How a little computer play time could help others

education (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

I’ve done something crazy (no surprise, right?!) and need your help in making things get even crazier. I have entered two different grant contests. My goal is to get funding to help me get my T.E.A.C.H. Approach™ Workshop program up and running. I spent the first half of my adult life as a teacher, and my husband is still a teacher, so supporting educators is a very important project to me. (I’ve listed below some grant excerpts to give you an idea of what my goals are.)

Both of these contests require you to have a Facebook account. If you don’t have one, please use the social media icons below to “share” this message with your family, friends and colleagues. If you do have an account, please keep reading for how you can help. Don’t worry, I’m not asking for money from you – just a few clicks on your mouse. This is that rare occasion when I’ll let you off the hook for procrastinating and playing on the computer!!

Contest #1 – $250,000 grant – sponsored by Chase

1. Go to www.Missionsmallbusiness.com.
2. Click “Log In & Support” on the right side of that page.
3. Sign in via Facebook.
4. Scroll down to the search area and type in LivingOrder San Antonio in the business rectangle. (LivingOrder is one word.)

You can fill in State: Texas       City: San Antonio  but it’s not necessary.

5. When LivingOrder San Antonio appears, please click on VOTE.

We need at least 250 votes just to qualify to have the proposal considered. Twelve winners will be chosen.

Contest #2 – $15,000 prize pack – sponsored by PostNet

Go to LivingOrder San Antonio‘s listing on PostNet’s Boost Your Biz page and click on VOTE. We need to be in the top 5 vote getters to be judged. One winner will be chosen. (Note: If you’re being naughty and doing this at work, be sure to turn down the volume when you get to this page.)

Thank you to Kristian Haber of PostNet for telling me about this. Visit her store at the Alon HEB on NW Military Hwy in San Antonio for terrific printing services.

If you wish to procrastinate a little longer, feel free to “Like” our LivingOrderSA Facebook page.

Thank you so much for your support! Please use the social media icons below to “share” this message with your family, friends and colleagues.  

Grant Excerpts:

1. Tell us about your business and why it’s unique.

We gave a jazzed up summarized version of our FAQ and Media pages.

2. How is your business involved in the community?

LivingOrder^® San Antonio aims to help as many people as possible while still bringing in enough revenue to cover expenses and pay employees. Our community involvement includes volunteering with:

a. Goodwill – I have worked with Goodwill San Antonio over the last few years on educating the public about how their excess clutter and blessings can help those who are not as fortunate. We have worked on donation campaigns and collection days together, as well as supporting each other through social media and appearances in the community. I have media mentions and a YouTube video that keep the support “perpetual.”

b. Dress for Success – Since 2009 I have volunteered to present time management and paper management workshops to the clients enrolled in their Professional Women’s Group. These women, as are the folks in Goodwill’s programs, are trying to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, put their lives back together, and need all the support they can get.

c. Fairweather Family Lodge – The Program Director at Dress for Success eventually moved to San Antonio Family Endeavors (SAFE) and introduced me to the Fairweather Family Lodge, which is a residential program for homeless women diagnosed with mental issues and who have custody of their children. I initially met with the director to discuss recommendations for organizational and productivity improvements to the facility, and wound up presenting annual organizing workshops to the residents there.

d. Speaking Engagements – I am asked by many groups each year to give a short talk about organizing or productivity. I request that an honorarium be donated to a local charity. This year I am collecting for Alpha Home, which is a treatment facility for chemically dependent women. Their mission is to empower their clients by educating them.

e. “End Teacher Drop-Outs” Campaign – I spent the first half of my adult life as a teacher, and my husband is still in the classroom, so teacher support is an important part of my belief system. Fifty percent of teachers leave the classroom within their first five years of teaching, and that attrition costs the U.S. upwards of $2.2 billion per year.  This past spring I was able to go on a brief campaign with television appearances, blogs and social media postings that call attention to the need to support the educators who significantly affect the future of our children.

In addition to those specific efforts, I’m also the national co-trainer for Quantum Leap, a program that is a part of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). I assist in training professional organizers from across the country on how to team up with and help non-profits on a volunteer basis.

