Suzy's blog

Spark People

2012-02-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

Free Online Diet Plan at SparkPeople.com

Free Calorie Counter at SparkPeople.com

2012-02-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

In October 2011, I fell and hurt my right knee. Since then I have had a lot of pain in the inguinal area of the same leg, and because of the pain I became very sedentary. The lack of exercise combined with no change in my eating habits lead to a weight gain of 15-20 pounds (since I was not the thinnest crayon in the box before the fall, this additional weight was really not needed!)

After 4 1/2 months of inactivity, pain, and nagging my doctor half to death (LOL) I took the bull by the horns, and started taking care of myself.

The motivating factor was the fact that I lost 3 pounds in 3 weeks without even trying.

Now I’m actively trying to lose weight and get in shape.

What do I mean by trying? I am eating healthier as well as using portion control (for example, I now eat one small bowl of Doritos rather than eating the whole bag in one sitting, and I buy ONE ice cream bar rather than 4 half gallons of Breyers and a pint of Haagen Daazs).

I am using dumbbells and ankle weights (5-7 pounds and I have several sets of dumbbells as well as 2 sets of ankle weights) every night when I watch TV, and I’ve started using the exercise bike again.

Next month I plan on buying a quarterly pass for the local aquatic and fitness center. It’s about a 10 minute bus ride from my house so that is very convenient.

I do not know how much weight I’ve lost (other than the original 3 pounds) because several months ago I *accidentally* broke the scale. I can hear the snickers already!

Well, it really WAS an accident–I accidentally stepped on one side of the scale while trying to clean the bathroom and it slammed back down onto the floor and started making wierd noises–but I do have to admit that I did not run right to the store and replace it.

I still feel NO need to replace the scale LOL. I figure I get weighed at least every two months by my doctor(s) or nurse(s) so that’s good enough for me.

I do know that my clothes are a lot looser than they were, and that my legs/back/behind do not hurt when I walk now.

I have to give a shout out to two Facebook friends (Sondra and Traci) who are also fighting the battle of the bulge. Their posts on Facebook and pictures of the food they eat keep me motivated to do this long term. Also their feedback, asking questions, and their ‘liking’ of my posts keeps me accountable. I know if I don’t post for a few days my cousin (Traci) will say hey how are you doing? It’s like a Facebook weight loss support group.

Traci has also motivated me to try food that I’d never eaten before such as laughing cow spreadable cheeses and turkey bacon. Traci and I have similar tastes in food so if she says something is good I can pretty much trust her opinion (although if she ever recommends beef liver I will run in the other direction, been there, did that, didn’t get a t-shirt ROFL)

Another shout out goes to Spark People. http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/register.asp?from=friend&ReferredBy=2500605

I have belonged to Spark People for nearly 4 years but haven’t used them to their full potential until recently. There are nutrition and fitness trackers (seeing what I eat and how many fitness minutes I get in a day has been very motivating for me recently).

They also have blogs and spark pages http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal.asp?id=BUGSBUNNY1959

I am tracking protein, calories, fat, sodium, calcium, iron, potassium, cholesterol, and several vitamins. I am trying to get the RDA (recommended dietary allowance) without supplements other than potassium (I am extremely low in potassium even with the 1500 mg in potassium supplements I take every day, so I’m adding more tuna, bananas, etc to my meal plan)

Tonight I fixed a ‘healthy’ omelet: 1/2 cup Lucerne Best of the Egg, 2 slices turkey bacon, 1/4 cup shredded cheese, and 1/4 cup chopped white onion. I microwaved all of the ingredients in the same bowl for about 3 minutes — until the egg substitute was firm but still moist. For dessert, I had raspberries and grapes. I drank one can of Diet Coke with dinner, and one can of Diet Coke after dinner

I am also motivated to lose weight because there is a good possibility that I can stop taking my high blood pressure medication as well as my medication for my borderline diabetes.

HMMMM--Having A Hard Time With This

2012-01-14T18:41:00.000-08:00

I received this email today from a PTC (paid to click) site that I belong to

I have been thinking about the lack of ads so far this year. As most of you know.In order for the sites to be sustainable and work for everyone all the way around, we need to see more members upgrading and purchasing ads... The money from upgrades/ads is what is used to pay members with so if we don't have ads then members don't get paid or have to wait for payouts. I would hate to see the sites close down/change in ti (sic) redeem for ad,s (sic) only site but that is what will happen if upgrades/ads aren't bought. It cost a lot to host a site and pay for 9 sites hosting also. With that in mind please consider buying upgrades/ads..even one per member goes a long way. I think that's all for this time so have a good day and happy clicking!!!

The sites are already NOT sustainable if they depend on upgrading and purchasing ads (future cash) to pay current members (past debt).

I received pretty much the same administrative message at several PTRE (paid to read email) sites (all of which are owned by the same person). This really frosts my ass as I already bought affiliate pages at all of these sites, and now am being pressured to buy upgrades and ads.

It seems that a lot of PTR owners and a lot of PTC owners just open up site(s) one after another (or buy already operating sites from other owners) with no real business plan.

Many of them not only rely on future cash to pay current debt but they also rely on cash from the 'new' site to pay current debt on other sites.

It costs $70.00 for the script that is used by most PTR sites--this includes script installation; it costs $20.00-%40.00 for a good PTC script--also includes script installation.

Domains can be registered for anywhere from $1.99 to $19.99 per year, and you can register the domain for more than one year at a time.

A design costs between $12.00 (Aurora PTC design) and $25.00--$75.00 (PTR design). There may be an additional cost if you don't have the tech skill to install your own design.

If you are talented, you can create and install your own designs.

Hosting prices are all over the map, $5.00 per month to $25.00 per month depending on a lot of factors including but not limited to the size of the site, what plugins you use, how much bandwidth you use, how much disk space you use.

So the cost for a basic PTR site without any games or added plugins is approximately $210.00 upfront (assuming the highest cost for domain registration, design, installation, first month of the highest cost for hosting)

The monthly cost (not including payouts to members, remember its called paid to READ for a reason) -- still assuming the highest cost for hosting -- would be $25.00 and of course you will need to renew the domain as necessary (every 1-3 years).

The plugins that can be added to the script range in price from $150.00 (paid-to-promote and ad manager plugins) to $12.00 (contest ptc plugin). Some plugins are freeware (free to use). None of these plugins are absolutely necessary in order to have a working site; some of them make it easier to run the site, and some make the site more attractive to members

PTC sites can be started up for even less money.

PTR and PTC sites generally do not have to be registered with governmental agencies (city, county, state, federal) to do business.

Does this business model work in the 'real' (offline) world?

Do people start offline businesses without having a business plan, even if its only in their head or written on the back of an envelope?

Do offline business owners invest minimal amounts of money upfront because they expect to have enough sales immediately--ie the day they open the doors--to pay their bills (rent for the building, utilities, salaries for their employees) for the business?

I am starting a jewelry business, working out of my home. Am I going to harass my (hopefully) future repeat customers to buy more of my goods because I've lost my job or have unexpected bills? Somehow, I imagine doing so would make my customers head for the hills

Even though I have probably $2000.00 or more in beads that can be used in my jewelry business they were purchased by somebody at some time in the past (ie they are not free). So far I have had to invest in findings, tools, a Dremel drill, a small table vise and a Ryoko drill.

Can you give me an example of a real offline business that can be started for $210.00?

Do offline business owners harass their customers to buy goods and services, and threaten them with closing the business if they don't buy?

Do the owners of offline businesses continue the harassment when the next 'emergency' (job loss for the owner for example) comes up?

Where I'm Waiting For Payouts (January 2011)

2012-01-05T23:48:00.000-08:00

$3.77 Monkey Bizs (1 day)
$2.01 Scoobys Clicks 87 days (just canceled this request and re-requested $4.13)
$11.94 Lady of the Links (607 days)

total I am waiting for: $19.84

Who Paid Me in December 2011

2012-01-05T23:38:00.000-08:00

BG Pay Mail: $4.00
Raining Cash Emails: $12.23
Pinecone Research: $9.00
Link Grand: $5.26
Our PTR: $.41
Wallaby Mail: $2.06
Clix Sense: $9.12
Poker PTR: $5.24
Donkey Mails: $2.95
After Midnight Mails: $3.50

Total for December 2011: $53.77

Total for 2011: $487.70

Sand Castle Cash--Excellent Customer Service

2012-01-05T23:17:00.000-08:00

I contacted the owner of Sand Castle Cash because there was a discrepancy between what the front page said payout was, and what my account page said payout was.

I got a reply within a few hours that the front page was correct. But it was still saying a higher amount on my account page, so I wrote back. Pat asked me to email her with my Alert Pay payment address and she would pay me what was in my account (I was about 4 cents away from the erroneous amount on the account page, and almost a dollar over the 'real' payout amount)

I was paid within a few minutes of sending my Alert Pay address to Pat. Her site is a pleasure to belong to, payouts are fast, answers to support questions are also fast, and she communicates with her members on a regular basis

http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/08/sand-castle-cash.html

Referral Link: http://www.sandcastlecash.info/index.php?ref=stargazerschild

Say What?

2012-01-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

On December 2003 I sent this message to nearly all the PTR (Paid to Read) sites that I belong to

Message: Do You Allow Rotators to be Advertised?

such as: http://tpmr.com/??27304

i have 11 rotators at TPM, and I have made banners for each different one that clearly state the links are rotated.

Example: http://www.suzys-braintransplant.com/affiliate_banners/offerrotator.jpg

95% of the sites answered me within 2-3 days, and most said yes. As I recall, I got turned down only by two sites.

Today I get this response from one of the 5% who took a month or more to reply(or never replied at all):

"Hi Suellen!

I don't think that any PTR admin will allow you to advertise affiliate pages in a rotator, and I only see affiliate pages in the link you gave me, you have to ask for permission from the admin of the PTR site that you are rotating his affiliate page.

As for rotators in general, we only allow them in no timer PTC, we will create some packages for this category."

There is a saying in this country that goes like this: "don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs"

This saying means: "Don't offer advice to someone who has more experience than oneself."

1) I have been involved in PTR since the summer of 2001 (10 1/2 years). I owned several PTR sites myself from 2003 through 2009. I have been an admin at two PTR sites owned by other people for the last 2 years, and I was also an admin at 2 closed sites and 1 sold site. I know the rules and regulations for running just about anything just about everywhere and if I don't know I check it out before advertising it!

2) When I was putting my affiliate pages into the affiliate page rotator--and my other links into the other 11 rotators--I checked every last one of the sites terms and advertising guidelines for their affiliate pages and other links BEFORE adding them to the rotator in question.

Most affiliate pages are allowed to be promoted anywhere. There are some notable exceptions (Deep C Links and Lady of the Links are the two that come to mind right now, and a lot of the sites do not want their affiliate pages advertised in PTC [paid to click] sites because of the high percentage of bad traffic--anonymous proxies, bots, etc) but ALL of the affiliate pages in MY rotator say something along these lines : Affiliate Pages can be advertised anywhere. It is not allowed to advertise your affiliate page at auto surfs!

3) I have seen PTP (paid to promote) links from this site and its sister site in rotators. PTP links are really truly honest to god not allowed to be run in any kind of rotators (URL rotators or ptp rotators either one), but both the ptp links from these two sites credit hits from URL rotators. Don't lecture me about not running my affiliate pages in a rotator when you are allowing and crediting hits from URL rotators to your ptp pages!

4) I do NOT have an affiliate page at this site. I was NOT asking this owner to allow me to run my non-existent affiliate page from his site in my affiliate page rotator; I was asking if he allowed rotators in general to be advertised. I have 12 different rotators with banners made for each. I wanted to know if I could advertise those rotators at this site. Perhaps a class in remedial reading and comprehension would be helpful!

5) And now for the totally hilarious part: the site that I contacted has this to say about advertising THEIR affiliate pages You can promote your page anywhere(Except Auto Surfs) I don't see one blooming word about rotators, do you?

The other site (the sister site) says this about advertising THEIR affiliate pages: Affiliate Pages CANNOT be put in auto surf or PTC style sites, as a rule, ....BUT.... There are certain exceptions (like please limit it to only 10 and not 100 ptc sites) but please check with admin first.

