HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

May your heart be joyful, your body strong and healthy and your spirit full of love.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM USCITY.NET

Server Upgrades Completed

This weekend was a busy one for our networking - programming department. We have completed the uscity.net server upgrades to make our site work even faster and smoother.
I think a few of our guys were up all night – that should help get them in shape for New Year’s 2008!

According to an international statistics site, we are rated as a “VERY FAST” site – in the top 5% of the world's internet sites for loading time. We often get positive feedback about our speed. That goes along with our motto: “Find What You Are Looking For – Fast and Easy!”

We are continually upgrading our systems and site and try to make things go faster for all users of uscity.net. Our last upgrade was in September and at that time we also upgraded our reciprocal link sign up system to make it easier for everyone.

We sincerely want our site to be as fast and easy for everyone to use as possible and we hope you will find that true.

If you ever experience any problems with our directory or if you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment here or go to our contact page and send us a message.
We love hearing from our visitors!

Merry Christmas!

Pam with some of of her nieces and nephews on Christmas morning 2005.

Last Minute Gift CD - No Problem

Here it is December 24th and you still need gifts? This happened to me last year and CD Universe came to the recue. I sent out emails with the gift code and instructions on how to use it.

I sent them out first thing Christmas morning, and no one knew... it was a last minute gift!

I hope this helps some of you.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Holiday Wishes From Us

From all of us here at uscity.net, please click here for Our 2008 Holiday Card. This holiday greeting was designed and programmed by our resident dreamer and doer, Shea Crawford and is from the entire uscity.net family, along with special wishes:

From Sue: I wish you health, happiness and TONS of fun through the holidays and into the New year. Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
From Pam: I wish you many blessings, peace, happiness and love.
From Wade: My wish for everyone is to not take life too seriously. Have some fun.
From Karen: I really do wish for everyone to have a blessed Christmas and be surrounded with your loved ones!
From Carol: May you be blessed with peace and joy!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Very Special Christmas Card

Click here to see the card!

I just wanted you to see this -- Shea Crawford, whom I have known since he was in elementary school worked very hard on this. Shea is legally blind and our lead graphic artist! Pretty special kid (young man... actually). I have known Shea since he was a LITTLE boy, then a black belt mentoring younger kids in Martial Arts, THEN a “Disney Dreamers and Doers” I had, once again, lost the spirit, but this card gave it back to me – just knowing what odds he has overcome to become so successful and seeing how creative he is. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Click here to see the card!

From Karen – a part-timer at uscity.net

PS – I was going to blog about this, but thought this email said it all … I agree with EVERYTHING Karen says. And don't forget to click around - the card is interactive. …pam

Bruce Springsteen’s “Magic”

The Boss and his E Street Band will begin a 2008 world tour starting out on February 28 in Hartford, Conn.

Springsteen has been nominated for four Grammy’s, including best rock album for "Magic" and best rock song for "Radio Nowhere." He is presently on the road in Europe through Dec. 19.

Click here for tickets.

TRINIDAD VS. JONES

ON SALE TODAY! - Felix "Tito" Trinidad and Roy Jones Jr. boxing on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008 at Madison Square Gardens-- a 12-round match up. "We expect this fight to be one of the hottest boxing match ups of all time," said Joel Fisher, senior vice president, MSG Sports Properties.

Jones is an eight-time world champion, and the first former middleweight champion to win a world heavyweight crown in over 100 years.

Trinidad is a five-time world champion with an 80 percent KO rate. He has also defeated three Olympic Games gold medalists: Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker, "The Golden Boy" Oscar De La Hoya and David Reid.

Click anywhere on this blog for tickets!

Tickets, Tickets, Tickets

Here are some tickets that are selling quickly right now:

Wicked
Monty Python's Spamalot
The Color Purple
Go Diego Go Live!
Jersey Boys
Linkin Park

Get in the Holiday Spirit

From classics like the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and A Christmas Carol to Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding in Phoenix, you are sure to find something to make your Christmas brighter!

Happy Holidays

Neon Lights Are Bright Again!

