Teaching An Old Dog A New Trick: Making Money Online

A few weeks ago, a good friend turned me on (or more accurately returned me on) to an internet concept that I had initially ignored for probably a couple of months or years.

The concept was so different when I first heard it that I could not see any real value in doing it.  I could not understand why somebody would pay for the service as well.

The missing link was actually observation since both reading and hearing about it did not increase my understanding at all.

But once I saw the simple steps involved and got myself into the daily habit of making the right moves, there is no turning back;)

The process is so simple that I now have been keeping it as one of the first things that I do whenever I get on the internet daily.

The fallacy of thinking that I know it all was probably picked up when I started working at AT&T in 1990 and everyone can see where such thinking has gotten them (acquired by a former regional Baby Bell--SBC who then assumed the AT&T company name as its own).

But one thing that I have gotten sharper at with additional age is knowing when to turn around.

So as a result, pride gets shown the door very often.  I am still a work in progress though.

In the meantime, if you would like to see and learn how others are making money online without buying the kits, without the meetings, and just earning money then click on the link below and get some cash in your pocket for yourself:

http://www.wysiwysell.com

Peace!

Notified of Data Theft That Included My Personal Information

Yesterday (Wednesday, January 25th) I received a letter from AmeriPrise (formerly American Express Financial Advisers (AEFA)) that my personal information was included on a laptop stolen from an employee in December.

I was a financial adviser in 2004 before the company was divested by American Express and my noncompete agreement ended in mid-December 2005.

AmeriPrise is offering a free year of credit monitoring and the story is making worldwide news today.

So I now I know that the situation is worse than anticipated.

One piece of news given between the lines on Yahoo! is :

Ameriprise said it has alerted 68,000 current and former financial advisers whose names and

Social Security numbers were also stored on the same computer. About 158,000 clients had only their names and internal account numbers exposed. The company says it has more than 2 million customers and about 10,500 current financial advisers.

This means that there are 57,500 former financial advisers whose information was stolen.  The AEFA attrition rate is deplorable and I knew weeks before leaving AEFA that it would be put up for sale or on the chopping block altogether.

But Yahoo! did not include the same news that Reuters is reporting that the only reason that the information was contained on the laptop in the first place is that the clients were transferred to new financial advisers when the former financial advisers left the company.

This is clearly a case of reaping what you sow for AmeriPrise.  First you lose the brand of American Express, the logo, the ability to contact card-carrying AMEX customers, and now you further alienate the customers whose trust was gained by the former advisers by monitoring them and/or the former financial advisers to see if any non compete agreements were violated.

There was no commitment to both the financial adviser and/or the niche markets that have gone traditionally under served in my opinion.  Even home office personnel responsible or that should have known if such resources were available did not have a clue.

When I left the company after receiving some supposed advice that was either unethical or possibly illegal (since it clearly violated any company's implied or expressed code of conduct) I knew that if it was the best advice that could be offered, then my ladder was clearly leaning against the wrong building.

The end result would be the same regardless of the choice made so I chose to leave versus being forced out otherwise.

I now have to make the telephone call to former clients whose phone numbers I may have (to rediscover or relocate) to apologize for putting them in a situation that I never imagined.

The worst part of the handwriting on the wall was that the company expressed that it owned the relationships with the client above all when flesh and blood had established the relationships in the first place .  This is the reason that I did not or could not contact anyone while the non compete agreement was in effect.

I did not want to take the risk of making such a jealous company angry.

Now that the cat is officially out of the bag for worldwide viewing, my loyalty is completely disintegrated.

The moral of this story is to more heavily screen companies that you work for since they are already screening you.

2006 Breakthroughs

2006 has started off with an unexpected series of deaths of friends' loved ones.  As a result, I have not been as consistent in creating new entries as I was in 2005.

But clearly I feel the need to be there within each situation and as a result, there have been a release of both blessings, breakthroughs, and a deepening of relationships with people that I have known for decades and with people that I have just met within the past couple of months.

