Catena Creations helped to coordinate another successful Halloween Candy Buy Back this year at Omaha Emergency Dental. We collected 124 pounds of candy to be sent to our soldiers overseas by Operation Gratitude.

We bought back 88 pounds of candy from kids, and gave them free toothbrushes. The rest was donated by adults who wanted to give their leftover Halloween candy to the troops for a treat.

It was great to see faces from last year’s event, and a bunch of new ones as well. Kids said they would use their money to buy toys or stuff animals. Some said they were saving their money to buy something bigger.

“This is such a wonderful program,” said one mother who brought in her candy leftovers. “Why keep this candy in the house? Especially since my husband and I both over-bought, and we had too much.”

We had some pretty determined trick-or-treaters this year. Knowing they were going to sell their candy for $1 per pound, they made an all-out effort to gather as much candy as they could. More than one family came in with a 10-pound bag of candy for two kids.

Catena Creations coordinated the publicity and managed the event. Outdoor banners were hung up at the Omaha Emergency Dental office at 84th and Center streets. We distributed flyers to neighborhood businesses, and created posters for the office waiting room.

A press release was sent out a week before the event. This led to a story in the Omaha World-Herald and an interview for Clear Channel radio stations. Emergency Dental founder Michael Obeng, DDS, also did a live interview on WOWT’s 4 p.m. newscast on Halloween.

We also promoted the event through the Web site, blog and Facebook pages for Catena Creations and Emergency Dental Omaha. Flyers and photos from the Nov. 1 event were posted on the Halloween Candy Buy Back Facebook page as well.

A new addition to this year’s publicity plan was a 10-day Facebook ad campaign. We created a different ad for every day of the campaign, using photos of soldiers with their packages as well as Halloween photos and clip art. Those who clicked on the ads were linked to a landing page tab that I designed and added to the Facebook site for the event.

Photos from the event can be found on my SmugMug gallery.

I have been busy planning the second annual Halloween Candy Buy Back for Omaha Emergency Dental. This year’s event is scheduled for 3:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1 at Omaha Emergency Dental’s office on 84th & Center streets.

We will be buying candy back from trick-or-treaters for $1 a pound, up to 5 pounds of candy. We’ll also give everyone a free toothbrush.

The treats we collect will be shipped to Operation Gratitude, which creates care packages for troops overseas throughout  the year.

People have asked me, “Why collect all that candy and send it to the troops? Doesn’t it hurt their teeth, too?” But most of the troops who receive the sweets are stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other remote places where chocolate and other candy are very rare treats. Sometimes they take the candy and hand it out to children in the neighborhood to build goodwill.

The packages also include scarves, cards, letters and other items, so the treats are much appreciated. Here’s a thank-you note from the Operation Gratitude Facebook page:

“Dear Volunteers: My name is Captain J.H. and I am a Harrier pilot in the United States Marine Corps from Ashland, Massachusetts. I am currently commanding the ***, ***, at Camp Leatherneck, AFG.

“I would like to extend a personal thank you for all of your efforts in Operation Gratitude. My company has been in theatre for over a month now and is spread out all over the operating area. As we have gotten settled in and the excitement of the unknown has calmed down, the Marines have had a bit more time to think about home. It was at this time we received a mail call that was beyond anything I have seen in the 12 years I have been in the Corps — Operation Gratitude for our company had arrived.

“The Marines have been overjoyed and elated to read the letters, try on the scarves and pocket all of the goodies they have received. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the magazine telling the story of each box and seeing all of the pictures of smiles and I want to thank all of you and the sponsors for your tremendous efforts. Every ‘Thank You’ truly does lighten our packs and make us stand tall and proud of what we do for our country. Thank you for what you do for us. Most Appreciative, Captain J.H.”

If you’re not a trick-or-treater, feel free to stop buy and drop off your leftover Halloween candy if you don’t want it hanging around your house. We hope to see you there!

I’ve created logos for several businesses over the years, and they’re being used on letterhead, business cards, Web sites and other marketing pieces. But this fall, I achieved a first: a logo I created was also used on a building sign.

Bouda Life Coaching (BLC) hired me to create the logo for Your Weight Loss For Life, their newest business venture. The weight loss plan offers the usual counseling on nutrition, health and exercise, and combines it with life coaching by JoAnn Bouda and medical coaching by her husband, David W. Bouda, M.D.

This combination helps clients to understand the reasons they’ve put on their weight, and guides them through the challenges of weight loss so they can achieve their goals and keep the weight off.

The office for Your Weight Loss for Life (YWLFL) is located next to the BLC offices in the northwest corner of Rockbrook Village in Omaha. The Boudas wanted a logo and sign that blended well with the ones they had for their life coaching business, but also reflected the idea of weight loss.

The whole Bouda family got in on the concept. They gathered in the kitchen one weekend and sketched out their ideas on a napkin — which JoAnn presented to me when we met to discuss the logo. Their son, Paul Bouda, the diet support representative, also sent several clip art ideas to get me started.

The YWLFL scale uses the same colors as the BLC logo, and shows the same people on the path to health and wellness. Fonts used in the logo are also used in the BLC logo and signs on the Rockbrook office building.

Your Weight Loss For Life can be found on the Web at http://yourweightlossforlife.com. Call 402-934-9495 to set up an appointment.

Today is International Freelancers Day. I’m taking some time today to look back at what has worked for my business, and things I need to do in the future to continue my success.

Catena Creations marked its third anniversary last week. I hit an important milestone this month: I’d been in business long enough that I had to renew my domain name/Web site address for anther three years.

Today I’m also participating in an online seminar hosted by the International Freelancers Academy. I can watch a presentation each hour, all day today, and it’s free of charge. This is a great opportunity to learn new things and prepare for the next year.

I’d like to thank my clients and friends who have supported me during this journey. They are the ones who have made it possible for me to keep going. They include Brett Frevert and Mike Alvano at CFO Systems LLC, Mike Mankin at Election Systems & Software, Dr. David and JoAnn Bouda from Bouda Life Coaching and Facing Cancer Together, Tom Sutko at AmeriSpec Omaha, Mike Obeng, DDS, at Emergency Dental Care USA, and Paul Simpson at Simply Flowers.

Thanks also to Bridget Lynch, Kristy Fortenberry, Bridget Martin and all the other wonderful people at the Greater Omaha  Chamber of Commerce. I’ve been a Chamber member for 2 1/2 years now, and voluteer with the Advantage Group. I have made so many wonderful connections through the Chamber, and have secured several new clients because of those connections.

It’s also through the Chamber that I David Trouba of Troubadour Design Studio in Papillon. Dave and his team partner with  me for SEO and Googe AdWords campaigns.

I encourage  all my freelancing colleagues to enjoy this day and celebrate your accomplishments.

Three of my photographs have been selected to illustrate the first edition of The Practical Beekeeper: Beekeeping Naturally. The book is available in hardcover and paperback, and is now on sale at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

The beekeeper is Michael Bush, who has gained an international reputation as an organic beekeeper. The book is simply a printed compilation of the information he’s posted over the years on the Bush Bees beekeeping Web site.

On July 1, I had the privilege of donning a bee suit and joining Michael at his farm south of Greenwood to photograph the bees. It wasn’t that hot — yet.

But as we worked and moved and temps climbed to near 100 degrees, things got warm inside that suit and mask.

But it was amazing to see, watch and photograph these bees in action. Every time Michael tried to show me a queen bee, she was soon surrounded by workers trying to protect her. I got to see baby bees emerging from their cells in the combs.

One of the coolest parts was seeing pollen-laden bees return to the hive. One of those photos was included in the book and is shown above.

My other photos in the book show the entrance to a top bar hive, and the results of damage by wax moths when they invade a hive.

In addition to raising bees organically, Michael and his wife, Jenny, also breed friesian horses. Jenny is a former colleague of mine from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where we did asthma research together. Jenny is past president of the Nebraska Society for Respiratory Care; I have maintained and updated their Web site for the past year.

Last week my son and I drove down to Haworth Park in Bellevue to check out the Missouri River flooding. It was overwhelming and sad.

Photos from our trip across the river are on my SmugMug gallery.

The saddest part of the Haworth Park damage is that the city of Bellevue did extensive repairs to the park after last year’s flooding. Electricity connections had been replaced, everything was cleaned up, and the city was looking forward to celebrating Riverfest again in July.

Now Riverfest has been moved to the Bellevue University campus, and the show will go on.

