There are payroll services and then there are payroll services

For some reason, payroll has never been a smooth road for our company. We had one period where we had an awesome payroll service. That ended only because he was bought by Paychex. Before and after that one period, though, it's been bumpy. The latest payroll debacle occurred yesterday when our current payroll service, Perquest, withdrew funds from my checking account without my authorization and without documenting why, due to the fact that THEY had failed to pay appropriate Medicare, FUTA or social security taxes for a former employee. I think this borders on criminal. So, that happened yesterday and today we signed up with a PEO firm. I need to get the payroll, health insurance and worker's comp headaches off my plate!

Ruminating on the Roomba

In December, I was lucky enough to land on the Ellen De Generes show as an audience member for the bonus day of the 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways. I won many wonderful things including an iRobot Roomba which is a vacuum cleaner that drives itself. All I can say is wow--what an amazing thing! My carpets and floors haven't been this clean in years. Somewhat steep price tag but may be worth it. If I'd seen this BEFORE I'd received one as a gift, I might have bought it.

Here's the concept for IGotAnEnvelope.com:

Igotanenvelope is a continuous art project where people leave empty self-addressed stamped envelopes in public places to be picked up and filled by others, who then send them back.

Go the their site to check it out. How fun!