While I’m not expecting to be back in the office on a regular basis by the time you are reading this, I am feeling the positive effects of several weeks of physical therapy sessions.

I also have something in common with Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Tony Romo. He suffered the same injury I did when he was tackled on the third play of the first game of this year’s NFL preseason schedule.

That’s right, x-rays showed he suffered a compression fracture of the L1 vertebrae. He’ll be out for a minimum of 10 weeks.

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The staff has been busy with preparations for the annual sales campaign for the Fountain Hills and Verde Communities Telephone Directory.

This year’s edition will be special. It will be the 40th anniversary edition. And we have some exciting offers and changes to tell you about this year’s book.

First of all, we have discounted all of the pricing eight to 11 percent for display ads. And those businesses which pay their accounts in full by the early deadline date of Oct.17 can take an additional 10 percent discount off the total cost.

We are giving the directory a fresh, new look using slick magazine paper stock for our Yellow Pages. The slick paper will give the ads more “snap” because of the better reproduction qualities of the glossy paper.

There are also upgrade options such as “knockouts” (white background for black and white ads and boxed listings.

There are three different packages for our Internet business directory called The Marketplace.

Contact any of our sales reps for additional information about the new Fountain Hills & Verde Communities Telephone Directory.

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What’s that, you say you don’t use phonebooks in your marketing plan?

Consider that ad blocking in the U.S. will continue

to cause headwinds for on-line advertisers. This phenomenon is expected to grow by double digits this year and next.

In 2016, 69.8 million Americans will use an ad blocker. That’s an increase of 34.4 percent over last year and that figure is expected to grow another 24 percent to 86.6 million people in the next year.

Here’s another did-you-know?

The Baby Boomers in the U.S. spend over $3.2 trillion annually and these buyers are the ones who do things like buying in traditional stores and getting information on those stores and shops in print ads found in phone books and newspapers.

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In closing this week, I want to wish a happy birthday to a special lady, my mom.

Yes, she is the person who complains the most to her postal delivery man when her copy of The Times is not delivered on time each week. You see, she can’t wait to read her “little” boy’s column.

She was a war bride from Australia, who came to this country during World War II on a converted cruise ship.

Happy 90th, Mom!