.:[ Beaatch Sessions ]:.

Saturday, 04 April 2009

  • It's YOUR Identity & Privacy at Stake; Limit its Accessibility in Facebook!

    Protect your privacy & your identity, as well as the identity of your real life (RL) friends, from acquaintances, virtual friends, profile surfers, stalkers, debt collectors, an ex, former bosses, and more.  Limit the spam you receive through Facebook and its many applications.

    No matter the reason for having both real life or virtual friends on your friends list, continue reading this how-to guide to learn how to add both "strangers" and "friends" to your profile without compromising your identity or safety.  Protect your profile from the prying eyes!  Please note that you will need to have your Facebook profile open in another browser window if you wish to apply these changes as we go along.  (Make sure you're logged into your Facebook!)

    Links to related articles can be found near the end of this blog post; share this with your family, friends, and other Facebook users.


    Introduction

    We'll go over how you can still take advantage of facebook games that require plentiful (virtual) friends in order for you to unlock more of its features or obtain more gifts and what-not.  We'll do this by creating a friend list -- one that's given only limited-access to your profile & your RL friends' profiles, while still being able to access/share facebook games and gifts with one another.  Remain connected without being compromised!

    Afterwards, we'll go over how to limit having your profile and its crucial information from being on public display to the rest of the unknown world who like to browse through profiles, whether it's a stalker, an enemy, a debt collector, a registered sex offender, an ex, an old boss, or just a pair of prying eyes!  Share only what you want, with who you want... Or with whichever friends list you choose!  Secure that profile!

    This blog post was initially written on a Facebook note, with screenshots linked to the appropriate steps.  If you'd rather take a peek at that, feel free to do so!


    Making a Limited-Access Friend List

    The first step to protecting your privacy, preventing stolen identities & killing unwanted spam, is to create a friends list that's limited in what they can see/access.  Toss all of your virtual friends in this list.
    1. Open a new browser window (or browser tab) and use it to log into your Facebook profile, if you haven't already done so.

    2. Go to your Facebook "Friends" page. (Use facebook's top menu to get there).

    3. On the left of that page, click on the button that says, "Make a New List", then enter a name for that list like "All Limited Access", "Gamers Limited", or something you can remember.  Hit the enter key when you're done to save it.  You can go back through these steps to create more lists if you'd like.

    4. How to add your current Facebook friends to the list >> Near the top of the list where it says "Add to list", type in the names of those you wish to include in the limited-access list.  Or, you can use the "select multiple friends" link beside it, to have facebook show you icons & names of everyone you're friends with.  The list will save automatically each time you add a person to it. From now on, when you send out friend invites or when you try to find friends on facebook, it will give you the option to "file" that person to one of your friends list, such as this one we've created. 

    5. If you forget to add a person to your list when you initially accept their friend invitation, you can still add them to this friend list after the fact.  In the page that lists all of your Friends, click on that friend's row (not on their picture or on any links), or click on the square "maximize" toggle icon to the right corner of their row, next to the "x" close icon.  This will display the friend details of that person without actually viewing/accessing their entire profile.  From there, you will see a an arrow icon that points downward, found below their name (next to the "View Friends" link), if you have any friends list set up.  When you click on this arrow, a drop-down menu will appear, asking you to choose which friend list you'd like to add that person to.  Choose the "All Limited Access" list we just made (or whatever you named it as), & it will add those people to the list & save automatically.
    Now that you've got a limited access friends list set up, you will need to change your profile & applications' privacy settings to reflect that this list should be given only limited-access.


    Privacy Settings

    • Go to the top menu of facebook & select "Settings > Privacy Settings."  You will have some things to change in each item listed, so this part may take you a few minutes.Click on "Profile" so we can privatize some of the details shown on your profile, such as your birthday, your "about me" section, etc.  From there, choose "customize" on each setting you wish to hide from your limited-access friend list. Set the privacy option to be viewable only to "Friends", and in the "except" field, type in the name of the friend list we made earlier.  This will make your profile viewable to all of your friends EXCEPT the friend list we just named.  Those people will see nothing. When you're done, click on the word/link called "Privacy" or it may have a link you can click on at the top (in a yellow box) that says "Return to Privacy Options".