The broadway stagehand strike is over! Click here for your Broadway Tickets!

Shopping Online

Before writing this blog, I decided to do an informal survey of why and if people shop online. I say informal, because I emailed friends and family to do this survey. The survey consists of men, women and teens ages 13 to 89. The people that answered the survey come from all walks of life and varied incomes - families, retirees, newlyweds, parents, couples and singles; professionals, blue collar workers and students.

I emailed approximately 60 people and 49 responded.

REASONS TO SHOP ONLINE:

#1 Reason – (no shock to me) – I don’t have to leave home!

#2 Reason – It is easier to compare prices and items, you can compare items from different stores without traveling to each store or calling on the phone. The prices are generally lower than store shopping. A lot of respondents say that sometimes when in the store, they will ‘settle’ just so they can get on with their lives.

#3 Reason – It’s faster – no standing in lines, no traveling, faster checkout. As one new Mom put it “I can take my time to shop rather than be rushed everywhere by my kid or my man”. I can remember times when I had to deal with that too, kids want to got the toy department, teens want to go to electronics, men want to go look at tools or some other department and all I need is some bath towels!!! Shop from home and you are simply shopping for what YOU want.

#4 Reason – You don’t have to deal with grumpy customers and cashiers and pushy salespeople.

#5 Reason – It’s easier to find out information on the products you want. "In the store all you have to go on is the information on the box or - if you are lucky – a salesperson who knows about what they are selling without the pressure of a commission.

One of the retirees said:

I like shopping online because they just don’t send the big catalogs home anymore and I loved shopping like that when my family was younger. Now I go online to Sears.

One of my friends who lives up north said:

Living in the "snow and cold" just sitting in my recliner Christmas Shopping for the family, is "Hog Heaven" for me!! I try to shop smart and combine orders so I often times can get "Free Shipping" if over a certain amount. I also comparison shop and will often times open 3 or 4 screens with different "stores" on each one.

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Out of the 49 people responding, six prefer shopping in the store and their reasons were:

1 - I can’t buy clothes without trying them on.
2 - I like interacting with people at the store.
3 - I don’t like using a computer.
4 - I’ve been burned buying online before.

I must say I am on the side of the 43 who prefer shopping online and agree with all the reasons they gave. However, I am not that picky about clothes and I get plenty of interaction with people in my daily live. I also have NO problem sitting at a computer. Another reason I have that no one else mentioned, was that when I go into a store, I usually come out with more than I went in for, and that makes shopping online much more economical for me.

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Dealing with the last reason for buying in a store, here are some tips to help you have a happy online buying experience:

Do your homework on the website you are thinking about purchasing from. Make sure it is a legitimate business, one you know of. It’s not a good idea to buy from a business that does not provide contact information and I like seeing a physical address. One exception to that, for me, is Amazon.com – I have dealt with them for years and have had very good experiences with them.

Make sure the website is secure – look for “https:” at the beginning of the URL or look for the little padlock icon that symbolizes (but doesn’t guarantee) a higher level of security.

Be VERY CAREFUL if you are responding to an offer coming from an unsolicited email or do like I do, and ignore them ALL.

Also, make sure your computer has a firewall and the latest anti-virus software. And NEVER, EVER open unknown e-mail attachments, including those contained in what appears to be a company you do business with.

If you think you have been scammed, you can go online and file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and contact your local police. I would also file a complaint directly with the company you did business with.

Since part of our business here at uscity.net is online shopping, we want everyone to have a safe and happy shopping experience. If anyone has any other ideas to make our online shopping safer or happier, just leave us a comment below.

The Grinch(es) Can’t Steal Christmas, Judge Says

Although the stagehand strike continues, a judge ruled that “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” will reopen at the St. James Theatre in New York City. The Grinch has been closed since November 10, when the strike began. It reopened Friday.

Grinch producers argued in the case that the production should be able to reopen because they had negotiated their own contract with Local One prior to the strike - the reason for the separate contract was that the musical holds 12 to 15 performances per week instead of the usual eight. Approval from theater owners was not granted and Grinch producers went to court – the ruling to open the show has been announced.

