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Life throws curve balls, now and then, and I’m not all that great at playing catcher. Some things are looking upwards, albeit it will be for a short period of time, while others…well…

So, what have I been doing all these months? Not what I’d rather be doing. Yet, even that will change soon, although not soon enough.

Suffice to say that these past several months have been challenging. The next few months will be challenging. The months after that, we shall see.

I completed my first marathon, not quite as well as planned; but, that happens on one of the hardest, hilliest routes in the country. In November, I have the Komen 3-day/60-mile walk, followed by the AT&T Austin Marathon in Feb 2009, and some long event in-between (have to decide what that will be). Plus, I will be pursuing the ISG Sommelier Diploma. A lot ahead!

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thanks to a comment left by a visitor, I’ve added a contact form to my sidebar. I tried adding the contact-form plugin discussed elsewhere; but, this contact form widget works with my widgetable (is that a word?) theme. The visitor’s feedback is sent to your WP admin/manage/contact interface.Very cool. Support WP!! 

Every year, my family goes through the process of drawing Christmas Buddy names, a ritual established years ago to help control our holiday gift budgets. I used to maintain a little website where I posted links to items on everyone’s wishlists, treasure hunts hidden in rhymes and other fun stuff.

When managing the wishlists became cumbersome, we went to an ingrown online method. The problem with it is that there were always people drawing from their own immediate families, or their spouses, etc. 

I decided to find a better way. Rather than try to reinvent the wheel, I found Elfster, a free online buddy drawing system, and the problems were resolved. It allows you to select what names can be excluded from being drawn by a particular elf, enter wishlists (and optional links to items), send gift certificates and private message each other to ask those sensitive questions that do arise.

Elfster is so popular that some large corporate entities and charitable organizations are using it for buddy gifts and fundraising. Check it out.

Did you have a lemonade stand when you were a kid? Remember how much fun it was to raid mom’s kitchen for a pitcher, the sugar and whatever you used to make the beverage? Did you have one of those big, round pitchers with a happy-ish face?

In the spirit of a lemonade stand, I’ve created a few online stores at one time or another, tried to coordinate some merchant’s catalog items with my site, and had to remember to track and update my inventory. 

Someone got the brilliant idea to actually call their online store tool “Lemonade” and it’s very easy to use.There are a few little quirks:

• reordering list items doesn’t always work
• adding to an already long list doesn’t always work
• only one major sponsor on you list box is allowed

I have yet to find all the bugs. Nonetheless, it’s worth taking a gander at thie little tool. Best of all, it’s free and you can embed the flash file into your Facebook, eBlogger or other social site. Sales proceeds are paid to your PayPal account. How easy can it get. Let’s see if it works here, too.