I thank God for the opportunities that have been presented to me and my first focus has been to reduce the pain and provide comforting words as much as possible.  Just being there does more than words can express.  I know because I have been there myself.

Already I have been continuing to write songs and produce music.  With the recent hard drive space increase within our primary computer system, I have been starting to use Cakewalk again after getting away from it due to the hd space limitations.  The return to active music production has been fun.

Maybe it has not been a return, but more of an aggressive push to release more music to the world.

Another great tool that I have been exposed will become a part of our household and efforts as well within Apple's GarageBand program and an Apple Mac Mini itself.  Crossing this bridge will be relatively easy since Apple's Macintosh applications are much easier than anything within Windows.

So 2006 is going to be a very musical year.

Get ready and if you hear any noise, it's just me and the boys gettin' down, gettin' loose, and gettin' funky in praise of my personal Lord and Savior Christ Jesus with no brakes and no restraints.

Fishnets are being created and would you like to dance?

You can stay up to date on my musical progress at:

http://www.myspace.com/seedoflife

88 Drums of spiritual warfare shall be released indeed.

Peace!

Instant Wishlist Item: USB Turntable

I just saw the coolest device imaginable for those of us who still have a vinyl collection of records that are still enjoyable.

ION has the iTTUSB and finally there will be an easy way to digitize vinyl records.  It is available for both the PC and Mac.

The turntable is supposedly available in multiple major stores both offline and online.  I did not see any pricing information though and if it is available for less than $150 and actually closer to being under $100, then it will be a no-brainer decision to buy one.

But I cannot immediately imagine anyone buying one who does not have a vinyl collection though.  There are many 12-inch singles from house, techno, and dance artists, but otherwise it might be overkill.

The ability to import the sound straight through the USB port has really caught my eye most of all even though I have the necessary cables to connect a turntable otherwise.  I really hope that this product is USB powered as well.

This turntable also has line level output for connecting to any home stereo with CD or auxiliary (AUX) inputs, so I now slightly find it hard to believe if it can be completely powered by the USB port.

Regardless the concept of an USB turntable is very cool for music lovers in a new year.  I might have to break out my old gold DJ name and take it out of storage.

The DJ name that I have used most while in high school and as a bedroom DJ was "Chocolate Marshmallow".  I laugh to think about it now:)

But I might use a fraternity nickname used in college which still sounds slightly better is Charter Polemarch Ice.  Both are still hilarious though:D)

Hard Drive Space Just Added Again

I have been fighting a losing battle to keep enough HD space for the past several years and no matter when I would upgrade or add more space, more space would be needed.

I just added another HD drive to replace my main master drive and the company that I bought it from transferred the data to the new drive at no charge.  While the upgrade was being considered, I added a DVD with burning capability since I have never had the capability to burn CDs or DVDs consistently.

I hope to burn a lot of our photos to DVDs and CDs as well as share them with family members.

When I turned our computer on after the upgrade, it was as if no changes were visible other than seeing the huge increase in HD space.

I was already keeping precious data on an external drive like yourself and now have at least 120 GB free.

When will it ever end?

Regardless, I know now that I will be adding a Mac Mini to our arsenal very soon and will try to add another computer at least every 6 months to a year versus holding on to dying technology (all manmade items are decaying or dying as soon as they are purchased) for at least 3 years as was done in this case.

Hopefully with a network available, the value of one computer will not place us into a sink or swim or feast or famine situation ever again.

The IBM ThinkPad that I bought several years ago has enough Purple Hearts to go down in computing history since it was bought in 2001 or 2002 (which is light years ago in computing time).

So my technology lifestyle and adventures continue;)

This photo best represents how I feel about 2006

Vavavoum
Originally uploaded by Hermosdef.

If a photo can represent 1000 words, then this photo tells the story how I feel about experiencing 2006 and leaving 2005 in the history books;)

The photo comes from one of my contacts on Flickr named Hermosdef @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/hermann-deza, so check out his other photos and you will be amazed at his UK flavor!

Peace!

