Mike
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. ;)
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.
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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
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
An easy way to shorten a URL
UPDATED 2/16/09
Have you ever had a long, ugly URL like this...
http://www.theunion.com/article/20090111/NEWS/901119997/1053/NONE&parentprofile=1053&title=Record%20high%20temperatures%20possible
...that you wish could look more like this: http://is.gd/fKGK ?
Quick tip for the day: head on over to http://is.gd and find the Instructions page. From there, drag the link inside the Bookmarklet section up to your Bookmarks Toolbar (aka Favorites Toolbar). If you don't have that toolbar enabled, you can enable it using View > Toolbars > Bookmarks Toolbar in Firefox, or View > Toolbars > Links in good old Internet Explorer.
When you're viewing the page you want to create a short link to, just click the newly-created Bookmark link you created and a short link is created for you using the is.gd service.
Now you can post simple, easy links to services like Twitter or in emails, IMs and more. How about you: do you know of a shorter link than is.gd?
=============
Update: 2/16/09
Just found a way better service than is.gd. Same length, but much more useful: it's called tr.im. That's http://tr.im
If you were curious, .im is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Isle of Man. It is administered by the Government of the Isle of Man and managed on a day to day basis by Domicilium, an offshore Internet Service Provider based on the Isle of Man.
What tr.im does is not only shorten a URL, but provide analytics about who's clicking your links, including such information as the visitor's location (country), Browser version, platform, and more. Crazy cool!
What's more? Simply create an account on the site (all you need is a username, password and email address to confirm you're a human) and you can keep track of all your tr.ims. PLUS, it's taking advantage of Twitter's API, so you can create a bookmarklet using the process above and tweet right from there!
Oh, I love the interwebs.
Have you ever had a long, ugly URL like this...
http://www.theunion.com/article/20090111/NEWS/901119997/1053/NONE&parentprofile=1053&title=Record%20high%20temperatures%20possible
...that you wish could look more like this: http://is.gd/fKGK ?
Quick tip for the day: head on over to http://is.gd and find the Instructions page. From there, drag the link inside the Bookmarklet section up to your Bookmarks Toolbar (aka Favorites Toolbar). If you don't have that toolbar enabled, you can enable it using View > Toolbars > Bookmarks Toolbar in Firefox, or View > Toolbars > Links in good old Internet Explorer.
When you're viewing the page you want to create a short link to, just click the newly-created Bookmark link you created and a short link is created for you using the is.gd service.
Now you can post simple, easy links to services like Twitter or in emails, IMs and more. How about you: do you know of a shorter link than is.gd?
=============
Update: 2/16/09
Just found a way better service than is.gd. Same length, but much more useful: it's called tr.im. That's http://tr.im
If you were curious, .im is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Isle of Man. It is administered by the Government of the Isle of Man and managed on a day to day basis by Domicilium, an offshore Internet Service Provider based on the Isle of Man.
What tr.im does is not only shorten a URL, but provide analytics about who's clicking your links, including such information as the visitor's location (country), Browser version, platform, and more. Crazy cool!
What's more? Simply create an account on the site (all you need is a username, password and email address to confirm you're a human) and you can keep track of all your tr.ims. PLUS, it's taking advantage of Twitter's API, so you can create a bookmarklet using the process above and tweet right from there!
Oh, I love the interwebs.
AppSniper pays for itself
I wanted to write a post about AppSniper, but MacLife just reviewed it and said everything I wanted to say... so here's the useful linkage: http://www.maclife.com/article/iphone/appsniper
Monday, January 12, 2009
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Brown sludge in bottom of Blendtec blender cup
I recently came across a brown sludge that coats the metal ring at the bottom/base inside my Blendrec blender cup... any ideas what this stuff might be? I scraped it off with a toothpick, as it doesn't seem to come off with a hot water rinse alone. Doesn't appear to be rust.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Skype crashing on you? It might be a driver issue.
