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Eight Gold Medals to Auspicious Prosperity August 31, 2008

Posted by Pat in : my thoughts on stuff , comments closed

Beijing air got tested the good old fashioned way—by the marathon runners. Of all the athletes, everyone agreed that they were the ones most likely to keel over dead from exposure to Carbon Monoxide and small particle pollutants. Marathon runners breathe more times than the normal person, plus they need a ton more oxygen in their cells to keep those legs a-pumping.

Speaking of pollution, the Chinese lucked out. Happy to say, those three number 8’s (8/8/08) conjured up a few clear rays on the Beijing Olympics just like they were supposed to. A midnight storm washed the dirt out of Sunday’s morning air, just in time for the Men’s Marathon. The fact is, Beijing air was clean enough for an Olympic record: Sammy Wansiru of Kenya finished in two hours 6.32 minutes.

Rumors have it that the world record holder Haile Gebrselassie wished he could have been there. The Ethiopian legend withdrew in March because he feared that his lungs might suffer permanent damage and at the time this cast quite a pallor on the competition.

Mengzhi (China Daily Online) was one of the many who commented on Gebrselassie’s decision to boycott their Olympics: China is a free country . Anyone chooses NOT to come or run is going to miss out . China regrets such silly scams but cannot do anything about it . We respect all points of views and stands. Less world beaters , more medals for China . Who is missing out then ?

Not the Chinese divers, they’re going 8 for 8 in the gold medal department: He, Guo, Chen, Wang, Wang, Wu, Xin and Lin. (Yes there are two Wangs.) And I’ll lay odds these Chinese boys and girls are all believers in the power of Ba (8).

I’ll also bet they didn’t have to be pushed off the 10 meter diving platform, either, like little Tom Daley did. Tom, Tom, Mr. Daley’s son is that darling, fourteen-year-old Olympic diver from Great Britain, you know the one that all the little girls are swooning over. “… there will be no serious girlfriends until after the Games,” he says.

Back to pushing little kids off high places: Sad to say, I did use that word, but it’s not mine. According to our informative Olympic host, Bob Costas, most of the divers, including Tom Daley, had to be pushed off that high thirty+foot platform the first 8 or 10 times. And, oh yea, did I mention that they were in tears. Bob Costas went on to say that this practice is not uncommon, but Thomas Finchum, the American diver, didn’t have to be pushed.

Gee, it’s nice to know there are adults all over the world who will push scared little kids off a three-story platform. You just have to be pretty optimistic about their chances, I guess.

Speaking of pessimists, some experts way back when were saying that folks who competed outdoors in the Olympics were gonna die. They obviously didn’t believe in the power of Ba. But I’ll tell you who really believes…Michael Phelps. At this point, folks, he more than believes and so do we. Happy to say, this phenom (soon to be on cereal boxes) walked away with eight golds. Phelps is a god, though. We need help.

So I’ve hatched a plan for the rest of us mortals to attain the luck of the three 8’s. I advise all to return to talesofsendingcards on the eighth day of every month for the remainder of 2008 and click three times to auspicious prosperity while repeating Ba Ba Ba.

Happy 8’s,

Laura signing off.

Credit Card APR The Gotcha in the Details August 31, 2008

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Credit card are notorious for having a wide variety of hidden fees, making it vital to fully read through the terms and conditions of the card in question before committing to it. No matter if you’ve heard rave reviews about a card from others who claimed the fees were minimal, you could very well be using the card differently from them, meaning your experiences and fees could vary as well. Knowing how you plan to use the card, and what fees will be associated with that usage is important in choosing an APR for purchases card that is right for you.

We’ll take a look at few of the different cards on the market now, and some of the common Terms and Conditions that come with many cards. These cards are specifically for consumers with poor credit, so if your credit is in good standing you’ll likely be better off finding cards with terms more suitable to your history.

One of the favorite cards of those with poor credit is the Centennia Gold Mastercard, offering low purchase APR, 24 hour support and updated reporting with credit bureaus monthly, meaning you could quickly repair some of your damaged credit by properly making payments on this card. The card’s standard APR is a respectable 9.9%, one of the best you’ll find for those with poor credit.

So everything sounds rosy on the surface, but digging a little deeper reveals a somewhat murky center. The credit line is just $250, which is certainly not a whole lot, but if your primary concern is to repair your credit this may be a moot point. You may also qualify for greater limits down the line.

The fees are where this card really starts to nosedive. We have a $48 annual charge, a $95 “program fee”, whatever that is, a $20 card charge and $29 in setup account fees. Right there you’re paying nearly $200 in fees just for the privilege to use a card that has a credit limit barely higher than what you just spent to activate it. Kind of makes you question the point of it all doesn’t it? You’re all but paying interest on your own money.

The interest itself also has some hidden fees, with it clearly stated (in fine print) that certain purchases will charge a 19.9% APR, double the rate you may think you’re getting on all purchases. Even using the card over the internet, which rarely incurs fees of any amount will run you $3 per product bought.

Any card that should be passed on is where you’re hit with a wide range of setup and annual fees to that point that it doesn’t even make sense for the small amount of credit you’re receiving. Yes, the idea may be to simply repair your credit more than anything, in which case concessions may have to be made, but there are better ways to go about it than by paying through your nose with annual percentages on purchases.

