Saturday, January 28, 2006

Tax Free Shopping Week for Suffolk County, NY

List of Shopping Malls on Long Island

Tax free shopping week in Suffolk includes no state or local sales tax on all purchases of clothing and footwear under $110. Tax free week runs from January 30-Feb 5, 2006, so grab your wallet and go shopping on Long Island!

Shopping Malls in Suffolk County New York

Walt Whitman Mall
160 Walt Whitman Road
Huntington Station, NY 11746
631-271-1741
Walt Whitman Mall

Smith Haven Mall
313 Smith Haven Mall
Lake Grove, NY 11755
631-724-1433
Smith Haven Mall

The Outlets at Bellport
10 Farber Drive
Bellport, NY 11713
631-286-3872

Tanger Outlets
I-495 East, L.I.E., Exit 72 or 73
1770 West Main Street
Riverhead, NY 11901
631-369-2732 / 1-800-407-4894
Tanger Outlets

Tanger Outlet Mall located in Riverhead, NY is a must stop if you are heading out east on Long Island. This mega shopping center features over 165 brand name manufacturers and designer outlet stores.

Unfortunately tax free week applies to Suffolk County only, but in case the tax free incentive in Suffolk gives you the urge to splurge, here are some shopping malls in
Nassau County...

Shopping Malls in Nassau County New York

Roosevelt Field Shopping Mall
Old Country Road and Meadowbrook Parkway
Garden City, NY 11530
516-742-8000
Roosevelt Field Shopping Center

Roosevelt Field Shopping Mall is a Simon property located at the intersection of Old Country Road and Meadowbrook Parkway in Garden City, NY. Featured stores include Banana Republic, Gap, Macy's, Modells, Foot Locker, JC Penney, Brookstone, Victoria's Secrets, Williams-Sonoma and Zales to name a few. There is also plenty to eat in the food court and a multiplex movie theater on hand just in case you need to take a break from shopping.

Broadway Mall
358 B. Broadway Mall
Hicksville, New York 11801
516-939-0679
Broadway Mall


Sunrise Mall
One Sunrise Mall
Massapequa NY 11758
516-795-3550
Sunrise Mall


The Mall at the Source
1504 Old Country Road
Westbury, NY 11590
516-228-0303
The Mall at the Source

Green Acres Mall
2034 Green Acres Mall
Valley Stream, NY 11581
516-561-7360
Green Acres Shopping Mall

Green Acres Shopping Mall offers the traditional mall as well as a complex of surrounding mega stores including several brand names like Old Navy, Sears, BJ's Wholesale Club, The Avenue and WalMart. You also won't be able to resist the smell of Cinnabon's so you may have to start your diet tomorrow!

Americana Manhasset
2060 Northern Boulevard
Manhasset , NY 11030
516-627-2277
Americana Manhasset

An exclusive collections of top designer store lined up in a row on Northern Blvd in Manhasset is fondly referred to by shopaholics as Miracle Mile. The stretch of top names includes Louis Vuitton, Prada, Oscar de la Renta, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and more. Bring your Bijon and your credit cards!

HAPPY SHOPPING!

My Dinner With Rose

BY MICHAEL WATT Ask Mr. Long Island

(Editor’s note: In the interest of maintaining my Oprah Winfrey Good Writing Seal of Approval, for the record I state up front and unequivocally that unless otherwise noted every word you read in my column is based on fact and therefore true. Hopefully the words will also be humorous, but at the very least when I say something happened, it happened.)

There are moments in one’s life when you just want to light a candle to the writing gods and thank them for giving you a humor column. Something happens and you just can’t believe how fortunate you are to have this forum for discussing your thoughts on the matter. It’s like owning an auto body shop and waking up to find Long Island in the grips of an unexpected ice storm during rush hour.

That’s how I felt when I read the news the other day that the Unholy Trinity of Trysts, Joey Amy and Mary Jo, is looking to re-unite and take its act on the road. Well, re-unite, anyway. Apparently they want “closure” on everything that happened and they want that closure to take place in the glare of the television spotlight that they used to scream was ruining their lives. My guess is that when they start to sweat under the heat of those spotlights they also want to be able to mop their brows with hundred dollar bills, but that’s just me. I’m sure closure is the be all and end all reason for this little get together.

Now, I could carp and rant about how these three helped bring about the downfall of society in that their little escapade is what led media executives across the nation to realize that “there’s gold in them thar scandals.” But I shant, primarily because unless you’re Lewis Black or the late Sam Kinison rare is the carp and rant that proves humorous. No, I choose to share a story with you related to this whole sordid affair, one that involves not one of the three main players but rather Amy’s mom, a nice woman named Rose.

