Great Fun Today - MEETING KRISTINIA DEBARGE

WHAT A COOL THING.... thanks to our connection with Frinj Salon & Spa, only the coolest and hippest salon and spa in Dallas...who recently hosted a new CD release listening party for Kristinia DeBarge - Kim and I had the AWESOME opportunity today to visit with the folks at Universal Music Group - today and attend an exclusive acoustic performance by Kristinia.

Kristinia is here on tour - (opening for Britney Spears on the Circus Tour) - and I have to say WOW. She'll be headlining her own HUGE shows VERY soon - so keep your eye on this one.

Kristinia was personable, friendly - beautiful, too - and has some SERIOUS pipes! But if you've heard her songs - you already know this. We had the 'goosebumps' all over during her performance of "Sabotage" - it's her second release from her new album, Exposed. She was super-sweet and signed some posters for my neices, Gretchen and Gaylee.

What I liked best about the whole experience, was that I truly feel that Kristinia is not just a great performer - but she's also a great role model for young people. She's truly talented, but also has worked very hard and endures the tough schedule of a musician. Poised and professional - she's destined to keep soaring - up the charts and into super-stardom.

Thanks Kristinia, for singing for us today - and being such a great role model!

Here's the video courtesy of one of the other people who was at this exciting performance!

New Client Spotlight - Geek Armory

Welcome to the web - Geek Armory! This is your one-stop shop for movie prop replicas, video game replicas, swords and sabers, armor, costumes and more for the hobbyist and enthusiast who loves movies, video games and the world of science fiction and fantasy!

Jon, owner of Geek Armory, had been a video game producer and designer for the past seven years, working on everything from snowboarding games (Amped 3 on Xbox 360) to golf games (Tiger Woods 08 for the Wii) to the Rock Band series.

As long as he'd been doing games, he hadn't had the chance to work on his favorite genre, RPG's (Role Playing Games - and MY favorite genre too - I'm a HUGE World Of Warcraft, fan ya know...) Merging his love of RPG's with the real world tangibility of prop replicas gave him the idea to create the ultimate place on the web to find everything that's out there, from Buck Rogers ray guns to Zelda swords and Iron Man helmets.

For the true enthusiast - it really helps make the fantasy worlds created in games and movies become a little more real.

Jon's personal favorite movie series is the Lord of the Rings (and, I should mention, I'm a huge Legolas lover...) and Blade Runner. His favorite games are the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series.

Right now, his current inventory is growing - but there's tons of great accessories for the movie and game lover. Right now, his favorite offering is Link's wooden sword from the Legend of Zelda.

Happy collecting, shopping, movie watching and gaming to all of us out there who love the imaginative worlds of fantasy and of science fiction.

Gosh, I've been busy... but new GREAT sites are up!

Hi Everyone, I've been busy lately! But there's some newcomers (at least, new designs for me - some of them have been around!) to the web I'd like to take a moment to introduce!

A great big Texan Internet "HELLO" to:

Inspired Endurance:
Marie is a crafts-woman who creates custom gold and silver jewelry for the inspired athlete. The perfect gift for someone in your life who is training for a marathon or running event, or any sort of endurance sport. She's got the best, most unique jewelry.

I have to say - she sent me the CUTEST bracelet (or, RACE-let!) and I just love it. You'll be inspired by her, and her products. Check out her new site.


Wine Christmas
Chari and her team at SuVino Winery have
been working hard to get their ultra-cool new site, Wine Christmas - up and running for you to browse holiday ornaments, decor, wine stoppers, items for the home and table - and more!

The Winery is great fun too - and look soon for DIVA WINE SHOP for all your whimsical wine gifts!




And also for your holiday season shopping needs....
Christmas Dealz
Brandon and his team at Christmas Dealz have the best electronics, Wii, Nintendo, Games, and so much more - for great GREAT holiday gifts for the kiddos, or grown ups (like me) who still love to play.

He's a very smart guy, super-nice, and extremely customer service oriented. He'll provide quality, authentic products - and great service and support with your order. You can't go wrong buying your Holiday gifts here.

Get ready for Holiday shopping with these great sites!!

Congratulations POSH PUPPY BOUTIQUE

Congratulations to Jen over at the Posh Puppy Boutique! She's won TWO Webmaster Awards on her fun website - where you can buy DESIGNER DUDS FOR YOUR DOG, BLING COLLARS, DOG BOWLS, PET BEDDING and more.

It's nice to see a website that takes off and does so well after we've edited the Volusion Template. Volusion is the e-commerce platform for Posh Puppy Boutique.

So - again, CONGRATS, JEN - for webmastering your new website to success of these two niche awards! Not an easy task!

Awarded by: Next Day Pets

Dogs, Pet Supplies, Dog Breeders Frontline, Pet Meds, Revolution

	Awarded to quality pet websites. (dogs, puppies, cats, horses) Type: Dog Site

Virus Alert

*DISCLAIMER*
I'm no expert in viruses, spyware and malware,
this is simply a personal story of survival where these rude little irritants are concerned.

