Window Shopper

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This particular post has nothing to do with buying anything, at least right here. But it has everything to do with the big bully google and what it is about to do to bloggers who, for whatever reason, have not complied with a terms of service that none of us agreed to with google. See, google wants to run the net. Google wants to get bloggers and website owners to comply with their orders. The funny thing is that those of us who did not sign up to be bullied by them are getting spanked and then delisted by them. Do you know why they are doing this?

Glad you asked. This goes back to the paid to post companies that hire people who have blogs to write posts and reviews for them. When the blogger contracts to do that and writes the post, they get paid a certain amount of money. Now, in the meanwhile, google is getting people to put icons and widgets on their blogs in order to make money. The blogger keeps the widget there and when someone clicks on it, they can get paid…very small amounts and not paid until a certain amount is reached. Those programs are called adsense and adwords. They belong to google.

So, what’s the problem, right? Well, seems that google is not happy to have only some of the money pie. They want it all. The companies that hire the bloggers sometimes use the google page rank to qualify bloggers to work for them. Most of the companies did this for quite a while. Since google feels it’s power now, they decided to change things by dropping the page rank to an unacceptable level for the companies so that they would fire the bloggers who are no longer qualified.

In the meanwhile, google expects the blogger to come, hat in hand, admit that they did wrong and beg to get back in the good graces of the big bully google. If that does not happen by the time they want it, google will delist the blogs involved. When that happens, they will get what they want, to destroy the blogger’s income.

Here’s the punchline. The bloggers who do this paid to post blogging are, for the most part, in need of the cash that they get from these posts. Usually, they are women at home taking care of kids, grandpas and grandmas trying to make a buck to supplement their incredibly puny social security checks, disabled folks, young people who have no other income, people who do not want to end up homeless. Does google care that they are doing this to people? NO! They do not. All they care about is that someone is cutting into their money pie.

If google must strike anyone, it’s about time they decided to hit the major companies instead of the little guys. Why don’t they? Because the big guys will slam them so hard, they won’t know which way is up. But the little guys are not strong enough to fight the big bad bully google…alone. Now it’s time for bloggers to rise up and resist the google bully. Tell google how you feel. Do not be afraid of their tactics. That’s what it’s all about…fear. If they can get you afraid of them enough, they win…you lose. Of course, the blogger pretty much loses anyway because this fight is really between the big bully and the big companies.

Take the time to put in your two cents here in the comments field or in your own blog and link back to this one. It’s time to let google know that we will not take these bullying tactics without a fight.

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Once again, it’s bad news at the pumps probably because the all powerful “theys” are at it again. There was an announcement that it was possible that a barrel of crude could conceivably go to over $100 and watch the pump prices rise.

According to the lastest statistics, the national price at the pump rose 5 cents a gallon. The average price all over the country was $2.80 a gallon as of Friday. The highest gas price was a hot $3.17 in San Francisco and the lowest was $2.56 in Newark, N.J.

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I guess this is a rant, at first, at least. When we moved to Arkansas from Missouri, I had to find someone to do my hair as did my husband. We like getting our hair cut (done) at the same place since, these days, the hair salon can do both equally well, in theory. It took us a long time to settle on a place that got what we wanted and would do that same thing each time. We are sorta set in our ways. I’ve no idea why at the moment.

As I said, it took us a long time to find a place but we did. Spent the better part of 8 years at that place. Then, the lady who owned it got sick and sold the place. ACK!! Now, please understand that I am praying for the lady that got sick. I am NOT THAT shallow.

However, it starts all over again. See, we live in a small, rural area where there are not a plethora of salons that do a good job. There are, however, a number of salons with teeny boppers who have no clue how to do actual hair. They do know how to spike and colorize, not how to cut hair. I could scream….well, I did a couple of times when we tried out some of those teeny boppers. Not everyone is that age but they look like it to us….older generation. Ahem. The young ones want to do your hair like THEY want, not what you want. Argh!!

Today, we went to a place that my sister’s girls all went to for their hair cuts and styles for the beginning of school. With a great deal of caution, we entered the place that looked a bit like a hair salon, small but equipped and working. And then I spied a familiar face! The lady who was a stylist at the other salon now owns this one!!! YES!!! We are home. And that’s it for another day.

Happy Shopping!! Watch the hair!!

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Lindsay Lohan headed to rehab again. She checked herself into a clinic in Utah. Perhaps her parents getting a divorce is too much for the star of “Mean Girls”, “Herbie Fully Loaded” and “Parent Trap”. Unfortunately, the clinic is more like a resort than a drying out facility. This will be her third try at the treatments.

This video is a little old, as in last month but it tells the tale nevertheless.

This place sure isn’t bad for those who want to have their cake and eat it too. The rooms have fireplaces and Jacuzzi tubs. The clinic also has a sauna and a gym. Not bad at all. A relative of hers stated that Lohan really does not need more country club style place. She needs regular therapy and treatments instead of horseback riding, skiing and hiking.

I guess what gripes me is that these people, who are so in the light and sometimes considered heros to young children, do not conduct themselves like they should. They are fully aware that they are in the public eye. You know, I do realize that it cannot be easy to be a star and not be able to move without the media finding out. That cannot be good. BUT, each person was trying to be a star and when it happened, surely they understood that it meant the privacy is at least semi-gone. In the case of Lohan and others who are or were teen stars, they do need to start growing up.

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I am about to have a major rant here. The FDA has been looking into changing the rules and regulations relating to a number of foods including how chocolate is made. There are chocolate makers that make the chocolate with vegetable oil instead of cocoa butter which is what is in chocolate now, what makes it chocolate. Personally, I believe they need to leave well enough alone. Perhaps they could BUTT OUT!!! Here is an explanation of the situation:

What’s next? Changing our potato chips, our lattes, GASP..our pizza?? AH, no!!! That would start a revolution.We don’t want that, do we?

Happy Shopping!!

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This is something that is so annoying. Everyone in our family loves MickyD. Why not? They give you what you want, when you want it, right? Not so fast. I recall when Burger King had the saying that they would “do it your way” and they meant it. You could go in and get the type of burger with all the stuff only you wanted on the thing. No real problems.

Not so with MickyD. Do you know that if you ask to have them leave something off that it takes an extra….5-10 minutes to get your order? That would be IF it isn’t busy. You know why, right? Because they have this little pile of already done burgers sitting there. If you want something they don’t have piled, they have to specially make it for you. Ah. There’s the rub. For those who are willing to waste their time, head on over to MickyD and enjoy the wait…..5 minutes…10 minutes. Even more some days.

Now, all that is the normal for them. Do you know what the problem is at the area McD? They no longer carry the double cheeseburger as a dollar menu item. I cannot tell you how much that devastates us. We can’t believe there is such a problem. What is up with that anyway?

On another note, I hate raw onions on a burger. Cooked onions are good. Love em. But not raw onions on a burger. McD does not hear you. They now have a supposed big and tasty on the dollar menu. The thing is a normal sized sandwich which is marginally tasty. It has huge globs of mayo and a ton of onions. ACK!!! Why must they do this to their customers? Why? Guess it’s another one of the mysteries of the universe. Uh, NO! Wait a minute. It is not that. It is the greedy owners of McD. There ya go.

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