Archive for November, 2008

AbbyMe is like email for your phone

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

AbbyMe is a free service that makes phone calls for you. While you could use this service to send yourself a wake-up call, or other reminder, its power is in its ability to place calls to several numbers at once. When you send an email to a group, you just list all your recipients in the "to" field, type your message, and send it; when you have to phone those same people, you have to call each of them one at a time. With AbbyMe, you can call a group all at once, saving tons of time for you.

To send a phone message, you just enter the phone number of your intended recipient (or recipients), type in your message, and go. You can embellish your calls by adding media files to them, choosing from a long list of canned sound clips, or you can even upload your own files. Send your message, or use their built-in scheduler to pick a future time to send your message.

Holiday Cooking Hotlines

Saturday, November 15th, 2008

Everybody loves the holidays: festive decorations, time with family and friends, feelings of good cheer. It's also a time of no small amount of stress as well: travel in bad weather, too many people in the house, and then there's the cooking. While we all enjoy a great holiday feast, it's not so easy to put it on the table. It would be nice if we could get some extra help.

As it turns out, a lot of the folks who sell you the goodies that you incorporate into your cooking want to do just that. Many of them have telephone help lines, or websites that can give you a hand.

Crisco Pie Hotline

877-367-7438

Butterball Turkey Help-Line

1-800-Butterball (800-288-8372) or
http://www.butterball.com

Fleischmann's Yeast Baker's Help Line

http://www.breadworld.com

Foster Farms Turkey Helpline

800-255-7227 (November 19 through December 1) or
http://www.fosterfarms.com

General Mills

800-248-7310

King Arthur Flour Co. Bakers Hotline

802-649-3717 (not toll-free, but you get a live person) or
email bakers@kingarthurflour.com

Nestle Toll House Baking Information Line

800-637-8537

Ocean Spray consumer help line

800-662-3263 or
http://www.oceanspray.com

Reynolds Turkey Tips Hotline

800-745-4000 or
http://www.reynoldskitchens.com

USDA Meat & Poultry Hotline

888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or
"Ask Karen" automated response system