Death, a beautiful way to explain it

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave 

the examination room and said, 

'Doctor, I am afraid to die.

Tell me what lies on the other side..' 

Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know..' 

'You don't know? You're, a Christian man, 

and don't know what's on the other side?' 

The doctor was holding the handle of the door; 

On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, 

And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room 

And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness. 

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 

'Did you notice my dog? 

He's never been in this room before. 

He didn't know what was inside.. 

He knew nothing except that his master was here, 

And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. 

I know little of what is on the other side of death,

But I do know one thing... 

I know my Master is there and that is enough.'

I got this in an email this morning and thought it was to beautiful not to share.  I hope it touches you as much as it touched me, makes you smile as big as it made me smile, and gets you excited for what's on the other side of the door.    

Most people think of Psalm 23 as a funeral verse, but take the time to read it, digest it.  It's a wonderful picture of promise for the living.

Psalm 23(NIV) 

The LORD is my shepherd I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul.  He guides me along the right paths for His names sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; 

Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, 

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

As a Christian, I know I don't have to fear death and look forward to spending eternity with my Father, who is just as excited to see me and as I am to see Him.  Be blessed.

Distractions everywhere!

Distractions.........

Why do we allow things to derail our best intentions?  In this age of technology and getting things now, we've forgotten what it was like to actually finish things, to cross everything off our "to-do" list for the day.

Oh sure, we start out the day thinking "this is the day" we are going to get everything done and we actually make progress in crossing things off.  Technology has in some aspects made our lives alot easier, while at the same time complicating them.

Remember the days when you didn't have to work past 5pm because nobody could get a hold of you, they had to wait until the morning.  Ever since the invention of the cellphone and the internet my husband has worked pretty much until he goes to bed, whether it be answering emails or the phone.  And even though I'm a stay at home mom, I'm not immune to the draws of technology.  I mean the internet has alot of stuff on it.  This one day I was "surfing the world wide web" and the next thing I knew it was time to get dinner ready.   The internet has some interesting and funny stuff.   Yes, sometimes you have to weed your way through the crap that's out there, but the internet can be quite entertaining and educational.   There is this site someone showed me size comparisons starting with things you can only see with a microscope all the way up to galaxies.   It really makes you think about how insignificant we really are in this world.....this galaxy.  Which then gets you thinking about what our part is in this great big world, what's the purpose, can we really make a difference?

So, where was I going with this????  Um......I don't know, I got distracted.

The Saga Continues......That's not how you run a company, Pt 2

I hope you have popcorn!!  

If you've only just "turned into" my blog......catch up with Pt1 of the saga here:  http://ventingvebber.blogspot.com/2012/04/thats-not-how-you-run-company.html  (don't forget the comments too).....go ahead I'll wait.......

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Are you all caught up now?  Okay, so after much uproar from their endorsers, Calyp has relented and decided to give us all back the earning they had taken from us.  YIPPEE!!! Score one for the home team!  But, alas, the saga does still RAGE(emphasis mine, because it's really become more of a game it seems) on.  

You see, they still won't tell us how the pay has changed.  Although, we can't really call it pay, because as they say it's not a job.....yet they are paying me to do something, so I'm not really sure what to call it, a perk? a benefit? a reward?  an incentive??  Whatever you want to call it, they won't tell us what it is other than it will be "based on your social outreach".  Fine and dandy, so far so good.   But when you ask for more details such as: What are the levels? Where do the levels change? How do you figure the levels?  How much does each level pay??, well we can't get an answer, just the standard reply of we'll be sending out an email later.  Ummmm, but you've already changed my earning level so you obviously know the answers to those questions. 

Why is it so hard to get a straight answer from this company?!?!  When people first asked about the missing funds we were told it was "an early funding" (not true).  Then about 2 hrs after that we got the notice about the accounts that were shut off for abusing effecting our totals. Which, obviously by this blog and the many comments on their page, did not sit well with everybody.    Now we are trying to find out about the new system they have put into place.....it was implemented this morning.  And the only answer we get is: We'll be sending out an email at the end of the week.  We've already outlined how you will earn money.  Ummmm, NO, you didn't you only said and I quote from the email:  Endorsers will be awarded CALYP "Status" (Preferred, Gold, Platinum or Elite) based on their social reach. Reach will be calculated based on the aggregate community across all of the social networks you link to your CALYP account.  The more "influence", or friends or followers you have, the larger your reach is which in turn will give you higher status in CALYP.

All we want to know is how you calculated our "reach", where the levels begin/end and what the "rate" is for each level.  You've already changed our status, so you know the answer, can you not share it with us??

There is never been an instance when I have gotten a straight answer from this company.  I asked about my missing parts(a power chord and instruction manual) for a prize I won, a bluetooth stereo thingy.  For two months I get: We're looking into it or Let me check with the shipping department. Until I finally get an email that says I was shipped everything I was supposed to get, but here's an extra manual in case you need it.  Ummm, I never got it in the first place REMEMBER!!!  I know, I know, I can buy a new power chord, but that's not the point I'm making.....could they not have just told me that 2 mos ago?!?!

