Here are a few websites that will give you some good information about managing your finances.

My Money: The Federal Government's website dedicated to helping Americans understand more about their money – how to save it, invest it, and manage it to meet their personal goals.

Money Smart: A training program created by FDIC to enhance money skills and create positive banking relationships.  Available in both online andinstructor led versions.

Basic Economic Security: The Basic Economic Security Tables™ (BEST) Index and the Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (Elder Index) measure the incomes workers and retired elders need to achieve economic security.

Feed The Pig: Free financial information and tools to empower 24-35 year olds to take charge of their personal finances and live within their means.

Here is a list of companies that give you something on your birthday.

The website tries to keep the list current but I can't guarantee that they will all work.

http://www.frugalliving.tv/free-stuff/birthday-freebies.html

Here is an article that provides an early look at some positive features of Windows 8.

http://www.retrevo.com/content/blog/2012/03/some-cool-new-features-windows-8?cmpid=Email

The features discussed in the article are:

Lock Screen Alerts

Password Options

Better App Management

One-Click Sharing

Compatibility with Xbox, Windows Phone, Tablets

Easy Backup

Increased Download Protection

Windows App Store

Many of us use Microsoft Outlook extensively. I came across this collection of tips and tricks.

1. How to Create an Email Signature in Outlook
Set up a short piece of text containing essential contact information, a tag line or maybe an ad or quotation to be inserted in every email you send from Outlook.

2. How to Set Up an Out of Office Vacation Auto-Reply in Outlook
While you are away from the computer, Outlook can automatically reply to incoming mail with a pre-written message telling senders when you’ll be able to reply individually.

3. How to Access Free Yahoo! Mail with Outlook
Your Yahoo! Mail account is not made for the web alone. Here's how to download mail from a free Yahoo! Mail address into Outlook -- and how to send through Yahoo! Mail, too.

4. How to Access Windows Live Hotmail with Outlook
Use Microsoft Outlook to fetch and send email messages through your Windows Live Hotmail account comfortably and with all the power and flexibility of a real email client.

5. How to Export Your Outlook Contacts to a CSV File
Keep your contacts even if you leave Outlook behind. If you save your Outlook contacts as a CSV file, you can easily import them elsewhere.

6. How to Back Up or Copy Your Outlook Mail, Contacts and Other Data
Backing up all your important Outlook data (mail, contacts, calendars, and more) is as simple as copy and paste.

7. How to Import Contacts from Excel or a CSV File into Outlook
You extensive list of contacts or customers is stored happily in a spread sheet or database? After some simple importation steps, they can be in Outlook, too, and build the basis for a mailing list, for example.

8. How to Access Gmail with Outlook
Outlook and Gmail make a great couple; they send each other messages all day long. Here's how to set up access to a Gmail account in Outlook, and it is terrifically easy.

Here are a few websites that you might find useful.

Nudgemail

http://www.nudgemail.com/

This is a site that will help you keep emails from "dropping through the cracks." Forward any email to NudgeMail and it will send it back when you want it. It can remind you about that email in an hour, day, month, or even a year.

LastPass

https://lastpass.com/

Excellent password manager that you should be using. Features include 1-click login, form filling, automatic sync between browsers and more.

Mint (USA and Canada)

https://www.mint.com/

Fully automatic spending tracker and budgeting tool. Mint tracks your budget, monitors your spendings, advises on how you can save, and lots more. Highly recommended.

Wolfram Alpha

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Cool answer search engine that answers factual questions directly rather than giving you a list of webpages that might contain the answer.

I came across a website that offers a different free software package everyday. Today's software is called PDF to Word Converter. "PDF to Word Converter is a windows application to convert PDF to Word Doc format fast and easily. With PDF to word converter, users can convert PDF to word format in few clicks."

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

Here is how the site describes itself; "Basically, every day we nominate one software title that will be a Giveaway title of that day. The software is available for download for 24 hours (or more, if agreed with software publisher) and that software is absolutely free. That means – not a trial, not a limited version – but a registered and legal version of the software is completely free for our visitors*."

I have added a little box at the bottom left side of our home page that will tell what the free software is for that day. I hope you find something useful.

Have you ever wanted to take a course in a specific subject but just didn't have time to go to a traditional college? There are some really good websites that offer college  (and lower) level courses on a huge variety of subjects and the best part is, they are all free! Take a look at some of these:

OER Commons http://oercommons.org

"OER Commons has forged alliances with over 120 major content partners to provide a single point of access through which educators and learners can search across collections to access over 30,000 items, find and provide descriptive information about each resource, and retrieve the ones they need. By being "open," these resources are publicly available for all to use, and principally through Creative Commons licensing, many thousands are legally available for repurposing, modifying and improving." (from http://www.oercommons.org/about#what-is-oer-commons)

I needed to show some people in the office the basics of setting up an automatically generated Table of Contents for a pretty complex document. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I did a search and came across the following article on creating numbered headings or outline numbering in Word 2007 and Word 2010:

http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/numbering20072010.html

This is really a good explanation of setting up headings which is the first step in setting up a Table of Contents as described in "How to create a table of contents in Microsoft Word."

http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/tableofcontents.html

I hope these articles are helpful.

