Archive | Uncategorized RSS feed for this section

Corbett Administration Recognizes Nine Employers for Efforts to Keep Pennsylvanians Working

29 May

finallyfastNine employers and training providers today received Governor’s Achievement Awards for outstanding hiring and workforce development success.

Representatives of state workforce development agencies recognized the businesses for their accomplishments at the 28th annual Pennsylvania Partners Employment, Training & Education Conference, being held at the Hershey Lodge & Convention Center through Friday.

“The businesses recognized today are what Pennsylvania needs to strengthen its economy and improve its workforce,” Labor & Industry Secretary Julia Hearthway said. “Their dedication to workforce development and to overcoming workplace employment barriers will aid Pennsylvania in building a strong economic future.”

Hearthway was represented at the awards ceremony by Michelle Staton, deputy secretary for workforce development.

“We’re pleased to honor groups from our workforce who provide inspiration and opportunities for older adults, as well as employers who make an effort to seek and retain older employees,” Department of Aging Secretary Brian Duke said. “We thank employers for their dedication to providing opportunities for older Pennsylvanians re-entering the workforce after personal challenges.”

Duke was represented at the awards ceremony by David Gingerich, acting deputy secretary for aging.

“These innovative employers have created successful business models that will directly impact our state’s success,” Department of Public Welfare Secretary Gary D. Alexander said. “Their commitment to individuals and the community are the building blocks that Pennsylvania will continue to support and build upon.”

Alexander was represented at the awards ceremony by Tim Costa, executive deputy secretary of the Department of Public Welfare.

“Bradford Area School District’s collaboration with the local petroleum and natural gas industry is an excellent example of a public-private partnership in action,” Department of Education Secretary Ron Tomalis said. “Our public schools are meeting the needs of a critical industry for Pennsylvania’s growth by providing students with career skills that will benefit them well into the future. This working relationship ensures that graduates can meet the region’s workforce demands, as well as provides high-paying jobs in one of the fastest growing career areas in Pennsylvania. This partnership is to be applauded.”

Tomalis was represented at the awards ceremony by Lee Burket, director of the Bureau of Career and Technical Education.

The awards are jointly sponsored by state workforce development agencies – the departments of Aging, Labor & Industry, Education, and Public Welfare – and Pennsylvania Partners to recognize exceptional employers and training providers who promote outstanding hiring and workforce development practices.

Pennsylvania Partners, an association of workforce development professionals in each of the state’s 23 workforce investment areas, sponsors this annual conference, which attracts more than 800 private and public job training experts.

Department of Labor & Industry and Pennsylvania Partners

Governor’s Workforce Development Awards

Eastern Pennsylvania

  • Michael Foods, Inc., Schuylkill County

Central Pennsylvania

  • Metaldyne Sintered Components, Elk County

Western Pennsylvania

  • Acutect Precision Machining, Crawford County

Department of Labor & Industry Office of Vocational Rehabilitation

Governor’s Award for Employers Hiring Workers with Disabilities

  • U.S. Department of Defense Commissary Agency, Carlisle Barracks, Cumberland County

Department of Aging

Hall of Fame of Champions of Older Workers 2010 Outstanding Employer

  • Lowe’s Home Improvement, Schuylkill County

Department of Education

Education Workforce Leadership Award

  • Bradford Area High School, McKean Count

Department of Public Welfare

Employer Honor Roll Awards

  • Wash Cycle Laundry, Philadelphia County; nominated by Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation
  • Walmart, Delaware County; nominated by the Delaware County Office of Employment and Training
  • Dollar General, Luzerne County; nominated by EDSI of Luzerne County in Wilkes-Barre

Photo Credit

Consumers Show High Degree of Trust in Online Health Information, Report Success in Self-Diagnosis

24 May

Finally FastTech news from Finally Fast

Even when it comes to their own health, consumers trust online information, with three in ten Americans reporting that they “always” or “frequently” turn to the Internet to find answers to medical questions and 65 percent of those seeking medical information online saying they trust the information, according to a new survey from Wolters Kluwer Health. Among consumers seeking medical information online, 63 percent claim to have never misdiagnosed themselves when using online medical information resources.

