Welcome Linda!

We would like to welcome Linda Stamberger to our growing family at uscity.net. Linda will be writing copy and adding Florida articles to volusia.com.

She won a writing scholarship to Southampton College, and wrote for Good Times Magazine. Linda is the author of Antiquing in Florida, and has hundreds of articles published, eighty in print. To see some of Linda's articles, go to her Associated Content page.

She is a Florida expert author, and enjoys writing about all things Florida. She also loves Shih-Tzu dogs. We are glad to have Linda on board!

Gadget, Widget -- Gidget!

A FEW DAYS AGO, I was looking for something new to blog about here and called on our founder and driving force, Rusty, to ask him if he was working on anything new and exciting for uscity.net. Well, yes. Yes he was. He told me he was in the process of creating some gadgets. I, of course, immediately thought he had an idea for a new can opener or a better mousetrap. And knowing Rusty, as I do, that would be entirely possible!

However, Rusty assured me that he was working on something to help out uscity.net’s partners and anyone who would like to have easy access to our home page and some of our special features. We will be adding these gadgets to our site. Still, I thought, :HUH?!?,.

He started explaining it to me, got into explaining codes and proprietary stuff and I was lost, so I decided to do some research to find out about these new gadgets for websites. One of the first things I came across was an article stating that gadgets are actually widgets (again, HUH?!?) that are not widgets.

I went to one of my favorite sites, dictionary.com to get some definitions. So now I know that a Widget is:

“1. A meta-thing. Used to stand for a real object in didactic examples (especially database tutorials). Legend has it that the original widgets were holders for buggy whips. "But suppose the parts list for a widget has 52 entries..."
2. [possibly evoking "window gadget"] In graphical user interfaces, a combination of a graphic symbol and some program code to perform a specific function. E.g. a scroll-bar or button. Windowing systems usually provide widget libraries containing commonly used widgets drawn in a certain style and with consistent behaviour.”

Well, that certainly clears it all up… NOT!

And, I could not find anything for a computer related gadget on the site, but now know that the synonyms for gadget are: “contraption; whatsis, doohickey, thingamajig.”

But I prevailed and let me share with you what I found:

A gadget or widget is like a mini-program installed on your website to give you easy access to things you use a lot. It is so cool that we can now have the information we use the most right on our homepage. What I have gathered from my readings is that both widgets and gadgets do the same things. One article says that a widget can be plugged into anyone’s website with the proper code and that gadgets can only be plugged into certain websites or groups of websites. Then there’s Google, who I assume is way ahead of most of us on the top trends in websites and programming. They call their applications, which are mobile, gadgets So if we wanted to add a gadget to uscity.net, we could add it to all fifty states… florida.uscity.net, texas.uscity.net, california.uscity.net, etc…And if we want to make the same sort of applications for other websites to use to get to our features, we can do that too – (of course, when I say we, I mean the programmers).

For instance, if your website visitors are interested in up to date, real-time weather conditions and forecasts, you can install one of these cool little applications and your website visitors can instantly go to our weather site to check the weather, news or find a hotel. You could help your visitors find goods and services by putting our uscity.net main page gadget/widget on your website. The possibilities are endless. Rusty could make us some gadgets AND widgets to check out traffic information, news, use translation tools and even games and calculators.

I have read too many articles and websites that disagree on the meaning and/or difference of widgets and gadgets and it is getting late, so my final thought is that uscity.net should make our features mobile, easy to install on any website, forget about widgets and gadgets and create USCITY.NET GIDGETS!!

Gidgets… Gadgets… Widgets… whatever they are called, are awesome tools for us to use – I hope we can reach out to our communities with local news and weather, movie times in Florida, traffic information and more. Go Rusty Go!

American Idols Live!

No need to go into withdrawal with the “American Idol" television show winding down. This summer Idol junkies and fans will get a chance to see some of their favorites and the season’s top 10. The tour kicks off on July 1st in Glendale, Arizona and crosses America through September.

