Smart Technology Saves You Time

Technology should work for you, not against you. It's meant to save you time and money. So for social butterflies, like myself, who have a number of IM accounts with say, Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk and then a few different email accounts and then even more social networking accounts (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace), a solution is required that consolidates all of them in one place. Cue my wonderful friend Digsby.

With Digsby, I've set up my 3 email accounts, 4 social networking accounts and 3 chat accounts. It's configured to start up with my pc or laptop and immediately I can see if I have new emails, can check Facebook for any updates and know who's available to chat without the slog of having to log into all the the IM accounts individually.

So what else can this sweet little tool do? Well you don't just get to see what's happening. You can also update your status, delete those new emails, mark them as read or report them as spam. You can set your preferences to suit your needs...timestamps, buddy icons, notifications, the works.

Best thing since sliced bread? No...Better.

Opposites: Optimism or Pessimism

Don't blame me for this... This blog owner asked for a new entry. I guess the last one wasn't enough of this old man.

What do you know abut Taoism?


I know nothing at all about Taoism except this story:


An old farmer's son found a great white stallion. His neighbor said, "My, how fortunate you are with your son finding that great horse."

Farmer: It could be good or it could be bad.

The horse bucked, his son fell and broke his leg. The neighbor told him how sad he was that his son had the misfortune of breaking his leg.

Farmer: It could be good or it could be bad.

A war lord came through gathering all able young men for war. The farmer's son was left behind with his broken leg. Again the neighbor said, how fortunate the man was that his son was not taken.

Farmer: It could be good or it could be bad.

The farmer is neither an optimist or a pessimist. It is all luck to him and good or bad at that.

When it rains, the optimist sees flowers and good crops coming. The pessimist prepares for a flood by building an arc.

The dreams of the optimist often come true. He sees the vision and he reaps the harvest.

The dreams of the pessimist come true too and he fails. He reaps the whirlwind.

So, will your dreams come true and are they positive dreams of success?

If they are, you will be the winner.

John

Are You Buying Postconsumer Content?

'Or' Are you buying recycled?

Just as important as recycling all of your rubbish is the act of “closing the circle” by buying stuff made of recycled materials. Keeping recyclable materials out of the trash heap is only the first step in ensuring the true value of recycling.

The high demand for eco-friendly products encourages manufacturers because of the financial benefits to use more of these materials. Belief that recycled products are more expensive or of poorer quality has consistently proven to be tosh. A recent Buy Recycled Business Alliance survey reports that 97% of respondents are satisfied with the performance of recycled products.

Try it for yourself compare products side-by-side to demonstrate the strength and quality of recycled products. Additional studies have shown that most of these products cost less than 5% more than comparable products made of virgin (non-recycled) content. Often the cost is the same or recycled materials even cost less.

Buying recycled products is easy. Just check the labels on the stuff you buy. Important to look out for is “Postconsumer content,” which means the product is made at least in part of materials we would usually throw away as waste.


To have a major impact, try to buy paper towels with at least 30% postconsumer content. Other great things to buy that are made from recyclables include aluminum cans, toilet tissue, trash bags, egg cartons, and glass containers. More and more of these products are available all the time, so support their manufacturers and keep the cycle going!