Next year’s hot Christmas gift = gloves?

This year’s hot gift in our house was the Blackberry Storm – Verizon subscribers’ version of an iPhone. After years of dodging any techology that would help me keep track of things easily and in one place (remember Filofaxes? Palm Pilots?) I decided to take the plunge and asked for a SmartPhone. After so many “sent from my iPhone” emails from friends and colleagues, I figured I, too, could join the latest tech wave. 

The truth is, I only want one so I can have 24/7 web access in my back pocket. I’m a web junkie and a cellphone mutant.  I don’t send text messages, and my kids know to dial several times when calling my cell — I often hit the red “End” button when trying to pick up a call. That’s if I even have my phone with me – or turned on.

And for contact info — for work and personal use — I have my trusty Roladex that I’ve taken with me since my first job at Macmillan Publishing Company in the 1980s.  It’s vintage, with some really,*really* old names and addresses.  My calendar is split between a large paper calendar/desk blotter (does anyone even use that word anymore?) and the family kitchen calendar on the refrigerator.

So, this year I wanted a Blackberry Storm to pull it all together. My teenage kids also wanted one as they do with all the latest hot technology.  But being the practical parents that we are, and realizing that this is not an inexpensive venture, we settled on giving to the one whose phone was due for an upgrade – our 16 year old daughter.

I’ll have to wait til March. I was initially disappointed, I’ll admit it, but I can wait. In the meantime, I’ve tried out the new phone and – surprise –  I’m not so sure…

The keyboard is tiny and my fingers are klunky (“takes awhile to get used to it, Mom”); surfing on an index-card sized screen isn’t all that exciting, or easy.  Mobile web pages for some sites aren’t as robust as the standard sites. I’ll see how it goes.

But my daughter loves it.

So next year she’s getting a really hot item – gloves.  This could be next year’s truly *the* hot item — the iGlove.

Apple has filed a patent for a winter friendly glove – that allows iPhone users to continue surfing, texting, or talking outdoors.  I’m not sure how it works, but I do know that if it’s an Apple product, my kids will want it.

Does this mean we’ll be seeing snowboarders texting on their way downhill?

Looking for a fun video exercise for the New Year?

One of the advantages of working at home is that you can take a break and exercise — in my case on the rowing machine in the basement. I’ve already logged 17K for the January Indoor Rowing challenge.

You can also follow an exercise video at lunchtime. Remember Jane Fonda’s – “Feel the burn!”? Wow, looks like she’s still going strong in the exercise biz…

But here’s one that’s just plain silly. If you have a dog in the house, maybe he or she can join you.

New Look for the New Year

Some people have the knack to know what is the best hairstyle and color for them or they have a hairdresser who knows. I am sadly missing both the ability to figure out what would look best and I don’t have a steady hairdresser. For others like myself here is the answer- The Hair Styler.com.

They say they have over 8000 hair styles and I am sure they do. I was only interested in those that were for short or medium length hair. It really worked and it was super easy! I took a picture of myself with my phone. Emailed it to myself and saved it on my computer. I then followed their simple instructions on how to upload the picture- centered it, fixed the color and spent the next hour trying on hair styles and colors. (Celebrity doo’s don’t let you change the colors.) I printed pictures and descriptions of me with those hairdo’s that I thought looked best. I actually printed over 20 and then went back and chose the best of the best. What I learned was that my hair should be darker and longer. The length looks best below my chin and with sweeping bangs going from left to right. As far as I am concerned this is valuable information.

There is a cost involved with this- a 3 month membership is $14.95 although I doubt I will be going back seeing that I now know where I should be heading with my hair.

A tip: if there is a box for a coupon code spend a minute and open another tab and search for a coupon for the site you are buying from- I saved 10% on this site using a coupon codes available on the web.

Facebook for the over 40 set

“Ew! *You’re* on Facebook?!”

Such is the response from many teens and even twentysomethings as their parents, aunts and uncles – dinosaurs all of us– join Facebook.

My teenage kids won’t friend me, no surprise there. Three years ago I joined Facebook, as a techno-mom looking to find out more about this new phenomenon.. OK, yes, I was also looking to see what my kids were up to. “Mom, there’s no one for you to talk to” said my daughter. At the time, she was right; I found one person – an old college friend with kids the same age – and we posted to each others’ walls a few times before the thrill was gone.