    • Now click on "Search" to control who can search for you & what they can see when they find you.  If you truly want stealth, then set your "Search Visibility" to "Friends Only".  But note that doing so means if you have friends who are looking for you on facebook, they will not be able to find you because you are not yet on their friend list!

    • On the "Search Result Content" block, make sure that only this is checked: "a link to send me a message".  This allows people to send you a message such as, "Hey so-n-so, is this the so-n-so I know from Freemont High School?" LOL  Of course, you can also be spammed this way so it's your choice.  If you wish, you can also check off the "a link to add me as a friend" so people can request to be your friend right off the bat, & then you can choose to accept/ignore their request.

    • In the "Public Search Listing" block, make sure it is unchecked or else you will be searchable via search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc!  This could be disastrous, especially if you have all of your contact info, birthdate, etc. publicly visible.  If left checked, you open yourself to spam & you've given everyone the starting tools needed to steal your identity.

    • Click on the "Save Settings" button at the bottom when you're done.  Then click on the word/link called "Privacy" above, or it may have a link you can click on at the top (in a yellow box) that says "Return to Privacy Options".

    • Now click on "News Feed & Wall".  Uncheck the items you do not want all your friends to see on your Wall or in their News Feed, An example is to uncheck the "add a friend" box.  Then your wall won't post a little "So-and-so is now friends with this-and-that", which reveals those RL people's names to those on your limited-access friend list.  It's basically up to you what you wish to change here, if anything.  When you're done, save it & go back to the main privacy page again.

    • Now click on "Applications".  On the page that shows up, you can read the Overview that's shown, but when you're done, click on the "Settings" tab/link.  You'll notice that the first option is selected for you automatically, which "displays" the following checkbox options to all of your friends.  Make sure you uncheck everything here!  Then scroll down to the "Beacon websites" option.  It's basically for outside websites that you give permission to for the purpose of posting stuff on your wall, accessing your data, etc.  Examples:  Some sites have a facebook widget so you can view your facebook status from there. News and other sites give you the option to "Share this" article to your facebook.  This is what the beacon does.  Uncheck it if you never post stuff in your facebook through other sites, or if you never access some facebook data from other sites.  Save your settings and you're all done with your Privacy Settings!

    Application Settings

    Although your profile is now private, your Wall and its posts, and all other 3rd party applications in the Boxes/tabs can still be seen on your profile.  If for instance, you have a horoscope box that reveals your birthdate and you do not wish for everyone to know that date, then you will have to edit that application's settings.  Also, all 3rd party applications that post to your wall is also viewable, such as ones that say, "so-and-so sent so-and-so a gift!"  These often use your RL friend's names in it, so you should change the settings so that only posts you approve of will be displayed.
    1. Go to the top menu in facebook & select "Settings > Application Settings."  Alternatively, you can click on the "Applications" button on the facebook toolbar, then click on the "Edit" link at the top of it.  Or, you can also go to the Home page (use the top menu) and then click on the "Edit Applications" link on the right.

    2. A list of your applications should be shown.  Click on the "Edit" link to the right of each application you wish to privatize.  A pop-up should appear with a few tabs in it, usually 3 of them.

    3. The first tab is called "Wall" and controls what's shown on your Wall.  You should select "Prompt me" out of the choices there, unless it's an application where you don't care if it's wall posts/feeds are shown to everyone on your friends list, including limited-access friends.

    4. Now go to the "Profile" tab of this pop-up, and under "Privacy", set it the same way you did for your profile...  Choose "custom", then select to have this item viewable to "Friends only", and in the EXCEPT box, enter the name of the limited-access friend list we made earlier.

    5. Click on "Okay" and your changes for that application will be saved.  You will have to do this for every application listed that you'd like to limit access to!

    6. Extra Hint: If you access an application often (such as myFarm & other games), I recommend you add it to your "bookmark" list.  This will make the application show up under your "Applications" button below so u can get to it quickly.

    Conclusion

    That's all there is to it!  If you like, take a look at the end-result by viewing your profile as somebody else!  "How do I do that?", you ask?  On the top facebook menu above, select "Settings > Privacy Settings".  On this Privacy page, click on "Profile."  You'll notice that this page has a block that says, "See how a friend sees your profile", with a blank box beside it.  Just start typing in a name of a friend whom you've added to your limited-access list & press Enter (or click on the correct name if it pops up).  This will show you exactly how that person sees your profile.  Easy, isn't it!  (There should be an "Exit 'view as' mode" link at the top for when you're done pretending to be someone else. LOL)

    If you need more help in privatizing your facebook experience, feel free to send me a message via my facebook inbox.

    If you've found this helpful, then maybe your friends will too!  Share this with your family, friends, and other Facebook users!  The Facebook Note version of this article can be found here: http://bit.ly/SecureYourFacebookProfile

    Please do not plagiarize my work!  Thank you!


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Saturday, 14 March 2009

  • The Universe is after our Savings! Spend it quick!

      Well, we finally got our tax return, or at least, the Federal one; the state return one seems to be taking forever!  Anyways, you'd think that getting a tax refund should be a joyous occasion but, for you to receive a decent amount -- doesn't that mean that you must ultimately be "poor" or not making enough money throughout the rest of the year?  That, or it means that wages are out of whack when compared to inflation of everything else.  Rent can go up from $25 or more every lease period, gas prices can skyrocket, various credit card and other loans can have rates in the high 20%, and yet the minimum wage is still a sucky single digit (minus the cents). 

    There are people out there who make $5 to $7 an hour but everything else around them is going up.  Even military folks don't really get crap income-wise, not if you consider the fact that they get paid the same monthly amount no matter how many hours they work, if they almost lost a limb, how long they're separated from family, etc.  I should know, cuz I was barely making $900 a month at the low end of the totem pole when I first enlisted!

    As for my family of 4, I don't think we've ever had to pay taxes; we always got a refund.  So I guess that means we're barely getting by, even though we feel like we're doing ok...?  Every year, my hubby & I would set at least half (to most) of our tax refund aside for emergencies - which we usually defined as necessities like rent, food, children's medical care, etc.  Our kids came first.  We could suffer and live out of a car if need be, but we would never allow our children to experience that.

    The problem was that, when we did save a lot, it ended up disappearing soon after.  Not because we couldn't keep our hands off the money, but because I think that the Universe has some special monitoring device and can detect when there's money to be spent on SOMETHING, even though it's earmarked for emergencies only.  I swear, we never have any emergencies until we have money for those emergencies!  It's odd how our vehicle dies, our home burns down, and pretty much anything you can think of -- only occurs when we've got something set aside.

    There's been a time where I was a single parent and I got laid off, and barely made $500 a month from unemployment to cover rent and food for me and my son.  We got by ok, and we had not ONE emergency then to warrant the use of any savings, because we had no savings.  Yet once I got a job elsewhere and made at least double that amount, THAT's when the car acts up, the house burns down, the rent is due, and everything hits you all at once.  Odd, isn't it?

    So this year, we are going to try to break this vicious "The Universe is after your Savings" theory/cycle, and rather than saving our tax refund for a rainy day that will inevitably come anyway, we are gonna spend it on ourselves.  Yep, we are going to go the selfish route.  We're tired of spending it on new engines and that sort of thing.  This year, we are going to splurge a little. 

