My Polaroid iPhone App- ShakeIt Photo

Posted by: Mia Taylor on July 24, 2009

Since switching over to AT&T for the iPhone, my life has been revolutionized in many ways. Firstly, I have been experimenting with all sorts of applications for the iPhone for to-do lists, games and photography.

I’ve downloaded everything from Lemonade Stand (practicing my business-running skills) to iFart (yes, I’m a child at heart). One app that I’ve really enjoyed having is ShakeIt Photo.

ShakeIt Photo iPhone app is a unique and fun app that allows you to take photos that look JUST like old school Polaroid film. The photos look like a polaroid and you even shake the phone to speed up the developing speed- just like you would an polaroid photo you’re too impatient to wait for.

Here are some photos I took the first day I got the ShakeIt Application.

Pasta-roidShoesroidSittin PoochKickin Back

I’d love to get your feedback and suggestions! Leave me a comment :)

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USPS, Yet Again. Am I Paying Taxes For This?

Posted by: Mia Taylor on June 16, 2009

Well, I ordered contacts because I was running low, and well… I need to see. My glasses are scratched and I’m getting sick of them anyways. So, I ordered some Acuvue Oasys for Astimagtism contacts, which, if I had to review them would get 5 stars! I look at my VisionDirect.com account and see that my contacts were delivered! Exciting! Except…dun dun DUN!

Sure enough, the USPS was the carrier. I’ve been checking my door every day because they were late in arriving, and when I checked today, June 16th, the DELIVERY CONFIRMATION number was available and it stated that my contacts had been delivered yesterday…except dun dun DUN! They had not.

So, like any disgruntled “customer” of USPS, I looked on their website for a phone number to call. I had to call my local branch, who didn’t even understand that when I gave him a “DELIVERY CONFIRMATION” number, it meant my packaged was supposed to have been “delivered.”

I told him I had not received my package, that the USPS website said it was delivered, and he replied with “Are you sure it was delivered?” Oh goodness. “No, that’s the problem, it WASN’T delivered. It SAYS it was delivered (I was speaking slowly this time) but I did not receive my package.” The gentleman sounded almost exactly like Cleveland Brown from Family Guy, that it was hard to take him seriously.

In any case, once the guy figured out that what I wanted was my package, He told me that I should call back tomorrow at 8 AM… as if I have nothing better to do than track down my own mail. So frustrating. My package was coming from less than 2 hours away!

I wish there was a way you could choose not to have USPS deliver a package when ordering online.  United States Postal Service is so unreliable!

Thanks United States Postal Service, yet again.

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“Hello, this is the USPS calling…” In regard to your complaint.

Posted by: Mia Taylor on June 4, 2009

Woke up a few days ago. A blocked caller.  I hate blocked callers. To be honest, I usually don’t pick up. This time I did, and boy was that a mistake.

It was kinda like this:

Ok, so maybe it didn’t happen just like that but basically what they told me was this:

Well Ma’am, they pay us to deliver the bulk mail to you, so we can’t simply stop delivering it. What you can do, however, is contact each of the distributors personally and pay to be removed from their mailing list.

Well, let me give you an idea of how long this would take. In 2 days of not checking my mail, I received the following pieces of junk: (Keep in mind that most of these have multiple pages…as I’m sure you well know!)

  • Organize your home, ClosetWorld- Sent to Postal Customer
  • PennySaverUSA- Sent to Postal Customer
  • A Local community center pamphlet- I receive this bi-monthly at LEAST
  • Walt Disney Concert Hall
  • Faith Baptist Schools pamphlet
  • Henry’s Farmers Market – Sent to Postal Customer
  • Misc Furniture on Sale- Sent to Postal Customer
  • IKEA pamphlet (I do not shop here and have not given them my address)
  • Doit Center Sale junk- Sent to Postal Customer
  • Longs Drugs/ CVS coupons- Sent to Postal Customer
  • MoneySaver
  • Rite Aid pamphlets/Coupons
  • Molly Maid
  • 40-page LocalValues coupons
  • REDPlum coupons – Sent to Postal Customer
  • Vons- Sent to Postal Customer
  • Albertsons- Sent to Postal Customer
  • Ralphs – Sent to Postal Customer
  • Pavilions– Sent to Postal Customer
  • Smart& Final- Sent to Postal Customer
  • LA Private Trainers – Sent to Postal Customer
  • World Wide Windows
  • Hometown buffet- Sent to Postal Customer

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, two days.

