A few weeks ago, kids from a local scout troupe were door-knocking in our neighborhood, asking if they could rake leaves for $5 / bag as a fund-raiser. Sadly, we have a gardener armed with rakes and a leaf blower, and had no leaves to offer them, so I gave them a donation of $20, and wished them luck. I’m not particularly pro-scout, though I was a brownie when I was a kid, but I think kids who are doing anything for a cause should be encouraged.

Besides, they’re so cute and eager at that age.

It got me wondering about the stuff I did when I was in grade school. The Scholastic Book catalogs, the candy sales, the M.S. Read-a-thon. Does anyone still do read-a-thons? And if they do, are they still raising money for research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, or is the cause more modern now. Are kids reading in support of treatment for malignant mesothelioma instead?

I participated in the read-a-thon for several years, but my favorite was the year we lived in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, a cute beach-front town, just up the shore from Asbury Park. I’d solicited all the neighbors, but one of them said he’d only sponsor me if I came and gave a brief report of each book I’d read. I thought that was fair.

I’m a fast reader, so every couple days I’d visit and give overviews of what I’d read so far. I think the neighbor was impressed, at first, and a little concerned for his wallet, by the end, but he kept his part of the bargain, as I had mine.

I kind of miss the days when picking up a book was a way to promote change.

I say… And you think… ?

1. Assets :: Joint
2. Concern :: Cause for
3. Over the top :: Lifestyles of the rich and tasteless
4. Supplies :: Office
5. Mustache :: Twirling
6. Doug :: Henning
7. Coach :: Purses
8. Bleachers :: Bums
9. Stripes :: White
10. Assortment :: Array

I found this week’s words a bit awkward. Nothing really struck me about them. Maybe it’s the cold meds.

Like this meme? Play along here.

When you run a small business, one of the things you have to resolve as early as possible is what kind of phone system you want to use. I remember endless conversations with providers, stacks of catalogs and finally, desperately, calling Mike the Phone Guy who came with his little green Radio Flyer wagon, clad in overalls and an engineer’s cap, to help us sort everything out.

Mike was great. He introduced us to the world of PBX phone systems, and explained how they worked, that we could have virtual extensions, headsets for roaming, and even a digital receptionist to route calls, as well as unlimited expansion of voicemail boxes without having to add numbers. At the time, we didn’t understand how cool PBX systems are. Now, after working with a company that refused to spend the money for good phone, and then working for one of the largest financial institutions in the world, I understand better why your phone system can make or break your company.

And that’s why I like Talkswitch. It’s a PBX system designed for small businesses, so you don’t have to buy a thousand pieces to get the best rates on hardware, and it’s a hybrid system. That means it works over VOIP and analog phone lines, and that combination is important, because VOIP saves you huge amounts of money on long distance calling, but if the network goes down, or there’s an emergency, you need to be able to just dial.

Talkswitch is also great because it’s designed for the do-it-yourself small business owner. It doesn’t require an office building with a whole phone room – you can install it in the all-season porch you’ve turned into an office, if you need to. It’s scalable, as well – you buy what you need, and the number of licenses you need, and expand as necessary.

The other really cool think about Talkswitch is that it works with offices in multiple locations, integrating all the different extensions so if you’re on the road, or have employees in other states, or any number of possible combinations of homes and offices, no one ever misses a call, and callers have one central number to dial.

Having experimented with many PBX systems, I’m comfortable recommending Talkswitch, which you can buy from a company called NeoBits. They work both over the phone and online (neobits.com) and have discussion forums as well as product faqs for you to browse through. TalkSwitch isn’t their only product, of course, but if you need a small business phone solution, it’s the one they recommend.

I think Mike the Phone Guy would agree.

From CafeWriting.com:

November: Option Five: Seven Things
In improvisation, one of our exercises is a game called “Seven Things,” in which we go around in a circle giving each other the challenge, “Give me seven things that [whatever]” We are not going to go around in a circle, here, but if you’re drawn to lists, this prompt is for you.

