Window Shopper

A while back, I noticed a deal called Entrecard which uses the idea of traffic generation by way of “dropping cards” on all those who have the Entrecard widget on their blogs. Thought it was a great idea so I signed up. At first, traffic really did increase. Actually, if I did everything I could do, traffic would still be higher than it currently is on this blog.

What’s the problem here? With this particular traffic generator, you have to take the time to drop up to 300 cards a day per blog signed up. You can drop zero too. The idea is to generate the traffic and eventually find new readers. What usually happens is that I get a quite a bit less traffic than I give out, that is, I drop the required number but get less than a third coming back to me. If that was all the problem, I sure wouldn’t be talking about it. That’s just a matter of finding people who want to be on the blog. No problem there.

No, the problem is more in the nature of how Entrecard has changed to suit the few…themselves. A dropper gets what they call “EC” or Entrecard Cash. You get a point for each drop you make. The EC add up. And things weren’t too bad before this radical change was made. When you had enough EC, you were able to buy advertising on the other blogs depending on how much EC you had on hand. The more you have, the more you can spend on some of the really top ranked blogs. The downside to that was that you could never get in to their list. It was always full. Yes, there was a cap.

Today, it’s a completely different situation. I believe it has gone from bad to worse. Now there is no cap. So the price of the more popular blogs can be quite high, over 8000 EC. Yep, there is a problem there. If you drop 300 EC each day, it will take you a mountain of time to save up enough to buy advertising for ONE DAY on those really expensive blogs. At this point, it’s important to take note of this. When you buy advertising, you do not get the payback exactly. Entrecard takes most of your profit for themselves. In the real world, the lion’s share would go to the one who advertises and gets their payback on it. In Entrecard world, they get the big payback and the blog owner gets the shaft. The EC that rightfully belongs to the blogger is actually going to gather EC for the Entrecard company. Is this nuts or what?

Folks, the money is virtual. What the heck is that about? When the company gathers the VIRTUAL EC, they then put it up for grabs. Of course, the people who want the EC have to pay for it with REAL cash. You can get 1,000 EC for $9.50 and 5,000 for a whopping $47.50. And what do you get when you spend them? One whole day of advertising on another blog. One day. And as I stated before, there are blogs that cost over 8,000 EC to advertise.

Any comments here? Does this look even remotely sane? People are paying almost $50 to acquire a few EC that you can get for free. Granted, you really have to work for those little buggers but they are free. The problem is that it takes forever to gather them. Then you really do not get value for your bucks….either way.

Entrecard is definitely not all that. I will keep it for information purposes but it’s doubtful that I will spend a lot of time on site anymore. Just not worth the incredible effort it takes. Sigh.

Once again, the recall list is growing. Seems that every day more and more items are needed to be placed on the recall list, most unknown to the general public. So, in an effort to get the word out to more people, here are some items from the latest recall list:

1) Schnucks brand spanish olives, 5.7 ounce jars. Brand name Mario Camacho. The officials believe that some jars contain glass fragments. The jars were distributed to Tennessee and Mississippi. The code on the jars is UPC code 04131819003. If you have purchased that brand and size jar of olives, please return them to Schnucks for a full refund. If you have any questions, you can call 1-800-264-4400 for more information.

2) Ahart’s Market, Allentown, recalls ground beef with a sell-by date of May 9th. A styrofoam tray was accidentally ground up into a batch of meat. This is strictly for Allentown. Please return the ground beef trays to the store on Allen Street for a refund. The styrofoam, they say, will not harm you or your family.

Most of the rest of the recalls are for things overseas. I am not reporting those here because I feel that we need to see only those for the United States at this time. There will be more recalls in the coming days.

Much of the time, when people go to the dentist, they do not ask where the products going into their mouths come from. Might be a good idea to do so from now on. It seems that a good deal of the products that go in the mouth are coming from China. But the real problem is that the bridges and crowns that the dentist puts in your mouth may be tainted with large amounts of lead.

Now, if you have not been watching the news about China and the toys that were tainted with lead because you didn’t have kids, you might just want to pay a bit more attention this time. China has been sending us many items that were tainted or incredibly imperfect. The worst things were the tainted pet foods, heparin and the toys containing lead. Now, the dental products are also containing and tainted with lead. And this is what you put into your mouth. Are you aware what lead can do to a body? It will affect the kidneys, heart, eyes, immune system and your abilities in cognitive functions.

I guess that one of the worst problems here is that you will not know that the item, like a crown or bridge, was made in China. For instance, dentists will buy crowns from China for about $30-$50 and sell them to the patient for about $1200. The big problem comes when the things simply do not fit right. When that happens, bacteria will come in. Eventually, you would need root canal work done. Often, the contamination is not in the metal, like you would think, but in the porcelain parts of the crown and usually at quite high levels.

To put this into perspective, the Congress is trying to put a limit on the level of lead in toys at 90 ppm. One lady who had some serious problems with the lead in her dental work had 490 parts per million, much higher than the Congress wants for toys. And this is IN YOUR MOUTH!!!! Now the CDC does not think that this level of lead would actually pose a threat to health. Also they are not recommending anyone get previous work redone or delay getting dental work done because of this.