"Wikipedia is an online free-content encyclopedia that you can edit and contribute to. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has described Wikipedia as "an effort to create and distribute a multilingual free encyclopedia of the highest quality to every single person on the planet in his or her own language." Wikipedia exists to bring knowledge to everyone who seeks it."

I thought it might be interesting to look up "proposal" (actually "business proposal") on Wikipedia to see what it had to say. I was surprised to see that there isn't much information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposal_(business). Not only that, but there is NO information under "Proposal Management" or "Proposal Writing."

I encourage some of you "Proposal Gurus" to consider adding to the proposal-related information that can be found on Wikipedia.

All quotations in this article are from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:FAQ/Overview#What_is_Wikipedia.3F

Here is an interesting article from the Washington Business Journal about a recent proposal protest which questioned whether deviations from the solicitation were justified.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2012/01/check-the-ego-in-proposal-writing.html

I was browsing around the Microsoft site looking to see what was new in the way of Word templates. It turned out that Ifound some pretty useful proposal-related resources.

The first one isa template which can beused for tracking RFP progress:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/results.aspx?qu=rfp&ex=1#ai:TC001172112

After seeing this, the thought occurred to me that there might be other proposal-related resources available so I did a search on "proposal." Here are the results:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/results.aspx?qu=proposals

I hope you find these to be helpful.

If you're bidding for a recompete contract as the incumbent contractor or bidding to replace an incumbent for such a contract, here are some links I recommend you check out.

Support the APMP and its chapters (and maybe learn something) by attending the following six events in September and October.

ProposalCafe.com is an active Twitter user: @proposalcafe. On Twitter.com, we follow more than 1,000 and have almost 500 followers. We invite you to follow our tweets and retweets via Twitter.com and the ProposalCafe.com "Our Recent Tweets" section (located just below The ProposalCafe Blog section). Twitter displays our tweets and retweets, while the "Our Recent Tweets" section displays just our tweets. Our tweets/retweets are used to distribute proposal-related advice, info, and job opportunities -- postings that supplement many other resource postings on ProposalCafe.com.

Here are other "illnesses" identified in an article that I wrote for the APMP Journal (Fall/Winter 2009): "from A to Z, the Very 'Unofficial' APMP Glossary". Enjoy this blog entry ... not the "illnesses."

Here's a proposal health service announcement for proposal professionals!

Beware of the following 10 "illnesses" that may infect you or your proposal team colleagues. These maladies (and others) are identified in an article that I wrote for the APMP Journal: "from A to Z, the Very 'Unofficial' APMP Glossary" -- see the Defining Moments feature on the ProposalCafe.com Home page. Eventually in The ProposalCafe Blog, I'll address all of the illnesses listed in the article.

Please note that the illness symptoms are described, but not the treatments. However, the information will at least allow you diagnose your illness -- and determine if your medical insurance provides coverage for the treatment.

The list is long, but it isn't meant to be an exhaustive one of all applicable software resources. Please let ProposalCafe.com know about any other software that you think could help in the development of commercial, government, or grant proposals.

For more info about software, see ProposalCafe.com's Resource Links section for Software Providers: http://proposalcafe.com/directory/weblinks/941-software-providers.

The year 2011 will be a unique year for the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP). For the first time, the APMP will have an Executive Director other than David Winton, an APMP charter member and Fellow, and former APMP CEO. (Plus, he and I are fellow alums of the University of Florida.)

If you have an iPad or are thinking about buying one, check out the following 12 web sites and articles. They may help you get more from your iPad or choose the right iPad for your particular business/personal use. (There's an article comparing the iPad to the iPhone 4. I don't have an iPad, but I do have an iPhone 4, which I like. However, comparing the two might be like comparing apples to oranges, pun intended.)

Do you read (or write) a blog about topics applicable to proposal development? If so, let ProposalCafe.com know about it so we can publicize it. Links to blogs and other information resources are listed in the Resource Links (Information) section of ProposalCafe.com.

The U.S. economy has been struggling with high unemployment. However, that might be hard to believe considering the many jobs that I've seen available for proposal development professionals. If you're looking for permanent or contract proposal jobs in the U.S. -- and there's a lot out there for the taking -- I suggest that you check out the following on-line resources.

Did you ever wonder about the basis for Federal Government Request for Proposals? Why don’t they just tell us in clear, easy to understand language, exactly what it is that they want us to bid on?