Archive for August, 2008

You don’t own me…

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

Today I came across something pretty interesting. The topic of stem-cell research is a hot-blooded issue with many people, none of which who seem to care about the female’s perspective of things. Men are too thrown into the world where they think they own everything, when it comes to the female body – however – the issue is much larger and females don’t seem to be at liberty to discuss it openly. This goes back to the Neanderthal times when women were supposed to obey and the men ruled the world. Well, to be honest, screw you if you think like that.

So where’s this coming from? I came across a website for Cryo-Cell Innovative Stem Cell Solutions and I have to say that I whole-heartedly 100% agree with their logic. It’s a very simple logic too, Cryo-Cell’s “Protect Baby, Protect Mom”. Umbilical cord blood stem cells are a 100% match for the child, and there’s also a 1 in 4 chance that your newborns cord is a match for siblings as well. Stem cells have been used in over 8000 transplants worldwide and has treated over 70 diseases. So while it’s still considered an experimental procedure, I really don’t understand why everyone looks down upon it? The government can spend billions of dollars on a war we’re not even supposed to be in but they can’t kick some money aside to help the future of our country? If a child dies due to something that’s easily fixable (found through this research) why is the mother just supposed to deal with the loss of a child knowing that it would have been 100% possible to change the outcome of the situation? Yes, an experiment is an experiement but if there are documented cases of this working – what’s to experiment?

Now, I don’t see myself having children – mainly because I can’t stand other peoples kids, why would I want my own? However, there are some people out there that were just made to be parents, so here’s something for you if you fit in that category. “Protect Baby, Protect Mom” Special Limited-Time Introductory Offer. If you’ve ever stored cord blood stem cells with any bank (privately or publicly), you can qualify for Cryo-Cell’s Returning Client Pricing. With their offer, you can receive two services for less than the price of one. It’s alot to read into, it’s a lot of money to be spent, but take the time to look through everything they have to offer, if you’re truly interested in protecting your children than this is the route to take.

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In the market…

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

I’ve finally decided on the route I’m going to take when it comes to picking up a new cell phone within the next couple of months.  For a while I was really leaning towards the Apple iPhone but I’m starting to believe that it’s more or less just a fad that’s eventually going to pass. However, the iPhone knock-off’s really aren’t that bad.  I’ve been shopping around and I’m thinking of going with either the Samsung Glide or the LG Dare, hosted by Verizon of respectively.  While many people dislike Verizon, I have to say that my experience with them in the past wasn’t half bad.

I had a two year contract with them and my phone really didn’t have a vast amount of excess features that I would never use.  My only issue was in regards to text messaging. None of my friends like to talk on the phone anymore, they prefer to go completely through text messages and when you’re on a prepaid plan it’s kind of hard to keep throwing money onto the phone couple of weeks.  Granted, it takes me about a month to really need to add service in which case it only costs me $20 but when you use the phone strictly for emergencies and you’re left with no minutes at the end of the month it really can be a hassle.

So what do you do? This situation may only work out well for me, not too sure about my readers.  I only ever have the phone on me when I’m driving. There are some people out there who use it as their sole form of communication – something I see no point in considering there’s always a land-line around me (I work from home, remember?) However, being as my friends are text-message fanatics, my minutes are still eaten up.

So my intent is go sign up with Verizon Wireless, getting the $39.99 a month plan that includes unlimited in network calling, as well as nights and weekends (starting at 9:01PM – it’s not 9PM that’s how they screw you).  With that plan, I’ll spend an extra $10 a month and sign up for the unlimited data option which gives me the ability to send as many text messages and photos as I please.  I’m not really someone who goes out of my way to snap pictures and send them to friends, but there are times when you go past something really cool looking that’s worth documenting and you don’t seem to have a camera on you.  Now, my digital is small enough where it can fit in my purse, but what’s the point of carrying it with me when I’m really never going to use it?  It’s always in my purse when I never need it, and never in my purse when I do. My cellphone, however, is always with me.  So I believe this would be the perfect option for me.

So I sat down and did the math.  While Sean really wants to have a cell phone, if I’m the only one who’s leaving the house to go to work then there’s no real point in him having one (at this moment in time).  So I’m going to sign up for the $39.99 a month plan, and purchase the LG Voyager.  It gives me a full keyboard to keep up with text messages, something I really happen to like when you really read into things. It also only costs $100 for those signing up with a 2-year contract. With the addition to the $39.99 package, I’ll be spending $10 a month on 500 sms/picture messages which includes unlimited IN NETWORK messages.  Anyone I’d message is with Verizon so it wouldn’t cost me a dime to talk to them. The $0.99 monthly charge for ring-back tones is appealing, and spending $1.99 on a detailed bill just seems worth it to me so I can keep track of exactly where everything is going.

