Hey EC, read my lips: "No 15% ads"!!

Calling all of ya'll who are dropping by via Entrecard... did you read and understand the latest announcement? I read it, but to tell you the truth I didn't "get" it until I saw something about it on Jackie's blog recently.

The announcement went something like this: effective 28th September 2009, 15% of EC's entire ad network inventory will be set aside for sponsors.

Translation: Come Monday, 15% of my site's page loads will show a paid ad on the EC widget, and not a legit/regular ad by fellow EC bloggers ... ads that I have no control over ...

• they say they will "screen all sponsor ads to ensure that they meet our guidelines. All sponsor ads WILL be family oriented, and will not promote nudity, violence or anything illegal." Hey remember when everyone who agreed to run paid ads had that gross "yellow teeth" ad on their widget? It made EC dropping a horrible chore. Seriously, those teeth were g.r.o.s.s!!
  
• they also say there is a feature coming soon that would enable users to disable/reject ads "that conflict with your blog" ... riiiiiiight, how to go about proving that any ad would conflict with a mixed-bag blog like this one? How about if they conflict with the blogGER, with his/her opinions and beliefs?? I have a feeling many if not all of my rejections will get overturned... or they'll add a limit to the number of ads you can reject in a month... or something....

so you know what? I'm done.

After over a year with EC, it's finally time to part ways for reals.

The widget will be removed once the current ads in my queue run their course.
(should bring me to Sunday, if my math is right)

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

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Emmys Schemmys!

Back when I was a teenager, I did watch the Grammys for a year or three... but in general I really couldn't be bothered with all those award shows, acceptance speeches, etc etc. This year is no different: even knowing that Dr Horrible was being honored even if it's not technically a tv show (it was, after all, a 3-part web series) didn't move me to watch the Emmys tonight. I knew Neil Patrick Harris was hosting, but I've not gone out of my way to be a fan, tho I did enjoy his horribility in said web series.

... and I'm glad that when NPH's evil alter ego hijacked the Emmys live feed, folks were smart enough to make it available online so that people like me could enjoy it without having had to sit through all those acceptance speeches, etc.

So in case you missed it, here's Dr Horrible's hijacking of this year's Emmys:



And in case you have been residing under a really large and heavy rock, here's where you can get acquaint yourself with the horrible goodness that is Dr Horrible.

Have a great start to the week, y'all!

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Raaaaaaarrrrrrmadhan is ovarrrrrrrrr!

Ahoy there, me mateys!

t' computer be now up and runnin'! Arrrrrrr! ... and just in time for International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

... although for me, it's TYPE like a pirate day, LoL!



... shiver me timbers, ain't me keyboard a wee bit overkill compared t' this Pirate version above?

(and why do I read this in me head with an Irish-like accent?)

Have a good weekend, everybody!

And for those celebratin' it, happy Aidil Fitri!
(& please don't overeat!!)

Cheers,
*lynne*

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Goodwill Treasure?!

A Miami hotel recently donated a whole bunch of stuff to the South Florida Goodwill: furniture, mirrors, lamps, paintings, etc. One of the items included a 2 ½ ton life-size bronze statue of a ballerina. Turns out it's one of only 10 made decades ago, each fetching half a million dollars way back then.
Rather than attempt to sell/auction it off,
Goodwill informed the donor and returned the statue. (full story here)

We're going to be hitting Goodwill this weekend: somehow I don't think the 12-year old mattress and box spring set, the ancient rowing machine, or the tv entertainment center we're planning to donate will fare the same, LoL!

... and yes, we survived the move... internet service just got reconnected... a gazillion boxes still to unpack... but we are now residents of Springfield, Illinois!

More later.

Ciao!

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it's Kit Kat time, again!

Hey, remember back in late June I said that the naranek household was moving? So THAT time, we were moving about 2 blocks West from where we'd lived for almost 3 years in Chicago.

Now, we're moving about 3.5 HOURS ...
... SOUTH ...

Springfield, here we come!

... and it should be home for many years to come.

We move this weekend.




Hopefully U-Haul has a van we can hire at such short notice.

[... in case you were wondering, we knew the move was pending, but the actual green light and be-in-Springfield-by-this-date was sprung on us this morning... so we've got this Labor Day weekend to pack & move ... F. U. N. !! ... thankfully we managed to find us a place to move TO .. it's not on Evergreen Terrace tho, d'oh!!]

so once again, Life after Work will be taking a break for about a week or so.

See y'all on the other side!

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BEWARE! CAPS EMAILS MIGHT GET YOU FIRED!

HOW IRRITATING IS IT WHEN YOU RECEIVE EMAILS WRITTEN ALL IN CAPS? OR WORSE, CAPS AND BOLDED, AND/OR COLORED BRIGHT RED?

How about if you were to receive such emails from a person at work, the contents of such emails being very stern and detailed instructions on how to properly fill up certain forms?

Would you consider such emails "confrontational"?
Would you fire someone for such emails?

Vicki Walker was.
For causing "disharmony in the workplace"!

(You can read more about it here and here)

Ms Walker had been working for New Zealand's ProCare Health for two years - whether or not the "confrontational emails" were also produced throughout the two years, or if they were a recent development, the articles do not say. All we know is that Ms Walker was sacked without warning in December 2007.

She sued.
She won.

I guess that's fair -- the articles do not mention any attempts to advise Ms Walker on toning down language, or pointing out that CAPS = SHOUTING, so if she was fired because of emails she "didn't know" were offensive, it certainly would be wrongful termination. ... although... puh-leeeze... in this day and age, how can one plead ignorance of general email etiquette??

... and then you have this Employment Relations Authority spokesperson who states "ProCare did not have a style or etiquette guide for employees using email, so it was not clear what was regarded as unacceptable communication," further enabling the "ignorance" stand.

Yeah, I can just see it: another framed A4 paper hung next to the company's core values, vision, mission, quality statement, and all that jazz... and that would be after months of drafting the damn thing, unless, of course, consultants were called in to do it, for a "reasonable" fee, since they are experts and all.

Ouch my eyes hurt from all that eye-rolling!

Anyone else have some 2-cents/sen/centimes to share?

NOTE: fired fortune cookie image obtained from here.

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