Blogging 101

I love blogging.  I always have.  Not only the content writing but the puzzle of designing them as well.  But the main reason to have a blog is to have fun and share your fun.  Yes, you need a readership or some capacity.

Now, I’ve played with blogs and websites for years now and it’s cool to have people comment on what you’ve written.  Hence the popularity of Facebook and Twitter where you socially interact with people.  It’s fun. 

Since I’m writing about books and journaling life’s daily events, I tend to have more content in my posts.  I use to use Geocities way back in the start of personal web pages on the Internet (yes, grandchildren, I’m that old).  Then the idea of an online diary was what users really wanted so you could update your site much easier and we had good ‘ol Live Journal and Blogger which both showed up in 1999. MySpace was soon after.

Then the idea of having a nice designed weblog came up and people started putting money into domain names and styling their own blogs with self-hosted software. It used to be Moveable Type until they stupidly decided to charge for services. Now most big name companies use Wordpress for their blog.

I use to like Live Journal a lot because of the social networking interface.  However, it wasn’t easy to find people unless you knew them and they knew you.  With Facebook you’re able to search for the person you went to elementary school with, which works much better for connections.  Plus, users don’t have to write long blog posts.  Twitter doesn’t make you do much more than link share or say something clever. 

Now that we have the social networking capability of Twitter and Facebook available, the ability to share your blog posts is much easier.  But which one should you use?  For the librarians, teachers, writers, book reviewers and such who have blogs I read, they mainly use Blogger, as I am now.  However, Wordpress makes such sleeker, more modern looking blogs and I hate to leave it as my main blog service. 

Starting the week

It’s sunny here and I’m ready for the day.  Yesterday Steve and I went to the park.  When we walked outside, immediately I felt that familiar heat and I was so excited to be outside.  We went down to the park, had some ice cream, fed the ducks, and then sat on the green and listened to a live music at the bandstand.  What a nice day and a great way to end the weekend.

I got myself up early today but there was no call for a teaching job (yet).  I’ve been watching BBC Breakfast since 7AM and I watched a piece about how the teachers are going on strike this week. The debate was that while teachers are going on strike, the parents should just come in and help.  The teachers argue that everyone who deals with children needs a Criminal Background Check (CRB) and this wouldn’t be fair to just let anyone, albeit concerned parents, to come in and take over for a couple of days.

I figure that’s why the education agency asked what my schedule was for this week.  I wonder if I’ll be stepping in while the teachers are out.  No matter.  I’m excited to go back to work.  It’s fun to be home and do my own thing but doing something else with my time in the name of productivity is nice too.

With that said, Steve is up and ready for breakfast so I’ll be walking in with him this morning.  Since my ankle isn’t ready for jogging yet I’ll head to the gym for the stationary bike.  A nice trip to the library will be in order too.  I don’t visit there nearly as much as I use to.  I’ve been reading Twilight so I’ve not needed to exchange books just yet – that one is fairly big.

Rationing electricity

Our electricity meter needs fixing today so now that I’m up for the day I have a limited time to use my technology.  I was thinking that I really didn’t have a lot of things I needed to use but after I got up I realized that everything needs electricity.  I had to wash my face (hot water = electricity), make coffee, charge my phones (I now have two – a US iPhone and a UK Blackberry), use the laptop, watch television and use the microwave for some kind of breakfast item.

The meter stopped working earlier this month and the Electric Company wasn’t really too excited about fixing it.  They said it wasn’t an emergency so I’m thinking when they come today they’ll either reset the thing or change it out completely – hence my thinking they’ll turn the main switch off for a while.

So whenever the electrician comes, between noon and four, I have my books ready.  I still have to write my review of Crank that I finished last week (such a good book).  I haven’t done a book review since last year so it’s about time I did.  I never post my reviews to Goodreads so I can copy them into my site there too.

Well, it’s almost time for the electrician to come so I’m going to sit and drink my Starbucks and enjoy my television for a while.  Too bad: the Housewives of Orange County are over. There’s usually not a lot of decent television on in the day anyway – nothing different than how it was in Florida.  I have the same options: Jerseylicious or Judge Judy. At least there I had Roseanne on my Brighthouse DVR. I really need to grab a box set of those.

Sunny Summer morning

I took this picture yesterday on our way to the grocery store.  It was down at the (high/Secondary) school near there. It says “it’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.” I quite like that.

It’s a beautiful, sunny day this morning.  I’m sitting here typing away while Jake sits on the printer next to the window, sunning himself.  I was up an hour earlier than Steve because I fell asleep about 30 minutes before he was done on the Xbox.  We planned on going to the park today and having a nice, relaxing Sunday – looks like the weather is perfect for it.At this moment in time it’s only 3 degrees cooler than Titusville, Florida.  Wow.  It’ll get up to 78F today (I’m still not sure about the Celsius temperatures. I just know that 26C - 30C is pretty dang warm.)

Tomorrow starts my first week of maybe, probably starting back to teaching in some capacity.  It will be nice to have a pay check again, needless to say.  I have lunch makings and my coffee pot timer set to 6:30 instead of 7:30 in the morning.  I didn’t realize that there are plenty of Secondary (high) schools in the area so I should be set for substitute teaching.  I also have Newcastle, Sunderland and Durham where I could run down to (with a day’s notice at least due to my lack of car).  I should be set for the wonderful world of substitute teaching!

But for now I’m going to enjoy my Sunday.  Steve is up and making his tea.  It’s breakfast time and then on to the park.  I have plenty of bread for the ducks today.

I can see clearly now

I’ve been taking pictures when I’m out.  I’m trying to capture what I see but the prettiness and the quaintness just doesn’t quite transfer through my Blackberry lens a lot of times.  Still, I thought this photo of the church yard was nice.

Things got accomplished today which is definitely a good thing for a Friday.  I took the bus in with Steve and we grabbed some groceries at Tesco within the 10 minutes he had before going on to work. I then went to the eye doctor who gave me new contacts! These are the best I can get, so I’m told, and will take care of my astigmatism whereas the Proclear ones don’t.  I’ve worn those disposables for years and it’s been the same prescription.  Then I started getting the headaches, and ones my exam for my glasses proved that, no, I can’t see, I had to get fitted for some new lenses too.

After putting in those Proclears for so long, they now just will not agree with me.  They rip, float under the eyelid, hurt, chip, you name it.  My eye doctor said it may just be because I’ve worn contacts for so long (since I was in Elementary school), I may just need to take a break from them.  Something I suspected all along.  As I’ve said before, I think the Master’s in Library Science has turned me slowly into the librarian I’m meant to be.  My new glasses are cute so I’ll wear them with pride.  Glasses are hip these days, don't cha know?

After my eye exam, I did some errands (like getting stamps and envelopes for job applications) then had lunch with Mr. Pick at our new favourite place Cafe Eight. Afterwards, he put me back on the bus (a Yellow Bus at that) and sent me on my way back home.  I’m getting almost okay with riding the bus alone.  I am still sort of paranoid that I’ll miss my stop (those things sneak up on you when you’re admiring the view or people watching).  I’ve still not braved the subway by myself yet.

I’m predicting that it won’t be an issue in the near future as I think I’ll be starting some kind of supply teacher work very soon.  I’m told that my paperwork is finally in order and was asked to provide a photo for a badge from my agency. They also asked what my schedule was for next week so I’m taking that as a good sign.  There are just no library jobs available up here (they’re all in London – surprise!) so it’s back to the classroom I go!

Rationing electricity

Our electricity meter needs fixing today so now that I’m up for the day I have a limited time to use my technology.  I was thinking that I really didn’t have a lot of things I needed to use but after I got up I realized that everything needs electricity.  I had to wash my face (hot water = electricity), make coffee, charge my phones (I now have two – a US iPhone and a UK Blackberry), use the laptop, watch television and use the microwave for some kind of breakfast item.

The meter stopped working earlier this month and the Electric Company wasn’t really too excited about fixing it.  They said it wasn’t an emergency so I’m thinking when they come today they’ll either reset the thing or change it out completely – hence my thinking they’ll turn the main switch off for a while.

So whenever the electrician comes, between noon and four, I have my books ready.  I still have to write my review of Crank that I finished last week (such a good book).  I haven’t done a book review since last year so it’s about time I did.  I never post my reviews to Goodreads so I can copy them into my site there too.

Well, it’s almost time for the electrician to come so I’m going to sit and drink my Starbucks and enjoy my television for a while.  Too bad: the Housewives of Orange County are over. There’s usually not a lot of decent television on in the day anyway – nothing different than how it was in Florida.  I have the same options: Jerseylicious or Judge Judy. At least there I had Roseanne on my Brighthouse DVR. I really need to grab a box set of those.

