Life In Philly?

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=129558301&blogID=209127322&MyToken=c2f10e8b-f0d2-410e-9e5d-3d887eda4a20

Here is an interesting story from a woman who lives in Philly. She operates a daycare school and was telling a story about what happened to her last week. She saw a bunch of kids beating up on one kid and she got out of her van to help.

Long Time, no post

I see I haven't posted an entry since the beginning of the month and now its almost the 20th - just a few days before Christmas. There have been lots of things that I have been meaning to post here but I haven't got around to it.

I was at the Shoprite the other day and had to stick around for a few hours so I did some bagging for Renee! I was just so antsy that I couldn't stay still so I bagged. The customers got a hoot from that and it was strange because one customer recognized me from working there before. I couldn't believe it because its been a while since I was on the register but she did remember me.

I was also going to post about Mike. Mike worked at the Shoprite organizing the carts and putting the groceries in the customers cars. I was gong to the store early one Sunday morning and I heard someone calling my name and it was him. He was jogging up (or is it down) Cheltenham Ave. He told me that he didn't work at Shoprite anymore. OK so I'm at the Shoprite last Saturday and who do I see working there - Mike! So there goes that post.

Another Shoprite-esq thing is that everyone is always telling me about the people that used to work there but still come to the store and we always miss each other. I'm talking about Brenda and Elijah and Felicia and the others. I also miss April and Lashawna and probably won't see them unless I go to the Shoprite where they are working at now.

And I have to make a mental note to myself to stop going in the breakroom! I was at the Shoprite last Saturday, saw Teresa who was on her way home, went into the breakroom with her and guess who I (literally) run into? Tim the manager! So note to myself: Stop going into the breakroom!

Making Money On The Internet - Adsense

There are many (legitmate) ways that people are making money on the Internet. One way is with Adsense. Adsense is a part of Google (the search engine place) and what it is is that you put their advertising on your webpage or your blog. These ads can be text ads that look like the ads in your local newspaper, image ads that look like the banner ads you see on line, a list of related links to advertisers and even video ads. There is also an option where you can refer your website visitors to Google's Adsense site and products. How does this make you money? Well when someone clicks on the ads that appear on your site you get money. Now I know you're asking how much and the answer is that it will depend.

Let's say for example you put up a website about your favorite computer game and you sign up for Adsense (its free to sign up). You will get a code to cut and paste onto your website and then the tracking will begin! The ads that appear on your website (or blog) relate to what your website is talking about. For instance in the example I mentioned about the computer game website, ads will appear that relate to computer games. Everytime a visitor to your website clicks on one of the ads you get paid!

Now comes the "bad" news. You might think that you could get a lot of money if you just click on the ads yourself but what happens is that Adsense will ban you so then you won't get anything! How do they know its you thats clicking on the ads and not somebody else? Well its complicated but believe me I have been to their message forum and a LOT of people have been banned!

Now to the "good" news part which is the part about how you get paid. As I said how much you get paid will depend on a lot of things. Basically speaking the ads have a $ rate and you get paid a percentage relating to how many times the ad is clicked on. When you sign up and register for Adsense you will get a link to a page where you can check out how much money you have received so far. Once your amount reaches $100 you will get either a check sent to you or the money can be transferred to your bank account.

Now there are people who say they make as much as $1500 a month and there are some people who have had the ads on their website for a year and haven't reached the $100! You can go to the adsense message forum to find out more about this program but more importantly you'll be able to see posts from others that have Adsense on their webpages.

https://www.google.com/adsense/

Practice Turkey?

Now bear in mind that this isn't my turkey. It's a picture I got off the Internet but it does look a lot like the one that I have.

I never really cooked a turkey before because my mother used to throw us out the kitchen when she was cooking.

So this Thanksgiving I decided to make a "practice" turkey. Simply put this means that I want to cook the turkey and see how it turns out before I "unleash" my cooking on another human being.

I have been given a lot of different advice(s) on how to cook the turkey. One woman told me that she soaks hers in water and kosher salt for 3 days before she prepares to cook her turkey.

So with my limited knowledge I can say that one of the best (and smartest) things that I did was to buy the turkey well before Thanksgiving Day where it sat in the freezer until Sunday and then put in the refridgerator to thaw. It's now the day before Thanksgiving and the turkey has been rinsed and cleaned and soaking in salt water. Took me a while to figure out what to do with the giblets but I'm going to put that in the stuffing.

On an encouraging note its nice to know that there are other people like me that haven't made a turkey before. I was watching the news and they were interviewing people who were doing their last minute Thanksgiving shopping today and they had one guy that wanted to know if he could defrost a 20 pound turkey by tommorrow morning?

