Please do me a favor, and don’t send any goodies to school with nuts in them.

I picked my child up from daycare this evening and she was excited to show me her valentine’s day bag. While I was gathering all her coats, papers and backpacks, she grabbed a chocolate heart out of the bag and took a small bite. I grabbed it and looked it over noticed it looked “crispy.” I took a bite to confirm and then noticed the wrapper said “butterfinger” on it. She has a severe peanut and tree nut allergy. We quickly got some Benadryl in her. And her teacher apologized profusely as they thought they had checked everything in the bags. Looking at the heart, with the way the print was, it was an easy mistake to make.

I drove home in a panic—do I need to pull out the Epi pen? Is she breathing okay? Should I just drive her straight to the hospital? What kind of reaction is she going to have? I called my husband and we decided for us to just come on home. She is resting quietly now but we had a tense hour or two while she threw up and we tried to keep her and ourselves calm.

Until her diagnosis and I started working to keep her safe from all tree nuts I had no idea how much pervasive nuts are in our food. And now, especially at holidays and parties where baked goods and chocolates appear I have to be vigilant. Every party I have to ask the host about ingrediants. Every halloween, easter and Xmas food gift now becomes a potential threat.

Apparently, nut allergies are on the rise and they don’t really know why. We have no family history with it.

But please, while it is my responsibility to make sure my child is as safe as possible, please do me a favor and just don’t send anything with nuts to school. You will be doing some child, parent and teacher a favor.

Okay, that is it I’ve had it. I just can’t take any more. I can’t take one more news story of a major corporation cutting thousands of jobs. One more news story about the sales of Spam and Campbell Soup going up while the sales of Chevys and Barbie dolls plummet. One more story about corporate greed or hedge funds and hucksters that have cost countless folks their retirement and college funds. I’m tired of being afraid to look at my own 401(k).

I’m tired of worrying about what might come and tired of hearing it is my fault as a consumer. Slap me for spending beyond my means, and slap me for not saving enough, then slap me again for saving and not spending. My shelves are stocked with soup and I don’t even really like soup. I’ve cut back on my spending. I’ve made the list of extras I’d have to cancel if it comes to that—cable, subscriptions, etc. I’ve started clipping coupons and looking for sales. I’ve calculated how many months I would be able to pay my mortgage based on my savings. I’ve weighed the possibilities of bartering out my husband’s auto and handyman experience. I can have him fix your transmission for a basket of eggs.

I’m tired of worrying whether my work is visible enough to management after ten years of building high quality products that have brought in millions of revenue and satisfied customers. I’m already doing the job of several people. I’ve always looked out for your best interest and done my best to keep costs down. I cannot take on one more project though and do anything well. Seriously, if you haven’t figured out by now that I’m a company asset then there is no hope for you. I worry for my colleagues and acquaintances who have already lost jobs and feel helpless that I have no contacts to give them—all people I wouldn’t hesitate to work with again or recommend.

I’m tired of trying to figure out if it is better for us to stimulate the economy with my tax money or let it ride and see what happens. I want to shake my representatives and congressmen and ask them, “What is wrong with you?” I want to throw a shoe at Bush. I want to march the bankers and hedge fund managers down Wall Street and throw tomatoes at them. I’m glad that corporation didn’t buy that corporate jet, but then I worry about the airline mechanic that lost his job and if no lavish parties occur in Vegas how will the black jack dealer pay her rent?

I’m tired of coming home exhausted and worn out and snapping at my family and I’m tired of being snapped at by my family from their own worries and stress. I’m tired of not having the energy to give my mother full attention when she calls. I miss my friends and yet don’t have the energy to call and am too worried about the future to make vacation plans to see them. I want to go drinking.

Does any of this resonate with you? This is a horrible terrible tailspin we are all in of worry and fear feeding on itself.  What if we all went in tomorrow and said “F*** Fear!” What are you doing about it? Share it with me. Stimulate me and give me your ideas on how you plan to pull yourself out of this funk.

Hurrah for Lilly Ledbetter!

