Sea (or River) of Information

If you are like me, you remember the whine of dial-up internet when it was quicker to just go talk to your boss than it was to send him an email. Yes, the early days of the "World Wide Web." Before we even knew about Google and when we did we had no idea that it would be an important or even vital part of our day when looking for information on line.

I actually "googled" the question "How many websites are launched each day?" politely read on the link listed, "No answer!"

But as I read down I did find something from the BBC that was listed:

August 1995 - 18,957 - I can believe that.
December 2001 - 36,276,252 - I can believe that (and it was a long time ago)

Then there is all this geek speak about indexing, pages vs. real websites, blah, blah, blah... my point is to look at the growth of the information available to us in just a few short years and it is going through the roof everyday.

How do you find what you are looking for, especially when you aren't quite sure exactly what it is that you are looking for?

I mentioned previously in a post about recipes, you have a snowy day on your hands, you have a little time to unwind and cook up something fun, only you don't know exactly what it may be? Also I did another post about Movies, how do you know you will like the one you choose, or if it is appropriate to take your kids to?

Too many sites, too many choices. Not enough time and you want your choice to be a good one.

The same goes for books. We all know that Amazon is not only a 4,000 mile river across Brazil, but it is also a behemoth of a website that sells just about everything you can imagine including books.

How do you find just the right book?

I have the answer. This gem of a website called Flashlight Worthy self proclaimed as "Handpicked Book Recommendations on Hundreds of Topics" they really are especially good if you are in search of something special for a relative or a friend and you aren't exactly sure which book to buy!

FLW asks for real recommendations from real people. They ask for people to share their book lists. They are 2 people trying to help people find the right book and I think it works. They have passion.

They also get a referral fee from Amazon for every time you use their site and end up on Amazon's. (So Amazon sees FLW's value.) AND you are being good to real people at the same time! (And no, I am not getting paid for this recommendation, nor am I for any!)

Consider this, the next time you think about going to the "Big Daddy" of websites, try out Flashlight Worthy, first - you won't be sorry!

Don't blame it on the internet!

It seems that all around us are scams.
And more identity theft.

I had a friend of mine say to me around Christmas, "I never use my credit card online because of the risk of it being stolen." At the time I was saying, "Well, you know ANYTIME, anywhere you use your credit/debit card, you run a risk of it, or the personal information attached to it, to be stolen."

I know, we all are shaking our heads, right? It can be stolen even if it is swiped in a machine at grocery store checkout line. It happened here in Maine - Hannaford Supermarket. Got people pretty mad. It can be stolen just about anywhere these days. It wasnt long ago we were just rummaging through the trash to make sure the carbons were ripped up! Now it isn't that easy!

The latest big one is Heartland. Again customers in Maine were effected. I had a friend that was on the road and learned by a "CONTACT YOUR BANK" notice after attempting to purchase something. So don't let that happen to you.

First, to see if your bank is on the list check the link here. It is being billed as the Year's First Major Information Breach by bankinfosecurity.com.

Isn't that "special" to be first of 2009?

I guess short of putting all your money in your mattress, since Banks have warehoused data (all on line), there really isn't much you can do. Their Data Warehouses are as secure as the next hacker attack, I am afraid.

Other banks effected by other breaches this year.

She said "WHAT?"

I finally figured it out. I have been getting a bit frustrated with the tone of some of the email messages I have been receiving over the past few months. They seemed to be from the same people, some of the emails were fine, clear and normal, while others seem well a bit snarky. Now anyone that knows me, realizes that I can "snark it up" with the rest of them, but I was surprised by some of them honestly. I was wondering what I had done wrong?

Then I got a new cell phone. Then I saw the light.

One liner emails may often send the wrong tone and you may not even know that you are doing it. I previously had this Motorola Razor phone for about 3 years and loved it, but I hated having to text from it, so I didn't.

If you are "text-ing" from your cell phone to someone else's cell phone and using their cell phone number, people expect short messages - it is a cell phone.

If you have a new fangled phone like I do, iPhone, HTC, Blackberry, etc. and you are sending a text message to someone's email address, it may land on their laptop or desktop or their phone. If they dont understand you are trying to get a quick reply off to them via text message, they may feel a bit jilted, where your normal messages may have a greeting or some pleasantries attached, most often text messages don't.

A little advice, if you have customers that you are trying to serve, keep this in mind. Let them know your "additional way of communicating" may be a means of efficiency in replying and not poor customer service. Their business is very important to you as well as offer them the alternative NOT to have you answer them through your phone. Often their relationship INCLUDES you as well as the service you provide them. Don't let speedy, new technology chip away at something you may have spent a long time time working at!

How many ways can you spell D-I-R-T-B-A-G?

Rather than to repeat two gems of data, I am going to provide you with links for each of them.

It is just more a sign of the times, right? More desperate people, more crime, more opportunists. Father Tom wrote in his blog about someone stealing a cell phone, then the thief calling cell phone owner's Granny and getting money transferred into a bank account in Canada, that was the "dirtbag's" and not the cell phone owner's.

I asked my friend Paul Hilchey Chandler about it, (he is my all favorite & time cell guru), he wrote some suggestions to help prevent this, so he wrote about it.

