Monthly Archives: October 2014

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Childrens Pics on Social Media-HaliPawz

We live in a world where it is not always easy to see the bad person lurking behind the bush.  I feel bad for parents today.  I don’t think the world was as dangerous when we were growing up as it is for the children today.  Then again, if you think back over time, danger has always lurked for children, just in different ways.

For example, if you were a parent back when the west was just beginning to settle, your child had to sometimes walk long distances just to go to school. Those dangers could be in the form of weather, animals, or other humans.

Times change, dangers change, but sometimes we should use caution when it comes to sharing on social media.

The first thing you want to do is make sure that not everyone has access to you photos.  What social media sites do you use that you post pictures on?  Do you have your sites set up where they cross-post?  Meaning, if you post something to Facebook, does it automatically post to Twitter?  To Instagram?  To Tumblr?

One thing I have found is that a lot of people post to Twitter and Facebook at the same time.  That is great.  Makes it easy to get your picture or post out to all platforms at the same time.  The problem is that a lot of times, we may change our privacy settings on Facebook, but not on Instagram or Twitter.

Let us imagine a scenario for a minute……..

You have a daughter in 6th grade.  You post pictures of her, commenting on the pic using her name, and include a hashtag that indicates the school she goes to or an event that is taking place at that school.  A child molester is scouring twitter searching JUST hashtags of the school or the current events of the school and sees the picture of your daughter.  He then goes to your twitter account and scours all your posts and pictures.  He learns that you live someone close to the school so he assumes your daughter walks home.  He learns about your day-to-day activities.  He goes to the school, sees your daughter walking home, calls her by name…..she responds because he KNOWS her name……then proceeds to act like he ran into you at Starbucks earlier (or wherever you tweeted you were) and is able to give her enough information about you for her to believe he actually knows you.

It could happen that quickly!

Parents and those that are close to parents…..be careful of your hashtags!  It is so easy to pull up information with them.  Check ALL your social  media settings, not JUST Facebook, especially if you link the accounts.  If you have friends that add anyone that requests (we all have them) then don’t choose “Friends of Friends” choose “Friends Only”.  Make a special album for any pictures your children are going to be in and put a stronger setting on them if you want but make sure to choose that album when uploading and not just “Mobile uploads” or whatever default album you have on your phone.  Do not use your child’s actual name.  You can use an initial.  You can be creative and come up with a name that you only use on social media.  That way, your child will know that if someone uses that name, they should not only NOT respond but get away as soon as possible.

It is also important to go in and look at the settings your children have on their accounts.  If they have a twitter account or an Instagram account, what are their settings on?

Plan ahead, discuss things with your children, and minimize the amount of risk whenever possible!

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Cultural Crazy

What is crazy?  Do we view crazy based on our own beliefs, upbringing, morals?  I find it interesting that we see someone do something that we wouldn’t necessarily do and we think….that is CRAZY!  I know I’m guilty of it.  What really brought it to my attention is all the “crazy” stuff I have been seeing on social media and I think to myself, “Why do they do that?  That’s crazy!  No one should do that!”  Then I stop and think about WHY is it crazy?

My first thought when I see people rubbing themselves with oil and lighting themselves on fire.  CRAZY, INSANE  Anything that brings a change to the body for pure fun and amusement of others has to be crazy.  Then I think wouldn’t tattoos be considered crazy then?  Tattoos bring a change to the body.  Some tattoos are on places that the actual owner of the tattoo cannot see it so only others can see it.  Does it amuse others?  Does it disgust others?  Does it matter?  Please understand, I have no problem with tattoos, I’m just saying, how is a tattoo any different than someone lighting themselves on fire and putting it out resulting in some scarring any different?  Is it different if the person doesn’t know it could cause a scar but a person getting a tattoo KNOWS they are getting the tattoo?  I don’t know that answer.  Do you?

Cultural Crazy causes us to look at how others view the crazy actions of others.  For example, someone that grew up in New York City might think someone that straps themselves to a bull for 8 seconds risking bodily harm is crazy.  At that same respect, someone growing up in the country where everyone knows everyone might think holding a friends chest until they pass out is insane and they would never do it.

Do we, as a society, try to align ourselves with like minded “Craziness Level” Assessors?  Do we look to our friends and family for confirmation of what should be viewed as crazy and what should be viewed an normal fun activities?

I used to say, well if it brings potential danger and loss of limbs / life then it is crazy.  But that isn’t true.  Something as simple as climbing up and painting something on a water tower COULD lead to loss of limbs / life if the person should happen to fall, yet country singers write about that activity all the time.

Consider the following and think how you would judge the “crazy” rating:

Is setting yourself on fire any different than riding a bull?

Is driving 150 mph in an oval shape any different than barrel racing?

Is skydiving any different than deep sea diving?

Is surfing any different than running with the bulls?

Is smoking weed any different than drinking alcohol?

Now think about those same activities with the mindset that you knew nothing about them ahead of time.  Would they seem any crazier?

Now let’s take it another step.  Do you believe that there is a difference between country activity crazy and city activity crazy?

Is there a racial difference between what is accepted crazy and what isn’t?

At the end of the day, the next time you say…..”That is CRAZY!”  Stop and think about what it is that makes it crazy and is there anything you do or your friends do that would be equally as crazy to the person you are judging?

 

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Trash cans need to come with instructions

Now I would like to think of myself as an intelligent person. I did pretty well in school. Test at an above average IQ. I tested above average on all my proficiency tests. I’m not saying all this to brag. I’m Saying this to let others know that even intelligent people can really be off their game sometimes. I would like to think that what happened to me has happened to others, because you know, misery loves company!

I have a dog that loves to get into the trash. Actually the dog I had before him love to as well. Perhaps it is a terrier thing. Anyway, I invested in one of those stainless steel tubular trash cans with the foot pedal. It helped for the most part.

Here’s where my intelligence level will come into question. Do you know the square piece of wire metal at the back of the trashcan? The one that can flip up or lay flat against the trashcan? I have seen it many times. Sometimes I use it to lift the trashcan if I’m trying to move it out of my way but never gave it a lot of thought. I always just assumed it was a strange handle. In all these years, I never realized is serves a real purpose.

I have two of those styles of trash cans, a tall one in my kitchen, a small one in my bathroom. Jake my rat terrier, had learned how to step on the footpedal and raise it up to still get the garbage out of it. He was such a smart dog! Clearly smarter than me. Jake passed away in 2008 and Zipper, my Jack Russell terrier, is not as good at stepping on the footpedal. Unfortunately, he is very good at using his nose to push the lid up on the kitchen one and quickly grabbing garbage off the top before the lid closes again. So many times I would come home to an absolute mess in my kitchen. My solution? Turn the garbage can around in both the kitchen and the bathroom. It solved the problem but is a major inconvenience sometimes.

Then I added a tall Neapolitan Mastiff to my family. She likes to counter surf so over time, the new solution is to block off the kitchen with a baby gate when I am not home. Problem solved, except that the kitchen garbage was turned back around to normal positioning and I would forget to block off the kitchen when I went upstairs. The Mastiff only counter surfs when I am gone, but Zipper would go after the garbage if something smelled good to him at anytime.

All these years, never knowing a solution was already attached to the trash can.

It has a locking mechanism!!! If you flip that little wire handle over to the top of the can, you can not raise the lid! How did I not know this? Where are the instructions?!?!?! The funny thing is, as I have talked to others, I’m learning that I am not the only one that did not know this. As I said….misery loves company so when I have a “duh” moment, I’m appreciative knowing others are just like me! 🙂

Trashcan For Blog

 

It’s really that simple!

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Shaving with a Savings-HaliPawz

Sometimes I am like a dog with a bone when it comes to finding the best item at the best price.  I love finding the best savings on a product I like.  I chalk it up to my inquisitive mind, my taste for the best, and that I hate spending money! Recently, that focus was on razors. I HATE spending money on razors but I don’t want to use the cheap ones that cut up your legs, so I spend the money and regret it the whole time. Of course, like so many, I then tend to use them too long and eventually end up not getting as smooth of a shave as I would like.

I started noticing on Facebook that razors were being promoted stating things like, “women you don’t have to use a pink razor just because you’re a woman, you can use the same razor as a man” or “shave for a dollar a week”. I ignored the ads at first because, let’s face it, most of the “advertised” stuff on Facebook leads to spam emails and more annoying advertisements. After a month or two…..OK, confession time…..after I was out of razors and needed to go spend money on some, the ads caught my attention again.

Here are the thoughts that entered my head:

  1.  Is it legitimate?
  2. Is it really as inexpensive as they say?
  3. Do the razors work?
  4. Why do they have to be so blasted ugly??  Those razors they use in the ads are scary looking, I guess they want men to know they are really “manly”!
  5. Why is it we women have to use an ugly silver razor, why can’t they be a pretty blue or purple and make the man use the colorful razor?

Now I know number 4 is just my own opinion. Some people may think they look sleek and sexy. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say. Besides, if 1-3 are good, then my penny-pinching ways will help me look past number 4 any day!

Number 5 is never going to change. If we want something that be used by both men and women, we are always going to have to settle for the not so eye appealing item to appease the man. They can’t be seen with a pretty colored item, that’s not chest pounding “MANLY”. Yes, sometimes I make myself chuckle as I picture my own words.

