Have you ever gotten a call from a random number across the country? I used to answer these calls only to get an automated message detailing how I can get a loan. This is an outcry since I signed up for the DO NOT CALL list and I am using a cell phone which I thought was off limits for telemarketers. Regardless, I Googled the number and stumbled upon this great little community.

800Notes.com is “is an online community where users can identify mystery callers by sharing comments about the calls. The website has a user-supported directory of unlisted numbers that provides info about who and why is calling and how one can stop unwanted calls.” Through the power of the Internet people are banding together and sharing information about these pesky junk calls burning up our valuable time. If someone finds out who the person or group calling is, they share it. If there is a way to get off the calling list, they post it.

Sites like these are awesome. To take this to a next level, it would be cool if there was a plug-in for phones that creates a menu option to automatically poll 800Notes.com for any call you just received. This is easily the best thing I Googled today, maybe even this week. Another option to 800Notes.com is WhoCallsMe.com.

Walking past Washington Harbor and there are cops everywhere. The black limo in the back there had a seal on the side. Could have been the President checking out the latest Starbucks to open up. Not so unusual when you work in DC.

Someone dressed their dog up in a skunk costume. Trick or treat.

A New York web design start up put a want ad on Craigslist.org for a LOLCode developer. LOLCode is the humorous programming language inspired by the grammatically-discombobulated LOLCats.

YOU CAN HAS CHEEZEBURGER?
YOU HAS A FLAVUR?
If so, you may be the right fit for this Midtown Manhattan Web Design Startup! We are a small company looking for a Senior LOLCode Developer, preferably with at least 1 month experience developing LOLapps. Please send a resume, along with links to any web-based LOLapps you have developed.

KTHXBYE

As the creator of LOL translator, TXT2LOL.com, I had to send a response:

Hiya!
i’s a web developer wif excellent LOLCode skillz. I builded a lolcat trahnslatah which currently resides at txt2lol.com doan youz think iz cool?
bai

I imagine the are getting a large number of responses considering it was featured on BoingBoing and the original ad is now gone.

The New York Times is reporting the FCC is aiming to strike down thousands of cable contracts. Previously, apartment land lords decided who would provide cable and Internet to it’s residents resulting in residents with only one option. With this new plan from the FCC, apartment dwellers would be in control of deciding their service provider. This is good news for Verizon which has previously been locked out of many deals and bad news for the largest cable provider, Comcast.

Lack of competition results in higher prices and less innovation. I’ve seen this myself as my monthly Comcast bill is just under $150 for TV, Internet, and phone (which my roommates and I never use, but it makes the bill cheaper) service. Recently, Verizon started offering it’s fiber optic, blazingly fast Internet and TV service, Fios, to neighboring residence and when our Comcast contract is up in January we hope to switch. It’s not that the service is terrible, it’s that we got in on a special 3 for $33 deal and after January we expect those rates to go up.

Speaking of rate increases, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin noted cable rates have risen 93 percent over the past 10 years. Breaking the multi dwelling unit contracts will help spur competition in the space. Companies offering fiber service face a large cost in building out the infrastructure. Targeting areas with a greater density of customers makes more economic sense and a more lucrative opportunity.

This is good news for people like me, but it still doesn’t address the lack of choice to the big telelcos.

A coworkers creation for the web department’s potluck today. I can’t wait until 12:30pm so we can chow down on this stuff.

Tomorrow is the annual company potluck at work and rather than take the easy way out and buying a dish, I decided to actually cook something. Cooking is certainly not my forte as my regular dinners consist of Health Choice microwaveable dinners. A tantalizing Mediterranean Spinach and Rice dish from the Sun-Maid Raisins recipe site seemed like a good challenge. It helped that I assisted Kristina in making this one time, so I was pretty familiar with the process

Everything was smooth sailing for me except for one thing. I thought a clove was a whole garlic bulb not the little pieces that break apart when you peel off the skin. Oops! The recipe called for “4 cloves of finely chopped garlic.” I was hacking away for a good 20 minutes when my roommate walked into the kitchen and exclaimed at the large amount of garlic I was preparing. We salvaged most of the left overs in a small Tupperware container which he will most likely use later. I am happy the dish turned out just fine but I do not look forward to cooking for a while. Those microwave dinners at $2.89 a piece are well worth bypassing the hassles of preparing, storing, and cooking other foods. Here are two photos of my culinary masterpiece:

The Internet is great for connecting people across the world and exchanging junk that is usually sitting in the corner collecting dust. eBay and Amazon are the premier online trading centers but which one should you use? I’ve used both over the past month and here are my thoughts.

eBay

eBay is great for special, rare, or unique items; everything else is usually goes for a a bargain price. People go to eBay looking for a steal and mass items are hard to compete with against the pro eBayers who get their stuff at wholesale. But if you’re goal is simply to get rid of your clutter with any money being a bonus, then eBay will work for you.

In order to make a thorough auction posting, be prepared to set aside some time for research during the listing process. eBay buyers want lots of information and clear pictures so they know what they are getting in to. When I listed some auctions at the beginning of October it was taking me about an hour and a half per auction including taking and processing pictures, writing a clear and concise description, and researching similar auctions for comparison. Mike Panic guest posted at GetRichSlowly.org with tips to maximize the profits of your eBay auctions.

eBay charges a fee to list your item and a final value fee when your item sells. On top of that, if you use PayPal to receive payment, you will get a fee tacked on to that to. There are extra fees for special upgrades like boldening your item in the search results and extra super size pictures. These upgrades eat up your profit and do not provide any extra value. The only extra that should be considered is adding a gallery image which shows a thumbnail of your item in the search result.

Amazon

When talking about Amazon, I am not talking about their auctions product, but rather the sellers marketplace. Amazon made it’s name selling books which it trumps eBay over. The process of listing a book is a simple three steps including searching for the book, entering the condition and your price, and hitting submit. Then you’re thrown into the mix with other sellers vying to list the lowest price. When you get a sale, Amazon emails you a reminder to ship it in 2 business days and provides a shipping credit. There is less flexibility to differentiate yourself compared to eBay but the listing process is much, much quicker.

Amazon lets you choose three shipping options to offer for your item: the standard shipping rate of $3.99, an expedited shipping rate of $6.99, and an international shipping rate of $12.99. I suggest offering all three as it broadens your possible audience. You might think the shipping credits are a little low, but for standard shipping use media mail/parcel post, and for expedited and international use a priority flat rate envelope. Then your shipping costs will be below the issued shipping credit!

Amazon Marketplace fees are more straight forward compared to eBay. There is no fee to list your item. Fees are only collected when your item sells where Amazon takes 6-15% of the sale price, a $0.99 transaction fee, and a variable closing fee. Before you list your item Amazon lets you know how much profit you can expect if your item sells and you are free to make changes at any time.

Conclusion

In the end I use Amazon Marketplace for media items like books, movies, and video games with eBay for everything else. To help you figure out which option is better for your stuff check out these useful fee calculators:

• eBay Fee Calculator
• PayPal Fee Calculator
• Amazon Marketplace Calculator

Surreal animation/video that would make Monty Python proud.

If you liked this cyriak has a lot more where that came from.

With Halloween just around the corner Kristina, her friends, and I made a trek out to western Maryland to experience the Markoff haunted trail. To get there we had to drive down a winding, curvy road in the dark. That was scary enough for me, but the night became more frightening when we got there.

After you pay the $25 fee to get in, you wait in an area with several bonfires before they call your group number. Actors in full creepy-costume interacted with us to pass the time. One was dressed in a suit and walked around like a possessed zombie droning about brains while chasing our group members around. When they called us enter the trail, we were bubbling with anticipation to see what was behind the doors.

We entered the first chamber which was full with hanging skeletons. I let Kristina go ahead of me as we entered the next part which led through a tunnel. As we ducked down to go through, Kristina got scared and thrusted her elbow back right into my nose. It hurt like hell but I stumbled on in the darkness anyway. After I was outside I started to feel a wetness on my hands. Using a nearby light I saw that my hands were covered in blood and my nose was dripping thick, dark-red fluid. It was evident that I needed to head back for some medical attention but how would I get there?

Luckily there was an actor dressed like Jack the Ripper directly behind this. When I tried to explain that I was bleeding and needed to leave, they acted like I was part of the show. With no help from the actor, Kristina helped me back the way we came where there was a guy dressed as a skeleton in the room full of dangling skeletons. He guided us out but on the way a girl saw the blood on me and started shrieking, “You can’t make me go, look at that boy’s face! What if that happens to me?” It was definitely a bonus freaking out waiting patrons.

I ended up at a dressing trailer where a lady dressed in a weird cat costume helped me wash up and stop the bleeding with paper towels. In 15 minutes I was good as new and Kristina and I headed back to the haunted trail. We ended up with a group of strangers, not our friends, but we had a good time anyways.

The trail was rough and hard to navigate in the dark which probably explains why we had to sign a waiver before entering. Actors would jump out of random places and Kristina would shriek. There was a girl ahead of us who was so jumpy she would scream when a tree branch touched her. At the end there were guys with chainsaws (chains removed of course) that chase people around. Kristina totally lost it and started sprinting away from them as fast as she could. I’m surprised she didn’t pass out from the sheer terror of the moment.

In the end it was a fun night. Even though I got a bloody nose, I left with a great story to tell which made it even better than I had expected. The trail is open through the 31st of October from dusk until 9pm. If you are in the area, it is definitely worth checking out.