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I’ve had the privilege of working from home for the past 7 years. My twins, who are nearly 10, have virtually grown up seeing me at my computer with CorelDraw on the screen.

And the older they get, the more technically capable they get every day.

Lately they have both taken more of an interest in my work and in CorelDraw. So I’ve started to let them experiment with the program. My daughter created a colorful image of her name, warped slightly with an envelope. My son created a sports-looking image with a manually-drawn baseball on it.

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I signed up for service for Preventive Pest Control and the service was fine until late 2006, when my normally appointed serviceman was apparently replaced by a substitute.

I work at home and was always there to receive their house call. They also typically called the day before to verify that service was to be delivered the following day. They called that late 2006 day and confirmed that they would be arriving the next day.

In the past, if they had shown up to my door and no one answered, they would leave an invoice stuck in my screen door to show they had been there.

On that day, no one showed up. I was home and working all day. No one came to my door and my dogs never barked to alert me of anyone outside. There was nothing stuck in my door either. A few days later I received a receipt in the mail. That had never happened before and I thought it was very odd. Why mail it if the serviceman was there and could have left it on the door?

Of course I knew no one had actually come to my door. They mailed the receipt because no one showed up to put it on my door or have me sign for it. I called and told them I wouldn’t pay it unless someone else showed up and re-sprayed. No one did.

Then I started receiving late notices, which I refused to pay.

And then I started receiving bills for future services that were never even rendered. They were billing me for subsequent months, even though they weren’t showing up for those services either. They wanted me to pay my past balance before showing up again, yet continued to bill me!

A few times, salesmen came to my door, not realizing I already had issues with the company - trying to sell me their service. I told them my problem and they said they’d try to help. No one did. At one point I even offered to pay the balance if they would just come and spray again. The salesman agreed and said someone would be there the next day… but they never showed up.

In each case, these salesmen admitted they were “having problems” with some of the servicemen. One salesman even told me he knew of cases of servicemen submitting invoices for jobs he did not actually do.

So now I have over $350 on my credit because one substitute employee was too lazy to do his job, and no one at the company bothered to step up, admit their mistake, and make things right. And I remind you that this is $350 for services that were never rendered at all.

For this reason, I recommend avoiding Preventive Pest Control in the Las Vegas area. They might be fine for you, but you could find yourself with a negative item on your credit if you happen get the wrong guy assigned to you, or a bad substitute. It’s not worth the risk.

I would rather live with the bugs and avoid the real pests… Preventive Pest Control in Las Vegas.

I will also be posting this blog entry on ripoffreport.com and will link to it when it is there.

I have a very nice Kinetico water system that I financed nearly 4 years ago. My financing was through Aqua Finance. I’ve been paying on this Aqua Finance account for nearly 4 years. I’ve paid faithfully and regularly. Sure maybe a couple of late payments over the years, but nothing significant.

I received a letter stating that they were going to raise my interest rate from 17.99% to 21.00%. No reason was given. The end of the notice reads as follows:

“If you cancel your Agreement you must return any charge cards and pay your entire balance due under the terms of the Agreement.”

I called them and they said I had to pay my entire balance immediately. I stated that the final line could be interpreted differently. I pointed out my interpretation, that I could pay my balance due under the original terms, which was $73 a month at 17.99% interest. I could tell my education level was considerably higher than the customer service rep and her even less-educated supervisor. I knew it was a losing battle, so I said it was unethical and unfair. I called them “scumbags” and hung up. OK, the “scumbags” part may have been a bit too far out of frustration, but still…

Even if my interpretation of that line of the new agreement is incorrect (I still attest it is not, but they shouldn’t leave something so important up to interpretation), I still feel that changing the terms 4 years into an agreement is unfair, and the rude treatment I received by customer service was salt in the wound.

Since I can’t even fight this war, I owe it to everyone out there to issue the following warning:

If you are considering doing business with Aqua Finance, I highly urge you to reconsider. This company has kicked a loyal customer to the curb with an insulting and misleading form letter and shoddy customer service. It is my opinion that this company is dishonest for the reasons stated above.

Until we as consumers stand up and refuse to be treated this way, unfair and uncaring businesses such as this will continue to take advantage of hard-working and honest people.

It seems that most graphic artists can be categorized in two ways. (Yes, I’m already generalizing, and yes there are always exceptions - let’s get that out of the way upfront). There are the schooled artists and the non-schooled.

