Home Automation Simplified
Servicing Indiana and Southern Michigan
317.896.1393 (V) • 317.614.7197 (F) • info@one-touchautomation.com
Vol. 1, No. 5 • September, 2011 / www.one-touchautomation.com
How To Deal With Coupon Overload . . . . . Stuck with unused daily deals? You can get some money back. From the popularity of daily deal sites to TLC’s Extreme Couponing, it’s clear that cash-strapped consumers want to squeeze savings out of each purchase. But the resurgence of couponing comes with some new pitfalls. When Cara Sprunk of New York City recently saw a $10 Groupon deal offering $20 to spend at a local wine bar, she jumped. But like many users of daily-deal sites (as many as one in five, according to some estimates), Sprunk never redeemed her Groupon. “If I had been more organized, I would have realized I didn’t have time to use it within the 20-day window,” she says. A spokesman for Groupon says merchants are supposed to honor expired Groupons, up to the amount you paid. If they don’t, Groupon will refund the purchase price. LivingSocial will credit you for the purchase amount for at least five years past the stated expiration if a merchant turns you down. Sprunk and others may also benefit from one of the new sites that let consumers sell unwanted daily-deal offers online. CityPockets.com charges $1 plus 8% of proceeds; DealsGoRound.com takes 10% of proceeds. Both sites feature a digital wallet to help you organize daily-deal coupons. Couprecoup.com is a free listing service, sort of a Craigslist for coupons. While some people let coupons expire unused, others go crazy with them. That has prompted some retailers, including Target and Rite Aid, to clamp down on stacking multiple coupons, especially on “buy one, get one” promotions. (Kiplinger’s Personal Finance)
Singing In Church . . . . A minister decided to do something a little different one Sunday morning. He said, “Today, in church, I am going to say a single word and you are going to help me preach. Whatever single word I say, I want you to sing whatever hymn that comes to your mind. The Pastor shouted out “Cross.” Immediately the congregation started singing in unison, “The Old Rugged Cross.” The Pastor hollered out “Grace.” The congregation began to sing “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.” The Pastor said “Power.” The congregation sang “There Is Power In the Blood.” The Pastor next said “Sex.” the congregation fell into total silence. Everyone was in shock. They all nervously began to look around at each other afraid to say anything. Then all of a sudden, from way in the back of the church, a little old 87 year old grandmother stood up and began to sing . . . . “Precious Memories.” (Fournier)
The Most Popular “Music” Sites On The Internet . . . . . .
1. Pandora.com 9. eMusic.com
2. Music.Yahoo.com 10. Playlist.com
3. Last.fm 11. Rhapsody.com
4. MySpace.com/music 12. Live365.com
5. Music.AOL.com 13. ShoutCast.com
6. Grooveshark.com 14. Napster.com
7. Radio.com 15. Slacker.com
8. Jango.com (eBizMBA)
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” (Anaïs Nin)
Traffic . . . . . . Why does traffic come to a stop on a freeway that presumably offers nothing to stop it? Here’s what happens. In theory, the capacity of a single lane of expressway is 40 cars per minute at 60 mph. In practice, however, drivers instinctively slow down at loads higher then 25 cars per minute. At 33 cars per minute, average speed drops to 35 mph and drivers get extremely jumpy, hitting the brakes at the slightest provocation. The first guy slows a little, the second guy slows a lot, and the fifth guy may stop altogether. That’s why you almost never find smoothly flowing expressway traffic under 35 mph. (The Straight Dope)
How Long Will We Live? . . . . . . . . A 65-year-old couple faces an 8 in 10 chance that one of them will live to 85, while the chance is 1 in 4 that one will reach 97. We don’t want to bum you out, but yare you ready for a 30-year-plus retirement? In a 2009 survey, only 7% of retirees said they are planning out for 20 years or more; among pre-retirees, just 13%. Short-term thinking spawns a whole set of mistakes throughout your working life: not saving enough, not starting to save early, cashing out a 401(k) when you switch jobs. Take a spin thought an online retirement calculator using age 95 as your target. It may inspire you. (Money) * There are many calculators on the Internet. Google - Retirement Calculators - lots to fill out - but insightful.