We don’t know who this year’s winner is yet, but Brooke White, Chikezie, David Archuleta, David Cook, Jason Castro, Kristy Lee Cook, Michael Johns, Ramiele Malubay and Syesha Mercad are on the list of entertainers to go on tour with this show. "One of the key factors in the success story of 'American Idol,' is the unique experience of seeing today's best undiscovered talent, perform live onstage each and every week," the show's creator, Simon Fuller, says in a press release.

Click here to get tickets in your area.

Loads of Fun in May

May 2008 looks to be loaded with live sports and exciting concert events.

Sports
On May 3rd legendary boxer Oscar De La Hoya takes on Steve Forbes at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA in preparation for a rematch against "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The NBA and NHL playoffs pick up steam this month with much of the NBA fan base hoping for a Celtics-Lakers Finals.

AND... there will be fun at the racetracks in May!
Indy Fans can go to the Indianapolis 500 on May 25th
NASCAR fans can look forward to races in Richmond, Darlington, Concord, NC and Dover. - Thoroughbred horse racing fans have the 134rd annual Kentucky Derby scheduled to be held May 3rd and the 133rd Running of The Preakness Stakes scheduled to be held May 17th.

Click here for tickets to these and more exciting sporting events!

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Concerts Galore!
Kenny Chesney, Eric Clapton, Kanye West, Radiohead, Billy Joel, Rush, The Police, Alan Jackson, Alicia Keys, REM, Duran Duran, Iron Maiden, James Taylor, Panic At The Disco, Stone Temple Pilots and Tim McGraw are just a few of the high profile performers on tour this month.

Other events this month include the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Sasquatch Festival, the Country Music Stagecoach Festival and the annual Jammy Awards return to Madison Square Garden this year as they honor Phish.

Click here to purchase tickets to these concerts and more!

USCITY.NET Searches on Your IE Toolbar

For those of you who like to search uscity.net for businesses and services, I came across this easy way to search uscity.net without going to our home page.

It is fairly simple. It may seem like a complicated process if you just read through this, but when you go step by step, you will see it is fairly simple.

First, find the small address box (right next to the main address bar - it may say Google in very light gray lettering).

If you cannot locate the small address bar, look for the magnifying glass.

Locate and click on the little down arrow right next to the magnifying glass to right of the address bar. Click on FIND MORE PROVIDERS

On the next page that pops up, under the Create Your Own yellow box go to step 3 and paste this URL:

http://search.uscity.net/search?q=TEST&btnG=Go+Search&ie=&site=uscity_net&output=xml_no_dtd&client=uscity_net&lr=&proxystylesheet=uscity_net&oe=

On step 5, which says specify the name (NAME:) type in " USCITY.NET SEARCH "

Next click on Install (step 5) and a box will pop up - just click on Add Provider and you are ready to start!

Now if you want to search uscity.net without going to the home page, you simply type in your search word, click on the down arrow and choose USCITY.NET SEARCH - You are there!

I hope this saves you some steps and time... Happy Searching!

What Going Green Means to USCity.Net

USCITY.NET added a new category in December that we hope will help us all. “Go Green” is the new category and it is listed on all of our state pages - Alabama through Wyoming. I gave the job of researching the category to Carol. She decided on the category name, content and any subcategories we might need. Carol tells me she learned from this and she says: “What I do to go green is recycle, ride my bike to the store, shop on the internet (at uscity.net, of course) and turn off lights and open window to conserve energy.”

After I gave her the project, I sent out an informal survey, mostly to our employees, I asked them “What do you think of when you hear “Go Green” and what does it mean to you?” Here are a few of the answers I received.

From Our Seniors:

Going Green.... for me is beginning the process of eliminating products we use that might be harmful to the elements or to ourselves and our families. It is a little more difficult as a senior to “let go” of all the “tried and true” products that we have used for over a 1/2 century, but we are doing it. Probably the older population will be the “foot draggers” in this new environmentally safe era.

