Too Early Trivia Monday, March 31st, 2008

Question: Doin' this at work can cause weight gain.

Answer: Workin' overtime.

Too Early Trivia Friday, March 28th, 2008

Question: This is the number 1 complaint women have about men in the workplace.

Answer: "They don't listen."

Too Early Trivia Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Question: A mom who does this is more likely to make nutritious meals for her kids.

Answer: Works a job.

63% of children whose mothers were at home full-time were classified as "less healthy" eaters. For mothers who worked part-time and full-time, 52% and 55% of the children, respectively, were "less healthy" eaters. The number of parents in a home does not have an effect on children's diets, but a working mother can mean better nutrition, according to a study. Researchers at the University of Glasgow studied more than 2,000 11-year-olds to get the information about healthy eating and unhealthy snacking. Poor dietary choices were more likely among boys, children living in what the researchers called "deprived areas," and children whose mothers had less education.

Too Early Trivia Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

Question: In what country did April Fool's Day originate?

Answer: Germany

Are You a Loser? It's All In The Name

A new study claims to prove that people named Brian or Lisa are seen as most likely to be failures.

And those called George or Ann are seen as the least attractive.

But the most successful-sounding monikers are James and Elizabeth.

The study asked almost 7,000 people how they felt about names. It found Sophie and Ryan the most attractive.

Jack and Lucy are the luckiest – but Helen and John the unluckiest.

Better Than An Alarm Clock--The Glo Pillow

The Glo Pillow is an alternative to the traditional alarm clock. The pillow uses an LED fabric substrate below the surface to wake the user using light. This substrate also functions as a display, showing the time on the pillows surface using the grid of LEDs below.

40 minutes before the pre-set alarm time the pillow begins to glow and gently brings the user out of sleep. This natural waking process helps to set the circadian rhythm or "body clock" and results in more healthy sleep/wake patterns.

TIME magazine name the glo Pillow one of the best inventions of 2007.

Got Handbag Envy? Rent One.

If you're green with envy over the latest "Kelly" handbag by Hermes, and can't cough up the thousands of dollars for the privilege -- and cachet -- of owning one-- help is at hand. Rent the bag online.

There is now a number of American websites offering thousands of handbags from brands such as Yves Saint-Laurent, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Chanel, each for rent by the week or the month, with an option to buy.

On the "Bag Borrow or Steal" website, a Bottega Veneta number in woven leather costs 90 dollars per week or 229 dollars per month for non-members -- members receive a 30 percent discount.

A crocodile skin "Kelly" bag -- named after the legendary actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly -- by fashion pioneer Hermes will set non-members back a whopping 500 dollars per week.

Since the website's debut in early 2004, business has doubled each year, with early 2008 already showing a 57-percent increase.
The website creator says, "Instead of buying a 1,000-dollar handbag, a much stronger value proposition is a rental for 100 dollars".

Too Early Trivia Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

Question: What night of the week is most popular for scheduling club or activity meetings?

Answer: Tuesday

Too Early Trivia Monday, March 24th, 2008

Question: If you can do this, it makes you more attractive to the opposite sex.

Answer: Speak a foreign language.

6 Ways To Achieving Mental Strength

From a NAVY Seal... so listen, or he'll take you out with his pinky...

1. Put teammates first

This is an exoteric responsibility and it's missing from our culture. When you are acting exoterically, you are acting ethically. How do I treat others? How do I fit into the team? What is my responsibility? Ask yourself these questions, no matter your profession.

2. Second-guess yourself

We all have monkey brains. We think terrible things sometimes. Quitting, abandoning something important to us. But don't let that disturb you too much, because it happens to everyone. Really, who you are is your second or even third thought.

3. Allow yourself to fear

Some people become afraid, and they find it overwhelming. When that happens, reach out to family, friends, or colleagues. Fear is a shared experience -- you'll get a lot of energy from the people around you. Being okay with being afraid is the first step to overcoming it.

4. Control your emotions physically

Ask a family member or friend to study your posture when you're happy or content. Then practice it, over and over. Your psyche will follow your body. You can literally control your emotions this way.

5. Break big goals into small targets

How do you eat an elephant? One mouthful at a time. Don't wake up Monday morning and say, 'Four days and 16 hours till Friday.' Instead, wake up and say, 'Two hours till breakfast.' And then, 'Three hours till lunch.' Try to stay in the present.

6. Have faith in yourself

This is the most crucial part of mental toughness. Have faith that you'll figure it out. You are a lot stronger physically and mentally than you think you are."

