• Intro
  
• Interview - Michael Wildhack, Cochabamba, Bolivia
  
• Feedback - Dan asks about managing bounced emails
  
• The Office Corner
  
• Free Stuff
  
• Grammar Question of the Month - Addressing a former official
  
• Tech Tips: Claudia Slate - Memory Managers
  
• Tech Corner
  
• Writing Corner
  
• Trivia
  
• Word of the Month: Apprise
  
• Recommendations
  
• Judy's Corner
  

* LAST MONTH'S BOOK WINNER, MICHAEL WILDHACK, enchanted me with his enthusiasm over receiving his book, so I'm loaning him the September's Interview area.

* THE WINNER of this month's book (he chose a dictionary) is Gustavo Sanchez of Ecuador. Congratulations, Gustavo! Want a chance to win a book? Go to http://www.ossweb.com/freebook.html

* NOT MUCH RESPONSE WHEN ASKING FOR SITES ABOUT SPAM, so let's take it that you all know enough about spam and already have good links to the best sites. You are a savvy bunch of people!

Michael Wildhack did suggest a couple of sites, and also said that a good place to start is with Bob McElwain: "...anyone ...can contact Bob with questions, for help, or to subscribe to his own ezine ... from which he will allow others to republish HIS articles in THEIR ezines." http://sitetipsandtricks.com/

Subscribers: Last month's book winner was Michael Wildhack, who's been a subscriber to this ezine, and Webgrammar's Food for Thought since its inception. We've corresponded, and I felt certain that a book on how to operate a small business might not work for him, and doubted that he had Word 2002. So I asked him if he'd prefer having a new dictionary. The answer was a bubbly "Yes!" One month later, here's the latest email from Michael:

I was desperately needing a morale boost when my wife returned from the Post Office ... in downtown Cochabamba, Bolivia ... and sweetly mentioned (with a twinkle in her eye) that she had a package for me!

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition ... from Judy! Truly a sight for sore eyes ... and a beauty wondrous to behold.

I rushed next-door to share this great news with our youngest son [the doctor] and his wife [the translator] ... and they too became very excited about this wonderful treasure which has appeared in our lives!

Note: He has to study for various U.S. 'medical English proficiency exams, and of course as a professional translator of materials into/out of English and Spanish ( both directions ) she will also be exploring the amazing depths of the knowledge of and about the English language contained in this book. My wife [poet, playwright, teacher, translator] and I [ me? "jack-of-all-trades"... including editor, Linux-geek, teacher... and maybe writer ?] will be chasing after it frequently to check our own works ... and each other's!

A blessing that I was able to receive this marvelous bounty because I remembered to register on your [WebGrammar / OSSweb] site for your monthly drawing. Wow! Thank You!

Michael 8^)>> Grateful & humbly thankful for all these blessings ...in Cochabamba, Bolivia

1. Many thanks for the excellent information you provide in your newsletter - I've learned a lot!

A quick question...I notice you use SubscribeMe Pro - I've been investigating alternatives to my Sparklist service, but the biggest hurdle seems to be bounce management. With my list of 7300, a normal 3% bounce rate would keep me busy with lots of manual removals.

So, in short, how do you handle this chore? It would be nice to be independent of the Sparklist service, and its costs, but my time is spread quite thin as it is. Thanks for your time - and keep up the good work! ... Dan

Note from Judy: anyone want to take this on? I don't have much of a problem with bounces. Do any of you?

1. Avoid placing living plants above or next to your PC. This will mean no water can accidentally splash or drip on your machine.

2. Avoid placing radios within 3-4 feet of your CPU unless you have shielded speakers. The speakers for a normal AM/FM radio are magnetized. Clock-radios are another source of magnetic fields.

3. Spell out numbers when they are the first word or words in a sentence. If this causes problems, re-cast the sentence.

FREE BOOK! Subscribers are eligible to sign up to win a free copy of "The Home Office and Small Business Answer Book: Solutions to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Starting and Running Home Offices and Small Businesses" by Janet Attard. Sign up once a month at http://www.ossweb.com/freebook.html - Winners announced here!