When I think of someone that has “gone green”, I figure the products they use probably don’t work as good as the “non green” but are safer. I know that’s not a good attitude, but it’s honest. I am slowly, “going green”. What it means to me is that the entire world is going to be in agreement on at least one thing, we need to clean things up for our grandchildren and their children!!!

From the Boomers:

When I think of go green I think of how happy I am that I bought my Prius two years ago, long before the gas got to this point. I also think of recycling, which I do and conserving energy in other ways - but definitely the number one thought is my Prius.

I think it means doing stuff instead of owning stuff! And doing stuff without using Earth’s resources – like biking, hiking, swimming.

Solar Power and recycling are the first things that I think of when I hear “go green”. My biggest heartbreak is what we have done to nature, in particular the waters – like the ocean and the lakes and springs and the piney forests (I’m a Florida girl).

I visited Denmark a year ago and it looked like half of their population was riding bikes instead of taking cars. That was going green to me.

From the Young Adults:

From a recent college grad: I think of the green recycling bin that I'm going to have to put out to the road when I move back home. I enjoy recycling items such as the grocery bags at Publix, but when it comes to recycling bottles and boxes at home I don't necessary do it. It is something you forget to do after you live in a dorm, or apartments for a few years.

I think about not buying stuff that has a lot of packaging – even though it makes my life easier – I am using fewer paper plates, napkins and frozen dinners. I am eating more fresh vegetables and fruit and that is healthier too!

I think about how I am riding my bike more and driving less. Going Green to me means hybrid cars, recycling and of course “We have got to save the planet for our children’s children’s children.”

- (NOTE: This last sentence may have been a little tongue-in-cheek, I am pretty sure he was mimicking me!)

"Gypsy" Revival on Broadway

The revival of Gypsy, a play set during the vaudeville era, about a relentless stage mother, Rose who travels the country with her two daughters. and their manager. While June and Louise wish their mother would settle down and marry Herbie, Rose continues to pursue dreams of stardom for her girls. When June deserts the act, Rose turns her attention to the shy Louise, whom she hopes to fashion into a star. When the act is booked into a burlesque house by mistake, Louise is forced into the spotlight and Gypsy Rose Lee is born.

The New York Post reports that the production — directed by its co-creator, Arthur Laurents — took in $425,000 the day the reviews hit the papers on March 28. The classic American musical grossed more than $1 million over the first weekend.

Following a critically acclaimed limited engagement at City Center in summer 2007, Gypsy — starring LuPone, Boyd Gaines and Laura Benanti — began previews at Broadway's St. James March 3 and officially opened March 27.

Click here for tickets to this smash Broadway revival.

Jam Packed April Events

April 2008 is packed with major concert, sport, and theatre events. Click here for tickets.

Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band, Billy Joel, Elton John, Kayne West, Jay-Z, Rush, and Santana are all on tour in the month of April. Other hot shows in April include Alicia Keys, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Andre Rieu, Jackson Browne, Michael Buble, My Chemical Romance, Panic at the Disco, Rascal Flatts, and Roger Waters.

Major League Baseball gets into full swing in April with the Detroit Tigers taking on the World Champion Red Sox in the Fenway Park home opener on April 8th. The New York Yankees visit Fenway Park on April 11th-April 13th and the Red Sox visit the Bronx on April 16th and 17th.

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four takes place April 5th & 7th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas and the PGA Masters Tournament is scheduled for April 7th - 13th at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

NASCAR visits the Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway while the AMA Supercross tour hits Detroit, Irving, St. Louis and Seattle.

April is a great month for musical Festivals. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival features Roger Waters, The Verve and Jack Johnson. Jack Johnson also hosts The Kokua Festival in Hawaii with special guests Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds. Other musical festivals this month include the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the inaugural Bamboozle Left Festival.

In the mixed martial arts arena, Ultimate Fighting Championship 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2 will be the UFC's first event in Canada and is a hot ticket.

Click here for tickets to these events and more.

Happy Easter...

USCITY.NET Welcomes Marianne Radwan

Marianne Radwan, founder and president of RadCom Strategic Marketing, is joining our uscity.net family as a PR consultant. Marianne has nearly twenty years of experience in marketing, public relations and business development in the technology and VC industries.

