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Pay equality

Posted by Lizzie on Sep-5-2008

There’s a lot of talk about women’s issues this election cycle. Thanks to Hillary Clinton, and now Sarah Palin, we’re back in the spotlight. In that vein, Congress is pressing for a revote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which failed to pass previously. McCain has come out again it:

“I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what’s being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems,” the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. “This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system.”

I’ve recently engaged in a half-hearted IT job search - in anticipation of my eventual graduation from the Tech program. There seems to be a little available, but I’ve heard that women are not treated favorably in the IT industry. It would please me, and thousands of other women, tremendously if this actually became law. Would I know that my male counterparts were making more than me? Probably not. But this act would give me recourse should I find out about a pay discrepancy after the fact. As a woman hoping to work in a male-dominated field, I would feel just a little better knowing I had a safety net.

There was some talk that this law isn’t necessary. I beg to differ. I worked with a company (unrelated to the tech field) that cut me a mystery check. When I inquired to what the purpose of the check was, I was told that it was to make up for a pay difference between me and my male counterparts. I had no idea that the men were making that much more per hour than I was, but there was a lawsuit and the settlement agreement was that this company would pay the hourly difference to each female for whatever period of time they agreed to (I think it was 3 months, even though I’d been there for over a year at that point). I left that company not long afterward, but my eyes had been opened. The reasoning for the lower pay was that women are mothers and so are prone to miss work because of their sick children. Men, on the other hand, are more reliable and should be rewarded. Really?

At a time when a major political party has nominated a self-proclaimed “hockey mom” to be vice president, there should be no more “she should get less because she’s a mom”. This woman is seeking a job while parenting 5 children (and potentially helping parent a grandchild) so the reason listed above would apply to her and her pay should be cut significantly. Right? No. Wrong. Her husband will be able to tend to the children while she runs for office and he can tend to the children while she continues to govern Alaska (except that he’s got a full-time job plus an extra job on the side in the summer, but that’s not this issue). It’s only fair that the rest of American women enjoy the same equality in pay as the women who govern them.

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Nov
10

Argus Finally Unveiled!

Posted by Lizzie

Tonight was very exciting. Though I didn’t get to go to PostieCon in Las Vegas, I was able to watch it courtesy of Andy Beard. He was nice enough to embed live video and a chatroom on his blog. So, not only was I able to watch the unveiling of Argus, I got to chat with other posties. That was pretty awesome for me, because I’m so new and I’m a little shy with a new group of people.

Argus was unveiled to be SocialSpark. It’s a social network, similar to MyBlogLog and Blog Catalog, where bloggers and advertisers can come together in an environment that promotes personable interaction. Everyone who signs up gets profile pages for themselves and their blogs, which makes it easier for each side to see if someone on the other side (meaning bloggers/advertisers) is right for them and their needs. Bloggers and advertisers can leave each other feedback, similar to the seller/buyer feedback you see on Amazon or eBay. That’s something that I’m particularly excited about. Not so much because I want to leave the feedback, but because I’d like to see how advertisers feel about me and what I write.

On that note, advertisers can search the site to find a blogger that they particularly like or search for someone with a more specific demographic profile. They can log in and look through profiles to find a, for instance, non-traditional college student like myself. Or they can find young men interested in gaming. It’ll be more user friendly than the set up now.

Something else that I found particularly noteworthy was the fact that if advertisers are asking for a particular promotion but aren’t getting any takers, the price for the promotion can go up. That means that we don’t have to continually see the same promotions for months at a time in our dashboard. Everything will be clean, neat, and ready to go.

There will be a flash welcome screen for some promotions. So, if an advertiser would like to sponsor my whole blog, there would be a “welcome ad” on my blog before anyone would be able to access the content. I was a little leery of this at first, but because it’s basically an unobtrusive kind of ad, optional, and visitors aren’t forced to keep looking at it, I kind of like the idea. Again, the exact times and terms would be discussed between the blogger and advertiser, but I believe it can be for as little as a day or as long as, well, forever, I guess. I’m a little unclear on the time length, but it still really interests me.

Live site stats will be available to anyone signed up with SocialSpark. They’ll be able to go into a blog’s profile and see the amount of traffic that blog gets and the amount of time visitors stay. That’s especially important because of the Big Google Smackdown. A PR1 blog, for instance, might get tons of traffic, but would normally not qualify for big opportunities. With SocialSpark, advertisers can see the traffic and totally discount PR. Also, bloggers can contact advertisers directly when they (adverts) are offering a promotion that the blogger doesn’t qualify for normally but feel they should be considered for the opp. On another note, advertisers can contact bloggers who aren’t even registered with PPP to offer them opportunities (I’m pretty sure that could get ugly, but don’t quote me).

Overall, I’m pretty psyched about the whole thing. I’m not sure it’s because I like a little competition or because I got to watch the unveiling. Either way, January is going to be a really exciting time for blog advertising and I can’t wait.

Of course, Andy has an excellent rundown of all the features, as he pretty much live blogged the event. I would like to say “Thank You!” to him one more time. As far as I’m concerned he’s an A-lister who deserves the title.

More about SocialSpark:

  • Jim Kukral
    almost had an exclusive (unfortunately Colleen beat him by minutes) My bad. Techie and Colleen were racing to get the story out. I guess I saw Colleen’s link first, but didn’t check the time. My bad! Sorry, Techie!!
  • Colleen broke the story
    Showed up her link first(before the unveiling, I might add)
  • Smuggle Me followed shortly thereafter
  • Broken Perfection has a nice post up too
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Posted in meta, work from home
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Oct
12

Made some money and found a new doc

Posted by Lizzie

I’ve just come off a flare, so I have all kinds of energy. Is this how it is for other folks that have fibromyalgia? I haven’t been doing too much research today because I’ve been trying to be productive. I just think it’s crazy that when I’m done having a flare I feel like I’m wired- so much energy! And my mind is clear. I love that! I haven’t had to take any pain meds today. That was fabulous. And I did get around to organizing the upstairs- I put everything away until the contractors were done (a whole other story).

I went to see a rheumatologist yesterday. The man was awesome! He really was the best doctor I’ve seen so far. I’ve been through three doctors (not counting my gynecologist) for this condition and not one of them did a real physical exam. By that I mean, getting dressed down, lying on the table, pokes/prods/listens, etc. This doctor did all that. He even did the trigger point test. My PCP didn’t do that. My neck and upper back were sore, but that was it for those. Anyway, he took my arms and legs and twisted them in all kinds of crazy ways, thumped a bunch of different places, and really seemed to hear me when I spoke to him. I think the listening was the best part. I told him all of my symptoms and apologized if I was bundling stuff in there that didn’t seem to fit, but I didn’t know what was part of my condition and what wasn’t. He scoffed at my apology and said it was his job to hear all of that information and evaluate it and that he was glad I was keeping track. It made his job a little easier. I swear, I almost kissed the man right there. It was nice.

So, I get to the part about my eye. Now I don’t know if I’ve mentioned all of my symptoms or not, but when I have a flare my right eye seems to swell and droop. It looks like I’m cocking my left eyebrow. I don’t even know if it’s actually swelling, but I certainly can’t open it all the way. It’s like my eyebrow is slipping down my face or something. My PCP didn’t seem too bothered by that. This doctor was.

“That doesn’t happen with fibromyalgia. You should really get that checked.” Ha! I really did laugh right at him. Um, doc, I did tell my PCP and he wasn’t concerned. “Well, I’ll run some tests and we’re going to have to keep an eye on that. That should not be happening.” Lovely. I gave about a pint of blood and donated some urine for good measure. Then it was time to go. I thought about researching the droopy eye, then I decided to wait. I really don’t want to scare myself anymore.

I also found Cash Crate. It’s one of those get paid to fill out surveys and get lots of junk mail. So far I’m up to almost $10 and got there pretty quickly. My first $6 worth of offers were verified right away, but now I’ve $13 bucks just sitting there with no verification. I’m wondering if I’ll make it to my $10 payout. I’m not going to do more until I find out. I did research the company before I joined, but, of course, everything I could find was telling how nice it was and stuffed with referral links (the above link is one too… lol). I’ll let you know if I get that payout.

Also, PPP approved me! Isn’t that wonderful? I’m thrilled. Two of the other paid blogging type services rejected me outright and I thought for sure I was rejected for PPP. Then I got the email! Yay!

Have a great weekend!

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