Mainely.org

The Republic of Facebook - Why Your Business, No Matter How Small, Needs a Facebook Page

2010-07-25T11:18:00.003-04:00

If Facebook were a country, it would be the 3rd largest economy in the world. That is a statistic you just can't ignore, especially if you have a small business. Maybe you don't want anything to do with Facebook personally. I understand if you don't want your wife's third cousin's sister's dog knowing what you did this weekend.

But if you're looking for a free way to market to people, particularly in your local area, Facebook is the place to be. You don't need to buy a domain name or learn HTML. To create a Facebook page for your business, you just need to know how to type on a computer.

At the most basic level, you should have a page with your contact information and a picture of your business or logo. If you want to get more advanced, you can plan events, create surveys using SurveyMonkey, or use YouTube to upload videos, among other things, to increase your reach online.

Here are some articles to get you started and a link to Facebook Marketing for Dummies, which is available on Amazon.

ThredUp and Save Money on Children's Clothing

2010-07-19T21:25:00.000-04:00

Let's face it - kids grow, their clothes don't. You want them to look their best, but you don't have the time or budget to spend your days endlessly shopping. You can always browse yard sales, Goodwill, or other second hand stores. Those however, tend to be hit or miss and you spend a lot of time looking, just to find a few acceptable pieces.

There is a new site that lets you bypass all that searching and brings it to the comfort of your laptop, ThredUp.com. The site allows you to exchange boxes of gently used clothing with other families. Boxes of clothing are listed by size and whether they are tops, bottoms, or mixed. Similar to ebay, members rate previous exchanges, so you know what you are getting. You don't pay for the clothes, but you do pay a $13.00 per box shipping fee.

Right now there are 13,000 members and growing. Joining is free, so why not at least sign up to browse boxes and see if you find something you like? And if you do, let me know what you think.

Mint.com - worth the time to organize your personal finances

2010-07-06T15:03:00.000-04:00

Trying to get a grasp on your finances? Have accounts and loans spread across various banks, credit card companies, credit unions? Then Mint.com is the solution for you! Available on the web or your mobile device (yes, there is the even a iPhone app).

Set-up is pretty quick and painless, as they have data links with most financial institutions in the US. If you already have online access, you just find the company and enter your login information (provided you can remember the answers to those pesky security questions).

Mint.com is like your nagging mother - but without the other personal baggage. It's automated systems will alert you when your spending in one category gets out of hand. Or when your bills or due. Or if you are paying fees that don't seem to make sense.

Rural Towns, Web Pages, and Google Sites through Swanville.org

2010-06-28T16:53:00.006-04:00

I was so annoyed. When would my town ever get a website? Even just a basic one page, here-we-are and this-is-how-you-can-contact-us page. It was not going to happen in my lifetime. Through a generous volunteer policy from my company, and permission from a graduate school professor, I set out to make one myself.

To kick off the project, I did what anyone in a small Maine town wanting to introduce 20th century technology would do (yes, I really mean 20th, not 21st century). I attended the town meeting. I got my father to talk about my project. I got buy-in and even a bit of excitement from the selectmen and town employees. I did not just set up a website and then show it to the town - that would have been disastrous!

To keep it simple and the idea was, to pass it off to the employees, I implemented Google Sites. If you can edit a word doc, you can use Google Sites. Not only was the idea to make it usable for our town employees, but to provide a template for all Maine towns.

The result can be seen at www.swanville.org, a result of constant updating by yours truly. Still working on training the town employees, but the feedback I get via our Facebook page tells me someone out there is paying attention.

Does your town have a website. If so, is it worth your time? Does it provide useful information or just enough so that you know your town exists in the digital world?

If you like the idea of Google Sites, you may be interested in these books:

Google Sites for Local Governments & Small Businesses

2009-11-12T22:23:00.000-05:00

Google apps are an excellent way to get access to some great online, hosted services, that for most small organizations (non-profit, local government, or small businesses) are free. One of these applications is Google Sites, Google's web page creator.

To use Google Sites, or any of their other apps, you will need to create a Google account. But follow the instructions and you will be up and running in no time.

Here is a list of sites I have created using Google Sites:

Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff

2009-10-07T13:21:00.000-04:00

A couple of really great videos about stuff. Makes you think about where all that stuff you buy, use, store, and throw away comes from.

The Story of Stuff

The Latest QuickBooks for Mac Users Joke...You Need a PC to start using the Online Version

2009-06-15T23:03:00.002-04:00

The text below is from an email exchange that a close acquaintance of mine had with a QuickBooks rep. He desperately wants to use QuickBooks online, especially for the iphone capabilities, because he is very mobile. But it would seem that in order to do that, he needs:
1. A PC
2. A PC copy of Quickbooks

Ha ha ha! They told him later on the phone the workaround was to download a copy of the trial version of QB for PC (luckily he already has his Mac partitioned with windows installed). However, when he did that, the trial version would not let him import an existing company. Oh, goodness gracious, the laughs they provide for those of us who dare to use Macs for our business ventures.

TEXT OF ONLINE EXCHANGE WITH QUICKBOOKS REP:

I need a pc....to swtich my mac version to online version!! grrr

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: QuickBooks Online <serviceconsulting@quickbooks.com>
Date: Fri, May 8, 2009 at 9:52 AM
Subject: QuickBooks Online Case 1560911: Pre-Sales from Chat Interested in QB...
To: chris@xxxxxx

Christopher,

Thanks for your interest in QuickBooks Online Plus!

To convert your Mac QuickBooks file you must first create a backup for PC QuickBooks and restore the file. Once the file is open in PC QuickBooks, go to file/utilities/copy company file for QuickBooks Online Edition. This process is going to make a new file format, OE.QBW.

Once this file is created go to the following page to start a free trial:

https://accounting.quickbooks.com/redir/trynow?bc=QBP-TNS&sc=Z0N-806-00B

You will be prompted to import your company file on step 3 of this start up interview. This is the only opportunity to do so. You will have the choice to import "All Data" or "Lists Only". In order to import all data, the prepared file must be less than 80mb. Otherwise, you will only be able to import your lists (COA, Customers, Employees, Vendors) with zero balances.

I will follow up with you on Monday to go over pricing, discounts, etc and to help you complete the subscription.

Regards,

Jacquelyn Zlater
QuickBooks Online Sales Assistance Team
www.QuickBooksOnline.com

PS.
Did you know that Intuit now offers website hosting? Creating a website for your business is a great way to add exposure and grow your company. You can even try out our services for 30 days free! To start building your company website go to http://www.intuitwebsites.com/~site/Scripts_SignupSetup/SignupSetup.dll?CMD=CMDECSignup&ID=ES_QBOSATJGZ to activate your free trial.

________________________________________
For your reference, this email refers to the following case:
Case ID: 1560911
Question: Pre-Sales from Chat

Interested in QBO, currently has Mac QB.

[06:23:51] Lori: Hi, this is Lori. Thank you for contacting QuickBooks Online. How can I assist you today?
[06:23:53] Visitor: chris
[06:24:14] Visitor: I have qb for mac 09... can I import my data?
[06:24:19] Lori: Hello Chris, I hope you are having a great day.
[06:24:45] Lori: To confirm, you are inquiring about changing from the Mac version to Quickbooks Online?
[06:24:55] Visitor: yes exactly
[06:25:09] Lori: Ok,

Reply directly to this email to send any correspondence for this case. Please do NOT change the TO and SUBJECT field of the email.

MobileMe Sync Deleted Contacts

2009-04-22T10:37:00.001-04:00

For those of you who don't know, MobileMe is a service from Apple that syncs your various devices with the cloud. You can sync your iPhone and computer and then access the information from a browser as well. It is a great idea in theory and for a time, until we sold the company, I was also using it to back up my QuickBooks files automatically.

But we sold the company and I decided to let my MobileMe subscription run out in February. I am a longer user of Gmail and Google's services like Google Docs, so it didn't seem to make sense to pay $99 for a service I can get for free elsewhere. No problem, as I already had all my contacts on my phone and computer. I just lost the ability to sync them with the cloud. Since my phone is with me everywhere I saw no issue with this.

However, last week, the opportunity arose for me to reactivate my MobileMe with a family member who was getting the family plan. So I accepted, nothing is better than free, right? My old account still existed, I just couldn't access it. It was reactivated and all seemed to be fine.

Then come Monday, mid-way through the day, suddenly all contacts disappeared from my iPhone. And since my computer was also set up with the MobileMe account information, it also wiped them out completely. Yay! Oh for joy, now I get to re-enter 500+ contacts.

If anyone has any ideas on an easier recovery than trying to import from spreadsheets and check each one by hand, let me know! I would be happy to try anything at this point.

Google iPhone App

2009-04-17T10:08:00.000-04:00

I've always been happy with Google's products and services. I've been a die-hard blogger user since 2006 and always try out new services as they come out. They are always tweaking things, but it has been some time since I found something to actually get excited about.

Enter the Google iPhone App, which I recently downloaded. Why download an app, when you can just go Safari and Google from there? One of the best reasons, the new voice search. What a cool feature!

You open the Google app and hit the little microphone to the right of the search box. Then say your search terms into the phone. The app translates your voice into text. I've tried to stump the program and I will admit it's not 100% accurate, but most of the time it is spot on. What a great feature if you are, dare I say, driving and searching at the same time, or you simply don't like typing long search phrases on the iPhone.

Very nice application. Now if Facebook would only allow us to update status this way, or Twitter allow you to talk your tweets.Hmm... I can think of all sorts of applications for this functionality.

The Personal Financier: Challenging Happiness – Exploring the Irony of Human Nature

2009-04-17T09:50:00.000-04:00

A fellow BlogHer member discusses happiness and stimulates some discussion about how money and happiness go together. It's not about what you have or don't have (after a certain basic level of needs are met) but more about how you compare yourself to those around you. So I say, stop comparing. Enjoy the life you have and stop worrying about everyone else - let them all worry about you!

The original post from The Personal Financier can be read here:

The Personal Financier: Challenging Happiness – Exploring the Irony of Human Nature

Internet Usage by Generation

2009-04-17T09:24:00.002-04:00

A nice graph from Swivel. If you haven't visited their website it is worth the trip. A unique experiment in group statistical analysis.

CrisisofCredit.com - A Visualized, Simplified Take on the Causes of the Credit Crisis

2009-03-19T19:15:00.005-04:00

For those of you living under a rock for the past two years, our country has taken a huge swing back towards fiscal responsibility. Well, not the people on Wall Street, but they never live in reality anyway. Getting back to the point, someone created a very simple, but engaging review of mortgages, investors, Wall Street, Credit Default Swaps, CDO's, bonds, interest rates, and the like. CrisisofCredit.com, created by Jonathan Jarvis, is an excellent primer on the whole debacle.

I highly recommend watching this video. Everyone I've sent it to has watched, enjoyed, and forwarded on to many others.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Totlol: YouTube for Kids....Finally!

2009-02-23T14:58:00.003-05:00

Ever tried to amuse your son or daughter by looking up YouTube videos? My favorite video for him is the the one of the Hippo singing. My least favorite was the cute little hamster talking in a sweet voice, who 30 seconds into the video becomes a deep-male voiced porn star, with the vocabulary of pimp. That was about a year ago and I don't know if I ever tried to browse YouTube for children's videos again.

I always thought it would be great if there was a YouTube for kids. Never came across anything like it though, in all my fruitless searching. I belong to an online word-of-mouth site called BzzAgent, (don't worry, I rarely post anything about it here, unless it really makes sense) that led me to Totlol.com, a YouTube for kids of sorts. I've checked it out and it seems like a great idea.

Quickbooks and the Mac: A Marriage Made in Hell

2009-02-21T12:21:00.001-05:00

The latest news in Quickbooks for Mac: All the problems you might experience are your own fault, and have nothing to do with Intuit. If you, for instance, suddenly lose all your memorized transactions due to an upgrade that Intuit pushed to your Mac, it definitely is not their fault. This is something that could happen at any time (even though many other Mac users experienced the same thing right after they pushed upgrade number 4). Nope, no way, this is your fault.

And the way to fix it? Well my friends, what you must do, since you are the owner of a small business and free time is plentiful in your life, you must delete and re-memorize every single transaction. Or failing to have the time to do that, you must individually click on each transaction in the list, and select "use" from the bottom button in the window. Or you can go into every memorized transaction and instead of selecting "Automatically" entering the transaction, you can enter something in the "number left" field - according to a guy from Intuit.

Ugh what a mess! I called support about this issue and and the oh-so-helpful representative told me "This is not related an Intuit upgrade. Files get damaged all the time, this is something that can happen anytime. You must re-memorize all transactions." Interesting all that talk online about everyone else who got the update experiencing the same thing. And I have first hand experience, as my partner also runs his small business on a Mac, and surprise, surprise his memorized transactions also stopped at the same time as mine!

To bring further humor to the whole situation, funny that, apparently there is a work-around posted online by Ian Vacin, Offering Leader from Quickbooks for Mac. Maybe they should share with their own support team? And when you try to find an answer to this problem on the Quickbooks site on your own? It's impossible. It's as if the problem doesn't exist.

So frustrated and still within the trial period, I'm seriously thinking about returning the product and trying to find online software as service. Freshbooks and Zoho are some alternatives that get you very close, at least on the invoicing and time tracking side.

UPDATE: Further information posted by Quickbooks software engineering.

The Funniest Email Promotion this Year! Intuit Online Payments for Mac

2009-01-23T15:14:00.005-05:00

I use QuickBooks and a Mac. I've been waiting for the day that Intuit starts to get on board that business customers actually do use Macs. So this email promotion got my interest immediately. I actually opened it, when normally I would immediately delete. An online Intuit QuickBooks program that allows you to accept credit card payments on your Mac! Sounds great upon first open and a quick read-through.

Then you read the lovely little note at the bottom:

* Note: Although QuickBooks Online Terminal is Safari compatible, it does not
integrate with QuickBooks for Mac. Card transactions must be entered manually
into QuickBooks for Mac.

Ha ha! I guess the joke it on all us Mac users. When will Intuit realize that there are actually Mac users who, surprise, also own businesses! And if I can get a third party online processing company to automatically sync with my QuickBooks, why can't Intuit do it?!

In Love with a Phone...my iPhone

2009-01-06T13:19:00.002-05:00

I am officially in love, 120%! With my phone. Over the past year, I have had 4 cell phones. I've had a blackberry, a palm, a windows based phone. A long, long time ago I remember something about a phone with a green screen and black text. You could say that I'm a phone addict or a shop-a-holic (when did that become a word anyway?), but I would say not.

I was just searching for the one true love. That phone that finally fulfills the promise that Back to the Future I, II, and III left us from the 80's. This a phone that truly changes the way I live my life. I had a blackberry but the only thing that it was good for was checking email.