Throughout her career Ms. Radwan has provided counseling to many start ups as well as established technology companies around the world including Boca Research, Convex Computer Corporation, CompuAdd, CyberGuard Corporation, Cyrix, Dallas Semiconductor, Harris Computer Corporation, Lucent Technologies, Micrografx, Monterey Networks, Motorola, Paradyne, PenOp, Siemens Stromberg Carlson, Texas Instruments, and Tonic Software.

An excellent linguist, Ms. Radwan graduated with honors in Languages and Sociology from Salford University in England and is fluent in French.

Welcome to our family, Marianne

Shakespeare on Broadway

The Broadway transfer of the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart in the title role, has set its opening date at the Lyceum Theatre. Broadway performances begin March 28 at the Lyceum, with an official opening set for April 8.

The limited engagement will run through May 24. Macbeth features direction by Rupert Goold and is set in a "subterranean kitchen that serves as a military hospital in a timeless and nameless country." The production's West End engagement recently earned five Olivier Award nominations including Best Actor, Best Director and Best Revival.

Click here for tickets.

Heads Up Parrotheads

A Jimmy Buffett concert can become an all day affair with tailgating and partying in the parking lot. People come dressed with parrots, as parrots, in Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts, fins on their heads and a happy, crazy attitude. Grandparents, parents and children are welcome to a Buffett event – it IS more than a concert.

Here are the tour dates (Click on the date for ticket info):
April 2008
21 - Woodlands, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
24 - Maryland Heights, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
26 - Frisco, TX - Pizza Hut Park
29 - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

May 2008
3 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

June 2008
5 - Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amphitheatre
14 - Philadelphia, PA - Citizens Bank Park

July 2008
17 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
19 - East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley Music Theater
22 - Burgettstown, PA - Post-Gazette Pavilion
24, 26 - Bridgeview, IL - Toyota Park
29 - Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Music Center

August 2008
30 - Bristow, VA - Nissan Pavilion

September 2008
4, 6 - Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center
Just don't get too "Wasted Away...."

Talladega Superspeedway Pre-Sale

Tickets for the AMP Energy 500 go on sale tomorrow, but you can purchase your tickets now! Click here to start looking for your tickets.

The intensity is unmistakable in the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway - race four in the 2008 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Be here and feel the excitement as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers put it all on the line to achieve the best position in this crucial competition.

For other NASCAR events, click on this sentence!

Concerts for the Boomers

There are lots of exciting concert tours coming up for us baby boomers! Jimmy Buffett, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Elton John and James Taylor to name a few.

Rock N' Bluegrass!
Or for the harder rock fans, Led Zeppelin’s rock n’ roller, Robert Plant and bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss will be touring and performing their own classics as well as songs from their new album, Raising Sand. Rock and Bluegrass in an unforgettable combo! Their tour starts on April 19 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Sir Elton John
Most of Elton John’s tour dates this year will be at the The Colosseum in Caesars Palace (the Red Piano Shows) but those of us who cannot make it to Vegas, may still have a chance to see him at one of his many other stops in 2008.

And Who Doesn't Love James?
James Taylor will be starting a North American tour accompanied by his full big band on May 22. The "James Taylor and His Band of Legends" tour will feature a rousing evening of music from the new album, a collection of cover songs inspired by such notable recording artists as Chuck Berry, Big Mama Thornton, Junior Walker, among others, along with performances of Taylor's greatest hits.

Heads Up Parrotheads
A Jimmy Buffett concert can become an all day affair with tailgating and partying in the parking lot. People come dressed with parrots, as parrots, in Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts, fins on their heads and a happy, crazy attitude. Grandparents, parents and children are welcome to a Buffett event – it IS more than a concert.


FOR OTHER TICKET INFO, CLICK HERE!

Yankee Tickets on Sale Tomorrow!