If I could afford to do all of this full-time, I would. But, alas, there are bills to pay.

3. What would the Grant mean to your business plan and how would you utilize the funds to ensure long-term growth and stability?

The grant would mean that I would be able to make a huge impact not just on my local community, but across the nation. My goal is to provide support to teachers nationwide through my T.E.A.C.H. Approach™ Workshops. Currently many schools cannot afford sufficient training provided by out-of-district specialists because of budget cuts. The skills that I teach during my workshops are exactly what teachers need to learn and implement in order to survive these particularly trying times.

With the money, I would immediately be able to:

*hire an individual to contact the nearly 2,000 schools listed on the Johns Hopkins University’s Dropout Factory List and articulate the objectives and benefits of my workshop. Those 2,000 campuses are in most need of my program.

*underwrite many of the initial expenses related to putting on a workshop so that schools would have only a small amount of out-of-pocket expenses until I could…

*hire an individual who would find corporate sponsorships for the workshops in order to partner businesses with the schools in their communities.

*hire and train an additional staff member to work with the client base that I would leave behind in San Antonio while conducting workshops across the country.

Eventually, the groundwork that is laid will lead to additional bookings from entities that can afford to pay full expenses, as well as the necessity to hire staff to manage the increased workload.

The national exposure would also allow me to develop a licensing program in order to give other individuals with a similar passion as mine the training and infrastructure they need to help me spread “the good word.”

With a “clone system” built in both locally and nationally, the works of LivingOrder® San Antonio would be able to continue for many years to come – even long past my retirement.

4. Describe your team.

We submitted a summary of our About Us page, plus shared a little secret: Magdalena and Tracey turned down higher paying jobs because they believe in our mission.

5. Additional relevant information you’d like to share:

Teachers need more than appreciation gifts of trinkets to stick it out in a tough job.

Some educators – and most especially the general public – may not be aware of these sobering statistics:

• Teacher job satisfaction is at a twenty-two year low. – 29^th Annual Met Life Survey of the American Teacher

• One important trait of teachers labeled as high quality is that they’ve spent more than five years in the classroom. – National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF)

• One-third of teachers leave the profession within the first three years, and half leave within the first five.  – National Center for Education Statistics

• Teacher attrition costs U.S. districts $2.2 billion per year.  – Alliance for Excellent Education

If high quality teachers need five years to become just that, and half leave before then, the teacher drop-out rate suddenly becomes just as important as the student drop-out rate. After all, teachers spend more waking hours with our children than parents do and can determine how much – or how little – information will be shared with students.

Not surprisingly, those exiting teachers who were surveyed did mention low pay as a determining factor for leaving, as well as poor student behavior. But, the number one reason teachers gave for leaving the classroom was the lack of a supportive school environment. Disorganization and the absence of time management support are major causes of “overwhelm” for many teachers.

Contrary to popular belief, teaching ain’t a 9 to 3 job. For a peek into what a typical school day is like for many teachers, download a free Sample Excerpt here.

If teachers cannot keep up with email, lesson plans, grading, required documentation, standardized testing requirements, classroom supplies, paperwork and all the other directions in which teachers are pulled, then they will not be able to concentrate on the most important part of their job: teaching children. If they can’t concentrate, they will not perform to the best of their ability. If they’re not performing at their best, the students will not be getting the education that they need and deserve.

If teachers aren’t happy, it shows in their body language. Students sense that. If there’s no joy from the teacher, then there’s no joy in the students. That is a miserable environment. If teachers are less stressed, they’ll be able to enjoy their jobs and their time with students in the classroom. Students feed off positive energy, and that carries over into learning and academic success. That joy for learning is a necessary skill that students need to have in order to succeed in work and life.

To read more about my passion for helping teachers, please visit: http://livingordersa.wordpress.com/category/teachers/.

Thank you so much for your support! Please use the social media icons below to “share” this message with your family, friends and colleagues.

What’s the secret to a longer life?

This is 72% cacao organic dark chocolate from Blanxart. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So here’s what prompted me to finally start a blog last year. I visited with the mother of one of my dad’s friends, and I just thought the world should know about her philosophy.

