Be Fit - Free Workouts on YouTube

I am really enjoying these work-out videos on YouTube.  I've been doing several of the videos from the BeFit in 90 workout system.  I walk 2 miles every day, so I'm just using them as additional exercise and toning - picking different muscle groups to concentrate on each day - not following the whole 90-day system.

I do this one quite often:



and I did this one today:


I think I need to do this one more often, because I was having a hard time jumping by the end there! 

If you're looking for a good workout challenge, be sure to check out the 90-day Workout System from BeFit in 90.  It's available exclusively on YouTube for FREE and includes strength, cardio, flexibility, yoga and high intensity drills.  There are playlists for each day, and all you have to do is start with the playlist for Day 1 and continue through the workout playlists for 90 days.  And then?  Then you'll probably be addicted to exercise, and you'll keep doing it!

Besides the BeFit in 90 system, Lionsgate BeFit has many other exercise videos available - again, for FREE on YouTube.  There are some Dirty Dancing workouts and some Dancing with the Stars workouts that really look like fun.  I think I'll try some of those next.

Fill Your MP3 Player with Free Audio Books this Summer

SYNC is offering 2 Free Audiobook Downloads Each Week  June 14 - August 22, 2012 

Each week from June 14 - August 22, 2012, SYNC will offer two free audiobook downloads. The audiobook pairings will include a popular YA title and a classic that connects with the YA title's theme and is likely to show up on a student's summer reading lists. For example, Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the first book in a new series about a girl who opens a door to two otherworldly cities at war, will be paired with Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities.

To find out when you can download titles to listen to on the run this summer, visit www.AudiobookSync.com or text syncya to 25827. 

This week's books are The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.  Be sure to grab them by Wednesday June 20, because they'll only be available for one week.  Once you've downloaded them, you can listen to them any time - they do not expire.

Here's a list of the upcoming titles:

• 06/21/12-06/27/12
  Irises by Francisco X. Stork, Read by Carrington MacDuffie (Listening Library)
  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Media) 
•  06/28/12-07/04/12
  The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, Read by Simon Jones (Listening Library)
  Tales from the Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang, Read by Toby Stephens (Naxos AudioBooks) 
• 07/05/12-07/11/12
  Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Read by August Ross (AudioGO)
  The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Read by Ian Holm (AudioGO) 
•  07/12/12-07/18/12
  Guys Read: Funny Business by Jon Scieszka [Ed.] et al., Read by Michael Boatman, Kate DiCamillo, John Keating, Jon Scieszka, Bronson Pinchot (Harper Audio)
  The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories by Mark Twain, Read by Norman Dietz (Recorded Books) 
• 07/19/12-07/25/12
  Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter, Read by Kirsten Potter (Oasis Audio)
  Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, Read by a Full Cast (AudioGO) 
• 07/26/12-08/01/12
  Pinned by Alfred C. Martino, Read by Mark Shanahan (Listen & Live Audio)
  Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (Brilliance Audio) 
• 08/02/12-08/08/12
  Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Read by Khristine Hvam (Hachette Audio)
  A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Read by Simon Prebble (Blackstone Audio) 
• 08/09/12-08/15/12
  Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Read by Rupert Degas (Harper Audio)
  Dead Men Kill by L. Ron Hubbard, Read by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast (Galaxy Press) 
• 08/16/12-08/22/12
  The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, Read by Jay Laga'aia (Bolinda Audio)
  The Call of the Wild by Jack London, Read by William Roberts (Naxos AudioBooks) 

What a great way to keep young people 'reading' over the summer!

I may be all grown up, but I enjoy reading/listening to YA literature, too.  I'm actually looking forward to listening to several of the classics on this list, because I've never read them.  They were not on my school reading lists, and I never read them on my own.  I guess it's about time....  Which ones are you looking forward to?

I would strongly suggest you sign up to get the alerts, via text message or email, so you don't miss any of these downloads.  I did, because I just know I'll forget if somebody doesn't remind me.  All downloads are in MP3 format and you'll need the FREE Overdrive Media Console to download them.  They'll only be available for that one week, but once you've downloaded them, you can listen any time.

If none of these titles spark your interest, be sure to visit your local library to find out if they offer the Overdrive service where you can browse and downloads hundreds (thousands?  probably thousands) of audio books and ebooks from the comfort of your own home.  Those are free, too.  However, they do come with an expiration date, just like all library checkouts.

Related articles

• Free Audiobooks From Sync

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• Free YA Audiobooks from SYNC - Summer listening schedule

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• YA Audiobook Giveaway

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• Audiobooks That'll Make The Family Road Trip Fly By

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Save Your Tabblos Today

I haven't really used it in a while, but tabblo was a lot of fun.  It was a great site that allowed users to upload photos and arrange them into artful and interesting pages.  There is quite a community of users, and people have put together some amazing things!

Thankfully one of my tabblo contacts shared her final tabblo yesterday, and when I visited I found the following notice:

NOTICE:

Dear Tabblo Users,
We regret to inform you the Tabblo service and website will not be available after May 30, 2012. Please visit HP.com to explore other HP products and services.
Thank you.

That's today!

So I've been busy saving all my tabblos.  I may not have used the site in a while, but I've got several that I'd hate to lose - whether I ever do anything with them or not.  If you've got some you'd like to save - even if you haven't been there or done anything with them in a while, do it today.