Both are great reads and worth your time. Especially, if you have kids that leave their phones unattended! Of course the kids "know it all" but they lose their phones anyway!

Peanut Butter & Tuna.... My favorite!

HA! I know, wierd science, right?
This morning I was listening to the local news and it was mentioned that my favorite tuna "Tonno Genova" was on the recall list, because even though it reads "with olive oil" there were a few batches made with SOYBEAN oil. Not a big deal to some people, but I have someone special to me with a soybean allergy and that makes buying food an adventure checking every label to make sure it mentions no soy, no vegetable oil or shortening, whatever. Our "effective" way of subsidizing the soybean industry makes them cheap so they are used in ways you never would believe. Even many peanut butters actually remove the peanut oil replace it with vegetable oil.

Here is my segway to peanut butter ... I went to the cupboard and found my tuna cans and went out to my favorite website for recalls. There are tons of them, but here is my favorite. It is a portal and you can access almost anything from there. You can even subscribe to a news feed for it, if you don't know how to subscribe to a feed, you may look at the post I made on a diffent blog about using Google Reader. This gives you a direct feed for anything posted and also you are able to add information to help other people. There is also a site from the Consumer Product Safety Council, neither of these sites are very sexy, but they are government sites and I think if less sexy is cheaper to the tax payer than I can handle it!

Here is the link with all the pertinent data for the "offending" tuna cans. But while I was poking around, I noticed information about the dreaded peanut butter recall that I wasn't expecting.

I have no children. So when peanut butter crackers and cookies, things like that were on the list, I thought I was doing my good deed for the day when I called my girlfriend with a daycare and passed on my brilliance. (Hardly, she knew about it of course, but I felt good sharing anyway.)

As I paged down the recall site today, I saw this.

American Nutrition, Inc. Announces a Voluntary Recall of Baked Dog Treats

Did anybody out there, hear about dog treats, dog bones or even consider that perhaps dog treats could be on this list?

Check your pantries and check this list over, because they are very much on the list from lots of different companies and products. And just like with people, salmonella can really take a fatal toll on puppies (we all give them some sort of chew bone while they are teething), older or immune compromised dogs (ie. cancer).

If it is true that all dogs "go to heaven," I hope it is also true that these "responsible" individuals from PCA, or Peanut Corporation of America in Blakely, GA~ GO TO HELL! (Too bad they are just going bankrupt!)

PS. Just posted on a news website today: ICE CREAM 2/28/09 (where will it end?)

Bad weather or weekends, must be time to cook!

I feel badly for the "printed word" business. At least when it comes to me. Newspapers, books and general cookbooks are not things I see myself buying anytime in the future. Most of my news I get as a feed to my Google Reader account, nearly all of my books I download from my audible account and cookbooks I use the internet to find some very neat recipes often many I see on the Food Network.

When you are using the internet for your recipes, there are no storage issues on bookshelves with old cookbooks that may only have a few recipes you like as well as the time it takes to find those gems. Searching through cookbooks takes forever and searching Google takes seconds. On foodnetwork.com or allrecipes.com you can have your own online recipe collection to look when you have time, access and print them when you are ready to use them. You also can go back to your account to these recipes the next time you want to use them. Here is a Tyler Florence Brownie recipe that I just tried. Yum, yum!

I guess my favorite site and where I feel most welcome as well as for efficiency sake and interaction is allrecipes.com. This is not a collection from chefs or contest winners. These recipes are generate by it's users. There are nutrition facts and you can also customize the recipe, there is a calculator that allows for how many servings and you can make shopping lists. Keep in mind these people are just like you and me and things are not tested in the famous Food Network kitchen like those on their sites. But I have never been steered wrong by anything I have tried on this site and it has become my site of choice.

I just set up my own account on allrecipes.com and am quickly gathering recipes. I can really see the benefit in doing that. Before I didn't bother to register on this site, I just poked around and found what I liked and printed it. So you can do what is right for you.

I also have my own blog that I have been gathering some of my own favorites, this is a benefit cookbook my friends and I are doing for an Atlantic Salmon River (the Margaree) in Nova Scotia. These recipes are our own and are simple and intended for the cook that is also a fisherman and wants a delightful meal that is easy at the end of the day of a long day in the stream.

I love internet sites for planning meals. I can do it anytime, now with my allrecipes.com account I can go in and see what I chose during a break at work and know what I am cooking on the weekend. I like to make things that I can simmer in a crockpot or freeze for eating during the week.

Movies are expensive enough - Make sure you are picking the right one!

I am getting a bit grumpy with listening to the phrase, "in these tough economic times..." we all know times are tough and I am not thinking that we need to be reminded 10 times a day!

But we do start looking at how we are spending our money as well as evaluating that once it is spent, how did we feel about spending it? No one loves to buy snow tires for their car or fix a water pipe that bursts, but in this post, we are talking about entertainment and that is a bit trickier. When you decide to part with a few bucks for a night out to see a movie with your kids, you want to make sure it is a great experience, right?

Finding the right movie is a trick. I am a bad one for this, because I usually talk to my girlfriends and then wait to rent it and watch it at home. But I have several friends that love a night or a rainy weekend afternoon out with the kids to be entertained. And often this is a last minute decision.

Using the local newspaper doesn't seem to cut it anymore and neither do a lot of websites. Most highly ranking googled websites are run by movie companies. Do you think they will tell you about their movie not being as great as it looked in the commercial?

A friend of mine recently (over the holidays) he took his son to Marley and Me.

When he told me, I said, "Wow that looks like a cute movie."
He said, "Did you know the dog died in the end?"
I said, "NO WAY!"

He said, "Neither did I - it certainly wasn't the kind of movie I expected and there wasn't a dry eye in the place when we left."

Oh boy, what a bummer. If you are prepared for this type of ending (Old Yeller, for example), perhaps you may make a different choice, or at least you are ... prepared!

My niece (9 y/o) loves Wall-E. In fact, we watched the DVD at our camp on Christmas Day. I thought it was silly, but very content appropriate for the people stretched out on couches in front of the woodstove watching it. NO TEARS!

But how do you know?

I remembered watching ABC Good Morning a few months back and they interviewed these two very sharp and amusing seniors that like movies and put together a YOU TUBE has a channel called "REEL GEEZERS." (website) "Marcia and Lorenzo" banter away (here is a great article about them in the LA Times) they don't always agree with each other, but they always cover how much violence or language is in a particular movie and lots of other things- ESPECIALLY if you are looking for something age appropriate and don't want to be slumping down in your chair or explaining things to your kids all the way home!!

The Reel Geezers are very amusing and very smart- they have an extensive background in stage and screen. Most of their reviews are about 5-8 minutes long and they are well worth watching and listening to, it is YOU TUBE it is FREE. If you decide to create your own channel, you can always save the reviews as favorites so you have them for later. Reel Geezers also seem to keep up with the latest releases, but when you are in the "renting mode" and are entertaining children that aren't your own it is really handy!

Time to get organized

January just ended and if you are like most people, you are going through the teeth gnashing experience of preparing your taxes. In previous years, maybe those little deductions weren't all that important, but boy don't you wish you had kept better track for this year? Now is the time with only one month into it to make it easier on yourself for year end 2009.

First, in my opinion, there is no substitute for a great CPA. Some one who is a friend and not a robot, someone you can tell your dreams to and share with. I am learning more and more each day the value and satisfaction of someone I can trust and shoots me an email when he thinks I should know something. His name is Tom Hicks and we call him "Father Tom" so you get the idea the type of person he is. His blogpost is a great one for you to peruse, it can help make your preparation easier. It is all about figuring out where to start!

I have a couple of my own tips to prepare me for the year ahead.

1. I went to an office supply store and bought an accordion file that lists the months on each tab. I didn't go on the cheap (tho what I bought was something like $13.99) and buy one that has only 6 tabs, buy one that has at 12 - 15 tabs. Mark the months on them yourself if you cannot find one with them marked all ready.
   
   
2. I Put the file next to my desk. I am throwing everything into that month for receipts as I get them. With this year being especially odd, new promises for change (who knows what that means at this point) - include gas receipts, meal receipts, car repair receipts. Keep them all together. If you are self employed or a small business, this is especially important. You don't want to lose a legitimate deduction, just because you forgot about it.
   
   
3. Easy online file sharing that is SAFE and SECURE! myclientvault.com is like a file cabinet with a user name and password for all your tax documents. If your CPA doesnt use it, it is a very economical way to store pdf files and very easy to use. Once you go there, you will see a video how to use it. It is great for the nights you wake up at 3 in the morning and you need access to a file you cannot find at home.
   
   

You could go to Turbo Tax or some other online service to file and I have to say, these services don't impress me. Call me old fashioned, but I am going to just load up all my personal information and ship it off to someone I don't know and it is nearly impossible to reach a live person if you have a question. Tactically, it seems to solve a problem of filing THIS year, but it is difficult to do any long range planning. I also found this interesting link of a security compromise in the Turbo Tax soft ware. How would you like other people looking at your stuff and you can look at theirs? You are a hacker and you didn't even know it!

And what about a more timely one of Giethner the new Treasury Secretary blaming Turbo Tax for his tax issues. If he can't figure out what Turbo Tax is doing, I surely can't! There is no substitute for real people.


Thank you Staples.com for the image.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, World

Are we hiding behind comments on blogs and news stories to vent our frustrations?

This is a particularly sad story involved a tragic fatal accident with a Fort Kent boy on a sled. When I read the comments, (before they had been deleted), I was disgusted and it made me never want to read the Bangor Daily News again. But this isn't their fault, this is our fault.

What is wrong with us?

I read the comment section to learn more, it is a habit of mine, maybe there is fresh perspective from the "citizen journalist" but lately the comments are personal attacks either between the "commenters", the news source, or the people involved with the news stories.

On 1/28/09 at 04:47 PM, JoshAlves wrote:

First, my sincere condolences to the families involved in this tragedy.

