I love to read other people’s blogs and I have people all over the US that I read every day. Some write about their life; some write about parenting; some write about couponing … some write about a little bit of everything. I have my favorites, but I love to browse as well.

About a year ago, I found out about “RSS feeds”. I’d been hearing about them for a while, but I didn’t know exactly what it meant. Here’s the short and sweet of it …

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing that I want to do is read the blogs that have posted overnight. Being the list maker that I am, I just set up a folder in my bookmarks on Firefox. I’d read a post, then go to the next author/link, and so on … and so on. Bookmarks worked for me.

Enter Google Reader.

I use Google for my personal email and began to explore what the “reader” link was at the top. To my surprise, I found out that it actually pulls in each new post from my favorite authors.

I felt like such an idiot that I didn’t know about this sooner.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go into your Gmail account and click on the "Reader" tab.

2. Click on "Add A Subscription"

3. Enter the URL for the site you want to follow.

4. Click on "All Items" to see each post in the order that it went live.

That’s really all there is to it. It’s so easy and it makes reading blogs/websites so easy. If you read more than one site faithfully, then this will be a timesaver.

For many different reasons and with much excitement, I’ve decided to set up a Facebook Fan Page. So often, people will write and say “I read your blog all the time …”. I’m completely flattered and so appreciative. I enjoy what I do and am happy that someone other than my family is stopping by!

We all have something to share and many times a blog can be very one-sided. I really hope the Fan Page will allow us to have dialogue and actually discuss issues instead of it just being my opinion on the matter.

Don’t worry, we’ll be doing more than discussing posts! I’ll share savings tips, hot sales, celebrity tidbits, and current events. I want you to feel free to post these things too. Oh, and don’t forget the giveaways and product reviews. They’ll be linked to the Fan Page as well.

So what are you waiting for? Hop on over … I hope you “LIKE” it there.

A little over a month ago, my friend/boss showed me the most awesome journal .. the Tweetnotebook. I could not believe how cool it was and immediately ordered one for myself.

The book is 8.5″ x 5.5″ and has different cover options. You can choose from black/turquoise; solid white; or turquoise/white. You can also choose what prints on the cover of your book. How fun!

Inside, the footer of each page is filled with 320 randomly selected tweets that you have posted. Included with the tweet is the date, time and the specific URL to the tweet that is featured.

Finished, the cost is under $15 including shipping. I received my book in about 10 days, although it took my friend a couple of weeks to receive his.

I’ve had my Tweetnotebook for about 2 weeks and I have yet to write a word in it. I can’t decide how I want to use it, because it is so absolutely cool.

The most amazing thing to me is that I’ve been able to look back over tweets and remember exactly what was happening that day. It’s almost like a scrapbook.

If you are an avid “Tweeter”, you can not live without this journal. Trust me! It’s really that awesome!!!

*I was not paid by The Tweetnotebook for this review. I found this site through a friend, ordered (and paid) for my own book, and have written this post on my own.

Me & Heather Armstrong (Dooce)

I’ve been blogging since 2004 and somehow I’ve managed to never attend a blogging conference. I’ve seen all the posts and nearly die with envy every time as I see pictures popping up like wild on Twitter … but it’s  never worked out for me to leave work and family to attend.

With the Mom 2.0 Summit being [practically] in my backyard, I really wanted to go. There were some early conflicts that kept me from purchasing a ticket, so I had  counted out the possibility of this being “my first conference”. Some last minute changes opened up my schedule, but by that point, the ticket price was outrageously high. It was WAY past the Early Bird discount date, and even coupled with not having to stay in a hotel, it was still out of my reach. I was so disappointed.

Less than 24 hours before the first session began, I was sponsored. My sweet friend heard of a sponsor with an open ticket and put us in contact. It was a complete fluke that it worked out and even more crazy that it was a company that I had used religiously throughout both of my pregnancies. Amen. {More on this amazing company soon!}

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I mean, I thought I knew, but until you are actually there – you really don’t know. The Mom 2.0 Summit had three tracks to pick from. One was a personal track (I chose that one), one was a professional track (I’d chose this one if I had it to do again), and the third was for business people (product oriented).

Me, Heloise, & Sarah (@mainlinemom)

Friday’s summit began with a special keynote with Gretchen Rubin and Heloise. Yes, that Heloise … the one with the helpful hints in the society pages of your newspaper. She was lovely … as was Gretchen.

I did three sessions on Friday. All of them were very useful. It was great for me that they primarily focused on writing! I’d taken a conference day and needed to be able to say that I honestly got 8 hours worth of content! I learned so much about writing, community, and engagement. It’s something that I’m really striving for within my blog, but also REALLY working for in my day job. Our team spends a lot of time on these concepts and we are getting ready to have to face these topics again.

This is DEFINITELY me before riding in the Weinermobile

The highlight of Thursday, if we’re being completely honest, was riding in the Weinermobile. I mean, who woulda thunk that the Weinermobile would be available for our group. Too funny … or actually Bun Believeable!

Friday began with a keynote panel with Heather Armstrong, Gabrielle Blair, and Maggie Masongie. It was incredible. They shared, what to me, were next steps for where I’m at right now. I would have paid dearly to have been able to crawl into their heads for even more time. They were candid, funny and charming. I so appreciated their advice and mentor-like attitude.

The sessions on Saturday were not as strong for me although I did enjoy them all. (It was more the subject matter that wasn’t my favorite.) There was a live Twitter stream in every room. With several of the sessions, I could see tweets from other conference rooms and thought “crap … I should have done that session.”

I think I am at a odd crossroad with my blog and job. I could have easily fit into several tracks here. I needed a clone.

With that said, I have now learned that it’s easier to decide what conference is for you after you attend one. I now know what sessions really resinated with me and which ones are still challenging me days later. In the future, I’ll look for conferences that are catered that direction. There are a zillion great conferences out there now … I can’t wait to really dig into the offerings.

I would recommend Mom 2.0 Summit. It was well-run and completely organized. The speakers were top-notch. Even the sessions that weren’t my favorite were led by completely qualified and engaging women. The entire experience was very inspiring and motivating.

Now … to put it all into practice!

Enjoy this video – a highlight of my weekend.

Many of my friends are purchasing iPhones. I’m not sure why the sudden upswing is on again, but the first thing people want to know is “What are your favorite apps?”

Here are my TEN personal favorites:

(1) Shazam – How many times have you heard a song and wondered what the title  was or who the artist is? Shazam will tell you! Amazing …

(2) Tweetie – I love Twitter (follow me @stephanieclick). Tweetie is my favorite Twitter app. Love the interface.

(3) Light – A flashlight app. You’ll be flabbergasted at how much you use it!

(4) Flixster – Ever wonder what time a movie starts? This will tell you all you need to know to get to the movie on time.

(5) Flight Status – This is a paid app. You log your flight info and it tells the gate number, any delays, flight route. Cool if you travel by air a lot.

(6) AccuWeather – My favorite weather app. Plus, you can log multiple cities.

(7) Pandora – A radio station that pre-selects music it thinks you will like based on favorites that you choose. You can set different stations. For example, I have a “Taylor Swift station” and a “Britney Spears station”. Great for finding new music.

(8) Banking – I bank at Wachovia. They don’t have an app, but “Banking” lets me control my accounts and transfer money as needed.

(9) Sparkpeople – I’m using Sparkpeople to lose weight. This lets me track food and exercise from my phone.

(10) Shutterfly – I use Shutterfly for on-line photo storage (along with Smugmug). The Shutterfly app lets me view pictures on my phone. Great when you don’t want to take up memory space for your pictures on your phone. Load them onto Shutterfly and show them off whenever you want!

Are you on Twitter yet? If you aren’t, you certainly are missing out.

I feel that I’m pretty good at this saving money stuff. I’ve got it down for the most part, but I THRIVE on learning new things from other women. It’s like we’re unlocking the secrets together.

STEP ONE: Get a Twitter Account – go to Twitter and sign up (it’s free, of course!)

STEP TWO: Follow me – stephanieclick; or if you are really confused, you can go here and click “follow”

STEP THREE: Here are five “must follows” for saving money and getting your life in order – 5DollarDinners; CouponCravings; KingdomFirstMom; DoodlesPlace; and DealSeekingMom.

These ladies won’t steer you wrong and you’ll have a ball learning about them as you go!

Dear Ms. McKezel,

I just spoke to Dana XXX on your customer service line. She indicated that I needed to fax items to you to initiate an adjustment on my bill. Please, however, let me give you the background to this so that I can inform you of how incredibly aggravated I am with this situation.

I received a call yesterday from the manager at the Apple Store at First Colony Mall. We are on a first name basis because I was in their store for over four hours on July 11–the day the iPhone 3G debuted. (This does not include the three hours that I waited in line outside!) I received a letter from AT&T (attached) saying that if my account was paid in full (receipt also attached) that I would be eligible for the iPhone on July 11 at a price of $199.

Once I was able to get inside the Apple store, I realized that they were not equipped to do price changes, therefore they promptly called AT&T to have them do a price reduction on their end. They said that they did, and let us off the line. We did this process a total of four more times – to no avail AND never having it succeed when my purchase was rung up on the register. Finally, we tried for a sixth time, and to the misery of us all … the customer service rep activated the bar code on the phone that I was trying to buy. This meant that I was now in a two year contract with AT&T, but had no phone. Since the phone was activated by AT&T andyour computers on loan to Apple, it wouldn’t accept the bar code to be scanned for payment, because the phone was already activated and made it look as if it had been paid for when in fact it hadn’t! Forty-five minutes later, we were able to get a customer service manager that was able to back out that phone and let us start all over again. However, with starting all over again, it meant that we were back to square one with the activation date issue again. Finally, we asked to speak to the highest-ranking person at the call center and got Ms. Shawanna XXX. Ms. XXX was able to get the activation issue resolved, but could not override the AT&T issue with the price from her end. We were approaching the four-and-a-half hour mark on this issue, and resolved that I would pay full price for the phone and in turn, AT&T would give me a $200 credit on my monthly bill. I agreed to these terms as presented by an AT&T manager (Ms. XXX).

