Look Into The Milk Your Family Drinks: It’s been a while since America was an agricultural society. For most people, dairy products just magically appear on store shelves. How can you tell if a dairy product is local? Or maybe you’re trying to save money. Most stores sell both generic and brand name products. They actually might come from the same place. How can you check? Look into Where Is My Milk From.Just enter the code found on any dairy carton. The site will tell you which dairy the product came from. Also, you can see the other products that dairy makes.http://whereismymilkfrom.com/

Getting Rid Of Deleted Information: To get rid of files you can delete or drag them to the Recycle Bin. Files deleted that way aren’t really gone. Their space on the hard drive is just freed up for more data. Until that space is overwritten, your deleted data can be retrieved. And it can be retrieved fairly easily. For delicate information, it needs to be securely erased. EraserDrop puts a special icon on your desktop. Drag files to it, and they’re automatically deleted and overwritten. You can even choose between multiple methods of erasure. Stronger methods take longer. But the files will truly be unrecoverable. EraserDrop can also be installed on a thumb drive. You can carry it around wherever you go. You can securely erase files on any PC.   Free  http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/eraserdrop_portable

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
678-343-6879 Direct

Tech Tips courtesy of Rick DeLuca at  http://www.RealEstateIdeaClub.com

You upload and retrieve files from its Website, but there is an easier way. SDExplorer lets you use SkyDrive like any other drive on your computer.  After installing SDExplorer, find it in My Computer (XP) or Computer (Vista and 7). It will appear as a drive alongside your regular drives. Double-click it to log into your SkyDrive account. You can then drag and drop files. There’s no need to open a browser. Free: Windows XP, Vista and 7    www.cloudstorageexplorer.com

Components Up Dates: Device drivers can be the most confusing culprits of problems on your computer. These allow your hardware components (printer, keyboard, etc.) to work with your computer. And they occasionally need updates. Some come through Windows Update. Some peripheral software regularly checks for updates. But for some, you’d never know when an update is needed. Device Doctor is a great solution. It scans your computer hardware and looks for available updates. You can download new drivers at the touch of a button. Free. Windows XP, Vista and 7   www.devicedoctor.com

Chose The Best Seat On Your Upcoming Flight: Many pay little attention to their seat choice. It’s usually about aisle versus window. However, there are a lot of other factors to consider. You can explore some of those factors at Seat Expert.  Simply enter your flight number or the plane type. You get a layout of all the seats on the plane. Click on a seat to get information the location. It might be in a high-traffic area. Or it might get too much light from the kitchen for sleeping. Choosing the right seat will make your flight a little more comfortable!  http://seatexpert.com/

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
678-343-6879 Direct

Tech Tips courtesy of Rick DeLuca at  http://www.RealEstateIdeaClub.com

Help With Newsletters: You don’t have to be a desktop publishing expert to impress your database. Even better, you can do it without software. All you need is your Web browser and a few photos to share. LetterPop is a new site that lets you create graphic newsletters in a short time. Just choose from several templates. There’s a mix of themes for personal or professional newsletters. Next, add your text. You can work with different fonts and add formatting, like headings and bulleted lists. Most templates provide space for photos. You can test drive LetterPop on its Web site. The demonstration includes a few templates and stock photos. A free membership is required to add your own photos and to access all the templates. http://www.letterpop.com/

Better Than Post Its’ Around Your Screen: Stickies is a powerful program. You can send notes without the aid of a separate e-mail program. You can also share notes directly through a network with others who have Stickies installed. When you do so, the notes will appear on the other computer’s screen. Recipients can edit the notes and post them back to your screen. You can opt to save logs of all sent and received notes automatically. Or, set notes as alarms, complete with sounds and visual cues. Stickies even supports Windows or Palm mobile devices. http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/

Trouble Shooting Your Computer: We have to do some troubleshooting from time to time. Maybe your DVD drive won’t read inserted discs. Or, the computer won’t send printing jobs to your printer. Microsoft’s Fix it Center automatically diagnoses and fixes many common problems. You can download individual tools for specific problems. Or, get them all in one package. Microsoft’s Fix it Center can sniff out the cause of most issues. It can find and remove conflicting startup programs and fix hard drive errors. It can adjust settings to provide optimal battery life. The package version will also anticipate Windows updates. This can help eliminate potential conflicts before they happen. Free   http://support.microsoft.com/fixit#tab0

Uninstalling Unwanted Programs: Windows lets you do it with a few mouse clicks. An uninstalled program rarely disappears. You’re often left with unnecessary files, folders and registry entries. These things just junk up your hard drive. Removing this stuff manually isn’t so simple. Revo Uninstaller can completely remove those unwanted programs. It will clean out all the stuff normally left behind. That saves you precious hard drive space. This program can also clean other areas of your computer. Permanently delete specific files and folders. Clean out Web tracks from your browser. You can even remove recent document history from Microsoft Office. (Revo Uninstaller comes in free and pay versions. Be sure to download the free version.) http://www.revouninstaller.com/

Great Reminder Notes: What do you write your reminder notes on? Do you use Post-it notes or scraps of paper? This program is a better way. It lets you use almost anything as a reminder note. Write text notes. Save and annotate photos. Record audio reminders. You can even clip portions of Web sites you want to remember. http://www.evernote.com/

