January 31, 2011

A funny thing happened to me today. A woman stopped and asked me if I had the time. I was dumbfounded. When was the last time someone asked the time? Usually people whip out their cell phones to check time. I was wearing a watch so just had to look. Yes I often wear a watch. I liken it to a bracelet and I like jewelry. I have read that if you wear a watch it dates you, qualifying that you are old. Well I am old!

The odd thing about the whole time question too was that I was shopping for a new cell phone. The sales associate asked me if I wanted to use the phone as a phone. That tickled me because I do want a phone to be a phone. My expectations are lower than most consumers evidently from the discussion I had with the sales woman. Phone and text and that’s great. Of course telling me the time is a bonus in case I forget to wear my watch or want to look younger.

In making a two year commitment, I understand the affection some people have for their phones. I know of many relationships and jobs that didn’t come close to lasting two years. The features are unbelievable that you can have on your phone. I am just not sure that I would even come close to utilizing half of them. I expressed this to the sales woman who reassured me that few people actually do. In fact only after working for six months in the business does she know most of the features of her own phone!

 So what phones and what plans and what providers do people love or hate? What features must you have, wish you had, will upgrade to or get once your two year commitment is over?

January 29, 2011

Seesmic Logo Newsletter January 27, 2010
Dear Team Seesmic Friends,

The newest version of Seesmic Web comes with some major features to manage
your online social presence. From the ability to schedule your posts to
adding unlimited Facebooks accounts, you’ll find Seesmic Web continues to
be a powerful yet easy-to-use application service.

Just login as you normally would to see the updates, if there are any
issues please try a shift refresh or if issues still persist, please clear
your browser cache and log back in to ensure you can see the changes.

Updates to Seesmic Web 1.0 include:

* Scheduled messages to post to your networks
* Autocomplete your Twitter usernames
* Klout integration
* Keyboard Shortcuts
* Adding unlimited Facebook accounts
* Direct Messages received timeline
* Drag and drop images to the status bar for posting
* See.sc url shortener

Scheduled Posts

Maximize the timing of your published post by scheduling your messages to
reach your online followers. Simply write the post, select the networks,
the day and the hour you plan to publish and you’re done – the post will
be sent on schedule!

Autocomplete Usernames

With the challenge of remembering usernames, Seesmic Web offers a useful
feature that automatically lists out usernames when creating a message.
Type @ followed by letters in the compose box to search through the users
you’re following for their username and full name and select the user.

Klout Integration

Klout is a service that allows users to track the impact of their
opinions, links and recommendations across their social graph. Know who
the influencers are in Seesmic Web by viewing the Klout scores within your
Twitter stream. Search for more detailed Klout information by viewing the
details within the Contacts Manager.

Direct Messages received timeline

Our Messages tab has always been a helpful feature to manage direct
messages (DM) in a threaded conversation view. After listening to user
feedback, you can now view them as a separate column in the home feed. You
can also directly reply to the message from the same column to ensure your
messages stay private.

Seesmic web DM

Unlimited Multiple Facebook Accounts

If you manage more than one Facebook account, you can now manage them all
in one dashboard in Seesmic Web, together with all your other networks.

Seesmic web multiple FB acc

Drag and Drop for instant upload with Google Chrome

You’re in a hurry and the picture you want to send out sits comfortably on
your desktop? Drag and drop the picture in the status bar of Seesmic Web,
and it will be uploaded instantly.

Seesmic Web – Drag and Drop a picture

Keyboard Shortcuts and See.sc url shortener

For power users who want to optimize their ability to scan through columns
of messages, you can now press ‘Shift + ?’ to get a list of initial
keyboard shortcuts and use Seesmic Web just through the power of your
keyboard. We look forward to providing more keyboard shortcuts in the
future.

Seesmic Web – Shortcuts

See.sc url shortener
If you’re also looking for a different link shortener service, Seesmic Web
gives you the ability to select the one which suits you best – either
bit.ly or See.sc url shortener.

A special Thank you! also goes out to our Translation Team that never
lets us down and always manages to finish the task of bringing Seesmic Web
up to date – internationally speaking that is!

How does this sound? All your networks into one tab, an intuitive
interface and unlimited number of Twitter and Facebook accounts. Is there
anything else missing? If you think so, drop a line at @askseesmic and
we’re sure to pay attention.

We’re looking forward to more updates coming very soon!

Don’t forget to become a fan at http://ping.fm/oaq1n
And follow us at http://ping.fm/lGpGT
Feel free to ask http://ping.fm/eT8Ue

Seesmic, 1550 Bryant, Suite 890, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA – To
unsubscribe, click or copy and paste into browser:
http://ping.fm/YJGP8

PodCast Fun January 24, 2011

 Today I was interviewed by Nicole Fende on her talk radio show. What a hoot. It was like talking with a good friend, laughing, sharing and having a nice chatty visit! nfende@smallbusinessfinanceforum.com www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SmallBizFinance

To listen to the podcast you can go to: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/smallbizfinance-blog-talk/id394412159 Nicole runs her business company with the bent on helping small business owners become successful. Nicole recognizes that many small business owners do not know the business nuts and bolts of running their business successfully so she is there to help. How many of us know designers, artists, musicians or cooks who are so talented but couldn’t develop a business plan if they were slapped by one on the side of their head?