Easier access to online medical information may also have a positive impact on the doctor-patient relationship, with two-thirds, 67 percent, of Americans that seek medical information online stating that this has made them better informed as patients. Nearly half, or 48 percent, of consumers say they turn to the Internet to find answers to medical questions in order to be more informed about a medical condition before a doctor’s visit. Interestingly, with so many consumers seeking medical information online, only 4 percent report having experienced “cyberchondria” – a term coined to describe how people become convinced that they have an illness or condition they don’t actually have based on information they read on the Internet.

Findings come from a recent Wolters Kluwer Health survey conducted by IPSOS among more than 1,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 and older. Survey questions focused on uncovering consumer perceptions of and practices around using online resources and information to answer medical questions as well as exploring consumer self-diagnosis habits.

An earlier survey conducted in late 2011 (Wolters Kluwer Health Point-of-Care survey of more than 300 U.S. physicians, also conducted by IPSOS) shows some interesting comparison points between physician online habits and views and those of consumers. Like consumers, physicians also turn to the Internet for much of their information, citing general browsers such as Google and Yahoo as a frequent source of information for 46 percent of survey respondents. Professional journals remain the number one resource for physicians, however, used by 68 percent as a frequent source.

While consumers claim to rarely misdiagnose themselves, physicians will often change a diagnosis based on information they find online. In fact, 63 percent of physicians surveyed reported having changed an initial diagnosis based on new information accessed via online resources and support tools. Meanwhile, while most physicians believe easier access to medical knowledge by patients has had a positive impact on the doctor/patient relationship, one in five say that this has been detrimental, leading to misinformation and incorrect self-diagnosis.

“The prevalence of online resources and information in the healthcare industry has led to significant changes in how physicians and consumers alike research and access healthcare information and has even impacted how clinicians practice medicine,” said Linda Peitzman, Chief Medical Officer, Wolters Kluwer Health. “Clinical decision support tools have changed the medical industry for the better in many areas, eliminating manual errors and measurably improving quality of care, but all resources are not created equal. This is why it’s critical to always consider the source.”

Among other findings:

  • Among Americans who would rely on the Internet to diagnose an illness, more than three-quarters (77 percent) say they would then discuss the information with their doctor to verify a diagnosis
  •  Only 15 percent of Americans who turn to the Internet for medical information say they at least sometimes misdiagnose themselves
  •   Twenty nine percent of those who go online for medical information, including 38 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34, cite “accessibility” as the reason they would turn to the Internet versus visiting a doctor to diagnose or treat an illness

Photo Credit

Nearly Half of All American Homeowners Give a Green Thumbs-Up to Home Improvements

14 May

finally fastAs spring continues to blossom, a new study from local market consumer research firm Scarborough reveals that of the nearly 164 million homeowners in the United States, nearly half (49 percent) gardened in the past 12 months.

Gardening Homeowners are 10 percent more likely than all homeowners to be Baby Boomers* and 33 percent have at least a college degree. Forty-seven percent of gardening homeowners hold full-time employment and 26 percent have an annual household income of $100K or more. Twenty-two percent of Gardening Homeowners are retired.

Where do these Gardening Homeowners live? The top local markets for adult homeowners who have gardened in the past 12 months are Seattle, WA (63 percent are homeowners who have gardened); Portland, OR (63 percent); Salt Lake City, UT (62 percent); Milwaukee, MN (58 percent) and Columbus, OH (58 percent). The local markets with the lowest penetration of gardeners among homeowners are St. Louis, MO (43 percent); Mobile, AL (40 percent); West Palm Beach, FL (40 percent); Miami, FL (38 percent) and Las Vegas, NV (37 percent). For the complete list of Gardening Homeowner local markets, see the end of this press release.

Gardening isn’t the only home improvement these adults made in the past 12 months. Thirty-one percent of Gardening Homeowners made interior paint or wallpaper improvements and 15 percent of Gardening Homeowners made carpeting or floor covering improvements in the past 12 months. Gardening Homeowners also showed their preferences for other green activities as they are 25 percent more likely than all homeowners to pay more for eco-friendly products and 25 percent more likely than all homeowners to donate money to environmental causes. Gardening Homeowners are 26 percent more likely to buy locally grown food.