Give me seven of your favorite words. You don’t have to explain them, but it’s more fun for readers if you do.

* * * * *

• Vivacious – People who don’t know me really well sometimes think I’m bubbly. “Bubbly” implies “dingbat” to me, and I’m not a dingbat. I will claim vivacity, instead. It’s more sophisticated than perky, and more grounded than frothy, but still very much a word that goes with pink hair.
• Brilliant – I like saying this word. I like the way you can separate the i/a dipthong just a little and make it sound more grown up than when you let the last syllable be “yant”. I like the way it describes luminescence as well as intelligence. I’m not brilliant, but sometimes I can fake it well.
• Y’all – I picked up this word on the web, but never used it outside of text until moving to Texas. Most of the Texans I know aren’t from here either, but we’ve all adopted this word into our personal lexicons. Why? It’s sweet. It’s efficient. It’s cozy. And just enough southern to add regional flavor without coming off as a hick.
• Tintinnabulation – Anyone who loves Poe understands the appeal (no pun intended) of this word. In truth, I love onomatopoeic words in general, but this one is my favorite.
• Superfluous – I hear this word and I’m hanging out with my friends Devon, Michael and Karla in junior high, and we’re having fun mimicking our algebra teacher / gym coach (well, for the girls) Seena Rhine. She used this word a lot. If someone asked what it meant, she’d say, “look it up,” then tell them how to spell it. She was a truly kind person, but never coddled us. It’s funny, but I haven’t thought of her in years.
• Imagine – Fewer words have more power, more possibility, more danger, all wrapped up in their letters. If we can imagine it, we can achieve it, improve it, acquire it, appreciate it, and go to bed with satisfied smiles on our faces.
• Story – “Tell me a story.” “What’s the story, morning glory?” “That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.” “Get the story straight.” We live, breathe, act, trade parts of ourselves, share our traditions, hopes, dreams, fears, loves and losses, all through the medium of Story. We are a people of Story. Madeleine L’Engle wrote that we have a God of Story. Whether we are losing ourselves in fiction, or living vicariously through the accounts of real adventures, we are experiencing story, and creating our own stories. How can I NOT love this word?

November Prompts are ready and waiting at CafeWriting.com.

In honor of Na [Noun] [Verb] Mo, the theme is “writing.”

Come play in our sandbox, where the napkins are soft and the coffee is always free.
(But the croissants will cost you.)

CafeWriting: November Project

Fuzzy, I realize you don’t often have time to read blogs, even mine, but I hope you read this because I desperately want – no, NEED – a jewelry box. Christmas is coming in just under two months. Marking the occasion with a jewelry box would not be out of place.

When I was nine, I saved all summer and bought my mother a jewelry box with drawers and a ring-holder section and red velvet linings, and she’s still using it. I like that box, but I’m not into white embossed exteriors, I prefer dark wood, clean lines. Velvet’s essential, but it doesn’t have to be read.

Now, most of my jewelry is just funky costume stuff, but I do have a few really good pieces. I mean, I don’t have a Audemars Piguet watch – mine are merely from Fossil – but I have some semi-precious stone necklaces from Lucia at Faire, and some pieces from a livejournal friend who does amazing work, and right now they’re all in a tangle in the central drawer of my dresser, which, while lined in velvet, isn’t really meant to hold a jewelry collection, just one or two pieces. A hand mirror, perhaps, and a comb. Stuff like that.

So, I need a jewelry box.

For that matter, I really want a couple more of these red leather stationery boxes from the bookstore, because they’d be great for storing my growing collection of perfumes…

Someone make Fuzzy read this, please.

Today was one of those Arthur Dent-esque, stayed in pajamas, worked from bed types of days. Other people call such days Thursdays, but this was a weird Thursday even for me.

