Today is Labor Day and you may have seen the American Flag on Google, or read about the Have2P app that is perfect for parade routes, and those that love getting a good deal on apps may want to take a look at the deals on during today’s celebrations.

Earlier today we looked at Best Buy’s not so good Labor Day Sale, although the site did work, which is less than we can say about Costco at the time of writing. Costco and Home Deport are both known for great deals on special occasions, and with today being Labor Day we expected to see something good.

Those that felt the same way might have been disappointed to get “The server at www.costco.com is taking too long to respond” or a server timeout message. It seems that Costco may be in big demand on Labor Day, so much so that their server cannot handle the load.

This has left people looking for Costco locations and store opening times, rather than seeing them on the “find a warehouse page” that normally works on the official site. Do you know of any good sites that offer Costco store opening times and locations? Are you having problems accessing the official site?

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, get daily updates via email, or connect with Daniel Chubb.

See Also

• Labor Day Sales: Kids stuff, toys and more
• Labor Day Sales: Weekend Pre-Sale Ads
• Slickdeals Down: Hours of outage for August 2010
• Best Buy Labor Day Sale 2009: What sales do you see?
• Labor Day Weekend: Dell Business Sales

Related News

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3. Best Buy’s Labor Day Sale 2010: Last day of deals
4. American Flag Meaning on Google: Labor Day 2010

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It could only happen in California. A state famous for the dot.com explosion, expensive tastes, beautiful scenery, hollywood and………….The VP Sales Contest. Enter Ken Gora, the CEO of Next Productions and creator of the VP Contest, a 7 week sales and marketing tournament being held in 18 different cities that gets people jobs and earnings, creates sales revenue and branding for companies, stimulates the economy and is a pilot for an entertaining and educational reality TV program.

 I sat in Dr. Gora’s office in the beautiful Carmel Valley section of San Diego, California one afternoon. How did this man with a PhD in Psychology, years of corporate recruiting experience and some escapades as a marketing consultant and seminar leader get involved with “contests” and Reality TV ? He (Dr. Gora) is about 6 ft 3 inches tall, late 40’s or 50 ish, and goes from being soft spoken and serious to excited and motivating. I could see his skills and persona as an interviewer, a charismatic speaker and as a Reality TV judge. And he started to tell me how it all happened in the middle of a summer night.

“The truth is I woke up at 2:30am one night and my background in recruiting, outsourcing , marketing, training, and my watching the reality TV contest/elimination formats all came together. I wasn’t trying to start a new business or create an industry. I just woke up and in one long sentence in my head I knew that this was a way to help people, stimulate businesses and the economy and also have a program of entertainment value” shared Dr. Gora.

“The VP Contest is really a live sales and marketing event that is determined to find out who is THE VP, as in , the VP of Sales and Marketing or The Guru of Sales and Marketing” explained Dr. Gora. “I’ve been a corporate recruiter and headhunter for many years, have owned some small businesses and have hired many, many successful sales people for my clients around the country. I know that one of the keys to most businesses success is to have a team of hungry, skillful, enthusiastic sales people that are performing. Through my psychological profiling and over 20 years of recruiting, I bring to a business 25 sales and marketing professionals that have an immediate impact on their sales revenue on a local, regional or national level. And the VP Contest does it at a tenth of the cost a business would be able to do it on their own.”

“Besides the companies in the contest getting sales and branding, and the contestants earning money and jobs, what we also have here is a compelling “edu-tainment” (new word people) television program that combines the best of American Idol, Shark Tank and Survivor except..it’s real ! The contestants are not going to a mansion every night with the other contestants, they are going home to their families and they are here to show what they got, perform, make money and get the $100,000 a year job. Their story and background and marketing strategies makes for compelling viewing. This contest provides hope and obtainable results and opportunities. Even if they don’t win the grand prize, they may earn thousands of dollars in the contest and get a job with one of the sponsoring companies” Ken explained. (He told me to stop calling him Dr. Gora. LOL) “The American Idol analogy is relevant because the contestants must do well selling and marketing five different companies products over the course of the contest. You cannot be just a one hit wonder, you must show that as the VP you can do a bit of everything. Just like on Idol, you must sing well in a variety of musical or sales genres. And like American Idol, someone can come out of nowhere and win it.”