Marketers looking to reach Gardening Homeowners will find them spending ample time shopping online. Thirty-seven percent of Gardening Homeowners who access the Internet spend 10 or more hours per week online and those who have made an online purchase in the past year spent, on average, $910. Gardening Homeowners are 23 percent more likely than all internet-enabled homeowners to shop for pet supplies on the internet in the past 12 months, 19 percent more likely to shop for furniture online and 16 percent more likely to shop for health and beauty items online in the past 12 months. Fifty-seven percent of online Gardening Homeowners have engaged in social networking online in the past 12 months.

Offline, Gardening Homeowners are 11 percent more likely than all homeowners to read the home and garden pages of the newspaper and eight percent more likely to read the food and cooking section. They are eight percent more likely than all homeowners to watch documentaries on television, six percent more likely to watch local morning news, and eight percent more likely to watch reality talent shows. Twenty-seven percent of Gardening Homeowners listen to adult contemporary or news/talk/information radio.

Photo Credit

Group of SEPTA Employees Claims $107.5 Million Powerball Jackpot

7 May

Finally FastDuring his lunch break, Bryant Vaders purchased 120 quick-picked Powerball tickets for his office Lottery pool, leading to a $107.5 million jackpot for the group.

Lottery Executive Director Todd Rucci presented a ceremonial check for $107,533,278.27 to a group of employees of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), who elected to take the cash value of the jackpot. This amounts to $2,240,276.63 for each of the 48 shares, less federal withholding.

The group of winners, also known as SEPTA 48, put money into an office Lottery pool for the $172.7 million April 25 drawing, as they always do for a jackpot over $100 million.

“We always try to go to different retailers to buy our tickets,” Vaders said.

The group’s ticket, purchased at the Newsstand at the Gallery at Ninth and Market Streets in Philadelphia, matched all five white balls, 04-25-29-34-43, and the red Powerball, 29, to win the third-largest Pennsylvania Lottery prize ever awarded.

“I was really busy when I got a call from Bryant that the winning ticket was sold at the Gallery,” said Pamela Schurgot, another group organizer and manager of contract grant compliance at SEPTA. “I thought he was messing around, but I dropped everything to check the tickets.”

“We won!” Schurgot yelled from her office. She began writing an email to announce the news, but before she could finish, employees flooded her office.

Schurgot and nine other winners presented the ticket for validation Wednesday afternoon at Lottery headquarters in Middletown, Dauphin County. Lottery officials confirmed it was the jackpot-winning ticket after examining the ticket and executing proprietary security measures.

“It’s exciting to have a Pennsylvania resident win a Powerball jackpot, but having this jackpot prize of $107.5 million split among a group of 48, multiplies the excitement by just that much,” said Rucci. “Not only does Powerball provide the Pennsylvania Lottery opportunities to create millionaires, but Powerball sales this fiscal year have generated about $69 million for programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians.”

Last fiscal year, the Lottery contributed nearly $215 million to programs that benefited Philadelphia County older residents, including property tax and rent rebates, low-cost prescriptions, free and reduced-fare rides, long-term living services and a myriad of social, educational and recreational programs offered through the 52 Area Agencies on Aging and hundreds of senior centers across the state.

Through Lottery funding, last fiscal year SEPTA provided more than 25.3 million free-transit and reduced-fare shared rides to older residents of Philadelphia and surrounding counties.

Each member describes the SEPTA employees as one big family that looks out for each other, and the group has received well wishes from many fellow employees who didn’t buy into the pool.

“No one plans to quit their jobs,” Schurgot said. “This money will just make everyone’s lives comfortable and free of financial stress.”

This is the 15th Pennsylvania Lottery Powerball jackpot win since the state joined the multi-jurisdictional game in June 2002, and the $107.5 million April 25 Powerball prize ranks as the third-largest prize ever awarded by the Pennsylvania Lottery.