With the iPhone, yes, of course I can check email, but I can also click on links and easily browse a web page. I can quickly check the weather and watch the radar map. I have a yoga application that walks me through a session in the time limit of my choosing, complete with soothing background noises. I can easily make notes, track tasks, book hotels, find the nearest Target and do a variety of other things that in the past would have required sitting down at a computer.

If you're considering one, I would recommend the iPhone with 5 stars. Yes it's a phone, but it is also so much more. If you're a mobile person who wants to pay bills while riding the train or book a flight while grocery shopping, you can do it and move on with life. Or if you just want to take some pictures, easily email them and perhaps watch YouTube, this phone is also for you.

Any other iPhone converts out there?

A Long, Long, Time Ago, Part II

2009-01-05T23:27:00.000-05:00

Again it's been some time. Somehow no matter how much I thought about it and how much I missed it, I could not even bring myself to pull up the URL!

Strange isn't it, how you can be so consumed by something, and then just drop it, like a lost limb.

I'm not quite there, but I'm almost ready to re-attach that limb. Maybe. Nearly there.

A Long, Long, Time Ago. . .

2008-04-06T14:32:00.001-04:00

I pulled up my blog for the first time in awhile today. The shock, the horror, the guilt when I realized just how long it has been! November 24th of 2007! 2007! That's eons ago.

Blogging was an enjoyable hobby for me, but one that caused me to sneak into a dark corner late at night - a source of contention, to say the least. So for many months I put the computer away, tried to pretend that glowing light wasn't calling my name. But then those thoughts started creeping in, thoughts like, "I never finished that ten-step tutorial.", "I was actually starting to make some money.", and "I LIKE writing and learning about new things online."

So here I am today, wondering what took me so long to get back on board. No promises for any type of posting schedule, but I'm ever hopeful there are a few minutes past midnight just waiting for me to start typing.

Gift Ideas - Part I, The Jitterbug

2007-11-24T20:02:00.000-05:00

My mom wants a cell phone. What's a blogger to do? She still doesn't really understand how her car stereo works, so a selecting a cell phone is a monumental task. She needs a phone that actually makes the process of sending and receiving calls easier than sending a man to the moon. My mom's smart, but she just doesn't want to spend hours learning to operate a cell phone, and I don't blame her.

Enter the friendly phones pictured below, the Jitterbug Dial and Jitterbug OneTouch. Jitterbug, the company, offers two phones - one with a regular telephone keypad or one with only three buttons - Operator, 911, and a button you can personalize with "FRIEND," "HOME," "TOW," "WORK," or "MY PHONE," (no programming needed of course).

This just might be a great Christmas gift! Does anyone out there have experience with these phones? If so, let us know!

The Blackberry Curve 8310

2007-11-22T17:01:00.000-05:00

The Red Blackberry Curve 8310, which due to my company's discount program, I got for a tidy sum of $0, is my latest toy. In under 2 minutes it was out of the box, charging and I had set up my email.

Figuring out how to change the ring tone, proved a little bit more diffilicult. I had to rely on my younger brother for that.

What makes the Curve so cool?

A full keyboard
A 2 megapixel camera with flash
Getting my email on the phone
A nice big screen

For a more detailed review of this phone, check out CNET's review.

It's 10 PM - Do You Know Where Your To-Do List Went?

2007-06-05T22:23:00.000-04:00

I am so very tired. After taking a 2 month transition time to pack up and move, I had quickly forgotten how much WORK, work actually is. Especially working all day and then coming home to do something totally different at night. Seems like I never accomplish all I set out to - no matter what my well written list of 8 AM the same morning says.

Once I settle into a routine, I'm sure I'll be catching up on that time, but, hey, it's 10:30 PM - I'm exhausted and I'll be back to blog another day.

Moving to Maine

2007-05-28T22:37:00.000-04:00

I've finally done it. Created yet another blog. With this new one Moving to Maine, I intend to get a little more personal. If you have a spare second, stop on by Moving to Maine and sign up via RSS or email so you can stay updated on one family's move from a Midwestern city to rural Maine.

Memorial Day

2007-05-28T21:44:00.001-04:00

Happy Memorial Day! I know you're not reading this because you are actually off the Internet for a few days!

Hope you're having a good one.

SpeedMatters.org - Truth, Justice, and High Speed Internet For All

2007-05-22T13:05:00.001-04:00

If you believe in the US as a country of innovation and on top of the latest trends, you'll want to visit SpeedMatters.org to clear up that misconception. Speed Matters is an organization dedicated to bringing high-speed Internet access to all areas of the country.

Currently, the US is number 16th on the list of countries for high-speed Internet subscribers. Our overall speeds in even the most advanced metro areas in the US lag far behind countries such as Japan, where speeds can be 5 times as high for the average consumer. Speed Matters has five guiding principles that explain the importance of this issue.

Speed and Universality Matter for Internet Access
The U.S. “High Speed” Definition is Too Slow
A National High Speed Internet for All Policy is Critical
The U.S. Must Preserve an Open Internet
Consumer and Worker Protections Must Be Safeguarded

This is not just a nice-to-have wish, but a crucial fight in our need to keep students, workers, and the US population in touch with the skills they will need to compete. Areas of the US that are already hurt by the shift from rural to urban population centers are even more disadvantaged due to lack of high-speed Internet access so critical to today's business world.

This hits me close to home and I'll explain why. My parents retired and moved to Maine in early 2002. The city they chose, according to the Maine government website, had high speed Internet. What they didn't know at the time, was that the Maine government tracks by zip code. Maine is a rural state and a single zip code can cover a lot of square mileage. Just because a portion of a zip code has access, doesn't mean everyone in the zip code does. And, guess what? They just so happened to be outside the coverage zone.

After 3 years of begging all the major communications companies in the area, letter writing, phone calls, and letters to the editor, they were no closer to a high-speed connection. People in their area only had dial-up or satellite with a $700 install fee, 2 year contract, and not much better than dial-up speeds. You know that great telecommuting economy? The one that allows people to work from home, well, it's not available in rural areas like this without high-speed Internet access.

People are being left behind. I'll give you another example, all Maine 7th graders get a computer to use in school, where there is a high speed connection. But when they go home to do their homework, they are forced to use dial-up. They don't have access to the latest tools to learn relevant job skills and the old ways of earning a living (mills, fishing, logging, etc) are no more.

So what happened to my parents? They got so fed up, they bought a small Internet company, changed the name to Mainely Wired, grew it to more than 5 locations, and now have close to 400 customers online. People who only vacationed in Maine have now moved to Maine full time, since they can get the Internet connection that allows them to do their jobs. In this case, simply the access to the connection has grown the local economy by keeping more people, their families, and their spending power in Maine.

Maybe your area has high-speed Internet. Maybe you are so used to it, you couldn't imagine it any other way. But stop and think what it would be like if you were using dial-up? Would you even use the Internet at all? Would you be as efficient? Would you be able to work from home once in awhile? And, the most important question of all - Would you even live in an area that didn't have high-speed Internet?

Blogger Tutorial 7 of 10: Building a content base - Spend 2 or 3 months posting regularly to create a robust blog

2007-05-21T10:40:00.000-04:00

"It's been a week and my blog doesn't show up in Google yet!" Yes folks, this was the exact quote I heard from someone who set up a Blogger blog and was asking me for blogging advice. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud.

I don't want to discourage anyone, but you should know the facts about blogging:

In 2005, there were around 40,000 blogs being created each day.
In that same year, Technorati - the king of blog directories - was tracking 7.8 million blogs.
For more overwhelming statistics, visit Sifry's Alerts for an article about the in-depth stats.

If you have any illusions about setting up a blog in 20 minutes, putting up some Google ads, and taking your check to the bank, please reconsider. Blogging can be a way to make money - but it's not an easy road to riches. The world has caught on and like anything else, the field is crowded. You'll need to be a good writer first and foremost. You'll also need to build up a library of posts that are loosely related in subject matter so people get an idea of why to come back.

Building a volume of content that attracts search engines and visitors takes some time. Plan on at least 2 to 3 months of posting at least once a week. Start posting, sign up for and use Google Analytics, and find ways to promote your site and its content. That way you can monitor which posts draw the most attention.

What you find may surprise you. I'll give you a for instance - when I started my blog, I intended it to be more of a personal, diary-type writing. But I've found that I gravitate towards website, blog, and software reviews - that's just how it evolved. Despite this fact, one of my most popular posts continues to be one about Hammerschlagen, a game that requires a large tree trunk, nails, and a ball pin hammer (oh, that, and my 10-step Blog Tutorial). This in no way relates to the main theme of my blog.

My only point is this - no matter what you think your blog is about, you must give it some time to find out what you enjoy writing about, visitors find valuable and then adjust your posts, design, and layout accordingly.

Malathy Badri & Blog Avenues

2007-05-19T13:38:00.001-04:00

Thanks to MyBlogLog for introducing me to Malathy Badri and her blog, Blog Avenues. Malathy hails from Madras, Tamilnadu, India, where she is a Maths lecturer. What drew me to her blog on my recent trip through the MyBlogLog blogrolls, was her subject matter, as listed in her blog's description:

"This is a Grand Blog Terminal for Blogging, blog tools, blog promotion, get paid to blog, new blog technologies, free blogs, blog templates, blog hosting, blog directories and blog pinging services."

It's very close to what I blog about here on Wowimo. (Which in case you're wondering stands for "WOman, WIfe, and MOther".) I am continuously amazed by the power of the Internet to connect people halfway around the world so easily. What I like about Malathy's blog are her general blogging tips. Visit her site and learn something new about blogging.

If you like it, as Malathy says, "Pass it on; Share."

Night Owl Genetics: Proof that We're Not Just Lazy

2007-05-19T13:00:00.000-04:00

There is a hard-wired switch in my brain; one that says , "Do not go to bed until at least 11 pm and do not wake up before 7 am". This voice has been there and guiding my behavior for as long as I can remember. If pressed, I can get up at 4 am, 5:30 am, or some other such ridiculous hour, but my body doesn't like it - even if I do get 8 hours of sleep the night before.

We've all known about Circadian Rhythms for a long time, but genetic research is building upon the basic concept of a preprogrammed body clock. Brain Based Biz has posted a wonderful article on recent research in this area. In fact, if you follow the article, you Night Owls will be happy to see (and most likely share with the rest of the world) that it is not something you can control - and, most surprisingly, trying to go against your body's natural clock can actually be detrimental to your health.

That's just what I've been trying to tell my husband for years as he jumps out of bed while it's still dark while I bury my head under the covers yelling about "turning off that damn light!".

Cingular (Excuse me, "The New AT&T") Wireless Causes Interference with Electronics

2007-05-17T22:22:00.000-04:00

We recently moved our TV and unplugged the surround sound system. Since then, we occasionally hear a strange buzzing sound through the TV's regular speakers. It isn't constant or occurring very often, so we could never pin down where it was coming from....until yesterday, that is, when I made a great discoery.

Turns out that, in addition to selling expensive phones that don't perform very well Cingular's network also cause serious interruption in your electronic equipment. So much so, that Cingular employees themselves aren't allowed to have their phones on in the customer service center because they cause problems with the computers. In fact, one customer even blew a speaker! Watch the video and visit the site Feeling Cingular to learn more about it.

Thanks to Elena over at Funny Business for posting about this and finally solving the buzzing mystery of Minnetonka, Minnesota.

Make a Difference: 5 Sites to Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

2007-05-16T19:40:00.000-04:00

Calculating your carbon footprint is a lot easier on the Internet. Because, admit it, was anyone actually doing it before? Run scenarios that can show you how simple changes (like putting in energy efficient bulbs or walking just a bit more) will make a difference. My own impact turned out to be a lot larger because even though I do recycle, we have energy efficient light bulbs, and walk often - we also fly many times a year.

If you are making more of an impact than you like, you can change your behavior, or use a carbon exchange site to offset your heavy use of energy.

Bringo: Customer Service Calls The Way They Should Be

2007-05-16T09:01:00.000-04:00

I read about this service a mere 10 minutes ago on TechCrunch, but it is such a great idea that I had to post about it immediately. Bringo is a free service that allows you to find a company, type in your phone number, and viola!

In a few minutes, your phone rings and you are directly connected with an operator at your chosen company. No more struggling through 10 or 15 minutes of voicemail loops when all you want is a real live person to ask a question that isn't answered by the automated system. So far they cover the following categories:

Auto (28 companies)
Communication (43)
Computer (24)
Financial Services (162)
Health Care (86)
Media (5)
Other (9)
Retail (58)
Travel (59)
Utility (9)

What an intelligent use of technology. If you too are frustrated by customer service voicemail chains, try Bringo. You can also use the site GetHuman, which gives specific instructions on which buttons to press to get directly to a live person. For fun, GetHuman even rates companies with a grade of A to F based on their performance.

DoMyStuff.com

2007-05-14T02:20:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wanted a personal assistant? If you're a living, breathing human, the answer to that question is probably yes. But if you're also like the majority of us normal folk, the cost of actually hiring a personal assistant keeps you from even seriously considering it.

Enter DoMyStuff.com. It's the missing link between your own personal assistant and occasionally being able to hire out tasks when you're really pressed for time. Think of it as an Ebay for people who need something done and those who are qualified and willing to do it.

DoMyStuff.com lets you find someone to type up the notes from your business trip, design a room, pick up your dry cleaning, or organize your office. My favorite things about the site:
1. Easy to sign-up.
2. Escrow payment system.
3. Employer and Assistant rating system.

Try it out the next time you have a project you don't have time for or don't want to handle. If you do, let me know how it works out.

AnswerTips From Answers.com

2007-05-13T09:34:00.000-04:00

Right underneath the title of my blog you'll notice a little rotating logo for AnswerTipsTM. This is a very nice tool available on the Answers website for any blogger or webmaster. Once you install the code, a visitor can double-click on any word anywhere on your site and a small pop-up window appears with the definition of that word.

Try it out. I think it's a nice addition, that is, if I can let visitors know that it's there. My only issue with the set-up is the small number (3) of graphic banners available. I'd like to see them allowing color customization or a wider variety of formats. The banners available don't seem to really the get the message across.

If you do try it, let me know what you think. Is it a worthwhile feature?

Google Reader: Are you Using RSS yet?

2007-05-12T09:41:00.000-04:00

20 emails? Numerous websites? Cut out the clutter of staying updated with an RSS reader, such as Google Reader. Rather than wading through a full inbox or constantly checking sites for updates, put their RSS feeds in one place and let the information come to you.

Am I getting ahead of myself here? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It's a standard format that websites use to send site updates out across the Internet. With an RSS Reader, you can simply add the RSS feed to your list and be automatically notified when the site posts an update.

Who produces RSS feeds for their sites? Almost all blogs, news sites like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, financial sites like Bankrate.com, and many more. To see if a site publishes an RSS feed, look for this symbol in the navigation bar next to the URL:

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

2007-05-08T16:56:00.000-04:00

If you've been wondering why my blog has been silent, keep holding on, that story is coming soon.

