Congratulations! You have been selected...

to receive Two Free Ipod Nanos.

That ad comes up every third time I log on (the weird bird call noise comes up every fourth time). I wonder what it is about this board that the adbot thinks we need two free Nanos? I already have a Nano. It's a great invention. I honor mine with a silver case and a custom lanyard of Swarovski crystals and freshwater pearls. I wear it at the gym, where I get great ideas for my book while jogging to Lenny Kravitz.

Do you all have ipods, or have you bought one as a result of that ad? Do writers own more Nanos than the general population?

I got an ipod touch for Christmas from my husband. (He likes to give me presents like that, that he can use also. Hmm. Well, he doesn't get me kitchen appliances anyway.)

I love this ipod. It gives me the weather, Scrabble, government documents, music, photos and email. It goes everywhere I go.

Carol

I get my husband's cast-offs -ipod, phone, laptop, whatever. Since he's the early adopter and I'm indifferent, I always got "upgraded" when he did. Actually, now I get upgraded when the kids do.

That ad is so annoying, especially the voice part. I keep having to put my computer on mute so I don't have to listen to it. They say "two free Ipod Nanos," but there's always a catch so they're not really free. Usually ads that promise free stuff like that requier you to participate in their sponsors' offers to get it, which nearly always involves spending money and buying things you otherwise wouldn't want. There's always a catch.

Haha, Gordon, a long time ago I fell for one of those. It was for a Free Louis Vuitton Bag (as if. ). It took me through about fifty screens before asking for a credit card number. "Verification Purposes," you know.

That was half an hour I'll never get back, lol.

I don't have a Nano or ipod or pda or any of that other stuff.

I think the pop-up blocker I have takes care of all those little annoying things for me. I like it that way.

Early on, I think I tried one or two of those ads (fool that I am), and also wasted time.

You are so very right, Peter. There is always a catch! 'There ain't no free lunch.'

I never had an iPod, but I recently got an iPhone. I would say it's the greatest thing since white bread, but I don't like white bread.

Yesterday I selected a couple of recipes for tonight's dinner from an online cooking site and sent them to a shopping list. The list automatically downloaded to my phone. I have another list on my phone, which lets me quickly choose and add items and set up a shopping trip. Each time I put an item in my basket, I tap the item off and the cost is added to my total.

Last night I went to sleep to the sounds of a gentle thunderstorm (my favorite way to go to sleep). I can read and send emails; I can even read these topics, but at this point, I must come here to respond to them.

I play MaJong, check my calendar, get alarms when it is time to go to work, check the weather, take pictures,....
and once in a while, talk on it's phone.

Ann

BTW, Peter, last night I had a lengthy conversation with a woman whose family lives in the UP. (Upper Michigan.) She talked about how much she liked it, how life was simpler there, but at the same time very encouraging to creativity by artists and writers.

Ann, I forgot the calendar.

Carol

The only time I see the ads is if I'm not signed in!

I don't have an Ipod Nano either. I just use one of those cheap MP3 players you plug into your USB port. Mine has 1 gb of memory (it's not full yet) and runs on an AAA battery. I hear the Ipods use very expensive rechargable batteries that you can't replace yourself, so basically when the battery goes bad you have to buy a new Ipod. Besides Ipods can cost $100 or more, but a USB drive MP3 player can be gotten for less than $25.

Carol Troestler wrote:

BTW, Peter, last night I had a lengthy conversation with a woman whose family lives in the UP. (Upper Michigan.) She talked about how much she liked it, how life was simpler there, but at the same time very encouraging to creativity by artists and writers.

Ann, I forgot the calendar.

Carol

It is a very nice and beautiful place to live. Lots of open space and lots and lots of trees. Lots of nice scenery to take pictures of.

I immediately delete anything beginning with the word "congratulations." I just hope the day doesn't come when they switch to the despicable "."

The silly thing is not what I wrote. It should be c-o-n-g-r-a-t-s.

I don't have AdBlock. I actually like some of the ads, like the Bluefly $30 off ones. They get me every time with that ad.

Other than the iPod, you can have all the other stuff -the PDAs, the touch phones, etc. I still write down my appointments on a paper calendar. I like seeing my day, yk?

Tonight for some reason an ad popped up on how someone could make a fortune putting ads on google. What jumped out at me was that one young successful man in this endeavor was from Merrimac, Wisconsin, a town of about 500 people up the road from me, with the claim to fame of having a ferry boat across the Wisconsin River. It is also the home of my server, merr.com, which is probably why this came up on my computer.

Being the home of my server, we have been known to take our laptops and go down there if something wasn't working correctly. When we do that, the employees decide it is time to go for lunch, but one man close to our age sticks around and we talk about computers and either point out to him they've got a glitch in the system or they get our problem fixed.

Carol

Those pop ups remind me of a carnival/fair where you shoot things that pop up. I'd like to shoot all those pop ups but then the monitor would be dead.