Thursday, April 16, 2009

Next two weeks We won't be posting for two weeks as the editor is going on vacation. 4:18:57 PM     Upcoming Events at HPL Saturday Storytime Saturday, April 18 2:00 pm Stories and activities for ages 3-5. Registration is required. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Friends of the Library Meeting April 20 2:45 - 4:00 pm. Meets at the Torrent House Monday Storytime Monday, April 20 6:45 pm Stories and activities for ages 3-5. Registration is required. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Toddler Storytime Monday, April 20 11:00 am Stories and activities aimed at 18 to 36 month olds. Toddlers and grownups attend together. Registration is required. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Hackley Library Board Meeting April 21 5:30 pm Julia Hackley Room, Hackley Public Library. Open to the public. For more information call 231-722-7276 x 222 Toddler Storytime Tuesday, April 21 6:45 pm Stories and activities aimed at 18 to 36 month olds. Toddlers and grownups attend together. Registration is required. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Computer Class--Intro to the Internet April 22 6:00 - 7:30 pm Learn how to "surf the net" set up an email account, and find your away around cyberspace. Class size is limited. Please call ahead to register (231-722-7276). Registration starts on April 1. The class will be held at Hackley Public Library. Urban Legends & Other Scary Tales Wednesday, April 22 6:30 pm - for Teens and Tweens 10 and up Faces in the mirror, ghostly hitchhikers and deadly prom dates are some of chills you might encounter at this evening with master storyteller Jenifer Straus. The tales of terror, NOT for young children, are for grades 5 and up. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Friends of the Library Booksale April 24 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Booksale sponsored by the Friends of Hackley Public Library. Torrent House For more information call 231-722-7276. Friends of the Library Booksale April 25 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Used book sale sponsored by the Friends of Hackley Public Library. Torrent House For more information call 231-722-7276. Talkin’ Trash about the Great Lakes Saturday, April 25 2 PM Learn ways to keep our Lakes clean. Coast Guard Auxiliary officers will present the program with fun demonstrations and audience involvement. Kids will work in teams to solve problems about water and beach pollution. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Monday Storytime Monday, April 27 6:45 pm Stories and activities for ages 3-5. Registration is required. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Toddler Storytime Monday, April 27 11:00 am Stories and activities aimed at 18 to 36 month olds. Toddlers and grownups attend together. Registration is required. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Meals-On-The-Go Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 – 7:30 pm A representative from the Michigan State University Extension office will be at Hackley Public Library to discuss making quick, healthy, and inexpensive meals at home. She will cover: Advantages of healthy meal planning for a week Calculating your calorie allowance for a day. Preparing meals at home for a week using recipes with 5 ingredients or less. Preparing meals at home saves money, time, and the meals are healthier than dining out. A recipe book is provided with meals for a week (5 ingredients or less), shopping list, hands on activities and taste samples. The program is free, but in order to have enough handouts, please call the Library at 231-722-7276 to register. Toddler Storytime Tuesday, April 28 6:45 pm Stories and activities aimed at 18 to 36 month olds. Toddlers and grownups attend together. Registration is required. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Computer Class--Intro to the Internet Wednesday, April 29 6:00 - 7:30 pm Learn how to "surf the net", set up an email account, and find your away around cyberspace. Class size is limited. Please call ahead to register (231-722-7276). Registration starts on March 2. The class will be held at Hackley Public Library. 2nd Annual Fancy Nancy Fun Saturday, May 2 11 AM Come in fancy dress for this butterfly-themed, mother-daughter event. The activities are inspired by Bonjour, Butterfly from the popular Fancy Nancy Books. Children will make Butterfly Wands, show off their fancy manners and make elegant Bread and Butterfly Sandwiches. Pre-registration required. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Please call the Youth Services Department at 231-722-7276 x 230. Family History Workshop Saturday, May 2 9:30 - 11:30 am Learn how to do Genealogy research in the Local History Department. For more information call 231-722-7276 x 233 An evening with Nick Kroes May 5, 2009 Local musician Nick Kroes will regale the audience with guitar and banjo music from the 20’s and 30’s. Along with the great music, Nick will talk about the history of the instruments and the music. This is a free concert, but seating is limited. Please call the library at 231-722-7276 or stop by the circulation desk to register for the program. 9:27:37 AM     ContactHelp Gets You Through to a Human Being [Customer Service] . Customer service calls are frustrating. Don't just sit there pounding the 0 button, hoping you'll eventually reach a real live person—use ContactHelp to get to a human being. Like previously reviewed GetHuman, ContactHelp is a database of tricks for bypassing the customer service carnival and getting to a real human. ContactHelp has some additional features not available with GetHuman. The user interface is friendlier with the most frequently searched for and viewed companies displayed right on the main page. Both GetHuman and ContactHelp have the ability to rate companies and leave comments, although the comments section at GetHuman is a very recent addition making the comments sparse by comparison. ContactHelp also lists additional information including hours of operation, email addresses, and links to customer service websites when available. Between GetHuman and ContactHelp you should be able to beat back to the wall of menus and get to a real human just about anywhere. ContactHelp [via WiseBread] [Lifehacker] 9:01:10 AM     The Per-Diem System Is a Seriously Easy Budget to Follow [Budgeting] . If you've ever taken a work-related trip, chances are you're familiar with the concept of the per diem (Latin for "per day")—a daily cash stipend intended to cover your expenses. Photo by chrisdlugosz. Weblog Get Rich Slowly details how to apply this concept to your monthly budget, creating a per-diem budget for all your spending cash. As a guy who just finished paying off $14,000 in credit card debt, I wanted to share one tip that helped me get over the bad debt hump. I allocate my spending money on a per diem system. At the beginning of each cycle of my monthly budget, I set aside funds for: Every fixed expense that I have (rent, cable/internet, groceries, power) Any unique expenses (a plane ticket, for example) And, of course, my savings (about 8 percent of my after-tax, after-401k income) After allocating this money, I go to the bank, withdraw the remaining funds in cash, and divide it among envelopes for each day of the month. Each day, I open an envelope and add the day's cash to my wallet. For me, the physical parceling of the cash is an important psychological step. Granted, using this method does mean a lot more cash transactions, which can be difficult to track and don't have any benefits (of the credit card rewards ilk), but since most of the spending you need to track will have been paid before you set aside your per diem cash, it's not a bad method—especially for folks who have a hard time sticking to a budget when there's no physical limit. In college, I went on a similar (but decidedly more insane) budget in which $1 per day was all I allowed myself. Extreme, yes, but I saved some serious cash over that summer. With a more reasonable approach, I can imagine a per-diem budget could be very effective. The Per-Diem System: An Easy Way to Budget Your Spending Money [Get Rich Slowly] [Lifehacker] 9:00:10 AM

© Copyright 2009 Jocelyn Shaw. Last update: 5/4/2009; 2:50:14 PM. Photo curtesy of Marjorie O'Brien