There's no doubt that computer viruses and spyware are a crippling time-waster for those of us who work on our computers, and also on the web. What sort of person creates this stuff? Honestly? Immature pre- teenage geniuses? Mr. Norton? Come on now. You know who you are. (AND - Just so you know, you totally blew me away this week - with your smart little 'rogue anti-spyware hijacker' programs.)

So here's what I had going on (and have a little of, still) Trojan Vundo and Trojan Zlob + an ugly little hijacker called "Storage Protector". (please notice - I did not put a link to their nasty little website and I do NOT recommend going to it or downloading any of their software!).

It all started with my computer running a little slow. Then, all of a sudden - I start getting crazy messages and system errors. And these look totally LEGIT, people!

Next thing you know, you've got two "Microsoft Windows" icons on your desktop: one for "Help and Support" and one other (I can't remember - and I don't want to bring it back just to post it here!).

Luckily, I didn't click on any of them - but viewed their properties (right click, view properties.) and saw that they DID NOT go to Microsoft, or to a system file on my machine, but rather a website called "Storage Protector". UGLY!

Here's how smart these uglies are: you can run anti-spyware programs (Adaware by Lavasoft, SpyHunter3 by Enigma - both good options) and these little malicious programs 'sense' or are triggered that they're being hunted.... So, they change their filenames often (to go under the radar of these programs and of known filenames that one might try and delete to manually remove the infection).

In addition, they embed themselves in Windows logon files, so they automatically renew themselves on startup/boot. So many times, the only way to get rid of them is to format or restore the entire hard drive, because trying to remove these files from the logon files can damage the logon process, making it impossible to boot up again. UGLY!

What did I do? I freaked out first. All my client files are on my machine, and my entire life in photos. I use the internet and FTP all the time.

For hope and inspiration, I then spoke to an Apple friend, who told me that the MacBook Pro I got for Christmas just wouldn't put up with these nasty little programs (the Operating System, OSX, does not support these programs, they are ahead of these hijackers! Hallelujah!) and that it was safe to transfer my client's files. I did so at once. Then, I moved on to the business of cleaning my Windows Laptop of these hateful little boogers.

Tips to remove and protect and learn:

First and foremost: Change browsers. If you're on Internet Explorer: change now to Mozilla Firefox. It's more secure, and less likely to allow browser hijacking and these back door viruses like Vundo and Zlob into your computer to open it up to other infections.

Then, look and learn: If you suspect malware or spyware, or virus infections on your computer, run an anti-spyware program and an anti-virus program. There's lots of good FREE Ones out there.

Spyware/Malware: SpyHunter3, Adaware
Both have good support, forums, and helpful people. You might have to also download and test some other programs or tools to remove the bugs (as requested or directed by security volunteers on the forum).

Typically, the people on these forums are volunteers - so you MUST have patience and manners when posting on these forums, and read the pre-posting instructions. You might figure out and clean your infection on your own just by the free info. They are helping others for a whole buncha nothin'! And if you can, please donate to their causes - because they are working hard to keep people safe. I actually purchased the paid versions of a couple of spyware programs and run them every day now. They didn't remove what I had - but support was good - and informative.

Virus Protection: Avast AntiVirus
So far so good - this little gem has cleaned up a bunch.

Overall support and GREAT info: Atribune
Atri - the developer and site owner - he's an INCREDIPEOPLE kind of guy. Seems that he came up with a little thing called VUNDOFIX, which I ran - it (in my case) actually got rid of the ZLOB, and the Storage Protector. (or a combination of Avast + VundoFix) so now I have 4 files left, that claim 'Vundo' that I'm having a hard time getting off my machine... BUT - I have, since finding Atribune, removed 10 files of Zlob + Vundo and the Storage Protector. So I am totally happy - being that progress has been made.

So there's my journey - and my links to great tools and websites that I think will help others. I've posted in the Atribune forums for some help on removing these last 4 files - so hopefully I'll get those off too. I'll keep you posted!

Cheers - and Good luck!!

RENEWAL

The time has come to RENEW!

Not just for our website, but also for the vision and future of "Kari and Company".

Inspirations + Skills + Work = WOW.

What I have now, with regard to my website, branding, etc... - has worked over the last year, for basic professional needs - since I left my full time position with Park Place Dealerships.

But, I have this little vision thing-a-majig working now, and see some grand things for myself - as well as ALL the talented people I know. And there are SOO many!

I am seeing a future where all the incredibly brilliant people I know (who I will name later on in posts pertaining to their particular brilliance, 'Incredipeople') can work together - as a team - creating 'web WOW', helping others obtain and manage a web presence, providing "ODC" or, "On-Demand Creative" services for our VIP clients (and anyone else who wants to sign up!) with a company that they can help grow.

I don't want to run it. I'm not there! That stuff makes me crazy! Dang! I just want to work for it. (in the creative department, of course...)

Look soon for posts on products & services, tips and tricks, articles on design and all things web - and much more.

This will be the designer's little journal... and a journal of a little company with big dreams!