Too Early Trivia March 20th, 2008

Question: 1 in 20 of us are doing this right now (and it's potentially embarrassing if caught).

Answer: Wearing mismatched socks.

Too Early Trivia March 19th, 2008

Question: 60% of men and 47% of women will do this on their next day off.

Answer: Work.

Too Early Trivia March 18th, 2008

Question: Male shoppers say they're better at this than female shoppers.

Answer: Navigating the shopping cart.

The Worst Things To Do On An Interview

Here are the top 10 most outrageous interview mistakes submitted to CareerBuilder.com from over 3,000 bosses:

- Candidate answered cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a "private" conversation.

- Candidate told the interviewer he wouldn't be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle died -- and his uncle wasn't "looking too good."

- Candidate asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.

- Candidate smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.

- Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was "classified."

- Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss.

- When an applicant was offered food before the interview, he declined saying he didn't want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.

- A candidate for an accounting position said she was a "people person" not a "numbers person."

- Candidate flushed the toilet while talking to interviewer during phone interview.

- Candidate took out a hair brush and brushed her hair.

The bosses in the survey were also asked about the most common and detrimental mistakes candidates can make during an interview.
• More than half -- 51 percent -- said dressing inappropriately was the biggest mistake a candidate could make in an interview.
• Talking negatively about a current or previous employer came in second at 49 percent and third in the list at 48 percent was appearing disinterested.
• Other mistakes included appearing arrogant, not providing specific answers, and not asking good questions.

St. Patrick's Day Facts

It's St. Patrick's Day. Named for the patron saint of Ireland, March 17th is the day St. Patrick is believed to have died around 490 A.D.. Since then, the Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday. But Americans have added their own secular touch to the annual celebration with parades and a lot of fanfare. Here are some "fun facts" about St. Patrick's Day:

-- The Harp is the official emblem of Ireland, NOT the shamrock.

-- More than 40 percent of U.S. Presidents had Irish ancestors.

-- 70 million people worldwide can claim Irish ancestry.

-- Several million-shamrock plants are grown each year in County Cork, Ireland.

-- The first St. Patrick's Day celebration in America took place in 1737 in Boston. The second took place in Philadelphia in 1780.

-- It has been said that there are more Americans of Irish decent living in the U.S. than Irishmen living in Ireland. Americans celebrate the day with such wild abandon that instead of participating in events at home, many people in Ireland turn on the tube and watch our parades!

-- Why is the Irish flag green, white and orange? There is some debate as to the meaning of the colors, but it is generally understood that the green stands for the Catholics, the orange for the Protestants and white for peace between them.

Too Early Trivia March 17th, 2007

Question: 14% of us have experienced this.

Answer: A UFO sighting.

Seven Confessions of a Verizon DSL Tech-Support Rep

A former employee has stepped forward to ‘dish the dirt’ about what it's like to work as a tech support rep in a Verizon DSL call center. Learn about how the supervisors aren't really supervisors, the numbers and call times the reps have to meet to keep their jobs (and the sneaky tricks they use to meet these numbers), and more...

7. The Supervisor You Are Talking To Is Not An Actual Supervisor

When the call center first opened, and a customer would demand to talk to a supervisor, they would actually end up talking to a supervisor… not today. Now, there are approximately 10-15 designated people for each center to handle angry-customer calls now.

6. The Metrics That Rule Our Lives

• Handle Time (15 min): During an 8 hour shift, an agent must achieve an average handle time of 15 minutes. This timer starts from the time the agent hears a beep in their headphone to notify them that the call has started to the time they set themselves as ready to take another call.

• Hold Time (2-3 min): If for any time the agent puts you on hold, they are supposed to only leave you on hold for no longer than 2 minutes.

• Quality (88%): Every Agent is supposed to be graded approximately 2x a week on their calls.

5. In order to meet their 15 min handle time, agents will transfer the customer back into the queue to talk to another agent to make it look like it was a phone problem. Agents also just hung up on a customer and make it seem like an accident to meet their call time.

4. Customer Service Is More Important Than Technical Ability

The problem this creates is a barrage of customers whom are fed up with the lack of technical knowledge the support staff has. Verizon did however introduce a solution to this problem Premium Technical Support.

3. "Premium" Technical Support Means They Had 1 More Week Of Training

They are not under the same pressure as the normal agents. They do have more technical ability then the regular agents however the training is only a week above the normal technical support folks.

