LEADING QUESTION

Is telecommuting on the uptick in light of rising gas prices? Not in any organized way that we can determine. But some area employers sympathetic to their employees' costly commutes are responding creatively.

On Sept. 1, immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Sarasota County government asked its nearly 2,300 employees to carpool whenever possible, avoid unnecessary trips and use conference calls instead of traveling to meetings.

And Sarasota County's 50 building and land development inspectors and code enforcement officers are being equipped with laptop wireless computers that will allow them to download their assignments at home, perform their inspections and upload the results without a gas-guzzling trip to the county's Cattlemen Road or Venice offices. When planning began for the new wireless computer system two years ago, gas prices weren't stratospheric, says Greg Yantorno, manager of inspection services, but the savings will be a nice plus. "We hope to gain two to three inspections per day per inspector," over the normal average of 18 inspections per inspector per day, he says.

Manufacturing jobs inherently require on-site employees, but at least one local company, Sun Hydraulics, has cut the commute by 20 percent. Four hundred of Sun Hydraulics' more than 500 employees work four 10-hour days instead of the traditional five per week. Since many live as far away as Port Charlotte, the gas savings are significant, says spokeswoman Kirsten Regal.

Interest "has grown tremendously" in the Sarasota/Manatee Commuter Assistance Program, says coordinator Dominick Locascio. The two-year-old van-pool program, funded by the Florida Department of Transportation and Sarasota and Manatee county governments, links companies and individual employees with vendors who provide 12-person vans to pool riders to and from work. Five hundred individuals are participating, and Locascio is working with Gevity, L3, the Sarasota County school system and Sarasota city government to institute companywide van pools.

And Manatee County Area Transit (MCAT) has introduced the Downtown Pass, a deep-discount monthly fare card. It was rolled out initially last fall to the county's 1,800 employees and is expected to be offered to other downtown employees this month. The first week, 15 people took advantage of it. "That's pretty good in one week," says MCAT transit manager Ralph Hessler. "We want folks to use this not only because gas prices are higher, but because they'll find out public transit works for them."-Ilene Denton

BUZZ WORDS

CASHTRATION: The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

DECAFALON: The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

DOPELER EFFECT: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

INTAXICATION: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

Source: The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational, which invites readers to alter any word from the dictionary by changing one letter. These are a few of the 2005 winners.

BUSINESS CALENDAR

JANUARY 4
"Good Morning, Greater Sarasota!" 7:30 a.m. at Kerkering, Barberio & Co., 1990 Main St., Suite 801, Sarasota. Free for Greater Sarasota Chamber members, $5 for non-members. Call 955-2508 ext. 231.

JANUARY 5
Sarasota YPG After Hours 5:30 p.m. at The Tasting Room, 1917 S. Osprey Ave., Sarasota. No cover. E-mail ypg@sarasotachamber.com.

JANUARY 12
82 Degrees Tech 2006 Work Plan rollout with Dr. Barry Tuchfeld on "The New Workplace," 4 to 6 p.m. Call 870-0078 or e-mail 82tech@82degreestech.com for more.

Greater Sarasota Chamber Business Connections 5 to 7 p.m. at Digital Technology Center, 4440 Fruitville Road, Sarasota. $5 for members, $15 for non-members. Call 955-2508 ext. 231.

JANUARY 14
Downtown After 5 outdoor festival at 5:30 p.m. on Lemon Avenue and Main Street, downtown Sarasota.

JANUARY 17
Economic Outlook 2006 presented by the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County, with keynote speaker Charlie Crist, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Michael's On East, 1212 East Ave. S., Sarasota. $65 per person, corporate tables available. Call 309-1200 ext. 203.

JANUARY 27
Advanced Leadership Program featuring 9G Enterprises, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Community Foundation, 2635 Fruitville Road, Sarasota. The first of seven modules, all of which cost $1,395 for paid Leadership Sarasota and Manatee members; $1,595 for non-paid alumni. Call 955-2508 ext. 227.

MY FIRST JOB

Washington Insider
The tourism bureau's Virginia Haley got her start on Capitol Hill.

Virginia Haley is executive director of the Sarasota County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"I went right from college to Capitol Hill in 1973 to work for Richard Schweiker, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania. My first duties were in the mailroom, running the autopen [autograph] machine. You actually put the felt-tip pen into the machine. It had a big drum and it would write the senator's name on the letter. And quality control was involved; if you pushed the damn thing too hard, it would make the senator look like he had some kind of palsy. This was at the height of the illegal invasion of Cambodia, and we got 20,000 letters of protest in one week. So my job was sitting at that machine answering every one of those letters. There I was, 21 years old, in the glamorous world of Capitol Hill-it was not quite what I had envisioned!