If you live in Connecticut, southern Massachusetts or Rhode Island, we could sure use your help in distributing flyers for our SHO Road Rally fund raiser.

In case you missed the first post, join us on a one-hour scenic fall foliage tour through the windy, ocean-lined streets of Wakefield and Matunuck, RI. Along the way you’ll make five stops at local tourist attractions, and get a raffle ticket at each stop. At the last stop, The Farmer’s Daughter garden shop in Kingston, RI, we’ll draw tickets for great raffle prizes.

The event: Sunday, October 5th
Starting Time/Gate: 11-12 noon at the Narragansett Town Beach, North Lot
Raffle drawings: 2PM
The cost: $25 per car (no matter how many passengers!)

You’ll meet at the gate to register and get your route map.

SHO Volunteers is a local non-profit in Wakefield, RI serving the entire state. Last year, SHO volunteers donated over one hundred thousand hours of volunteering, delivering meals on wheels, driving elderly people to their local doctors appointments, and staffing various non-profits around the state. Your money will go directly to the programs SHO serves. The federal goverment put a value of nearly 2 million dollars on the work done by SHO volunteers.

It’s time to get all Sally Struthers on you. If you live in the area, won’t you take a few minutes to download a flyer and tack it up in your office, local library, or grocery store?

Download flyer here (FLYER 2008.doc)

In case you wonder what my relationship with SHO is, I assist in a few ways. I run and support their computer network, along with planning their yearly fund raising events, in this case, the Road Rally!

If you’d like to become a SHO volunteer, or for more information, visit www.southernrivol.org. SHO will match your interests with a suitable volunteer opportunity. We are also looking for members to help join our fund raising event committee - as this is done on a volunteer basis, we tend to get pressed for time and more numbers can strengthen our efforts and help make SHO events even better than they already are!

In the first episode of the 1352 Report podcast (a fun commentary/discussion about various Lotus issues with Bruce, Sean, Carl and myself), I introduced myself and explained how I volunteer about 20 hours a month for a local community non-profit called SHO. This used to stand for Seniors Helping Others, as the organization runs the local meals on wheels and elderly visit services. The name was recently changed to stand for Serving Communities, Helping Others, and Opportunities for All as we are now the single largest volunteer placement service in RI. Think of a temp agency, except we match volunteers to organizations that rely on volunteers. I keep their small five-computer, one-server network running, as well as assist in planning their yearly fund-raiser events.

This has been a disasterous year to be a non-profit, as the weakening economy has cancelled most grants that were once readily available for them, and more than once SHO has appealed to the community for help so their doors can stay open.

This year, we decided that SHO needed some new, fresh events and thought a fall road rally would be a great one. So for all my RI/CT/MA readers, I’m proud to announce SHO’s Autumn Fun Road Run 2008!

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Starting gate: 11am-12 Noon at Narragansett pier ? north lot

Final Destination:
The Farmer’s Daughter for Prizes and fun! Raffles will be drawn at 2 pm.

Registration: $25 per car/driver
This is a fully tax deductible event!
Receipt for taxes for gas provided.

Pre-Register at SHO by calling 789-2362 through October 3, 2008 or at the event.

Enjoy a one-hour leisurely Sunday autumn drive along a planned scenic route, making five pit stops to receive goodies, a raffle ticket, and community happenings information. Your map and instructions will be waiting for you at the starting gate. At our last stop, the Farmer’s Daughter on Rt. 138, Mooresfield Road, South Kingstown, we will draw the winning raffle tickets for some great prizes including the much sought after GAS CARDS!

You will be helping to make a difference in the lives of elders living independently with transportation assistance, meals on wheels delivery, and companionship/respite support from SHO (Seniors Helping Others).

Visit the website www.southernrivol.org for more information.

I hope to see you there! I will be at the starting gate the day of the event handing out route maps (though I’m sure I’ll sneak off to go do the drive!)

This past year has been very interesting for me, to say the least. Lots of change, both good and bad.

The quick and dirty is that Solace is closing. Life is certainly different with an infant, and while I hope to open it again someday, right now being there for Zo? is my first priority. But I’m sure I’ll be telling you more on that later.

I’ve always found a way to have my cake and eat it, too. It may take some incovenience on my part, but if it’s what I truly want, then it’s perfectly acceptable to me.

Knowing that, now what I CAN do while being at home with an infant is trying my hand at professional blogging. After all, I’m currently between a rock and a hard place. I need income, this is a fact. Therefore, this is a blog I am creating with the sole intent to create a livable income for me. I am excited at the challenge, and it’s been a long time since I was excited about a project. I SO needed this.

I had always wanted to do a tech-tips sort of blog, I have so much I can share on so many levels of expertise - ranging from total beginner all the way to experienced technophile. Over the year, I have also tried hard to get my life in order and organize, so I have plenty of lifehacks also.

I am pleased to announce Momelettes.com - Moms are beated and fried. These tech tips will help.

Momelettes.com will contain tips for moms, ranging from lifehacks to cool websites, to useful tech tips and gadgets that will help them out.