Rose, you see, was the interior decorator for one of my previous employers before all this silliness – and Mary Jo - went down. My employer at the time invited my wife, Sharon, and I out to dinner with his wife. We were going to see an entertainer whose career my boss was trying to support perform at a restaurant in Queens. My instructions were to meet my boss and his wife at the place where we worked, in Valley Stream, and that we would then follow him to the restaurant in Queens.

Well, Sharon and I pull up to the building in Valley Stream and my boss and his wife are already in their car, waiting for us. He signals to me to follow him, which I do. As his car pulls away from the curb, however, Sharon sees a smallish woman in the back seat and, rather perceptively, notices that she bears a striking resemblance to the aforementioned Rose Fisher. This is taking place at the height of the scandal, mind you, so Sharon turns to me and asks, “Why in God’s name is Rose Fisher in the back seat of your boss’ car?”

I knew about the interior decorating relationship, of course, but I had no idea that she was joining us for dinner. During our journey into Queens Sharon and I bandied about matters that we should not bring up while in the company of Mrs. Fisher. Typical topics of conversation - the problems associated with raising children in today’s society; too many guns; too much violence; teenagers; love, unrequited and otherwise; the difficulties we all face in finding a good auto body mechanic – they were tossed into the taboo pile. We decided to play it safe and just say as little as possible.

Eventually we turned down the street where the restaurant was and as we followed my boss’ car into the valet parking Sharon and I simultaneously saw the sign over the restaurant door and realized - to our collective horror - that the name of the establishment was “Joey’s Place.” This did not bode well for the rest of the evening.

We stuck to our game plan and for the most part got through the dinner unscathed. During dessert, however, the topic turned to college educations, as both Mrs. Fisher and my boss’ wife had just recently started taking classes at Nassau Community College. One of them, I am not sure who, said she enjoyed taking the classes because by doing so she felt smarter because she knew more about what was going on in the world around her. That’s when the topic filter in my head shut down, like a sump pump in the middle of a flood.

I thought about the time while in my late teens that I was listening with one of my brothers to a popular band from the late 1970s. During one of the songs the singer made a reference to a famous piece of literature. My brother asked me about that reference and since I was able to explain it to him because I had read that piece of literature in college I felt smart.

As is my wont I started to share this little vignette with my dinner companions but about halfway through a chill went down my spine. “Omigod,” I thought. “How am I going to get out of this one?” The song, you see, was “Don’t Stand So Close To Me,” by “The Police.” The lyrics that stirred my brother’s curiosity were:

“He sees her
He starts to shake and cough,
Just like that,
Old man in,
That book by Nabokov.”

“That book,” of course, was “Lolita,” and here I am telling this story to the mother of the “Long Island Lolita.” I pretended not to be able to remember the rest of the story, which surprised Sharon because while I can never remember to take out the garbage I am able to remember the tiniest minutiae from things that happened years ago. She asked me about it when we got in the car and once I explained it she laughed. We both agreed that even by my standards – and I am a guy who would be very wealthy today if there was any money in putting one’s foot in one’s mouth – the odds of such an esoteric reference creating a problem were pretty astronomical.

Come to think of it, the odds are right up there with the odds that a woman who took a gun shot to the face at the hands of her husband’s teenage lover would want to “re-unite” with her assailant for profit and prizes some 14 years later.

Thank you for reading this column. [2006-01-26]

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Pink Floyd Concert in Patchogue

Patti writes, "Hi, is there going to be a Pink Floyd concert this February in Patchogue? Any details would be appreciated?"

Yes, the Pink Floyd Concert is scheduled at the Patchogue Theatre on Feb 11, 2006. Here's the details... Presenting the music of Pink Floyd like you've never seen it before, surrounded by 10,000 watts of concert quality sound! Colorful lasers and lighting effects parallel the sonic journey as the senses are confronted with an array of glowing visual displays on three large video screens, choreographed to the music of Pink Floyd.
TICKET PRICES: $30.50 / $27.50 / 23.50

For a list of upcoming Long Island Concerts, visit the LI Events Calendar.
List of Theaters and Performing Arts centers on Long Island NY, visit the Long Island Theatres page.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Podcasting officially comes to Long Island

As fast as the technology changes, it seems like there is a new device or "toy" that becomes a fad or a permanent fixture in the hearts of entertainment buffs around the island. CD Players, cassette decks, DVD players, and yes, even the 8-track tape have made their marks. However, if you take over 475 CDs and try to shove them all in your pants pocket, what would you look like walking down the street? How comfortable would you be? You would not look too good or feel very confortable. However, take the 5,000 songs from all 475 of those CDs and put them into one Apple ipod. Put that ipod into your pocket and now you look like any normal person, but you have over the equivalent of those 475 CDs in that little box. Plug in your earphones and go. To me, that has to be one of the best benefits of apple ipods.