Gospel Hip Hop Online Radio Stations

I have a collection of Gospel Hip Hop songs discovered on SoundClick that I will continuously add more songs as they are discovered:

lo bandwidth:

http://www.soundclick.com/player/stations_player.cfm?q=lo&folderID=282133&ref=7

high bandwidth:

http://www.soundclick.com/player/stations_player.cfm?q=hi&folderID=282133&ref=7

Peace!

Controversies Aside, NBC's "The Book of Daniel" Is Just a Bad Show

Last night I saw a portion of the new NBC television program "The Book of Daniel" and saw the handwriting is already on the wall for the show.  It will need a miracle to survive its first season.

Recent news about the show being controversial and causing an uproar among the believers around the world clearly raised the level of awareness that I had about the show.  As the saying goes, "There is no such thing as bad publicity" and getting the attention of people cannot be considered the home base for scoring successes.

The show is not on the level of FX's Nip / Tuck and although it may try, I doubt that viewers will drool over the letterbox format that should bring a sense of drama to the program.

The priest named Daniel has a son named Peter, a daughter named Grace, and an adopted Asian son named Adam.  Within the portion that I saw, Daniel's wife is an alcoholic, Peter is gay, Grace was selling drugs to buy computer equipment to produce Manga (a Japanese animated art form), and Adam gets around with the ladies like a modern-day Casanova.

The show seems like people threw possible situations for characters into a hat and what was pulled from the hat was given to third string writers to create a script.

The show cannot be possibly compared to 7th Heaven which appeared on the WB network even during a flashback episode.

The hour that the show has received thus far should be reserved for something more entertaining, educational, or placeholder technical difficulty visual.

This is just how bad the show itself (and not just the one episode) is.   Viewers would rather see a version of MTV and VH1's "The Surreal Life" with deceased celebrities thrown together via old footage only.

Chicago SunTimes: Dorsey's music likely destroyed

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-pilg07.html

Dorsey's music likely destroyed

More than memories were lost in the blaze that destroyed Chicago's Pilgrim Baptist Church -- the birthplace of gospel music.

During his four-year tenure as Pilgrim's pastor, the Rev. Hycel B. Taylor, who left the pastorate about seven months ago, worked with students from the Illinois Institute of Technology to catalog and store sheet music belonging to Thomas A. Dorsey, the church's longtime musical director better known as "the godfather of gospel music," he said.

"I had boxed all his music to preserve it," Taylor said Friday, adding that he believes the music was in the church at the time of the fire.

"That's a great loss."

Before his death in 1993 at the age of 93, Dorsey wrote more than 400 gospel songs. His most famous, penned in 1932 after the death of his wife and infant son, is gospel music's unofficial anthem: "Precious Lord, Take My Hand."

"Through the storm, through the night/Lead me on to the light/Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home. . . ."

Cathleen Falsani

Watch Night 2005-2006 Sermon: Every Seed Needs Water!

Here is the link to immediately listen to or download (for later listening) the sermon that I delivered last night (December 31, 2005) to usher in the new year 2006 entitled "Every Seed Needs Water".

The sermon was delivered at Bethesda Baptist Church in Austell, GA which is led by Pastor Charles Goodman.

The length of the MP3 file is 18:26.

It is my hope and prayer that the message blesses you, your household, and establishes a theme for the blessings and empowerment that you shall experience throughout 2006 and beyond according to the will of God.

Peace and Happy New Year in the name of Christ Jesus!

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XM Radio and Wireless FM: Don't Leave Home Without It

I thank God that we arrived back in Atlanta safely about an hour ago (3 p.m. local time).

The ride back exposed the best way to use XM Radio and the preferred method is through the built in wireless FM signal.

The Roady XT unit auto detected when the audio cable to the cassette adapter was disconnected and several new menu options became available as a result.

You can actually determine which FM frequency that the signal will be heard on.

Earlier I thought that we had taken the manual on our trip and I will verify more details later, but if a conflicting signal is taking place on the selected FM frequency, the word ANTENNA will appear on the XM unit. 

