Thank you notes haven’t lost their value

Email? Text that thank you to a friend or business acquaintance? No way.  Take time to write a personal note and send it in the mail. It will pay off in more ways than you know.  Jimmy Fallon does it every week on the Tonight Show. Anna Wintour too. Not only is is just good manners to express your appreciation for gifts big and small through paper correspondence, the hand-written note may have unexpected returns and help build relationships that you may need some day.

In “The Found Art of Thank You Notes,” Guy Trebay makes the case for hand written and mailed correspondence.  He says, “there is a growing sense that the old, reliable handwritten note is making a comeback — and not just as a prop on “Tonight.” So be on trend. Take the time to craft a thoughtful note and send it in the mail.

Resources:  Madison Park Greetings, Parkside Papers

 

 

Heartbleed? A scary new security bug affecting big part of the web is reminder to change passwords frequently

Think you’ve been safe, shopping online and sending personal and credit card information over the web when you see “https” in the url? Think again. According to Heartbleed and the team of security engineers at Codenomicon and Google Security who discovered this bug, about 2/3 of the web has been vulnerable to this bug for the past 2 years. Since there is no way to know if servers have been compromised, the only safe bet is to assume they have been.

It’s complex, but basically passwords, names, and other personal information stored on servers using SSL can be mined back 2 years.  “The Heartbleed bug allows anyone on the Internet to read the memory of the systems protected by the vulnerable versions of the OpenSSL software. This compromises the secret keys used to identify the service providers and to encrypt the traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the actual content. This allows attackers to eavesdrop on communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users.”  http://heartbleed.com

This just became public yesterday when OpenSSL released an advisory and a security patch.  https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv_20140407.txt. Read, “What You Need To Know About Heartbleed, A Really Major Bug That Short-Circuits Web Security” and links below for more details. And change your passwords.

Resources:

http://heartbleed.com

http://www.codenomicon.com

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/07/massive-security-bug-in-openssl-could-effect-a-huge-chunk-of-the-internet/

https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv_20140407.txt

 

 

How do highly successful people spend their early mornings?

Getting things done that are important to them like exercise, reading the paper, listening to the news, self-care, spending time with family.  Makes sense. Check out the article here for more tips on what makes successful people tick. 

Seattle Restaurant Week is coming up. Where will you go?

I am excited to try some restaurants during Seattle’s Restaurant Week(s). Here is Seattle Met’s guide to some good ones. The full list of restaurants is on the Seattle Times website. Where to start?!? There are so many good choices. Enjoy!

April is National Stress Awareness Month. What will you do to reduce your stress?

April is National Stress Awareness Month. What will you do to reduce your stress?

I had no idea that National Stress Awareness Month existed in the first place. Now that I know, it is a good reminder to evaluate how I’m feeling and managing my life/family/work balance. Allison O’Kelley, from @85Broads, has some good ideas to keep life in perspective and make positive changes. Hey, I’m all for that.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2014/04/04/stress-awareness-inspiring-change-from-within/

Is Thursday really the best day to book your trip?

The best time to book a plane ticket is 54 days before the flight?  Save money booking a flight during the prime booking window, 104-29 days before your trip and save a bundle.   A new study says so. This Huffington Post article has some good tips for finding the best airfare.    Why not try it and compare?

Simple way to prioritize your To Do list

I like making lists, on sticky notes, on apps on my phone, in note pads, and on my computer.  My lists start small and then grow longer and longer, and then they get messier and messier as tasks get done and crossed off the list. When they get too messy or need to be prioritized, I make a new list that ends up being just as long as the first one, the never ending To Do list. Crossing off tasks gives me a nice sense of completion. And dare I say keeps me out of hot water now and then? I love my lists, the whole process of writing them out and crossing them off when something gets done. My kids don’t seem to like them as much as I do though, go figure?

Show me a new kind of To Do list and I’ll try it. One of my new favorite social media influencers (@guykawasaki) posted this recently on Twitter and I of course was hooked. I’ll try it and see if it help me organize my organization method better. Using simple math. What’s not to love?

Here’s the link to his site and the post which has lots of great topics. Enjoy!

http://holykaw.alltop.com/simple-math-could-solve-your-to-do-list-quandaries?tu4=1