I moved to Bellevue 12 years ago and live in Olde Towne. Over the years, people have asked me if I worry about the Missouri River flooding. I’ve always replied that if the water gets up to my house, we’ll need to start building an ark.

This summer, “Evan Almighty” doesn’t seem so farfetched!!

In March 2011, I started a part-time job as Marketing Coordinator for Kort Igel, DDS, MS. He’s been voted Best Orthodontist for three years in a row by readers of both Omaha Magazine and The Reader.

Last week, I found out that one of my co-workers, Danielle, is a hero.

Karen Lenz, 54, and her husband, Thomas, were driving on I-29 near Missouri Valley when Kaen had a heart attack. Thomas was able to get the car stopped safely.

Danielle was one of three “kind strangers” who stopped to help conduct CPR. They were mentioned in a story by KETV:

http://www.ketv.com/video/27680706/detail.html

When Danielle arrived on the scene, two nurses already were performing CPR. She offered to step in for anyone who was tired, and one of the nurses let her take over.

Danielle continued CPR and then assisted when a Pottawatamie County Sheriff’s deputy arrived with an automatic electronic defibrillator. Danielle left when Crescent Rescue arrived on the scene.

Mrs. Lenz was taken by air ambulance to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She passed away on April 27.

Danielle learned CPR in the Army National Guard, and served for nearly a year in Iraq. Dr. Igel offers CPR training to his staff on a regular basis so they can keep their certifications current. He also has AED’s in each of his offices.

Thanks to Danielle for taking the time to stop and help. And thanks to Dr. Igel for helping his staff keep their CPR skills sharpened, and for having AEDs in the offices.

Yesterday was the 27th birthday of the Mac computer, as described in the blog The Apple Core on ZDNet.com, one of my favorite resources for Web industry news.

When the Mac came out in 1983, it was revolutionary because it had a “graphic” interface. That means the screen was 9 inches square, 512 by 342 pixels, and displayed in black and white.

I thought it would be fun to take a look at the iMac I’m working on right now, which I bought in February 2009, and compare statistics. Here we go:

My, how times have changed!

No matter what brand of personal computer you use, it is simply amazing to look back and see the developments in computer science. Things that could only be seen on “Star Trek” are now part of the daily routine: flip open your cell phone, transmit a book’s worth of data in a second, search massive databases to get results in minutes.

I still marvel at my new iPod Nano that’s less than 2 inches square, remembering how we used to get food crates to haul around our album collections. And how important it was to have giant speakers for your stereo, and plenty of speaker wire so you could strategically place them around your dorm room or apartment. I guess that really dates me!

Catena Creations has completed the first phase of a Web site redesign and upgrade for AmeriSpec Nebraska, a home inspection franchise with offices in Omaha and Lincoln.

Tom Sutko, president and owner, selected Catena Creations for the redesign project. He acquired the business — the No. 1 AmeriSpec franchise in North America — in March 2010. The firm’s Web site had last been updated in 2006.

Catena Creations created a strategy to redesign the site’s graphic appearance and update other content as needed. We also created several new pages and added content from the American Society of Home Inspectors, AmeriSpec’s corporate Web site, and other sources as well.

Tom was looking for several features that would make his site stand out among his competitors. Using Typekit, we added an enhanced font to give the site a unique appearance. A javascript-based accordion navigation system allowed us to add photos and important corporate messages to the home page.

Designing the home page structure was a challenge. We had to set it up to make it look good immediately, yet be flexible enough to accommodate changes as AmeriSpec continues to enhance the site.

Working in partnership with Dan Miller at Vamonos Marketing and Jim Berry at Boombatower Development, the site was created in Drupal. This content management system is a descendent of the popular Joomla CMS. Jim did a great job of programming the site and getting all the elements — including 14 CSS style sheets! — to talk nicely to each other. Dan brought his search engine optimization skills to the project, setting up keywords, titles and descriptions to get the best results on Google.

Along with the  AmeriSpec design, we also created separate sites for Leapin’ Lizard Locksmiths and TNT Termite Services, which Tom Sutko also owns.

Phase 2 of the project began in late December. This phase will include adding bios and photos of every staff member, adding more content to each of the three sites, and improving SEO techniques.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year from Catena Creations LLC. We appreciate everything you’ve done to help make this another successful year for us.

A holiday greeting is waiting for you on our Web site. Please turn on your speakers and enjoy!

http://www.catenacreations.com/holidaycard.html

Thanks to all the kids and parents who came by Omaha Emergency Dental on Monday, Nov. 1 for the Halloween Candy buy back, sponsored by Michael Obeng, DDS. We paid out $95 and gave toothbrushes to kids who brought in their treats and sold them for $1 a pound.

But the fun wasn’t limited to the kids. Throughout the day, adults stopped by the office at 84th and Center streets to drop off their candy just so the troops could have more treats. That added another 36 pounds of candy, bringing the total to about 131 pounds.

All treats will be shipped to Operation Gratitude, which packages the candy with other items and sends care packages to soldiers overseas.

Aside from giving treats to the troops, kids and their parents had their reasons for participating in the buyback. One parent said her children are allergic to peanuts, so they never went trick-or-treating because they couldn’t eat the candy. But this year, they were thrilled to collect candy, knowing they could bring it in the next day and get some spending money for other treats.

Another mother said her daughter gained 11 pounds last year eating Halloween candy, and had to have her cholesterol checked before she went to kindergarten.

Most of the kids were saving their money to get something special. Their list of “someday” items included:

• A music box.
• Swimming goggles.
• A new bike.
• A trip to the Americal Girl doll store in Kansas City.
• “A horse when I grow up.” (That young man has a lot of trick-or-treating to do!)

Photos from the event can be found in my gallery on SmugMug.

Catena Creations sent out a press release about a week before the event, which led to an interview iwth KFAB radio. Portions of the interview were used on KFAB’s sister stations as well. The event also was published in the Omaha World-Herald. The event was posted on Facebook pages for Omaha Emergency Dental, Vamonos Marketing and Catena Creations, as well as my personal Facebook page. It also was featured on the Omaha Emergency Dental Web site.

We also assisted Dr. Obeng with researching and planning the event. In addition to writing the press release and managing interviews, we designed flyers and banners;  and provided materials to Vamonos Marketing to post on the dentist’s Web site and Facebook page.

If you and your kids get overwhelmed with candy on Halloween, here’s a great trick: take your treats to Omaha Emergency Dental the day after Halloween.

Michael Obeng, DDS, is buying back prepackaged, unopened candy for $1 per pound, up to 5 pounds per person. Kids will also receive a toothbrush in exchange for their candy.

The event will take place from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Nov. 1 at Emergency Dental Care USA, 2605 84th Street (84th and Center).

The candy will be shipped to Operation Gratitude to fill up care packages for service members stationed overseas. These care packages are assembled at the Army National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, California, for safety and security.

“Kids and their teeth can be overwhelmed by sweets at Halloween,” Dr. Obeng said. “With the candy buyback, we want to give them an opportunity to turn those sweets into treats that are better for their dental health.

“At the same time, we want to send this candy to our troops overseas to give these soldiers a rare treat,” he added. “Many of these soldiers are serving in remote locations where good food is scarce and sweets are even harder to find. This is a small way of saying ‘Thank you’ to these brave men and women who serve our country so faithfully.”

Catena Creations has assisted Dr. Obeng with researching and planning the event. We designed flyers and banners; wrote and distributed the press release to local media; and provided materials to Vamonos Marketing to post on the dentist’s Web site and Facebook page. We also will handle media interviews, manage the event that day, and take photos for posting afterwards.

Thanks to author Anne Rice on Facebook, I found a great quote in a great column by Gail Collins of The New York Times. Her column is about the 90-year anniversary this month of women getting the right to vote.

She points out in the column that behind the suffrage celebration was “a 70-year slog” of people taking risks, rallying support, changing minds. And getting the last final vote from a 24-year-old Representative who decided that he had to obey his mama and change his vote. (Really.)

As I write this blog entry today, Aug. 21, I celebrate the second anniversary of the day I decided to start my own business. Because of that, I especially appreciate this wonderful quote from Ms. Collins’ column:

“We always need to remember that behind almost every great moment in history, there are heroic people doing really boring and frustrating things for a prolonged period of time.”

Catena Creations was born out of the frustration of being laid off twice in a seven-month period in 2008. After the second time, I decided I’d take my fate into my own hands.

