In this issue:
Announcements!
First things first! Several people have commented that I write this
newsletter in the first person - but who am I? Some suggested I write
the newsletter as if I were Router, our mascot. I don't hate that idea,
but it might get cumbersome trying to talk about my experiences while
pretending to be a dog. Woof. Click here. Woof. I think it's just
better to be me - or maybe a funny name of me - like "The Computer Mom"
or "Low Tech Lizzie". So, let's try this - you can decide. If you have
a good idea, send it back to me. I'll pick one that I like and works
well - and you can name "me".
We Want You!
How do you use the Internet? Has it changed the way you go about your
life? Does it allow you to do something you couldn't do before, or make
things more efficient? Maybe you use it to swap recipes, research family
genealogy, or communicate across long distances. We want to hear your
story! And, for every testimonial we use in an upcoming ad campaign,
we'll give you a full year of free Internet service. I kid you not!
Submit your story here.
Things to do on the Net 101
What was your New Year's resolution? Mine was to have more time for
things I enjoy. To do that I have to find ways to save time on other
things, right? Right. I started making a list of all the things I
can do on the Internet. Many of them are convenient and time savers,
but many are just plain fun. The Internet can make your life much easier,
and today I'm going to give you some examples of how. As a side note -
in each example I'll give you some links to web sites I have used for
each function. Those companies haven't paid to be mentioned here, I
just have had good experiences with them. Just know that these are one
person's views and not official sponsorships from your ISP.
-- Shop! --
I have to admit, I'm a big Net shopper. I generally have my Christmas
shopping done by October or so, and I've paid much less than I would
have otherwise. Most major stores have online shopping now. Think about
it - you know exactly the item you want... do you want to fight the crowds
and weather, or shop at home wearing your PJs? I vote for PJs. OK, not
every single time, but it's nice to have the option. One thing to be
careful of though - before you put in your credit card number, make sure
the site is secure. On most browsers, you'll see a little picture of a
padlock at the very bottom of your screen. One other thing - before
you buy online, look around for a coupon code for that site. Many times,
if you use a coupon code, you can buy an item cheaper online than at the
store down the street - even with shipping costs. And, some coupon codes
make shipping free as well.
Here are some shopping help web sites I recommend:
www.mysimon.com
This is a great site for comparison shopping. Search for any product
- you'll get lots of shopping information. Want a 30-inch TV? Plug
that in, and this site will give you lots of options from different
online stores - even some stores you might not have checked otherwise.
Try it before you shop!
www.flamingoworld.com
Remember those coupon codes I mentioned? This is a great place to get
them. From Amazon to Zoobooks, you'll find it here. This site is updated
constantly, so it's a good one to check if you shop online much.
www.mycoupons.com
Another place to get coupon codes - but that's not the best thing about
this site. Click on the "message board" link at the top, and be prepared
to spend some time reading. This is a gigantic message board frequented by
people who love to save money - and they post things here when they find
them. I can't begin to list the number of freebies and amazing deals
I've gotten from this board. Enjoy!
-- Send flowers, candy.. almost anything! --
It's really as easy as it sounds. Pick a bouquet picture, and type in
the destination address. I've had great luck with
www.proflowers.com and
www.flowers.com. I even found a place
where you can send dead flowers. You can send a dozen gourmet cookies (these
are baked by a chef in Louisville)
www.catscans.com/catt,
or a whole cake
www.sendacake.com. Need a quick
sentiment? Send an electronic greeting card! Some of my favorite sites
for e-cards are www.hallmark.com
and www.123greetings.com.
Don't know what to get someone? Dinner at a nice restaurant, clothes,
books, electronics, items for the house... so many decisions! One site
that can save a lot of headaches is
www.giftcertificates.com.
Simply buy a Supercertificate from them, and your gift recipient can
choose from which stores to actually receive gift certificate(s). You can
choose to have it sent via email (for those last minute OOPS moments),
or have it sent through the mail or an overnight service.
-- Pay your bills! --
No more stamps, checks, or trips to the post office. You can pay
anyone from your utility company to your paperboy with an online bill
payment service. Online bankers are available 24 hours a day. You won't
get that sucker like you do from the drive-up teller, but remember - you
can bank in your PJs! One bank that's local to most of our service areas
and has a great online banking system is
www.integrabank.com. You can
even balance your checkbook online, or see scanned images of cancelled
checks. How do we know their online banking system is so great?
We wrote it!
-- Play games! --
There are more online game sites than I can begin to mention. Some of
the really good ones are free! A few to try:
www.pogo.com,
www.games.com,
games.yahoo.com. Many great kids'
games are available at www.nick.com,
www.pbskids.org,
www.cartoonnetwork.com, and
www.sesamestreet.com. Be sure
not to miss Elmo doing the chicken dance!
-- Take a class! --
Many universities (including the University of Kentucky and Indiana
University) offer "distance learning" classes. Both high school and
college courses are available. Love to learn? You can take classes free
at www.free-ed.net! They offer
everything you could imagine - math, history, medical terminology, you
name it.
-- Read a book! --
You might be amazed how much literature is readily available on the
Net. Take a look at
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu
for more than 18,000 free works of literature.
-- Plan a trip! --
Get information about a destination, book flights online, or print out
detailed driving directions. The Net is a great place to get you traveling.
There are many sites where you can book flights, hotels, etc - but my
favorite is www.expedia.com. I have
booked more than 100 flights through them, never had a problem. One thing
to note - it's often worth going to a particular airline's own page and
checking prices there - just to make sure you're getting the best deal. One
feature I love on Expedia is that you can put in an address and search for
hotels within a certain radius of that address. Very convenient!
A tip about your Vincennes Online service
Does your email take up too much space? Each Vincennes Online
account comes standard with 20 megabytes of storage space for your email and
personal web site. Each month we send out notices to people who are
going over that amount and incurring charges. Those people are usually
amazed to find out the culprits.
"Sent Mail" folders and trash folders that accumulate emails for months
(or in some cases, years) really add up! Making a habit of cleaning
out those folders will clear the problem right up. If you use Correspond,
you can also set your options to auto delete after so many days. To
do that, just click on the "Set Up Options" button.
This issue's fun site!
This is more of a useful site, but useful can be fun too, I think.
Anyway, I stumbled across this site one day, and all the handy
do-it-yourself people in the office were pretty excited about it,
so I thought some of you might be too.
It's called www.thistothat.com,
and it tells you how to glue just about anything to just about anything
else. Want to know how to glue wood to metal? Ceramic to vinyl? This
site takes you beyond Elmer and hot glue, and helps you find just the
right product - including what brand names to look for, and where you're
likely to find it.
Did you find one of these links helpful? Have suggestions for future
issues of TIPS? As always, I love to hear from you, so email me at
TIPS@vincennes.net.