Guess Who This Is?

I'm always talking about my cat and here she is! She very rarely comes into the room where the computer is but this particular evening she came upstairs. I think she wants me to let her go outside (I don't think so) but she kind of looks like she's saying "Are you there?".

I took her picture with one of those small key-chain digital cameras that cost $10. I had to take her picture in a hurry though because who knows when I will ever get the chance to catch her at a good moment!

Shoprite Is Gonna Be Mad At Me But........

You know how Larry (Boo-bear) is always telling me to go to Pathmark or Acme to shop? Well I actually had to do that recently. It's a long story but to make it brief it was just convenient at the time. I really don't think that Shoprite has anything to worry about. I may be prejudiced but I think the Shoprite is better. The Acme that I was at surely was bigger and they have a much more varied selection but what I did notice was that there were a couple of areas that didn't have any products or anything in the display cases at all. It was like they had more room than product.

So much to the dismay of Boo-bear...ooooops....I mean Mr. Larry - Shoprite is still my store.

Yahoo Messenger is really something...

I answer one of the older email messege from my brothers inviting me to chat with him on Yahoo Messenger. Its been a while since I used this program so I decided to "fire it up" just to see if its still working and to see if I can stll use it.

Well I decided to try one of the more "safer" chat rooms - Philadelphia. Well there are about 27 people in this chatroom and so far 90% of the message chats have got something to do with sex. Mostly its along the lines of "check out my website" with a blue link provided. There are a couple of "invites" for a private chat too. So far I haven't gone to a private chat because I have done it before and its just really a waste of time - at least for me. It was kind of fun at the beginning but once you start doing it you'll start to get a whole lot of emails and a whole lot of instant messages sent to you inviting you to chat over and over again and some of these people are quite insistent!

I have had a few interesting chats with people on just general things but it just seems that for the most part the chats aren't really like this.

There's Another Trojan Out There!

This one is called Puper (yeah I know its a funny name but a lot of them are!). I got a notification about it on my email.

You can find out more about this trojan by going to:

http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_133666.htm

Although the risk assessment is rated as low a trojan is still a trojan. I don't remember clicking on anything new - only websites that I'm familiar with - but hey I can't remember every exact link I clicked on. Fortunately my computer isn't infected but those that make these trojans are getting craftier and craftier every day!

Did You Hear About Rite Aid?

I was surprised about it when I heard it on the news! I found out that they are talking about the stores in NJ only - not the ones in PA. There is a lawsuit against Rite Aid because they sold baby formula that had expired. Over-the-counter medications and other baby foods were also being sold that had expired. The reason why this caught my ear is because there is a Rite Aid near me that I shop at (and no I haven't bought any baby formula there or anywhere yet) and because I used to work overnights at ShopRite alongside the people that stocked and restocked the shelves. I hope this doesn't give them a bad "rep" because I know how hard they work. Rite Aid says that they are going to "re-train" their staff - another not too good sign.

They are also being accused of fraud pricing tactics such as charging a higher price than what the shelf price of the product was. Again Rite Aid said that they were going to "re-train" their staff. You can read the full story by going to:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4284468.html

A Screenshot of My Desktop

My brother always keeps asking me about a screenshot of my desktop. Well here it is. It is a program called Expresso which is a calendar-like program. As you can see there is a big calendar where I can put notes and reminders. At the top right is a mini calendar and on the left is a "sticky" note. I can program in events and reminders and alarms to notify me of the upcoming things that I have to remember. (I forget a lot!). I have had this program for a long time (it has floppy disks for installation) and have had the occasional "bug" problem with it. The company that made it (Berkeley) isn't even around anymore.

If PECO Is Your Utility Company......

They included an insert with this month's bill announcing that they will be upgrading their billing system. The upgrade is supposed to take effect either this month or in November.

Questions?/Comments?/Concerns?
PECO's email address is EnergyHome@exeloncorp.com

or you can write to them at:

Energy@Home,
Marketing Dept.,
11th Fl
2301 Market Street,
Phila., PA 19103

Vitamins?

Not as young as I used to be (even though some people call me young) and I realize that I have to be more healthy! That's why I bought these. Why are vitamins soooooooooooo expensive? These cost around $6. Anyways I get curious attention when I buy salt pork and lard because I use it in my cooking and some people have even told me that they were surprised that Shoprite even sold lard!

Maybe next time I'll take a picture of the lard and post it here. Yeah I know there's Crisco and even more healthier cooking oils out there but lard is what I know........................................

MySpace.com

I'm quite blown away by this website! I joined it not too long ago but there's still so much about it that I want to know more about. I checked out a few of the people from Philly who also belong to myspace.com and there are a LOT of them! So if you belong to myspace.com - let me know.