Perhaps before lecturing me about what I can and can't do with my affiliate pages (and who I should contact to ask for permission) this owner should look to their own house. As those guidelines currently stand, I could advertise their affiliate pages--which at this point I am so not tempted to buy!--in a rotator because a rotator is NOT an auto surf or PTC style site!

For those of you that care here are the links to the various rotators (no point in linking to the banners ROFL)

http://tpmr.com/??12071 Referral links for TE's
http://tpmr.com/??26213 Referral links for PTR sites
http://tpmr.com/??27304 Affiliate pages
http://tpmr.com/??32115 Referral links for PTC sites
http://tpmr.com/??32928 Referral links for Survey Sites
http://tpmr.com/??32927 Special PTP links
http://tpmr.com/??32929 PTSU (paid to signup) Sites
http://tpmr.com/??32930 Referral Links for Ad Resources
http://tpmr.com/??32931 Search Links
http://tpmr.com/??32932 Links to My Writing
http://tpmr.com/??32933 Whatever Sites
http://tpmr.com/??32976 Charity Sites

Suggestions (AND CASH) Gratefully Accepted ROFL

2012-01-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

Life in the pain lane refers to the not quite 3 months I have been dealing with a painful leg. On October 1 2011 I fell and banged the living daylights out of my right knee.

Over the last three months, my leg has gotten worse and worse to the point I actually asked my doctor to authorize a wheelchair (for those of you that care, he refused to authorize a wheelchair –he said that people who start using a wheelchair rarely if ever get out of it once they start using it and that they generally go downhill fast- I had already heard that from a friend).

But he did agree to authorize a four wheeled walker similar to this http://www.amazon.com/Rolling-Walker-Shopping-Basket-Burgundy/dp/B000EGGS7E or this http://www.novaorthomed.com/Listing.aspx?id=415)

My insurance won’t cover it, and a walker that is rated for my weight (which is none of your damn business ROFL) runs anywhere from $155.00 to $189.00 not including shipping.

I’ve seen 3 doctors (I have seen my primary care physician at least 4 times). I’ve had an ultrasound of the entire leg (to rule out additional blood clots) and an x-ray of the knee plus 3 x-rays of the entire leg. I am scheduled for a sleep apnea test on January 9 2012 and waiting for a referral to an orthopedist (probably in January 2012 also)

Everything is normal……..except for the fact that my leg hurts all the time.

I was originally prescribed generic Vicodin for the pain. It helped me sleep, but it made me weepy (24/7 waterworks –except when I was sleeping — is not my idea of fun!). I take Trazodone and generic extra-strength Tylenol to help me sleep. I was also prescribed Tramodol for pain, but the side effects (drowsiness and dizziness) have scared me off of taking it.

So I started out with severe knee pain (which has gone away); I then progressed (or digressed, depending on your point of view) to 1) severe inguinal (thigh and groin) pain 2) tingling in the side of the calf 3) foot falling asleep easily 4) muscles up and down the back of the entire leg feeling like they have either swollen or contracted (never relaxed). My leg hurts from my rear end to my ankle, mostly the back of the leg and in the inguinal area. However, tonight I got up from a long nap and my thigh had decided that the rest of the leg was having too much fun and that it needed to join the party!

Walking on the bad leg is problematical because I am right-dominant, and its my right leg that is injured. My left leg is taking up some of the slack but my whole body is out of whack due to the right leg. I have to stop after 5-10 (a maximum of 15) steps and either just stop or bend over and say ‘s–t, that hurts’ or ‘d–n, that hurts.’ Usually, I also have back pain and pain in the gluteus maximus, sometimes to the point that I have to sit on the ground or on the floor to temporarily relieve the pain

This is exacerbated by the fact that I do not have transportation other than the local bus–the nearest stop is a 5-10 minute walk from my house. Sometimes I take taxicabs, but its been $8.00 — $10.00 (not including gratuities) each way no matter where I go. I normally earn $85.00 per week and get paid twice a month — that doesn’t stretch to cover very many taxis. Nor does it stretch to cover a new walker that is rated for my weight (I hate to harp on the weight issue, but even the ones that are rated for 300 pounds really only support people up to 275 pounds–I can’t wait until I lose 30 pounds to start using the walker, there would be no point in even buying it, since even if I was crash dieting–which is not healthy–it would take a month and a half to lose that much weight, and I’m in pain NOW)

I am becoming more sedentary because of the pain which is not good for the leg, or for my other health issues (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, borderline diabetes {type 2} just to name a few). Also, its next to impossible to lose weight without being able to get some regular (3 x – 4x a week) exercise, and I usually walk once or twice a week (to the bus stop, to Safeway from the bus transfer station and back, and then to my house from the bus stop). These are 5-10 minute walks at most (usually interrupted by frequent stops because of the pain) and while they may raise my heart rate for a short time which is healthy they are not enough to consistently help with weight loss.

Sitting on the toilet hurts! And not to be gross, but its that time of the month. I do not like sitting on the toilet to insert tampons as I prefer to squat on the floor. I cannot squat long enough to successfully insert a tampon — the pain is so great I nearly fall over (so I’ve given up and sit on the toilet and swear about it)

I hurt when sitting–other than sitting on the floor or the ground. I hurt when walking. I hurt when sleeping — although not as much as when I do anything else, partially thanks to lying down and partially thanks to generic Tylenol and Trazodone

The last time I did laundry it took me 10 days (I kid you not!) to get 3 loads done. You see, I don’t have a working clothes dryer, and its 1/16 of a mile (maybe even less) walking distance to the clubhouse where there is a working clothes dryer. ONE walk to the clubhouse wore me flat out. My laundry would still be sitting in laundry baskets in the clubhouse if I hadn’t asked the park manager to retrieve it for me.

A friend suggested that I post here asking for suggestions to 1) ease the pain, preferably using natural methods or herbal supplements as I already take 15 prescription medicines for various ailments 2) get a walker that is rated for my weight (that won’t break the budget) 3) make walking easier. As usual, spam is NOT welcome — and again I earn $85.00 per week and my insurance does not cover most medical equipment so please consider those things when linking to (again) non-spam solutions or (again) non-spam possible solutions.

The things that I have tried so far or have been recommended to me by friends

1) I emailed my local Lions club to ask for help with the cost of the walker (no response yet)
2) I contacted a site called One Blue Rose to ask for help with the cost of the walker (received $25.00 from this site on January 1, 2012)
3) A friend suggested that I take magnesium supplements, and I plan on buying these with my next paycheck (January 6 2011)
4) Another friend suggested that I get more exercise, less sleep (I would welcome ideas on exercises that would gently strengthen the leg without killing me)
5) I recently bought a wheeled cart that will allow me to haul groceries and laundry without having to be a total pack mule!
6) I have about 40.00 in PTR earnings (in Alert Pay and PayPal) that I have decided to use towards the walker and/or the magnesium supplements
7) Money is always gratefully accepted (JUST KIDDING FOLKS!)

Other considerations: The muscles are not atrophying (yet) as I do move around the house on a regular basis and I do walk to the bus stop and back, from the transfer station and back at least once a week)

More Offer Sites

2011-11-28T20:47:00.001-08:00

cash crate :)

2011-11-28T20:26:00.001-08:00

Quick Rewards

2011-11-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

So It's A Banner Farm, So Shoot Me LOL

2011-11-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

Swag Bucks

2011-11-28T19:17:00.001-08:00

Jingit

2011-11-28T19:08:00.001-08:00

Where I'm Waiting For Payouts (November 2011)

2011-11-28T19:06:00.000-08:00

Scooby's Clicks: $2.01

No Minimum: Your request for 2.18 USD alertpay is 2 day(s) old.

Poker PTR: Your request for 5.12 USD AlertPay is 54 day(s) old.

Lady of The Links: Your request for 11.69 USD AlertPay is 569 day(s) old

Monkey Bizs: somehow they lost my request. I have been waiting since October 29 2011 for payout--$2.03 (now up to $2.91, not requesting again until they tell me what happened to my first request)

Raining Cash Emails: switched from AlertPay (28 days) to PayPal. Your request for 10.35 USD is 11 days old.

St Cash Unlimited: switched from Alert Pay (28 days) to PayPal. Your request for 4.14 USD is 11 days old

Old Amsterdam Post: the site lost the payout requests and the host hasn't been very helpful in finding out what happened or fixing it

Dream Mails: switched from Alert Pay (28 days) to PayPal. Your request for 3.89 USD is 11 days old

Who's Paid Me in November 2011

2011-11-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

Black Sheep PTC: $2.03
Cathouse Emails: $2.55
Clix Sense: $8.63
Dream Mails: $3.94
Easy PTR: $1.50
Fast PTR: $1.57
Fusion Mail: $1.90
Hot Rods PTR: $2.90
Jills Click Corner: $1.04
Mad Money Clickers: $1.04
Old Amsterdam Post: $1.53
Pinecone Research: $3.00
Showcase PTR: $3.68
St Cash Unlimited: $4.16
Sweet Clickers: $3.10
Wallaby Mail: $2.87

Total For November (as of 11/30/2011): $39.38

Who Paid Me In October 2011

2011-11-28T18:06:00.000-08:00

Clix Sense: $13.22
Mail Earns: $ 2.61
Matrix Mails: $ 2.30
Our PTR: $ .23
Pinecone: $ 3.00
Polar Bear Clicks: $ 5.00
Sand Castle Cash: $ 2.48

Total for October: $28.84

Avoid Saskia Clicks

2011-10-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

I received this email from the PO of Saskia Clicks earlier today

Hello Suellen Roley

Thank you for being a member of saskiaclicksptc.info
Your username is stargazerschild
Your balance is $ 0.02262

Hello all or what is left of members;

This site has been almost terminated by all the changeovers and non-interest in it. I have got a new design and have changed this site to shared revenue.

As it has no-profits. Hopefully it will start to come back to at least half of its old standings.

I am sending this email to all members hoping that they will become active as 90% of members have died I think. Anyway you will see a large drop in members, hopefully not but time will tell.

Also if you have more than 1 account you will be deleted. I fond members with 9 accounts.

For those of you who do remain , I will be starting A Halloween Purchase contest with lots of great prizes, credits feat. links with marque and color and a Complete PTC site with Domain good until 2013 A value or about 50 US dollars.

Okay I have finished my little short story. Thank you for your time and have a nice day or night.

Admin Saskiaclicksptc

Do you see anything in that email about inflated link values? I am sure you don't and I am also sure that you are wondering why I am even asking the question. Read on for an answer :)

I was clicking at Saskia Clicks after receiving (and READING) this admin email. I noticed that my earned in one day balance jumped from under 3 cents to over 4 dollars (less than .03 to over $4.00) after ONE click in the middle of the 13 clicks that were available.

Now, the email had not included any reference to link values changing and/or being inflated, so I thought this was an error. I notified the owner.

On Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 1:56 PM, donald harrison <edited> wrote:

Site has turned Shard revenue and sent admin email out earlier

On Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 11:43 PM, Suellen Roley <edited> wrote:
Username: stargazerschild
Ip Address: 72.0.161.194
Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0) AppleWebKit/535.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/14.0.835.202 Safari/535.1

Earned Today: $4.00250, I don't think so.

You can see his reply above (Site has turned Shard [sic] revenue and sent admin email out earlier).

1) IMO, that's a totally unprofessional --and somewhat rude-- reply. No 'thanks for pointing this out, but it's not an error' not even a thank you for contacting us

2) What does the change to a shared revenue site and admin email have to do with anything? The admin email did NOT mention inflated link values or changes in link values at all.

So I sent this reply and deleted my account. As stated in my reply, I can earn more REAL MONEY (as opposed to Monopoly money) picking pennies up off the street or returning soda bottles/cans for the deposit refund than I can at this site.

Suellen Roley to donald
show details 2:15 PM (18 minutes ago)
Yes I read your admin email. I didn't see anything anywhere in that email about inflated link values. In fact I just reread it twice (for a total of 3 times reading it) and there is NOTHING there about inflated link values.

