Another bad review of Sprint's customer service...
A couple hours after the last post I realized what a whiny little brat I must sound like at this point -angry that my latest tech gadget isn't getting here fast enough... Well, it arrived yesterday -a week and a day after the last purchasing issue was ironed out. It's certainly not up to your average web store's standards, but it got here, so I can't really complain...
Of course, as soon as I got home I ripped through the box, powered up the phone, installed a couple apps, and surfed the web a bit. When I checked the voice mail, there was a message from Sprint saying that I should dial *2 to activate the phone. Well, according to what I've heard online you shouldn't call with the phone you are trying to activate (although you can call customer service with it unactivated -I tried), so I dialed the number that the instructions told me to with my regular phone. The auto attendant asked me some questions that I didn't know the answer to, like "are you a new customer?" uh... sorta. I tried both Yes and No, both dropped me into a queue where the wait time was estimated to be between 15 and 25 minutes. I waited for about 5, then hung up.
So, this morning I tried again at 7am CST and I got through to a rep in less than 5 minutes. (Good start!). It was an Indian girl who talked too fast for me to really keep up and she understood me about as well (although I talked clearly and slowly). It turns out that this wasn't going to be easy either. She said she had no record of my request that my number be ported from Virgin Mobile. I tried re-doing the request, but she needed a Virgin Mobile account number, and I couldn't find one, so I told her to skip it -I'd keep the temporary number for now.
She had me go into the phone settings and set up the phone. It went just fine although she spit out the numbers a little fast for me to figure out how to type/dial them in on this phone (Treo 755p), but I figured it out -no biggie. Once it was set up, she said "Ok. Now you need to choose a plan." Here's where the fun begins...
Me: "Uh, I bought the plan when I bought the phone."
Sprint Rep: "Well, it's not showing up, so we have to set it up again."
Me: "I don't want to set it up again, I already chose a plan when I bought the phone."
Sprint Rep: "You do not currently have a plan, how many minutes would you like?"
Me: "I'm not going through this again -I already have a plan"
Sprint Rep: "How many minutes do you want?"
(repeat)
Me: "Look. I signed up for the Sero plan. Can you put me on that plan? It's called Sero, S-E-R-O."
Sprint Rep: (silence)
Sprint Rep: "Yes. How many minutes?"
Me: "500"
Sprint Rep: "Ok"
Me: "How much is the plan?"
Sprint Rep: "$30" (right)
Me: "And how much data do I get with it?"
Sprint Rep: "There is no data on this plan."
Me: "There's supposed to be unlimited data and text messaging on this plan. That's what I signed up for. That's what I already have."
Sprint Rep: "I'm sorry, but that plan is not available."
Me: "What do you mean it's not available? I ALREADY HAVE THAT PLAN! I signed up for it when I bought the phone. You sent me the phone, so I must also have gotten the plan. It's on my invoice!"
Sprint Rep: "I'm sorry, but in order to be eligible for this plan you must have the rep that referred you to Sprint call and..."
Me: "That's not acceptable. I'm not jumping through hoops to get on this plan. I already purchased it and I have proof. If you can't put me back on this plan, transfer me to a manager."
Sprint Rep: "There's nothing anyone can do. You are not eligible for this plan. You must choose a plan you are eligible for."
Me: "Just transfer me to a manager."
(repeat ad nauseum)
I should have timed it. It had to have been 3-5 minutes of solid back and forth going in circles. I even pointed out the fact that we weren't getting anywhere. Finally she transferred me to a manager, who picked up in about a minute. When the manager picked up, all she said was "You've been authorized for the SERO plan". I was like "What!?!" She repeated herself, then I asked for the details -she confirmed both "unlimited data" and "unlimited text messaging".
Now, when I look online it says I'm on the Sero F&F 500 plan or something like that, which is the plan the rep told me about -500 minutes, no data, no text messages. But, the website also says that the details are not available because my plan was recently changed. It says details will be available after the next billing cycle. I'm willing to wait, but not that long. I think I might have to call back tomorrow or the next day in order to confirm that I'm on the correct plan.
GRRR I look forward to the day when this is all settled and I can just be happy using my phone. For now this hassle doesn't even seem worth the deal I got. But, over 2 years, I have to admit it kinda is, although I'm not happy to be giving Sprint ANY money at all at this point. >:P
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Review of Allegro Medical's online store
Just to break the cycle of negative reviews, here's a positive one for Allegro Medical (at AllegroMedical.com). -I bought my dad a birthday present from them on Monday, July 16th and on Tuesday, July 24th, I realized that they hadn't been delivered, nor did I ever get a tracking number for them yet!?! Since my dad's birthday party was the next weekend (July 29th), I called and asked for the status of the order. -It turned out that the server in their warehouse that processes the orders crashed and my order kinda slipped through the cracks. I told them about my dad's party and that I needed them by Friday, and although it took a couple calls to follow up on it, they got the order to me on Friday -overnighted, at no extra cost to me. In short, they screwed up, they admitted it, and they made it right. -I'll definitely order from them again based on this experience!
Sprint's having "technical difficulties" -well, at least they admit it!
I ordered a new phone with service from Sprint on Sunday, July 22nd. On Monday there was an issue with them being able to pull my credit report, but that was resolved on the same day (although it took about 4-5 calls, see the "Sprint review" post from 7/23 for that story). ...My invoice said to expect the phone in 2-4 business days, so I expected the phone sometime between Wednesday and Friday, but Sprint's order tracking page still, to this minute, hasn't given me a tracking number... Today is Monday, July 30th -a week and a day since I put in the order, and one week from when the order was said to be complete. No phone, no tracking number....
So, I called Sprint this morning to find out why their order tracking page is still saying "The order is awaiting fulfillment." After a half hour on hold (yes, I timed it), I get this Indian guy who I can barely understand. He takes my order number and puts me back on hold for another 5 minutes. When he gets back on the line, he tells me something about technical difficulties and to call back on Wednesday. After going back and forth with him trying to figure out what's going on, he says it's not a problem with my order, all I can get out of him is that it's just "technical difficulties" and UPS should have my tracking number on Wednesday... Super.
...I just can't believe that I ordered the phone on Sunday, and then the next day I put in an order with Egghead for memory for the phone, and I opted out of their $2.99 "faster processing" fee, and I still got the memory on Wednesday (2 days after ordering it). I also bought 2 cases for the phone from a Yahoo store on Monday, and I got those on Friday. But I'm still waiting for the phone...
When I ordered my phone from cheap-as-heck, pay-as-you-go Virgin Wireless, I had my phone the very next day! What's up with Sprint? Is it a temporary problem? -It doesn't look like it... Google "The order is awaiting fulfillment." and you get back results from various forums where people are discussing how long it takes to get a phone. The average seems to be a week (which means Sprint's invoice should be updated so their customers aren't expecting it in "2-4 business days"). But some are reporting up to 20 days with no notice of the item being back ordered, etc. Everyone, however, reports terrible wait times when calling Sprint and horrible customer service once they finally get through. With the carriers all being bought up and the market coming down to AT&T vs Sprint, I don't expect we'll see any improvement.
I guess that when you shop by price alone, this is what you get...
So, I called Sprint this morning to find out why their order tracking page is still saying "The order is awaiting fulfillment." After a half hour on hold (yes, I timed it), I get this Indian guy who I can barely understand. He takes my order number and puts me back on hold for another 5 minutes. When he gets back on the line, he tells me something about technical difficulties and to call back on Wednesday. After going back and forth with him trying to figure out what's going on, he says it's not a problem with my order, all I can get out of him is that it's just "technical difficulties" and UPS should have my tracking number on Wednesday... Super.
...I just can't believe that I ordered the phone on Sunday, and then the next day I put in an order with Egghead for memory for the phone, and I opted out of their $2.99 "faster processing" fee, and I still got the memory on Wednesday (2 days after ordering it). I also bought 2 cases for the phone from a Yahoo store on Monday, and I got those on Friday. But I'm still waiting for the phone...
When I ordered my phone from cheap-as-heck, pay-as-you-go Virgin Wireless, I had my phone the very next day! What's up with Sprint? Is it a temporary problem? -It doesn't look like it... Google "The order is awaiting fulfillment." and you get back results from various forums where people are discussing how long it takes to get a phone. The average seems to be a week (which means Sprint's invoice should be updated so their customers aren't expecting it in "2-4 business days"). But some are reporting up to 20 days with no notice of the item being back ordered, etc. Everyone, however, reports terrible wait times when calling Sprint and horrible customer service once they finally get through. With the carriers all being bought up and the market coming down to AT&T vs Sprint, I don't expect we'll see any improvement.
I guess that when you shop by price alone, this is what you get...