The largest prize ever awarded to a single winner in Pennsylvania was a $110.2 million Powerball jackpot prize from the May 8, 2004, drawing, which was awarded to a couple from Skillman, N.J. The largest Powerball jackpot ever awarded was a $365 million jackpot from the Feb. 18, 2006 drawing; a group of co-workers from Lincoln, Neb. opted for the $177.3 million cash prize.

Newsstand at the Gallery will receive a $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. Newsstand at the Gallery has been a Pennsylvania Lottery partner since 2001.

Powerball tickets are sold in 44 participating jurisdictions. Drawings are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Photo Credit

What the Charge Off Means to Your Personal Debt Negotiation

1 Jul

Unfortunately, our sagging economy has led to increased indebtedness and problems with paying off credit cards and other loans. For many Americans, and particularly those struggling to make ends meet, debt settlement may be one option.

In debt settlement, you resolve to stop paying all of your credit card bills (or other significant bills like medical bills) in a bid to settle each of them for less than what you owe. Sound scary? Well, yes and no. Your credit score will tank (scary). You will absorb a slew of robo collection calls (scary). And if left unresolved, creditors may eventually try to sue you (scary). At the same time, hey, this isn’t 18th century England – there’s no such thing as debtor’s prison. You’d emerge from debt settlement with a destroyed credit score but with a much more valuable thing – lack of debt (or at least credit card debt). A credit score can be repaired in a couple of years; soul-crushing debt can last a lifetime.

With the caveat that we’re not purporting to offer legal advice (I’m not a lawyer and I do not even play one on TV), it’s important to understand what a “charge off” is if you are considering the debt settlement option. A charge off is what happens when a debt has gone uncollected for a period of 180 days (6 months). If your credit card company has received no payment from you in 6 months, they are required to “charge off” your debt. They can no longer legally claim your debt as an asset on their books; they have to write it off as bad, and thus send it to a collection agency or a lawyer to try to collect.

Obviously, credit card companies don’t like charge offs—it impacts their bottom line and balance sheet and all that good stuff. They want to do everything they can to collect something prior to that 6-month deadline. Before, say, Day 120, they’re not overly concerned about the charge off and will do the usual robo-calls and gleefully tack on the late charges. But between Day 120 and “Doomsday” (Day 180), they’ll start to sweat.

What does that mean for you? This 60-day window before charge off is the best time for you to negotiate a steeply discounted settlement of your debt. In exchange for a lump sum payment, credit card companies have been known to offer 30%, 40%, or even 50% or more discounts. They figure that in the preceding months, you’ve demonstrated that you’re perfectly willing to not pay anything, and so something is better than nothing. Once you settle your account in this manner, the account will appear as “settled” on your credit score, which is bad but not as bad as “defaulted,” and still definitely repairable over time.

So for personal debt negotiation, the key factors are a) knowing about the charge off window, and b) your willingness to sacrifice your credit score for the greater goal of debt freedom. If you don’t give a fig about your score, the credit card companies have a lot less leverage. And that’s good news for you. If you’ve ever used these suggestions or have tips of your own please feel free to share your experience in the comments section!

Photo Credit

5 Tips to Restoring Sanity for Work-at-Home Parents

28 Jun

Finally Fast InsanityThe work-at-home life has tremendous appeal for parents. In addition to the “being your own boss” thing, you get to be closer to your young child or children, and that’s priceless. However, to establish a serious business that’s not just a hobby, you have to establish some rules, and you have to learn when to be a parent and when to be a businessperson.

In fact, the trap of working from home is the very issue of accessibility. You’re always home, and so the children expect you to be always accessible. Your children might be too young to understand there’s a time to be together and there’s a time when Mom or Dad needs to sequester themselves and work. Heck, a lot of work-from-home adults can’t even make that distinction.