Nicole helps with examples that are clear and understandable, and her blog is outstanding! I love numbers and business, so of course I clicked with Nicole. In College I took lots of math classes because it was a break from writing yet another paper. In my former jobs with big corporate companies, I was the one who was interested in the presentations showing spreadsheets of profits and future projections. I even enjoyed the book “Smilla’s Sense of Snow”. Smilla finds comfort in numbers and so do I.

Just liking numbers and being able to make a spreadsheet does not make you a business professional. So many businesses fail because the owners do not understand fully the concept of their business. We have all seen restaurants fail and don’t understand what happened. Turns out most likely neither did the owner. Great food, great location, great service, but behind the scenes did they have enough capitol for operating costs or a million other business reasons? Nicole uses her expertise to answer these kinds of questions and help businesses reach their goals and dreams of success.

Our Plus Size journey January 17, 2011

Haralee.Com sleepwear has a true plus size in 2X and 3X. Yeah so what you might ask? Good to know you might say? Who cares you might say? Well it is a big deal in the garment industry and for us and it was a fun time to get there.

We received many requests from customers for a plus size, not just a bigger stretched – out size medium. Our customers wanted the rise in the pajama bottoms to fit and be comfortable. They wanted the shoulders on the nightgown and pajama tops to fit and be comfortable. They wanted comfort and we wanted to supply it. Who knew this journey would take us a year to complete!

Our designers and pattern makers had to start from square one in redesigning our patterns to the new sizing charts and requirements. Once we had a prototype for a pattern we had our sample maker sew up a few samples.

Our next step was to find plus size fit models to fit the new samples and patterns before we went into production.  A fit model is a person of a specific height and measurements range. No pictures are taken that can be used for a modeling portfolio, it is just the fit. We advertised hoping to find 2 women that could work for about an hour during business hours. We were swamped by the AD. Most women who responded were hoping to add the pictures to their portfolio for acting and modeling careers. After we clarified our position we still had more than a dozen women wanting the job. We picked 4 women that had the closest to our specific measurements requirements.

We have used fit models before and know something that all of us know: People lie. They may not mean to, or mean just a bit of a fib, but the measuring tape tells the truth.  2 of our 4 models were great to meet but we had to send them on their way because they were not even close to be in range. Luckily the other 2 women worked out great and with a few adjustments we went into production and now have plus sizes to our product mix.

Have you lied on your driver’s license about your height or weight? Would you answer and AD for a modeling or acting job and fudge your measurements?

Intereseting Studies in Breast Cancer January 10, 2011

Aspirin, a baby dose, has showed some benefits to deterring reoccurrence of breast cancer. Studies were not looking at Aspirin but found the benefits in breast cancer patients as a common thread. Most women were taking the aspirin for heart benefits and it turns out another benefit is breast cancer re-occurrence. So do you go out and buy the Children’s Aspirin and start taking it immediately? Not so fast. Talk with your oncologist and see if it is right for you. Like any drug taken long term, there are side effects to consider.

The FDA has recommended that the drug Avastin should not be recommended for breast cancer patients. Side effects were too adverse to continue use was given as the reasons. The drug has not been revoked as yet for other cancers. Avastin’s maker, Genentech is appealing.

Weight lifting for women after breast cancer surgery has been in question for years. Study after study has come out to say that lymphedema is not a result of increased activity such as weight lifting. Good for you if you have been adding weights to your exercise regime, bad news if you have used your surgery as an excuse!

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/breast_cancer_gals_blast_fda_halt_uoXFKxlaQGPC3t30Y8CAzN

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/managing-your-healthcare/cancer/articles/2010/12/17/health-buzz-avastin-shouldnt-be-used-for-breast-cancer-fda-says.html

http://getbetterhealth.com/about-weightlifting-and-breast-cancer/2010.12.22

Made in the USA January 4, 2011

 When you see the label “Made In The USA” do you think the product is made in a USA prison? Do you think it is made by a company here in the USA that is not a prison? Do you think it is just components of a product made in the USA?

Our company, Haralee.Com, made a commitment to be made in the USA. We believe it is one of our values to sustain the USA economy. Most of our competitors have gone offshore. Their labor costs are less yet they charge the same as us so their profits are greater. I don’t begrudge anyone their business success.

At Haralee.Com we make our products in the USA. We buy all our fabric, labels, notions, and shipping bags from companies based in the USA. We also use in country pattern makers, designers, web masters, and hosting companies. We think the commitment to ‘Made In America’ means jobs and employment to our neighbors, friends and small companies that are trying to succeed today.

In most cases it is a privilege for the inmate to work at a prison run company. Restitution can be made from their income so it is a win-win situation; however work done by prisoners creeps some people out is the bottom line. Some work produced off shore is not regulated and many look the other way as to the conditions a garment is produced.

Consumers have a great choice of where they make their purchases. We just want people to buy their wicking garments from us and support the USA economy. One less suffering woman with hot flashes and night sweats buying our garments means one more dollar staying in the USA.