People with good credit aren’t in quite the difficult boat as those without, but they may also be sucked in by hidden fees. While they have the benefit of low APR, no annual fees and rewards, it’s often when the credit holder falls behind in their payments that some of these fees kick in. So don’t assume that even high-end cards are without their little tricks.

How to get rid of spots naturally August 31, 2008

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You know how it is, often I conveniently forget about my pimples during the course of my day. It just keeps me on an even keel, helps me get on with life. It’s definitely a case of the ends justifying the means.

Then out of nowhere something will happen which brings me straight back to reality. Something as simple as a throwaway comment from someone, usually with no motive at all apart from the fact that I have pimples. I won’t repeat the phrases here but let’s just say they’re upsetting. I’m only human and y’know sometimes my guard is down and I let these remarks get under my skin.

I’ll retreat into my personal fortress for a couple of days. Bury my head in the sand. Begin blaming myself for being deformed. “Snap out of it” my friends will say. They don’t have to worry, they have good skin. They don’t realise how self-esteem sapping it is for me to absorb those abnoxious comments and jibes.

That’s one of the aspects of this embarrassing affliction which drove me up the wall so much that I had to find a cure. I was literally close to going out of my mind! So … I just got this thing on how to get rid of spots quickly and y’know what? …. I think it’s WORKING!

How Do You Actually Get Paid to Fill Out Surveys and Exchange Surveys for Money? August 31, 2008

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Free paid surveys online are a large business on the Internet. The old door-to-door or telephone consumer opinion surveys are almost all being done on the Internet now. Large companies are eager to know what consumers think, what they prefer, which of their ads have they seen. So they hire market researchers to find out.

Market researchers use online surveys. Thousands of surveys are being made each week. How do they find volunteers? How do they find people to do the work of filling out the survey questionnaires? That’s easy! They make it worth their while. They pay survey participants for each survey that they take! Survey participants get paid to fill out surveys!

Surveys typically pay $5 to $75 each, with most being in the $10 to $25 range. A $10 survey will normally take 7-8 minutes to fill out; a $25 survey may take 15-18 minutes. Not very much money, but if you are taking surveys for money and take a $10 and a $25 survey each day, that adds up to over $1,000 a month!

So how do you participate? What do you need to do to get money for surveys? The first thing you need to do is to get a good list of survey makers. All survey makers and all lists are not equal. Some are very much better than others.

About 20% of survey makers offer legitimate paid online surveys that pay ontime, in cash or equivalent. Another 40% are second tier; they generally pay but pay less and pay more slowly. The final 40% are just time-wasters. They are either no-pay/low-pay survey makers or are actually sales companies whose goal is to sell things to YOU!

There is no such thing as a “free list”. Every list is being paid for, either by the survey takers (you) or by the survey makers, in the form of recruitment fees. Good survey makers don’t pay recruitment fees. Bad ones do because they have to.

If your goal is to actually get paid to fill out surveys then the best way to get a good list is to join a paid survey membership site that maintains such lists for their members. Do not deal with any such sites that do not offer a strong money-back guarantee backed up by a bank or financial company such as PayPal or ClickBank.

Then from amongst those with strong guarantees, choose one with a low refund rate. Low refund rates mean happy, satisfied clients. So choose your paid survey membership site from those with a low (3-6%) refund rate. Avoid any with refund rates that are either unknown (usually means high) or are as high as 9% or more.

Just follow the steps above and you can get paid to fill out survey questionnaires too! And have a good supplemental income from taking surveys for money!

Want to Avoid Making Everyone Ill this Summer? Enroll at a Barbeque Cooking School August 30, 2008

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Let’s face it, most men don’t cook. And if a man does cook, it’s such a remarkable phenomenon that he’ll probably go on to make a career out of it. But while the kitchen is still the preserve of women (in these barbaric times), the barbeque is the territory of men.

Think about it. That means people who are not used to cooking are in charge of barbequing. No wonder many people are being encouraged to take a course at the local barbeque cooking school.

There are three things to bear in mind if you want to hold safe barbeque parties this summer – and a good barbeque cooking school will certainly cover the first two. Here they are:

1. Hygiene is more than just a tricky word thrown in to fox the competition at a spelling bee. It means washing hands, keeping raw and cooked food separate and using different cutting boards for meat and vegetables (surprisingly, vegetables transmit more bacteria to meat than the other way round). Any good course at a barbeque cooking school will turn you into a hygiene evangelist.

2. Make sure the meat is cooked through. This applies to poultry and pork in particular, both of which can carry salmonella. Enroll at a barbeque cooking school, and you’ll learn that black on the outside doesn’t mean cooked on the inside. And more importantly, you’ll learn how to make sure your meat is always cooked on the inside. There’s nothing more embarrassing than guests collapsing on your patio during your summer party.

3. Or is there…? Collapsing at your own summer party could take the biscuit when it comes to embarrassment. So it’s probably not a great idea to crack open that second Chianti until you’ve finished the cooking. Drunken barbequing can be just as lethal as drunken driving. But don’t count on learning about it at a barbeque cooking school. Some things are down to us, it seems.

Cheers.