“You see, what I’m really doing is finding the many, many great unemployed people or those people who are working somewhere and feel they can do better and bringing them together with companies that are looking to increase their sales and branding. These people want to work, they want to make a difference, they want to show that they can sell or market. The companies gets the benefit of a motivated sales force that wants to compete and do well in the contest and they pay a small sponsor fee for the opportunity to have the sales force market their product plus the branding they get with the contestants and the media.”

It does appear that everybody wins that participates in the VP Contest and that if people are working and making money, and companies are getting revenue and producing more products or services, that all of this stimulates the economy. People who otherwise might be unemployed or stuck in a job that they don’t like, get to be assessed in the contest purely by their performance. It is the American Idol of Sales. Companies that are looking for cost-effective branding and sales find their products in new accounts and markets. Plus, Next Productions, of which Ken Gora is CEO of, gives a percentage of their profits to two childrens charities.

I interviewed a number of the contestants and company sponsors and they both spoke of the real value and opportunity the contest provided for them. One contestant told me that they would probably earn over $8,000 in commissions while being in the contest. Kristen Baldwin, the winner of the San Diego contest actually received two VP of Sales offers. One of them was with Next Productions, the other was with CUBA Beverage, a sponsor in the contest.

This was the type of success story that companies dream of. CUBA Beverage, a San Diego based company the manufactures a great tasting, caffeine free, herbal energy juice drink, entered the contest as a cost effective way to get a large sales force and branch into new markets. The contestants got CUBA into health clubs, restaurants, office parks, coffee shops, retail stores and.. the United States Armed Forces. Those accounts turned into a landslide of new business and ongoing potential revenue. Many of these accounts were opened by Kristen and she also worked on getting two large distributors for California and Mexico.

Other companies in the contest from biosciences to home improvement to nutritional products to gift items talked about the new accounts opened, doubling sales, and the regional and national branding received. “We will definitely be in the VP Contest again” said Jeff Adams, President of Starlines, a calendar and gift company. Earth-List, a green business directory and green product company, is utilizing the VP Contest for it’s national expansion and also as a recruiting tool to find a top sales person. Greenbo USA is using the contest to launch it’s product line in the United States.

What’s next for Next Productions and the VP Contest ?

“Something new keeps happening every week”, explained Ken. “We just announced the National Sales Contest which will allow people around the country the opportunity to participate in the VP Sales contest on-line. They will not have to wait for the contest to come to their city, no meetings, no cameras. Just sales and money to be earned. We have a number of sponsors lining up so that they can get the 50 sales and marketing professionals that are in the contest from all over the United States”

Speaking about cameras, what is the status of the Reality TV Pilot of the VP Contest ?

“We are talking with a number of networks as well as production companies. We are working with an award winning producer and director of film and reality TV and there are also some very cool potential celebrity judges” Ken added. “Some of these judges are successful business people, athletes or entertainers. These successful mentors are people who see this as a way to give back to the community, to help the economy as well as brand themselves with an entertaining and educational TV product”.

Business. Entertainment . Jobs. Fighting the recession. Celebrities. Making money. Charities. Branding and market expansion. Reality TV.  It seems that Next Productions and The VP Contest has something for everybody. If they hit their goal of 18 targeted cities and a national TV audience, who knows how many jobs and companies they might impact ?. For more information, the company’s website is www.thevpcontest.com To view a brief video about the contest, link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaJ_h0KoVag

The Emmy award nominated Tyra Banks Show will soon be heading to the east coast after spending its first two seasons out west. The Los Angeles based program will be taping season three at the Chelsea Television Studios in New York. This move is like a homecoming of sorts for the former supermodel. New York has always been considered as one of the top fashion meccas in the world. It was a frequent stomping ground of the former catwalk star during her modeling days. Banks was quoted as saying, “I’m thrilled to be moving to New York… I feel connected and completely at home.”

