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I have Orlando on the brain, because I am getting plans together for my daughter’s birthday this coming February and we will be going to Orlando overnight with one of my best friends and her daughter, who is one of my daughter’s best friends, so that we can got o the Princesses and Pirates party at the Magic Kingdom again. We loved it last year. We will also more than likely hit another park the following day.

So, I got to thinking about how although Orlando is the absolute perfect family vacation destination in perhaps the entire world, there is actually so much to do there that it can get overwhelming for those who visit from out of the area. There are theme parks, theme restaurants, museums, water parks, golf courses, botanical gardens, wild animal exhibits, easy access to amazing beaches, outlet malls and just about any cuisine you could ever ask for. There are inexpensive hotels, lavish resorts, and a plethora of privately owned homes available for rent. You can craft a vacation to meet any budget and still have a blast.

And, this is the most wonderful time of the year to visit Florida. We have sun and flowers and blue skies and, lovely warm days, all without the humidity, crowds and bugs.

I think the best place to start when trying to navigate Orlando is to find a reliable city guide, like the one at Hotels By City. Although the site is primary an expansive guide to the world’s hotel, it also doubles as a reputable overall city guide, highlighting area attractions and more. Of course, if you are looking for a Europe hotel guide, this is the site for that, too.

I knew I was assigned to bring fresh fruit to my daughter’s classroom Christmas party for Thursday, but just this afternoon I found out I need to bring Christmas cookies for the Friday school-wide Christmas party. Yikes. I was a little unprepared for the additional baking. I was going to make a praline cake tonight, but instead I will make the cookie my grandmother makes each Christmas. Actually, my grandmother makes about a dozen cookie varieties and as many types of candy, so she can give out plates of goodies. This is one of my favorites off her plates.

There are many names for the cookies, which are essentially mild peanut butter drop cookies with a chocolate kiss pressed onto the top. I call them Peanut Butter Blossoms.

8 oz. pkg. milk chocolate kisses
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
more granulated sugar for rolling
::: ::: :::
Heat oven to 375 F. Remove wrappers from chocolate. Beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup brown sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well.

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. Cover tightly and chill for 4-8 hours in fridge.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate piece into center of each cookie; cookie will crack slightly around edges. Let stand on cookie sheets for 3-4 minutes, then remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 48 cookies

Edited to add:
I thought you might like to see my finished cookies. They turned out great. These are very delicate, sweet treats. I was pleased with the texture.

I’ve seen some worthless news articles. I assume they are filler for a slow news day, although I cannot imagine what reporter with even an ounce of brains cannot find legitimate news to write about in this day and age.

A recent Associated Press article I read yesterday might just take the proverbial cake. Of course, it is about a bit of data collected by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that I sincerely pray no institution was foolish enough to fund. In a world where we need every penny we can get for things like AIDS and breast cancer research, there are people throwing money at studies that will tell us that “More Americans Googling themselves”.

What the hell?

First of all, I take immense offense at people who use “Google” as a verb. It is a company, and an unscrupulous one at that. There are tens upon tens of search engines that are just as useful as Google, so please people – get over yourselves and stop dumbing-down your own vocabulary by using worthless pop-isms like “Google” as a verb.

Note to Anick Jesdanun who wrote this article: You are paid to use language and you should use it responsibly. Most people are no more than sheep who repeat what they hear and read. At least try and set a good example by using proper, logical written language. It is not your job to latch onto pop culture-isms and run recklessly through the streets. It’s your job to be a professional in the world of the written word.

But, onto my main beef.

So, more than double the number of people who admitted to entering their own names into a search engine in 2002 now admits to doing so? How is this significant to my daily life? Why should I care? I can see how tracking people who search for information on a Corvette suspension (my most recent search ), or strawberry jam, or online banking might be useful information. Those things tell me about buying trends and economic interest. Please, though, tell me why anyone should care enough about people searching themselves that it should merit a top headline link on a site like CNN? We have a war on. We are dealing with shootings and drug issues and an upcoming election. How about 7-year-old Alexis Goggins, who willingly took bullets for her mother? Those are things I expect to see taking up valuable headline real estate.

What a waste of information collection.

One of old-Florida’s mainstays has always been Weeki Wachee and its infamous mermaid show. The water park turned 60 years old in 2007.

The mermaid show features women dressed in fins and sumptuous outfits, performing in an aquarium. It’s drawn visitors to the deepest springs in the United States for generations and over the years seen its overall popularity wane. It is currently owned by Southwest Florida Water Management District and it was announced yesterday that the springs and the water park are going to be donated to the state of Florida as of October. Hence it will become a state park, ensuring the continuation of tradition.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon. Despite any announcements, attraction officials say they want to first explore the possibility of becoming part of the Hernando County park system.

A lot of my readers are individual business owners, as in they do it all themselves, without a bit of help. That can stretch you to the limits once your business starts expanding. Sometimes it is all you can do to keep up with orders and answer all of the e-mail your business generates. In the midst of all of that you still need a way to connect personally to your customer, both existing and new. People are looking for real people with real voices when they approach a business.