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
How businesses view employees
I ran across this article yesterday:
http://www.stevenmsmith.com/content/view/110/72/
The summary is that this guy pitched the idea of a hypothetical job applicant named Albert to several managers to see whether or not they'd hire him. Albert is described as someone who has exceeded work goals for the past 5 years and he gets along well with others, but while seeking full-time pay, he refuses to work more than 20 hours a week and also demands that his time not be wasted.
Steven Smith (I assume that's the writer's name?) mixes it up a bit by putting this hypothetical situations in 3 different contexts: Software development, production, and sales. For sales, it was clarified that Albert would always bring in more than 105% of his goal, but never more than 110%.
In each case, the managers declined hiring Albert. When Steve asked them:
...in my experience businesses don't really hire employees to take care of a particular task. I'm the only Systems Administrator in my office, but that doesn't mean that I have full control of the systems under my care. Often I have to do things I don't agree with because a decision has been made by upper management (none of which are IT professionals). Their reasoning is that I may have specific knowledge about the sytems, software, etc, but I don't have much knowledge of the big-picture -where the company is headed, etc. I used to ask "who's fault is that?", but I don't anymore.
Businesses (in general) have changed their structure. They prefer to work from the top-down rather than relying on the skills and knowledge of people in more hands-on roles who actually see the work that gets done day-to-day. The reason? Lack of loyalty might be one.
It used to be that people rarely changed jobs. They'd stick with one until retirement. And, as we all know, that just doesn't happen anymore. Who started it? I don't know. Who's perpetuating it? Both employers and employee's I'd imagine. But, if the employer can't count on you to be there next week, month, year -then it's risky for them to have you be a part of the decision. You may buy them into some odd platform that only you know. You might not document the solution well enough for the next guy to be able to pick up the ball and run with it. That's a fair reaction on their part.
But, this top-down system results in fuzzy, detached job roles that, in my opinion, is hindering growth as well as that much-strived-for "team spirit" or a feeling of being a part of the company rather than just an employee.
Managers want to see you in the office. They want you to be available to fulfill a task or implement a solution whenever they might come up with one. The idea of a job role being fulfilled and the employee running on autopilot is no longer the ideal. Poor Albert proves that it's not even wanted anymore. Managers, like the one quoted above, now see the ideal as being a person who will "do what they are told". So, I guess the only knowledge I bring is HOW to do what I'm told? The ability to plan ahead isn't necessary. ...No wonder outsourcing is so popular.
Could this be a result of too many (bad) managers and their egos? -I don't know. All I know is that I often feel wasted as an employee. I look around me and believe others feel the same. While the one manager in my (small) office is out today, we are all left clueless as to how to fill our time. The monitors I can see while walking through the office are displaying one of two things: solitaire or entertainment websites. No one hesitates to put the entertainment aside when a customer calls, but surely there's something more productive for us to do? But, without any value being put on us initiating anything, we fall back to waiting for the next task. In the meantime, we're not only our time, but the company's as well.
Oh, look -time for lunch! :-P
http://www.stevenmsmith.com/content/view/110/72/
The summary is that this guy pitched the idea of a hypothetical job applicant named Albert to several managers to see whether or not they'd hire him. Albert is described as someone who has exceeded work goals for the past 5 years and he gets along well with others, but while seeking full-time pay, he refuses to work more than 20 hours a week and also demands that his time not be wasted.
Steven Smith (I assume that's the writer's name?) mixes it up a bit by putting this hypothetical situations in 3 different contexts: Software development, production, and sales. For sales, it was clarified that Albert would always bring in more than 105% of his goal, but never more than 110%.
In each case, the managers declined hiring Albert. When Steve asked them:
QUOTE: "What's preventing you from hiring Albert?" A manager sneered as he said, "The notion of him only working 20 hours per week is insulting and his demand that his time not be wasted is absurd. He is being paid to do what he is told. And think of what he could produce if he worked a regular (40-60) hours. If I can't motivate him to work hard, I don't want him" The creases in my forehead became more pronounced as I said, "But isn't the guarantee of him producing 105% of his quota worth something to you?" "Doesn't matter. I might be able to hire someone who would work more hours and make 200% of his quota," countered a sales manager.
...in my experience businesses don't really hire employees to take care of a particular task. I'm the only Systems Administrator in my office, but that doesn't mean that I have full control of the systems under my care. Often I have to do things I don't agree with because a decision has been made by upper management (none of which are IT professionals). Their reasoning is that I may have specific knowledge about the sytems, software, etc, but I don't have much knowledge of the big-picture -where the company is headed, etc. I used to ask "who's fault is that?", but I don't anymore.
Businesses (in general) have changed their structure. They prefer to work from the top-down rather than relying on the skills and knowledge of people in more hands-on roles who actually see the work that gets done day-to-day. The reason? Lack of loyalty might be one.
It used to be that people rarely changed jobs. They'd stick with one until retirement. And, as we all know, that just doesn't happen anymore. Who started it? I don't know. Who's perpetuating it? Both employers and employee's I'd imagine. But, if the employer can't count on you to be there next week, month, year -then it's risky for them to have you be a part of the decision. You may buy them into some odd platform that only you know. You might not document the solution well enough for the next guy to be able to pick up the ball and run with it. That's a fair reaction on their part.
But, this top-down system results in fuzzy, detached job roles that, in my opinion, is hindering growth as well as that much-strived-for "team spirit" or a feeling of being a part of the company rather than just an employee.
Managers want to see you in the office. They want you to be available to fulfill a task or implement a solution whenever they might come up with one. The idea of a job role being fulfilled and the employee running on autopilot is no longer the ideal. Poor Albert proves that it's not even wanted anymore. Managers, like the one quoted above, now see the ideal as being a person who will "do what they are told". So, I guess the only knowledge I bring is HOW to do what I'm told? The ability to plan ahead isn't necessary. ...No wonder outsourcing is so popular.
Could this be a result of too many (bad) managers and their egos? -I don't know. All I know is that I often feel wasted as an employee. I look around me and believe others feel the same. While the one manager in my (small) office is out today, we are all left clueless as to how to fill our time. The monitors I can see while walking through the office are displaying one of two things: solitaire or entertainment websites. No one hesitates to put the entertainment aside when a customer calls, but surely there's something more productive for us to do? But, without any value being put on us initiating anything, we fall back to waiting for the next task. In the meantime, we're not only our time, but the company's as well.
Oh, look -time for lunch! :-P
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
A review of my Sprint customer service experience -trying to get a new phone set up with Sprint
Whew. I feel like I just went through some initiation for some super-elite underground organization. But in reality, all I've accomplished was becoming a Sprint customer! Wow... it really shouldn't be that hard!
Here's what happened:
At 9pm last night I ordered a new phone and service plan with Sprint online.
At about 9am I found I had an email from Sprint saying there was a delay in processing my order because of a problem running my credit report. It said they'd call me, but gave a number if I wanted to "expedite the process". I did, so I called. This is call #1...
Call #1:
Nice girl, spoke English well. She said that the order was saying it was "in process" and she couldn't check or alter it -it may be going through just fine. She told me she'd personally keep an eye on it, and if it got held up, she'd call me. She took down my number, and that was that.
At about 11am I got another email from Sprint saying I needed to call them because of a problem running the credit report. Okay, I call again. Call #2...
Call #2:
This girl barely spoke English at all. She took my application # and put me on hold while she talked to the credit department. When she came back on the line she kept saying something about them "not having my credit report". -I asked several times: "Who doesn't have my credit? Sprint or the credit reporting agency?" She didn't understand my question so I tried rewording it, which was hard because it's a 5-word sentence! So, the last couple times I asked the question v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. She still couldn't tell me so we moved on.
Next, she wanted to know who took the credit report in the first place? I repeated that I purchased the phone online. She asked again -"Yes, but did they run a credit report?" I said "Did who run a credit report? The form on the web site asked for the info to run one, but... I don't know, it's YOUR website!?!" Then she says, yes, but someone has to run your credit... I replied that surely I can't be the first person ever to have purchased a phone and a plan off your website... (Silence) So, I added -I can't be expected to know how this works... The website asked for the info to run my credit, I entered it and hit "Purchase"... That's when we somehow got "disconnected".
I called back...
Call #3:
I got another girl who sounded exactly like the last girl. I asked if this was the person I was just speaking to, and gave my name. She did not reply to my question, but asked my order # and then asked me to hold. Again, I somehow got disconnected.
