REGINA THURSTON
http://blog.reginathurston.com
About the Author
Born in New Jersey and raised in Michigan, Regina Thurston is an accomplished information techology and finance professional with business affiliations in Michigan, New York and Arizona.
Resources
Regina Thurston
Warehousing on Demand
Teaching a Tax Class
To register for the class, call us at (248) 506-6750 or send us an e-mail indicating your intent to attend and what else you would like to cover.
Nikki's Ginger Tea
Nikki wants to promote her goods and services in as many ways as possible. Her immediate desire is to sell Nikki's Ginger Tea online. Thus the creation of http://www.nikkisgingerstea.com/.
Russell Street Bazaar
On Monday, December 28, 2009 I will open a booth at Russell Street Bazaar. I will sell web design services and excess fragrance inventory from What are you Wearing. Also launching a new fragrance: Russell for Her.
Google Bookmarks
Google Bookmarks is a web-based application that lets you save
shortcuts to your favorite webpages online. Unlike browser bookmarks
that are stored on a single computer, Google bookmarks are stored in
your Google Account. This means you can access them from any computer
with an internet connection .
I use different computers for different reasons and each of them have their own set of web browsers and their own set of favorites. Without Google Bookmarks, I have to export my favorites from each computer to my flash drive and them make sure I have the flash drive with me.
I do that anyway but with Google Bookmarks, I have an online backup of my favorites which would have come in handy when my web design notebook was stolen last year.
Reference: http://bookmarks.google.com
I use different computers for different reasons and each of them have their own set of web browsers and their own set of favorites. Without Google Bookmarks, I have to export my favorites from each computer to my flash drive and them make sure I have the flash drive with me.
I do that anyway but with Google Bookmarks, I have an online backup of my favorites which would have come in handy when my web design notebook was stolen last year.
Reference: http://bookmarks.google.co
Google Voice
Yet another Google product. No, I don't work for Google and I don't own
any Google stock (yet). Google just happens to be a company with a lot
of useful products. I don't know why there are free and when that will
change, but when it does, certain products I would probably pay for its
use.
Having said that...
Google Voice gives you a single phone number that rings all your phones, saves your voicemail online, and transcribes your voicemail to text. Other cool features include the ability to listen in on messages while they are being left and the ability to make low cost international calls. You can record custom greetings for your favorite callers or block annoying callers by marking them as spam.
At a minimum, Google Voice allows you to give one telephone number to your callers and have that one number router to wherever you are.
Example #1: You live in two states and have two sets of callers who don't dial outside of their state.
Soultion: Assuming you have a land or cell line with the area code of state A, get a Google voice number with the area code of state B and give that number to those who live in state B. Program your Google voice number to forward the calls from state B to the physical phone you use which might have the area code of state A, which is irrevelant to the caller because he/she has a local number to reach you. When you make a call, you can either dial from the physical phone (state A) or the Google phone (state
.
Example #2: You have a work cell phone and a personal cell phone.
Solution:
1. Carry the phone that has the best reception and coverage and the most anytime minutes. Leave the other phone at home, so you minimize the risk of losng it.
2. Let's assume that your work phone meets this criteria and your personal phone has limited minutes. Increase your personal minutes by using Google Voice. Give your personal callers the Google Voice number and don't give out your personal cell phone number anymore.
3. Call forward your personal cell phone to the Google voice number, which in turn redirects the calls to the physical phone (the work phone).
4. Yes call forwarding your personal number will use a minute of time, but you decide whether to answer the call on your or have Google voice number leave a caller specific message.
5. You can choose not to call forward your personal number and simply check for personal messages using either your Google voice number or your work phone.
Reference: http://voice.google.com
Having said that...
Google Voice gives you a single phone number that rings all your phones, saves your voicemail online, and transcribes your voicemail to text. Other cool features include the ability to listen in on messages while they are being left and the ability to make low cost international calls. You can record custom greetings for your favorite callers or block annoying callers by marking them as spam.
At a minimum, Google Voice allows you to give one telephone number to your callers and have that one number router to wherever you are.
Example #1: You live in two states and have two sets of callers who don't dial outside of their state.
Soultion: Assuming you have a land or cell line with the area code of state A, get a Google voice number with the area code of state B and give that number to those who live in state B. Program your Google voice number to forward the calls from state B to the physical phone you use which might have the area code of state A, which is irrevelant to the caller because he/she has a local number to reach you. When you make a call, you can either dial from the physical phone (state A) or the Google phone (state
.Example #2: You have a work cell phone and a personal cell phone.
Solution:
1. Carry the phone that has the best reception and coverage and the most anytime minutes. Leave the other phone at home, so you minimize the risk of losng it.
2. Let's assume that your work phone meets this criteria and your personal phone has limited minutes. Increase your personal minutes by using Google Voice. Give your personal callers the Google Voice number and don't give out your personal cell phone number anymore.
3. Call forward your personal cell phone to the Google voice number, which in turn redirects the calls to the physical phone (the work phone).
4. Yes call forwarding your personal number will use a minute of time, but you decide whether to answer the call on your or have Google voice number leave a caller specific message.
5. You can choose not to call forward your personal number and simply check for personal messages using either your Google voice number or your work phone.
Reference: http://voice.google.com
Google Sites
This is a web-based application that allows you to create websites. Youcan create more than one and select from a variety of templates (colorchoices) and layouts (column placement).
You can also re-direct your domain name to the Google site.
Unlike most free applications, it has no banner ads and no pop-up windows.
Since you don't have full access to the programming code and some tagsmay not be suppoted, if you can live with the design limitations, thisis actually a good product.
My Site: http://sites.google.com/site/thurstononline
About Google Sites: http://sites.google.com
You can also re-direct your domain name to the Google site.
Unlike most free applications, it has no banner ads and no pop-up windows.
Since you don't have full access to the programming code and some tagsmay not be suppoted, if you can live with the design limitations, thisis actually a good product.
My Site: http://sites.google.com/si
About Google Sites: http://sites.google.com
Google Profiles
I came across a Google application that increases your visibility onthe internet. Since this is what I help other people do, I created aprofile for myself.
http://www.google.com/profiles/102679527917132559659
http://www.google.com/prof
Online Resumes
About a year ago I wrote an article on how to choose a blog product. I was helping a good friend of mind decide which blog tool to use to promote his job hunting efforts and resumes. He has since discovered a resource called Visual CV that exactly meets his need.
Visual CV is an advanced resume website. You can keep and update your resume online and share it with whomever. You can have more than one, control who sees what and view statistics. If you have multiple resumes, only one can be marked as viewable by everyone; the others are viewable by those who receive an e-mail with a private link.
Although I have resumes online with CareerBuilder and Yahoo HotJobs, I like Visual CV better because it supports portfolios and multimedia. It even has a feature to convert your resume to a downloadable PDF, a feature I have not seen on any other resume site. And did I mention that this is a free service, without an obtrusive banner over your resume.
I plan to make this my primary online resume service.
How Dare They Raise My Rate!
A few hours ago I opened my mail and read that Capital One was raising my interest rate from a fixed rate of 9.9% for purchases and cash to a variable rate of prime plus 14.65% for purchases and even ridiculously higher rate for cash. My credit score is in the high 700's.
I have a zero balance and a credit limit limit of $8,300. I haven't used the card in a while but had a 0% transfer balance and paid it off two weeks ago. I was going to call them and give them a piece of mind, but I read articles online that states this is par for the course for this particular lender.
The article below was written on 2/25/2009 - today.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/02/cap_one_revolt.html
The article below was written on 2/23/2009 - two days ago.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/personal-finance/credit-card-companies-raising-rates-consumers
The article below was written on 2/21/2009.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29320523/
The article below was written in 11/2008
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2008-11-09-bank-credit-card-interest-rates_N.htm
My first response, without thinking: "I'll show them". However the more rational response is to analyze how closing the account will affect my credit score. I can get a credit increase of $8,300 from one of my other creditors, which would balance out my percentages if I should close the account. Before I close the account, I have to re-calculate my average credit history length to make sure that this number is not greatly decreased.
I could also just leave the account open, not use the card and continue to let others know how unfair this company has treated me as well as others. The link below is a forum where others are reporting similar experiences. In some cases, people give "food for thought" on possible courses of action.
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=147866
http://newjersey.craigslist.org/wan/1040735409.html (another consumer with forum)
