Rachael Reksten has four young kids younger than 6. I admire, respect and pity her all at the same time. She told me that the hardest thing she used to have to deal with was getting her kids dressed in the morning.
She overcame this with an ingenious idea. Do you know those shoe holders you can buy that hang in your closet? You know — the kind that holds seven pairs of shoes in individual pockets.
Well, Rachael has four of these, one for each of her kids. She puts seven complete outfits in each one at the beginning of each week. When her kids get up in the morning they get to choose which of the outfits they’re going to wear for that day. Rachael said that one thing has greatly reduced the stress in her life.
OK, everybody knows I really like the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners. I’ve got several and they do a great job.
Irobot, the company that makes the Roombas, has something new out — it’s “skins” for your robots. They’re basically stickers that are specially made for your vacuum. They even have a number of college designs — yes, there’s even a University of Georgia skin. My favorite skin is the pizza design. The stickers make your Roomba look like a pizza pie traveling around on your floors. Look for them here.
Have you ever heard of “Rule 240”? If you’re an airline traveler, it’s good to know.
Basically, Rule 240 is a hold-over from the days of airline regulation.
It required airlines that had a flight cancelled due to anything but weather to give you a seat on the next flight regardless of whether it was with their airline or not.
Most of your older airlines still honor this rule, but they don’t like to talk about it. If you ever get in the situation of having your flight cancelled and the airline tells you there’s nothing they can do, gently and respectfully mention Rule 240. Odds are it will help and it certainly can’t hurt.
If you have a child going off to college, here are two things you should consider getting them.
First, a WiFi detector. These little babies are nice if you’re trying to figure out where you can get wireless access on campus. It beats carrying your laptop around looking for a strong signal. You can find them at most computer and electronics stores.
Second, noise canceling headphones. It’s hard to find a quiet place when you need to study — even libraries can be noisy.
Tim Thompson lives in Gainesville. E-mail Tim your ideas for tips, tools or tricks.
She overcame this with an ingenious idea. Do you know those shoe holders you can buy that hang in your closet? You know — the kind that holds seven pairs of shoes in individual pockets.
Well, Rachael has four of these, one for each of her kids. She puts seven complete outfits in each one at the beginning of each week. When her kids get up in the morning they get to choose which of the outfits they’re going to wear for that day. Rachael said that one thing has greatly reduced the stress in her life.
OK, everybody knows I really like the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners. I’ve got several and they do a great job.
Irobot, the company that makes the Roombas, has something new out — it’s “skins” for your robots. They’re basically stickers that are specially made for your vacuum. They even have a number of college designs — yes, there’s even a University of Georgia skin. My favorite skin is the pizza design. The stickers make your Roomba look like a pizza pie traveling around on your floors. Look for them here.
Have you ever heard of “Rule 240”? If you’re an airline traveler, it’s good to know.
Basically, Rule 240 is a hold-over from the days of airline regulation.
It required airlines that had a flight cancelled due to anything but weather to give you a seat on the next flight regardless of whether it was with their airline or not.
Most of your older airlines still honor this rule, but they don’t like to talk about it. If you ever get in the situation of having your flight cancelled and the airline tells you there’s nothing they can do, gently and respectfully mention Rule 240. Odds are it will help and it certainly can’t hurt.
If you have a child going off to college, here are two things you should consider getting them.
First, a WiFi detector. These little babies are nice if you’re trying to figure out where you can get wireless access on campus. It beats carrying your laptop around looking for a strong signal. You can find them at most computer and electronics stores.
Second, noise canceling headphones. It’s hard to find a quiet place when you need to study — even libraries can be noisy.
Tim Thompson lives in Gainesville. E-mail Tim your ideas for tips, tools or tricks.