids to play!
2.SECOND LIFE. Oh.My.Gosh.
If Second Life didn't crash on my brand new touch screen computer, I would have loved it to death. First of all "think possibilities". Second Life IS a social platform, and REAL money takes place here(you buy the "second life money" for real money) - allowing you to buy a house, furniture, clothes, and much more. In contrast, Sims has a cheat code which allows you to have an "unlimited" supply of money! Well, money aside, Second Life is a HUGE world, largely contributed by it's users. You can walk, run, and fly. You can choose to play a virtual game or run an actual business. It seems very complicated, but very rewarding, so I highly recommend it!
3.World of Warcraft. You can get a free 10 day trial. First off, WOW doesn't run well on my 23" monitor, filling only 2/3 of my screen, so I didn't get to play around too much with it, but the graphics were definitely mind-blowing. The feeling is that of being in the movie - there's purpose, it seems out of this world, it is social role playing so you get to interact with other players (which maybe a good or a bad thing, esp if you have kids). Overall though, if you like Virtual Worlds, WOW will wow you and then some.
4.IMVU. Graphics are great but really teenager-like, so perhaps that's the intended audience for this virtual game. I felt a little confused about "what to do", and the game kept prompting me to buy virtual money. Perhaps if I did get the virtual money the game would be more fullfilling, but it wasn't for me. I got the basic house, and then invited someone to my "house". A person has changed his clothes right in front of me(no nuditiy, just put on a completely different style in one second) and just stood there, staring at my very bare chest (the game didn't give me ONE shirt that would cover "my big assets" up!). "Hi" - he said. I didn't respond. It was getting awkward, and I decided to give the visitor an "evil" facial expression. The stranger got the clue and disappeared.
5.Kaneva. Kaneva is very akin to second life, but with much less powerful graphics, so after seeing the "prettyness" of the other programs, Kaneva really missed out. It is a Social platform, though.

How about you, what platform do you enjoy the most and why? Why do Virtual Worlds inspire and take out our time in the real world - sometimes, and hour and sometimes, hours on end? There's no monetary reward, and with almost ALL platforms there's a learning curve and need to be "IN" the world, to get to know it.

Blogging

2011-03-10T12:55:00.000-08:00

Life. There's ALWAYS a choice

I decided to choose the right Blogging platform for me. I will post my initial impression and will follow up in a bit. So according to Lifehacker site, the 5 best platforms are:

Blogger. Web/Free. My site on Blogger. I opened a Blogger and right away, had problems with it, because I couldn't login for some reason(Maybe it's because I don't have a gmail account). After I "reset password" I proceeded to get into the "dashboard", and there was a big collection of blog templates (none of which I liked nonetheless). The basic templates were not very professional looking, even after I looked into "Business" backgrounds, I felt they were too busy, and the business templates from the previous versions of Blogger were gone. For some reason, the themes appear to be made to "look cute", and I don't want be cute. So I chose a plain, but seriously ugly one, with the black background - here you can see my non-cute Blogger web child in action! (There will be Adult Content warning before you enter the site, which I like). But don't let the initial ugliness scare you away. Editor in Blogger really rocks! To insert link, just click "Link" and the link magically appears. My text autosaves every few minutes, so I am not afraid to lose my text due to power loss, for example. Insert "Jump Break" - I am guessing it's a "Read More" break. Neat! Overall, there's TONS of options in Blogger. So much to think about! I turn Comment Moderation on, to avoid spam, and I set Adult Content to On. (Who knows, I am an Adult after all). Let the bloggings begin.
Tumblr Web/Free. My site on Tumblr. One word: easy! I didn't feel lost, because the site kept taking me through steps of signup very quickly! I didn't see the templates yet, but the ones I was offered were paid content, so I opted out. The site looks clean and professional, so I continue on. OK, so one thing I am not sure with Tumblr is whether or not the text autosaves, similar to Blogger posts. I have just typed quite a bit of text, and I am starting to worry that all might be lost. So I quickly take precaution and save into text editor. Link has to be manually entered, and editor prompts me that HTTP will be added. "Read More" break is nice. Inserting Images - you need a URL, or go to Dashboard and click on Image or Video icons at the top menu.
Wordpress. Web/Free. My site on Wordpress. After I've signed up, I really needed to figure this site out! I think it's the least "intuitive" of the three I've tried so far - but it doesn't stop me. The default theme I was given looks good enough, but I see that there is a WEALTH of themes that are free, however I can't figure out how to activate them. There's no ACTIVATE or PICK button. Then I realize that I needed to login again! I am taken to "Dashboard" and here, options abound beyond belief. I realize that I am not in Kanzas anymore. People at Wordpress don't joke around! Just going to settings and my head begins to spin. First of all, the Stats for your site, is a mind blowing feature that I really like. You can post via email, or even text message. I finally get to Comment moderation, as I like to have as much control over my content as I can. Finally I make my very first post! It wasn't easy, but I did it. And if I could do it, so can you!
Squarespace. Web/$8 a month. My Site on Squarespace There's an option to Try for Free, so I'm doing just that! Signup was a breeze, but I am given just 4 templates to choose from. To say I am disappointed, after visiting Wordpress site, is an understatement. But I am going along with it, because it's easy to use. I enable several Widgets for tag clouds, Search, and Journal by Month, - you must remember to click the Enable button or they won't work. I then switch to Post Moderation mode. It's really quick, there's Autosave, word count, and great Editor in place. I can't figure out where exactly do I type in Tags, but apparently you just double click black space above Tags, and type. I haven't yet configured Comment Moderation, and I can't figure out yet, how to remove "Entries by, your name here" text right below my header. Overall, I like Squarespace, but $8? There must be something I am to discover, yet.
Posterous. Web/Free. My Site on Posterous. Posterous is very quick and it's also very stylish. OK, so after I sign up I see a Manage page, and I feel lost. What now? LOL. Just stay calm! Clicking on Posterous green tab does the trick. "Theming" is very scarce, and themes very much remind me ones I've seen in Blogger(my least favorite part of the Blogger). After fooling around with Posterous for a bit, I see that it's very straightforward, and I was able to set Comment moderation with ease. I however discovered a bug at Posterous, and that is when I click on Post at the top of the page(instead of going thru Manage page, which is Posterous' version of Dashboard), I get Outlook Setup window pop up on me!!! This was strange. Generally, I never click anything at the top - always use horisontal menus, and that keeps me out of trouble with Posterous. I was impressed how quickly I could insert tags, and insert Media through the menu/frame on the right.
Livejournal. Lifehacker didn't mention this site, but I decided to post Livejournal here as well. My Site on LJ. Livejournal is both Free or Paid (just $20/year). I get to try out for free for 20 days - so I sign up. There are many tabs, so I "explore" as LJ feels like it is community oriented. More to follow.