The real beauty of the ipod is that it has become a cousin to the television or the radio. I say that because since TV or radio programs get broadcasted, the ipod gets "podcasted". Podcasts are simply shows consisting of any topic including talk, music, sports, travel tips, world news, etc that people can download to their ipod and go anywhere that ipod will go. Podcasts, like web sites, come in all flavors, topics, and information.

As web sites created the way for people to express themselves, so do podcasts as they can be provided in audio or video form.

There a few podcasts in Long Island, but the Long Island Podcast Network was started as a music program to give unsigned bands from Long Island a chance to get their music out to the public without waiting for a record deal to come their way. The Long Island Podcast Network is striving to do for bands like The X's from Hicksville, Sigh from Brentwood, and The Mondays from Hauppauge just what TV and the music industry have done for Billy Joel, Jerry Seinfeld, Blue Oyster Cult, Cyndi Lauper, Fran Drescher, Pat Benetar, and Ray Romano.

Although it took the success of the Apple ipod to make podcasting a success, is not limited to ipods. Podcasted shows can be enjoyed from any portable MP3 player and also home computers with high speed broadband connections. All people need to do to listen to a podcast show is stream the MP3 by clicking on the hyperlink from their computers. Or, they can listen to all of them by subscribing.

The Long Island Podcast Network at http://www.LiPodcastNetwork.com puts out a new show every Sunday of bands and musicians from Long Island, but will be moving to a 3 show schedule in April. Other shows of the network will be a sports podcast, a coupon podcast, and we even received an idea from a Suffolk county real estate agent who would review homes being listed on the housing market. We are even planning an idea to podcast restaurant reviews on the island. The Long Island Podcast Network is always looking for new shows to develop and people to host them.

In conclusion, I just want to say that podcasts will follow the same road that web sites took. They are here to stay, but people will need to sift through the effective podcasts and differentiate them from others. Just as there are some web sites that may not be serious, podcasts will do the same. The market is wide open for people to voice their opinions on whatever subjects they feel and the Long Island Podcast Network at http://www.LiPodcastNetwork.com can make that possible for anybody in Long Island who would like to host their own show.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Jersey Shelter Closing, Animals to be Euthanized

The West Jersey Animal Shelter is closing at the end of this month. The Pennsauken, NJ shelter had it's license revoked due to unkept and dangerous conditions for the animals. There are currently 31 dogs and 5 cats on the premises that are in desperate need of adoption. If these animals are not adopted by the end of the month, they will be euthanized.

The West Jersey Animal Shelter is open for adoptions Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. and from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Phone (856) 486-2180.

Here's a couple photos of dogs and cats awaiting adoption at the shelter.

Image Hosted by ImageShacPLEk.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
PLEASE SHARE THIS IF YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO CAN HELP.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

I Love Valentine's Day

I Love Long Island, New York that is...Official 'I Love LI' Merchandise is available at the I Love Long Island online store.

Our exclusive merchandise is emblazoned with the 'I Love LI' logo and includes t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, mugs, mousepads, baby-t's, pet items and more! Great gift ideas for friends and family for birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's day and holidays. Don't forget Valentine's Day!

Shop now for Valentine's Day... I Love Long Island Store

Custom and bulk pricing available. We can co-brand our items for corporate gifts, trade show promotions and employee incentive programs, call us at 631-543-1000 x2 for more information.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Better Safe Than Sorry - Safety Tips

We can now add to the list of victims the retired 77 yr. old TCU professor from Ft Worth whose body was found last week in Oklahoma--and the 11 yr. old in Sarasota, FL. Because of these recent abductions in daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation...This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children, everyone you know.

After reading these 9 crucial tips, forward them to someone you care about. It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in.

1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!

2. Learned this from a tourist guide in New Orleans. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you....chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON'T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.