The process is simple - view your tabblos, and next to the thumbnails of each tabblo you'll see several options.  Select 'print' - this opens the tabblo as a PDF in Adobe Reader.  It will also open your printer dialog, but just hit cancel, unless you want an actual printed copy.  Look over the PDF to be sure all your photos loaded - what you see is what you'll have, so if they don't load the first time, close your PDF and try again.  I had to load a few of mine 2 or 3 times.  Once you get the whole thing, choose 'Save a Copy' from the file menu in Adobe Reader and choose where to save it.   Repeat for each tabblo you want to save.

My way only saves a PDF version.  I just found this Tabblo Lifeboat Downloader which sounds like it saves them in the same format as they appear on the site, which might be nice.  Maybe I'll do that too....

Whatever you do - save them today if you're going to do it, because they won't be available tomorrow.

More Free Kindle Books

I'm never going to find the time to read them all, but I certainly do love collecting free kindle books!  There are a couple sites I visit - and Like on facebook so I know what they're posting - to find them.  Today I got an email about a site I hadn't visited before, and I'm really liking it.  It's a nice, visual site with just the covers and titles of the books.  I know they say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I do tend to pick books with interesting covers, so this page is kind of like browsing the shelves in the library or bookstore - and being able to grab the ones that look good.  All you have to do is click on the ones that look interesting, and the site takes you directly to Amazon to 'purchase' them. 

Of course, since I haven't read any of them yet, I don't know if the insides of the books are as interesting as their covers.  The ones I grabbed all had pretty good reviews, though.  And since they're free kindle books, they'll be worth at least as much as I paid for them - and they won't take up any room on my shelves.  I'm not sure how often the site is updated with free books, but I'll be checking back to see what's listed.

As always, be sure to double-check the price before you buy - because prices can change.  Don't have a Kindle?  You can get your Kindle here.

Find a Common Connection Through DNA with ConnectMyDNA™

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of ConnectMyDNA.com for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
 
Here's an interesting service.  It's called ConnectMyDNA™.  They analyze your DNA, not to look at your ancestry or your past, but to find connections today.  They combine your numeric DNA test results into graphical data and apply it to a circular pattern of 13 rings - called the Gene Ring™.  It's like your own personal fingerprint where the green markers and their position around each ring represent the unique values found in your DNA.  You get an eye-catching symbolization of your unique genetic makeup, which is also a scientifically accurate tool that allows you to visually compare your DNA profile to friends, families and population groups around the world - to find connections with other people you probably had no idea you were connected with!
 

I don't really know my ancestry or genealogy - mainly because it just doesn't seem all that relevant to me, so I've never paid that much attention.  But this in not an ancestry test, but a way of finding similarities to today’s populations and people around the world.  Finding out who I'm connected with now could be fun.  Maybe I've got a lot in common with people who live somewhere tropical near a beach!  I really have no idea, but  it  would be interesting to find out, wouldn't it?  ConnectMyDNA™ compares your personal genetic markers to a massive world-wide database of DNA profiles to determine which population group you most closely resemble.  In some cases, it might be what you expect, but it could also be very surprising.
The process is fairly simple:

1. Collect your DNA sample using the DNA Collection Kit they send you - a simple swab of the cheeks - and mail it back in the postage-paid envelope.
2. Their secure lab extracts the DNA from the swab and converts it into scientific data.  They use one of the world’s leading DNA testing facilities, providing the highest level of quality and accuracy of results.
3. Get your results online by logging into the Members area.  You'll get access to online tools that allow you to share and compare your results with friends, family, and people around the world.

Serial numbers are used to track your order, not your name, and there is no sensitive information provided by the ring  - so it's up to you use and share your results as you wish.

If you're interested in finding out what your DNA says about you and the people you're connected with in this world, be sure to check out ConnectMyDNA™.  They're offering a really great deal right now.  Use coupon code IZEA290512 to get the reduced price of $29.00 - regularly $89.95, so that's a huge savings.  Who knows - maybe we'll find out we're connected!

How Fast Do You Read?

This is fun.  Take a quick test to see how fast you read and how your speed compares to other people.  Then you'll get to see how long it would take you to read popular and classic books at that speed.

Click the image to start your test.  You can use the little Options Cog to pick the book you'd like to read from and the length of the sample.  The say a longer sample is more accurate.

Be sure to come back and let me know how you did!  I got 367 words per minute - 47% faster than the national average.  My son got 900 and some words per minute.  I'm jealous.  I wish I could read as fast as he does!  (of course, he was reading at a 7th grade level at the end of 2nd grade, and he's been reading voraciously ever since)

Source: Staples eReader Department

What Were You Doing Last Year?

Timehop (Photo credit: dklimke)

If you're like me, you don't know.  Hey, sometimes I can't even remember what I did last week.  Or yesterday.  Or earlier this morning...

OK, maybe it's not that bad, but sometimes I do have to stop and really think about it, and I definitely do not remember what I was doing last year.  So, I just signed up for Timehop.  It's a FREE service that searches your Facebook status, Twitter updates, and other online services and sends a daily email letting you know what you were talking about and doing a year ago. 

Timehop turns your web services into a time capsule. Everything you post today becomes a note for the future!

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?  

Related articles

• Timehop social media aggregator adds Pinterest-style boards for saving your favorite memories (theverge.com)
• Timehop Revives Old Memories from Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter (xconomy.com)
• Want to know what were you doing a year ago, exactly this date? (improvesocialnetworking.wordpress.com)