I'm Howard, live in Michigan with 3 sons. I love old school video games such as the SNES and Sega Genesis and also sell them. I love baseball & collect marbles. If you see anything on my lenses that need to be addressed, please notify me first and I will look into it. Thank you for visiting me. http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Classicvideogamesplus Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:06:14 -0600 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.squidoo.com/classicvideogamesplus I really enjoy playing old video games for the systems such as the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, my 2 all time favorite systems. My goal is to promote the classic video games that we played in the past and hopefully still play occasionally. Those who are in their mid 20's and older can really relate to this lens. I started out on the original NES system when I was about 8, and at that time, I was blown away with how awesome it was. Who could have known that in 25 years what the graphics and game options would be? I remember blowing on the old NES carts and reinserting the game until the system worked and breaking out the rubbing alcohol with the q-tip to clean the contacts. I was so pumped up when the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo came out because they functioned better with minimal blowing, cleaning, and better graphics without having to wiggle the game around until you found that special spot. Those were the days I remember with much fondness and spent a great deal of time playing my favorite games. My 2 favorite systems of all time are the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis with the Sega getting the overall edge. My 8 year old is an ace at the Nintendo Gamecube, PS2 and Nintendo Wii and yet where I used to think I was a pretty good gamer, in modern games, I'm not as good as I'd like to be. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy trying to play the Wii and Gamecube but primarily keep playing my old systems. I'm a diehard Nintendo fan and was a huge Sega fan as well. I was heartbroken when Sega closed up shop in regards to making systems though they still have involvement in producing games, etc. I have dozens of favorite games ranging from rpg's, shooters, action and adventure, strategy, etc. Some of my favorite games among various systems: All TMNT games, all Super Mario Bros, Dune, Golden Axe 1 and 2, Super Metroid, World Driver GT, Bass Hunter, Phantasy Star's, Dragon Warriors, Zelda games, and Sonic the Hedgehog series. This is just a small percentage of some of the games I played the most and probably left a few hundred off the list:) I also remember playing on the Atari 2600 and 5200 system at my friend's home but never had an atari growing up. Please feel free to post here, contact me, suggest duels, etc. I have another squidoo lens where little Howie and I tackle old school games together to see how we do. May 27th, we just beat Golden Axe 2 on the Sega Genesis. If you're a gamer and love old video games, check that out as well since it will interest you. On another note, in regards to buying/selling online, I'm NOT A FAN of the auction site EBAY. Their fee increases and lack of respect to sellers with radical changes for corporate greed turn my stomach. I ran a store(s) there for a number of years until I closed them down due to these reasons. Currently I am selling at Atomic Mall so feel free to check that site out and hopefully my store. I welcome any and all comments and feedback. videogames Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:50:28 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/wifenonos I've been married for several years to my wonderful wife. Before marriage, I had dated and had relationships before and trying to share some tips and examples on what not to say or do to your wife or girlfriend. Some of my miscues cost me relationships and a lot of yelling and sometimes physical attack. I like to think men are simpler creatures in regards to wants and needs. Of course we should love our significant other and children, that should be a given. We like to eat, play/watch sports, hang with our friends/have a few beers and get our needs addressed. I'm going to keep this G rated but that pretty much sums up a lot of men I know. I've learned a lot through the years and there are some absolute truths in what not to do or say to the majority of woman in general, regardless of what ethnic background or country they are from. Here's my list. relationships-and-family Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:10:40 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/marblecollecting My 8 year old son and I collect marbles together. We both enjoy this marble collecting hobby and spend anywhere from a few minutes to hours on a regular basis looking at our marble collection and trying to identify the maker and the style. This is much easier said than done since some makers used similar colors and styles for various marbles. We currently have close to 5000 marbles, give or take a few hundred. Marble collecting is a great hobby to take up for yourself, your children, and grandchildren. It's a wholesome hobby and the bonding time is priceless. Identifying the marbles and various makers involve research and a few marble books. I really struggle identifying machine mades but do fairly well with handmades which is our primary focus. We started collecting them