Creative niches

I came across an interesting concept this morning. A networking and dating site specifically for artists. Now that is getting really segmented and niche, but it makes sense. Why waste time networking on a general site where you really have to hunt to find people with similar interests? It just makes sense to have a specific site like this. The Whole9 was created to give a meeting ground for all creative souls, a place where they could interact with other artists, promote their work, collaborate on projects and much more. The Whole9 differentiates itself by being a hip and upscale boutique style dating site for creative people rather than a generic run of the mill meeting ground. Users are able to create a space to display their art work and connect with other artists, giving them a new place to display their talents.

Last chance emails for event registrations

As we rely more on the web for business and recreational activities, the ways to connect are increasingly becoming more streamlined. Take registration forms for example, they used to be cumbersome and complicated at one time, but as newer systems are being created these processes are becoming not only simpler but also better managed. I find that when I'm interesting in registering for an online event which has a registration process that is too long or asks too many details, I just lose interest.

The main things I look for when registering for events on the Internet, is that the process is quick and that I receive a confirmation letter immediately, giving me all the details of the event, such as the date, time, cost due or cost paid etc. I also like having a 'remind me' option which sends an email reminding you of the event a day earlier.

A new feature on registering for events is being offered by Regonline who specializes in event organization software, that consumers who do not complete the registration process, can still be sent a sort of a 'last chance' email with special promotional deals such as price discounts or specialized customer service help. I'm not so sure I would like to receive one of these though. If I haven't completed the form, it means that I have changed my mind. Although, price is a factor is a lot of these decisions and if a discount was offered, it could tilt the balance. I think overall registration could be increased from 15-25% by sending such a letter out.

settling in

Since moving to our new home, I have been busy looking for all the basics one needs, a mini-mart that does home delivery, a post office, a laundry, a pharmacy and a beauty salon. I was quite intrigued that one of the local salons offers a body acne treatment, which is something I'd never heard off before, but quite impressed that even a small neighborhood place would offer such a specialized or niche service. I've been reading reviews of the different places on the boards, and it looks like I have a great option for hair styling and many great options for nails. If only I had the time to indulge.

different personalities

Have you ever wondered how some men go all out to be their best, while others just tend to let things be. And then there are some men who are the super achievers who are not able to let run the natural and logical course, and end up going to all lengths to be number one. Which one are you? And which do you think are most likely to go in for something like a male enhancement product and not feel even a little bit of embarrassment about it. They treat it just like any other vitamin or exercise and that's about it.

photo: in the light

A photo from a few months back. I remember, it was taken in the afternoon, when I was desperate for some sleep, but of course little E (who was 2 and a half-3 months old then) had other ideas. But, thanks to her waking up, I got so see some lovely afternoon light streaming in between the curtains, as well as noticed the warmth of the light from this lamp.

how soon is too soon?

Ok, so while we are discussing it, lets really get to it. You've tried out some of those anti-aging creams, haven't you? And you're still in your twenties, right? Well, that's the way marketers want you to go, to start using all these products that were originally marketed for older consumers are now targeted at twenty-somethings, who are scared into thinking they are aging at warp speed and are gobbling up everything from anti-aging face washes to wrinkle eye creams. How early do you have to really start with these products? I would have thought that the later you can go without them the better you are, emotionally at least, but it's the opposite based on market research. I think very soon, you'll have acne treatment and anti-aging treatments combined in one!

What all do you insure?

Besides health and car insurance do you have any other insurance currently? These two are the most common kinds of insurance in the US, although there are lots of additional insurance segment available. Since we travel quite often, we usually get travel insurance each time we travel for the duration of our trips, which is a great way to ensure that you don't have to worry about anything that goes wrong while you're traveling. Car insurance depends on your driving record, age, type of vehicle being insured and your location. Insurance rates vary from state to state so if you live in exclusive are of Connecticut you will likely be paying higher rates for car insurance than in other areas of the state. In the same way, consumers in Maryland, need to find automobile insurance agents based on where they live which will determine their insurance rates. I had a basic Ford Escort in college with quite nominal insurance, but as soon as I got a new car I had to suddenly pay a much larger amount.

A long busy day

Today has been a super hectic day. I did everything from our weekly groceries, to shopping for socks, leggings, caps, winter dresses etc for Elisha for our upcoming trip back home, which took me from one end of Ibn Batuta mall to the other, looking for our so-hard-to-find SoundDock speaker battery which has been on our list for the past two months and refuses to be available, and of course, a little time at Starbucks in Borders looking through some magazines while sipping a hot chocolate. On the home front, I did the laundry, found that box of green tea that I brought back from Kerala, scanned some documents for my hubby, which ended up taking 40 minutes since some of the pages kept getting chopped off on the sides and I had to keep redoing them. Whew, I feel like I've got a lot done today, with my cross country mall trek, that I don't need to secretly start looking for a fat burner or any such thing to lose any weight, right!

have you seen my led lamp?

Moving to a new house makes it really fun to search for decor ideas on the internet. It's when all the things I want to do to get a new look, well not all, but many at least, can be put into practice, and all that surfing decor sites comes in handy. The problem happens when I forget to bookmark a site and then just cannot find what I was looking for. I found a really great idea for a LED lamp and now I have no idea how I found it and where to find it again. I know all about led flashlights and how cool they are in consuming less energy and being more dependable, but I just wish I could find the page for the cool led lamp which would be perfect for my entry hallway. It wasn't the usual led desk lamp variety, but something quite creative and even magical. I hope I find the page soon....will share it here with you when I do.

What I should have known about credit cards 10 years ago

I got my first credit card all too easily, when I was a junior in college. I never even applied for one, but there were lots of credit card offers and I was given a pre-approved application and got the card within a few days itself. While I knew I had to be careful about charging money on the card, it was just so easy to get pulled into buying things on sale and think about paying later on. Credit cards are something that we have to have but have to be cautious about. Credit cards are essential in today's world; you can't even rent a car without a credit card, so the only way to handle credit cards smartly is to have an agenda about them, to pay charged amounts as soon as possible, before even the interest is charged. I wish I had been able to read basic credit guidelines such as these before I got into the credit card cycle. It's also a good idea to understand what balance transfers are all about, so you can take advantage of better interest rates elsewhere.

how tech friendly is your corner shop?

The changes one sees is the small retail stores these days is quite interesting. Some time back most of the corner stores never bothered with any technological support but now all of them seem to have a host of retail tech support such as inventory control, audit support or a receipt printer and so on. With the investments that retailers have made into this part of their business, the results are definitely going to show an improvement once the cost of the software has been taken care of.

Do you go to buy.com?

It's been a week since we moved into our new home and we've made really good progress on the unpacking and organizing, but once the initial rush wears off, I'm finding it hard to get excited about finishing off the work. For one thing, our new home is radically different from our old one, so it looks like we will need to change some of our furniture. Our desk is just wrong for this space and it needs to go, so I've been looking for deals online. I found a good deal on a Canon printer at buy.com, which will take up much less space than our current one and will look better in our more modern surroundings. I was quite impressed with the offerings at buy.com, especially at the variety of offerings on their weekly deals page, where one can really snap up some good stuff. It really doesn't seem like 3 years ago that I was setting up our old home and now it's time to do it again. How the time as gone by so fast it's hard to really understand at times. I like to make changes to our home and doing it in a new space is even more exciting.