Early morning post

Usually we see this peacock on the walk into town in the mornings.  He lives at Saltwell Park and he usually gives us a good morning “hello” and displays his feathers.  It’s something not a lot of people experience in the morning so we find it quite cool.

This morning I’m having left over pizza for breakfast at 7:30AM as Steve’s gone off again to change the world of video gaming.  That means my day will be for filling out more applications, reading, and working on a story I thought up late last night. I may be taking a walk later on too.  The weather report on BBC Breakfast says that it will be rainy up here again so I may want to head out and enjoy the sunshine while I can.

The ankle is much better but it still has this pinched feeling when I walk every so often so the healing process will still take a while.  I’ve not jogged for a few weeks now but I’ve been trying to get on the stationary bike instead when I go to the gym.  Yesterday the ankle wasn’t really pleased with my exercise attempts on the walk in to the gym so my usual 10 miles was cut to a little under 5.  Oh well, it’s better than I was before when I could barely hobble to the postbox down the street.

Oops. Been sitting here for too long and it started raining again. Walk will have to be postponed.

Summer in the North East

It's a beautiful day in England and I've just gotten back from my morning adventures. We grabbed a taxi this morning so I could have my first ever NHS doctor's visit. Since I sprained my ankle about 3 weeks ago now, the pain is considerably less than it was at the first of the month. Still, I knew a doctor's visit was in order. I had to get myself registered with a GP in town anyway. The doctor told me to let my ankle sit in some nice warm water, rotate it so it didn't get stiff and if it was still bothering me after a while to come back. In the morning it doesn't hurt me a lot, it's in the evening after we've been out for the day that is when I start hobbling and need to sit down.

It’s warmer today, unlike the rainy days we had lately.  On Saturday, we headed to the EAT! Newcastle-Gateshead food festival.  Wow, what fun!  I’ll be updating my Foodie Blog with information about that one this week too.  It poured down rain all day as we tried food from all over NE England but it was probably best because there weren’t as many people out as there could have been on a regular, sunny day.

I’m still up for being a supply teacher and I’ve been applying for full-time positions where I would take over for someone on maternity leave.  There are plenty of teaching jobs listed so I have to keep my applications out there so I can snag something soon.  As much as being at home is great, I really miss going somewhere each day and doing something worthwhile.  Having some change in my bank account doesn’t hurt either, of course, but being productive and enjoying your work are the main reasons to have a career.  I’m still looking for library jobs too but, alas, nothing has popped up and what I have applied for didn’t pan out.  Oh well. No worries.

I’m using my Wordpress.com site now as I’ve still been fighting for to get the .com site hosted.  I’ve paid money, I’ve set up and set up again but it’s not up and running at all times.  As much as I love updating and tweaking and being techie with the blog, it’s just been way too much of a pain to have it self-hosted anymore.  I’m back to the cheaper, simpler, easier site and I’ll stick with it – for now. Now that I have this working again I’ll do my best to keep updating regularly.

The run-in with Ebay seller rc-model-hobby

or “Why I stopped using Ebay”

or “I can't believe these people can have stores on Ebay.”

or “A long, tedious vent about how jerks can ruin the internet”.

You get the idea.

I love websites. Always have.  I’ve been playing around with more websites lately because it’s fun and I like having new projects to post different things.  Within the last couple of weeks, I’ve started setting up a couple sites for me and Steve.

Before when I’d start playing around with sites and not spending a whole heck of a lot of money on web hosting or domain name servers, I’d consult Ebay.  I’ve honestly had decent web service because the sellers I chose usually had a legitimate online store and customer service that would work fine.  I had one web hosting for a while that I used for a couple of sites later on.  A lot of them only worked for a few months but for a dollar or two here or there, it was no big deal.  If I wanted to keep the site up, I’d simply switch cheap hosts or buy pricey, legit hosting from GoDaddy or some other service provider like them.

Since I started using Ebay.co.uk, I’ve not had such luck.  I’ve tried to buy from three different web hosting sellers and each of them was bogus.  Two out of the three gave me a refund without a fuss (as they should when things don’t work) but this third seller, he’s a piece of work.

