The Virtual Woman: A Woman's
Weekly Guide To Cyberspace
I had the flu last week. I woke up in the middle of the night with a fever.
Tossing the blankets off my bed I accidently kicked my cat, MousePad, off
the bed too and he went flying into space. The next morning I awoke,
extracted MousePad's claws from the wall and set forth on my 30 second
commute to work. I arrived right on time in front of my monitor and
keybord. As I listened to my modem dialing up the Internet it dawned upon
me: I'm sick. Really sick. It is indeed quite possible to be sick and
virtual at the same time. I did a quickie reverse commute back to bed and
stayed there for 48 hours. Feeling rested, relaxed and, let’s face it, just
plain bored (how many talk shows can one human being realistically
consume? -on second thought, don't answer that), I picked myself, dusted
myself off and booted up my computer again. I was seriously glad to get
back to the world of the living and working. In particular I enjoyed
helping out my readers this week by tackling a variety of really interesting
questions about where to go online to make their work lives a bit more
pleasant. Stay well, don't catch the flu like me and keep those emails
coming!
Dear Virtual Woman:
My cubicle is crammed
with so much junk that I no longer wonder if there are new life forms
growing throughout my space. I only wonder how many. One idea I had to free
up some of my precious cube real estate was to get rid of the two huge
dictionaries I have and use an online dictionary instead. Any ones
you might suggest?
- Crammed Cube Carlotta, Vienna, VA
Dear Triple C:
The life forms you describe sound shockingly similar to cubis corporateum, a species recently discovered by scientists in the U.K. Found in particularly high stress corporate environments, this new species reproduces rapidly if given the correct amount of flourescent lighting, recycled air and corporate politics. Not to worry, this species is harmless and is one that generally seeks peaceful co-existence with its neighboors. In reference to your dictionary query, check out One Look at http://www.onelook.com/. This site searches not just one and not just 139 but over 140 dictionaries to give you a huge variety of choices in definitions. And while One Look is definitely a mega-dictionary of a resource, the site clearly offers a lot more too. I plugged in the word "armadillo" into the search engine (don't ask) and not only got nine different dictionaries offering me definitions, I was also given the options to look up synonyms, antomyms, rhymes, illustrations and pronunciations.
Dear Virtual Woman:
I'm in sales and
I travel and take clients out a good deal of the time. I'd love to find a
quick resource that will tell me what to tip the gazillions of different tip
dependent individuals I encounter on a nearly daily basis.
- Diane W., Winston-Salem, NC
Dear Diane:
The Original Tipping Page (http://www.tipping.org/) is where you need to go. They have what to tip everyone - including blackjack, poker and roulette dealers (hmm - wonder what Manny, the webmaster does with his spare time?) If you're in the habit of taking important clients out for meals, you should also definitely check out the American Table Manners guide. It can be found by clicking on the link provided at the tipping site or you can go directly to http://www.cuisinenet.com/glossary/tableman.html. I loved the section called What You Can Eat With Your Fingers (although the list was mighty short). You're also sure to get a lot out of the Tips and Pitfalls area where you can learn how to pass the salt, eat soup, and (this one's my fav) remove inedible objects from the mouth (includes specifics on removing chicken and fish bones as well as olive pits and large pieces of extremely fatty meat - gggrroooosss!!!)
Dear Virtual Woman:
I made a shift in jobs from a packaged good manufacturer to a job in biotech. I'm in more of an administrative support role where I don't have to know every technical aspect of the business but I am finding myself overwhelmed with all of the industry acronyms. I am told to "just ask" but I think that gets old after a while. I have online access at work. Is there a place I can go to just look some of this stuff up? Thanks very much!
- Sue K.,Redondo Beach
Dear Sue:
For complex, technical industries my first recommendation would be to go to http://spin.com.mx/~smarin/acro.html, the Opaui Guide To Lists, of Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Intialisms. From accountancy to telecommunications to (aren't you lucky), biotechnology, this site offers its users a very comprehensive guide through the haze of Acronymville. For readers interested in a more general search tool for acronyms I recommend the Acronym Lookup site at http://www.ucc.ie/cgi-bin/acronym
Happy Surfing!
Find these links and more at WWWomen.Com (http://www.wwwomen.com) the web's largest search directory of topics for women online. Email the Virtual Woman with your Internet questions or send snailmail to: WWWomen.Com, Attn: Virtual Woman, 3701 Geary Blvd., #325, S.F., CA 94118. Copyright, 1998. WWWomen, Inc. All rights reserved.
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