As of today, I am still showing a balance on my account. There is no sign of a $200 credit being applied. I am asking that this is taken care of immediately. I have already received my August bill, and will not be making a payment as it is less than $200.

The call I received yesterday from the manager at the Apple Store was to tell me that my name had appeared on an error report for their store and that if I did not contact AT&T within 24 hours my service would be terminated. After living through the ordeal that I described above, I’m sure that you can only imagine how angry I would be if my service was interrupted.

After this nightmare, I can tell you firsthand that, as much as I love my iPhone, I am telling people NOT to purchase one. I am highly impressed with Apple, but I am completely dissatisfied with AT&T and how this company has handled themselves. Given the circumstances, if I had it to do over again, I would have waited until August 25, switched my entire family to Verizon and bought a Blackberry.

At this point, I am asking two things:

(1) I want the $200 credit issue resolved immediately. This is a major point of contingency that I was told by the AT&T rep was handled before I left the store.


(2) I want a personal phone call – 713.XXX.57XX – from someone in a management position that can let me know that this has been taken care of.

I have been a customer of AT&T (through all the name changes) since 1993. I look forward to having a restored relationship with this company.

Thank you for your diligence,
Stephanie Click

——-

Miraculously, about 45 minutes after I faxed this, I got a call and the issue is now resolved. For today anyway …

.

You’ve heard the hype … You’ve heard the buzz … You’ve heard the lines forming outside malls all over the world … Well, you’ve never heard a story like mine.

7 hours and 10 minutes after I arrived at the Apple store – I left with a phone. Oh no, I didn’t wait in line all that time. That part only lasted the better part of three hours. The other four hours were spent fighting with AT&T.

I was in line with lovely people. Directly in front of me was a family (mom, son and daughter). It was the son’s 16th birthday – he wanted an iPhone. They arrived the same time as me – 7:05 AM. After waiting in line over three hours, they were told that since the mom was not the primary account holder on their AT&T Family Talk plan (her husband was) – they couldn’t get a phone today. I can’t believe she didn’t cuss out loud. In front of that family was a woman who worked as a police dispatcher, in front of her was an Asian guy that worked at the AMC movie theater and gave us the scoop on all the latest movies. I feel very abreast now of the summer blockbusters that I need to see.

Oh … the AT&T part. Long story short – AT&T was not adequately prepared for the day. They didn’t have adequate customer service dedicated to the Apple customer needs. They were not able to do the necessary reversals and contractual things that needed to be done on a scale as large as this launch was.

For me personally, they sold me a phone at the wrong price. Once they realized it, they had already run my credit card through. Apple reversed the charge on their end and gave me my money back, but couldn’t get AT&T to reverse the contract. Therefore, I have a two year contract with them and no phone. (Let me insert the part about how they deactivate your old SIM card 20 seconds after they activate your iPhone.) Apple tried to sell me another phone, but an AT&T agent that was on the line working with us to sort things out activated the phone in the Apple store before I had paid for it – which left Apple with a phone that they couldn’t use and me still without a phone because it was continuing to ring up $200 more than it should have been. Finally … three hours and thirty minutes later … from the time that I entered the store after waiting in line, with the Apple store manager and the AT&T highest-manager-on-duty in the US on the phone, they came to an agreement of reimbursement for me. I was mentally exhausted. If AT&T could have figured out how to delete my contract, I would have left immediately. No phone was worth what I went through today.

However, the Apple staff was amazing. Definite kudos to them. They held their guns with AT&T and didn’t let them give me the short end of the stick … and for that I am very thankful. My pocketbook is thankful as well.

Oh, and thanks also to the Apple store folks for bringing us water and drinks when we were in line. I regret now not taking pictures of all the folks in line. Hard to believe that I was one of the first 50 people in line. By the time they started letting people in to activate phones, the line was all the way down the mall sidewalk and around the corner of the mall. It was unreal. That was my only motivation to stay in line.

You might think my story ends there. Oh no. Not for me. Miss Bad luck comes at me with both barrells every chance it gets. I talked the Apple lady into letting me take my phone out of the store un-synced. A big no-no for them, but they were tired of me and I was tired of them. I promised to sync it when I got to work and she finally gave in.

I got to work and looked at my new friend Tim’s phone syncing – did the exact same thing as him – NOTHING. Unplugged and changed USB ports. Nothing. Did other stuff that I was unsure of whether I should do. Nothing. Can you believe my cord was bad? As soon as I tried it with my old iPod cord, it lit right up.

Just add this to my “terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day” list.

With all that said, I love the phone now that I have one and it works. I’ve played with it all night. It does everything … I love it almost as much as CVS, and that’s saying a lot.

Tomorrow, I’m going to replace the cord. I’m sure my Apple friends will cringe when they see me come back. Bless their hearts …