Does Skype keep crashing on your Windows machine? Try this helpful hint: Make sure that your webcam's driver is up-to-date, preferably using drivers developed by the manufacturer.My mom and I recently had this problem where we couldn't audio or video chat for longer than just a minute or so--sometimes the conversation lasted only seconds. It was very buggy. Skype would crash on her computer, but not on mine (I'm on a Mac, for reference). We found it interesting because I could skype just fine between my home Mac and my work's Dell laptop, so I isolated the problem to my mom's computer, which is a fairly recent and capable model.
The problem stemmed from us not using the correct driver for the web cam, a Logitech Pro 9000. After some troubleshooting, we discovered that Windows automatically installed a default generic driver for the webcam. So we went over to Logitech's website, downloaded the latest driver for it, installed, rebooted, and presto. As I write this blog, I'm video chatting with my mom and the timer is 40:21 and counting.
Apple Mighty Mouse goes ABSOLUTELY BERZERK!
OK, so it's 2:11 AM and I finally figured out why my Apple Mighty Mouse is going berserk.
First, some background. The might mouse is touch sensitive, meaning the top shell can sense where your fingers are and produce the correct type of click, according to where your fingers are. For example, both fingers down will default to a left click, while lifting your index finger (if you're right handed) will produce a left click because it can sense that your left finger is off the top of the shell.
So this evening, I had a little work to do on the company laptop. I pushed my mac keyboard and mouse out of the way to make room for the laptop, did my work, then closed the lid (left the laptop on), and then proceeded to use my mac with the keyboard and mouse.
I noticed some peculiar things happening with my mouse. See, the Mighty Mouse has two side buttons--one on either side--when you squeeze them, it makes a little clicking sound and activates exposé. What was happening this evening was that ANY time I touched my mouse, I'd hear the clicking sound and exposé would activate. It seemed to get worse, then better, then worse again, seemingly at random. Sometimes, it got so bad that it would literally toggle back and forth between activated and deactivated, many times per second--while my hand was simply resting on the damned thing. I could hear the clicks. It was insane.
But it only did it seemingly at random, which pissed me off. So, I sought out a solution.
At first, I tried to take the mouse apart... but in fear of breaking the damn thing, I chose to find other alternatives. Scouring the web left me with nothing--apparently the only major problem people have with the Mighty Mouse has to do with the scroll ball. Alas, I was about to give up and bring it to the Apple Store when I woke up.
But then it hit me: maybe this isn't a mechanical problem, but an electrical problem. Could the Mighty Mouse be short circuiting? Impossible; I bought my Mac over the summer of 2008, and Apple makes some pretty high quality products so I doubt I'd see my poor little mouse go belly up in only a few short months.
Nevertheless, I began to test things. Systematically. Starting with the cord, I jiggled it. After a while of going up and down the length of the cord, I discovered that the problems stopped once I hit the base of the cord where it connects to the keyboard. Could this be it? No, but there's a reason, which I'll detail below.
See, the point where the cord connects to the keyboard is the point at which my hand and arm was completely off of my LAPTOP that was sitting on my desk! Once I put my hand/arm back on the laptop and touched my mouse, crazy shit began to happen again. This was it!
Upon my enlightenment, I smiled with delight--for a couple reasons. One, I fixed my problem myself (yay me!) but two, I don't have to waste time at the Apple Store looking like a total loser because my symptoms would never have shown up. Imagine: "Hi, my mouse is going crazy." Apple tech: "Looks fine to me." Me: "Fuck. Never fails; you go to the doctor for medicine, but magically, by the time you arrive, you feel much better than you did 30 minutes ago."
So I got all excited to write this post to share with the world my discovery, and moved my laptop from the desk to my lap, so I could access my keyboard. As soon as I touched my mouse, what do you think happened? Well I'll be damned: same problem. Mouse went haywire again.
