Here are a few interesting sites that I have visited in the past few days.  Enjoy!

• I learned some new things about free proxy servers on Squidoo.  I also learned a bit about how to protect myself while using a public computer - which is valuable information indeed.
• My wife has been talking about Max Lucado for some time, and I really had no idea who he was.  But, after looking at Squidoo (again) I found a lens that explained everything for me.
• My kids have been talking about going to see the Backyardigans - but I found out that we will have to wait until the fall.  In the meantime, we can watch Backyardigans videos online.

I have been in the business of flipping houses for a few years now and I just love it. It gives me an exhilarating feeling every time I see the project completed. Recently, I decided to look into finding an Arizona house painter, to save myself some time, so that I might be able to flip more houses.

I decided to go online and look for a painting website. I figured that this might be my best bet in finding available painters that were both professional and had a lot of experience. I wanted someone really good, as a coat of paint can either make or break a good deal on a flipped house.

I found the website BestHousePainter.com and looked up some information on there. I scheduled interviews with three separate people and I will be conducting those this afternoon. I am really looking forward to not having to do the painting and I am looking forward to flipping my next house.

I live in a fairly small city. That is for now. We are experiencing a huge economic boom. The housing prices have more than doubled in a year and everything else has gone up as well. This scares me a little bit, as I like my small little city and I am scared that it is going to grow out of control. I do not want to live in a place where it takes me an hour to commute to work.

I guess it is good news for people who are in the real estate market, as they have much to gain. It is also good for the local business owners, except for the fact that the bigger the city grows, the more the big box stores will move in. It gets you to thinking that an economic boom may not be the best thing after all.

It has done me absolutely no good, as the prices on everything have gone up and I worry for the people who have to rent their homes as the rents are sky rocketing and so many apartments are being converted and sold as condos. I don’t know what will happen to the little guy if this keeps up.

I have always wanted to be a little independent and be able to do things myself.  Some examples would be being able to change a tire on the car, or fixing a leaky pipe.  By no means do I need to be an expert in anything, but it doesn’t hurt to have at least a basic understanding of how to fix things.

Today, I thought I would practice my computer repair skills.  I have an older computer just kicking around for that purpose.  I decided that I would try to recover deleted partitions and recover lost partitions on it.

So, I deleted the partitions and gave it a go.  I used the Maxtor data recovery software that came with my hard drive to try and recover the partitions - and it went smoothly.  I felt pretty good with myself that I now know how to use the recovery software in case I have a problem.

I have setup a business meeting with one of my potential clients to be done in Tampa.  Since I am not from there, I will be flying there and getting a Tampa car rental while I am there.

I decided that I would find a car rental company online so I did a couple of searches to try and find what I was looking for.  I tried looking for “car rentals Tampa” and the results were not quite what I was looking for.

But when I tried the singular version of it: “car rental Tampa”, I found a number of companies that would meet my needs.

Before I decided to contact them, I looked for some car rental company review websites to see what other people had said about the companies.  I created a list of the best ones, and  I have fired off an email to each one of them to get a quote, and then I will decide from there.

Sometimes I find it interesting to learn about what people do for their daily routine.  I don’t necessarily want to know what they do at their job, but rather, how they spend their time when they are not working.

While some people spend their spare time hanging out with friends or starting a business, I do something a bit different.  What I do is read all the iPhone news I can find.

Whether it is the latest iPhone games or iPhone accessories, I love reading about anything related to the iPhone.  Sure, some days don’t have a lot to offer, but I just get excited if I can find a little nugget of news as to what is coming out.

You see, ever since I heard about the iPhone and saw the first picture, I was hooked.  I thought that it would be the coolest thing ever - and I think I am right.  I won’t bore you with the rest of my daily routine (it is pretty boring), but looking up iPhone stuff is the one, consistent thing I do each day.

I am very thankful that there are professionals that work on the weekend.  You see, during the week I am so busy with work and the other activities that I participate in, I really don’t have time to make appointments.  But, over the past few years, I have found a number of professionals that have weekend hours, and therefore cater to people like me.

For example, this afternoon I have a meeting with my insurance broker to discuss my current level of my individual medical insurance.   Currently I do have basic coverage, but two things happened this week that made me realize that I might not have enough.

You see, one of my dearest friends was in a car accident.  Unfortunately, she is on the brink of bankruptcy now because she didn’t have accident health insurance and he basic medical coverage won’t cover all of her expenses.  I just don’t even want to be in that situation, so I thought that extra coverage might help.

There was also some bad news from my sister this week - she has the same degenerative eye disease that my mother has.  Not only does she need special glasses, but there will be other treatments that she may need as well.  Thankfully, she has vision insurance coverage that will take care of it - but I don’t.

So, it looks like I may be spending a bit more per month on insurance - but I would rather be protected in case something happens to me than be in financial ruin.

I have a friend who will be shortly be starting her own handmade card business.  She will be both selling handmade cards, as well as teaching card making classes.  She came to me for help on finding a company that she could find Canadian scrapbook supplies at wholesale prices.

I did a quick search online for companies that sell "scrapbook supplies Canada".  We were particularly interested in suppliers that had good prices and a large selection of card stock and patterned paper.  When doing handmade cards, the paper products are the most important aspect.

We found a few scrapbooking supplies Canada companies that had both the product and pricing that we were looking for.  We decided to place an order with two different companies, in order to better judge the service and timeliness of deliveries.  We found that the one of the companies had a much better quality product than the other.  We were satisfied with our order, and are sure to use this company in the future of the business.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am a little picky when it comes to vehicles.  Any car or truck that I have had has been pampered – they are washed on a regular basis and protected from the elements when they are not being used.  You will even find the vehicles in my garage protected with car covers when I am not using them – I treat them exceptionally well.

Now, you might wonder how the way that I store my vehicles affects my shopping for them, right?  Well, put simply, when I am looking to buy a used car or truck, I look for a seller that takes the same care and concern with their vehicle.

For example, the truck that I have in my garage was one of those vehicles.  I was pretty much sold when I went to the sellers’ house and he had to take off the budge truck cover off of it to show the truck to me.  Sure, I still had the truck checked out by mechanic, but I could see that the owner truly cared for his vehicle – which made me feel at ease when I bought it.

I think that I will be buying a motorcycle this summer and I will be looking for the same things when I am at a sellers’ house:  if I see one of those motorcycle covers I will be more interested in purchasing their vehicle.

I am not here to tell you about some magic formula to get your immigration application into Canada approved, but if you could prepare for the tasks you will have to perform, wouldn’t that make your life easier?

I bet it would.

As a person wanting to immigrate into Canada, you will be tested to see if you would be a good fit as a Canadian citizen.  There is basically three tests you will take which will affect you eligibility to enter and live in Canada: a written test, an interview, and a driving test.

You can make your life a little easier by taking advantage of the resources available to you on the Internet.  In fact, if you do a search online, you will find that you can download an immigration interview sample right off the Internet.

You can also find samples of the Canadian citizenship test, and the Ontario G1 test online as well.

Here are the three steps to easy Canadian Immigration:

1.  Find and download the sample interview and tests from the Internet.

2.  Practice the tests.  Write the written ones and check the answer key.  For the interview, it is usually best to practice with a friend.

3.  Repeat.  You see, practice makes perfect - and it will help you to be more comfortable when it comes down to the real thing.

I wish you luck on becoming a Canadian immigrant!