Basically it just seems like a great big networking site but since I keep hearing about it and I now find out that there are millions of members I decided to check it out. So far I found out that one of the DJ's from WHAT has a myspace page and he has since become a "friend" and he has been added to my space. I now find out that Snoop Dog has a myspace page too but I want to be sure that it's really him before I dare to email him and ask him if I can be added as his "friend". I wonder if he oversees the page himself or if he has someone that does it for him?

So What Is The Best Radio Station To Listen To In Philadelphia?

With the recent change in format for WJJZ there is no jazz station to listen to. WJJZ's format has gone from "Smooth Jazz" to a "Rhythmic Adult Contemporary" format - which sounds like a format that is already on many of the radio stations in the area. So now a substitute is being looked for. A station that plays the same or something similar to the "smooth jazz" sound is being sought. Not just by me but by other people in the Philadelphia area as well. I'm not talking about "party" music like "Power99" but just nice sounding music that can be played in the background while one is working. I'm talking about something that isn't too distracting that it would take away from what you're doing - just some nice sounding music in the background.

I listen to WHAT but the shows are so interesting and thought provoking that I get distracted from what I'm doing - so I listen to them when I'm doing something else like cleaning or cooking. My mother was a very big fan of WWDB but that station is no longer around - or rather I should say that that talk format is no longer around. WDAS (in my humble opinion) plays the best mix of music and I say that because I like the "old school" R&B music (which just a "tad" of the newer music thrown in). I have a very special place in my heart for WNAP's "Gospel Highway 11" because I used to work there. And I should listen more to WHYY's public station only because of their topics. I'm also sampling WRTI which is supposed to be (I think) Temple University's station but that is only because I have seen on discussion boards that it has a format similar to "smooth jazz". I have never been much of a sports nut so I don't listen to any of the sports stations. But I know that people have different tastes as far as what they like to listen to. There is even supposed to be a station that plays "big band" music but that's not my taste.

So what is the best station to listen to in Philly? And why?

Guess Who is My "Friend"?

It's Mr. Mid-day from WHAT 1340 AM!

He has a myspace.com page just like I do. You can visit him by clicking:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=52456908

I was quite surprised at how good looking he is and he used to be a professional model!

I have called up his radio show from time to time when something has piqued my interest.

Cool! My Own Bulletin Board!

Just like the guy I talked about a few posts back, I decided to start my own little bulletin board. You can buy blocks and advertise on my bulletin board. There is a minimum of purchasing 10 x 10 blocks because as you can see from the first advertiser, the smaller the blocks you purchase the harder it will be to see the ad. You will get a link to your webpage or email address.

To find out more just go to my Bulletin Board page at:

http://sister2brother.bravehost.com/b-board.htm

Rest In Peace WJJZ!

Alas and alak one of my favorite radio stations has bit the dust. Actually its not the radio station that bit the dust - its the format.

This station used to play "Smooth Jazz". It was great for background music while I was at the computer working. Then one day I go to turn it on and I hear something that sounds like disco music!

So of course I thought I had the wrong station but I checked on the Internet and found out that the station had changed its format!

I haven't found a comparable substitute yet and I have also found out that a lot of other people in Philly and the surrounding areas haven't found one either.

How Are People Making Money on the Internet?

My brother and I are both computer nuts so I was surprised when he was surprised about the ways that I told him people are making money on the Internet. For instance there is a guy who is a college student who wanted to make some money for his college expenses. He came up with the idea of selling adspace on his webpage. He calls it the "Million Dollar Homepage".

http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

He also keeps a blog of his progress

http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/blog.php

I got an email from Marsha!

Yippeeeee! Now I have to work on Thomasina. I think she's trying to give me the slip. Everytime I send her an email it always comes back "not deliverable".

My Radio Station?

I remember telling Marsha how I had had a radio station at one time on Live365.com

For real! I uploaded my favorite music and even added my voice and used myself as an announcer. It only cost me about $50 every 6 months so that was something like $10 a month. Well they have changed their pricing and I'm still deciding whether or not I want to still have it.

In the meantime I found this option on Yahoo that lets a person "design" their own radio station. Here is the link to my radio station that I designed:

http://launch.yahoo.com/launchcast/station.asp?u=223535520

It's mostly old-school rhythm and blues like Al Green, the Isley Brothers and some older stuff from artists like Etta James. I think there's some Prince in there too.

If you click on the link then you can hear "my" radio station.

Guestbook Added!

I have now added a Guestbook to my blog and I will also soon add it to my webpage. You'll be able to sign it but the message has to first be moderated by me.