A couple weeks ago I paid £.99 for “Unlimited 2 Years Web Hosting".  Now, being a savvy lady who’s bought and sold a ton of stuff on Ebay, including digital products, I know that this web hosting will more than likely go down the tubes sooner than 2 years but at the supposed $1.62 for three month of web service to play with – no big deal. 

The seller sent me some information about DNS servers. I take that back.  I told him twice what domain name to use and I never received the DNS information from and he used a totally different username. A week later, I bought another of the same product for the same price (my mistake because I thought he had sent DNS and Control Panel info for the first hosting product.) I never, ever received any information about the second hosting DNS servers either.  Granted, it was Bank Holiday weekend so I let it go until this weekend when I sent the seller a message saying:  

Hello. Please send me information for this web hosting. I want it for my domain name. Thank you!

Immediately I got the following message back:

We have no recollection that you have purchased this item within the last month. If you had hosting with us before then, i DID email everyone apologizing that we were moving hosts. You will now have to pay for new hosting.

First of all, there was never any email from him ever because I’d been checking for DNS server info. Second I’m not paying twice.  This calls for a refund.

So I opened a dispute requesting my money back for both web hosting items at £.99 each. Boy, did that guy get mad. He was really defensive and tried to blame me for the situation. Saying things like:

i wish you would have messaged me instead of taking this to a case…i had to switch providers and pay more money, therefore i emailed everyone who bought in the past to have to buy again. Everyone did so, the only reason im asking people to repay is because I am now payinbg monthly for your hosting to continue. No refund is going to be offered, its only 99p.

Let’s follow this. I didn't message him?  Um, yes I did.  See that message up there asking for my DNS info?  But that doesn’t matter, I guess.  Only £.99 so I should just give that away? So it’s any buyers fault that he has to change servers and we have to repay because he’s doing us this big favor?  Plus, it’s “only” £.99 so we should be okay with this?  Am I correct?  Granted, again, I’ve never received any such email so I’m wondering how many people actually did fall for this b.s.  I went in and gave him the negative feedback at this point because I could see I was going to get no where with this guy. I refused to “resolve the case” and wrote through the Resolution Center messages that I wanted a full refund. End of story. I don’t care how much money it is, I didn’t get the item, I want my money back.

That made him more mad:

Full refund will be given when negative feedback is removed. Instead of being pathetic over 99p. i emailed everyone and you were the only person with a problem. You cant open a case AND leave negative feedback. When i see it is removed, you can then have a refund. Next time, respect other peoples decisions. Your not the one renting the datacentre.

That message actually made me laugh.  So I’m the bad guy, huh?   I don’t want to give my $3.28 to some random guy on Ebay but I should because he has to make a decision to rent a datacentre for other people?  How does that even make sense to a stupid person?  Also, yes you can leave negative feedback when you don’t get an item and you can’t tell people to remove the negative feedback or you won’t get a refund.  That’s feedback extortion.  That’s “buying or selling feedback” which goes under Ebay’s list of no-nos.  I reported him for various violations of Ebay rules one of which is “fraudulent item” because he still had that web hosting, the same product I should bought a week and two weeks ago, still for sale.  I didn’t close the case, only kept replying with facts about the seller and the product through the Resolution Centre messages saying “seller did…” or “seller said…” (which he obviously didn’t understand) because he tried to be condescending with:

Yes Suzanne, your talking to me here, no one else. You can either have a refund OR leave the negative feedback. You cant have both as that is unfair. 2 Negative Feedback Opposed too 99p is very pathetic to be honest. I will offer you the refund once the negative feedback is removed. To do this, contact eBay through means of live chat or phone, and theyll help you. :)

I kept the case open still, continually replying to him through the Resolution Centre messages and this time copying and pasting, “All correspondence will be reviewed by the Ebay Customer Service Staff” that’s posted right about the message window. He still kept replying with his illogical argument:

Or ill offer you another option. Here are your options as they stand. A 99p refund. - Wont be refunded until neg. feedback is removed. Your hosting restored - Also wont be re-setup until the negative is removed. If you are unhappy with this, take it further. Im prepared to give you a third hosting free too. But i do not appreciate you leaving negatives so quick. Without communication, maybe we should talk like adults first?!'