According to a press release: “Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! — The Musical is narrated by Max the Dog, who relates "the Grinch's fiendish plan to steal Christmas from the holiday-loving Whos. However, the Grinch soon discovers there's more to Christmas than he bargained for." The show includes the songs "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and "Welcome, Christmas," which are heard in the animated version of the Seuss classic, which is aired annually on television. Broadway composer Albert Hague (Plain and Fancy, Redhead) penned the music to the TV songs, which had lyrics by Seuss.“

The St. James Theatre is located in Manhattan at 246 West 44th Street. For ticket information, click anywhere on this sentence.

Happy Thanksgiving

We wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. Remember to be thankful and enjoy those you are close to. Always remember, we have No Day But Today!

Namaste and lots of love to you all from Mary and Rusty!

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is a day to share food with friends and family, and to find ways for sharing our love, friendship and food with those around us.

We should remember that food did not just magically appear and gives thanks for the farmers and farm workers who plant and harvest, and for the workers who package, transport and sell it to us.

Food and the sharing of food is the work of many people. Today, before we eat, we should think of new ways to share our prosperity with all who labor. We need to be a people of sharing and thanksgiving everyday.

peace, love and blessings!
pam

Be Thankful You Can Make A Difference

I will be celebrating Thanksgiving this year with my husband's family. I am looking forward to seeing my nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephew. We don't get to see them as much as we would like to, so I'm excited about going. There will be about 20 of us all together. I am especially looking forward to playing with my one year old grand niece, Cami. - I have only seen her twice since she was born!

Just wanted to share some "thankfulness thoughts" with you all.

I am thankful for all the love I have in my life - from family, friends and people I don't even know.

If you haven't said "I love you" to someone today, do it! (If you have... do it again!)

I am thankful that I CAN make a difference - and so can YOU.

Not only that but you have an obligation to make that difference, even if it as simple as volunteering once a month or smiling at someone lonely.

I am thankful for leaders who can remain focused with their eyes on social justice; those who motivate people and orchestrate programs to help others less fortunate than ourselves.

Let somone who motivates you know they are appreciated.

I am thankful for everyone who has helpled me in trying times and for those that have led me in the right direction.

Thank someone special in your life.

I am thankful that, unlike most of the people of the world, I have so much: a safe place to sleep at night, a car to drive, all the modern conveniences such as refrigerators, stoves, air conditioning, access to health care, computers, sound systems - things that we often take for granted.

Stop for a minute and think about all the people all over the world that do not have these things.

Traditionally, Thanksgiving is a day in which we gather to reflect on our bountiful blessings.

This year, perhaps we should begin the celebration by reflecting on those things that might not be so obvious because, ironically, they are sometimes too obvious to see.

Love to all,
Pam

A New Look

We have a new look for our front page
- our Lead Graphic Artist, Shea Crawford, has come up with a very cool new look for our internet business directory - uscity.net. Shea says he was going for a more futuristic look and it took a lot of trial and error. And, according to early reports from our users, people like it a lot, so Shea, your hard work has paid off. We liked it so much; we incorporated his header onto our state pages too.

Spotlight on Shea
Besides his outstanding work in graphic designing, Shea is a talented musician, photographer and artist. Of course, trying to get Shea to talk about himself is somewhat akin to pulling teeth, so I turned to his mother to get the scoop.

Shea is a very talented young man who is practically self-taught at everything he does. His dad started teaching him guitar when he was 5 years old after”Nanny” bought him his first guitar. He picked it up immediately and then just took off on his own, learning as he went.

He started taking pictures in high school just for fun and he really enjoys it. His pictures are very unique as he sees things quite differently than we do – he has no color vision at all and he is considered “legally blind.” To view his gallery, you can go to http://www.ixium.net/gallery. Also in high school Shea was quite the video game expert.