**I want to clarify that I never raised my voice with anyone. Towards the end of call 2 I let the girl know I was frustrated and wanted a resolution, but I was never mean or angry. I'm generally not good at being forceful with people anyway. But I was frustrated that it took half of my day to get this taken care of while I was supposed to be working.**
Call #4:
This time I called Sprint's main number. Probably a mistake if I look back on it. But, this time I got a male who was able to communicate better than the last girl, but still had an accent (no biggie as long as we can understand each other). I told him the whole story up to this point and then he asks for my name, address, phone number, etc. When he gets to my SSN, I ask if he's starting a new application. He says "Yes". I told him that I already had one, I paid for the phone, and I just needed to straighten out the credit report issue.
"Ok" he says, "no problem", I can run the credit report for you right now. I gave him my info, he put me on hold, then came back and said my credit was good, and I was approved. Sweet! But, no. He then said he needed to cancel my previous order and start a new one. I told him I didn't want to do that because I had ordered the phone through the SERO program. He didn't even know what that was. I explained it, and he said he'd transfer me to that department to re-do the order.
So, I get transferred, and a recording says "welcome to the Sprint employee purchase program, please enter a valid sprint phone number to continue". Uh... I enter the phone number I'm trying to get transferred to this new phone, and it's invalid, so it tells me to re-dial the customer service number I used to get there and then hangs up on me.
Call #5:
This time I go back to the number from their email and I get a nice English speaking girl again. She explains that they need to run the credit report in order to process the application. I tell her that the guy I spoke with 5 minutes ago already ran the report. She said she needed to run it again because that one was under a different application number. Great. Whatever, I said, I just want this done. So, she re-ran the credit report. It came back ok (again), and apparently the phone will be on it's way in a day or two.
Wow. It took over 2 hours of calling, recalling, (several times when I dialed either the number from the email or their main number I got a busy signal or "please try again"!?!) They are a PHONE company!!! WTF!?!
If I didn't get such a good deal on this plan, I would have given up. I kinda dread ever having to deal with them again, though. 2 year contract... Yikes.
Here's what happened:
At 9pm last night I ordered a new phone and service plan with Sprint online.
At about 9am I found I had an email from Sprint saying there was a delay in processing my order because of a problem running my credit report. It said they'd call me, but gave a number if I wanted to "expedite the process". I did, so I called. This is call #1...
Call #1:
Nice girl, spoke English well. She said that the order was saying it was "in process" and she couldn't check or alter it -it may be going through just fine. She told me she'd personally keep an eye on it, and if it got held up, she'd call me. She took down my number, and that was that.
At about 11am I got another email from Sprint saying I needed to call them because of a problem running the credit report. Okay, I call again. Call #2...
Call #2:
This girl barely spoke English at all. She took my application # and put me on hold while she talked to the credit department. When she came back on the line she kept saying something about them "not having my credit report". -I asked several times: "Who doesn't have my credit? Sprint or the credit reporting agency?" She didn't understand my question so I tried rewording it, which was hard because it's a 5-word sentence! So, the last couple times I asked the question v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. She still couldn't tell me so we moved on.
Next, she wanted to know who took the credit report in the first place? I repeated that I purchased the phone online. She asked again -"Yes, but did they run a credit report?" I said "Did who run a credit report? The form on the web site asked for the info to run one, but... I don't know, it's YOUR website!?!" Then she says, yes, but someone has to run your credit... I replied that surely I can't be the first person ever to have purchased a phone and a plan off your website... (Silence) So, I added -I can't be expected to know how this works... The website asked for the info to run my credit, I entered it and hit "Purchase"... That's when we somehow got "disconnected".
I called back...
Call #3:
I got another girl who sounded exactly like the last girl. I asked if this was the person I was just speaking to, and gave my name. She did not reply to my question, but asked my order # and then asked me to hold. Again, I somehow got disconnected.
**I want to clarify that I never raised my voice with anyone. Towards the end of call 2 I let the girl know I was frustrated and wanted a resolution, but I was never mean or angry. I'm generally not good at being forceful with people anyway. But I was frustrated that it took half of my day to get this taken care of while I was supposed to be working.**
Call #4:
This time I called Sprint's main number. Probably a mistake if I look back on it. But, this time I got a male who was able to communicate better than the last girl, but still had an accent (no biggie as long as we can understand each other). I told him the whole story up to this point and then he asks for my name, address, phone number, etc. When he gets to my SSN, I ask if he's starting a new application. He says "Yes". I told him that I already had one, I paid for the phone, and I just needed to straighten out the credit report issue.
"Ok" he says, "no problem", I can run the credit report for you right now. I gave him my info, he put me on hold, then came back and said my credit was good, and I was approved. Sweet! But, no. He then said he needed to cancel my previous order and start a new one. I told him I didn't want to do that because I had ordered the phone through the SERO program. He didn't even know what that was. I explained it, and he said he'd transfer me to that department to re-do the order.
So, I get transferred, and a recording says "welcome to the Sprint employee purchase program, please enter a valid sprint phone number to continue". Uh... I enter the phone number I'm trying to get transferred to this new phone, and it's invalid, so it tells me to re-dial the customer service number I used to get there and then hangs up on me.
Call #5:
This time I go back to the number from their email and I get a nice English speaking girl again. She explains that they need to run the credit report in order to process the application. I tell her that the guy I spoke with 5 minutes ago already ran the report. She said she needed to run it again because that one was under a different application number. Great. Whatever, I said, I just want this done. So, she re-ran the credit report. It came back ok (again), and apparently the phone will be on it's way in a day or two.
Wow. It took over 2 hours of calling, recalling, (several times when I dialed either the number from the email or their main number I got a busy signal or "please try again"!?!) They are a PHONE company!!! WTF!?!
If I didn't get such a good deal on this plan, I would have given up. I kinda dread ever having to deal with them again, though. 2 year contract... Yikes.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Advice on Loosing Weight
In high school I was about 140lbs (chunky considering I'm only 5' 3" or so). Then in college I hung out with some pretty active guys, so I lost some weight by trying to keep up with them. I was about 125 when college was over and we all went our separate ways. Over the next year or two I probably gained about 5 pounds back. Then, in 1999-2000 I gained a lot of weight and maxxed out at 150lbs. I couldn't believe I got that bad. Over the next year or so I got back down to about 125 again, then gained 5lbs of that back fairly quickly. For the last 5 years or so I've slowly crept up from 130 to 135, but I was happy with that. But, over the last year 135 has turned into 139.6lbs as of this past Monday. Uncool.
So, it's time to take care of this before it gets way out of hand. I've signed up on a weight/calorie tracking website and yesterday I stumbled upon their "Community" (forum). Wow there's a lot of misconceptions about weight loss floating around that place!
The one thing that trips everyone is that "there must be a better way". There's not. You figure out how many calories it takes to get you through a normal day, subtract 500 from that number, and that's your goal intake for an average day for as long as you are on your diet. If you want to eat more than that, you have 2 choices: make it up with exercise, or make it up by eating less the day before or after (longer than that and you're like to "forget"). That's it.
"But, I want ice cream"
Fine. Have your ice cream. I'd suggest buying it in a single-serving size at the grocery store, though. That way you'll know that you got the serving size right and the package should tell you how many calories you've consumed. A calorie of ice cream is no different than a calorie of cauliflower, you don't have to feel bad about eating it at all. In fact, you're more likely to stick to a diet if you can work in your favorite foods. Don't fall into the cabbage and rice diet fads. Calories in - calories out. That's all that matters.
"I hate exercising"
Than don't. You'll have to eat less and your fitness level won't improve as much, but you will still loose weight.
"I bought a machine built by NASA that exercises for me"
Riiiight...
"No really, I do curls while on it and my arms are toned now!"
You do arm exercises while in a vibrating contraption and you believe that it was the contraption and not the exercises that toned your arms. Ok... I think you got scammed and don't want to admit you wasted your money.
"Is there a pill?"
Yes, and the instructions say that it must be used along with a sensible diet. Do you think it's the pill that's causing the weight loss or the diet? Save your money, you don't need the pills. Take a vitamin instead, that's what many of them are anyway.
"What about Ephedrine?"
Do you want to risk a heart attack or stroke to loose weight at a slightly higher rate?
"If you go under 1200 calories a day you won't loose weight"
What??? This "starvation mode" stuff has been taken far too seriously. Sure, research shows that the body MIGHT slow it's metabolism some to get our ancestors past periods of famine, but is there a magic number that you shouldn't go below? No. If it's true (and it's still being debated), then it most likely happens as soon as you eat fewer calories than you spend in a day, and it's a sliding scale from there on out as you reduce intake vs expenditure. -It takes 1600 calories for me to get through a day, subtract 500 and that means 1100 calories a day will lead to the recommended goal of 1lb lost a week. But OH NOES!!! that's below the 1200 calorie cutoff. Come on people! Ooh, look at me violating your rule and still loosing weight. I'm not anorexic, I'm short. Leave me alone!
