That's Interesting.....

Why “Celebrating Home”?

Vicki — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:48:31 +0000

There are many home party plan businesses out there and generally, I am not a fan of the business model. I have tried countless other companies and there was usually something that really bothered me about it. One of the main things that attracted me to Celebrating Home is that orders are shipped directly to the Hostess or the Customer. When I tried this in the past with another company, all items were shipped to me. Then I had to sort out all the orders in my dining room. When I had a good show, I would completely lose the use of my dining room until I could schedule a time to deliver the items to the hostess. Another attractive aspect is that the hostess gifts are paid by the company, not out of my pocket. I don’t really know a lot of people in this area yet, but I am hoping to change that soon! I don’t know where exactly this will take me, but I figured that it was worth a shot!

SoapNet disappointment

Vicki — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:00:38 +0000

I want to sound off about SoapNet. When they launched almost a decade ago, their slogan was “We Love Soaps”. Well, it seems to me that they are abandoning soaps. Have you been to their website lately? They have celebrity gossip (non-soap related) they have a style section (non-soap related), and a bunch of other non-soap related material.

Now they call themselves “The Home of Celebrity and TV Drama” HUH!?!? Are they serious? And if you read the message boards, the viewers are not happy. And the response is generally “too bad”.

We have a ton of sources for gossip on Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. If we want to know about Ugly Betty or Grey’s Anatomy, we would go to the network where they are AIRED. And if we really want Reality Shows, they can be found on every other network. (I hate reality shows, by the way).

I am so incredibly disappointed in SoapNet. I am a big fan of the Soap (DAYTIME DRAMA) genre. I feel very betrayed by SoapNet. I am sure that 90210, The One Tree Hill, and Grey’s Anatomy are fine shows. I just don’t believe that they should be on SoapNet. I don’t tune in to ESPN to watch cooking shows. I don’t go to the Discovery Channel to watch Sesame Street.

They have such a wonderful concept that they are abandoning. Along with the current soaps that they are airing, they could be digging up Port Charles from the REAL Beginning. They could be running Ryan’s Hope, Another World, Generations, Passions, Sunset Beach, and a whole Treasure Trove of possibilities. And Original Programming that is related to SOAPS. Like Soapography, They Started on Soaps, One Day With… I don’t care, as long as it is actually related to SOAPS.

And did you notice the B-rated movies they started showing? What the heck?

Whomever they put in charge of programming should be fired immediately! Shame on you SoapNet.

Fisher Price customer service

Vicki — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:21:32 +0000

It is so easy to find complaints on the web. It seems that when we are angry, we like to let the world know about it.

Well, this is not another complaint. I’d like to offer some praise for the wonderful customer service that I received from Fisher Price.

My son got the Go Diego Go Animal Rescue Center for Christmas this year. A few weeks ago, he decided that he wanted to take Diego with him when we went out and about. Well, during the course of our outing, he lost Diego. And what is Diego’s Rescue Center without Diego???

I went to the toy store to see if they sold any Diego figures that would be the right size for his Rescue Center, but they were a bit bigger.

So I decided to call Fisher Price to find out if it was possible to purchase a replacement. Not only were they very kind and friendly, she said that they could send a replacement bag at no charge! And they did.

I got a bag with Diego, plus a couple of the other pieces from the set. I went to their website and found that you can order replacement parts, when available, and this set would have cost $8.00.

Of course, I wouldn’t expect them to continually send out free toys, but I think it is great that they do in some cases.

The 4400… books!

Vicki — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:33:46 +0000

Have you ever watched the show The 4400 on the USA Network? If you haven’t, then you missed a GREAT show. It was definitely one of my favorites. I was really disappointed when it was cancelled. They left us with a great cliffhanger and then never returned after that season.

Today, I was in our local B Dalton Bookstore which is going out of business. I found that there is a new book series based on the show. So far there are two books in the series, so I picked up both of them today. I am sure it will take me a while before I get the chance to read them, but I am looking forward to it. I hope that at some point they will pick up where the series left off. Based on the reviews I have read so far, these book take place somewhere during the third or fourth season of the show and not afterward. So time will tell.

In the meantime, I am happy to have found new books based on one of my favorite shows.

For more information on the books, check out the following links.

The 4400: Wet Work

The 4400: The Vesuvius Prophecy

USA Network – forum discussion about the books

Faith Freaks

Vicki — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:28:00 +0000

http://www.faithfreaks.com/

My review:

I have definitely found a personal home on this site. The people that I have found here are very friendly and welcoming. Within the first few days, I had made over 20 friends who actually sent me personal messages, commented on my blogs, and truly seemed to care about me as an individual and not just another number on their “friend list”. After using the site on a regular basis for a few days, what I have noticed is that the people comment on each other’s blogs with a great deal of love and encouragement. Even differing opinions are treated with respect.

As you will read below, the target audience is teens, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great place for people of all ages. You will also find people like me – a 34 year old, married, working mother. But browsing through the profiles, it is definitely a predominately teen site. I would certainly reccommend this site to any Christian parents of teen age kids who want to use MySpace.

Nick, the founder that I spoke with is very personable and approachable, as you will notice in the interview below. I think he has a great deal of committment to the site and making it a positive force for teens and Christians in general.

Interview with Nick:

1. What is your name and your role on the site?

My Name is Nick and I am one of the co-founders

2. When was the website founded?

We started last summer (2007)

3. Why did you start the website?

Having been in youth ministry for 15 years, I started to use myspace to keep in touch with kids. It was a great tool but there was lots of filth all over myspace (language, advertising ..etc) and I said to myself these kids are immersed in this culture there has to be a better way, a place that they can connect and not have to wade through all that stuff. Myspace is a great idea but it’s NOT a good place for teens.

4. How many members are on the site?

Currently over 80 thousand And we grow at a rate of over 5 thousand a month!

5. How many members are regular users?

I don’t have exact numbers but enough that we have to continually upgrade our servers..lol

6. Are there age restrictions on your site?

Yes, You need to be at least 13 years of age

7. Do you have a target audience, such as a certain age group, region, or denomination?

Teenagers =)

8. What are the basic features of the site?

Prayer Boards, Moderated Chat & profiles, music, pictures and lots Prizes (we gave away a brand new laptop a few months ago).

9. Do you have official fan pages for any Christian artists or leaders?

Yes, we actually have a bunch of those

10. What are some features that set you apart from other Christian social networks?

We are youth oriented. Moreover, ministry focused. We try to create an environment for teens to get find resources for help. (so many teens are suicidal, depressed, cutting) 3 million teens in America cut themselves! But we also try to create an environment for teens to grow closer in their walk with God too. In addition, a place for those who don’t know Jesus can find hope and life through a loving non judgmental environment (but we do have guidelines that members MUST adhere too).

11. What is your level of commitment to future success of this site?

If God is for us who can be against us? I have and will continue to work tirelessly to make this site where God can be glorified and people saved and commit to until God says stop. I have mortgaged my home and sold my motorcyle.

12. What can you tell me about your admin team?

We have a staff of committed youth pastors, senior pastosr, Parents , counselors to law enforcement. Who give and give to this ministry.

13. What are your goals for your website?

To continue to be a place for Teens and Gods people

14. Would you consider a merger with other Christian social networking sites if you are unable to get the membership or funding that you hope to attain?

I would consider it, As long as the other site visions and goals line up with ours

Your Christian Space

Vicki — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:18:00 +0000

YCSpace.com “A Better Place For Christians”

My review:

I was immediately impressed with the owner of this site. He was very quick to respond to my initial request to interview him about yourchristianspace.com.

My best guess is that there are about 22,000 registered users on this site. That is based on the number of pages on the “browse all members” feature. I found there to generally be about 30 members online at the same times that I was online.

You can customize your profile with your own background pictures, colors, etc. But I was unable to use a “MySpace” profile layout.

Interview:

What can you tell me about your admin team?

Here, our admin staff is unique in that we are made up by a reverend, a pastor, a special needs consultant and specitalist (my wife) and other volunteers including a Police officer.

Christian social networks

Vicki — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:04:00 +0000

I have found a plethora of Christian social networking sites recently.

