ESPVITE

Posted on by Jennifer Heller

I had this idea a couple years ago when Evite first started getting annoying. Is it still annoying? I haven’t used it in years but I remember it being exceedingly frustrating to use.

My idea was for an event invitation site called ESPvite.com. Enter your event details and guest list (no need for email addresses!) and POOF! ESPVITE would invite your guests via ESP.

ESP, or extrasensory perception, you remember, is the act of receiving information not through physical senses but through your mind. Continue Reading

Chase Bank Doesn't Have Our Best Interests at Heart

Posted on by Jennifer Heller

A couple days ago I posted a video Will and I made about the Tragedy of Sad Sack.  The tale was long and winding and we had to leave out an important part of the story to fit it together.

It’s true that “Sad Sack” bounced a check.  What I didn’t mention is the fact that Chase Bank told me that the check had cleared.  I had been checking my balances via online banking obsessively, waiting for the moment when I could be sure that I was done with “Sad Sack” forever.  The day it showed the check cleared I celebrated with a martini and a huge sign of relief.  It was over.

The next day “Sad Sack” called and informed me that the check wasn’t going to clear.  I started to cry.  There was no way this could be true!  My balances showed that the check had cleared!  In this case, I was sure, “Sad Sack” was mistaken.  But not sure enough…  “Sad Sack” had a way of wasting my time and energy. Continue Reading

Grocery Outlet: a marketing tactic gone awry!

Posted on by Jennifer Heller

Will and I wandered into Grocery Outlet before the holiday season.  I was looking for cheap wrapping paper, and boy did I find it!  At $1 a roll, I must have saved $10.

I noticed that their price tags listed how much items cost elsewhere.  For instance, the maple syrup below purportedly sells for $9.99 everywhere else.  Here at Grocery Outlet, it’s only $6.99.  What a steal! Continue Reading

2011 Priorities

Posted on by Jennifer Heller

My January first came with an awesome sense of renewal. I was surprised because I have spent hours convincing myself that the year end is purely arbitrary and that I should treat every day as a fresh start (if one is needed). But I can’t deny the freshness I felt on January 1st and the hope that this year would hold even more awesomeness than those previous.

I am someone who has a lot of projects. I asked a new friend at a party over the holidays, “What are you constantly obsessed with?” Julia pointed out that that is a weird question. Other people may not have constant obsessions, projects dominating their brain. I have to wonder how that feels. Maybe a little calmer. Continue Reading

New Year's Resolution: Change my Passwords.

Posted on by Jennifer Heller

I made just one New Year Resolution, though I accompanied it with a long list of my 2011 priorities and the vow to get through them all:

Change all my passwords.  Twice.  And make them secure.

They say that you should change your passwords every six months.  Changing my passwords always feels like such a drag.  You took the time to learn the first one, and now you have to go and learn a new one all over again?  And with the ridiculous number of accounts that you can have all over the internet–such a drag!! Continue Reading

The Tragedy of Sad Sack

Posted on by Jennifer Heller

2010 held some tough lessons for me. One of the toughest was getting involved with a dishonest business man who my boyfriend and I now refer to as “Sad Sack”.

The name “Sad Sack” comes from a cartoon from a magazine that catered to US WWII troops. His character just couldn’t do anything right. His clothes didn’t fit, and he was always doing dumb stuff.

I’m sure we’ve all met a Sad Sack character in our lives, but hopefully no one else was dumb enough to get involved in business with them. Will drew the cartoons for this tribute to one of the hardest situations I’ve faced in my lifetime.

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I'm annoyed by my blog. Really annoyed.

Posted on by Jennifer Heller

I spent some time today editing photos from our trip last weekend to Greenville, California, and was excited to post about them.

I included in the post a little plug for this WordPress plug-in called Shashin that allows me to insert Picasa web albums in posts I write.  I’ve used it in a blog post here or there to quickly add a bunch of photos.

The software that you run on your computer that goes with Picasa web albums (also called Picasa) allows you to easily look through and edit the photos on your computer.  My favorite part is how it allows me to upload my photos to the web in one click. You can set an album of photos to be viewable by invitation, everyone or no one. Continue Reading

Grandma Sally

Posted on by Jennifer Heller

My Grandma Sally passed away peacefully on her 94th birthday this past Monday.

We were expecting it.  Around ten years ago she began showing signs of dementia.  By the end she barely knew who we were.  On our second to last visit, after three days packed with card playing and dominoes, she emerged from a room and saw me.  “Hi Jennifer,” she said.  I was so honored to be remembered.

As I am honored to remember her.  I wrote about a visit to see her three or so years ago when I realized how much of me I had to thank her for. Continue Reading