With 2008 fast approaching, if you're needing a printed calendar in time for the new year, your opportunities to grab one are fast running out. Thankfully CreativeTechs have posted three rather nifty calendars and templates for you to use. Along with a compact calendar, there's a clever business-card sized calendar to slip in your wallet and even an Adobe InDesign template if you're wanting to create something a little more bespoke in your free time.

Another few options include the basic calendar from TimeAndDate.com, Jim's Graphix 2008 Calendar and Microsoft has a plethora of Office-format calendars available to download from Microsoft Office Online.

Every year, small businesses struggle with the customer appreciation gift. Should we give one to every client? Only to new clients? What about long-term clients? Should we order pre-printed (and clever) cards? And the big question: how much is this going to cost?

Saying thanks to our clients in a better fashion is something we set out to do last winter during the re-creation of our branding model. We rebuilt our logo, changed colors, formalized templates, printed letterhead, stickers and designed mail-ready new-client packets and generally upgraded our schwag. It was time for us to have something to hand out besides business cards.

That's why we don't send out holiday gifts anymore; heck, we don't send out "winter holiday" cards anymore. Instead, we thank our clients all year long. With a simple Access database, we keep track of each client who's referred business to us and we send a handwritten note (on those new branded and printed cards we designed) and a small gift card to an omnipresent store. First referral? A five-dollar Starbucks card. Second referral? A somewhere-else gift card. If a referral turns into business? A larger Target or Paneras card is coming your way inside a handwritten custom-branded notecard. If you're local, it might be a lunch gift certificate at a restaurant (also a client).

We don't want to be thought of as Grinch-like this holiday season, but we have noticed a trend in some social circles where "no gifts please" is prominently posted on invitations and cards. Apparently, some children have so many toys and everything they can possibly want that too much of a good thing has turned into clutter and junk.

Well, rather than come empty handed, you can give a gift that provides meaning and possibly the means to a living, by buying cows, sheep, chicks, and other nice critters for families in impoverished areas to give them food and become self reliant.

Heifer International is an organization dedicated to helping people obtain a sustainable source of food and income. And they have a very powerful online gift catalog where you can buy all kinds of livestock to benefit those who need it most.

Re-gifting at Heifer is actually something expected. Your gift truly does keep giving. The offspring of the animal(s) you give, are in turn given to others in need.

Heifer has projects all over the world, including several In the United States. They are well respected and have won several humanitarian awards, as well as earning a respectable 20.7% return on their endowment.

After you select your gift, you can send a nice email card, or print a card with an insert to give so you can show up with something after all but not feel guilty about it.

Face it, if you're even slightly more computer literate than the rest of your family you've been pegged "the computer guy"; Henceforth doomed to a life of unpaid tech support. There's no time when it's more readily apparent than the holidays. If you're like most of the Download Squad, your family are already preparing their laundry list of "Hey, can you look at this?" items to bombard you with as soon as you step off the plane looking for your Thanksgiving turkey leg.

Maybe you're not even the person they should be looking to for fixes and patches. It can take as little as being the first one in your family to have loaded up an Mp3 player or burned a home movie DVD; Regardless, you're on the hook and we're here to help you with some basic troubleshooting tips and tricks.