Thursday, June 9, 2011

Where I'm Waiting For Payouts (June 2011)

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

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

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!!


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Now That's COOL!!

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)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Consider Your Tone and Attitude

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.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Don't Make Assumptions

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!)

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Don't Blame Your Customers

..........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.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Timing is Everything

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.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Targeting

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?

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

A Good Old Fashioned Rant!

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.