Daily Archives: December 19, 2004

Current Events

Car Shopping

Janice and I need to replace the mini-van in the next year.. so we’ve started doing some research and window shopping

With the gas prices going the way they are (further and further up) I’m seriously considering getting a Hybrid this time around… my big concern with that is, I remember reading somewhere that the EPA estimates for MPG are not accurate for hybrids.. and that most people don’t get that kind of mileage… but, then again, I don’t know that many people who get near the EPA estimates for mileage on their ‘normal’ cars either..

Because it does occasionally snow here in Colorado, we also need something that will do well in most any weather condition (Guess that means we won’t be picking up a Ferrari). I’m interested in Ford’s new Escape Hybrid which looks like a decent compromise between fuel efficiency and power. I tried to go through Ford’s ‘build your Ford’ thingie…but it won’t let me build and price an Escape Hybrid, just a ‘regular’ Escape, so its really not that big of a help. From what I’ve seen online, it looks like the Hybrid is running about $3,000-$5,000 more then a similar ‘normal’ Escape. Not sure if I can justify the extra $$ right now… granted, if someone wanted to give us an Escape Hybrid, we wouldn’t turn it down. But, since we have to pay for it…I don’t think we’ll end up with the Hybrid this time around..

I’m interested in hearing from anyone that owns a Hybrid as to what their experience has been, was it worth the extra $$?

Apple, Site Stuff

.Mac Affiliate Program

So a little while ago, Apple introduced a .Mac affiliate program, similar to the iTunes affiliate program I’m a member of (Click on the iTunes graphic, or one of the songs on the right to buy from iTunes Music Store and help me earn a little commission)

And I figured since the list of ‘requirements’ to join the .Mac affiliate program were similar to the ones for the iTMS program, I’d go ahead and join up…. The other day I get an email back from the .Mac Affiliate Program.

Telling me that I have not been accepted into the affiliate program. The email goes on to state “The reason for this decision may be as follows:

* inability to access web site

* Web site not yet live

* traffic levels to low

* inappropriate material on site”

So..since the top reason they listed was inability to access web site…. how would they know if there was inappropriate material on the website (I wonder what material they thought was inappropriate?) And since the page is hosted on .Mac (I didn’t register it under either theteppers.net or kaelkicksass.com) wouldn’t the .Mac affiliate program people have known if there was some kind of systems issue preventing access to the .Mac servers…and then tried again later?

Oh well… overall..no big deal, it’s not like I’m raking in the dough from the iTMS affiliate, so I don’t think the .Mac program would have made that much of a difference.