Download Software, Like Games

You can now download all kinds of software from Amazon from office programs like TurboTax to a daily game deal.
Software

Stepping through the process, I found a game that was on sale for the day. (I love a good deal and personally never pay full price for games.) You can even get pre-orders, so you don't have to stand in line.

I found a daily deal for a game called 'Risen'. It had some good reviews, so I decided to download it. The process was pretty easy. After I bought it, I got a very small downloader that managed the 3.2 Gig setup file download. The whole process was very easy and polished.

I confess that it was the the first downloaded software I have gotten from Amazon. Generally, I look for a good deal on disc and get it shipped. This is cool because I don't have to get it shipped and I get it the same day.. free. This is the kind of deal that I like. I will be going this route in the future.



Software doesn't have to cost a lot. Watch for a good deal and you should see it.

Learning Spanish

Even if you just want to learn conversational Spanish, you would really benefit from have some good reference books to learn from and understand some of the things you are learning to say. One book that has been extremely values is The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs.

Verbs can be the most intimidating topic when you are starting off. After awhile, that wears off and it is not so bad. The thing to remember is that you can break anything down and tackle one small piece at a time. The 'present tense' is the most important. Learn the endings for an 'ar' verb first. (The example that everyone generally uses is 'hablar'.)

Then, I would say to learn about verb 'ir' (which is pronounced 'ear' with a lighter r sound). It is a little crazy, but it gives you the ability to say someone is 'going to' something. So, you use the 'present tense' of 'ir' to talk about the future. 'Voy a' is 'I am going to'. 'Vas a' is 'you are going to'. Relatively speaking, it makes the future tense a little easier as you can use that verb instead of the future tense of the all the other verbs. Then, I would recommend learning the 2 past tenses... yep... that's right.

The 'imperfect' past tense means 'incomplete'. It refers to something that happened in the past, but is really ambiguous about if it has ended or not. The other past tense has a definite start and stop in the past. There are many other tenses, but many of them use the verb 'to have' along with the adjective form of the verb. (An example of a more advanced verb tense is 'I will have seen it'.) The 555 book is a great reference for all that stuff.

Google translate is very handy to use. But, it isn't perfect (yet) and I still find that it is best to flip through the pages of a Spanish Dictionary. When you can flip through and read several words, you can enjoy just taking the words in as you find them. Otherwise, you have to specifically end the words you want to translate. This is valuable when you want to know the translation for a specific sentence right then. But, the dictionary is better for browsing.

I also found some visual Spanish-English dictionaries. I think these are great for building up vocabulary. If you have some confidence with a little bit of vocab before you begin working on the conversational skills, you might make a little easier progress.


I think that a really good program to start off is actual the Learning Spanish Like Crazy. It starts off well and does a great job of explaining the basics in the beginning. I actually think that the first volume is better to start off than the Pimsleur.

The next program to listen to is the Pimsleur. I kept reading about how everyone thought it was so great. I finally started listening to it and found it to be a great program. I really like how the speakers are easy to listen to and understand. They do a great of job of starting off simple. Then, they build on what you learn and keep repeating concepts in different ways. If you want to build conversational skills, this is definitely a good way to go. I still think that the Learning Spanish Like Crazy 1 is really good to listen to before this one.

I also highly recommend going through the material from Michel Thomas. If you go through the basic and advanced set and still want more, I would do the vocabulary builder next. The advanced goes over what you covered in the basic, but goes over it in a little more depth. It is mostly a recap of everything you covered from the basic course.
On top of these, there are some free sites that are fun to use. The 'Mi Vida Loca' is a great interactive animation on the BBC website that you can practice some Spanish. That is my favorite site, but there are several others out there. About.com has a good guide on learning Spanish.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/full_details.shtml
http://spanish.about.com/od/tipsforlearningspanish/u/start.htm

Ultimately, I like to use several different resources for different aspects of the language. That keeps things interesting. If you get frustrated you can change to something else and keep learning from a different source. The big thing is to just keep exposing yourself to the language. It will sink in and start making sense quicker than you might think.

Check out this collection of Spanish books and audio from Amazon.

I have written a more complete study-guide type of post here:
http://www.squidoo.com/workshop/how-to-learn-spanish-quickly3
 

Life of the Lemming

Deep in the cold northern side of Canada lives a little furry creature known as the lemming. Hiding from the owl’s claws in the sky and the four legged beasts that sniff them out, they retreat to below the surface. Unlike the ostrich, they submerge themselves completely out of sight. They create their own world of tunnels. The elaborate homes they build protect and cage them.

If they hide and protect themselves well enough, their numbers grow. When it comes time to leave in search of precious food, many of them drown in the harsh cold waters. However, not all of them leap from the side of the cliff for which they are so famously known. There are some that manage to turn the right way and sprint to freedom and life.

Very rarely, if ever, does someone stop to see the great masterpiece that is life. The hardest questions are the most rewarding. Who and what are we? Can we emerge from our comfortable little burrows? Can we run with purpose, will and foresight to freedom and life? Or, will we cover our eyes and join the others in a leap of blind faith and join them at the inevitable cold water crashing upon the rocks below?

While there are those who run around on automatic, who will be among them?

Reference: http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/arctic/lemming.html

It Doesn't Make Me Sick

"It has to make you sick"

Well, no.. it actually didn't... Even though several people told me so.

Over the holidays, I had a young driver tap my back bumper and knock me into the hitch of the vehicle in front of me. So, my mustang has a little damage on it. Ok...

I believe that our life is an expression of who we are. Even though we are not able to completely control everything that happens in life, we need to take responsibility for our role. We have a significant role in the entire equation. We can make a bad situation better and a good situation great! Or, even the other direction.

So no, it doesn't 'have' to make me sick. I can choose to see the bigger picture. And, that is exactly what I did. I was perfectly fine during and after the entire thing. Now, I am not saying that I was never upset at all. That's just silly. My first was reaction was 'awe man, I just got hit. Oh crap, I'm going to hit the car in front of me... "

You cannot control every thought that happens in your mind. I'm not even going to pretend like you can. I will say that you can control what you dwell upon. You just have to know the trick.

Almost immediately, I changed my perspective. I thought the entire situation through till the end. I saw myself a year from then. The car was fixed and everyone was fine. I would barely even remember it happening. Also, I kept the bigger situation in mind. While almost everyone else was acting like they were in a bit of shock, I was able to help talk to everyone to regain a calm state.

What I felt the best about the whole thing was at the very end. Thinking clearly enough, I reminded the very young driver that "Experience is what life is all about." I meant it too. My hopes are that he takes this experience and learns from it. If he does, that could be the thing that saves him from getting into a very terrible accident. Maybe it saved a life or two. Who knows?

My point of the whole thing is that you can control your emotional state, think clearly and make the best possible choices in every situation.

Learn to see things from a different perspective and improve the quality of your life. No matter what other people say you are supposed to think and feel, you are in control of you. Its not about controlling every thought. Its about controlling what thoughts you dwell on.

Your life.... your mind.... your choices...