Thinking about the troops? Send them an old book

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BY ERIN PHEIL
timeforcake.com
June 28, 2007

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Awesome online tool of the week: MyStickers
Ahhh! I’ve been waiting for a tool like this to come along — and it’s finally here. You’ll likely share my excitement if you, too, have ever bookmarked a webpage only to return to it and have no clue as to why you bookmarked the page in the first place.

MyStickies (www.mystickies.com) allows you to “place little yellow squares of digital paper anywhere and everywhere you feel like in the whole wide web.” In other words, you actually get to put your very own post-it notes on web pages you visit. When you return to those pages in the future, those post-its will be sitting right where you left them, reminding you of important things you’d noted — like exactly which text on the page was important to you and why, who you’d wanted to share the page with, or which vacation had looked the most appealing to you.

Fun website of the week: Energy Fiend
I don’t remember how I came across Energy Fiend, but I do remember immediately thinking, “Boy do I know a few people who would LOVE this site.”

The caffeine and sugar-obsessed will find Energy Fiend filled with helpful and interesting information. Calculate your daily caffeine intake. Compare the amounts of sugar contained in your three favorite desserts. Read the latest in caffeine news (did you know that Jolt Cola now has almost twice as much caffeine as before?! Holy cow.) Scroll through the foods, drinks and gums in the “300 Ways to Get Caffeinated” list.”

Stay awake and have fun. Visit www.energyfiend.com to learn more.

Great idea of the week: Operation Paperback
Wondering whether you should donate your stack of old paperbacks to the thrift store, give them to the local library, or (try to) sell them at your upcoming garage sale? When making this decision, I suggest you also consider Operation Paperback as a possible recipient of your books.

Founded in 1999, Operation Paperback is a nonprofit program that collects gently used books and sends them to American troops deployed overseas. Direct from their homepage: “Many of our troops are serving far from home and living in facilities that provide few of the comforts of home. At the end of the duty day, the opportunity to escape into a good book is welcomed. Every week we receive thanks from troops who are glad to be appreciated and remembered.”

The Operation Paperback website offers easy-to-read instructions and information on how you can help, how to donate your books, the types of books troops are looking for, etc.

(Whatever you do, please don’t throw your old books away; there is always someone else who would appreciate the opportunity to read the stories told within those pages.)

To learn more about Operation Paperback, visit www.operationpaperback.com.
See you next Friday, everyone. Have a great weekend.

Based in Frisco, eRin pheiL is the primary creative force behind timeforcake (www.timeforcake.com). She can be reached via phone at (970) 668-0709 or e-mail at info@timeforcake.com.