Below are my top 3 favorite, easy and I like to think impactful ways to help reduce waste, without breaking the bank.

1.  BYOB #1  This one is soooo easy! Stop using plastic grocery bags.  I purchased several totes made of organic cotton from Reusablebags.com and they work great.  We keep them in the car, they are washable, hold a ton of stuff, and look clean since they are black.   This means one less plastic bag flitting about the freeway and threatening to melt to the undercarriage of my car;-)

2.  BYOB #2  Bring Your Own Bottle!  Somehow tap water became a piryah and now we  drink municipal water that has been filtered and put in a plastic bottle.  Save yourself $$ and the world a bunch of plastic waste by filtering your own municipal water. I like the Brita + Nalgene combo.    The Brita filter has a nice meter on top that tells you when to change the filter (make sure you get the one of the indicator), the water is always refrigerator cold, and it is MUCH less expensive, and infinitely more convenient than buying and disposing of plastic water bottles.

3.  BYOLB Bring Your Own Lunch Bag!  I just bought myself an early birthday present – this adorable and completely functional lunch bag.  Today it fit a large grapefruit, a container of blueberries, a hard boiled egg and a yogurt – with a ton of room to spare!  It is perfectly shaped and infinitely better than a paper or plastic sack that will end up in the landfill.  This one is a lot more manly but certainly not as cute! 

DO:

1. Remember to attach your resume (Seriously. I get at least 2/week with no attachment)

2. Include a short concise cover letter IN THE EMAIL.  Not once have I opened a cover letter attachment.

3. In this cover letter, tell me why you are the right candidate for the position.  What knowledge, qualities or skills do you have that are well suited for the role?

4.  Please, please, please submit a resume that clearly states what you did, what your accomplishments were, and, if you are in sales, quota attainment.

5. Spell check!!

DO NOT:

1.  Don’t include the phrase “the birds were singing”, or anything else as equally non sequitur in the cover letter/email.  This sets you apart, but not in a good way.  This exact phrase appeared in a submission from 2 weeks ago.  Needless to say that resume wasn’t opened.

2.  Don’t include a long, tedious cover letter with no content.  I can’t tell you how many I receive elaborating on what great sales experience the person has. Blah Blah Blah. Great sales people will tell me why their product (themselves) is the perfect solution to my problem (open position).  And not in a cheesy way!

3. Don’t leave any grammar mistakes on the cover letter or resume.  Seems simple, but showing an eye for detail on your marketing material will help show you can apply this same attention to detail on the job.  The opposite is also true.

I know, not rocket science:-)

Sadly, Twisted River is not one of my favorites. In fact, I made it only halfway!!  I just couldn’t finish it.  It went on, and on, and on. It didn’t go anywhere, and I didn’t care about the characters.  I think the worst offense was the characters.  And the lack of plot.  <sigh>

I really don’t like not being able to finish a book.  It feels like quitting.

This plastic, albeit strange, looking device is perfect for anyone who has hard to reach knots in their back and neck.

Theracane is perfectly shaped to easily hold while reaching the middle of your back, without having to pull off a yoga move to get your opposite arm into the right position.

This is an easy $26 purchase decision in my book!

My main gripe – not all the apps I use seem to have caught up with 7.   Salesforece Mail merge is one such app I would really like to work, and doesn’t. I only found one other post on this so thought I would post as well. The response to my Salesforce support ticket is below…

“Thank you for contacting Salesforce Support. I am following up with you in regards to case xxxxx.

At this time Windows 7 is not fully supported to use with Connect for Outlook, therefore we cannot guarantee full functionality of the Connect for Outlook plugin. Unfortunately, there is not a time frame when Windows 7 will be fully supported with Connect for Outlook. Also, please keep in mind the below system requirements for Connect for Outlook.

* Microsoft Outlook XP (2002), 2003, or 2007

* Microsoft Windows® 2000, XP, or Vista™ (32-bit only; 64-bit is not supported)

* Microsoft Exchange Server

* Microsoft Word XP (2002), 2003, or 2007″

To summarize why it is bad: flat stereo typed characters, a plot that was hard to care about, a ridiculous “reveal” at the end that isn’t worth waiting for, I could go on and on.

Where The Da Vinci Code made claims that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, the basis of Symbol’s mythology is that the human mind is capable of changing matter, and that this fact is actually the main point of the Bible.  Interesting, but if that is your cup of tea read The Secret.  Similar idea, but slightly more interesting and without all the bad characters.

However, when I looked at the label I found this: Dietary Fiber less than 0g.

What!?!  Does this yogurt not only not contain fiber, but does it actually somehow suck it out of my body??  Is Chobani Pomegranate flavor somehow a fiber black hole?