Shea was planning on a college career to help him with his love of graphic design, but when he went to the university and asked his professor questions he could not answer, he decided to learn that on his own too. Of course, he did have his Dad to ask, since Rusty is our resident computer genius. For a short list of websites Shea has done check out the list of links at the bottom of this blog.

Nowadays, Shea is really into music – he plays in a band called Radon Moon and his Mom says Shea likes the fact that there is so much (musically) accessible online – underground and all sorts of music available from other countries

He is also working his new video projects, like the one we blogged about earlier, a show called HitThisLike.

Shea loves hanging out at his own home with his friends and he has recently custom designed a fence surrounding his property. He and his friends painted it and it really is a work of art.

Shea totally re-did this Volusia County, Florida website The Volusia Community.

A few of Shea’s commercial websites:

Atlantic Plaza
Acousticon
Seacoast NSB
Love Heals
Dian Marhsall
American Martial Arts
Jordan Health Clinic
Ponce Inlet Properties
Heath’s Natural Foods
Little Drug Company
Jim Ownby Realty
Rio Rancho Home Properties
Deming/Sunshine Valley Properties
Rio Communities

Shea’s photography

2 Worlds 2 Voices

Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson will join up for a "2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour" starting January 17 in Ohio, and continue in the South and Midwest USA. Tickets for the first few shows are on sale now. Click here for more information.

Here are the dates and places:

January 2008

17 - Dayton, OH - Ervin J. Nutter Center

18 - Louisville, KY - Freedom Hall

19 - Morgantown, WV - West Virginia University

24 - Norfolk, VA - Norfolk Scope Arena

25 - Winston-Salem, NC - Lawrence Joel Complex

26 - Fayetteville, NC - Crown Center

31 - Valley Center, KS - Kansas Coliseum



February 2008

1 - Tulsa, OK - Mabee Center

2 - Bossier City, LA - CenturyTel

7 - Saint Charles, MO - Family Arena

8 - Indianapolis, IN - Conseco Fieldhouse

9 - Rockford, IL - Metro Center

14 - Tupelo, MS - Bancorpsouth Arena

15 - Jonesboro, AR - ASU Convocation Center

16 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center

Indy 500, Springsteen, Judds and MORE!

Tickets will be selling out quickly for all three 2008 world-class events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - the 92nd Indianapolis 500, 15th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Additional dates have been added to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's first full scale tour of the US and Europe since 2003.

The Judds are reuniting in 2008 for the 2008 Stagecoach Festival. Mother (Naomi) and and daughter (Wynonna) will perform on the first night of the May 3-4 festival. Also on the bill are Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and Gretchen Wilson. The 2008 Stagecoach lineup also includes Dwight Yoakam, George Jones, Big & Rich, Dierks Bentley, Taylor Swift, Trace Adkins, Earl Scruggs, Shooter Jennings and Ralph Stanley.

On Sale Now: Celine Dion; Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood (Blind Faith Reunion); Dancing with the Stars Tour; Avril Lavigne; Michael Bublé; OZZY with Rob Zombie; Beyonce in Vegas; James Blunt; Matchbox Twenty; Smucker's Stars On Ice and Toby Keith.

The following touring theatre events are also going on sale this week: Monty Python's Spamalot; Avenue Q; Disney's High School Musical National Stage Tour; The Color Purple Detroit; and the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Happy Veterans Day

We, here at uscity.net want to wish all veterans, veterans' families, loved ones, those who pray for them, those who send letters and packages to them and everyone who keep them in their thoughts a HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

The guys and gals who serve our country do not do it for the medals or the glory and they choose to serve (unlike some other countries around the world). The do their job to the best of their ability they are all heroes.

To all our veterans from whatever era, thank you for your service and we wish you a Happy Veterans Day!

Here is some military humor sent to me by a colleague that I hope will bring a smile to your faces!

Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.

The enemy invariably attacks on two occasions:
a. When they're ready.
b. When you're not.

If at first you don't succeed, then bomb disposal probably isn't for you.

"Aim towards the Enemy" — instruction printed on US rocket launcher.

When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend.

Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs always hit the ground.

If your attack is going too well, you are walking into an ambush.