2. "Quality," The Department Everyone Hates

Even if you go above and beyond, and have an amazing rapport with the customer, you can still lose your job for failing your ‘quality’. Some of the fun tidbits from quality include the agent must say the customer's name three times throughout the call. They must review what they have done with the customer, use the "outstanding" verbiage, brand Verizon and they can also ding you for little things like saying "tech" instead of "technical".

1. We Must Implant The Word Outstanding In Customer Brain's To Score Higher On Satisfaction Surveys

Agents are required to mention at the end of the call something along the lines of "I hope I've provided you with outstanding service today." Verizon contracts out a company to call back customers who have recently called into Technical Support and perform a survey about the service they received. The customer is supposed to rate the service from "poor" to "outstanding". So basically they want to embed that word in your mind so that you rate them higher.

New Gadgets May Come With a Virus

From iPods to navigation systems, some of today's hottest gadgets are landing on store shelves with some unwanted extras from the factory -- pre-installed viruses that steal passwords, open doors for hackers and make computers spew spam.

Recent cases include some of the most widely used tech devices: Apple iPods, digital picture frames sold by Target and Best Buy stores, and TomTom navigation gear.

In most cases, Chinese factories are the source. (Note-- that IS where many companies have turned to keep prices low.)

So far, the virus problem seems to come from lax quality control--maybe a careless worker plugging an infected music player into a factory computer used for testing.
Experts say the viruses don't seem to be coming from hackers.

~~ The companies whose products were infected would not reveal details about the incidents. Of those that confirmed factory infections, all said they had corrected the problems and taken steps to prevent recurrences.

Too Early Trivia March 14th, 2008

Question: How many movies did the average American see at the theater in 2006?

Answer: 5.5

Dictionary for Women

~~ Argument (ar*gyou*ment) n.
A discussion that occurs when you're right, but he hasn't realized it yet.

~~ Airhead (er*hed) n.
What a woman intentionally becomes when pulled over by a policeman.

~~ Bar-be-que (bar*bi*q) n
You bought the groceries, washed the lettuce, chopped the tomatoes, diced the onions, marinated the meat and cleaned everything up, but, he "made the dinner."

~~ Blonde jokes (blond joks) n.
Jokes that are short so men can understand them.

~~ Cantaloupe (kant*e*lope) n
Gotta get married in a church.

~~ Clothes dryer (kloze dri*yer) n.
An appliance designed to eat socks.

~~ Diet Soda (dy*it so*da) n.
A drink you buy at a convenience store to go with a half pound bag of peanut M&Ms.

~~ Eternity (e*ter*ni*tee) n.
The last two minutes of a football game.

~~ Exercise (ex*er*siz) v
To walk up and down a mall, occasionally resting to make a purchase.

~~ Grocery List (grow*ser*ee list) n.
What you spend ½ an hour writing, then forget to take to the store.

~~ Hair Dresser (hare dres*er) n.
Someone who is able to create a style you will never be able to duplicate again. See "Magician."

~~ Hardware Store (hard*war stor) n
Similar to a black hole in space -- if he goes in, he isn't coming out anytime soon.

~~ Childbirth (child*brth) n.
You get to go through 36 hours of contractions he gets to hold your hand and say "focus,...breathe...push..."

~~ Lipstick (lip*stik) n
On your lips, coloring to enhance the beauty of your mouth. On his collar, coloring only a tramp would wear...!

~~ Park (park) v./n.
Before children, a verb meaning, "to go somewhere and neck." After children, a noun meaning a place with a swing set and slide.

~~ Patience (pa*shens) n.
The most important ingredient for dating, marriage and children. See also "tranquilizers."

~~ Waterproof Mascara (wah*tr*pruf mas*kar*ah) n.
Comes off if you cry, shower, or swim, but will not come off if you try to remove it.

~~ Valentine's Day (val*en*tinez dae) n
A day when you have dreams of a candlelight dinner, diamonds, and romance, but consider yourself lucky to get a card.

Too Early Trivia March 13th, 2008

Question: What percent of taxpayers wait until April 15th to file their taxes?

Answer: 20%

Too Early Trivia March 12th, 2008

Question: Scientists predict that within the next 100 years these will be extinct.

Answer: Redheads.

If predictions by the Oxford Hair Foundation come to pass, the number of natural redheads everywhere will continue to dwindle until there are none left by the year 2100.
The reason, according to scientists at the independent institute in England, which studies all sorts of hair problems, is that just 4 percent of the world's population carries the red-hair gene. The gene is recessive and therefore diluted when carriers produce children with people who have the dominant brown-hair gene.

