Dating Sites – Done Dealz Just For You

I wrote briefly about thisValentines once before and said i would come back to the topic. Honestly I have a couple new topics that i want to discuss, but they will wait. One such topic is Molly Rodriguez and her well-deserved reaction from Dr Phil when he interviewed her on the show last month. I haven’t written about it sooner because i wanted to watch it a few times and actually give my true moment by moment observations on how this completely backfired in her face. For now, all I have to say is that Dr Phil did a great job in researching, and asking the tough questions that others have not.

Another topic I want to touch on soon is the increasing number of married individuals I am coming across that are completely getting treated like hell by their significant others. Some of the stories I am hearing and seeing people go through are just ridiculous.

But on to why we are here. Dating Sites. It’s February which is known for a few things. President birthdays, Valentines Day Massacre, and of course the month of love…or strong like…or just simple sex with friends that mean a lot to you. I guess it depends on how you define your world and those that are in it.

As some of my loyal readers and friends know, I recently went through a divorce last year. This has led me to explore the world of online dating. I will admit that i wasn’t sure exactly what to think about it at first, but as I gained more experience at using the sites, the more interesting I found it to be.

Why did I go to online dating? I work for an internet company and my experiences there have shown me that people from all around the globe use the internet in so many ways. Shopping, bill paying, news updates, communication, gaming, homework, work, and yes, even dating. My life allows little time for socializing in clubs, and honestly I am so tired of the clubs. I worked security in one for 3 years, and seeing the same guys show up week after week doing the same moves on different girls week after week really became rather embarrassing to watch. Not just the guys. Seeing the same girls come in every week going home with different guys each week….well, either way it was disturbing.  So clubs…not for me.  I do go to a bar or two rather regularly, and usually the same place, but its always after work on Mondays. We have a group from work that goes and we unwind. I thought I would make the internet work for me, 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.

How successful have I been? I have met a few girls from the sites that I talk to. One in particular has actually turned into a very close friend. Others I talk to on the phone and we still talk about meeting up, just sometimes the timing isn’t always right or they live just a little bit too far for a last minute date to the movies or dinner.

I wasn’t fortunate to have any special promotions or deals out there when I joined some of these sites. This would be why I am doing this, as i have arranged with some of the sites to be provided with special links that will give you discounts off membership fees, and even some free trials or promotions, that you may not be able to find on their sites if you went there directly. Please keep in mind, in order to utilize any of the offers I provide below, you have to use my link to get them. The offer codes are embedded in the link address which tells the website that you are getting special offer pricing or promo.

I will start with the one I started with which was Yahoo! Personals. They have arranged a link for me to give to my readers that will allow a free trial period. You can get your Yahoo! Personals 7 Day FREE Trial offer. Go try it out!

Some of the other deals for Yahoo! Personals I have been given to pass on are:
Save 47% by subscribing for the 6 Month Plan with Yahoo! Personals

Save 33% by subscribing for the 3 Month Plan with Yahoo! Personals

Recently Chemistry.com has been all over the media and even had a Network Television study by one of the News Journal Programs i believe it was on ABC. Maybe you have seen them in magazines, or elsewhere, but none the less, the journalists are seeking these folks out and their website to cover their stories on dating. Check out what I snagged from them for you:
7 Day Free Trial with Chemistry.com

3 Months for the Price of 1 @ Chemistry.com

The next site offer I have is for Lavalife where it is FREE TO FLIRT!  This is a cool site to check out as well.  Here is the link for this offer:
Join Lavalife FREE!

Check back with me later today as i round up more deals with some other sites. You won’t want to miss it, as i have arranged deals with 4 or 5 other sites, most of which you have seen or heard of before.

Obama and Change.gov

I didn’t vote for Obama. I didn’t vote for anyone this election. I recently moved counties and could not get registered in time to vote.

I have heard a lot of people say good things and others say bad things about having him as our 44th President. I wasn’t completely familiar with every facet of his campaign, but there is a part of me inside that is happy to see him in Office. Hopefully, I can say that 4 years from now.

One facet of his Administration that I really like is his call for the Citizens of the United States to participate in making the necessary changes in government, and in our country, as well as its future.

It is a sign of the times, that a President utilize technology and the Internet to allow the Citizens to be heard, offer ideas and opinions on the issues that are important to us all. The venue for this is the website www.change.gov.

