I came across this faux motivational poster tonight that states:

Birth Control - Because if you arn’t careful, one of these could be yours.

And yes, that typo is on the original image. People…I can’t say it enough. When you’re insulting others, it’s SO important to spell check. If you don’t, we laugh less at the silly inbred children in the photo, and more at YOU for flaunting your so-called superiority online.

I ordered business cards from Visit Print for the blog conference I’ll be at next week, and they came out fabulous. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I could have done more than just a business card. How about custom pens featuring my URL? or, your URL, if you’re footing the bill. I do love a free pen, and it makes it handy for remembering a website. Vista Print has great prices, as I found when I ordered my business cards, but I did come across a few deals you may be interested in for offline blog and website promotion:

Use coupon code “FreePen07” and you’ll receive one free custom promotional pen that you can customize, just pay shipping and handling. This is a great way to try before you buy!

Or, how about making a custom wall calender for your visitors? If you got really creative with the pictures, this would be a great contest prize. I know my friend Mr. Fab would be able to really run with the idea. If you’d like a free calendar, use code “FreeCalendar07” - again, you just pay shipping and handling.

Perhaps you want to send holiday cards to a few select people? Use coupon code “FreeHoliday” to receive 10 free custom holiday cards .

Sweet deals!

Leave it to a bunch of geeks to put a new twist on a protest sign by writing </war> on it. Leave it to ANOTHER bunch of geeks to debate the meaning of said sign in the comments of the blogger who originally shared the sign. I’m of the school of thought that someone already opened war with the <war> tag somewhere, and this guy wants to end war with his closing tag. How do you interpret the sign?

As you all know, I’ve been running a few contests here and there on my blogs. I’ve been buying prizes at the local big box chain in town, but I’m sure I’ve been over spending on things by not planning ahead. Buying at the last minute usually equals paying more money! I found a source online for discount MP3 players, as well as cell phone accessories and other discount electronics. I think you’ll definitely be seeing prizes in the future from this site. The more money I can save on prizes, the more prizes I can offer, and that’s what Michael Scott would call win-win-win!

I’m thinking my son would be most appreciative of the Sony PSP Value Pack there for just over $200. What a great Christmas gift! Or perhaps Santa will finally bring him the MP3 player he’s been begging for?

Have you ever heard of Salary.com? I came across the site a few months ago and when it’s review time again at work, I’ll definitely be using it. I think I’m guilty of selling myself short when it comes to salary, and after a few things came to light this week, I’m not going to think of myself as greedy when I ask for what I’m worth. That’s where Salary.com comes in - you can put in a job title, and a zip code, and actually see what people in your position are making in your town. It’s not a completely accurate tool, but it’s nice to see a range of what others are making, so that you can go into negotiations having a clue about your worth.

I’m doing a second charity walk this weekend, and I received an email from one of the walk leaders with information and directions. Instead of using the BCC feature, she had included all of the emails in the “to” field, which means once again, 100+ people who didn’t need access to my email account now have it. Since this group is likely to be not so computer savvy, I’m not that worried about it, but I normally get steamed about this sort of thing. I get enough spam without my email being added to random address books all over the internet. The Atomic Bulk Mail Sender is a cool tool that all professional, or wanna be professional organizations and groups should be using.

It’s not JUST a secure bulk mailer, it’s…well, it does it all. The bulk mailer, along with the Atomic Email Tracker gives anyone the ability to send professional looking bulk email and track all sorts of things on the back end. Want to know which emails were opened? Which campaigns were the most appealing to recipients? The tracker reports give you all sorts of options.

The Atomic bulk mail sender allows you to send an unlimited number of emails through the programs own internal SMTP server - NOT your ISP mailbox. The Atomic Mail Sender accepts mailing lists generated in Excel, Access, DBF, Word, made in ASCII text files (.txt, .lst) as well. That’s great news for those of you who have a huge file of customers or contacts to reach. Choose from templates, use HTML to insert images - this is a multi faceted program that allows you to do it all.

Right now, you can try before you buy with a shareware version that has a few features locked. It’s a great way to see the power of the program before you buy!

When I returned from the walk this Sunday night, I had over 250 emails in my Yahoo account needing attention. I JUST got through the last of the emails, which required sending a few prospective advertisers pricing for links here. If you build it, they will come. That’s my new mantra. Despite PR dropping all over the internet, my content is still the same, and my worth is still the same. I’m not adjusting my prices for the PR drop. Lots of people who aren’t selling sponsored links dropped, and I’m in good company. Forbes.com was among the sites that dropped - do you think being linked there is worth less now? I don’t. When PR goes down across the board like this, I don’t think a price adjustment is needed. I think advertisers need to be given reasons as to why I’m worth the same price that I was worth 2 months ago.

I hadn’t heard of US NationalTelecom (YIWA) until today, but I’ll bet we’ll be hearing about this new player in the VoIP market a lot more. They’ve got a long term goal / strategy of buying successful companies already generating revenue. They’ve decided not to go the start up route and fight for recognition and funding in an ever changing market. Why bother when you can simply snap up companies who would otherwise be your competition?

They’ve already purchased Vitelity, and will absorb the founders into their business.

DENVER, CO, Oct 25, 2007 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — US National Telecom (PINKSHEETS: YIWA), a rapidly growing VoIP telecom carrier, concluded the negotiations yesterday on a previously announced wholesale voice traffic services contract. This high volume contract allows the Company to reduce its per-minute costs by up to 10%. The same day, the Company was notified of a record-breaking 1.2 million share trading day in YIWA shares, which may indicate that investor interest may be increasing as the Company’s profile in the $30 billion VoIP and telco marketspace continues to grow. The Company recently announced a novel 3-for-1 share dividend plan.

US National’s VoIP technology network and its world-class, easy-to-use customer web portal is proving to be very popular with the new breed of VoIP provider. This one-of-a-kind portal allows VoIP providers, from very small to very large, to manage all aspects of their account. In essence it allows the VoIP carrier to essentially “take control” of a very expensive nationwide network and order all services including telephone numbers, toll free numbers, VoIP traffic circuits and telephone number change requests.

By all accounts, the VoIP telecom marketplace is expected to increase and many small companies have already experienced great success — the eStara VoIP services company was recently sold to ATG in 2006, in a transaction valued at $43 million. The Company believes it is in a position to capitalize on opportunities in the VoIP marketplace with its own VoIP business strategy.

About US National Telecom - Yi Wan Group

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, YIWA is a publicly traded company, symbol YIWA. Information at: www.USnationalTelecom.com The Company focus is on building a large VoIP services conglomerate expanding to process international voice traffic and international calling cards traffic.

Safe Harbor Statement: This release includes forward-looking statements, made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the PSLA of 1995, that involve major risks and uncertainties based on what may be inaccurate assumptions. The Company is not obligated to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

SOURCE: US National Telecom - Yi Wan Group (YIWA)

Copyright 2007 Market Wire, All rights reserved.

I set up a blog on a friends new domain today (she’s at LifeWithFrenchie.com if you’re nosy!) and I got to thinking about how far blogging, and blog software has come in just a few years. The fact that it’s a standard option in your CPanel to set up via Fantastico says a lot. I remember someone setting me up with Grey Matter when I first started blogging, and at the time, I was only one of a handful of blogger I knew of. There were no themes for Grey Matter, or plugins on the web. Not only is Wordpress free, but it sets up in a matter of minutes and has infinite tools and options.

I sound a bit like an old geezer tell you how I had to walk uphill, in the snow to school, eh?