A Compact Calendar on Your Desktop: Maybe you just want something you can check at a glance. This compact calendar sits right on your desktop. It includes a to-do and upcoming events lists. You don’t have to open a program or search for a document. Just look at your desktop to see what you should be doing.  http://www.rainlendar.net/cms/index.php?option=com_rny_download&Itemid=30

Maybe a More Powerful Calendar: Short notes and alarms are handy. But for serious scheduling, you need a more complex calendar program. Sunbird is a great option from the organization behind Firefox. You can schedule to-dos, tasks and appointments. Set up alarms and pop-up reminders. You can get an overview of everything you need to do. http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird/download.html

Find The Program A Little Easier: You probably have quite a collection of programs. But getting to them isn’t always easy. You don’t want your desktop covered in shortcuts. Start>>All Programs can be a ridiculously long list. Tidy Start Menu offers a better way. It lets you group programs into sensible categories. They are Office, Utilities, Games, Entertainment, Internet, Programming, Graphics, Security and Other. Then you click Start>>All Programs. That huge list is now just nine folders. Tidy Start Menu comes in free and Pro versions. You’ll have to pay for the Pro version. But the free version works just fine. http://www.tidystartmenu.com/index.shtml

Hope you find this helpful and if you need anything please give me a call or email me. I am here to help.

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson

Tips courtesy of Rick DeLuca and the Real Estate Idea Club. http://www.RealEstateIdeaClub.com

If you work from home and can walk to most of the places you want to go maybe you get rid of a car or use a bike to get around. It’s not for everyone but you just might enjoy it. Click here for the info and let me know if you have any questions. I am here to help and I am never too busy for any of your referrals.

Thanks,
Jerry Robertson
678-231-1578 Cell

Well, when we get ready to sell it is important to know what people are looking for. 50% choose the place based on access to work. 43% look at affordability. There is lots more to read so click here to get the report and check out the reasons for yourself.

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson

The song is ‘Our Town’. It comes from the ‘kid’s’ movie Cars. Maybe I am just getting old but the life it talks about appeals to me. Our Town is a place we build. It is hard work and maybe some long hours but in the end I think it is what we strive for. It is Community. We lack that these days but I think it might be making a come-back.

It is a place where we work together to help each other, build relationships and build a community that is worth all the work. It is a place where your word means something. It is a place where we grow, learn and teach. It is a place where children learn values like honesty, integrity, hope, forgiveness, grace and a bunch of others worth having.  I want that again and I am going to work for it.

This will be the start. I have something I want to share with you. It is a directory of businesses and people who do a great job and work to live by those values I just mentioned. One by one I have added people to this list. They are the people I send my clients, family and friends to when they need help.  It is not complete however. I need your help. If there is someone who you trust to do a great job then I need their name and phone number. Call me or email me and we’ll talk with them. See, I don’t really want this to be ‘my list’. I want it to be ‘our’ list. Our Town.

The website is www.OurTown.RealtyCaffeine.com if you want to go there. I have about 70 connections there right now ranging from a few places to eat to a handyman, plumber, painter and lots of others. I am looking forward to seeing this town grow into something we can all enjoy.

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson

1. We always want to ‘get ahead’. He probably got this from me but I want to be in the front of the pack. I want to be #1 at the stop light so I can get on my way without waiting for the ’stupid driver’ if front of me. (why is it that all the ’stupid drivers’ are in front of me anyway?)

2. When I am focused on getting ahead I sometimes do dumb things. Did you ever change lanes just to be in the front of the pack and almost cause an accident or just find out you were in the right lane to begin with? Changing lanes just to get ahead can be dangerous or can set you back unnecessarily. Focus on your destination and getting there in one piece and it works out better.

3. When I pull up to the next red light and look around I see the same people all the time so maybe I did not get ahead after all; it just felt like it so all I managed to do was confuse action and motion. Try this tomorrow on your way to work; pick out a car or two and see if they aren’t with you when you get to the red light. If you’re honest, I’ll bet you they are.

4. Even if I get ahead by risking life and limb will I use the saved time responsibly or would I just waste it somewhere else watching TV or gabbing at the water cooler or Facebook-ing anyway? Just sayin……

Here is the point; focus on your destination, stay in your lane unless something bad is happening that you can actually see and don’t watch what everyone else is doing. You will likely get where you are going safely and if you enjoy the ride on the way more you might enjoy the destination even more than you expected.

Life can be a ‘rat race’ or a ‘walk in the park’. You get to decide how you feel when you travel through this life and I hope you pick the right one.

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson

There are some numbers I want to share with you. You should have some concept of what $1 Million dollars looks like. I mean we have some idea of how much that is. If you had $1 Million dollars a day for 365 days that would be $365 Million dollars, right. Well, do that for 2731 years and you have $1 Trillion dollars. Did you get that? 2731 YEARS. That is about 700 years BEFORE CHRIST. I don’t know if that hurts or helps but it gave me a better perspective of what $1 Trillion dollars looks like.

That is the best case cost of our new and improved health care bill. Our deficit is about that much too just for 2009. I don’t think it matters how you feel about all those things. What matters is that you get some idea of how much money we are talking about. Think about it.

Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson