Neff Zone Column

Print Edition: November 26, 2005

READ ANY GOOD WEBSITES LATELY?

In the olden days when you talked to someone a common question was: "Have you read any good books lately?" Later that changed to "watched any good movies." These days the question is a bit more high tech: "Surfed any good websites lately?"

I’m on the Net all the time, so my answer is always "yes." With the holidays upon us I realize that many people will be getting new computers and when they hook them up on Christmas morning they’ll want to visit some new and interesting websites, particularly ones the whole family can enjoy. So, grab your mouse and join me for some of my picks that click.

Without a doubt one of my favorite family sites is Starfall www.starfall.com. It’s a phenomenal site that teaches children the ABC’s and numbers, guides them through simple reading activities, and lets them print out sheets to color. It’s all done with cartoons, a bit of animation, and kid-friendly voices. Trust me, if you have children under five years old, they will literally beg you to put them on your lap and play on Starfall.

Holiday websites are popular this time of year, but finding family friendly ones can be daunting due to the overwhelming numbers of them. I’ve created a Holiday Page for readers of this column with my favorite family holiday websites all on one webpage; all you have to do is click on the links. The page includes links to Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanza sites, holiday games and quizzes, the Santa Tracker from NORAD, plenty of places that allow you to make printouts, and even a site that shows you how to say "Merry Christmas" in every language on earth. Check it out at www.neffzone.com/holidays.htm.

If you want a really warm feeling for the holidays, go to The Hunger Site www.thehungersite.com. When you click on the Donate Food button corporate sponsors make a donation that goes to feed the hungry. The click is free (for you) but it’s a nice thing to do. From The Hunger Site you can also click on sites to fight breast cancer, improve children’s health, spread literacy, save the rain forest, and rescue animals.

Once the kidlings are tucked away for the night, adults might like to wander around The Free Dictionary www.thefreedictionary.com. I know this sounds boring, but there’s more here than meets the eye. Sure, The Free Dictionary is an English, medical, legal, financial, and computer dictionary, and also an encyclopedia and search engine. But now toss in a newspaper, word games, a ‘this day in history’ section, quotes of the day and a whole bunch more and you can get engrossed in a hurry.

Another cool thing to try is Future Me www.futureme.org. Basically, this is a free service that lets you send an e-mail to your future self. For example, let’s say you want to zap a message about what’s going on in your life right now, but you don’t want it to arrive (to yourself) until 2010. No problem. Just type out the e-mail, select the future delivery date, and send it to "future you." In 2010 it will be delivered and you can read what you wrote back in 2005.

If you like to ski, the website to hit this time of year is www.goskimichigan.com from the Michigan Snowsports Industries Association. The site has all sorts of nifty things, like information about discounts for children and seniors and free ski/snowboard lessons (Discover Michigan Skiing) for the whole family. The two most amazing offers are the Michigan White Gold Card and the Cold Is Cool program. The White Gold Card lets you ski a day at 24 different resorts for $169, while Cold Is Cool allows all 4^th graders in Michigan to ski free all winter.

Of course, this time of year just getting out the door can be a bit tricky, given the changing nature of Michigan weather. To help you out, the Cadillac Area Public Schools has a Weather Center running on their website www.vikingnet.org/capsweathercenter.htm. that puts an array of weather tools at your fingertips, including forecasts, radars, and even road conditions from the Michigan State Police.

If you do get new computer gear for Christmas the question is what to do with your old gear. All of us want to properly dispose of our unwanted or out-of-date tech toys and now the Michigan Goodwill stores along with Dell Computer make it possible. Just drop your unwanted computer equipment at Goodwill and it will either be disposed of in an environmentally safe way or refurbished and resold. The proceeds go back to Goodwill for job creation and community programs. Goodwill stores in Cadillac, Gaylord, and Traverse City are participating and you can learn more at www.reconnectpartnership.com.

Finally, there always seems to be one person on your Christmas list who is tough to buy for because they claim they already have everything they want. Here’s your solution -- trust me on this, they don’t have one of these. Just go to www.dogdoo.com to see what I mean.

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Comments to neffzone@gmail.com. Read Neff Zone columns online at www.neffzone.com/cadillacnews.