Bet You Didn’t Know . . . . An elephant’s trunk has more than 40,000 muscles - more than the entire human body. It is strong enough to topple a tree and agile enough to pick up a single coin. (Conservation)
Not Everyone Might Be Interested In This But . . . . . . Why do our noses run when we get colds? When your nose runs, it’s often a sign that you’ve been infected with a virus. Viruses attack the upper respiratory tract - the nose, sinuses and throat - where they penetrate into the mucous membranes. There they reproduce, forming new virus particles. At the same time, inflammation occurs, and your nose begins to run. Mucous membranes are a part of our bodies’ natural protective system that prevents viruses, bacteria and other foreign invaders from getting into and harming the body. The mucus is produced by goblet cells, and its sticky surface traps harmful molecules and prevents them from entering cells in the respiratory system. Instead, the mucus drains out of the airways and into the mouth, where it’s then swallowed. The mucus also contains enzymes that can break down bacteria and proteins that can cause the immune system to attack virus particles. When inflammation occurs, the mucous membranes increase their output of mucus and it’s enzymes and proteins. Goblet cells have amazing ability to increase production of mucus instantaneously. In some cases, these cells can increase production by up to 500 times. Think of them as aerosol cans of shaving cream, with the liquid inside expanding into foam when released. (Science Illustrated)
Another Blonde Joke (sorry) . . . . . Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with that expensive double-pane energy efficient kind, and today, I got a call from the contractor who installed them. He was complaining that the work had been completed a whole year ago and I still hadn’t paid for them. Helllooooo . . . . just because I’m a blonde doesn’t mean that I am automatically stupid. So, I told him what his fast talking sales guy had told me last year; that in ONE YEAR these windows would pay for themselves! Helllooooo . . . ? It’s been a year I told him. There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally just hung up. He never called back. I bet he felt like an idiot. (M. Levy)
University Fund Raising . . . . Oxford, alma mater of Britain’s elite, is a financial also ran. Pinched by U.K. funding cutbacks, the University of Oxford wants to emulate the fundraising prowess of top American schools. It’s recruited a Yale veteran to help boost gifts from alumni and wealthy patrons globally. Given the British school’s late start, catching up won’t be easy:
Oxford: Size of endowment = $5.3 billion / Portion of alumni that give = 15% / Undergraduates = 11,723.
Harvard: Size of endowment = $27.4 billion / Portion of alumni that give = 19% / Undergraduates = 6,700.
Yale: Size of endowment = $16.7 billion / Portion of alumni that give = 28% / Undergraduates = 5,279. (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)
Increasing Sales . . . A few effective ways to increase sales - no matter what you are selling:
• Be relentless. Persistence is power in sales. Too many salespeople don’t follow through long enough.
• Get rid of self-serving nonsense. Most sales materials are filled with things of no interest to the prospect like pictures of the CEO. Ask prospects what they want to know about your company.
• Make prospect identification your mission. It’s the most important daily activity in any business.
• Focus on why customers should break down the doors to do business with you. What makes your company different from others in the same business.
• Develop a sense of excitement. There’s little action without a sense of urgency.
• Be generous. (Ways to be Supremely Successful)
You Think English Is Easy???? . . . . .
1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that is had to refuse more refuse.
4. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
5. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
6. They were too close to the door to close it.
Questions:
1. If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
2. If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
3. Why doesn’t “Buick” rhyme with “Quick”?
And the ultimate question: There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meaning than any other two-letter word, and that is “UP.” It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends. And we use it brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special. A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. (Fournier)
“What would the older you say to the younger you? - This too shall pass. It’s much more important to be interested than to be interesting.” (Taken from an interview with Jane Fonda - Time Magazine)
Sincerely,
Rachael & Ryan McDaniel, Owners