Having hard time tracking expenses like me? If you own iPhone or iTouch, there are APPS that can help you feel much more organized and better about finances. I downloaded 5 , no 6 highly rated apps on my iTouch, but mind you, there are far more to download and review :) So if you own/use one that you feel is better, feel free to email me your own review!

Criteria. First off, I am not easily swayed by UI that is b-e-a-u-tiful. I am looking for an app that is easy to use and does the job done.

1. PAGEONCE.  

I removed Pageonce from my list, because it was not what I was looking for. It was very similar to Mint.com, where you have to be brave enough to enter your bank accounts, usernames, and passwords into corresponding graphs. Honestly, I don’t even trust myself with that information.

On to the review. Can I finally be happy? Now, I will be able to track my daily spending and have the ability to backup/sinc with my computer.

1. Ace Budget. - 4,5 stars out of 63 ratings- Ace was very 1st app that I downloaded. In order to organize better, I needed to know, how much was my income, and how much did I have on my cards/bank accounts. So, just about an hour before posting this, I went to the bank. A scary moment for me, because I not only have a crazy amount of expenses, but also an unhealthy spending habit. PG&E bill is scheduled for $106 this month. AT&T charged me a whopping $112 for the 1st month, and will adjust to $30 per month starting next month. $75 is for T-Mobile. Its not on autopay, so I realize that I don’t even know when is it due. (Apparently I am late, it was due on 3/15). And $200 for tutor. Not to mention gas for the car (about $20/3 days), bridge toll ($6/day), and food (God knows! I hadn’t tracked this one, yet, but I know this is going to be a huge one).
2. Expensense. It was rated 5 stars, but only had 25 ratings. I was a little wary downloading something this new, because it might need to forego updates and minor tweaking/fixes - a common thing for new apps. From the “fairly new” budget apps, there was also Budgetcare and iMoneytracker, which only had 6 reviews, so I did well with Expensense. OK so Expensense is a beautiful software. To enter Recurring events though, you need to enter them separately, rather than just check a “recurring option”, which to me is a waste of my time.

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Hey there. Last time I talked about different Blog platforms, out of which I liked Blogger and Tumblr the most. SquareSpace was also one of my faves, but it was a paid platform, so it lost out in the competition. I believe for $8/a month, you should be able to get “content”, such as powerful graphics and videos, not just a platform - but that’s just my humble opinion!

Moving on to today’s topic, Virtual Worlds.

I don’t know about you, but there’s something captivating about being enthralled into a virtual space of wealth, beauty, and wishes-come-true. I have discovered 5 that are out there, my favorite being Sims 3. They are:
1.SIMS 3. It costs anywhere from $30-$60 and there’s XBox and PC versions available for immediate download. I have both.
You might know Sims from downloading it on your iPhone/iTouch, but Sims are quite a journey! It’s not fast paced, the world of Sims is whatever you create or whatever your alter ego desires to be. You can create a family/household, get married, have kids, and even have them grow up right away. You can have unlimited wealth. You can travel the world. You can learn “skills”, such as cooking, fishing, and more. You can encounter death, Grim Reaper, vampires and ghosts. And, with “Medieval” version almost here, (you can pre-order it and get a free “Stuff’s pack”), it’s a make-me-happy game! One factor you should be aware of though, is Sims is not a social platform, so you don’t get to meet “real” people - which makes it fairly safe for your kids to play!
2.SECOND LIFE. Oh.My.Gosh.

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I decided to choose the right Blogging platform for me. I will post my initial impression and will follow up in a bit. So according to Lifehacker site, the 5 best platforms are: 

1. Blogger. Web/Free. I opened a Blogger and right away, had problems with it, because I couldn’t login for some reason(Maybe it’s because I don’t have a gmail account). After I “reset password” I proceeded to get into the “dashboard”, and there was a big collection of blog templates (none of which I liked nonetheless). The basic templates were not very professional looking, even after I looked into “Business” backgrounds, I felt they were too busy, and the business templates from the previous versions of Blogger were gone. For some reason, the themes appear to be too “cute”, and I don’t want cute. So I chose the black background - here you can see my non-cute Blogger web child in action! www.missalpha.blogger.com (There will be Adult Content warning before you enter the site, which I like). Editor in Blogger, however, really rocks! To insert link, just click “Link” and the link magically appears. My text autosaves every few minutes, so I am not afraid to lose my text due to power loss, for example. Inserting Images is a breeze, so is inserting videos.

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   Insert “Jump Break” - I’m not sure what that means, so I am guessing it’s a Read More break. There’s TONS of options in Blogger. So much to think about! I turn Comment Moderation on, to avoid spam, and I set Adult Content to On. (Who knows, I am an Adult after all).
2. Tumblr (This very site) Web/Free. One word: easy! I didn’t feel lost, because the site kept taking me through steps to signup/post very quickly! I didn’t see the Free templates yet, but the ones I was offered were paid content, so I opted out. 

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