Personal @ MindSay

Since you've probably got more than one computer at home anyway I would be inclined to look into one of the cable/DSL switches that also provides VPN.  For example, the cable router that I could end up buying is the LinkSys BEFSX41 which includes built in VPN capability.  At the back of my mind not running this through Windows hopefully exposes you to less risks.
I'd appreciate more informed opinions though.
This looks like a good solution as long as you don't need (want?) wireless access -- especially since the LinkSys about $120. It looks like this unit does everything you need to manage a personal VPN.
But I just purchased the D-Link DI614+, with mostly the same features of the LinkSys, sans the VPN endpoint, but with a wireless acces point built in. It supports multiple IPSec or PTP passthru connections, just not a VPN endpoint. So we recommended this:
    Here's how to do it in software on a single-diskette Linux box with two Ethernet cards:
    http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=4772
    [...]This article shows you how to set up, at minimal expense, a working VPN gateway that uses the IETF's (Internet Engineering Task Force) IPSec (internet protocol security) specification. IPSec is an open standard and is supported by virtually all major firewall software and hardware vendors, such as Lucent, Cisco, Nortel and Check Point. This package will give you a widely interoperable IPSec that uses the de facto standard 3DES encrypted, MD5-authenticated site-to-site or point-to-site VPN. You should be able to do this without resorting to a full Linux distribution or recompiling a standard Linux kernel with a kernel IPSec module.[...]
Either way it looks like about another hundred $$ - whether for another router or two ethernet cards and an old 486 PC. I'm inclined to go the Linux route and put it just behind my router, but first I have to learn enough about Linux to do it (or con someone into doing it for me.)

A Chinese personal name consists of two parts: a surname and a given name.

 

Chinese people don't have middle names.The order is the reverse of English names: surname first, given name last. A married woman in Mainland China does not carry their husbands’ surnames. If Miss. Wang Xiaozhi married Mr. Zhang Ning, she becomes Mrs. Zhang, but at the same time she remains Wang Xiaozhi. If Wang Xiaozhi is from Hongkong or Taiwan, however, she may add her husband’s surname to her full name and refer herself as Zhang Wang Xiaozhi.

 

There are four common patterns for Chinese names (The first pattern with a momosyllable surname followed by a disyllable given name is the most common one):

1. surname(monosyllable) + given name(disyllable)
e.g.:
     Wáng Jīnghuá 王京华
     Wú Tiānmíng  吴天明
2. surname(monosyllable) + given name(monosyllable)
e.g.:
     Liú Jiā  刘佳
     Wáng Jiàn 王健
3. surname(disyllable) + given name(disyllable)
e.g.:
     Sīmǎ Xiàngrú  司马相如
     Shàngguān Yúnzhū 上官云珠
4. surname(disyllable) + given name(monosyllable)
e.g.:
      Zhūgě Liàng 诸葛亮  
    Ōuyáng Xiū  欧阳修 

 

 

Woke up before I should have this morning. I got up to use the bathroom and heard my father wandering around downstairs and the dog was whining, so I decided to stay up. That was a bad idea. I was groggy all day. LOL!

First thing done once mom got home from the store was to open presents. I got a purple nightgown, which I was in horrible need of. Got two new nutcrackers to add to my collection, and they were good ones. One was a Santa coming out of a chimney and the other was a gingerbread man! They are so cute! I'll get pictures up here eventually. Got antlers to wear to work and they blink and all! My yearly Hess truck (yes, I collect the Hess trucks). And the funniest gift ever... a big red nose and a set of antlers to put on my car! LOL! I haven't put them on yet, but I want to get out early tomorrow and put the nose on the grill. I can't put the antlers on until I leave the highway. I saw someone on the highway with them today, but the box says, "Not for highway use" and you know, with my luck, I'd either lose one or it would break. Got a $100 gift card for gas, which will come in handy since I'm low on cash now with the holidays. And Lily got me a $45 gift card for the place I get my pedicures, so that should cover two pedicures. :)

We went to the art museum for the "Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism" exhibit. It was pretty good. I was way groggy during it (which is weird. I was groggy for this special exhibit and sick for the last one. I'm cursed for special exhibits). But I discovered a few things during the tour:

1. I really don't like Monet.

2. I do really like Daubigny.

3. I really need to get to the eye doctor.

I was having an awful time reading the cards next to the paintings. Normally I would attribute that to my groggy state as being tired really messes with my eye sight. But I added that onto the fact that I can't see the front sight on my rifle anymore. I think it's time to hit the eye doctor.

Came home and I watched some TV, then we went to Xanki for dinner (Japanese). Got stuffed beyond belief there. Came home and found out my father had bought sushi while we were there and snuck it home so I could have it later. :)

Had an ice cream cake. Always love the ice cream cake. LOL!

So it was a pretty good birthday, really. Sitting here on the internet drinking strawberry tea and reading the massive amount of "happy birthday" emails from forums. I am a member of far too many forums. I only regularly visit two of them, but I got emails from 12 gun forums, 1 bellydance forum, 1 gardening forum, 1 debate forum, and 1 other I don't recall.

Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About

Personal Finance on the Back of Five Business Cards 

1. The Most Important Thing

2. Earn More!

1. Get educated. This doesn’t mean drop out and go back to school.

It merely means to keep learning new things. If something interests you,

read a book about it.

2. More income streams. Always be on the lookout for ways to have money

rolling into your pocket from a lot of different places. Maybe you’re a good writer

and can sell a short story or an online ebook.

3. Start a side business.There are lots of possibilities out there for starting a business

that will supplement your current income and perhaps eventually grow into your main income.

4. Move towards your passions. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, gravitate towards

the things that really excite you, because

Whatever really excites you and makes you want to do more and more and more and

better and better and better, that’s what you need to move towards at all times.

5. Don’t burn bridges. You never know when a relationship you’ve forged in your past might

come in handy later on, even the ones you completely don’t expect.

Never spread a negative word about anyone, because it never helps.

6. Keep in touch! When you do build a bridge with someone, don’t let it get old and worn out -

spend the time to keep in touch with that person.

3. Live Frugal!

For a lot of people, frugality is a nine letter word for cheap.

They think of people doing stuff like buying cartloads of generic products,

using forty coupons in the checkout aisle, wearing patched clothing,

driving a rusted-out old vehicle, and other such things that it’s easy

to look down your nose at.

Here’s a secret,  frugal people that you look down your nose at

often have a mountain of cash in the bank

(not always, of course, but more often than you think).

They’re not drowning in a mortgage,

they’re not making payments on a five figure credit card debt.

They’re not working to death on the weekends

They’re living their life according to their own rules.

1. Maximize every dollar. Every time you spend money, you make a decision.

You decide that whatever you’re giving that dollar for is worth it, and thus you make the exchange.

The real key to spending less is to raise that definition of what a dollar is worth.

2. Habits of all kinds are dangerous! Most people have some sort of routine in their day

where they buy a morning latte or a bagel, or they drink six cans of soda, or they eat out

at the same place each day for lunch.

What these routines add up to is a lot of money. Spending $5 every day in a workweek

adds up to $1,300 over a year - that’s a mortgage payment for a lot of people.

Spend some time looking at the stuff you do every day, especially the ones that require you

to spend money, and ask yourself if they’re really necessary or could be replaced.

3. The ten second rule Every time you go to make any purchase, even when you pay a bill,

stop for ten seconds and ask yourself if this is really something you want to spend your money on.

Do you really need this item? Do you really need to be paying $14.95 a month for unlimited

text messages when you use maybe ten?

Could you reduce that electricity bill by putting in a lot of CFLs?

This one simple technique will often point you in the direction of spending less money.

4. Don’t make yourself miserable! Most of the time, when you cut a bit of spending from your life,

you’ll find that you never miss it. However, there are times when you find yourself really regretting it.

If that’s the case, then it’s probably a worthwhile expense for you.

Saving money doesn’t have to equate to misery,

it just means that you cut down on the unnecessary.

5. … but don’t forget the big picture. That, of course, doesn’t mean that you should justify

every purchase with a basic “I want it and I have money in my account.”

That shouldn’t ever be enough to motivate a purchase. keeping in mind

on the big picture andfilter out what’s really needed and what’s just a fleeting desire.

4. Manage money!

Whenever you increase your income or decrease your spending, you’ll find yourself with more cash

at the end of the month. That cash is your ticket to financial freedom, and the more you can get

each month, the better off you are.

The trick, though, is to not spend it, but to do things that will build a stable future for you.

Here’s the game plan.

1. Pay off all high interest debt, such as credit cards. Anything with an interest rate over 9%

needs to go as soon as possible. Use the extra money to make double or triple payments on

these debts, focusing first on the one with the highest interest rate.

When that one’s gone, keep going with each successively lower interest rate debt.

2. Build  An emergency fund an amount of money you keep in a savings account

that’s intended to be used in the event of a major crisis, such as a job loss, a medical emergency,

major car damage, and so on.

You should have a month and a half worth of living expenses for each person

you claim as a dependent.

you should also keep a well stocked pantry buy a few extra cans of food each week

but remember to rotate you stock of supplys  buy in bulk things on sale that you use

3. Max out retirement. Go to one of those retirement meetings at work,

ask exactly how much you should be putting away to ensure that your living expenses

are well-covered in retirement, and put that much away.

This varies a lot depending on how much you have in right now, how much your employer matches,

and so on, so you should talk to your retirement planner at work about the specifics.

4. college savings? College savings are next. If you have kids, set up a 529 college savings

plan for them and start automatically putting a certain amount into this account each month.

5. Pay off all debts. If all of these are covered and you still have cash left over

(which you will, given some time), the next step is to pay off all of your debts.

Get rid of your car loans, your student loans, and your mortgage.

.

6. Invest  When you are done wit all the above you might also want to start investing at this point.

5. Control your own destiny!

Most people see the goal of all of this as being rich.

Its all about. Freedom from debt.

Freedom from supervisors telling us what to do.

Freedom to spend the time to do things right.

Freedom to try out new things and follow our interests.

Freedom to sleep until eleven one day, then stay up until two in the morning

working on what we’re passionate about.

That’s what most people really want -