My stepsister is one who sends the pass around emails. She sent me the one about the Darwin Awards for 2008. These people did such stupid things that I won’t print it for fear of giving people stupid ideas. I now it’s supposed to be funny, but I found it sad. Most of the ‘award’ winners lost their life as a result of their mistakes. I found the stories more horrifying than funny. But, I guess I’m a bit of a prude.

I found this one to be profound -

 “Whatever you give a woman, she’s going to multiply. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart.

She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.”

So - if you give her crap, you will receive a bucket full of shit.

Have a great day – and watch what you give women today!

Carole

OK, this isn’t the first time I’m writing about this subject.

Guaranteed Income for them, means a messed up bank account for you.

What am I talking about?

All of these big ebook giveaways that are so popular now. They give you all of this awesome stuff for $1, or $4.95, or $7…And why are these guys giving away so much stuff? To hook you into the recurring monthly billing. That’s right - they all have a little sentence at the end that says you will receive their newest product for a discounted price per month. And they charge you the pittance so they get your credit card info.

But they pile on so much stuff, if you’re like me - you figure you’ll just cancel before you get billed. If you’re like me, you miss it every time.

The really sad thing is, there hasn’t been one that I’ve wanted to stay with.  Especially at $27, $29, $47 a month. Plus, it will take me months to read all the stuff they gave me in the first place.

And I’ll tell you what - when a couple thousand people forget to cancel in time - that’s a pretty good payday, don’t you think? They count on that.

And what about when you can’t cancel?

There is one program in particular that is stealing from people, and so far there’s been no way to stop him.

Nick Marks makes a compelling offer with his Rapid Business Growth Program. For $7.95, you get a DV that’s supposed to help you catapult your business. Yeah, right. And of course, you are subscribed to receive a monthly package – and they have your credit card number. They don’t use paypal –and you’ll discover why in just a minute.

Of course, I forgot to cancel until I received an email billing notice. I immediately sent an email to the address listed since there was no cancel link in the email, and no way to cancel at the site.

The email bounced.

I called the phone number listed on my bank statement. It went to India. I explained that I wanted to cancel the service. At this point I was even willing to pay the monthly fee since it was my fault that I missed the cancel date. (except that there was no way to cancel.) Oh yes, it is cancelled right now. We will send a confirmation.

Never got it.

Sure enough, April bank statement comes, and they’ve charged me again. I’m back on the phone to India. Now I want this cancelled NOW, and all of the money refunded. “Oh yes, yes, yes.” We’ll send you a confirmation. Right. I never got the confirmation.

I go to the website and look in vain for a way to cancel online. I can change my account info – so I go and dummy the security code.

The next thing I get is an email saying that my billing didn’t go through and if I wanted to continue I have to go re-enter new billing info. WHAT??? I sent an email to Mr. Nick Marks again. It didn’t bounce, but no reply of course.

No billing in May. I figure I’ve at least stopped the bleeding and the money is an expensive lesson.

I am now leery of buying from anyone who doesn’t use paypal. Paypal would never let this happen, and he’d be out of business.

I rarely sign up for anything that has a recurring monthly billing attached – and only from people I know are reputable.

But it isn’t over yet –

I open my July bank statement, and there’s this charge from a company called EZ INC. And there’s another charge from them for $1.44 – International Service Fee. I call the number on the statement… sure enough – It’s Nick Marks! Or should I say, his call center in India. When I told them why I was calling, they hung up on me.

So, he’s moved his operation oversees.

You see, they count on the fact that most people don’t read their bank statements.

I finally called my bank. They will file an investigation – but the only way to stop him is to cancel my card. It takes 7-10 business days to get a new card. I live on that card. A lot of automatic payments are tied to that card. I sure need it today, so I hold off on that. I won’t get home from work until 10 tonight, and I have to be back in the morning. I don’t have time to deal with this right now.

I called India and talked to Tom. OK, I yelled at Tom. Oh yes, it is cancelled right now. But I want a refund. The account is cancelled. No, I’m serious, I want a refund. I want to talk to Nick Marks.

Oh, we don’t have access to Nick Marks. How convenient. He’s Slime! Yes, with a capital S.

I figure that he must have gone into the old records and retrieved the correct security code. He seems to be untouchable.

I explained that my bank is doing an investigation and what they are doing is illegal. Yes ma’m, whatever you want to do. I have put in a request for a refund. You’ll get a confirmation… yeah right.

I’m pretty much fed up with all Internet Marketers, but this guy will really bring down the house of cards.

And the next time I get an email saying, “My good friend Nick Marks” It’s an automatic unsubscribe. You should choose your friends more wisely. He’s gonna bring you all down.

Don’t mess with Mother!

OK, I’ve been missing in action here for a few days – buried in life responsibilities. Actually, job responsibilities.

If you think I never get overloaded and overwhelmed, you’re wrong.

At work we have one of our biggest promotions of the year – the suit sale. It goes on for a few weeks, but if you don’t get in within the first week, all the best sizes are gone. So the first few days are pretty chaotic.

So when I get home, I don’t have much energy for shopping, cooking, walking the dog, and forget the beach right now!

And I have a business to run. I have my biggest project, which is fixing the category listings and some other design problems here.

But then, I had a couple of new students sign up for Whole Life Overhaul, which really needs an overhaul itself. So I’ve bought the software, actually paid to have it installed for me, and started working on that…

But then, I have an opportunity to rub elbows with some very influential ladies next week. That means I’ve got to get new business cards, pronto. So I started working on the design, but you know me and technology. Nothing works the way I think it should.

And, if I go to this event and pass out cool new business cards, then this site needs to be up to par. Full circle, ey?

But I don’t want to forget about you either!

Last night I was heading home. I knew there wasn’t much in the house since I haven’t had time to do any shopping, so I was flipping the fast food choices over in my head. Nothing sounded very appealing. But, I was not going to shop, and then cook. Not today. Then I remembered, I had tuna, lettuce and cantaloupe. Problem solved. Tuna salad with cheese and lettuce, and cantaloupe. It was perfect.

I was also thinking about what to make over the next few days since it’s supposed to be really hot!

Well, there’s one thing that’s really abundant right now that will add great flavors to almost anything you put out – Tomatoes! So I’m going to make it a point to get to the farmstand today. I’ll post some tomato recipes for you in just a little while. But they taste so good, you really don’t have to do more than just clean ‘em, slice ‘em and put ‘em out!

And while you’re running your shopping errands, don’t forget to include the farmstand, or farmers markets. The food is grown locally, usually without all the unsavory chemical cocktails you get with your grocery store varieties, and you support your local economy. Oh, and they taste waaaaay better!

OK, I’ve got a lot to get done today. See you later…

Carole

Personally, when I do remodel this house, energy conservation is top on the list. Energy efficient windows, a whole house fan, solar panels and such are all on the list.

It’s become apparent to me that each one of us has to do whatever we can to become as self sufficient as possible - whether it be energy conservation, or taking care of our health, or growing our own vegetables, or supporting local farmers, or creating our own income.

I was directed to a recent Al Gore speech that gave me hope that we may be able to overcome some of the tremendous challenges that now face us.

If I messed up and the video doesn’t work - you can view it here >>>

Do you think it can be done?

Hey, I’m not all that convinced about global warming, but I do think something can be done to make us more self sufficient and not relying on terrorist countries to supply our huge energy appetite.

I never thought about the fact that it could create jobs. After all, telecom gave us the incredibly prosperous times we had in the 90s. That’s the most positive thing I’ve heard in a very long time. This should be fast tracked, don’t you think?

Al Gore has come a long way - don’t you think? Passion goes a long way.

Anyway - signing off for today…

Carole

P.S.  

Oh my goodness, so many things have brought tears to my eyes this morning.

The day started with a beautiful card from my daughter.  Tear jerker #1.

Then she gave me the Styx CD that I wanted because it had the song “Show Me The Way” which is very moving too. Tear jerker #2.

Then there was the song “Come Sail Away”. Another moving song.

Then someone sent me this quote –

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. 
It’s the life in your years.” Abraham Lincoln

My sister brought me a lemon meringue pie – yummy stuff!

My day didn’t go quite as planned. The weather was a little too cool for swimming, and the association made a stupid decision that has ruined the shoreline. It’s resulted in tons of dead fish, and you can’t even begin to fathom the amount of duck poop. I just want to cry. You’re OK if you get out on a boat or a long enough pier, but the shoreline is totally unfit. I won’t even let my dog on it.

You know the saying, “Careful what you wish for”? Remember I said I wanted to build my muscles back up? Burying dead fish everyday is one way to do it. Not quite what I had in mind.

I did get my pizza though!

All in all it was a good Birthday. Even with all the getting old jokes

We’re off to watch a movie.

Talk to you tomorrow!

‘Mother’