I went to bed at 1:30 on Halloween night, after thinking about it for an hour and a half, then was up at six-thirty. I’d finished most of work for the day by nine, but was feeling tired and sick, so went back to bed, waking again around noon. Checked in with work again, had lunch, had tea, nibbled on pumpkin seeds, looked outside and saw that it was gray. November should be gray, I think.

I tried to write for another three hours, largely unsuccessfully, because I couldn’t focus. I researched the article I thought I was going to write, then, once Fuzzy was up (he’s been working 1-ish in the afternoon to 8-ish in the morning all week because of odd maintenance windows), retreated to bed, where the magic pillows gave me the ability to write once more. Finished the article. Vegged out for an hour and a half. Took a shower, washed and deep-conditioned my hair. The water is no longer running pink, but the soap lather is pink when I shampoo, faintly. Then, because I wanted to soak away the shoulder tension, I took a bubble bath. I meant to read but ended up just lounging. Note: baths are not as relaxing when a small dog is sitting on the tub-step staring at you.

Cat-napped for another hour, ordered pizza and read fanfic while waiting for it, then watched Smallville with Fuzzy. Came back to the bedroom when he went back to work, and am still sitting in here now, with two small dogs, a billion pillows, and tivo’d ER.

Tomorrow will be Friday.
I might actually put real clothes on.

If I don’t still feel icky.

I have a lot of friends who aren’t in the US, and get really tired of so much of the web being US-centric when it comes to auctions, cheap travel, and price comparison. I mean, we had Amazon first, Ebay lives here, and we’ve also got tons of things like Overstock and Mercado. For this reason, when I hear about ways that my foreign friends can find cheap prices on, say, the latest mp3 players, I’m happy to share.

One such site, one with a great name, is SaveBuckets. It’s not an auction house or a direct etailer, but a price-watch service that searches for the lowest price available for whatever product you’re looking for, then tells you where to find it. You can set a maximum, and the site will auto-generate an email for you when your criteria is met (the price of whatever you’re looking for drops below that maximum), or you can tell it to track items only at known stores. Either way, you’re guaranteed a low price on the hottest consumer electronics, including laptops.

The site is based in the UK, and all prices are in British pounds, and it must be making quite the splash, because it even rated a spot on Channel 4 news recently.

I’ve taken a look at the site, and run some searches just for the sake of testing it, and I like the interface – it’s simple and easy, and pretty reliable. It seems pretty obvious that users of SaveBuckets will, well, save buckets of cash.

1. Shopping is my favorite form of therapy.

2. If you get my voice mail you’ll hear me asking you to leave your number even if you think I have it. Frankly, I think this should be done automatically, in case whomever you’re calling doesn’t have access to a method of looking up your number.

3. My favorite product EVER is extremely variable. But right now I’m digging Zebra retractable roller ball pens, and Possets Frou-Frou perfume
.

4. I see something blinking. It’s the light in the UVerse descrambler.

5. When I’m grumpy it usually means I’m either hungry, or caffeine-deprived. Jamba Juice orange dream machine smoothies generally help. As does pretty much anything from Starbucks.

6. Having conversations with fictional characters while I’m workingis my strangest habit. Thankfully, only the dogs generally hear me.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight (Friday) I’m looking forward to Moonlight and Stargate Atlantis, tomorrow (Saturday) my plans include new sneakers, or maybe a trip to the zoo, and Sunday, I want to replenish the groceries – we’re almost out of everything we use daily – and get some writing done!

Like this meme? Play along here.

I say… And you think… ?

1. Inaugural :: Address
2. Pledge :: Break
3. String :: Theory
4. Trot :: Canter
5. Fitness :: Center
6. Cinder :: Ella
7. Edge :: of Sanity
8. 31 :: Flavors
9. Blue :: Velvet
10. Leather :: English

Like this meme? Play along here.

I haven’t done this meme in a long time – seven weeks I think. I miss it. It always gets my mental juices flowing, which is never a bad thing. Ever.