Tyra also expressed excitement over the chance to reach out to even more people. She was delighted to have the chance to interact, relate and draw from a completely different crowd and thinks that this change will only make the show more relevant and useful. She also believes that the Big Apple’s energy, dynamism and cultural diversity will greatly enhance the program’s own dynamics.

With her daytime show making the coastal migration, there are speculations that her other program, America’s Next Top Model, will be following suit. Both are produced by Banks’ own outfit, Bankable Productions and Handprint Entertainment. Banks is both a judge and creator of the reality based model search program.

The Tyra Banks Show is up for six Daytime Emmy awards including Outstanding Talk Show and Talk Show Host. Its third season is scheduled to start airing on September 10, 2007 and the show has already been picked up for a fourth season.

With the success of both the Tyra Banks Show and America’s Next Top Model, Tyra Banks has come a long way from gracing runways and magazine pages. She is no longer just an icon of style, beauty and fashion. She has become an ambassador of goodwill, sympathy, empowerment and personal growth.

For more information about America’s Next Top Model or for the full story about Tyra Banks Moves Talk Show to New York please review this website http://www.buddytv.com

Millions of listeners depend on conservative talk radio shows as their alternative to the “mainstream media.”

But it’s not always possible for you to listen live to your favorite conservative talk radio hosts.

So you purchase annual Premium Memberships to all your favorite shows. Then you get an automatic podcast of every program, to download and enjoy when you have time.

EXCEPT: each membership — to Rush Limbaugh’s show, and Dennis Prager’s, and Laura Ingraham’s — costs about $50 a pop. Each. For one year only.

BUT: What if you could pay about the same amount, ONE TIME ONLY, and get recordings all your favorite talk radio shows, automatically, forever?

What if you could try this easy to use software FREE, then get two FREE bonuses when you buy it? Now it’s easy to automatically record talk radio, to listen to whenever you want: on the treadmill, in the middle of the night, on that long flight — whenever and wherever you’ve got a PC or mp3 player.

Think of it as “TiVo” for the radio!

With REPLAY A/V software, you can record talk radio, then play back the shows on your PC, or have them downloaded to your mp3 player automatically.

The secret is in REPLAY A/V’s Media Paks, which come pre-programmed FREE with the software.

With the built in Conservative Politics Media Pak, access to your favorite talk radio shows is already set up for you, like a menu:

* Rush Limbaugh
* Bill O’Reilley
* Sean Hannity
* Michael Savage
* Bill Bennett
* Hugh Hewitt
* Laura Ingraham
* Dennis Prager
* and more

With REPLAY A/V, you save money.

Instead of buying all those annual Premium Memberships to your favorite radio talk shows, all you need to do is buy REPLAY A/V — one time only! — for the price of just ONE talk radio Premium Membership! It’s a deal that’s hard to beat.

Going digital has never been easier thanks to Comcast! That’s because Comcast has everything that you need in order to make the mundane analog TV that you’ve been watching extraordinary! This means better picture, better sound, and generally more control over what you watch!

When you go digital with Comcast, the first thing that you’ll notice is the improved picture. You see, even when analog TV is transmitted over cables, subtle interference creeps into it that can make the picture less than ideal. Digital TV technology eliminates that Interference though so that the picture that you see is just as good as the recording that it came from! The same is true for sound as well!

Another great feature that this company provides with its digital cable TV is its interactive on screen program guide. With the ability to scroll through all of the program offerings available through Comcast, you’ll be able to see exactly what’s available to watch, both in the present and the immediate future. This makes choosing what to watch much easier than the older techniques of looking at the TV listings of the newspaper, watching all of the channels scroll across the bottom of the screen in one channel like with analog TV, or surfing through the channels to see what you stumble onto. The interactive on screen program guide is definitely a better way of getting things done!

Comcast’s digital cable TV also provides you with a number of high tech extras. Video on demand through ON DEMAND is a great example of this. Video on demand is a great new way of watching TV because it lets you choose what your watch as well as when you watch it! ON DEMAND features recently released movies that are available on a pay per view basis. In addition to being able to “rent” movies, ON DEMAND will let you watch a number of different kinds of programming for free. These types of programing include music videos, short format videos (like you’d find on the Internet), TV shows, and even a few older movies as well!