Fast forward two years, and I am working in online marketing, hearing all sorts of things about the value of Facebook for social networking. I sign on again and this time around I find plenty of people to Friend, both professional and personal connections.

I try friending my kids again – now the request goes straight to their cell phones. My son comes home and declares “I got your friend request – hey, I didn’t friend you last year, I’m not going to friend you this year – or ever!” before settling into his own Facebook page.

Why bother with Facebok? For me, it’s about the photos as much as it is about the network. I finally posted some pictures from a family vacation and got some comments from friends. (I posted some silly pictures of my kids just to get them back – “oh, too bad you can’t see what I posted about you on Facebook.”)

Initially reluctant to share personal information because it’s also a professional tool for me, I realize that Facebook gives me a chance to get to know personal tidbits about people with whom I may have a strictly professional relationship. One of my biggest clients discovered, via Facebook, that my birthday is the same day as his daughter, which he happily shared with me shortly after we became Facebook Friends.

It helped me reconnect with a long-lost college friend, via another college friend who found me on Facebook. My nieces and nephews have given me limited profile access, which is enough for me to get an idea of what they are up to in their current lives, more than I’d get to see offline.

It’s just another way to keep in touch. “Reach out and touch someone” used to mean pick up the phone and give them a call. Facebook is a way to “reach out and hug someone, or even “reach out, sit down and bare your soul out and share some photos while you’re at it”.” I’ll never use it as much as my kids do, just as my mom didn’t spend as much time on the telephone as I did when I was a teenager. But I’ve become fond of this new tool, and I’m sure hoping it (like Twitter) will be able to figure out a business model that works.

Recently, I pushed it to the limit when I tried to organize a community group that was trying to halt highway construction over nearby wetlands. I set up a Facebook page for the group and encouraged everyone to post and store information on that page. I got nasty email from a 60-something neighbor who informed me that she was internet savvy, thank you very much, but was *not* going to get involved with Facebook.

Well, at least she didn’t say “ew!”

Work at home exercise tip: January Indoor Rowing Challenge

Ten years ago I discovered a new passion: rowing. I joined a learn-to-row program, fell in love with the sport, and never looked back. It has solved the exercise problem for me and also given me a new social network. As a work-at-home mom, the boathouse has become my “water cooler” — several mornings a week I row before going home to work, happier for having had some social interaction outside the family. And oh yeah, it’s a great workout.

This year, for the second time, I’m going to participate in the January Virtual Team Challenge, sponsored by Concept2. The challenge is to see which team can collectively row the farthest indoors during the month of January. Although I’m not wild about rowing on the erg (aka, ergometer, the official term for indoor rowing machine), the Challenge is a great motivator. I’m a competitive person by nature, so I’ll row to keep up with the team. And, in the meantime, I’m hoping to row off some of the pounds that have crept back in from the holidays.

Anyone can participate — you create your own online log and keep track of your distance. You can join a virtual team – you don’t need to be part of a rowing club. Here are the official rules for who can row:

Virtual teams (not based on or around a specific physical location) can be made up of anyone from anywhere who wants to participate—friends, family, co-workers, old schoolmates, rowing teammates, etc. Teams can also be real “clubs,” with a physical location. Team captains will be asked to indicate their club division when registering their team for the first time. The choices are:

• Virtual
• Health Club
• YMCA
• JCC
• School
• Rowing Club
• Corporate Fitness
• Military
• Correctional Facility

It only takes two to create a team. Deadline for signing up is January 15.

Re-entering the Job Market? Need new skills or want to update and expand others?

The time is now to sign up for classes at a local Community College.

Amongst all the Christmas catalogues that came thru the mail this past month I did find one gem. That was the Housatonic Community College brochure. Housatonic is a local community college in my area. This catalogue was filled with bargains- many available on-line so I don’t even have to travel. Classes in the Continuing Education area include classes at all levels from an Intro to Microsoft Office to Advanced Excel, and not just limited to computer skills – want to be certified as a personal trainer? Learn Medical Billing? How about Chinese for beginners? The cost starts as low as $79. A three credit college course is $437.