Today, I'm asking the same questions about the rate and levels on their Facebook page when I get a notification someone commented.  Only when I get there, there isn't any comment.....So I ask them what happened to it.  Their reply:  We move posts that  use hateful language, false accusations, profanity or attack CALYP or another Endorser  Great! But the only problem is there wasn't any of that....I then copy word for word what was posted so they can see what I was talking about, yet they still come back with the same line.  I even asked them to point out what I was missing....same line.

I'm really beginning to wonder if anyone at this company actually comprehends English at all.  Some of you are probably still wondering why I am even bothering with this company and at times, I've asked myself the same question and I don't have an answer.  I must just be a glutton for punishment.   




****UPDATE****  
To show their continued lack of communication they have resorted to deleting comments, blocking people from even posting on the Calyp Facebook page unless it is under one of their posts, blocking some endorsers from commenting at all(like myself) and they have also reported to Facebook that the people complaining were harassing them so that people couldn't even get into their Facebook account unless they agreed to remove their post entirely(not me, but several others).  So rather than answer the questions people ask, they silence them and continue to post that there will be an email later.  Is this how a company should behave??  Is this the kind of company that advertisers should even want to be associated with??  I guess that is something Calyp will soon find out.

That's not how you run a company!

As many of you are aware I have started finding ways to make money since I am home all the time.  One of the sites I found was called Calyp from the company Blue Calypso.  It's an advertisement based site.  They find companies like Coke, Body Glove, Crystal Light, Glade and many, many more who are looking to find someone to advertise their products.  Calyp then pays their endorsers(people like me and you) to share ads on their Facebook page, Twitter feed, Linkedin account, and blog.  They will also pay you if someone clicks on one of the ads to check it out.  I didn't make alot, but did manage about $40-50 a month.  Nothing that would feed a family or pay rent, but definitely helped with the non-essentials.

Today I log into my account to see what, if any, new ads were there for me to share.  Imagine my surprise to find that they had taken almost $30 out of my earnings for the month.  After sending an email to find out what was going on I find out that they did this to just about every other person who was doing this program.  Their reasoning: "We have identified both individual Endorsers as well as common locations which are abusing CALYP and have taken steps to stop the abuse. Accounts for those abusing Endorsers at such locations have been permanently locked out and have been blocked from further participation with CALYP. This includes the ability to interact with campaigns that are posted by any Endorser."

I've checked my account, I still have access, so I'm not blocked....why are you punishing me?!?!  Not only did they take back monies, they did it on the weekend, with no notice and no answers for over 8hrs and even that was the run-around for another 3 hrs.  If they KNEW about these problems, why did they allow them to continue, allowing our balances to increase??  Giving us a false sense of earning???   Why did they do it on the weekend if not to try and get it past their endorsers?? If they knew they were going to be doing this why did they have to wait to tell us about it???  And why on earth were they NOT ready to address the issue as soon as it happened???

Not only did they take people's money, they have also changed the way they are going to pay people for sharing now....no notice, nothing. And all of those that have reached a certain level will all start over.  So all the points we earned to reach different earning levels will be gone.  All the posting we have been doing will be for naught, nothing, zip, zilch.  Now, I am sure they get paid a fair amount of money by the advertisers to use this program and have already been paid for past ad campaigns.  So they've been paid, but aren't going to pay us.  I'm sorry, but to me this doesn't seem like the way to run a company.  I'm fine with them wanting to change things and make it better, but you don't screw the people that work for you in the process.  You don't take back that what you have already promised you were going to give.  I'm okay with changing how the payout is figured, but you don't do it without warning and without taking into consideration the people that have already achieved certain levels.  How would you feel to have worked to achieve a certain pay grade and then they said, sorry, we're going to start you at the beginning rate?  I'm not looking for things to just continue the way they have been.  It's apparent it wasn't working, but you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I have also noticed a problem with communication in this company. They tell us the money is being loaded to our debit cards, it shows it's been taken out of our earning account, but it takes 4-5 days to show up.  They've told us each time it would only take 2.  They tell us the bank is responsible for loading the cards with our funds, we call the bank and they say they don't have anything to do with it.  We ask about it and they reply with "We're looking into this".  I was fortunate enough to win a prize from them on February 14th, only it was missing pieces and to this day I still have NO IDEA where they are.  I sent numerous emails, posted numerous times on the Facebook page and get the same answer: "We'll look into this".  After checking their Facebook page it looks like this is a continuing problem as several people are trying to find out about the prizes they have won.  This is how's it's always been since day one with this company.  I was willing to put up with it because it really was an easy way to earn a few bucks.  But when you steal what was owed,  when you take back what I have earned, you no longer deserve my patience and understanding.

To my friends and family on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin I apologize for bombarding you with those ads, for wasting the space I used, for encouraging to you to even look at anything you were interested in.  Please avoid having any dealings with the following: Blue Calypso, Inc., formerly JJ&R Ventures, Inc and Blue Calypso Holdings, Inc and please pass the message on.