Will the Jules Gluten Free Graham Cracker Gingersnap Mix put an end to our quest for the perfect graham cracker mix, or will we still be on the hunt? It seems that it's still open season.
Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Purely Decadent Ice Cream (Cookie Dough)
One of Mike's favorite "food groups" (yes) used to be ice cream. Ever since he gave up drinking regular milk though, it's been a hard sell to convince him that alternative ice creams can be as good as the original. Will the Purely Decadent brand live up to its name, or will it be just another carton in the crowd?
Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Gluten Free Mama's Cookie Mix - Episode 11
Is this sugar cookie recipe using Gluten Free Mama's Cookie Mix a slam dunk, or will it have to be dunked to be appreciated? Find out in this episode of GFTV!
Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Udi's Blueberry Muffins and Lemon Streusels
The bakery from Denver, CO continues to amaze us, this time with their absolutely moist and delicious muffins. But will it be enough to satisfy the non-gluten-free one in the family? Find out!
Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Amici's East Coast Pizzeria - Episode 9
If you've been missing pizza ever since you turned gluten-free, you can find a gem of a pizzeria in Amici's. While their prices are steep, you can rest assured that your pizza experience will be just like it was before--absolutely delicious. One reason why: the crust doesn't taste like cardboard.
Formats available: MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
WOW Vanilla Cake Mix & Pamela's Products Frosting - Episode 7
Part II of Mike's birthday bash: can we say cupcakes AND frosting? Yes, we can. Buttery, moist, and delicious. UPDATE: even after a week later, they're still just as moist and delicious.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Udi's Pizza Crust - Episode 6
It's Mike's birthday, and what better way to spend it than sharing his experience of Udi's Pizza Crust with the lovable @debzaz? Turns out this stuff's almost indistinguishable from regular pizza crust.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
Mom and deb are making what I affectionately call... "turdzels"
Supposed to be a pretzel, but the pretzel shape isn't turning out very well. ;)
Mike
Miramonte & Trovas Apartments continue to illegally abuse the handicap spots
The black Jeep belongs to a leasing agent.
Mike
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Rules for Bedroom Golf (SFW)
| Rules for Bedroom Golf 1. Each player shall furnish his own equipment for play -- normally one 2. Play on a course must be approved by the owner of the hole. 3. Unlike outdoor golf, the object is to get the club in the hole and 4. For most effective play, the club should have a firm shaft. Course 5. Course owners reserve the right to restrict club length to avoid 6. The object of the game is to take as many strokes as necessary until 7. It is considered bad form to begin playing the hole immediately upon 8. Players are cautioned not to mention other courses they have played, 9. Players are encouraged to bring proper rain gear for their own 10. Players should ensure themselves that their match has been properly 12. The course owner is responsible for manicuring and pruning any bush 13. Players are advised to obtain the course owners permission before 14. Slow play is encouraged. However, players should be prepared to 15. It is considered outstanding performance, time permitting, to play |
Monday, July 27, 2009
Certified Farmers' Market Newsletter
hey friends,
we'll be at downtown sacramento's farmer's market this sunday--will we see you there? let me know via email or direct message on twitter! (direct message get sent as a text to my mobile. w & 8th st, downtown sac.
mike
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Certified Farmers Market <farmersmarkets@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Subject: Certified Farmers' Market Newsletter
To: mapaul@gmail.com
From: Certified Farmers Market <farmersmarkets@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Subject: Certified Farmers' Market Newsletter
To: mapaul@gmail.com
 |
Week of Monday, July 27th |
Ready for Market
Tomatoes with History Chances are, if you shop at the local farmers' market you've picked up an unusual looking tomato. Perhaps it weighed over a pound and had flame-like yellow stripes, and you remarked to yourself, "this is NOT your grandma's tomato!" This tomato, an heirloom tomato, might not be your grandma's, but its history goes back many generations. Heirloom varieties are tomato plants that have not been modified. Instead, many heirloom varieties are the same as they were 100 years ago. Their seeds were likely saved and passed down through family members, including grandmothers, through the changing generations. This is how they earned the name heirloom. Now that heirloom tomatoes have gained popularity, their seeds and plants are more widely available, but their growing methods remain traditional. Here are some varieties available at the market: Black Prince: This juicy variety has a thin reddish-brown skin with green flesh in the inside. It is originally from Siberia, and was considered quite rare in the United States until recently. Cherokee Purple: One of the sweetest tomato varieties. It is medium sized with a mixture of dark green and red on the inside. Many people believe this variety originated with the Cherokee Indians and is more than 100 years old. Marvel Striped: This variety originated in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Zapotec people who were indigenous to the area over 2500 years ago are likely to have first cultivated this variety, as well as other pleated tomatoes. Marvel striped can be medium sized and round or grow large and pleated. It is always a beautiful warm gold with coral stripes, and has a lovely fruity flavor. A similar-lookng fruit named Mr. Stripey originates from 19th century Mennonites who farmed in the Appalachian region of Virginia. It has a mild low-acid flavor. Note: some people refer to the hybrid Tigerella as "Mister Stripey," but this is an entirely different tomato. Brandywine: Most of these tomatoes are very large and dense, and are prone to cracking. Sometimes the cracks and the heft are the best indications of a truly delicious Brandywine. They have bright colorful stripes and come in colors ranging from red and pink to yellow. It is said that the seeds came from the Sudduth family who had kept the variety for 80 years before passing them to an Ohio farmer, Ben Quisenberry. He introduced them to the Seed Savers Exchange in 1982 and the rest is... history. |
Please Help Spread the Word & Forward to Friends Thank You! |
For times and locations, go to You can also subscribe to this newsletter. |
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Sunday, July 26, 2009
I'm in ur sidewalkz, blockn ur wheelchairz --Signed, Miramonte Trovas Mgmt
Here's an example of the douchebag in Mitamonte Trovas's front leasing office who parks his motorcycle in the middle of the leasing office's entrance. He parks it there to demonstrate two things:
1. How much the staff and maintenance enjoy taking shortcuts and treating their residents (wow, especially their disabled residents) like sub-humans, and;
2. How safe it is to leave your vehicle out of sight in the parking lot. He wouldn't want someone taking off with his crotch rocket now, would he? No, of course not. So why not partially block one of the two entrance points?
So glad I am out of here. Do not rent here! Unless, of course you're ghetto-fabulous. In that case, move right in. You'll feel right at home.
1. How much the staff and maintenance enjoy taking shortcuts and treating their residents (wow, especially their disabled residents) like sub-humans, and;
2. How safe it is to leave your vehicle out of sight in the parking lot. He wouldn't want someone taking off with his crotch rocket now, would he? No, of course not. So why not partially block one of the two entrance points?
So glad I am out of here. Do not rent here! Unless, of course you're ghetto-fabulous. In that case, move right in. You'll feel right at home.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Life Boils Down to 2 Questions
Life really boils down to just 2 questions...
1. Should I get a dog....?
OR...
2. Should I have children?
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Quicken: Bank of America and the OL-226-A Error
UPDATE: Are you still a Quicken user? What are you doing? Go download YNAB and change the way you budget... for the better.
----- Original Post -----
QUICK & DIRTY:
Here's a quick PRO TIP that WORKS for the infamous OL-226-A Error that Quicken produces whenever you try to download your Bank of America credit-card-only (i.e., you don't have a checking account with them, just a credit card) account information via Direct Connect:
Create a new account and choose Bank of America - All Other States. Once your new account is created you'll need to categorize all your transactions, but from here on out you should be able to download your monthly statement via direct connect without issue.
