As we run from pillar to post doing the job of AT LEAST 3 people and caring for family or friends – tips are always helpful. Here are a few:

Ever have a zipper “stick” before? Well, lightly rub an unlit candle along the teeth on both sides. The wax will lubricate the metal enough to get the zipper moving again!!

Itchy Insect Bite? Rub a little lemon juice or vinegar on the bite as soon as possible – insect venoms tend to be alkaline, and applying something acidic to the area counteracts the poison, preventing itch and irritation!

Have highlighted hair? Did the chlorine from the pool leave it murky, or green? Apply a few squirts of ketchup to your hair, let sit 20 minutes and then rinse/shampoo/rinse. The citric acid in ketchup will neutralize the copper-oxide from chlorinated pool water!!

Run out of Glass Cleaner? Mix equal parts of vinegar in water, and it doesn’t leave streaks!

And last but not least, DUCT TAPE. Works like a charm for many quick fixes!!

I hope one of these ‘fixes’ make your life easier – we could all use that! OF COURSE, use common sense – we don’t want you eating the UNLIT candle, drinking the vinegar or duct taping your nose!!!

 While at the beach I thought I would “stay on top of things” and bring my work laptop.  At first it seemed like a good thing to do because I could keep up with projects and my colleagues but as the week moved on it almost felt like I never left the workplace.  It was still pretty relaxing but answering emails, interviewing candidates , making calls all makes it seem like your butt is still in the seat.

Now don’t get me wrong, it is a nice luxury to not have to come back to 100+ emails etc but the price you pay is not really being able to “let go”, “let your hair down” and have that “Calgone Take Me Away Moment”.  Also, most clients and candidates appreciate the extra effort, especially when you are on PTO. 

So friend or foe?!?!  Mostly friend…or may be foe….heck I don’t know.

1. If I teach my avatar to fold laundry, load or unload the dishwasher????- could it happen?  (I wish!)

I am truly amazed at how far technology has come.  To think that my first cell phone was the size of a briefcase, had a cord and big antenna.  Now they are small enough to hide in a pocket.  Do you ever wonder what technology will offer in 10 years from now?  20 years from now?  Will it ever be like the Jetson’s?

Will be interesting!!

…Responding to an email too quickly…

…Hitting the “Reply All” button when the message was for only one of the recipients…

Hopefully you were not talking bad about anyone!!!

Or what about when the autofill pops a name in the “To” line and then you realize you just emailed the wrong person?     OMG!

I guess the moral of this story is to check every line in our email before we hit that “Send” button as it can save us a lot of embarrassment and make sure the email is intended for the person or persons we mean to send it to…
 

I wish we had a “Retract” button that actually worked, invisibly snatching back an email.

 Now that would be genius!!!!  Microsoft, can you do better please?

I am talking about those annoying messages that pop up when you use too many asterisks in a Boolean string, develop a complex string with inurl: and more often than not when X-Raying Google for LinkedIn Profiles or any site using the site: command. You then have to prove to Google that you are indeed a part of the Homo sapiens species and decipher a CAPTCHA.   To quote one of my current most favorite writers in the search world, Glen Cathey, this has something to do with the issue of Google thinking everyone has suddenly become a malicious bot sending automated queries to their servers.
 
The nerve!! I mean don’t sit in the dark. The whole search community is up in arms over this. Folks who are the foremost authority on all things search and Boolean are talking, from Glen Cathey on Boolean Black Belt to technical wonder whiz Irina Shamaeva’s Technorati post, the blogosphere is abuzz.

Maybe all the attention is getting a bit too much for Google to handle – I think I’ll dash off a personal letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt on some non technical good ole fashioned rolled up parchment scroll so it will stand out in all the bits and bytes of code.
 
“Dear Google, I was a “Resident Alien” before I became a US Citizen but I assure you I am 100% HUMAN. No green blood, electronic nerves, mechanical motor hearts nor intent to harm. You are a premier search engine & a smart one too! What’s with the captchas? We ask for Search Engine Freedom!!!! Please release us from this bondage. You must find a way out.”

To prevent this issue you have to
(1)regularly clear your cookies (how painful is that, I’d rather loose my memory first!),
(2) switch browsers
(3) try Bing or Yahoo!
(4) or interestingly enough I just stumbled across this
(5) I am sure we will find other work arounds

This is putting a real crimp in my search style and it’s been going for a while now. Do me a favor – voice your opinions please!

In the world we live in, we take so much for granted and do not pay attention to the smaller things in life.  A new blossom on a flower, or the cucumber plant sprouting thru the dirt. 
You can’t live your life taking note of every single thing. But every now and again, examine your world and marvel at it. It will do you good, I bet.