For almost forty years I’ve been going to her house for visits and cannot remember a time when she spoke ill of anyone – except when USC wasn’t doing well in football and the mess of the NBA lockout at that time. The conversation was always about me or my family. She’d ask so many questions to find out what was going on with our lives. She wanted to know about all of the good stuff going on and was thrilled to help celebrate. When there was bad stuff going on, she offered advice and searched for a way to make lemonade out of lemons. The only time she divulged stories about her life was when we took the time to ask. She always made us feel attended to and important.

She’s now 101 years old. And she’s still as sharp as a tack. She remembers details from The Depression through World War II through the daily goings on of the previous day. The only reason why she might get a little lost in the conversation is because her hearing is giving out, so she may not have completely heard what you were saying.

“What’s your secret?” I finally asked her. I was waiting for her to say something profound, like keep the clutter out of your life and head (her house never had clutter), or always focus on the positive, or put others before yourself.  Instead she said…

“Chocolate. Dark chocolate.”

YES! As a chocoholic, I was thrilled to hear that. But I’m sure it also has something to do with good genes. And her positive mindset. She always looks for the silver lining in every situation. She doesn’t dwell on the negative. She doesn’t fret or beat herself up about what could have been. You can’t help but feel the goodness in life when you’re around her. All of the people around her feel it, and the only people she keeps around her are those who are also positive and full of goodness.

What’s around you in your life? Is it all full of goodness? Can you cut ties with the things, commitments, and people who don’t bring that goodness to your life?

Try axing one negative component that brings you down. And don’t forget to eat a piece of dark chocolate.

What is a fair way to reward teachers?

(Yes, I’m talking about teachers and education again. What can I say – it’s a passion of mine! Don’t worry, I’ll get back to my organizing and productivity tips in my next post!)

 

Reward systems for teachers have been controversial and rarely implemented because it’s difficult to rate people in a manner which will be seen as fair to all parties in such complex circumstances. In manufacturing, where there is total control over the raw materials input, the calculated processes used, and the finishing touches put on the products, it’s pretty easy to measure who is moving faster on an assembly line, who is producing more products that pass inspection, and who is, therefore, making the company more money.

 

It’s a lot tougher to measure outcomes when there is no control over the raw materials being input. Public schools have to accept anyone living within the district – no matter what their IQ or behavior is. Students are human beings and must be treated as individuals, so there is no standardized method or calculated processes that can be used by every single teacher on every single student. There will always be variances when humans are involved.

 

So, the easiest way to pay teachers has been a total cop-out that requires no thought. In most districts, there is a payscale. Every brand new teacher with zero years of experience starts at Year 0. After one year, they move up to Year 1 on the payscale. After their second year of teaching, they move up to Year 2, and so on. Whether a teacher is a rockstar or an embarrassment to the profession, they all receive the same pay. In my husband’s district, all first year teachers start at $45,000 per year. This is an excellent salary for the San Antonio area. However, Year 20 tops out at $50,645. So, someone who has taught for 20 years makes only $5600 more than a brand new teacher with zero years of experience. Not that teachers are in it for the money, but how motivating is that?

 

So, let’s implement a rewards system, right? But how will that be measured? You can’t do it just by test scores. Why not, you say? Think about it this way. If I teach 7 classes of high school honors students and my colleague across the hall teaches 7 high school classes of emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students, there is no way that we should be graded on the same testing scale. If we are both able to achieve 10% improvement in scores, it would take her infinitely more time and skill to do that with her students compared to what I would need to do with my students. It would not be fair for her.

 

Need a non-education example? Let’s look at the medical profession. Should doctors be judged on their mortality rates? Should they be judged based solely on how many of their patients die within their care? A cosmetic surgeon will have a much lower death rate compared to an oncologoist. No one in their right minds would ever use this type of evaluation, yet this is the type of evaluation that is consistently proposed for teacher reward systems. It’s yet another cop-out, like the Payscale.