The comment section of this site is meant for readers to express thoughts, opinions and insight on stories. After receiving multiple reports concerning the disregard for common decency found in the comment section of this story, and reviewing them, all prior comments have been deactivated and a few accounts suspended for review.

Josh Alves

Manager of New Media

Bangor Daily News

Thank you Mr. Alves. I do not know you, but you obviously are a sensitive and sensible person. I do not believe your actions were censorship, but were defining the lines between free speech and bullying.

For readers out there, please - times are tough and people are mad about a lot of things, but please remember to READ these things OUT LOUD before you send them.

• Do you really want to say what you are saying?
• Would you say it to your mother?
• Would you want to hear your kids say it?

People leaving comments on blogs and news stories is growing- especially in Maine where we are often behind the power (or digital) curve.

We all need to do it sensibly.

iPOD, iTOUCH, iPHONE, (Aye, Aye, Aye!!)

I get it.
It is confusing.

And in the technical vernacular of a 6th grader, I am going to try to explain it. As usual I have to try it myself, so I can learn. So this is what I know about these things and what each product means to me as a potential user or purchaser.

1. iPOD - a music machine. Great place to put all your old Aerosmith tunes or Sonny & Cher CD's that your kids burned. Or things you download from an online music store. Simply put, it plays the things you put on it. My brother has an iPOD shuffle which is a tiny thing, he isn't a techie, but I also know a lot of techies that have them. I also have an iPOD, it was the first thing I truly fell in love with as a lover of music and audiobooks. But I'm not a lover of having to haul CD cases around all the time, or to get some place only to find that I am missing the perfect CD because I neglected to bring it. iPODs come in all sizes and colors to satisfy whatever you want to carry around with you. And they are so convenient!

2. iPOD TOUCH- this is a music machine and more, here is a video you can watch by clicking here. It plays music you load on it like iPOD, and it also works through an open WIRELESS connection. So if you have wireless in your house you can get on the internet and look up your favorite recipes on line and and use it in the kitchen. It also can download and play video only I don't think my old eyes could watch a full movie on that small screen. The screen is a "touch screen," holds calendars that you can synch up with your laptop (through iTunes), and iTunes works with PC's too (watch this video.) Also holds contacts, email, as well as many other applications you can download wirelessly, most are free. My favorite one is pandora.com - it is an internet music station. (another day for that one!)

I particularly LOVE the iPOD Touch because as I mentioned it works by wireless and not cellular. As long as there is a wireless connection available, once we bought it, it was paid for, no surprise bills or monthly fees. I can use it all over the place. I know there are tons more applications, but so far I have focused on the ones important to me.

3. iPHONE is a music machine and internet machine along with being a cellular phone. This is the key here. It works through CELLULAR, so you will need a contract with AT&T. I have nothing against AT&T, except we have terrible coverage up here in Maine (and I have been told poor coverage in many rural areas) so roaming and all kinds of other things may apply. For me, my real concern is the lack of coverage. When cell phones are searching, searching, searching, searching for a signal the batteries drain quickly. Often times I know I am in an area where there is spotty coverage (like Kingfield, Maine- for example) and I just turn my cell phone off to save the battery for the time I get to a place that has coverage.

So which is better?

I think it all comes down to lifestyle and where you work and play. For me, since I play off the grid and often travel off the grid, I don't want to have a phone that is off the grid 50% of the time, or roaming when my current service provider (Central Maine Wireless- US Cellular) covers me 98% of the time. ALSO I can still use my iPOD TOUCH for many other things whether I have a wireless connection or not. It still works and my music is there, my photos are there, calendar, etc. So it is very effective even when I am in a place where wireless isn't available and in the meantime I still have battery power to use it!

More Identity Theft

This is a scam that originated in August of 2005, settled down for a while and now seems to be ignited again.

You are to do your civic responsibility and report for Jury Duty. Most people don't like having rearrange their whole lives around sitting in a room awaiting for their to be name called. And more and more people are deciding to skip out on this responsibility. But arrest warrants can be issued for people that fail to appear for jury duty, so deciding not to or thinking you didn't report when called on, can create an intimidating situation.

Of course then enter the "opportunists." The phone rings at your house and the caller claims to be a jury coordinator.

If you tell them you never received a summons for jury duty, the caller asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so it can be verified.

Once they "verify your PERSONAL information" they tell you they can cancel the arrest warrant. What you don't know is they aren't verifying anything, they aren't canceling any warrant, they ARE stealing your identity, but in reality, you just gave it to them.

This all may sound silly to you, but do check in with your parents or other seniors in your life. They are particularly at risk for these schemes and the callers tend to be bullies.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

Here is a link to the page on the FBI site, so you can read it for yourself. And like a previous post on this blog, snopes has it too.

A funny thing happened while Social Media - "ing"

Most of the readers of this blog are new to, or trying to deal with, technology and how it effects their lives. I don't mind mentioning I am in that place too! That is the objective of this blog. I share as I learn and hope you will share what you learn with us too!

Many of you may have heard of FACEBOOK, MYSPACE & Linked-In and I have talked about them here and they are becoming bigger and bigger and there are more users using them every day. There is another tool, called a microblog named Twitter. I linked these all to descriptions on my website that explain them so if you have questions you can get answers there.