Back to the list. I will go in order now.

Number 1….legitimacy. There is only one way to find out. I started looking for reviews of the company OFF of Facebook. I weeded through the well written reviews. I like to read the different levels of reviews. Sometimes you have to get past the 1 star people who will hate anything and everything. They are the ones that expect the $10 item to work as well as the $1000 item their neighbor purchased but they only want to spend $5 for the thing. As I was reading the reviews about the company AND the product, everything seemed to be ok. No one seemed to have any real issues with them. There was the occasional, I couldn’t cancel when I wanted story. Again, sometimes you have to read multiple reviews because not everyone takes the time to read HOW to cancel an automatic shipment and then gets mad when things don’t get canceled correctly.

On to number 2…….price. I went through and started to process an order. There didn’t seem to be any hidden fees. I get to checkout and notice a location for discount code. WHAT??? Inexpensive razors that STILL have the possibility of a bigger discount! Let me go back to the internet! As I was searching for the discount code I come across someone asking HOW can they be so inexpensive and someone else answered that they are Dorco razors purchased in bulk. Dorco? I had never heard of that company before. Another internet search begins.

Much to my surprise, Dorco razors do exist and even better, I can purchase DIRECTLY from them. Getting rid of the middle man and the middle man’s middle man. I go to their website dorcousa.com and start browsing. The first thing I notice is…..There are razors for both genders! What?!?! No ugly silver razor? I can get an attractive razor FOR THE SAME PRICE as the unattractive one? This is getting even better! I start reading the reviews. All pretty favorable. So number 2 and number 3 are checked off my list in my mind because the reviews are strong. What’s even better is that they have a variety to choose from. After going through each one, I started to get the woman’s variety pack but then decided to just purchase Shai Trial Pack. The Shai razor seemed to be designed specifically for a woman’s body. It had a flexible head, multiple blades. The reviews were all favorable.

I begin my checkout session. I find the Shai Trial Pack for a promotional price of $17.50. Then I find a COUPON CODE online (Yay me!) that takes an addition $2.63 off. Shipping was $4.99. So, for $19.86 I get the following: One Razor Handle with two six blade flexible cartridges plus an additional 8 replacement cartridges. Because that is a lot of numbers all at once, I’ll save you the headache….. TEN Cartridges TOTAL for less than $20 including shipping! Are you kidding me? Now to wait and see if they really work.

From the date I ordered them to the date they were delivered was a total of 5 days. Not too bad for budget shipping considering that was them processing the order, shipping it out, AND I ordered it on a Friday, received on the following Wednesday.

I opened the package and was pleasantly surprised.

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First, the package that the handle and two cartridge come in was a plastic blister pack but it had an easy open slit in the back. I LOVE packaging that is easy to open!

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It also comes with a base that has a suction cup back for you to hang the handle in the shower.   Another nice feature is that all of the replacement cartridges come with a plastic protective cover. This makes them easy to travel with and store. They also included a coupon for 5% off my next purchase if I used it within he next three weeks.  A nice option if I had purchased a smaller amount.

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I had not even used the razor yet and I was already impressed with this company.

Now, for the true test, does the razor WORK?

Yes! The handle fits in my hand very nicely. I don’t feel like I’m fighting with it as I shave. The shave is nice and smooth. I have to admit I am one of those lazy shavers that doesn’t use shaving cream. I just use soap and a loofah and shave using the soap. Even with that, the shave was nice and smooth. I am not an extremely safe shaver either, one of the reasons I don’t use the cheap $2 disposable razors because I would always cut myself with them. Not the case with these at all….and they are less than the $2 razor! It glides over my legs nicely. I didn’t have to do repeated passes to remove the hair. The razor rinses pretty well under water.

One takeaway is that they last much past a week of shaving (I know most razors don’t, just stating these are no exception). Perhaps in the winter when I am not shaving every single day, they will last longer, but I noticed by day eight or nine I was starting to have to repeat my pass in order to remove the hair.

I wouldn’t count on the holder if you have tiled shower walls. I tried so many ways to get it to suction on my wall and I would come in the next day to the razor being on the floor. One time I thought it had broken because it was in three pieces, not just two, but I was able to snap the one piece back on to the handle and then put the cartridge back on. I would say not to bother if you can’t get it to suction the first one or two times. I have thought about just putting a different, larger suction cup on it to see if that would help, but I haven’t bothered yet. If I do, I will definitely update this post.

To help you out, if you want to order from them, click this link: Save 20% with Dorco and you’ll save 20% off your order!

Thank you and happy Shaving and Saving!