"But you have to eat more to weigh less"
People will believe anything as long as it allows them to eat more. Don't fall for it. As long as you are being reasonable don't worry about "starvation mode". One exception -eating 100 - 200 calories more for a couple days might help a plateau, but that's as far as I'm willing to trust this bit of nonsense.
"Is (insert diet program here) worthwhile?"
No. You know what they'll do? They'll weigh you, log your weight, sell you overpriced meals and a "plan" that has "fewer calories in than out" as a base (masked as "points" or whatever's popular this year), and then they'll have meetings where they pat you on your back for loosing a pound this month. A bathroom scale is what? $10? You can count calories on your own. If you need the pat on the back, try joining a forum or group online.
"What about the Atkins / South Beach Diet"
These programs are just another clever way to reduce calories. Meat really doesn't have that many calories, even the greasiest of stuff. Plus, it fills you up quicker and lasts longer than carbs do, so you eat less overall. It works, but it's not healthy. Calories in, calories out.
"At what weight will I be a size 6?"
Depends on the manufacturer. They're all increasing the actual measurements of their sizes, though, so it's just a poor measurement all around. If your goal is a size, why not just make that "Size 10" into a "Size 1" by crossing out the "0". There... does that feel better? No? Oh, well try paying attention to measurements that matter.
...of course, there's un-funny topics too. Teens and adults with identity disorders, people binging then asking how to exercise off the 3000 extra calories they just ate.
In the end, though, we're all in the same boat. Being overweight stinks. Loosing it is hard. The hardest part is not allowing yourself to believe that there's an easy way out. Walking around a store is not exercise. Giving blood does not make up for a donut, typing for 8 hours doesn't qualify as an "active lifestyle", and drinking a gallon of water a day's not going to help either.
Here's what does help:
So, it's time to take care of this before it gets way out of hand. I've signed up on a weight/calorie tracking website and yesterday I stumbled upon their "Community" (forum). Wow there's a lot of misconceptions about weight loss floating around that place!
The one thing that trips everyone is that "there must be a better way". There's not. You figure out how many calories it takes to get you through a normal day, subtract 500 from that number, and that's your goal intake for an average day for as long as you are on your diet. If you want to eat more than that, you have 2 choices: make it up with exercise, or make it up by eating less the day before or after (longer than that and you're like to "forget"). That's it.
"But, I want ice cream"
Fine. Have your ice cream. I'd suggest buying it in a single-serving size at the grocery store, though. That way you'll know that you got the serving size right and the package should tell you how many calories you've consumed. A calorie of ice cream is no different than a calorie of cauliflower, you don't have to feel bad about eating it at all. In fact, you're more likely to stick to a diet if you can work in your favorite foods. Don't fall into the cabbage and rice diet fads. Calories in - calories out. That's all that matters.
"I hate exercising"
Than don't. You'll have to eat less and your fitness level won't improve as much, but you will still loose weight.
"I bought a machine built by NASA that exercises for me"
Riiiight...
"No really, I do curls while on it and my arms are toned now!"
You do arm exercises while in a vibrating contraption and you believe that it was the contraption and not the exercises that toned your arms. Ok... I think you got scammed and don't want to admit you wasted your money.
"Is there a pill?"
Yes, and the instructions say that it must be used along with a sensible diet. Do you think it's the pill that's causing the weight loss or the diet? Save your money, you don't need the pills. Take a vitamin instead, that's what many of them are anyway.
"What about Ephedrine?"
Do you want to risk a heart attack or stroke to loose weight at a slightly higher rate?
"If you go under 1200 calories a day you won't loose weight"
What??? This "starvation mode" stuff has been taken far too seriously. Sure, research shows that the body MIGHT slow it's metabolism some to get our ancestors past periods of famine, but is there a magic number that you shouldn't go below? No. If it's true (and it's still being debated), then it most likely happens as soon as you eat fewer calories than you spend in a day, and it's a sliding scale from there on out as you reduce intake vs expenditure. -It takes 1600 calories for me to get through a day, subtract 500 and that means 1100 calories a day will lead to the recommended goal of 1lb lost a week. But OH NOES!!! that's below the 1200 calorie cutoff. Come on people! Ooh, look at me violating your rule and still loosing weight. I'm not anorexic, I'm short. Leave me alone!
"But you have to eat more to weigh less"
People will believe anything as long as it allows them to eat more. Don't fall for it. As long as you are being reasonable don't worry about "starvation mode". One exception -eating 100 - 200 calories more for a couple days might help a plateau, but that's as far as I'm willing to trust this bit of nonsense.
"Is (insert diet program here) worthwhile?"
No. You know what they'll do? They'll weigh you, log your weight, sell you overpriced meals and a "plan" that has "fewer calories in than out" as a base (masked as "points" or whatever's popular this year), and then they'll have meetings where they pat you on your back for loosing a pound this month. A bathroom scale is what? $10? You can count calories on your own. If you need the pat on the back, try joining a forum or group online.
"What about the Atkins / South Beach Diet"
These programs are just another clever way to reduce calories. Meat really doesn't have that many calories, even the greasiest of stuff. Plus, it fills you up quicker and lasts longer than carbs do, so you eat less overall. It works, but it's not healthy. Calories in, calories out.
"At what weight will I be a size 6?"
Depends on the manufacturer. They're all increasing the actual measurements of their sizes, though, so it's just a poor measurement all around. If your goal is a size, why not just make that "Size 10" into a "Size 1" by crossing out the "0". There... does that feel better? No? Oh, well try paying attention to measurements that matter.
...of course, there's un-funny topics too. Teens and adults with identity disorders, people binging then asking how to exercise off the 3000 extra calories they just ate.
In the end, though, we're all in the same boat. Being overweight stinks. Loosing it is hard. The hardest part is not allowing yourself to believe that there's an easy way out. Walking around a store is not exercise. Giving blood does not make up for a donut, typing for 8 hours doesn't qualify as an "active lifestyle", and drinking a gallon of water a day's not going to help either.
Here's what does help:
- Track your calorie intake and weight daily. There are many websites to help you with this.
- If you are a "snacker", snack. Those 100 calorie snack packs are awesome -you can't trick yourself into eating more than you should that way.
- If you eat out, check online for nutrition info at chain restaurants you go to and plan what you'll order before you're sitting infront of the menu with all those pictures of nachos and stuff.
- Stop drinking stuff with sugar in it. There are many alternatives, you will get used to the taste of diet pop if you choose that route and don't worry about nutrasweet -the corn syrup they use to sweeten pop with in the US is just as bad.
- If you're hungry, 100 calories of meat, cheese, or something with a lot of fiber will fill you up longer than carbs will.
- Trick yourself into exercising by finding some activity you enjoy that gets you off the couch at least once a week -hike, bike, play a sport, take brisk walks with your dog or kids, whatever. Even just flying a kite, playing with your kids at the park, dancing to music while you fold laundry will help!
- Don't go to buffet restaurants.
- Avoid Mexican -those chips are too tempting!
- When you order something that comes with fries in a restaurant ask to substitute veggies or cole slaw -don't allow yourself to be tempted!
- 2 slices of a medium pepperoni pizza with hand-tossed crust at Pizza Hut (and most places)
- Pasta and marinara sauce (most places, but you have to avoid the bread etc before the meal)
- A cheeseburger and small fries at McDonalds
- The grilled chicken sandwich and small fries at Wendy's
- A grilled chicken sandwich (alone) at most other restaurants (don't eat the fries!)
- A burrito bowl with rice, black beans, and corn salsa at Chipotle (you can add lettuce if you want, but not much more than that -this is actually more like 800 calories already!)
- A Jr Whopper, and small fry at Burger King
- 2 White Castles and a small fry
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Things that will kill you: sunscreen
Sunscreen that absorbs into your blood is TOXIC!!!
Massive gov't conspiracy!!!
FDA hasn't studied it because manufacturers know it's not safe!!!
Oh noes!!!: http://www.newstarget.com/021927.html
Massive gov't conspiracy!!!
FDA hasn't studied it because manufacturers know it's not safe!!!
Oh noes!!!: http://www.newstarget.com/021927.html
Goodbye Yahoo LAUNCHcast, hello Slacker!
Please excuse my rant from yesterday. I've found an awesome service to use for my custom online radio needs. It's slacker.com -yes, I know I complained about them yesterday, but as long as you create an account and LOG IN before creating your custom station, you should be fine.
