List the loved ones. Create a list of who you are planning on giving to this year, and what you would like to give each person. Make sure your intended gifts fit within the budget that you have in mind for your holiday spending. Come up with a few options for each recipient so that you have a backup plan in case you can’t find what you wanted to get them initially.

Re-gift without regret. We all have received gifts that we don’t really want or need – that garish painting from Aunt Sally, the ill-fitting sweater from Uncle Dave, and so on. As well meaning as the givers were, these items are just not right for you – but they may be perfect for someone else. Collect all your re-giftables into one area, and go down your gifting list and see if someone on there might be a good fit for one of your castoffs. When you re-gift, make sure the person who gave you the gift initially and the person to whom you are going to be re-gifting it to are not in the same social circle.

Keep your costs down by planning ahead. Make sure you get the best deal on your purchases by checking sites like blackfriday.info, fatwallet.com and slickdeals.net. These sites have forums listing the hot deals of the day and opportunities to save cash on popular products. If you’re out and about and are ready to buy, before you hit the checkout line try calling 1-888-DO-FRUCALL. This free service lets you type in the UPC product code of the item you’re thinking of buying, and checks its price against several online retailers to find you the lowest price.

Consider giving experiences instead of things. If someone loves to dine, give them a gift certificate for their favorite restaurant. Got a friend that’s into art? How about a class at a local art center? People quickly forget things that are given to them, but tend to remember experiences – as well as the giver. Another bonus – experiences don’t take up any storage space! Another great “non-thing” gift is making a donation to your recipient’s favorite charity. This is a gift that people really remember.

Plan for next year. Once this holiday season is over, start a list of gift ideas to help you decide what to get for next year. If it’s February and you see something that would be a perfect holiday gift for your Aunt Sally, just jot it down on your list under her name. Do the same thing for everyone else you’d normally buy gifts for. When next year’s holidays come around, you won’t have to spend any time coming up with a shopping list.

I know that the holidays can be filled with fun, food – and to-do lists. Make this season easier by planning ahead a bit. Don’t let your holiday shopping become just another chore – after all, isn’t there supposed to be joy in giving?

Joshua Zerkel

Founder, Custom Living Solutions
Certified Professional Organizer
President, NAPO-SFBA

Three months ago I was appointed project manager for a construction job that required the involvement of six sub trades, my own crew and a budget of eighty five thousand dollars for the renovation of a community center.

Although I had project management experience before and I am very familiar with EXCEL ^TM” I found PROJECT “KICK-START^TM” software covered potential obstacles and a data base of operating “tools” I had never used before which helped me reduce the construction time by two weeks and I came in way under budget.

At the same time, we offer quality support as a free service to our customers.  Michael Caldwell, one of our valued customers from the Visibility Tools Workshop says it the best:

I have been an enthusiastic user of Project KickStart since Version 3 and that was years ago. I drive it hard; it started out strong, and it just keeps getting better. Hands down, these powerful tools coupled to remarkable ease of use simply can not be beat for the money. And the support staff has been good to me in the clinch, when it really mattered, and I prize that highly when evaluating the value of software in this competitive market. Keep up the good work!

As Michael notes, when one needs help, product support can be as important as the product itself.

If you’re already a customer, send your feedback to sales@projectkickstart.com. If you’ve not yet tried our software, try it today and see how easy it can be to plan a project.

Is it for real? Yes.

How can we react appropriately to protect ourselves and our families?

1. Adopt some safe habits and practice them.
2. Be ready for the unexpected.
3. Adjust if the swine flu comes our way big time.

Adopt some safe habits and practice them

The main thing to do is to avoid getting the flu in the first place. The principal means of doing this are: Personal hygiene and avoidance of people with the flu.

As an APL leukemia survivor over the past three years, I have been following these practices, and know that they can be done. This involves scrupulous hand washing with soap and water or hand sanitizer, heightened cleanliness at home, and avoiding people who are or who could be sick.

At home, you have the most control over your surroundings and personal safety. What is needed is setting up a system and following it. For instance, I would have people who entered my home wash their hands upon entering. Also, I set up separate towels for me and my guests.

