Posts tagged with “questionable”

Spam

So I’ve got a new client, and (without naming names) they aren’t exactly the most internet savvy. Which isn’t a bad thing, by any means (that’s why they’ve got me, right?), they’re just not experts.

Anyhow, I was on a conference call with them the other day and they were talking about how important their project is because they’re putting out a press release and writing up an article for their homepage. Sounds great! Anyhow, to make a long story short, I took care of a good chunk of their project such that everything looked nice for the big event.

The day after, I got a “thank you” email; they were so excited because they had even got a compliment on the site! How wonderful! Anyhow, I was in working on their site again today (no names) and there was a single comment on the blog post. Here’s what it said:

Thanks for posting the article, was certainly a great read!

Wow! How nice…except something didn’t add up. Why would you post something like that? Wouldn’t you link to it from your own site? Wouldn’t you create a trackback or tweet a link to it? This is the age of Facebook!

After just a little bit of digging, I found my suspicions were not unfounded. The link that was provided with the comment led me to: http://www.cellphonesgiant.com/.

Spam!

Now here’s the dilemma I’m left with. Clearly this is spam. There’s no way this is legitimate. I’m, for one, going to remove the link. This poor client’s site has already been compromised at least once in the past. I’m not going to let some spammer suck the Google juice out of the page. But do I remove the comment? It clearly means a lot to her. On the other hand, I don’t want to be the one to tell them that their only comment is illegitimate. What do I do?

OOOOHHHHH BURRRRNNNNNN

So out of complete curiosity today, I found out that http://bing.travel/ redirects you to Yahoo! Travel. Wow. That’s a real slap in the face for Microsoft. In fact, it’s so much of a slap in the face for Microsoft, I would bet that something like this could result in a pretty hefty lawsuit. Granted, Microsoft would easily win (with their trademark on “Bing”), but it’s still interesting to see that there’s still a strong competition even though Microsoft and Yahoo! have apparently joined forces in the search market.

Irritating

You know, if there’s one thing that irritates me more than anything else in this world, it’s the sound of someone texting. I hate it. I don’t text myself; I use Google Voice and type out all of my messages. You’ll never see me responding to a text on the fly…I just don’t do that. It’s not in my nature.

You know what’s even more irritating? When someone drops the conversation they’re having to check a text message. Because the person texting you is so much more important than the person you’re talking to in person RIGHT NOW. Some people just have such egos to them. I’m constantly urged to just grab their phone and toss it out a window or slam it off the floor. It’s absolutely infuriating that folks think that it’s just “ok” to text “all the time.”

And the sound of it just pisses me off even more.

Oh, and PS: I hate all of your ringtones.

Valentines Day

Wow, here’s an anecdote that will give you an insight into my personal life. If I didn’t know any better, I’d call myself a hopeless romantic. Maybe I am, but I’m going out on a limb and saying “hopeless romantic” is a relative term, so call me what you see fit.

Anyhow, rewind back to February 11, 2009. It’s kind of gloomy out. DeSales is kind of barren. Everybody is going goofy over Valentines day. Who asked who to be who’s valentine, etc. etc. Even DeSales Dining got in on it and sold little stuffed bears that were holding chocolate. Nobody was left out.

So here I am: single, lonely, and totally crushing on a guy from the second floor of my dorm. He went away on a track meet that day, and I was positively swooning over him. I knew he was gay (we’d talked before), but we were “acquaintances” more than “friends.” By a long shot.

Being the creeper that I am, I figured I’d be a cool kid and drop by and wish him luck before he left. Turns out he left before I got up to his room. It figures. I went back to my room and came up with a great plan: I’d get him a teddy bear with the chocolate! Cheesy? Check. Walk past it every day at breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Check. It was so corny that I was giddy with excitement.

Rewind a few weeks. Christmas break had just ended, and we were back to school. I had just met my BFF Carrie and was making friends with my now-roommate Todd. I hadn’t told either of them (or my roommate at the time) that I was gay (and in fact hadn’t come out yet even to my parents). I bought the bear on February 12 and put it on my desk. My roommate asked if I was going to give it to someone, and I said yes, but didn’t give any details. He was giddy just to know that I was giving a stuffed bear to someone. He’s hilarious.

On February 13, one of the friends I had come out to told Carrie and Todd that I was gay. I don’t really know the circumstances or the context (who asked what to whom), so I’ll let the mystery of fate fill in that gap.

On the 14th, both Carrie and Todd were in my room. My roommate was out (probably DnD) and we were playing Mario Kart. I only had two Wii Wheels, so they were taking their turn while I took a break. I knew that the track team was returning that day and knew the times and places like the back of my hand. I made sure I even knew how they did, what the weather was like, etc.

Along with the bear, I had made a card, but after five or six cheesy drafts, I tossed it out. I’d thought about buying one, but the logistics didn’t work with my plan. While Carrie and Todd were playing, I nonchalantly (so I thought) picked up the bear and excused myself. Both of them apparently took notice, and from what I learned later, had a panicked conversation once I was gone over what they should do when I got back.

I went upstairs and delivered the bear. I remember the guy was in his underwear. He didn’t seem to like it very much, but I don’t really blame him. I didn’t really pass it off as a valentines gift, which I suppose was a mistake, but he thanked me and I went on my way. When I got back to my room, my friends seemed inquisitive but had more self restraint than I think I would have (keep in mind, I didn’t know that they knew I was gay). If I remember correctly, they asked where I went and whether I delivered the bear. It was kind of awkward, but I lived through it.

Did anything ever come of my Valentines Day crush? Nope. Do I wish something did? Yeah, yeah I do. I’m not going to dwell in the past, though, and it’s a moot point to try to push anything further than it’s already been dragged along. It reminds me of National Lampoon’s Vacation when they forget the dog is tied to the car and drive away. The dog was miserable and unhealthy, but there’s no need to keep it tied to the bumper once it’s dead.

I guess the point of this was just to talk about the lesson learned here. No, it’s not a depressing lesson either. What I learned was that if I didn’t take that opportunity and go for what I wanted, I would have never gotten a yes or a no. Granted, I got a “no” out of the deal, but I’d take a “no” over “not sure” any day. So that’s the lesson of the evening: take your chances and go for something that you otherwise wouldn’t, even if there’s a good chance you’ll fail—otherwise, you’ll never succeed.