Didn’t get a catalogue? This link will bring you to a listing by state of all the community colleges in your state. This site is interactive and you can access any community colleges web site by simply clicking on its name.

http://www.utexas.edu/world/comcol/state/

If you happen to live in CT this one site connects all the community colleges in CT. http://www.commnet.edu/

The Oprah and Bridget Jones Diet

The change is on the news stand- no more 101 best cookie recipes, not a word to be found about opulent rich entertaining recipes from the hors d’oeuvres to dessert. Now the cover of every magazine is going to tell us how to lose those 10 pounds. – don’t I wish it was just 10.

My metabolism is definitely changing- and not for the better. This has not been a slow weight gain sneaking up on me- I have gone through 3 whole sizes this year. I can’t seem to stop this run away weight gain train. This year I began working full time from home- which keeps me close to the kitchen. Additionally, my husband found out he is a Celiac which means he can eat no gluten – I have to cook everything from scratch. I have often tasted my way thru a whole meal before it ever gets on the table. But the real problem is snacking especially at night- when those cravings hit like a sledge hammer.
So what to do…Over the years I have tried every diet that promises you can eat as much as you like. The caveat is that you can eat as much as you want BUT it is limited to veggies or proteins or cabbage soup depending on which diet I was following. They worked but only until I started eating all the food groups again. I have even tried the diet where you pretend you have lap band surgery- you eat a small amount wait two hours then drink something wait two more hours and eat something and on and on…… I ended up thirsty and hungry.

We have been told a zillion times that no diet works-it has to be a life style change. I know it- Oprah knows it, we all know it. The key is PORTION CONTROL and EXCERSIZE. So like Oprah I am registering my disgust at my free fall weight gain. Also, like Oprah, I am declaring my determination to make the change. I vow to eat small portions. Exercise at least twice per week. I won’t eat a whole meal before I serve it. I want to lose 25- 30 lbs. That was the Oprah part baring my soul to the world.
And now for the Bridget Jones portion of the diet…

Dec. 29th Current weight- 161.7 dressed at bed time. Had three small bowls of homemade chicken with rice soup- dinner roast beef, baked potato w/ sour cream, asparagus and Caesar salad. Lots of drinks, 100 calorie packet of dried fruits snacks. Used a big plate. Will fix that tomorrow. No exercise- but no wine.
Good luck with your resolutions, I’ll let you know how I get on with mine. This year will be a year of going back to basics in many different facets of our lives- I plan on calling a friend to go for a walk, sharing time, and hopefully some laughs because laughing is really the best exercise of all.

After Christmas Sales- Going Broke Saving All That Money

As my husband has been telling me for years, we are going to go broke saving all that money on sales- buying things we really don’t need. I have found that many of my prior year sale purchases weren’t really things that I loved, so when it was time to give them or wear them- I didn’t really want to. I should have a list of Christmas presents for next year, things like Grammy’s sweater, Dad’s gloves and scarf- the pajamas I buy for each kid as well as the socks and underwear. Not everything, fashion pieces for my 4 kids (22-15 years of age) must be returnable since I can’t distinguish between a must have and a can’t be seen in item. However, there are a number of gifts that I should be able to buy now, put away and hopefully remember them next year.

So my job this year at the sales is to be smart and selective. Saturday, my husband and I ventured out to see just how deep the discounts were. We were off to the mall- the first surprise was that the parking lots were full.

At Lord & Taylor’s the Polo white undershirts were 25% off which made them marginally cheaper than buying them at the outlets like I had preChristmas this year but not so cheap I had to buy them for next year. We saw lots of signs for sale items with an additional 50% off. Things I liked, but not much I needed.

A quick stop into Abercrombie & Fitch showed tables full of sale merchandise- a winter sweatshirt marked down to $130. The long lines (lots of returns) and still pricey prices weren’t worth the effort. They had a lot of staff- but it seemed that it was more important for them to fold on the floor than to expedite the payment and return process. I guess I am too old to be intrigued by a store that feels like you should want to wait to purchase their items.

The news said luxury goods were particularly hard hit so off to Saks Fifth Avenue to see what we could find. In the men’s department we did score a great travel coat for about $200 which was less than half its’ original price. Lots of signs that said 40-60% off. In the woman’s departments the sales were good, if not great, 40- 60% off already marked down goods. Then we spied gowns at 60% off the last ticketed price and our teenage daughter has a formal in Feb. We bought every dress that we could find in a size 6. These dresses had original costs between $300 and $500, we walked out of there with 6 dresses for well under $600 including taxes.