So my monthly cost (before taxes) would be around $55.  That’s not too bad considering I’m basically paying for unlimited resources (based solely on the fact that all phone calls and texts will be made in-network).  Cool huh?

Inspration Required.

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

Work has been going pretty well lately, it’s proving to be a bit difficult on my inspiration though. I have the stamina to complete the tasks I have, there’s no question about that. The issue is where I’m unable to come up with ANYTHING for the new clients coming in that hasn’t been done before. I know there are some very creative people out there but it’s one of those situations where once you’ve seen it done before, you know it’s wrong to go out of your way to recreate it and then pass it off as your own. Of course, there is an exception to the rule. If a client asks you to recreate a template that they liked (paid or free, or just on someone else’s website) then you have to do what the client wants – without breaking any major copyright laws at the same time.

I’m working on this new site that’s health related. With the way the client approached me I thought I was going to be working on a hospitals website or something. The money from it is great, don’t get me wrong, but I was going in a completely different direction when he told me to slow down and sent me a long email on exactly what the company was. It’s for a new experimental weight loss supplement, something I’m honestly not sure I would try myself, but they seem pretty darn focused on getting it launched and out there for the world to see so of course I need to come up with something that’s not only informative, but matches their brand label and can appeal to 18-32 year old men and women whom would benefit from using their product.

So what did I do? I went out of my way to look at just about every single site that houses a large database of website templates that I could find. During my search I went through the usual sites, ones that tend to pop into your head as soon as you’re looking for new ideas.  Fortunately, I found a new one that’s certainly worth flipping through, that’s for sure.  It’s called DreamTemplates.com.  They have a database of over 300 templates that are completely free, or you can pay them a one-time-fee of $59.95 and gain access to THOUSANDS of templates.

When looking through the premium templates, I have to say that I was certainly inspired.  While the bulk of them look very generic (to me at least) the rest of them are appealing and worth that one-time payment.  They’re all high quality templates, all of the sources files are included (if you’re looking at any Flash based ones) and they’re relatively attractive for just about any business or personal site you’re looking to house them on.  I’d highly recommend them.

New Spam?

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

I’ve been through numerous blogging platforms over the years but none of them have continued to impress me the way Wordpress has. Their built in spam options have proven to be a pretty cool deal but even their spam options are no match for the new series of spammers on the internet.  I’m unsure of their official name but I call them the copy and pasters.  They come to your website, copy a line of YOUR blog article and paste it into the comments section of your forms.  They then go through the task of writing their name, email and url to publish the comment.  This way they figure they can get past the spam blockers.  What many people don’t realize about all of my websites is that all comments are held in moderation until I approve them myself.  Why? Because not only do I have random messages from people who just can’t let go of the past, I’m now dealing with morons who insist that it’s a great idea to include my blog entry in my comments.

Why do such a thing? Get a life!

Happy August

Friday, August 1st, 2008

While it’s only about 1:30 in the morning, it’s officially August.  July went by rather quickly.  I’m still in New York, I’m still searching for a job and I’m still working on straightening out my head so I can figure out exactly what I’m going to do with my life.  Numerous family members are sick, and while Sean and I have been at my father’s house this entire time, my father doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that we’ve both been here for as long as we have.  We’re hoping to figure things out as soon as possible but of course that requires some kind of a call-back from any of the positions I’ve applied for.

Today was pretty busy for me.  I put in a lot of applications and I spent about six hours (straight – no breaks) working on an account for a client.  I want to get everything accomplished with them over the course of the next few days so I can begin putting the finishing touches on things – mainly because right now I’m in the process of converting screen shots to code, it’s time consuming but I’ve half-assed a few things here and there just to get it done.  The finalization of things will look much better, it’s just a matter of changing some CSS attributes around so there’s a better flow with the template.  Right now it looks very pasted together, but the cosmetics aren’t the hard part it’s the conversions.  I’m moving along nicely though so I’m sure I’ll be done sooner than I think.

I have a few pending projects as well.  I need to renew this domain name so any money that shoots into Paypal over the course of the next couple of days will go right to that.  I’m also still working on loading everything to the new AGn Solutions database, it’s all automated but it’s the matter of getting my older clients worked into the billing area.  Time consuming but worth it in the end.

In any event, guess I should wrap up for the night and head to sleep.  I’ve been up for about 15 hours now so it’s definitely time to crash.