 

Here’s my proposal for a reward system. Have a math and science super team come up with a computer program that would apply weights to all of the factors that go into student success:

 

1. Was the student born in the U.S.?
2. Is the child’s first language English?
3. How many times has the child moved?
4. Does the child live with both parents, one parent, or a non-parent?
5. What is the education level of the parents?
6. What is the income level of the parents?
7. Is the child exposed to drugs, alcohol, prostitution, or other negative factors in the home?
8. Is there physical abuse in the home?
9. Is there sexual abuse in the home?
10. Is there verbal abuse in the home?
11. What is the parent’s involvement in the child’s education?
12. What is the child’s IQ?
13. What is the child’s testing history?
14. Is the child emotionally stable?
15. Is the child behaviorally stable?
16. Is the child on meds?
17. Does the child have physical disabilities?
18. Does the child have mental or psychological disabilities?
19. What kind of work ethic does the child have?
20. Is the child a member of “that” family?
21. With whom does the child “hang out”?
22. How many tutoring sessions did the child attend?
23. How many excused absences does the child have?
24. How many unexcused absences does the child have?
25. How much class time was lost to disruptions – assemblies, benchmark tests, etc. ?
26. What are the child’s test scores at the end of the year?

 

Those are just a few of the factors to consider. Now, multiply those factors by the number of students in the class.

 

Factor in how much support and training the district or school gave (or didn’t give) to the individual teacher.

 

Factor in how much planning time during the day was given to the teacher.

 

Measure the passion of the teacher.

 

Grade the daily “performance” the teacher gives on his/her stage.

 

 

Once you create an algorithmic program that can factor in all of those plus any I’ve left out, then you’d have a much fairer way to evaluate and reward teachers.

 

Does anyone have that program yet?

 

 

 

Previous: Part 1: Instead of Waiting for Superman, why not save Superman

and: Part 2: How accurate is Davis Guggenheim’s Waiting for Superman?

How accurate is Davis Guggenheim’s “Waiting for Superman”?

Waiting for Superman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was in no hurry to watch Waiting for Superman since I was sure it was just going to be another condemnation of teachers from a non-educator’s point of view.

I was wrong about my expectations for the documentary. Davis Guggenheim did an excellent job of trying to explain all of the factors that go into what makes or breaks our educational system. As I was watching, I was making a mental note of – in extreme generalities – what needs to happen in order to fix what’s broken.

‘Lo and behold at the end of the movie, as a good teacher would do to reflect at the end of a lesson, Guggenheim summarized the pieces of the puzzle. While I agreed with the sentiments that flashed on the screen, I think there needed to be a little more explanation.

So, what does it take to create a school that works?

1. A kid who cares – Did you see all of those students at the lotteries? They wanted to be there. They wanted to learn. They wanted a better life.

2. An adult in the household who cares – Every single one of the kids’ guardians – be they biological parents or another adult who is responsible for their well-being – recognized the importance of education, made sure the kids studied and got as much out of school as possible, and would do anything to make sure their kids succeeded.

3. A rock star teacher – A teacher who combines knowledge of the curriculum, skills for transferring that knowledge, and a passion to save those kids. Studies show it takes at least 5 years for teachers to reach this culmination, yet we lose 50% of teachers by their fifth year of teaching.

4. An administrator with cajones – This is a principal who isn’t afraid to say, “We’re not going to teach to the test. We’re going to teach our curriculum.” A headmaster who has a heart of gold and will shed tears, yet will rule with an iron fist to keep order. An administrator who calls teachers in for a pat on the back and who knows every student’s name and story.

5. School board members without personal agendas – They honestly care about how many students will make it in the world. They don’t care about power plays or taking money under the table or creating cliques of minions. They are there to support teachers and students and give them every possible resource to get the job done. They realize that they somehow need to fund smaller classes as well as more prep time and support for teachers.

6. A Superintendent who doesn’t play games – Someone who isn’t worried about being politically correct, but who is worried about what kind of lives the district’s students will have. This person is both highly logical, yet crazy enough to take a stand and make sweeping changes that will be unpopular at first but will eventually turn the schools into what they need to be.

7. Teacher unions with open minds – Instead of seeing change as giving up their power, they should view it as their contribution to the betterment of society. Unions should protect the profession from arbitrary hits, but they cannot continue to protect the bottom rungs of the profession and think that that is helping the situation. They should be on the forefront of advances instead of constantly playing defense.

