The Empty Cabinets of my Mind

A New "Health Condition"--!?

One thing that keeps happening ever since I hired TypePad as the platform for my blogs, is that I start a blurb to put on here and it ends up on Triond or Helium instead.  That is OK, and this time it is on Associated Content:

Read About it Here

After a few weeks (months already?) TypePad is starting to feel, comfortable.  Not like an old shoe, but more like going barefoot on a warm summer day. 

I hope the survey company I "dissed" in the above article doesn't get too mad at me for being sworn to secrecy and then disclosing an isolated tidbit of information about one particular survey I took.  If it will make them feel better, I could pick on another company.  Yes, there is one that seems to assume that a gal my age should have a myriad of aches and pains and even a few serious and potentially life threatening ailments.   Mercifully, I don't, so when they find out I'm not on any prescription drugs and don't have any use for over-the-counter medications, they go for the jugular.   "Do you suffer from debilitating pain?"  That is what they demanded to know and what do you think they said when I answered no?  WE ARE SORRY! 

Well, I'm not sorry!  I thank my lucky stars that instead of being eligible to earn $6 for what could amount to 20 minutes of my time, I live pain free.  Please, folks, stay away from Neotame, etc., and EAT YOUR VEGGIES!

In case you missed the Neotame reference:

Say NO to Neotame

Functioning, but not yet perfect...

Considering how much SunRocket saved me on phone services before they went belly up, I really cannot complain about them or the new outfit that almost seamlessly took over that part of their customer bas that was willing to go along for the ride. 

Teleblend has treated me just fine, but although everything is working just great with the old SunRocket "Gizmo" I do start to wonder what would happen if that equipment eventually failed.  The good news is since I had two different SunRocket accounts, I have a backup gizmo.    On the other hand, I don't want to carry that thing around with me when traveling, so when we saw that MagicJack was no longer a little-known and somewhat confusing soft phone provider, but is now As-Seen-on-TV, I rushed to get one.

It worked like a charm the first time I plugged it in, even though the telephone we tested it on was a ratty old thing on its last legs.  The sound quality was phenomenal and no echo.  But the next phone we tested it on, a cheap but contemporary model, worked great on a short call, but after a little while the next call was cut short with an infuriatingly loud Rat-a-Tat-Tat sound combined with heinous crackling.   Bad phone.   To continue testing, I unplugged the nice Uniden phone from our SunRocket/Teleblend VOIP system and fed it to the Magic Jack.   It worked fine.

I did not want to have to keep plugging and unplugging from the SunRocket Gizmo, however, so I bought a snazzy new 2-line Uniden phone system (a 5.8 GHz TRU9466, the best one I could find that had all the features we wanted, including both speaker phone and headset jacks on both the handset and the base, a small footprint,  a bright  amber display, and   a fistful of other necessaries. 

We set it up and tested it with the Teleblend service first on line one.  Perfect.  We plugged the Magic Jack into the USB cable, and hooked the other end up to line two.  Both lines tested good at first, but after a while we noticed  that for some reason Magic Jack was intermittently crashing our network.  To isolate the problem, I removed MJ from the two-line phone and fed it to my old Uniden (a  2.4 GHz DTC-646) After fiddling around a bit, I did something that caused MJ to update itself, and ever since then we've had this echo.  I'll think about it for a few days and try some more tests before pestering MJ's technical support. 

To be continued...

Great Consumer Information

While doing some online research on a shady looking company that put an expensive ad in our local paper, I found some very interesting web sites that were so helpful they need to be shared:

http://www.infomercialscams.com

http://www.infomercialratings.com

http://www.ratethatcompany.com

Here is another one I've used much in the past:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/

Finally, when people send you those preposterous "news" stories that end up being false, here is where I check them out:

http://www.snopes.com/

Earn money back when buying on eBay

More on Magic Jack

As expected, when I upgraded a few components of my VOIP/softphone/whatever system, things did start to collide with Magic Jack or it with them.   Now it is more waiting while I  remember where I put that powered USB hub, because apparently I am going to need it.  Magic Jack is working but although the voice quality is stellar and no echo, there is a full 1 second delay in transmission.

