Recommended Links

We're going to clear up some space under 'Sophie's Favorites' by putting a few of them into one post and providing a single link to it; this way we'll also be able to provide a little background on each one to explain why we list it.

Craigslist
A free 'Personals' site for various regions, Craigslist is a little less intimidating than eBay if you want to buy or sell something used, more personal than most jobsearch sites if you're looking for employment and just generally very useful.

Wikipedia
Also very useful. In their own words, Wikipedia is a multi-lingual Web-based free-content encyclopedia. You'd be surprised at what you find in Wikipedia, and if it's not there add it yourself.

Linked In
A pretty neat networking website. You build your resume similar to Monster, but then get connected to everyone else you know who uses the site. People can then write endorsements for jobs that you've had. You can search jobs and find out how you might be able to contact someone at the company you're interested in.

Yahoo 360
If you've ever visited our site and thought, "That's neat, I want one!" I recommend checking out Yahoo 360. You can do everything we're doing and more, with a lot less effort.

Food Network
The website of the television network where some of Brandie's favorite celebrity chefs do their thing. She likes them all but is especially partial to Jamie Oliver, Martha Stewart, Giada De Laurentiis and Alton Brown. The website lists most of the recipes they make on the shows, so it's handy to print from or just to have up on the laptop in the kitchen.

The Onion
Still one of the funniest websites out there, The Onion lampoons pretty much everything in a fake news format similar to The Daily Show.

Rotten Tomatoes
A meta-critic reference for movie reviews, Rotten Tomatoes gathers up all the reviews from almost everywhere and provides an average rating. Surprisingly accurate in our experience.

IMDB
The Internet Movie Database is great for digging up movie trivia and helping remember actor's names when you've forgotten.

Tivo
We don't watch a lot of television, and thought Tivo was designed for people who did. We got one as a wedding present and were proven wrong: now when we can spare a few minutes to relax and watch tv, we watch only the shows we want to watch, skipping over the commercials. The Wiggles, The Daily Show and West Wing are our mainstays, but we try out recommendations from friends and family as they come up. It's especially nice around the holidays to do a "Childrens" and "Holiday" Wishlist and record all the old favorites.

Netflix
For some reason, whenever I walk into a video store my mind blanks and I can't remember any movies I want to watch. I wander aimlessly up and down the new releases until I finally settle for something, and then remember on the drive home what I really wanted to watch. I'm also a bit of a procrastinator about returning rentals, ever-hopeful that I'll find time to watch it before I'm charged. Netflix cured both problems for me. You add and prioritize up to 250 movies in your 'queue', and can have up to three out at a time; when you return one the next one in line gets mailed out. If you want to sit on one for six months, like we have with some of the Baby Einstein dvds, you can and there's no extra charge. Easy!