In the meantime, my favorite poem by Robert Frost sums up my life transition right now. If you've never read it before, here is is in its entirety.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Marketing In A Web 2.0 World: Marketing, Social Media, and Online Communities

2007-03-21T20:08:00.000-04:00

What is a 21st century Online Marketer to do? How do you keep up with the latest technologies and keep customers engaged? Creating a website that looks great is only the beginning.

Marketers must learn to think in new ways about their customers. You're no longer selling to them or talking at them, you are interacting - and that is a powerful difference.

For a great overview of this new way of thinking about marketing, watch the presentation below, courtesy of SlideShare.net.

If you can't see the presentation below, use this link for Blogs, Tubes, Twitters, and More.

Mike's Money Making Mission

2007-03-08T09:01:00.000-05:00

Spam? I'm sure that's what you thought when you saw the title of this post. That's what I thought too. Money making schemes abound on the Internet. All those sites promising instant riches for the low price of $599.00. And they never quite disclose what they are doing and exactly who they are.

Mike's blog is different. There are three reasons to read his blog:

Increasing your site traffic
Looking at what it takes to set-up and grow a blog.
Figuring out how to pay for all that time you spend blogging.

He's not out to sell you an over-priced course or ebook. (Yes, he does have ads on his site, just like everyone else.) He is an old-school business man, with a history of success, scientifically approaching the idea of making money with a blog. That is, approaching it with an open mind, a set goal, and complete transparency.

He's upfront and discloses everything: which advertising programs he is using, where his traffic is coming from, and the reasons he has added or taken out a program. His weekly reports are worth the email subscription - even if your only aim is to figure out how to increase your blog's traffic.

Visit Mike's Money Making Mission - you won't regret it - and best of all, it's free!

Don't Buy This Phone: Cingular 3125, Your Apple Mac and A Candid Review

2007-03-07T09:20:00.000-05:00

What is it about the Cingular 3125 and Mac users? My previous posts on:

are the most popular posts and have the search terms that land people on my blog day after day. Since I've now been using the 3125 for almost 6 months, it's time for a more candid review. Do not read on if you're a Windows defender.

Yes, I was able to set up Pop3 email, my Hotmail account, and sync the phone with my computer (yay for being able to call any business contact any time the mood strikes). But I also found that while exciting at first, the phone has become slow and hard to navigate with ease (like any Windows computer I suppose). It has repeatedly frozen, shut itself off for no reason, and decided that a battery life of less than a day when in standby is sufficient for a phone made in 2006.

As the mom of a toddler, I rarely remember to bring the camera, yet my cell phone is always on me. What a great way to capture those moments that will probably never happen again. To explain in more detail - my son's first mutterings of "Ma ma ma ma" when he was 6 months old are captured on my old cell phone. But ah yes, apparently a phone I got for free was better able to capture and send pictures and videos than the one I paid $500.00 for. To this day, I have never been able to send a picture to anyone - another phone or an email address, with the Cingular 3125. I just get errors - and I have tried different formats, different people, sending to different phones. This shouldn't be hard people!

Do I think I could probably run some sort of clean up to make the phone work better? Could I probably spend 20 hours learning the intricate workings of the Cingular 3125? I am not hard on my phone - I keep it protected, I don't let my son throw down the stairs. I promise you all I have not abused it. I haven't downloaded ANYTHING onto this phone besides text emails. Emails with attachments I don't even open, I just delete them. Even text-only emails I've stopped reading - on that small screen I'd much rather wait until I can hop on the laptop. And the last thing I want to do right now is become a cell phone programming expert. It's just not high on my to-do list.

So what's the verdict? I give this phone a big fat "F". If you're thinking about buying it, don't. If you just purchased it and can still return it, run back to the store as quickly as possible. And if you're a Mac user, wait until the iPhone comes out. If you're not, go for the free phone or buy a blackberry.

The funniest thing of all occurred just last week. While cleaning out our car in order to sell it, I came across my trusty, free phone I had "lost". I bought the 3125 to replace this one. $500.00 later I'm kicking myself and wishing I just had the old phone back. At least the battery lasted more than 12 hours.

Zoho.com: Who Needs Microsoft Anyway?

2007-03-05T08:45:00.000-05:00

Quite some time ago, I wrote a post on Google Docs and Spreadsheets. When the post was accidentally sent out in the feed last week, a reader comment (thanks Whitney!) caused me to think about a site I've been using since then, called Zoho.com. As much as a I love Google, Zoho has created a much-improved alternative, with more capabilities. Part of a new wave of the "software-as-a-service", web 2.0 movement, Zoho really is a break-through way to handle your formerly desktop computing needs.

While Google only offers Docs and Spreadsheets (think MS Word and Excel), Zoho offers a full range of hosted applications, including (this is taken directly from the Zoho.com home page):

I have experience with the Writer and Sheet applications and I highly recommend them. It's amazing what the open source movement has done for us. No need to spend $450.00 or more on the MS suite, just use Zoho.com. The other advantage - no matter where you are, if you have an Internet connection, you can access all your files. Zoho stores your docs, spreadsheets, etc online. You can even share them with others, giving read-and-write, or read-only access.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone out there has used the other Zoho online applications with success?

LinkedInaBox

2007-03-01T22:04:00.000-05:00

Normally when I sign up for a new service, especially one related to networking, I give it at least a month or so to see how the service works, before writing about it here. But I have just implemented something on my blog which has lead to a 10% increase in site traffic.

I believe the reasons for this are two-fold:
1. It's a relatively new site/widget, so my chances of being pulled up by new users are high.
2. It's a great implementation of a service many people are signed up for already - LinkedIn.

If you are a member of LinkedIn, and have a blog, I would highly recommend implementing LinkedInaBox. I can't make promises, but I do believe this will make a difference in your traffic, and who knows, perhaps help you connect with some of your readers (or find out you're already connected). It simply places a small graphic in your sidebar that allows readers to easily access your LinkedIn profile information.

A Short Apology

2007-03-01T12:03:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to streamline my blog, I was deleting and re-labeling posts last night. Some of these posts are quite old. What I did not realize, was that the feed reader that handles my email subscriptions would then treat all those posts as newly published!

My apologies to anyone who received a long list of unrelated and dated posts in their inbox this morning!

Blog Tutorial 6 of 10: Design and Layout - Google ads? Affiliate Programs? Links to other sites and blogs?

2007-02-19T21:23:00.001-05:00

Design and layout seem easy with a blogger blog. You're able to choose from a number of templates and be up and blogging within 10 minutes. You can easily add page elements, ads, and links. That's the advantage of blogger for you, but it's very telling to your blog's readers. Most blog readers are bloggers themselves and they can tell from a mile away if you're serious or you're just playing around within 2 seconds of visiting your blog.

How can these masters of the Internet tell if you're a serious blogger in such a short time? Simply by looking at the design and layout of your site, and the placement and number of ads you have posted. If you set your site up, chose a default template, threw in a few AdSense links, and left it alone, we know you are just playing at blogging. There is so much more you can easily do to put your personal mark on things and make your blog a great experience for readers.

In the tips below, I'm going to stick with tools and tips that a non-programmer or anyone off the street could pick up. If you're looking for advanced tips, see my earlier post about Blog Hacks or simply type "Blogger Hacks" into Google. I'll also provide some links to great hack blogs at the end of this post.

So what's non-programmer to do if they want to differentiate themselves from the thousands of blogs coming online everyday? Here is a brief and non-scientific process for getting you started:

Finding Blog Designs and Color Schemes You Like

Start with browsing, yep, that's right, I said browsing. In order to see what's possible and what you like, you've got to take a look at some other blogs. Blogging is social and doesn't happen in a vacuum. While you don't want to copy another blog exactly (the reason why you want to alter you original template in the first place) you'll want to get an idea for what you like, what looks good, and what doesn't. Hop on over to technorati or mybloglog to find an endless supply of blogs to browse.
Bookmark some blogs that you like so you can refer to them. Note what it is that you like - clean lines, graphics at the top, the color of the links on the side? Are there certain color schemes you tend to gravitate towards?
A great resource if you struggle with color schemes, is Kuler, run by Adobe. The sole purpose of the site is for designers to upload 5 colors that work well together. You can find themes to fit any taste. Register for an account to gain access to the color theme settings. Once you've registered, click on the small icon of the computer monitor on the right side of the screen to record the HEX value of the colors you like (these are the values you can use in your blogger template settings and they are on the very bottom of page).

Changing Your Blogger Template - Colors

If you have an idea now of what you'd like, login into your Blogger account and click on "Layout" under your blog's name in the Dashboard. What you'll first see is the "Page Elements" tab. We'll come back to that later.
For now, click on the "Fonts and Colors" link in the top left of your screen. This is where you can alter all the elements of your blog's appearance. Remember those HEX values you copied from Kuler? This is the place to use them.
Within this page, you can change your blog's background color, link color, text color and change fonts as well.
The rest is up to you. Play around with colors, change fonts, see what works and what doesn't. Your edits show in the window below and you can always clear them out later.
For another list of HEX values, see W3 Schools list. (By the way, W3 school is a great online resource if you start tinkering in HTML.)

Changing Your Blogger Template - Layout

Now it's time to get into the "Page Elements" link under the Template tab (right next to the Fonts and Colors link). This is an area where blogger really shines. Here you can easily add the following elements to your page and drag & drop them where you want:

List
Link List
Picture
Text
HTML/JavaScript
AdSense (more about that later)
Feed
Labels (mine are displayed in the "Label Cloud" of my blog's header)
Logo
Profile
Blog Archive
Page Header

I would encourage you to play with all of these, see how they look on your page and what makes people interact with your blog. The main idea here is keeping it simple. Don't add so many page elements that people feel like they're walking in Times Square during rush hour. You want them to focus on the post first and foremost. Secondly, you want them to return and/or sign up for your blog's RSS or email feed.
Try adding a page element. Blogger automatically puts it at the top of the list of items. In most cases, this is not where you want the new element to go, so make sure you drop it into the correct place.
If you decide weeks from now, something doesn't fit - take it out!

Advertising on your Blog

Let me start out by saying 2 things: First, don't create a blog with the sole goal of making a living of your blog's advertising. Unless you're pulling in 100,000 visitors a day (which will take a long time to do), this is just not reality for most bloggers. Secondly, my first recommendation doesn't preclude you from trying out different advertising and seeing what works, in fact, I would encourage that.
There are thousands of online advertising, affiliate, business development, (and yes, even paid posting) opportunities out there. They key is to find those that make sense for you, your blog's subject matter, and readers visiting your blog.
Here is a list to get you started:

AdSense - the first and most obvious choice. Easy to implement because Google includes AdSense in the Blogger platform. But if you put these up, please, please, please, I beg you, match the colors of the ads to your blog so they are visually appealing.
Commission Junction - the largest marketplace to online advertising and affiliate programs, not necessarily geared towards blogs. You may need to invest in some search engine advertising if you're going this route.
AdVolcano- relatively new on the scene. Disclosure: I just signed up and installed the code. I'll update you if anything comes of it.
BlogKits - advertising specifically for smaller bloggers with advertising aimed at the heartstrings of your blog readers. Disclosure: I was signed up for this, tried it for about two weeks, but didn't see much action. Perhaps not much of a test period. I may try it out again.
PayPerPost - this one is up in the air. Some bloggers hate the idea, some love it. This company actually pays you for writing posts about their customers' products. Love it or hate it, it's best to fully disclose if you're going to do it. Disclosure: I have placed some PayPerPost advertising on my blog as a test. I have not done an actual paid post - I'm still not sure how I stand on that one. But I want to put the option up there if you are interested, scroll to the bottom of this page for the link.

Linking to Other Blogs

This is perhaps one of the most underestimated traffic generators by new bloggers and scoffed at by seasoned bloggers who have been around for several years. I've heard from some of our clients "I've been blogging for 3 weeks now and no one is commenting. I can't even find my blog in the search engines." 40,000 blogs or more are created EACH DAY! Try keeping that in mind when you find yourself struggling to post. Use it to motivate you to provide something useful to readers.

You have to ask yourself, what makes your blog stand out from the rest and worthy of attention from another living, breathing human being? It takes a solid 2 to 3 months of regularly posting to create a blog worth promoting. If you put up one or two posts and expect the Internet to come calling, you're in for a big surprise. Without a content library don't bother - BUT, if you have a reasonable number of posts, get out there!

Start by searching Technorati for blogs on similar subjects. Read these blogs, sign up for their emails, keep in touch with them. When you find a core "stable" of blogs you regularly read, you can do several things that will help increase your own blog's traffic:

When you feel comfortable and have something to add to the conversation (meaning, more than just "Yes, I agree.", post a comment on someone else's blog. The reason for this is two-fold. Your blog URL will be listed on their blog, creating a link back to your site for the search engines to find. You may also find other bloggers, including the blog's author, visiting your site, especially if you've made particularly erudite comment.
If you find a blog you like, write a blog review in a post on your blog. Provide a link back to the blog you're reviewing and notify the author of the blog if possible. They may just put up a link to your review.
Ask another blogger to write a "guest post". 9 times out of 10 the guest blogger will feel honored and will let their readers know they are doing a guest post, providing a link back to your blog.
Submit your posts to Digg, Netscape, and any of the large number of Internet news sites. You'll get visits from new readers, increase your visibility, and create yet another link to your site.
Create a blogroll of other blogs you find particularly worthy. You can use the "Add a Page Element" Link widget in your blogger template to easily do this or you can write a separate post with blog links and provide a link to that post in your sidebar. The second option is useful if you find yourself linking to more than 10 blogs.

Whew! If you've made it through this post, congratulations. There is a lot here and it might be best to take on one sub-heading at a time. If you have any questions on the items in this post, comment below and I'll do my best to help out. And now for those Blogger Hacks I promised in the beginning:

The Next Tutorial Article:

Blogger Tutorial 7 of 10: Building a content base - Spend 2 or 3 months posting regularly to create a robust blog

Blog Tutorial 5 of 10: Creating a blogging schedule - figure out how much time you're willing to devote.

2007-02-19T20:47:00.000-05:00

This is something I've been struggling with lately (in case you haven't noticed). Sometimes the words flow freely and other times I struggle to sit still for ten minutes and compose a full sentence. There are weeks when I find a lot of interesting sites, but can't quite will myself to write something that adds to the conversation.

So why the big push for a schedule of posting? Despite the ups and downs of creativity and willpower, it is important to set and try to stick with, a regular posting schedule. Every day, two times a week, weekly, or less often.

Whatever your schedule, try to plan out a month or so worth of general topics. If that sounds like too much at first, start with a week or two, and move to longer planning periods from there. No one says you have to stick to it, but you know what they say about writing down your goals. You're that much more likely to achieve them (or at least come with site of them).

