Received my VistaPrint name cards

Quite sometime back I had visited the VistaPrint site after learning about their unbelievable offer - 250 name cards for free. Was a bit skeptical but as it turned out, it was indeed free but you have to pay for the shipping. I was OK with that and was about to check out when I discovered that I couldn't pay using PayPal. They only accept credit cards. I didn't want to use my credit cards and left the site.

A few days later, I received an offer by e-mail from them - "Premium Business Cards - 250 usually $19.99
NOW FREE". So, I went ahead as it was real cheap. Was tired with giving excuses to people whenever they handed me their card, saying "Sorry! I don't have a card."

I had opted for the normal (slow) shipping and it finally arrived today. The total cost was only US$6.47 after tax.

Quite happy with the quality of the printing and the paper. Just wondering how the ordinary name card quality would be like as mine was supposed to be premium quality. It looks and feels just like any other normal card. But I am not complaining at that price.

So how do they make money?

As you go through the card making process, they tempt you with a number of add-ons - like ability to put up your logo, printing on the back, card holder and so on, which slowly adds up to the total. I went for the "no frills" option (FREE) and it still looks great.

Definitely recommend this site. UK customers go to their UK site here.

Related link: Business cards for free with VistaPrint

Tags: name cards vistaprint

Hotel reservations online

When you make your travel plans - either for leisure or business, make sure you take into consideration where you would be staying at the same time. I have heard some horror stories of friends who forgot that they would be traveling to a place during the peak holiday season and had not booked a hotel before hand. You can only imagine the problems they went through.

If you are looking for great prices on the places you want to stay, you might want to visit HotelReservations.com. Now planning and booking your trip can be done conveniently over their site. They have offers at more than 70,000 properties worldwide. This includes Cheap Hotels, motels, resorts, B&B's, condos, vacations rentals etc.

They assure their customers the best prices through their Price Guarantee. They promise that if you can find a place at a lower rate available for the same dates and the same hotel, they will, at our choice, either match the lower rate or cancel the reservation without a cancellation fee after verification.
Right now they are having a Summer Gas Rebate. All you have to do is book two nights fill up the form and you get back $30.

Coming to the website, it's quite impressive. You can actually choose the web site in your language and currency. This indicates that this site is targetting customers from around the World - a Global website. It's convenient too. For example if I am in UK and wanted to book online, it would be tough if the prices were quoted in US dollars.

On the site you can use their advanced hotel search facility to search for hotels by address, by amenities as well as Zip Code (post code). A search for hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia gave me a really amazing list to choose from. You can sort these 'Special Internet Rates' by Best Value, Quality, Price and name.

Great site. Will definitely use it when I travel next time.

The music meme

Was just thinking that I haven''t been tagged for a meme for a long time, when I got hit by one from Lillian in Thailand. I thought it would be easy but it turned out to be quite tough in the end. Just realised that I am not that crazy about music anymore. A far cry from my school days when I used to memorize each and every Wham and Duran Duran song before moving into the rock ballad phase.

Here is the Music meme:

5 - You’re going on a long journey, what five albums MUST you take with you? Albums that you need to listen to regularly.

- Rod Stewart - If we fall in love tonight
- Queen - Greatest hits
- Led Zeppelin - Remasters
- Guns N' Roses - Greatest Hits
- 35 favourite Nursery Rhymes (I listen to it regularly even though I don't want to).

4 - What four albums/songs do you most associate with a journey or travel experience? You know, the ones you listen to that instantly transport you back to a place and time.

- And I love her by the Beatles. A simple song which was my favourite love song since my school days. Sang an elongated version at a Univ. event in front of a lot of people. Wish I could go back and NOT sing that song.

- Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple. Reminds me of the time I first heard them live at a concert in KL. I was with my wife, our friend Ita and her then housemate. I have been listening to them since I was a kid and these old guys are still rocking.

