March 4th would have marked the one-year anniversary of protein wisdom’s return to the blogosphere. At that time, I was planning on holding my first-ever fundraiser. Hosting for protein wisdom is roughly $400 a year, but I’m not complaining: I honestly don’t mind paying for my own bandwidth.
However, my HP laptop—which is less than one year old—is on its deathbed. In fact, I’m not even posting this; my wife is.
If you have enjoyed protein wisdom, please consider making a donation so that I can purchase the equipment necessary to keep the site up and running. Jeralyn of Talk Left, who lives close by, has kindly offered to lend me a Powerbook to use in the interim. I hope to be up and running on that machine tonight or tomorrow. But that’s a short-term solution.
I’m hoping that HP will be able to repair my moribund box, but I’m not holding my breath; it’s been running hot for quite some time and I suspect the hard drive is shot [update: it is. Fried like an ODub breakfast, in fact]. Which means I have no way to communicate with the outside world—and so will be forced to compose posts in my head, solely for my own benefit and or amusement. Unless I am able to get a new machine.
So there you have it. I hate to ask for your hard-earned money, but I’m asking anyway. If you can help bring THIS CITIZEN JOURNALIST back online, please hit the PayPal button on the left. I’d like to thank each of you individually for your continued support; unfortunately I don’t have access to email just now, so a generic thanks is all I can offer.
Sincerely,
Me
Just dropped you a twenty.
Have you considered ass ads, BTW? :D
If I wasn’t in the legal mess I’m in right now, I’d have coughed up more.
Spam word: help.
I don’t do Paypal, but post another address and I’ll send you a check.
Don’t despair all isn’t lost. Post their email address and the details of your problem, names of those with whom you’ve talked and we’ll overwhelm them with emails and for heaven’s sake, stop talking to tech support in Bangladesh.
Contact HP corporate offices and let them know how many hits you get a day and how many of those people use computers and will now know better than ever consider a HP even if they get a free coupon for one with their breakfast cereal, etc.
We got a runaround with my eight month old under warrantee laptop, not HP, and finally got very quick action when we contacted their executive offices and spoke to someone in authority. Two days later, my laptop and new hard drive arrived courtesy of FedEx and we had the name and number of a real person to call should we have any more problems and who was profuse in her apologies, etc. and we don’t even have thousands of people a day to tell our sad story to.
I did lose the data on the hard drive, but like a good little girl, I had everything backed up. Jeff, even citizen journalists know enough to back up everything don’t they?
I’m good for a $20 too. You have to promise not to blow it all on Jager, dude. Seriously though, we’ll be expecting posts from the new machine to be faster and funnier than ever with the whole new Intel Inside thing and all.
If you get a powerbook, I’ll kick in at least $20.
Done and done.
$20.00 headed toward your paypal, dude.
You’re worth way more.
Seriously. Write a book.
Or an opera.
You’re not Andrew Sullivan, are you?
Just making sure.
John beat me to it, so technically I guess we are each sending a ten…good luck!
I one-upped all these tools: THIRTY dollars! TOP THAT PUNKS.
In the PayPal “for” slot I put “bandwidth charges.”
Just for the record, in response to erp‘s post and others in the previous thread, I have an HP (not a laptop) and have nothing but good things to say about them. The customer service rep I talked to (who sounded as Bangladeshi as Tony Soprano) stayed on the phone with me for ~40 minutes while we worked through some issues (which resulted from a fight over drivers between an OfficeMax keyboard and Windows XP and, frankly, had nothing whatsoever to do with HP).
FWIW, my younger brother has overheating problems with his Sony laptop (though the hard drive has yet to go). His just shuts itself down after ~1 hour of use.
Moral of the story: Hardware-wise, there are hits and misses for every computer manufacturer. The real difference comes in their responses to problems (especially for a computer like Jeff’s, which should be under warranty). Let us know how this all works out, Mr. G.
-Eric B
P.S.
CAPCHA work = hit. As in, hitting the tip jar as we speak.
Gah! “CAPCHA worD,” with a “D”. Dammit. Pie withdrawl is affecting my concentration.
Good Luck,
Hope everything works out.
Humh ,,,,,,,,,,, let’s try 3 digit numbers, okay?
