2004 February

I was slogging through the stuff in my mailbox when I found an interesting offer for a “$500 Payday Loan“. The ad was vivid green, with a bright green flashing shamrock, a pot of gold, and a curious leprechaun running under the banner of Get Cash Now!
I found this Payday Loan ad to be interesting […]

Hi, I saw your number on the Internet and I’d like to get some information about automobile donation.”
What’s the make and year of your automobile, sir?” the attendant asked.
“It’s a four-door 1992 Honda Civic,” I replied.
“What state are you in?” she asked.
“New Jersey,” I answered.
“Okay, I can send out a packet for you,” she replied. […]

It’s been seven years since I wrote The Photoshop Plug-ins Book for the late (but not so great) Ventana Press. While I’ve long thought about putting the entire contents of that book online, I’ve never had the chance to get around to it.
That time may come soon.
Speaking of Photoshop–since it’s been a whopping seven […]

To follow on Friday’s blog posting about automobile donation, I’m looking into the advantages and disadvantages. I must say that I’m more than a bit skeptical, after reading what I’ve read.
But here’s what I’m going to do … I’m going to call one or two of these automobile donation places this week to see […]

Outsourcing — specifically IT outsourcing — is quite a hot topic these days. It may have become a campaign issue all of sudden, but the practice has been going on for years.
I don’t have a huge problem with the concept of either IT outsourcing or call center outsourcing, as long as the entity […]

Last month, I wrote about how I let my term life insurance lapse. I know I need to get a new policy. Letting the old policy lapse was not something I was happy about … but it seemed to have gotten far too expensive.
Fear not … I’m working on it. I’m […]

I can’t think of any better day than Friday the 13th to revisit the topic of debt consolidation. By and large, Americans carry too much debt. (I reckon I do.) Perhaps some folks look at the way our government’s been operating lately and think that it’s okay to spend so much without having the income […]

“Hi, this is Dave from Customer Service, and I’m calling about the installation of your DirecTV,” the recorded pitch began. “We have you marked down for installation with three receivers, at no cost.” Once again, I had run to the north side of the ranch to pick up the phone, and once again it […]

Macromedia has just announced a new version of their Breeze web conferencing software. Breeze 4.0 adds a bunch of cool new features. You can read all about the new bells and whistles in the press release, titled “Macromedia Goes Beyond Web Conferencing.”
I’ve been evaluating the previous version of Breeze for some time now. While […]

Predictive dialers can be quite sneaky. Just a moment ago, I was in the house, fixing a cup of tea. (It’s a bit cold out in the office today!) The phone rang, and of course, I could not find the portable handset in the kitchen. So I ran off to the northern reaches of […]

We’re in the midst of a big fat rainy day here in the swamps of Joisey … and days like this bring one topic to mind: basement waterproofing. Let me just say to all those lucky folks that have never experienced the true joy of a flooded basement, you don’t know how lucky you […]

An acquaintance of mine is looking for a conference call provider. Now I’m quite interested in the subject of conference calling as it relates to web conferencing, so when the topic came up in conversation, I tuned in immediately.
I was amazed to learn that there is a company that provides free conference calls. You read […]

Computer recycling is serious business. And it’s not obscure. We’re all faced with the issue of computer disposal. So how do you deal with it? Do you take the time to recycle your old computers or simply dispose of them in the trash?
I’d bet that folks would happily cough up cash […]