in the late summer of 2007 and I'm far from an expert, but I have learned a lot in the last year. Finding them outside of the online world can be enjoyable by going to garage sales or antique stores trying to add some beautiful marbles to your collection. Even buying online can be exciting by looking at the photos and determing how much you should pay for them, or seeing some exquisite marbles that are beyond your price range and dreaming of owning them. My son and I inherited about half of them from my departed grandfather who used to shoot marbles when he was a young boy until he was in 50's because then opportunities to shoot marbles became fewer by the 1970's, at least this is what he told me. He used to show me his marbles when I was young and I always appreciated the beauty and stories behind some of his marbles. Grandpa had them stored in several glass jars. Unfortunately, the majority of his hand-made marbles disappeared before I received the collection. I prefer the old German Handmades and Vitro and Akro are my favorite machine made. Most marbles currently are made of glass. In the past, clay was predominantly used. Glass marbles started to be made around mid 1800's from what I've heard/read and the earliest glass marbles came from Germany. Of course there are stone marbles and porcelain marbles have been made for some years. Some even used ball bearings called steelies to shoot marbles. I prefer glass marbles over others but everyone is different. Marbles generally range between 1/2"-a little over an inch. Typically a shooter is 3/4 or larger. Really small marbles are called Peewees; 3/8-1/2" are general sizes of most peewees but some have been made that are even under 1/4". Once you get involved in Marbles, I warn you, you could be hooked. Don't worry that's a good thing:) I've had marble collectors contact me and say keep up the good work but please feel free to add links and comments on the page. Make suggestions on polls or duels, I'd like to hear from you. I'm also a member of LOM (Land of Marbles) and Marble Connection which are pretty cool sites for ID purposes/values/and just good, informative marble talk or to have questions answered. There are other sites as well but these are the two I use. I don't post much anymore but I browse quite a bit. Some may wonder how do you measure a marble to get it's size and why is it important? If you ever buy and sell marbles, size is important because some marbles were made in various sizes and the larger ones almost always have more value. I use a caliper to measure a marble and using a tape to measure around a marble is not the correct way, that measures the marble's circumference. Electronic calipers can be be picked up at a reasonable price with a basic Centech brand model selling close to 15-20 dollars at Harbor Freight or online. Be careful when buying marbles because photos can be deceiving, the best way to evaluate a marble is holding in your hand and inspecting it yourself. At times when looking at marbles you should use a magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe to make sure it isn't a remelt or been polished because this cuts down on the value of a marble. hobbies-games-toys Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:11:07 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/16bitsorlessvideogames My son and I will be playing old video games together from systems like the SNES and Sega Genesis. I'm 32 and he's 6, now we are 34 and 8, so this should be a lot of fun. This lens will be continuously evolving and will try to keep updated on a fairly regular basis. I want to start with some easier games and work up to more challenging ones. We'll try different skill levels, post photos and tell you how we did. We are going to tackle some of my favorite games 1 at a time. Wish my son and I luck on partnering up and winning the games. Will keep everyone updated. videogames Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:12:44 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/freeblujaystore I used to recommend Blujay.com as one of the premier places to have a totally free online store. Blujay is currently in Google Products but I got tired of the constant issue of being in Google Products for 2 months and then 6 months not being in Google. I wanted a steady presence. Blujay needs changes made that haven't been done. Most sellers sell at more than one place anyways so it wouldn't hurt to list for free here but Google doesn't like duplicate items so if you are using a site that submits feeds, Google may view your Blujay listings though not in shopping as duplicates and reject all of your items. But this scenario applies at other places you try to sell the same items, not just at Blujay. Amazon ads in your listings irritated me and absent site owners who do not communicate or help with any issues from the sellers were some of the final straws. As of February 2010 the owners have been a little bit active but many blujay sellers have seen this happen before where things are done for a short time and then a year or two of no contact so only time will tell on this matter. Blujay is free to list at but that is about the only good thing I can say about it. I made sales there but the lack of owner involvement and much needed site changes leaves Blujay as a place that will never be as good as sites that are moving forward. I highly recommend sites such as Ecrater, Atomic Mall and Ebid over Blujay. I