As you’ll have seen from the earlier twitter, Anna now has her very own bank account, though getting to the Royal Bank of Scotland branch nearest to us turns out to be quite difficult when driving. Previously, we had popped in there on the way back from Swansea itself, and so did not come up against the strange one way systems you’ll find littering the area. TomTom was of no help at all really, as the maps are hopelessly out of date – you end up getting told to drive up so many one way streets. Anyway, after we finally got there (I’d throw a quick Google Maps mashup into the post to show the route we eventually took, but you’d laugh too hard, we spoke to a nice staff member, who explained the basics, and I then signed the paperwork on Anna’s behalf (no rubber stamps or inky thumbprints involved). Due to the UK interest rate being at 0.5%, banks are in the unusual position of actually offering above base-rate interest on most bank accounts – a massive 0.9% currently!
Feb 11 2009
Skype 419 Again
After recent comments on old posts, I found a new friend on Skype today. He likes to use a series of emoticons after some sentences, and would like some money. Apparently he isn’t interested in the money-making course I offered him. I thought my rates were reasonable… ?
[17:49:22] philip offeng says: hi
[17:49:50] Chris Merriman says: hi
[17:49:51] philip offeng says: hello,
how are you doing.. (F):)(h)(dance)
[17:49:59] Chris Merriman says: fine thanks
[17:50:04] Chris Merriman says: & you?
[17:50:12] philip offeng says: ok
[17:52:55] philip offeng says: pls ineed
[17:54:33] philip offeng says: pls i need you help (h)(F):)
[17:54:54] Chris Merriman says: whats up?
[17:56:06] philip offeng says: i need some money pls (F)(h):)
[18:02:32] Chris Merriman says: Good luck.Have you considered setting up websites to earn some money? You could make more money that way than spending time on skype asking people for $$$.
If you want a sure fire method of making money online, send me your bank details and I’ll let you know the secrets.
Lessons start at $50 an hour, payable in advance.
[18:04:23] philip offeng says: i donot have bank account (F)(h)
Sorry if I seem cynical, I just wonder how many people these guys scam, and how much they reap…
Nov 09 2007
Weak Dollar Is Hurting My Income!
As many regular readers will know, I sometimes supplement my income by writing posts for companies that want some links placed, or products reviewed. The vast majority of them pay via PayPal, and in US Dollars. In the past this was not too much of a problem, but having just checked my balance today, I can see that the weaker dollar means I am earning less and less (in UK pounds or Kazakh tenge) for each post I write.
As an example, my current PayPal balance is $171.05, which just a month ago would have equated to around £85. However, if I currently withdraw that money into my nominated UK bank account, I will get just £78.98. Whilst this may not seem a lot in isolation, over the course of a month or even a year, that means losing around $800 in currency exchanges. Of course, the dollar may well bounce back, and I can start looking at an exchange rate of around $2=£1 again, but until then, I’ll just have to hope the US politicians decide they no longer want a weak dollar, though that would obviously make US exports seems less attractive.
Never thought the US economy would effect my income so directly!
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Jun 11 2007
You Blog Too Much…
How To Tell When Blogging Is Taking Over Your Life
(collated from a few sources, added a few personal lines, removed non-relevant ones)….
You meet new people, and really resent the lack of an ‘About’ page attached to their forehead.
You check your blog based revenue more than your bank account.
You can’t remember important dates – your wedding anniversary, family birthdays etc., but you know what your Technorati rank is.
You’ve got more “blog friends” than “real life” friends.
Your breakfast of choice is marmite on toast, cornflakes and Google reader.
You think LSD is something to do with RSS or XML.
Your family doesn’t call you anymore, they just check your blog.
You think Nike should make a shirt that says “just blog it”.
You would buy it if they did.
You’re listening to the travel news and get excited by the phrase “heavy traffic”.
You think the 3 R’s are Reading, Writing and RSS.
After 5 minutes of meeting someone really interesting you ask, “So, do you blog?”
You can’t remember what you did last week without consulting your blog.
Your blogroll is bigger that your phonebook.
When asked to feed the kittens, you wonder if they would prefer RSS or Atom?
You know what a blog carnival is.
You’ve participated in one.
You wonder if they do vacations at the Googleplex.
Your lifetime goal is achieving a Page Rank of 8.
You refuse to wear black hats because you think it will affect your SEO.
You understood the last one 🙂
You have more than three friends with numbers in their names.
You try to offer links as a form of payment to non-internet companies.
You start getting withdrawal symptoms when you go a day without posting.
You get more “approve this comment” e-mail messages than spam.
The name Kubrick means more to you than the director of A Clockwork Orange.
You finish reading this and go to make a post with your own additions…