After totally becoming disgusted again with the cassette adapter this morning, we were between Latta, SC and Atlanta, GA when we first disconnected the audio cable.

Then periodically throughout the ride, we had to keep changing the FM frequency to an open frequency or one with less frequency bleeding, but this was far more digestible than having the cassette adapter continually rejected by the casette player.

There were still areas and patches of highway where there was no signal and heavy, thick lines of trees on the southern side of the interstate highway sometimes seem to block the satellite signal, but overall it was a more pleasurable experience than the initial trip to SC on Christmas Day.

I also have a wireless FM adapter for our iPod that does not work as well as the one built into the XM unit.

It still seems as if the metropolitan areas have signal repeaters or some type of signal enhancers that allow the XM signal to attain a stronger signal strength than the rural areas.  Another potential downside for the rural areas is that areas where there were numerous cellular towers visible, the signal strength was also weakened.

There was an option available within the menu settings that allowed you to change the FM signal strength as well.

Now that the travel is behind us for a while, I will finally get the chance to read the manual and see what other features and benefits are available that we have not yet discovered through trial and error.

The only way I will seek to use the XM unit from now on is through the wireless FM capability.  Otherwise, I would rather endure commercials on a local FM station or seek some other information and entertainment while driving than attempt to use the cassette adapter ever again.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Reuters: Men want facts, women seek relations on Web - survey

Reuters is reporting about the differences within internet usage among the sexes and it is a very interesting article.

The article states "men are heavier consumers of news, stocks, sports and pornography while more women look for health and religious guidance" and the survey was done by the very reliable Pew Internet & American Life Project.

There are a wide variety of interesting differences within the survey, so be sure to check it out for yourself.

"Once you get past the commonalities, men tend to be attracted to online activities that are far more action-oriented, while women tend to value things involving relationships or human connections," said Deborah Fallows, a research fellow at Pew and author of the report.

So with this information in mind, it should be too difficult to change and adjust any website to cater to a particular audience.

One of the Most Memorable Christmas Ever and Traveling with XM Radio

This Christmas has been a very peaceful one within our household even though we have traveled away from our home in Atlanta to Latta, SC on Christmas Day.

 

Seeing family has been great and the food has been terrific as well.

 

I personally have not done much driving other than the trip to SC and I have one observation about automobile manufacturers from our new experience with XM Radio.

 

I wonder when will the various car makers start putting a line in jack into the automobile's stereo system?  XM Radio uses both a wireless FM signal as well as a cassette adapter.  Other companies that make entertainment hardware also make available the cassette adapters and I personally hate them.

 

The cassette kept popping out during our trip to SC as if it was being rejected like a body or tissue transplant.  I know that the line in jack would not be difficult at all other than if there was some resistance by a lobbying power or organized group like the RIAA.

 

But having a line in jack would make using portable devices not originally made within the car much easier to use.

 

In using the XM Radio, it seems that either the car has to be up and running for some time in order for the cassette adapter to be readily accepted for playing the signal.

 

I originally did not read the manual and had most of the antenna line inside the car on the ride Christmas Day until we reached a rest area in SC.  After using the magnetic tip of the antenna line outside of our car, the signal was picked up more consistently.  Before then, whenever the road's terrain had us going down into a valley or lower elevation, the signal would fade to zero strength.

 

Hopefully, our trip back to Atlanta tomorrow will be a much more pleasurable one with XM Radio.  Otherwise, I am strongly considering ending the service after the 6 month commitment ends.

 

But when it does work on the open road, it is much easier to listen to terrestial radio stations and we do not have to channel surf as hard.  Having preset buttons that work no matter where you are located is very cool too.

 

So there is a silver lining within using satellite radio no matter what the short term difficulties may be.

 

Peace!

 

 

NSA eavesdropping wider than W.House admitted-NYT

Reuters has reported that the amount of NSA eavesdropping exceeds what the White House has admitted according to the New York Times.

The bigger revelation that will come from all of this is the amount of digital observation that crosses the line of protecting Americans from terrorism.

