Pandora's Casket

With the ever rising fuel costs those that ship items are questioning their practice and prices to charge.

I know that many people that I am associated with are looking at their shipping and trying to figure out how to remain reasonable yet not kill their own pocket book by the trips to the post office. The last increase in shipping costs that many saw was with the last postal increase. Shipping Internationally was the hardest hit on sky high costs. Many small business owners had to at that point in time think if in fact it was worth trading with our international customers.

Now, it is time to re-evaluate for our US sales and shipping. How much to raise, if any at all to reflect the fuel charges we have incurred.

To keep the gas costs lower and travel to a minimal business owners might utilize the resources more activity that are available.

Use what you have:

Your postal pick up point. Whether it from your home or office use it. You may go to the post office and get a mailing tub for free. Load it up with the mail that is being shipped. They pick it up giving you a new one (tub) for the next mail pick up day.

Scheduled Pick Up: You do need at least one (1) Priority mailer to do this but it is well worth it. Utilize the on line form with the post office. No calls at all. Just choose your day, where you are placing the items and send it in. I use this and it has been a life saver at times.

Scheduled Shipping Days: OK, you want your customers to have the fastest service available to them. Yet shipping can get out of hand. Depending upon the amount you do driving to the PO for one or two packages is silly. Set days to ship for large groups of packages. My set days are Tuesdays and Fridays. I will ship daily but that is for the smaller days and will get placed in the office mailing box.

Use UPS or Fed Ex: Check into their rates to see if it might be more cost effective to utilize their services. Fed Ex is a little high but the service is great. Setting up a business account is a pain but worth it.

Communicate any and all changes with your customers. They will understand that gas costs are out of hand as they are feeling it also. Send an email of your shipping policy change or rate increase. They will appreciate this more than you know.

Try other ways of shipping first before you are hasty and start raising your costs, either in the product or your shipping. If nothing works for you by all means raise your costs.

In this day and age if you want to get to the top of your field you have to have a vast amount of education and experience under your belt. For those in the computer field, having a Cisco certification is one large leap for your resume to be looked at seriously.

With the training and educational courses that Cisco has you will be very well trained by the time you have completed the course. With their teachers and the hands on material there is everything that you will need to add this to your already packed resume.

Employers are looking for those that have credentials in any given field. By taking the opportunity and enrolling in one of their many courses you are paving your way to a career and not just any old computer job.

Take for example the certification in Security. With the importance of security now days for all data that is streamed through computers this is a key type of employment. Cisco will train you in all the up to date resources and educational knowledge that you will need.

With so many out there competing for employment take the opportunity to stand out in the crowd by being certified in one of the areas that you are interested in.

With Cisco certification you will lead the pack into tomorrow

I hate pineapple. No, maybe that is a little to strong of an emotion. I dislike pineapple. My children though adore it. Pizza, pie, cakes, you name it and they will eat it up. For the holiday coming up I am making these bars for the snack table. You know who won't be down there at that end of the table

Pineapple Bars

INGREDIENTS

1 cup crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup water
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups rolled oats

DIRECTIONS

1. To Make Pineapple Filling: Mix 1 cup crushed pineapple and juice (8 1/4-ounce can), 1 cup sugar, 2 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon butter, and 1 cup water in saucepan. Cook until thickened, cool.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3. Cream together shortening and sugar thoroughly. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in rolled oats. Press and flatten half of the mixture over bottom of a 13 x 9 1/2 x 2 inch greased pan. Spread with cooled filling.
4. Top with remaining crumb mixture, patting lightly. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. While warm cut into bars and remove from pan.

This July we are planning on a camping trip. We were going to go in August but the baby is due the 11th and we sure do not want to be deep in woods or where ever and have the baby decide he is ready to arrive.

The first thing that we did was start to look for travel deals that are relating to camping. There are a lot of camp grounds and places around us so it won't be that hard to figure out where to go.

The second is to get everything ready to go. Gear, items needed you name it. The family is very excited about this. All I know is that I am purchasing an air mattress to sleep on. Rocks under my body is just not my cup of tea. haha

This summer I have decided to look at generators. With all the power outages that we have with the transformer always getting hit I think that it would be a great idea.

I get tired of sitting here hour after hour with only candle light to fill the rooms. It worries me a lot especially since we have cats that sometimes are less than smart and graceful.

They are not that expensive and a wise investment for us. Whether it is Summer or Winter it will be put to good use.