Links

--My site, my business, sole sponsor of THIS website!

--Another of my sites. Dana Howe is the webmaster for this one. Turbobricks is all about high-performance turbo Volvos.  I used to run the message board when it was gettting about 200,000(!) hits per month. Now it gets more. There's a ton of information on the site, but the message board is the busy part of the site.

--The official web site of the greatest athlete of our time. He's survived cancer and his claim to fame is dominating a 2,000 mile bicycle race around France.

--Not the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas.  It's a motorcycle. The message board is the place to be on this site, too.

--My favorite racing series. If you're a real fan, check out the real-time scoring available during races. I have a small tv next to my computer, which is the perfect set up. I watch the race on tv, watch the scoring page on the internet, and listen to CART radio on the internet during the tv commercials. Now all I need is a butler to bring my snacks and drinks. Wait, I have a son now...

--One of the best places to get info on the Classic Mini. The message board covers everything from restoration and repair to importing into the United States.

--The best weekend you'll ever have.

--For everything baby--products and tons of information.  You'll probably never need to buy another baby book once you've been to this site. Excellent email newsletter that is timed to your baby's birth, which is pretty neat. When your baby starts walking, the newsletter says something like, "Your baby may be walking soon. Start childproofing things that she couldn't reach before."

--It's run by Georgia MLS, but the website address for casual users is actually www.atlantamls.com. It's the easiest way in the world to find a new house. Search by county, subdivision, zip code, school, price, number of bedrooms, MLS number, etc, etc, etc. Want to know how much your neighbor down the street is selling his house for? Look it up. It's wonderful. If it's listed with a real estate agent, it's listed here.

--Here's a secret...Everything is cheaper in Canada! Seriously, because of the favorable exchange rate, you can often times buy items in Canada and have them shipped to your home for much cheaper than going down to the local Wal-Mart. When we had our first child, we needed to get a breastpump. We decided on the Medela Pump In Style. The problem was that Medela apparently sets a minimum price for their products in the US. I was searching the internet and kept finding the same price until I stumbled onto this website for a store that sells baby stuff in Canada. The breastpump can be found at Babies-R-Us for $280 (though they didn't carry anything that nice back when we needed one, which is why I was scouring the internet), while Kidalog carries them for about $167!

--Crocodile Business Cards is also in Canada. They do so much business with Americans that they take US Dollars, but the exchange rate still affects their prices--2000 full color business cards for $105 (with shipping). You have to be a bit of a graphic artist to design your own card, but you can't beat their printing prices with a stick. They charge less for four color process work than some places get for two spot colors. Here's what I came up with...

--Great maps of their migration can help you know when to expect them and when to put your feeder out.

-- It protects your computer from hackers while you're online. If you use high speed DSL or cable access without it, you're crazy. It's free and often ranks better than security software that you can buy.

--I love this program. It checks all your email accounts, then plays a sound and puts a flashing icon in your toolbar when you get new mail on any of the accounts. I still have aol with my Bellsouth Fast Access DSL (about 10 email addresses total, but I use ePrompter on my most important few). ePrompter checks my aol AND Bellsouth email addresses every couple of minutes. Everybody expects a fast reply when they send you an email. Now you can always make sure they get an immediate reply. Better yet, you'll never waste time checking your email when you haven't gotten any new email.

--Here's a recent addition. I've always been a fan of competition and rewarded the lowest-priced gas retailers with my business. With gas prices going through the roof, here's a way to help you find the best prices in your area. You don't have to check the site everyday. Just watch long enough to see who consistently has the lowest prices and they'll usually be the market leader in the future.

--Shea's favorite website.

Links to web sites that were instrumental in building my website...

HTML At-A-Glance--I ran into this nice guy on the aol message boards.  He and his site helped me set up The Shea Page (keeping the text off of the left side of the background).  His site is great for getting started with learning HTML, the basic language used in programming web sites.

--This is where I register all of my domain names (like www.garrettkirkland.com). They were the first to offer low cost domain names, charging $15 when $50 was considered cheap. They're now the fourth largest domain name registrar in the world. It's where I host my sites, as well. They offer free accounts with banners, but for just $15 a year I now have bannerless hosting, FTP, and domain name hosting! When I've emailed support, I've gotten a reply in minutes--not hours or days. DirectNIC has been flawless and I recommend them highly. Sound like I work for them? Nope, I just love a company that gives great service.

--I've used FastCounter (the counter on my front page) for quite some time. They're now part of bCentral and Microsoft. FastCounter is one of the few things that has stayed free. They load fast and have rarely been down.

--If you want free stuff on the internet, this is the place to find it.  I have found programs (including AOLpress, Win Zip, antique arcade games, screen saver makers, and lots of utilities), useful internet sites (image crunching, Cooltext, and more), graphics, backgrounds, wallpapers, and sounds.  They even know when companies are having give-away promotions--everything from books to laundry soap.  They also have one of the few newsletters that I actually read and recommend.  You will definitely find something that you can use--and all for free!

--You don't have to know everything about HTML to make a web page. Likewise, you don't have to know much about DHTML to make some cool web page tricks. Just go to this site, find a trick that you like, then cut and paste the code. I've used DHTML to make a scrolling "Newsflash," a tool tip, and special effects like falling leaves and snow on my front page. . .

--You wouldn't think that my ISP could help me make my site, but getting DSL has saved me countless hours over having a dial up account. At $50 a month, it ain't cheap--then I think back to early 2001 when my web space provider (50megs.com) accidently lost some accounts, including mine. I had to upload about 20 megs worth of data. It took about 50 minutes instead of days. If you're a serious surfer, you should really have DSL, cable or satellite (which can be put virtually anywhere, including rural areas) high speed access. If you regularly update a website, you can't live without it.

Let me know if you spot any bad links.

HOME

www.fchs86.com--Fayette County High School in Fayetteville, GA, Class of 1986. One of my sites. Just started this one recently. Every now and then I stop by Classmates.com to see who has posted their profiles. Well, now you have to pay $36 a year for something that I'm only willing to pay a couple of bucks for (reading other people's profiles). So I decided to give my fellow classmates a place where they can tell their story for free.