The Hispanic population is exploding, and I’ve already seen the effects of it in the workplace. I’ve come across job boards and job seeker communities specifically for Hispanic employees, and I’ve received resumes with a copy in English and a copy in Spanish. My college even recommended taking a year or two of Spanish simply because a lot of employers will pay a premium for bilingual employees. Questamente is a new website that is hoping to bring Hispanic professionals together for networking online, by providing bulletin boards, live chat, and individual profile pages. The site is even bilingual! Maybe you’ve searched for a group like this in your town, only to find that there’s not enough of a Hispanic population. You can just as easily network online and meet Hispanic professionals, or find out how to start, run, and manage a business, or locate a new position. You’ll find profiles of successful professionals, and blogs by members as well. The site is free to register at and use.

In just 2 weeks, I’ll see the debut of Argus at PostieCon in Las Vegas. I already have a bit of insight into the Agrus project thanks to being involved in a PayPerPost focus group. I’m also one of the beta testes for the new stats package that comes with Argus, although I am a few days behind on inputting stats. The good news, for those of us hit hard by Google and their PR penalty this month, is that Argus will focus more on traffic and visitors and less on your PR. Real stats will determine the value of your blog. I hope more companies, like Text Link Ads, and the like, will begin to use real traffic stats to educate advertisers about our worth as bloggers, and we can show Google we don’t NEED pagerank.

I’m guilty of worrying too much about work lately. And it’s beginning to affect my personal life. I had the strangest dream last night about my co-workers, and ended up envisioning one particular co-worker in his boxer briefs. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the co-worker I would have preferred to see in his skivvies, so I fear that I’m scarred for life.

Do you ever have odd dreams about the people you work with? This was the 2nd time in a week I’ve had co-workers invade my dreams, and it wasn’t pretty either time.

Did I tell you all about the hard drive I killed? It was the laptop I had for work, and it was almost 3 years old, but still worked great, despite me piling tons of crap on it daily. Oh sure, it was a little slower, and it took a while to boot up, but it kept chugging along like the little engine that could. Gosh, I sure loved that laptop.

It all ended one day when I went into the office, and my computer would no longer boot up. Luckily, I wasn’t working remotely that day, so I was able to walk over to our IT department and beg for help. Actually, it was more like a sprint, because I could NOT lose my hard drive. I had 3 years of pictures on it from my digital camera, as well as all sorts of work files that should have been stored on our share drive, but weren’t. It was a big lesson in backing files up for me, and thankfully, my favorite IT guy was able to save my rear. He busted his hump all day doing what he could to get my files and pictures, and he was able to recover a lot of it. Of course, he couldn’t recover it all….so boo hoo, and lesson learned.

Had I had more time to investigate a solution, I could have benefited from the technology of this hard drive data recovery company. They know exactly why I was so worried over losing 3 years of data, and they’ve come up with all sorts of tools to help recover those files. I even learned that if you hear clicking or sounds coming from your drive, you should STOP all recovery attempts, because it can cause more damage. My IT guy didn’t have access to technology like this, but my hard drive repair could have benefited from it! In addition, *I* could have benefited from the upfront, FLAT rate prices quoted. I lost a hard drive on a personal computer once, and I didn’t know how much it would cost until AFTER I handed over my PC. At that point, you’re at the mercy of the guy holding your computer & files hostage. It’s not a good position to negotiate from. If they don’t recover your data, you don’t pay!

If you don’t need their services yet, check out the data recovery resources blog anyway, because you’ll pick up helpful tips for the next time you’ve got a hard drive problem.

If you’ve attempted to purchase a paid link through the GeekySpeaky Links Directory this week, please be aware that our payment process seems to have gone kablooie. (Yes, that’s a highly technical term.) I’m looking into it (actually, I’m looking for someone with more knowledge of PHP Links than I) and it will hopefully be fixed soon.

In the meantime, should you wish to buy a permanent or featured link that doesn’t require a reciprocal, you can submit your link and then use the contact form to reach me for payment instructions.

I heard about some cool news out of California today. Barracuda Networks has signed a license agreement for OIN (Open Invention Network). The purpose of OIN is to protect open source software. The patents owned by OIN are available royalty free to any company that agrees not to assert their patents against the Linux System. If companies wish to use Linux to create their products, they are free to do so, whereas Microsoft might hunt you down and chase you

This is a huge boost for developers and software vendors, and will continue to drive innovation and discovery through the Linux community.

