In the category of You Learn Something New Every Day, I just discovered a cool service that the Erie Times-News and GoErie.com offer to help you find what you're looking for in the Classified ads.

I hesitate to admit it, since the Erie Times-News butters my bread, but despite the studies saying my age group is the biggest user of Classified ads, I never read them. The teeny tiny type and all those listings for everything from jobs to used cars to old dolls for sale is just overwhelming to me. I just look at those ink-filled pages & think...I don't think so.

It's the same reason I hate flea markets, big discount retailers that have bins full of stuff you have to wade through and almost any kind of big outlet. I just don't have the time or patience to wade through to find the good stuff.

But, having come up empty-handed during the Steelers single-game ticket sale last month, I remarked to a friend that I would have to start reading the Classifieds now.

She told me about a cool service that we offer that I never even knew about. You can sign up -- online -- to be notified of ads that contain keywords for items you're looking for. In my case "Steelers." Then, every morning, you get an email notifying you of all the ads that match your criteria -- allowing you to jump on the item(s) quick.

So, what are you looking for? Patio furniture? Baby clothes? A baby sitter? A job at Erie Insurance? A velvet Elvis? Sign up and let www.GoErie.com notify you when your coveted item makes it to the Classifieds.

To sign up, go to www.GoErie.com, click on "Classified" in the menu bar at the top. Click on "Notify me" under "search classifieds" and set your keyword(s) and type in the address you'd like to be notified at.

Voila.

Really, it's that simple.