FREE —FREE —FREE —FREE —FREE —FREE —FREE —FREE —FREE

I keep finding new sites with tons of fabulous freebies thanks to everyone on Twitter. Below is the beginnings of a list of those I find myself going to over and over. The folks who offer these put out unique, quality products. I’ll be adding more as I have time. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

• Vector4Free — Vector art
• Vecteezy — Vector art
• Colorburned — Vector art, Illustrator brushes, patterns and more
• Brusheezy — Photoshop brushes
• Colorburned — Photoshop brushes
• Bittbox — Hi-res Photoshop watercolor brushes
• Fresh eMedia — Photoshop brushes and more
• Flasheezy — Flash files, templates and more
• Fresheezy — WordPress templates and more
• WebAir Blog — 100+ WordPress templates
• Colorburned — Tutorials
• Fontfabric — ‘VAL’ font (this is a fun font to have in your arsenal)
• Bittbox — Stylized fonts
• Woork — “10 Delicious Free Fonts with commercial-use license”
• Bittbox — Textures

Can we expand the number of hours in the day? Say, another 5 or 6 would be nice. I say this because I’m still learning the ins and outs of WordPress. While this has been fun, I’m having to dig into code more than I anticipated. This is a bit disappointing because I want to do my own template but need my site up and running first. Portfolio stuff will be next but, the “portfolio” page template doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. Guess I’ll just use a bigger hammer

This time of year has those seeking relief from the heat. Many times wading in the shallows to cool off results in the dreaded itchy, red swimmers itch. I won’t go into the gory details of what it is, etc., etc.. However, I think I’ve come up with a nice way of combatting it and want to share with others who find themselves wanting to die rather than put up with the intense itching this bugger produces. Mind you, I am NOT a doctor and this must not be construed as medical advice.

First off, avoid the shallows if possible because that is the primary residence of this annoying pest. However, if you have small children, can’t swim or can’t otherwise seek deeper waters, invest in Bull Frog “Mosquito Coast” sunscreen with bug repellent. My rationale is that because it is a bug it won’t like bug repellent. I recommend Bull Frog because of the simplicity of using only one product AND it is DEET free for those who care about that.

Next, remember to towel off vigorously upon getting out of the water as the buggers supposedly like to use the drying period to their advantage.

Finally, if you somehow still manage to start feeling itchy and red blotches begin to appear, IMMEDIATELY take an ORAL antihistimine. I recommend Benadryl dissolve strips as they work well for kids and adults alike. In the past we have tried every topical concoction known to man but they only provided temporary relief for short periods of time.

This past weekend found us in this predicament once again though I was the only one who had used Bull Frog and I have been using an oral antihistimine for my allergies. Figuring that the antihistimine prevents me from wanting to scratch both my nose and eyes from my face that it might help the kids. Sure enough, within an hour or two there was no scratching or complaining of being itchy by any of the kids. A single dose pretty much took care of it for each of them though my niece asked for a second dose the next day. Four kids and five Benadryl dissolve strips later life was good again.

If this helps you out in any way, or not, please comment to let me know. Other suggestions are also welcome!

Read an interesting article on Bloomberg.com (via @melfi) entitled “Morgan Stanley Intern Says Teens Don’t Twitter, Prefer Events.”

While I understand the premise, my guess is that teens haven’t found how Twitter can actually fuel the instant gratification they seem to crave as well as the freebies they want. Maybe they haven’t discovered that many of their music idols Tweet regularly and many times include links to content that they may not get otherwise. For example, Eminem (@eminem) did a whole promotion of his new album on Twitter. And here is one post from him from June 2, 2009 about freebie tickets to a show:

“I left 40 passes for tonight’s DJ Hero show at Undftd. on LaBrea in LA. First come, first serve. Cop some kicks while you are there. GO!”

Sure, sometimes it is an assistant posting and not the celebrity, but people pick up on those pretty quick.

Also, with Twitter being so mobile and almost a subset of the texting world, it would seem a natural fit for teens to receive and send micro-bursts of info. Plus, as companies get savvy about addressing contests geared toward teens like they have been with other segments – can you say “squarespace iPhone giveaway?” – I’m sure teens will swarm to Twitter. I see Twitter as being a teen marketing nirvana in the not-so-distant future.

It will most likely be a matter of time before the teen set gets bored with Facebook and makes the jump to Twitter. As I always say, Twitter is Facebook for the ADHD crowd. Then again, I’m a bit out of the teen years so what do I know?!

I’m peeved with T-Mobile. Until the other day I had no major issues with them other than a “rebate” that took almost 5 months to get credited..story for another day. I recently found out that even though I just signed up for “unlimited web access,” for testing our soon-to-be mobile site at work, I can’t view websites using any other browser on my phone other than what is provided by T-Mobile (which is crap by the way.)

My phone is a Nokia 6133…not top-of-the-line nor a smart-phone but has been good for my purposes. In trying to install Opera Mini on my phone I found that while I could download it, I couldn’t install it. The application access option on my menu that would allow me to install was grayed out. This is a feature Nokia provided as a factory setting. However, in T-Mobile’s “branding” process they deactivated it. They “don’t support third-party applications.” Huh?

I’m sure Dell, HP, Apple and every computer company would say the same thing but they at least give you the option and opportunity to screw up your system should a third-party application go awry. I signed up for “unlimited web access” so I could surf using my mobile, but I can’t even make it a pleasant experience?

Do other cell phone providers “brand” their mobile devices to make them barely functional also? While I can’t afford to go all out with a Blackberry Curve with unlimited surfing and unlimited text, kids and house ya know, I’m more than willing to make do with what I’ve got…plus a little bit of application help.

Eight months to go before the contract is up and the research into other carriers has begun…