GRISWOLD Connections Cornerstone Group © 2023 WI NTER 2 0 2 3 Dividend Checks Mailed December 1 Dividends to Griswold Communications shareholders are paid 10 years in arrears; therefore, the checks were for services from 2013. If you do not get your dividend check or you have questions, call our business office at 712-778-2121. Happy Holidays Griswold Communications employees and board wish you and your family a happy holiday season. Our business office will be closed Friday, December 22 and Monday, December 25 for the Christmas holiday, and Monday, January 1 for the New Year’s holiday. Contact Griswold Communications 607 Main Street / PO Box 640 Griswold, IA 51535 Phone: 712-778-2121 Office Hours Monday – Friday 7:30 am to 12:30 pm and 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm Email us at gctc@netins.net Visit us online at griswoldcommunications.com Going faster can be so much fun, whether you’re on a sled or on your laptop. It’s exhilarating to move quickly from place to place and experience more of the world in less time. You can capture that feeling by upgrading to one of our higherspeed internet plans. We offer speeds up to 1 Gig—sure to delight everyone in your family with the enhanced internet performance for streaming, gaming, and more. GET MOVING AND CALL 712-778-2121 In December, we’ll waive the $27 change fee when you increase your blueSURGE internet speed. Need for Speed ? EXPLORING YOUR Certain restrictions apply. Online experience is impacted by devices used and their performance capability as well as by wireless router capability and environmental conditions. YOU'LL ENJOY THE BOOST OF AN INTERNET UPGRADE
GRISWOLD COMMUNICATIONS • 712-778-2121 • gr i swoldcommun i cat ions . com Online Scams Target Dog Lovers In one case documented by the BBB, a woman paid $850 for a Dalmatian puppy, only to receive additional requests for money— first $725 for travel insurance, then $615 for a special crate. 769-2557 In the end, the buyer lost $2,200 and never got the puppy—which didn’t actually exist. The BBB recommends the following: Do your research. Check BBB Business Profiles on BBB.org for complaints and customer reviews before you make the purchase. Don’t buy a dog without seeing it in person. If that isn't possible, request a live video call. Conduct a reverse image search of the photo. If the same photo appears on multiple websites, it’s likely a fraud. Avoid wiring money, or using a cash app or gift card. These payment methods offer no way to get your money back if fraud occurs. In addition, consider going to a local animal shelter to check out the dogs there instead of searching online. Is Your Information Safe When Using Public Wi-Fi? When you connect to a website, information travels from your device to the website. That could include sensitive data like the log-in information for your financial, email, or social media accounts. In the past, if you used a public Wi-Fi network to get online, your information was at risk. That’s because most websites didn’t use encryption to scramble the data and protect it from hackers snooping on the network. Today, most websites do use encryption to protect your information, so connecting through a public Wi-Fi network is usually safe. 767-2303 You know your connection is encrypted if there’s a lock symbol or “https” in the address bar to the left of the website address. However, it’s always a good idea to take these steps to protect your personal information when using public Wi-Fi: • Treat all Wi-Fi links with suspicion. Don’t just assume the Wi-Fi link is legitimate. It could be a bogus link set up by a hacker. • Try to verify it’s a legitimate wireless connection. It's easy for someone who wants to intercept your data to set up a network called "Free Wi-Fi,” or any other variation that includes a nearby venue name, to make you think it's a legitimate wireless network. To protect yourself, ask an employee about the legitimate Wi-Fi access point’s name and IP address before you choose a network. • Adjust your default setting. Set it to prompt you to manually select a Wi-Fi network rather than have one automatically chosen for you. • Avoid sensitive transactions. When using public Wi-Fi, don’t conduct financial/ banking transactions or do online shopping. • Protect your devices. Make sure you always have the current versions of your operating system, firewalls, Web browser, and antivirus and antispyware software. • Create and use strong passwords. Also turn on two-factor authentication when it’s available. Another recommendation is to use Wi-Fi that is password protected and more secure than an open network. If you have a choice between secure and nonsecure, always choose the secure Wi-Fi network, even if you must pay for it.