  • If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:

  • Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat
  • If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.
  • Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, Preferably ! in a zig -zag pattern!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP. It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked "for help" into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her "Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, "We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door." He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night. Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby ----This e-mail should probably be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on America's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Long Island's 10th Anniversary for LongIsland.com

This year marks the 10th Anniversary for LongIsland.com

LongIsland.com started way back when AOL was mailing out version 3.0 on floppy disk, a 14.4K modem was the absolute 'fastest' and it took about 45 minutes to print a page on a dot matrix printer. Boy, how times have changed!

Our Web site began as a simple list of towns. We asked our site visitors what they wanted. Well the emails have not stopped since and we keep adding items to our ‘to do’ list. LongIsland.com has been, and will continue to be a work in progress.

The LongIsland.com staff is comprised of a group of dedicated Long Islanders that work hard to keep this site up and running for you. We have ridden the Internet wave with its ups and downs for 10 years and we are still growing!

Local advertisers fund LongIsland.com and help keep it a free resource for you. If you have a business on Long Island, or know someone that does, tell them about our Web site. Although the Internet is a global marketplace our advertisers are local businesses. We have always believed in keeping Long Island's Internet dollars on Long Island. So, whenever possible, support your local businesses.

We have many changes and improvements planned for the upcoming year. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions.

We would like to take a moment to thank the people, past and present that have had a hand in making this Web site what it is today.

We also want to thank you, our member. Whether you have been with us for the past ten years, or signed up yesterday... you are a part of our Long Island Internet Community. You are what makes us LongIsland.com

We hope that 2006 brings health, happiness and prosperity for you and your family. Thank you for being a part of our community and Happy New Year!

Sincerely yours,
Suzi Batta, COO
& The LongIsland.com Staff

-----------------------------------------------------
Long Island's Most Popular Web Site
http://www.longisland.com/
10 years and still growing!
-----------------------------------------------------

Don't Take it for Granted

I wrote this when I was in college. It still rings true today and is worth sharing.

You never know what you have until it’s gone.

I always believed in that. It seemed logical enough, and after thinking about it, I even found myself consciously cherishing moments I was spending with a friend or just doing something I enjoyed. Yet, I never fully realized just how deep the meaning of that one sentence really was. Until last September, that is.

September 29, 1989 is a day that I will always remember, although in a way, it is a day I really don’t want to remember. This was a day when all time stopped, and my heart and life shattered into a million pieces.

This was the day my mother died.

It wasn’t like we weren’t expecting it. She had cancer ever since I was a small child. It’s one of those things you know is inevitable, but you don’t really believe it will ever happen. Mothers are forever; they’re a constant part of our life, a part so constant and so close that we often take them for granted.

The reality is that they can disappear so incredibly fast. People we love can be here one day and gone forever the next.

It’s amazing how you change when something like this happens. All the pain, shock, sadness and utter loneliness you feel, no matter who you still have around. The pain doesn’t die out quickly, either. It’s the most persistent pain I’ve ever felt.

I keep waiting for it to go away, or at least subside, but as time goes on, it only seems to be getting worse. It’s such a mixture of different feelings and emotions that it’s almost impossible to explain. It’s not something I would wish on anyone.

My mother was my closest friend and the person I loved more than anyone else in the world, and I’m left now with only memories. If I could do back in time, I would, even if it were only to have one of those mother-daughter fights. You’d be surprised at the silly things you start to miss.

Mom did so many things for me that I never even noticed. Like punishing me and saying she was only doing it because she loved me. It never sinks in until so much later. Too much later. She touched an amazing number of lives with her strength and courage. She was one of the most beautiful spirits that ever touched upon this earth, and I can only hope to keep her spirit alive within myself for as long as I am here.

So the next time you’re sharing a sunset with someone you love, having a laugh with some friends, or even fighting with one of your parents, remember our lives are but a fleeting moment in time. They come and go so quickly. Live each day of your life to the fullest, as if it’s all going to end tomorrow. You have to live for what you have, live for now, grasp every second that you can.

Appreciate and love everything there is. Cherish every breath you take, every smile you share, and every tear that falls. These are the moments that pass without a single thought.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Creating Change in 2006 – One New Habit at a Time

Did you know that it takes 21 days to form a new habit? By my calculations, that means you can form 17 new habits each year. Can you think of any organizing habits you would like to incorporate into your life? It doesn’t need to be 17 but isn’t it amazing to think you can make that many changes in just one year? Think ahead to this time next year. Wouldn’t it be amazing to reflect back on all of the positive changes you have made in 2006? All it takes is living consciously and tuning into what you are doing each day. And small changes will bring big results.