Why is this so important? For several reasons:

Happy Blog Readers - posting on a schedule helps readers who visit your blog know what to expect, and if they are not using an RSS Reader or signed for email subscriptions, they'll want to know how often to visit for new information.
Keeping Your Blog's Focus - a little bit of planning goes a long way. Mapping out WHEN you'll blog also helps you think about WHAT you'll post about. If you know you need 2 or 3 ideas for next week, as you read online, browse a magazine, or listen to the radio, posts will naturally form in your head.
Search Engine Attention - The search engines like to see regular updates. Think of it like the spare change you find in the couch - or like taking your vitamins daily. Not a lot of benefit that particular day, but over time the positive benefits build up, which include search engine listings.
Links from Other Websites - If other bloggers or websites like your subject matter and writing style, they are more likely to link to your blog, a specific post, or write their own post reviewing your blog.

For more in-depth information on the great benefits of blogs and how they get search engine traffic, see this ClickZ post on Web Feeds, Blogs, and Search Engines.

The Next Tutorial Article:

Blog Tutorial 6 of 10: Design and Layout - Google ads? Affiliate Programs? Links to other sites and blogs?

Blogger Tutorial 4 of 10: Posting How-To's - Maximizing the Impact of Your Posts.

2007-02-14T09:07:00.001-05:00

You have your idea and it's been stewing in your head. You can't wait to start typing. That's just what I would encourage you to do. After your original thoughts are out and the text is starting to take shape, it's time to insert links, clean it up and make your posts search engine friendly.

Here is a brief outline of how to create posts that are informative, thought-provoking, and well-written.

Start with a title, something informative that draws the reader in.
Don't try to make it perfect. When you have something worth saving, save your post as a draft.
Now do some online research. Whatever your post is about - the sun, global warming, romance, or the downfall of civilization - there are bound to be other people out there writing about it.
Find 3 to 5 other websites that have worthwhile information on the same topic.
Armed with these links, go back to your post. Now look for words or phrases that you can create links with those you gathered in step 4. For instance, if you are writing about mortgages, you can link to a mortgage site. The words to the left "mortgage site" are actually linked to "http://www.mortgage101.com/".
Now read through and edit your post. Does it make sense? Is it concise?
Keep in mind while writing and editing that people reading online tend to scan. Unless you have an extremely compelling story, break your text up into short paragraphs or lists. Use bold text to make important words or concepts stand out.
VERY IMPORTANT: Last but not least, use the "Labels for this post" option. Enter one very descriptive label and 2 three more general subject area labels. The labels for this post are "blog tutorial" (specific), "blogging" and "blogger" (more general terms). These labels help people navigate your blog and also help you keep track of what themes you are writing about. There may be a main theme that you consistently write about that you don't recognize yourself until you look at your post history and labels!

BONUS TIP: This advanced tip requires you to also be ethically-minded. DO NOT proceed if you are out to trick people into reading or clicking on something.

If you regularly review products or books, you can take advantage of the many affiliate programs out there when using links. However, you have to set boundaries. When I write about a service or product, I ONLY recommend those that I use and enjoy. I also disclose in writing that: 1. I use the product and 2. Any affiliation I might have with the subject of the post. For me, this doesn't happen often, but I try my best to be transparent. And I never recommend a bad product (actually I tend to discuss how bad it is) or link to something I don't personally use.

For instance, I wrote a very early post about the Roomba vacuum. At first, I was simply using the link "http://store.irobot.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2174932&cp=2174940", that I found by going to their website. But, then it dawned on me, if I am recommending this product and sending people to their website, is there any way I can receive some money? Not a lot, but hey, why not try? So I found and signed up for the iRobot Roomba affiliate program. Now, if someone clicks on a link the post and buys something, I might be lucky enough to earn a little money for providing good information to someone looking for it.

This is not the main focus of my blog, but if done carefully can be a nice boost to offset the costs of creating and maintaining your blog.

Happy posting!

The Next Tutorial Article:

Blog Tutorial 5 of 10: Creating a blogging schedule - figure out how much time you're willing to devote.

Brief Update

2007-02-11T22:59:00.000-05:00

As many of you looking for step 4 of my blogger tutorial probably know, I've taken a very brief sabbatical from blogging over the past week. I've been up working to get our latest site out the door (it's oh-so-close). I am allocating some time tomorrow and during this week to get out steps 4 through 6. (Hm, now it's in writing I'd better stick to that I suppose.)

Blogger Tutorial 3 of 10: Finding a focus - what are you going to write about? Why?

2007-02-03T18:30:00.000-05:00

This third part of the Blogger tutorial will be shorter than the rest. There is no mystical formula here, it's time spent thinking and planning. Your blog's focus is also something that will change over time. You may start out intending one thing, but it can develop into something entirely different. For instance, I planned on writing a mommy blog, but realized it's easier and much more of an escape for me if I write about Blogging, the Internet, and Web 2.0 sites.

Blogs and websites in general need time to age on the Internet. Think of your blog like a fine wine that becomes better over time. The true flavors become more pronounced and the overall quality improves. For this reason, I recommend giving yourself 2 to 3 months of posting at least twice a week before promoting your blog. Why? This does several things:

Gives you time to develop your voice - what you're writing about and your writing style. Are you funny, sarcastic, down-to-earth, or formal? Learn to write in the style that feels comfortable and not forced.
Lets searchers and the search engines find your blog "organically". What does that mean? It means that for certain search terms people type into google, your blog comes up in the search results and hopefully they click on your URL.
Builds a broader base of content. Why do you need more than one post before you start driving traffic to your blog? Well, people like to poke around, look under the hood, learn a little more about who you are, what your blog is like, and if you're lucky, they'll come back, tell their friends, and add you to their RSS reader. You wouldn't want to open a bottle of wine the day after it was put in the barrel and offer it to friends, don't jump the gun with your blog!

One of the great features of Blogger is the ability to "Save As Draft" or "Publish" a post. Many times as I'm out browsing the Internet and trying new sites, I'll pop into my Blogger account, create a new post with a descriptive title, and paste a link to the site I've found interesting in the body. Then I click "Save as Draft" and that's it.

When I have time to write during the week, I can come back to my saved drafts and I have a list of possible topics. It helps take some of the pressure to write several times a week off for two reasons: 1. I'm not forcing myself to write about something useless the moment I come across it, 2. I have time to think if that site I visited yesterday really is as great as I thought it was and to distill what that most important thing about the site really is.

So whatever your site's topic and no matter if it changes over time, spend 15 to 20 minutes a week just thinking about topics, then developing them from there. Don't force your posts. Don't write about Hamburger recipes if you're a vegan. If you do, it will come across in your writing that it's not something you're passionate about. And blogging is much easier when you like what you're writing.

The Next Tutorial Article:

Blogger Tutorial 4 of 10: Posting How-To's - Maximizing the Impact of Your Posts.

Blogger Tutorial 2 of 10: About Me - Using this page to your advantage and advanced tips.

2007-01-31T15:52:00.000-05:00

In this post I'll walk you through the "About Me" or "Profile" section of your blog, and at the end give you a hint on how you can create a more in-depth profile and link it to your sidebar. Check my expanded page here (see it at the end of my "About Me" section) .

There is no magic here, just make sure you enter as much information as you feel comfortable sharing. I'm simply going to walk you from the top of the page to the bottom, modifying the most important things on the list. Believe it or not, when people read your blog, they do check out your "About Me" page.

Edit Your Profile

Login to Your Blogger account at www.Blogger.com
To the right of the screen, you'll see your name and a link to "Edit Profile". Click there.
Under the "Privacy" heading, check the box marked "Share my profile"
If you are an author or well known business person, using the blog to promote yourself, by all means go ahead and use your real name. However, a word of caution if you are blogging about more personal matters (especially anything related to your employer which I DO NOT recommend), you may want to come up with a screen name.
If you set up an email account just for the blog, certainly let people see it by checking "Show my email address".
Next "Display Name" enter your first name, full name, screen name, or any combination you feel comfortable with.
Under "Photograph" you can enter a URL where your photo is stored. If you need to post a photo online somewhere, click on the "find out how to get free photo hosting" link and Google will walk you through the process. If you're camera shy, you can always add an avatar, like the ones generated by Yahoo.
If you're posting your picture, you might as well select your gender. I have no idea what this setting does, except maybe give some marketing insight to Google.
"Homepage URL" - if you have another website, this is the perfect place to promote it. If your blog is your website, simply enter your blog's address here.
The rest of the questions and fields, well, they speak for themselves.

REMEMBER: Hit the orange "Save Profile" button at the bottom of the page once you're done!

Creating a More In-Depth Profile

To post a more in-depth profile follow these steps:

Create a new post titled "About Me" or "About Susie Jones" (whatever describes you best) and write - as much as you want. You can even post a number of pictures, links, whatever you'd like.
Publish your post.
Click on the title of your post. This will take you to the unique page for that post.
Copy the URL in the address bar of your browser.
At the top of the page, in the upper right you'll see your email address, click on the word "Customize" next to that (you must be logged in or you will not see the word "Customize" - if you're not logged in, do so now, and click on "Layout" under your blog's name in the Dashboard, which is in the middle of the screen).
Now you are looking at your site's template. You should be seeing a brown window with some text in the middle of the page with your blog's title and other page elements. This is the outline of your blog's various components.
To add the item to the sidebar, click on "Add a Page Element" which is in blue underlined text. A small window will pop-up (if it doesn't, check your pop-up blocker).
Select "Add a link".
A window will appear where you can add text and the URL of your "About Me" post. Paste the URL from your expanded "About Me" post (# 4 above).
Viola! A new, expanded, improved, perfect "About Me" link in your sidebar. (Ps. If you want to change the positioning of the link, simply drag and drop under the "Page Element" section of the "Template" tab.)

Enjoy! The next tutorial 3 of 10 will be published on Friday. If you try the advanced "About Me", post your link so I can take a look.

The Next Tutorial Article:

Blogger Tutorial 3 of 10: Finding a focus - what are you going to write about? Why?

Blogger Tutorial 1 of 10: Blogger Settings - which do you select and what do they mean?

2007-01-28T21:46:00.000-05:00

First things first, of course. This post assumes you know a little about blogging but nothing about Blogger. Maybe you've read a blog or two, or perhaps even subscribe to one via email. You're intrigued enough and feel you have something to say and enough intelligence to construct a grammatically correct sentence, or at least the semblance of one. Ok, great, where do you go from here?

Since I use Blogger, and if you're reading this, you're reading a Blogger blog, I'm going to use Blogger as my system for all tutorials. Although some things will be system specific, others can be applied to any blogging platform. This will be the most basic post, dealing with the mechanics of setting up your blog for success.

Setting up your Blogger blog:

Go to www.blogger.com
Click on the orange "Create An Account" arrow, about 2/3 of the way down the page.
Sign in or create a Google account, pick your blog name and choose the template.
Click on "Start Posting" and hold your horses! No, don't start posting yet. This is the part where I'm checking to see if you're paying attention. It's important to go through your account settings first. You'll see an empty post, just waiting for you to start typing, but spend 10 minutes following the steps below and you'll be posting in no time.

Getting the settings right the first time around:

The Settings Tab

Click on the Settings tab in the upper left of the screen, right below your blog's name.
Enter a short 2 or 3 sentence description for your blog. Don't worry about exact phrasing, you can always modify any of these settings at a later date.
Next to "Show Email Post links?", select "Yes". This allows your blog's readers to easily email the post to friends. Important if you want people to tell others about your blog.
IMPORTANT - Click the "Save Settings" button. Make sure you always save when you modify settings or you'll have to go back and make the changes all over again.

The Publishing Tab

Once your Basic settings have been saved, click on the word "Publishing", which is one line below the Settings tab in the upper left of the window.
Next to "Notify Weblogs.com", select "Yes". This notifies one of the biggest blog search engines you've updated your blog with a new post.
Remember to hit "Save Settings"

The Formatting Tab

Now click on the word Formatting, which is in the upper left below the Settings tab. Getting the hang of it now? We're working our way across all the items under the Settings tab and changing the items that will make your blog more user-friendly and ready to be spread around the Internet.
We'll leave these alone for now, but feel free to come back and change at any time. I just want you to know they are there.

The Comments Tab

Now click on the Comments tab.
Next to " Who Can Comment?", select "Anyone". Don't worry, you'll have the option of moderating and deleting comments. The beauty of a blog is that it encourages reader dialogue.
Next to "Backlinks" select the button for "Show".
If you would like, next to "Enable Comment Moderation", select "Yes". If you choose yes, you will need to login and approve comments before they are posted on your blog.
IMPORTANT: Next to " Show word verification for comments?", select "Yes". Requiring commentators to type in a verification key cuts down on spam tremendously.
Next to " Comment Notification Address", enter an email address for receiving notification of your comments. This isn't necessary, but as your blog gains popularity and readers, you may want to respond to comments in a timely manner. Getting an email when someone comments is a good way to stay on top of things.
Click "Save Settings".

Whew! We're done modifying the most valuable settings that Blogger has to offer. Now your blog is set up to allow easy browsing and let your readers spread the word about your Shakespeare-like abilities to comment on your chosen subject matter with lyrical prose. Or simply to put a noun, verb and subject together in the correct order, at least most of the time.

You're also ready for your first post and for my second tutorial, coming on ~~Tuesday~~ Wednesday. Try your hand and compose a few posts, or simply start thinking about 5 to 10 somewhat related thoughts you can turn into a 3 to 5 paragraph post. Good luck and thanks for reading.

The Next Tutorial Article:

Blogger Tutorial 2 of 10: About Me - Using this page to your advantage and advanced tips.

10 Things to Do When You Set Up Your Blogger Blog: A Tutorial, The Introduction

2007-01-24T19:48:00.000-05:00

Take advantage of all your blog has to offer. In this upcoming series of 10 posts, I'll give you some easy steps that will help you set-up your blog and realize its full potential. Here are the 10 steps, which will be broken out in their own how-to posts over the next 3 weeks. As I write the posts, I will link to them here.

10 Steps for Blogger Set-Up

Blogger Settings - which do you select and what do they mean?
About Me - Using this page to your advantage and advanced tips.
Finding a focus - what are you going to write about? Why?
Posting How-To's - maximizing the impact of your posts.
Creating a blogging schedule - figure out how much time you're willing to devote.
Design and Layout - Google ads? Affiliate Programs? Links to other sites and blogs?
Building a content base - Spend 2 or 3 months posting regularly to create a robust blog.
Reaching out - getting other bloggers to start reading your blog.
Feedburner or Feedblitz - setting up an email subscription to your posts.
Submitting to Blog Directories - help Internet users find you.
BONUS - advanced tips for hacking your blog.

I bet you're wondering what makes me qualified to write about these topics. I run this blog, Wowimo, as an experiment to see what draws traffic, how people interact with blogs, and what makes them return. I dabble with advertising and affiliate programs to learn what, if anything, is worth your time as a blogger.

As part of my business, I also teach other people how to use a blog to promote themselves and their work. One of my most successful students is Dr. William Emener, a professor and counseling professional, with over 20 books authored or in print, and now, a burgeoning online presence. His blog, Dr. Bill's Harley Wisdom, is a great example of a focused, well designed, and well-maintained blog.

While I can't guarantee you'll be on CNN discussing the future of blogging and online media in the next year, following the steps in the Blogger tutorial will help you find your niche and bring traffic to your blog. Assuming you have something people want to read about and discuss, these tips will ensure you start your blogging off right.

Snap.com

2007-01-21T18:05:00.000-05:00

If you visit my blog regularly, you may have noticed something new. When you mouse-over a link, a preview of the website that is linked to pops up. This nifty service is provided free of charge via a snippet of code from Snap.

While there is some discussion online that ugly sites tend to provide better information, I'm not a believer. I do tend to judge a site by the first page I visit, and if it's not easy to navigate or pleasing to look at, I abandon ship rather quickly. By installing the Snap code on my site, I'm hoping to give you a better browsing experience. You get a little taste of the site before deciding if clicking on the link I've provided is worth your time.

So what do you think? Is this helpful or just another web distraction?

MyBlogLog

2007-01-16T11:33:00.000-05:00

If you are serious about increasing your blog traffic, there is a great new site - MyBlogLog. MyBlogLog allows you to reach an audience of other bloggers, gather traffic statistics, create a community around your blog, and track your blog's favorite links, among other things.

There are two levels, free and pro. The pro service gives you real time stats and expanded widgets, $3 per month or $25 per year. I've been using the free service, because I'm mainly interested in the additional traffic, not stats.

I've been using the free version and seen an increase in traffic, especially for new readers. You can see the reader widget in my left sidebar (Wowimo Wackos) and my blog's favorite links in the right sidebar. I can see this same information when I use Google Analytics, but it's a nice way to let readers know what other people find valuable about the site.

Another great feature of the service is its added exposure when you visit other sites. Because MyBlogLog widgets are posted on many of the Internet's biggest blogs, when I visit one of these sites, my name and picture show up in the reader list. Perhaps someone will click on my link from there as well. Who knows? By using the service I do know I am building my reader base and "meeting" new bloggers.

Apple's New iPhone

2007-01-10T12:48:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am jumping on that bandwagon. I have seen the future of cell phones, and it lies with the new iPhone from Apple. I have never considered myself a tech geek. Usually I'm somewhere in the middle when it comes to product adoption, but this might just be my tipping point.

With the features, appearance, and performance this phone has, it will certainly be worth the $499 to $599 price point (depending on memory size). To read a more in-depth review of the phone, visit TechCrunch for Apple Announces iPhone, Stock Soars. I'm just kicking myself since I know my brother has Apple shares and I don't!

What do you think of the new iPhone?

Aziza Mohmmad

2007-01-10T11:02:00.000-05:00

Competition. Seed money. Business plans. Employees. At times starting a business seems like climbing Everest. There is so much to do in a finite amount of time, there are numerous obstacles to success, and more people counting on your failure than survival. But read one of the most inspiring entrepreneurial stories about Aziza Mohmmad, and you'll be looking at your business start-up as a walk in the park.

This courageous entrepreneur has everything going against her (that's right, I said her) but has managed to create a growing, socially responsible company in a place most of us will never visit, let alone start a business. The story is encouraging and reminds us that despite the problems we may encounter along the way, there is always a way to turn them into opportunities and move forward. What can YOU learn from someone who has made it against incredible odds?

Twelve Months in Year + Thirty Days to Form a Habit Equals

2007-01-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

Twelve months in the year. Research shows it takes at least 30 days to create a habit, a long lasting change in your life. Is that good news or bad news? I'm not sure. It means there is no quick fix, unless you want to be on expensive medication for the rest of your life. Here are the twelve small habits that I will pursue in 2007.

1. January - Play Dance Dance Revolution every day in January. Why play a game for an entire month? For those in the know, DDR is not just a game, it's a workout and since we're buried under snow, my way of becoming healthier.
2. February - Work on Mainely Wired business 15 minutes per day.
3. March - Walk outside with my son at least 10 minutes everyday.
4. April - Spend 10 minutes per day reading about investing.
5. May - Wake up 15 minutes earlier everyday.
6. June - Wake up 30 minutes earlier everyday
7. July - Go swimming 3 times a week.
8. August - Write one note card per day to a friend or family member.
9. September - Do something nice for my husband at least once a day.
10. October - Spend 20 minutes a day learning about affiliate marketing.
11. November - Spend 15 minutes a day writing Christmas cards so they are done early.
12. December - Relax and enjoy the holiday season.

Change

2007-01-01T01:28:00.000-05:00

Growing up I expended so much energy trying to change.
Trying to be cooler. Thinner. Blonder. Prettier.

Wishing I could change things I knew couldn't change.
My height...Oh to have been 5'2" instead of 5'10".
My feet...Couldn't I pretty, please just wear a size 7 instead of a 10?
How about longer, more slender fingers?
Maybe a girlier voice?
Ok, then if I can only have one thing please make it (them?) bigger boobs.

Occasionally I succeeded...Sun-In anyone? But the feeling at the end was more hollow than Hell yeah!

Later I exhausted myself as I postured about not needing to change.
I'll chain smoke, wear combat boots with skirts, be bitter, that'll teach the world.
As you would expect that didn't exactly work out for me.

The thing that finally unlocked the change, that introduced me to the woman I had aspired to be, was the birth of my daughter. Holding her in those first moments after delivery I experienced what I can only describe as total clarity. Her solid little body flailed about as I pulled her reverently to my chest, her arms and legs shining with the vestiges of her journey. Through a heady fog of disbelief I pulled her to my breast and she became still.

I was devouring the site of this creature, this living, breathing miracle that had literally grown from my body. Her long pink feet, ten perfectly articulated fingers on two magnificent hands, swirls of auburn hair, they were all so familiar and dear. They were my own. She was simply the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I saw she was that way because of me.(And yes, perhaps her father had a little hand in it too, but for my purposes today we'll leave him on the periphery.)

I watched my daughter as she nursed, her little hands kneading my skin. I examined my body as if for the first time, the length of my torso warming and cradling her, my large, strong hands holding her close, safe. I murmured to her and felt her body mold to mine as I buried my face in her hair. The very parts of me that I had fought against the most, were the very things providing my daughter exactly what she needed.

I had of course known that my life would change, but I had not known that this beginning would herald such a significant end. Becoming Briar's mother had meant becoming my strongest self. Leaving the hospital with my daughter and my husband I bid farewell to someone, for I left a changed woman. Staying behind was the Amanda who did not understand the value of strength, the blessing of proportions, or the virtue of acceptance. I think she was important though, because having fought against who I was and how I was made the realization that I was just right that much sweeter.

Thanks for reading this post today, I realize it was quite a departure from what you're used to. Take a look at The Wink today and you'll find Kat. My name is Amanda. I am a working mom prone to daydreaming and wild rants who lives in upstate NY and writes prodigiously on The WInk.
Special thanks to Kat for having me.
Happy New Year to all!

Ps. Thanks so much to Amanda for this wonderful post on New Year's Eve. Have a great start to your 2007!

New Year's Resolutions...?

2006-12-20T14:19:00.000-05:00

I'm starting early this year. I'm hypothesizing that the reason so many New Year's resolutions fail, is the herd mentality. We all start out with great intentions on January 1st to change our lives for the better. But one or two weeks later, 99% of us have gone back to life as usual, thinking "Oh well, it's not as if anyone else followed their resolutions either."

This year, I'm trying something different. I must be going through my quarter-life-crisis. I'm too young to be having a mid-life one just yet and just on the edge of being too old for a quarter-life-crisis, so I might as well go ahead and get it over with. Gone are the starry eyed theories of business school that explain how things "should be" in the corporate world, replaced by the political, kiss-my-ass reality that actually exists.

Early on I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur and kicking myself now and then I can still remember answering "Owning my own business", when I was asked what my career goals were in an interview at IBM. As such, I've really enjoyed working for smaller companies where I was able to get an understanding of the many different issues involved in setting up and running a small company. Finally I have the chance to fulfill these dreams with not only one, but two different opportunities in front of me.

The problem now is deciding which one I'd like to pursue and the fact that I'm married, have a house, mortgage, and child. Given that we've just doubled the size of our house by remodeling, I do need some sort of consistent income I can rely on to at least cover our expenses. Which leads me to my early New Year's Resolutions.

This past month, something in me clicked and I'm suddenly motivated to make my life happen, rather than ending up somewhere I don't want to be 20 years from now. I've been reading a lot of business books, interviews, and magazines. There is definitely a general theme of how dedicated and time-consuming building a business can be, especially if you don't want to fall in the 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first year category. My main inspiration has been Why We Want You to be Rich: Two Men - One Message a book written by Donald Trump and Richard Kiyosaki.

Last Saturday, I downloaded a free 31 day page planner from the Franklin Covey site and started using it. I'm trying to get up earlier, plan my days out the night before, and basically get my butt in gear for sleeping less and FOCUSING while I work (no more checking the blog every 30 minutes for traffic). I haven't met every goal I've set every day, but I'm definitely being more productive while I'm working, staying in the moment when I'm playing with my son, and getting more done in general.

They say it takes 30 days for a habit to form and with that in mind, I'm starting early this year. I'm giving myself a 16 day head start. If I make it to January 1st, I'll be more than halfway to forming a more purposeful life and my dream of one day owning my own business.

So what are your resolutions? Could you benefit from starting them a little early?

Without Further Ado, I Bring You...The Holiday Itinerary!

2006-12-15T22:13:00.000-05:00

Most of you know I don't blog much about my actual family, for fear they search me out to find further evidence of my unstable nature. (Those damn voices in my head that keep telling me to actually express my opinion!) But after sharing this with folks at my office and watching them roll on the floor in laughter, I though I would shake things up for the holidays.

The text below is exactly what was forwarded to me from my in-laws, besides the italics explaining who the people are. The military could not do a more precise job of outlining every minute of a holiday weekend, including exactly when presents will be opened. Heaven forbid we actually have a little spontaneity during a vacation. I'm not sure I could handle it. Hm, I think my husband is mad at me for posting this...Oh Well. Enjoy!

FULL TEXT OF CHRISTMAS ITINERARY EMAIL

"Here is what we understand is happening for our Christmas celebration.

Friday Dec. 22

K**** comes home - spending the evening in Mpls with friends

Sat. 23rd

P***/K***/P***/K***/Mom/Dad (my family & in-laws) go to M***ll for Christmas with Grandpa and relatives.

All return to H****son that evening.

Sun 24th

P***/K***/P*** (my family) return to their home for their Christmas

P***/A***/D***/A*** (my brother-in-law, wife, & kids) come to H***son

4:00pm Christmas Mass at St. A’s

6:00pm hors de oeuvres followed by dinner (TBD) followed by games followed by turns in the new spa tub if available.

Mon 25th

Christmas present opening for D*** and A*** (brother-in-law's kids)

9:30 Christmas morning brunch

Bloody Mary

Mimosa

Crepes w fresh fruit

Caramel Rolls

12:00 Eastern time – Cocktails

11:30 Central time – Family begins opening presents

Grazing on snacks/hors de oeurves

Wild rice soup – mom and dad

Roast beef sandwiches – mom and dad

Picante dip – mom and dad

Assorted other goodies – mom and dad"

Please tell me I am not crazy and that this is a little bit beyond the boundary of "relaxation"? Keep in mind that we all live less than 1 hour away from each other (except one person, who's single and can handle herself just fine). What do you all think?

Hackosphere for Blogger Beta

2006-12-13T22:28:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, I took a course in HTML and something called SQL. That was back when a relational database was a new theory. Well, not really, but it sounds better that way.

Needless to say, my understanding of CSS, Javascript and all those web programming languages is cursory at best. When I started this blog, it was just for fun and going to be a personal mom-type blog (cue: All men frantically push the back button, screaming, "Not another blog about breastfeeding!!!") But, fortunately for my husband, I'm just not that into it. Airing my naked and bare personal life out there, that is. Blogging I do like.

What I found, is that I enjoy being a bridge between really techie types (which I don't consider myself, although my husband might argue with that statement) and people who don't know the Internet beyond sending and receiving email or searching on Google. Now part of my job is actually showing others how to promote themselves and their books online. And me, Ms. Impatient, "Hurry up why don't you get it already?!, actually enjoys showing people how to do it.

So I started exploring a little more. I started out with regular Blogger and switched to Blogger Beta not really knowing the difference. But the ability to drop and drag (rather than always moving code around in the template) was nice.

However, the templates are more limited and they sort of force you to play with the code. Ok, when I say play with the code, what I mean is:
1. Find someone who has already done it.
2. Read and closely follow their instructions.
3. Don't do much beyond that.

A couple of cool "Beta hacks" as I now find out they are called are to create a Label Cloud and creating a three column Beta template, versus the standard two they set you up with. Now I'm addicted. I want to see what is possible with free blogging software and hosting. It's almost a wonder why anyone actually needs to pay for web hosting anymore.

Have you hacked your blog's template? Have you found another cool hack?

Dr. Bill's Harley Wisdom

2006-12-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

This is probably my first full-on blog review for no other reason than to let you know about a great blog. Dr. Bill's Harley Wisdom is a blog that provides some great takes on life's road and navigating the process of living. Updated regularly and written by Dr. Bill Emener, also the author of 19 books, it's a great read, and worth a look.

Dr. Bill writes in a style that provides some helpful tips, without preaching. His many years of experience have given him a lot to write about. He also never seems to sleep given the length and variety of posts he's able to create, while working his day job as a professor.

FYI: Through Mill City Press, the company I work with, I helped Dr. Bill set up his blog. I think he's done quite a nice job!

Microsoft Office Live

2006-12-11T21:33:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I received an interesting email in my Windows Live Mail account. Something about a free Microsoft Office Live website. Strange, I thought, the services described looked to me very google-esque, and did I mention, free?

Since when is the world's largest software provider giving things away for free? I just had to investigate. I viewed the demo and decided I should try it out. A free domain name, website builder, and more, built right in and available online. Sounds great and worth a shot.

But ah! I should have known. Office Live is only for those who use Internet Explorer. As an avid Firefox user, I don't think I'll be downloading IE just to test it out (well, actually I can't since I have a Mac and they no longer make or support IE for apple computers). Microsoft's attempt at opening things up or a misguided way to force people to use IE, as the share of Firefox users continues to grow? If you check it out, let me know what you think.

ChangeThis.com - Another Reason to Love and Protect the Freedom of the Internet

2006-12-10T12:53:00.000-05:00

ChangeThis.com, the latest, but perhaps most well organized effort to use the Internet to make life better. In the open source spirit, anyone and everyone is encouraged to submit, comment on, and pass along general commentaries on society's issues and ways to improve the world.

A lofty goal, but their About Us section clearly lays out their ambitions and non-partisan take on changing the world. The nice part is how they encourage well-thought out "manifestos" (for an example check out the ChangeThis Manifesto). They also want people to pass along and spread manifestos that they agree with, rather than recreating the wheel.