I don’t remember too many boring moments in the last two years – at least not related to starting my own business. Maybe the days in winter when it was so cold I didn’t want to move, let alone go out. Tracking mileage and receipts for tax purposes is not the most exciting thing in the world, either.

But frustrations? Oh, yes.  Ordering a new iMac while they were changing models, and waiting a month to get it. Walking the fine line between investing money in your business but keeping enough on hand for emergencies and paying taxes. Learning how to be a salesman for myself and my business to get new clients. Waiting for people to pay their bills so I could pay mine. Seeking the best and most cost-effective ways to network and advertise.

And most of all, riding the roller coaster of economic ups and downs as the single parent of a teen-ager. Very scary business indeed.

Everyone who’s ever owned a business, no matter how big it gets or small it stays, has had to slog through the slow times to celebrate the prosperity. We’ve had to persevere through the boring and frustrating and scary things to get to the good part.

For me, the good part is the freedom and creativity I have with this business. Writing stories, Web sites and blogs. Doing photography at football games and solar-powered car races. Designing brochures and Web sites and books.  Working nights and weekends for several weeks to respond to a request for proposal, and finding out a year later that it won! Doing some grant writing for yourself, and winning again, and ending up on the cover of a magazine because of it.

So, as I look back over the last two years with much joy and gratitude, I want to thank the clients who’ve made it possible for me to get here. The friends and family members who supported me. The mentors and leaders and advisers who taught me what I needed to know about running my own business. And my son, Jeremy, who has ridden the ups and downs with me and thinks I should keep going, no matter what.

Making new friends, winning clients and finding partners has made it worth the “slog” through the frustration and fear. Thank you all!

We have finally completed our basement makeover, and Catena Creations has a new office to show for it.

The color scheme was based on the photo mural we hung up in April. Three shades of turquoise/blue were used on the walls, stairs and trim. Beige carpet became the “sand” for our beach. Seven samples of my photography from our Bahamas trip add color to the walls.

My son and I now have a beautiful, tranquil space to share for work and play. He enjoys having a more masculine space for himself and his friends. The larger office space gives me more room to organize and keep track of client projects.

Thanks to all the great vendors who assisted us with this makeover:

• USA Insulation, which injected liquid foam into the walls, inside and out, to keep the basement warm. The constant temperature of our basement went from 58-62 degrees to 70 degrees after they finished. They also insulated the garage ceiling, and our bedrooms were toasty over the winter.
• Murals Your Way for the photo mural and their attention to detail that made it turn out so well.
• Annadon Electric, which installed much-needed additional electrical outlets.
• Menard’s, where we got the paint, drywall, drywall mud, outlet covers, trim, windows, and countless other materials. Home Depot and Westlake Hardware also helped.

Before and after photos can be found in my SmugMug gallery.

Last week I got a great surprise in the mail. I was one of four grant winners featured on the cover of Self-Employed magazine, published by the National Association for the Self-Employed.

Just saw this definition on Freelancefolder.com, a freelancing blog that I follow:

Part of my definition of “wealthy freelancing” is working with clients you enjoy—people who value your skills, insights, creativity and work ethic. Clients who give you projects you want. Projects that enable you to make a nice living and enjoy a great lifestyle. 

Interior designers work with color swatches, wallpaper samples and rearranged layouts every day. It was no different when Catena Creations redecorated and redesigned the Web site for Interiors by Patti Adams/Traditions Home Furnishings.

Thanks to a great suggestion from a client, every day will be a day at the beach in my office.

Patti suggested doing a photo mural. Being a photographer, I thought that was a great idea!

I had a great opportunity a couple of weeks ago to be a photographer at the annual Lineworkers Rodeo. Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) sponsored the event this year on behalf of the American Public Power Association (APPA).

When I first volunteered to do this as a member of the Omaha Camera Club, I didn’t think too much of it. I’d covered a million events like this as a reporter and in my public relations work. But this assignment turned out to be an unusual one.

