San Francisco Bike Clinic for Women

This is just too cool not to talk about!

Most people think of mountain biking/off-road biking as a guy sport. Celia Graterol, owner of Mountain Biking Marin and 2006 US National Downhill Champion, is offering a unique clinic to help women of all skill levels get off the road and onto the trails!

If you're in the Bay Area, check out her Hot Mamas Mountain Bike Skill Clinic on August 17, 2008.

We all know my idea of roughing it is a 2-star motel, but for those of you who like to get outdoors, this looks too cool not to check out!

Playing Well Together

Apparently there was a MEGA flaw in the way DNS servers work--the backbone of the Internet, basically, had a gaping security flaw.

It's all better now, we're told, but it is a bit scary (yet reassuring) that we didn't hear about it til it was fixed. The geek factor is over my head, so I'm just going to point you at the accountingweb article. The important bit, according to them, is NOT the flaw, but the way over 80 different rival companies and organizations banded together to get it fixed.

The one where Intuit gets pwnd...

Last week was one of those weeks where I was pretty sure Intuit was out to get me.

No, really, they are. Out to get me. Personally. It was just one thing after the other. My poor clients were being beat up. It wasn't all Intuit's fault, but still, dude, what's going on over there in Arizona, folks?

The week before my monitor went out and I decided to bite the bullet and get a dual screen set up. I was joking that I needed a red phone with a direct line to Intuit to complete my set up... one of my team members heard me and sent me this.



Score! Take that, Intuit!

Yes, I will be sharing pictures of my new improved battle station computer set up soon. I just gotta find a red button and missile trajectories--move over, Mr. President, I'll take care of this!

Yahoo! Says No Means No! Sorta

Microsoft and aggressive Yahoo! shareholder Carl Icahn sent the web company another proposal to sell Yahoo! search to Microsoft. Included in the deal were provisions that the rest of the company would be handed over to Icahn, more of less, a known Internet novice.

I could try to reiterate what a lot of other people have said, but think I'll just settle for links:

Yahoo rejects joint proposal from Microsoft, Icahn
Yahoo lashes out at Microsoft over latest offer
Why Yahoos shouldn't underestimate Icahn

I am reassured, for the moment, that Microsoft really only wants the search business, since I don't use Yahoo! search, but still...

As a user, I am dismayed that Yahoo! offered Microsoft the whole enchilada for $33/share at the same time they rejected the joint MS/Icahn proposal. I use a lot of other Yahoo!'s currently free services and free is a word they don't seem familiar with in Redmond, Washington...

Users are not stockholders, for the most part, and have been largely ignored in this fight, but the stockholders need to remember that USERS are what makes Yahoo! profitable, too. And most of the Yahoo! users I know don't want Microsoft that deep in their lives. Many of them, like me, will shift the rest of the way over to Google if MS eats Yahoo!

*Please note the above is MY opinion; I happen to know Candy loves her Yahoo!

Tired of Being Picked On?

Apparently Microsoft is. That's the word on the web after Corporate Vice President of Windows Consumer Products, Brad Brooks' keynote speech at Microsoft's recent Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, Texas.

I heard it from accountingweb, here. I can't say I was surprised, since Fast Company magazine reported not too long ago that the big M was bringing in a whole new kind of marketing brains... Hip ones! This is certainly an exception to the rule for Microsoft's ad campaigns for... Dang, for as long as I've been paying attention to them, at least 10-12 years.

Hmmm...

Me? I still hate Vista because of the way it forces people to upgrade fully functional, if older, computers because its hardware requirements are so through the roof. No ad campaign is going to change that stone-cold fact.

Or maybe I'm just bitter because I spent a fortune upgrading my hardware so I could run Office '07. After being burned on that deal I'm outright scared of what Vista might cost me (ignoring its significant just-the-software price tag)!

Tweak Your Fox

Candy sent me this nifty link to a bunch of Firefox 3 tweaks a couple of days ago to blog. I finally got a chance to look at it today, and well...

Well, I started this blog post an hour ago, but got distracted tweaking my new Firefox...

These are hacks, not extensions, for the most part, so make sure you either have your stuff backed up or an open source junkie on speed dial. You know, just in case you misplace a comma or something.

Tweaks can be found here: The Ultimate Tweaker's Guide to Firefox3

Tweaking is cool, but since I am NOT an open source guru, I tend to prefer extensions for most things (though that tutorial was wonderfully idiot-proof by my standards). Lots of favorite extensions don't play nice with FF3 yet. For running updates of those that do and don't, go here.

Help the Planet / Help Your Business

The federal government is one of the last entities most of us think of when we think of going green. For the most part, that is not without reason. The SBA (small business administration) is not only an exception to the generalization, it's been one for a while.

Check out what accountingweb has to say about the SBA's green program here.

Or, go straight to the source and see the SBA's green loan policies yourself here.

Awesome Clients!

Today was one of those weird days. I had phone calls set up and payrolls to try to rush out of the door and just all kinds of funkiness going on. And then my son comes in while I'm on the phone and stands there with his finger over his lips to tell me he knows I'm on the phone and to be quiet. He stood there and waited for me to get off the phone and then ultra politely asked me to help him put new batteries in his toy. He was just SO cute that I had to load up and go buy some batteries for the kid. I try to reward good behavior like that - especially phone manners. I work at home and the kids are here a good bit of the time when school is out.

Anyway, so I come back and find this on my porch. It was from a client and read, "Candy, For the days we drive you to drinking. ;) Thank you for all that you do!"

How nice is that! See, I LOVE frozen drinks, especially margaritas. Oh, I'm not some alcoholic or anything, but I love even just frozen lemonade.

Some days, I love what I do so much. This is one of those days.

And to my son who showed what a polite little child he is, we will use it the first time tonight to make frozen lemonades. (Pina Coladas later for Dad and I!)

'Tis the End

If, like most of the people we know, you are a Windows XP fan, well, then, today is a day or mourning. Today is the last day that you will be able to order a new computer with Windows XP, and that is only through selected manufacturers (HP, Acer). Dude, if you wanted a Dell with XP you're out of luck, they stopped selling them back on the 18th of this month.

All the manufacturers are offering a downgrade options with higher end versions of Vista. This means you can still get XP, but you have to pay for uber Vista first. On the plus side of this deal, once they finally (we hope!) get all the hideousness out of Vista, or you upgrade your video and RAM to handle the system hogging OS, you can upgrade to it for free. Or at least for "already paid for it."

Intuit's New Look

Intuit is quietly re-branding with a new logo design.

The Duct Tape Marketing guy likes it.

The guys at The Inquirer don't.

Under Consideration's "Brand New" column is still on the fence, but the column is old so maybe they've made up their mind? I mostly added this one because it was the first place the old and new logos side by side so people could compare for themselves.

I will say, it's a logo. The thinner lettering is a little less imposing to me, and while the case changes bug me a little, it's a logo and they don't have to follow the same grammar rules the rest of us do.