Does Anybody Use McDonald's Wi-Fi?

A few years ago I had stopped at McDonald's during one of their Monopoly promotions and ended up winning a free entry or two for fantasy football teams with CBS Sportsline.  It was one of the consolation prizes but, considering my addiction to Yahoo sports fantasy leagues, a relatively cool one.

This year I ended up with some game pieces and "won" an hour of  free Wi-Fi at participating McDonald's restaurants.  I didn't even know they offered it, let alone charge for it.  Of course, after looking at their site, it appears only one Reno location has it (1071 Steamboat Parkway).  Strangely, Carson City has three.

Well anyways, another consolation prize that might be considered cool but one I have no use for.  So if anybody out there has a pining to surf the web along with a Big Mac and fries, go ahead and email me (my contact link is over on the left) and I'll send you the code and instructions.

Change You Can Conceive In?

All of all the story angles concerning election night, this Newsweek piece probably reaches the true nadir.  But it does have a quote from a Reno woman.  That counts for something, right?

"On election night, my husband had managed to down a bottle and a half of wine in celebration and he was all about making an 'Obama election baby'," Abbi Whitaker, 32, of Reno, Nev., told NEWSWEEK. "He thought it would be the coolest thing."

Apparently Junk Mail Isn't Feeling the Economic Pinch

With almost every sector feeling the economic pinch you would think junk mail would also fall victim to cutbacks.  I mean, locally you have the RGJ's Sunday help wanted section barely at a page and a half nowadays and jobs stalwart IGT laying people off.  Cripes, even the Denny's in south Reno closed a month or two ago, and aren't they about the most recession-proof restaurant there is?

Yet in a two-day period I received the following:

• Allstate wanting me to switch car insurance and save $353.
• Inc. magazine offering me a year subscription for $5.
• Fast Company magazine wanting me to re-up with a 2-for-1 deal for $12.
• The World Wildlife Fund wanting me to save polar bears for $16.
• Bankers Life and Casualty Co. warning me of what Medicare doesn't cover.  Not sure who they bought that mailing list from, but they are off by a couple decades.
  
• Bankers Life and Casualty Co. warning someone who doesn't live at this address of what Medicare doesn't cover.
• Chase offering those checks to access your credit line (0.99% until 05/09 or 6.99% until paid off).
• One of those "Dear Resident" offers from a Meadowood Mall store for a free Samsung Fin cell phone if we sign our lives away to Helio.
• Our first Christmas Card.  It was from the Reno Salvation Army.  The wanted a donation.
• Another local charity, St. Vincent's Center, asking for a donation for their food pantry.
  
• Trader Joe's Thanksgiving flier.  Lot's of great food, though a little weird that it was in the same batch as St. Vincent's letter.
• A special investment opportunity in a diesel scrubbing muffler!  Yes, ENVI.PK is "set to skyrocket" says the investment newsletter editor who has sold out.

Apparently bulk mail isn't suffering.  Just the recipients.

14 Paid Holidays?

No wonder California's budget is so out of whack.  State employees receive 14 paid holidays annually.  Can the average Californian (well, those not employed by the state) even name 10 of them?

Apparently Gov. Schwarzenegger wants to lop off a pair of them, Lincoln's Birthday and Columbus Day, to help trim the state's $28 billion budget deficit.  Needless to say, union officials aren't too keen on the idea.

And on a related note, isn't it about time we laid to rest the old wives tale of how public sector employees have it so much worse than the private sector.  Perhaps decades ago it may have held a little water, but no more.

Apparently Begging For Money Doesn't End When the Election Does

Even winning the biggest election prize there is doesn't bring an end to a campaign's onslaught of "send us money" emails.  Twice this week the Barack Obama camp has sent out "Get your Victory Shirt" emails.  The catch, though, is you need to bail out the DNC with a $30+ contribution.

The interesting part, and the reason I put $30+, was not everyone received the same email.  If you were a relatively cheap bastard, or didn't send a dime to the Obama campaign, you received the "Donate $30 or more" email for your shirt.  But, as Craig Stoltz at Wb2.Oh...Really? found out, some received an email with a request for $100.  As he explained, his friend had previously donated in $100 increments while he went the $25 a month route.  She received the $100 beg.

Another person hit up for $100 was Slate's Dahlia Lithwick.  I think it was the last straw.  Read The Audacity of Email: Dear Mr. President-elect, please take me off your spam list.  It's funny and sad.