In any case, it’s important to lay some ground rules, and here are five tips for walking the tightrope between parent and home-based entrepreneur:

  • Start early, start often – If you’ve spent a couple years muddying the waters between parenting and working, it’s hard to correct yourself mid-stream, and it’s hard for the children to understand the change you have to make. Prior to starting your home-based business, draw that line in the sand and develop the discipline from the get-go.
  • Schedule yourself around the kids – You probably started a home-based business to be your own boss and set your own schedule. What better schedule to set than one that maximizes your time with the kids? Whether it’s scheduling around school, dinner, family game night, or extracurricular activities, work when your kids are otherwise occupied, and take off when they’re available. It’s a win-win!
  • Establish a definite office – The children need to understand that work time is work time (and so do you). The clearest way to do so is geographically. When you have a dedicated home office, it’s easier to close the door and roll up your sleeves. When your home office doubles as the play room and the movie room and whatever else, it’s much harder to get things accomplished.
  • Keep them occupied – Whether it’s arts & crafts, a movie, homework, reading, or something else, get creative about developing activities that will keep them busy when you need to be busy. You might even involve your children in some simple aspect of your work (depending on age, of course). They’ll feel engaged, and you have an opportunity for another connection.
  • Involve a nanny – For those you can afford the luxury, a nanny offers the best of both worlds: you get to remain close to your kids, but you can also rely on a responsible adult to care for them when you need to work. There’s also the option of day care somewhere else, but that would seem to defeat the purpose, right?

As a work at home mom these tips have made a huge difference in my ability to maintain a good working / parenting balance, but I’m always open to hearing how other work-at-home parents are managing their double duties. If you’re a work at home parent and have developed other effective ways for balancing a home-based business and being a parent please share them in the comments!

Photo Credit

6 Tips to Battle Computer Eye Strain at Work

13 Jun

From the FinallyFast Optical Ergonomics Desk:

EyeFatigue. Lack of focus. Blurry vision. And all-around grumpiness. These are the telltale symptoms of computer eye strain. The modern world—especially for us office folks who spend our days at a computer and then… spend all night at a computer—is hard on the eyes. And you’d definitely be less of a grump if you could fight the end-of-day strain. In that spirit, here are six steps to you can take to combat eye strain at work.

  1. Take Care of the Physical – Fighting eye strain is an all-body act. Maintain good posture, including sitting straight enough to where there’s a small space between the hollow of your back and the chair back (except in cases where there is a special lumbar support that sticks out). Keep the computer monitor a little less than two feet away from you. And the top of the monitor should roughly coincide with your eye level, such that you are looking right at or a little down at the screen.

  2. Control the Light – You should not spend long hours at the computer in a room that is either dark or extremely bright. If you take steps to make the room’s brightness similar to the screen’s brightness, your eyes won’t have to strain as much. Also, use a desk lamp near your screen. The best lamps to use are “natural daylight” lamps that mimic actual sunlight, if for the simple reason that sunlight is nourishing and energizing.

  3. Optimize Your Display – There are naturally a couple things you can do as far as computer settings go to ward off eye strain. Increasing both screen resolution (amount of pixels) and monitor refresh rate (in Hertz) can help. Decreasing brightness, particularly in dark rooms, is beneficial. And you can increase font size to increase readability of text. If you find yourself squinting or bringing your face close to the screen to read something, it’s time to increase font size.

  4. Release Tension – Frequent breaks are a must. Something like a two-minute break every thirty minutes is extremely helpful. An hour for lunch—and that’s it—is simply inferior to smaller, more frequent breaks. During your breaks, stretch and do neck rolls with your eyes closed.

  5. Wear Special Glasses – No, I’m not talking about 3D glasses (though we seem to be heading in that direction. But 3D eye strain is a whole different can of worms!). There are special treated glasses that are designed specifically to combat computer eye strain. The best glasses are not just tinted to exclude blue light; they are anti-reflective, and they also add a touch of focus strength (like prescription glasses) to reduce strain.

  6. Hot Water, Cold Water – For super-duper cases of eye strain, take an extended break and perform some water therapy. Soak a washcloth in hot water (not hot enough to burn, obviously), and slap it across your eyes like a facial. After a few minutes, do the same treatment, but with a washcloth soaked in ice-cold water. If you don’t have access to both hot and very cold water, either one is better than none, but the hot and cold alternation is very effective in relaxing the face muscles that control the eyes.

