Do Something! Get Help With Your Project or Cause At Bootcamp If You Are Age 25 or Younger!!

Wow, this sounds so cool! How great it would be to meet with other folks doing things for causes, projects etc.! 

The goal of the Boot Camp is to offer a platform for young world-changers (25 and under) to learn, think big and share their passion for social change with other like-minded peers. 

But us older folks have chances to help too, just see the info about "speed catchers" below.

Do you have a special organization, project or cause? Or an idea or a plan for a great one?

Then Dosomething.org wants to help!

Here are their details:

WHEN: Saturday, June 9th (Register by this Friday, May 25!) in New York

or

August 18th - Los Angeles

WHO: Join a diverse group of young community leaders, activists and social entrepreneurs for a day of networking and training. 

WHAT: DoSomething.org staff-ers will give each attendee tools to grow and sustain their ideas, projects and organizations.

     DoSomething.org Boot Camps are designed for youth 25 and under who have started their own community (local and/or global) projects/organizations or are in the process (with specific ideas in mind) of starting one. Attendees who get the most out of our Boot Camps are those who have a solid well thought out project plan, have already begun to turn their project ideas into action, or have an existing project or organization.

Head to New York City and hang with us.

Just go to dosomething.org/bootcamp and register to get cool info like: 

• Branding and Marketing: How to Tell Your Story
• Starting your Own Not-for-Profit 101
• Building a Website
• ... and more! 

And they can help you get here! If you can't afford to make the trip to one of their Boot Camps, apply for a travel stipend. All travel scholarship applications are due by Friday, May 25th for the New York event. I'm not sure when the deadline is for Los Angeles one.

ABOUT SPEED CATCHING (as described by dosomething.org)

To cap off the day, we bring in the “old people” (anyone over 25) for our Speed Pitching session. Modeled after speed dating, the attendees spend 2 minutes pitching their cause or project, get 2 minutes of feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of their pitch from the catcher (you), and then move on to the next catcher…they do this about a dozen times. The attendees learn a ton and the catchers love helping out in a real, hands on way. 

'via Blog this'

Spring Clean with Fellowes: Some Handy Tips To Prevent Identity Theft

Spring Cleaning Tips to Protect from Identity Theft

Thanks to the OnetoOne Network, I have some great hints and tips to share with you:
The Identity Theft Resource Center recommends their

Top 5 Tips for spring cleaning the home office: I know mine can always use some organizing. These tips should help with your homeschool too!

Begin with the Basics: Sort through the piles of paperwork on your desk and in your office drawers.  Place them into two categories: ‘save’ and ‘shred.’

Proper Storage: Organize the "save" pile into labeled folders (I personally suggest the Dymo Labelwriter Pro (see another of my earlier blog entries for more info on that.) 

Be sure to put anything confidential into a fire-proof lock box. My dad gave me one a few years ago and it gives me a nice sense of comfort knowing at least important documents will be safe :)

 The "shred" pile should be properly disposed of with a Cross-Cut shredder, such as a Fellowes P-12C. 

Cross-Cut technology is an important feature for a shredder because it provides high security, destroying confidential information into unidentifiable pieces.  Equally important are enhanced safety features, such as Fellowes' SafeSense technology, which shuts the machine down when hands come too close to the paper opening, which is so important if you have children. Doesn't that sound cool? Wish I had one. :)

The Fellowes P-12C paper shredder is a durable, innovativeand affordable machine. With Fellowes’ industry-leading technologies, the P-12C provides high-security and is safe for family environments. 

* To ensure high-security against identity thieves, the P-12C features Cross-Cut technology, which destroys a single sheet of paper into nearly 399 particles. 

* The P-12C also includes Fellowes’ patented SafeSense technology, which disables the shredder when it senses hands or large pets come too close to the paper opening.

* The P-12C can also shred staples, credit cards and paper clips to help speed up your spring cleaning process.

* Its slim profile design allows the P-12C to fit in any officeenvironment, including under desks or in kitchens and other rooms.

The P-12C has a suggested retail price of $89.99 and is available at Target Stores nationwide.http://www.target.com/Fellowes-P-12C-Cross-Cut-Shredder-SafeSense/dp/B003ID0EFC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&searchView=grid5&keywords=p-12c&fromGsearch=true&sr=1-4&qid=1297964460&rh=&searchRank=target104545&id=Fellowes%20P-12C%20Cross-Cut%20Shredder%20SafeSense&node=1038576|1287991011&searchSize=30&searchPage=1&searchNodeID=1038576|1287991011&searchBinNameList=subjectbin,price,target_com_primary_color-bin,target_com_size-bin,target_com_brand-bin&frombrowse=0

Hey! After you shred all that paper, you can maybe use it to make your own recycled paper in a blender (I'll find some how-to's and share in a later post) 

Get a Digital Makeover: Refresh your home office computer bydeleting files you no longer use and backing-up important data onto an external hard drive.  Clean out your inbox and change all passwords.  Refreshing your computer is a good practice to follow throughout the year as well.