There are a lot of internet sites that are just for fun, or encourage people to get out their (mostly) consumer frustrations. It's very refreshing to see a site using the Internet for actually doing something in a constructive manner, outside of making profits. Will they hold up to their high standards? A small note on the bottom of the page mentions the site has been taken over by 800-CEOREAD. Go luck ChangeThis!

Wine and Violent Crime - It's not what you think.

2006-12-07T13:56:00.000-05:00

For no other reason than this highly amuses me, I bring you a graph of wine consumption versus violent crime rates. If everybody would just drink more wine we would all be better off. Thankfully, we have Black Box wine, a wonderful invention and great improvement over box wines of the past.

A great new web 2.0 service called Swivel launched today. People from all over the world can upload data and compare one thing (like wine consumption) to another (like violent crime rates). How exactly will I use this in my daily life? Well, I probably won't. But for people into that sort of thing, it seems like a great leap forward for the sharing of information. What will we, as a global community, do with that information?

For a more technically competent review of the new service, check out the post on TechCrunch.

Thunderbird Email Client Review by HappyandBlue2

2006-12-06T11:33:00.000-05:00

Thanks to HappyandBlue2 for guesting and writing what I agree is a fair review of Thunderbird, having recently tried to download and use it as well.

I just deleted Thunderbird for the fourth time. In all fairness I didn't really give it much of a chance to impress me the first two times. I just downloaded it, had problems and deleted it. I tried hard to get it to work for me on the third attempt but I ran into problems with my Hotmail accounts so I deleted it again.

On my fourth, and last, attempt to be one of the cool guys that uses a mail client like Thunderbird to handle my email I did have better success. I still couldn't get Hotmail to work. I really didn't try too hard though. But I did find information that fixed the return address on my emails. I found it by chance when searching Google.

So, I had Thunderbird installed. I had my Gmail accounts set up properly. The mail system was notifying me of new email . And my emails I sent worked the way I needed them to.

The problem is that in the end I didn't find that Thunderbird really did anything much for me personally. For example:

1) I couldn't use my Hotmail accounts in it. So I still had to check them separately. And yes, I'm sure there is a workaround somewhere. But I do have a life outside of my computer time and I am sick of trying to search for it.

2) I couldn't access my junk mail (which sometimes really isn't) or my deleted mail (which I sometimes check back on for whatever reason) from Thunderbird.

3) I have been using ePrompter for quite some time now to notify me that I have mail. It accepts all my accounts, even the Hotmail ones. Thunderbirds notification system isn't better. In fact in my case it was worse because of not being able to get Hotmail accounts to work.

4) I still had to go into my Gmail and Hotmail accounts regularly to delete messages. So why not just go there in the first place.

5) I could write emails using Thunderbird. But I can do that in Gmail or Hotmail. So why bother. It didn't seem any easier or better. And my address books in each separate account were already there. I really have no clue how to get separate address books in Thunderbird. I'm
sure there is a way. But it would involve searching. And setup, and testing, and…

If you have endless time or you enjoy searching on Google it would probably be fun for you. In an "I like to spend my time tinkering with software" kind of way..

But, if you want a simple way to deal with your email then stick to checking your accounts online. And get a program like ePrompter to notify you of new mail. ( I use ePrompter. I'm not endorsing it as the be all/end all in email notification. It's simple and it does what I want..)

Free Speech For All

2006-12-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

Sync Your Cell Phone with Your Mac

2006-11-30T22:29:00.000-05:00

The great search statistics in the sky, ShinyStat, tell me that most people come to my blog looking for info on how to sync their Cingular 3125 phone to a Mac. A random post I did a long time ago is strangely most popular. I guess you never know what those online whackos are looking for. I've done some research and determined that you are looking for "The Missing Sync" by MarkSpace. I haven't downloaded it yet, but poking around message boards leads me to believe it's the best solution out there.

Don't expect it to work 100% and absolutely perfectly the first time, but after a try or two you should be sharing contacts, calendars, and music like a pro. Now, if only Apple made cell phones, my life would be complete.

LinkedIn or LinkedOut?

2006-11-30T10:56:00.000-05:00

Those of you who read my blog regularly (well, all 5 of you) know that I like to bring up interesting customer service experiences. Do I have more than my fair share? Am I a demanding customer? I tend to think that I am not, just that I expect people to be competent at their jobs. But, please correct if I'm wrong or share your own stories.

The promise of web 2.0 services is great. In general, I absolutely love the way the Internet has leveled the playing field for so many, allowing the world to connect in a way never before seen. Along with the myriad of websites I subscribe to and sites I regularly visit, is a nice MySpace type site for business professionals, called LinkedIn. For contacting colleagues or finding new business opportunities, the site has many nice features. So far as I can tell, they uphold their promise to restrict open access and spamming. So much so, that again I paid for a premium subscription. As I start getting more into the world of online media, access to key contacts is a must. However, over the past 6 months I realized I've only really been using the basic features of the site, not the features I was paying for.

Another nice feature of their website, is that people who are premium subscribers still see messages all over the place to upgrade. Huh? I thought I already did that and I'm paying $19.95 a month for it. That makes it more than a bit confusing. Am I actually getting the services I paid for? If so, why do you keep telling me to "Click here to upgrade?" My credit card certainly knows that I have already paid for premium service.

So imagine my amusement when I recently sent an email to LinkedIn, to cancel my premium subscription. (Of course although you can upgrade automatically online, there is no such option for canceling the account in a similar manner.) The only way to cancel is to contact them through the website - no phone number, even for paid subscribers. According to my status as a premium subscriber, I am entitled to a "1 business day" turnaround time on my customer service requests.

Note the lag of 9 days! 9 days! I'll say it again just in case you didn't get it the first 2 times, 9 days! Just to get a 4 sentence response that doesn't even make sense? Ok, well it makes sense after rereading 4 or 5 times. After this, I asked them why the response took so long. Check out also their lame-o reply. (Emails go from my original cancellation request to their final response.)

EMAIL TEXT HERE
On Nov 20, 2006, at 8:17 AM, K********** wrote:

I would like to cancel my premium subscription.

Comment:
Please cancel my premium subscription. I am not using it all.

Thanks,
K*************

From: cs@linkedin.com
Subject: Re: I would like to cancel my premium subscription
Date: November 29, 2006 2:02:29 PM CST
To: k*****@*********.com

Thank you for your email. Your subscription has been canceled and will end on:59:59.0. Would you like to end your subscription now?

Your unused InMail credits will also expire on this day. If you do not use them by this date, please send an email to customer service, requesting they be reinstated.

---
N**** @
LinkedIn Customer Service
http://www.linkedin.com

On Nov 30, 2006, at 11:53 AM, K************ wrote:

Dear N*******,

Thanks for your reply, however I do have a minor question. Why did it
take so long to get this message out? I really would have preferred to
cancel my subscription immediately and save myself the $20. I realize
Thanksgiving fell within this time frame. However, as a paying
subscriber, the site says that I am entitled to a one business day
turnaround time on any questions, but this response came 9 days (7
business days) later.

Just wondering if you guys are totally swamped over there....

Thanks,
K**********

K**********
k***********@*****.com
XXX-XXX-XXXX ext.XXX

Thank you for your email. Member feedback is essential to our business and greatly appreciated. Your comments will allow us to build a better product in the future.

Regards,

B*** S*******
LinkedIn Customer Service
http://www.linkedin.com

Google Docs and Spreadsheets

2006-11-29T11:13:00.000-05:00

Although I had heard of Google Docs and Spreadsheets before, I never really found a reason to jump in. Word and Excel were working just fine for me. Until I found myself writing website content that needs to be edited by 3 or 4 people. Ugh, considering our computers aren't top-of-the-line, file sharing and keeping track of versions was becoming a nightmare, especially since we had no CMS to speak of for our site content.

This week I decided to jump in and wow, what a difference. There is really no functional issue, if you use word for it's basic features. You can invite people to collaborate with you on your document or spreadsheet, publish it to the world wide web (bet you haven't heard that term used in awhile), and even chat about a document while you are editing it. Nice features if you tend to work in groups on writing or editing content. With a very shallow learning curve and great for basic applications, I highly recommend Google Docs.

FreshBooks

2006-11-28T21:11:00.000-05:00

If you own a small business, FreshBooks might be just the thing you're looking for. Instead of buying software, like QuickBooks, and constantly worrying about updating, this is an online web-hosted solution.

I signed up for a free trial account for my family's business, Mainely Wired. It is extremely easy to set up and get running. You even get to send yourself one trial mail invoice for free. It does everything you would expect a full-service accounting software program to do. And because they outline it way better than I ever could, I've copied their table of the various service levels. My favorite part? The names of the plans, starting with "Moped". (note: links in this table don't work, but just go to the FreshBooks pricing page if you want more info.)

Choose a plan that best meets your needs

# of active clients you can manage	1000	100	25	3
# of invoices you can send	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited
# of staff who can access your account	3	2	1	1
Send ground mail invoices by US Post.* (Learn more)
Customer Support Mon-Fri / 9am-6pm EST
Timesheets, Document Sharing, Support Ticketing
Firewall protection, SSL Encryption, data backups
Your logo on your invoices
Data import/export
Unbranded emails

South Park - Picture Yourself

2006-11-21T11:21:00.000-05:00

I only have HappyandBlue2 to thank for this wonderful Tuesday morning diversion. There is a fun little site that focuses on all things South Park. One of the best features of the site is the ability to make your own version of a South Park character. Mine is the picture in this post.

I just learned about it around 9:30 this morning, but already our entire office (of 6 people) has created their own. Highly entertaining. Try it out and pass it along!

Mobile Phone Blogging at Go@Blogger.com

2006-11-20T13:35:00.000-05:00

Below is a message I sent directly from my phone to go@blogger.com. When you send a text message to that email, Blogger texts you back with an access code. This code allows you to claim your mobile blog.

Claiming lets you to do one of two things:
1. Create a new blog that takes posts from your phone.
2. Link your phone posts to an existing blog.

Since I have enough trouble posting to this blog, I figure adding another blog to my list would be one too many. My phone goes with me everywhere, so there is a high likelihood I'll be posting at least pictures. I'm still not comfortable typing long messages using T9.

Try it out, it's a nice addition to the Blogger platform.

TEXT FROM MY PHONE ( highly creative, I know)

Test

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

I Thought My Story Was Bad...Breastfeeding Terrorists on The Rampage

2006-11-15T22:36:00.000-05:00

Ha! Little do I know it can actually be worse. Apparently now you can also be kicked off a plane for breastfeeding your baby. What a march towards progress. Whether you're a father, a mother, or someone who is sick of all the puritanical crap, you should read this story.

Check out the full story.

If you are interested in supporting the effort to make breastfeeding more widely acceptable, check out the Yahoo group Lactivism. There are a lot of great links on national efforts to make the practice considered normal, like it is in every other country on the face of the planet. A tidbit from the United Nations (which weirds me out a bit) is that the average age around the world for ending breastfeeding is age 4! Wow!

We Have to Clear the Child First Ma'am

2006-11-15T21:44:00.000-05:00

I believe it has finally happened. Our airport security has reached the height of ridiculousness and I feel it is my patriotic duty to report this incident. So proceed at your own risk (of outrage or at least laughter). While reading this story, please keep in mind that the Bangor airport has 3 gates total, that's right. Not 3 terminals, 3 gates. It's so small I could spit from one end to the other and it would land outside. But I digress...

Yesterday, I was traveling from Bangor, ME to Minneapolis, MN with my 19 month old son. He was wearing pajamas, it being 5:30 in the morning and all, I figured I would cut him a break. As I get through security with my stroller, back pack, and baby bag I pass neatly through, no alarms, no illegal liquids, metal instruments of nail grooming, or lighters.

However, I'm told by the staff that I have been "chosen" by the airline for extra security check. I mention that's fine, I mean, they didn't set up the extra check, right...? I tell them my son can stand next to me and he'll be fine. Well apparently that's not good enough for the TSA, no not at all!

No, we have got to secure our airlines, leaving no stone unturned, no possible terrorist in the making above scrutiny. That is when I learn the best part about the screening. Not only must they wand and pat me down, but they must also wand and pat down my 19 month old in pajamas. Apparently this is standard procedure.

A bit miffed I admit, but I calmly allow them to pat down my little man from head to toe without objection. Because really, what would that do except make it more unpleasant for all of us? Oh but yes, in the back of my mind I immediately thought of my blog and what I would soon be posting there. The best part, I get through security, and there is a guy sitting with a travel coffee mug, way over 3 ounces and supposedly banned by the TSA (and there was no store inside the secure area). I guess he had special clearance for his morning cup of joe.

Strike another point for the war on terror! Toddlers from the Midwest prevented from exercising their suicidal bombing tendencies! America is safe!

War, Torture, and Liberia

2006-11-07T23:14:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. Gregory Stemn. Mr. Stemn is a world-renowned photographer, who spent 20 years chronicling images from the Liberian Civil War. The images he has collected are moving, shocking, and saddening. I feel it is very important this book gets published in a way that moves and motivates people to better understand the conflict and learn what they can do to help.

Am I turning soft on you here? No, Africa has long been an area of both interest and confusion for me. I fully admit my knowledge of this conflict is shallow, at best, but I'm eager to learn more. It's hard to stomach some of the images I was exposed to today, but it is the ugly part of war we need to remind ourselves of.

War to the majority of Americans is something that happens far away, and we see its effects packaged neatly and delivered back to us in flag covered caskets or a solider in a wheelchair. Very few of us experience the rawness of being exposed to the front lines. Maybe if we had war's very worst images in our mind's eye, we would be less likely to support war and war-like violence as a means to solve our problems with other countries.

That Didn't Last Long

2006-11-06T22:05:00.000-05:00

I strangely decide to ignore the computer this weekend. Rare for me, I admit. But nonetheless, I've already done it. 4 days into the month of November and I've skipped 2 already! Guess I'm out of the running for the prizes, but, I' still going to hang in there and try to keep posting every day, um, I think.

Mainely Wired on PS2 (Yes, I know it's misspelled)

2006-11-03T21:10:00.000-05:00

Posting on your blog everyday for a month is a really tough task. Going through the day I had several wonderful ideas for blog posts. Trouble is, it's now dark outside and my brain is ready to relax. I'm sure that has nothing to do with the 2 glasses of wine I've had so far this evening. Bye, bye good posting ideas. Hello PlayStation 2. Yes, really, I do play it.

In fact, I could use a rousing game of Dance Dance Revolution or DDR as those in the know, know. If you've never heard of this game, and shame on you if you haven't, it is a hilarious way to spend an evening watching your friends, significant other, or family make fools of themselves. (It also happens to be an ACTIVE way to spend some video game time.)