Next time I won't bother sending in a contact about what I thought was an error. You obviously didn't appreciate it

OOOOPS, I forgot there won't be a next time anyway, since I am leaving the site. 4.00 in monopoly money every day-- shared profit equals probably less than 1/10 cent each day?

in this economy......I could earn more picking pennies up off the street when I go for a walk or returning pop cans/bottles for the deposit than I can earn from this site

I've been in this industry for 10 years, owned 6 ptr sites and 3 search engines. There are no profits to share anymore
And for the future, I would recommend NOT assuming that your members haven't read the admin email when they contact you, particularly when (again) you did not mention the inflated link values at any point.

So unless you like a site where you don't earn real money, and the PO expects you to read his mind....avoid Saskia Clicks like the plague.

ETA: just received this reply from him

am sorry about tone as was not intended, I run 25 PTC sites and 1 TE I got this site before it was to be deleted as old owner took the money what he got and ran. If you decide to leave, i am very sorry to hear that but as site was losing money only thing to do was go shared. If it makes money members will get, if not will be used as a traffic exchange. Of the 3200 members 2900 are inactive and 200 are multi I.P. So that leaves maybe 150 members active in last 90 day. Also Paypal is killing the PTCinustry as PTC sites will no longer be able to receive or pay members. Will have to turn to AlertPay and fees there are very high. So if you have any good ideas it would be greaty appreciated. And yes many contact and you are the first that read email so far. Thank you for your time.

I have left already but am impressed with him taking the time to further explain the situation. I am also impressed that he really is trying to run the site professionally unlike so many site owners.

This is both HILARIOUS and TOTALLY STUPID!!

2011-10-14T01:01:00.000-07:00

Hi folks!
Edited seems to be having a problem with the mailing system so I just popped in to try and sort it.

I hope you are all doing well in your endeavours and are doing plenty of surfing!
If you receive this e-mail, please send in a ticket at the site and I will add 50 credits to your account.
Send a ticket with "I received the e-mail"

Happy surfing,

So I go to the site because its pretty bloody obvious that I did indeed receive the email. I go to the support ticket section and there is no possible way to submit a support ticket.

I wonder what this person will think, as I see it there are two possible conclusions he will come to

1) The mailer is screwing up and nobody got the mail
2) We all got the emails and nobody read them, or cared enough to send in a ticket

Oopsie. I just hovered my mouse over the form, and lo and behold there are links to submit a ticket and to view closed tickets.

I think the links are yellow or white on a yellow background until you hover the mouse over them, and then they are red. The only reason I thought to hover my mouse over the form is that there was a stray | on the form that made no sense.

Win Money From Zumbox!

2011-09-27T21:07:00.001-07:00

https://www.zumbox.com/giveaway/277160lq

Where I'm Waiting For Payouts (September 2011)

2011-09-11T23:28:00.000-07:00

Lady of the Links: 491 days, $11.30

Paid Dragon: 2 days, $2.07

Who Has Paid Me in September 2011

2011-09-11T23:24:00.000-07:00

Clix Sense: $10.74
Hot Rods PTR: $2.48
Myecom: $.03

Who Has Paid Me In July and August 2011

2011-09-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

July 2011

Polar Bear Clicks: $5.39
Hot Rods PTR: $2.50
Showcase PTR: $2.32
Poker PTR: $4.46
Pinecone Research: $6.00
Hogs Hollow PTR: $1.07
Raining Cash Emails: $1.77
Old Amsterdam Post: $1.24
Donkey Mails: $1.56
Dream Mails: $1.73
Matrix Mails: $1.20
Vale PTR: $12.69
Jills Click Corner: $1.00
Clix Sense: $13.05
Monkey Bizs: $2.29
Cathouse Mails: $2.17
St Cash Unlimited: $1.06
No Minimum: $2.54
Sand Castle Cash: $2.03

Total for July 2011: $66.07

August 2011

Pinecone Research: $6.00
Raining Cash Emails: $2.00
Wallaby Mails: $5.45
Down Home Folks: $2.44
Fairground Clickers: $1.29
Hogs Hollow PTR: $.80
Sand Castle Cash: $2.00
Our PTR: $.32
Firecracker Mail: 8.95
1 Cent Mail: $6.49
Dream Mails: $1.96
Old Amsterdam Post: $1.27
Fusion Mails: $2.70

Total for August 2011: $41.67

Total for July and August: $107.74

Another PTC Site Rant

2011-09-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

I never fail to be amazed by the number of 'intelligence challenged people' in the online world. But this one really takes the cake, the pie, and the huge bowl of Haagen Daazs ice cream with sprinkles!!

Every single one of the links at this site is being shortened and run through adfly, (http://adf.ly/) which is a known framebreaker.

What does this mean? It means the program owner is making money each time we click the links (he/she gets paid for every person who clicks/visits the links he is shortening with adfly) -- and we get nothing.

When there is a framebraker at a PTR (paid to read) site you can at least click the link again because the PTR timer doesn't necessarily start over again from the beginning.

In PTC sites (Aurora scripted sites) when there is a framebreaker you could click the link 100 times and never ever get credit as the timer starts over each time.

I am not sure if this is creative debt control (increase the owners income while he/she doesn't have to pay out a penny!) or just plain stupidity!

I have just contacted the site in question to see what the PO has to say (if he/she is knowingly doing this, then I will name and shame)

ETA: as of September 18 2011 there has been no response to my email -- which was sent over a week ago -- and the links are still being run through Adfly.

Somehow they have a daily top 10 on their site? I am sure its not a recent daily top 10 because nobody can get around the ad.fly issue.

So it's time to name and shame: Primavera PTC. They can go ahead and try to delete me, but I just deleted my own account ...... I belong to too many PTC sites to begin with and most of them at least allow their members to earn points if not cash. This one does NOT.

IMO, this site is doing this on purpose to prevent their members from earning anything.

Hiding Important Terms is Misleading

2011-09-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

So I joined yet another PTC site (yes I would say that I am indeed addicted to PTC sites).

I always check the terms to see if they pay members who don't upgrade. I generally do NOT join sites that require upgrades in order to be paid

But this latest one had a new twist; they HIDE the fact that you must be upgraded in a second terms/faq/help section of the site. It is not mentioned on the front/home page nor on the normal terms page

http://www.colouredsmokeptc.info/index.php?view=home& front page of the site -- I don't see anything about having to be upgraded to get paid

http://www.colouredsmokeptc.info/index.php?view=terms& not a word there about having to be upgraded to get paid is there?

Most people if they read the terms at all skim quickly to see if their country is allowed and if they have to be upgraded to be paid. Who would think to scroll to the bottom of the terms to see this:

PLEASE CONTINUE TO READ THE 'HELP' SECTION WHERE THE REMAINDER AND MORE SPECIFIC TERMS ARE LOCATED!!!

http://www.colouredsmokeptc.info/index.php?view=help&

http://www.colouredsmokeptc.info/index.php?view=help&faq=1&

And the fact that you have to be upgraded to receive payments is halfway down the page on that last link above.

In fact, I didn't know that I had to be upgraded to receive any payouts until I received an email from the site that mentioned both the second set of terms and the fact that members must be upgraded to receive payouts.

The cheapest membership is 24.40 per year or 2.40 per month.

At this time there are 19 links to click per day for free members. There are 22 links for upgraded members.

For informational purposes, I have clicked 32 links and delivered 214 hits to the ptp link for the site.

I have a balance of .06514 (slightly over 6 1/2 cents). PTP hits account for .00214 of the total (less than 1/2 of a cent). So I have clicked 32 links for a total of 0.063 (slightly over 6 cents). Doing the math (0.063 divided by 32 clicks) leaves me earning 0.00196875 per click.

So just for the sake of argument lets say that I spend the $24.40 for the upgrade and get an extra 3 clicks per day at 0.00196875 each. 22 clicks per day at 0.00196875 each is equal to .0433125 per day from clicking. I would need to click every day for 563 days (and my upgrade would expire 198 days before I broke even requiring another 6 months upgrade--another $15.33).

I hear you saying the ptp, the ptp. Oh yeah....1 cent per 1000 hits (must be 24 hour unique too, so buying 1000 hits at numerous sites means numerous invalids, usually you will get between 500-750 valid hits out of each 1000--unless you buy from only one site and hope they can deliver a huge amount of hits before your upgrade expires).

You can't buy hits cheap enough to make a profit even if you buy from other PTC sites (generally have cheaper hits than PTR sites or traffic exchanges).

I have joined about 30-40 PTC sites recently, been paid by one (twice in fact), and find reasons to stay at those where I haven't reached payout (signup bonuses, inexpensive advertising, points to use for ads, etc). Those reasons don't apply at this site as I can't even earn enough to redeem for advertising.

Quick Review of Totally Tweetable

2011-09-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

Well I broke down, jumped on the bandwagon, and joined Totally Tweetable a few days ago.

I must say that I am disappointed, I expected much more from the team behind this concept (Walt Bayliss and Mark Evans of Instant Blog Subscribers)

1) At least half the time the links in the credit emails don't load.

2) Another problem is that the ones that do load are often loading incredibly slowly (I am on cable internet so it is NOT my connection that is the problem).

3) And 30 second timers are great if they are actually 30 second timers, not 90 seconds (a minute and a half) due to (again) the slow loading problem

The slow loading problem happens at all times, and what I really do not understand is that there isn't the same problem with Instant Blog Subscribers which is owned by the same people (perhaps the programs aren't on the same servers??).

I also have concerns about alienating my followers on Twitter who aren't into network marketing. A reality check here is that some of us have friends and family as followers, or people we met online through venues outside of network marking.

I basically agree with this review http://www.getrichwithjerry.com/totally-tweetable-an-honest-review/ for that very reason.

The remainder of the reviews I read (probably about 10-15 reviews) were totally positive --one could even say glowing--but they are also from network marketing heavy hitters such as Coach Gina, Carol Walczak (author of Build Your List with East and part owner of PromoLotto Traffic Exchange), Jane Mark of Sokule etc. Google "Totally Tweetable" to read these reviews for yourself.

I wonder if they are actually USING the program or just letting their downlines do the work for them or if they are basing their reviews on the success of Instant Blog Subscribers.

I just can't understand all the praise, glowing reviews, hype, for a barely opened program with continual loading problems.

Yes More PTC Sites

2011-08-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

Enchanting Clicks
http://www.enchantingclicks.info/index.php?ref=stargazerschild
another site owned by Texaspepper. Great design, reasonably fast earner. Lots of ads to click daily (points and cash) Haven't reached payout yet which is $2.00 (Alert Pay or PayPal)

Purple Passion
http://www.purplepassionptc.info/index.php?ref=stargazerschild
another site owned by Texaspepper. Great design, reasonably fast earner. Lots of ads to click daily (points and cash) Haven't reached payout yet which is $2.00 (Alert Pay or PayPal)

Seasons Cash
http://www.seasonscash.info/index.php?ref=stargazerschild
another site owned by Texaspepper. Great design, somewhat slow earner. Not very many ads to click (points and cash) Haven't reached payout yet which is $2.00 (Alert Pay or PayPal)

Americana PTC
http://www.americanaptc.info/index.php?ref=stargazerschild
Great design for the USA market. Decent earner. Not a lot of ads to click daily but they are all cash. Cannot determine what the payout is for a free member, but its 25 cents for upgraded members. Pays via PayPal

Some Other PTC Sites

2011-08-27T01:18:00.000-07:00

Monster Clickin:
http://www.monster-clickin.info/index.php?ref=stargazerschild
slow earner. scary design, LOL. haven't reached payout yet

Cash Camel
http://www.cashcamel.net/index.php?ref=stargazerschild
slow earner, but lots of ads to click with 4-8 second timers. Decent design, haven't reached payout yet

Clix Sense
http://www.clixsense.com/?2079654
Oldie but a goodie. approximately 20 ads per day for upgraded members, ranging from 1/10 cent to 2 cents per click. Pay via check , Alert Pay, and PayPal; $10.00 minimum payout. Toolbar that tells you when you have ads to click (didn't work well with Google Chrome browser for me, so I just login to Clix Sense often) Have been paid $193.70 and working on my next payout. Upgrades $14.95 per year and as soon as you upgrade you will have literally hundreds of ads to click

Black Sheep PTC
Baa Baa Black Sheep Have You Any Wool

owned by Texaspepper who owns several other ptc sites and ptr sites. decent earner, good design, haven't reached payout yet, lots of ads to click (points and cash). PO has a history of paying on all her sites. $2.00 payout via Alert Pay or PayPal

Sand Castle Cash

2011-08-27T01:02:00.000-07:00

Sand Castle Cash is a great PTC site. I recently (July 2011 and August 2011) joined numerous--well over 30 and counting-- PTC sites (mostly Aurora scripts with a few bux sites thrown in).

