<$Tuesday, February 5, 2008$>
Spam: The Next Generation
| I wish I could find a spam filtering service for my cell phone. Has this been happening to any of you guys? My husband and I have both been getting spam text messages advertising various web sites. Both of our numbers are listed on the Do Not Call Registry, but I guess it's not a "Do Not Text" registry, so these buggers feel free to text us anyway. Does this ever actually work? It makes about as much sense to me as all of the automated telemarketing messages I used to get in my receptionist days: "Please hold for a very important message from blah--*click*" Actually, with me the *click* usually comes way before they get to the "blah." How is this a good way to get customers? I will never understand how going out of your way to annoy someone is supposed to entice them to check out your product. It makes NO sense to me. In fact, with me it has the opposite effect: I will go out of MY way to AVOID your company/service/web site if you use these tactics to make them known to me. 'Cause I'm all contrarian like that. Or, y'know, just human. Stop texting me, spammers. Labels: advertising, disclosure, random, rant |
<$Monday, July 2, 2007$>
Carnival Time! Also, Eight Things.
| I love it when other people provide me with content, thus saving me from having to gear up my brain and think too hard on a Monday morning. First up, let me point you to the 107th Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted this week by Blogging Away Debt, and which includes my post from last week about pet health. It also includes much more in the way of personal finance goodness, including this highly relatable article on money anxiety at My Money and My Life. Eight Things Secondly, I've been tagged! Weirdgrrl over at Things That Make You Go Huh? has tagged me for that Eight Things meme. This one is going to actually require some brain power, which, being that it's still before noon on Monday, is going to prove a challenge; but let me give it a whirl. The Rules: "Each person posts the rules before their list, then they list 8 things about themselves. At the end of the post, that person tags and links to 8 other people and then visits those peoples' sites and comments letting them know that they have been tagged, and to come read the post, so they know what they have to do." There you have it. And here are eight things about me: 1. I have a bachelor's degree in social science, with an emphasis on psychology. I like to bring this up from time to time, since this degree has not a blessed thing to do with either my current job or with my future ambitions, and people tend to not realize that I actually got myself a colluj ejumacayshun. 2. I played the saxophone for about 15 years, starting in grade school and continuing well past high school, and by the end of that time had gotten pretty good at it. Then about ten years ago a spring on my sax broke and, not being able to afford to either repair or replace it, I put it away and haven't played since. I still hope to get it fixed and start playing again one day. 3. Meanwhile, I'm learning to play the guitar. I'm still new and not very good at it, but I can strum a pretty mean Kumbayah. 4. I originally majored in journalism. One semester in this major helped me figure out I'd rather make stuff up than report the bare facts, so I switched to English. After a couple of frustrating semesters of not being able to handle the reading lists (this was before I even knew I had ADD, let alone how to manage it), I dropped out entirely and didn't go back to school until I was twenty-eight, when I started working on that previously mentioned psych/soc degree. I still minored in English, though. 5. I married my first boyfriend. This doesn't seem all that unusual until I point out that I didn't meet him until I was thirty-one. 6. I once wrote an entire original (by which I mean not fan fiction) novel. It wasn't very good, but it was novel-length, and I finished it. This is helpful to remember when finishing my current novel begins to feel like an impossible feat. I did it once, and by God, I can do it again. 7. I once worked a temp gig as a production assistant behind the scenes at a teen beauty pageant. I will never do such a thing again, ever. 8. I spend an embarrassing amount of time secretly obsessing over whether people would still appear shocked when I reveal my age and insist that I look ten years younger if I stopped coloring my hair, or whether I could pass off all of those white hairs as highlights. And now you know my secret shame. Now it would seem I have to tag somebody. Normally, I would cop out and just say feel free to consider yourself tagged if that's your thing, but it occurs to me that this is an opportunity to spread some linky-love, so if I've linked you below, consider yourself tagged: Bad Kitty A Cowboy's Wife Broke As a Spoke C.Whyte's Blog And that's lunch. Labels: finance+blogs, fun, personal, random |
<$Tuesday, April 24, 2007$>
Plans, frustrations and useful papercrafts
| I'm having a blogging slow-down this week as I catch up and get some stuff squared away at my job and work on finding a better work/blogging/writing balance. In the spirit of getting organized and setting goals, though, here are some topics I'd like to tackle here once my workload lightens up a bit: ~~~ That's what's on slate for the future. Meanwhile, between not being able to make a significant impact on what's left of my highest-interest credit card this month, and having to dip into our savings to get us through this pay period, I'm feeling a tad discouraged. It's not really putting me in the mood to talk about my finances. Part of the reason I'm focusing this week on getting on top of things on the job front is so that I'll have more time for some of my extra-income pursuits, such as writing for Associated Content (or referring people to sign up and write their own articles; do it through that link and I get a little referral kickback). I have plenty of article ideas, as well as things I want to add to my Etsy shop, not to mention promoting said shop; but I'm too distracted by things piling up around the office, and all of the guilt that goes with neglecting them. I think I'll be more motivated and productive on the extra earnings front once I'm not feeling quite so overwhelmed in my actual job. Which will be a very good thing, seeing as how we really need that extra cash to help us get ahead. Without it, we're just treading water. ~~~ Want to save money on what you carry it in? Check out this Instructables on making a paper wallet. I whipped one up on my coffee break a little while ago. I've been looking to replace my bulky and worn-out wallet with something less apt to weigh my purse down, and while this might not be the most fashion-conscious choice I could make, it's perfect for containing my money and credit cards without any bulk, all for the cost of a sheet of paper. As one astute commenter points out, it also doubles as a scratch pad to jot down grocery list items, and it's easily replaceable when you run out of room to write. And it's recyclable, too! Very nifty. Labels: extra income, freebies, goals, personal, random |
<$Monday, April 2, 2007$>
The "About Me" Post
| For those just joining us, I might as well tell you a few things about myself. So, randomly... I think that's everything relevant, and probably more than you really need to know. But now you know where I'm coming from, as well as where I'm (hopefully) headed. |