Growing up, my father loved nothing more than to scare the wits out of my little sister and me by jumping out from behind things.  Much to our dismay, he has continued this tradition in to our adult life.  This time of year, swarms of people flock to scary movies and haunted houses and pay to be scared.  I will admit, scaring can be fun for the person who is doing the scaring, I just don’t see how it’s at all enjoyable for the person being scared.

Another case in point – the Heathman Hotel.  Did you know it’s haunted?  For years, room 703 has experienced many mysterious incidents. Guests who leave a clean room return to find a towel used, glass of water out or desk chair moved. According to legend, many years ago, a guest checked into the Heathman and never checked out. As a result, every year guests and the media flock to the Heathman, each clamoring to stay in room 703 on October 31.  Again, not my cup of tea!  Frankly, I would rather stay as far away from that room as possible!  Maybe the Andy Warhol suite on the 8th floor instead?

If you enjoy being scared, then I wish you a spooky, scream-filled Halloween.  As for me, I will be hard at work, steering clear of my father who, most likely, will be lingering behind closed doors just waiting to jump out and watch me hit the ceiling!

 Happy Halloween!

Here’s a great gift for Grandma: an inexpensive, easy-to-use mobile phone that will keep her connected. The Doro PhoneEasy 410 gives you simple voice calling on an attractive device at a recession-friendly price. Grandma will need you to set it up, though.

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As the FCC begins work on net neutrality rules, phone, Internet and cable companies are lining up for or against the idea. Portland-based Integra Telecom came down today in favor of the regulation.

Broadly speaking, net neutrality would require Internet service providers to treat all Internet traffic equally. The idea is that an ISP couldn’t charge extra to deliver a certain service, like Hulu, to subscribers’ computers.

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PORTLAND, OR — (Marketwire) — 10/19/09 — LANE PR has developed a new online reputation management service. The service includes online reputation monitoring, online spokesperson training, tools and employee guidelines.

The service is designed to help companies and their employees better build and manage their reputations online.

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You’ve got to love working next door to a wine shop that just happens to be co-owned by your agency’s founder.  Just this week I ran into The Cellar Door’s personal wine buyer, Bryan Shuttleworth in the break room.  Bryan, who knows my palate and keeps an eye out for deals for me, had an extra bottle of wine in hand, handed it to me, and said, “Here you go, enjoy!”  Salud Bryan!  I’ll enjoy it tonight with homemade Ribollita.  I love this recipe for it:
http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/ribollita-soup-699304/

Economic downturns challenge the best of us, and in the current recession, many companies are feeling the squeeze. For some, particularly those that have a heavy debt load or are seeing business fall off, a crisis may seem inevitable as financial options dwindle and Chapter 11 becomes a distinct possibility.

Whether spurred by economic shifts or simply by unexpected events, a business crisis will test a company’s leadership, brand and reputation. The key to preserving brands, relationships and morale lies in being prepared. Five critical steps can help.

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