I Love Boomerang for Gmail

I’m a Gmail addict.  Google Apps too.

We rely on Google Apps over at Artsy Geek — it’s fantastic for collaborating, chatting and — best of all — searching. I cannot imagine having to search for something in Outlook with the sheer number of emails that go through our inboxes every day.

A few weeks ago my great friend Becca introduced us to Boomerang for Gmail. You know how good a scoop of vanilla ice cream is when topped with hot fudge?? It’s pretty good without it, but AWESOME with it.

Boomerang is hot fudge for Gmail.

Instead of the piles and piles of starred images making my priority inbox utterly inbox, I can schedule them to pop back up in my inbox at a later date. Whether it’s four hours later, three days later or Monday morning at 9am, that image will be back in my inbox when I want to deal with it. Or want to force myself to deal with it.

Boomerang for GmailIt’s really handy when you work with people who don’t always deliver when they say they’re going to.* “I’ll have it for you on Tuesday,” they’ll say. “Yeah right!” I think. And then I schedule the message to pop back up on Tuesday evening so I can send a reminder email. And I can specify that there’s no need to pop up if someone responds (in case they actually do come through!). BRILLIANT.

I’ve been pretty stoked on it. Today I had an unpleasant surprise though. It turns out that it’s a premium service!! They lured me in, got me hooked, and now want to charge me a monthly fee for it!!

Suddenly the hot fudge seems more like crack cocaine.

I wandered around my house hmm-ing and huh-ing over this when I plunked down my credit card and subscribed. It’s a deduction, for one. And it’s one hell of a brain space saver. People should get paid for what they do well, and those folks over at Boomerang are rocking my world. Thanks guys!

Try Boomerang for Your Gmail. You’re going to love it!**

Post image courtesy of cookingfoodie.blogspot.com
*I know, I know. Don’t deal with people who don’t deliver when they say they’re going to. I’m working on it.
**Full disclosure: If you click that link and sign up I get entered into some sort of wheely spin contest.  Wheeeeee!! Continue Reading

$5 Lego Stop Motion

Our new roommate (we found one! and he’s awesome) alerted me to what has to be the BEST WEBSITE EVER, fiverr.com.

At fiverr.com you can pay a mere $5 and get all sorts of amazing stuff…a British young lady will videotape herself shouting your message in a banana suit, an aging hippie will sing your message and play the accordion, a terrifying dude in a green suit will dance with your message on his chest.  That last one is pretty weird.  I don’t recommend that.

And they do stuff beyond making awesome videos.  I even saw someone who will design two logos for your company for $5.  That’s just plain ridiculous.

The first $5 I plunked down was for this video as a present for my father, the Great Arno.

LOVE IT!  What an affordable gift that he’ll treasure forever!  Or for the day.  But it’s the thought that counts, right?

Best Copy Ever

Weeks ago I mentioned how much I love the selection of office supplies over at Poppin.com and about how I was going to buy myself a new tape dispenser.  Well, I finally broke down and decided to get one today, and as I was perusing their other products to make sure I didn’t miss anything awesome, I stumbled on this fantastic copy.

Black Retro Ballpoint Pens

Perfect for writing on paper at your desk.

What more is there to say?

Get yours here.

Jennifer Heller Megalomaniac

I have been searching, searching, searching for the right name for this blog.

Historical Sidenote: From 2005 to 2008(?), this blog was hosted on blogger and called “Ought Never Be Daunted,” a reference to a scene in The Sun Also Rises where Jake is not as drunk as Brett is, but Brett urges Jake in those words that it’s not too late to catch up. How awesome is that?

Since I moved those posts over here and gave up all claim to anonymity, I have been calling this site “Jennifer Heller dot com,” knowing full well how lame it was, but at a loss for anything better.

These past few weeks I’ve been giving this site something of a face-life in my spare time, and I kept hoping to come up with a name for the site that would express its mission: Fun, Friends and Hilarity.

We toyed with “Jennifer Heller Fun Friends Hilarity.” But the glaring lack of punctuation was a non-starter.

And then yesterday, Sue pointed out that I am pretty much a megalomaniac. A megalomaniac!! I loved it! I couldn’t spell it but I loved it.