HDTV is another type of programming that’s available through Comcast that will undoubtedly be a major factor in how people watch TV in the future. With numerous HDTV channels, you’ll be able to enjoy the movie theater experience in your living room, with an enormous variety of different types of programming. HDTV is the best way to make today’s great new TV sets live up to their full performance potential!

Another cutting edge technology that Comcast can provide for your is Digital Video Recording, or DVR capability built into your home entertainment center! A DVR is a great piece of technology that makes recording specific TV shows easy, even if you can’t be at home to start the recording! Unlike the VCR, a DVR from Comcast is extremely easy to program. Plus, since all of the video is stored on a high capacity hard disk, you’ll be able to access any recording almost instantly as well as store an enormous amount of video without the inconvenience of video cassette tapes!

With a large assortment of programming packages, you can select the one that fits into your lifestyle as well as your budget. There are bare bones economy packages at one end of the extreme and premium package with hundreds of channels at the other end of the extreme!

No matter what you get from Comcast though, you can be assured of receiving the highest quality!

Do you want to learn how to watch live TV on the internet? I was exactly in your situation many months ago, and it is definitely true that you can watch live television channels online now. I have researched across the web for methods to do this, and I found many that all have their advantages and drawbacks. These methods will be listed and further discussed in this article.

What Are The Best Ways to Watch Live TV?

1. Use Satellite TV for PC Software

The best method in my opinion is the Satellite TV for PC software. This is the software that currently allows me to watch over 3,000 TV channels on the internet, ranging from sports channels to news, TV shows, movies, educational, adult, geographic and many more. There were also radio stations that play music of genre. The software itself requires a low one-time fee for download, but is well worth the fee since I get to watch so many TV stations without having to worry about any payment again.

2. Install PCTV Cards

I have also tried a piece of hardware called a PCTV card which, when installed onto a PC, allows the user to watch television channels directly on it. The card I bought cost me about $150, but I must say that the installation process was not the easiest because I bought an internal card. Finally I was able to get everything up and running and I could start watching over 100 different channels. There are certainly more expensive PCTV cards that can cost up to $300 that broadcast channels from more countries if you need them.

3. Sign Up for a Monthly Cable TV Package

Finally, you can always use the traditional method of a monthly TV package. You can also watch TV channels with this, but there are significantly less live channels, with most programmes being pre-recorded.

Conclusion

The 3 methods above are the most popular and legitimate ways to use for watching live TV. I personally use Satellite TV for PC software because I feel that it offers the most quality channels at the lowest costs. If you are interested to download this software, visit the website link below for more information on how to do so.

Are you looking to Watch Live TV on Internet? Don’t do it yet, because the author has found many Scam satellite TV software on the web. Read the author’s review of the Top  Satellite TV Software on the market now at http://satellitedirectsreview.blogspot.com/ first! many people currently using a Satellite TV for PC software to watch over 3,000 channels on his computer for free. Visit author site http://satellitedirectsreview.blogspot.com/  to learn more about it and watch tv instantly

Robert Schimmel photos and videos are a top Google trend after the stand-up comedian died Friday, September 3 from injuries he suffered in a recent accident. Schimmel, 60, was known for his guest spots on Howard Stern’s radio show and appeared frequently on ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien.’ 

Many of Schimmel’s stand-up comedy routines are being viewed on YouTube after word of his death spread on the web. See one of Schimmel’s classics, “The Pool” below.

Funeral arrangements are still not confirmed, although an update to his Facebook page on Saturday, September 5 states: ”Funeral arrangements pending. Robert’s family keeping you up to date on FB & twitter.

Schimmel’s 19-year-old daughter, Aliyah, was reportedly driving the car on August 26 when it rolled to the side of the freeway to avoid another car. She is hospitalized in stable condition in Phoenix. His 11-year-old son was also in the car but not injured.

Schimmel’s Facebook page, with over 4600 fans, has condolences streaming in since news of his death hit the media. Two days after his accident, his Facebook page status said, “The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated. Stay tuned!” On Saturday, September 4, the status was changed to: If you’ve got a funny, interesting, or motivational story to share about Robert Schimmel, now’s your chance to share it with the world.”

Aside from his frequent appearances on Howard Stern and Conan O’Brien’s shows, Schimmel put out several comedy albums, including: Comes Clean, If You Buy this CD, I Can Get this Car, Unprotected, Reserection, and Life Since Then. 

In June 2000, comedian Robert Schimmel was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He wrote a memoir in 2008, “Cancer on $5 a Day,” chronicling his battle with cancer.

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I believe that all of us are familiar with Sesame Street. Well, we can find Sesame Street game online either. It will be very helpful on teaching our preschool children to count, recognize color, and many other things in the fun way. Online Sesame Street games are provided with high quality graphic and content, so don’t hesitate to choose this game. Poisson Rouge can be a good choice for our preschool children as well. With the game, children can mix colors and create some paints, a perfect game to train children’s creativity. Online computer game like car games, Dora or car game will optimize children’s brain; other recommended games are Strawberry Shortcake, Putt Putt, Hamtaro, Barbie Beauty Boutique, and many others.

Nowadays, we can buy the games online by using flash media player or download it in our computer. Both methods work so well, but if we have low internet connection, download game is preferable. So many kids games are available on the internet and make sure to choose the best online game provider. With the best online game provider, we can get various games with high quality and reasonable price. Children’s game is all about fun and learning. Therefore, it will be better for us to try the game first, so we can find the quality of the game. With the right game, we can get a help to maximize children’s ability. When our children have grown up, then games can turn to be lesson guidance as well. Yes, we can find so many games that made to help children to understand some lessons as well, such as math, science and even language.

As a mother, you have to make a selection for your growing little daughter. You have to choose the good things for her. What do you usually do to spend the time with her? Do you company her in playing her Barbie? If she has played often with this toy, she can be bored. Do you want something new? You can use the benefit of internet connection on your PC. There are many websites provide games for kids. You have to be selective. Don’t let your daughter play a game included of violent or something else that is not appropriate. You have to choose a website that provides safe games. You have to choose the good games. If you don’t know what kind of website that you want to, visit Myplayyard.com can be a reference. Visit it now. If your daughter loves to make and dress up her Barbie, you can choose the fashion games.

There are many options that you can choose. By playing the games related to fashion, your daughter is taught to be creative. She will learn how to mix and match the dress for certain activity. You can also choose the Kim possible games. Kim is a cheerleader. This is a very interesting game. If your daughter loves to dance, this game can be a reference. You just need to decide what Kim should do.

Learn the website and choose the games on the list. Spend more time with your daughter. You don’t need to go to the toy shop to buy another Barbie. You just need to sit with your daughter and play the game online easily. If you can spend much more time with her, it is very good for her growing process and also to your relationship with her.

Penn State Football Schedule 2010

The old saying that involves “when pigs fly” has come to fruition and college teams are hitting the football field in large numbers. The first Saturday in September of the year and the pigskin starts to move around. For the most part, all the big guys are kicking off the 2010 season this weekend. The Penn State Football Schedule 2010 definitely puts the Nittany Lions in a good place.

The keys for the Lions come in returning starters Evan Royster, Chaz Powell, D’Anton Lynn and Stefan Wisniewski. Many of the college football prediction experts have the running back Royster at 1050+ to win the Heisman Trophy. This comes even closer to be a good prediction with Mark Ingram from Alabama out this first game after having knee surgery. The Penn State Football Schedule 2010 may not be the easiest schedule on the block but the returning players sure help their cause.

When Royster made the announcement that he was returning to play for the Nittany Lions, the fans knew then that their chances of success increased exponentially. Factor in the departure of Darryl Clark, that gives Royster more opportunities to strut his stuff. He also gets an experienced line to run behind which should definitely have opponents shaking in their shoes. The Penn State Football Schedule 2010 definitely looks a lot less intimidating with this set of players hitting the field.

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