Sand Castle Cash is the only PTC site that I have recently joined where I have reached payout (oh yeah I reached payout at Da Boss PTC and within a week the domain was expired with no payment to yours truly!).

Not only have I reached payout once, I have reached payout twice! And the PO Pat (progers) paid me within hours of my request both times.

almost forgot: if you want to signup for this great site, go here:
http://www.sandcastlecash.info/index.php?ref=stargazerschild

See you at Sand Castle Cash and happy earnings!

HMMMM---Amazing how the English Improved

2011-08-27T00:40:00.000-07:00

This PTC site I belong to (which I don't really care if I get deleted from, since he changed the terms to pay upgraded only and his upgrades are outrageously expensive!) first sends ranting emails that are chock full of misspellings, bad grammar, bad punctuation, etc.

Either he ran the last email by somebody else before sending it out OR he's just pretending to write poorly OR somebody told him that the misspelled rants were barely readable.

Anyway the last email was spelled correctly, punctuated properly, grammatically correct, and really not so much of a rant. Makes a person go HMMMM. LOL

ALL accounts will be reviewed BEFORE payout is processed. You must be an ACTIVE MEMBER to receive payout or your payout will be cancelled. Active means you must have CLICKED 250 LINKS A MONTH WHEN USING THE PTP. If you request payout without having the required clicks your payout will be cancelled. Payouts are normally taken care of within 24-72 hours. But please allow up to 30-45 days for payments to be processed. 60 days is the longest time frame, intended to allow for personal or health issues or even computer or server issues. Your payout request will be denied if your account on this site has a different country and/or name listed than your paypal account. If you have failed 3 or more cheat checks you will not be paid. FOR UP GRADED MEMBERSHIPS ONLY GET PAID

Lots of Good News

2011-08-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

For those of you that follow this blog, there has been a lot of good news lately. Some of this good news has kept me too damn busy to blog as often as I used to!

1) I found a job in May. Originally only 10 hours per week but in August I got anywhere from 25-35 hours per week, and its online so no commute (oh yeah I walk from the bedroom to the living room, that really kills me NOT!!). The best part is that I love it; there was great training and there is a lot of support from co-workers and supervisors.

If you would like to work online, try Odesk, Clickworker, or Elance.

Odesk pays via PayPal, Payoneer Debit Mastercard (Payoneer fees apply as well as $2.00 charge from Odesk for a Payoneer withdrawal), Moneybookers ($2.00 fee from Odesk), ACH (direct deposit to USA banks only, no fee), and wire transfers ($30.00 fee to USA banks only).

If you refer a contractor to Odesk you will get $50.00 when that contractor earns $1000.00 (refer an employer, you get the same $50.00 when that employer spends $1000.00) These are one time bonuses, you don't get $50.00 for every $1000.00 the contractor makes or employer spends.

Odesk Employers!
Odesk Contractors

Clickworker -- the page is in German but they welcome those of us who are fluent in other languages too. Most browsers will offer to translate the page for you, but if your browser doesn't just go to http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ (or a similar translation service) enter the page and it will translate it for you. I am fluent only in English and had NO trouble at all signing up or navigating their pages.

Clickworker pays via PayPal -- weekly.

Clickworker!

Elance.....check this space later for more details. I just now signed up with them for the purposes of making this post, ROFL!

Elance

2) The first of August my new roommate moved in. He is very quiet and very nice (although I do have to nag him a bit). He works a 10 minute walk or less than 5 minute bike ride from my house so he's happy. I can pay my space rent every month so I am happy (not to mention how happy the park manager is LOL!)

I sold my problematical truck. http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/06/consider-your-alternatives.html

I sold it for a lot less than I wanted but then again it died 3 times while we were negotiating. I still managed to pay one month's space rent (July) out of the proceeds and the roommate's rent paid all but $22.00 of August space rent.

I have nearly all of the supplies for my beading business. I have money in the bank. My health insurance and food benefits were recertified for 2011-2012. I will need to pay $18.00 per month for my health insurance (that's minimal in my opinion, and it covers ALL of my medicines and ALL of my co-pays which given my health is a damn good thing!)

http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2010/09/i-really-hate-being-sick.html
http://www.i-dont-think-so.com/?p=748

Life is going well (knock on wood) and I see it getting better every day!

Affiliate Program (Back Page Classifieds)

2011-07-15T02:24:00.001-07:00

Free Classifieds

Copy Cats! ROFL

2011-07-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

House and Home, Post 2

2011-07-09T21:56:00.001-07:00

House and Home, Post 1

2011-07-09T21:45:00.001-07:00

My Latest Dramas LOL

2011-07-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.i-dont-think-so.com/?p=1030
http://www.i-dont-think-so.com/?p=1025

Now I take some responsibility for the mess with the PayPal debit card. I will never again hand off my grocery bags to someone else without emptying them out completely.

However, whatever my personal responsibility for this mess is or isn't, I feel that the the Safeway employee should be fired at the very least.

I would be even happier if she could be charged with attempted identity theft and attempted debit card fraud. Attempted identity theft and attempted fraud when you are in a position of handling money all day long every day long should be a reason for termination from ANY job.

Life In the Landlady Lane LOL

2011-07-02T19:43:00.001-07:00

http://www.i-dont-think-so.com/?p=1020

That was the worst of the bunch in terms of 'he knows where I live, and has my phone number, etc" but other than 2 legitimate responses, all I've gotten in response to the offline and online postings of the room for rent --found here (http://bend.craigslist.org/roo/2456521208.html) -- is large loads of what the bull left behind

hello,saw your room/apartment on craiglist.I am interested in renting the room/apartment.Please do get back to me with following information in other for me to have an idea of the room/apartment

-measurement of the room

-size of the kitchen

- size of the bathroom

- Nearest shopping mall

Thanks

My reply:

Before I give you any further information, I need to know several things: Are you over 40 years of age? Are you male or female? Are you disabled (the place is not ADA compliant).

I can tell you this much: the mobile home park is one mile from the nearest shopping center Grocery Outlet and Rite-Aid). It is 2.3 miles from the nearest shopping mall (Bend Plaza, with Ace and Safeway)

I look forward to your reply to the above questions

Simple questions -- and the age is the most important one

His reply:

My names are Henry Tudor, I am an archeologist and I have visited all most all the countries in the world. Presently I just finished a research in Israel with my colleagues ,the research should be my last research in that field and I am leaving the field for the main time.

My take is due to my decision about my relocation my colleagues have decided that I should relocate to united state of America which to them is more secured.

Based on this fact they have decided to take care of my first two months rent in the united state of America and before my departure they have promised a sent forth party for me.

My challenge is they can only pay via international money order, united state money order, cashier check and a certified check, I really don’t know how this can work out for you but if it will do
send the following information in other to proceed with your payment.

NAME:
CONTACT ADDRESS:
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER {MOBILE}:

Thanks

n/b:i am a male and i am 36yrs old.I am not disabled

Hmm what part of 40 and over (both in the ad and in my reply to him) doesn't this scammer understand?

Also the spelling errors and grammatical errors throughout his reply make it highly unlikely that he is an archaeologist.

I also wonder how someone supposedly in Israel thought to access the Bend (Oregon, USA) Craigs List.

The next person refused to answer my question about his age;

Hello,
I saw you ad on the site and I'm very much interested in renting from you. I was born in and raised in the UK 26 yrs ago. I'm a matured, Vivacious, career driven individual, I don't smoke and drink on very
sparse occasions (probably won't even consume up to 5 liters in year) which might be buoyed something very special like a job promotion or maybe a best friend’s wedding (lol).

I am also not opinionated and will never condemn anyone for their sexual, religious inclinations or what so ever primordial variables. I think the day we perceive ourselves beyond such clouts, there
would be world peace and visceral love.

I plan on staying for at least 3 years minimum because my work contract is for two years and I will be working for Ad store consumer electronics as a Data Base Administrator. So I should be able to sign a year contract if there is

Kindly respond to my emial at edited ,with the full details and exact location,according with the best
offer.It'll be appreciated.

My reply:

Before I answer your email in detail, I do need to know one thing: are you only 26? Or did you move from the UK 26 years ago? This is an adult only park and you need to be over 40 to live here.

Again, very simple questions with again the age issue being the most important.

His reply:

Hi, I haven't heard back from you, hope your place is still available? I'll be esteemed to rent from you. Kindly send all corresponding responses to this email as my last address was compromised.
I look forward to your response.

Does anybody see an answer to my question on his age? I didn't think so. And I find it highly suspicious that 'his last email was compromised' the very same day that he sent an email from it.

The first email seems to be very informative but once you look in-depth it tells you nothing of any importance to the issues at hand.

Where I'm Waiting For Payouts (June 2011)

2011-06-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

Lady of the Links:
Your request for 10.80 USD AlertPay is 397 day(s) old.

Majestic Mails:
Your request for 3.56 USD PayPal is 30 day(s) old.

Firecracker Email:
Your request for 5.21 USD PayPal is 5 day(s) old.

Down Home Folks:
Your request for 1.00 USD PayPal is 1 day(s) old.

Brat Mails, offline for a year and a half but still sending emails (can we say SPAM!), owes me nearly $16.00

Who Has Paid Me in April and May 2011

2011-06-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Cathouse Mails: $2.04
E-qoo: $1.78
Pinecone Research: $6.00
Old Amsterdam Post: $1.56
Cash Text Ads: $6.20
Paid Dragon: $4.12
Down Home Folks: $1.21
Showcase PTR: $2.12
You've Got Ads: $3.15
Hot Rods PTR: $2.27
Gomez Peer: $7.09
White Tiger Emails: $5.29
Peco Mail: $.32
Mars Mails: $.53
Raining Cash Emails: $5.23
Panda Bear Mail: $5.66

Total for April 2011: $54.57

Pinecone Research: $9.00
Fusion Mails: $8.54
Clix Sense: $17.81
Vale PTR: $8.79
Howlin Mad Cash: $1.74
Our PTR: $.09
Dream Mail: $2.60
Old Amsterdam Post: $1.48
Quick Rewards: $4.27
Hogs Hollow PTR: $.93
Ad Paid: $3.93

Total for May: $59.18

Total for the two months: $113.75

Consider Your Alternatives

2011-06-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

My truck (a 2000 Chevrolet s10 pickup, see photos at the bottom of the post) has been giving me fits since February 2011.

The battery had to be replaced in February 2011, the alternator had to be replaced in April 2011, and the battery had to be replaced again in May 2011.

A friend loaned me the money for the first battery. A local charity paid for the alternator (and installed it); they also talked WalMart into exchanging the battery even though we didn't have the receipt.

The darn thing died again as I was backing into the carport on May 10 2011 (the park manager had to push it the rest of the way into the carport while yours truly sat behind the wheel and thought really nasty thoughts!)

The assumption is that now its the voltage regulator that is the problem. They aren't that expensive but when you have ZERO money, even $100.00 might as well be a million bucks!

Since then I have been taking the city bus, walking, and cadging rides from other park residents as well as Larry and Colleen (the park manager and his wife).

Yesterday while looking out the bathroom window at the rear end of the truck, I had a bright idea. At least I hope its a bright idea!

We have a park-wide yard sale next month so I think I will try to sell the truck and buy an alternative vehicle. By alternative vehicle I mean a moped or a motorcycle or a scooter or an electric bicycle (yes there are such things, I've seen them while walking to the bus stop) or a good old fashioned 10-speed bicycle.

