I’ll be on the air in a matter of minutes, hosting my first show on BlogTalkRadio! Please call in if you’d like, and live on the air. Just call (646) 716-7564 anytime between 6pm and 7pm (eastern) and I’ll buzz you in!

I’ve been reading a few other tech blogs today, and I’m astonished at the number of people who waited in line for an iPhone. Time is money people, and I’m not so hot to get something that I’d wait in line for hours for it. Concert tickets, maybe. A once of a lifetime deal, yes. A phone that I can buy in a few weeks, or a few months from now? No. Get our your cookbooks and look for turkey recipes, cause all of you people who bought it today are turkeys!

Heh.

Seriously though. One blog I read said he had his girlfriend stand in line for him for 3 hours, and then he waited another hour. And now, because of everyone else trying to activate the iPhone at the same time, it doesn’t take 5 minutes to activate - instead, you’ll wait 4 hours. What a hassle! I like having new stuff, but not for that headache and hassle. I’d rather wait a few weeks, and walk right into a store, pick one up, and pay. No headaches, no hassle.

I’ve got a problem with the theme on my other blog. When people view it in IE6 (booo!) the right sidebar tends to drift over and obscure my text. Eve, who does a bit of Wordpress theme customization was nice enough to go over the code for me with a fine tooth comb. Have you seen the tweaks she can do for your theme? Neat stuff!

Interested in getting 10 links, from different sites, all ranked PR 3, 4, 5 - and doing it for a good cause? That’s just what Charles from C.Whyte’s blog did after he read my post about helping my sister raise money for the 3Day walk, and you can do it too! Just click right here and read about the offer - you donate money to a charity, and you get great backlinks in return! It’s a great deal for you, so click the linky above and read more!

I’ve been with my employer for almost 3 years now, and received most of my PeopleSoft training on the job. With the new position I have, I was offered the chance to go for additional PeopleSoft training at Oracle University. What a no brainer! My boss left me pick whatever class I wanted to take, up to $1700, and of course, my travel and expenses will be covered as well.

So, come September, I’m off to Dallas for a PeopleSoft course I picked out this morning. The class is geared towards those in a technical consultant position, and since that’s basically what I am, it’s the perfect fit for me. It’s a great opportunity to get training from the people who created PeopleSoft that I can apply in this position and any other position I choose to take with another company down the road, and I don’t have to pay for it!

7/7/07 is going to be a big date, for a lot of people. Churches and chapels around the world have been booked for weddings. People are taking special trips to exotic locales, and special concerts are going on that day as well. It’s almost being treated like New Year’s Eve! I guess some think that having the date of 7/7/07 is considered lucky - and those couples getting married aren’t the only ones. In fact, you can head to Las Vegas on 7/7/07 for a complete free internet marketing discussion, run by Tony D. Baker. He’s a big internet marketing expert who resides in Oklahoma, and he’s been marketing websites and products online for over 10 years, with over 1000 clients under his belt.

Tony recently announced, via the press release linked above, and his blog, Advanced Marketing Techniques, his plan to invite anyone to learn the secrets of internet marketing. Since he plans to be in Vegas to meet clients, Tony figured that he’d kill 2 birds with one stone and invite all of us to join him for a free discussion group. You do need to RSVP (instructions can be found on Tony’s blog on how to do that) to attend, but in addition to the event being free, there are door prizes, as well as the benefit of hearing tips and tricks directly from Tony.

Ok, so I get Vegas - he was going to be there anyway. But why 7/7/07? “Having this meeting in this city and at a time when people are all caught up in the 07/07/07 hysteria sets the background for the perfect case study for our discussion”, said Baker.

If I hadn’t just come off a vacation, I’d probably go, just to pick up some tips. Anyone in the Las Vegas area who plans to attend out there?

Twice now, in two hotels, I’ve tried to find free wireless and I’ve been stuck with paying for high speed internet through the hotel network, or going with dial up. Grrr! At the last hotel I was too cheap to pay for the internet (120 consecutive minutes for $10!!?!) but at this hotel, it’s only $18.95 for a week. I’m not staying a week, but with the daily rate being $10, it made sense to pay for a week!

Yahoo Auctions is closing their doors, which made me think we’d all be stuck with eBay. They seem to have a monopoly on online auctions, don’t they? Not a true monopoly of course, but the closure of Yahoo Auctions doesn’t bode well for other people trying to take on eBay. eBid Online Auctions is trying to show the world we’ve got other options, and right now you can purchase a lifetime auction subscription for only $99. I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent much, MUCH more than $99 on auctions at eBay, so this is a cool option. Once you pay your $99, you never had to pay anymore fees to eBid. It’s a great promotion, and a great chance for them to convert Yahoo users into eBid users!

With the imminent closure of the US and Canadian Yahoo auction sites, US and Canadian users of Yahoo Auctions can import their feedback for free to eBid.net. Included in this special offer eBid.net will also allow all US and Canadian citizens to upgrade to a lifetime Platinum account membership worth $99.99 for absolutely nothing giving them zero listing and zero final value fees for life.