personally have storefronts on Atomic Mall and Ecrater and find them much better than Blujay in regards to site updates and administration help. They also have a lower percentage of sellers that are scammers and less deadbeat buyers. I don't like to sell with sellers that are allowed to sell illegal merchandise and scam customers because that affects the rest of the sellers as a whole. Blujay rarely acts on getting rid of this minority that has tarnished Blujay's reputation over the years. internet Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:11:56 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/findingloveoverseas Most men and women get married in their lifetime and for some it comes unexpectedly and not who you imagined it would be. This is my personal story of how I met a women that I fell in love with instantly and happened while I was on vacation in the Dominican Republic in 2002. It is much easier to adapt with a person of similar culture and race but if you love someone, everything goes out the window and you work together to overcome any obstacles. I will now start describing how we met and the obstacles we overcame and are still very much in love after 8 years of marriage and 3 children later. relationships-and-family Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:10:17 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/thekillersmusicgroup My favorite music group that I currently enjoy is the American rock band, The KIllers, led by frontman Brandon Flowers. Their music isn't easily defined. They incorporate a touch of techno, alternative, punk and rock music and is all intertwined together. I've been a big fan since their debut album "Hot Fuss" was released in 2004. I can't narrow down my favorite songs but I will say that Hot Fuss is my favorite album they have released so far. Well, I first fell in love with the Killers when I heard the song, "Somebody Told Me". So that would have to be one of my favorites and Mr. Brightside gets a ton of play as well. For Christmas my wife gave me a 3 disc set of the Killers and believe me, the albums have been listened to regularly. My wife also enjoys the Killers and it is our dream to go to one of their concerts in the future. For those who know nothing of the Killers I am posting a short blurb about them below. The Killers are an American band that formed in 2002 and from Las Vegas. The band has 4 members: Brandon Flowers , Dave Keuning , Ronnie Vannucii and Mark Stoermer. As stated previously, Brandon Flowers is the frontman and lead vocalist. The group's first album, Hot Fuss was released in 2004 and brought the band instant success. The Killers' second album was Sam's Town and was released in 2006 and again was a big success. The album Sawdust released in 2007 was made up of B-sides, some new songs, etc. The band's first two albums were there biggest commercial successes and have sold over 14 million copies worldwide combined. Their 3rd studio album was released at the end of 2008 and was titled Day and Age. 2010: After several years it seems that The Killers are taking a short vacation. Brandon Flowers has just released a solo album called Flamingo. A short quote from RTT news with Brandon's thoughts about his solo album. "I feel like I'm getting something out of my system with this album, but I want the next Killers album to be a wonderful collaboration between four guys who are ready to make the best record that they possibly can," That is what I look forward to as well. Hopefully it will be in the near future. music Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:07:12 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/videogamecodes Most of us have played video games. Often there are certain games or levels that we can't finish no matter how hard we try. Since the 1980's there have been various codes to assist our gameplay so that we can win a game. I personally only use cheat codes if absolutely necessary. I am the type who will play for hours and research online for hints before using codes as a last resort. I mainly play the older systems like the Atari 2600, NES, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis and N64 but I do occasionally play with my Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 2. I started using codes back in the 1980's and I am sure us older gamers remember the Game Genies or using a controller on a certain screen to push various buttons in order to unlock something or obtain more lives, power, weapons, etc. I stated I use codes as last resorts and many gamers nowadays just use codes all the time. I feel this defeats the purpose of gaming because you feel more satisfaction stumbling through levels and trying again and again to defeat a level or a boss. When you do it on your own you feel much better about yourself. But even I have had to have help to beat a game. Many games, especially the newer ones, have multiple codes. You can be invincible, unlimited ammo, invisible and pretty much you can just walk through the game without any difficulty. What I do is just use a code or two to give me just enough help to complete a level or game. Sometimes just a few extra lives, continues, more ammo, power supply and obtaining advanced weapons early on will help you complete the game. You still may struggle but that is what I like, using the least amount of codes to complete a game. I am composing links to various cheat codes and tips to complete games further down so check