- Rod Stewart - If we fall in love tonight. Used to sing the songs from the Album together with my girlfriend (now my wife) every time we went to a karaoke.

- Black Magic Woman by Santana. I don't really like discos and we used to frequent a lot of places where they played live music. And every time we went out, there would be at least one person who would request this song. Kind of addictive.

3 - Your three favorite songs of all time?
- And I love her - Beatles
- I can't tell you why - Eagles
- Love Hurts - Nazareth

2 - Two feel good songs, the ones that are guaranteed to lift the blues and put a smile on your face.
- O bladi o blada by the Beatles
- Is this love by Bob Marley

1 - Absolute, overall, undoubtedly the best album of all time, in your opinion.
Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin

Now I tag anyone who's interested. Might be something you might consider when you have blogger block.

Great site for recipes

I cook a lot now and everybody is getting tired of eating the same dishes day after day. Tried some variations but I am not fooling anybody and my daughter who is quite picky with her food is turning up her nose at my cooking.

Have no choice but to look up and try cooking new recipes. Recipes galore on the UK TV food site has made it one of my favourites. I am vegetarian so I am on their vegetarian section most of the time. However, I do cook non-vegetarian dishes for the rest of my family sometimes and my wife says that they taste great. Or is that a tactic she's using to get me to cook.

The site is not only about recipes. You can also watch videos of your favourite cooks. Watch Lesley Waters making an Almond Honey Cake with Fruit Salad. Looks delicious.

You can also join their message boards and discuss your favourite recipes.

Google's massage manager

At first I thought it was a joke but found out that it's true. Google really has a Massage Programs Manager.

From their website, I learnt that Google’s massage program began in 1999 and it has become the most popular onsite perk in the company. So, if you thought that the only jobs available in Google were for IT people, then you are wrong. They are also looking for massage therapists too.

Hear what Babette, Google's Massage Programs Manager has to say:



Tags: google jobs massage

Spelling errors

In my last post here I had asked whether any of my visitors could identify the spelling errors in the phishing e-mail I received.

Well only one visitor left a comment. Lucia who blogs at her Mental Jog blog correctly identified the 3 spelling errors:

First paragraph, last word "bellow".

Last paragraph, "incovenience" and "apriciate"

Phishing attack

No! the title is not misspelled and I am definitely not talking about fishing.

Was going through my Gmail spam folder when I found this.

Amazon Inc. Security Center"
date Jun 18, 2007 8:35 PM
subject Dear Amazon Inc. Member ,
Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information. Learn more

Dear Amazon® member,

We are contacting you to inform you that our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. In accordance with Amazon's User Agreement and to ensure that your account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved. To secure your account and quickly restore full access, we may require some additional information from you for the following reason: We have been notified that a card associated with your account has been reported as lost or stolen, or that there were additional problems with your card.
This process is mandatory, and if not completed within the nearest time your account or credit card may be subject for temporary suspension.
To securely confirm your Amazon information please click on the link bellow:

http://nghonaim.saudi.net.sa/Amazon/www.amazon.com/

We encourage you to log in and perform the steps necessary to restore your account access as soon as possible. Allowing your account access to remain limited for an extended period of time may result in further limitations on the use of your account and possible account closure.

For more information about how to protect your account please visit Amazon Security Center. We apologize for any incovenience this may cause, and we apriciate your assistance in helping us to maintain the integrity of the entire Amazon system.

Thank you for using Amazon!
The Amazon Team

Privacy Notice © 1995-2007, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

Out of curiosity, I clicked on the url even though I knew it was fake. Another warning are the 3 spelling errors in the e-mail. Can you locate them? Special mention on my blog if you do.

Firefox also gave me a "Suspected Web Forgery" warning. Here's a snapshot of the site. Looks exactly like the real site.

Don't be fooled.

Related links:
- Phishing on Wikipedia
- Anti-Phishing Working Group

Tags: fraud phishing security