Mishmash Musings

Someone I used to work with emailed me out of the blue and asked me to write her a reference/recommendation letter. The catch was that it had to be done within 24 hours! Being the nice person that I am, I complied with her request. I just wish she had given me a bit more notice so I didn’t have to rush through it.

Anyway, it’s been a long time since I had to write a recommendation, so I needed some guidance. I searched for some good samples and found these sites to contain particularly helpful information. Check them out the next time you need to write a reference or recommendation for someone.

About.com — Great samples for a range of jobs.

Monster.com — Basic template for recommendation letter

Monster.com — Specific example from same site

I’ve got friends who live in North Carolina and they’re currently in the market for a new home. I don’t know how they manage to handle looking around for houses on top of everything else that comes along with the holiday season, but they don’t seem to be bothered by the extra burden. The reason for that probably has to do with the fantastic Raleigh real estate agent that they’ve hooked up with.

In fact, my friends were raving so much about ListWise Realty Services that I just had to visit the website myself to see what makes ListWise different from other agencies. It didn’t take long to figure out that ListWise offers a full range of services that home buyers need.

It looks like good stuff, so check out ListWise Realty Services if you’re buying a home in the Raleigh, North Carolina area.

The news is so full of dire reports that it’s really nice to come across something like this once in a while. There’s a couple in Oklahoma that just celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary. Gene and Elinor Coleman, who are 96 and 94, respectively, were married on November 28, 1929 and have been together ever since.

According to the article, the two still “sit together like newlyweds, with his arm around her.” Gene says they hope they make it to their 80th.

I hope they do, too!

How stupid can people be? Apparently there’s no limit. I just read about a 21-year-old guy up in Canada who didn’t know how to deal with a feverish baby, so he got the brilliant idea to stuff her into the freezer — and close the door. The mother came home and rescued her baby, but I didn’t catch how long the child had been in the freezer for.

Anyway, the baby suffered first- and second-degree freezer burns but should be okay. The (hopefully “ex” by now) boyfriend has pleaded not guilty to the charges of criminal negligence and assault.

I love Christmas and all, but the lengths some people are willing to go to in order to score the “hottest” toys of the season just blow my mind. The PlayStation 3 retails for about $600 or something like that. But since Sony insists on debuting its products in very limited quantities, there’s a whole market out there for extremely high-priced auctions.

Here are just some of the asking prices for the PS3 units currently on eBay: $1999, $1600, $1500. And that’s not even including the “joke” listings that start at $10,000 or more. Unreal.

How about TMX Elmo? This doll retails for about $40. If you want to buy one from eBay, however, be prepared to shell out $500 or more.

Give me a break. As much as I love my child, I would never go to these lengths just for Christmas!! Call me a Scrooge, I guess.