No, that doesn’t include the penny spots.
Lloyd
$25 paypal’ed. I’d give more, but I won’t give you more than I donated to SondraK to get a new camera, because you don’t look nearly as good in heels.
On the way. I’ll up it $10 if you get a Mac.
(just investing long-term here.)
I’m good for $20, but as a CITIZEN JOURNALIST you need to spring for the 3-year extended warranty on this one.
(Turing word “works.” In my best Clouseau: “Neut anymeur.”)
I hear theres a LOT of dough in gay porn if your a hypocrite. You could probably wind up with a garage full of these
if you will do gay porn hypocritically.
Such a shnorer
buy a powerbook.
Trust me, I’m a doctor and a mom. I know what’s best for you.
I don’t pay for other websites, and I’m not going to start now. Get a job and buy your own equipment like the rest of the world.
Well … he is a cheap date, and of course, I have no other vices
………
A mac? Why not just get some birkenstocks and a “free mumia” t-shirt while you’re at it?
Dough on the way. I’ll double it if you get an 8086 with dual 256k 5 1/2” floppies. Go with the 6 mhz, or upgrade to the 8mhz turbo: your call. Those suckers do not break.
ditto on Pavel’s point – in lieu of money I’m sending you my copy of SpeedStor, the version that handles the 32MB DOS limitation.
Best wishes for a speedy laptop revival.
Hercules Graphics – all you ever really need.
That, and an expanded memory card with 2 megs of RAM on it.
OK, $50. Pony up, ya chumps, this is PW we’re talkin’ about! It’s money well spent. This site makes me laugh more than anything else in my daily reading list.
And I won’t tell you what kind of machine to buy, but please, please, PLEASE don’t get a Compaq or an HP! Those things suck.
My venerable retired Dell Inspiron is still rocking along, despite the fact that the case is severely cracked, and in fact is missing significant chunks of plastic. My new Toshiba is killer – only $600 at Circuit City right now, and I just LUUUURVE the widescreen, built in WiFi, and 3.5hr battery life. God help me, you can even get a Mac (although they cost too damned much) and I won’t be sad.
But please don’t spend my donation on a Compaq or HP. Waste it on booze, or maybe more of those red pills, if you must. Anything would be a better use. Even if they fix your HP, go get something else, and save the other one as a backup (or give it to the kid, it deserves death by leaky sippy cup).
Friends don’t let friends by Compaq. Roll your own at http://www.primecomputerinc.com/
How about a copy of that classic National Lampoon ad, “If you don’t buy this magazine, we’ll kill this dog”.
Done. Just get one of the bloody things that will hold up.
Helen came and picked up my powerbook tonight, so Jeff should be back up in no time. I never could get the hang of it, and not having a “right click” button drove me nuts. But, the mac is great for music and photos, so I’m going to keep trying to figure it out once Jeff gets that new computer you PW fans are going to buy him. Please, hurry.
Even though I’m putting in a new really, really expensive leach field for my septic syste (talk about “backup”) I’ll hit the PayBuddy key, again.
And forget the 8086 IBeamer tanker. I’d go with the Texas Instruments 99 4A or the Commodore 64.
I wasn’t going to contribute because I’m cheap. Then I read the comment by “me” above and sent you $5. I’m still cheap, but I’m not a royal asshole.
You could make this interesting and do titles and whatnot like they do for charity. Like “Friend of Protein Wisdom” except not so lame. Donate xx dollars and become a “CITIZEN JOURNALIST”. Donate xxx dollars and enter the “PAT BOONE Inner Circle”. Et cetera. I was inspired by Jim above and I’m thinking $4 dollars or below gets you “Royal Asshole”.
daf is on to something. The dollar amount to get one mentioned in the Martha Stewart Chronicles should rise to the amount for a night in the Lincoln Bedroom, I’m thinking. On-line coffee klatches!
Ten bucks should at least get the donor a sheet of personalized Protein Wisdom address labels.
By Jeff “The 8-inch Cannon” Gannon CITIZEN JOURNALIST standards, three hours should net $600. All we need to do is find an armadillo with a fat wallet and a yen for a hot Kosher dog.
