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The Best Jobs Outside The Cubicle

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The winter blahs are starting to set in, leaving many a cubicle dweller staring longingly beyond the gray half walls that surround them on three sides, wondering what else is out there.

In fact, there are quite a few cool and in-demand jobs outside the cubicle. Some capitalize on the demand for health care as Baby Boomers come of age, while others capitalize on the trends in technology and social media. Whatever the reason, these jobs aren't bound by Dilbert-onian rules.

"I think many people secretly fantasize about the freedom that working outside the office provides," said Jeremy Redleaf, a filmmaker and creator of the job site Odd Job Nation. "Jobs outside the cubicle allow you the freedom to construct the life that you want."

Here are a dozen of the coolest jobs outside the cubicle:

Virtual Question Answerer
The economy may be improving but companies are still trying to cut costs -- and one of the ways they do that is by reducing the number of full-time employees physically in the office, and taking advantage of the push to move more business online.

"We've seen a proliferation of e-businesses looking for 'virtual field agents' to answer basic questions in real-time or write articles about simple tasks," Redleaf said. "While it's a great way to make money wherever you are, this one's not for slow typists or the easily fatigued -- it's a volume game when they're paying per answer."

One ad for a virtual question answerer on Craigslist appealed to job seekers' interest in getting paid for things they're already doing: "Do you spend your day looking up random things online?? Might as well get paid for it!! We are searching for people to reply to questions received by the most popular mobile service in the country. We get thousands of questions every hour and need people to get online and find the answers. You must be at least eighteen years of age and extremely proficient at using various search engines. Pays per question," the ad read.

Videogame Tester
It's every kid's dream: To be a professional videogame tester.

There are a couple hundred listings for game testers on Indeed.com, with pay ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 or more.

The cool thing is that you get to test the games before they're released. The downside is you have to keep playing the same games over and over and over again until you break them, find a glitch, etc.

Hey, that's the price you pay to play!

Pilot
This one is for those who seek the thrill of the open skies.

(Cue the "Top Gun" music.)

The top 10 percent of commercial pilots earn an average of $120 an hour, according to PayScale.com. Though, most pilots aren't in the air 40 hours a week as the FAA limits flying time to a max of 100 hours a month.

The best opportunities are still with commercial airlines, but as aviation requirements get stricter and stricter, private planes are becoming more popular.

Indeed.com has nearly 20,000 listings for pilot-related jobs, paying anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 or more.

A few of the others you'll see are Geologist, Tutor, & Recreational Therapist. Click here to continue to the rest of the article..

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10 Things Not To Do When Gardening

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Digging up flowers instead of weeds. Drowning the tulips. Real Simple readers reveal their growing woes and garden design pros plot out the solutions.

Mistake 1: Planting a Garden in the Wrong Spot
"Last year we built raised garden beds. They looked beautiful—with fresh mulch all around them and even a new spot watering system. But the mulch around the beds is always soggy—even in hot, dry Colorado." --Stacie Perrault Staub, Arvada, Colorado



(John Block/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images)


Garden Fix
Good news: You don’t have to tear out the beds entirely, says Ivette Soler, a Los Angeles-based garden designer and writer of The Germinatrix blog. Empty the raised beds (dig out the plants and lay them on a tarp while you work) and spread a four-inch layer of gravel evenly over the underside of the planters to improve the drainage. Then refill the planters with fresh fluffy organic compost.


Mistake 2: Accidentally Pulling Up Flowers Instead of Weeds
"I planted some lovely perennials one summer. The following spring all the flowers sprouted along with some weeds. I pulled the weeds and lovingly tended to the flowers. I even staked a tall lanky plant that I was certain was going to produce a beautiful bloom. Then, one day my neighbor asked me why I had staked a weed. Turns out, I had pulled out the flowers and left the weeds. Oops." --Lisa Benter Rich, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada

(Jacqui Hurst/Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images)

Garden Fix
Tracking plants can be tough for any gardener, says Andrew Keys, a Boston area landscape designer and writer of the Garden Smackdown blog who cops to mistaking crabgrass for ornamental grass in his own garden. "The most efficient way to mark your plants is to use the nursery tags your plants come with." Another option: Label popsicle sticks and insert them into the ground near your varieties.


Mistake 3: Not Preparing the Soil
"We neglected to prepare our soil last year and, as a result, we ended up with a whole vegetable patch of plants that either never gave fruit or died." --Lydia Harris, San Angelo, Texas




Rachel Weill/Botanica/Getty Images


Garden Fix
Since soil varies dramatically by region, Keys recommends testing your soil annually to find out what type of soil you have and what it needs based on what you want to grow. (You can pick up an inexpensive at-home soil testing kit at the hardware store; watch this video to see how it works.) Then amend the soil as suggested. No matter what, says Soler, it’s a good idea to mix your soil with an equal amount of organic compost. "It’s the best foundation for your garden—it gives your plants the nutrients they need without overloading them with chemical fertilizers which can deplete the microbial activity needed for healthy plant growth."

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Texas Hunting Truck Contest

All I know is if this one wins, they did a pretty good job!

Read the whole thing here..