Once this cat gets out of the bag, the race for the exit within Congress and the White House support staff is going to be of Olympic proportions.

But everyone that normally uses the internet typically understands that there is a degree of Big Brother that has been possible for over 20 years due to the amount of hacking that gets reported from time to time.

I guess that the new reports just indicate that the federal government has gotten into the act as well in terms of getting some headlines.  The activity has always been there and still represents the tip of the iceberg.

Poker on College Campuses

USA Today recently reported about how the game of poker has invaded college campuses on its way to become a mainstream phenomenon.

Last year while working for a financial services company, I was shocked to see how deep young recent college graduates who were mostly male were into gambling overall.  If their clients only knew how much they gambled, then they would not stay in business for long.  It will probably catch up with most of them over time anyway.

A lot of the risk taking at that age can be attributed to the feelings of invincibility that most males have who are 20 to 34 years old.  There may be some degree of immaturity but after achieving a significant milestone as graduating from college, there is little room for other causes.  Graduating from college makes one feel that you are ready to take on the world and other worlds all at once.

I was recently wondering if I had lost something from my youth and I could not quite tell what it was.  Now I realize that having the non compete agreement expire has rejuvenated me more than I previously thought that it would.  Under normal circumstances, there are more than enough achievements I can point to that others would risk life and limb to be able to have appear on their records.  But throughout 2005, living up to my full potential did not seem to happen as I would have preferred.

It does not take a lot of matches to burn down a house or anything fire will consume.  Just the proper placement of the ignited catalyst and enough fuel will cause the most driest environment to go up in flames.

This relates to the 20 to 34 years old group in the extent that the 18 and 19 year olds are just gaining enough confidence to master their new environments (college and recognized adulthood for those not attending college) after graduating from high school.  Now that a new level of confidence has been attained on the new level, new experimentation is likely to happen.

But the internet is an accomplice as well since it can mask visual cues and age as well as other physical characteristics.

I just hope that the various state governments and the federal branches are equipped for the reckless way that many young men are allowing their lives to go down the drain especially when the amount of risk taking in American society could be better managed and significantly reduced versus the chase for the temporary wealth and thrill.

Supercool Google Feature: Data Mine Your Own Searches!

Yu Chen, Software Engineer for Google has created a blog entry which he mentions how to look at your search history for interesting patterns.

The only requirement is that in order to "use it, you have to turn on Personalized Search and be signed in to your Google Account while you search. (If you don't have a Google Account, it's easy to create one for free.) Just click the "Trends" link on your Search History page, or go directly to your Trends", Chen stated.

I just tried it and discovered information that I would have never considered before.  You can even identify your most popular hour of the day that you are searching for information.  My top Google hour is the 1 p.m. hour.

The day of the week feature indicated to me that Thursdays are my primetime Google day of the week.

The monthly search feature does not have a full year of data yet.  But so far October 2005 has a slight lead.

There is also information for your top searches, top sites, and top clicks but while this information could be useful, it seems that it is directly linked to potential Google Alerts or some other database versus individual searches and click throughs.

QVC was mentioned as a website that was heavily clicked on recently and this is partially due to a birthday gift for my wife Wyteria versus regular use.

Now I do see that my wife's searches are included within mine since I may remain logged into Gmail even though I am away from my computer.  I probably will need to consistently log out in order to keep my searches solely my own.

Finally, there are at least 3 links that consists of potentially recommended search terms from people who conducted searches similar to yours.

The potential recommendations for me (in order) included rss channels, crash clark (an Atlanta DJ I have never heard of), and dr. maulana karenga (the creator of Kwanzaa, a holiday that sounds nice but we have never actively celebrated within my family).

Go figure or better yet, let Google do it for you!


Regardless, the page provides some interesting information to think about.

Brief Xbox 360 Experience

Yesterday while completing some Christmas shopping at Target, I briefly with a Microsoft Xbox 360 and specifically the demo for the King Kong video game.

It has been too long since I have regularly played video games and this experience took me back while giving some flavor from the future!

I did not expect the game controller to start vibrating in my hands depending upon the action on the screen.  But being as rusty as I was in my portrayal of King Kong, it is a good thing that my skills were not involved in making the movie.

The movie would not have proceeded past the scenes involving the T-Rex dinosaur.  I was thoroughly whipped by T-Rex and was enjoying it for some reason;)

The few chances where I was actually able to point Kong in the direction of the T-Rex, I was able to give him something to cry to his mama about;)

But overall I had more teeth marks, bruises, and ego damage than anything else!

With the Xbox 360, the focus on overall home entertainment by technology companies is getting more attention.

The venues outside of the home such as movie theaters and even video rental stores are going to have to create some new compelling reasons to continue their attraction to consumers.

Maybe being able to renew your driver's license and some other task that requires a waiting period that is too painful to intentionally endure can be performed at such places.  Then the experiences would indeed be very entertaining and educational as well.

You're Not Alone: Workplace Horrors Compiled

Reuters is reporting about Challenger, Gray and Christmas' compilation of workplace horrors which should provide readers a very unique experience in knowing that regardless of what your current workplace environment is like, there is somebody somewhere who is going through absolute hell on a daily basis.

I have been under a noncompete agreement which has fully expired on December 15, 2005 with a significant financial services company.  To date, I have not found the words to fully describe the experience and pretty much have the opinion that only those who have worked with a financial services company or have taken the Series 7, Series 66, life, accident, and sickness insurance, and variable products exam would understand.

But I know that my own experience was the tip of the iceberg compared what is contained with the compilation when read in greater detail.

I do intend to either blog or write a book about the experience in order to educate and warn in some cases people who are looking to become stockbrokers, financial planners, or financial advisors before any potential damage can be done to their financial well-being and/or reputation.

I simply am thanking God at this point that the agreement has fully expired and I have regained and now exceed whatever strength I may have lost with going through the experience.

Peace on earth and goodwill towards all mankind!

One To Watch in 2006: Elizabeth Omilami in the movie "Glory Road"

The Late Rev. Hosea Williams, who was a lieutenant to the Late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., has a daughter that has had many roles within films made within, around, and away from Atlanta, GA.

Elizabeth Omilami is keeping her father's legacy by leading Rev. Williams' nonprofit organization to feed the hungry within Atlanta on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and on the Dr. King birthday holiday in January.

But she has a role within the upcoming 2006 release "Glory Road" that is going to make casting directors stand up and take note.

I saw the preview of the film while waiting for "King Kong" to start and she has one scene in which she totally steals as if lives were at stake:)  I just saw another preview of the movie on television tonight, so watch out for it and put it on your radar screens throughout January 2006.

I also hope that her role as a mother will make other mothers and fathers alike rededicate themselves to being caring parents.

Both she and her husband Afemo Omilami , who is also an actor, are in the movie and they are portraying a married couple in the film as well.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Afemo years ago at Rev. Williams' headquarters on a day that I will never forget.  We talked about his role within the movie "Drop Squad" and how several events within the movie have come true.

I am happy for both of them and they truly deserve the best.

Bring on the "Glory Road"!

Peace!

XM Radio Arrived Today!

After discovering and pouncing on a sweet deal to receive a free XM Radio receiver, the receiver arrived today via FedEx.  I did not even hear the driver at all due to being occupied otherwise.

Earlier blog entries have not done the XM Radio service complete justice after experiencing what is on the other side of being a full and complete subscriber.

The box had the receiver encased within the industrial strength plastic that required a kitchen knife in order to free the receiver into my hands.  After making an initial cut, I ripped into it as if it was already Christmas morning.

The XM receiver ordered is the Roady XT.  The attachments were enclosed to connect the unit within a vehicle versus a home based unit which is exactly how we have planned to use it.  I am listening to the full XM lineup online while creating this entry.

As any red-bloodied American male, I did not look at the instructions on how to connect everything.  Everything was intuitive and the cables attached on each end of the unit.  The cradle to attach the unit to the air conditioning vent was simple to do as well.