We hope you enjoy your day!

Rentals in California

Realtors have seen a swing in the real estate this month with more people wanting to rent than this time last year. We have many realtor links in the uscity.net internet business directory and, according to a one local realtor rentals are more popular than every. Uscity.net has added two new member sites this week, both offering rental finding services in California - “Apartment Hunters” specializing in Los Angeles rentals and “Rent in San Francisco”.

If you are looking for a place to rent in California or elsewhere, check out our apartment and real estate listings in your state. And if you are offering rentals, there are lots of useful links for here for you too.

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Tickets Update:

With football on the minds of many this time of year, tickets for football events are strong. If you are looking for tickets to your favorite NFL team’s events, check us out.

We also have tickets for college games.

Hottest tickets sales are the
Dallas Cowboys
Green Bay Packers
San Diego Chargers
Ohio State Buckeyes
and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The uscity.net online ticket sales offers tickets to tons of sporting events, along with Broadway and Los Vegas shows, concerts and theater offerings.

Great Country Music and a Good Cause

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has contributed more than $220 million to scholarships, research, endowments and other educational and youth programs

Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana fans who were unable to get tickets to her concert in Houston can see the popular star perform at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo- Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana, will perform on Sunday, March 9 as part of her Best of Both Worlds Tour, which features Cyrus singing as herself and the Hannah Montana character from her Disney show.

More Country
Other entertainers include Tim McGraw on March 3, Faith Hill on March 4 and Rascal Flatts on March 11. Tickets will go on sale Jan. 12.

Tickets
Rodeo officials also announced mini-season tickets for nine of the 2008 shows. Mini-season tickets, which go on tomorrow, are separated into two packages that contain specific dates. Full season tickets for all 20 shows are on sale.

Other Hot Tickets This Week:
Bon Jovi - Michael Bublé - Bruce Springsteen - Iron Maiden - Jerry Seinfeld - Tool - Jersey Boys in Chicago - NASCAR

2008 Olympic Tickets Demand High

Over 1½ million tickets to the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be up for grabs on a first-come, first-serve on Tuesday. We have some on sale already. The games next year will run from August 8th to the 24th. Given China's population of 1.3 billion and the excitement the Olympic Games are engendering, domestic demand is likely to be overwhelming. We are expecting soccer, gymnastics, diving and basketball events to be in the most demand. Click anywhere on this post to find tickets available now.

Hit This Like

All of our employees have a great sense of humor and some are very creative - one of the creative ones is our Lead Graphic Artist. Shea and his buddies, Danny and John are launching a new TV show, "Hit This Like". Click here to take a peek at some funny video and see why you should NEVER, EVER TAPE BREAD TO YOUR DOOR!!

I was talking with our marketing directory, Mary, this morning and mentioning how videos on your website can be very entertaining and can disperse information much quicker than reading text – she told me that as a matter of fact, she had an air duct cleaning company from Maryland sign up earlier this week and he had one on his website (Air Duct Pros). Here at uscity.net, we recently added news videos on our site, which has gotten a LOT of positive feedback from everyone.

Tickets Update
Hottest Tickets for Today: Wrestlemania XXIV, Hannah Montana, Wicked, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Jersey Boys, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Cirque Du Soleil.

New Shows Added For: Ozzy Osbourne, Stevie Wonder, Jonas Brothers, Jonathan Davis, Robin Thicke, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Van Morrison.

Have a wonderful day, watch a funny video and smile :)
Pam

Happy Halloween!

We here at uscity.net wish all of you a very Happy Halloween. Here are some tips for making tonight a treat for all of us:

If you are driving:
1. Watch for children darting out from between parked cars.
2. Watch for children walking on roadways, medians and curbs.
3. Enter and exit driveways and alleys carefully.
4. At twilight and later in the evening, watch for children in dark clothing.