On this website you can learn about everything that Obama is facing, as well as his documented plans on how to tackle big issues. You can even look at a PDF file that is the Transition Guide that he and his administration are following to prepare for taking command in Washington DC. More importantly, there are areas where Citizens can sign up and volunteer to help accomplish goals to better the tomorrow of this country.

Do you think you can solve part of the country’s problems better? Great! There is a JOBS section that allows you to actually fill out an initial on-line application to be considered for appointed positions.

You can also fill out invites to the President and VP and their spouses for special events that you would like to see them consider making an appearance for.

I recently filled out a segment on the site under the Citizen’s Registry. This is where you can voice your ideas and other Citizens vote on whether your idea is important. The more votes, the further up your idea gets. If it makes it far enough, the top ideas will be presented to President Obama for review as Citizen Concerns and possibly leading to changes in legislation, programs, government, etc.

I wrote mine on Veterans Education Benefits that Expire after 10 years. Please take moment and review my post there and if you agree with what I have to say, please vote in support of it. If you don’t agree then vote that way as well. If you read it, but don’t care what I said, please do not vote either way. This is a site that is allowing citizens to be heard for the first time, and really does not have room for those that want to go in and just screw with people to watch rankings change. You can find my post here:

http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=0878000000055eG

What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas…(if you can get there)

I was asked by my friend Julie to drive her and her husband Jeff to the airport this morning to make a 5 am flight with NorthWest Airlines. This was a huge event for them as it was a combination Christmas present for him and a birthday present for her. There were several weeks put into planning this trip.

If I remember correctly, the itinerary involved flying out of Omaha to Minneapolis via Northwest Airlines. Then from Minneapolis to Las Vegas. From LasVegas, they had a rental car waiting for them to drive to San Diego, CA to meet up with her dad for the first holiday spent together since she was 8 yrs old.  After some time in San Diego, they would drive back to Vegas for a few days. She managed to land 5th row tickets to see The Mindfreak Chris Angel on her birthday. They would then fly back on Christmas Eve.

That’s how it was supposed to go.

Let me back up a little for the evening.

We spent Wednesday night at Mic’s Karaoke Bar singing and celebrating a makeshift birthday party for Julie. There was food, drinks, some dancing, and singing. I also forgot to mention that our first decent winter storm warning was in effect and the sleet had already begun to fall and accumulate into a respectable amount of frozen slush on the streets.  In fact, we probably shouldn’t have even went out to the bar, but nonetheless we did. It was that type of weather that told all of the new first time SUV drivers that they were invincible and needed to drive across town 3 or 4 times before going to bed for the night.

Logic also says that if you have to take someone to the airport to make a 5 am flight, that you shouldn’t be out drinking late either. But nonetheless…I did. I made it back home around 1 am without any major problems. Roads were ice and snow covered. This is when I absolutely treasure my little Land Rover. Never been stuck in the snow, went off road accidentally. It handles the snow much better than 90% of the vehicles out there.

I get a call from Julie around 1:15am. She asks me to check flight information on the Internet to make sure their flight was still leaving on time. I did….and it was. We then realized that I would have to be leaving my apartment in about an hour to go get them.

I stop and get gas, and arrive at their house a couple miles away. Load up the luggage and off we go. Now at this point, driving conditions are less than favorable. I am driving confidently though knowing how my car does in the snow. Julie is sitting in the passenger seat and is hiding her face talking about how she wants to go to sleep because she is not in control of the vehicle in the weather. I remind her of the 36K miles I put on my Humvee during Desert Storm and have driven in almost every weather and terrain condition presented to a human and 99.8% of the time did not have a problem ( I did get my Humvee stuck bottomed out on top of a dirt berm in Kuwait, but that was the Captain’s fault for telling me to go that route).

We arrive safely at the airport around 3:30am. I drop them at the curb and I go back around to park in the garage. I go into the 75 cent Quick Park area. I figured I wouldn’t be there for longer than 90 minutes or so. Julie had given me a $5 to cover the garage parking. I haed inside and meet them at NorthWest’s ticket counter where there is a small line formed. We chat about things in general. They get to the counter and I head back towards to other side of the room to wait. Julie comes walking back with a smirk on her face.

“The flight has been cancelled because they don’t have a flight crew for it. They booked us with American Airlines so now we have to go stand in their line.”

We look over at American’s counter, where there was no line…nor any employees. They weren’t there to conduct business for the day yet. Julie explains that they now have to fly from Omaha at 11 am to Dallas and then to LA which will then connect them to Vegas (where they would then turn around and drive back to California as part of their original plan). They would arrive in Vegas around 5pm instead of 7am like originally planned. This plan will cost them one entire day of their short trip.

The American rep finally shows up around 4:15. She already is apologizing to everyone for the delay, and then advises that she will be the only agent for awhile because the other agent is stuck in snow on her way to work. Luckily Julie was one of the first in line for American. She comes storming back to me, even more frustrated.

“Northwest overbooked the American flight, so they’re sending me back to the Northwest line.” Which by now the line had tripled in length.

Jeff  moved their bags into line while Julie got  on her cell phone to call Northwest’s phone lines to try to get a resolution. I pulled my cell phone out and did that too. I was standing with Jeff in line. Two others in line had caught wind of this and they also called on their cell phones. We had 5 people in line all trying to get a rep on the phone, which we were advised that the average hold time wait would be 8 minutes. Bullshit. We all found some humor that we were all synced perfectly with the hold music and messages and started turning on the speakerphones to compare. We watched as 5 am came and went.

Now the annoying part started. Northwest started calling for travelers that were scheduled to be on the 7 am flight to Minneapolis. Their flight was okay. They would be leaving on time to their actual destination. I”m sorry, but I believe in first come first served. They should have put the travelers that just lost their flight plans and put them on the next flight and juggled the travelers after that to better work with less booked American flights. Julie got back up to the counter and came back again with tears on her cheeks.

“Let’s get out of here, we’re not flying today.” I asked her what happened. “We’re supposed to be doing this again the same time tomorrow morning. It seems that they don’t even have an airplane. It never showed up.”

“Well, that would explain why they don’t have a flight crew…”

I go out and get my car to pick them up at the curb. I have to go through the parking fee gate to get out and come back around. I hand the $5 bill and the ticket to the attendant. He looks back at me and tells me it’s gonna cost $6.50. I almost looked at him and said “are you kidding?” Instead I just grab a ten and hand it to him. I drive back around and load Jeff and Julie up in the car. We hit McDonald’s on the way back home (which we were charged a 99 cent tax for eating inside the place).

I understand how airlines have to take into consideration the safety factor of landing aircraft and making them take off in inclement weather, but this situation could have been handled in better ways several times over. Part of this way due to weather, the rest was due to lack of customer service on NorthWests part. I will remember this event and probably want to drive if I ever need to go to Vegas.

I just hope they both get through their trip safely.

Snow Removal Operators & Letters From Santa

I would like to start by making a plea to any privately owned snow plow operator or business owner out there. If you know someone in this line of work, please send the link of this to them to read.

YOU ARE NOT EMERGENCY SERVICES PROVIDERS!

I was driving on I-680 the other morning around 6am. The first accumulation of snow had come the day before, and the roads were in black ice risk conditions. I was in the middle lane and was driving around 50-55 mph. A little fast for the conditions, but at that moment, was one of maybe 3 cars in a block radius. I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed some headlights coming up on the inside lane very quickly. I slowed down just a bit in the event that I needed to move, thinking it may have been state patrol, or Omaha Police, maybe a Fire Chief’s Truck…

…the vehicle came closer and flew past me as if I was in Park. It wasn’t an emergency services vehicle. It was a Privately owned Snow Removal service vehicle. White Dodge Truck, extended cab, plow in front bouncing up and down . If I was doing 50, this truck had to been hitting around 70-75 mph.

Just because you carry a plow in front of you, does not make you immune to black ice spots on the road. Your vehicle is far more dangerous with that steel blade on the front. You become a mobile guillotine. I watched as this truck flew past and took some of the turns, back end of his truck slid out a little bit, but not enough for him to lose control. As I watched some more, this guy was cutting in out of traffic, no turn signals for lane changes, and then cut across to the I-80 East from 680, but did it from the 80 West ramp. He couldn’t get moved back over in time to make the change properly, but had to risk the lives of cars nearby to do so in the fashion that was done. Absolutely ridiculous.

So again, a reminder…your service is not life and death involved enough to justify driving like that. If it was, you too would have red and blue lights on your vehicles. If one of your snow plowing vehicles ever runs into mine or one that my children are in and was clearly negligent, I will own your business by the start of the next snowfall season.

Letters from Santa

Now for something a little more fun.

I have found a website that offers a chance for children (or anyone for that matter) to receive letters from Santa  that are personalized. I wish I would have found them sooner because with enough lead time, you can actually get the letters post marked from the North Pole.

