Technical Support Just A Call Away

June 14, 2007 The Artist Leave a comment

Oh my goodness! Today, I sent more than 20 SMS messages to my friend asking him to help me set up my new internet connection. I feel bad now because he just replied me telling me to dial 1-886-GeekNeed instead.

I do realize that I have treated him like my very own personal technical support line especially when something bad happens to my computer like the time it was infected with a Trojan that totally crippled it or the time I kept getting the Blue Screen of Death which was later attributed to a dying power supply.

Now that I know where to get cheap technical support via the telephone, I need not bother my friend anymore. He should have let me know sooner! At only $1.99 per minute after we have explained our problem for free, it surely is very reasonable.

What I like about 1-886-GEEKNEED is that they even could log on to our computer to repair or troubleshoot it remotely. Ahh.. I have longed for someone, just anymore, to come and take care of my troublesome computer for more. I have now found someone who would not complain!

My friend has wondered why my computer seems to give me so many problems and has insulted me by saying that it is “user-problem”. Well, let me show him that now my computer is 100% healthy. He doesn’t need to know that I am calling 1-866-GeekNeed, does he?

Travel

News From Lawrence In Torrevieja

June 14, 2007 The Artist Leave a comment

Not too long ago, I wrote about my friend who will be posted to Spain to work. The bad news for me is that he has already left Malaysia but the good news for him is that he has left early to pack in a Spanish holiday before starting work! My, how he is enjoying his holidays. I have already received quite a few postcards, SMS text and email messages from him from each Spanish city that he stopped by, the latest is Torrevieja, a beautiful coastal town.

Lawrence said that could easily be the largest salt producing city in the world, thanks to the surrounding salt lakes. Each salt mountain reminds him of our little private joke about him being saltish. He sent me some photos of the salt lakes and they really look great although I can’t taste them. I have been told that salt water like this is great for health and skin disease could also be cured if one were to dip in the lake.

I am promised more photos and I am even hoping for some videos as well.

Lawrence told me that although he will be based in Madrid, he will get to travel to some other Spanish cities as part of his job and he is looking forward to head this way of Costa Blanca. He told me that the city’s name means “Old tower” and he did see some towers which add to the attraction of the city. One thing that surprised him was the large British and Irish community. He did not know why there were so many of them though, but the pubs and entertainment spots vibrantly cater to them!

Lawrence told me to quickly put aside my job and responsibility and look him up in Madrid so that we can go to Torrevieja for dip in the salt lakes. I will have to think about it first!

Computing & Internet

Irritating Content Link

June 13, 2007 The Artist 2 Comments

For the past two weeks, I have visited so many different blogs. What I like about blogs is that each owner has its own personalized or customized layout. While I have been impressed by some layouts, I have at the same time been put off by quite a handful as well.

One thing I exceptionally dislike is the thing called “Content Link”. I think that is what it is called. I am not sure how it is implemented, perhaps it is a plug-in or whatever, but I have no idea why anyone would want that on their blogs. Perhaps it is another mode of monetization but I think that to have all the little bubbles popping up each time I hovered my cursor over a link ACCIDENTALLY, the pop up comes out, blocks my view of the text field and interrupts my reading. There goes my mood for reading because I keep losing my reading momentum.

Although this could be a way to further receive revenue each time someone clicks on the link that appears in those little oblong pop-ups, I find it bad form should these links appear in a sponsored post.

Can you imagine how you will feel if you, the advertiser, have paid for the text post and then there comes all these links in bubbles popping up all over your blog post trying to lure away your market?

I think that blog owners who have implemented this should serious consider removing them because it is very unfair to the advertiser. What do you think?

Computing & Internet

Getting A Legal Will Online

June 13, 2007 The Artist 2 Comments

Recently, my uncle, who lives in British Columbia, Canada, had a health scare. He was going in and out of the hospital so much that we thought it was something serious. We asked our aunt if he has a legal Will but he did not and because he was so preoccupied with hospital visits and doctor’s appointment, he could not spare the time to get it done at the lawyer’s office.