If you are a parent or guardian:
1. Make sure that an adult or an older responsible youth will be supervising the outing for children under age 12.
2. Plan and discuss the route trick-or-treaters intend to follow. Know the names of older children's companions.
3. Instruct your children to travel only in familiar areas and along an established route.
4. Teach your children to stop only at houses or apartment buildings that are well-lit and never to enter a stranger's home.
5. Establish a return time.
6. Tell your youngsters not to eat any treat until they return home.
7. Review all appropriate trick-or-treat safety precautions, including pedestrian/traffic safety rules.
8. Pin a slip of paper with the child's name, address and phone number inside a pocket in case the youngster gets separated from the group.

The Costume:
1. Costumes should be loose so warm clothes can be worn underneath.
2. Costumes should not be so long that they are a tripping hazard. (Falls are the leading cause of unintentional injuries on Halloween.)
3. If children are allowed out after dark, outfits should be made with light colored materials. Strips of retroreflective tape should be used to make children visible.
4. Face Design Masks can obstruct a child's vision. Use facial make-up instead.
5. When buying special Halloween makeup, check for packages containing ingredients that are labeled "Made with U.S. Approved Color Additives," "Laboratory Tested," Meets Federal Standards for Cosmetics," or "Non-Toxic." Follow manufacturer's instruction for application.
6. If masks are worn, they should have nose and mouth openings and large eye holes.
7. Accessories Knives, swords and other accessories should be made from cardboard or flexible materials. Do not allow children to carry sharp objects.
8. Bags or sacks carried by youngsters should be light-colored or trimmed with retro-reflective tape if children are allowed out after dark.
9. Carrying flashlights will help children see better and be seen more clearly.


What the kids should know:
1. Do not enter homes or apartments without adult supervision.
2. Walk, do not run, from house to house. Do not cross yards and lawns where unseen objects or the uneven terrain can present tripping hazards.
3. Walk on sidewalks, not in the street.
4. Walk on the left side of the road, facing traffic if there are no sidewalks.

Before and After:
1. Give children an early meal before going out.
2. Insist that treats be brought home for inspection before anything is eaten.
3. Wash fruit and slice into small pieces.
4. When in doubt, throw it out.

BOO!

UConn - Wrestlemania - Stevie Wonder

Attention UConn Basketball Season Ticket Holders: UCONN baskeball tickets on sale at noon today. Steve Wonder and Trans-Siberian Orchestra have added more shows which means more tickets available. Wrestlemania XXIV pre-sales begin on Wednesday. Check out all the entertainment in your area by just clicking here.

My View of How It All Began

This is actually a reprint of something out of Miss Pam's blog, but I have had a couple of people ask about it, so here it is on the "official"uscity.net news blog spot:

It has been a crazy week – our assistant database manager - went on a cruise and I have been doing her work and mine too. She is the best – and I realized this week how much she does without ever making a big deal of it. Thank You Carol ;-) I love you!

As I promised when I started this blog, here is a little bit about…



My View of How It All Began

This began as the brainchild of our founder, Rusty Crawford – who I like to refer to as the ‘father’ of USCity.net. He is a genius who always seems to be one step ahead of everyone else I know. He taught himself basic programming language in the early 1980’s. About ten years later, Rusty taught himself HTML and Perl coding, Rusty started building websites for businesses in and around Volusia County, Florida.

That was when he came up with the idea for a local county-oriented business directory called Volusia.com (incidentally, that is where I first started working with Rusty and his wife, Mary). At Volusia.com we listed local governments, schools, wrote histories of the area towns and answered numerous emails about the area.

At the time, Yahoo only linked to Volusia.com, our information site, but would not link to any of our business sites. So sprang the idea of a nationwide directory of the United States.

And this took a LOT of preliminary preparation. One of the aspects I was involved with was finding and typing in the names of every county, city and town in the United States. I know there was a lot of programming and behind the scenes work then, but I really don’t know what all was involved then.

I know that he wanted a ‘G’ rated directory that would allow smaller ‘Mom & Pop’ businesses to be found on the web along with the larger companies like Disney, Dell and Sharper Image.

I believe that Rusty, his wife Mary, Sue and I were the first four employees. With a lot of trials and tests, we finally got it! We got our second server, dedicated just for uscity.net in 1999 and went online (we now have 25 servers).

