There are lots of activities that have always struck me as odd, but lots of fun. Synchronized swimming would fall into this category. As would curling. But hey, who am I to judge? A more common activity that is odd, but I know is lots of fun is trampolining (how’s that for a word?).

The Basics

Just jumping up and down. It’s so simple, and so entertaining. Kids can be entertained for hours and hours by a trampolines. It’s an easy and cheap way to use your back yard. It keeps the kids occupied, and it gets them exercising. I’m always looking for a two for one special .

There are some things to keep in mind if you are in the market to buy a trampoline. First is size. The bigger the trampoline, the higher you can jump. But the bigger the trampoline, the higher you can jump. If you are getting a big trampoline, make sure to get a netting system for the sides. Another factor is padding on the springs. Olympic (see below) trampolines are completely padded. Don’t you think if that’s the Olympic requirement, it should be a requirement for your kids as well?

A Professional Sport?

Something I didn’t know until recently is that trampolining is actually an Olympic sport. It turns out this was added in the year 2000. Apparently trampoline athletes are judged on how tightly they can structure their jumps as well as how accurately they can land on the trampoline. According to wikipedia, you can land on your front (front of your whole body), back (back of whole body), seat (your butt), or your feet (self explanatory I hope). Then you jump up, somersaulting, flipping, or twisting along the way. You can do these moves in a tucked position, straight position, or piked position.

Routines have start with the athlete on his or her feet, and must end in the same position. These Olympians have 10 jumps with which to show their best abilities to the judges. After the routine is over, both the jumper and the trampoline itself must be perfectly still for at least 3 seconds.

Who knew trampolining was so complicated?

Double the Fun

Then there is synchronized trampolining. Personally, I have never seen this done, but I imagine that it is pretty spectacular. With a trampoline amplifying each jump, small differences would grow and grow to the point that the jumpers would be totally out of sync. Keeping jumps, flips, and spins timed together must be very difficult, and thus very impressive to watch.

So whatever you decide to do, buy one for yourself, get one for your kids, get into the Olympics on behalf of your country, make sure you follow safety precautions and sensible procedures.

Many people seem to forget that we live in a global marketplace these days. Having all your assets in one place, in one currency, is increasingly being recognized as the foolish practice that it is. With global travel and trade comes the need for global income.

One way to quickly develop that global income is to buy businesses. As an example, you can buy practices for sale in the UK. There are accountancy practices for sale, massage parlors for sale, an architecture firm. Really anything! There’s even a dental practice for sale. Make it a good experience when *other* people go to the dentist!

Once you have businesses all around the world, you are insulated from political and economic problems. If one country erupts into chaos (what people really mean by “social unrest”), then you have assets and income from other countries. If a particular currency collapses, you have other currencies to do business with. This is the name of the game in the 21st century. Never forget that it is the instantaneous worldwide communication through the Internet that makes all of this possible. If you couldn’t email your manager in the UK, then all those businesses would have to run on their own.

Perhaps that’s the way it should be anyways…

More and more these days, people are making sure that their pets (especially dogs) are being taken care of in comfort. Once upon a time, leaving a dog in your car while you shop for groceries showed that you loved your dog and liked having him with you. Now it’s a crime! Hopefully, you are one of those who loves your pets. If you’re not, stop reading now!

Anybody who has watched a dog for a length of time knows that they really do have likes and dislikes, especially when it comes to where they sleep. If it’s hot out, the cool tile floor of a kitchen might be welcome relief. If it’s cold, cozying up by the fire is a preferred spot. For your older or special needs dog, you can now get orthopedic dog beds! I know that as a consumer with choices, I opt for a memory foam mattress in my bed. It enables me to get a fantastic night’s sleep. So why wouldn’t I give my best friend the same comfort? Enter memory foam dog beds.

Regardless of how long you’ve had your pooch, doesn’t he or she deserve the best? Who knows, maybe your dog will be less cranky in the morning .

I love my Flip camera. It’s easy to use and quick to take HD movies with. However, there are some definite limitations. Mainly, it only produces one quality level and type of video. If you want to add special effects, watermarks, crop, or really do anything on top of the raw video, you need some editing software.

If you are a mac user, you will need a video converter for mac. This kind of software will convert between video types for whatever format you need. As an example, if I want to take a video and play it on my iPad, well, the iPad only plays one kind of video: MP4. If you are using AVI or MPEG or whatever, you need to use a ipad video converter. It’ll automatically take your old video and change to a file type that the iPad can use. But be warned, videos take up a lot of space on a limited iPad. That’s why I use the SD card accessories. It allows me to swap out cards without syncing.

And have you heard how Netflix is dying? There’s a reason! DVDs are dying. Why carry around a library of discs when you can just keep everything on your iPad or computer? You can eliminate a TON of clutter in your house just by getting a dvd ripper for mac. Rip ‘em, watch them on your projector, computer, or through your xbox 360, and you can throw away all the discs (or sell them cheap online to make a few bucks).

Many of you already know that I am looking at moving to New Zealand, or possibly Australia. International moving is tricky. There are a lot of things to take into consideration:

• Will the new country/culture have the type of goods you need?
• Will you be able to order things from your home country affordably?
• Will the things in your new home be cost-effective?
• Will you want to move your furniture through international shipping?
• How much should you sell before leaving?
• Is your car worth shipping?