I recreated my station yesterday and listened to it from 9am to 4pm with NO ADS, NO COMMERCIALS, and I can pause a song whenever I want. There are 2 downsides: 1, it doesn't introduce music from artists that are similar to those on your list. I kinda liked that about LAUNCHcast. I found some awesome new music that way. But, with the trade-offs, it's no contest. I'll stick with slacker.com -after all, there's a lot of music from the artists on my list that I've never heard, and I can always add new artists when I hear them on the radio. The only other issue is a limit of 6 "skips" per hour. Since they only play artists on your list, I don't see that as a big deal. I never ran into the limit on LAUNCHcast and they used to throw "featured artists" into my mix like "Super Gansta Daddy and his Gang of Pimps" WTF!?! Where did that come from?
So, if you're using LAUNCHcast, I suggest you give slacker.com a try!
I recreated my station yesterday and listened to it from 9am to 4pm with NO ADS, NO COMMERCIALS, and I can pause a song whenever I want. There are 2 downsides: 1, it doesn't introduce music from artists that are similar to those on your list. I kinda liked that about LAUNCHcast. I found some awesome new music that way. But, with the trade-offs, it's no contest. I'll stick with slacker.com -after all, there's a lot of music from the artists on my list that I've never heard, and I can always add new artists when I hear them on the radio. The only other issue is a limit of 6 "skips" per hour. Since they only play artists on your list, I don't see that as a big deal. I never ran into the limit on LAUNCHcast and they used to throw "featured artists" into my mix like "Super Gansta Daddy and his Gang of Pimps" WTF!?! Where did that come from?
So, if you're using LAUNCHcast, I suggest you give slacker.com a try!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Why in the he!! is listening to music on the internet so hard!?!
I stumbled upon Yahoo's LAUNCHcast service a few months ago and I absolutely loved it. I spent a good hour searching for and adding artists that I liked to it so it'd play the music I like. Sometimes it'd choose off-the-wall artists to play like the Notorious MSG or this band that plays a song called "Are We Not Horses" that's really odd, but I loved it. So, I endured the ads and the limits on pausing and skipping because I loved how most of what it played was right-on in my book. Then, yesterday, I was rocking out to some Ani Difranco song or something and all of a sudden the music stopped. "Are you still there?" the player asked... I quickly clicked "Yes" so it'd continue the music and it did... but it started a new song. GRRR! That's happened to me before too. I don't want to be forced to rate or re-rate each song that's playing to avoid the player stopping in the middle of a song. And I refuse to pay for a radio service, personalized or not. After all, my entire CD collection is on my computer in mp3 format, so I can listen to my own music for free -I just like mixing it up a little with these online services.
So, I searched for a new customizable internet radio service and I found Slacker.com Awesome! It didn't even ask me to log in before creating my station which I saved as "dsmgirl". Again, it took me quite awhile to build up my preferred artists list -I searched for and added all the artists from my mp3 collection as well as from my LAUNCHcast list. When I was finally done, I played the station and listened to about a half hour of awesome music ad-free. It even tells you what artist they'll be playing next!
But, after about a half hour it told me that if I wanted to continue listening, I needed to create an account. Ok. No biggie. I created an account. I was thrilled with the service, so why not? Afterwards, though, I couldn't seem to find the station I had just created!?! I sent them "feedback" about it, including my email address like it said "so they could get back to me", but so far nothing. I'm music-less. I'm not creating the profile again.
Over dinner I ranted about this to Ed and he told me about Last FM -the service he uses. It's a social site that hooks into Mugshot and has a little program you can download that syncs your Winamp and Windows Media Player playlists with their service. Awesome! I went straight home and signed up, downloaded the program and found out that it doesn't just upload your playlists for you, it uploads them as you listen to the songs. Poop. Okay, well, I just let Winamp play through my music all night. By morning it was only at "F", but what at least it's automatic, right?
Well, I hadn't actually played any music on Last FM last night because I couldn't figure out how to do it. The interface blows. I could barely figure out how to add music to my profile! And even then, you add songs, not artists, so it's super tedious and slow. But, hey, there are no limits on skipping or ads (per Ed), the social aspect is nice, and the fact that it'll hook into my Mugshot page is pretty cool too, right? Wrong. The deal with Last FM is that you can play other people's stations, but not your own unless you pay. Great. I just wasted more time building a profile for a useless service. How hard is this you greedy f#ckers?
Come on. Give me a station I don't have to pay for. I guess I'm going back to Slacker and rebuilding my profile under my own account to see if that works. I think they are my best bet at this point.
Blah
So, I searched for a new customizable internet radio service and I found Slacker.com Awesome! It didn't even ask me to log in before creating my station which I saved as "dsmgirl". Again, it took me quite awhile to build up my preferred artists list -I searched for and added all the artists from my mp3 collection as well as from my LAUNCHcast list. When I was finally done, I played the station and listened to about a half hour of awesome music ad-free. It even tells you what artist they'll be playing next!
But, after about a half hour it told me that if I wanted to continue listening, I needed to create an account. Ok. No biggie. I created an account. I was thrilled with the service, so why not? Afterwards, though, I couldn't seem to find the station I had just created!?! I sent them "feedback" about it, including my email address like it said "so they could get back to me", but so far nothing. I'm music-less. I'm not creating the profile again.
Over dinner I ranted about this to Ed and he told me about Last FM -the service he uses. It's a social site that hooks into Mugshot and has a little program you can download that syncs your Winamp and Windows Media Player playlists with their service. Awesome! I went straight home and signed up, downloaded the program and found out that it doesn't just upload your playlists for you, it uploads them as you listen to the songs. Poop. Okay, well, I just let Winamp play through my music all night. By morning it was only at "F", but what at least it's automatic, right?
Well, I hadn't actually played any music on Last FM last night because I couldn't figure out how to do it. The interface blows. I could barely figure out how to add music to my profile! And even then, you add songs, not artists, so it's super tedious and slow. But, hey, there are no limits on skipping or ads (per Ed), the social aspect is nice, and the fact that it'll hook into my Mugshot page is pretty cool too, right? Wrong. The deal with Last FM is that you can play other people's stations, but not your own unless you pay. Great. I just wasted more time building a profile for a useless service. How hard is this you greedy f#ckers?
Come on. Give me a station I don't have to pay for. I guess I'm going back to Slacker and rebuilding my profile under my own account to see if that works. I think they are my best bet at this point.
Blah
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
We made it through the LATE ride again!
364 days out of the year, Ed and I sit on our butts all day at work, then come home, eat, sleep and repeat. The most exercise we get usually happens on the weekends while we roam Ikea or the Carmax car lot on Sundays. Then, sometime in mid-July we get the bright idea to dust the cob-webs off of our bikes and go for a 25 mile ride around Chicago from midnight to sunrise with approximately 9,000 other people. Oh, it's fun, but it hurts!
Mental notes for next year:
Mental notes for next year:
- Eat before you leave. (I hadn't eaten since dinner and found the first part of the ride the most difficult -after the snack break, I was good to go... well, for the most part.)
- Bring beverages for the first leg. (We missed the refreshment stand at the starting point, the crowds were nuts!)
- Use those sports bottle caps on the bottles for said beverages. (I found myself trying to will the traffic lights red so I could get a drink.)
- Bring your camera again! (Photo op's make great excuses to take a break!)
- Definitely pick up your packet early so you get into the first wave! (You can go a bit slower and still get back to the fountain at the same time!)
- Maybe do some conditioning rides first. (Yeah right, who am I kidding...)
Friday, July 13, 2007
An atheist preaching religious tolerance!
To the 83% of Americans out there who call yourselves Christians, I sincerely would like to know how you feel about what happened on the floor of the Senate yesterday:
Click here for a link to a short article about it on CNN.
Now, I know we all live very busy lives and it's hard to keep up with the news and how our government works, so let me point this out -As the article states, the Senate has a Christian Chaplain who performs the opening prayer on MOST days.
So, these obviously deeply religious people couldn't just maybe silently pray to themselves while this Hindu chaplain said his prayer? They couldn't just be happy with having the majority of opening prayers be of their own persuasion?
It may be just a few Christians who want to push their beliefs on others via interrupting someone else's sacred ceremony on the Senate floor (the same right they claim for themselves), as well as wanting to teach their religion's non-scientific version of how the world was created in our science classes, as well as putting up their god's "rules" in our government court buildings, etc BUT THEY ARE DOING IT IN YOUR NAME!
As an atheist I'm disgusted by this display. I would never interrupt or delay a (legal) religious ceremony of any kind. I respect others' beliefs as long as they are not trying to push them on me. Likewise, I don't push my belief on others. Who sounds like a more honest and good person here? Shameful.
Perhaps they see the Hindu prayer being said on the Senate floor as "pushing" or "advocating" the Hindu beliefs? Well, how is Christian prayer on the Senate floor not the same thing? The only reason it's accepted is because of that 83% majority that agrees with you. If you lived in another country, like India, Hinduism is what the majority believes in. There, you'd be in the minority. So, how would you want to be treated if you lived in India?