But here is the funny thing. I joined Twitter a little over a year ago (I think.) It was something I heard about people doing and at first I didnt understand it. There are countless blog entries "preaching to the choir" about how Twitter works and all us Twitter users read them, comment on them and we think it is great. But WE ALL READY know Twitter works, it is how you can use social networks to YOUR benefit, maybe the less - techy type that perhaps may think it only works for geeks. (I cannot blame you, really!)

Here are a couple of examples of my own experiences:
A week ago my girlfriend told me her sister was going to need a headcovering or hat for some cancer treatment that was going to wipe out her hair (again) and reveal some scary looking scars on her head and neck. I can knit a scarf - period. I put on my Facebook "wall" that I needed some help. I got 3 replies right away from people I do not normally interact with - and 2 got an emails yesterday that these hats were being mailed to me! That is a non-techy request to a very real situation that any of us could be in at anytime.

Another example: Along with my business, I teach Marketing at the New England School of Communications, I ask all students to "Friend Me" on Facebook and establish Twitter accounts. Paul Hilchey Chandler (twitter id: hilcheychandler) of Central Maine Wireless was a guest speaker in my class and talked about cell phones, marketing and social networking. One of my students revealed that she was in the 8,000+ of monthly text messages. (Makes my thumbs hurt just thinking about it.)

This morning, I was away from my computer and while I was away, one of our local newscasters Kara Matuszewski (twitter id: karamat) WLBZ2 had tweeted something about texting and Paul suggested she contact me (twitter id: ladyotrout) about this student I had. I also follow Kara, but do not know her personally and due to a very busy morning for me, I would probably have missed it, so thank you Paul! After a few direct messages and a phone call we have a "shout out" for high volume texters for a story she is interested in doing. I posted that on my Facebook wall and guess what? Two responses all ready! This is less than an hour and I am not kidding.

So what you may say?

These tools are very helpful in a busy life. I like to get alerts from media sources of what is going on, the weather, etc. but mainly I use Twitter as a bulletin board for articles and information that people that I feel like minded with (remember I know hardly ANY of them PERSONALLY) to share. I also share what I am reading & learning there. The internet and other media is so vast and there is so much information that these tools help me prioritize what I need to learn right now. And they cost me nothing out of pocket except the time to do it.

So I thought I would mention this to you, if you have a mother or father or know someone with a small business that is trying to do more with less (time and money) I cannot recommend these things highly enough! If you feel you dont have time to do the work yourself and you are a small business, give us a call and we can help.

And stay tuned for the WLBZ2 story...I am sure we all will be tweeting about it!

Email Scams, Urban Legends, etc.

How many of you have friends or relatives that constantly "forward" the latest and greatest news that they got forwarded to them, PLEASE READ, FIREFIGHTER NEEDS HELP, the lists go on. I have an "all time favorite" cousin that sends me this stuff and it drives me crazy! I love her, I want to stay in touch with her, but I don't want all this stuff stinking up my in-box that almost every time turns into being untrue. But how do you know?

For an example: She sent me this email about the Swiffer Wet Jet being poisonous to dogs and causing liver failure. Given the fact that Eukanuba had a massive recall in March of 2007 because of some ingredient from China that was causing liver failure, this concerned me. I am dog lover and dog owner. (here is a link to that story).

I definitely was going to read that email she sent me. I went to my cupboard and looked at the labels and because I am no chemistry whiz I didnt know what to think.

So how do you know if these emails are urban legend or as some of the guys in my office call it "FACT or CRAP?"

Here is a link to a source that can explain why this happens and why people spread these rumors, of course my first reaction is "GET A LIFE!"

And here is a web source called Snopes that allows you to check out the story yourself. Snopes is interesting because the format is such that you can see the year of origin these rumors start, a quick synopsis of what it is, as well as often they cite verbatim the text in the email you received. AND most importantly, there is a line right up front indicating TRUE or FALSE. In my cousin's email it indicated that this rumor was verified by snopes so at first I thought - "Oh, oh..." then once I logged into snopes.com myself, I learned it was a hoax all along. Not even to mention that I received this email in December of 2008 and the origin was 2004! If it were true wouldn't we have heard about a recall by now? I feel bad for the Swiffer Wet Jet people, how many people have stopped buying a product because of something they received on the internet?

Snopes has all kinds of content on it, Political, Fauxtography and many more. You can even subscribe to updates if you want to know what is being posted. I am not willing to say Snopes is 100% accurate, because I don't know that it is, but it is an easy to use tool that provides evidence to back up its claims which is a lot better than I can say for these emails people send me that create fear and uncertainty. Happy Snoping... you wont be sorry!

I Learned Something Yesterday - My Own Christmas Carol

Lately I have been feeling blue about the short days, the economy and I think I am watching too much NEWS! The stock market is down, unemployment and crime is up, the list goes on.

The holidays are to be such a joyful time, yet I always feel somewhat depressed about them. This year my brother and his family join us - the first time in 13 years and tho I am excited, I still am feeling the pressures around me. Recently, something changed my outlook... at least for a while.