This may be old news by now, but I’ve seen it a few times and watch the whole thing every single time. It’s 1500 Filipino inmates doing a remake of the video for Thriller, by Michael Jackson. It’s so good, it’s scary. I guess having the guys practice this for weeks on end probably eliminated all of the free time they had to work on escape plans, eh?

I can see it now…some kind of off, off, OFF Broadway musical starring inmates. Coming soon to a federal prison near you!

A family member recently left her job to work with a new branch office of a firm she’s quite familiar with, as they are an industry leader in her career. It was a good chance for her to make a smart move, and for more money, but the new branch office is so new, they don’t even have a branch office yet. She’s working from home this week, and spending time assisting her new boss on finding a location, picking out office furniture, and taking care of all of the things needed to open up a new business.

One thing her new branch office doesn’t need to spend a lot of cash on is a traditional business phone and internet package. With the Packet8 Virtual Office, you get the same communication capabilities and added flexibility with great features designed specifically for the small business. One of the extras offered that I love is the ability to get an email alert each time you receive a voice mail. I work remotely a lot, and knowing I have a voicemail waiting would be so handy. How about the Follow Me, Find Me feature? You can program in up to 5 different numbers you can be reached at, instead of having your callers go straight to voicemail.

This business VoIP service is hardware free and self-installable, so it’s the perfect option for a small business who wants to look professional, but also wants to stay on budget.

I walked in a 3 day, 60 mile charity walk this weekend for breast cancer. This was my 2nd year participating. I decided to bring along my cell phone / PDA and my iPod with me this year, even though the event organizers prefer that you leave your electronics at home. The iPod was used at night to drown out the noisy campers who weren’t ready for bed at 9pm, and it worked like a charm. I didn’t hear a thing!

I used the text messaging function on my phone to keep in touch with friends and family during the walk. I sent frequent updates throughout the walk, letting them know where I was and how I was doing. Here’s a picture (a horrible one, I look completely zoned out) of me texting friends on day 3:

I’ve used a variety of different CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, from the very simple programs, like Act, to the very complicated…like PeopleSoft. CRM software is absolutely necessary to stay on top of the needs of your customers and improve the bottom line of your business. By allowing each person at your business who comes into contact with the customer to add to that customer profile in CRM software, you’re ensuring that the information you have is accurate, complete, and up to date. It eliminates the need for paper in some cases, and improves your ability to cross sell and upsell across departments.

The team behind AIMpromote, well, they’re a confident bunch. They’re confident that you’ll see their CRM software as a way to increase your sales, and they’re offering a free trial version so that you can see what it can do. The software has a significantly lower cost of implementation and total cost of ownership than the competition. You won’t need to hire consultants to integrate it with your existing web applications, or to install mods for you, because AIMpromote will do it free of charge. It’s got a fast learning curve, so you won’t need to put your salespeople through weeks of training to learn how to use the system.

Other AIMpromote features include:

• Return on Investment (ROI) reporting
• Lead Reselling
• Next-in-queue (Round-Robin) Lead Distribution
• User, Group, and Organization Specific Rights
• Dynamic Lead Forms

From big business to small start-ups, you can use this CRM software to manager your leads and increase your close rate. The trial is full featured, and good for 14 days.

Did you see The Office last week - the Launch Party episode? I cracked up when Dwight started arguing with the Dunder Mifflin computer, but the best bit was when Dwight insulted the computer with binary code. He sent an IM saying, “Why don’t you 0111111011011?” (It’s about 6:45 into this clip if you want to see it for yourself)

So what does 0111111011011 mean, anyway? Thanks to this binary decoder, I was able to find out that it means absolutely nothing. I’m feeling gypped, NBC!

To the writers for The Office, I say:

0101100101101111011101010010000001110011011101010110001101101011

What does it mean? You’ll have to decode it and find out.