Bargain readers respond

A few fun items landed in my mail box recently. Reader Carole said a post about a free meal was useful even though she couldn't use it. "I passed the word along regarding the McCormick and Schmick's free meal offer on Sunday for veterans. The feedback from a friend of mine in the San Diego area was that the meal was excellent as was the service. Thanks again."

A reader named Ron was honest, but gentle, about certain preventable malfunctions on the blog. "Julia, I really like your email updates. I look at them every day. Just in case you haven't gotten this feedback, some of your links don't work. About one in five that I try. You might want to check them, before you post. Thank you for all your efforts."

Good advice, Ron. I admit it, I have been plagued by bad links and I am working for greater accuracy. If you come across a bad link, please let me know which link is not working. Also try these two things. 1) Make sure you are copying and pasting the *entire* link from the daily digest into your browser window. Sometimes the link is so long it takes up two lines in the digest. But the text from only the first line make it into the link. If even one letter is missing the link won't work. Here's an example of this:
http://www.insidesocal.com/bargain/2007/11/scrooge_alert_maggianos.htm
l

Don't forget that last l, or whatever is cut off. Another thing to try: give the links plenty of time to load, up to five minutes or longer if you have dial-up Internet access. If all else fails, email me.

Lenee sent me an email that put my head in the clouds. "Hi! You earn your place at the paper! Your column has the most impact on our daily lives--great job, keep up the good work!!" Lenee, I'm saving your email for my next performance review!

Lastly, a note from my mother, who throughout my journalism career, has sent me supportive emails about a story or item I wrote. The thing is, she always signs them "a reader" or "a fan." Mom, you know that I can see your email address, right? Okay, just checking. Here's her email about a recent blog post (which she requested, btw): "Loved all the items on Amercian made products. keep up the great work. a reader" Ya gotta love my Mom.