Author:
HeyAmaretto
Feb
25
It's for you
Today I was making a list of Trusted Business Partners for Towne & Country- the TCTP list. The purpose of this list is multi-fold: should a client request some names, these could be given. If we need a guest blogger, this would be the pool we would ask first. If we have a question, these people would be trusted to give an honest informative answer. If they want, we will let them know about new posts on the company blog. I would hope that Towne & Country is on THEIR lists.
I got the list of names from Gerry, and began the work of putting together current phone numbers and emails. Should be easy, because everyone is on the Internet. Right?
Right?
Wrong, Diane.
I understand privacy issues. I’m in real estate, and had real issues about my phone number and everything else about me being all over the place. This was until I saw an ad from a real estate agent who claimed that he answered every call within 15 minutes… 24/7. Only awake 3rd shift? No problem! Have your best ideas about marketing your home after your 10th cup of coffee, when those infomercials are on? Sure, give us a call!
Well, guess what? I don’t know if I can go the 24/7 route that this guy is, but I had better be available and responsive. If people would rather email than call, I better have my email address somewhere that you can find it.
So what is the deal with people in business who don’t? Is that extra little bit of privacy worth more than the (I would bet my life) substantial number of people who are looking for them and move right on down the line when they can’t be found?
If you are afraid of junk email, get a domain from GoDaddy, buy an email package with it, and set it up to forward to your main email account. Or keep it separate, and get in the habit of checking 2 accounts a day.
On the flip side, it was a pleasure confirming Frank DiMaria’s information. Everything is there on a clean-looking page, including an email that is short and sweet- not 70chars@100chars.com. Thanks, Frank, for making my life easier. And for making it easier to find you in a world full of attorneys, and, well, real estate agents.
And thank you, Christine, for taking the bull by the horns and sending me ALL of the email addresses. Christine, you RAWK!
Author:
HeyAmaretto
Jan
1
Web, Social Networking
by Thomas Houston — Apr 17th 2009 at 12:49PM
Yes, Twitter is now officially inescapable, especially now that the one-and-only Oprah has blessed the wildly popular (and hyped) microblogging service with her magic touch. Even if you’re using Twitter on your phone, it’s not easy to tweet while at work; Twitter’s now-iconic page design is instantly recognizable from across a large room. Fortunately for you cubicle dwellers out there, a free new app (pictured above) melds the boss-appealing and productivity-enhancing visual appeal of spreadsheets with — what else — Twitter.
Hmmmmm…
Posted via web from heyamaretto’s posterous
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Author:
HeyAmaretto
Dec
27
Sensing at age 44 that she was approaching “the age of dissatisfaction,” Katie Smith Milway declared to a friend, “I want to have a positive midlife crisis.”
She went on to do exactly that. On advice from her friend, publisher Valerie Hussey, Ms. Milway revived her old passion for public service, swapped her corporate consulting job for a post advising nonprofits, and wrote a book for children on helping people in developing lands. The outcome, says the Wellesley, Mass., mother of three, has been “uplifting, and gives me more time for family and community-based work.”
A new age group is entering midlife—and some members are tackling it differently than those in generations past. Historically, the excuse, “I’m having a midlife crisis,” was often used to justify reckless, self-indulgent behavior, from infidelity to splurging on sports cars. But now, some Generation Xers and younger baby boomers are quietly refusing to have their midlife crises the old-fashioned way. More mindful than their parents about the psychological perils of middle age, they are anticipating midlife unrest and trying to turn it to positive ends.
A growing number of researchers are defining middle age more broadly and in positive terms, as a good time to reassess life goals and chart a new course. “Midlife is your best and last chance to become the real you,” declared an article on the topic last year in the Harvard Business Review, which drew thousands of emails in response, says co-author Carlos Strenger, an associate professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University in Israel and a researcher and consultant on midlife change. As Generation X moves into middle age, “the old idea that midlife is the onset of decline seems to be rejected by most, in favor of the notion that life can be creative and innovative until much later,” Dr. Strenger says.
“Midlife is your best and last chance to become the real you.”- I don’t know if it is the last, but financially and freedom-wise, it may very well be the best chance you have. Sit down and think about it today- how would you make your life better, more fulfilling, more productive and more beneficial to the rest of the world. Then do it!
