If someday you're stepping off the Island trolley and happen to see the sign for Ginny's and Jane E's at The Old IGA, don't expect to find milk and Campbell's Soup on the other side of the front door. What you will find is one of Anna Maria's historic destinations and an anchor of the community.

Two years ago when Bert Schaefer and Jeff Levey purchased Ginny's & Jane E's Bakery Café and Island Coastal Store on Gulf Drive in Anna Maria, they had no idea how important Anna Maria would be in their lives. Relocating from the east coast of Florida, the long time Florida residents were winding down from stressful business careers and were looking to spend some quality and leisure time. The no bells and whistles atmosphere of the Island and of Ginny's & Jane E's was just what they were looking for. It didn't take long for them to fall completely in love, especially with the large wonderful group of regulars and visitors they meet each and every day.

Schaefer and Levey recognized the uniqueness of Ginny's and Jane E's combining a café and bakery with antiques and treasures all with an Island flair, and have retained most of the same look with some additions. Their inventory is constantly changing, one day you may find a crystal chandelier and the next Haitian metal drum art. They carry a large collection of jewelry and prints from local artists, coastal furniture, T-shirts, glitter baseball hats, accent dishes, funky signs, shells, mermaids and too much to list.

But the one thing that has changed in the last two years is the expanded menu, especially for breakfast. Since Jeff Levey likes a lot of variety in his breakfast choices, he made sure to offer that same choice to his customers. You can order three-egg omelets, egg sandwich and Eggwich as well as Belgium waffles and crème brule French toast to die for and more.

Lunch has a large selection of sandwiches including corned beef rubin and BLTs and daily specials. There's always fresh ground flavored coffee, salads and smoothies. Ginny's & Jane E's fresh baked goodies include muffins, breads, scones, cupcakes and key lime pie for starters. Schaefer and Levey have just started offering pizza and shortly plan on expending the varieties available. Anything on the menu can be prepared to go.

They have just added a sidewalk café with eight tables, so you can watch the passing parade while sipping your morning coffee, or grab a seat at one of the inside tables and chat with your friends. Ginny's & Jane E's also has WiFi and Internet for out of town visitors and locals alike. And if you need a piano to practice your concerto on, you're welcome to stop by and keep the folks entertained on the one in the shop.

According to some of the recent articles in Coastal Living, the New York Times and Southern Living, Ginny's & Jane E's has become as much of a "must see" on Anna Maria as the beaches and the piers. But if you ask Bert Schaefer what makes it so special, she'll probably say "it's too hard to explain; just come in." Vintage, funky, beachy and food, It's sure not your mother's IGA.

Ginny's & Jane E's Bakery Café and Island Coastal Store

9807 Gulf Drive, Anna Maria
941-778-3170
annamariacafe.com

Daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
All major credit cards accepted

 

The Internet is a wonderful tool. It allows us instant access to more information than any of us can ever use. It also allows us to be very efficient by allowing us to shop and handle financial matters, like bill-paying, from our home, office or even on the plane. Remember the days of driving to the utility company to pay the monthly bill? Well those days are long gone, and thank goodness they are with today's gas and postage prices.

Efficiency and convenience are great, but the wonderful services available on the Internet come at a price. The price is the potential breach of security when our personal financial information is transmitted and maintained on the websites of companies with which we do business. These range from our checking account at the local bank to our brokerage accounts at any firm, to the company we order vitamins or books from.

The first lines of defense are the passwords we use to log-in to various websites. We have all quickly realized that the wonderful world of technology has required us to remember minute details, such as a six- or eight-character code, which only we should know. Of course, with human nature being what it is, we tend to take the easy way out. But trust me, " tom1234" or "letmein" are not great passwords despite the fact they are easy to remember. Sophisticated computer hackers with automated systems can check dozens of these obvious combinations of names and numbers quickly and may gain access to your bank account or credit card information.

There are several ways to protect yourself. First, you should use what are called "strong" passwords. A strong password will generally have at least eight characters and be a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Once the potential pool of password characters goes beyond the digits of 0 – 9, the possible combinations expand exponentially and it gets much harder to guess or crack the password.

Of course, the characters should be in a random order, or at least not your name spelled out fully. Another way to complicate the password without making it too hard to remember is to capitalize one of the letters, say the second letter in the password. Passwords are usually case sensitive, while log-in names are usually not.

Changing your password periodically, say two or three times a year is also good idea, but this puts bit of a burden on you to remember the new password. You can keep a list of your passwords, but if you do this, please don't put them on a sticky note glued to the computer! There are even inexpensive software programs which will keep track of all your passwords, and you just need to remember the password for the software so you can get in to view the list.

One of the worst risks is known as "key logging". Key logging occurs when a virus designed for this purpose is resident on your computer and keeps track of the websites you visit, and the log-in and passwords for each. These are then transmitted out to the person who sent the virus. Keeping your anti-virus software up to date will help protect against these attacks. Some financial firms take this danger so seriously they issue a security card on which you press a button to get a numeric code which is input after your password each time you log in. The code sequence is random and pre-programmed and is the highest level of security I have seen in place thus far, but not many firms are employing these devices yet.

In summary, despite the hassle, I recommend you give some thought to a system to establish, periodically change, and store strong passwords to minimize the chance of a security breach.

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. Visit www.breitercapital.com.