CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: TAKE A VACATION, SEND A PRESENT OR FLOWERS VIA E-MAIL POSTCARDS (COLUMN 43)

Cybertip: You can't send a postcard without an e-mail address. Trying searching at www.infospace.com or www.infoseek.com

If you can't find their e-mail there, some places let you send a real card, for a slight charge, of course.

Hey, surfers. Please welcome Darren McGaha -- an integral member of the SEMissourian.com web staff -- to Click and Double Click.

(Applause.)

Darren, Dennis O'Shields and Teresa Connell will be guest surfing while Peggy Scott tends to her new baby on maternity leave. Darren brings considerable Internet experience to the table as well as lots of computer technical experience.

(Applause.)

Joni: Darren, did you bring your own applause track to the column? These computer guys know all the bells and whistles. This week we're going to highlight just a few of the endless e-mail postcards available free of charge.

Darren: E-mail is the most used part of the Internet. There have been more e-mail messages in the past two years than phone messages. And it's so much nicer.

Joni: Let's start with our site, which has a great Rush Limbaugh postcard. You can send dittos from Cape Girardeau anywhere in the world.

http://www.semissourian.com

You can find it at the bottom of the Rush Limbaugh Hometown Tour page. The artwork is original, created by the very talented Scott Anderson of the Southeast Missourian.

Darren: From here, we can jump off to Byte-size Greetings, which designed our postcard page.

http://www.bytesizegreetings.com

They have lots and lots of cards, even one for Peggy -- new baby. We'll send her this one: Congratulations on your little wonder.

Joni: There are a lot of different categories to choose from, including anniversary, birthdays, business, congratulations, new baby, etc. You get the picture. I like this summer card choice: Wondering how your co-worker got sunburnt while they were supposed to be sick in bed? Call their bluff with this card.

Darren: To claim the greeting, you have to go to the post office. Type in the number on your card, and you can view it. Some sites deliver the card directly to your e-mail address.

Joni: When's your birthday, Darren. I might just be cheap and send you a virtual present. Their slogan: We deliver virtually anywhere. Oh, brother.

http://www.virtualpresents.com

Darren: You can deliver such everyday objects as bath beads, fishing lure, lipstick or apparel as red dress, leather jacket or swimming suit -- all sizes.

Joni: I'm interested in the Porsche, railroad or vintage plane. If I'm going to be cheap, I want to do it in a big way.

Darren: We'll look at the odds & ends, the ATM money machine.

Joni: Only if the money is included.

Darren: How about flowers? You can send a virtual bouquet of flowers at Make Me Happy.com.

http://www.makemehappy.com

We can send roses, for "those loving situations where the rose will make the perfect gift." Ahhhh. They have assorted or unusual bouquets, for those special friends.

Joni: I'm not sure it is the same as the real thing, but it's nicer than just a simple hello. Let's check out the success stories, submitted by people using this web site. You can add your own story or share some romantic folklore or legends. The tales are somewhat sweet, and a tad gooey.

Darren: It's a great way to say "thinking of you" with a quirk.

Joni: Enough of this mushy stuff. Let's check out Goosebumps boo-gram. These are for cool ghouls only.

http://www.tcfhe.com/goosebumps/pcpick.html

The tcfhe stands for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Darren: There are six boo-grams and six different stamps. I think I'll pick Boo Dude. Beware, you have to click on the little dot, not the card. I'll take the skeleton stamp. Let's send one to Dennis.

Joni: For those weary of summer already, but without the budget to travel, how about a virtual vacation? You can send a vacation card from

http://www.virtual-vacation.com

Darren: Do you know someone who is tense, stressed out, tired, too busy or just had it up to here? How about everyone here. Some choices are Hawaiian dream, only sunsets, desert solitude, hot air escapes, cityscapes, sails away, forest walk or customize your own. I'll pick sunsets. There are 10 different choices.

Joni: One of the questions is: Would you rather take or send this person on a vacation. I guess it depends on who it is. You can customize the background and text colors, and you can preview the card before sending. OK, now I'm in the travel mood. Let's jet off to Hawaii.

http://www.postcards-hawaii.com

Darren: Send a little aloha to your friends back home. There are a dozen choices, including Rainbow Falls and Waimea Bay. You can pick up the postcard at their site for up to 10 days.

Joni: Cool pictures. You can also preview the postcard before you send it. You must know the recipient's e-mail address to send one. If you don't have it, try searching at Infospace or Infoseek. See our Cybertip today.

Darren: That's cool, it even has the postmark. It looks great, let's send it. Show your globe-trotting pals that you really get around.

Joni: For an out-of-this-world greeting, let's try Spaceday.com.

http://www.spaceday.com/postcard/postcard.htm

Darren: The destinations include: Sea of Tranquility, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn rings, MIR space station, Deep Space, Pluto and several others. The postage stamp is the space shuttle. It actually looks like the postcard, when you click on a choice.

Joni: That's the nice thing about e-mail. Even from outer space, it arrives almost instantaneously. What's your favorite postcard site? Send us one to click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

Joni Adams and Darren McGaha are members of the web staff at SEMissourian.com.