Powerful WordsWhen you are a small business owner and your profitability revolves around the amount of time you have available, your day, and wallet, can be quickly interrupted with the onslaught of tele-marketers vying (begging) for your business.I used to just hang up on then, not answer the phone, etc., but GEEZ, they are persistent folks. Finally, I figured I would just deal with them, one by one. The decent ones (if I can say that out loud) actually abide by one simple law that has recently given me just a hint of power – the “do not call” list.When you're done listening to their speech or when you realize what they are calling about and you're ready to end the conversation, simple say these magic words….

Done. Finito. Gone. Fini. End of story. The End.

Humor: Good TradeA saleswoman is driving toward home in Northern Arizona whenshe sees a Navajo woman hitchhiking. Because the trip hasbeen long and quiet, she stops the car and the Navajo womanclimbs in.During their small talk, the Navajo woman glances surreptitiouslyat a brown bag on the front seat between them.  ”If you arewondering what's in the bag,” offers the saleswoman, “It'sa bottle of wine. I got it for my husband.”The Navajo woman is silent for a while, nods several times and says……..”GOOD TRADE.”

Goodbye Radio CommentsThe constant delay in loading my weblog front page was driving me crazy. So many times (especially recently) either my page would refuse to load, it would load without the comments, or it would hang for 30-60 seconds until it was able to load the comment code.Enough!!Now, if you click on my comment link, you'll be taken to the Radio email form. I'd like to build my own comment system, but these days, time is priceless.

Personal Contact Managers – Feedback RequestedI have been struggling with this dilemma for almost two years. I am looking for the ultimate Mac contact management setup. I use Apple Mail because it has decent filters and mainly because I prefer it's layout to Eudora. (if Eudora had a 3-paned display and a half-decent address book, I'd switch tomorrow)For contacts, I use Apple's Address Book simply because it integrates with Mail. The biggest issue is my calendar. I have tried iCal, but honestly, it's too darn slow and the adding/editing interface is crap. Palm Desktop is nice, but there is zero integration with other apps and I'm sure Palm won't be adding any new features anytime soon. Now-Up-To-Date and Now-Contact both seem solid, but again, no integration with Mail. I have also toyed with Daylite from Marketcircle. Being a version 1 program, it is AWESOME as a total CRM solution, but the calendar doesn't sync with the Palm and the address book syncing is done by first syncing with Apple's Address Book and then syncing with the palm. (too many steps guys, write a conduit)Sooooo – this leads me to my question. If you're a Mac user and rely on an accurate and sync'd palm-like device, what programs do you use and why?