Always, Alli

If you travel this summer and plan on flying, how do you think you will get around town? Do you have friends to chauffeur you? Borrow a car? Or do you plan on renting a car?

We have only ever rented cars when it was part of our honeymoon package or after a car accident. But I can see how some folks might want to fly somewhere and then rent a car that might be smaller than their car at home. It could have better gas mileage, so they could save some money there. Or some car rental companies have hybrids, which is even more exciting to me. Save some money, use less gas… it all sounds good.

Advantage is a car rental company with an easy to use website. You can check rates quickly and have 34 types of cars to choose from (no hybrids though).

There is a specials page you should check out to see if you can find a good deal on a van rental (more space is pretty comfortable). One special allows you to rent cars from $19.99 a day.

The prices are comparable to other car rental companies, so I would make sure to include them when you are searching for a rental car.

Technorati Tags: car rental

I have no idea when it started, but I have a definite obsession with Zach Braff. I know it started after Scrubs started airing, but it has recently been much more intense. There are at least seven opportunities everyday for me to watch Scrubs reruns on TV. I don’t, but I know the opportunity is there.

Don’t worry, I have no plans to head out to California and get all Nurse Betty on Zach. For now.

In case you were not aware, Zach Braff has a blog. It is rarely updated, but I’m fine with that because when he updates, he is the one updating the blog. He does the writing. He doesn’t have a lackey do it. It makes me feel closer.

Mr. Braff updated last week, giving what little information he could about the next season of Scrubs. But the part that was interesting is the next music video he is directing.

Music is one of the things that makes Zach Braff really interesting. He put together an amazing soundtrack for Garden State and The Last Kiss. Most of the artists on those soundtracks I now have in my music library. Zach Braff has directed a Cary Brother’s video, Joshua Radin, Gavin DeGraw, and even the music video for the Scrubs themesong.

The next video he is going to direct is for Jay Clifford. And he needs some help making it:

I came up with this idea to make a music video by cutting together clips of people from all over the world singing the song and shooting the video themselves as though it were their own song. I’ve been talking about doing something collaborative with all of you since I first started writing on here. Well I finally figured out how.

The deadline for submissions is May 30th. Check out the website, download the song, print the lyrics, and film yourself singing.

Or just watch the video for Scrubs:

Technorati Tags: Zach Braff, Jay Clifford, music video, community involvement

While I was in Ohio, my mom and I went shoe shopping twice. McMom wanted to buy me some nice shoes, to give me a more complete look. I wasn’t about to turn her down because my summer shoes have been giving me problems with my feet and hip.

The first store we went to was in Kettering and it was soooo depressing. They had really nice shoes, but were really crappy about keeping in stock my size. I found cute shoes, but they didn’t fit. Too big, too small, or too narrow.

I commented to my mom that I prefer shopping for shoes on the internet.

For instance, Infinity Shoes, is a decent online shoe store. They have a good variety of brands like seychelles shoes , minnetonka boots, and tsubo shoes. But there aren’t a lot of shoes in each brand, which would probably lead me to go searching for more styles at other online shoe stores.

Also, the prices are much higher than I would want to pay. The shoes I did end up buying were Clark’s brand (which Infinity Shoes carries) and were $30.

But, if I were to buy my sister a pair of shoes for her upcoming birthday, I would be able to find the Eric Michael Bonnet shoes at Infinity Shoes online store. They are so cute and I think my sister would like them. I know I would! And maybe paying that much for a pair of shoes as a gift isn’t as bad as buying them for yourself. Right now they are offering free shipping on shoes over $59.98, which those shoes qualify for, so I wouldn’t get screwed there.

However, I think due to higher prices than I would normally pay, and being used to more options (especially in sizes, which I didn’t see a lot of 9 1/5 sizes on Infinity’s site) I wouldn’t pick Infinity Shoes as my first choice for online shoe shopping.

Technorati Tags: Inifinity shoes, online shoe shopping

Our family has been a “free stuff” kick lately. We had free ice cream last week, free comic book day, free samples at Sam’s, and I got my new free CamelBak.

Today, the streak continues. I stopped at a Starbucks drive-thru in Fort Oglethorpe. If you are familiar with the area, you know this is kind of a big deal. Fort O doesn’t even have a bookstore (independent or otherwise) but it has a Starbucks. It is a few months old now.

I pulled up to the intercom to make my order and wait for some greeting from someone.

And I waited.

And waited.

I even pulled out my cell phone to twitter about it. I was about to drive away (I had places to be people), when someone tentatively asked, “May I help you?” I gave my order, the voice gave me my total, and I pulled up to the window.

And waited.

Finally a young lady handed me my tall, iced, vanilla latte. As I extended my arm to hand her the money, she said, “Since you had to wait so long, you don’t have to pay.” She then went on to apologize and tell me no one had their headsets on to know I was out there.

Now, this seems like a crappy thing, and getting my drink for free did make up for it, but I want to let you know, this kind of thing happens to me at Starbucks all. the. time.

Once they made too much of the drink I ordered so they gave me two of the same drink. I didn’t want to drink both of them, so I gave the second one to a friend who was watching Fuller that afternoon. Another time they made two of the same drink for someone else and gave me my order PLUS the extra drink from the customer in front of me. And then there was the time I was up on Lookout Mountain and it was obvious they were very new, because no one knew how to make my drink. And when they did it wrong, I got my new one for free.

I don’t go to Starbucks that often, so to me, Starbucks is kind of like the “free drink” coffee shop. I just have to watch myself and not get my hopes up that it happens more often.

Technorati Tags: free drink, Starbucks

Back in March, I joined SocialSpark, the new pay-bloggers-for-posts product from Izea.

I first learned about SocialSpark when I went to Postiecon last November. At the time Izea’s flagship product was PayPerPost. What I took away from the unveiling was SocialSpark was going to turn paid blogging on its side in three areas:

1. More interaction between bloggers and advertisers (that would be the social part)
2. Disclosure that each opportunity taken was paid
3. All required links would be “no-follow” (a big deal if you understand Google and search engine stuff, which I don’t)

When I created my profile in March, SocialSpark was still in Alpha. There was mainly a lot of social going on- adding friends and checking out profiles. Izea set up a few opportunities, full of bugs, but they worked them out and eventually I was able to take an opp. It was easy- I clicked a button, wrote my post, and filled out their required fields to submit the opportunity.

Then Izea turned on some of the “features.” And I started to wonder if I liked having paid blogging be turned on its side.

1. Dynamic Pricing. This is something I really don’t understand. According to the really long blog posts on the Izea blog, advertisers can create opportunities and indicate the highest and lowest price they will pay for a blog post. When the opportunity generates interest, the price fluctuates based on demand. The more bloggers interested in the opportunity, the more the price drops. Bloggers really don’t get paid what they are worth in that way. I have requested slots for opportunities when they were listed at over $27. But by the time I got my reservation created email, I was told I would only be paid $5.50. I didn’t do the opportunity. My time is worth more than $5.50.

I really don’t like this fluctuation. I also do not like taking an opportunity at 8ish dollars and then seeing it later climb it over $16. (Unless I can take the opportunity again, which isn’t allowed.)

2. Reserving an opportunity. When you see an opportunity you are interested in, you click on the “request slot” button. Your profile is added to the queue and you wait for a reservation to actually be created. And wait. And wait.

Again, depending on the interest, you can wait for several days. And when/ if (you aren’t always guaranteed a slot) you get your slot, the amount you will be paid might be less than what it was when you requested the slot.

I’m used to deciding what time to blog. When I decide to do a paid post, I usually want to do it as soon as possible. With Izea’s PayPerPost system, when I click on “take opportunity” I have six hours to complete the opp. I don’t click on the take button unless I know I can complete the opp in six hours.

Waiting for an opportunity isn’t how I really like to blog. At least, I haven’t been liking it lately. Especially since Izea sends out “Reservation created” emails around midnight (Eastern time) which leads me to the next “feature” I’m not happy with…

3. Reservation created, twelve hours is really five. If Izea sends me an email at 12:01 a.m. telling me I have twelve hours to complete an opportunity, when do you think I actually see that email? Usually around 7:30 or 8 a.m. And do you think I will be able to complete it by noon? Probably. But not always.

And if the opportunity is a video assignment and I have company coming at 11, but the house is not clean, what do you think I am going to spend my time doing? A video? Nope. It comes back to I need to blog on my time. If I had a longer reservation window, I would be thrilled.

But I can’t be all bent out of shape about this reservation system since it does help me in another way. PayPerPost allows me to click on “take opportunity” and start blogging right away. I have to keep their window open on my browser while I blog. SocialSpark does not require I keep their window open. If I am working on a PPP opp and my internet goes down (like last night), I lose the opp. If I am working on a SocialSpark opp and my internet goes down, I don’t lose the reservation. (I do have to hope my internet comes back before my reservation window closes, but that isn’t PPP or SocialSpark’s fault.) Apparently I have been doing this wrong and several people have just corrected me. Fortunately I haven’t lost a lot of opportunities in this way.

Here is a real life example that covers all three of these issues:

Last week I requested a slot for an opportunity called “I signed up for SocialSpark!” It was listed at over $27. I received the email yesterday morning that my reservation had been created. The price I was going to be paid for the opportunity was $5.50. The email was sent at 6 a.m. so I had until 6 p.m. to complete the assignment. This would be difficult to do, because I had to clean my house for company at 11. When the company left it was after 1 and I had things to do with Fuller and had to leave the house later. When 6 p.m. came and went, I was out of the house, away from the computer. And I wasn’t sorry about losing out on $5.50.

When I came home, I was able to be on the computer. I checked PPP and guess what? There was this opportunity to write about SocialSpark. It was for $9. So I clicked “take opportunity.” I had six hours to complete it, and I knew I would be able to. I was interrupted several times, but I was almost done with this post. And then my internet went down. I saved my writing in Word and went to bed. This no longer matters, since I was doing it wrong.