In the beginning, much of the coding and data entry was done 51 times – once for every state and Washington D.C. Often that process fell in my lap and I sometimes felt a little bit like a robot. One compliment I remember Rusty giving me was calling me up one night and asking me if I was working or not, because he thought another computer was trying to get into our site. I told him "NO, it's just your human robot working away!"

We took every effort to make USCITY.NET a safe place to browse and shop (and still do!) and we added information that would be helpful to our users along with businesses, both local and national.

We all work very hard to bring you to bring you the best directory in the United States.

Everyone in our company takes pride in their work and we all want this to be a directory that is practical, easy to use and helpful to our visitors.

We welcome comments and suggestions to make your experience even more pleasurable.We all work very hard to bring you to bring you the best directory in the United States

Raves About the USCITY.NET News Videos

As a student and a person with two jobs, I do not get a whole lot of time for at home television. This is my situation: I am a student at Florida State University; I work for uscity.net, and also at a family medicine office in Tallahassee. I’m practically never home unless I’m sleeping. I’m not a “News” kind of a gal, but when you get tid-bits like, “Did you hear Britney shaved her…,”Popcorn…lung damage...”, “Don’t buy your sister a Barbie...poisoning…”, you sort of wonder “Huh?”

Having a job that uses the internet a lot, and always being on my laptop for school, I soon learned of the New Video News link at Uscity.net. It is by far my favorite link; I can watch the news at any wifi location I’m at with a click of a button.

Using my “handy, dandy” laptop, I can watch the news I want to watch. When the page first opens, there is a list of US news feeds, but if you scroll down to the blue, underlined subjects this link offers so much more. You can watch news feed in Health, Science, Business, World, and the list goes on. It is extremely user friendly. The video feed has been so fabulous for me that I have used one of the Health video feeds as a supplement for a class presentation.

Whether it is business or pleasure, I highly recommend that everyone check the Uscity.net News link out!

Kristina

Our New ‘Giving’ Category

Giving Category

Seeing former President Bill Clinton on the Oprah Winfrey show gave me the idea to add a Giving category to uscity.net. He just wrote a whole book about what each individual can do as their small part. I believe that we can change the world by giving and plus it makes you feel good too. So, hopefully soon, we will have some great new links for everyone to click on that will show you ways that you can help and make a difference. Remember, each of us can contribute and change the world. It doesn't have to stay crazy like it is now. Only we can change it. So please - Give, give and give some more, of your time, your love and even your money.

Mary

Note from Pam: We also recently added Kiva – a non profit organization that extends small loans to entrepreneurs around the world. When we checked this site out, we were happy to find an internet café that needed a loan, we thought that since serving internet users is our business, this would be a good match for us. We wish Kiva and all the worthy small business owners good luck in their ventures. And thanks to Kiva for making it so easy.

Today's Ticket Update:

Spice Girls coming to Chicago and Boston – Bostonians and Chicagoans, the girls announced this morning the fantastic news that The Return of the Spice Girls world tour will be visiting both US cities in 2008. Boston concerts are at TD Banknorth on Jan. 30th and the DCU Center, Worcester, on the 31st, while the Chicago concerts are at the United Center on February 14th and 16th. Get ‘em soon - click here!

Have a Great Day All!

New News Videos

A cool new feature to our site is the news video page, which you can access from our front page (just click on "news" near the upper right top of the uscity.net front page).

To find the news videos that you want to know about, you can choose from US, local or world news, business news, politics, health, science or entertainment. And each of these categories has subcategories to help narrow down your search. I like to read up on the "environmental" news, which is a subcategory of "Science". These videos are short and to the point. You watch only the news you care about, and you watch it when you want to.

As my friend Donna, who admits to being addicted to these, says: "I love choosing the news I want, watching it when I want and not having to sit through 20 minutes of stuff I don’t want or need to know about. I like the videos, it is much better for me than just reading it online or in the newspaper. This beats all other types of news media I have encountered.”

