Belkin Pays for Perfect Consumer Ratings
“A Belkin representative has been caught offering money to anybody who posts a 100% positive review of certain Belkin products on Amazon.com and other e-retailers. The bozo even used his own name.”
Nice Critic
So there’s this new site where you can anonymously send “helpful” messages. It’s pretty funny. Has everything from office etiquette, to personal hygiene to sports etiquette. Some of them cracked me up. I bet you can totally match up each message to someone in your life 
Life gave me Lemons
Well, our friend Steve did. The Santa Ana winds knocked a bunch of lemons off his lemon tree, so he brought in bags and bags of them. Josh took a bag and I made lemonade. I also zested a few lemons and used it as air freshener in my car. Mmmm smells awesome in there!
Bleach + open wound = OW
You learn something new everyday. This was something I like to think I knew already, but learned first hand what it feels like today. In fact, I didn’t even know I had a cut on my thumb when I started cleaning. Josh says that makes me tougher… the not knowing I had a cut part.
Since the Santa Ana winds brought spring back to Los Angeles, I decided to catch up on some spring cleaning early. I’m seriously thinking of getting one of those crazy Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaners. Athough, I’m slightly uncomfortable with the idea of something wildly spraying chemicals around the shower and around my stuff in the shower that will ultimately be on my skin. I hate hate hate cleaning the shower. A glass enclosed shower is beautiful, but sometimes shower curtains just make things simpler.
Apple… waw waw waaaaaw…
I sold all of my Apple stock today. The last 50 shares. Poor Steve Jobs’ health doesn’t look good and he is what makes that company. Crazy, I had it for 8 years! Well not all 50 shares… I sold shares 3 or 4 times when it kept splitting and going up. I’m going to reinvest the money somewhere else, maybe in my rothIRA or 401K, afterall stocks are on sale right now! I’m just a bit concerned that it’s a quick an easily accessible amount of savings that I can count on whenever I need… investing it in retirement isn’t exactly easily accessible savings. Without any penalty at least.
Speaking of penalty… looking into refinancing my house this year before December 2009. Unfortunately it looks really difficult if you owe more than your house is worth at this point! Which is what… 95% of CA home owners?
Radiohead - House of Cards
I bought Radiohead’s album “In Rainbows” back in early 2008 and now I feel like I should have paid more for it. It’s worth more to me now. I listen to it quite a bit and it’s one of the few albums I can say I love every song on it.
2009 resolution
I will try to post something in here everyday (starting today) or at least 5x a week. I will also try to improve my skills (or lack of) in photography. I just bought a polarizing filter for my EOS50D which is a necessity if you live in sunny Southern California. I’ve been reading the Scott Kelby photography books Mom got me for Christmas too!
I still want to continue with 2008’s staying “green” resolution though. I find it’s become a way of life for me. I shiver when people use paper towels to dry their hands in their own homes. That’s what towels are for! I also cringe when I see someone ask for a bag when they are buying one very easy-to-carry item. Josh says I’m “smug” just like the South Park episode mocking San Francisco. But that’s fine with me. I’ll be “smug” and raise awareness about how easy it is to just say no… to plastic! I am perfectly capable of carrying this single bottle of shampoo to my car and then into my house without a plastic bag. I recycle every box a product comes in rather than tossing it into the trash. I tried biodegradable trash bags but they just tear way too quickly… Not sure if a durable biodegradable trash bag exists. On garbage day, my neighbor and I have recycle cans that are way more full than trash cans. That’s cool
Christmas!
Christmas was fun. I had friends over for dinner on the 21st and then on Christmas it was just me and Josh and then a web conference with the family in Buffalo
From Josh, I got an iPhone and a MacBook Pro!! Wow! The iPhone is very impressive. I had an iPod Touch, but the iPhone is that much better with constant internet access and an easy to use phone. Josh got an iPhone himself as well and loves it. We got the family plan to save some money. The new MacBook Pro has all the gestures for the touchpad which is really fun. It also has a much larger hard drive, so that’s very convenient.
Not sure if anyone has ever heard of or has the Flip Video Camcorder? It was one of the top selling items on Amazon the past few weeks. My friend at work has it and it looks really cool! It’s HD and stores up to 60 minutes of video. Built into the side is a USB port, so you can plug it directly into your computer. The software it uses is very easy to use as well. Here’s what it looks like:
