Frog In North Georgia

Blog advertising can go too far.  Really.  It is annoying to visit what appears to be a personal blog only to discover that not one post on the front page, but three out of four appear to be paid posts.  And there is a banner ad that is unrelated to the content.  And 125×125 ads also completely irrelevant to the theme.

There’s a nice welcome to the splog (spam blog).  You can see that I surfed onto several of them today.

I’m not anti-advertising or anti-commerce. In fact, I really like targeted ads on some of the software sites that I visit.  Some of them save me a separate search for things I need anyway.  So nobody start flaming me about how advertising keeps many websites free to consumers.  I get that.  I do.  And I don’t mind people funding their blogs with relevant ads.  Turn a profit even.  Long live capitalism.

But for the love of all that is good and holy don’t insult me by asking me to refer readers to a splog filled with irrelevant crap.

If your blog is about humor; have humor ads. If you have a personal blog, general ads (but not 60 of them all unrelated).  Clearly, I’m no advertising genius.  It’s just common sense.

Obviously, I don’t make any money with entrecard.  But I do try to approve entrecards that link to sites about humor, cooking, parenting, writing - stuff that gets mentioned on this blog.  In other words, things that if you’re reading here, might be enjoyable to also read somewhere else.  Even things that never come up here, but are nicely done.  Not crap.

Ok, deep breath.  Rant off.

Tags: advertising, capitalism, common sense, consumers, content, entrecard, Money, personal blog, post, relevant ads, spam, splog, theme.

I understand this authors point completely, and think about my small retirement fund several times per year. I try not to think of it each time I receive a pay statement. The stress would be too much.

There are so many things to fund, and all of them impact the nuclear family. How will we pay for retirement? How much financial help can we offer the kids with college? Can we take them on international vacations? How many extracurricular activities make them well rounded, or just tired?

At this point in life, I am glad that we own one of our vehicles. And DD will start public school next year. In the meantime, her preschool tuition will increase dramatically because my company has ended their agreement with the preschool, cutting benefits to many families, including us.

Blah, blah, and here I am on Sunday morning fretting about it all.

Love & Money - WSJ.com

By ensuring that Amy and I have an adequate nest egg for our retirement, we’re also making sure that our kids will never be in the position of having to help us financially. I can’t imagine a more important gift to our kids than making sure we are never a financial burden on them.

I’m certain my kids will one day see that we made the right choice. It will mean they won’t feel torn — or guilty — choosing between their own family’s financial needs and Mom and Dad’s utility bill. It means they won’t face potential conflicts with a spouse frustrated that family dollars have to fund an in-law’s life. As readers of this column know, this is a position I fear I will be in one day with my own mother.

Tags: family, Money.

Tags: dependent care account, Insurance, Money, Payflex.

So, I file a dependent care claim for 2007 expenses - quite a bit of money. I get this email back that my claim is denied. I have a receipt with a tax id, a dependent. wtf? I call Payflex, rep says he’ll call me back, all very professional.

He calls back and says that I started working for employer in September, but paid for childcare that I want reimbursement for between March and July. Yeah, so, all 2007, IRS does not care. Apparently, this insurance co and one I work for care. But they didn’t mind taking said money out of my paycheck. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Rep says he’s made an adjustment so I will get small payment for something previously denied that shouldn’t have been. And it appears I’ll get this money in run out or grace period or whichever it is called. Such a pita.

Tags: Childcare, dependent care, grace period, Insurance, Money, Payflex, reimbursement.

Together you suck. Independently, you work just fine. But having to pay for childcare, then wait for a reimbursement, when the money has already been deducted from my check is just awful.

Tags: bright horizons, Childcare, Insurance, Money, Payflex, reimbursement.