Religious or not, if you believe in advocating the separation of church and state, consider joining Americans United for the Separation of Church and State at http://www.au.org/ or for fellow atheists, check out the Freedom From Religion Foundation at http://ffrf.org (As a direct result of what happened on the Senate floor yesterday, I'm joining this organization today.)
Click here for a link to a short article about it on CNN.
Now, I know we all live very busy lives and it's hard to keep up with the news and how our government works, so let me point this out -As the article states, the Senate has a Christian Chaplain who performs the opening prayer on MOST days.
So, these obviously deeply religious people couldn't just maybe silently pray to themselves while this Hindu chaplain said his prayer? They couldn't just be happy with having the majority of opening prayers be of their own persuasion?
It may be just a few Christians who want to push their beliefs on others via interrupting someone else's sacred ceremony on the Senate floor (the same right they claim for themselves), as well as wanting to teach their religion's non-scientific version of how the world was created in our science classes, as well as putting up their god's "rules" in our government court buildings, etc BUT THEY ARE DOING IT IN YOUR NAME!
As an atheist I'm disgusted by this display. I would never interrupt or delay a (legal) religious ceremony of any kind. I respect others' beliefs as long as they are not trying to push them on me. Likewise, I don't push my belief on others. Who sounds like a more honest and good person here? Shameful.
Perhaps they see the Hindu prayer being said on the Senate floor as "pushing" or "advocating" the Hindu beliefs? Well, how is Christian prayer on the Senate floor not the same thing? The only reason it's accepted is because of that 83% majority that agrees with you. If you lived in another country, like India, Hinduism is what the majority believes in. There, you'd be in the minority. So, how would you want to be treated if you lived in India?
Religious or not, if you believe in advocating the separation of church and state, consider joining Americans United for the Separation of Church and State at http://www.au.org/ or for fellow atheists, check out the Freedom From Religion Foundation at http://ffrf.org (As a direct result of what happened on the Senate floor yesterday, I'm joining this organization today.)
Amazon's "Customer Service"
Okay, I think this has some humor value, so I'm gunna share:
On Wednesday I got an email advertisement from Amazon about some sale on a DVD or something that I wasn't interested in. I followed the link at the bottom of the email to change my email preferences. When the page loaded, I checked the box that said I still wanted to be notified of legalese changes as well as the box that said I wanted to be notified when my magazine subscriptions were due to expire, but the rest I UNchecked. Then I clicked "Save" and when the page loaded again, while it said that my changes had been saved, the boxes all came up checked again!?!
So, I went back to check the confirmation email in order to see if my preferences were saved correctly or not. The email said I was UNsubscribed from ALL communication from Amazon! That's definitely not what I wanted!
At this point, I'm thinking maybe it's just a Firefox thing, so I opened my email preferences page on Amazon on my other workstation, in IE6 and the same exact thing happened.
So, I went back to Amazon and found their customer service form, filled it out as specifically as I could, including the information about the 2 different browsers, etc and I hit "Send".
The next day I receive this response:
Ok, so I click on the Help page link, but all the info on that page is about ordering. There's nothing about changing preferences of any sort. So, all they really gave me was a link to the unsubscribe page that STILL DOESN'T WORK FOR ME!!! (I tried it again to be sure.) So, I click on the link that says that the email did not resolve my question, which takes me to another customer service form. Ok, I'll bite. -I wrote them back pointing out the fact that I wrote them about a problem with their unsubscribe page and I got back a link to the unsubscribe page.
Today I received this:
...a second link to the unsubscribe page. I clicked on the "didn't help" link again. I'm not calling customer service about this issue, it's really their problem more than mine. I just wonder if their email is being answered by bots or just people who can't read... Should I keep trying? Nah, I have a "3 strikes and you're out" policy. If I get another link, then I'll finally take the hint and start ordering from smaller stores that actually answer their emails properly. :-P
**UPDATE** A few hours after I posted this I got 8 UNPROMPTED confirmation emails from Amazon saying that I was unsubscribed from the 3 email types I actually WANTED, and subscribed to the other 3 that I didn't(?). The upside, though, is that I was able to change it this time -after hitting "Save" the correct boxes stayed checked and my latest confirmation email is correct. Finally.
On Wednesday I got an email advertisement from Amazon about some sale on a DVD or something that I wasn't interested in. I followed the link at the bottom of the email to change my email preferences. When the page loaded, I checked the box that said I still wanted to be notified of legalese changes as well as the box that said I wanted to be notified when my magazine subscriptions were due to expire, but the rest I UNchecked. Then I clicked "Save" and when the page loaded again, while it said that my changes had been saved, the boxes all came up checked again!?!
So, I went back to check the confirmation email in order to see if my preferences were saved correctly or not. The email said I was UNsubscribed from ALL communication from Amazon! That's definitely not what I wanted!
At this point, I'm thinking maybe it's just a Firefox thing, so I opened my email preferences page on Amazon on my other workstation, in IE6 and the same exact thing happened.
So, I went back to Amazon and found their customer service form, filled it out as specifically as I could, including the information about the 2 different browsers, etc and I hit "Send".
The next day I receive this response:
Hello from Amazon.com.
I'm sorry you encountered problems while using our web site to
unsusbscribe from the sales emails.
As a customer, you'll occasionally receive e-mail updates about
important functionality changes to the web site, new Amazon.com
services, and special offers we believe would be beneficial to you.
We hope you'll find these updates interesting and informative.
However, if you'd rather not receive these mailings, please let us
know by visiting this URL:
http://www.amazon.com/unsubscribe/
Click "Customer Communications Preferences." On the next page you
will be able to choose which communications you want to receive from
us, and which ones you don't want to receive.
Please note that it may take several business days to process such
requests, and you may receive one or two additional e-mails before
the unsubscribe process has been completed. We apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.
Kindly note that, many common problems can be solved by adjusting
your browser settings. We've posted some easy troubleshooting tips
in our Help pages:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=3528941
If these suggestions fail to solve the problem, please call us when
it's convenient for you. You may either use the "contact us by
phone" button in our Help pages, or call one of the numbers below.
We're available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at:
US and Canada: 1-800-201-7575
International: 1-206-266-2992
I appreciate your patience in this matter.
Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:
If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=ayubfrdu3401517411
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=ayubfrdu3401517411
Ok, so I click on the Help page link, but all the info on that page is about ordering. There's nothing about changing preferences of any sort. So, all they really gave me was a link to the unsubscribe page that STILL DOESN'T WORK FOR ME!!! (I tried it again to be sure.) So, I click on the link that says that the email did not resolve my question, which takes me to another customer service form. Ok, I'll bite. -I wrote them back pointing out the fact that I wrote them about a problem with their unsubscribe page and I got back a link to the unsubscribe page.
Today I received this:
Hello from Amazon.com.
I am sorry for any inconvenience caused with this situation. This
may be happen due to technical error.
I will be sure to pass your message on to the appropriate department
in our company for consideration. Customer feedback like yours is
very important in helping us continue to improve the selection and
service we provide.
However, if you'd rather not receive these mailings, please let us
know by visiting this URL:
http://www.amazon.com/unsubscribe/
Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.
Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:
If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=bydbehdu3405384090
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=bydbehdu3405384090
...a second link to the unsubscribe page. I clicked on the "didn't help" link again. I'm not calling customer service about this issue, it's really their problem more than mine. I just wonder if their email is being answered by bots or just people who can't read... Should I keep trying? Nah, I have a "3 strikes and you're out" policy. If I get another link, then I'll finally take the hint and start ordering from smaller stores that actually answer their emails properly. :-P
**UPDATE** A few hours after I posted this I got 8 UNPROMPTED confirmation emails from Amazon saying that I was unsubscribed from the 3 email types I actually WANTED, and subscribed to the other 3 that I didn't(?). The upside, though, is that I was able to change it this time -after hitting "Save" the correct boxes stayed checked and my latest confirmation email is correct. Finally.
Friday, July 06, 2007
New Photography Blog!
I know there are some people out there who watch this blog for my photography stuff, and I wanted to give you all an update. -I've decided to become more serious about blogging about photography, so I've started a new blog just for "photography talk". It's at http://muddybootsphogotraphy.blogspot.com/ and I intend to post there at least 3 times a week.
There are 3 articles up already, so go read!
-Erica
There are 3 articles up already, so go read!
-Erica
Monday, June 25, 2007
Starting a business...
I've decided to start a business. The business part I get. The part where it interacts with the government I do not. My eyes instantly glaze over when I read tax forms, etc. But, in order to possibly help others or at least for documentation purposes, I plan to outline the process here.