From the home page:

These pages are for MOMS, not babies or kids. They contains ways that the lives of busy moms can be made easier by technology, gadgets, websites and lifehacks. Tips are called ‘momelettes’, and are designed like recipes, containing ingredients and steps to make them easy to follow. These recipes are for smart, savvy, resourceful moms who understand that in order to be better moms, it’s imperative to take time for themselves too. This site, run by a mom, does the legwork so they get that time.

The site currently makes use of Google Adsense. Hopefully the plan is to drive enough traffic to the site to gain some sponsors. Only time will tell. Well, time and quality content, of course! I’m sure the vibe of the blog will change over time as I start to figure it out, and it can grow and mature.

I have also set up an Amazon Affiliates store on the site itself. When I recommend a book or gadget, you won’t have to hunt it down, you can get it right from my site.

And for those who have no doubt noticed, the blog is a Wordpress blog. Why not Domino? It was simply a matter of the right tool for the job - This is a problog, and it has very, VERY specific design, monitoring and other such needs. As most of you know, I am a Notes client junkie - I did not have the luxury of time to make this a web learning experience. I need a lift right now, not a reason to continue my slump by reminding myself how little I know about Domino web development. Don’t worry though - I gave you all “Mad Pr0pz Yo” on the About page.
On a good note, I have learned more about blog design and techniques than I could possibly imagine, and I look forward to sharing that with you here and on the LotusUserGroup.org blog. It’s already proving to give me some success in these early days, so the current top Probloggers seem to know what they’re doing.

So please, tell all the moms you know (although the tips are for everyone, really). Add Momelettes to your feedreaders at http://feeds.feedburner.com/momelettes. If you see an article you like, please Stumble It or Digg it. The links are at the bottom of every article.

Though I’m sure I’ll bring it up again, you can find out more about the reason Solace is closing at the About page of Momelettes, and more about what I hope to accomplish with the new site.

Wish me luck, and let’s get the word out about Momelettes.com! Oh, and for all the Twitter users out there, thanks for the name help. That was a fun week.

From the LotusUserGroup.org Weekly Update Newsletter…

– ANNOUNCING JESS STRATTON’S BLOG AT LOTUSUSERGROUP.ORG –

Beginning the week of June 4th, LotusUserGroup.org is introducing an exciting change to blogging at LotusUserGroup.org. World famous Lotus Guru, Jessica Straton of Solace Consulting will be hosting the LotusUserGroup.org blog. As always, all LotusUserGroup.org members are welcome to join in and post in the blog. The difference is that now, with Jess as the host, she’ll be adding a constant stream of insightful comments, community information, links to useful sights and posts on other blogs, and, of course, answers to your questions whenever she can. Check out Jess’ blog to read her comments, ask her questions, and share your knowledge and/or opinions with your colleagues throughout the Lotus community. Plus, to celebrate this new feature, during Live From Boston (June 4-6), when you post an entry on Jess’ blog you’ll automatically be entered to win a 160 GB external hard drive! You don’t have to be present at the conferences to win, you can blog from anywhere in the world and you’ll automatically be entered. But, if you’re going to either of the conferences in Boston, stop by our booth and blog about the conference(s) live on site and while you’re there, pick up some buttons, get some other cool handouts, enter some additional contests that we’ll be running and more.

Yes, I’ll still be blogging here of course. But you know me. I never talked that much about industry news here anyway.

On Friday, October 13th, Matt and I celebrated our five-year anniversary. Our wedding day was a BLAST, in traditional Matt and Jess style, much goofiness ensued.

Of course, all the goofiness ensued *after* we worked out the issues of getting married on a Naval base one month after 9/11. Two weeks before the wedding, they announced the base was closed to civilians due to “high alert” and relocated our wedding down the street. Then, after I called all the vendors and was *just* about to send out notices to the guests, they moved it back.

The limo had to snake through the Jersey barriers and armed guards, and the cake got detained at the gate for a few hours because it was being delivered in an unmarked truck.

Of course, at that point, people were still trying to remember how to laugh and smile, so I think we all needed a good celebration.

I’d love to live my wedding day all over again. But, in the meantime, I get to be happy every day with my husband. I’m the luckiest woman I know.

We also decided to surprise each other with very special anniversary gifts. We’ve been together for 12 years, and finally the man has learned to relax! He’s been enjoying cigars lately, so thanks to Greyhawk’s advice, I was able to get him a beautiful humidor and a bunch of cigars to start with.

As for my gift, Matt sent me on a treasure hunt around the house with clues. It ended at a stunning gift - a custom engraved Whalen shift knob. Doug Whalen is a machine engineer who is world famous for amazing craftsmanship in his custom shift knobs. They are 18 ounces, which are very heavy. This means that the gear just seems to find it’s own way into the right place.

It’s crafted so well, that the shifter just clicks into place solidly. I’m so lucky to have one, and not only that, Matt worked with Doug to create a custom bead-blasted finish that has my Solace logo on it.

Thanks Matt, I love you!