Planet Green

Just found out that Cox Cable is carrying the new channel, Planet Green, on 103 in Fayetteville. Check it out. Watch and live it. It's not that hard to live more sustainably.

This is how you do customer service.

As a home-based professional, I sometimes need to get away from the laundry and dirty dishes to get some real work done. After a meeting this morning, I found myself driving around town in search of a lunch place with some good Wi-Fi. A buddy suggested Chick-Fil-A and I couldn't be happier. Check out their usage policy:

At Chick-fil-A, our Wi-Fi is free and we welcome you to stay as long as you like. All we ask is that you give consideration to other guests, particularly at busy times of the day.

At lunchtime, for example, please try to use the smallest table available so that we can accommodate larger parties. Or, come back when things have slowed down and you can spread out your work.

Thank you for your patronage and consideration. With your help, we can all enjoy our great food and free Wi-Fi.

This is in contrast to Panera bread which just put a hard limit of 30 minutes on their Wi-Fi from 11:00 to 1:00 every day. I understand that a business has to protect its core customers, and for a restaurant the lunchtime crowd is sacred. Chick-Fil-A gets bonus points for its messaging. They're not running me out the door. They just ask that I use a small table and be considerate. And for this, I will come back to Chick-Fil-A for another working lunch. Panera has probably lost out on me for awhile.

Catch up on BSG in just 8 minutes!

I've said before that Battlestar Galactica is the best show on television. The 4th and final season (because the producers are smart enough to give this fantastic ending the powerful well-written finale it deserves) debuts tomorrow night on SciFi. If you've previously not partaken in the greatness that is BSG you can catch up on the previous three seasons in just 8 minutes by watching What the frak is up with Battlestar Galactica?

NWO9 is in the can!

We've posted our latest podcast for the New Work Order. Check out what we have to say about the Cult of the Amateur.

Women on the Web

I ran across a reference to the new Women on the Web site that debuts this weekend. It looks interesting...basically a site sponsored by influential women over 40 for other women over 40. Some of the more notable participants are Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Leslie Stahl, Ann Richards, Marlo Thomas and Candace Bergin. In an increasingly busy web sphere, WOWOWOW should at least have an original voice.

Give up my best friend?

Anyone who knows me even in passing knows my deep and abiding love for the hot bean water known as coffee. Like a lot of people I use it to help wake up in the morning and stay awake when working late at night. I also genuinely love the beverage. If I had to choose between giving up beer or coffee, I'm pretty sure coffee would win the smackdown. Even so, I'd like to cut my caffeine consumption to more appropriate intake levels.

I've kicked the caffeine monkey off my back before by going cold turkey, but its not a pleasant experience. Scott Young offers his 7 Food Hacks to Stay Alert Without Caffeine today as a guest writer at ZenHabits. I'll keep you updated on how successfully I can implement his ideas.

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I need help!

But not in the psychological sense -- at least not yet. I've been considering hiring a virtual assistant for awhile now to help with many of the office tasks that I loathe and procrastinate into a great big pile of stress. This article from Write to Done almost has me convinced to take the plunge. I may even engage in some overseas outsourcing. I recently read an article about GetFriday.com. They have a team of assistants available to answer my needs and have pricing packages that range from straight hourly to plus plans that include rollover time from month to month.

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