 (I just personally had to do all of this, especially change my passwords etc., because Facebook notified me that someone on a mobile phone across the country from me (they even knew the location) had tried to access my account. Then I found out (after installing a couple free virus protection and malware identifying and removal softwares for free that my brilliant computer genius 14-year old found for me), that I had 48 files infected with Malware and Trojans (the worst ones.) Not to mention the many high and low risk viruses that the virus protection software had found earlier. Jeepers. So many days without my computer drove me nuts. :) Hopefully it's all better now though. ...I still have file cleaning up to do like they suggest here.

Make Life Easier: Plan ahead by purchasing organizational tools for your desk, such as computer risers or file folder holders.  This will help clear clutter from your desk top while keeping things within arms reach.

Freshen Up: Get rid of dust and germs that easily build up on office equipment such as keyboards, telephones and cabinets.  You'll feel instantly more productive with a clean workspace.

New Year Organizing Adventures: Office

Funny how the New Year always gives me the energy to organize anew. But what's cool about this year is I've got a killer new Dymo 450 Duo to help me do it. Woohoo! I thought some of my attempts might inspire you too. :)
It's not until I got my DYMO that I realized how ragged my file folders looked with my sometimes scraggly handwriting. (I have Essential Tremor, so as I get older my hands shake more and more & thus my handwriting isn't exactly reliable.)
Yes, I've tried those labels you stick into your printer and make up with your computer. But I always had trouble making the words line up just right so they came up weird. But boy is the Dymo a different matter. I installed the software that came with it. So it's REALLY easy for me to put the names for the labels into the computer by typing. But with the DYMO what's great is I don't have to try and line up the wrods right, because they line up automatically. Even better, I don't eed the printer to print them out: the DYMO labelwriter has it's own labels and it's own built in thermal printer. My file folder labels look fantastic and they come out very quickly, almost amazingly so. I just have to make sure the labels are inserted right, and luckily the DYMO came with great instructions.It took a little bit to install the labels the first try, and one mistake on my part so just one wasted label, but then it went like a charm. Woohoo! Neat, perfect labels for my files, which look SO much better now!
     They looked so great, it inspired me to cover some with pretty paper. (Like recycled Christmas wrap for the "Christmas" file.) Cool!
     In between, of course, I refiled each file in my assorted recycled (pre-owned) file cabinets. So then I got to make new labels for the front of each drawer.Nice!
     I couldn't stop there either. I've spent so long misplacing addresses/phone numbers/ text numbers that it has driven me crazy at times (Well, crazier than I already can be, lol.) I've tried putting them into Notepad or word files on my computer. But it can take forever to find them. I haven't tried Excel yet, but if I had I could have transferred them into my DYMO software, I think. I have lost plenty of "regular" address books, because they usually are so small. And I hate having to scribble out the address when it changes to put in the new one.
So boy was I excited to see how easy the DYMO software is to use to put in and save and fand addresses! Then, there are several styles of paper or plastic labels that the addresses can be printed out with the thermal printer. The first one I made was for my daughter who's away at college. It was near Christmas, and DYMO includes several cool pictures you can include on your label if you want, so I used a Christmas one. Very easy to choose and insert. (I plan to insert my own logo soon too: what a great addition for a business!)
     Best of all, my new DYMO let's me print out postage right from home! I live in the middle of nowhere so the nearest post office is more than an hour away. Buying stamps at the post office is usually a hassle because it's so busy. I've tried buying postage online and printing it out with my comp8uter's printer before: also a hassle because then you have to tape it onto the package and pray that not only it sticks long enough to get to where you want it to go (the package) but that you haven't covered the wrong part with the tape (which I've done before) so they return it to you because they can't "cancel" the postage right. Jeepers.
     However the postage printer tags that come with the DYMO LabelWriter Pro 450 Duo come with the "sticky" built in. Not only that, but it's really strong adhesive. PLUS I don't have to pay a monthly fee to be able to print postage with it, like I have in the past with a Pitney Bowes postage meter and even with a plan the U.S. Postal Service had. I can't afford all that. So only having to pay the actual postage cost, (plus for the DYMO labelwriters) is a huge step up. This would be a big plus also for someone like my dad, who sells his bonsai's on EBAY. He has to use a lot of postage. This way he wouldn't have to go to the post office to get it and I assume he could deduct the expense of a labelwriter as a business expense!
     I have plenty of other stuff I want to organize. Including all our homeschool activities. So I'll keep you all posted. But meanwhile,  I thank God I'm a Bzzagent and they gave this DYMO LabelWriter 450 DUO to me to try It's a New Year Organizing Dream Come True!
     Do you want one too? DYMO gave me this code to give to all my friends, family and readers so you can get $50 off a DYMO LabelWriter 450 Duo for yourself by using this promo code: BZZDUO2010.
     Enjoy!

Exciting! Received My DYMO LabelWriter 450 Duo! Yay!

Woohoo! I love being a BzzAgent! Just got the Dymo LabelWriter

450 Duo they gave me to try in mail, I'm so excited! Looks cool!

I'll keep you posted on all the fun educational, business and just plain fun things I figure out what to do with it. :)

Meanwhile you can check out their DYMO site here:

DYMO | LabelWriter Printers, Electronic Labelmakers, Original Embosser

Or find one for yourself here: