A Day Late

I was watching the news a week or so ago and they featured a web site called “freeipods.com.” The idea behind the site is you signup and pick an iPod you’d like to receive. They offer all colors of the mini-iPod in addition to the 20GB model. To receive your free iPod you have to participate in one of their sponsored “offers.” The offers vary from joining BMG or Columbia House, applying for a credit card, subscribing to a newspaper, etc. In addition to completing an offer you have to refer 5 people who also complete an offer. Once you and your five referrals complete an offer, you request your free iPod.

Sounds like your basic pyramid scheme, huh? Well…probably because it is. None the less, the news featured a couple teenagers who successfully completed everything and received a free iPod. It all sounded a little too good to be true, so I did a little google searching and discovered similar reports from CNN and Wired magazine. I also found a few weblogs with positive information about it. I didn’t find anything negative so I decided to signup and see how it goes.

The offer I chose was the free blockbuster online 2 week membership. You have to remain a member during the two week trial after that you can cancel. When you signup for the blockbuster offer you must enter a credit card number. If you neglect to cancel after the free two weeks you get charged $17.95/month for your membership. That’s the kicker on most if not all the “free” offers. You HAVE to remember to cancel or you’re going to get charged. It’s also good to read the fine print. One of the free offers was for a free 1 month membership (I forget what for). However, in the fine print it indicates you must submit your desire to cancel 2 weeks before the free trial runs out, otherwise you’ll get charged for the next month. The blockbuster online seemed like the easiest, most trustworthy so that’s what I signed up for. I loved the two week trial membership. I received 3 free DVD’s in the mail and also two free in store rental coupons. Not bad for not paying anything. Also, I should note that the offers aren’t always available. For example after I signed up a few friends tried to get the blockbuster offer but it was unavailable. I suspect the site limits how many people participate in each offer. I checked today and the blockbuster offer is available again, so it looks like they upped their limit.

That’s been my experience thus far. The offers are pretty easy to complete but the hard part is finding 5 people to refer. You’d think it wouldn’t be that tough, but it is. Anyway, if anyone who reads this is still interested. Here’s my referral link, feel free to click on it and signup: http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=12078946.

For some good reading, check out the list of “Top 100 Speeches” on americanrhetoric.com. Wish I had more time to comment on it.

Thanks to Dan for pointing out the link.

Yesterday I received a letter/application from a financial institution I have a credit card with, announcing I had been preapproved for an instant $5,000 loan. All I had to do was fill out the form OR I could call the toll free number and have the check within a day or two. Best of all, no payments till 2005 (check me if I’m wrong here, but 2005 is not much more than a month away, right?). All this for the low rate of 19.99%.

This isn’t something new. I probably receive one of these a week. But yesterday I couldn’t help but think, “how dumb are people?” I’m sure more than a few people respond to these enticing quick and easy finance offers but if you think about it they’re not enticing AT ALL! At least the one I received yesterday wasn’t. They were trying to sell this loan with two different themes (spin?). First, it’s quick and easy. Well…let’s see, I have a credit card from you guys…wouldn’t it be quicker to just go out and charge everything I needed? I wouldn’t, but that seems like a “quicker” solution to me. Second, they were trying to push the idea that the money could be used for much needed home improvements, unanticipated expenses, etc. Ok…once again, I have a credit card from you guys. Why couldn’t I just charge everything? Considering my credit card interest rate is 7.9%, this offer of $5000 at 19.99% interest is just not sounding that appealing to me. Honestly, I don’t know why people fall for these things.

The other day at work I was flipping through a copy of the latest MX Developers Journal. I started reading an article from the Chief Editor, Charles Brown entitled “Where Are We Going?” The first sentence reads: “As a Web developer, trainer, and conference speaker, the question I am asked most frequently is, “Where is this industry going?” My answer is one simple word: Flash!!!” If that is true, someone please kill me now!

The longer I work with web related technologies the more impressed I am with sites that deliver content and functionality in a clean and simple form. I realize that’s possible with flash but its much more cumbersome than using html and css. I suppose there are plenty of people who would argue otherwise, feel free. As someone who has worked with flash and html quite a bit, I’ll choose html any day.

Yes, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted an entry. If anyone is still reading…well, thanks. It’s not that I’ve been busy just been a little lazy when it comes to working on the web site. I figure 40+ hours/week working on a computer is plenty so I’ve been trying to spend a minimum of time on the computer when I’m at home.

Not much has changed in the last few months. At the first of October, Nate and I spent a weekend painting the kitchen. I’m quite pleased with the results. I took some before and after pictures. I’m not sure why but the pictures look different on my windows laptop when compared with my mac. For some reason the color of the paint looks very green on my windows machine. It’s actually an olive color. And before anyone comments on it, yes I’m aware the large empty wall could use some decoration. I’m working on it.

On a related note, the weather was so nice last Saturday that I decided to try and waterproof the deck in the backyard. Unfortunately the weather turned cold before it could dry. Here we are three days later and it still isn’t dry. The wood looks really patchy and uneven so it’s something I’ll have to redo come spring time. We had a large rainstorm this morning and fortunately the wood soaked up enough of the stuff to repel the water quite well.