If a new customer finds your site and wants to contact you, they probably have to use an e-mail form or pick up the phone and call. What if you could turn one click into immediate one-on-one communication with that potential customer?

Here is a very handy tool: Ifbyphone - free phone calls from your web site. The system gives you a link that can be placed on a webpage, Powerpoint Document, in an e-mail and even in a Word document. Your customer simply clicks that link and enters their phone number. Then, their phone rings, your phone rings and you are connected in real time! Nothing could be simpler. Plus, there’s absolutely no technical expertise needed.

The best part is that you don’t have to know anything about web design or phone systems or anything technical. It’s a simple system that anyone can use. And, you can sign up for a free account. Check out their site. They have a live demo so you can see how the system works right now.

Here is their press release, in case I left anything out:

Ifbyphone Releases revolutionary Phone-Me-Now: the world’s first Zero Configuration Click to Call With 100 free minutes per month Phone-Me-Now
Promises to be biggest Killer App of 2008

Chicago, IL: December, 2007 - Ifbyphone, a voice infrastructure and applications development company providing enterprise class services to Small and Medium sized Businesses (SMB’s), has just released a solution destined to revolutionize the web to voice space: Phone-Me-Now, a zero configuration click to call application. To introduce Phone-Me-Now to hundreds of thousands of businesses that will be able to use it as a sales tool, Ifbyphone is making it available free of charge for 6 months and providing the first 100 minutes per month of usage for free as well.

This patent pending solution can be integrated in less then 60 seconds into any website, email or hyperlinked document and requires no experience to configure. It’s literally the Internet’s first instant voice mash up tool.

“While many companies provide click to call services we were troubled by how complex they are to use. Users had to cut and paste HTML or javascript, rendering these services outside of the technical reach of thousands of businesses. Once we designed this patent pending solution we configured our existing smart click to call services to work with the Phone-Me-Now interface.” says Irv Shapiro, Founder and CEO of Ifbyphone. The zero configuration Phone-Me-Now service is literally the Holy Grail of web to telephone integration and ease of use.

Using Phone-Me-Now is as simple as typing: www.phone-me-now/your-business-number into any web site, Word Document, Powerpoint Presentation, Spreadsheet, PDF or email. When a reader clicks on the link they are prompted for their telephone number and the Ifbyphone systems call your business, calls the reader and conferences the call. Phone-Me-Now works with any telephone number you register on your Ifbyphone account.

“We wanted to eliminate any barriers to basic click to call, and know that Phone-Me-Now will immediately set an industry standard for rapid deployment. If the Internet is all about speed and response, what could be a more appropriate Killer App for 2008 than Phone-Me-Now, which puts a business owner in instant voice communication with their customers,” adds Shapiro.
Free Phone-Me-Now accounts can be updated to additional Ifbyphone packages that include:
- Click to Call with Custom Dialog Forms
- Integrated Call Routing and Reporting
- Find Me
- Virtual Voice Mail
- Virtual Receptionist
- Outbound Voice Broadcast
- Web Configured Voice Dialogs (Hosted IVR)
- Call Recording
- Backend Database Integration
- A Complete Call Management API

All Ifbyphone solutions work with any telephone system and are fully portable if a company moves from one telephone transport vendor to another.
# # #
About Ifbyphone
Ifbyphone is a hosted voice application and platform company with a simplified approach to the deployment of stand-alone and web-integrated voice services for small and medium sized businesses (SMB). Combining advanced telephony and web services, Ifbyphone’s web-integrated voice applications turn the small business telephone into a powerful tool, increasing lead generation, improving sales conversion and enhancing the customer experience. Ifbyphone makes it easier for customers to connect with you from online and off. All of Ifbyphone’s applications are accessible via a click on a Web site, an inbound call to a toll free number, an outbound call or with the help of a programmable API. Our configuration and deployment tools look and feel just like Web applications, and require no previous knowledge of telephony programming or terminology.

Previously available only to large enterprises, Ifbyphone is delivering these converged voice and web solutions at affordable monthly fees, with no major upfront costs. The company’s services are available online and through a network of SMB value-added resellers.

I’m squeamish. I know I am. It is what kept me from going into the medical field. I have the mind for it, but not the nerves. Nonetheless, I have always been fascinated by the exhibits that show preserved human bodies to demonstrate the inner workings of muscle groups and movement.

One popular exhibit is “Bodies … The Exhibition”, but I’ve never gone to see it when it has been close due to the fact that I’ve always been uncomfortable that the bodies used in that exhibit were unclaimed cadavers. It seems somehow sad and wrong.

“Bodies Revealed”, however, uses only the bodies of people who willingly donated their bodies to science. Somehow that seems more acceptable to my particular conscience.

Anyway, “Bodies Revealed” is coming to Sarasota’s G.WIZ hands-on science museum on Friday, December 21. It is a limited engagement with the length of the exhibit to be determined directly by the popularity of the exhibit itself.

G.WIZ, The Hands-On Science Museum is located at the Blivas Science & Technology Center in Sarasota, FL. You can call 941.309.GWIZ (4949) for more information. Check out their website at gwiz.org for hours of operation and ticket prices.