Jeff, we here at the RNC do count on you for daily support and the pursuit of mancock. We’d be happy to donate $10 to your cause. We would just like to confirm your pledge of $25, $50, $100 or $250 as soon as possible.
Keep up the great blog.
I’m in for $10.00 – I figure that you can’t buy a lethal amount of mescaline with $10.00
Tim McNabb
fivehundredwords.com
I’m in for $20. Is this tax deductible? The continued effort to expose the plight of upper class women in posh women’s prisons is certainly worthy of that tax status.
Please tell me this is not the way tele-vangelis Jimmy Swaggart got started.
“Wrong?”—Fuck you, Turing.
Will your views on politcs improve if I include a $20?
(worth a shot asking — and dont’ tell Radley, he’s the only one I’ve ever contributed before)
Gonna drop $50 on you big guy, just because you make getting up in the morning that much easier. Your site never fails to elicit a response from me and for that I am grateful.
Keep up the good fight and a nice slice of pie and a bit more gay porn wouldn’t be a bad thing, would it?
I’m broke as usual, but WTF, I’m in for 20 as well, because I can’t imagine a day without PW. And I don’t care what you buy, just keep writing.
Funny how we can put anything in Paypal’s “Payment For:” block…I’d love to see the comments THERE!
A $20 spot on its way to you care of your friends at http://www.bearingdrift.com
Money well spent.
So how much have you raised thus far?
Hey, yesterday’s BestBuy ad had a laptop on the front for $499.99 after rebate! Plus, you can double the RAM for only $59.99!* A quick informal tally from the posts above puts you almost 3/4 there…
Another idea: make up a little GIF that donors can put on their site (and link to PW):
I SUPPORT CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
_____________________________________________
* Disclaimer: I own shares of BBY.
_____________________________________________
Back when there were about 14 comments I dropped $10 in the bucket, but I might have to re-visit it if I get confirmation of name-dropping in the Martha chronicles! Whoo-hoo, that’d be awesome, er, but not as one of her girl-toys!
My mother trained me rather strictly not to be crass and discuss money matters in public. She would crinkle her nose in heaven if I told anyone that I gave say $20 to PayPal. So I won’t
Don’t worry about the money, Jeff. I have it on good authority that the Blogdom of God is praying for you and just as soon as they figure out how to funnel all those prayers your way through PayPal, I’ve no doubt your problems will all be miraculously resolved. Just keep God in your heart and your eyes on the mailbox, bud. The check, as they say, is in the mail.
ps–I’ll get my credit card. But if you thought I pestered you for links before, you ain’t seen nothing, dude!! lol
Jeff, I’ve sent Ambassador Andrew Jackson your way. Show him a good time.
Um…I question the timing. As a CITIZEN COMMENTER, I raise my fist in the air and BRING DOWN THE CONSPIRACY!! The MSB is STICKING UP AMERICA!!
OK, OK, take your blackmail money ! But I’d better not wind up in some post with Peter Fonda inside me.
This better not be going for the previously-little-known fetish of facist gay porn.
Just fine ‘murrican Martha-related porn, like God intended.
You Americans .. always trying to make yourselves look so BIG wit yo donations.. If you people are giving 10..20..50.. I, DEAR LEADER BIG DADDY BOOM-BOOM will give A GAZILLION !! *** A Gazillion WON is on its way to you thru Pay-Pal as soon as I can find my Mastercard.. I maxed out my Visa on those nuke plans.. Be patient.
Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il
(** 1 Gazillion WON = approximately $20 USD)
OK.. The above wasnt REALLY Dear Leader Kim.. It was just me, Bipolar Pundit, pretending to be Kim Jong-Il.. Hahahaha fooled you all didnt I.. ?
I haven’t got a gazillion WON to send but I will part with $20 toward this worthy cause. My level of addiction to PW can be judged by the fact that I’m up at 6:00am posting this while on vacation with the kids at Disneyland.. I figure you’re good for the price of a Disneyland Burger & Coke combo. (..but not funny enough to include the price of french fries..work on that..)
While you’re talking to HP Bangladesh , see if they know Ward Churchill.. I could swear that I read someplace that he claimed to be 1/64th Bangladeshi Customer Service Rep on his mother’s side..
And don’t spring for the frills like an 8088 processor… The Apple IIe with 64K is just as reliable at half the price. If you’re a shrewd haggler you can probably get them to toss in some games like Wizardry or something..
-BPP
Spam word: Stage
I know how much y’all like those anti-spam words, but for those of you who hate typing them in every damn time, they go away if you register for the site (Upper right hand corner). Which is pretty cool, I think.
One final idea for fundraising: Sue somebody!!
I still don’t feel like supporting someones hobby. I support my own hobbies by working. If this sight goes under, so be it. There are thousands of hobbiests (i.e. bloggers) to read. Do him a favor and let him get out of this hole himself.
To above poster:
I support my own hobbies, too, and have the luxury of being well-off. But what sweat is it off your ass if some of us decide to help out?
No one’s making you contribute…and no one’s forcing those of us who did chip in to contribute. It’s called “freedom of choice”. I don’t think you need to be as libertarian as I am to see that, but you do have be Not Retarded.
And it’s spelled ‘site’. These are known as ‘homophones’ – words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings.
Come to think of it, you probably should be spending more time at other websites than here anyhow.
I dunno, me, I wouldn’t expect anyone to pay to support you vintage child pornography collection, because no one but you gets any enjoyment out of it.
But protein wisdom? It’s a beautiful gift that Jeff gives to each of us, and I’ll contribute when I get my next paycheck.
How many of us believe that MarkS posted as “me” just to give himself someone to ridicule?
* raise hands *
:
:
I dunno, Robin, I think “me” really likes PW, judging from how we keep seeing “me” in the comments. Maybe “me” should make a donation since he/she enjoys having a “sight” to troll.
I’m not bemoaning anyone’s desire to give help to this site (thanks for the edit Mark S), I’m just commenting that I wouldn’t launch a fund raiser to support my hobby. It wouldn’t even occur to me that someone would want to help pay for my hobby (none of which includes vintage child porn) let alone to ask for money.
Relax.
I’m shocked at the suggestion!
That would imply that there aren’t enough people around already practically begging to be mocked. Or that I’m so mean and curmedgeonly, I’d make up an imaginary person to kick around if there wasn’t anybody sufficiently deserving nearby.
It was <s>Bill Burkett</s> Lucy Ramirez that tipped you off, wasn’t it? sHE DID, DIDN’T sHE??!!?
Wow. You dont “mind” paying the bandwith costs for your site? Geez…that’s awfully nice of you.
Despite your protestations to the contrary, this does come perilously close to “complaining”. In fact, about the only thing you didnt put in your post was “do it for the children”.
I’m all for monetizing a site. Christ, man, you already had a paypal button on the site along with oodles of ads and your own line of merch. That didnt drive enough dollars through the teller window? Apparently not.
You have an excellent blog. I fully understand that some people find value in what you write. At some point, though, doesnt this get embarrassing?
This small but growing trend of blog fundraising for the financial benefit of the blogger himself is disturbing. If you want/need money in order to continue blogging then why dont you make your blog subscription only and see how many readers you retain? I suspect that would be about as successful as the ads you already run.
Because here’s the nut of it…your readers already had a way to “voluntarily” contribute to the site’s ongoing success but, judging from your new plea for cash, that didnt work out too well.
So you have to give them a prod. Where in the hell is the dignity in THAT?
Thanks, Mr. Helpful.
People like you make trying to keep this site going completely worthwhile.
well, me, sometimes there are perks. for example, i’m getting a free trip to NY out of my “hobby”. yay me, i mean, myself! I! uh, Maggie!
no problem, sir. i’m glad ive given you a reason to “keep on keeping on”. after all, that’s why they call me “mr. helpful”.
Actually, all you’ve given me a really uncalled for shot to my self-esteem.
Fuck off.
with all due respect, you did that to yourself, sir.
Like Jeff said.
Fuck off.
Jeff,
Come on, have a look at Mr. Asshole’s crappy site. You can’t possibly let a jerk like that affect your self-esteem, even if it is for just a moment.