This morning, I logged into PPP and there was the opportunity again! So I took it and used my writing from last night as a starting point. When I complete this post, I know I will be paid $9 for writing it (in 30 days) because that is what the system said when I took the opportunity. (I was also giggling because this is exactly the post I would have written if I had had the time to complete the opportunity on SocialSpark that would have paid me $5.50.)

I didn’t take it hoping the price would stay at $9, I didn’t have to wait for an email telling me to start writing, and I was able to take it at a time I knew I could complete it.

One of the things I like about Izea is they really listen to everybody. I know I am not the only blogger who has a problem with these “features” and I expect changes to be made to make people happier. I hope too that Advertisers are educated on paying bloggers what they are worth, and creating opportunities that will really meet their needs. And I hope some good relationships between bloggers and advertisers will be forged in the social arena of SocialSpark.

Remember, it is still in Beta. I am sure there are still some changes to be made. And I am sure there will be opportunities I request a slot for and I don’t take because the price fell below what I am willing to take.

Technorati Tags: SocialSpark, Izea

Since Spring was so late in arriving (and honestly I wonder if she will duck out for a minute and ask Winter to babysit) it is difficult for me to think Summer will be here next month. I feel like the weather we are enjoying today should have been here back in March and April.

But the Summer months will be here soon, bringing summer holidays- Memorial Day, Fourth of July being the two big ones for us. We plan on traveling (of course), and attending a wedding on July 5th.

Right now, even though we keep talking about the plans for the future, I am trying to enjoy the now at home. I want the weather to stay nice and not turn oppressive. I keep the windows and doors open for cool breezes, I step out to warm in the sun. I relax and take walks, play in the water tub with Fuller. I even jumped on a trampoline tonight.

The lazy days of Summer are almost here, but I’m chillaxing with Spring right now.

Disclaimer: The product I am about to rave and gush over was given to me with no expectation that I blog about it. But really, how could I not? It just isn’t who I am!

On Thursday, the mail man gave me a sweet present: a new CamelBak water bottle.

If you recall, I once decided to go BPA free with the plastics I use. This meant a really difficult decision to throw away my precious CamelBak water bottle. I linked to a website I really respect when it comes to information about companies who are BPA free. And if you check out the comments on my post, you will notice they left me a very nice comment:

Great blogging research! We gave you a hat tip for the planned Camelbak transition of their Bite Valve bottle, which we hadn’t noticed ourselves.

I thanked them for the “hat tip” (link back to my post) and had a warm and fuzzy feeling for the rest of the day.

Then a few days later, I received an email from Jeremiah stating CamelBak wanted to send them some of the new BPA free water bottles and send me one. I was no longer warm and fuzzy, I was over the moon!

Of course I sent them my mailing address and of course I haunted my mailbox looking for something from CamelBak. And then on Friday, there it was.

It came with the bite valve I really like and has been my constant companion. I am better hydrated since first filling it up, and I feel great knowing I am not ingesting a chemical that could potentially harm my reproductive hormones.

And it helps that it is a product I really, really like.

Technorati Tags: BPA free, CamelBak, water bottle

I caught a cold from my son. He caught the cold from his father. It hasn’t been a great week. I actually had a fever yesterday. Today, I feel better and can breath through my nose again. And my energy is back, which helps when you are assisting your husband on a household project.

Usually when I get sick I crave spicy food. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but this time it was different. I tend to lean toward spicy food of the Latin variety. I want the jalapenos, the salsa, the fire to make me feel something again. And if possible, I want to be able to use the fire in my mouth as a path to make my nose work again.

This week I craved hot wings. Hot, saucy, buffalo wings. I decided the craving came from standing next to Buffalo Wild Wings twice this week while I waited for the bus. I never acted on the craving until today it got so bad I had to get in the car, head to the grocery store, and obtain some buffalo chicken strips.

My friend Drew made it to a Wing Off and was able to sample chicken wings until he was stuffed. Seeing his pictures just pushed me to grab the car keys and squelch the craving.

It helped, I did feel something and for a short while my nose was clearer. Sometimes, answering a craving is just the thing to feel better.

Ever since the writer’s strike ended and television started to go back to normal, we have been having a hard time getting our television routine. Or we just got so out of the habit of watching television and sticking to the internet to find our serial comedy/ drama/ family fun!

People who are still waiting for the next season of 24 can turn to the internet to get a quick fix: The Rookie: Day 3 Extraction. Jason Blaine, an American Counter Terrorism agent, is trying to rescue his boss. 24 viewers will notice the similar high-stakes, fast paced style of the webisodes found on YouTube.

Here’s the first one:

The six chapters (ranging from 4 and half to nine minutes long) and the behind the scenes stuff are pretty exciting (I’ve seen them all now and might have to start watching 24 soon). And the series is sponsored by Degree. In celebration of the webisodes, I have 4 sticks of Degree Men to give away. If you are interested in such a prize, please leave a comment. Comments will close Monday at noon. I’ll visit random.org and pick four winners.

Technorati Tags: 24, The Rookie: Day 3 Extraction, Degree, deodorant, give away

The original A for the April NaBloPoMo project was posted here. I’m happy to replace that A with this one, since the do-over is from my neighborhood.

Technorati Tags: A, letter, digital photography