For now, I am going to assume it was mislabeled.   Or perhaps I am just not smart enough to understand < 0 as it pertains to nutritional value. Whatever the case I think it is the first time I have seen such a unique claim on a food label, and trust me, I read a lot of labels.

If you have, and especially if you are in the Bay Area, you are familiar with the crazily competitive parents out there, proudly trotting beside their 10 month olds who can walk, talk and make homemade bread simultaneously.

It is because of these parents we have avoided classes such as Gymberee.  However, we eventually concluded that this may be a selfish reason deny our daughter the opportunity to play with fun gym equipment and interact with other little babies.  We are now official Gymberee members.

Where does the Jolly Walker fit in?  I hate to think we are becoming competitively crazed Bay Area parents, but we did realize that of all the class, our kiddo was one of the few not yet walking.  Now granted she is on the young side at only 11 months. And it is honestly easier for me if she isn’t walking.  But perhaps we were holding her back to make things easier for ourselves; or perhaps we got a small bite by the competitive bug and wanted to see our little one toddling around the room as well.

Whatever the reason, we received the Jolly Walker as a gift from her grandparents for her first birthday, ensuring us this was the toy they used to get their youngest, a late walker, to finally walk. The walker was assembled, and the baby was stuck on the back of it, and she immediately started walking along behind her little “shopping cart” as if she had been doing it every day of her young life!

What is great about this particular walker is you can adjust the friction applied to the wheels, therefore slowing down or speeding up the rate at which the cart can role.  We have her at a “tortoise” pace right now, but I am afraid it won’t be long until our goal of her walking is met.  Just yesterday she stood on her own for the first time.

Therefore, I have to rate our experience with this walker as outstanding. It worked as advertised, and quickly, and it doesn’t “scoot” out from under her by going too fast.   Just be prepared to have your infant toddle her way into toddlerhood before your very eyes…

1. In the bedding department, while the woman behind the counter begrudgingly exchanged my mis-purchased item for the correct one, she commented “I never buy things online, because in my experience, all people do is return it.”  Thanks a lot lady.  Do you have any idea how much I have spent ONLINE at Macy’s and didn’t make a return?

2.  In the shoe department, where granted they are on commission, so not only am I an inconvenience, but a possible lost sale, it was even worse. When the salesman found out I had a return, he processed my request without making eye contact ONCE.  And said nothing as he handed me my processed receipt.  I sheepishly walked away feeling like I had done something wrong.  What a good sales person would have done, was asked what was wrong with the shoes, and helped me to find a better option.  And I probably would have bought. Shame on you Macy’s!  You lost a potential sale, and worse, my good will.

Conversely, at Nordie’s the same shopping day, the girl behind the makeup counter helped me even though it was “appointment day only”, and went so far as to not only pick colors for me, but showed me how to apply them!  I walked away spending more than I intended and much more loyalty for a return trip.

Feb 24, 2010 – update on this. I actually ended up returning shoes at Nordstrom’s a couple of weeks ago. The sales person addressed me immediately, asked if I had a return, when I mentioned the shoes were too narrow she apologized and asked if she could help me find a replacement.  EXACTLY as I said Macy’ should have!  It is amazing how two very similar retail companies, but run so differently, can produce such polar opposite results.

Then the inevitability of the Fall 2009 TV season rolls around, and I immediately, shamelessly, fall off the wagon.

What I realized, is that I am just too tired to fight the temptation.   However, I did manage to get several hours of my life back by breaking up with a few shows.

1. Heroes.  What happened to this show?  What started off with so much promise, is now rote and repetitive.  I don’t care about the carny characters, I don’t care about whiny Clair, and I don’t care about Syler popping in and out.  Ugh.

2. CSI (the original).  It was bad all last season.  Bones and Criminal Minds are so much better.

3. Mad Men.  This show can be very clever, and is subtle and well acted. It just doesn’t move quickly enough for my reality-TV-junky taste.

4.  Numbers.  I never really watched this one, but hubby did.  I still won’t watch it. The main character is so annoying!  “Math can solve anything!” The only math I am interested in is the math that will pay off my mortgage.

5. Law and Order. Still a great show, but it didn’t make the short list.

6. Dancing with the Stars. I miss this one. But we can’t watch it while Tom Delay is on it.  It is disturbing enough to see the clips on The Daily Show and Colbert Report.

What was I not strong enough not to give up? Survivor (love this show AND Jeff Probst’s blog), Amazing Race (can’t wait for Sunday!), Biggest Loser (this show keeps me motivated while spinning at 5:30AM), Bones, Criminal Minds, and Glee (I love that this show is unabashedly corny, while still well written) .

Happy watching, or for those much stronger than I, happy not-watching;-)