Step 1:
Choose what business type you are going to set up and register the business with your state. In my case, it's Illinois, and you can register it here: https://www.revenue.state.il.us/app/ibri/
Step 2:
If you've chosen to open your business as a Sole Proprietor, but you want to do business under a name besides your own, register an "Assumed Name" or "Doing Business As" name with your County Clerk (at least, that's how it works in Illinois).
Step 3 (optional for Sole Proprietors):
Register with the IRS for an EIN or Employer Identification Number. If you are going to employ people, this is required, if not, it's optional, but I've read that sometimes other business that you interact with may want it and banks sometimes need it if you want to open a business account. It's free, and if you register for it online you'll get it instantly. Link: https://sa.www4.irs.gov/sa_vign/newFormSS4.do
My progress:
I completed steps 1 and 3 on the same day and got confirmation back from the State of Illinois and got my EIN already. The state also sent forms so I could pay my sales taxes online. So, as of July 1st I've started a business.
What remains to be done:
Step 2, and then I also have to find out what needs to be done so I can NOT pay sales tax on purchases that I intend to resell (like frames, matting, etc).
Other usefull info for Photography Businesses:
Step 1:
Choose what business type you are going to set up and register the business with your state. In my case, it's Illinois, and you can register it here: https://www.revenue.state.il.us/app/ibri/
Step 2:
If you've chosen to open your business as a Sole Proprietor, but you want to do business under a name besides your own, register an "Assumed Name" or "Doing Business As" name with your County Clerk (at least, that's how it works in Illinois).
Step 3 (optional for Sole Proprietors):
Register with the IRS for an EIN or Employer Identification Number. If you are going to employ people, this is required, if not, it's optional, but I've read that sometimes other business that you interact with may want it and banks sometimes need it if you want to open a business account. It's free, and if you register for it online you'll get it instantly. Link: https://sa.www4.irs.gov/sa_vign/newFormSS4.do
My progress:
I completed steps 1 and 3 on the same day and got confirmation back from the State of Illinois and got my EIN already. The state also sent forms so I could pay my sales taxes online. So, as of July 1st I've started a business.
What remains to be done:
Step 2, and then I also have to find out what needs to be done so I can NOT pay sales tax on purchases that I intend to resell (like frames, matting, etc).
Other usefull info for Photography Businesses:
- Is photography retail or a service? Do photography sales incur retail tax?: http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/086/086001300S20000R.html
- Awesome e-book for anyone thinking of getting into any kind of photography business (includes how to price, etc): http://www.danheller.com/bizfaq.html
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Getting your passport can be one of the most exciting parts of your trip!
In March my husband and I started planning our semi-annual trip to Canada to visit his mother and I realized that, because we got married last year, I'd have to update my passport to reflect my new last name. I downloaded the form, filled it out, and read on the instructions that it usually takes 6-8 weeks, but could take up to 10 weeks to get a new passport. So, I counted up the days until our trip in May and found that I had 77 days, so I did not expedite my application for the additional $60 charge.
Now, when I applied for my first passport ever it took about a month for me to get it. So, around mid-April I began keeping an eye out for my passport whenever I went to the mailbox to get the mail. But, April came and went, and a couple weeks into May I began to worry. We had over $2,000 in plane tickets and our trip was to begin on the 24th. So, I started looking into checking up on my application.
The first thing I found was that you can check your passport status online, but all it told me was that my application was "in process"... The other option was to call their customer service numbers, but it said they'd only speak with you if your trip date was 14 days away or less. Mine was 3 weeks away, so I marked my calendar and continued to keep an eye on my mailbox.
2 weeks before my trip I still didn't have my passport, so I dialed the passport agency's number. I listened to their loooong messages about how busy they were due to the passport rules change. When it finally got to the part where I'd wait for a customer service representative, it instead hung up on my because there were already too many people in the queue. So, I dialed and dialed until I was able to get into the queue. When they answered, I was promised that it'd be expedited, but told to call again in 2 days to be sure. "Easy for you to say" I replied. But, again I marked my calendar and waited.
The next time I called I learned that pressing "9" after the "I'm sorry, we're busy" message would put you back to the beginning of the recording so you didn't have to re-dial. I also learned that just pressing the buttons for the options you wanted cut off the long recording and got you to the point where you'd get in the queue or get hung up on quicker. So, I went around and around in their phone tree until I got into the queue and got a person on the phone. The rep said it had been expedited, and told me to call back in 2 days to make sure they were working on it.
And so it went, me calling every 2 days and them doing nothing (or little) and asking me to call back again. When it was 6 days before my trip date, I decided that more had to be done. I googled for other things I could be doing to speed the process up. I found several people who claimed that calling their Representative's local office helped them. So, I called.
The interesting thing about calling my Rep's office -no phone tree, no getting hung up on, no waiting in a queue. I got a personal contact, and SHE called ME with updates! I highly recommend calling your Rep if the clock is ticking down on your upcoming trip!
In the end, though, I got my passport less than 24 hours before my trip! It turns out that they are processing passport applications by trip date rather than first-come-first-served and that includes expedited applications. Expediting means very little at this point. It's all based on trip date. More than once I wished I had lied about my departure date. Just by a couple days. They never asked for verification, and I would have slept a lot better in the few days before my trip!
Blah, so my vacation started out quite exciting, but at least I made it. I have a feeling that there are others who aren't as lucky. Or... there soon will be. The passport office needs to step things up. Their rules are creating this backup! If they can't keep up, they should repeal the rules until they can. It's insane that in this "free" country we're unable to travel freely as we did just months ago) to our neighboring countries.
Now, when I applied for my first passport ever it took about a month for me to get it. So, around mid-April I began keeping an eye out for my passport whenever I went to the mailbox to get the mail. But, April came and went, and a couple weeks into May I began to worry. We had over $2,000 in plane tickets and our trip was to begin on the 24th. So, I started looking into checking up on my application.
The first thing I found was that you can check your passport status online, but all it told me was that my application was "in process"... The other option was to call their customer service numbers, but it said they'd only speak with you if your trip date was 14 days away or less. Mine was 3 weeks away, so I marked my calendar and continued to keep an eye on my mailbox.
2 weeks before my trip I still didn't have my passport, so I dialed the passport agency's number. I listened to their loooong messages about how busy they were due to the passport rules change. When it finally got to the part where I'd wait for a customer service representative, it instead hung up on my because there were already too many people in the queue. So, I dialed and dialed until I was able to get into the queue. When they answered, I was promised that it'd be expedited, but told to call again in 2 days to be sure. "Easy for you to say" I replied. But, again I marked my calendar and waited.
The next time I called I learned that pressing "9" after the "I'm sorry, we're busy" message would put you back to the beginning of the recording so you didn't have to re-dial. I also learned that just pressing the buttons for the options you wanted cut off the long recording and got you to the point where you'd get in the queue or get hung up on quicker. So, I went around and around in their phone tree until I got into the queue and got a person on the phone. The rep said it had been expedited, and told me to call back in 2 days to make sure they were working on it.
And so it went, me calling every 2 days and them doing nothing (or little) and asking me to call back again. When it was 6 days before my trip date, I decided that more had to be done. I googled for other things I could be doing to speed the process up. I found several people who claimed that calling their Representative's local office helped them. So, I called.
The interesting thing about calling my Rep's office -no phone tree, no getting hung up on, no waiting in a queue. I got a personal contact, and SHE called ME with updates! I highly recommend calling your Rep if the clock is ticking down on your upcoming trip!
In the end, though, I got my passport less than 24 hours before my trip! It turns out that they are processing passport applications by trip date rather than first-come-first-served and that includes expedited applications. Expediting means very little at this point. It's all based on trip date. More than once I wished I had lied about my departure date. Just by a couple days. They never asked for verification, and I would have slept a lot better in the few days before my trip!
Blah, so my vacation started out quite exciting, but at least I made it. I have a feeling that there are others who aren't as lucky. Or... there soon will be. The passport office needs to step things up. Their rules are creating this backup! If they can't keep up, they should repeal the rules until they can. It's insane that in this "free" country we're unable to travel freely as we did just months ago) to our neighboring countries.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Motivation, improvement, and the making of "You crack me up".
(click on the photo to view it on my Flickr page where larger sizes are available)
There's a growing number of people subscribing to the thought that having a goal of taking and posting a photo a day to your web gallery can help your photography improve by leaps and bounds. I tend to be a person who drives past photo opportunities because I don't like stopping the car, or I don't pull out the camera because I only have a half hour until I have to do something. So, I thought I needed the little extra motivation that a "photo a day" goal would give me.