The bus is fine but it only runs every 40 minutes (every 80 minutes on Saturday and not at all on Sunday) and some areas of town don't have any bus service at all (such as the office of the local newspaper).

I had never even thought of replacing the truck with an alternative form of transportation. This solution would solve a lot of problems

1) Gas costs so much right now that even if the truck was running I couldn't afford to fill the tank
2) Any of the alternatives are more environmentally friendly than the truck
3) Resale value for my truck is around $4700.00 and I will knock off $700.00 for the voltage regulator. I can get a NICE alternative vehicle for $4000.00!!

Now That's COOL!!

2011-06-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Blogger came up with a application that allows their pages to show properly on mobile phones. Now if WordPress would only do the same thing for my other blog, I'd be ecstatic.

And thats all for today from the world of Suzy (Suzy feels like she's catching the flu--or at the least a very bad case of something!--so she's going back to bed).

Hopefully tomorrow's post will be a bit more informative and 'useful' but as for today--today was a total waste of makeup (or it would be if I wore any)

Consider Your Tone and Attitude

2011-06-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Did you take any positive actions today?

Did you even bother to do anything productive?

The above was found on an Instant Blog Subscriber's blog--as their opening lines for their latest entry.

I don't know about anybody else, but when I get nagged or hectored my reactions aren't positive.

In this case, the very first lines of the blog post turned me off from even reading any further, and they would have done so even if I was very interested in the opportunity being presented.

Don't Make Assumptions

2011-06-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.i-dont-think-so.com/?p=1010

Unless you know all the facts about a situation, don't make public written assumptions about the situation or problem. If you do, you make yourself look like a fool, and you will probably end up ticking off the other people involved in the situation.

You can think whatever you like about the situation or the problem. Its when you move from just thinking to actually writing or hitting your keyboard that you start down a slippery slope.

And if you've already ticked off the other people with your assumption and/or comment, at least make sure you can write, type, spell, and punctuate properly.

Nothing is more irritating to me than people who think they know everything when they can't even spell (or use a spellchecker, or proofread before hitting enter) or punctuate (the comma, semicolon, and period buttons are there on the keyboard for a reason!)

Don't Blame Your Customers

2011-06-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

..........Especially when it was your screwup in the first place

http://www.i-dont-think-so.com/?p=1005

Everybody at Advanced Specialty Care -- from the doctor clear down to the appointment schedulers -- decided to blame me for every problem with the scheduling of the procedure. They chose to blame me for both of the reschedules. Then after rescheduling this procedure twice (once after I'd already done a full bowel prep) the doctor has the nerve to state that the 'bowel prep was inadequate.'

If I screwed up on something over and over again for weeks on end, I would not run around trying to make it the fault of my patient. Then again, these people are all invested in "I am a doctor" or "I work for a doctor" and in their minds that means they are perfect.

I will never do business with Advanced Specialty Care again.

Timing is Everything

2011-06-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

Good timing can lead to profits, large downlines, reduced stress.

Bad timing can lead to losses, jumping on the bandwagon too late to get more than a handful of referrals, increased stress.

In my offline life, timing is probably more important than it is in my online life.

I had an interview for a bookkeeping clerk position at 10:30 am this morning, and needed to catch 2 buses to get there (I also needed to catch 2 buses to get home for a total of 4 buses)

I had excellent timing all morning long, even though the first bus I had to catch (across the street from my house, a 5-10 minute walk at most) was at least 20 minutes late (it turns out the driver was training a new driver).

The second bus I had to catch at the transfer station was right on time and I waited all of 2 minutes. The third bus I needed to catch arrived at the bus stop about 2 seconds after I got to the bus stop. The last bus was at the transfer station when I got there.

So I left my house at 9:20 am and was home 2 hours later--not bad for 4 buses and 4 5-15 minute walks.

I should have continued on with the plan for the morning (to go grocery shopping and get some copies made) but unfortunately I chose to take that fourth bus and come home. My rationale was that my shoes were killing me and that I didn't want to wear a dress all day long.

My good timing did not last for the afternoon errands.

The bus that stops in front of my house was on time or anyway just a few minutes late.

The next bus that I needed to take from the transfer station to the copy shop wasn't late, but since all the buses run every 40 minutes (every 80 minutes on Saturday and not at all on Sunday) I had a fairly lengthy wait for that bus.

And my timing completely fell apart at the copy shop. The bus I needed to catch back to the transfer station reached my stop (in front of Carls Jr) at 12:52 pm; unfortunately it was 1:08 pm by the time yours truly reached that stop. Again these buses only run every 40 minutes, so I had a nice long wait with no place to sit other than the sidewalk.

I reach the transfer station and I got on the wrong damn bus.

The routes for buses with Bend Area Transit mean that one bus is serving two routes (for example the #3 Newport bus becomes the #1 South 3rd Street bus).

The bus I needed was the #6 Bear Creek bus; the bus I got on said it was that bus, but apparently the driver hadn't changed the electronic signs to reflect that it was really the #2 Brookswood/Downtown bus.

That error cost me a good 20 minutes, although I did get to see parts of Bend I never even knew existed (and now I know which buses to take to get to the libraries--#6 to the eastside library, and #2 to the downtown library).

I decided that I couldn't do my shopping in 8 minutes which was when the next bus to get home would leave from Hawthorne Station (the transfer point for ALL routes)--particularly when it takes 5 minutes to walk to Safeway from the bus stop.

So I was resigned to another 20 minute wait (or more) after I finished shopping.

Another thing that added immeasurably to the joy (NOT!!) of the shopping experience was that I forgot my large reusable bags; they are more environmentally friendly than Safeway's plastic bags and they are much larger than the Safeway bags so they carry a lot more stuff.

They are also much sturdier than the Safeway bags (even though I had my groceries double bagged by the checker and took the cart to the bus stop itself, the bags still started to tear within a few minutes of getting off the bus).

The reusable bags are also much easier to handle than the much smaller Safeway plastic bags especially when I normally have a 5-10 minute walk from the store to the transfer station and then another 5-10 minute walk from my bus stop to my house.

By the time I got home I was ready to scream or shoot something (its a pity I sold all my dads guns 3 years ago, or maybe it isn't, as I threaten to shoot lots of things!).

I will be happy when BAT can afford to offer more routes and less time between buses. But if BAT wasn't here at all, I would be walking everywhere -- so I am counting my blessings somewhat. Another blessing is that all these "baby walks" (that's what I call a 5-10-15 minute walk) are making my legs stronger and helping me to lose weight.

Targeting

2011-06-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

Now you would think that Google, the king of non-incentive ads, would be a master of targeting the ads they show in their Gmail application. This however is so not true.

The last couple of days I have been trying to freecycle a large amount of canned food. One of the ads shown to me by Gmail (in the column to the right of my emails) was for donating to an Ohio food bank. I live in Oregon; the only similarity between OHIO and OREGON is that the names both start with O.

The targeting was simply to the food category, not the geographical location.

What I find totally ridiculous is that there are Oregon ads showing in that column--Duck Up Productions in Portland, Oregon just to name one.

When I didn't get a job at Ruff Wear (located here in Bend, Oregon), for 6 hours or more ads for Ruff Wear were just about the only ads shown to me by Gmail (talk about adding insult to injury!)

What happened to the geographical targeting for the food? Did Gmail get hungry and eat any ads for Oregon food banks?

A Good Old Fashioned Rant!

2011-06-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

So this post has nothing to do with traffic exchanges and even less to do with online tricks/tactics. Sometimes you just need to rant!!

I am getting so fed up with Freecycle that I could just spit. I've had 5 no-shows in the last few weeks, 2 from a repeat offender (the same person).

Part of the problem is that many of these people know that I am not employed (nor do I have children that I need to shuttle hither and yon) and therefore I am home most (but NOT all) of the time.

They seem to think that being unemployed and childless equals 'I have nothing to do but wait for them to deign to show up to pick up whatever it is I am giving away.'

I beg to differ. IMO, just because I am unemployed and childless does NOT mean that my time is less valuable than theirs, or that my errands are less important than theirs.

This situation is being exacerbated by the fact that I no longer have my own transportation and must rely on the local bus system or shank's mare (walking) for everything I need to do.

Most of the freecycle people already know that I don't have transportation.

What they may not know is that the buses only run every 40 minutes on weekdays. On Saturdays they run every 80 minutes, and on Sundays they don't run at all!!

And they would have to be stone stupid to not know that it's been raining (sometimes hailing or snowing also) off and on every day now for a week or longer. With the wind blowing sideways LOL even an umbrella is useless in keeping you dry.

Last night I received an email from someone that wanted the 20 mens' handkerchiefs I had posted a few days ago (there had already been 2 no-shows for these items). I replied to her and we agreed she would pick up the items this morning.

She said she'd be here a little before 9 am. I had already informed her that I had to leave shortly after 9 to go grocery shopping and to the bank (I ended up only doing grocery shopping but thats neither here nor there).

At 9:25 am I put the items she was picking up in a plastic grocery bag (to protect them from the rain and wind) and hung them on my front screen door knob, emailed to tell her that I had done so, and left for the 9:39 am bus which I catch across the street (a 5 minute walk) from my house.

I got home around 11:00 am and shortly after that the skies opened up. It has been raining and windy for nearly 8 hours now; as I type this its not quite 7:00 pm and the rain has just now stopped (but for how long is anybody's guess).

I knew I had a paid training for my new online job at 2:30 pm so I wanted to be done with shopping and home by 11:00 am; as it turned out she had to run lunch money to her child and forgot totally about me.

If I had waited for her (she finally turned up around noon) not only would I have missed the training this afternoon but I would have also gotten soaked and chilled to the bone--thats an excellent recipe for a cold if not pneumonia!!.

I love the concept of Freecycle but am wondering if some of the members really understand the concepts of courtesy, punctuality, and communication.

Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin

2011-05-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have this bad habit of joining traffic exchanges -- either because of a design I just love or they are having a two or three way surf with an exchange I already belong to.

I find myself surfing less and less particularly at sites where I have heaps of credits that are being used up slowly or not at all.

I'm starting to see the wisdom of picking a few sites that deliver good traffic to your opportunities.

I will probably be terminating my accounts at a lot of smaller non-productive traffic exchanges.

Pinpoint targeting of my efforts isn't available but with the scattershot approach of belonging to 50-60 traffic exchanges that deliver little or no traffic (or deliver poor quality traffic) I am spreading my surfing time too thin and wasting my efforts .

Learning to Give up When:

2011-05-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

It just isn't working.

I belong to a local chapter of Freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org/) and some of the members irritate me no end. They are what the moderators refer to as "frequent flyers" which means they always say they want your stuff BUT they never show up to pick it up (or they say they DID show up but you weren't home).

One in particular first says "I came by and you didn't answer the door" and when you reply then says "I can come back by in a while" and never shows up again. This is also a person who refused to pick up a large box of food simply because I put it on my front porch so I could do errands--errands I'd already put off for hours waiting for her

To keep myself from going ballistic about these repeated no-shows, I've decided to simply not give them anything. There are plenty of people who do want what I'm offering and don't make me jump through hoops to give it to them.

How does this have anything to do with online marketing? There comes a time in online activities where you need to take a good long look at what you are doing -- evaluate what the results are, look at the costs (in both time and money), see if the results are a good use of the costs -- and perhaps change what you are doing or in extreme cases stop altogether.

Ask and You Shall Receive (Sometimes Anyway)

2011-05-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

Well today I moved out of my comfort zone and asked a total stranger for a ride to CEC (the electric company here).

The problems were: I had to pay $36.00 to CEC today (no ifs ands or buts about it) AND the closest bus stop was at least a mile away each way (did I mention its windy today, with a chance of rain and/or hail?)

I had asked the park manager yesterday if he could give me a ride but he was leaving on vacation and suggested I call this other person.

What does any of this have to do with online activities? Well, for me asking for help online or offline is difficult. I am shy and retiring (stop laughing, I said RETIRING not RETARDED!! rofl). All jokes aside, I am shy and I try to be independent.

