Mariannes Motifs

Are you a Techie? Check out my Newest Site - Beyond Messaging

I have been blogging here since 1996, but I always avoided blogging about technical subjects.  I felt that my technical expertise (I am an email administrator and collaborative computing specialist) was the property of my employer and since I didn't want to mention them in my personal blog it was best to just avoid the entire subject.

Since I am one of the many people they laid off in the past year (including people with 25 years and plus experience) I no longer have an employer to worry about.  Therefore I started a blog called Beyond Messaging.  In actuality I started the blog to help my jobsearch.  I have my resume (Domino and Exchange Administrator) posted, and have written some great posts about cloud computing, email, system administration tools, mobile devices for enterprise, as well as new features in Exchange 2011 and Lotus Notes/Domino 8.5.

So if you are interested in email architecture and collaborative computing give Beyond Messaging a look.

Career Network Scam

I got a suspicious call this morning from 202-591-2220.  It was a robocall saying it was from Career Network to verify employment information for "a job I applied for online."  Then they had me hold for a few minutes which annoyed me, but I stuck with it in case it was legit.  I was already feeling that scammy feeling I get when my danger radar goes off.

When a woman finally came on the line she asked me for my phone number.  I said, actually I would like to know from you what job this is in regards to.  She couldn't answer and said she needed my phone number to look me up in their system.  SCAM ALERT bells went off at this point.  I mean, they called me, they obviously  already have my phone number.  Why would they need me to give it to them.   I told her I don't give out my personal information to random people who call me.  She said, well, we will put you down as not interested in the job.  I thought you didn't know what job?  I said this sounds like a big scam to me I am going to hang up now.

Then I googled Career Network Scam and found a bunch of ripoff reports.  Apparently this company calls people who have resumes posted online and then weasels their personal information out of them.  Then they call and harass the job seeker trying to get them to sign up for further education and sketchy deals like that.

Great.   Glad my radar is working.

By the way... really classy.  Way to take advantage of job seekers during the period of highest unemployment since the Great Depression.  Nice.

Musing About Clout

Seth Godin has an interesting post on his blog today entitled "Clout."  He discusses the idea that somewhere out there are statistics on your followers, readers, friends and contacts, and in general those could in some way calculate your web clout.  Then by knowing who of your readers/followers/subscribers/friends has the most clout you could write content that would speak to them.

This idea is a little bit disturbing to me in a world where rich people and actors achieve celebrity simply by virtue of...  well sometimes I don't know what they are famous for.  Ashton Kucher, any "star" of The Hills, John and Kate Plus 8, the Octomom....  these folks have people hanging on their every word.  They have tons of web clout as defined by Godin.  Yes, scary.

The web does not have any filter for quality.  Like our society, it is a mish mash melting pot and sometimes sinks to the lowest common denominator.  (A polar bear pooing in the water is one of today's viral videos for example.) 

Well to me some of the "cloutyest" people on the net are just polar bears pooing in the water.  Yes, I said it.

It's Boston Market Time

As I mentioned in previous post this weekend (tonight is the last night) Boston Market has a 50$ off coupon on  their family meals.

I am currently doing a BzzAgent campaign for them, by the way.  I was really happy that one of the things they sent in the package was a catering menu, because I just used to to make a list for hubster of what he will get when he goes to pick up the meal.

My plan is this - I am going to get the meal for 6 with the 6 large sides and Turkey.  Then I am going to add on another entree of meatloaf.  So this will be dinner for the 4 of us for 2 days.   Turkey on day 1 an meatloaf tomorrow.  I actually calculated this out and it will come to about $3.24 for each person's  meal.  Nice.  Very nice. 

When Did Republicans Give up on Patriotism?

This is copied from a Facebook post I made earlier...

I just wonder when the Republicans stopped being the party of excessive patriotism. Remember when opposing the President was tantamount to not supporting the entirety of America, and our troops, and the American way. Now some Republicans are so openly derisive of the President it is pretty surprising. I mean I never though GW Bush was a good President but he was the President for Gosh sakes and I sure as heck didn't mind him telling kids to work hard in school.

Keurig K-cups on sale 25% off plus free shipping - as low as .32 cents

Updated for 1/01/10

ATTENTION:  Right now Amazon has a 25% off coupon code for K-Cups making this is an ever better deal that usual:   K-Cups Coupon Code KCUP9306  For 25% off and free shipping.

For example - you can get Coffee People Variety Pack Extra Bold which gets you a variety of K-Cups for .32 cents each.  Awesome for filling up your carousel and making the kitchen look like your own private coffee shop.

The 25% off works on all Gloria Jean, Diedrich, Coffee People K-cups, not only the ones in the link!

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Amazon always has a great price on Diedrich, Coffee People, Gloria Jeans K-Cups for the Keurig 1 cup brewers.  They come in a frustration free box of 50, and they have a subscribe and save deal where shipping is free no matter what amount of the order, and you get an additional 15% off to get them delivered on your chosen schedule.

So basically get free shipping either by having an order over $25.00 or by going for the subscribe and save.

Since you can cancel the subscribe and save, and even set it at different intervals (like 6 months) its a good deal.

Here is the page of all the types of coffee they have on sale right now: K-Cups on Sale 25% off.

The ones that are $21.00 (or $17.95 with subscribe and save i.e .36 cents for a cup of coffee) are as follows:

Coffee People Variety Pack Extra Bold

Coffee People Medium Extra Bold,

Donut Shop K-Cups

Coffee People Wake Up Call K-Cups

Coffee People Jet Fuel K-Cups

Coffee People Black Tiger K-Cups

Another nice option, especially if you want to have a variety for guests is the Gloria Jeans Variety pack of flavored coffees. Yumm. I love the Gloria Jeans hazelnut - its a very mellow coffee with a nice flavor. It doesn't taste artificial like some flavored coffees can. This variety pack doesn't have the hazelnut in it though... it has butter toffee, Swiss chocolate almond, French vanilla supreme, and mudslide.  (Personally I have the hazelnut on subscribe and save.)

For the spelling impaired: kurig, kuerig, k cups, coffee pods

I have Named the New Manta Ray at the Aquarium - Yes Me.

The Georgia Aquarium is holding an online contest to chose a name for their new Manta Ray.  I don't know if they new ray is make or female, but I hope its a male to keep the other one company.  

The first Manta Ray at the Aquarium is called Nandi, (after the mother of Shaka Khan) and was caught off the coast of Africa.

Since this new Manta Ray was caught off the coast of Florida, I decided that the ray should have a Seminole Indian name.  My choice is Micco which means chief in Seminole.  Don't you dare steal my idea - I already entered it.

Any Song Free from Amazon MP3

To celebrate their 1 millionth Twitter follower (I am one of them!) AmazonMP3 is giving away a code good for any song.  Well, it's $1.29 so whatever you can buy for that.  Most of their songs as .99 cents.

I love Amazon MP3 service because they are DRM free MP3s that I can play on both my iPod and my kids MP3 player.  I don't have to do any conversion, like I would do to play iTuns songs on the kids non iPod player.  They are super easy to buy and download and they have pretty much everything I have wanted.

To claim your song go to the Free Song Promotion Page and enter the code FIRSTMIL.  (They have it right there on the page for you - easy.)

Hurry, though - this offer is good until September 6th so you need to enter your code by Sunday.

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Need ideas of what to use your credit for? 

You could get the The 99 Most Essential Pieces of the Romantic Era for $1.70 after the $1.29 freebie.

Or if you are in a pop anthem frame of mind get the song Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship.  That's what I am getting.

Good Girls Go Bad

I am totally grooving on this new song by Cobra Starship.  It makes me feel like I am in high school again.

Nintendo Launches Free Web Access On The Wii - InformationWeek

Nintendo on Tuesday started offering Web browsing through the Wii video-game console at no additional charge.

Nintendo had charged $5 to download the Internet Channel, which essentially is the company's version of the Opera Web browser. Using the Wii remote control, customers can check e-mail and browse the Web on a TV connected to Wii.

via www.informationweek.com

Nintendo has dropped any charge for using their Wii "Internet Channel" so now you can browse the net on your Wii for free.