FRESHviews
WALLY AMOS: BE POSITIVE
Wally Amos is the
founder of Uncle
Wally’s Muffin
Company. You can
reach him at
www.wallyamos.com.
said, “Let’s wait and see.” The symptoms persisted,
so on August 22 of that year I returned to UCSF for
my third surgery, which was successful and took
approximately four and a half hours.
The doctors decided I should have an annual
checkup and scheduled a return visit for October
23, 2007. The procedure took eight hours and they
discovered another fistula but could not completely
repair it because it was in an inaccessible, and very
dangerous, location. I was told not to lift anything
heavy or bend down.
I returned for my fifth procedure on May 8,
2008, in a very calm state of mind in spite of being
told that if they could not repair it, a brain surgeon
would perform his magic on May 9. I concluded I
had the best doctors, and if the fistula could not
be fixed, well, it could not be fixed. The procedure
took less than four hours, and they discovered the
fistula was completely gone and no new ones had
appeared. I was pronounced fistula-free and given
a clean bill of health.
I now live in a constant state of grace and gratitude. No worries, no regrets. I know today truly is a
blessing and is the only time there is. Thanks be to
God and the doctors at UCSF. C
GALLUZZiART
Life is great today
Yelp
your biz
LET ME SHARE several life experiences that convinced me life is great today. Since the fall of 2005
I have been having fistulas in my brain. A fistula is
an abnormal connection between a vein and an
artery. If left untreated fistulas can cause bleeding
that can be fatal. Neurovascular surgeons treat
them with a surgical procedure. My first procedure, 14 hours long, was performed at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), on January
18, 2006. They repaired the fistula and found a
second one. I was given the option of returning or
having it repaired two days later. I said, “Do it now.”
On January 20, they repaired the second one
after seven and a half hours. Due to the marvels
of modern medicine, I flew to Los Angeles for a
meeting January 23, and my wife, Christine, and I
returned to Hawaii on January 25.
In May 2006 the symptom of tearing red eyes
returned. I consulted with my doctor at UCSF, who
More in archives
On Costco.com enter “connection”;
at Online Edition, search
“Wally Amos”
What’s on your computer?
APPROXIMATELY
9 MILLION people each year
fall victim to identity theft, according to the Federal
Trade Commission (
www.ftc.gov), leading to financial loss and a considerable waste of time to correct
the problems created. For a small-business owner, it
could be especially devastating.
One of the easier ways thieves can target you is
through your computer and online activities. Fort
Myers, Florida, Costco member Thomas Salamone,
chief technology officer of Identity Finder (www.
identityfinder.com)—a software product designed
to prevent electronic identity theft—offers these
tips to help you secure your personal information.
1. Protect your passwords. Make sure a password has at least seven characters, contains numbers and uses upper- and lowercase letters.
2. Install software updates and fixes weekly or
monthly. Update Windows and Mac OS, Web
browsers and multimedia applications such as
Apple Quick Time and Adobe Flash as soon as companies release them. These fixes plug holes that
hackers use to gain access to your files.
PHOTODISC/RF
ger or spyware, capturing everything you type.
4. Don’t click on e-mail messages that contain
hyperlinks to Web sites. Close the e-mail and type
the Web site address manually. Phishing attacks are
common and attempt to trick you into visiting false
sites to steal your personal information. C
3. Never enter private information on public
computers, such as those in a hotel, airport or
library. These systems may be infected with a keylog-
Members can find out about Costco’s Identity
Guard identity protection service by going to
Costco.com and clicking on “Services.”
YELP (
www.yelp.com) is a
social networking site (and
Costco member) that allows
users to share information
about local businesses—
good and bad. Businesses do
not have to register to be
included, and many company
owners may be surprised to
find they already have an
online presence.
In April 2008, the site
launched a free set of tools in
Yelp for Business Owners
(
www.yelp.com/business/
discover_biz_owners_site),
which allows them control
over their listing, including
the ability to:
■ Monitor online
conversations
■ Make sure contact,
location and business hours
info is up-to-date
■ Add pictures
■ Reach out to customers who had good or bad
experiences
■ Offer coupons
■ Keep track of page
views and number of
reviews, as well as receive
notification when new ones
are posted
■ Highlight their specialties, provide a short history,
introduce the manager/
owner of the business and
recommend other businesses
For those with their
own Web sites who think a
Yelp listing is unnecessary,
Costco member Chantelle
Karl, Yelp’s public relations
manager, says, “Yelp pages
are highly ranked in Google
and Yahoo. The Yelp listings
often appear in a search
above a business’s own
Web site.”
Karl claims Yelp has
received more than 15. 8 million unique visitors in the
past 30 days.
That’s a lot of potential
customers. C