BZ:

My Favorite Places on the Web
	Yahoo! Do you Yahoo!? I’ve pretty much stuck with Yahoo! ever since I started exploring the World Wide Web years ago. I signed up for my “XSarenkaX” account on 10/11/98 when the world of Yahoo! opened up to me. Since then I’ve made use of many of Yahoo!’s free features, including email, chatting & instant messaging, online games, online photo albums, and even found my now-husband using their personals. I am impressed with the progress this free online service has made across all of its featured areas since I joined. However, I am disappointed that Yahoo!, like many other folks, overlook the necessity to stay Mac-compatible. Sadly, the majority of its customers probably use “Winblows” and therefore focus on making those people happy. Here’s my Yahoo! profile. You can see my photo, check if I’m online, and get to know a little more about me. www.yahoo.com
	The halfbakery As found in the halfbakery’s help section, here is a brief description of the site: “The halfbakery is a communal database of invention and speculation. Its users can publish ideas and add links and commentary to other people's ideas.” Basically, it’s a place where members can read each others’ serious or not-so-serious inventions and ideas, vote for or against them, and post comments on the ideas (or whatever else is being discussed at the time). It’s become a convenient outlet for sharing my ideas with the world, and gaining commentary on them, without really having to do much else about it. I’ve posted a number of ideas of my own. Check them out on my profile page. Most people seem to stumble into the ‘bakery (or the HB, as members sometimes call it) serendipitously, while researching some topic on the Internet. I can only speculate on how long the initial confusion must last while serious “Googlers” click in and begin to absorb the (quite possibly, very) novel mention of the topic they were researching. After diving in, many fail to remember whatever it was that brought them to the halfbakery in the first place. Be warned, the little HB community can become addictive. There is usually an air of whimsy on each page, but “trolling” is very much condemned. It takes just the right kind of personality to fit in, so please lurk around for a few weeks before posting anything, to get a better sense of what sort of stuff is tolerated and encouraged. I would also advise a thorough reading of the help section before posting. Happy baking! www.halfbakery.com
	Epinions This site is another great outlet for me and my overactive brain, and my desire to share the contents of my mind with the public. Here, members can choose from any of the many, many categorized products and services available and share their experiences with others. Members can also rate each other’s reviews to indicate how helpful they might be to others. It’s a great resource for previewing possible future purchases, even if you aren't a member. I have written a fair number of product reviews here since joining back on 1/3/01. I’ve also learned that one of the keys to writing very helpful reviews is to include as much detailed, factual information as possible. You may be a bit flabbergasted when you take your first peek at the length of one of my more recent reviews. There is some elaborate computation used with the monetary reward system that is currently being used to pay members for their more helpful reviews. The pennies earned can add up if you stay interested and keep writing good reviews. I’ve gotten about $20 since joining so far. More importantly, though, over 10,000 people have visited my reviews. That kinda makes me feel good. Check out my Epinions.com profile and my reviews. www.epinions.com
	Ebates This is a cool shopping portal where you can earn back some money while shopping at any of their stores. Each store listed has its own deal, but many will pay back a small percentage of your total purchase price. The “ebate” is deposited into your Ebates.com account about a day after completing an online purchse through their portal. There is a surprisingly large selection of stores and they are nicely categorized as well. You can even add certain favorite stores to a list in your account. There is a search engine for finding products offered at each store, but I’ve had trouble with getting good results with it. I tend to do my product research elsewhere (Epinions.com or otherwise), find the best pricing, then check Ebates.com to see if the store is listed. If it is, I shop through Ebates.com and earn my few cents there. Once your account goes up to $5, they will send you a check to cash. www.ebates.com
	Dane Cook Dane Cook is a funny guy. (Yes, ha-ha funny!) I saw him on a special on Comedy Central one day and made damned sure I remembered that name. I bought the first release version of his comedy CD “Harmful if Swallowed” off his site. I found it to be very entertaining. You can hear samples from the tracks here, too, and find out all kinds of stuff. It’s a very informative site if you’re interested in Dane’s world or getting any merchandise, like his CD, short film DVD, T-shirts, or autographed pictures. Check him out! www.DaneCook.com
	"Weird Al" Yankovic Everybody knows Weird Al’s music. Somehow I’d gotten behind in his work over the years since the fabulous 80’s, but luckily, Don is a huge fan and owns just about every album he’s ever put out. Thanks to Don, you may hear Weird Al tunes coming from my car if you encounter me on the street…that is, if you can hear it over my singing along. Al doesn’t make it easy to sing along, either. Most songs cram a ton of lyrics into a small amount of time. I learned the words to “Your Horoscope For Today” (off Running with Scissors) and, Man, there is a huge single-breath tongue-twister in the middle of the song that is quite a challenge to do right. I will have to seek this one out for karaoke one of these days… There is a plethora of information found at his official website. He’s quite the interesting guy. www.weirdal.com
	MAGNUM: Migraine Awareness Group: A National Understanding for Migraineurs Although this acronym may remind you of condoms or something like that, this site has nothing to do with that kinda stuff. I am one of the many folks who chronically get migraine auras. My auras are sometimes followed by migraine headaches, which can get severe. My auras are usually visual, causing me to have difficulty seeing. I experience an apparent shimmering blind spot which usually arcs out either to the left or right of my field of vision, expanding slowly over 30-60 minutes until leaving my field of vision entirely. Your first experience of an aura can be scary, if you don't know what it is. For a more detailed description of my visual auras, please visit my halfbaked idea to share the experience via animated computer graphics. I found the MAGNUM web site to be pretty informative with regard to defining migraines and the various types, describing symptoms, and explaining the various treatments available. I even made a PayPal donation via the web site. Chances are that someone you know chronically suffers from some form of migraines. Learn more about migraines and what you should or should not do to help. If you suffer from them yourself and wish you could post something at your workplace that could objectively and briefly explain what you go through to non-migraineurs, print this Public Migraine Post out for yourself. It’s easy for others to speculate as to what someone is going through, and rather than announce it in person to everyone, I created the posting to keep people from calling my cubicle a “bat cave” and making other careless remarks. (Fluorescent lighting in offices is a common trigger. I had most of the bulbs above my cubicle removed.) www.migraines.org
	NPCA - National Parks Conservation Association The National Parks Conservation Association is a fine organization that has taken upon itself the honorable mission to preserve and protect our National Parks and all of the wildlife that depends on the parks' protection. Although I've only actually visited a small handful of our national parks, I am a member of the NPCA myself and gladly make donations to the NPCA from time to time. Between donations, I also voice my opinions on various current issues affecting our parks via the NPCA's online Action Alerts page. I invite you now to take a moment to view this page and click on any issue listed (with brief description below) that concerns you. Template letters (you can edit the letter with your own wording if you like) addressed to the relevant lawmakers for each issue are all pre-programmed and ready in a click. Simply enter your name and address (or just sign in if you have an account) and about a minute later, you will have the satisfactory feeling of knowing that you’ve done a noble and responsible thing. Write on as many issues as you want. On behalf of the NPCA and future generations of park visitors, I thank you for your support. www.npca.org