I then put the damn thing on the floor (avoiding contact with it) and what do you know? Mouse is perfectly normal.
So the bottom line is this: this damned Mighty Mouse is sensitive to electrical impulses, such that if an electrical current flows through the top shell that's more than a human's, it throws the whole damn thing out of whack.
2.5 hours of my life wasted, but at least now I know, and so do you.
Friday, December 5, 2008
How to sync firefox bookmarks and passwords
Do you use more than one computer? Well then, this tip may be indispensable: keep all your bookmarks and passwords in harmonious synchronization across every single computer that you use.One of the best things about Firefox is its extensions--the ability to add functionality to the web browser that didn't exist before--functionality that is limited only by the imagination of developers out there worldwide.
Do yourself a favor and download this must-have Firefox extension, Foxmarks. Add it to firefox on each of your computers, and you'll never have to leave your bookmarks or passwords behind again.
But what if you're on a public computer? No problem, just visit http://my.foxmarks.com to access your bookmarks. Your passwords will not be available to you from here, but at least you've got your bookmarks. Besides, if there's a password you really don't remember but it's on your home computer, that's ok because you could always just use LogMeIn and, well, that solves that problem.
Scotty: Log Me In
Recently I've found myself spending more and more time wishing I could log into my home computer from work. My home computer's a Mac, which explains why I can't simply Remote Desktop from my work laptop running Windows XP. In addition to that, the corporate firewall creates more connectivity issues than I knew existed. What a drag.
But then I found a service on the internet called LogMeIn. All you have to do is create an account, then download the LogMeIn software to the computer you want to log into from a remote location. Once that's done, remote control of your computer is as simple as visiting LogMeIn.com, and literally logging in. Once authenticated, you can click the Remote Control button and be connected to your home computer via your web browser. (Side note: for the best experience, you'll need to install a small browser plug-in, available for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and other browsers.)
Amazingly, this even works using the iPhone. If you're on a WiFi connection, you can access your home computer (or whatever other computer you've set up with the LogMeIn software) remotely and I must say it works great.
Best part: the service is free. You can't copy files or print to a local printer--for that, you pay extra--but that's why it's free. LogMeIn is willing to bet that if you start using its free service, you'll eventually come to appreciate the value of the added functionality of the paid services it offers, of which there are several.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Deceptive website example
OK, this will sound kinda geeky, but that's what this blog is about, right?
So I'm reading some of my mail in gmail this morning, and I did something rare: I looked at the advertisements to see how relevant they were to the context of my email. For reference, I was reading a notification that a billing statement was ready. Of the eight ads on the right hand side, only two caught my eye because they stood out from the rest--not in a good way, necessarily, but they were just different.
You see, while the rest of the ads had a green location of www.WhateverSite.com, these two that stood out had a green location address that omitted the www in replace of an actual word like "balance" or "bills". In this case, I decided to click on the ad with the location of "bills.iGrantCash.com".
I was taken to a page that threw me back to the late 90s with its dithered iGrantCash.com icon (complete with one sole underline under the letters "ash.com"). Anytime I see a web site with shoddy graphics, I immediately throw a red flag because these days, graphics should be very polished since our monitors can display millions of colors.
Anyhow, that was strike one. Strike two came when I glanced at the very prominent top right corner, which touted, "Total grant sites: 57. Sites that were scams: 56. Legitimate sites: 1." Of course, my first question was: is this one of the scam sites? Then I thought, nah, this must be the "1" site that is not a scam. Hmmmmmmm.....
What else did I see? Somehow, this P.O.S. site from the 90s had been featured on such prominent sites as MSN, CNN.com, AOL Search, NBC, CNBC, CBS, Fox News, Forbes, the list goes on. A critical thinker might ask, "how is this so?" considering the web site looks like a piece of trash, while the non-critical thinker (or citizen desperate for cash) just says "whew, that's reassuring." So, with a critical eye, I continued reading on.