FREE DICTIONARY! Webgrammar offers all site visitors the chance to win a free Webster's dictionary, monthly. Sign up! www.webgrammar.com/contest.html

Q. How do I address (in writing) a former mayor? Or governor?

A. This site shows everything you may want to know about how to address former office holders: http://englishplus.com/news/news1200.htm

Memory Managers

When a user calls or writes my tech help list serv to ask me about one of the memory management programs like MemTurbo or MemoryBoost, I assume they are asking about these products because they are having some problems with computer freezes or crashes or simply believe the machine is running too slowly.

Here is my personal opinion. Don't install any kind of "memory manager." It really will not help and it may hurt.

If your computer is having problems, you may need to load fewer programs at start up, adjust virtual memory or page file set-ups, check for updated drivers or problems with your video card, make sure you don't have a virus or Trojan program working in the background, uninstall a badly written program, or you may need to replace or add more memory to your system. You've got to have some idea of why you are having problems. Luckily there are many ways to get information and help, most for free via the Internet.

If you want to know more about why memory management programs are mostly hype, I suggest a search through newsgroups or technical web sites. But here is a place to start: http://www.radsoft.net/resources/software/reviews/redux/

Note from Judy: To read a more thorough account of this issue, go to http://www.ossweb.com/askjudy-25.html

1. HOW WEB PAGES WORK:
You can put anything you want on a Web page - from family pictures to business information. Learn how to create, upload, and promote your pages.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/web-page.htm

2. PROTONIC.COM:
An online community that provides free technical support to computer users. Philosophy: despite our service being free, you should still receive the highest quality technical support.
http://www.protonic.com/

3. MAC FIXIT:
Troubleshooting database for Mac users. Searchable archived articles and reports, a download library of freeware and shareware utilities, the MacFixit Forums, and a fee-based ezine.
http://www.macfixit.com/

1. CATKLAW WRITING BOUTIQUE:
A site dedicated to all shapes, flavors and forms of writing. They offer information on many writing industries: technical, fiction, non-fiction, children's genres, electronic, comic, etc. To subscribe to the ezine, go to www.catklaw.com/clawsincreativity/index.html.
http://www.catklaw.com

2. PDF ZONE:
PDFzone.com is the online authority for PDF, Acrobat and related document technologies, dedicated to energizing the PDF community with unbiased news reporting, timely interviews, expert resources and vibrant discussions. They offer a great ezine.
[LINK NO LONGER VALID]. POSTCARD RESOURCES:
Art, history, cartoons, and regional splendors, captured on postcards.
http://www.library.arizona.edu/users/mount/postcard.html

2. MARKETING TEACHER:
Marketing Teacher is for marketing learners. This site uses plain language to describe the key marketing topics and has an international appeal to marketing learners, teachers, and professionals.
http://www.marketingteacher.com

3. 50 STATES:
Choose a state and get its white and yellow pages, hotel info, history, famous citizens, flag, flower, song, population, tax forms, and lots more. Or click directly on state flags, songs, community pages, and such...(recommended by Marylaine Block: http://marylaine.com/ NeatNew and ExLibris)
http://www.50states.com/fileindx.htm

Shortly after publishing last month's issue, my mother had a second stroke, and I flew to the Pacific Northwest to see her and help one of my sisters, who is caring for her.

I'd started a tutorial on how to create a text ezine before I left, and finished it on my return. If you'd like to have it sent via email, go to http://www.ossweb.com/ez-ezine-tutorial.html and plug in your name and email address. It'll come to you immediately.

Thanks to Jackie McCutcheon for setting it all up. And Jackie also took over some of my webmastering duties while I was away. I am surrounded by the nicest people. And FYI, Mom is doing better!

ARCHIVES FOR ALL COMMUNICATION EXPRESSWAY ISSUES
http://www.ossweb.com/ezine-archive-index.html

Questions, comments, recommendations?
Contact Judy Vorfeld at www.ossweb.com.contact.html

TO SUBSCRIBE TO COMMUNICATION EXPRESSWAY
go to http://www.ossweb.com/ezine.html