I looked it up, just in case I didn’t really understand what it meant. Which it turned out I didn’t. Merriam-Webster definies megalomania as:

1: a mania for great or grandiose performance
2: a delusional mental disorder that is marked by feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur

Number two made me LOL. As did my new header graphic, which I’ll record again here in case it changes in the future:

Are there enough Jens in this graphic? Is it creepy??

So what do you think?  Is “Jennifer Heller Megalomaniac” not the perfect title for someone who spends her spare time betraying the secrets of her youth and planning extravagant birthday parties?  Isn’t any blogger something of a megalomaniac at heart?  Does it make you LOL??  And isn’t it really freaking hard to spell???

I've long been coveting a carnivorous plant

Last summer I visited a shop in Stinson Beach and got to talking to the shop owner.  His work space was surrounded by a few carnivorous plants.  I expressed my surprise that he was keeping them inside and would want such terrifying plants so close by*.  He said that you wouldn’t believe how many bugs they catch–bugs that he doesn’t have to hang out with in his workspac

Well, I didn’t think that there were that many bugs to catch in my workplace.  I noted his eccentrities and moved on.

But every since I notice dozens of bugs a day!!  And every time I see (or hear) one I covet his carnivorous plants silently chugging along to do their part in making a peaceful workplace.    Continue Reading

I love Poppin.com

I have been on a hunt for a cute tape dispenser for quite some time now.

I’ve had the same tape dispenser for quite some time. I decorated it back in 1992 or something when I first got it with gold metallic ink and green permanent pens. It was kinda cute.

Since then I’ve lost the thing that actually holds the roll of tape and  it’s lost all of its original splendor.  For the past couple years I have been on a hunt for either the missing piece (so that it might serve to be a tape dispenser again and I could redecorate it) or an adorable new tape dispenser to brighten my work life.

My sad, old, unusable decrepit tape dispenser.

In my search I found tape dispensers that look like shoes (tacky), clear acrylic tape dispensers (imagine how visible the dust would be!), silly ones that resemble animals or some such and the run-of-the-mill plain ones. I wasn’t satisfied. Continue Reading

I love German Typography

We’ve been back from our Europe 2011 adventure for a month today. I’ll save my rant about the passage of time for another day.

I loved many things about Germany, but their typography stuck out for me. Here in Oakland, CA, the best thing about our street signs is that there’s an oak tree on them. The funniest thing about that is that oak trees are actually fairly hard to find around here… but that’s neither here nor there.

The typography is nice, clean and elegant on this Oakland street sign.  I love the ‘g’ and the spacing is nice…

…but somehow this German street sign has more even more elegance and nuance.  Perhaps it’s the perfect spacing between the letters or just the addition of the ß that adds that extra oomph I like so much. Continue Reading

Office Depot Greener Office Delivery Service

I needed labels for the totally awesome Jenfest souvenirs and Office Depot was the cheapest retailer that had these labels. Normally I would just go pick them up, but they were only available online. AND if I ordered $50 or more I would receive FREE overnight delivery. Score! I needed staples anyway!

So I worked my way to $50 buying extra toner and pens. I should have gotten some note pads.

The next day the office supplies show up packed in a nice white paper bag proclaiming their delivery service to be the “Greener Office Delivery Service.” Office Depot seems to really be trying to be green; rumor has it they deliver by bicycle in the UK. Everything was placed inside the bag as if I had gone shopping myself (though I would have brought my own bag). I was gratified by the lack of extra packing paper and boxes, and, I have to say, it was convenient.

Then came the harsh reality. The gel pens I had gotten — Gelio is the brand — sport a “comfort grip” that is more like blades of rubber. OW!!

And then I started thinking about it. These labels I needed they only carried online. But here they were in a paper bag as if someone had just wandered around the store picking things out. Something didn’t add up. Continue Reading

Awesome Product Alert: Katzenzungen

I was welcomed to Berlin by my good friends Ann Marie and Spencer, and this awesome welcome gift of Katzenzungen.


These milk chocolates are named after cat tongues, and somewhat resemble the actual body part. They don’t however, have the awesome sand-papery texture of actual cat tongues. I do wonder why they chose to leave that out.

They melt in your mouth and are delicious. At only 1,79 Euro, they’re a steal and I’m taking orders. Each box comes with 18 cat tongues to enjoy with or without your cat.

I am always impressed with how my fellow humans find inspiration in the oddest places! Continue Reading