Our final stop the Apple store- NOTHING was on sale at the Apple store that I could see, but I couldn’t see very well, the store was packed!! The temperature in this store was downright hot but still people crowded in. Even with tons of sales associates, actually completing a sale and getting the merchandise took longer in the heat than was comfortable. We got a card where we could make an appointment and go see and learn about a product – I think I will go that route in the future.

In the end, we didn’t buy any Christmas presents for next year or even presents for upcoming birthdays. If they don’t love it and can’t return it- you haven’t really saved anything. However, our daughter fell in love with one of our bargains (the most expensive of the lot- but now just $121- down from $508) and we returned all the others the next day.

My Boss has More Followers on Twitter Than the Wall Street Journal

We have different opinions about Twitter. I like it because it feeds the Gladys Kravitz in me – I can tak a peek at what others are doing and thinking. But I know plenty of people – my colleague among them – who say it’s just another social networking timesucker.

News organizations have figured out that Twitter is alot like the teletype — so they’re sending out news flashes in 140 characters or less.

I thought it would be interesting to see which news organizations are twittering – and how much of a following they’ve built up. Looks like the New York Times and CNN have gained a nice following, as has the BBC.

Barack Obama clearly gets it, no surprise there. The British Government (HMGOV) is tweeting alot but not too many are following, while Downing Street seems to have more people paying attention.

Meanwhile, twittermoms are building a nice community of tweets. And Brad Pitt, well, I just had to check. (Is it really Brad – how do we know for sure?)

My boss, who is somewhat of an icon in the online marketing world, is comes out ahead of the Wall Street Journal in terms of the number of people following him on Twitter.

If the news industry is truly morphing itself away from print and learning to adapt to online publishing, this chart will be interesting to revisit next year.

Assuming, of course, that Twitter is still around and has figured out how to make money.

Personality/News Org.	Following	Followers	Updates
Barack Obama	156042	150457	263
Stephen Colbert	51	31200	60
NY TIMES	32	15611	24873
CNN	6	14888	6803
Downing Street	7701	6965	947
My boss	261	6470	4615
Wall Street Journal	0	5822	6193
Fox News	0	5417	83444
Twittermoms	5291	5296	791
BBC News	1	4834	36662
ESPN	5180	4602	15493
The White House	11	2500	1439
Los Angeles Times	1974	1423	211
Daily Show	13	814	60
Jon Stewart	73	607	46
FOX NY	14	408	87734
HMGOV	5	300	14775
Brad Pitt	355	180	5

So you wanna be in pictures?

Do you want to win $10,000,000??? NO??? Ok how about a chance to have a room redesigned that you are really stumped over?

I started searching for how to be an extra in a movie in CT. December doesn’t seem to be a hot time for movies in CT. Even the significant new tax incentives offered by the State of CT can’t get movie makers to commit to New England winter weather.

This comes directly from the Connecticut Culture and Tourism Film Division.

• Do You Want A Chance To Win Up To $10,000,000?

The executive producer of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire & The World Series of Pop Culture is looking for contestants for Season 1 of a new, groundbreaking game show premiering on CBS this summer called POWER of 10. Contestants will compete for TEN MILLION DOLLARS by predicting how Americans responded to polls on all things political and pop culture.

To apply go to WWW.CBS.COM under CASTING CALL!

You can also contact the Casting Dept. @ 1.877.949.POWER

New HGTV Show seeks Bedrooms, Home Offices, or other rooms with ISSUES!

‘Dear Genevieve”, a new HGTV show with design hero, Genevieve Gorder, seeks homeowners within an hour from New York City with rooms that have them truly stumped!

We seek all kinds of rooms- kids rooms, kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms, even outdoor spaces and porches! The idea is that you have a project you have been dying to tackle but there are aspects of it that have you stumped. Before you spend all the time and money, you can reach out to Genevieve, who will help you fall back in love with your home while putting your time and money to good use. Sound like you?

Requirements:
You must be within an hour’s drive from New York City, have a feasible budget for the project, and YOU MUST BE STUMPED BY YOUR SPACE! We’re not just changing the drapes and slapping on some paint here, we are solving design issues!

If this sounds like you, you can apply online to be considered!