them out. videogames Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:38:46 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/learnanotherlanguage It is very common in many countries for people to speak 2 or 3 languages, especially in Europe. With business becoming more global and with the use of internet and air travel, it makes a lot of sense for a person to learn an extra language or two. My native language is English but I am also bilingual in Spanish. I would love to learn more languages but for now these are the only languages I am fluent in. There are many ways to learn a second or third language. There are people that swear by programs like Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur but others need the structure of a classroom. Some believe that total immersion is the real way to do this by getting a grasp on the language and then living where that language is only spoken. There are no right answers because people learn at different paces and different stimuli. I am one that learns better by classroom activity and immersion. Not everyone can afford or have the time to live in another country for a few months so that may not be a viable option for you but is probably the most effective way to learn a language assuming you have some basic knowledge of the language. I took 3 years of Spanish in high school, 2 semesters in college and have spent several months in spanish speaking countries where I ended up meeting my wife so I also have a native speaker to improve my spanish. Learning another language/s opens up more opportunities in life and ways to communicate with others throughout the world. education Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:04:31 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/sega-genesis-gamer If I was to be stuck with choosing one system to play for the rest of my life between my Atari, NES, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, N64, Gamecube, PS2 and Nintendo Wii, I would choose my Sega Genesis. I would know what games I would take as well. This is a pretty far fetched scenario but in discussing with fellow gamers and my gamer son, this would be my choice. I love many systems by the way but most of my teen years were spent primarily on the Sega Genesis. When the Sega Genny came it out it blew away the 8 bit NES system. For the next few years some of the best graphic games were produced at that time by Sega. I'm a 2d gamer and some of you out there are thinking those systems are lame. Well, my young boys if they aren't playing the Wii will also choose the Sega over the SNES and N64 so it's not too lame. My middle boy loves Sonic with a passion. The Sega revolutionized my favorite genre of games which are RTS which means Real Time Strategy though I am a fan of many genres: action, shooters, rpg's, etc. Can we all say together Dune the Battle for Arrakis and Herzog Zwei? These games revolutionized RTS on a console system. Besides Sonic who doesn't love Double Dragon, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, General Chaos, Golden Axe. Those are a lot of good games but I'm not done yet: Contra Hard Corps/jeez that game was hard, ToeJam and Earl, Earthworm Jim, Mortal Kombat, Boogerman, Earth Worm Jim, Phantasy Star and the list goes on and on. Now there are a ton of good NES and SNES games but I can also list dozens of real crappy ones. With the Sega the games overall made for better gameplay with less duds. Sega also had the best commercials. Cutting edge and cool. Off the top of my head the tagline was for many: "Genesis does what Nintendon't" They had the graphics to pull it off as well and you would have to be blind to not realize how much cooler the Sega was. I am not talking smack about the NES because that is the first system that I received and drew me into video games. Great memories of many games on the NES and SNES. So please no attack by NES/SNES lovers because I'm one of those as well. How cool was the top loading design? That sealed the deal for me. How many of us played our NES and for no apparent reason the game would freeze or just a little bump could freeze the game? You were almost done with Contra and wham, I remember yelling in gamer frustration when that happened. Getting the darn cartridge to work on the NES was another chore in itself, the blinking red light and blinking screen, aarrgghhh. Insert in this way, take it out and blow on the cartridge strategically, put it back in and maybe if I wiggle it to find the sweet spot it will play. Oh no, the game just froze up. With the Sega it was less blowing and less freezeups. You wonder why NES developed the toploader later on and the SNES was a top loader, lol. The controllers were heaven compared to the NES. Those little square controllers on the NES caused me to have corner imprints/blisters from their edges. If I could choose only 4 games for the Sega they would be: Dune the Battle for Arrakis, Herzog Zwei, Battle Toads/Double Dragon and the Sega Genesis 6-Pak which has 6 games on it like Sonic, Shinobi, Street of Rage, Columns, Super Hang-On and Golden Axe. I cheated in a way because a couple of these games have more than one game on it but they are on one cartridge so it counts. Anyways, if you have a Sega Genesis take it out of storage and give it some gaming love. If you have never owned one it is a great for you to play as well as your kids. Cartridges are almost indestructible and not like the flimsy discs where they get