I will say that not everyone was experiencing this sort of thing but it does make one stop and think about what is happening at the dentist. Perhaps it is time to see that doctors and dentists are sometimes in it for the money too. For now, it would be best if, when you are getting crowns or bridgework done, ask where the product is coming from. If it’s China, I would say “No thanks, maybe next time when you have products from the US.”

My only question now is…..WHEN ARE WE GOING TO see that China is trying to take us down from within? China is trying to say that they are innocent. One item that comes here that has problems, okay, that could be a mistake. BUT, we have had product after product coming from China that is dangerous for us and for our children. When is enough…enough???? I want you to know that I am mad as hell and I do not want to take it anymore!!!! Chinese products MUST be inspected and rejected if they are tainted or dangerous in any way. And then, we must stop trade with them. I realize that it would be diplomatically bad to do this but when can we afford to lose our citizens just because we want to make nice with a foreign country??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

For years, I traveled from state to state, working at my driving job. You would think that I would get tired of doing that day after day. I did not. It was great. I thought then that I was born to drive and I believe that I was. I love to drive. Of course, it was a pretty long trip most of the time.

I had some problems, of course. Strange drivers out there that thought I was in their way, people who would cut me off. What were they thinking???? For one thing, a truck cannot stop on a dime. For another, I might not even have seen them. That guy did not have kids in the car but I have seen ones that did doing some really dangerous stunts. It was enough for me to check and make sure I had some really great travel health insurance, I want you to know. These people were nuts!!

For instance, I was traveling north around Columbus, Ohio, one morning…in rush hour traffic. This guy comes up from behind, gives me the universal salute, gets ahead of me and slams on his brakes. It was all I could do to not run him over. For some time after that, he did the same thing over and over again. By the time he decided his little game was getting boring for him and he left, my brakes were almost red hot and soon to become useless. And there wasn’t a cop in sight. Naturally.

It was great doing the job I did because almost all goods going to stores are taken there by truck. I had a good job…except for jerks like that one was. Here’s a little thing to think about. Take the time to think about what might NOT get there by truck. The list will be extremely short. In fact, I cannot think of a single thing that does not, in some way, move by truck including those things like oil and gas. Can you think of anything? Right.

I know that you have gripes about your job. Don’t we all? At this point in time, I am at home working instead of out there but I have had a number of jobs there and it ain’t pretty. What do you hate the most about your job? The boss and their attitude? Co-workers who steal your lunch? Or possibly gossip at the water cooler? I have to tell you that in my case, it was those performance reviews. ACK!

What am I talking about? Work evaluations to see if they want to keep you. I could not stand those things because they were always a bit slanted either for or against you depending on what your immediate supervisor thought of you. If you make nice with them, they either grab and keep grabbing credit for what you did or they simply hate you because you do a better job than they do. They know you want their job so they do what they can to discourage you. BAH!

Why not have your work speak for you in the numbers or the product, service or whatever you do. Why must we go through that nasty every month, two months, each week or whatever time of torture the company wishes to throw at ya. Nope. I want to say that I no longer have that problem. Well, except for the people who read my blog and give me a bad critique on it. And then there are my family members who think….well, that’s for another time, right? What’s that? You don’t like my post? I really can’t help that, you know. I simply write what I think, you see. What? You don’t like that? Sigh. Okay. (She mutters and walks slowly into the corner. She pouts. She sighs. She yawns. She goes off to bed. In the distance, you can hear snoring, a bark, a couple of meows and then it gets really quiet.)

How many times have you been in a store and you needed something that the salesperson could help you with but decides that you are too this or too that for them to help? What has happened to “The customer is always right” meaning that if you want something, they could at least make the effort to do something for you or tell you why they cannot.

Most salespeople I run into are really nice and friendly. But there are those who simply will not be nice and friendly nor will they have a sense of humor at anything said. I do love people with a sense of humor because that makes them HUMAN! Salespeople who take themselves and their jobs too seriously are difficult in the extreme to have help you. They simply do not get it, do they? Why can’t we have sensible salespeople who like their jobs and love the public? I think that would be awesome! Don’t you?

I worked in the trucking industry for about 8 and 1/2 years as an over-the-road trucker. For some of those years, I worked alone. Yes, I am female and it did work out nicely. Usually, I went from coast to coast in about a week or so. Then I went back again. I did not spend much time at home in those days but home was good to see, nevertheless.

On many of those runs, I would get so tired that I would pull off the road and go to sleep in a truck stop or rest area. Some days, there weren’t even those places to pull in to rest. It was a blessing, I believe, that the companies I worked for all trusted me to keep their equipment intact. In fact, I had one truck that was huge. It had the type of cab like the Condo Hotels on wheels, it was so big in the sleeper. You could actually sleep three in there comfortably. I did not!!! I loved the space.

I was thinking about this just today when we went out to do some quick shopping. We have noticed, as have you, that the prices on things are going up, up, up with no real relief in sight. And then I remember my time in a truck. Are you aware that almost everything you buy is brought in, one way or another, by truck? Are you aware that if the cost of gas or diesel goes up, the trucking companies have to pass that cost on to the companies who ship? Do you see what happens here? The cost of the diesel goes to the company who, in turn, charge the consumer for the added cost.

No, it is not the fault of the trucking companies, not really the fault of the manufacturers or the retail outlets. The fault belongs to the greedy oil companies who charge so much, not only at the pump, but the per barrel price too. Nevertheless just remember, when you are starting to cuss out the trucker that is driving by, that they are hauling the goods that you want to buy. I would say that 99% of all goods and products come by way of a truck. Makes you think, doesn’t it.

Happy Shopping!!!

I was thinking about all those times when we bought batteries and more batteries. You know, I think we spent a lot of money on batteries for the longest time until we finally decided that although the rechargeable batteries are a lot more expensive to start with than those that are always on sale at or near the cash register they were going to save us money in the end.

How? Well, for one thing, they are rechargeable. Guess you didn’t see that coming? Of course, they do expire some day but while you have them, they sure do a lot more than the usual batteries that I have had experiences with. For instance, I used to work at a place where the best way to entertain yourself while you work (it was sort of mindless stuff), you could bring your own music with you. I had a tape player with earphones. It took four batteries that ran out about half way into the day. I could not use those batteries for very long. That got tiring quickly, I can tell you. When I discovered rechargeable batteries, I was really happy. My husband took his tape player to work as well. Those batteries simply needed to be changed out with the others that he had run out that day. Yes!!!

Several of the teen or young adult movie stars are having problems coping with their lifestyles, apparently. See, I love the movies that some of them are in. For instance, Lindsay Lohan has some good movies out that I love to watch. As long as the teens can tell the difference between the star and the role, things should be all right. But that is not the case.

Teens idolize many of these stars. The latest fall from grace appears to be a tie between Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. This is truly sad. Both Britney and Lindsay have been in and out of drug rehab many times but because they go back to their already damaging lifestyles, not much changes. The fact that they are in the news so much shows how much the media focuses on them, a mistake in my opinion. I believe if the media would not report all of this, perhaps the young adults and teens would look elsewhere for their idols instead of focusing on those who cannot handle the heat but cannot get out of the kitchen without disappointing their fans.

See, to me, that’s a lot of pressure on those people. I do not condone the fact that they cannot seem to stay sober long enough to make it though a month. Yet, they have private lives themselves but the media does not appear to want them to have it.

Are you in the after Christmas blues? Maybe you got some stuff that simply is not going to work, no matter what you do. Hey, I heard about this woman who got a DVD player for Christmas. The tray wouldn’t come out. What do you do with that?? You take it back.

If Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) wasn’t good enough, now we have the day after Christmas when the stores reopen and the reverse rush begins. Sigh. Isn’t getting a tad ridiculous here? First, you have the after Thanksgiving sales. Those take care of the people who are willing to do their shopping early enough to actually get the items on their lists. Next, you have the middle shoppers. These are the ones that shop all December, getting the best deals they can find but the real sales do not start until closer to Christmas.

The next set of sales comes during the last few days before Christmas. This is the time that you really cannot find the one thing you really, truly wanted to give a person because you waited entirely too long. However, they have excellent sales on things like big screen televisions and you could get that instead. Your spouse is likely to never speak to you again but, what the heck, it’s Christmas.

The last day before Christmas is the worst. That’s when there is little that you actually wanted left in stock. However, you find quite a few sales and a number of people you know that are as ridiculous as you are..waiting to to the last minute.

Then Christmas day happens. All the paper is stacked up to be burned or picked up by the garbage guys. The presents are all opened, some to be played with until they break, some to be used sparingly because you really didn’t want it but you won’t hurt the person’s feelings. Then there are the ones that you just know you have to return at first light on the day after…after what? After Christmas, of course.

The day dawns bright and clear and you are ready to go at 8AM. You get to the store and there’s a mob scene. Everybody has something in their hands that they simply cannot use or do not want. Some of it is broken, some not the right style or size, some is just not you…like the lamp from the movie..The Christmas Story…you know, the one with the lamp shaped like a lady’s leg.

The doors open and it’s a stampede to the customer service desk. The line is already so long it’s going to take the better part of the morning to get to you. The item you brought is a DVD that is not working. You have no receipt, nothing to show it was bought here. The store clerk looks at it and wants to know what’s wrong with it. You tell her that it does not work. She scans it and…. nothing. Are you kidding me? Nope. This item does not come from this store. You groan and think of the hours you have wasted already, standing in a line you did not even need to be in for this item.

Outside, you call the person who gave the DVD to you. They claim they did not give that particular movie to you at all. They have no idea who gave it to you. This is not working well. Is this a nightmare or what???? Actually, yes. Time to wake up! There. Now wasn’t your day better than that? I thought so.