IAmDann Presents: Things I Love Thursday, October 7th

The air is getting colder, the A/C units are being packed away, and people are consuming pumpkin flavored anything at an alarming rate. You guessed it, it’s October. Not only is it October, it’s also Thursday. Which means it is the October 7th edition of Things I Love Thursday! It’s been another fun filled week full of things that I love, so let’s just jump right in!

Bank of American Fraud Protection: While I use ING Direct as my main bank (and I swear by them and recommend them to everyone), I still have a Bank of America account as a backup. I mainly use this to pay my rent (all my housemates also have Bank of America, so they’re able to just transfer me the funds every month and I just use bill pay to write the landlord one check for all of us). It’s also a great way to transfer funds to and from my parent’s bank accounts, since they use Bank of America as well. Needless to say, I don’t really check that bank account very often (usually once a month, around rent time). So when/if any fraud happens, I’m not as on top of it as I really should be. That being said, Bank of America totally had my back this week. There were two suspicious charges on my account, and Bank of America immediately put a hold to new charges on my account, sent me an email, and called me. Turns out these charges were fraud, so they simply turned off my card and helped me refute the charges. All I had to do was walk down to an actual Bank of America branch, and I left with a temporary debit card within ten minutes. Super easy, and barely any inconvenience. I know they’re not REALLY being completely benevolent (after all, they’re protecting their own money, since I wouldn’t be responsible for ANY fraudulent charges) but it’s still great that they’re on top of the ball so I don’t have to worry about it.

Tumblr: Tumblr is possibly one of my favorite web services, ever, and it’s surprising to me that it’s not more popular than it is. I should probably do an article here breaking down Tumblr usage, but that’s for another day. But in a nutshell, it’s everything that a journaling community should be. When you join Tumblr, it’s might be slow going at first (which is possibly why many people get discouraged), but once you find the right people to follow and start getting involved, it’s not only entertaining but rewarding as well! I can spend hours on that site, browsing through people’s pages, looking at pictures, liking things, and reblogging the best of the best. Much like a video mix tape (think: Retard-O-Tron or TV Carnage) prides itself in using footage no one has ever seen before, Tumblr is the same way. I’ve seen pictures on Tumblr that I’ve never seen anywhere else on the web, and I’m pretty prolific on the web. The main reason Tumblr made my list this week is because it was the first time a picture that I posted got pretty popular and was reblogged a lot. It was way more rewarding than I thought it would be, and still makes me smile. Again, I would not argue that Tumblr is a web service for everyone, but definitely brings a lot of joy into my daily life.

Focus Groups: This week I participated in a focus group for BuyWithMe (one of those Daily Deal websites that are popping up everywhere these days). Not exactly sure why I was chosen to get the email invitation to the focus group, but I responded and got in! $50 for an hour and a half of work, plus a discount code for 10% any BuyWithMe deal until October 15th (which you can use too! Enter “focusgroup” during checkout!). I love giving constructive criticism for stuff like that. Not only because I feel like I have really good input to share, but because I’d love to start a small business someday. Getting involved and catching a quick glance of what goes on behind the scenes is always fascinating to me. I mean, it’s one thing to read about these companies in Entrepreneur Magazine and such, but it’s a whole different experience to walk through their offices. And an even better experience to walk out of said offices with a $50 check! Oh, and if you do decide to join the site, for free, please do so through one of my links. I’ll get $10 if you end up buying something someday (totally shameless)!

Desktop Connect: Desktop Connect is an application for the iPad that I rarely use, but is absolutely amazing when I do. Basically, it allows me to connect to my home laptop from anywhere. I can see my computer’s screen on my iPad, and control everything. This week, it came in handy when I needed to find a photograph that was residing somewhere on my home computer. I was able to whip out my iPad, open desktop connect, and I suddenly had full access to find the picture. I simply opened Picasa (if you’re not using Picasa, what’s wrong with you?) and found it was limited levels of difficulty. From there, I just emailed the file to myself. Super easy. It’s also great if I’m ever in the mood to, say, watch a specific movie that night, but don’t actually have the movie. I can just on my iPad, open desktop connect, and set up the file to download and it will be ready by the time I get home. Like I said, I don’t use it all the time, but you’d be surprised how handy it can be to have your home computer at your fingertips if you ever need it.

Memory Foam: I don’t care if it’s gimmicky, overpriced, unnecessary, or any other adjectives you can throw at memory foam. That stuff is awesome. I converted to a memory foam pillow around six years ago and will never buy anything else. It did take a little while to get used to (a week at most) but that transition time was totally worth every second that followed. The pillow just plain feels better than any traditional pillow. In addition to a memory foam pillow, I’m also all about the memory foam mattress topper. I’ve had one on every bed I’ve owned since college. Totally worth the extra money. The level of comfort just increases exponentially once you throw one of those memory toppers on your bed. Even when I spent almost three years sleeping on a twin sized mattress on the floor, that mattress still had a memory foam mattress topper and a memory foam pillow. Comfort is everything, and you can’t beat a good night’s sleep.

The Rest: Amazon’s Kindle, valerian-mint tea, stickers, over used fonts, drinking coffee again. ranch dressing, rearranging my room, acting domestic, deep cleaning, Swedish Meatballs, dust busters, startups, Wine Insiders, feeling important, feeling connected to my city, soup, fall, October, hoodies, undershirts, Pop Tarts, free food, Penn and Teller’s Bullshit, going to bed early, UNO, Air Mouse, sharing chicken with the cats, being reblogged, open windows, candles, incense, Nag Champa, Ugly Dolls, following ridiculous people on Twitter, honey, peanut butter, Things I Love Thursday.

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