I love my Kindle.  Bryan bought it for me for my birthday in 2008, and I won’t buy books now unless they are available on my beloved E-Reader.        
Why on earth do Bryan and I have 3 Kindles (Gen 1, Gen 1, and DX)  between us?  Quite simply, we are insatiable readers that ran out of physical space in our home.
Note to publishers – KINDLE OWNERS LOVE TO READ – we can’t get enough of books – and electronic format is the best for us.  We are the power consumers of your product.
So, when you hold out on publishing on Kindle, perhaps due to fear that your business model is at risk of becoming extinct if competing publishing models (aka Amazon, and now Apple) have too much power, guess who loses?  Your two customers – the authors, and the power consumers of content.  And examples like this are the only way of speaking out us power users have.
So my note to you, publishers, is if you don’t find a way to keep your business model relevant, and make money in a digital economy, you too will be closing your doors, as the likes of Amazon.com and Apple sweep in to replace you.
Really, it’s only a matter of time…

My little munchkin is growing up!!
Lately, nothing has made her happier than getting to sit on the couch or chair like a “big girl”.  So I thought, I bet she would love her own chair!
After some online research and determining the $50 options from the likes of amazon.com, target, jcpenny etc had terrible quality reviews, we opted to check out the Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Chair.  This definitely falls into the “spurge” category at $140, but the chair is sooo cute, large enough to fit her for years to come, and so light we can pick it up via its little handle and put it in any room.
And best of all, her face lights up like a Christmas tree every time she sees her chair. She dives into it like they are old friends, bringing books, blocks and other toys in the chair to join her.
I still call her my little baby, but she really isn’t any more.    My mom always warned me not to wish my life away as it all goes so quickly, but I don’t think I could truly appreciate that advise until I became a mommy… Love you munchkie!

Youth in Revolt took me a while to get through.  I suppose had I read the jacket of the physical book, and realized this was “absurdist fiction” perhaps my expectations would have been appropriately set.   Being that I read this on the Kindle, I did not realize this small but very relevant fact.
There were laugh out loud moments, many of them.  But there were also many moments that were too over the top for my taste.  Being told from the perspective of a 14 year old boy didn’t help.
I won’t be reading the rest of the books told from Nick Twisp’s perspective, but I do appreciate how clever the author was in his creation.

My husband and I have many conversations on ways to “go green”.   Ultimately, we would love to live off the grid. Practically speaking, that won’t happen any time soon!
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!  😉

As a sales hiring manager for the last 6 years, I have been the recipient of many resume submissions.  Over the course of time I have come across a few Do’s and Don’ts. 
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:-)

Last Night in Twisted River is the latest by John Irving. Let me begin by saying that I count The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany amoungst my favorite books of all time.
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.

Haven’t heard of the Theracane?  Neither had I until my sister so kindly purchased one for me for Christmas.
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!

First, I must say I am surprised that I like Windows 7 (vs. xp).  It starts and shuts down much faster, and I like how it manages stacking of open windows so my system tray isn’t the cluttered mess it used to be.
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”

Where to start with The Lost Symbol…  It was terrible!!  Life is too short to read books like this. 
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.

I was eating my favorite breakfast this morning, Chobani Greek Style Yogurt, and enjoying the surprising number of pomegranate seeds that were in the mix.  Normally this yogurt has < 1 gram of fiber, not ideal of course, but I am currently enamored with the 14g of protein this particular brand/style of yogurt provides.  Given the nice pop of seeds, I expected this flavor might exceed the normal < 1g of fiber statistic.
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.