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December 2008
In this Issue
Quotes
God gave us memory that we might have roses in December.
-- James Matthew Barrie
We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.
-- Helen Keller
A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.
-- Sir Barnett Cocks
Character is what you have left when you've lost everything you can lose.
-- Evan Esar
Intimacy is being seen and known as the person you truly are.
-- Amy Bloom
The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.
-- Casey Stengel
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Create a Kitchen Work Triangle
Just like most things, having an efficient setup makes work easier. Creating a "work triangle" in you kitchen will cut down on excess movement by centering your work space. For an efficient kitchen, set up three main work spaces.
- Preparation area
- Cook & serve area
- Clean-up area
The "kitchen triangle" connects these three areas with your refrigerator, sink and stove at each point. No one side of the triangle should be greater than nine feet or less than four feet. In addition, the triangle should not be interrupted by traffic or cabinetry.
Organizing your most important tools and ingredients around these key kitchen zones will help you take fewer steps to get to the items you need for preparation and cooking. Try keeping useful items in each zone. For example, storing your dishes and silverware between your cook & serve and clean-up areas will help you get dinner to the table faster and dishes put away after washing more efficiently.
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Winter a Good Time to Prune
Deciduous trees and shrubs shed their leaves and go dormant during the winter -- making it a perfect time to prune them without fear of shocking them. Here's what you need to do:
- Remove any growth from below the graft (where the top of the plant was originally joined to rootstock). Cut the growth as close to the main body of the plant as possible.
- Remove any dead, diseased or injured wood. Branches that are different in color from the main body of the plant could be a problem. Injuries may look like splits or blisters and diseases often show up as black patches along the branch.
- Cut into the tip of a suspect branch to see if it's alive. If it's green inside, it is still alive; if it's brown, it's probably dead. Keep cutting back from the tip until you reach green wood.
- Remove the branches that cross through the center of the plant to improve air circulation and discourage disease.
- Cut out any competing leaders -- the upright growing limbs that will eventually turn into the main trunk. Most trees should have only one main branch headed in the "up" direction. Multiple trunks sap the energy from a tree and weaken it.
- Prune for shape and size. Keep the branches low on fruit trees so that you can reach the fruit. Most maples look best with a rounded crown, and most roses should be pruned in a low vase shape. Learn the basic shape of the plant you are going to prune.
- Remove any water sprouts from fruit trees. Nonproductive water sprouts are light in color and grow straight up, as opposed to fruiting wood, which is crooked and dark.
- Rake up and remove all pruning's and fallen leaves to discourage insects.
- Also:
- Sharpen and oil your pruning tools before you start cutting.
- Spray with a dormant oil or lime/sulfur after you have finished pruning to kill over wintering insect pests.
- Tools you will need are garden shears, lopping shears, a pruning saw and a pole pruner.
- Once the plants begin to grow leaves, sap is flowing through the branches. If you prune then, you take the chance of causing excessive bleeding or loss of vital fluids.
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Never Lose Important Files Again
If you have ever lost important data on your computer due to accidental deletion, theft, disaster or drive failure, you know how painful it is. But, unless there's an easy way to backup your files daily, you risk having it happen all over again.
That's where a great service called Carbonite comes into play; you may have heard their commercial on the radio. For less than $50 a year, the service will automatically back up unlimited amounts of data.
Carbonite installs a small software program on your computer that works quietly in the background looking for new and changed files to back up. It looks and feels like part of your computer, and is integrated with your desktop, so there’s nothing new to learn. When you’re using your computer, Carbonite goes to sleep so it will never slow down your computer or internet connection.
The service is private and secure -- encrypting your files twice before backing them up securely offsite, using the same encryption techniques that banks use. Files remain encrypted at their secure data centers, so only you can see them.
With Carbonite, restoring files is quick and easy. If you accidentally delete or otherwise lose some of your files, it takes just a few clicks from your desktop to get them back. If your computer is damaged, stolen or “just dies” and you lose all your files, you can easily restore them to a new computer.
If you have any data that you just can't bear losing, it's well worth the money. They offer a free (no credit card required) trial offer that makes it super easy to try. Learn more at: www.carbonite.com.
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Cool/Free/Fun/Trendy: Famundo.com
Planning a family or group activity can be difficult when you have to take into account everybody else's busy schedule. Famundo.com is an online calendar and message board that merges all your family or organization's information in one place and makes it easy to see what everybody else is doing and plan accordingly.
The free site offers you a safe and secure place to keep in touch with family, friends and group members, and to share events, photos, recipes and stories. In addition, you can stay organized with an online calendar that lets you create events, shopping lists, blogs, and upload documents and photos.
Learn more at: www.famundo.com.
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