Anyways, check them out here. Watch your child’s eyes light up when they get this in the mail!

Going Out To Eat & MyDoneDealz

In this economic condition that our country is in, I have found myself exploring different methods to help others save some money and make the dollar stretch a little further without a severe compromise of lifestyle.

I have one that i am working on, and am waiting to see if they will give me the permission to post their link on the blog. Hopefully they will respond soon.

Basically I just picked up some credits at some local eateries for about 9 cents on the dollar. Stay tuned and if they give me the okay, I will post that banner or link on here.

People at work and other friends have come to me for research information, or to find that specail deal, or that network inside connection for discounts. I have found I have a good knack for it, and have decided to share it outside of my groups as well. I am currently creating a website where I will be sharing some links that will get some special dealz and discounts on services, goods, and eating establishments that you are probably already using today. SO Keep an eye out for my announcement of the new website MyDoneDealz.com. Its not up yet, but hopefully will be soon.

Dating Sites & Being Almost Older than the Gov’t.

I will admit, I have dabbled on the dating sites for a little around a year now. I didn’t really take them too seriously until earlier this year. I have been a member of several to include some of the bigger named ones.

I will keep the sites nameless at this time as it truly doesn’t matter with my topic today which site I am referring too, as they all seem to share the same characteristic. I will at a later time however, discuss some of the experiences I have had on various ones and the pros and cons I have learned from the ones I joined on their trial membeships.

When you register your profile you get the option of selecting the gender ethnicity and age range of the person you are looking for. Here’s the scary part that I have found. The drop down menu sometimes goes up to 110 years of age.

Recently on a local radio program, there was a  discussion about this. About centarians dating online. So this got me thinking. If two people at the age of 100 or 110 years old met online and started dating…

The US government is 232 years old as of this writing.

The combined age/experience of these two would be almost as old as the government has been around. It would be just short…by a mere 12 years.

Are there dating sites for those over 80? Well, there are for Seniors anyways…

 

This would also lead me to wonder what that profile would look like…

“What kind of relationship are you looking for (Check one)?”

Hang Out/Short Term/Marriage

“Do you have any pets? What Kind and How Many?”

Cat/Bird/No Pets

1-3/4-6/7-10/More than 100

“Do you smoke?”

Yes/No/Are you serious?

I agree that everyone needs someone for the most part, but I just never fathomed the idea of dating on the internet for those that are 100 or older. BTW, I did do a search for that age group on a couple sites…turned up nothing.

Mountain Dew – Battery Acid For Your Teeth

Anyone that has known me for over 6 months knows how much I love Mountain Dew. It’s not the caffeine, as i can get that from Dr Pepper, coffee, etc. It truly is the taste.

I recently learned of some information that i am discovering, not many people are aware of. Consider this a Public Service Announcement.

My ex went to the dentist last month and left with the news that she had more cavities than she realized. This was mildly surprisng to me, as she is a twice a day brusher and takes care of her teeth. She enlightens me on the conversation.

Dentist: You drink Mountain Dew don’t you? Prbably more than the average person…?

Ex: Yeah, I do, why?

Dentist: We can tell by looking at your teeth. We actually have a term for it in the industry. It’s called Mountain Dew Mouth.

I was very surprised to hear this. It seems that mountain Dew is the only beverage that leaves a distinct signature mark on teeth when consumed regularly. I don’t know how the technical aspects go, but if anyone is a dentist or assistant, please feel free to leave a comment explaining this to others.

Basically they told her that it has something to do with the sugar content and the Ph level. It works its way into your gumline, and the Ph attacks your enamel. Deterioting it overtime. Then the sugars go to work. They advised her that it is the equivalent of battery acid for your teeth. They advised if you must drink a soda beverage and want the caffeine, to drink Diet Dr. Pepper. Far less sugars and a Ph level that your mouth can handle. Surprisingly I have found that this is the only Diet soda that I am able to tolerate.

I almost didn’t believe this, until I thought of my own teeth. I have a couple cavities as well. I hate going to the dentist. I did some internet research and was amazed to find this is well documented with pictures and everything. I’m not going to post any of the pics here of other people’s choppers being victim to the drink. I will leave that up to you to explore on your own.

So needless to say, I haven’t drank Mt Dew since then. Too bad, as for me, it is an end of an era. And yes, there have been phases of withdrawal from it.