What the fuck is it with you fucking assholes? Do you get off on trolling around other sites to be rude and insulting to complete strangers? Are you just looking for site hits, or are you REALLY that much of a social retard? Your mother must have been one dumb cunt if she raised you to exhibit that kind of behavior.
“Fuck off” is right. GROW UP.
I think I might just drop some more cash in the jar just to make up for Mr. Asshole’s crapping on the carpet.
I second the fuck off to Mr. Helpful. Or would it be thirds?
Turing word: “right,” as in “Right, go fuck yourself.”
me oh my.
password: hard?
I’m always astonished at the degree to which anonymity appears to give some people license to be complete assholes.
This whole thread should have been a dialogue between Jeff and his die-hard fans. Instead, someone had to come in and screw it all up.
Jeff: as long as you don’t go all Andrew Sullivan on us, and keep having pledge drives after the $80,000 mark is reached (and holding them religiously, twice a year), do what you have to do.
I’d send money if I weren’t struggling to keep my utilities turned on right now. (Wait. That sounded dirty.)
Turing: every.
Another $20, “Payment For: Mr. Helpful’s obnoxiousness really pissed me off.”
Annoy your opponents and we rally to the fight, Mr. Helpful.
Turing word: military.
Wait! I CAN help! If you end up buying a Mac, you’ll probably be dealing with that “oopsie, shipped with too little memory” problem within a few months. So I’ll send you some money in April, and help out with that aspect of the problem.
OK, how many people think “Mr Helpful” is really Ward Churchill here to get some cheap shots in retaliation?
* raise hands *
Robin – lend me your .38 and I’ll take a cheap shot … or two ….
Diana, you can borrow my Glock .40 if you want to do it with panache. Or take my Ruger .357–and it’ll even shoot .38s if you’ve got your heart set on ‘em.
Glock .40 and gonads!!!!!
A sip of champagne, a cheroot, and a sure shot!!
[keyword “six” well, what can I say!!
HEY! YOU ASSHOLES WHO ARE GIVING JEFF A BUNCH OF SHIT: I KNOW IT’S THE NATURE OF YOUR CURRENT INCARNATION AND YOU PROBABLY CAN’T HELP IT, BUT FUCK RIGHT OFF.
(pesky turret’s syndrome)
Ok Mr Helpful and Me and you other cheap bastards.. I give a buck to the barrista that spends 30 seconds frothing my latte.. a few bucks to the waiter/waitress that carry my dishes 50 ft and refill my coffee… why? Because it’s expected of me.. but I donated to Jeff G. for no other reason than I wanted to.. so quit pissin’ an moaning and let us enjoy giving something back to Protein Wisdom ..
Plus I think that if we dont donate.. if Jeff doesnt get a new ‘puter.. then the terrorists will have won.. and we cant let that happen..
-BPP
spam word: water
If that’s the real Mr. Helpful and not some troll using his name, his comments above leave me glad that I’m apparently banned from his site.
Totally cool trashing of Mr Helpful, that earned ya 20.00 … already done
Once again. You can give all you want…never said it was a bad thing to do so.
I just find it odd for someone to ask for money to fund their hobby of blogging. Especially if the funds are for hardware that is used (I admittedly am assuming) for more than maintaining this blog.
I find this blog informative and amusing and I appreciate the fact that comments are enabled.
I shall hence forth, however, not use the comments section of this blog as my primary forum to post my thoughts. Once I start my own blog (no charge, no donations or tips accepted, and no amazon wishlist begging people to buy me shit) I’ll let you all know, although I’m sure few if any of you will be interested in my posts.
Sorry to have annoyed.
me – you still don’t get it, despite all the hints you’ve been given.
This is a calling, not a hobby. It’s a love of words and the delicate manipulation of those words and thoughts and philosophies and forward thinking.
I wish you luck in all your endeavours.
… and let us know where you are! We just might come visit.
Hey Jeff, pull a Sullivan!
Raise $80,000 for “bandwidth,” then shut the blog down and spend it on plane tickets.
Why do I get the sickening feeling we’ll be seeing ads this summer for a “Sullyboi in Europe (The Bath House Tour)” DVD?
Very good webpage you have here and best greetings to all your visitors.
a really great homepage! i’m a big fan of your stuff although i’m just 16!