DETAILED BACKGROUND:
For years, I was an MBNA credit card customer. Then in January 2006, Bank of America bought MBNA, and I became a Bank of America customer by default. During this transition, an important banking feature seemed to become quite flakey: the ability to download account informaiton (transactions) directly into Quicken, without going to my bank's web site and downloading them separately.
The inconvenience of not being able to download transactions directly through Quicken was one reason I lost touch with my finances for some quite some time--it was always such a pain to go update my account that I kept putting it off until there was so much data to go through I gave up all together.
Recently, I found myself in a situation where it now made sense to track my income and expenses. I went through all the motions and downloaded my transactions from my financial institutions, categorized the transactions, etc. All was well--even Bank of America--until the very next day after I set up all my accounts.
For some reason, my Bank of America account was only able to download transactions the very first day. Today, it decided it didn't want to update. Now... having had plenty of problems with Quicken in the past, I immediately wrote it off as a quicken problem and began my search.
The error code Quicken gave me was OL-226-A. Seems like lots of people had this error, and most of them had to do with Bank of America. I later learned that many of *those* people were specifically using Bank of America - California specifically.
After lots of troubleshooting over many weeks and months, I finally broke down and called Bank of America, where I waited on hold for over 20 minutes before I spoke to a rep, who proceeded to tell me that I could not use Quicken for a Direct Download of financial transactions because I had a credit-card-only account. He went on to say that if I had a checking account with them, I'd be able to do it no problem.
"No way," I thought. I need a second opinion. So I spoke with the rep's manager, who proceeded to tell me the same story: I must have been downloading transactions all these years by, and I quote, "some unexplained glitch in the system."
I'm sorry, what did I just hear? That must mean that somehow I've been beating the system all these years until something went haywire.
<FoulLanguageWarning>
Excuse me? I think I need to grab my boots, because the bullshit's getting pretty thick. I mean, what kind of shit is that? This is the largest fucking bank in these United States of America, and you mean to tell me that I can't download my transactions using the most popular financial software on the fucking planet? Something's wrong here. Something doesn't add up!
</FoulLanguageWarning>
So after I got off the phone, flaming pissed, I set out to end this bullshit once and for all--after all, I can't leave my boots on forever.
About 15 minutes of serious digging landed me on this gem of a thread from Quicken, which I seem to have misplaced because I first started this post back in December of 2008. (Side note: wow, the blog post that time forgot.)
----- Original Post -----
QUICK & DIRTY:
Here's a quick PRO TIP that WORKS for the infamous OL-226-A Error that Quicken produces whenever you try to download your Bank of America credit-card-only (i.e., you don't have a checking account with them, just a credit card) account information via Direct Connect:
Create a new account and choose Bank of America - All Other States. Once your new account is created you'll need to categorize all your transactions, but from here on out you should be able to download your monthly statement via direct connect without issue.
DETAILED BACKGROUND:
For years, I was an MBNA credit card customer. Then in January 2006, Bank of America bought MBNA, and I became a Bank of America customer by default. During this transition, an important banking feature seemed to become quite flakey: the ability to download account informaiton (transactions) directly into Quicken, without going to my bank's web site and downloading them separately.
The inconvenience of not being able to download transactions directly through Quicken was one reason I lost touch with my finances for some quite some time--it was always such a pain to go update my account that I kept putting it off until there was so much data to go through I gave up all together.
Recently, I found myself in a situation where it now made sense to track my income and expenses. I went through all the motions and downloaded my transactions from my financial institutions, categorized the transactions, etc. All was well--even Bank of America--until the very next day after I set up all my accounts.
For some reason, my Bank of America account was only able to download transactions the very first day. Today, it decided it didn't want to update. Now... having had plenty of problems with Quicken in the past, I immediately wrote it off as a quicken problem and began my search.
The error code Quicken gave me was OL-226-A. Seems like lots of people had this error, and most of them had to do with Bank of America. I later learned that many of *those* people were specifically using Bank of America - California specifically.
After lots of troubleshooting over many weeks and months, I finally broke down and called Bank of America, where I waited on hold for over 20 minutes before I spoke to a rep, who proceeded to tell me that I could not use Quicken for a Direct Download of financial transactions because I had a credit-card-only account. He went on to say that if I had a checking account with them, I'd be able to do it no problem.
"No way," I thought. I need a second opinion. So I spoke with the rep's manager, who proceeded to tell me the same story: I must have been downloading transactions all these years by, and I quote, "some unexplained glitch in the system."
I'm sorry, what did I just hear? That must mean that somehow I've been beating the system all these years until something went haywire.
<FoulLanguageWarning>
Excuse me? I think I need to grab my boots, because the bullshit's getting pretty thick. I mean, what kind of shit is that? This is the largest fucking bank in these United States of America, and you mean to tell me that I can't download my transactions using the most popular financial software on the fucking planet? Something's wrong here. Something doesn't add up!
</FoulLanguageWarning>
So after I got off the phone, flaming pissed, I set out to end this bullshit once and for all--after all, I can't leave my boots on forever.
About 15 minutes of serious digging landed me on this gem of a thread from Quicken, which I seem to have misplaced because I first started this post back in December of 2008. (Side note: wow, the blog post that time forgot.)
In any event, I was able to delete my current Bank of America account in Quicken, the re-establish it using this little trick: when Quicken asks you what state your account is located in, choose Bank of America - All Other States.
That's it! So far, it seems to be working well... but I must say, I'm a Mac user once again and I've been waiting eons for Quicken to come out with a Mac version of Quicken... and I've been let down yet again. Quicken Financial Life for Mac will not be coming out until at least February 2010. I say "at least" because they company has pushed it back several times since 2008. At this point, I think I'm considering moving on to something like Mint.com -- I've been trying the two in parallel, and I'm noticing some interesting differences.
For example, Quicken only downloads Bank of America's credit card statements once per month as an entire statement; Mint, on the other hand, downloads transactions on a per-transaction basis, as if you were logging into the site directly and viewing the latest and greatest. This is particularly handy because after a month passes and I download all my transactions into Quicken, I often wonder what certain expenses are that I don't have receipts for. With Mint, I can check it daily, weekly, whenever the mood strikes me.
What's more, while both programs automatically categorize your downloaded transactions, Mint puts Quicken to shame because it is constantly improving its algorithms/database to predict which category your income and expenses really are. Unlike its aging great grandfather Quicken, which seems a bit like it's playing pin the tail on the donkey--in the dark.
Would I switch to Mint today? Probably not. While graphs are nice, I like the reporting in quicken because I use a zero-based budgeting system and need to make sure certain numbers get down to zero by the end of the month... reporting makes that easy. I also like the flexibility of entering transactions manually--like when you write a check today and nobody deposits it for a month--that Quicken has and Mint desperately needs. Sometimes those laggard checks get deposited at the wrong time, creating surprises. But had I been able to enter that transaction manually, I'd have seen that my balance really wasn't $1,000 but $1,000 minus that $500 check and, well, I wouldn't have bought that $501 collector's postage stamp. ;)
Phew, that was a long post. If you're still reading this, you either really liked what I had to say (thank you) or have too much time on your hands. Or both. ;)
Till next time, World!
Maintenance at Miramonte Trovas Apartments
Our apartment at Miramonte & Trovas, while recently built, has a moisture issue for reasons we have yet to understand. We have been told (and have tried) to open our windows, run our air conditioner more often, and basically "do it yourselves" to get rid of the moisture problem.
Well, we've finally had it with the maintenance here, and that is why we're moving.
When we walk into our apartment, it feels damp and muggy. There is a smell about the air--a musky smell. We generally sneeze and sometimes cough upon entry. Our eyes become irritated. Sometimes one sneeze turns into a sneezing fit that goes on a good 5 or 6 sneezes. We have no pets. Our doors have been closed all day. We're not allergic to anything inside our apartment--except the mold.