The team that has retired more jersey numbers than any other MLB team, Major League Baseball's most successful franchise and the most successful franchise in North American professional sports history will start selling tickets tomorrow (Friday) morning.

Click here for Yankee tickets.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Do Everything With So Much Love That You Wouldn’t Want To Do It Any Other Way.

......Yogi Amrit Desai

Happy Valentine’s Day to you from all of us at uscity.net. Isn’t this the perfect valentine photo of “our babies” for today. I knew where to go to find a good Valentine's Day quote too. Here are a few more from for today from Yogi Says (Yogi Says for the iPhone).

Each of has the most amazing, magical facility to change our experience, instantly, simply by altering our perception.

Everything that happens to you is a gift. There is a kernel of beauty in everything, if you have the eyes to see it.

The secret to enjoying life lies in our ability to engage ourselves in whatever we do.

All knowledge comes from within when the heart is open.

I love these quotes and they can make you feel good instantly and/or make you think deeply - I hope you enjoy them too. Have a wonderful day.
Pam

The Heart of the City Tour

Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige will tour this spring in what will be one of the most powerful urban music bills in recent memory. The "Heart of the City" outing begins March 22 in Miami. Among confirmed dates are concerts in New Orleans, Houston, Miami, Boston, DC, Las Vegas, Boston, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. For a complete list of venues and ticket available now, click here.

Chicago Cubs Early Ticket Sales

Cubbie Fan Alert: Chicago Cubs Tickets Are Here! The Cubs are the only team to play continuously in the same city since the formation of the National League in 1876. Last season, the Cubs made a huge comeback in June and July and in Spetember, they clinched the Central Division, insuring their first post-season campaign since 2003.

Click here to view 2008 tickets.

R.E.M. Tour

R.E.M. will tour North America this May and June in support of Accelerate, their new record which is set to be released on April 1. The band will be joined on the North American tour by Modest Mouse and The National. Please stay tuned to remhq.com for more details.

May

23--Vancouver--Deer Lake Park
29--Los Angeles--Hollywood Bowl
31--Berkeley--The Greek Theatre

June

03--Denver--Red Rocks Amphitheatre
06--Chicago--United Center
08--Toronto--Molson Amphitheatre
10--Raleigh--Walnut Creek Amphitheatre
11--Washington, DC--Merriweather Post Pavilion
13--Boston--Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts
14--Long Island--Jones Beach Theater
18--Philadelphia--Mann Center for the Performing Arts
19--New York City--TBA
21--Atlanta--Lakewood Amphitheatre


Some tickets are available now - click here!

Super Bowl Parties

There are lots of parties and concerts in Arizona and if attending the Big Game is not a priority for you, partying before the event might be your cup of tea. I will let you know about a few that tickets are still available for.

Thursday:
Playboy Super Bowl Party – Expect Hugh Hefner and his “Girls Next Door” to make an appearance Hosted by rapper/actor Common, DJs Nick Cannon and Reach will supply some of the music. Some think this is the best party of the year.

Thursday AND Friday:
Pepsi Musica Super Bowl Fiesta - Pepsi is hosting a two night concert series in Glendale: Thursday, Jan. 31 Mary J. Blige and Maroon 5 AND Friday, Latin/Pop group RBD, along with Camila and Belinda. Telemundo's Emmy award winning sports anchor Jessie Losado and Ritmo Deportivo hostess Leti Coo, will serve as hosts for the evening's festivities. Both nights of the series will feature celebrity hosts, great music and guest appearances by a few of the NFL's biggest names

Friday:
Leather and Laces Party – Co-hosts for this party are Carmen Electra, Roselyn Sanchez and Catherine Bell. Entertainment includes Sugar Ray front man Mark McGrath, the Cirque du Soliel performers and a special appearance by eight Deal or No Deal Hostesses. ‘Leather and Laces’ is known for consistently bringing in celebrities. The charity that is benefiting from this event is the Watering Seeds Organization (WSO) which was created to provide recreational and athletic opportunities for physically challenged individuals.