Have any other eye strain tricks that have worked for you? Let us know in the comments!

7 Ways to Decrease Your Bounce Rate

10 Jun

Boucie BallsBounce rate is a hot topic in Internet marketing. “Bounce” refers to visitors to your site who leave before checking out any of your other pages. You want to keep your bounce rate relatively low – 50% or lower is terrific, but 55% to 60% is more realistic. Bounce rate is easy enough to keep track of with Google Analytics or similar tools.

Why strive to lower the bounce rate? Well, not only does a decreased bounce rate effectively multiply traffic, it’s a sign of “better” visitors, visitors who are more likely to convert (whatever that means for you), engage as a community member, buy products and services advertised on your site, or whatever the case might be. It’s kind of a chicken and egg situation, but some would argue that by keeping visitors around and interested, you’re actually creating better visitors.

So, in the spirit of attacking that bounce rate, here are seven tips you can try:

Quality Content! – Well, quality content is the Holy Grail of Internet marketing, right? If you’re providing unique, valuable, compelling content to your visitors, you’re going to pique their interest and they’re going to stick around. So quantity and quality of content is numero uno.

Meet Content Expectations – often, visitors will bounce if their expectation upon clicking the incoming link is not met. You can’t control the truthfulness and context of all incoming links to your website, but you can ensure you’re delivering what you’re promising with a web page’s name, headline, etc. This also means that your keyword phrases should not be misleading.

K.I.S.S. Principle – Build your webpages with the Keep It Simple, Stupid approach. Clean, readable pages with plenty of white space is key. Don’t confuse topics or bombard the viewer with too many subjects, offers, or multimedia fireworks. Use quality, relevant images.

Cut Up Your Content – Divide your content logically and stick it on different pages. This not only fulfills the K.I.S.S. principle, it will get people moving through your site. By dicing up content and making topics very specific, you’ll be better equipped to capture the valuable “long tail queries” that people are searching for.

Make It Easy to Search – You should definitely include a way to search your website. Make the search tool extremely apparent, such as at the top of the page. Don’t make it frustrating to find something on your site.

“Related” Topics and Interlinking – Particularly in a blog or news aggregate environment, create a space for related posts/links, and use copious amounts of appropriate interlinks within content.

Say “No” to Outgoing Links – Sure, there are times when you’ll want to incorporate an outgoing link. But minimize these links in favor of the interlinks. Keep traffic where it belongs: with you!

Any other techniques you’d like to share? Let us know!

Photo Attribution

Finally Fast Around the Other City: The Museum of Jurassic Technology

26 May

Rena and Erica are always sharing their favorite spots in Philly, but as the only west coaster of the bunch I’ve been feeling a little left out not being able to share in all the fun. This post changes all of that! This is Finally Fast around the other city: Los Angeles!

Us Angelenos are an eccentric bunch of characters. Surfer dudes on the coast, Hollywood dreamers in the valley, a collection of rich ethnic communities from Thai Town to Koreatown somewhere in the middle. That’s why I feel that this one special attraction in Los Angeles really fits us: the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Museum Sign by Barry M

The Museum of Jurassic Technology is tucked away in a hard-to-find nook on Venice Boulevard. When you walk in, you feel like you’ve walked into another world. It has the feeling of a decrepit Victorian mansion. And that’s the normal part of the museum.

The Logic Alphabet of Shea Zelweger photographed by Jessica Allen

The Museum proclaims that it is dedicated to Jurassic technology, and particularly the technology of the Lower Jurassic period. That makes sense… until you think about it. What technology was there to talk about 150 million or whatever years ago? In any case, you figure, you’ll be seeing dinosaur exhibits and fossilized remains of trilobites, right? Eh… not really. Again, it’s a museum that is out of place and out of time. In the same way that the steampunk style of animation and video games imagines futuristic technology from the point of view of the Victorian era, the museum is a bizarre casserole of vaguely future-sounding concepts, but as a person in the 19th century or early 20th century would have imagined them.