As usual, I have to use my organizing/weight loss analogy to describe what I mean. For those of you who have never tried to lose weight, please bear with me. In both situations small changes yield large results. If you make small changes in your organizing habits, by the end of the year, you will have achieved great results! I know from personal experience that just giving up the worst of my bad eating habits (like grabbing cookies at the gas station on my way to client’s each day and eating high calories lunches on most days) it resulted in a 15 lb. weight loss since September. Also, making sure that I exercised on most days and making that top priority when I scheduled my day. These new habits have made me happier and healthier and now they are just common practice and have become part of my every day life. And you can achieve the same by incorporating new organizing habits into your life.

I’m not sure if I can come up with 17 new habits but let’s give it a try. Here are some small changes you can make in 2006 that will move you toward saving time and becoming more organized. And this will help you achieve the most important goal: simplifying and balancing your life.

o Each evening, take a few minutes to look ahead to the next day. Plan out your schedule and include your To Do List for that day. Preplanning is the best thing you can do in any situation to keep you on track and more organized.
o Keep a list of errands that you need to run. I do this on my computer because it is easy to make changes to the list. Every time you leave the house, take the list with you. This way if you find yourself with some extra time on your hands while you are out of the house, you can run some errands.
o If you are going to devote time to specifically run errands, look at the list and put it in the order that you will run the errands. It will save you time if you map out your route. Also, looking at the list will remind you if you need to bring anything with you: dry cleaning receipt, videos to return, library books to bring back. . .
o Leave a few extra minutes in the morning to do a quick “pick up” in your home. Clear dishes from the sink, put things where they belong, make the bed, even do a quick wipe of the bathroom mirror and sink. You may also want to incorporate this idea at the end of the day and get children involved by having them put away their toys.
o Buy a bunch of greeting cards so you always have them on hand. Buy them online at a company such as Current.com to save time and money. Also don’t forget things like sympathy cards, thank you cards, cards to send to your loved ones just to let them know you are thinking of them. You will never have to waste time running out to buy a last minute card.
o Allow yourself extra time. I find it is always better to arrive somewhere early than right on time or late. And if by some chance you are too early, you can use that time to take a few moments to relax and breathe and do nothing! Or keep reading material in your car. Plan for traffic and unexpected interruptions no matter what you are doing.
o Designate a place for your keys, wallet, cell phones and items you use daily so you will not have to look for them when you are ready to leave the house.
o Have an area near your door to keep things that need to leave the house.
o Get the children off to school more quickly by preparing as much as possible the night before: choosing outfits, deciding what they want to eat for breakfast or lunch, determining what they need for school.
o Keep driving directions in your computer. Not only directions to your home to give to friends but also of places you have been so you will not need to ask for directions again.
o Plan telephone calls (whether to doctors, plumbers, clients, etc.) whenever possible. Have all necessary materials in front of you. Write key questions down in advance.
o Regularly go through reading material and get rid of outdated newspapers and magazines.
o Put things away immediately after you’re finished with them.
o Plan ahead for occasions this year. Make a note on your calendar 3 – 4 weeks before anyone you need to buy a gift for. This will give you time to think about a gift idea and shop for it.
o Like making lists? Keep them in your computer to reduce papers and to keep you on track. Some suggestions for list making: Birthdays, Web sites you would like to explore, Books you would like to read, Gift ideas for family and friends, Future projects you would like to get done, Items you are waiting for (mail order products, return phone calls, items in the mail), What to bring on a trip, What to bring to different activities (such as skiing, the gym, canoeing, a picnic), Websites where you have registered along with the user name and password you used to register at each site, Movies you wish to rent (keep the list in your wallet so you are ready for your next trip to the video store.)
o Deal with mail every day. Toss the junk mail, file whatever needs to be kept and place items that need action into your In Box.
o Not sure where all of your time is going? Try keeping a time log for a week. This log will help you find where you are wasting time. Use the results to create a new schedule for yourself and make time for all of the things you want to and need to do.


There, I did it! Seventeen small changes you can make this year. Now you can make a commitment to making a life change. Getting organized, just like any other change we want to make, can only be achieved if we really want it. Just like losing weight or quitting smoking, we have to make the conscious decision that this is no longer the way we want to live. Once that decision is made, you can take the steps to get organized. You have to want it to make it happen and you can make it happen. And if you need advice, guidance or hands on help, I will be happy to be there for you in any way that I can.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2006!