So, go check out our newest feature: USCITY.NET NEWS CENTER

Happy News Gathering!

World Series – Boston Cream Pie and Rocky Mountain Oysters

Click anywhere on this post for ticket info and everyone enjoy the Series!

I must admit I’m not a big sports fan, especially just watching sports on TV. I do the Super Bowl thing because I love to eat and it’s a great excuse for making and eating finger foods that I am much too fond of.

BUT, it’s official now, according to my Boston friend Beverly (we call her Boston Bev) who came in glowing at church tonight and shouted “How ‘bout those Red Sox?!?!”

I knew that Boston had won their division (or is it called league??) but wasn’t sure about the other side -- she, however, let me know EXACTLY what was happening! They are playing a new team called the Colorado Rockies. She tells me it is the Old Timers vs. the New Kids on the Block.

So, I decided to check out our tickets sales and see if they were up yet, and THEY ARE!

You can buy tickets now for the World Series, so check them out now – because they are HOT! HOT! HOT!

You can even buy tickets for The Rockies’ first games of 2008.

I will watch some of the series, I am sure – after all, I am an American with a husband who will be screaming at the TV and we all know what quality time there is to be had in front of TV with your man watching one of his favorite sports…

Now, for my part, I guess it will be making typical ballpark food – hot dogs with chili, soft pretzels and of course, peanuts and Cracker Jacks! And maybe some Boston cream pie or Boston baked beans in honor of my friend, Bev’s team.

But then I thought about Denver, and, well. the only specialty food I can think of from Denver is those Rocky Mountain Oysters…. Hmmm… I wonder if my cousin, John, the butcher has any bull testicles lying around…. Nah, we’ll skip that at have some Rocky Mountain Coors instead!

Hospice

We are pleased to announce that we have added a new category for Hospice organizations around the USA. If you are part of a Hospice organization or know of one in your area, please submit their website to us via our “reciprocal link” sign up. The Hospice sites do not have to add a link to us – we are doing this as a service to the communities they serve.

Adding a Link:
From the uscity.net front page , go to your state, using either the map or the drop down box in the upper left hand corner.

Once you are in your state, go to the Hospice category – you can either type “hospice” into the Search Categories box or just scroll down til you get to it.

Check to see if your hospice site is listed yet and if not, click on “ADD YOUR SITE”

Follow the directions from there. When you get to the keywords part, please type in COMMUNITY SERVICE and any other keywords you would like. If you have any problems, feel free to email us at link@uscity.net and we will be happy to help you out!


Tickets Update:
Shows on sale today include Stevie Wonder, Barry Manilow, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, U.S. Open of Supercross in Las Vegas, Disney's High School Musical, John Mellencamp, Monty Python's Spamalot, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Check these and thousands more out here. http://tickets.uscity.net/

Tickets Update

Tickets Update from USCITY.NET:

As a new service to the users of our directory, we will keep you posted on upcoming news about tickets to concerts, sporting and theatrical events nationwide.

Philadelphia 76ers tickets go on sale Friday - Additional Rascal Flatts shows including MSG go on sale Saturday - Two shows each for Barry Manilow and Too.- AMA Music Awards at Nokia LA Live goes on sale Monday - Duran Duran's Broadway run goes on sale this weekend - R. Kelly has a few small south eastern shows scheduled on sale Saturday.


About 2,000 tickets to upcoming Hannah Montana concerts scheduled for St. Louis and Kansas City available to the public – 1000 additional tickets will be available at face value for the Dec. 3 Kansas City concert and 1,000 more would be available for the Oct. 18 St. Louis concert. St. Louis tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Oct.13 - Kansas City tickets at 10 a.m. Oct. 20.

New uscity.net Blog

Good Morning!

uscity.net has created this new blog to keep everyone informed on what's happening here at uscity.net.

We will also post ticket updates for our partner site - uscity.net ticket sales.

I hope everyone enjoys our new blog and please feel free to email us - contact@uscity.net - with any comments or suggestions to make us better.

Love to all,
Pam