More on this when I've had a chance to tinker with it...

Meanwhile, I've been checking out this program called Kickit which pays YOU a small percentage back on everything  you buy from eBay.  I joined for several reasons:

1)  I buy a lot of stuff on eBay and don't mind getting a commission back,

2) I put the cute ad banner up here just to test it late one night with the intention of taking it down the next morning (and reading up on the program a bit more before deciding whether or not to advertise it, but by that time I already had two people in my Kickit downline,

3) I've checked it out and it seems OK, and, last and probably least,

4) I love that color green and think the banner is tasteful and cute, so until I get off my duff and design a few more of my own colorful ads at least, it seems to brighten up my page. 

What do you think? 

 

Shop eBay - Earn Cash Back

PS:  A big thanks to the folks who signed up from the above link and I sure hope you save oodles of money using it.  They do take a while to pay, but it looks like a keeper.

Magic Jack: Is it Really Magic?

I want to tell everyone about this Magic Jack device I bought, but there is a bit more testing I want to do first--after my new phone system charges up for 20 hours....zzzzzz.

The basic gist of it though is the device, which is about the size of a small matchbox, and is as easy as pie and less fattening,  gives US (and Candian?) residents unlimited nationwide calling for less than $40 a YEAR and a whole lot more!

I've read some forum comments complaining that they don't think the directions that come with the device are good enough!  There aren't any!  All you do is:

1.  Plug the device into a free USB port on a computer running Windows XP and up,

2.  Plug any phone into the device using the standard phone cord that came with the phone.

3.  Follow a few incredibly simple onscreen instructions.

This only runs on computers with high speed broadband connections.  The device is available in PINK or standard color, needless to say I got pink!  So far it works better than great.

My suspicion is that most of the people who are saying they had trouble with this toy either have ancient computers or are trying to plug the device into hubs instead of directly into the USB port on the computer.  It is recommended not to use it with hubs that are not amplified.   Or they may be using really old computers that just cannot carry the load.

Others complained that this soft phone doesn't work when the computer is turned off.  Hello?  We are not paying $40 a month, here, this is a phone service with features and no-limit calling for less than 10 cents a day.   

I did try using it with a couple of ancient analog phones and it worked.  Actually the sound quality was amazing, but optimally, one would want to use it with a digital phone.   

What Are All These Things?

Freshly grated Pecorino is heavenly any way it is grated, but the snowy pile of delicious cheese is just that, Romano, processed with the Microplane Grater:

Below is the grater  itself:

I grate onto the plate, then scoop it up in a silicon spoon rest.* 

The flexible spoon rest allows me to scoop up the delicate strands of cheese without touching them, because as we know, no matter how well one washes one's hands, the quickest way to make cheese spoil is to handle it. 

Additionally, this versatile spoon rest works a bit like a funnel when pouring the cheese into a shaker jar, such as that pictured to the left.

*That will be the red gadget bought at DollarTree for the alluring price of, you guessed it, $1.

   Send Someone Flowers! 

A Free Utility for Checking Google or Alexa Page Rank

Not all pages have a rank assigned to them, but if you are curious, here is a free utility to help you check:

http://www.iwebtool.com/rank

A New Gadget for the Dishwasher

These work well for light weight containers as well as for glass:

http://www.gomestic.com/Homemaking/Keep-Glassware-From-Breaking-in-the-Dishwasher.78401

I love anything that makes housework easier!

Big Changes at InboxDollars

This is really good news for InboxDollars members, and if you are not a member, it is free to join and there is no time like now!

Read  It Here!

Just remember, please, these two programs are for US and Canadian members only.

My Camera Took a Picture of Itself!

Yes, it is a Canon PowerShot 500D.

By the way,  InboxDollars recently improved their pay!  No more waiting for referral credits.  Check it out!

If you are not a member, now is a great time to join (US and Canadian members only):