EPA Smokers and DC security

Two thoughts for the day:

A pack of disgruntled EPA employees standing in front of the entrance to the building puffin' away on cigarettes...classic.

Some of the people I see in uniform at guard shacks, the entrances to federal buildings checking bags via x-ray machines, etc. make me realize how incredibly unsafe we are.

www.momspit.com

A link to this site was sent to me by a friend of my mom's...I thought the name "momspit" was really ingenious! It's the kind of product that makes you say, "why didn't I think of that!?"

Check out the site...I haven't tried/bought/used the product but thought at least the idea behind it was great!

Question: Reply All or just "Reply?"

Here's an "e-etiquette" question: When you're part of a distribution list at a company, etc. and you get an email from a manager congratulating someone for a job well done, exciting personal news, etc...do you send your response so that *everyone* on the list sees it (i.e. "reply all") or just the person who's the subject of the message??

My thinking is that instead of bogging down everyone's inbox with a 'reply all' comment...just send it to the appropriate person. I spend a lot of my time waiting for e-responses from clients and sometimes when my computer "dings" and the new email is a 'reply all' response...it's well...a little disappointing...okay...annoying.

Butternut Squash

Here's a great, easy recipe that everyone in my house enjoys (and my husband's a tough audience on the veggie front!)---it's really, really easy and healthy too! Bonus!

Buy butternut squash either pre-chopped *or* halved with the outer layer removed.
Put the rough-choppped squash into a big sauce pan, cover with water and bring to a boil until the squash is fork tender (~8-10 minutes).
Drain the water from the pan...to the cooked squash add cinnamon, touch of Allspice, pinch of salt and honey (as much as you like!) then mix with a potato masher.

You end up with a sweet-potato-esque kind of side dish...it's really delicious! My 15 month old loves it!

Betty Crocker Out!

The elevator button!!!

So I'm at the doctor's office today...waiting at the elevator...and it happened...someone came up and pressed the already pressed "up" button!!!!! We're probably *all* guilty of doing it at one time or another - maybe it's a nervous twitch??! After all, getting in an elevator with a crowd of strangers can be really uncomfortable! Maybe it's the silence, the smell or both!!

Just made me feel a little inadequate...after all, I pressed it first but clearly the guy after me thought my button pushing skills were totally sub-par. Bummer.

The big 'mug!'

Just a quick thought this morning - this is something I think about *every* time I'm driving and see a billboard with someone's face on it...well, not just anyone's face...I'm talking about local business owners who think it's a great idea to place his/her (usually his!) smiling face on their billboard looming above busy highways.
Some that I've seen - the owner's of car & motorcycle dealerships, appliance stores, etc. From my visual experience, the 'face' itself seems to always be that of a middle-aged, not-so-attractive man! --sorry guys! Definitely not trying to be malicious here - just honest!

I'm wondering if having a mostly unknown face on a billboard actually increases the bottom line...or is this an effort to brand the business with the face? Do people come into the store/dealership/office excited to meet the smiling face they see every morning driving into work?

If we're sticking with the whole honesty theme here...I'm guessing the 'mug on a billboard' phenomenom is more about owner ego than it is about a proven method to increase sales.