The truth finally came at the bottom of the page, where I read this in the fine print:
So basically, they feel like they can say they've been "seen on" MSN, Yahoo, and others, because they advertise on those sites. Thus it is their advertisement that has been "seen on" those sites, not actual articles about the great product itself, which is simply links to information you can find using any search engine.
So now comes strike three: every single link on this web page directs the unsuspecting visitor to the exact same page: http://www.igrantcash.com/NewForm.jsp?
This is a sign-up page that screams, "Congratulations You are Pre-Qualified
So I'm reading some of my mail in gmail this morning, and I did something rare: I looked at the advertisements to see how relevant they were to the context of my email. For reference, I was reading a notification that a billing statement was ready. Of the eight ads on the right hand side, only two caught my eye because they stood out from the rest--not in a good way, necessarily, but they were just different.
You see, while the rest of the ads had a green location of www.WhateverSite.com, these two that stood out had a green location address that omitted the www in replace of an actual word like "balance" or "bills". In this case, I decided to click on the ad with the location of "bills.iGrantCash.com".
I was taken to a page that threw me back to the late 90s with its dithered iGrantCash.com icon (complete with one sole underline under the letters "ash.com"). Anytime I see a web site with shoddy graphics, I immediately throw a red flag because these days, graphics should be very polished since our monitors can display millions of colors.Anyhow, that was strike one. Strike two came when I glanced at the very prominent top right corner, which touted, "Total grant sites: 57. Sites that were scams: 56. Legitimate sites: 1." Of course, my first question was: is this one of the scam sites? Then I thought, nah, this must be the "1" site that is not a scam. Hmmmmmmm.....
What else did I see? Somehow, this P.O.S. site from the 90s had been featured on such prominent sites as MSN, CNN.com, AOL Search, NBC, CNBC, CBS, Fox News, Forbes, the list goes on. A critical thinker might ask, "how is this so?" considering the web site looks like a piece of trash, while the non-critical thinker (or citizen desperate for cash) just says "whew, that's reassuring." So, with a critical eye, I continued reading on.
The truth finally came at the bottom of the page, where I read this in the fine print:
"As Seen On" logos and trademarks are owned by their respective companies. This site is currently advertised on all the media outlets identified under "As Seen On" logo banner.
So basically, they feel like they can say they've been "seen on" MSN, Yahoo, and others, because they advertise on those sites. Thus it is their advertisement that has been "seen on" those sites, not actual articles about the great product itself, which is simply links to information you can find using any search engine.
So now comes strike three: every single link on this web page directs the unsuspecting visitor to the exact same page: http://www.igrantcash.com/NewForm.jsp?
This is a sign-up page that screams, "Congratulations You are Pre-Qualified
For Free FREE Government Grant Money"
Again, this new sign-up page features logos from major companies such as CNN, NBC, CNBC, and Fox News, which makes the casual web surfer feel comfortable and at ease. My first question was, "gosh, how did little 'ol me get pre-qualified to receive thousands of government dollars for free? was my 'click' simply enough for them to say OK?"
By the way, that sign up page asks for your name, address, city, state, phone and email among other things, and it's not even transmitting the data using the https:// protocol (HTTP Secure). In other words, it's sent across the internet in plain text.
After entering in some fake information, I'm led to a second page asking for my credit card information. This time, however, it does use the https protocol, so at least they're taking my credit card information securely.
That's a nice thought.
So the bottom line is this: you may have read this post and say, "you ain't teachin' me nothin' new, essay!" But that is not the point. This post wasn't written for you. This post was written for those who are skeptical about a site for some reason, but can't quite put their fingers on why. This little lesson, for example, would be a great thing to teach someone in your life who is just getting started on the internet, or who has been using it for a while, but isn't quite as tech savvy with regard to graphics quality, where links go to, and security protocols such as https.
Again, this new sign-up page features logos from major companies such as CNN, NBC, CNBC, and Fox News, which makes the casual web surfer feel comfortable and at ease. My first question was, "gosh, how did little 'ol me get pre-qualified to receive thousands of government dollars for free? was my 'click' simply enough for them to say OK?"
By the way, that sign up page asks for your name, address, city, state, phone and email among other things, and it's not even transmitting the data using the https:// protocol (HTTP Secure). In other words, it's sent across the internet in plain text.
After entering in some fake information, I'm led to a second page asking for my credit card information. This time, however, it does use the https protocol, so at least they're taking my credit card information securely.
That's a nice thought.
So the bottom line is this: you may have read this post and say, "you ain't teachin' me nothin' new, essay!" But that is not the point. This post wasn't written for you. This post was written for those who are skeptical about a site for some reason, but can't quite put their fingers on why. This little lesson, for example, would be a great thing to teach someone in your life who is just getting started on the internet, or who has been using it for a while, but isn't quite as tech savvy with regard to graphics quality, where links go to, and security protocols such as https.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Nicolaus Labor Day Parade and Craft Faire
Oli's Products is striving to spread the word that gluten free food tastes great, one craft faire at a time. Labor Day is typically a holiday when many people head to the water, relax, and have a BBQ. It's a three day weekend, so why not squeeze the Nicolaus Labor Day Parade and Craft Faire into your schedule? Get out of town, enjoy some good food, live entertainment, and explore the local arts and crafts. Come on by and sample our signature Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce or our Thick 'n Chunky Salsa. Check out website for the details.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Peppers are in Season
Here in Northe
rn California peppers are falling off the tables at farmers market and the prices are going down in the grocery store, which can only mean one thing: Oli's Products is in full production. August and September are our busiest months for producing our two main products: Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce, and Oli's Thick 'n Chunky Salsa, as we strive to use local and fresh ingredients. We also have seasonal offerings, and currently have Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce: Mango in stock.
Did you know that the haberno chili is the second hottest pepper in the world? We use the habanero in all varieties of Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce and in the hot variation of Oli's Thick 'n Chunky Salsa. So whether you like a mild taste or you love the burn we've got the perfect treat for you.
As Fall slowly approaches, our craft fair season is gearing up, which means if you're in the greater Sacramento area you can come on out to our booth locations and s
ample our products in person. On August 17th you can find Oli's Products at the Loomis Basin Community Park in Loomis, CA. The fair is being held in support of the Lewy Body Dementia Association, Inc. and is going to be a fun-filled day of volleyball, food vendors, and crafts. And as a special treat, in addition to our two other product lines, Oli's Products will be introducing its death-by-chocolate brownies. If you can't make it out to see us in person and are having a chocolate craving we welcome you to make a special order at OlisProducts.com.
rn California peppers are falling off the tables at farmers market and the prices are going down in the grocery store, which can only mean one thing: Oli's Products is in full production. August and September are our busiest months for producing our two main products: Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce, and Oli's Thick 'n Chunky Salsa, as we strive to use local and fresh ingredients. We also have seasonal offerings, and currently have Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce: Mango in stock.Did you know that the haberno chili is the second hottest pepper in the world? We use the habanero in all varieties of Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce and in the hot variation of Oli's Thick 'n Chunky Salsa. So whether you like a mild taste or you love the burn we've got the perfect treat for you.
As Fall slowly approaches, our craft fair season is gearing up, which means if you're in the greater Sacramento area you can come on out to our booth locations and s
ample our products in person. On August 17th you can find Oli's Products at the Loomis Basin Community Park in Loomis, CA. The fair is being held in support of the Lewy Body Dementia Association, Inc. and is going to be a fun-filled day of volleyball, food vendors, and crafts. And as a special treat, in addition to our two other product lines, Oli's Products will be introducing its death-by-chocolate brownies. If you can't make it out to see us in person and are having a chocolate craving we welcome you to make a special order at OlisProducts.com.
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