scratched and snap easily. You can pick up a Sega online with a couple games for about 30 dollars. Sega Genesis games are also the cheapest, besides the Atari, as a whole in comparison to the NES and SNES. Enough about my love for the Sega, I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I do. videogames Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:58:45 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/treasureislandbook There are not enough words to describe the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is considered one of the greatest fiction books of all time and most of us have either read it or watched one of the movies based on the book. This book captured my imagination when I read it for the first time in 3rd grade when my grandpa gave me it as a present. I so wanted to find hidden treasure and would imagine that I was Jim Hawkins. I've always been an avid reader but this book brought out my love for reading. There are hundreds of similar stories and blogs about Treasure Island but I wanted to share mine as well. books-poetry-writing Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:15:02 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/atomicmallstores I have sold at a few places throughout my online selling career. I spent several years on Ebay but with all the fees and drastic changes I needed a change and left there in 2005. I also used to sell on Yahoo Auctions until they closed down. I then tried out Blujay for a couple of years and at first was nice but lack of owner involvement, declining traffic and sales made me realize I needed a new home. That new home is Atomic Mall. Atomic Mall came online in 2008 and has grown rapidly. You can have your own free store there and no listing fees with a modest final value fee that you only pay if your item sells. Since I have started there I am seeing my ads high up in Google search and in Google Shopping. The owner there, Mike, who goes by the handle Member Zero is continously upgrading the site. He answers emails when you have questions and the forum board there are a friendly, helpful atmosphere without the drama of some of the sites. Very professionally run and so many listing options and did I mention very easy to list at. You can do batch edits, upload several photos at no charge, check your traffic with Google Analytics which you are not charged for. Some sites don't offer Google Analytics or you have to pay for the service. You can set up any type of shipping to whatever country/countries you desire. You can accept Money Order, Personal Check, Paypal, Google Checkout, Amazon, Xcoin, CREDIT CARDS and other payment options supposed to be coming soon. So quite a variety of options. You can also use listing upgrades if you want. Google is the largest traffic source online and around 70 percent of all traffic. So best of all, Mike submits all our items regularly to Google Base (1-2 times a week) and keeps up to date on their every changing requirements. Mike also submits to Bing Shopping, Oodle and theFind among other places. No other website submits to all of these, or as many various search/shopping sites so that our products can be found by potential shoppers. In the very near future it has been stated that auction format will be instituted at Atomic Mall or an Atomic Mall linked sister site so if you aren't into fixed price storefronts. or like the option of certain items being fixed priced and others in auction format, this could be of great interest to you. I strongly encourage those who are looking for a new place to sell or another place since some sellers sell at several venues, to check out Atomic Mall. I am sure glad I finally did. Had some good sales in Dec 2009/Jan2010. Very encouraging to me. Recent survey at auctionbytes earned Atomic Mall 3rd place out of 15 selling sites surveyed. http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y210/m01/abu0255/s04 Results in a list were this. 1. Ruby Lane (7.97) 2. Bonanzle (6.92) 3. Atomic Mall (6.79) 4. Amazon (6.70) 5. Estsy (6.47) 6. eBid (6.35) 7. TIAS (5.86) 8. eCrater (5.85) 9. Craigslist (5.51) 10. GoAntiques (4.48) 11. CQout (4.46) 12. Blujay (4.28) 13. eBay (4.11) 14. OnlineAuction (3.92) 14. iOffer (3.75) So with these types of results I am glad I am at Atomic Mall. I also am a member of Ecrater and is my 2nd favorite site but hasn't produced for me nowhere like Atomic Mall has. Most sellers use more than one online place to sell anyways but Atomic Mall has worked out the best for me. Good luck everyone and wish you all many sales wherever you call your home. 1-19-2011 Atomic Mall now has auctions as well. No insertion fees and only a low fv fee charged. You can use your current inventory and with a click, pick and choose to put some of your fixed priced items to auction. There are a few auction styles so check it out. It is difficult to tell you in detail because the FAQ page at Atomic Mall will do a much better job than me and show examples. internet Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:05:12 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/nomoresmokingforme I was a smoker from the age of 18 to 31 years old, so about 13 years. I smoked about a pack a day with my preferred brand being Marlboro Menthol Lights which later changed in 2005 to Basic Menthol Lights due to the rising cigarette costs. I was spending a lot of money on my addiction and was bothered during the winter with troublesome coughs that