The game comes with a floor pad that you step on to "dance" along to the music. For you newbies out there, what it really looks like your first time is a drunk camel trying to play twister by itself in fast forward. But once you go through the training game and start to get the hang of it, it's quite the workout and you won't feel like a college freshman at your first grain alcohol party.

Um, I better stop blogging now before something embarassing slips out. Gute Nacht!

BeJane - So What If You're A Woman, You Can Still Tile The Floor!

2006-11-02T11:17:00.000-05:00

Reading the post of a fellow blogger, I was reminded of a great site. If you've ever gotten the bug to change a light fixture (no, I don't mean just the light bulb) or build a deck, BeJane might just be the sight for you. An online community for women who have no problem getting their hands dirty and using a drill, BeJane makes no apologies for wearing a pink tool belt while installing a tile floor.

NaBloPoMo - What?!? Blogging Everyday for a Month?

2006-11-01T14:28:00.000-05:00

This is my attempt to write more often on my blog. I think I am part of NaBloPoMo, which is an effort by a group of bloggers to post one entry per day, everyday for the month of November. The funniest part is, I forgot on the first day until I went onto another participant's blog! So we'll be lucky if I make it past the first week, but I'll give it a good try, um, I think.

When I originally started this blog, it was going to be a more personal diary, but I just can't totally open myself up like that. Plus, for my husband's sake I don't write anything about him. He gets enough grief from me in person, plus he is a high school teacher and I wouldn't want students or parents reading something they don't need to know.

I suppose this will be a good experiment at best. How can it hurt to force oneself to write at least something on a daily basis. Creativity, here I come.

ING - Latte, New Shoes, or Early Retirement?

2006-10-30T12:19:00.000-05:00

Inspired by an article I read in Kiplinger's about a couple that retired when they were 38. Did they strike it rich? Were they in extremely lucrative careers? Did they make a lot of money on their house? No, the wife in the story said it boiled down to this basic principle: "Every time I would look at a new pair of shoes or want a latte, I would think, 'Is this really important?' and no, it wasn't. This couple only saved $500,000 before retiring 16 years ago and manage to spend just $24,000 per year, travel the world, and enjoy life.

I just can't get this image out of my head. To put it in perspective, I've planned for my husband and I to sock away $25,000 per year to eventually save $10 million to protect us in retirement 40 years from now. Now the key here is planned (doesn't mean we always meet that goal, but we do get close). We are saving more money each year than this couple is spending! And before you think we're well off to be saving that much, think again. My husband is a teacher and I run a small publishing company, neither extremely lucrative, we just save first and try to figure out how to pay the bills after that.

With all that being said, we're still trying to save for our son's college, which in 16 years will probably cost $100,000 per year or something insane like that. We also try to put some away monthly for christmas and vacation. One of the easiest ways to do this is through ING's automatic saving plans. Because ING is an online only bank (don't worry they are based in the real world here in MN) they can offer higher interest rates. The other advantage is there are no ATM's, checks, or debit cards linked directly to your account. So when that urge to splurge hits, you'll cool your heels for 3 - 5 business days and hopefully make the right choice.

Ps. DISCLOSURE: Yes, as you can see by the banner right below, I am an affiliate of ING. However, I only promote services that I myself use and find 150% up to par in terms of use and customer service.

UBuildIt With A Little Help....Tales of a Remodel Gone Mostly Right

2006-10-24T11:48:00.000-04:00

My husband and I are just wrapping up the final stages of our 4 month remodeling project (just a little painting and some furniture moving left to do). When I say remodel, I really mean that nothing of the original house remains except the foundation and framing. While we didn't completely knock it down, there wasn't a wall untouched, there's a new roof, and now the house is twice as big.

My husband, being a teacher (yay for summers off!) and a fairly handy guy, saved us a lot of money by doing the framing and a lot of the work himself. And just when I was starting to lose it (literally, losing my cell phone, my keys, going to weddings on the wrong weekend) I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now things are almost done, we actually got to make and eat dinner in our kitchen last night, I'm breathing a little bit easier. Our son finally has some room to run around and his own room back!

We didn't hire a general contractor (I've heard enough horror stories that we knew we needed a little more control) but we didn't go completely alone either. Since we wanted some level of control, but still needed some help organizing the process, we used an in-between solution, a contracting consultant. Which, I believe, is a term that the company we worked with made up, but a good term nonetheless. The company, UBuildIt, helps you by laying out bids, spec'ing out the process, total cost, and approximate construction timeline. A good place to start if you don't know where to begin.

All in all, although there were frustrating moments, we've gotten a lot of feedback from the sub-contractors that we handled the process well. There were no huge hiccups, well, maybe there were but I just don't see them that way. But to go from demo to completion in a little over four months is an amazing feat!

If anyone wants ideas or has questions about living in and remodeling their house, feel free to post them here!

Life, Liberty, and Free Bagels for All!

2006-10-23T11:17:00.000-04:00

Since I'm usually on here complaining about some bad customer service experience, I thought I would share something positive. My day started out with the quest for breakfast at Bruegger's bagels. While waiting in line, I zoned out staring at a poster of the "12 Bad Bagels" (i.e. those burnt, ripped in half, unacceptable bagels). I guess I didn't hear my name being called until someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I quickly said "Oh, sorry, just studying that poster of the bad bagels. That is pretty intensive stuff". Ha, ha, got a good chuckly out of everyone in line. I put in my order, grabbed some juice, and went to pay. To my suprise, the manager, I assume, said, "If you can tell me two things on that poster, I'll buy your breakfast." Well, luckily when I said I was staring at the poster, I meant it. I got two out of two with the "bagel burnt on the bottom" and the "bagel with chunks missing". Free breakfast! What a great way to start the day. Thanks Brueggers!

The Mortgage Professor

2006-10-16T22:20:00.000-04:00

This is hands down the best mortgage site on the Internet to visit when shopping for, refinancing, or paying down a mortgage. If you have questions about mortgages, "The Mortgage Professor" has your answer. There are even mortgage spreadsheets that you can download and customize for your particular financial situation. It's a shame that they are hidden down at the end of the sidebar. This is one site you will definitely bookmark. Here are some of the best pages, in a site with a lot of excellent, well-researched and in-depth information.

Quick Tips on Major Mortgage Hazards - A consise overview of the very worst mortgage practices.

Mortgage Glossary - What exactly do all those terms in the mortgage contract mean? Defined here if you've ever wondered.

Mortgage Calculators - If excel spreadsheets aren't your cup of tea, try these online calculators.

Worst Mother of the Year Award

2006-10-12T13:07:00.000-04:00

Goes to...Me!

Yesterday the temperature in Minneapolis dropped to below freezing. So suddenly I've got to empty out and clean the camper we've been living in for about 2 months by noon (and I'm learning this at 8 a.m.). Ahhh!

Luckily I've anticipated this and have already emptied all the cupboards, leading to one very messy looking camper. Since there is a heater, I run back and forth between the camper and the house, bringing in loads of food, clothes, books, etc. My son is happily playing on the floor with his books and cars. Total time between camper and house, maybe a minute. He can't open the camper door on his own, so he's contained and fairly safe (no toilets to get into, no exposed plugs, no heat sources within reach). At least, I'm lulled into that false sense of security.

That is, until I come back to the camper and find the door locked. Well, he can't open the door, but he can lock it! What a revelation. I spend an hour going between standing in the cold and trying to get him to open the door and cleaning up a few things outside around the camper, so I can still hear him. Wonderful on a nice 29 degree (that's -1.6 degrees C for those outside the US) day.

He doesn't seem too concerned as I bang on the window, pouring milk all over the camper and smudging it around with his hands. Cars and books, that's all he needs. He doesn't even look in my direction!

I try to jimmy the lock with a knife, some small drill bits, even using my credit card to try and get it open (anyone who's gone to college knows this trick). Finally, my savior appears. Our painter, smart man that he is, takes a look at the outside of the camper and the windows. He unscrews all the screws from one window, is able to get the glass and the screen off, and climbs inside.

Mommy and baby reunited! Mommy now carries the keys in her pocket, just in case.

Call for Change from MoveOn.org

2006-10-10T11:53:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday I spent a couple of hours calling people for MoveOn.org. I'll admit, I was a bit hesitant at first, but after reading that I would only be calling other members, I decided I could do it. I hate spam phone calls as much as the next person, so it was better knowing I was calling actual MoveOn.org members. It was a bit of a struggle to get going, but once I was in the swing and crossing people off my list, that felt good. I even got one person to sign up!

MoveOn.org is making a big push to use the member base to get people out to vote. They are asking volunteers to sign up for the Call for Change effort. I think it's a great program and one that has been lacking on the more liberal side of politics for awhile. The nice thing is no one is calling to have someone change their point of view, just to remind them to get out and vote.

Plaxo Part II, A Redemption

2006-10-04T09:38:00.000-04:00

Because I do believe in being fair, I should update on the Plaxo situation. Not long after my account was cleared and I could access it again, I posted my experience here on my blog. A couple of days later, the following email communication transpired. I've x'd out the name of the person and their email. You have to give them some credit.

Rxxxx Cxxxxx (rxxx@plaxo.com)
To:
Katrina

Subject:
RE: Plaxo Problems

Hi Katrina

Thank you very much for your feedback - it will go a long way with my team. It's definitely more effective than seeing a single email with 1 sentence of complaint, which is typically what managers receive from customers. But your feeback here is gold to me - and I'll make sure it's infused in our daily processes and training. Thanks again - and if you ever need anything from me, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Rxxxx

From: Katrina
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 8:21 AM
To: Rxxx Cxxx
Subject: RE: Plaxo Problems

Dear Rxxx,

I appreciate the email, especially after the somewhat frustrating experience with getting my account up and running after the freeze. I am suprised that you found my blog, although I suppose you check all your incoming links.

My issue has been resolved in that I can now login into my account and start rebuilding it. As I mentioned, I really do think Plaxo is a great tool, but was disappointed about the support. Each support person was polite and attempted to help, however when it was clear there was a deeper problem, I did not get any follow-up, even though it was promised several times. Also, I feel a bit bad for the last support person who chatted with me, as the only way I was able to resolve the situtation was to be quite direct and insist on a different course of action than the one they were suggesting.

What I would have liked, was the first tech support who said I would get a phone call in 48 hours from the engineering department, was to see that actually happen. Instead, from the first chat to the resolution, it took almost a month. I attempted to call the Plaxo office but just got stuck in a voicemail loop. Not being able to explain the problem in detail (and explain that I had spoken with Plaxo several times already) was not enjoyable. Having to explain the entire situation 4 times to a new support person made me get the idea that my problem would never be solved. Also, no one could explain or seem to even understand what was going on in my account, they just kept asking me to try and login (which wasn't working, and would freeze up my entire computer when I tried to login). No one could explain how the system had created 8000 plus no-name contacts out of the 400 or so I had started with.

Perhaps if someone has a serious account problem it is worth a quick phone call to determine the degree of the problem. The funny thing is, normally I don't like speaking to customer service departments on the phone, but in this case I believe it would have solved things more quickly.

Anyway, it has now been solved, and I can start fresh. I will continue using Plaxo and do appreciate the follow-through on your part. Perhaps when the next person encounters this problem it will be handled more efficiently.

Regards,
Katrina

Subject: Plaxo Problems
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:05:19 -0700
From: rxxx@plaxo.com
To: xxxxx@hotmail.com

Hi Katrina

Apologies for the cold-call (err, email) but I was eager to talk to you immediately after reading about your customer support experience with Plaxo. I read your blog in Wowimo, and found your experience disturbing. First, I'd really like to know if your issues have been resolved? I'm eager to make sure you're up and running as soon as possible.

Next, I'd really like to hear more about your support experience, what would you have liked to be done differently (besides the obvious, of course), and how can we make it up to you.

Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.

Rxxx Cxxxx
Director Client Services
www.plaxo.com

ps: I've authorized the refund for your Premium membership - I'd hate to have you pay for something that failed to provide a positive experience. In addition, I've give you a year's membership at gratis. It's the least we can do for a loyal member. Thanks.

Cingular 3125

2006-10-02T11:08:00.001-04:00

Cell phones, the greatest invention ever or the bane of society, depending on how you look at it. I'm more in the first category, although when I hear someone yacking away on a bus or plane, it grates my nerves a bit. (Do I really care if your budget sheet needs to be done by tomorrow or your sales department didn't make its numbers this month? No.)

Anyway, as far as cell phones go, I am a big fan of the emailing, IM'ing, picture taking kind. My parents benefit greatly as I take a lot of pictures and short videos clips of my son and then send them via email from the phone. They love opening them and getting that small glimpse into our daily lives. So an opportunity presented itself when I recently lost my cell phone. Admittedly, I relished in the comfort of being completely alone for about a week (ha, no one could call me!). But then I came to my senses and decided to get serious about shopping for a new phone.

I own a mac, so wanted to get a device that would sync with macs. I did a little Internet research and found a list of acceptable phones here on the Mac site. Then I tried to order a phone online at the Cingular site. I didn't know what I was in for. Talk about bulky, slow-to-load and hard to navigate. Run away from this site.

My next step was a visit to the Cingular store in my neighborhood. With the Mac compatible list in hand, I was able to review the phones and look for the features I wanted. Unfortunately, the phones I liked that worked with Macs were all around $500. I decided I needed to redo my thinking and settled on the Cingular 3125.

The Cingular 3125 is a smart phone, which means it is phone first and provides extra features such as email, chat, etc. Click here for an in-depth review at CNET. For the money and the extra rebate Cingular is now offering with the phone, it is cheaper and seems to be one of the most portable business phones out there. It retails at around $300 but rebates and longer contract plans can lower this cost quite a bit. Check out the Cingular site for specials.

IKEA, I Once Bought a Chair at IKEA

2006-09-26T12:04:00.000-04:00

Talk about a marathon session! My husband and I arrived at IKEA at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. After eating breakfast in the cafeteria (which was quite good, thank you), we proceeded to buy our kitchen cabinets, and wood flooring, and closet system, and lighting for the entire house, and some other miscellaneous items.

Fast forward to 7:45 p.m. and we're loading 10 carts worth of flat packed boxes onto our trailer, into the truck, and our neighbor's trailer and truck. Hmm, it all looks so good in the store. Now it's laying scattered about our garage, inside the house, and in the basement. Here comes the fun part - putting it all together.

All told, we spent a little over $5K, but we walked away with almost everything we needed to finish up our remodel. For those who doubt, you should check IKEA out. That is, if there is one near you. Their quality standards are high and they test everything for safety and durability relentlessly.

SnapDeals.com - Looking for the lastest online deals and coupons?

2006-09-25T11:19:00.000-04:00

Enter SnapDeals, one of the latest coupon and deal sites out there. A lot of work has gone into the back end of this system. The people behind SnapDeals did their homework on the existing coupon sites to see what works and what doesn't. With a variety of Web 2.0 features, this site makes a promising entry into a crowded marketplace. Check out their shopping blog and online coupon codes at SnapDeals.