So, last night was to be "Day 2", but Ed and I got back from dinner late and we only had an hour before we were supposed to be in bed, so I thought "Great, I failed "photo-a-day" on Day 2"! ...I started getting ready for my shower while thinking of something photo-worthy that I could either get quickly tonight or at least get a photo for tomorrow. Several things crossed my mind, but nothing good until...
While washing my hair, I looked up at the cracking paint on the ceiling of our bathroom. The stupid guys who flipped our house used cheap paint in the bathroom and the steam from the shower has it coming off in sheets. Blah. I hate painting. Seeing it cracking and peeling cheeses me off. Showers used to be my little retreat, a place where I could relax, but that paint and the future work it symbolizes stresses me out every time I take a shower. But this time I smiled...
A few weeks ago I noticed this heart-shaped patch of bare ceiling where the paint was peeled completely off. What was frustrating before, though, had become really interesting now. -I had my photo op! -I quickly finished my shower so I could grab my camera.
I only took about 8 photos because I was running out of space on my memory card and didn't have time to go through and delete stuff. (I'm really militant about getting my 8 hours of sleep!) But, I framed it 4 different ways and exposed it a couple different ways for each to ensure I'd get a good shot. Then, I went to bed.
When I got to work, I downloaded the photos and they were a little "blah". -I couldn't get the balance right between getting the paint a warm white-ish tone, but leaving the ceiling (the inside of the heart) warm like the incandescent lighting made it look. I played and played with it, but in the end I had to make 2 layers in Gimp and use the erase tool where I wanted the warmer color to appear. -It took me about 4 hours in software playing with it before I got a result I was happy enough with to upload.
In the end, I love the photo. The lesson learned is that it doesn't take a lot of time to take a good photo or a magnificent place to find a good opportunity. Just keep your eyes open, and having a goal of a photo a day can be a helpful way of motivating yourself to take more photos, which many suggest will speed up your learning curve by a lot!
So, last night was to be "Day 2", but Ed and I got back from dinner late and we only had an hour before we were supposed to be in bed, so I thought "Great, I failed "photo-a-day" on Day 2"! ...I started getting ready for my shower while thinking of something photo-worthy that I could either get quickly tonight or at least get a photo for tomorrow. Several things crossed my mind, but nothing good until...
While washing my hair, I looked up at the cracking paint on the ceiling of our bathroom. The stupid guys who flipped our house used cheap paint in the bathroom and the steam from the shower has it coming off in sheets. Blah. I hate painting. Seeing it cracking and peeling cheeses me off. Showers used to be my little retreat, a place where I could relax, but that paint and the future work it symbolizes stresses me out every time I take a shower. But this time I smiled...
A few weeks ago I noticed this heart-shaped patch of bare ceiling where the paint was peeled completely off. What was frustrating before, though, had become really interesting now. -I had my photo op! -I quickly finished my shower so I could grab my camera.
I only took about 8 photos because I was running out of space on my memory card and didn't have time to go through and delete stuff. (I'm really militant about getting my 8 hours of sleep!) But, I framed it 4 different ways and exposed it a couple different ways for each to ensure I'd get a good shot. Then, I went to bed.
When I got to work, I downloaded the photos and they were a little "blah". -I couldn't get the balance right between getting the paint a warm white-ish tone, but leaving the ceiling (the inside of the heart) warm like the incandescent lighting made it look. I played and played with it, but in the end I had to make 2 layers in Gimp and use the erase tool where I wanted the warmer color to appear. -It took me about 4 hours in software playing with it before I got a result I was happy enough with to upload.
In the end, I love the photo. The lesson learned is that it doesn't take a lot of time to take a good photo or a magnificent place to find a good opportunity. Just keep your eyes open, and having a goal of a photo a day can be a helpful way of motivating yourself to take more photos, which many suggest will speed up your learning curve by a lot!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
I bought a petite blythe!
(Proof that I'm a girl!!!)
I ran into Blythe dolls on Flickr and got hooked on them. The originals go for hundreds to thousands of dollars, and even the new ones (or the Pullip dolls) are $80. Either way, I have enough expensive hobbies, and I'm not about to pay that kind of money for a doll, so finding the "Petite Blythe" dolls (about $25 shipped from Japan or Hong Kong) made me a happy camper.
The problem, once ordered, is finding new clothes for petite blythes. The regular-sized Blythe dolls have many outfits available and they are easier to make clothes for since they are around a foot tall. The petite blythes are 4 inches tall, and their bodies are tiny, so making clothes is difficult. (And for someone like me who has never attempted making clothes at all, doesn't know how to sew, and doesn't own a sewing machine -it just ain't gunna happen.) So, I needed an alternative.
Searching ebay revealed maybe 6 made-for-blythe outfits. I only liked one. It cost about $15. The only other option I found was searching for 1:12 scale doll outfits -there are a few, they're made for doll house dolls, so most are quite old fashioned looking. Again, I found one I liked for around $15.
Not happy with my limited blythe wardrobe, I headed for Toys R Us. It turned out that they had quite a large doll section, so I spent my time looking for dolls and/or clothes that were around the same size (in body) as my blythe. Here's what I bought:
1.) A Holly Hobby doll set, which contained a doll dressed in jeans (I was hoping for jeans!) and a t-shirt as well as a pair of shorts, another t-shirt, and a pair of work boots. There was another pair of shoes, but they looked like clown shoes :-P The rest was junk -stickers, a mirror, a dog, etc. But the set was $10. In the end, the jeans were about 3/4 of an inch too long, but it was easy to cut them and I used superglue on the ends so they wouldn't fray. Whee! Jeans!
2.) Baby Bratz clothes. You know those horrible Bratz dolls, yeah, well, they have cute clothes, but they are too big. Luckily they're now making baby bratz, which are about the right height, but much bigger around. -It didn't matter they had such cute clothes, I bought a little punk outfit as well as a cammo skirt and "Bad Boy" shirt combo. $6 each. So cute, I didn't mind parting with the money for these either!
So, if anyone else out there is looking for clothes for the Petite Blythe, there's a couple options for you!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Butterfly shot
See the full size here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/erica_marshall/489021262/
I got home last night and I've been itching to get out and do some "real" photography, but time hasn't really allowed it, so I grabbed the camera and decided to try to make do with whatever might be available. Our lilac tree is in full bloom, so I headed towards it to see if there might be a new angle or something interesting to catch out there. I didn't find much.
I poked around a pine tree on the other side of the yard that is showing signs of a yellow-bellied sap sucker using it for food, but so far I haven't gotten a glimpse at the bird, just the holes it leaves behind in the tree. :-(
After taking a couple of photos of pine cones, I headed back towards the lilacs, and began playing with angles and light as the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky. All of a sudden, something flittered around my head. I looked up and saw a butterfly. It was so windy, though, that the poor thing couldn't stay on a bunch of lilacs for very long without getting blown off. Whenever he picked a spot that was low enough, I'd start taking pics. Many came out dark because the area was in shadow and the sun was low (it was probably an hour until sunset).
To brighten up the shot, I set the exposure compensation at +1, and chased the butterflies around some more. -There were actually 2, and they were different varieties, but I never got a usable photo of the 2nd one.
Finally the wind died down a bit and this guy was able to stay on a single, low, flower bunch for a little bit. I lined up the shot and found myself shooting into the sun. It was okay, though, I liked the effect, and with the exposure compensation, I figured he'd come out exposed fairly well. -I was right!
I did nothing to the shot in post-processing except a very slight (1/2 the default) unsharp mask in Gimp. No cropping was done, although some people on my photography list have suggested a crop. I like it as-is, though.
After uploading it I noticed that the shutter speed was 1/50, which means it's amazing it came out as sharp as it did since it was taken with a 100mm lens, and the rule is that anything below one over the focal length (1/100th of a second in this case) is too slow to hand-hold, and I hand-held this shot! Oh well, I like breaking the rules...
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Colored Smoke "How-to"
This isn't the greatest example ever, see Jameela's Flickr site to see some better smoke photos, but here's how you achieve the effect:
You need:
- Any camera in any mode (having your flash on is recomended, though)
- Something non-reflective and black to use as a background
- Incense (to create the smoke)
- A light source (I used my Canon 30D's on-camera flash and the darkness of my backyard as my light source and background, and it resulted in a kindof flat photo in comparison to Jameela's which was taken indoors with a light source in addition to her on-camera flash).
- Set up the incense infront of the black background
- Take tons of photos being careful that autofocus isn't focusing on the background rather than the smoke and that your shutter speed is high enough that the smoke isn't blurry)
- Download your images to your computer and open one of the "good ones" in an image editing program of your choice.
- Find the "Invert" option. This will invert the colors, giving you the white background.
- There are many different ways to create the colored smoke. Gimp has a "Colorize" tool, saturation adjustments can help too, experiment to find what works for you.
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