Maxim Super Bowl Party – Hosted by Maxim magazine, this party is more intimate than most, this means you have a good chance of spotting and chatting with celebrities. Last year where Fergi performed, celebrity guests included: Nick Lachey, Michael Strahan, Tony Romo, Craig Ferguson, Matt Leinart, Andy Roddick, Jamie Foxx, the Williams sisters, Alex Rodriguez, John Salley, Jamal Anderson, David Spade, Lennox Lewis, Kid Rock, Shemar Moore, Terrell Owens, Carson Palmer, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmy Johnson. This all happens at the AAA Five-Diamond Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort.

Saturday:
John Travolta's Super Bowl Saturday Night Spectacular – John and NFL analyst and former star running back Marshall Faulk are hosting the party. 80's band REO Speedwagon will be performing. Also on the agenda are Cirque du Soleil, appearances from 10 Deal or No Deal models, and hosting by Entertaiment Tonight's Mark Steines. A "Millionaire" Silent and Live Auction will feature several rare and exclusive items like a Beatles group signed guitar collage, a Saturday Night Fever original movie poster signed by John Travolta, and a Presidential engraving montage signed by the last seven U.S. Presidents. The festivities will go down from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Galleria Centre located in the heart of Downtown Scottsdale. An Open Full Ultra Premium Bar is featured, stacked with Belvedere Vodka, Moet & Chandon Champagne, Corona and much more.

Penthouse Desire SuperParty - Rapper Snoop Dogg highlights this Scottsdale party. Need I say more?!?

Taste of the NFL XVII - Sample fantastic food from fantastic restaurants from all 32 NFL cities and enjoy entertainment to benefit local and national hunger organizations. At the Phoenix Convention Center.

Sunday:
Super Bowl Tailgate Party - The grills are fired up, the drinks are on ice and the Mother of All Tailgate Parties is being held this year at the University Of Phoenix Stadium parking lot.

And, if you are lucky enough - SUPER BOWL XV!!

Super Bowl XLII

Super Bowl XLII - that's 42 in Rome - is the hottest ticket in town.

The underdog New York Giants will play the undefeated New England Patriots on February 3rd in Arizona at the University Of Phoenix Stadium.

For tickets to the main event and many related events (including the Pepsi Musica Super Bowl Fiesta, John Travolta’s Super Bowl Saturday Night, the Super Bowl Playboy Party, parking passes and more) click on this sentence.

iPhone Friendly!

I'm just back from a business lunch and the biggest topic of conversation was our new webapp for iPhone - Rusty had an iPhone and has been working to integrate all of the services that are available on our website into the new iPhone interface. I am definitely not one of the most technologically advanced people here at uscity.net - but not the least either... I could not believe how easy and fast it was to use. Scrolling down our entire list of states and categories took mere seconds! We look a little different on the iPhone. We all had fun playing with our new iphone-friendly site and now everyone wants an iPhone! Lynda had a Q-phone which has internet access and she was able to get to the reformatted site also. Our tech department is very hyped about all of this and hopefully will keep me informed of new features as they are added. (Our tech people are notorious for NOT letting me know what they are doing - I can think of two reasons why: One being that they are so caught up in making our site easier, faster and up to date that they forget everything else. And Two being that they have to really slow their brains down to tell me what they are doing in language I can understand!)

I do know that all of our features will soon be a perfect fit for the iPhones and similar handheld gadgets with internet acces. There are loads of features already working. Free phone number lookup nationwide is available now as well as access to millions of G-rated quality links.

To get to our directory, get an internet connection and go to http://uscity.net, once there, touch the blank space in the top bar, and one the drop down box press the plus sign (+) next to it and press save - this will add our site to your ‘favorites’ and make it easy to get to us next time.

After I arrived at our site, what impressed me the most was being able to go through the alphabet to find the category I was looking for so quickly, and then I just touched on the category I wanted to see and voila’ - there were all the sites listed. You can also scroll through all the categories without using the alphabet, but the first way was faster for me. Fast... Easy… I like that!!