New users should register at us.eBid.net and if they wish to import feedback email a screen grab from their log in area of their yahoo auctions account showing their feedback page. Do not screen grab the public view of your Yahoo feedback page.

They can screen grab by pressing the PrtSc key on their keyboard to save a copy of their current screen to their clipboard and then paste into an email or into some photo software.

This offer lasts until Yahoo closes its doors on June 30th, 2007.

Users should email the jpg/gif/png/bmp image to yahoo_offer@ebid.net along with their new eBid username.

I just picked the winners (at random, of course) for our GeekySpeaky June Giveaway! Are you ready?

Seriously?

You’re sitting down?

Please join me in congratulating Tammie - she’s the winner of the 1GB flash drive!

And congratulations also Lattégirl, the winner of the booby prize, which is a Futurama DVD!

As I’m on vacation in Toronto right now (and headed to Montreal tomorrow, and then Niagara Falls) I won’t be mailing the prizes until I return home next week. Sit tight!

A new contest starts July 1st!

I found 4 neat games today, all centered around the new release of the Reno 911! Miami The Movie DVD. I love the show, and love the movie. If you’ve never watched either, you need to run out right now and buy the Reno 911! Miami The Movie DVD. Don’t forget to head to their website and play all of the extra games too.

I went there and decided to play Calling All Units - I think it’s the closest I’ll come to ever being a real cop, provided the Reno 911 crew counts as “real”. I loved the location of the first crime - on the corner of “Wett” and “Panty”. HA! I ate plenty of donuts and caused 121,000 in damage to the city, but only earned $6900. Oh, and a $3000 bustin’ bonus. Go me!

Don’t forget - the new DVD for Reno 911! Miami is unrated. Follow the crew from Reno to Miami and watch them wreck Miami over Spring Break. Deputy Raineesha Williams in a bathing suit, and Lt. Dangle in short shorts. Need I say more? You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you may wet your pants. It’s all good!

I’m online in Toronto and just thought it was neat that once I connected, and started Firefox, instead of my homepage being google.com, it pulled up google.ca. I think it’s so neat to have a system smart enough to realize that I’ve left the good ole’ U S of A and entered a whole new county. I’d love to try it out in other places now and see if Google can figure out where I am!

Why is it that people think as long as they acknowledge what they are NOT supposed to do, that it somehow makes doing it ok?

Here’s a perfect example. When I need to assist people and troubleshoot work related issues, they often want to send me a screenshot of the issue. That’s fine, except I ask everyone to put the screenshot IN a Word doc, and email me the file. When they put the screenshot directly into the email, it slows up my email, and I can’t forward the screenshot to others who may need to see it.

So I get an email this afternoon from a user who said,

“I know you said not to include a screenshot in email, but…”

Yes, and what part of that did you NOT understand? You’re not special, so why do you think it’s ok for you do it? How hard is it to drop the screenshot into a Word doc, especially when you’ve been asked to do it this way multiple times?

Same thing goes for online situations. I say things are going to be done a certain way, and people try to make up their own method, and explain it all away….”I know you SAID to do it this way…but I’m going to ignore that and do my own thing, ok?”

Idiots.

Join me (uh, and Mr. Fab too, since it’s his show) on Pointless Drivel Live at 7pm eastern tonight. (That’s in 30 minutes for everyone not in my time zone.) You can listen to the show live, and even call in to talk with me and Mr. Fab. Hope to hear from some of you then!

Hurry, hurry!

You’ve got only 4 more days to enter my GeekySpeaky Giveaway for June, where you can win a 1GB flash drive, or a Futurama DVD. You can’t be a big winner if you don’t enter, so hop on over to the contest entry page and enter today!

I am, for the 2nd time in my life, a proud Ford owner. The first Ford I owned was a minivan, back in 1999. We bought it used, and it was the first minivan I ever had. Now I drive a 2006 Ford Explorer, Eddie Bauer Edition, in dark blue with camel trim. LOVE IT! I love how it drives, I love how roomy it is, I love the power 3rd row of seats, I love the DVD player we installed in it, and I love the Sirius satellite radio that it came with. And speaking of Fords, I had the opportunity to rent a Ford Mustang this April. My husband’s car was going to be in the shop, and we decided that since we had an anniversary getaway planned, that a Mustang was the perfect getaway car. I got to drive it for a week, and man, I see why so many people are hot for Mustangs! I do prefer my SUV, for the roominess and the feeling of being “up high” on the road, but I can get down with the sports car too!

I found a site with some neat Ford wallpapers and screensavers for those of you that are TRUE Ford freaks. They don’t have the Ford Explorer featured, but you can choose from the Ford GT40, the Ford Mustang, the Ford Edge, and the Ford Iosis. There’s also a Ford screensaver featuring the Ford Iosis. Not fan of Ford? That’s alright, because the site features tons of other brands, from Alfa Romeo to VW. The screensavers are dynamic too, so you’ve got easy access to a calendar and clock right from your desktop. Nice! You can also see a preview (via an embedded YouTube video) of each screensaver BEFORE you download it - a nice option for someone who wants to see a variety of screensavers before downloading each. But don’t let the free wallpapers and downloads distract you - the real mission of this site is to help residents of the UK find used cars that are reliable and being sold by approved dealers. The interactive streets map makes it easy to find where each dealer is located, while the car search function makes it easy to find exactly what make and model you’re dreaming of. You don’t want to get taken for a ride when you buy a used car, so using this site will help you to find dealers who have a great reputation and thousands of satisfied customers.

This is a sponsored review.

Have you entered my GeekySpeaky Giveaway for June yet? Time is a’ wastin’! You can enter to win a 1gn flash drive or a Futurama DVD, and it’s as easy as leaving a comment on the blog entry announcing the contest. You’ll kick yourself on June 21st when I can’t pick you as my bigger winner, all because you didn’t enter, so ENTER!

PayPerPost announced…err…leaked today that they’ve received another $7 million in funding. This is on the heels of a massive site redesign that seems aimed at drawing in new advertisers and educating current advertisers on how the system can be used for blog marketing. I hope it works - with 6,500 advertisers and close to 30,000 bloggers, we need more balance in the force that is PayPerPost.

Not all geeks have the luxury of sitting in front of a laptop all day. Some of us work in a more industrial setting, and it takes more than a pocket protector to be equipped for safety. If you’re the type of geek who might find himself on a construction site or a nuclear power plant, you can equip yourself for safety at DiscountSafetyGear.com. And fear not - just because this equipment is discounted, doesn’t mean it’s not fully functional and what you need to get the job done.

Let me start by saying the theming is incorporated nicely into the design. I immediately get the sense of where this equipment might be used by the welder on the logo, the yellow and back divider bars, and the overall industrial look of the site. It gives me an idea of the site’s purpose, without being in my face. I like that a variety of products are featured on the main page, to give me an idea of what I might find at this store. I clicked on hard hats, because I have worn one (not in the workplace, but when our new home was built) and loved all of the options given to find one! You can shop by price, brand, type, or click right into the most popular styles. They’ve got hard hats I didn’t even know existed, including one that looks like a cowboy hat, and Nascar and NFL hard hats. If you’ve got to wear one every day, these are much cooler than the standard yellow and white you’ll find on the work site.

Back to the main page, where I took notice of the navigation on the left hand side. I can’t think of a single industrial safety product missing. This site has it all, from safety goggles to first aid kits. (Even a geek in the office can use a first aid kit - what if you needed a band aid when you get a paper cut? I carry a small first aid kit in my car’s glove box for emergencies, too!) I checked out the flashlights, since that’s something we’re always in need of during the hurricane season here in Florida, and saw several very nice lanterns and flashlights at reasonable prices. (Great Father’s Day gift idea!) Shipping is free on orders over $100, too.

I realize the site is catering to the small business owner, but they would do well to add more of a homeowner safety focus, in addition to their current product line. What about carbon monoxide detectors, smoke alarms, weather radios, even perhaps a few articles on what you should have on hand for hurricane season, tornadoes, etc. Content supporting your products is always a great tool to use, and you’ll gain visitors to your site when that content is indexed by search engines.

Overall, the store has a great foundation, and can go a lot further with the addition of a few more products and content to introduce visitors to what they can offer for the homeowner or small business owner.

This is a sponsored review.

Here’s a great way to spend an hour on a lazy Sunday - the Pointer game! Yes, it’s very simplistic, but you will be challenged by each new level. I’m up to the 5th now, and while the game doesn’t score you, you’ll find yourself getting competitive, and wanting to beat each new level offered. Some levels are easy to figure out at a glance, and some require a bit of planning, but all are fun!

Let’s say you’re tracking down an ex-boyfriend, who happens to have the same name as a guy who was in an 80’s band. If you search for the boyfriend by name, obviously, you’re going to get tons of results that aren’t about the specific guy you’re trying to find. You can easily use the minus sign to remove things from your results.

So, in this example, we’ll say your ex is named Kevin DuBrow, which is also the name of the lead singer of Quiet Riot. (I attended a concert of his in 2001 which also featured Warrant and Poison, and Kevin Dubrow autographed my stomach after the show. Anyway…) When you visit Google, and put in the name Kevin Dubrow, you’ll get about 88,000 results. But since you know that your ex is NOT the Quiet Riot singer, you can cancel out results that also have that term, by doing this in the Google search box:

“Kevin Dubrow” -Quiet -Riot

That takes you down to 50,000 results! You could then add -album -musician -record to further filter your results. This is extremely helpful when you’re searching for a term that has 2 different meanings, or a person who has a famous double!

Other posts in the Google Search Tip series:

Google Search Tip: Travel