WRONG NUMBER

This morning, I called the local senior center, but rather than leave a message, I asked if I could just call back again later. And so after 30 minutes I called again. However, when I dialed the number again, 833-2373, instead of reaching the senior center I was connected to the Walgreens drugstore. I thought I might have just misdialed and tried the number again, but once again the person answering the phone said, “Walgreens, how can I help you?”

Well that’s weird I thought and decided maybe there was something wrong with my phone. And so, I switched to my portable phone and dialed the number for the third time. Again, I reached Walgreens. At this point, I called the telephone company. “I’ve dialed the senior center every week for the last few years and can’t understand why all of a sudden I’m now reaching the drugstore. Something must be wrong”

The operator was very patient and checked into the problem. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but the number you dialed, 833-2373 does belong to Walgreens.” “Amazing,” I said, “I can’t understand it.” She then checked the telephone listings and courteously told me, the telephone number of the senior center is 831-2373.” I felt so foolish and apologized profusely for wasting her time.

By Hannah --www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

PRIZE MONEY

I have tried to figure it out, but I just can’t come up with any answer. How much prize money do I need to offer to attract people to my website contest? When I launched the site three years ago, I set the prize money for the biweekly contests at $50 for funny photos and $10 for cute photos and $500 and $100 for the 6-month bonus prize winners. I had hoped advertisers would cover the cost. However, I have yet to line up any advertisers and thus, must pay the prize money myself.

Last fall, to lower my expenses I cut the prizes for the funny photos to $20 and $200. Unfortunately, since last fall, the number of visitors to my site dropped about 25%. Obviously, I thought, my reduced prizes have also reduced the traffic to my site. And so I’ve been feeling discouraged until yesterday. The winner of the $10 bi-weekly cute-photo contest not only sent me an email to confirm her address, but sent me in CAPTAL LETTERS a very excited thank you. She was absolutely thrilled to win the contest!!

You can imagine my surprise. She won only $10, yet couldn’t have been happier. So the question remains, “How much prize money do I need to offer to attract people to my website contest?”

By Hannah --www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

MY DAUGHTER’S ANNIVERSARY

How did I possibly forget? How in the world did I ever let it slip my mind that Saturday was my daughter’s anniversary? She and James celebrated their 17th anniversary and the day passed by without my even calling to wish them a happy anniversary. I felt just awful. Ironically, I had marked my calendar with their names, but I didn’t even remember to check my calendar.

It’s not the first time which makes me feel even worse. When my son was 9, I forgot his birthday until after dinner. And when my daughter was 14 she went off to school before I realized it was her birthday. What a terrible mother !!!

However, I do have a little consolation. When my ex-husband and I were married 4 years, my parents had not sent me an anniversary card. I didn’t think twice about it as cards in the mail sometimes do arrive late. But about 7:00 that evening while my ex-husband was still at work, there was a knock on the door. Lo and behold, I opened the door and there stood my parents. “Oh,” I exclaimed, “You came for my anniversary.” But the look on their face immediately told me their visit was a coincidence. They had forgotten it was my anniversary.

By Hannah --www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

WINNING AT BRIDGE

A couple of weeks ago, I felt terribly discouraged because my partner and I ended up in last place three consecutive times at the Duplicate Bridge Club. But now in the past week, we have finished in 3rd place last Saturday and 4th place yesterday. Of course, I felt thrilled. It wasn’t 1st place, but much better than last.

At the same time you have to wonder what makes the difference. Obviously my skill level hasn’t changed in such a short time. Nor is it the cards dealt to me, as in duplicate bridge everyone else play with the exact same cards. Thus, it seems the only explanation is luck. For example, the mistakes others make, provide a lucky advantage.

I’ll probably never figure it out, but it sure feels great to be among the winners.

By Hannah --www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

SEARCH ENGINES / ATTORNEYS

Today my blog is an experiment. I want to discover if the unprecedented number of photos I received for my website contest on Sunday has a relationship to the blog I wrote on Saturday about a sleazy attorney. Usually on Sundays, the number of hits I receive decreases significantly from the rest of the week. Thus, I can only theorize that the increase was a result of printing the word attorney a total of five times in my Saturday blog.

To test the theory, I will print the word attorney five times or more in today’s blog and watch the results tomorrow. I eagerly look forward to the outcome as I cannot begin to guess whether I am right or wrong. But if my experiment works, I will have learned a valuable lesson about search engines and keywords -- they have nothing to do with a website’s purpose.

By Hannah --www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

SELLING CAMERAS

It occurred to me yesterday that maybe I should try selling cameras on my website. I’ve been talking to friends about selling their artwork, but that’s a hard item to sell. Cameras on the other hand could be a natural. After all, the people visiting my site are sending photos they have taken with their cameras.

So, I thought I needed to contact Kodak or Fuji. But I doubt that those big companies would even give me the time a day. And then “voila”, the light bulb went off in my head. The owner of the Camera Co., a local camera business, judges the photos on my website. I should talk to him about selling his cameras on my site. It could be a win-win situation. What a genius idea. Well, maybe not a genius idea. At any rate, I need to pursue it and will get to work on it right away.

By Hannah --www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.

INK CARTRIDGES

For years, I have taken my used printer ink cartridges to the post office to dispose of them. But a few weeks ago, the post office had removed the bins for the used cartridges. When I asked about it, they said the company had gone out of business. In addition, they had no suggestions for disposing of them, so now I didn’t know what to do with my cartridges.

I wouldn’t just throw them in my garbage, as I knew they required special recycling. So I put them in a drawer until I could find out what I should do. But I didn’t have to wait long. A few days later when I returned some books to the library, I saw in their front hallway a big box for used cartridges. I was pleased to have solved the problem and planned to bring my cartridges next week when I returned for my weekly stop at the library.

Unfortunately, yesterday I forgot to bring my cartridges when I visited the library and so I have still not recycled them. The question now is how soon will I remember to drop off my ink cartridges at the library.


By Hannah --www.FunnyPhotosContest.com a photo contest for cute or funny photos and photo captions.