wouldn't go away. I work in commercial roofing and also noticed my stamina had slowed down through the years and was getting winded much easier and it wasn't just related to me getting older. I decided to take the plunge on Feb 5, 2009 to quit smoking for my own health and to give my oldest son a birthday present that meant a lot to him. I will go into further detail about my struggles and what I went through during this time. I won't go into the psychology aspect of this or the health hazards since most individuals unless they have been living under a rock know what they are doing and risking by smoking. I will include links and the like for smoking products because not all of us are the same. I had tried quitting smoking with nicotine gum before at the age of 28 but I was only doing it because of my wife and I didn't really want to quit. I would last several hours and then I would have a cigarette. I had every excuse in the book for smoking. My most regular excuse was that I have bad nerves and am under stress, needing cigarettes to calm me down. I never smoked in the home, I always stepped outside in respect of my children and their health. I don't want to die before my time and want to spend a better quality of life and see my children grow up and hopefully grandchildren as well. Now if you are offended by talk of God which I am about to go into then you may not want to continue reading. I believe in God as well and deep down believed I was polluting his creation. This doesn't mean that if you're a smoker that you are a bad person, don't take it that way. God knows we sin and err daily. As long as we try to do our best and follow his teachings, accept Jesus as our personal savior and practice the Golden Rule, God knows our heart condition so that is what is most important to our Savior. I decided to stop smoking cold turkey with my determination, support of my family, and with the power of prayer. Even then it was much harder than I realized. healthy-living Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:15:37 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/mlb-baseball-game There is one sport that rises a little over all others. That is baseball. I grew up a huge Detroit Tiger's fan and am still one to this day. Many others are fans of other teams but we all have one thing in common over our rivalries, a great love for baseball. Baseball has been a big part of my life starting in childhood and an activity that helps my bond with my children. The legacy is passed on from one generation to another. We all have our favorite baseball moments and childhood heroes that stood larger than life. Mine was Sweet Lou Whitaker and my favorite memory was when the Tiger's won the 1984 World Series. I used to collect baseball cards and would spend hours looking at them. How many of us would play and pretend the bases are loaded in the World Series with 2 outs, 3 runs down and the game depends on you hitting the grand slam? There is something magical about going to a baseball game when you are a child with your father or grandfather and whether your team won or lost you were content. Many of us do the same thing with our children and grandchildren. You can just imagine that they must feel how you did so many years ago. Though the concession stand prices have risen, at some parks the tickets are expensive, yet we somehow manage to go to a couple of games a year though for others they may be able to afford season tickets. What I do is try to go to a few games a year at Comerica Park and then attend several Minor League games affiliated with my team, the Detroit Tigers because you can always find a good seat at a fraction of the cost. You can also see players before they are potentially the stars of the future or can catch a major league player who is rehabbing or has been sent down to improve on an aspect of their game. I've rambled long enough but just wanted to express how much baseball means to me and my family. sports-and-recreation Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:13:58 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/detroit-tigers-bless-you-boys- I love baseball at all levels. I grew up listening to Ernie Harwell and have fond memories late at night with the radio on and falling asleep to the sound of his voice. Growing up my favorite player was Sweet Lou Whitaker with Alan Trammell a close second. When playing I would imagine that I was doing a double play combo with Alan to Lou. I used to collect baseball cards and I always had to have all the Tigers. I started to follow the Tigers in the early 1980's and when they won the World Series in 1984 when I was almost 8, I was hooked. Almost 30 years later since my introduction to baseball I am still a huge fan. I follow players closely and crunch stats all the time. My favorite players change as the lineups do but currently Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera are my Tigers. I wish to express the loss that hit me immensely when Sparky Anderson and Ernie Harwell passed on. It hit all of us Tiger fans very hard. sports-and-recreation Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:59:48 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/treasurechest Atomic Mall is a great option to sell online without paying high fees. Atomic Mall has worked out so well we have started another store there called the Treasure Chest. Many online sellers are disgruntled with Ebay and have experimented with several sites to find that perfect one or two that work for them. A little bit about Atomic Mall is that it is free to have a store there with very low final value fees only when your item sells, with auctions coming soon. It has been around since 2008 and has grown steadily. The site is being constantly updated and several payment options are accepted and your listings are not only submitted to Google Shopping but also Bing, Oodle and several other sites. Now Atomic Mall also offers auctions in various formats if that's more your cup of tea than just having all fixed priced items. You can't beat that. Our store at Atomic Mall has a little bit of everything from glassware, antiques, marbles and video games. Check out Atomic Mall if you are looking at a great place to sell or shop online and while you are at it, feel free to check out my Treasure Chest store. business-and-work Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:03:04 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/topten80smovies The 1980s was a great decade for movies. I decided to stroll back memory lane and list my top ten favorite movies of that decade. I didn't include some of the big hits like Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off because they were more teen types of movies and I wasn't in that age range at that time. My all time favorite movies that I own and watch on occasion even in my 30's is The Goonies and Star Wars Return of the Jedi. Some movies seem cheesy when you watch them years later but some of them are still very entertaining and bring back that sentimental feeling. So sit back and let's go back in time to some of my favorite movies of the 1980s. entertainment Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:55:25 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/activefather I am married with 3 wonderful boys who keep my own my toes. A 3 year old named Alexander, a 5 year old Ryan, and Howie who is 8. Children are a blessing but require attention and love. Discipline is also required in various ways, each child varies and parents can soon find out the best way to deal with each child. Now, I was raised on a farm where my father also worked a full time job and my mother was a stay at home mom. I had 3 other siblings and we were pretty close besides the normal sibling arguments over a toy, etc. I was close to my mother and she always kept us busy and was the affection giver in the family. She was the one who helped with the homework and you talked about your day at school with. My father was always tired and in his free time he just wanted to relax and not be bothered as he watched his favorite show. I was always trying to impress him and get him to play with me but it always seemed like I was in his way. This caused me to swear to myself while still young that when I grew up I would do whatever it took to make my kids feel loved and be the coolest dad ever. Fast forward 20 years and I'm a now a father. I've come to realize that my father had real life issues about finances and working all the time. We are closer than we have ever been now that he doesn't have the pressures he faced back then. It wasn't that he didn't love me, he just didn't feel comfortable showing it. His father was the same way towards him so he didn't really even realize that I was looking for more. Of course a child doesn't realize how a parent's upbringing and life's issues can affect the way they act. My thoughts have wanted me to blog about how I want to be the best father I possibly can and ways I try to get involved with my children so they won't have the same feelings I did for an impressionable part of my life that I can't get back. I am not perfect by any means and make mistakes. I have to take a step back when real angry so that I don't act rashly. What I strive to do is talk with my children and try to understand them. You would be suprised how important something is to them that you think is silly, aka Elmo and the Incredible Hulk. I dedicated this to fathers and it doesn't matter if you are a single father, divorced, or married. The stereotype that the man's main responsibilty is to bring home the bacon doesn't apply in today's society. Some even think that a man isn't supposed to do a "woman's job" which is showing emotional involvement and dealing with the children. These stereotypes are ridiculous and way outdated. Us fathers are important forces and figures in our children's lives. I want us to be a positive figure. I put a list of sorts, of things I do to bond with my children. I hope it can give someone an idea or help them out with the struggle of being a good parent/father. parenting-and-kids Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:57:11 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/bestboysbooks I have always loved to read and one of the biggest influences was when in 3rd grade my grandfather gave me Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson as a gift. I loved that book and am also trying to get my oldest son who is 8 to experience some of the great books that mesmerized me. I am using classics since I am not up to date on all the books nowadays like the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson type of books. I tried to choose books that have been around for awhile and that cater to young boys primarily though some would interest girls as well. books-poetry-writing Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:52:41 -0600