Here are the URLs:

http://www.yourchristianspace.com/

http://www.faithfreaks.com/

http://www.mypraize.com/

http://www.xianz.com/

http://www.jcfaith.com/

http://www.bigbaptist.com/

http://www.christian.com/

http://www.holypal.com/

http://www.gofellowship.com/

http://www.101christianspaces.com/

http://www.dittytalk.com/

http://www.ourchristianplace.com/

http://www.mygodlyplace.com/

http://www.myichthus.com/

Having doubts about Yuwie.com

Vicki — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:23:00 +0000

I have been on this site for less than two days and I am starting to have my doubts. I am NOT going to give my social security number to some anonymous website. And after reading the terms of service over a little more carefully, we do have to fill out an IRS W9 and provide a social security number in order to get paid anything.

The other thing that I discovered through a whois search is that this site uses a domain proxy site (domainsbyproxy.com). What that means is that law enforcement will find it harder to get any info on who they are. Few corporations have any legitimate reason to do that due to the legal nature of a corporate entity.

The other thing that I notice is that just about everyone is blogging about the same thing… getting more friends so that you get more views and get more money. Kinda like buying friends to me. I don’t know.

Another thing that I am re-thinking is #8 in the TOS

Fees. Yuwie.com is currently free of charge, but you acknowledge that Yuwie.com reserves the right to charge for the Yuwie Services and to change its fees from time to time in its discretion. If Yuwie.com terminates your Membership because you have breached the Agreement, you shall not be entitled to the refund of any unused portion of subscription fees.

So I am feeling a little uneasy about the money-making part of this site. We’ll see…

Maybe I’ll stick around, but keep out of the money making part of it. I am not sure.

But for my friends that I referred, I will leave it up to you to decide for yourself if you want to venture in to the money making side of this site. I think I am going to keep away from giving out my social security number and filling out IRS forms.

MySpace

Vicki — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:49:00 +0000

I am obsessed with MySpace. I am not sure how it happened, but I have been on there a lot over the past month or two. I created my profile back in 2005, just to see what it was. I never really used it much until a few of my really close friends got on there.

It has actually been an amazing tool. I have gotten back in touch with a few old friends. I love it. I get to see what they are up to, pictures of their families… and other fun stuff.

I can’t wait to see who will be my next new friend on MySpace.

ebay stuff

Vicki — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 02:32:00 +0000

Free auction counter options:
Digits Web Auditing and Counting services Free counters if you get under 1,000 hits a day. Commercial counters for those who get more than 1,000 hits a day
Dave’s book store Auction counters Free counters providing hourly statistics

Free auction template options:
KDwebpagedesign Easy custom auction template creator.
Zoicks A list of free auction templates. Some are interactive and dynamicly generate a template based on your preferences.

Free image hosting options:
photobucket.com Offers free image and premium hosting.
free-webhosts.com Unlimited free image hosting.
www.auctionpix.co.uk Free image hosting.
walagata.com Free image hosting.
miamihost.net Free image hosting.
villagephotos.com Free image hosting.

Free image editing software Simple image editing aimed at auctions. Sharpen and size images, create thumnails.
Generate clicable thumbnail images This tool takes auction numbers and generates clickable thumbnail images. Great for cross-promotion!

Free tools to test the speed of loading your auction:
Speed of loading your auction for various internet connection How long does it take to load your page
Speed of your connection How fast is your connection to internet

Feedback tools:
Negative feedback tool Examine just negative and neutral feedback
Mutual feedback Examine feedback exhanged by two users

Free html tutorials:
HTML how-to for beginners A few simple commands with examples for beginners
Complete HTML cheetsheet Quick html reference – html cheaptsheet with a large set of commands
Webmonkey Webmonkey has everyting: both beginners and experts will find somethign useful. Tutorial, cheat sheets, tables, forms, javascript, stylesheets, and much more.
HTML syntax checker! Find mis-matched tags and other html mistakes

What is selling on Ebay:
Ever wondered who is making it on Ebay? What is selling well? Top Ebay sellers

How well things are selling on Ebay:
Ever wondered how your sales compare to the other sellers? Ebay Sell-through percentage

How buyers use Ebay:
Ebay research on buyers behavior – when and how they are finding items to buy? View Ebay buyer behavior report

Tools for international selling:
Currency converter Easy and up to date conversions from any currency to any other currency
World clock Need to know what time a free listing day starts in another country? Look here!
Translation translation from one language to another

Abbreviations and Acronyms in eBay Auctions
Here is a table of common Abbreviations and Acronyms.
>Here is a table Ebay symbols and icons.