It was dark, cold and rainy when we met at Carter Park in Carter Lake, IA, at 6:30 a.m. March 27. OPPD’s Jeff Hanson outlined our task for us:

• The photos we would take would be shown during the social gathering about 90 minutes before the banquet that night.
• Competitors love to see faces, so we were to focus on getting clear shots of faces rather than scenic or other types of shots.
• OPPD supplied memory cards for our cameras. We were to meet with Jeff at about 10 a.m. to download the first round of photos so he could start working on the photo show. We would download the rest at the end of the day.
• Jeff had to have the photo show ready about an hour after the event was scheduled to end, so he asked us to be very picky with our shots.

So no multiple shots of the same person until you’re sure you’ve got it right. No bracketing for exposure. No trying different positions to get the perfect angle.

Oh. This breaks about every rule I have for doing a photo shoot. The challenge was on!

It was still raining an hour later when the opening ceremonies began, so we worked in pairs: one holding the umbrella while the other took pictures. My parter for the day was George Sinos, OCC member and OPPD employee. Our other partners were Sue Baxter and Brian Alspaugh.

Because it was rainy and dark, we were shooting at ISO 1600 to get a shutter speed of 1/200 at f 5.6. This meant photos would probably be grainy and noisy, and capturing fast action would be tricky.

I had to keep my camera under my coat to protect it from the rain, then wait until George was ready to hold the umbrella for me before I could shoot. We decided that because I had a longer zoom lens, I’d take the higher shots and he’d take the ground-level photos.

We got a break when the rain stopped at about 8:30 a.m. Then we were able to wander around the grounds and keep our cameras out. The lighting also improved, so we could shoot at higher shutter speeds and stop action better.

I stayed at the event until about 10 a.m. My neck and shoulders were screaming at me from all the looking up and constantly having my camera around my neck. I gave my memory card to George and headed home. My colleagues said later that their shoulders and arms were so worn out, their hands were shaking when they tried to eat their sandwiches at lunch.

The strangest part of the assignment hit me when I got home. There were no photos to download. No clicking through them to see what you’d caught. No cropping. No editing for best possible exposure.

Just waiting to get the DVD. Which I got the following Tuesday. I was finally able to edit and post photos this weekend. They are on my SmugMug gallery and on the Catena Creations Facebook page.

The best part of this event was seeing the dedication of all these power company lineworkers. They knew the only thing that would stop the competition would be lightning, because they work under adverse weather conditions all the time. They had practiced for months to refine their techniques and cut down their times. And their families traveled with them to cheer them on.

I salute OPPD for putting on a great event. Thanks also to George Sinos for giving us the opportunity to photograph it.

Catena Creations updated its Web site today, to refresh its look and add some new content.

• The home page now has a short slide show to highlight our services.
• Headlines from our new blog, which has been incorporated into the site, appear below the slide show.
• Galleries and the photo portfolio have been updated to reflect the work we’ve accomplished since we opened 18 months ago.
• A link to Catena Creations’ Facebook page has been added to the site navigation.

Take a look around and check out our new additions. Then sign in to Facebook and become a fan of our page there.

Thanks for helping our business to prosper over the past year and a half!

The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce is asking everyone to spread the news and do your part to persuade Google to test their new ultra-high-speed broadband network in the Omaha-Council Bluffs area. According to their Web site, Google’s networks “will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections.”

More information can be found at http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi.

Ways you can help:

1) Go online and fill out the form for residents and community groups to nominate Omaha-Council Bluffs. Tell Google how you would use this high-speed Internet. Here’s the direct link to that form:
https://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/user/edit_section?section_code=1&application_key=aghmaWJlcnJmaXIUCxILQXBwbGljYXRpb24YkvnnAQw

2) Become a fan of the Facebook page and tell your friends to become a fan. Here’s the page:
http://www.facebook.com/GoogleFiberOmahaCouncilBluffs

3) Post comments and videos to the fan page explaining why you want Google Fiber to come to Omaha-Council Bluffs,

For me and my business, it’s vitally important to have a fast, reliable Web connection. The current provider I use doesn’t always provide that. Even though it’s touted as high-speed, many times it’s not. It usually takes 30 to 90 seconds to open their home page for e-mail. This morning I tried to open a 4-sentence e-mail from a client through my Yahoo! business mail, and it got hung up four times.

I have done some research about finding another provider in this area, but there are few options. The other two providers I’ve found want to charge more money for much slower speeds. It would be great if the Omaha area had a variety of options for Internet service. It might get the current providers to do a better job as well.