I went to a funeral yesterday. 3 days before Christmas. It was for a woman, (58 years old). Her name is Deb and I knew her years ago. Her husband, brother-in-law and I trained dogs together. I went to the service specifically, because her sister is also a dear friend of mine. (Sounds all tangled up, one of those 6 degrees of separation things, I guess.)

For 29 years, this woman fought a battle with MS and even when she was admitted to a hospice facility, her body still wanted to fight the fight, but finally her tank was empty and she slipped away.

Now that part is the sad part, but here is the part where I learned something-perhaps "Ebeneezer" (and Deb) were watching over me!

The service was a Catholic Mass, to which I am unaccustomed and wasn't actually clear on what was coming next. During the service, a good friend of Deb's delivered thoughts and shared experiences from their long friendship. Of course it made us all cry, though none of us were there to share in those times, personally, I connected on my own.

I have a circle of friends and I could identify with her friends' feelings. I could place myself within her warm words of memory with one or many of my close friends & family. I could feel how very special those times experiences in my life that I have shared with my friends and are so grateful to them for being part of my life. If any of them are reading this, know that you have made a difference to me and my life would not have been as full without you in it. Thank you to all my dear friends & family, those far and wide for making my life a special journey with laughs, hugs and moments to grin about even when things can seem like they aren't going my way!

I know this the title of this blog is "Techno Trapped In my 40's" and this REALLY isn't advice about technology challenges, but in a way it is.

Don't let the "Technology Scrooge" get in the way of what is valuable. TURN OFF THE NOISE IN YOUR LIFE and look around - get real (sorry Dr. Phil), stop and think what is meaningful for the long haul.

Christmas (or whatever you own brand of holiday celebration may be) needs to remind us about family, friends and the real things that are important. Cherish these times, cherish each other.

And make a toast "To Absent Friends."
(Thanks Deb for the reminder.)

"It's the economy, stupid!"

Is a quote uttered by Bill Clinton in 1992 in his presidential bid against Bush. (The first one!) Here it is 16 years later and we are in the soup again. We are all worried about unemployment and how our businesses will be effected. If you own your own, the sleepless nights become more frequent. Or the time lying awake is longer. (I have lots of experience and I am peri-menopausal !!)

So much we worry about we cannot control, and especially if you are in your 40's like me, your life is full of demands of work, family, dogs, school, whatever it is, it gets piled on the top of it all.

So let's think for just a moment of some things you can do to feel empowered rather than to feel helpless.

If you are currently employed and work for someone else, TAKE INVENTORY.

Taking Inventory of those items on the computer you work at in the office, phone numbers, contacts, passwords for any of YOUR OWN social networking sites like linked-in, etc. Often these passwords are saved in your company computer and you may not remember what they are, the computer there just remembers them for you.

DO NOT USE company email addresses as a sole contact mechanism for sites to "confirm password" back to - if you are "downsized" and lose that email address, cannot get into sites to update your profiles, the "password reset" message will go back to the email you provided and it may be that one at your work - in this case you don't work there anymore!

Make sure your resume is saved off and and deleted from the system and there are no traces of personal information on the company systems-period.

If you have all ready "fallen victim" to the economy ax, then hopefully you did this all ready.

Going forward, one of my new Compadres on Twitter just got downsized himself and one of his recent blog posts reminded me of something. Standard Classified Newspaper Help Wanted Ads are not the way to go. First off let me say, if you don't have a job, bookmark Dave's blog because he is very funny and will give you some comic relief, especially if you are in the same boat. If you do have a job, visit rhodester.net anyway. He has a unique perspective, even if he is a cat person!

Nationally, Monster.com is the most recognized website to look at. More locally in Maine, JobsInMaine.com is one we have as well as some of the newspapers have even decided to have their own (usually under a different name), but you can GOOGLE a term as simple as "Looking for a job in (my state)" and you will be surprised what you will find. For the employer, these sites are often more economical than traditional newspaper classifieds. So all the more reason they are more popular.

Finally, yesterday the Today Show had a segment on 7 Ways to Make Money, How To Give Yourself a Holiday Bonus. Some of the ideas I thought were silly, but some were really good. I thought I would pass on the link as well as a few of these, if anyone missed it. If you are interested in making money with Focus Groups and part of the Twitter community, look for FocusGroups and you will get a tweet everytime they update. If you dont participate in Twitter, here's another reason you should. Follow Me and I can help!

There is a blog that you can go to for Focus Groups, click here and you will go there, but you have to remember to do that on your own, with Twitter, it tells you automatically.

So take some stock in YOU and take control of what you can, it will give you piece of mind!

Save money with "Comparison" shopping sites?

I got an email from a reader that asked me what I thought about comparison shopping websites and of course whenever I (or anyone else) can save money, my initial answer was, "I'm all for it!"

Since I really never used a comparison shopping website myself, I needed to look into some before blogging about the subject. After a bit of research my NEW answer is, "I'm for it, but for godsake be careful and pay attention."

Comparison shopping websites, I experimented MOST with pricegrabber.com and google.com/products, as well as these seem to be the most popular with those I have spoken to that comparison shop online often.