Case and Point. I will be switching to a private post office box.

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Sifting Through Junk- Thanks USPS.

Posted by: Mia Taylor on June 1, 2009

USPS Mail boxes should all come equipped with a headlamp and shovel for all the digging we endure just to get out bills and holiday cards. I’m serious, the junk mail problem is a big problem. It’s a problem for a number of reasons, reasons I’m sure you’ll agree with. USPS Junk Mail

Ever sit in your kitchen shaking all the grocery coupons and pamphlets erratically just to make sure you didn’t lose a piece of mail in the abyss of junk mail?  It’s a regularity for me. Maybe I’m getting more junk and bulk mail than most, but that’s unlikely. I’m sure I’ve accidentally tossed an important letter here and there, and for this reason I’ve decided to become a P.O. Box user. Why has getting our mail from the mailbox regressed to the days of sifting through email inbox spam folders of the 90′s ? And better yet, Why can we not opt out of receiving all the junk?

I stopped by my local USPS store to see if I could fill out a form which would (hopefully) put me on a list of others annoyed with CouponMania, MoneySaver and all the other bulk mail, but to no avail. “You mean I have no option in the matter,” I said to the postman. He looked at me and simply said…”Um…no ma’am.”  Fan-tastic. Cool. Great. Thanks USPS

Yesterday,  when I picked up my mail (and the endless junk mail that accumulated over just 2 days) I noted that it was time for a blog post. Not only irritating, the junk mail problem has become more and more wasteful over time. Aren’t we trying to go “green?”

Like I said. It’s a big problem. Make the switch- get a P.O. Box near your home or work.

Visit http://donotmail.org/ to sign the petition against junk mail!

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Will Travel for Food- Full of Life Flatbread

Posted by: Mia Taylor on May 10, 2009

A few weeks ago I made a trip up to Los Alamos, CA to visit Full of Life Flatbread, the home of some of the most amazing food I’ve ever had. I struggled with this post (hence it being weeks overdue) because there simply weren’t words for how impressed I was. Putting all fabrication and exaggeration aside, I was truly stunned when I set foot at Flatbread to find out that the production room doubles as a restaurant Friday-Sunday and that all of their ingredients are from local farmers within 40 miles of the restaurant. Not to mention that they ship their pizzas nationwide!
Chocolate Egg photo by Wil Fernandez

Touring the dessert fridge

When I arrived, Clark Staub, a former Angeleno in the music industry (formerly the VP of Marketing for Capitol Records) and now owner of Flatbread Full of Life restaurant, directed our attention to the fresh fava beans and pink lemons that had just arrived. I was even lucky enough to taste their homemade pink lemon whipped cream and witness the making of the Easter-inspired chocolate eggs filled with fresh berries and creme.

For dinner, we headed back to Flatbread and dined on some of the most delicious Pepperoni and Poblano Pepper pizza, Clam stew, Duck salad followed by a variety of other fresh flatbread wood fired pizzas. The one that I was most intrigued by was a pizza topped with cooked stinging nettles. Yes, nettles.  Apparently, when cooked, they’re incapable of stinging and actually quite tasty. By the time dessert came, I knew I was in for a treat. Remember that pink lemons we saw earlier? They were made into a delicious lemon tarte, topped with sweet and savory pink lemon whipped cream. I could have eaten it for days!

Clark Staub Full of Life Flatbread

Clark Staub, Chef/Owner

Flatbread owner, Clark Staub explained to us a bit about the production of Flatbread pizzas. With only one hearth and limited bakers, Full of Life Flatbread produces over 200 pizzas per hour, each day of the week. Being as Los Alamos is a small town, locals from the vocational training center not far away, are employed to help build Flatbread frozen pizza boxes and knead dough.  Many of the individuals hired for this process are in need of job opportunities for those with mental or physical disabilities.

Locals from and around Los Alamos, gladly serve some of the most delectable and original dishes. Many employees I spoke with seemed to share Clark’s view of great food service and production.

“Full of Life is my own quest for simplicity and my own demand for quality food. Food made with and inspired by friends. Food that has a sense of place. Food made by real people without pretense or fashion. Food shared with our neighbors. Food that we ourselves eat. Food that is real and good and is part of the world that surrounds us.” – Clark Staub

Full of Life FlatbreadI had the pleasure of meeting a great group of Flatbread employees after closing shop that night.  Pictured to the left is owner and chef, Clark Staub sharing an uplifting moment with his employees…then he sends them home with a pizza!

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