8. A community willing to take a stand – This isn’t a community who just comes to town hall meetings to complain. This is a community where every person steps forward and says, “What can I do to help?” and follows through on their promises.

It seems daunting, yet Geoffrey Canada has created a successful program in the worst neighborhood in New York. KIPP Academy has a proven track record in schools across the nation. Success has happened, yet why isn’t it widespread?

Change certainly won’t happen overnight since it will take a shift in mindset to undo 100 years of the same ol’ routines and politics. But it can happen if we support “crazy” people like Geoffrey Canada. If you don’t know someone like that, what about being a mentor to a parent who doesn’t know how to be a parent? Or be a mentor to a kid who has no one else? Or volunteer to run copies for teachers for an hour once a semester?

What will you do to make Superman get here faster?

Previous: Part 1: Instead of Waiting for Superman, why not save Superman?

Coming next time: Part 3: What is a fair way to reward teachers?

Instead of Waiting for Superman, why not save Superman?

A teacher and young pupils at The British Museum Duveen Gallery (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have to admit that I hadn’t watched Davis Guggenheim’s documentary Waiting for Superman until last weekend because 1) it had a long wait on Netflix and 2) I was in no hurry to see it since I was sure it was just going to be another condemnation of teachers from a non-educator’s point of view.

Before becoming a productivity consultant, I taught for 11 years, and my husband has been teaching for 17. He teaches (as did I) at a Title I school where 100% of the students are in the free breakfast and free lunch programs. When folks hear where we teach, they literally make a slight bow with their heads and say in a lowered voice, “Oh, that’s a tough spot.”

We both busted our butts every day to come up with amazing lessons that would entice the kids to learn. He – as do all passionate educators – deal with the daily ups and downs of a classroom teacher. One day there’s a break-through and all of the kids’ eyes light up with wonder. The next, there’s one kid in each class who acts like a complete jerk and ruins the class for everyone. Another day, a compliment is received from a colleague. The next, an administrator is asking why all of that late work can’t be accepted so the teacher won’t have such a high failure rate. And then the nail in the coffin is the news story on the front page at the end of the week that blasts teachers for doing a lousy job of preparing students for the real world.

Sucky teacher don’t care about any of that. (Yeah, that’s right, I said “sucky”. Unfortunately, they exist.) Lousy teachers just show up to collect a paycheck. They go through the motions of handing out worksheets – if that much – and just sit back and wait for the bell to ring. They don’t care about news stories or blanket admonishments of the staff during faculty meetings. If they did, they wouldn’t be the crappy teachers that they are.

Who does get hurt by the roller coaster of emotions? The passionate teachers who you do want teaching your kids. The teachers who are constantly thinking of the next great lesson, the better way to express a concept, the way to save the world. Those are the teachers who are nurturers, who love and care…and who, because of that personality type, take every minute on that roller coaster so personally. They become tired of being a verbal punching bag. So they leave. And so does that passion.

Instead of waiting around for Superman, we need to save the Supermen and Superwomen who are already there. These are the teachers who instill a love of learning in students. These are the teachers who don’t skill and drill, but instead inspire creativity and inspiration and get kids to think and ask questions. Do you remember what it’s like to wonder? Awesome teachers know how to make that happen in their students. And they make it all look so easy.

What you may not realize is that Super-teacher has gotten to school by 7 AM and while they perhaps left by 4:15 PM, they worked at home for three hours each evening that week plus all day on Saturday to grade papers, plan incredible lessons, and grade some more. And what is their thanks? A headline that basically says, “You Suck.” A paycheck that says, “You’re not as deserving or important as a doctor or attorney or professional athlete.” An announcement at a faculty meeting: “You’re not doing enough; you need to do more.”

All that kryptonite will kill Superman. If you know a passionate teacher, you need to be that person who will lift the kryptonite away from Superman’s neck. You don’t have to do it for every teacher in America. Just start small. Start with one you know, or one who one of your friends knows. Say, “Thank you for your long hours.” “Thank you for what you do.” “Thank you for making a difference for even just one child.” “Thank you for trying when others have given up.”