Cornerstone Group © 2023 Has Social Media Replaced Christmas Cards and Letters? It was once common for households to receive 100+ Christmas cards—some with Christmas letters inside—during December. The carefully selected cards would feature beautiful illustrations or photos, and the letters would summarize the top news from that year, such as children’s activities, family vacations, and work updates. Today, however, these printed-and-mailed expressions of holiday cheer have increasingly been replaced by Facebook and Instagram posts that reach all your friends and followers instantly. Southern Living magazine put out an Instagram poll in 2022 that asked, "Do you think Christmas cards are a dying art?" A whopping 63% responded, "Sadly, yes they are." The rest said, "No, they're better than ever!” This shows that while some people have given up the tradition, those on “team Christmas cards” remain fiercely committed. 763-4495 It's easy to understand the appeal of switching from paper to posts. You don’t have to pay for Christmas cards and stamps, and you don’t have to set aside hours to write messages in each card individually, sign your name, and address the envelopes. With social media, you can simply choose your favorite photo(s), write a quick “Merry Christmas” message to everyone, and tap a button. You’re done in a fewminutes and haven’t spent a dime. Then there’s the topic of the annual Christmas letter, sometimes referred to as a “brag rag.” The need for it has greatly diminished given that family news now tends to be distributed online throughout the year. Why send a summary on paper when you’ve already shared highlights about your children, trips, job, health, hobbies, and home improvement projects on a weekly basis on social media? The reasons why traditional Christmas cards (with or without Christmas letters inside) still have fans are primarily sentimental. Senders cherish the tradition of carefully selecting the card’s design and thinking about loved ones as they prepare the cards for mailing. Recipients feel touched to receive handwritten greetings and enjoy using the cards as holiday decorations around their home. Griswold Communications uses a variety of ways to share Christmas messages, including this newsletter! You can also check out our Facebook page to see what’s happening this season. Warm Up Winter with Random Acts of Kindness We have the power to change the course of someone’s day through random acts of kindness. They don’t have to take much time or cost any money. It's the small things that can make a huge difference. Here are a few ideas: • Call a friend you haven’t spoken to for a while. • Shovel the driveway for your elderly neighbor. • Offer to babysit for a family member. • Send an interesting article to a friend. • Donate household items to a charity. • Bring in homemade treats for your co-workers. • Praise a colleague for something they’ve done well. • Let someone jump the queue at the supermarket. • Allow a driver to merge into your lane. • Pay for the order behind you in the drive-through lane. Griswold Communications believes strongly in giving back to the community through volunteer hours, participation in community organizations, scholarship, financial donations—and random acts of kindness.
Cornerstone Group © 2023 GRISWOLD COMMUNICATIONS • 712-778-2121 • gr i swoldcommun i cat ions . com There’s a time and a place for truly wonderful Christmas movies like It’s a Wonderful Life. But sometimes you’re in the mood for Christmas movies with scripts and/or acting so bad they make you laugh, like these treasures: Even when you stream bad movies, you still need great internet. Visit griswoldcommunications.com if it’s time to get a speed upgrade. Christmas Movies So Bad, They’re Good A Christmas Prince (2017) Like any trainwreck, it’s hard to look away from this holiday romance. Many of the plotlines are stolen from other movies, and yet it all comes together with holiday magic. A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018) This sequel takes the bad factor up another level. The main character uses a bow and arrow to threaten someone who is imprisoned in the palace dungeons, and it's treated like just a regular day. A Very Brady Christmas (1988) Not surprisingly, this is a very corny Christmas movie with a very corny plot, which makes it very fun to watch. Christmas with the Kranks (2004) Known for being one of the dumbest Christmas movies ever, this is also terribly funny! It stars Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Dan Aykroyd. Holiday in Handcuffs (2007) A struggling artist working as a waitress kidnaps one of her customers to take home to meet her parents at Christmas. Santa Girl (2019) Santa's daughter is forced into an arranged marriage with Jack Frost's son to keep the Christmas business alive, but first she wants to go to college. 778-2595 Snow (2004) When one of Santa's reindeer is kidnapped by a big game hunter, a nerdy youngman travels to California to recover it, where he meets a beautiful zoologist. The Snow forecast is for campy acting and mindless fun. Snowglobe (2007) A woman who longs to have a perfect Christmas is given a magical snow globe that transports her to a land where every day is Christmas. It’s really bad, but really entertaining. The Knight Before Christmas (2019) A clumsy knight from the 1300s enters the modern world but mysteriously figures out our technology. He does ask for information from Lady Siri, however. Unaccompanied Minors (2006) This super cheesy movie is about kids who get stuck at the airport when a Christmas Eve blizzard shuts it down. Scholarship Notice for 2024 Graduates and Their Parents It’s never too soon to be thinking about upcoming scholarship opportunities. Griswold Communications offers a local scholarship to students in our school district. There will be additional scholarship opportunities available through other associations of which Griswold Communications is a member. All details have not been finalized yet, but deadlines for submission of scholarship applications last year were between February 8 and March 1. We anticipate those deadlines to be similar in 2024. More details will be made available as we get them. Hidden Number Contest We have hidden randomly selected phone numbers throughout this newsletter. If you find your phone number in italics anywhere in this newsletter, please call our office at 712-778-2121 by December 29, 2023 to receive a $5.00 bill credit. Look now to see if your phone number is hiding in any articles. Good luck and happy reading!
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