But what is the worst that can happen if you ask for help? The absolute worst is that the person will say no. Having someone say no to you is not the worst thing in the world.

Most people will say yes though--whether the request is offline or online--because they either like helping other people or they like sharing what works for them (particularly if its something they have developed themselves).

So if you see somebody doing something with their online promotions that seems unique or interesting to you, contact the person.

Say something along the lines of "I saw you promoting such and such opportunity at this traffic exchange; how's that working out for you?"

Again, the worst thing that can happen is that the person will say I'm not interested in sharing my methods or my results with you. And even if they aren't interested in sharing their methods or results they might have ideas of where you can go to find help (webinars, e-books, etc).

Post a Day Challenge: Forced Surfing Revisited

2011-05-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/05/forced-surfing-few-thoughts.html

I've been thinking more and more about this site. While I agree that traffic exchanges are in the business of "I look at your site, you look at mine" personally I prefer a more organic type of traffic to my opportunities--not someone who is (like me sometimes) surfing because they have to keep their sites active.

I've had my account suspended at this manual traffic exchange 6 times since I joined which (April 23 2011), all for not having active sites in rotation. The last time I surfed at this site was May 19, 2011 -- one week ago.

Does forced surfing mean I pay MORE or LESS attention to the sites I am being forced to view? I don't know for a fact, but my assumption is that I would pay LESS attention to the sites and MORE attention to the required number of sites I have to view to get unsuspended.

Yes I have discussed the issue with the owner of this particular traffic exchange. It's clear that he's not going to change how he does things but I do wonder why out of all the traffic exchanges I have ever belonged to his site is the ONLY one forcing surfing in this way.

Post a Day Challenge From Tim Linden

2011-05-26T02:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.timlinden.com/blog/contests/the-post-a-day-challenge/

I am formally accepting the challenge of writing at least ONE useful post per day at this blog.

The Scam is: Forced Traffic to Their Affiliate Link

2011-05-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

"I received this email too and responded. I believe the only thing that they asked for was a resume. What exactly is the scam?"

http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/04/craigs-list-job-scam-again.html

If you actually received this email (and aren't just playing devils advocate here) you would realize that the link included in the email (the one you say you received) does NOT in any way shape or form go to ANY job site or ANY resume submission site.

They call it a Feedback Report but that link goes straight to Free Gift Reports.

This company/organization is sending forced and fraudulent traffic to their affiliate link for Free Gift Reports.

The second email, the one from Watson (supposedly), goes straight to Job.com, and as I stated in the original posting there were NO openings for Watson Realty listed on Job.com (nor were there even any jobs on Job.com for my geographical location).

There was no request for a resume from either of these sites.

Free Gift Reports is an offer/ptsu site.

Job.com is a job site

BUT its very odd that a company would link directly to their front page NOT a job description or their company profile on Job.com.

Now the Watson Realty link has its account suspended. http://watson-realty.info/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi?id=db30b143de

I hope the commenter is happy giving his resume information to spammers, scammers, liars, and thieves.

Another question: How does the commenter even know what postings on Craigs List I am referring to?

Especially since the first one was taken down as fraudulent by Craigs List almost immediately after my post here.

Forced Surfing: A Few Thoughts

2011-05-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

I joined a site a few weeks ago, a manual surf site. Of all the surf sites I've ever belonged to (close to 80 at one time, about 50 now) this is the only site that forces surfing or forces buying credits.

If you don't have a site in rotation, your account is suspended. If you DO have a site in rotation but it has no credits, your account is suspended. No questions asked, no excuses accepted.

Now I chose to join the site, but I didn't know that my account would be suspended 2-3 times in less than 2 weeks. The first few days I belonged to this site I surfed over 442 pages.

I think there ought to be some consideration that people have lives outside of surfing, outside of online activity, outside of promoting, outside of marketing.

I have medical and financial issues that outweigh ANY online activity. I am on several medications due to an unexpected hospitalization last year

I have an income of $416.00 per month (and an outgo of $700.00-$800.00 per month, not including food)

I have been preparing for a colonoscopy, I have been trying to get a room ready to rent out, I've been trying to find a job, and I have been focusing my limited online time on sites that are actually directly earning me money (Clix Sense, PTR sites, survey sites).

In 12 years online I have been paid by THREE surf sites: Share-Traffic, 1 Heluva, and Total Rune (a whopping total of $31.00) so why would my priority for my limited online time be a surf site?

Clix Sense has paid me $41.00 in the last month. DO THE MATH!!

http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/02/priorities-ptr-is-not-important.html
http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2010/08/backing-away-from-ptr.html
http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2010/09/i-really-hate-being-sick.html

Room For Rent (Bend, OR) $350.00 per Month

2011-05-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

http://bend.craigslist.org/roo/2366574625.html

http://mycentraloregon.kaango.com/ads/viewad?adid=18902972

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150175186505662.309350.568130661

http://www.free-e-ad.com/view.php?id=23452

http://bend.ebayclassifieds.com/rooms-roommates/bend/furnished-bedroom-private-bathroom-for-rent-includes-utilities/?ad=11235698

http://www.isell.com/bend_or-rs3667/apartments.rentals-c1712/room_for_rent-c2085/ad176483.html

http://bend.freeclassifieds.com/classified_ads/Real_Estate/Roommates/6vFgLG9jqeI%3d

http://bend-oregon.olx.com/furnished-bedroom-private-bathroom-for-rent-includes-utilities-iid-198151486

http://bend.classiopen.com/free-ads/furnished-bedroom-private-bathroom-for-rent-includes-utilities_133426

http://www.domesticsale.com/Classifieds/547940.html

Even More Craigs List Job Scam

2011-04-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

Hello

I would like to say thank you for contacting us concerning the job opportunity we've posted on line.

I have Great News. The position your interested in is still open, and we are in the middle of processing applications. Currently we have 2 other applications along with yours that we are considering, so you can consider yourself on the short list to be hired.

Please help us to express-process your application by performing one of the two mandatory steps that the company must take for all new employees. Since we run both background and credit reports on all employees, you can help us by obtaining your own current credit report, speeding up the process immensely. We have found it's best if you have it in advance to make sure there are no surprises on it.

Both myself and the company would prefer that you use This Company to acquire your credit history because they're offering the check at zero cost to you (unlike other places) and their results contain the most precise details I've come across, but feel free to use any service that suits you.

Once you submit all of the needed information, they are going to show your own personal report. Please print it out and save it for the meeting. Please do not e-mail me the report, since it will have personal content. We can go over it when we meet in person. Should you have a lower than expected credit ratings, it will never prevent you from gaining a position with us.

When your finished please e-mail me back at (job-w54r65@hotmail.com) with the subject "My Availability" to let us know you obtained a current copy of your credit history along with your availability and we will arrange an interview.

I'm looking forward to your quick response.
Warm regards,
Jada B | HR Dept.

Legitimate sites don't mask the links. Legitimate job offers don't have you pull your own credit reports. Legitimate interviewers do the background checks and credit reports AFTER a job offer has been made (how can they do a background check when they don't have 90% of the information they need to do one?)

This person is simply running traffic to Credit ID Protect by posting false job openings on Craigs List and making people think they WILL get a job if they sign up for the free trial (free trial yes but it's $14.99 a month if you forget to cancel which is what the company and the scammer are counting on--so many people forget to cancel free trials!)

Credit ID Protect does have an affiliate program. The affiliate who is doing this is lowlife scum for taking advantage of people who simply need a job.

Another person/company that should be ashamed of themselves for taking advantage of the unemployed, but scammers don't have any conscience.

I should get a finders fee from Craigs List for finding all the scams ROFLMAO!!

Craigs List Job Scam (AGAIN)

2011-04-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Thank you for emailing us in regards to the available job opening. Good news, we would like to setup an interview with you!

As an employee, the responsibilities of this position are as follows:
You will be working alongside our current marketing team and helping them with administrative duties and Feedback Reports. Feedback Reports which will be discussed more in detail below.

Hours will be flexible, but for now we are planning on starting you at 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a 1 hour lunch break. Pay will be $13-$16 an hour depending on experience.

We would like to setup an interview with you next week. For the interview, we ask that you bring in your resume along with a printed out Feedback Report. To complete your pre-interview Feedback Report, please visit one our leading partners to complete a survey, print it out, and bring it with you to the interview. We will use the print out to verify your information at the interview. Please take 5 minutes to complete the Feedback Report for Apple Computers now and print it out:
hxxp://mymediasolutions.info?id=35b9e6a8ab

This will be a typical Feedback Report that you will be required to complete at the office along with administrative duties. We only provide feedback for free client products. Once you complete the Feedback Report please email me with a copy of your resume along with the best date and time next week to setup an interview. We are looking to fill this position next week. I look forward to meeting with you!

Best Regards,
Christina Cook
Media Solutions

Thank you for your inquiry with regards to our job posting on Craigslist. We are a young company in expansion and are looking to build an ambitious and eager team. We are very interested in your application. Our CEO requires that all resumes be sent via the Job.com Career Network for consistency and easier tracking. This is a free service to you. Please upload your resume at this site: hxxp://watson-realty.info?id=db30b143de

We look forward to receiving your resume and discussing your potential employment with our company. Please contact me and let me know once your resume has been submitted.

Thank You,
Hiring Manager
Watson Realty
The posting was for a front desk coordinator in downtown Bend (Oregon). The link above leads to free gift center--not any kind of a feedback form.

This company (My Media Solutions) is fraudulently using Craigs List to get people to complete offers and to drive traffic to said offers.

They are taking advantage of people who are looking for jobs.

This is even more disgusting than the idiot here:
http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/02/craigs-list-scammers-fake-job-postings.html because his email /job offer/scam was so totally unbelievable that even a 2 year old could see through it. This one is believable right down to the time you click the link.

My Media Solutions should be ashamed of themselves. But I doubt they are, scammers have no consciences and that is all this company is!!

The second email sounds legitimate too doesn't it? However, the link goes straight to Job.com. Funnily enough there are NO listings on Job.com for Watson Realty nor are there any listings even in Bend, Oregon.

Who's Paid Me in March 2011

2011-04-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

Vale PTR: $4.98
St Cash Unlimited: $1.35
Old Amsterdam Post: $1.91
Dream Mails: $1.49
Our PTR 2: $.75
Clix Sense: $23.59
Donkey Mails: $1.39
Matrix Mails: $11.28
Poker PTR: $4.13
Fairground Clickers: $2.91
Scarlett Mails: $3.84
Pinecone Research: $3.00
Polar Bear Clicks: $4.90
Panda Bear Emails: $.98
Cathouse Mails: $3.23
Castle Mails: $1.21
Hogs Hollow PTR: $2.08

Total for March 2011: $73.02

Where I'm Waiting For Payouts (April 2011)

2011-04-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

Fusion Mails

There are 21 requests in front of you. Your request for 7.02 USD PayPal(MassPay) is 5 day(s) old.
========================================================================

Lady of The Links

There are 8 requests in front of you. Your request for 10.60 USD AlertPay is 327 day(s) old
========================================================================

We Paid Not Responding to Contacts or Running Ads

2011-04-01T15:28:00.001-07:00

Back in October 2010 I requested to redeem for ads. That request is still sitting in my user information but there have been no ads requested or run.

I have requested that the redemption be reversed TWICE now with no replies from Grace.

I would be 5 cents from payout if Grace would reverse the redemption request. I've been waiting (not patiently) for 5 1/2 months now, I think thats long enough

Cats on the chair

2011-03-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

The Games People Play.......

2011-02-24T22:48:00.000-08:00

My mother is a total piece of work.

I realize she learned how to play mind games from her mother (my grandmother) but that doesn't mean that being on receiving end is any more pleasant than it was when it came from my grandmother.

Yesterday I asked her to pay one month's space rent and my electricity bill.

She agreed to do so and asked me to call Neighbor Impact today to find out what type of eviction notice they would need (30 day or 72 hour). I was supposed to call her at 3:00 pm today to give her the information.

