I realized something the other day about saying “thank you.” If I’m a customer in a transaction with a vendor (or retailer, whatever) who should be saying “thank you” and how emphatically?

I was raised to be courteous and polite so I’m always thanking everyone. Probably when I shouldn’t be. Some recent experiences and got me thinking about doing it differently.
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Tonight marks my first outing to learn about Japanese sake (rice wine). There’s a more-Hollywood-than-Redondo place down the street from me which has 50 sakes on the menu. Add a little sushi and a knowledgeable bartender and away we go.

First off: it’s pronounced “sah-kay”.
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I decided to get on the scale today since I’ve been feeling a little extra padding in the mid-section. The number came in at 163, give or take a pound.

For as long as I can remember I’ve weighed in at 154. It’s happening just as my father said it would the further along my 30s I got.

It’s time to start doing more than the exercise bike. And regularly I might add.

According to Fidelity, 70-80% of all Americans make annual donations to charity. Wow, I never would have guessed. They’re offering a service called the Charitable Gift Fund which allows a well-controlled and easily-managed process to support your charities. You’ll need at least $10,000 to get started but there are tax incentives when you contribute proceeds from long-term capital gains.

(Via Fidelity Investor’s Weekly).

Whilst whittling away my time this evening I came across BuyBlue.org, whose slogan states “Stop supporting companies that don’t support your values. Reward companies that have a triple bottom line… People, planet and profit.”

It’s a brand-spankin’ new web site so there isn’t much going on except for various news bits related to eco-friendly (or not) happenings. They claim quite a bit of media coverage so I’m a little confused why their site activity is so slow.