For years I have resisted going paperless. I’ve wanted paper credit card statements in my hand to make it easier to reconcile the statements, and I did not want to have to use my own printer ink and paper to print them off. But I’ve noticed that my home office is drowning in paper, and I’m seriously considering checking out some paperless office software. Sometimes I feel a little bit old-fashioned in my desire for permanent hard copies of everything, but since I’ve been working with computers since the very first personal computer came out on the market I’m a little bit gun shy over the losses that can happen when something crashes. For example just yesterday when I downloaded photos from my digital camera and then was trying to modify and save the changes. The program crashed and during the crashing it deleted the entire photo. Gone, forever, never to be recovered or seen anywhere again. So I’m a little bit gun-shy, do you know what I mean?
The new marketing strategies
by Mary AnneOne of the things that I like about the advancement of the Information Age is how it allows more people to be able to work from home instead of having to commute several hours a day. Sadly many people don’t have the skills they need to be able to do that, and still others live in an area where the Information Age is still trying to reach them. I find it surprising whenever I meet a neighbor that tells me that they cannot get fast Internet where they live!
One of the companies that employs people who have access to the Internet, and copy writing skills is the triangle direct company. This company assists businesses to market their businesses on the Internet, and one of the ways it does that is by hiring people who can write for them without even leaving their houses! Can you imagine being able to make your living by staying home and typing on the computer without even having to change out of your pajamas? Sounds great to me!
Where the jobs are
by Mary AnneHave you noticed that the vast majority of “Help Wanted Ads” in the newspaper are about IT jobs? That completely amazes me, and it scares me too. When I was in college I took a lot of business courses, and one of them was a computer programming course. That computer programming course was the hardest course I had ever taken! That was the first and only college course that I took where I ended up getting a student tutor to help me study.
I flunked every test, even though they were open book take-home tests and I worked on them for hours on end. I can remember thinking that if the IT jobs of the future depended on learning how to program computers, then I was never going to survive out there! I think that the only reason that the professor gave me a passing grade was because I went begging to him not to flunk me and promised him that I would never ever try to get any IT jobs now or in the future. I think I’m in trouble!
There is a lot to it
by Mary AnneMy sister is the one who got me started with blogging. I can remember several years ago when we were talking on the phone she mentioned that she had been reading some blogs on the Internet that she thought I’d enjoy reading. I told her to send me the links to the blogs, and I read them too. At that point I became interested in blogging as well. She set me up with my domain name and signed me up with a web hosting company, and I reimbursed her through paypal.
I was like a babe in the woods back then; I had no idea how to arrange for a domain or website hosting – in fact I did not even realize that you could buy a domain from one organization and then get your web site hosting from a completely different company! I thought it was a big monopoly, like the telephone company used to be! Slowly I’m learning more about the Internet business, but it sure is a lot more complicated than I could ever imagine it to be. The people who created this stuff are pure genius. Absolute genius.
Shopping with coupons
by Mary AnneI love to shop with coupons! When I bought my Roomba vacuum I used a coupon that was in the Sunday paper for 20% off any one item. Since the Roomba was about $300, I saved about $60, which is a lot of money (both to spend and to save!) But I am thinking the purchase will be worth it because right now I could use the help with the house cleaning!
Today I went grocery shopping and saved $20 on the items that we bought. These items were things that we actually use everyday. I’m so glad that I can save money that way.