Here are a few guidelines I would use when using any of these types of portal shopping sites:

1. Take the time out to shop and read descriptions.

Getting a bargain has a price to it and that is TIME. Don't be in a rush, because it is likely you will be disappointed. How much money are you saving if you have to send the item back?

2. KNOW EXACTLY what you are “searching” for, aka the product you want to BUY.

Have all your specifics in hand, size, color, specifications whatever you can because any Portal shopping site, (this includes eBay) will serve you up whatever you ask for and MORE! If you choose to sort from lowest price to highest price, don’t get too excited! I was looking for a flat screen computer monitor and was extremely excited with one I saw for $59.95, the manufacturer was the right one and I was thrilled only to read on to see it was a glare screen for a flat screen monitor!

3. Understand WHO is actually SELLING the product. And WHO you are paying.

On some portal sites you jump right off that site and onto the sellers site and it is obvious. Some not so much! When you “check out” your confirmation as well as the confirmation on your credit card should read consistently with the online store you purchased it from. Unless you actually "CHECK OUT" on the portal site, it wont be the name of the portal site from where you started in the first place.

So keep track of where you are and who you are buying from – print the confirmation receipt for sure!

4. If you want FIRST quality, make sure it IS FIRST quality.

This goes back to the “make sure you have enough time to bargain shop.” Lots of bargains are easy to find if there is a “slight imperfection” and those are often difficult to “see” what that means through your computer screen.

5. User Comments are helpful.

Pricegrabber.com doesn’t have a feedback mechanism for user comments or experiences where google.com/products does. This objective feedback helps clarify the product as well as the experience of using the vendor.

I hope this helps and thanks for the question – again I don’t say “don’t do it.” I just say “do your homework” and you can save lots of money!

Cell Phone Battery ABUSE...Are YOU guilty?

I asked Paul-Hilchey Chandler of Central Maine Wireless to speak at my Marketing Class at the New England School of Communications, (which is part of Husson University) in Bangor, Maine last week.

Paul is my "Wireless Communications GOD!"
I count on him for everything. Like:

• Tell me my plan isn't right so I can save money,
  
• Helping me because I "lost my phone."
• Letting me know what technology I need and what I can live without because he knows I'll never use it.

Even though his presentation focused on how cell phones and other hand held devices are used in social networking, he also talked about cell phone and battery "health."

He had 5 things that even got the attention of my class of "20-somethings...."

HOW TO KILL YOUR CELL PHONE BATTERY...Cell batteries cost REAL MONEY!

#5. Not turning your phone "OFF" if you are in an area where reception is "if-y" - the cell phone is going to try over and over again to find a signal. EVEN IF you don't need to make a call - it doesn't matter. The phone still tries to find a way, thus your battery goes dead trying.

This also applies to those fancy bluetooth devices. (Hands Free things that hang on your ear) If you keep your bluetooth connection running even when you aren't using your bluetooth, the phone is trying to make a connection even when you don't need to. Draining your battery more quickly, requires charging more often.

#4. Never turning your phone "OFF" - ever. He mentioned we should do this once a week. Your phone and its battery needs to rest. Just like YOU do, turning the phone OFF overnight is helpful just to let it rest and regroup.

#3. Not letting your battery drain completely. It is good to let it go down as far as you are comfortable before turning off and charging. A few years ago I asked a different cell phone person about the NEW battery type in my NEW phone and was told it wasn't required to completely drain - well, apparently after a few years of history, that isn't the case, while it doesn't react so severely as the old batteries did, they still need to get into the RED ZONE before charging for optimal life.

#2. Not turning off your cell phone while it charges, while at home or in the car. The charging activity creates heat and it charges (as well as putting less stress on the battery itself) better while the phone is off.

#1. Talking on your cell phone WHILE charging it in your car charger. Apparently, this is the BIG BAD DADDY of killing a battery. I must confess, I do it all the time and I see people in their cars doing it, so I am not alone. The car charger is a kind of "fast charge" thing that heats the battery up even more than your home charger. If you have the phone "ON" or worse are talking on it while this is happening, it damages the battery and shortens its life.

A really good rule of thumb is the next time you feel your cell phone feeling warm, remember that isn't the phone, it is the battery. If the battery is warm, it needs a break, so turn off the phone and give it one!

Christmas Cards

A few months ago I wrote a post about storing and sharing photos. Click here to check it out again, it is a good intro to what I am going to expand on this post.

Again I am going to talk about photos. First I want to remind all of you to think back to when you actually printed off a bunch and made an album out of them. Most of us just slide them off to someone in an email and then hope that if they really want the printed version, they print it themselves- PHEW! You are off the hook!

But it is Christmas or Holiday time, excuse my reference is not meant to offend, we celebrate Christmas at my house that is all.

As I mentioned previously, I have been using webshots as a storage service and sharing service primarily. I don't know when they started offering cards, mugs, mousepads, etc. but they do have it and I must say I missed it.

Last Sunday (Sunday BEFORE Thanksgiving) I designed my own Christmas Card for the second year through shutterfly.com. I was happy with the service last year and the quality was terrific. This year with the economy the way it is, if you cut back on sending out holiday cards, cut out going to the local Hallmark store and buying just "any old" card, or believe that people don't get through those family letters you may be eager to send!