Now notice that he’s saying we’re not communicating yet we’re sending messages through Ebay Resolution Centre.  Um…right.  And why does he think I want to have some kind of service that he didn’t give me in the first place? When I saw, “talk like adults” it made me think I’m talking to a kid here.  I wrote back through the Resolution Centre that his store had only been open since Sept of last year and he had a 67 star feedback rating.  My guess was that he’s purposely trying to double his money by creating a “oh something happened and it’s not my fault so give me more money and positive feedback” kind of scam.  So if he did this to 30 some people, getting twice as much money each time (because I see that he sold items up to £30/$49) then he’s making a heck of a profit.  Granted, his ploy is, as he keeps harping on, that’s it’s “only 99p” and it’s “petty” to not just give that money away and request it back because you didn’t get the items you wanted.  Again, even a stupid person could see through this argument. Yet still, he’s the innocent one and realizes that he has to appeal to Ebay:

eBay, i think this is only fair as hes left me with 2 negative feedback without even messaging me to workthings out. This has given me a low percentage feedback rating when I cant help what happens with this web hosting. im not sure why he opened a case for 99p anyway. Ive offered his item back and another free, or a refund as long as this feedback is removed. This is a very stuck up buyer that ebay could do without. Decision is upto you eBay.

Not only does he not understand how to run an Ebay store but apparently he doesn’t realize that Suzanne is a feminine name either. He also somehow thinks that wanting a product that you pay for is being posh or something “stuck up” as he coins it.  I responded via the Resolution Center, yet again, with, “buyer wants me to pay twice and is extorting feedback” blah blah. It really was quite tedious to keep repeating myself over and over with this kid not understanding that he had no legitimate claim.

Buyer is completely wrong. Feel free to check my messages eBay. I recieved one message from him, asking poliley to setup his hosting. I did not say the product didnt work. I said I SWITCHED hosts, as i was selling reseller hosting. I do not ask people to pay twice, my feedback was 100% positive before you have come along. Ive offered you your item. But you dont open a case and then leave negative feedback. Ive only been a seller since last year, yes. We all start somewhere thankyou very much. The hosting is still for sale as i have no switched hosts. To eBay: I emailed all my customers to ask for their details to resetup their product, beause i switched hosts. I made it clear that no reply within a week would mean account suspension. EVERYONe managed to email me back with details, except you. Do not judge someone by the amount of feedback i have, judge me by the percentage score. You have plenty of websites as i can see your public facebook page, so why open a case on a 99p hosting.

Oh yes, you read that garble right.  He started stalking me on FB.  He left me a message calling me nasty things in as much as assuming I was a male, perhaps my husband in my profile picture – who knows at this point. I wrote back with a simple “You will now have to pay for new hosting” copy and paste from his first message. He gave me a refund for one item but still gave me some “you’re petty, you act like a 3 year old” comment on my Ebay profile.  He also refused to refund me for the first hosting (that I never got info from) because “it works just fine”.  Yeah, well, how would I know that without any kind of DNS or Control Panel info?  And because “everyone”, excuse me, “EVERYONe managed to email me…except you” is a dippy bullying tactic of “everyone else is doing it so you should too.” What a deceitful fool.

By this afternoon I closed both cases and called Ebay Customer Service who said all my reports would be handled within 48 hours.  Steve responded to his Facebook message with a direct “don’t ever bother us again” statement and reported him for harassment on their server as well.

After looking at the seller’s profile, yes, he is a kid.  We figured as much.  His contact information is posted on his Ebay Store listed below.  I’m only posting this so you can all see exactly who the seller is and avoid him at all costs.  In the States even the slightly suspicious seller was shut down but since the Ebay.co.uk customer service info is listed for Switzerland, I’m guessing that Ebay has to try and police all of Europe for bogus sellers.  Even if he is shut down, he’ll just start another Ebay store (which he probably already has done anyway) and nothing will really be solved.  If he had just given me my £2 back and shut up he wouldn’t have had to go through such a mess and get reported ever which way on two websites. Sheesh, dude, calm down.

Ebay Store: http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/rc-model-hobby

Anyway, all I know is I’m not taking a risk of having some teenaged lunatic cyber stalk me and call me nasty names because they want to steal money from me.  I just can’t subject myself to that kind of wasted time and effort – I don’t care what kind of cheap, cool thing they have. 

Farewell Ebay.  It was fun while it lasted but since you have crazy thieves on your site, I’m not shopping anymore.