I had my own Lilly Ledbetter experience a long time ago. I was working a job where I had been trained at the same time as another person (a guy) for the same position. Coming in to the job, I will grant that he had more experience than me and was probably starting out at a higher pay based on that. But we did the same job for a couple of years. I was told several times or it was implied that I was of equal and in some instances more valued. So one day my colleague (who was also a good friend) put in his notice to leave. Management decided that I would go ahead and be taking over all his assignments in addition to the ones I already had. My colleague came to me and said, “If I were you. I would ask for more money.” Good advice and I took it. They made a deal with me that at the end of three months I would receive a raise.

This operation was a small business and the owner was a not-so-nice person so I had concerns that they would “forget” about the raise. So at the end of that period I went in to remind my manager (who was a woman) that I was due the raise. She slipped and made a statement that yes, I would now make as much as my former colleague. Basically, my raise would raise me on par with the former colleague and I would still be doing both jobs. When she saw the look on my face, the look on her face told me she knew she made a grave mistake. And she did. I walked out of her office and immediately started looking for a new job.

Know your own worth and push to be compensated fairly no matter what your gender.

If you've used one of our tutorial Step by Step books in the past year, we have a few questions for you.

Email me at juliana.aldous@microsoft.com and let me know if you would like to participate. This is a quick set of questions to help us in planning the features for the next set of books.

Some titles published in our Step by Step series include:

• Windows Vista Step by Step
• 2007 Office System Step by Step
• SharePoint Designer Step by Step
• Word 2007 Step by Step
• Project 2007 Step by Step
• Excel 2007 Step by Step
• PowerPoint 2007 Step by Step

My favorite film quote of the year happens to be from the Joker in the Dark Knight. After the Joker suggests to a group of mobsters that he simply kill Batman, one of the mobsters asks, "If it's so simple why haven't you done it already?" The Joker replies, "If you're good at something, never do it for free."

I love that quote and I think it in my head whenever anyone suggests content created by a community or whenever I ponder the future of publishing and other media industries. Actually, the Joker isn't the first person I heard this from. I also heard it from a college instructor teaching a class on writing magazine articles. This was a few years before blogging, YouTube, etc., but his point was that as a writer--value your work. Makes sense--if every one is giving it away for free, then free becomes the accepted price. But then, I'm not sure you can put content back in the box at this point.

Well, I'm sure we'll iron all this out eventually.

In the meantime here is an interesting discussion over at Narrative on How Writers Make a Living. This from a very good magazine that is itself pondering and experimenting with the price of content.

Here's a great little YouTube video for anyone using FB, with a friend who refuses to join in.

When I woke up this morning, my Zune was frozen. It was stuck on the "Zune" page and I haven't been able to turn it off or restart. I was on the Internet searching for an answer to no avail. In the meantime, I had posted my frustration on my FB status. One of my friends Carl then alerted me to a story on MSNBC about this freeze which is widespread and affecting many Zune owners. Apparently the Zune team is working on this issue right now. I hope they get it fixed--I've notice my screen feels a little warm.

Thanks Carl! I love social networking!

Note to Zune team. It's nice that you put a note about the problem on your web site, but you should already have it in the troubleshooting FAQ, and you need to make it easier to report the problem.

Oh, man, I love lists! http://www.listropolis.com/

Here are the books that my 4 year old and I enjoyed the most this year. We are both definitely going through a fancy princess phase and we enjoy reading books that showcase family life.