You see, the moisture problem has led to a mold problem, which management here at Miramonte Trovas doesn't seem to care about "unless there's staining or the bathroom walls are bubbling, because they're designed to do that when there's mold." Basically: unless you've got a full-blown mold outbreak from a leaky pipe and your wall or cupboard is mushy or falling apart, they could care less about your plight and give you the old "there's nothing we can do" attitude.
That's not team spirit. And certainly not representative of the way they feel about their tenants, right?
Wrong. We've been given lots of advice about how to stop the mold from growing... such sage advice as, "leave your windows open while you're gone during the day." Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, given that we're on the first floor. Oh, and then there was the obvious one: "you know, just keep your windows open... even when it's raining outside... I know it's tough, but that'll help keep the air flowing." Are you kidding me?
And then there was this: "78 degrees is a little warm for an apartment while you're gone all day... how about 70?" Wait, isn't the whole point of air conditioning to keep the place nice and comfortable while you're home? While we're at work, there's no point to keep the house at 70 degrees. 78 has been fine at every place we've lived in before.
Our conclusion: this specific unit has some kind of ventilation problem, but nobody wants to do anything about it and make it right. The manager even went so far as to say that all of the apartments have this moisture problem because of their "low ceilings" and the apartments being "on top of one another."
Excuse me, but aren't all multi-level apartments on top of each other? Oh, and by the way, in what world do "
And those mold home test kits? Don't even bother. According to our management here, you could set the petri dish outside and get the same results as what we got inside, which was nasty. So the mold test kits are worthless.
So, management offered to send out a ventilation expert, and see if there was something wrong with the apartment's ventilation system. Note I said system, not just a couple of fans. But you can guess what happened by now. No system was checked--just two fans. One in the bathroom, the other in the kitchen.
Here's the video below, complete with transcription based on what I could hear. The man in blue is our maintenance guy. The man in red is the ventilation expert. Mind you, these guys are supposed to try and figure out why our apartment is always so moist. Could be anything. Bathroom fan, laundry room fan, HVAC ductwork... and here's what they spent their time on. (Skip to 3:00 for entry into apartment.)
Transcript:
Blue: "Hello, Maintenance!"
Red: "Not the best location for one of those, that's for sure." "...ceiling..."
Blue: "They're all like that though."
Red: "Ah."
Red: "and then there's somethin about the kitchen fan, too--from what I was told."
Blue: "It's a recycler, there's uh--uh, there's no exhaust... they think it goes up to uh..."
Red: "Maybe that's what she's trippin about."
Blue: "What?"
Red: "The fact that there's no exhaust and she doesn't understand that."
Blue: "Oh yeah, duh"
Red: "It's smokin, and it's blowin out there."
Blue: "Yeah, they're weird dude."
Red: "Oh really?"
Blue: "Yeah, they give me the weirdest shit dude, like... I dunno, she's allergic to hot air or some shit."
Red: "Hot air?"
Blue: "And then she had something uhm, ... I just fixed her fucking doors or something."
Red: "Okay."
Blue: "Kinda weird people."
I dunno, I'm just drivin up here to check the fans, and it looks like all conditions are clean.
Well, we've finally had it with the maintenance here, and that is why we're moving.
When we walk into our apartment, it feels damp and muggy. There is a smell about the air--a musky smell. We generally sneeze and sometimes cough upon entry. Our eyes become irritated. Sometimes one sneeze turns into a sneezing fit that goes on a good 5 or 6 sneezes. We have no pets. Our doors have been closed all day. We're not allergic to anything inside our apartment--except the mold.
You see, the moisture problem has led to a mold problem, which management here at Miramonte Trovas doesn't seem to care about "unless there's staining or the bathroom walls are bubbling, because they're designed to do that when there's mold." Basically: unless you've got a full-blown mold outbreak from a leaky pipe and your wall or cupboard is mushy or falling apart, they could care less about your plight and give you the old "there's nothing we can do" attitude.
That's not team spirit. And certainly not representative of the way they feel about their tenants, right?
Wrong. We've been given lots of advice about how to stop the mold from growing... such sage advice as, "leave your windows open while you're gone during the day." Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, given that we're on the first floor. Oh, and then there was the obvious one: "you know, just keep your windows open... even when it's raining outside... I know it's tough, but that'll help keep the air flowing." Are you kidding me?
And then there was this: "78 degrees is a little warm for an apartment while you're gone all day... how about 70?" Wait, isn't the whole point of air conditioning to keep the place nice and comfortable while you're home? While we're at work, there's no point to keep the house at 70 degrees. 78 has been fine at every place we've lived in before.
Our conclusion: this specific unit has some kind of ventilation problem, but nobody wants to do anything about it and make it right. The manager even went so far as to say that all of the apartments have this moisture problem because of their "low ceilings" and the apartments being "on top of one another."
Excuse me, but aren't all multi-level apartments on top of each other? Oh, and by the way, in what world do "
And those mold home test kits? Don't even bother. According to our management here, you could set the petri dish outside and get the same results as what we got inside, which was nasty. So the mold test kits are worthless.
So, management offered to send out a ventilation expert, and see if there was something wrong with the apartment's ventilation system. Note I said system, not just a couple of fans. But you can guess what happened by now. No system was checked--just two fans. One in the bathroom, the other in the kitchen.
Here's the video below, complete with transcription based on what I could hear. The man in blue is our maintenance guy. The man in red is the ventilation expert. Mind you, these guys are supposed to try and figure out why our apartment is always so moist. Could be anything. Bathroom fan, laundry room fan, HVAC ductwork... and here's what they spent their time on. (Skip to 3:00 for entry into apartment.)
Transcript:
Blue: "Hello, Maintenance!"
Red: "Not the best location for one of those, that's for sure."
Blue: "They're all like that though."
Red: "Ah."
Red: "and then there's somethin about the kitchen fan, too--from what I was told."
Blue: "It's a recycler, there's uh--uh, there's no exhaust... they think it goes up to uh..."
Red: "Maybe that's what she's trippin about."
Blue: "What?"
Red: "The fact that there's no exhaust and she doesn't understand that."
Blue: "Oh yeah, duh"
Red:
Blue: "Yeah, they're weird dude."
Red: "Oh really?"
Blue: "Yeah, they give me the weirdest shit dude, like... I dunno, she's allergic to hot air or some shit."
Red: "Hot air?"
Blue: "And then she had something uhm, ... I just fixed her fucking doors or something."
Red: "Okay."
Blue: "Kinda weird people."
I dunno, I'm just drivin up here to check the fans, and it looks like all conditions are clean.
A fine example of how our apartment complex treats it's disabled residents and visitors
Here is a best-in-class example of how Miramonte Trovas Apartments treats its disabled residents and visitors. Not only are they parked in the handicapped parking space, but they're also blocking the wheelchair ramp. Stay classy, Miramonte!
Mike
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
This is how you give great #CustomerService
I received an email the other day from the founder of Pandora, an internet radio service that plays only the music you like, based on a simple premise: start off your radio station with an artist or song as a "seed" and watch it grow as Pandora presents you with music it thinks you might like, based on your seed. All you have to do to improve the service is vote a Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down to the song that's playing. It learns what you like and don't like, and then adapts to give you quite possibly the best "radio station" out there.
Needless to say, it's indispensable at work, the gym, parties, the list goes on. Apparently, I like it so much that the email from the founder said I was in its top 10% of users, and that my service might be changing slightly. It outlined the details, which seemed reasonable enough such that I was inspired to write back and thank him, cheer him on even.
What happened next was rare: I got an email from Steve, Pandora's Music Operations Manager, who actually sat down and took time out of his busy day to write me personally and make sure I knew it was personal by including a very unique word that I used in my email: "wallop". That's definietely not a word used in a canned response.