(Disclosure: I am a friend of the site's founder, Chris Felton. We used to work together and I helped in a very small way on the site and sometimes contribute posts.)

Plaxo's Customer Service, Or Lack Thereof

2006-09-22T13:22:00.000-04:00

For quite a few years now, I've been using this sweet little service called Plaxo to keep track of my contacts and update people on my career moves. In case you haven't heard of it, the website and accompanying Outlook plugin work like this:

Upload your contacts.
Create your personal/business information card.
Send out updates to all your contacts at once.
Get automatic updates from any contacts who are also members.

Plaxo cuts down the boring time you have to spend updating contacts in Outlook or whatever other contact list you use. I thought it was a great thing. I liked the site so much, I even paid $39.99 for a yearly membership for VIP support.

That is, and you knew this was coming, until somehow the site created 8000 contacts out of the real 500 or so I have. Suddenly, I can't login to my plaxo account, update contacts, or really do anything with the account. And what good is an account I've paid for, but can't use, and that is causing me more headache than helping me out?

I have been a good customer. Three times now I have accessed the online chat function of Plaxo support. Three times I have been told the problem was referred to the engineering department and someone would call me within 24 hours. It's now 5 days since my last help chat session. Surprise, Surprise, no call or even an email to update me. I even tried calling their corporate office, but you get stuck in a voicemail loop that just keeps giving you email or website addresses.

During my last chat session, I played nice, and promised to wait until Friday for a response. Easily done, replied the customer service rep. Well, today is Friday and no response. Just to give them one last chance, I've sent an email to their blanket "support@plaxo.com" address. I'll wait until this afternoon, but if I don't get a response, I am disputing the charge on my credit card and refusing to pay. Probably won't do much, but it will make me feel better.

It's too bad when a great product has lousy customer support like this. I'm going to miss using Plaxo. Then again, I guess I wasn't using it the last month anyway. The worst part about all of this? Now I'll need to go through all my contacts, one at a time, and contact them for updates. A project I am not looking forward to.

Ps. Throughout this post I have purposely not provided a link to Plaxo, but if you are itching to get a look at their site, click here.

Mvelopes Personal: The Simple Smarter Budgeting System - Really!

2006-09-18T13:13:00.000-04:00

Had enough talk about money and finances? I didn't think so. If you're looking for an online budget solution that doesn't require you to download files, import into your personal financial software, and spend time reconciling, Mvelopes Personal might be for you.

Believe it or not, this is very similar service to one that Wells Fargo used to offer with their online banking. I was pretty disappointed when they stopped offering the service and was on the look out for something to fill the void. Enter Mvelopes, a new online personal finance and budgeting tool. You enter all your login information for bank accounts, credit cards, brokers, etc. You set budgets (all online of course). Mvelopes takes it from there. No software to load, no Cd's to keep track of, and no extra memory needed on your computer. If your computer bites the dust, no worries, because your family's financial information is stored on their servers.

Set-up is fairly quick and easy. I'll admit I've had some issues syncing accounts, especially where we have more than one account (for instance, my husband and I have 2 discover card accounts). But as with any new product, things are improving all the time. I would highly recommend this service to anyone looking for a faster and easier way to manage and take control of their finances.

Thrive by 5 From the Credit Union National Association

2006-09-17T22:40:00.000-04:00

Thrive by 5 is a bilingual resources for parents to help them teach preschoolers about money, a subject that we should all be more well-versed in. Keeping track of money is hard enough for most parents to do, let alone pass along good spending and saving habits.

Learning a few tips and tricks to help make things easier couldn't be a bad thing, right?

Hammerschlagen Part II

2006-09-17T21:53:00.000-04:00

Speaking of blog stats, here are some of mine. The top search term that has brought people to my blog: "Hammerschlagen". From one of my first and possibly most obscure posts. Pretty funny in fact.

I decided to type Hammerschlagen in Google. Bummer, but I guess the post is getting a bit old so it only showed up on the top of the second page. I did run across another post about the game from a fellow Twin Cities blogger, at Dave's Picks. For what it's worth, enjoy!

Do you have any good Hammerschlagen stories?

Banking, Part II

2006-09-15T12:10:00.000-04:00

After more than several bad experiences and high fees stemming from just about everything at Wells Fargo, I've set out on the search for a customer friendly, socially responsible bank that isn't all about screwing their customers. Easy, you say, especially with the power of Internet search at your fingers.

Ah, ha! Not so fast. Not only is difficult to find any type of bank rating (customer service wise, fees schedules, etc), it's pretty much impossible. Considering myself fairly net savvy, I've spent countless hours over the last week trying to find some objective rating of banks in Minnesota. The sites I came across were of two types:

Corporate sites for the banks themselves such as Wellsfargo.com or Wamu.com
Consumer created sites discussing how awful big banks are and offering horror stories. Check out this list of sites about Wells Fargo or visit Complaints.com.

The only ratings I came across were in a Consumer Reports article (which I paid for because I really want to switch to a good bank). However, I was not impressed. The article has a very general overview of banks (of course Wells Fargo is 3 from the bottom) and all the well-rated banks don't do business in Minnesota.

As far as I can tell, there is no great consumer generated rating system of banks in a particular city, state, or region. So how am I know what I am in for unless I personally try out every bank or collect the information, compile it...oh, who am I kidding? As pissed off as I am, there is no way I'm going through all that work. But it's got me thinking. Maybe there is a need for something like this online, like a digg for banks and their services.

Wells Fargo, Quite Possibly the Worst Bank in the World

2006-09-13T20:59:00.000-04:00

After some really awful customer service, I struggled with whether or not to post this on my blog or take further action. After letting things stew for 24 hours, I just can't hold it back. So I relay the story for you here.

My husband and I are doing an addition and complete remodel of our house. This involves paying a lot of different people large sums of mostly cash. Credit cards, while widely usable everywhere else in society, apparently haven't much caught on in the world of home remodeling. While we've already refinanced once, of course we've gone a bit over budget. We refinanced a second time, but while were waiting for the check to come in, we had to pay some people.

Along comes a a lovely credit card offer, checks with a .99% APR until 2007. Great, we only need the access to cash for a few weeks (and yes, we know about the fees for taking cash on the credit card). Excellent, we'll deposit the check, pay our contractors, and be ok. Hmm, turns out Wells Fargo has different plans.

I deposit the check and 3 days later it shows up in my account. I pay a credit card and some smaller bills. The next day, I login to check my balance, and boom! Apparently I'm $4000 in the hole. Interesting.

I try to call and talk to someone at their customer service center. I enter my ATM card number to get a live person. This live person tells me a need a password. Password? Now what would that be? My pin number, because I don't remember a password. "Well, that's something you set up when you first set up your account." Great, I think to myself.

"But, if you call back and enter your checking account number instead of ATM card, you don't need the password." Ok, so that's what I do. I get through finally and explain the situation. This next person tells me that Wells Fargo doesn't take credit card checks through ATM's, only inside branches. How am I supposed to know that. And this is the best part --- She actually says to me, "Ma'am, this information is in your terms and disclosures. If you'd like I can send those out to you if you don't have them."

Come on now, how could she even say that with a straight face? Even if I read the 100+ pages they give you when you open an account, how would I remember that one little line? Is that the one next to the line that says, "Wells Fargo intends to screw you out of all your money and treat you like shit in the process."?

This most helpful woman also precedes to tell me that any time I make a deposit larger than $1000 I should do it inside the bank. Umm, then what the hell are ATM's for? Most deposits I make are larger than that.

I'm going to end it just like that for tonight. But I'll follow up with more on my search for a good bank. Which, surprisingly enough is hard to do, even with the Internet.

BP's Carbon Footprint Calculator

2006-09-12T15:04:00.000-04:00

A neat little tool for calculating your household's yearly carbon footprint. I did mine and came up with 26 tonnes, ugh! That's a bit higher than the us average of 19, which I'm sure is higher than the rest of the world. And here I thought I was recycling and doing good things for the environment.

Well given that, I've decided to do several things:

Actually take the bus every day. Sounds easy but it requires some preplanning. On the upside, it makes me walk about 2 miles a day and gives me a nice walk in the morning with my son.
Cut down on the driving. If I can walk or ride my bike to get something (groceries, books, toilet paper, etc) I will make my best effort. The upside? I'll be saving money and getting in shape.
Try to buy in bulk items that have less packaging and then break things up into smaller portions at home with reusable Tupperware containers.
Keep the heater a bit lower in temperature and keep my slippers and sweater close by.

To try and calculate your carbon footprint and get suggestions for making a difference, visit BP's site .

Just Jump (and the Net Will Appear)

2006-09-11T12:36:00.000-04:00

I assume I am like many women. We love to discuss ideas, layout the 50 different ways something can be done, research completely, make a decision, and then change our minds 3 or 4 times before going forward. Now, I am not knocking women, just pointing out that we like to fully understand a problem before we tackle it, which is a good thing.

This is great in fields like marketing, accounting, and long term sales, but can be a bit of a stopper for those of us who'd like to own or run our own business. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time, and here and there I have always worked for small companies trying to gain a good foundation in many areas of business. I've collected a large wealth of information on how to start a business, research the market, price, sell, create long-term customers, and more. I could probably have an MBA in Small Business by now!

But the one thing I've lacked is that push to move forward. The what-if's have gotten a hold of me. Sometimes I feel I need to know everything there is to know before taking action. I've often felt that I am great at helping others build their companies or departments, why can't I do this for myself? Well, my newest job, at a small, Internet focused company, has already taught me a few important things:

You will never know everything, no matter how much time you spend learning the industry.
Doers make money for themselves. Planners help other people make money.
You just have to jump in! It sounds simple, but is one of the hardest things to do in business, especially as a woman.

So what if you don't know everything, but you come across a great opportunity? Spend some time planning, but don't obsess. Layout a quick what, why, where, and how plan, then get down to business. Create that site/company and make it live. Advertise, get business cards, tell people what you're doing?

Know that things will go wrong, usually things you would never plan for anyone. If you're good, you will fix them and learn from them. You will use what you learned to make things better or start your next project with a wiser knowledge base.

Good luck. Now get off your duff, stop reading, and start making yourself some money.

Can You Cough A Little Louder Please?

2006-09-10T13:10:00.000-04:00

My recent posts have been mostly about cool cleaning gadgets, and this one strays from that thread. Last night was one of the longest nights I have ever had as a parent. (Including the night in labor, where I at least had morphine to sleep.)

Last night, my son developed this dry, hacking, if-I-cough-hard-enough-I-might-puke, cough. We tried everything - milk, juice, Robitussin cough and cold (for children of course), Motrin, and even a cough drop (don't tell on us, since he's not technically past choking danger age, but at that point we were desperate). It started at 1:50 a.m. and although he's asleep right now, he was coughing all the way through breakfast.

I feel sorry for him (he's just as exhausted as we are), but at the same time, part of me just wants to yell, "STOP COUGHING! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!". However, luckily I am not yet a complete zombie and able to control myself somewhat. We'll probably try a dehumidifier tonight and some more medicine, if that doesn't work, we're off to every family's most visited location, the doctor's office.

SC Johnson's New Automatic Shower Cleaner

2006-09-09T11:37:00.000-04:00

Fresh out of the shower and just getting ready for today (I know, it's already 10:30 and we're just getting in a shower? But, we've already eaten breakfast too!), I thought I should let you all in on another great cleaning secret. It's the new Automatic Shower Cleaner, from SC JohnsonTM.

This little baby replaces that spray bottle that drips cleaner down your hands right after you've taken a shower. Why is this any better? Well, it hangs on your shower head and with the press of a button (after you're out of course), it waits 15 seconds and then sprays cleaner around your shower, up and down. All in all, another great time saving device to keeping duties cleaning to a minimum and keep your house cleaner. It's a $20 plus dollar investment available at most retailers, but if you visit the site, you can get a $7 off coupon.

Refills are the cost of a regular bottle of cleaner. Being suburban hippies, we found the only bummer to be the cleaner. Right now, you can only use SC Johnson refills. We thought we might be able to make our own organic cleaner and reuse the bottle, but boy are those suckers hard to open. But, as a busy mom, I still give it a 10. I'm sure we'll see competition coming into this market soon enough.

The Best Vacuum Ever - Roomba from iRobot

2006-09-08T11:02:00.000-04:00

This is by far one of the coolest household inventions ever. The Roomba from iRobot, along with the Scooba, its cousin, take care of all your vacuuming and mopping needs. Think you need a maid to keep up with all the dirt in your house?

Think again. With the Roomba, you have an automated vacuum that can do its job while you are out of the house. Check out the entire line of products at iRobot's site.

Does it actually work? Yes, I have one and am planning to order another for our second floor. I'm also planning on getting the Scooba. At $149.99, for the basic Roomba, you will definitely be happy with this purchase that will change the way you look at your floors forever.

Target Children's Book Festival

2006-09-07T22:58:00.000-04:00

This is kind of late notice, but if you're looking for something to do with your family on Saturday, check out the Target Children's Book Festival, at Highland Park Reserve, from 10 to 5 p.m.

Also, a really great resource for Twin Cities parents, is a site called Twin Cities Mom. This great site is full of really useful calendars, parks, and more. It's simple to navigate and is chock-full of family stuff. Dads, don't be scared off by the word "Mom" in the title, the site bills itself as a "Helpful resource for busy parents in the Twin Cities". I highly recommend this site and I use it almost every week.

The New Macy's in Minneapolis

2006-09-07T21:48:00.000-04:00

For those of you who like to find out what's new and get some free product, food, and drinks, check out these upcoming events in Minneapolis for the switch from Marshall Fields to Macy's.

Saturday, Sept 9th, 1 - 3 p.m. Shoe Diva Party at Southdale Mall. Call 800-634-3537. Reservations required.
Wednesday, Sept 13th, 5 - 8 p.m. Fashionista Party Downtown. Call 800-634-3537. Reservations required.
Thursday, Sept 14th, 5 - 8 pm. Happy Hour Downtown. Call 612-375-3199.

As a big fan of Macy's I think the switch will be a good thing. If you attend any of these events, come back and let us know what you think.

preCharge Certified Payments

2006-09-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

I was browsing around and came across a new company called preCharge. For online merchants worried about chargebacks (very common and if you sell online you've probably experienced them). My brother and I run a domain name reseller and we have had our account locked down more than once due to online fraud.

Enter, preCharge Certified Payments, a fraud prevention and screening company. I spent a few minutes this morning reviewing the site and their offerings, and it seems very robust. They offer basic solutions for mail and phone orders, all the way up to a completely integrated API. I am not a techie, but it seems that anyone who needs to screen their orders to prevent chargebacks would benefit.

In checking out their pricing, I noticed that they are waiving set-up charges, installation fees, and their monthly minimum. No guarantee as to how long this will last though. So if you have been plagued by chargebacks and online fraud, or merely want a better way to prevent it, this might be for your online business.

If you do decide to use the service, come back to WoWiMo and let me know what you think.