1. Fancy Nancy We love Fancy Nancy and the whole series. Fancy Nancy loves dressing glam and using fancy words. She decides to give her family lessons in being fancy. The artwork is wonderfully detailed.
2. Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Williems. Trixie and her family return in this sequel to Knuffle Bunny. Trixie takes Knuffle Bunny to preschool where she meets up with her doppelganger and the stuffed animals go home with the wrong child. Williems is also the author of the hysterical Pigeon series of children's books.
3. Too Many Toys! by David Shannon. From the author of the No David! series and the illustrator of How I Became a Pirate! comes another hilariously illustrated book by Shannon. Spencer has way too many toys and his mother decides he needs to box some up to give away.
4. Pinkalicious After eating too many pink cupcakes, Pinkalicious turns pink. She has to eat vegetables to get back to her normal color.
5. Tea for Ruby by Duchess of York. Illustrated by Fancy Nancy's Glasser, Ruby gets ready to have tea with the queen.
6. Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. Another in the Fancy Nancy series. Nancy's family decides its time to get a dog. While Nancy's family wants a "plain" dog, Nancy tries babysitting the neighbor's frou frou papillion. 
7. Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly. Nancy has to miss her best friend's butterfly themed birthday party in order to attend her grandparent's big anniversary party.
8. I Spy Christmas. The whole I Spy series is a lot of fun.
9. Berenstein Bears. Too many in the series to name, but these are fun and entertaining little paperpacks that teach good lessons. I almost always pick one up whenever I'm at B&N.
10. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I love reading this almost as much as she enjoys hearing it.

An interesting look at women today and where we could be by DeeDee Meyers. Some might be scared away by the title, but she raises some very interesting points throughout the book. This would make an interesting book club choice at my place of work which despite some efforts in the past few years, still lacks enough women in leadership positions.

I find this quote telling, "Too often, women are not invited to meetings (or alternately interrupted and ignored if they are); left off of distribution lists; excluded from informal networks; or invited to events, like Saturday morning golf, that conflict with other obligations. These "micro-inequities" are like pebbles in the road that, taken together, become boulders."

It reminds me of a focus group I planned and then moderated. I had invited a group of small business students from the local community college in for a focus group. It was informal and I served as the moderator and a small group of guys on my then extended team were there to observe. After the focus group ended I helped pick up the pizza boxes along with one of the other woman. None of the guys helped, but I heard them discussing going out for food or drink. I waited for an invitation, but none came. And then as I got in my car in the parking garage, they waved goodbye and I watched them leave as a group.

I have rarely felt overt discrimination, but it is these small deaths by a thousand cuts that I hear of repeated by women in the business place.

Huff Post on Buying Books for Xmas:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glynnis-macnicol/save-the-books-famous-peo_b_151830.html

Book Market in Iraq:

http://baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/then-and-now-a-new-chapter-for-baghdad-book-market/?hp

Bail Out Writers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/books/review/Greenberg-t.html?scp=1&sq=writers&st=cse

Thanks to my Visual Bookshelf on Facebook for reminding me what I've read this year. Here's my top 10 favorite books I read this year.

1. The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of...The wizard of Omaha has a lot of cool things to say about life.
2. The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Fail Important book on the skills we all need to brush up on.
3. Stuff White People Like So accurate you aren't sure if you are supposed to laugh or be embarrassed.
4. The Exception: A Novel Office politics at its finest.
5. When You Are Engulfed in Flames C'mon a new essay collection by David Sedaris? This also wins my favorite book cover of the year.
6. Heart Like Water: Surviving Katrina and Life In Its Disaster Zone Joshua Clark stayed in the city during the hurricane and was a witness to the aftermath.
7. Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style I need more style in my life and Tim tells me how to get it.
8. Don't Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood classic memoir of a white African
9. Bel Canto A South American official hosts a famous opera singer at a party, terrorists break in, take hostages...let the love story begin.
10. Dead Until Dark Much better than the Twilight series and the basis for HBO's True Blood series.

Interesting article in NY Times by Alex Williams about the slowdown between Christmas and New Year.

Article in NY Times about job seekers and seniors improving their computer skills.

If you are a senior or just know someone who is new to computers I have two books to recommend. For the first-time computer user, our Windows XP Plain & Simple or Windows Vista Plain & Simple. We are also about to release a new kit that contains the Vista Plain & Simple and a 100 page guide aimed at the person helping the new computer user.

Interesting article in NYTimes about the use of Twitter during the recent attacks in Mumbai.