Oh, wow. I was supposed to be writing my review of a movie I didn’t want to see. Well, here it goes…

(…to be continued in my next post, so stay tuned!)

Part 2: How accurate is Davis Guggenheim’s “Waiting for Superman”?

Part 3: What is a fair way to reward teachers?

New Rubbermaid products showcased at NAPO Conference

In previous posts, I shared with you the office products, online calendar systems and software/apps that I learned about while in Baltimore attending the annual NAPO Conference.

Today’s post is about one of my favorite companies, Rubbermaid. They consistently produce high-quality products, which – even though I’m a total cheapskate – I will pay more for even if there’s a “similar” item on sale right next to it. There’s no doubt that Rubbermaid will last longer than generic brands, especially when I’m hauling things between my car and clients’ offices.

Two cool items I played with are:

Bento boxes:

The boxes come in different sizes with choices of different facades. The great thing about these containers is that you can adjust the dividers inside to fit what you need to store.

Clever Store Organizing Trays:

It’s dual storage within one container. A divided tray can sit on top, leaving room for storage of larger items underneath. This will help keep smaller objects from getting lost at the bottom.

One item that I discovered at the Rubbermaid booth  isn’t directly related to organizing. But if you think about it, using this will save you time in the long run because you’ll clean it less. And that is:

The Rubbermaid Clean & Dry Plunger:

This thing is so cool! Nothing sticks to it! It comes out of a clogged toilet without anything on it. Hopefully I don’t need to draw a picture for you – because that would be totally gross – but I just think it’s the best accessory you could have next to your toilet!

How do you set up the perfect office?

Photo credit: bayareabaw via Flickr

I get asked nearly every day what the perfect office set up is.

In a society that wants instant fixes, my answer is one that everyone hates: “It depends.” Unfortunately, there is no one perfect office set up, no one diagram, no one set of directions for furniture positioning, no one shopping list of the supplies that are needed. The perfect office is the one that meets all of your needs. So, how do you set it up so it does exactly that?

I’ve answered that question for Alicia Arenas on her Sanera Camp blog. Take a look!

What are the keys to running a productive meeting?

We’ve all been to them…meetings that drag on forever, yet nothing is accomplished. Or – my personal favorite – having a meeting to decide when the next one will be. There’s nothing I detest more than worthless meetings, so here are a few tips that will ensure you are never the facilitator for a waste of time.

1. Create a list of goals.

What do you want to accomplish at this meeting? If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, don’t bother scheduling one.

2. Determine which questions or discussions will lead to the accomplishment of those goals.

You can’t just walk into a meeting, slap a goal on a Power Point slide or white board, and hope that everyone has an instant idea. The point of having a meeting is to have everyone in the room use their brain power to bounce ideas off each other. Create at least a few questions to get the brains churning.

3. Create an agenda.

Depending on the nature of the meeting, you might divide up your agenda into topics that need to be discussed, or list each person who will give a report. No matter how you decide to organize your meeting, be sure to create a timeline for how long each topic or person will be given. This will keep everyone on their toes during the meeting and make sure that all necessary topics are covered by the time you want to end your meeting.

4. Email the agenda at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.

If you can do this one week beforehand, that would be ideal. But the minimum is two business days. Emailing the agenda early lets everybody know that you’re organized, have it together and mean business. It also gives attendees time to start thinking about what they’d like to say and perhaps even gather research or examples of ideas that they want to express.

5. Clarify expectations ahead of time.

This should be included in the agenda. Everyone should know what the expected results of the meeting are. If you want attendees to bring specific materials, instruct that in the agenda. If attendees must bring monetary contributions or will leave with funds and be expected to account for them, specify that in the agenda so that there are no surprises.

6. Collect RSVPs.

It’s important to know who will be present and who won’t. Those who won’t be present should be expected to send their information submissions ahead of time to other attendees. It should also be made clear to them that they’re expected to study the minutes to learn which tasks and roles for which they will be responsible.

7. Ensure all language needs will be addressed.

As businesses become global, meeting languages sometimes expand beyond native English speakers. Be sure you know the primary language of each attendee and ensure that you or they provide interpreters for the meeting itself as well as the meeting minutes to prevent any misunderstandings and miscommunication.