On public transportation, such as bus, subway, and airplane, you need to be vigilant as to who may be a potential threat and to avoid them. You can switch seats to avoid being near contagious passengers. Also, avoid touching surfaces which have been touched by others, such as buttons and handrails. And in airplanes, up through last week, I have been wearing a mast.

In the Pandemic Survival project, our staff has gathered the best practices and ideas for avoiding the flu or dealing with it if you get it. We suggest that you use this as a starting point for your own program. Please take our plan and make it yours. You can ignore parts that are not pertinent, and amplify the parts of the plan that pertain to your situation.

You may find it helpful to print and post three health posters that remind you of covering your cough and washing your hands.

Be ready for the unexpected

Since the Swine Flu came “out of nowhere” and has spread rapidly to many countries, it may have some surprises for us, such as who that we know gets the flu. Will schools and facilities be shut down, and how will we adapt to these closures?

Be ready to adapt the Pandemic Pan to meet your changing needs.

That’s why we put the plan in Project KickStart format. You’ll be able to adapt it easily. If you don’t yet have a copy of Project KickStart, you can download it here. Or recommend it to some colleagues and friends.

Adjust if the swine flu comes our way big time

Past Pandemics have come in waves, with a big spike following a mild introduction. If the big spike comes and causes major disruptions of our schools and jobs, we may have to adjust in ways we have not considered.

Use Project KickStart for whatever comes. If you do not already have a copy, you can download the free trial.

We’ll be there for you.

Roy Nierenberg

President

Experience In Software

You start with a 23-step plan for your Passover Seder. Then, you can add your own traditions, print out reminders and to-do lists, even make your own schedule.

The Passover Planner comes with a 20-day trial version of Project KickStart Pro 5.  It lets you customize your Passover plan, e.g., add steps, put in the names of your family and friends, show who’s assigned to do what, and make a simple schedule. The software works on any computer running Windows 2000,  NT, XP, or Vista.

“With Passover nearly upon us, we felt that many Jews and Non-Jews who will be celebrating Passover could use a hand in getting organized,” said Roy Nierenberg, president of Experience In Software.

“Based on user interest, we will make available other holiday planners and distribute them for free on the Internet.” Experience In Software develops software for project planning and project management.

So, here is what you should do:

Download the Passover Planner (passover.prx) (If you already have Project KickStart.)

Download Project KickStart 20 day trial

This is the tenth year we have made the Passover Planner available.

Of course, we realize that efficient use of natural resources is also incredibly important. Because of this, we will be giving out three extra goodies to customers who buy or upgrade Project Kickstart by the end of the month. This includes Cool the Earth, Save the Economy, a new online book authored by several environmental scientists in Berkeley. Secondly, we are including our Go Green Project Template, which will give you easy-to-implement ideas for saving money while going green. Lastly, we are giving away a Go Green PowerPoint presentation which will outline your new plan for going green. Together, these goodies represent a $100 value, but the total value you could get out of utilizing them is much greater. If you would like to know more about these goodies or Project KickStart in general, feel free to comment! We are always happy to hear your ideas

We are now part of the social networking scene! Please feel free to visit our Facebook page at your leisure or view our newly posted tutorials on YouTube. If you have a Facebook, feel free to friend request us and become fans. We’ll routinely have new blog posts, helpful advice, and perhaps even a couple discount sales. If you do not want to be left in the dust when all of our other customers are getting great deals, being our fan is a must!

Now, I may just be biased, but it seems to me that organizing a group of people to do something sounds a lot like project management. Namely, it seems to me like Obama must have planned out different phases for different parts of his campaign which all entailed final goals. For example, perhaps his first phase was fundraising, which was itself a massive endeavor.  Within this preliminary phase, Obama must have had hundreds, if not thousands, of sub-phases and tasks; for example, he might have had a sub-phase for fundraising in California, which itself had the tasks of setting up campaign centers and advertising. Eventually, Obama raised enough money and support that he had a sizable base; in turn, he could assign his people to tasks in order to ultimately achieve his goal of victory.  It seems, then, that it might be unfair to attribute Obama’s victory solely to his people skills. Instead, it may have been the result of great project management. Here at ProjectKickstart, we believe in giving everyone the tools necessary to run a successful and professional project.