Creepy Globes photographed by Allison Fender

Make sense? I hope not, because honestly, that’s part of the fun of the Museum of Jurassic Technology. You’ll experience an extraordinarily dark labyrinth of exhibits—and I mean stumbling around dark, ridiculously-dark dark—with such titles as “Tell the Bees… Belief, Knowledge and Hypersymbolic Cognition” and “Athanasius Kircher: The World Is Bound With Secret Knots.” And neither the plaques nor the exhibits themselves will give you much more of a clue than the exhibit titles. The museum is almost like a dream—you stumble around, you read words but they don’t make any sense, you see strange objects and try to discern any meaning—it’s just bizarre.

Soviet Junk photographed by Cory Doctorow

And if you think I’m exaggerating, you really have to go so I can say “toldja so.” After a certain point of going from strange exhibit to stranger exhibit, you realize the joke’s on you, and that the Museum of Jurassic Technology is more a parody of museum-going than anything else. Well-lit exhibits? Clear, precise supplementary information? The gain of anything approaching useful knowledge? Not a chance. And that’s why the Museum of Jurassic Technology is a gem, and is sure to become a favorite memory.

The Idol Of Fombum photographed by Kirsten

Any of you west coasters had a chance to visit this museum? I’d love for you to share your own memories in the comments! Any other museums you’ve visited approaching this kind of surrealism? Drop me a line in the comments.

Here’s the info:

Museum of Jurassic Technology
9341 Venice Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90232
(310) 836-6131
Hours: Thursday from 2pm to 8pm, Fri-Sat-Sun from Noon to 6pm
(See, even the hours are bizarre!)
Website: www.mjt.org
Suggested donation: $5 for adults

Photo Attribution (from top to bottom):
Museum Sign by Barry M
The Logic Alphabet of Shea Zelweger by Jessica Allen
Soviet space program junk by Cory Doctorow
Globes by Allison Fender
Idol Of Fombum by Kirsten
(I’m no good with a camera…)

5 Computer Organization Tips for Your Home Office

19 May

home officeHome-based entrepreneurs know that sometimes organization can be the last item on the list, and this is especially true for one of the most essential components of the home office: your computer. Let’s get your own slice of cyberspace clutter-free. Consider adopting some of these simple rules for tidying up, saving
time, and saving sanity:

  • Get smart about email retrievals – whether you use Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, or any number of robust email applications, you have plenty of organizational tools at your disposal. Get very savvy to three essential types of email organization: labeling & categorization, email filtering, and folders. Labels in Gmail (Categories in Outlook) are ways to sort emails according to client, type of project, personal versus business, or anything else. Filtering is a related concept, but it does the sorting for you as the mail comes in. Lastly, moving emails to different folders is the best option for easy access to key emails you’re likely to need again and again.

  • Bookmarks/Favorites – Bookmarks, or favorites, are best employed judiciously and sparingly. Get those ten to fifteen sites you visit the most—particularly the ones with long URLs or which are otherwise tough to find quickly—and put them in your browser bar with the magic of the bookmark. Also, consider configuring your browser’s options such that your most-visited sites pop up in separate tabs upon startup. Why not have your top five open all at once? You’ll save time and energy.

  • Folder Finesse – Be smart about how you label your files and where you put them. Create a folder hierarchy that makes sense for you. If you are a web designer, you might have a “Web Design” folder which has sub-folders dedicated to each of your clients. And inside the client folders, perhaps you have further sub-folders such as “Design files,” “Images,” and “Correspondence.” And name your folders in short, intuitive, consistent ways—they’ll be easier find with a search.

  • Archive – Know when to archive material, and dedicate separate space/folders for old material you’ll probably rarely, if ever, access again. Sorting according to calendar year seems reasonable, but another system might work better for your business.

  • Pending and Temporary – Maybe you’re not the type of person to immediately sort all your different documents as soon as you get them, but at the very least set aside a bit of time every two weeks to put everything in its correct cubbyhole. Until then, I find two folders to be essential: a “Pending” folder for pending business that needs relatively immediate attention, and a “Temporary” folder to store new, “unfiltered” material that needs to be sorted or dealt with.
← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.