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As I attempt to find an agency to pitch my new book, I thought it might be a good idea to list some of the agents I have contacted. At this stage, I've run into issues where companies have listed communication methods, but they don't seem to follow through. I hope that my list will save the time of others who are attempting to find representation.

August 21 is National Spumoni Day. Did you know that? I seriously doubt it. But who cares? It's an entire day to celebrate Spumoni! If you don't know what Spumoni is, check out the Wikipedia page. Better yet, let me explain why you should care about Spumoni in the first place.

I know I've said this before, but I am getting closer to publishing my new book, "Corporate Ties." There was a bit of foundation work that I needed to construct, edit, tear apart, rebuild, pulverize, stack up, decimate and recompile. Well, the good news is that I'm getting closer to the end. How do I know this? There seems to be a light at the end of each paragraph now.

Google recently made a mildly surprising announcement (at least, to me) that the company is shutting down its online collaboration tool, Wave. Google does a lot of cool, neat and worthy stuff obviously, and I think Wave fits into this category. It's just that the actual marketing of it was rather peculiar.

The definition of "friend" has been watered down a bit with the advent of online social networking. It seems that now, your friend might be someone with whom you've never met, even someone with whom you've never communicated, with the exception of a simple button click on a website. This can be a good way to meet people, but it's a bit weird to call a person a friend when it's quite possible the individual on the other side could be an enemy, a fish or a hat.

How many passwords did you have to enter before you

started reading this?

A. 0

B. 1

C. 2

D. I don't remember, but I love watching "Password"

on the Game Show Network.

There are a couple of different ways to look at the recent reports that the computers used by Maryland's General Assembly can no longer retrieve Facebook or MySpace pages. Is it really necessary for these individuals to be wasting their time on social networking sites, chatting with their friends, throwing virtual snowballs, and gathering a team for Mafia Wars?

Corporate Ties has been available at any Barnes and Noble location for a while (although not necessarily stocked in the store). The good news is that Carmichael's, Louisville's oldest independent bookstore, now has copies at both of its locations.

Carmichael's is a great locally owned bookstore. I've made purchases there; I've been to events there; and I've had a book talk there as well. When you stop by, tell them I sent you!

I would like to think that the Internet is everyone's friend. You know, kind of like the guy at the diner down the street who always puts an extra squirt of hot fudge on your ice cream sundae for no extra charge. Unfortunately, there countries who not only won't give their citizens ice cream, but if you do manage to buy some on your own, they smear it in your face.

Microsoft is urging its users to download a cumulative software patch that corrects at least three major security issues in its standard Web browser, Internet Explorer.

If you're not sure if you should perform this update, check the July 2004 Windows Security Update page by clicking here. Hopefully if you use a PC, you are familiar with the update process, but if not, it's pretty easy to do. Just find Windows Update under the Start menu, and follow the directions.