A friend forwarded an email to me this morning that warned of a dangerous email that was going around. It's suggested that you warn everyone in youir address book. It didn't look right so I checked the three sites listed below and found no mention of it.

http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/

http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp

http://www.symantec.com/norton/security_response/threatexplorer/index.jsp

I then googled the topic and found that this thing has been going around for some time. What's the point?

The next time you get something like this, check out the three sites listed above to see if it's a real threat. If it is, learn what you can about it before emailing anything to anyone else. Of course you also need to make certain that your antivirus software is up to date.

2 days and 7 hours after ordering business cards from Vistaprint they were delivered by DHL. I paid for "slow" shipping which stated 3 weeks so I'm impressed with the delivery.

Google Vistaprint coupons and you will find quite a few sites linking you to discounted pricing on Vistaprint's site. I don't know what the deal is with that and frankly don't care. I will tell you that I bought 1,000 premium business cards on matte 100# stock one side printed with my uploaded image. Total cost including shipping, $30.42.

You really have to be on your toes throughout the order process. They throw up a bunch of offers for various things.

Just a reminder if you take your camera out in the cold to take a large zip lock bag with you. When you are done using your camera outside take out the memory card and put that in a shirt pocket. Then put your camera in the zip lock bag and close it securely. Leave it in the bag indoors for several hours. Don't open the bag. Let it warm up completely before opening the bag.

Failing to take this type of care with your camera that has been out in the cold could cause it to stop functioning. The reason is that when the cold camera is brought indoors the warmer moist air will condense on the camera. Not just on the outside but on internal parts that got cold as well. The last thing you want is a coating of condensation on the sensative parts of your camera. By keeping it in a sealed bag, you keep that warm moist air away from those precious parts.

If your computer is not running as fast as it did when you got it chances are it's in need of a cleaning. I didn't mean to actually clean out the inside but now that I think about it that's not a bad idea either - but be careful.

The cleaning I'm referring to is to run one or more utilities on it to clean up some of the junk that gets installed or left on the computer. I've been using a product from Tuneup Software called Tuneup Utilities 2006 ( latest version is 2008) on several pcs. I have clients that have bought and use it as well.

http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/ There is a fully functioning 30 day trial. I would suggest that in most cases once you've had it for 30 days you won't want to be without it. I use the registry cleaner several times a week.

For a lot of sales people a quality referral is like money in the bank. Why? Because when the referral is obtained properly there's a real good chance it will turn into a sale. So what are the things that can help you get more high quality referrals?
Timing
The best time to ask for referrals is usually at the time following delivery of your product. The customer has just received their purchase and they are pleased with the sound decision that they have made. If you did a professional job of selling your product they are feeling that they received great value for the money spent. Now is the time to ask for referrals. Don't wait until later when the "glow" is gone.

This is for those that sell directly ( eye ball to eye ball) to their customers.

Over the years I have sold various things in the customer's home - Insurance, insulation, replacement windows, heating and air conditioning equipment etc.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed those experiences. I guess the above covered a period of about 15 years.

When you do a lot of it I guess it can get boring and I'd make a game out of different facets of the process. By that I mean I would try different things to see how people would react.