For more detailed instructions - http://www.uscity.net/iphone/help-index.html

The next thing I did was find my phone number using the white pages (located on the first page of http://uscity.net/iphone) and by just touching the number, I called my husband!! Very cool! And the first thing I asked him was when was he going to buy me an iPhone?!?!

Tom Petty at the Super Bowl

Legendary Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will be performing on Sunday, February 3rd at Super Bowl XLII during the halftime show. With 18 Grammy nominations and lifetime achievement awards from MTV and Billboard, the band has also been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Over 130 million people saw last year’s halftime show. The game and halftime show will be broadcast worldwide in more than 230 countries and territories.

Way to go! Ya’ll have come a long way since *Mudcrutch in Gainesville, Florida!

For Super Bowl ticket info, click here!

* Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench first came together in the early Seventies as Mudcrutch in their hometown of Gainesville, Florida.

USCity.Net Looks Back at 2007

Before we start looking back, I would like to explain a little bit about the employees here at uscity.net - we are co-workers, but we are also family – sometimes a slightly dysfunctional family but one that is always bonded by making our directory the best it can be and by trying to help each other. Most of our work-related communication is done through phone calls and emails. Most of us reside in Florida and see each other regularly. Some don’t. One of our employees, Lynda, lives in Michigan and hasn’t met most of us here. She is coming to Florida for a vacation next week and we are all excited about meeting her. I feel as though I already know her, we chat about her kids, her Mom, her grandkids (ESPECIALLY the grandkids – LOL), our health, our families, etc. Oh, yes, we also discuss work…

So, with that said, I would have to say the biggest thing to happen here this year has nothing at all to do with our directory – it was the birth of our second uscity.net baby, Camdyn. You can read about Camdyn’s birth at our Camdyn is Home blog.

And here is a photo of both “our” babies - that's Tiona holding Camdyn.
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Some of what we have done in 2007 includes a lot of behind the scenes stuff, like our innovative programming by Tyson that makes all of our lives easier. Continuous upgrading and adding servers to make us faster, overseen by our network engineer, Bill. Of course, of all of this is done under the direction of Rusty, our fearless leader!

If you received an iPhone as gift, head over to http://www.uscity.net/iphone - our new iPhone interface. All content is being re-formatted to fit your iPhone. New features will be added as they are developed. There are loads of features already working. Free phone number lookup nationwide is available now as well as access to millions of G-rated quality links.


In keeping up with the times, we have added some new categories to our directory. Below is a list of some of the major ones:
Go Green
NLP
Hypnosis
Wiki
Jobs

Besides the Go Green category, we added two more that we hope will help make a difference in the lives of visitors to our site and those they choose to help - Giving and Hospice.

Note that each of these categories is in every state. Our directory is set up for national and local websites, so if you are looking for a business or service that is in a certain state, click on that state directory from our front page.

We did some major re-organizing of our Wellness, Marketing and Health categories too.

One exciting new addition to our directory and one that has proven to be very popular is our new streaming news videos. We also upgraded our weather information page – TWICE!.

Shea created a great new updated front page design, which we carried over to our state pages.

If you would like a little more info on our employees from our employees, you can visit our employee blog spot or go to one of their blogs:

A New Look - Spotlight on Shea
Proud of Our Students
Lacey’s A Whole New Life
Delanie Crawford
Kristina’s A Babysitter’s View of Cruising
My View of How We Began

All the people I supervise have made my job as easy as possible and I am very proud of all of them. I thank all of you for your hard work and dedication to uscity.net. I have to add a special thank you to Carol, my assistant – who is a joy to work with and I love her very much! I really don’t know what I would do without her.

There are always so many new things happening around here, we are constantly changing, morphing, keeping up with the times, but these are the things that I believe were the highlights of 2007.

Happy New Year EVERYONE!
Pam

PS – I forgot one other thing that started in October this year – the blog you are reading right now! Hope you enjoy it.

My New Year's Wish For You

May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words…

May 2008 be the best year of your life!!! Be Blessed!

Love,
Sue
USCITY.NET Affiliate Manager