FB at Work?

A survey by Liberty Mutual’s Responsibility Project was released todaythat measured the attitudes by Americans toward using Facebook at work.

The responses indicated that 56 percent say “it is irresponsible” to be friends with a boss.

On the other hand, 62 percent said it is wrong to be friends with an employee.

Among workplace peers, 76 percent claimed it is acceptable to be Facebook friends with a coworker.

And with a rising practice in the Human Resources departments, Americans are almost evenly split on whether companies should review a job candidate’s Facebook or MySpace personal profile. From those surveyed, 52 percent said it is appropriate for the HR people and 48 percent said it is unacceptable.

Blogs Junkie

Each morning I try to read the online versions versions of 3-4 newspapers and then I try to reach 5-6 blogs of people or groups that I like. My very first exposure to a blog was just a couple of years ago when I accidentally came across a dot com that was a blog and I read it out of curiosity. I was hooked immediately.

When I decided to write my own blog I looked into the various formats and decided on using WordPress. It is easy to learn and use, and it is free to download and install. If you are looking for help with blogs, start with WordPress.

Online SAHMs

I have a friend who would love to start blogging but she has no internet connection at her house. She is a stay at home mom, which is an important job, but let’s be honest, it doesn’t pay the bills. So I recognize the sacrifices that she and her husband are making for her to stay home and be a full time mother to her kids.

Still, I can’t help but think that there might be ways to help her without chipping away at her dignity. If she had access to the internet she could do so much – save money on things by comparison shopping and printing coupons, finding lots of free entertainment and activities for her family, blogging to stay in touch with family, and even taking some online college courses if she wants to.

Laptop Defects

My last two laptops – really good brands, high end – have both failed for the same reason my son’s just failed. The little connector piece in the back where the power cord plus in gets loose from the inside connection  to the motherboard. Once the motherboard loses connection, the laptop is basically toast. You cannot reconnect the motherboard and you can’t solder it back together. This is obviously a design flaw inherent to may different types and brands of laptops.

If someone wants to start up a class action suit against the laptop manufacturers for this defect, I’m on board. I’m about sick of spending about $3,000 every year on a new laptop because one little connector piece breaks. Just once I would like to feel that my investment in a laptop will last for 3 years. Mine haven’t even reached one third of their tax depreciation value before they have to be thrown out.

Sugar and spice

Hasving spent the day with my sister and her kids, I knew that I could be the most help to my sister while she dealt with the funeral home and all the calls from family and friends if I took her daughters out for lunch and got them out of the house for a bit. Even though it was a very sad day for everyone, we managed to enjoy the time together. I took them to a Ruby Tuesday to eat, and we sat in a booth, in the back by the restrooms, and sat around for a couple hours just talking.

I decided that some of the things I could to do to help my sister get through this would be very practical and I wanted to take care of a lot of details that she might not have the time or energy to deal with. I took the girls shopping after lunch to get new dresses and shoes for the funeral home stuff, and I went ahead and bought a couple other more fun outfits for them so they would have something nice and feel a little special.

Last night I even asked the youngest niece what she wanted to do about Halloween. I wasn’t even sure that kids who are 12 and 13 years old even do anything about Halloween, but she assured me that yes she still like to party on Halloween and she takes some of the younger kids in the neighborhood trick or treating, so she wants to dress up this year again.

We got onto the internet at her house and found great Halloween costume stores web sites. There was one site that had a while section of costumes just for teens, which was great. We not only liked the costumes but we knew they would come in the right sizes for teens. My niece sat at the computer with me and looked through the Teen Halloween Costumes with me. She picked out this great costume, one of the officially licensed “Pirates of the Carribean” costumes, so I went ahead and ordered it for her: