FReeper Canteen ~ Online Shopping 101 ~ November 22, 2005

22-NOV-05 | Gummy News

[GummyIII]

Gummy Style!

Newsflash:  Gummy Hates to Shop November 22, 2005 I hate to shop.  I know. You are thinking, "She's not normal."  Perhaps I should clarify.  I hate to drive to a busy mall or store, get out, fight the crowds, look in umpteen stores for the best bargain, and come home with nothing but achy feet and head.  When Al Gore invented the internet, he did it for me.  Honest. (Psssst....He would have told you that, but he's afraid you wouldn't believe him.) OK,  you've guessed it...I do all my shopping online.  Below are my best tips for online shopping. Oh, there is ONE drawback, gentlemen...you can't wait until Christmas Eve to shop.  It's a good thing I believe in Santa Claus! He brings me my present EVERY year. (Hint:  if the animated background bugs you, hit the "stop" button on your browser.)

We Support Our Troops!!!!  Thank you for your service!!!

Shop Online Safely Use credit cards. The big three credit card issuers, American Express, MasterCard and Visa, have a zero liability policy. You pay nothing for unauthorized transactions if you notify your financial institution. For extra fraud protection, sign up for MasterCard's SecureCode or Visa's Verified by Visa. These are password challenge programs for online shopping. Look for signs that online purchases are secure. At the point that you are providing your payment information, the beginning of the Web site address should change from http to shttp or https, indicating the information is being encrypted. Your browser may also signal that the information is secure with a symbol, such as a broken key that becomes whole or a padlock that closes. Never enter your personal information in a pop-up screen. When you visit a company's Web site, an unauthorized pop-up screen created by an identity thief could appear with blanks for you to provide your personal information. Legitimate companies don't ask for personal information via pop-up screens.  Keep your computer secure for safe shopping and other online activities. Protect your computer with spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, pop-up blockers and a firewall, and keep them up to date. Go to http://www.staysafeonline.org and http://www.onguardonline.gov to learn more about how to keep your computer secure. Or use El Gran's wonderful site:  Canteen Resource Center. Disclaimer: Not suitable for Grinches or Scrooges. Santa reads this news, too!!

Tips for Saving Money and Sanity Try online coupons. Many online stores provide regular customers with promotional codes. These codes are entered during the online checkout process. They save you money, just like a traditional coupon. Coupon Cabin, Current Codes and Naughty Codes are three websites that list promotional codes for online stores. (Google "promotional code" and the name of the store from which you are purchasing.  Others may show up.) Promotional codes usually offer free shipping or a reduced price. Often, online stores offer multiple codes, but you'll probably have to use one or the other.  Use disposable e-mail. You must register an e-mail address with stores when you purchase online.  The store e-mails a confirmation of your purchase and, often, tracking information. Additionally, it may send you promotional codes. But it may also send you unwanted e-mail.There are a couple ways to handle this. You could create a new e-mail address. A number of sites offer free e-mail, including Hotmail (www.msn.com), Yahoo (mail.yahoo.com), Techemail (www.techemail.com) and Netscape (www.netscape.com). Or, sign up for a disposable e-mail address. Free services such as spamgourmet and Sneakemail allow you to create a temporary e-mail address. They forward mail to your "real" one. Sign up for a temporary address before making a purchase. When you've received your purchases and are satisfied with them, you can eliminate the temporary address. COMING NEXT WEEK:   All I want for Christmas is.......... Gummy News is produced  as a service to our troops.  Volume 1, Number 1.

Comparision Shopping 101 Yahoo, Inc., Shopzilla, Shopping.com,  Google Inc.'s Froogle.com, PriceWatch, PriceGrabber, NexTag and ShopLocal are a few of the top contenders for online comparison shopping.  Take the time to see how each one works.  Most will sort by price, look for items within a price range, and look for specific brand items which you specify.  Many of the above sites have ratings for you to check the product.  Other sites are cnet.com, zdnet.com, consumersearch.com, epinions.com, PCMagazine, BusinessWeekOnline, ConsumerGuide, and many others.  Also, many of the consumer online sites offer customer reviews.  Use those in conjunction with other reviews. For example, Amazon.com and Circuit City's online store are two sites with customer reviews. Best viewed at 1024x768,  medium text size

[luvie]

Ohhh, Colonel....do you have time for one more dance with me....I'll let you surprise me with the perfect song! But, I'm not putting on shorts...I'm too cold natured!

[Soaring Feather]

The Canteen

As a light house beacon warns
a ship away from dangerous shores...
We in the FReeper CANTEEN
offer a safe haven for our troops and their families.
May God Bless our ship FReeper CANTEEN.

bentfeather
9/05/03
Revised 01/05/04

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I don't have any tattoos but when I was in college if was all the rage for girls to get their sorority letters on their ankle. I chickened out a whole bunch of times but I had fun foolin myself all the way up to the door of the tattoo place... (know what I mean? *wink)

[Colonel_Flagg]

Want more information about the artists we play? Perhaps you'd like to buy concert tickets or their CDs? Click the links below for more information!

ArtistDirect.com l Amazon.com 1 Ticketmaster.com l Songfacts.com l Walmart.com

Anita Baker - Giving You The Best That I Got

How's this one, Luv?

[Colonel_Flagg]

Yes, I do. Though no sorority girl wanted anything to do with me when I was in school. I'm glad you're nice. :)

[luvie]

Oh, you did good....this is just perfect! Thank you, sir! (((((stuff))))))

[Colonel_Flagg]

Glad you like it! Happy to help.

[luvie]

If you're happy, I'm happy! :o)

[HiJinx]

Ummm...yeah, you're right...but I'm sure we'll find one this time.

We found one last time, the seller just didn't like the contingency. No contingency this time!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Mylife!!!
I missed you again??
(sniff)
Good evening Canteeners and Troops!
Guess I'll start by jumping in right here.
I'm in for abit..
Hugs alla round!
Ms.B

[HiJinx]

Beautiful little Sarah...I think she's going to outgrow Porky Pig days, what say you?

[luvie]

Just jump right in! (((((hugs)))))...I knew you were gonna be disappointed not to get to see him! Maybe he'll jump back in, too!

[HiJinx]

Would someone PLEASE loan me some motivation to go scrub the kitchen floor!!!:)

Do you really want company to see it the way it is now?

[fatima]

Well she is our fav and you know why-she is still a little porky even though she raises her little foot.Your right she will:)

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Oh thanks a bunch!
Now I wanna drag the vacuum out!
LOL
Ms.B

[BIGLOOK]

Sure thing Connie!

Company is coming!

[raygun]

I posted Calpernia's link in the Pilot's Bar at Frugal's World of Simulations, and Nodak01 replied with this link! It looks like the unit responsible for much of the footage in Calpernia's link put together an end of war montage.

Lots of good stuff all 'round. Thanks for the pingeroo-ski, and I figure, what the hey, right back-atchya =)

[Jack Deth]

Hi, Esmeralda:

Hi, Ma!

I've got to admit that Bellesario put one over on me with Chip being the Bad Guy. Didn't see it coming until Chip confronted Abbie with the knife.

One of the best episodes to date as well. The planes started coming down shortly after 9:00pm.

I'm guessing Abbie will be working solo in her lab for the time being. It's also cool that now DiNozzo is in debt to everyone... Including and especially Abbie!

Jack.

[Calpernia]

bump!

[EsmeraldaA]

Yes, how about that?
I felt a bit off at the beginning of the show when he was very nasty to Ducky's assistant.
Didn't you think it was odd? Even then I didn't have a clue .Wow.
Very good show.