My friend Hilary and I just caught the Quantum of Solice matinee at the new Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas in Redmond. Forget a coke and a big tub of popcorn in a raggedy seat where you are happy if there is a cup holder. We watched Bond in LazyBoy recliners chomping on lobster rolls and blue cheese potato chips while drinking sparkling wine.

It is a shame that they opened just as the economy tanked. But if you figure for date night you would normally go for a dinner and movie...this actually makes sense.

Here's a story I've been following on Komo4 that will just break your heart. Please donate to your local food bank.

Interesting article in the NYTimes about Microblogging at work.

Joe Wikert commented on Scott Kelby's The Digital Photography Book, Vol. 1 which has a high ranking on the Kindle bestseller list. This despite the fact that the book is full-color and the kindle is black-and-white (and frankly photos look terrible). Why would someone purchase an ebook of a graphic intensive book?

I think the folks buying it, already own the print edition and are buying it as an "on-the-go" reference. I've noticed that I'm starting to do that. Just the other day I purchased David Allen's Getting Things Done. I know I own at least two copies, but thought I'd like to have it for my Kindle and with me. This wasn't a highly graphic book--but I will reference it.

I notice that the print edition does not come with the ebook. Whenever we publish a cd with a book, we usually include a searchable ebook on the cd. I've often wondered if folks were using those ebooks but didn't have "a loop" back out to the customers to find out. Then we accidentally shipped one of our Inside Out books without the ebook. It was a mistake on our part--the wrong files went to the printer. Well, I can't tell you how many readers came back to us or the author looking for the ebook. I asked a few how they used the ebook and the majority wanted the searchable ebook on their laptop for reference for when they traveled.

Interesting article in NYTimes about the declining numbers of women in computer science.

The past few weeks I've had a lot on my mind--the election, the economy and an impending reorganization within my division. It has made it hard at times to concentrate. But now, today, at least two of those issues choices have been made and set. The election is over and we have a new President. The organizational chart has also been set for my role within my organization. That doesn't mean I know exactly where this country is going (see economy), and it certainly doesn't mean I know exactly what my new role entails (see economy), but at least it is a place to start from.

And I have, like millions of Americans, been inspired by this presidential campaign, and am now ready to roll up my sleeves and get back to work. My first question being, "How can I help?" Especially when according to ABC exit polls, 63% of respondents cited the Economy as the most important issue facing this country.

Well, it just so happens that my new role in my organization makes it easy for me to focus my work week on helping out with that big issue.

So, what I have been doing for the past ten years at Microsoft is acquiring authors and planning for our book list. I've spent at least the last five of that concentrating on my favorite audience--information workers and consumers. I'll still be doing that. But now I'll also be thinking about and planning products across the Microsoft Leaning spectrum--as well as books, that includes elearning, courses, clinics, ereference and probably a few more I don't know about yet. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to accomplish this all yet. Besides waiting for a reorg to happen the next hardest part is figuring out how what you do is changing. But I am lucky in that many of the products I've been working on such as our Step by Step series already figure into some of these other products. You can use the Step by Steps to study for a MOS exam, Step by Steps have been used in the past to create elearning, and currently Step by Steps are a part of our courseware library, and of course Step by Steps are available in our ereference libraries. So, I think one of my main jobs will be looking for more synergies and ways to use our content. I have a few books that are already used extensively by trainers, and I would love to see courseware created from those. This is also good for my authors because there could be some additional opportunities for them as well across the portfolio.

I'll be spending some time getting up to speed on our products and some new audiences I haven't spent much time with.

But I'm also excited because what do people need in a downturn economy? They need new skills and new training. They need to prove to their employer that they can wear many hats. A lot of people go back to school or at least take classes and indeed (if their training budget is cut) buy a book to learn on their own, or will be looking for low-cost and free training. I'm excited because I have the opportunity to help get our country and the world back on the right economic track.

So join me in my journey as I figure out exactly what my new role will be. And I'm warning those people that don't know me very well at work but may be working with in the future. I'm good at working with others and I'm used to working with the best. But I won't have patience for any person or process that will make it hard for me to get quality products out.