Archive for 2007

Hello all, Candy just saw this little tidbit online so we thought we’d pass it along to you:

Microsoft’s Windows Home Server corrupts files

Apparently it only happens on the Home Server version of Windows. And also only when you are trying to edit a backup of a file and not the real file. So if you have Windows Home Server, be careful of which files you are opening and changing.

Just a side note: The OffAssist Quickbook Server is NOT on a “Home Server”, so this flaw will have no affect on any of our operations.

Form 990 is the tax return that charities and tax-exempt organizations are required to file each year.

Candy won’t toot her own horn, so I guess I have to.

Anchor Advisors, a small business consulting firm, recently quoted Candy in their article Budget for Success in the New Year.

Want to work from home?

Sure! Who wouldn’t? But as anyone who has ever wasted days on the Internet looking can tell you, legitimate work at home jobs are hard to find. Now imagine being a teenager…

Yea.

One enterprising teen, not unsurprisingly the daughter of a virtual assistant, has decided to make legitimate work at home opportunities a reality for teens and college students.

Her press release about the site’s launch is here.

Or, go straight to the source, workinmyroom.com – a site dedicated to offering pre-screened, legitimate work at home opportunities to the next generation.

You all know I work at home and I was sitting here today (yeah, on a Sunday) catching up on some paperwork, when I see some squirrels outside. They are out there quite often, and like the birds in the Spring/Summer, I really look forward to them, watching them run up and down the tree, I’ve even caught them playing a couple of times. Or fighting. Well, I’ll pretend they were playing…

Anyway… I wanna see – what do you see at your desk? Just a screen? A pretty picture? What defines your day, what do you see just off to the side of your monitor? Show me!

I managed to grab a few shots today… My monitor sits a foot or so away from a window and the area between the screen and window frame, I can see this beautiful tree – and also when my kids are home from school and playing, I can watch them on the playscape… anyway…

So, here’s one of my little buddies…

You can see on the left the dark area there is actually the edge of the window frame, oops!

He’s a little out of focus, but at least you can see him up there… he perches there to store his loot and stare around waiting for a blade of grass to move so he can scurry away. Jittery little guys!

A gentleman in South Carolina recently tried to open a new bank account with a $1, 000,000 dollar bill. Yes, that number has exactly as many zeros as it should.

It was, obviously, a fake. The article I read, from accountingweb, mentioned the largest denominations of (legitimate) U.S. currency ever made and I got curious.

For more information on REAL high dollar value currency, generally only used to transfer money from one Federal Reserve Bank to another and not in circulation, check out the Wikipedia entry on the subject.

the largest U.S. currency ever printed

The genius “millionaire” was charged with forgery – since there is no such thing as a million dollar note they were unable to charge him with counterfeiting, which carries a bigger penalty.

The IRS has updated standard mileage rates for 2008. The new rates, effective for mileage incurred on or after January 1, 2008 are:

(1) Business 50.5 cents per mile
(2) Charitable contribution 14 cents per mile
(3) Medical and moving 19 cents per mile

That’s on page 2 of the excruciatingly long and grossly detailed IRS document on the subject–found HERE. You have to skim to the end, page 29 (of 30) to find the effective date. Look at all the reading time I just saved you!

I have to just tell you guys real quick about Kylie… whom I call “The Pink One”. She’s this lady from Australia who I first met at a VANA chat. We were looking at each others websites. Hers was pink. No, I don’t think you understand. It looked like a bottle of Pepto Bismal had exploded all over my screen. It was PINK. Did I tell you that I hate pink? I do. I hate hate hate hate pink. She’s since toned it down so it’s not hot pink, but she’s still pink.

I’ve been following Kylie’s career since then and she’s a pretty funny lady – smart too. And she doesn’t mind that I poke fun at her pinkness At any rate… she has decided she wants to come to the IVAA Summit this year. Then she looked at the prices. Ouch! So, she decides to be enterprising and is taking donations to get her butt there. Check out her blog here. I thought, wow, how inspirational! A ticket from Australia to the US is pretty pricey and she really wants to come, so I think it’s a great thing to at least show how serious you are about it.

I hope she makes it. I’d love to meet her – pink or not.

I was at an online networking group tonight in a chat room and we were looking at each other’s websites. See. People make the big mistake of asking me what I think. Why is that a mistake? Well, because I tell them. Heck, sometimes they don’t even have to ASK and I tell them. It’s hard, you put yourself out there and someone finds fault. I know. I’ve been there. My website is FAR from perfect (my web designer keeps after me to let her change it, but I dunno – I’m one of those people that doesn’t like my cheese moved!)

I’ve had good results overall. Tonight wasn’t too bad. I told a fellow VA that she might want to have her web content looked at – having a professional rewrite my content so it was interesting made a huge impact in my business. She seemed to take it well – after she informed me she was a copywriter! Oh vey! BUT I do have to say that I think writing for business and writing for the web (marketing) is two totally different animals. Heck, blog writing is different in and of itself.

But I’m left wondering… do people REALLY want to know an opinion or do they want to only hear that it’s fabulous? I had one lady really get all bent about it. I had to remind her that it is only an opinion.

Another VA shared that she asked for opinions and there was something obviously wrong with the project she was showing around, but it went through quite a few people before one spoke up. She wished someone had something sooner.

I do believe that, in business, we have to have a thick skin. I consider myself fairly successful in this VA thing, and part of that is that I can “take it”. That’s why, while I will mentor someone now and then, I have to make sure they understand that. It’s not personal, but I am pretty straight forward about stuff.

My point? Don’t ask unless you really really want to know

Cuz I’ll tell ya! *laugh*