She calls me at 1:00 pm today with numbers to call here in Bend to get help and informs me that she will not be sending the check she promised me yesterday. She just 'can't afford it' and 'you will be in the same hole next month so why should I bother pouring my money down a rathole'

She whines all the time about how broke she is. She has investments, she has money coming in every single month, and even if she has to dip into her investments every month to pay her medication bills she has those resources.

Its offensive and insensitive for her to whine about being broke to someone who is nearly 6 months behind on her space rent and facing an eviction notice.

Its offensive and insensitive for her to whine about being broke to someone who is 2 years behind on her property taxes and has a lien against her house.

Its offensive and insensitive for her to whine about being broke to someone who has been selling her belongings since October 2009 to pay her monthly bills.

She's also mad at me because she can't get me to freak out about this situation.

My opinion about freaking out is that it uses a lot of energy and doesn't change the situation at all; after the freak out is over the situation is just the same and all the energy expended on the freak out could have been used to change the situation.

This is not the first time that my mother has gotten mad at me for not showing the level of emotional upset she expects.

Todays lovely situation was just improved immeasurably by my mother being really condescending....telling me how many days are left in February....and when I got angry (I said I do know how to count) she said I spent my morning and my money making these phone calls (turns out she made ONE phone call--to the sheriffs office)....the least you could do is be polite in return.

Excuse me???????? You throw me on a emotional roller coaster and get all condescending and expect me to be POLITE? Give it a rest!

I suppose I should be happy she didn't give the sheriff's department my phone numbers like she did here:
http://www.i-dont-think-so.com/?p=316
http://www.i-dont-think-so.com/?p=212

But right now I am just thinking my mother is sadistic and manipulative and the queen of the mind game players!

I Am Very Angry...........

2011-02-21T22:24:00.000-08:00

Back in January I sold a few pieces of glassware on Craigs List to someone.

After the actual sale this person emailed me offering to buy me food or to pay someone to clean my house.

He said he was a Christian and "felt called to help me."

I said no to the food but said yes to the housecleaning--which has not happened. I doubt that it will either.

I guess he also felt 'called' to call Senior and Disabled Services about me.

He thought he was being smart I guess by calling anonymously, but given the fact that my friends, family, and the people I know in the mobile home park I live in would not do this.............I know who did it.

A man from the Adult Protective Service department of Seniors and People with Disabilities showed up at my door with no warning.

I am neither senior nor disabled, but for me that is not the point.

The point is that this person had no right to assume anything about my life and he had no right whatsoever to call anyone about how I may or may not be living.

My feeling is that this man assumed that I am a hoarder (in my opinion all the television programs about hoarding are making it very difficult for those of us who are just slobs).

I grew up in a house that was clean only when my grandmother came to visit. Both sets of grandparents, my father, and my stepmother were packrats. I am an only child, and an only grandchild on one side, so I inherited a lot of stuff.

Then there's the fact that in the last six years I have had more losses in my life than I care to think about.

In October 2005 I lost my car, my apartment, and my job within a week of each other.

In November 2005 I lost my uncle.

In December 2005 I lost my grandmother and a cousin that I was very close to.

In November 2006 I lost my 12 year old cat

In December 2007 I lost my father. I lived with him -- I found him dead on his bed -- I had to deal with almost all of the aspects of his death by myself.

In January 2008 I lost another cousin who was also my godmother. I didn't find out about her death until November 2008

People who haven't lost family members probably think that grief is a short-term thing that you just "get over" in a real short time........thats so much bullshit!!

I still miss my stepmother-who I wasn't even that close to--and she's been gone 8 years.

I live in the same house that my father and I shared for 2 years before his death.

Many of the things I have been trying to sell belonged to my maternal grandmother, stepmother, father, and paternal grandparents.

In addition, I was in the hospital for 3 days last summer. I had told mr-interfere-in-my-life that I had been in the hospital but I didn't tell him why.

I had pulmonary emboli (blood clots in my lungs) and was damn lucky to be alive.

Cleaning was pretty much NOT on the priority list for 2-3 months after I got out of the hospital, and that is MY business not his.

I cannot believe the nerve of this man, I won't even call him an acquaintance.

Snow Snow Go Away Come Again Some Other Day (in 2015!!)

2011-02-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

Priorities: (PTR is NOT Important!!@@@@@!!!!)

2011-02-06T02:32:00.000-08:00

I just received a personal administrative message about a site where my upgrade expired; the special ptp at this site is only available to upgraded members which is fine.

What is NOT fine with me was the tone of this personal administrative message.

And furthermore, at this point in my life I could really give a you-know-what less about changing out ads for any site, for any reason, even if I lose accounts over it. PTR IS NOT IMPORTANT!!

1) I am unemployed. The unemployment ran out in April 2010 and I have not been eligible for ANY of the extensions since that point.

2) I have no money coming in other than the tiny bit I earn online or by trying to sell nearly everything I own on Craigs List or by selling stuff to local antique/secondhand stores.

The money from PTR/surveys/offer sites/craigs list/ebay/antique dealers/secondhand stores/etc goes for 'unimportant' 'luxury' items like food, toilet paper, cat food, cat litter, cleaning supplies, gas for my truck, cell phone bill, landline bill, dish network bill (still have 7 months left on that 2 year contract), heating bill.

http://www.suzys-braintransplant.com/sales/sales.htm I have nearly 200 active listings on Craigs List.

3) Currently I have less than 0 money as my checking account is around $2.00 overdrawn

4) My computer monitor died a month ago, it will cost at least $75.00 to fix or $150.00 to replace. Currently I am using an old small monitor from another computer

5) I had to replace the glass door on the woodstove last month--this was not optional, it had three cracks and a hole in it; that repair was $90.00

6) I am two years behind on property taxes, thats $1200.00+ that I do not have

7) I am nearly 5 months behind on space rent, that is another $1850.00 that I do not have. In another month I will get a 30 day eviction notice unless I can pay at least one month space rent or get some sort of help paying it.

8) Because I was supposed to start a job nearly a month ago that was an hour commute each way, I let the firewood run out and turned on the furnace. How I am going to pay the electricity bill is beyond me but I can't let the water pipes freeze either. The place that helped me with wood last year now says it will be WEEKS before they even send out an application.

9) The clothes dryer died a few months ago. So I have to hang everything to dry. That really adds to the ambiance around here

4) The alternator on my truck went south for the winter 2 days ago.

Today I get to walk to WalMart to pick up my prescription for blood thinners (Warfarin). It is nearly 3 miles each way from my house to WalMart and the high temperature today is supposed to be 55 degrees with a 30% chance of rain, and wind at 9 MPH. Does that sound like fun to you???????

Monday I get to walk to Lazer Quik to get an application for rental assistance printed out. They are 1 1/2 miles each way. But its cheaper to go there than to buy ink for my printer even if I had the money.

Changing out ads for any site is so low on my priority list that I think it fell off the priority list completely. And I bet if the person who wrote that admin message was in the same boat I am she wouldn't give a rats ass about PTR either!!

Who's Paid Me In February 2011

2011-02-06T01:54:00.000-08:00

02/01/2011 $2.86 Showcase PTR
02/03/2011 $25.00 Life Fun and Everything (Amazon Gift Card)
02/01/2011 $1.92 Matrix Mails

Total for February 2011: Surveys/Offer Sites $25.00
Total for February 2011: PTR Sites $4.78

Total for February 2011: $29.78 (as of February 6, 2011)

Who's Paid Me In January 2011

2011-02-06T01:49:00.000-08:00

01/05/2011 $4.32 Dream Mails
01/05/2011 $3.27 Cathouse Mails
01/06/2011 $3.17 Donkey Mail
01/06/2011 $3.29 Matrix Mails
01/11/2011 $4.90 Polar Bear Clicks
01/18/2011 $3.00 Pinecone Research
01/19/2011 $5.60 1 Cent Mail

Total for January: Surveys/Offer Sites $3.00
Total for January: PTR sites: $24.55

Total for January 2011: $27.55

However, My Address IS Correct

2011-02-06T00:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Household:
We noticed that we don't have a valid US Postal address for you. This means that a portion of your mailing address is incorrect or incomplete, such as a missing apartment, building or unit number. Why do we need your postal address when we send your surveys via email? So we can promptly send you notification of any prizes you win from our sweepstakes and giveaways and any products that you might agree to test.
We appreciate you updating your address information by doing the following:
Go to edited
Log in with your username and password
Click on the Update Your Info menu item (at top of screen)
Fill in your correct street address, city, state and zipcode
It will take less than 5 minutes.
Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
Carol Adams
Director of Member Services

My address is correct. Its the very same address I've been receiving mail at since October 2005.

I've About Had It With Macy's and Taleo Both

2011-02-05T06:37:00.000-08:00

There's a reason I don't use Internet Explorer, it has security holes you could drive a Mack truck through.

There's a reason I don't use Firefox any longer, it crashes nearly every time I open it.

One would think that sites such as Taleo and Macys/Bloomingdales would be technically savvy enough to allow a major browser such as Google Chrome to be used.

When I tried to apply for a job with Macy's tonight (via Taleo) it allowed me to get all the way through the application until it was time to complete the questionnaire. Then I get this:

So I tried Firefox and got this, less than 2 minutes after completing the application on Google Chrome

Service UnavailableUnfortunately, the service you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable. It may be under maintenance. Please try again later.

I just submitted an incomplete application via Google Chrome.

I can estimate pretty accurately my chances of getting this job: somewhere between slim and none. And it is Macy's/Taleo's fault, not mine!!

Office Max Redux

2011-02-03T20:49:00.000-08:00

4 browsers later I finally got to apply for the job mentioned here: http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/02/office-max-is-driving-me-clean-around.html

Chrome wouldn't work, Firefox crashed repeatedly, Opera wouldn't work, so I finally ended up using Crazy Browser. I had to download and install both Opera and Crazy Browser

Filling out the application took nearly an hour after I got a browser that would actually allow me to search for jobs and apply for them, partially because I couldn't copy/paste job descriptions nor was Roboform available for Crazy Browser.

Oh well, at least I finally got the application completed and submitted.

Craigs List Scammers: Fake Job Postings

2011-02-02T21:59:00.000-08:00

Mike William (mikewilliam57@yahoo.com)

Hello,

I will like to inform you that i am the personal manager of the Barracuda Networks, Inc. and i do received your message regarding the job and we believe you're capable for this job and you will be having an interview via email and you will fill every question`s in the next message i will be sending to you and send back to me so kindly email me if you are still interested and ready so i can send you the interview question`s for you to fill.

Position Details
Job Title: Data Entry Operator
Primary Skills: Data Entry
Job Industry: Finance
Job Location: Online/Home
Salary: $50/HOURLY
Salary: $1000 to $1500/Monthly
Start Date: ASAP
Degree Type: HS

Degree Area: NA We cater to a wide variety of clients from partnerships to mid-sized corporations." Our staff specializes in establishing full and automated accounting departments essential to our clients running emerging businesses. Our focus is on practical administrative and accounting support services. We are a third party Bookkeeping and payment unit. we handle accounts checks and balances of companies and clients that hire our services.Working hrs are between 8am to 2pm. and the hours are flexible. Part time is 4HRS a day this is an online job so all your assignments would be forwarded to you and submitted back by either fax, regular mail, email, phone .All activities and corresponding time are to be recorded in excel spreadsheet. That`s how we access your work and process your pay there is no payment required for getting started. All expenses are handled by Barracuda Networks, Inc.You are to take out taxes. The Barracuda Networks, Inc. pays you and it's on you whether or not you want to claim. Let me know if you are satisfied with the above working conditions. Hope to hear from you as soon as possible.

Manager
Mike

What's wrong with this male bovine fecal material?

1) The Barracuda Networks is NOT a third party bookkeeping and payment unit. They provide email and web security http://www.barracudanetworks.com/ns/?L=en

2) The fool used a Yahoo email address. Hmmmm, if you were really 'Barracuda Networks' you'd use a Barracuda Networks email address.

3) Nobody pays 50.00 per hour for data entry.

And the information he wishes you to send will not lead to getting a job. It will lead to identity theft,hacking your email accounts, possibly even real theft as I am sure one of the pieces of information would be your physical address.

Craigs List has flagged the job posting for removal.

Roboform: If You Use Version 7, Beware

2011-02-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

Today I kept getting this popup that my trial version had expired.

Trial version, my arse!! I paid in full for not one but TWO downloads of Roboform, since they wouldn't let me run the full version on 3 computer (2 desktops and 1 laptop). I now have one working computer since the laptop died over a year ago and I had to cannibalize one of the desktops for a monitor after my big 22" monitor went south for the winter.

I went to their site and retrieved my information. Lo and behold, I have a Version 6 license and Version 7 doesn't accept the information. Did I deliberately install Version 7? Did I even know what version I was using? NO and NO!

When Roboform tells me a new version is available I download and install it. If Siber Systems wished for their customers to pay for Version 7 perhaps they shouldn't have released it as an upgrade. It stinks IMO that they are forcing sales by confusing their users.

I actually think that when I installed the adapter for Google Chrome (since Firefox has become so unstable for me) that Siber Systems automatically installed Version 7 on my computer and then tried to buffalo me into paying for their screwup!

So don't be surprised if you use Version 7 and get a popup that your 'trial period' has ended (you know, that trial period that wasn't even mentioned until the popup started happening)

Office Max is Driving Me Clean Around the Bend!!

2011-02-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

First off I am forced to use Firefox to access their careers page, because when I use Chrome I get a forced logon popup and since I don't have any logon credentials to get past that popup it stops me dead in my tracks.

So I open up Firefox and go to Office Max site, click on careers, fill out their search form. No matter how few or how many search fields I fill each time I try to search jobs I get "unfortunately this function is not available; please try again later."

So I give up for a bit. Now I am finally allowed to look at the job, but their popup windows (one for the job description and another for registering which I have to do BEFORE I can apply) are both blank, as blank as George W. Bush's mind!!

I try again to access the registration form and Firefox proceeds to crash. What is most frustrating is that I was referred to the job from the Oregon Employment Department and I only have 48 hours (from yesterday at around 12:30 pm) to apply for the job.

The employment department can't DO anything to me for not meeting that deadline since my unemployment benefits expired in April 2010--but I am sure I am not the only person that is having fun with Office Max's lousy website and some of those people might be still getting unemployment benefits.

The Oregon Employment Department will cut off unemployment benefits in a heartbeat or a New York minute if you are receiving benefits and fail to respond to a referral within 48 hours, and they don't give a rat's ass about the reason why!

A new tactic from the Craigs List Spammers

2011-01-31T01:56:00.000-08:00

hello, i noticêd your ådvertisemént ón craigslíst and so i wánted to tell you something. what i doon’t understand is – why do you wastê your time selling stuff? i m mâking not lèss thãn $6000 per mõnth working from the çomfort and easè of my house. i ventured înto thïs this past yeár, and i am currently doìng enöugh to take my family ön vacätion every few months. now there is ëven a news intèrnet site that makes çlear how you coould dó it too if you arë ïnterested. i âm sörry, i can t remember the exact url, but i guess yoú could get it when you góogle fôr "localworknews"

I received 7 of these emails from various email addresses all saying pretty much the same thing.

And really if somebody is making so much money per month--and wanting to refer other suckers (oops I meant to say people) doing at this they would remember the exact url of the 'internet news site' especially since most of these work at home 'opportunities' rely on suckers being sucked in!

There really should be an intelligence test issued to all people before they are even allowed to turn on their computers much less access the internet!!

The best part is that they are violating Craigs List rules, namely this: it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests.

Even More Craigs List Scammers

2011-01-30T23:46:00.000-08:00

Rubin22952@aol.com
to sale-bakqw-218.

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

This is Wendy and Jason and we are very interested, we have been looking for quite some time, please let me know if the price is correct. This email blah blah blah was in your listing.

What makes this one a scam? I received 22 emails with the exact same wording yet they were all from different names and different email addresses.

I replied to one of the 22 emails with this

Funny how you have an unlimited supply of email accounts and an unlimited supply of names too, but the same old tired bullcrap in every email.

If you are REALLY interested in my stuff then feel free to reply and explain WHY you responded the way you did since I have TWENTY TWO emails from various email accounts using various names but the same old verbiage in EVERY email.

Otherwise stop spamming me

Before I sent the email, I noticed that the reply to address was mmorans5@gmail.com not the email that the scammer originally sent from (Rubin22952@aol.com)

I haven't heard a word from Wendy and Jason although I did get a new batch of scamming/spamming emails from the Gattison family (21 emails in all).

Give it a rest you idiots.

Craigs List Music (Records) #2

2011-01-30T01:42:00.000-08:00

Craigs List Music (Records) #1

2011-01-30T01:34:00.000-08:00

More Glassware

2011-01-28T19:44:00.001-08:00

Cut Glass Decanter

2011-01-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

http://bend.craigslist.org/clt/2180470774.html

CD/MP3 Player

2011-01-28T19:41:00.001-08:00

Japanese Ceramic Bowl

2011-01-28T19:40:00.000-08:00

Dolphin Plate with Base

2011-01-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

Russ Berrie Mugs

2011-01-28T19:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas Mugs

2011-01-28T19:28:00.002-08:00

Collectible Folk Santa Mug

2011-01-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

Norman Rockwell Mugs

2011-01-28T19:27:00.000-08:00

Ceramic Ashtrays

2011-01-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

More Coasters

2011-01-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

Coasters

2011-01-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

HighBall Glass and Heart Monitor

2011-01-28T19:18:00.000-08:00

Watches on Craigs List

2011-01-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

More Craigs List Scammers

2011-01-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

Noble URIOSTEJUE
)
Appreciate it for getting back with me.

Sorry about that, My email was,

I'm very intrigued in this but before I invest in it i would like to find out if its the exact one I'm hunting for. Because I can not afford another mistake. Just check out this footage here I published and let me know.

(edited because I am sure the link will infect the computer)

If its the identical one I will be there immediately to buy it.

Appreciate it.

Mcguinness Hunsinger

Suellen Roley,

Yes, i'm highly interested and want to go pick it up from you but how do i know you're not a crook? Not to be rude but last week i got beat up and robbed from a man i met from sales section while buying chairs from him! I later discovered he was a criminal and I can't let it happen again. Actually, i ran your name on below background verification website and you seem risky. If you don't believe me, run your name yourself and see. My name comes up clean but does yours? We can discuss business after you verify you're legit and safe to meet!

edited (another bad link I am sure)

Garvis Hunsinger

to me

Hiya, I have seen your clist posting and liked what I saw. I really want it! Would you like to trade? I used to sell new well-known electronics but had to close down my shop due to family problems. I am relocating shortly so I have to get them gone asap. Following items are up for trades and you can select any 2: iPad, Play Station 3, camcorders, etc. Since there are a lot of bots, I uploaded pix of them on the following webpage:

edited (another bad link I am sure)

It doesn't cost anything to signup so come check them out. Whatever you see on the main page is whatever I have listed for swapping. Here's the critical part - don't forget to click on "bid now" button below the items you like so you can reserve it and importantly, so I'll know you are a real person and undeniably interested. I think it costs like $0.01 to place a bid to forbid scammers. Please don't respond back if you can't even do this, especially since I will be losing a lot of money. All of these items were quite expensive as you know. Does this sound ok? If your item is already sold, do you have anything else we can trade? My bad for this long email. After you place the bid, you will be able to access my personal info. so call me! Let's trade!

The first one -- you get an email that sounds legit from another person altogether using another email address altogether. When you respond to them you get the horse manure from a second person using a different email address that is generally incomplete (sorry about that my email was.......your email was what?). They are sure to tell you about a link or a video you should watch.

And no matter what time the email is sent, they say they will be over immediately to purchase if what you have is what they supposedly want.

I think these are "fishing" emails and the sites you are sent to probably steal your details(and/or infect your computer with malware/spyware) if you are dumb enough to click the links.

The second one--he's a flat out scammer as well as a spammer (and probably an email harvester) because that email came direct to my gmail address.

Why does this 'direct to my email address' make him a spammer and an email harvester?

All my Craigs List postings are anonymized which means that the responses are re-mailed to me from Craigs List (for example, one legitimate email said this "this message was remailed to you via: sales@-kbh3c-2180642611@blahblahblah.net" or similar--have edited so i don't get spammed just from posting here)
The scammer part comes in that I know what any background check would say about me, and it would NOT be anything to warrant a potential buyer not coming over to look or buy.

What seems risky to ME is clicking on a link sent by a spammer, scammer, and email harvester.

The third one--Hunsinger is a pretty unusual last name and to get two emails from the same last name in an hour is rather odd.

What's even more odd is that my listing was for $15.00 (22K gold creamer) -- no way is that worth ipads, PS3, or camcorders (not just one but two) unless of course the items (if they even exist) are stolen.

There are tipoffs as to whether you are dealing with a scammer or a legitimate potential buyer.

1) Scammers often send emails that make no sense; for example I have one where the entire content of the email is overcome Radha lost. I have 4 emails where there is not only nonsense in the body of the email but the last name is the same on them (another 9 from a different last name)

2) Unusual names are a tipoff for me that I am dealing with a potential scammer.

For example, Scheunemann Parmer is one of the names from the 9 mentioned in number 1 above.

2) A legitimate buyer will not ask you to click a link, watch a video, etc. Those people that do are trying to infect your computer with spyware or steal your details when you click the link

3) If you are selling an item such as watches and they refer to jewelry, the chances are high that you are dealing with a scammer. They are not looking at your actual post and probably are assuming that anything in the jewelry category is jewelry (not watches, not a jewelry box)

4) If they ask you for pictures of the item(s) and you included pictures in your posting(s) that is another red flag that you may be dealing with a scammer.

5) If they want to trade and your item is not worth what they are offering, either their items don't exist or they are stolen.

6) If they want to pay by bank check and are sending a 'mover' to pick up the items, run away as fast as you can.

The check will be bad and your bank will probably hold YOU responsible for the funds (in my case I would have been on the hook for $175.00). Not only that, the mover and the scammer will have your phone number and physical address.

And the mover will NOT be the scammer, the scammer won't show his face--and probably didn't give you his real name to start with--and the mover will say he was just hired to do a job!

http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/01/craigs-list-scammer.html

If it is too good to be true it probably is. If it smells fishy (suspicious) it probably is. I ran the scammer in the post above through google and found info on him here
1) http://craigslistscammer.blogspot.com/
2) http://pr-me.blogspot.com/2008/05/list-of-craigslist-scammer-email-names.html
3) http://clscambuster.blogspot.com/2009/07/scammer-update-72409.html

Bedroom Set

2011-01-25T21:43:00.000-08:00

http://bend.craigslist.org/clt/2170029086.html

Do You Know What This Is? (COS I DON'T ROFL)

2011-01-25T21:37:00.000-08:00

http://bend.craigslist.org/clt/2180484833.html

Cut Glass Decanter

2011-01-25T21:35:00.001-08:00

http://bend.craigslist.org/clt/2180470774.html

A Really Cool and OLD and FRENCH Decanter

2011-01-25T21:32:00.000-08:00

http://bend.craigslist.org/atq/2180464035.html

More Craigs List Stuff

2011-01-25T21:30:00.000-08:00

Craigs List Scammer

2011-01-23T16:59:00.000-08:00

From: eric karson <e.karson800@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 3:58 PM
Subject: Re: Vintage Rogers Stainless Cocktail Forks (set of 25) - $175 (Bend)

Hello,
I really appreciate your response to my email.I want you to consider it sold, pls do withdraw the advert from craigslist to avoid disturbance.I want you to know that i will be paying via bank Cashier
check .I will like you to provide me with the following. information to facilitate the mailing of the check to you .

1.....Full name to write on the check
2.....Full Physical address to post the check
3.....City, State and Zip Code
4.....Home & Cell Phone to contact you

*** Note that the payment will be shipped to your address via UPS NEXT DAY SERVICE and I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping i will have my mover come over as soon as you have cashed the check** Thanks

China on Craigs List

2011-01-22T20:30:00.001-08:00

Craigs List Redux

2011-01-22T20:25:00.000-08:00