Posted via web from heyamaretto’s posterous
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Author:
HeyAmaretto
Dec
26
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kathy Grannis (202) 626-8189 or grannisk@nrf.com
www.nrf.com/holidays
NRF Forecasts One Percent Decline in Holiday Sales
–As Losses Stabilize, Retailers Hone In on Aggressive Promotions–
Washington, October 6, 2009 — The National Retail Federation today released its 2009 holiday forecast, projecting holiday retail industry sales to decline one percent this year to $437.6 billion.* While this number falls significantly below the ten-year average of 3.39 percent holiday season growth, the decline is not expected to be as dramatic as last year’s 3.4 percent drop in holiday retail sales nor as severe as the 3.0 percent decline in annual retail industry sales expected for all of 2009.**
Not as bad as last year. What about you? Did you spent more or less last year?
Posted via web from heyamaretto’s posterous
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Author:
HeyAmaretto
Dec
10
Hot chocolate time!
I came across this old post the other day:
I started the tradition of wrapping everything, including the gift cards and stocking stuffers, when the children were tiny, and there were fewer of them. I remember one of my friends looking at me as if I had stuffed all of my intelligence into the Salvation Army pot; they wrapped nothing- they just left heaps of toys out for their kids. That just seemed so bleak to me, so I began my tradition: I wanted each gift to burst forward as a surprise! I wanted each child to gently shake each wrapped parcel, pondering the mystery of Jesus and the magic of a Santa who so completely knew a little child’s innermost wishes and somehow crafted each, delivered them by a certain date- and took the time to wrap them all!
How charming! The years passed, the children kept coming, and on Christmas Eve, around 2:00 AM as I was heading to WTF Land, Santa looked less like he was taking the time to wrap the magic, and more like he had assigned the job to his elves after their company party. Only one child in this house actually believes anymore, but I am still wrapping gift certificates. You can’t just cut a tradition off at the knees, and, in all honesty, I like how the unwrapping extends the moment.
But for now, back to work.
What is interesting about this is that yesterday I had a talk with the little one who is 11. She told me that she no longer believes, and hasn’t since before last Christmas. She was acting as if she did last year so that I wouldn’t be disappointed.
They all know that Christmas in this house this year- as in many others in the country- is going to be a much less extravagant affair than in times past. I had been trying to figure out how I could explain a short Christmas list in the context of Santa. After all, magic is not affected by mortal circumstances, is it?
This child was already there, though. She had made her small list and was not sad about it, although I was. And I can’t figure out why- why do I feel that a huge pile of presents is necessary to create a holiday atmosphere? Why are excess and happiness entwined in my mind?
I KNOW I don’t give my kids credit enough. I expect them to be really attached to material things, and to feel that the traditions of their babyhood are intractable regardless of circumstance, and here they are, ahead of me. They don’t care what’s there under the tree, as long as we took time going through all of their handmade ornaments when putting up that tree, and followed it with hot chocolate.
That’s present enough for me.
Author:
HeyAmaretto
Dec
7
…and this is a real recipe
Stew
- 1 lb stew beef – cubed
- 1 package stew vegetables (mine were frozen, store brand. Onions, carrots, potatoes, celery)
- 1 container beef broth- mine was 1 pint size
- 1 cup V8 type juice
- 1/3 cup flour
- water as needed. salt. pepper. oil to brown meat.
Put beef in large pot, add oil, and brown.
Let cool slightly, then add 4 cups water, the beef stock or broth, and the juice. Put heat at medium and let it cook for at least 2 hours, checking fluid levels. Meat should always be covered.
Add vegetables. If they were frozen, give it another hour. If they are not frozen, the carrots will tell you when they are done- they should not be crisp in the center. Make sure there is enough broth in there to cover the veggies- if not, add some more water.
When the vegetables are done, you can serve this as soup just the way it is, salting to taste. To thicken it for stew, remove 2 cups of the broth (by this time this will be about half of the broth because it cooks down) and place in a smaller saucepan. in a measuring cup, add 1/3 cup of flour to 1 cup of water- mix as well as you can. Whisk the flour mixture into the saucepan broth, and when it is mixed in bring it to just below a boil. It should start getting thicker. Slowly pour the thickened saucepan liquid into the large pot and mix. Cool on medium low for another half hour, then salt to taste and serve.
If you are crockpotting this: you can add the flour/water mixture directly to the pot when the vegetables are done. Make sure the lumps are really mixed out, and slowly pour in a little at a time, stirring as you go. Let it cook for 20 minutes after to make sure the flour cooks and thickens it up.
My mother had an alternate recipe that she used: Open 4 cans of Chunky Beef Stew. Pour into a pot and heat; spread flour on the counter to make it look homemade.
Nice with crusty bread.
AT&T captivity is the single biggest reason foks who don’t buy iPhones don’t buy them, so this would be big. 