The first four versions of our software (five if you count the DOS version) have had gray backgrounds. We have been relentless in our efforts to make the product as functional, intuitive and powerful as possible. Even so, one day, it dawned upon us: gray was so last decade. So we figured that Project KickStart 5′s Pro and Standard versions will feature beautiful new user interfaces.

Wait, did I skip something?

Oh yeah…Project KickStart 5. Let me just say that it’s underway. Well underway. And my God is it good. Our customers are already very happy about version 4, but we can’t wait until they get their hands on the fifth Windows installment of the software we rolled out as a DOS application in 1992.

Project KickStart 5 is going to be a whole lot more than just a beautiful new take on the existing software. Imagine having our complete project planning wizard with a professional dependency Gantt chart and easily-printable, project dashboards under one roof. In minutes flat, you’ll be able to email or print a one-page report that details the status of any of your projects, including budgeting information, project status and more. Project KickStart 5 will be all the features of version 4 and tons of great new functionality with a brand new user interface. And wow, is that interface good-looking.

Oh, you want to see it? Hmm, I’m not sure I’m supposed to show you quite yet.

Come on, I’m just the guy who writes the blog…I’m not sure about authorization…my job description…someone might be mad…trade secrets…cat out of the bag…

Fine, you win. I’ll give you guys a taste…but when the purchasing department wants to know why you don’t have an appetite for inferior project planning software, don’t mention my name. Just tell them you’ve had the best of the best, you’ve seen the promised land, and nothing less than Project KickStart 5 will do.

Ok, here it is…the sweet new User Interface:

And although I’ll probably get taken out back and caned for this, here is the new Reports Dashboard:

Faithfully yours,

-Anonymous

I’ve had a couple of jobs before, but this is the first desk job for me. Though I had visited my mom’s office in San Francisco a few times, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this office, given that it was a much smaller company in Berkeley. Would I be a world of suits and ties, corporate lingo and TPS reports? To make a long story short, I wasn’t. Here I sit, clad in jeans and a sweatshirt from my high school lacrosse team, and I have never been lectured about any missing cover sheets.

And, wow, has this been perfect. I’ve picked up more skills than I can count. I have a basic knowledge of marketing, sales, software support, product development, project management and plenty more. And I’ve done it all in casual attire and ten minutes from my house, in the downtown area of a culturally-rich (and politically-infamous) college town. The location, of course, means that the lunch options are amazing. I have gone out to lunch every day to one of the plethora of inexpensive, delicious restaurants here in Berkeley. There is easy walking access to cuisines from every corner of the world. Within blocks of the office sit purveyors of curry, sandwiches, sushi, pizza and burritos. It is not at all uncommon for me, the summer intern, to go out to lunch with my boss or even the president of the company.

Another great thing about working for a smaller company (that previously had no interns) is that my time is valuable. I have never been asked to get coffee for my boss or schedule appointments for the higher-ups. From what I understand, such tasks are frequently among those tossed to the interns at other, larger companies. Instead, I was immediately put to work calling customers to update our database and writing marketing materials. As such, I quickly got a feel for our software, our company and our customers.

Although the relaxed environment, the meaningful work and the proximity to delicious food have been great, the best aspect of the company is the people. The people here are interesting, diligent, and above all, kind. We greet each other in the morning, say good-bye at the end of the day, ask each other about weekend plans on Fridays and give lunch recommendations (okay, that’s mostly me plugging the $5.95 lunch special at the Japanese restaurant). Spending time in the company of such people is refreshing, and frankly, enjoyable. My coworkers have taught me more than I ever thought I could learn in a summer, and they have truly become my friends.

And for the entirety of my eleven-week tenure, I have felt respected, valued and recognized. When I told my boss that we had what we needed to start moving toward a new version of Project KickStart, he listened. One office-wide powwow later, we were putting together the list of new features, contacting our developer and truly getting work underway for the future versions of Project KickStart, which I hope will knock your socks off. I’m only sad that I won’t be here to watch them get created.

Wishing you all the best,
Jeff the Intern