Month: October 2007

Can you really be that clueless?

Today I was looking for a nice quality cotton shirt to iron on my Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon transfers. I wanted to make a shirt that I can wear after the run this weekend.

I went to a store that does embroidery and screen printing for sports teams. Their whole business is team uniforms. I asked the lady if she had any plain white, good quality cotton shirts. All she had in stock were white shirts with colored collars. I asked if she knew where I could get my hands on a good shirt. Her reply was, “I have no idea.”

How can you work in that business and really not know? That told me one of two things about her. Either she was really clueless and does not care about the business or industry in which she works, or she did not want to lose business to another vendor. I have news for her: she has now lost business. I will never go back there. I hate dealing with salesmen that make no effort to help the people who are paying their grocery bills.

My Thought Spot 16: Hmm, No Title

This one is a bit shorter. I did not have anything to really rant about.

Show Notes

Edit: Out of a need to fulfill a posting requirement to get paid for my previous “sponsored post” I have to add at least one sentence to this post. While I understand that they have posting requirements of “quality” posts before and after the paid content, it seems that if I simply add a period to the end of any of the above entries, then I would fulfill the requirement. But, since I am just spiteful enough to make an issue of it, I am typing a few sentences to say that sometimes PayPerPost irritates me. So now PayPerPost gets some negative content written about them when any trained monkey could have seen that this was a quality post to begin with. I have more to say about them in the future, but I am going to milk them for all I can before I start blasting them.

My Thought Spot 16: Hmm, No Title [ 8:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Looking for a new cell phone plan?

I am. I was excited to find the Wirefly website. I started to look around at cell phone plans last week. We will be returning to the US in about a year and will need to get cell service when we do. I have been hopping from one provider’s website to another so that I could check out plans and features. I realize that many of the plans and features will have changed by then, but I wanted to know what is available now.

The Wirefly site has a tool to help you get the best cell phone plan available for your needs. It lets you compare your current plan to what is available.

One of the problems I am having in choosing a plan is that I don’t remember how many minutes per month we used before. It was our primary phone since we traveled constantly. I am thinking it was something like 1000 anytime minutes a month. Sometimes we went over, which was a killer. The Wirefly comparison tool says that the average person uses 477 minutes. That seems low to me.

One thing I don’t completely understand about Wirefly is what their business is. Apparently you can buy phones through them and even purchase your service through them. They are like a broker with the phone providers. I have dealt with a broker before. It was a nightmare. They would certainly have to bring a lot to the table to get me to consider using them instead of working with the provider directly.

I would be curious to know if any of my readers have dealt with them and what the compelling reason is to use them instead of the service provider.

However, I do have to say that they have a great information at their site. They even have owners manuals for many phones. Their site is a treasure trove of information for helping you make an informed decision when purchasing a cell phone plan.

[This is a sponsored post.]

Checkers

We have a Checkers here in town that is not like the ones back in the USA. What is unusual about ours is that it is not just a drive through. It is a full size fast food joint with play place and everything. There are even X-Box game consoles that the kids can play on. Well, not just the kids. Some adults play there too. We stopped by there Friday and I grabbed this picture.

Famous Friday: OpenOffice.org Training

I have been an OpenOffice.org fan since 2000. It has been better and worse as a product at different times in its history. There are forums in which I have participated and spewed as much knowledge as I can to other members. I have been somewhat of an OOo evangelist and have given presentations at different meetings (Linux enthusiast groups and corporate groups) as to why people should seriously consider OOo.

I started reading a blog a few months back that has helped me with some of the more detailed uses of OOo. Though I certainly don’t have as much heavy daily use for OOo as some people, I have enjoyed reading Solveig Haugland’s OpenOffice.org Training blog. She has some very detailed how-to articles at the site as well as some great articles on how to make the transition to OOo.

If you see an article that does not apply to you at the time, just skim over it and know that it is there. You might be surprised by how often you find yourself going back to the site to check out a how-to that you previously skimmed over. Solveig has a great way of simplifying a complex process.

There is a lot of good stuff in her archives. Be sure to search around for tutorials. I used to hit the forums when I needed help. Now, before I go to the forums, I check out Solveig’s site.