If you implement all of these steps, you will become known for running efficient and productive meetings. People will show up prepared and will get to the point because they know you won’t let meetings drag on endlessly and pointlessly. And everybody loves that guy or gal.

By the way, if you know anyone in the Secret Service, feel free to forward this post to them. The same rules apply in one-on-one situations as well.

How can you safely dispose of medicines?

Professional Further Education in Clinical Pharmacy and Public Health (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pharmaceutical companies have grown exponentially, which means there must be more medicine floating around out there. Chances are, not all of it gets used before it expires – either because your problem was solved before you used them all or – maybe, maybe, maybe – you forgot where you put the meds, so you had to buy more, therefore you have extras hiding in strange places.

 

Whatever the case, the worst thing you could do to get rid of the medicine is flush it down the toilet or rinse it down the garbage disposal. Both of these methods end up dumping your medicine in the water system. Instead, consider one of these other choices:

 

Find an Environmentally-Friendly Pharmacy

You can check with your “regular” pharmacy to see if they offer a disposal program. If they don’t, search DisposeMyMeds.org to find a participating pharmacy near you.

 

MacGyver the Meds

If you have to dispose of medications on your own, you have two goals:

1. Keep them out of the water system
2. Avoid digestion by others

If you have pills, mix them with something inedible like kitty litter or coffee grounds in a container or bag that will be difficult to open. Dilute bottles of liquid with water, and tape the caps shut. Deposit the containers in the trash.

 

Let the DEA Do the Dirty Work

The DEA offers two collection days per year, usually the last Saturdays in April and October. To find a participating drop-off location, check their website. This particular page on their website times out, so you just need to click on “Start Over” and type in your zip code. The next collection is April 28, 2012.

Apps and programs for operating in THE CLOUD

THE CLOUD. That term just cracks me up. Who came up with that term to explain where the Internet is? What will it be called in a couple of years? Alas, I digress. I attended a workshop presented by Caroline Green and Ivan Drucker at NAPO Conference in Baltimore. For those of you figuring out your way through the clouds, here are the apps they discussed:

Documents

1. Google Docs: Free, share documents with others, can work on document “live”

2. Dropbox: Free for up to 2GB, allows sharing

3. Document signing: EchoSign, free to demo then $15/month, and DocuSign, free to demo then $15/month

Filing

1. Dropbox – see above

2. Evernote: free; like a file cabinet/bulletin board combo

3. Neat: they have software with OCR that helps their scanner “talk” to your printer; they’re coming out with cloud storage soon for a fee

Finances

1. QuickBooks Online: monthly fee

2. Mint: Free, with some reports

To Dos

1. Remember the Milk: free; works with iPhone, Droid

2. Todo: $5; works with iPhone, Droid

Project Management

1. Basecamp, starts at $50/month – calendar, to do lists, files

2. Zoho, starts at $20/month – calendar, to do’s, assign tasks, files, chat (but website not as nice as Basecamp according to the presenters)

CRM (Client Relationship Management)

1. Highrise, starts at $24/month

2. Salesforce, #1 CRM provider according to the presenters; starts at $15/month

Media

1. Bookmarks: Xmarks, works with Firefox, Chrome, IE, Safari; free for basic plan, $12/year for sync with iPhone, iPad, Droid, BlackBerry. iCloud, for Safari and Internet Explorer bookmarks, syncs with iPhone and iPad, free. Firefox, built-in bookmark sync, with Firefox on other computers only, free.

2. Music: iTunes Match in iCloud, syncs with iPhone and iPad, $25/year. Google Play, syncs with Droid. Amazon CloudDrive, free for 5GB, paid plans start at $20/year for 20GB.

3: Photos: Flickr, Shutterfly, iCloud Photo Stream

Password Management

1. 1Password which can sync using Dropbox

2. Passpack for multiple people sharing passwords

Backup for Computers

1. Crashplan, enterprise, secure; starts at $5/month

2. Carbonite, from $59/year

3. Mozy $6/month per computer.

For other reports from Conference, see my posts about office supplies and online calendars.