Too Early Trivia March 11th, 2008

Question: What year did Cheerios come on the market?

Answer: 1941 ( First introduced as Cheerioats in 1941 and 4 years later renamed Cheerios)

That's Nice of Them....Not Really!

Sharper Image says it has resumed honoring gift cards and other vouchers that were suspended last month when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But there's a catch-- the luxury retailer says it will redeem gift cards issued before it sought bankruptcy protection on Feb. 19-- if customers exchange them in full during one transaction and apply them toward items costing double the value of the cards. A customer holding a $25 gift card could only use it to buy $50 worth of items. Shaper Image says customers could also hold onto their cards in case it could accept them in the future without any restrictions.

Too Early Trivia March 10th, 2008

Question: What day in March is National Chip and Dip Day?

Answer: March 23rd

Too Early Trivia March 7th, 2008

Question: How often should you test your smoke alarms?

Answer: Every month

Goofy Home Remedy Tricks....That Actually Work?

1. If your throat tickles, scratch your ear!
When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm. This spasm relieves the tickle."

2. Experience supersonic hearing!
If you're stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in with your right ear. It's better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech. If, on the other hand, you're trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.

3. Feel no pain!
Coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. The trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.

4. Clear your stuffed nose!
Forget Sudafed. Here's an easier, quicker, and cheaper remedy to relieve sinus pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth. The motion loosens congestion after 20 seconds, you'll feel your sinuses start to drain.

5. Fight fire without water!
Worried those wings will repeat on you tonight? Try this preventive remedy: Sleep on your left side. People who sleep on their left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The esophagus and stomach connect at an angle. When you sleep on your right, the stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid to slide up your throat. When you're on your left, the stomach is lower than the esophagus, so gravity's in your favor.

6. Cure your toothache without opening your mouth!
Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.

7. Unstitch your side!
If you're like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.

8. Wake the dead!
If your hand falls asleep while you're driving or sitting in an odd position, rock your head from side to side. It'll painlessly banish your pins and needles in less than a minute.

9. Impress your friends!
Next time you're at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He'll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that's a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will cave like the French.

Too Early Trivia March 6th, 2008

Question: Women are twice as likely as men to do this in the car.

Answer: Finish getting dressed.

No Wonder I Am Not Getting Better

Airborne will pay $23.3 million to settle a lawsuit for false advertising. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said the company will refund money to people who bought Airborne's product. They said, "There's no credible evidence that what's in Airborne can prevent colds or protect you from a germy environment. Airborne is basically an overpriced, run-of-the-mill vitamin pill that's been cleverly, but deceptively, marketed." People interested in getting a refund should log onto www. airbornehealthsettlement.com

Too Early Trivia March 5th, 2008

Question: 40% of us have done this while driving.

Answer: Nodded off.

Why Librans' Cars Always Break Down

If you're a Libra driving a blue car, better make sure you have roadside assistnace with your auto insurance. Statistically you're the most likely to end up stuck at the side of the road waiting for help.

Research (from England) suggests that Libran drivers - those born between September 24 and October 23 - suffer the most mechanical failure.

By contrast Pisceans - have the fewest breakdowns.

And blue is the color of car most likely to stall.

The study also found that nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of motorists would put off buying a car with an "unlucky" number on the plate or if it was in an unlucky color.
Yet cars with the "unlucky" 13 in the number plate are 25 per cent less likely to break down while even those with 666 - the Biblical sign of the Beast or the Devil - are 15 per cent less likely to break down than average.

Spend those Gift Cards While You Still Can

If you received a Sharper Image gift card for Christmas-- right now, it's worthless. And other gift cards in your wallet could lose their value, too.

As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, more than $75 million in gift cards are at risk of becoming worthless pieces of plastic .

Late last month, the Sharper Image announced that it was suspending the acceptance of gift cards, at least temporarily. It urged shoppers to check the company Web site later this month for an update. That is typical of businesses that reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which treats gift cards as a loan to the company, not as cash.
One expert (C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group), says "you will see a lot of frustration among customers. You basically stole (money) out of the customers' pocket. They will never forgive you."

The number of retail bankruptcies or liquidations this year is expected to reach the highest levels since the 1991 recession.

Too Early Trivia March 3rd, 2008

QuestionThe average homeowner spends 3 days per year doin' this.

Answer: Waiting for service people to show up (swamp cooler, cable, etc.). :