The XM receiver first had to be activated in order to receive the full lineup of XM programming and this process could have been handled a little bit more smoothly.

My first call was handled well until the XM rep had a hard time understanding the radio ID of the unit received.  She initially said that it could not be activated and put me on hold and the nonactivation issue was resolved without any further pressing by myself.

You supposedly have to change channels up to 3 times in order to activate the unit or go online to activate the unit.  I was already driving at the time and did not want to wait until I returned home.

I picked up my oldest daughter Rachel from daycare and before leaving, read an enclosed letter a little that referenced the special offer received along with some activation instructions although I had already called XM.  My unit is free by the way as long as 6 months of service are paid for.  Three (3) months were paid in advance to receive the special offer.  With the XM prepaid cards that already exist, subscribing to XM is far easier than any other tech service previously obtained.  T-Mobile, TiVo, and DirecTV could learn a few lessons as well.

After getting back on I-285 within early but heavy traffic, I called XM again and this time the call sounded as if it was being handled by the reps within India.  The female rep was insistent and short patience and after hearing some numbers through an indecipherable accent, I settled on saying goodbye and going back to techie instinct.

The not fully documented trick is that the XM units have to receive a signal from the satellite in space to fully activate the unit pretty much like subscribers of any other satellite service like DirecTV are familiar with.  Realizing this, I knew the current position within the car was not allowing the signal to be received. 

As much as I did not really want to, I was hesitant to stick one hand out of the window and risk dropping a brand new unit in rush hour traffic and then hearing customer service tell me politely that I was stupid.  My startup experiences with new technology have this built in Murphy's Law;)

But knowing that it was not going to be used much outside the car, I pointed the unit like a remote towards the southern sky and the activation kicked in.  This simple instruction needs to be added or made clear upfront.

Instantly, I was able to change channels at will and hear some songs that I have not heard in many years.  Immediately I felt like the BMW drivers in the commercials where they take the long way home:)

Hearing Radio Disney in full stereo versus the AM signal normally received while driving was interesting.  Rachel and Hailey easily knew whether they were listening to Radio Disney in the past and I doubt that they will as easily know in the future.

After arriving back home, I was interested to see if the receiver would work within the house without buying a home listening kit.

I tried my previously owned power adapters and immediately saw that it was not going to happen.  The home listening kit is needed for the power adapter at a minimum.

When I attempted to log in to the online XM site to hear the music this evening, the password assigned to me this afternoon did not work.  But I had already created an account to test drive the online experience this past weekend and the website allowed me to coordinate the test subscription to the receiver now in my possession.

This prevented an unnecessary phone call to correct the log in trouble.  I now believe that the first XM rep was internationally based as well.

After successfully logging in, I now see more channels than previously listed for online listening.  The XM experience is clearly a rich, entertaining, and educational one as well.

I am listening to the broadcast of music from Africa (Ngoma 114) and this channel is one of my online presets.  It will be a preset in our car as well.  Already I feel the rhythms of the Motherland calling me and awakening my musical pallete in ways never before experienced. 

I may make a trip to our post office box just to get an non distracted experience as well, but there is still a little rush hour traffic that I can do without.

I was surprised to see AOL Radio and various AOL properties being broadcast on XM as well although my earlier blog entry mentioned AOL being a nice backdoor to listen to XM.  I hope that podcasts are going to be added to the lineup somewhere somehow although it might lessen the podcast experience at this point, but I know that it is inevitable.

So our first 4 hours of full XM Radio subscription overall have been very cool although more experimentation will have to wait until tomorrow.

Now I know our upcoming drive of 5 hours to grandma's house with the kids will be more pleasurable;)

One new benefit is that I will be able to hear both new music and oldies without the hassles of multiple commercials!!!

Within another blog entry, I will write about the unique differences, advantages, and disadvantages between free broadcasts paid for by advertisers versus paid subscriptions versus multiple single content purchases (such as songs).

Peace!