That's what inspired this post. It's a free advertisement/endorsement for Pandora and they paid absolutely zero dollars for it; well, let me take that back--all they paid was probably about two minutes worth of someone's time to sit down and write four sentences thanking me for writing, as well as reassuring me that they were fighting the good fight to keep internet radio alive. These guys are the real deal. I knew there was a great reason I loved them so much, aside from the must-have service that everyone (yes, even you!) should use.
Companies whose customer service sucks, please take note: you can change your ways and respond in a way similar to how Steve at Pandora did. This creates customer delight, such that they are inspired to be walking advertisements for you, wherever they go. I've signed up family and friends to Pandora and they report that they love it, too. So...
ROCK ON, PANDORA!
(Email chain reprinted with permission.)
________________________________________________________
Here is Tim's original email:
On Jul 7, 2009, at 3:03 PM, "Tim Westergren - Founder, Pandora " <tim.westergren@pandora.com> wrote:
Hi, it’s Tim -
I hope this email finds you enjoying a great summer Pandora soundtrack.
I’m writing with some important news. Please forgive the lengthy email; it requires some explaining.
First, I want to let you know that we’ve reached a resolution to the calamitous Internet radio royalty ruling of 2007. After more than two precarious years, we are finally on safe ground with a long-term agreement for survivable royalty rates – thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our listeners who voiced an absolute avalanche of support for us on Capitol Hill. We are deeply thankful.
While we did the best we could to lower the rates, we are going to have to make an adjustment that will affect about 10% of our users who are our heaviest listeners. Specifically, we are going to begin limiting listening to 40 hours per month on the web. Because we have to pay royalty fees per song and per listener, it makes very heavy listeners hard to support on advertising alone. Most listeners will never hit this cap, but it seems that you might.
We hate the idea of capping anyone's usage, so we've been working to devise an alternative for listeners like you. We've come up with two solutions and we hope that one of them will work for you:
Your first option is to continue listening just as you have been and, if and when you reach the 40 hour limit in a given month, to pay just $0.99 for unlimited listening for the rest of that month. This isn't a subscription. You can pay by credit card and your card will be charged for just that one month. You'll be able to keep listening as much as you'd like for the remainder of the month. We hope this is relatively painless and affordable - the same price as a single song download.
Your second option is to upgrade to our premium version called Pandora One. Pandora One costs $36 per year. In addition to unlimited monthly listening and no advertising, Pandora One offers very high quality 192 Kbps streams, an elegant desktop application that eliminates the need for a browser, personalized skins for the Pandora player, and a number of other features: http://www.pandora.com/pandora_one.> If neither of these options works for you, I hope you'll keep listening to the free version - 40 hours each month will go a long way, especially if you're really careful about hitting pause when you’re not listening. We’ll be sure to let you know if you start getting close to the limit, and we’ve created a counter you can access to see how many hours you’ve already used each month. We’ll be implementing this change starting this month (July), I’d welcome your feedback and suggestions. The combination of our usage patterns and the "per song per listener" royalty cost creates a financial reality that we can't ignore...but we very much want you to continue listening for years to come. Please don't hesitate to email me back with your thoughts. Sincerely, Tim Founder This is a one-time account message. © copyright 2009, Pandora Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 360 22nd Street - Suite 440 - Oakland CA - 94612 If you have any trouble, please email pandora-support@pandora.com. Privacy Policy ________________________________________________________ My response: Well, I think this is a great compromise. $1 is quite reasonable, considering how much it probably costs you to play just one song. Thanks for the heads up! I listen every day at work, tell all my friends about it (and invite them, too), and it's especially useful at parties. Keep up the good work and I hope you're able to knock some sense into the music industry because they sure deserve a wallop. Mike ________________________________________________________ Final response from Steve: On Jul 8, 2009, at 12:37 PM, Steve Hogan <steve@pandora.com> wrote: Mike, Hi, I'm helping Tim out with these emails due to the large volume. We're thrilled to have your continued support, and I'm glad to hear that you think one of our new options will suit your needs. We'll do our best to keep Pandora as free as possible, and I hope we can be the soundtrack for your workday for many years to come! We will continue to wallop as best we can! Cheers, Steve Hogan -- Steve Hogan Music Operations Manager -- PANDORA® internet radio from the music genome project - 360 22nd Street Suite 440 Oakland CA 94612 tel: (510) 451-4100 ext. 447 fax: (510) 451-4286
Saturday, July 4, 2009
View entire (paid) WSJ articles for free
This evening Debbie wanted to read an article she found on Wall Street Journal (WSJ) but the article ended after only a couple paragraphs. That's when she turned to a service called BugMeNot, which allows you to log into a web site with a (usually fake or generic) user ID created by one person solely for the purpose of sharing it with others so that others don't enter their personal information and get spammed by the site.
Well, paid sites are barred from BugMeNot, and that's where her search ended. Or so she thought. Just type in digg.com/ before the URL. (It will look like this: digg.com/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124649298279583139.html). Then, just click Submit to Digg and sign up for an account if you don't have one. Once you've submitted it and you're logged into Digg, you can view the entire article for free. The reason this is possible is because WSJ and Digg have a little agreement between each other to make this happen. So you're not "cheating the system" or anything, you're just taking advantage of something that not too many people know about.
Enjoy!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
I heart my car
... Especially when the tires are shiny and clean. I sure hope it doesn't have an untimely death like my last few. ;)
Mike
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Conversations with a TV Character
I was lost in the interwebs today, which I often am, and stumbled upon this twitter account, @drlisacuddy. Name: Lisa Cuddy, MD. Location: Princeton, NJ.
"Wow," I thought. I haven't seen a doctor look like this much of a cover girl in... well, ever. "Something's not right about her twitter background though," I thought. It must have been the way she sat in that modern white thatched chair with her ankle twisted just right, aligning her high-heeled shoe with the floor with that hooker kind of pose. Or perhaps it was that casual half-smile with those "Hey, big fella" cougar eyes. Or, it could have been that low-cut top combined with the pencil skirt that stopped above the knee. After putting it all together, it was clear to me that this person was a fake.
But her username has "dr" in it, she has MD in her name, and she's in Princeton. Seems possible... but that background... oh that background!
Well, I should have read her complete twitter Bio first, especially that last part: Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Mother to Rachel. (Character property of FOX and David Shore etc).
Turns out, this girl's from a TV show on FOX called House. I was unwittingly duped.
See, I don't watch much TV. Hell, I don't even own one. But this goes to show how mainstream twitter has become and versatile the communication platform really is. For some people, twitter's all about "whatchya doin?" while for others, it's all about promoting their new book. Others use it for news delivery. And yet, here we have a fictional character with her own REAL twitter account, making the show she's a part of more immersive.
In other words, people are having conversations with TV characters. Like... what? Mind = blown.
So, I tweeted about it:
And then, about an hour and a half later, I got an unexpected response from "her":
Crazy, right? But interesting. I don't watch the show, but if I did, I'd probably follow the characters if I was really into it. Why not? It's almost like you're a part of the crew who has the inside track on what's going through a character's mind--what's going to happen next. What an immersive experience that could be, if done right.
So, kudos to the FOX team for using Twitter in a creative way.
I tagged this post as [human interactions], but now I'm not so sure. ;)
"Wow," I thought. I haven't seen a doctor look like this much of a cover girl in... well, ever. "Something's not right about her twitter background though," I thought. It must have been the way she sat in that modern white thatched chair with her ankle twisted just right, aligning her high-heeled shoe with the floor with that hooker kind of pose. Or perhaps it was that casual half-smile with those "Hey, big fella" cougar eyes. Or, it could have been that low-cut top combined with the pencil skirt that stopped above the knee. After putting it all together, it was clear to me that this person was a fake.
But her username has "dr" in it, she has MD in her name, and she's in Princeton. Seems possible... but that background... oh that background!
Well, I should have read her complete twitter Bio first, especially that last part: Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Mother to Rachel. (Character property of FOX and David Shore etc).
Turns out, this girl's from a TV show on FOX called House. I was unwittingly duped.
See, I don't watch much TV. Hell, I don't even own one. But this goes to show how mainstream twitter has become and versatile the communication platform really is. For some people, twitter's all about "whatchya doin?" while for others, it's all about promoting their new book. Others use it for news delivery. And yet, here we have a fictional character with her own REAL twitter account, making the show she's a part of more immersive.
In other words, people are having conversations with TV characters. Like... what? Mind = blown.
So, I tweeted about it:
And then, about an hour and a half later, I got an unexpected response from "her":
Crazy, right? But interesting. I don't watch the show, but if I did, I'd probably follow the characters if I was really into it. Why not? It's almost like you're a part of the crew who has the inside track on what's going through a character's mind--what's going to happen next. What an immersive experience that could be, if done right.
So, kudos to the FOX team for using Twitter in a creative way.
I tagged this post as [human interactions], but now I'm not so sure. ;)
Friday, May 22, 2009
Go make someone's day today
It's Friday and for some reason I'm in a particularly good mood this morning. So, I decided to respond to what many people might view as a boring but necessary corporate reminder about filling our our time sheets. Apparently, that email made her day, which in turn made mine.
All personally identifiable/confidential information has been changed, except my name.
________________________________________
From: Doe, Jane
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 10:30 AM
To: Paul, Michael
Subject: RE: Approvals and the holiday weekend
Thank you so much for the note. I really appreciate it, it made my day!!
________________________________________
From: Paul, Michael
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 9:51 AM
To: Doe, Jane
Subject: RE: Approvals and the holiday weekend
Jane,
Please never feel like you are a broken record when you’re sending out important information like this about how to set up a delegate. There are always new people coming on board who don’t yet know how to do this, and there are always those of us who might want to add another one and haven’t done it in a long time. Not speaking for myself; just standing up for others.
Also, I find a lot of value in these reminders. There have been several times where I have left work on Friday without submitting my time sheet and my project’s designee always sends me a text message reminding me of my blunder. I thank her for that, just as I thank you for this. :)
Keep up the great work, and I hope you have a great weekend too.
Mike
________________________________________
From: Doe, Jane
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 9:11 AM
To: All Members
Subject: Approvals and the holiday weekend
Hello everyone. As we look forward to a long weekend; I wanted to remind you to submit your timesheets today if possible, since the approval deadlines will not change and Monday, May 25th is a holiday. I am sure you all have this down by now, but here is a reminder on how to set up a delegate in PSA if necessary.
[Instructions]
I know you are all working really hard these days; and I hope you are able to enjoy a relaxing and fun-filled holiday weekend.
~Jane
Jane Doe | HR Director
Our Great Company | p.213.867.5309| c. 213.867.5309| f. 213.867.5309
123 Green St, Suite 1| Greensville, CA 90210
All personally identifiable/confidential information has been changed, except my name.
________________________________________
From: Doe, Jane
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 10:30 AM
To: Paul, Michael
Subject: RE: Approvals and the holiday weekend
Thank you so much for the note. I really appreciate it, it made my day!!
________________________________________
From: Paul, Michael
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 9:51 AM
To: Doe, Jane
Subject: RE: Approvals and the holiday weekend
Jane,
Please never feel like you are a broken record when you’re sending out important information like this about how to set up a delegate. There are always new people coming on board who don’t yet know how to do this, and there are always those of us who might want to add another one and haven’t done it in a long time. Not speaking for myself; just standing up for others.
Also, I find a lot of value in these reminders. There have been several times where I have left work on Friday without submitting my time sheet and my project’s designee always sends me a text message reminding me of my blunder. I thank her for that, just as I thank you for this. :)
Keep up the great work, and I hope you have a great weekend too.
Mike
________________________________________
From: Doe, Jane
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 9:11 AM
To: All Members
Subject: Approvals and the holiday weekend
Hello everyone. As we look forward to a long weekend; I wanted to remind you to submit your timesheets today if possible, since the approval deadlines will not change and Monday, May 25th is a holiday. I am sure you all have this down by now, but here is a reminder on how to set up a delegate in PSA if necessary.
[Instructions]
I know you are all working really hard these days; and I hope you are able to enjoy a relaxing and fun-filled holiday weekend.
~Jane
Jane Doe | HR Director
Our Great Company | p.213.867.5309| c. 213.867.5309| f. 213.867.5309
123 Green St, Suite 1| Greensville, CA 90210
Friday, May 1, 2009
Wash Your Hands
With the recent outbreak of Swine Flu, I thought I would take a moment to do this public service announcement: please, wash your hands for 20 seconds.
Don't do what so many people do after they go to the bathroom. What am I talking about? Well, you know the type--they're the ones who turn on the water, splash some on their finger tips, flip the faucet off, and quickly dry their hands on one sheet of paper towel before hastily exiting the bathroom. The entire process takes them about five seconds.
What's the number one way to prevent the spread of disease--not to mention just simply avoiding catching a cold? Wash your hands. And don't be one of "those" people who do the 5-second squirt. Strive for cleanliness and, hey, you might even consider using soap!
The proper way to wash your hands is with warm water, soap, scrub for 20 seconds, rinse, and then dry. The whole process might take a minute, tops, from start to finish.
So please, don't do like a lot of people do and just shrug it off... do the world--and yourself--a favor by washing your hands so you keep yourself healthy and you don't end up like this guy (or this girl):
Don't do what so many people do after they go to the bathroom. What am I talking about? Well, you know the type--they're the ones who turn on the water, splash some on their finger tips, flip the faucet off, and quickly dry their hands on one sheet of paper towel before hastily exiting the bathroom. The entire process takes them about five seconds.
What's the number one way to prevent the spread of disease--not to mention just simply avoiding catching a cold? Wash your hands. And don't be one of "those" people who do the 5-second squirt. Strive for cleanliness and, hey, you might even consider using soap!
The proper way to wash your hands is with warm water, soap, scrub for 20 seconds, rinse, and then dry. The whole process might take a minute, tops, from start to finish.
So please, don't do like a lot of people do and just shrug it off... do the world--and yourself--a favor by washing your hands so you keep yourself healthy and you don't end up like this guy (or this girl):
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The TrapCall Bait and Switch
On April 8, 2009, TrapCall, a free service that allows you to unmask a blocked Caller ID, sent out an email detailing "important changes coming to TrapCall." Normally I just shrug these off and read them whenever, but I decided to read this one about 23 hours later. Boy, am I glad I did.
You see, TrapCall made the decision to change the way it does business. TrapCall has decided that its free account will now be ad-supported. But how do you do that? Not everyone has text messaging plans, so that's out. Ah, let's see... how about changing the way you check your voicemail? Yes, that's it.
Now, you've got to change your voicemail number to some other number, which, when I tested it three times, I was twice unable to get through. (My first attempt was greeted with an "all circuits are busy" message, the second attempt went through, and the third attempt was met with a fast busy signal.)
Once you've changed the number and successfully dialed in, you'll be greeted with a "short advertisement." Though how short, I don't know because it's been a while since I keyed in my voicemail password. Why, you ask? Well for one thing, when I set my voicemail up, I entered my password exactly one time and haven't used it since. Reason number two: I'm an iPhone user.
I don't know if you've heard of the iPhone or not, but it's this slightly revolutionary internet connected device that a few people think is pretty cool. One of the selling points on the iPhone was/is its Visual Voicemail feature. For those who don't know, Visual Voicemail is great because you can sort through your voicemails just like email. It provides a visual interface to your messages so you can easily play the ones you want, delete the ones you want, call a person back after listening, and many other great things. It's as easy as reading and deleting email.
Now, after getting so very used to this great way of interacting with voicemail, imagine a world where this valuable feature is gone. That's right, gone. So I've gone from Visual Voicemail bliss to back to the stone age and having to dial in to retrieve my voicemail. On top of that, I have to sit through an ad. Ugh. Way to ruin a great free service.
"But wait," they say, "Visual Voicemail will continue to work flawlessly with the Bug Trap plan! It's only $2.95 a month. Cheaper than Starbucks ;)" Hurray! It can be argued that $2.95 is a fair price to pay for such a great service, but that's beside the point. The point is this: without warning, they told their users, "ohai, btw, you'll need to create a new voicemail account, like, yesterday. and you'll get to listen to an ad b4 u listen 2 yer voicemailz. kthxbai!"
So basically what this means is they've crippled your Visual Voicemail feature without advanced warning, and are basically saying, "You don't like it? Step up to the $2.95 service plan." Classic bait and switch. Don't believe me? here's the tweet straight from the horse's mouth to prove it. And another. And another.
Here's something else that chaps my hide: as of this writing, TrapCall is in BETA. Here, let me show you:
That's the logo from its website at 9:38 PM on April 9, 2009, one day after they sent out their letter, wherein they mysteriously removed the BETA tag. So aside from the obvious, that's also what's rubbing people the wrong way. You don't pay for a BETA service. BETA means that the service or product is in TESTING MODE. So not only is this service in BETA, but they're crippling your visual voicemail, and throwing an ad in there that may or may not be relevant to your interests. Unless, of course, you pay.
Not only that, but TrapCall gave its users very short notice before they made the switchover. The email was sent at 8:56 PM and said "Important Changes Coming to TrapCall Tonight". AKA Zero Notice. They claim to not have switched over iPhone users yet, but some users are reporting on Twitter that they have been unable to access voicemail. Here's a conversation that happened on Twitter about this:
Talk about a way to ruin a great thing. Forcing people to sit through advertising sucks. Bait and swich tactics suck. But the service is useful! *Grumble* However, I'm not going to pay $2.95/mo for it. Perhaps $0.50, or even $0.99, but nothing over a dollar for something that kills a perfectly good feature of my phone for no reason other than advertising.
So, below is the email in its entirety, excluding personal information. It contains nothing about them moving out of BETA, other than the BETA tag being removed from their email's logo.I guess the question is, did they suddenly come out of beta and not announce the switch?
Also, pay careful attention to the "When do I have to make my decision?" section: they say that if you don't wish to upgrade, no further action is needed--but you still have to change your voicemail number to access your voicemail. Say what?
One more thing: we have two phones in our household that were using TrapCall's free service. I canceled my iPhone account with TrapCall immediately, but tested out the other phone to see what would happen when we rejected a blocked call.
First, the blocked call was sent to TrapCall, unblocked, and routed back to our phone. Then we rejected the call and sent it to voicemail, which sent the call back over to TrapCall's servers. But because we had not yet changed the voicemail number to the new number, TrapCall routed the call *back* to our cell phone, where we had to reject it a third time. At this point, the call was routed to AT&T's voicemail system, and we were able to play it without listening to an advertisement.
I don't know how TrapCall's voicemail system works (whether it's a 3rd party voicemail system or whether it just plays an ad before routing you to your cell company's voicemail system), but I do know that once you reprogram your voicemail number to the new one you will be forced to listen to advertisements before your voicemail is played to you.
You see, TrapCall made the decision to change the way it does business. TrapCall has decided that its free account will now be ad-supported. But how do you do that? Not everyone has text messaging plans, so that's out. Ah, let's see... how about changing the way you check your voicemail? Yes, that's it.
Now, you've got to change your voicemail number to some other number, which, when I tested it three times, I was twice unable to get through. (My first attempt was greeted with an "all circuits are busy" message, the second attempt went through, and the third attempt was met with a fast busy signal.)
Once you've changed the number and successfully dialed in, you'll be greeted with a "short advertisement." Though how short, I don't know because it's been a while since I keyed in my voicemail password. Why, you ask? Well for one thing, when I set my voicemail up, I entered my password exactly one time and haven't used it since. Reason number two: I'm an iPhone user.
I don't know if you've heard of the iPhone or not, but it's this slightly revolutionary internet connected device that a few people think is pretty cool. One of the selling points on the iPhone was/is its Visual Voicemail feature. For those who don't know, Visual Voicemail is great because you can sort through your voicemails just like email. It provides a visual interface to your messages so you can easily play the ones you want, delete the ones you want, call a person back after listening, and many other great things. It's as easy as reading and deleting email.
Now, after getting so very used to this great way of interacting with voicemail, imagine a world where this valuable feature is gone. That's right, gone. So I've gone from Visual Voicemail bliss to back to the stone age and having to dial in to retrieve my voicemail. On top of that, I have to sit through an ad. Ugh. Way to ruin a great free service.
"But wait," they say, "Visual Voicemail will continue to work flawlessly with the Bug Trap plan! It's only $2.95 a month. Cheaper than Starbucks ;)" Hurray! It can be argued that $2.95 is a fair price to pay for such a great service, but that's beside the point. The point is this: without warning, they told their users, "ohai, btw, you'll need to create a new voicemail account, like, yesterday. and you'll get to listen to an ad b4 u listen 2 yer voicemailz. kthxbai!"
So basically what this means is they've crippled your Visual Voicemail feature without advanced warning, and are basically saying, "You don't like it? Step up to the $2.95 service plan." Classic bait and switch. Don't believe me? here's the tweet straight from the horse's mouth to prove it. And another. And another.
Here's something else that chaps my hide: as of this writing, TrapCall is in BETA. Here, let me show you:
That's the logo from its website at 9:38 PM on April 9, 2009, one day after they sent out their letter, wherein they mysteriously removed the BETA tag. So aside from the obvious, that's also what's rubbing people the wrong way. You don't pay for a BETA service. BETA means that the service or product is in TESTING MODE. So not only is this service in BETA, but they're crippling your visual voicemail, and throwing an ad in there that may or may not be relevant to your interests. Unless, of course, you pay.
Not only that, but TrapCall gave its users very short notice before they made the switchover. The email was sent at 8:56 PM and said "Important Changes Coming to TrapCall Tonight". AKA Zero Notice. They claim to not have switched over iPhone users yet, but some users are reporting on Twitter that they have been unable to access voicemail. Here's a conversation that happened on Twitter about this:
Talk about a way to ruin a great thing. Forcing people to sit through advertising sucks. Bait and swich tactics suck. But the service is useful! *Grumble* However, I'm not going to pay $2.95/mo for it. Perhaps $0.50, or even $0.99, but nothing over a dollar for something that kills a perfectly good feature of my phone for no reason other than advertising.
So, below is the email in its entirety, excluding personal information. It contains nothing about them moving out of BETA, other than the BETA tag being removed from their email's logo.I guess the question is, did they suddenly come out of beta and not announce the switch?
Also, pay careful attention to the "When do I have to make my decision?" section: they say that if you don't wish to upgrade, no further action is needed--but you still have to change your voicemail number to access your voicemail. Say what?
One more thing: we have two phones in our household that were using TrapCall's free service. I canceled my iPhone account with TrapCall immediately, but tested out the other phone to see what would happen when we rejected a blocked call.
First, the blocked call was sent to TrapCall, unblocked, and routed back to our phone. Then we rejected the call and sent it to voicemail, which sent the call back over to TrapCall's servers. But because we had not yet changed the voicemail number to the new number, TrapCall routed the call *back* to our cell phone, where we had to reject it a third time. At this point, the call was routed to AT&T's voicemail system, and we were able to play it without listening to an advertisement.
I don't know how TrapCall's voicemail system works (whether it's a 3rd party voicemail system or whether it just plays an ad before routing you to your cell company's voicemail system), but I do know that once you reprogram your voicemail number to the new one you will be forced to listen to advertisements before your voicemail is played to you.
You're receiving this newsletter because you are a TRAPCALL CUSTOMER TrapCall.com. | |
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Friday, April 3, 2009
Turn Twitter into a real-time news aggregator
Today there was a shooting in Binghamton, NY. I found out about it on Twitter via @JasonCalacanis. I was curious to know more about it, so I searched Google News. While I did find some interesting articles, that's only one perspective. What about the people's account and what's on their mind, though? For that, we turn to Twitter.
But then we have a problem. You arrive at search.twitter.com, but the question becomes, "well, what the hell do I search for now? Shooting? Murder? Answer: none of the above. You search for *everything* around the Binghamton, NY area. But how? Not everybody has the werewithal to tag their posts #Binghamton every time they talk about the shooting... and who says that's the right tag to use? In short, it can be hard to find exactly what you're looking for.
The shooting occured in Binghampton, so what we will search for is tweets that happened in or around Binghamton. But how? We use a qualifier. That qualifier is near:
So, a sample search on Twitter might look like this, giving you highly relevant results about the current event:
This is just one way to use search on Twitter. For tons more options, you can build a custom search using the Advanced Search, which you can get to by clicking on the link at the right of the Search button. In the search above, you might also include the following qualifier, filter:links, which again can be found on the Advanced Search page.
But then we have a problem. You arrive at search.twitter.com, but the question becomes, "well, what the hell do I search for now? Shooting? Murder? Answer: none of the above. You search for *everything* around the Binghamton, NY area. But how? Not everybody has the werewithal to tag their posts #Binghamton every time they talk about the shooting... and who says that's the right tag to use? In short, it can be hard to find exactly what you're looking for.
The shooting occured in Binghampton, so what we will search for is tweets that happened in or around Binghamton. But how? We use a qualifier. That qualifier is near:
So, a sample search on Twitter might look like this, giving you highly relevant results about the current event:
This is just one way to use search on Twitter. For tons more options, you can build a custom search using the Advanced Search, which you can get to by clicking on the link at the right of the Search button. In the search above, you might also include the following qualifier, filter:links, which again can be found on the Advanced Search page.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Having fun with the help center reps
Today I had a "Live Chat" online with my bank about an auto loan with a loan agent who was all but unreachable. Slightly frustrated that my issue was diverted to a cross-sell for a product I essentially already use, I decided to take a different, to the conversation.
I would also like to point out that, while I understand why scripts are necessary, I really hate them being read to me--especially via text chat. It feels like I'm talking to a robot.
Personally identifiable information (other than my name, since you already know what it is) has been changed.
Duration (actual chatting time) 00:14:11
Operator Gertrude
Chat Transcript
info: Please wait for a representative to respond.
info: Hello. My name is Gertrude. Have you financed a vehicle with Rich Uncle Pennybags in the past 18 months? In the event your vehicle was stolen or totaled in an accident, have you considered how you would pay off your loan and/or come up with a down payment on a replacement vehicle? Rich Uncle Pennybags has a low cost solution that will assist you in these situations. Would you like to hear about it?
info: Your confirmation number for this chat is 123ZOINKSLIKEHEYSCOOB4
Gertrude: Hello Michael, how may I assist you today?
Michael Paul: Hi Gertrude, I just recently got approved for an auto loan and want to know if I can just walk in to a Rich Uncle Pennybags branch to finish the paperwork, or if I still have to deal with "KT", the person assigned to my loan, over the phone.
Michael Paul: KT seems to be unavailable whenever I call.
Gertrude: I will be happy to assist you with this today. In the meantime, have there been any changes to your mailing address, telephone number, or e-mail address?
Michael Paul: no
Gertrude: Thank you for your patience. You will not be able to walk into a branch and sign paper work. Once you and K.T. are able to talk he can set up an appointment with you to visit a branch. While I have you online, I may have a way for you to monitor your account easier. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?
Michael Paul: sure, go ahead.
Gertrude: How often do you use Rich Uncle Pennybags' online banking?
Michael Paul: every day
Gertrude: Great! Based on the fact that you use Rich Uncle Pennybags' online banking often I would recommend Finance Works. We are proud to offer Finance Works, a free personal money management tool. This great software is offered by Intuit, the same company that offers Quicken. Rich Uncle Pennybags is the second financial institution in the nation to offer this valuable money management tool. Finance Works will save you time because you can track, organize, and itemize all of your expenses. You can integrate your other Rich Uncle Pennybags accounts, as well as accounts you hold with other financial institutions. With this convenience, you can manage your expenses in one online banking session!
Gertrude: Would you like me to walk you through setting up Finance Works?
Michael Paul: No thanks, I already use Quicken connected to Rich Uncle Pennybags, but i might look into it in the future
Gertrude: Great! Is there anything else I can assist you with today Michael?
Michael Paul: Yeah, I'd like to assign my loan to someone else, because I'm having no luck with K.T. The guy seems impossible to reach unless you have the secret Bat Phone number.
Michael Paul: :-)
Gertrude: I have his direct phone number, would you like me to provide you with this number?
Michael Paul: No, because I have that direct phone number, too.
Michael Paul: ...unless you have the direct number to his Bat Phone ;)
Gertrude: I will be happy to see if I can get another loan officer to contact you.
Michael Paul: That would be outstanding, I really appreciate it.
Gertrude: May I get your best contact number?
Michael Paul: cell phone: 269-867-5309
Gertrude: Great! I will try to have someone contact you soon. Is there anything else I can assist you with today Michael?
Michael Paul: No, you've been great Gertrude! Thanks so much for having someone else contact me.
Gertrude: Thank you for choosing Rich Uncle Pennybags. If you need any assistance, please contact us at (800) 867-5309, or Live Chat at www.RichUnclePennybags.com! We appreciate your business! Have a wonderful day!
Michael Paul: You too :-)
I would also like to point out that, while I understand why scripts are necessary, I really hate them being read to me--especially via text chat. It feels like I'm talking to a robot.
Personally identifiable information (other than my name, since you already know what it is) has been changed.
Duration (actual chatting time) 00:14:11
Operator Gertrude
Chat Transcript
info: Please wait for a representative to respond.
info: Hello. My name is Gertrude. Have you financed a vehicle with Rich Uncle Pennybags in the past 18 months? In the event your vehicle was stolen or totaled in an accident, have you considered how you would pay off your loan and/or come up with a down payment on a replacement vehicle? Rich Uncle Pennybags has a low cost solution that will assist you in these situations. Would you like to hear about it?
info: Your confirmation number for this chat is 123ZOINKSLIKEHEYSCOOB4
Gertrude: Hello Michael, how may I assist you today?
Michael Paul: Hi Gertrude, I just recently got approved for an auto loan and want to know if I can just walk in to a Rich Uncle Pennybags branch to finish the paperwork, or if I still have to deal with "KT", the person assigned to my loan, over the phone.
Michael Paul: KT seems to be unavailable whenever I call.
Gertrude: I will be happy to assist you with this today. In the meantime, have there been any changes to your mailing address, telephone number, or e-mail address?
