The Internet has done many amazing things, hasn’t it? We just finished our taxes, and I marvel at how quick and speedy the paperwork comes in with the process. Of course, it’s still painful to fill out those forms and cough up the $, but at least it’s speedy. :-p
One of the better things to come down the pike is the online shopping opportunities. I still don’t purchase clothing or shoes online, but we have bought some eyeglasses in past, from Zenni Optical. Clark Howard raves about Zenni. My husband got some glasses from them and they are very nice! And DIRT CHEAP. Zenni Optical crafts and ships the eyeglasses directly to the consumer– no expensive middle man!
We have five people in the family who wear glasses– those things add up! Mine alone cost upwards of $250. Zenni prices are exceptional. We can get new glasses for about $10!!!
There’s a great review at the Examiner about Zenni. I think the writer did a great job:
Zenni sells full prescription eyeglasses starting at just $8 per pair. Yes, that’s right, eight bucks. Talk about cheap prescription eyeglasses, huh? Their prices range up to around $40 and there is an extra charge if you want bifocals or thick lenses. They also charge extra for anti-glare coating (though it’s $4.95 extra as opposed to around $50-$100 extra elsewhere). Shipping is just $4.95 no matter how many pairs you order, so it pays to order for the whole family at one time.
It’s a good review, with good tips. I have yet to see an eye doctor (no insurance yet) to get my new prescription. Believe me, I’d much rather pay $20 for a pair of eyeglasses and do the measuring myself, than pay $250 for a slop job at the eye design place!! It IS possible to get quality eyewear for an inexpensive price.
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I’m very happy to report that my online job ventures are paying off. I’m working for two companies, currently: Demand Studios and eHow. I really enjoy writing “how to” articles, as you can see from my other blog, The Older Geek; I also like writing fact sheets. It’s a time-consuming job, however. Both jobs require onerous references, preferably from educational or government websites. Many times, I know how to do something or fix something, but I have to hunt the web for additional, related references. It can be very time consuming. But I enjoy it, and I am able to stay at home.
Working for eHow so far has no immediate financial benefits. You must first build “clout,” and write some good, solid articles. Once an article starts to get a lot of traffic, you can earn the money. I’ve read a few testimonies of people earning over $1,000 on one article.
So I’ve had less time for blogging. Which is OK. Blogging started out for me as an outlet and a journal (travel) but over the years my blogging has developed, and I’ve loved every minute of it. But I do realize that it may not continue forever.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Speek. All opinions are 100% mine.
Wow, social networking and teleconferencing is really growing! I’ve been on a mission for finding various (free) web-based telecommunications programs. On is network chat (still searching), another is VoIP (getting there), and another is something that kind of mixes the two. I dislike Google. Talk very mush; Skype is so-so (too many doodads and buttons), but here’s a new thing I found: Speek.com! This looks terrific!
It’s a program comparable to Skype and GoogleTalk. Speek handles cell phone calls, landline calls, and VoIP calls! Speek prides itself on speed and reliability, too, saying that your call will start on time, every time. That’s cool!
If you are interested, you can click here to register for private beta. I’m checking it out already. I have registered (easy to do). I already tried dialing out a conference call (it worked!). I think this is perfect for the small business– you can’t beat the price (free) and Speek is really convenient. You can even schedule calls. Nice.
Speek will import your contacts from Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, or even a CSV file. Speek so far is pretty simple and NICE and easy to navigate. It’s still in beta, so some things are still in the works, and feedback is extremely important. Check it out, give it abuzz, and leave feedback. I think Speek will be better than Skype. It’s definitely friendlier, easier to navigate, and they seem really willing to listen to consumer feedback. They’ve got a new app, too– be sure to give Speek a try! I think Speek looks neat!
Tags: cell phone, VOIP
This is one of my newest creations, The Older Geek. It’s still just a baby, but growing fast. 
I *finally* have the theme just the way I like it, and have been starting to write posts. It’s my latest leap into building more blogs. With The Older Geek, I hope to have more tutorials for topics such as blogging and database management, computer how-tos, and more. These kinds of articles take a long time to write: often, I have to make photos, screenshots, and videos to accent the text tutorials. So the new blog is growing, but slowly. I invite you to come over and take a look! I have a few posts up about how to begin a blog, which I hope will be very helpful to new and experienced bloggers.
Blogging is more than just signing up, picking a template, and writing away (unless you have a Blogger blog, haha! They’ve made it that easy). But blogging (even Blogger blogging) takes time and effort. You must choose a good domain name. you must manage your posts and files, you must update– you MUST know what you’re doing! Security is a big issue, too. Over the summer, Wordpress and Blogger blogs were targeted by hackers and spammers, and I know dozens of bloggers who were affected. Some even lost their blogs because they didn’t know how to backup their content.
I am of the opinion that if you are going to have a blog, then you need to know how to maintain it– not only for your own sake, but for the blogging community at large. That’s what I’d like to accomplish at The Older Geek. And the aspect of blogging is just one aspect of The Older Geek. I also want to address computer security, computer tweaks to make your unit run in good condition, and other helpful ideas. I hope my posts are able to help others out with what I have learned over the years.
Tags: blogging, The Older Geek