A colleague then recommended Easy Legal Will to them where they could get a legal Will online. After paying $59 by PayPal or credit card, my uncle was given a series of questions to answer. My uncle did that as accurately as possible and soon enough, the Will was ready to be printed out and signed.

While all these seems ordinary enough, my Uncle could return to the website anytime within the year to have his Will edited or revise or even rewritten at no extra cost.

After one year, my Uncle could extend his service by only paying $19 and he will also receive a second account for free which could be given to anyone he wishes. Of course my aunt should get that, shouldn’t she?

I really love the internet. It seems as if there will be companies offering any service that are useful to people who do not have access to people in real life. I am still amazed by the things that are online.

Blogging

Bad Taste To Announce Earnings

June 13, 2007 The Artist 4 Comments

As a blogger who has almost fully monetized her blogs, I find it distasteful that there are SO many bloggers who are announcing their earnings from various internet sources ever so often.

For the past two weeks, I have had the opportunity to visit over a hundred blogs by bloggers who have monetized their blogs. I do not see the need for them to announce how much their have earned or when they have received payment from so-and-so company. It is just plain distasteful. Just like receiving conventional salary, nobody goes around telling the world how large their pay cheque is. People who do this are called “show-offs”. That’s who they are.

I mean, if one wants to encourage or spur readers to monetize their blogs, it is sufficient to state the amount from the different ways of monetization and not the exact amount from each particular company.

This is so prevalent that I sometimes wonder maybe THIS is the way it should be. Maybe it is just me, I don’t know.

General

Pursuing Higher Education With PLUS Loans

June 13, 2007 The Artist 1 Comment

When I was in college, there weren’t many options for me to choose from as I am from a not that well to do family and studying in college itself was a luxury! How I appreciate that to enable me to attend college, my parents had to take out a loan to finance my education. Luckily, the plus loan application was not complex at all and we successfully applied for a parent plus loan.

It did not matter what my parents financial standing were but of course, that was the deciding factor in our part in taking out the PLUS loan. It is said that even Bill Gates, rich as he is, could even qualify for PLUS loans. Isn’t that funny?

I found that even for people who did not really need a Federal plus loan were taking it out because of the very attractive interest repayment rate and terms. Many of these investment savvy parents were able to earn more money elsewhere and use returns from there to service their loans plus the interest and with access too.

Believe me, it isn’t easy to find interest rate as low as 6.5% plus non-income sensitive loans. It was also an advantage that the loan was taken out by my parents and not myself. I feel that it is unfair to burden a student with a loan at such a young age. Everyone should have a shot at tertiary education irrespective of financial background. Don’t you think so?

Blogging

Who Says Blogging Is Easy?

June 13, 2007 The Artist Leave a comment

Whoever said that is wrong! It may be easy to write one or two posts in a day but try writing multiple posts daily in a long stretch of time and see what happens. A friend of mine, whom I shall not disclose because he is one of the most popular bloggers in Malaysia, was shocked when I told him that I have to write more than ten posts almost daily. He went like this, “How to write? Why last time never hear you complain?”

Well, last time I did not complain because I had so many posts in drafts that I could go without blogging for one or two days and still have plenty of back up posts to publish. And then I was so busy that I did not have time to write anything and just kept publishing my drafts till they were exhausted. Since then, which was three or four weeks ago, I never recovered my momentum.

And now my friend proposes to come to my hometown for a visit and I told him not to because I have too many posts to write daily that I won’t have the time to meet up with him. And he doesn’t understand why!

Blogging is not easy, especially for one who blogs for pay. Besides writing, we need to network, build back links, socialise with other bloggers, link bait and what not. It’s a three person job and I am doing all these alone. So yeah, I don’t even have time to socialise with real people anymore!

Blank Canvas