Michael Paul: no
Gertrude: Thank you for your patience. You will not be able to walk into a branch and sign paper work. Once you and K.T. are able to talk he can set up an appointment with you to visit a branch. While I have you online, I may have a way for you to monitor your account easier. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?
Michael Paul: sure, go ahead.
Gertrude: How often do you use Rich Uncle Pennybags' online banking?
Michael Paul: every day
Gertrude: Great! Based on the fact that you use Rich Uncle Pennybags' online banking often I would recommend Finance Works. We are proud to offer Finance Works, a free personal money management tool. This great software is offered by Intuit, the same company that offers Quicken. Rich Uncle Pennybags is the second financial institution in the nation to offer this valuable money management tool. Finance Works will save you time because you can track, organize, and itemize all of your expenses. You can integrate your other Rich Uncle Pennybags accounts, as well as accounts you hold with other financial institutions. With this convenience, you can manage your expenses in one online banking session!
Gertrude: Would you like me to walk you through setting up Finance Works?
Michael Paul: No thanks, I already use Quicken connected to Rich Uncle Pennybags, but i might look into it in the future
Gertrude: Great! Is there anything else I can assist you with today Michael?
Michael Paul: Yeah, I'd like to assign my loan to someone else, because I'm having no luck with K.T. The guy seems impossible to reach unless you have the secret Bat Phone number.
Michael Paul: :-)
Gertrude: I have his direct phone number, would you like me to provide you with this number?
Michael Paul: No, because I have that direct phone number, too.
Michael Paul: ...unless you have the direct number to his Bat Phone ;)
Gertrude: I will be happy to see if I can get another loan officer to contact you.
Michael Paul: That would be outstanding, I really appreciate it.
Gertrude: May I get your best contact number?
Michael Paul: cell phone: 269-867-5309
Gertrude: Great! I will try to have someone contact you soon. Is there anything else I can assist you with today Michael?
Michael Paul: No, you've been great Gertrude! Thanks so much for having someone else contact me.
Gertrude: Thank you for choosing Rich Uncle Pennybags. If you need any assistance, please contact us at (800) 867-5309, or Live Chat at www.RichUnclePennybags.com! We appreciate your business! Have a wonderful day!
Michael Paul: You too :-)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
What can Google Apps for your Domain do for me?
I recently decided to set up Google Apps for my domain, OlisProducts.com.
"Whether your business is moving everything to the cloud, just wants an affordable email solution or struggles to give employees access to critical information, Google Apps will help you stretch resources and work smarter."
This allows me to do a few things, for free:
So, if you're a small company looking to get it all together, give Google Apps a try. It's free, so there's nothing to lose.
"Whether your business is moving everything to the cloud, just wants an affordable email solution or struggles to give employees access to critical information, Google Apps will help you stretch resources and work smarter."This allows me to do a few things, for free:
- Email. Use Gmail--including the web interface--for all my company's communications. That means that mail coming from mike@olisproducts.com actually gets written, sent, checked and managed through Gmail, just like I'm already familiar with. (What, you aren't already a Gmail user? Go sign up and try it out today.) Why is this nice? Because I love being able to use all the features that gmail offers, like labels, filters, searches, keyboard shortcuts, etc. Once you get used to the web interface and what it has to offer, you'll wonder why you ever used that beastly beast called Outlook.
- Document sharing. We're always working on different documents, whether they're recipes, notes about past and upcoming shows, or copy for upcoming newsletters. And spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets. Wouldn't it be great if our staff could collaborate on documents without being in the same room? Now we can. In fact, there's no "locking" of a document like there is in a normal office setting. While you're editing your spreadsheet, someone else can come in and make edits while you make yours. Google makes seeing who's where in your document a breeze.
- Calendars. Oli's Products goes to several trade shows per year, and it's helpful for our customers to see where we've been and where we'll be next. With Google Apps, creating that calendar is very simple. Embedding it into our website is even simpler--just copy and paste some code.
- Corporate IM. When you're logged into your domain's Gmail account, you have a chat list right in the left side of the web browser containing all of your domain's users and online status. You can, of course, add and remove people at will.
- Sites. If you need a basic web page for something--planning club meetings or activities, for example--you can create basic web pages to suit your task using an easy WYSIWYG editor. No coding required... just drag and drop. Click and edit. Simple.
So, if you're a small company looking to get it all together, give Google Apps a try. It's free, so there's nothing to lose.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Get things done... using Things (for Mac and iPhone)
Straight to the point: if you want to get things done efficiently and all the other to-do managers have failed you in the past, give Things a try. Things, by Cultured Code, is for the Mac and has a companion for the iPhone that's slowly working its way up to have the same feature set as the Mac version.
I'll leave the description up to the creators of the program, but I will tell you this: it's remarkably useful and simple to use. It's got a very simple user interface, and there are too many useful features to pick a favorite. One of them is the ability to tag a task with keywords like "15 min" or "easy" or "errand". Since you can also sort by these tags, you can quickly create a "calls" list or an "errands" list or a list of things to do that will take "15 min" or less.
Another great feature about Things is the ability to organize tasks into Projects and Areas of Responsibility. Projects are large tasks that require smaller mini-tasks. For example, I might have a project called "Paint the house" and the mini-tasks of that project might include things like "buy paint", "find some help", and "check the weather forecast".
Areas of Responsibility allow you to group tasks by how they fit into your life. Is it a financial type of task? Relationship? Are you a blogger? Then you might have an area of responsibility called Blogging.
One final feature that sticks out is the virtual shoebox. That is, say you have a task that's just something you'd like to do, but not necessarily today. It can be done someday in the future. But what do you do with the task since you don't want to clutter up your lists with things you'd like to do someday, but not today? Simple. Just put those tasks in the Someday box. Using this Someday shoebox, you can remove those tasks which don't need to be done anytime soon, but still keep them somewhere in the system for reviewing at a later date.
If you own a Mac and an iPhone, the iPhone version is worth purchasing as well. It's not quite as fully featured as the Mac version (yet) but they're working hard on bringing it up to speed and have made many significant improvements to it over the past several weeks since it's been announced.
And now, I can strike this item off my to-do list.
Blog about Things
Ah, that feels better.
Things for Mac: $49.95
Things for iPhone: $9.99
I'll leave the description up to the creators of the program, but I will tell you this: it's remarkably useful and simple to use. It's got a very simple user interface, and there are too many useful features to pick a favorite. One of them is the ability to tag a task with keywords like "15 min" or "easy" or "errand". Since you can also sort by these tags, you can quickly create a "calls" list or an "errands" list or a list of things to do that will take "15 min" or less.
Another great feature about Things is the ability to organize tasks into Projects and Areas of Responsibility. Projects are large tasks that require smaller mini-tasks. For example, I might have a project called "Paint the house" and the mini-tasks of that project might include things like "buy paint", "find some help", and "check the weather forecast".
Areas of Responsibility allow you to group tasks by how they fit into your life. Is it a financial type of task? Relationship? Are you a blogger? Then you might have an area of responsibility called Blogging.
One final feature that sticks out is the virtual shoebox. That is, say you have a task that's just something you'd like to do, but not necessarily today. It can be done someday in the future. But what do you do with the task since you don't want to clutter up your lists with things you'd like to do someday, but not today? Simple. Just put those tasks in the Someday box. Using this Someday shoebox, you can remove those tasks which don't need to be done anytime soon, but still keep them somewhere in the system for reviewing at a later date.
If you own a Mac and an iPhone, the iPhone version is worth purchasing as well. It's not quite as fully featured as the Mac version (yet) but they're working hard on bringing it up to speed and have made many significant improvements to it over the past several weeks since it's been announced.And now, I can strike this item off my to-do list.
Ah, that feels better.
Things for Mac: $49.95
Things for iPhone: $9.99
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