Affordable Europe

The New York Times published a series of articles on how to travel through Europe affordably.  Click here for the main article (reprinted below)

Affordable Europe

Live well, spend less. It?s a nice concept ? but one that?s often hard to pull off when you are an American tourist traveling through Europe and struggling to find ways to offset the weakness of the dollar. Here is some help: money-saving tips on everything from hotel rooms to cultural events from New York Times correspondents and contributors in 16 major European cities.

• Amsterdam by Gisela Williams
• Athens by Anthee Carassava
• Barcelona by Andrew Ferren
• Berlin by Richard Bernstein
• Copenhagen by Seth Sherwood
• Dublin by Brian Lavery
• Geneva by Anne Glusker
• Lisbon by Pavia Rosati
• London by Heather Timmons
• Madrid by Dale Fuchs
• Milan by Elisabetta Povoledo
• Oslo by Bruce Bawer
• Paris by Elaine Sciolino
• Prague by Evan Rail
• Rome by Brian Wingfield
• Venice by Elisabetta Povoledo

Check IRS refund status

Go to https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irfofgetstatus.jsp to check on the status of your Tax Refund.  You will need to enter your social security number, filing status, and the exact amount of refund shown on your tax return.  "Providing the exact whole dollar amount is essential to receiving the correct response."

AutoText in Word

Using AutoText in Word

Using the AutoText feature in Microsoft Word, you can enter long and difficult-to-type words quickly. Put the text and/or graphics that you often use on the Insert, AutoText list (Word has already placed a few common entries there). That way, you can enter the long-winded text or a complicated graphic simply by clicking a few menu commands or by typing a couple of letters.

To create an AutoText entry, type the text or import the graphic, select it, and choose Insert, AutoText, New (or press Alt+F3). The Create AutoText dialog box appears. Type a name for the text or graphic in the text box and click OK.

To insert an AutoText entry, just start typing the entry’s name. Midway through, a bubble appears with the entire entry. Press Enter at that point to insert the whole thing. An alternative method is to choose Insert, AutoText. Next, select a submenu name, and choose an AutoText Entry.

Source: dummies.com

Google Finance

LifeHacker: Google Finance launches

Type a stock symbol into a Google search box and a new option appears for more information: Google Finance.

Set to compete with Yahoo! Finance, MarketWatch and TheStreet, Google Finance includes dynamic, draggable and zoomable stock charts with pinpoints to news stories that broke about the company at certain points in time. A stock?s Google Finance page also includes company information, blog posts and Google Group discussion items. Take a gander at the GOOG page to see Google Finance in all its glory.

STOP USING RENU CONTACT LENS SOLUTION

Disclosure:  As you can read in the attached press release, our Firm filed a class action lawsuit against Bausch & Lomb yesterday.  I am providing the information as a TOTD, however, because today I learned of a Herald reporter who only heard about this issue 2 days ago.  It occurred to me that maybe there are others who have not heard about the risk of infection from using Renu.  Having spoken to several victims, it is a very serious matter that can lead to the need for a corneal transplant or blindness.

Here’s the story about Bausch & Lomb ceasing sales of Renu: Reuters’ April 10, 2006 story
Most all retailers then pulled Renu off their shelves.

 Key quotes from today’s Herald story:

Florida has the highest number of cases in the country, with more than 50 reported so far.

”We’ve had a quite a few calls,” said Debbie Desario, an officer manager and optician with Dr. Leonard Cherdack, an optometrist, in Kendall. ‘They want to know whether they should discontinue using [the product], and we tell them `yes’ ”.

And despite all the publicity, some contact wearers were still in the dark last week. Chad Borders of Coral Springs hadn’t heard about the fungus and was still using ReNu with MoistureLoc.

”That’s scary,” he said.

See full Herald story here: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14372932.htm

Here’s our Firm’s press release issued yesterday: http://lawfirmnews.squarespace.com/journal/2006/4/17/dmml-files-lawsuit-against-bausch-lomb.html