    We've purchased a 42-inch LCD full HD TV, which also required a brand-new TV/entertainment center.  This also meant upgrading our cable tv service so that we could get an digital/HD signal.  My hubby's been wanting an HDTV for decades, especially because of his Xbox360, so although he was nervous about buying it, he started to relax when he saw that we ALL liked it and benefit from it.  So yeah, it's technically for the family.    We also went ahead and bought an extended service plan for it because when you've got our luck, plus 1 dog, 2 cats, and 2 active children, you never know what to expect.

    A few days later, we let the kids spend a certain amount at their favorite store to buy toys, games, and what not.  There was a furniture store nearby, so I asked my hubby if we could take a peek in there afterwards.  Personally, I just like to look and dream, but it was also because I heard they had decent prices and I wanted to budget for furniture eventually in this lifetime kind of thing. 

    Now, you'd have to understand - we have no living room furniture whatsover, not since we lost everything in a fire years ago.  All we had was a yard sale sofa for $1 that looks like brown plaid and is rough like tweed, and we had another yard sale recliner for $1, which we later found out it's feet were rusting, leaving marks on the carpet.  I guess we figured that living room furniture was a luxury, not a necessity, and the kids' necessities and some lucuries were more important.  Anyways, our couch has lost it's fluff, it's torn underneath, it eats everything from remotes to toys and even DS games, and the cats try to use it as a scratching post because of the tweed feel.  It could easily win the ugly couch contest but I'd be too embarrassed to have my name and face printed next to that thing.

    Anyways, I digress...  We went into the furniture store and luck had found us.  They were having a sale on these puffy, cushiony suede couches that were so comfy that even my 12-year-old said he'd trade his bed in for it.  Hubby works odd hours so he does tend to fall asleep on the couch at times, which is why I have also dreamed of getting a chaise lounge, or a sectional with a chaise on one end.  Anyways, the couches without recliners on the end were more comfy and cost less, and since it was a better deal to buy 2 couches that could seat 6, rather than getting a couch & loveseat combo, he asked me if I had a problem with us buying them right then and there. 

    Are you kidding?!  And get rid of our brownish puke-colored plaid-tweed wing sofa?!
    DUH!  Of course we can buy it!  LOL

    There were only 3 colors to choose from: Sage (faded green if you ask me), Camel, and Chocolate.  Oooh, I am a chocoholic, and our new HDTV sits on a dark mocha entertainment set, so I opted for the chocolate colored one, of course!  They should be delivering it on March 26, although I wish we could get it sooner.  Also, they said that if we bought anything else before it's delivered, we can tack those items onto that one, same delivery fee so it won't cost us extra to get it all at once.  Great!  Cuz now I need a coffee table, endtable, and maybe some lamps, and throw pillows, yada yada yada... Spend $pend spend...

    Other than the HDTV, its stand, the living room furniture, and possibly a netbook for me (which can write off on our taxes since I'm a student), the rest of our money will be sitting in savings, where the Universe will inevitably come up with some way to force us to use those funds on something we don't want to spend $$ on.  But at least this time around, we're happy, we all got things we've been wishing for, and our house is now starting to look and feel more like a home, and less like a shelter.

    What about you, have you gotten your income tax refund yet?  What do you plan to do with the money?  Post your replies in the comments!

Saturday, 28 February 2009

  • Beatchy Retail Workers... WTF?!

    Is it just me, or is everyone so beatchy nowadays?  I mean, in the town we used to live in, people were more friendly and nice, even to total strangers.  There, you'd hear a "Hey, how's it going?" or a "Hello!" as you walked by.  Here, people act as if they are hiding from law enforcement, and refuse to acknowledge you or even look you in the eye.  We've also noticed that well... either the retails sales folks are less customer-service oriented, or they are just rude and lazy jackasses who forget that it's the customers who help keep their position in demand.

    For instance, at the ol' town, Wal-Mart clerks always bagged your stuff for you, no questions asked.  Heck, they even asked if you needed help with bringing that huge TV out to the car, and would have a guy with those little flatbed carts come up & load it for you.  In this area, however, I have had a Wal-Mart sales clerk tell me that they couldn't bend down or lift a bag of cat food, dog food, or cat litter, in order to scan it (with their portable scanner no less)!  WTF?!  How hard is it to grab the portable, really?  I've had one tell me she had bad knees, even though she was at least 10 years younger than me.  The thing is, we know people who work for Wal-Mart, so we know that they're supposed to do that sort of thing, or else they should not be working at the register and should instead go be a lame greeter.

    Now, it's not just Wal-Mart workers that are like this.  We've encountered sales clerks at other places, where the sales clerk couldn't even bring out a ladder to grab something off a shelf that was just beyond my reach.  WTF is that all about?  In the end, I just ended up stepping on the bottom shelf with something in my hand to shove the box up top a few inches closer to the edge, and then I'd get the sucker to tip off & fall, and I'd hopefully catch it without breaking it.  Hell, the next time I have to do this because of some lazy azz, I'm gonna knock a bunch of stuff OFF the shelf first and just be a real klutz, and after they see the mess they have to clean up -- maybe, just maybe, they will do their jobs right the first time.

    Almost 2 weeks ago, we were at GameStop with at least 4 games in-hand, and still browsing around for more.  After all, my family is full of gameaholics; we own so many different platforms so we keep GameStop real happy by dropping big bucks there all the time.  We have an Xbox360, an Xbox, 2 Nintendo DS, a Wii, and 2 PCs.  We used to have a PS2 and another PC but we got rid of those when we moved here a year ago. 

    Anyways, while we were perusing the store, another lady came in to return an item she's had for only 1 day.  It was an open item, and basically she was honest and said that, "There's nothing wrong with it -- I just didn't like it.  It's just too slow for me."  They wouldn't do a return for her, wouldn't give her money back even when she had the receipt in hand showing that the item had not-quite been out of their store for 24 hours.  They didn't even bother looking at the receipt; just glanced its way is all.

    Do you know what they told her?  They told her that they couldn't take it back.  She was a timid woman, but she tried to explain and show the receipt, to which the current store manager balked.  Do you want to know what the item was?


    It was a freakin' Wii Fit!


    Now, how hard do you think it will be for them to resell the Wii Fit, when tons of the stores in the area are sold out and even before that, the stores were limiting them per household because they knew their stock was in limited supply.  So it's not like an item that GameStop would have a hard time getting rid of.  The manager told the lady, "I can't take it back and offer you a refund... but I can take it as a a type of trade for less than what you paid for it."  They were offering her less than half of what she paid for!  WTF?!  So they were gonna give her less than half of her $89.99?!?  Uhm, I don't know about you but, even though my math skills suck -- I can tell you that their math didn't add up to me!


    The lady grabs her stuff and starts to head out, shocked at the so-called "offer" the store manager gave her as if they were doing her a favor by offering that amount...  Now, my hubby, who is an assistant manager & will soon own his own store after his 3-month training is over (NOT a GameStop, thank god), he knew I wanted a Wii Fit but haven't had much luck finding one.  So he approached the lady near the front door to ask her how much she wanted for it, but before they could even continue their conversation, the manager hollered out, "You can't be doing that in my store.  You need to take it outside my store if you're going to be doing sales with someone other than GameStop."  Wow, I guess she was listening in on their conversation, wouldn't you say?

    First of all, she was the one who was rude and indifferent to her customer that she could've better helped.  Second, my hubby was picking up their slack!  Had they taken it back from her, we would've bought it from the store.  But hey, now that they see the potential for business, NOW they want a piece of the pie?!?  Fark 'em.  Third, the manager didn't even approach them to tell them they couldn't do that in "her" store; she hollered it out for all the other customers to hear, as if they were criminals on the verge of running out with a boatload of cash from the register or something!  Fourth, who did she think she was, listening in on a private conversation anyway?!  Holy crap, what if we knew her from chemo or something and was asking how it was going?!  How freakin' rude for the manager to listen in on a conversation that didn't involve her!  Fifth and final, the manager, whether she realized it or not, gave my hubby lip when she said her piece -- an attitude that my hubby totally hates. 

    He's had enough of lazy or crap customer service.  So, he did as she did, hollered across the room to ask her why didn't they provide better service to this lady, and now they are giving him hell for offering to help their customer out.  Why she expected us to give her our business when we now see the kind of service (crap one) that's being offered...  And after hollering across the room back and forth because the manager was STILL too lazy to approach my hubby or the lady, as well as being unable to give my hubby any concrete answers or explanations other than, "you just can't do that in my store..."

    My hubby told her, "You know what?  Not only did you lose business and a customer with this lady, you just lost 4 more."  On cue, my children and I dropped the games we had in-hand, right where we were standing (yes, we didn't put them away or do GameStop any favors), and walked right out of there without looking back.

    Behind us, you could hear the manager hollering at us (STILL not approaching us), trying to say that we didn't need to leave, and repeating herself about my hubby and the lady not being allowed to do exchange stuff in their store, blah blah blah.  We didn't care, all 5 of us walked out of there, never to go in again. 

    If the manager had at least known her job and done it correctly by dealing with the lady in private instead of hollering at her, and then hollering at my hubby across the room with her attitude... And if she had at least taken the time to explain the reason why they couldn't do that -- if it was a liability or other issue... All she had to do was know her job and get it done right, and my hubby would've understood and gone out of the store to complete the sale, and we still would've bought the GameStop games we had in-hand.  He's in retail too, so it's not like he doesn't know some of what they have to face, but the fact is that the manager was     clueless and didn't know how to do her job, and probably should not have been a manager in the first place.

    So in the end, we acted on blind faith.  The lady handed over the Wii Fit that she claimed worked fine, as well as her receipt for it.  She went on to explain that she was a runner, so having to unlock stuff a little at a time was something she had no patience for, that there was nothing wrong with it other than that.  Basically, she was too advanced for the Wii Fit.  We asked how much she wanted for it, and she said it didn't matter, we could just give her "whatever."  Yes, she really was a bit timid, but no, we didn't want to rip her off like GameStop had already done.  We aren't about making people grab their ankles if you know what I mean.

    There was no ATM nearby and we don't carry cash, so we asked if she had a problem taking our check, cuz if she did, then we would have to drive around for an ATM.  Since we were willing to take the leap and assume that her Wii Fit worked, she took a leap of faith and figured that, although she didn't know us, we wouldn't bounce the check or scam her.  I wrote out a check to her for the full amount of the Wii Fit, then I wrote our phone number on the check so she'd know how to reach us, to give her peace of mind.  We drove off afterwards, and realized we forgot to ask for her info so all we had was her name, which was on the check duplicate.  We prayed that we wouldn't need to contact her, that everything would work out.


    We brought the Wii Fit home, set it up, and BAM!
    It all worked like a charm.
    No damages, no problems.


    A few days later, the check had cleared the bank.  I guess either she trusted us by taking her time to cash it, or she wanted to give us a few days to have the money in the bank so the check wouldn't bounce... That was unnecessary, as we had money in there all along.  Maybe we weren't clear about it to her; I was pretty sure that I told her she could cash it that day - she wouldn't have any problems with it.  But I guess she just wanted to make sure.  I have no problem with that.

    The entire family has been playing the Wii Fit ever since, just having fun trying to wipe out each other's top scores and watching each other look stupid doing the hula.


    Do you have a crappy/lazy customer service horror story to tell?  Have you been treated like your money wasn't good enough at a store?  Post your tale in the comments!



.:[ Rant-n-Rave ]:.

.:[Relive da Past]:.

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