Go to Shutterfly and you can very easily do it yourself. With your photo and your design, you pick from some templates-plop your photos in, retry if it isnt what you think it should be and then approve the proof. You can save it in a draft form and finalize whenever you want!

Surprisingly, these cards are a lot cheaper than the plain old (yes pretty- but not customized) Christmas Card. Building a house, or remodeling? Have photos of a vacation, pets or kids to share? These make wonderful memories for your friends & family to see. I also made some calendars with my photos of sunsets from our camp overlooking the water that would give some family (that moved away) some relief from stress at work. They were very reasonable - like $15.99 or something! It is a custom gift and when we all agreed to cut back on Christmas this year, I wanted to make sure that each gift was unique and special - Shutterfly helped me do that - WHO KNEW?

AND I told you it was last Sunday I placed the order? They arrived on Tuesday (2 days later!) and that was standard shipping and they looked just the way I wanted them to. I even have half of them addressed!

I recommend Shutterfly and Webshots because I use them. I know there are many other services out there, so if you have an experience to share, please comment and let us know, we would love to hear it!!

Watch those gift cards...

If you have them, cash them in now, if you are thinking of giving them for Christmas, make sure the store will be open AFTER you give THEM your cash!

Interesting that stores like Sharper Image & Talbots will close ALL stores. So please make sure when you spend your "hard earned" you spend it in a place where your family can redeem it!!

My niece sent this to me!
It seems there are lots of stores that are closing due to the "recession" and the fact that people are not shopping. If you have any "gift cards" from these stores, make sure you use them, or you will lose them !

Here is a link to a well known website that helps "smoke out" what is 'fact or what is crap!'
Here is another link.

Watch those store money cards and gift cards.. and credit slips! Stores that informed the Security Exchange of closing plans between October 2008 and January 2009.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

• Circuit City stores... most recent (? how many)
• Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide are to be shuttered
• Lane Bryant,, Fashion Bug, and Catherine's to close - 150 store nationwide
• Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
• Cache will close all stores
• Talbots closing down all stores
• J. Jill closing all stores
• GAP closing 85 stores
• Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
• Wickes Furniture closing down
• Levitz closing down remaining stores
• Bombay closing remaining stores
• Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.
• Whitehall closing all stores
• Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
• Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
• Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ (New Brunswick)
• Macys to close 9 stores after January
• Linens and Things closing all stores
• Movie Galley Closing all stores
• Pacific Sunware closing stores
• Pep Boys Closing 33 stores Sprint/ Nextel closing 133 stores
• JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
• Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
• Wilson Leather closing down all stores
• Sharper Image closing down all stores
• K B Toys closing 356 stores
• Loews to close down some stores
• Dillard's to close some stores.

PS. Interestingly enough I received an email from the PR Department at Home Depot and I asked if I could post their reply and here it is!

"Hi Kelly –
I work for The Home Depot and I saw the post about store closure rumors. This is old information (at least the part about Home Depot is). We announced the closing of 15 stores back in May, these stores have been closed for at about 6 months now and their communities are well aware and have planned accordingly. Please clarify for your readers – Thanks!"

Boy am I feeling pretty cool that the folks from Home Depot are using social media to stay in touch! Says something good about them, don't you think?

HELP! I don't know what is wrong with my computer?

The other day I was at a political event (imagine it was early November!) and a young woman I knew came up to me and told me she loved my BLOG!! I always get excited when someone tells me that, it makes me feel like I am helping someone.

This blog is about giving out some advice from the point of view of a late blooming baby boomer (maybe I should say, late - exploding!) and the challenges we face trying to stay in step with technology. If you have some advice or comments post them here, or email me, I would love to hear from you.

Back to my friend at the political event...her mom often calls her and asks for help because something weird has happened with her computer. This has happened to all of us. Not only is it frustrating to YOU because you cannot make your computer work, but you have to explain to a person that truly WANTS to help and cannot really SEE what is going on. So everyone gets a little short tempered!

Here's her answer !
A free application called, www.logmein.com

The free version, is a very simple remote-control type of assistance...the person that you designate as your helper, can simply view your desktop and help you....just like they were sitting next to you. They see what you see.

VERY IMPORTANT ADVICE that she gives me about this is that you DO need to trust the person who has the ability to access your computer since they can log into your computer at anytime it is turned on. It's not like you hand over controls or anything, it's an "always on" when your computer is on line.

If you need something more robust, my friend has purchased her own "PRO" version and spend s12 a month to use that so she can transfer files between her home computer and her work computer.

For her, she says it saves a TON of space and instead of weekly file backups and the time to transfer files (much less the times that you didn't think you needed access to that file you worked on), between work and home. She can easily select the one or two files from one computer and transfer them to wherever she is - without having to copy everything back and forth between hard drives or carry a silly stick with files on it around her neck.

This is a great idea! And a helpful tool for sure. I like the idea of being able to test out the free version and then make the decision if you want or need the other features.

If there is something you use and you want to tell us about it, we would love to hear it!!