I wish I would have received How To Be A Geek Goddess before the holidays, because I would have totally regifted it to my mom. How To Be A Geek Goddess is full of “practical advice for using computers with smarts and style” by Christina Tynan-Wood.

Being a long-time blogger, I immediately flipped to the section on blogging (chapter 11, pages 280-283). While I think the section was a little slim, it gives the author an excuse to write How To Be A Blog Goddess someday and contains some great beginning blogger information, like how to start a blog and purchase a domain.

Simple explainations of everything from buying a computer to mastering email and IM to how to connect through social and professional networks is included in the book, plus super cute “Dear Geek Goddess” letters in every section. It’s a melding of technology, parenting, and education that anyone can grasp and you can get a taste of the style by downloading Chapter 5: Shopping!

If you’d like to learn How To Be A Geek Goddess, just leave a comment telling me what you’d most like to learn from the book. You can also Twitter the following and leave a comment with a link to your Tweet for an additional entry:

@CorrinRenee win the book and learn How To Be A Geek Goddess at http://tinyurl.com/9nc3tk

Giveaway ends Friday, January 9th at midnight. Winner will be announced January 10 and will receive notification via email; they will then have one week to respond or another winner will be chosen. Please comment using your real first name and a valid email address for your entry to be accepted.

I’d ask everyone who spent the holiday weekend relaxing on a boat to comment, but then I’d just get extremely jealous because that’s where I wanted to be this weekend, but alas, I don’t know anyone with a boat.

I’m hopeful that everyone who spent their weekend on the waterways has the proper Boating Education and understands the responsibilities associated with standing at the helm. If a refresher course is needed, the rules for Arizona Boating apply to everyone and provide excellent information about Boating Operating Under the Influence and staying safe on the water.

So, my credit card information was stolen today, which is a pretty awesome way to start your day. An international charge for a gaming site hit my checking account via PayPal, with no record of the transaction on my PayPal log.

Both PayPal and Chase finally isolated the transaction, reissued my debit cards, and are disputing the charges on my behalf. Neither one will refund the money immediately, which is infuriating because $90 came straight out of my checking account.

It’s amazing that neither company flagged my account activity as fradulant considering I live in Chicago and the initial transaction was in Euros.

I am a text messaging fool. I’d rather text than call and I’d rather receive a text than a voice mail. Maybe it’s phone fright, but I avoid a lot of awkward phone calls by sending a simple text message, and I obviously screen all my calls, so those trying to get a hold of me have a much better chance through texting!

I not in the minority with my SMS obsession, and SJA Mobile and the FBI realizes that there is a whole generation of text messaging addicts. The two have teamed up to introduce a tip line, where residents of the DC area can send a text with the details of a crime or homeland security threat.

Not only is it quick and easy to send a text, which most phones have the ability to do, it offers more anonymity than a phone call, which makes citizens more comfortable with reporting suspicious behavior and makes the neighborhoods safer. A simple text message to 50411 can offer the authorities all the information they need to catch a criminal or thwart a potentially disastrous situation.

I think that this service will absolutely take off and help to make the city safer. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly other metro areas pick up the service and how many criminals are busted thanks to the quick fingers of a SMS savvy citizen.

JA Mobile & FBI Launch SMS Tipline
————–

SJA Mobile today jointly announced with the FBI’s Washington D.C Field Office and Metropolitan Police an initiative which will enable D.C-area citizens to anonymously report crime tips via a novel new medium – SMS. SMS, or “text messaging,” has up until now never been used before as a medium for crime tips.
Citizens in the D.C area can report a crime or homeland security tip by sending a text message with the tip to the number 50411. The 5-digit number to text to is called a “Short Code.” Currently the service is available on all major wireless carriers, along with several Tier 2 carriers.
SJA Mobile is in talks expand the service to several other major cities.

Mike passed his paramedics exam and received his certification in the mail this week, so if you need to know anything about heart attacks, he’s the guy to ask.

Since Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) kills nearly 900 people every day, Mike sees his fair share of heart attack patients and knows the warning signs and how to treat the patient quickly.

If Mike isn’t around to answer all your SCA questions, St. Jude Medical has all the information you need on Inside Cardiac Arrest, a site dedicated to educating people on the risk of heart attacks.