I don’t know if I’ve ever met a schooled graphic artist who wasn’t deeply embedded in the Adobe school. Many schooled artists don’t even consider other software.

Is it too soon for an aside already? Yes? Well bear with me.

I always thought it ironic that so many graphic artists used a Mac and Adobe products. They complain about how the Mac is superior to Windows yet it’s far behind in sales and popularity. And how those unenlightened Windows users would be convinced of the Mac’s superiority if only they’d give it a serious chance. Then they sit down and use Adobe products and ignore similar complaints from the CorelDraw community. If only they’d give it a serious chance.

Anyway.

When I was hired at my current job 12 years ago, I was using PageMaker for page layout, Illustrator for vector, and Photoshop for bitmap editing. As most of you know, this was (and in many cases still is) the de facto setup for DTP: Edit images in Photoshop, create the vector images in Illustrator, and place them all along with text in Quark or InDesign. Three applications… all expensive.

That’s how I did it… 12 years ago.

Until I was shown CorelDraw.

The ability to combine a page layout application with a vector illustration program had obvious and immediate appeal. The fact that CorelDraw alone was far cheaper than Illustrator or Quark made it even more appealing. Once I took a look at PhotoPaint’s integration with CorelDraw, and found that it was a viable alternative to Photoshop, I knew my reliance on Adobe products had ended. Once I realized I could create and output multi-page documents within my vector illustration program, I knew I had found a better way. Yet here I am 12 years later, still enlightening people who had no idea.

I worked prepress many years ago, before becoming a professional graphic artist. I recall seeing then (just as I’m sure it is still being done now) Quark or PageMaker documents sent over that really looked like an Illustrator file plopped into a .qxd document and sent over.

I still see this sometimes, and it seems rather silly now. Too many times people hang onto the things they are familiar with, even to the exclusion of better, faster, cheaper, and easier methods.

Fortunately with the rise of the PDF format, graphic artists are now allowed more freedom to choose which application they feel best suited to their abilities. I’ve heard some old-school Illustrator apologists who still claim to be able to tell when something has a “Draw” look to it. But besides these misguided fringe thinkers, many newer generation pre-press workers don’t even care anymore. If the file is in a format they can work with and lacking any major issues, they don’t care if it was created in CorelDraw, Illustrator, Freehand, or Windows Paint.

So in the 1990’s, when CorelDraw was being beat up by the schooled establishment, those of us who discovered that this fantastic product more than met our needs continued to use it. Reports of Corel’s death were greatly exaggerated.

Which leads back to my initial aside above.

Apple was pronounced dead continuously during the 90’s and early 2000’s, but its loyal base of users refused to let it die. I am not an Apple user, but I salute and respect those people who stood by a product they believed in.

Sometimes a product doesn’t become the most popular, but its fan base keeps it alive. Apple remained on life support for several years and is actually gaining popularity now. It was kept alive by zealous users and openings in niche markets, such as the graphic arts industries.

Ironically, mainstream graphics industries are what CorelDraw had to avoid in order to make its own comeback. The product found its way into other niches, such as signage, slot glass, clothing design, and overseas markets.

Macs and CorelDraw have clawed their way back onto the radar and can no longer be ignored.

Perhaps most ironic is that these two products have never found much love for each other. Apple embraces almighty Adobe, while Corel only has eyes for ubiquitous Microsoft.

Alas, it’s perhaps best this way. Chances are that if it were the other way around, and Corel/Apple and Adobe/Microsoft had taken sides, I’d still be using Illustrator, you wouldn’t own an iPod, and Corel would reside only memory of a few loyal fans.

This was originally posted on my other blog on CorelDraw.com.

From 1992 until 1996, I used Adobe Illustrator exclusively. I used at my job, so this was not low-end hobby use. It was full-time, high end output. Daily. In late 1996, my boss took it upon himself to hire a graphic artist who I would train, but I wasn’t consulted on who was hired. The new guy showed up to work on his first day with a copy of CorelDraw 6 under his arm and a goofy grin on his face. I told him I had used version 5 and really felt it was far behind Illustrator 6 that was currently on the market. To be fair, I let him install it and show me what it could do.

A month later, we had Draw on all of our computers and I never used Illustrator full-time again. I had to admit that this goofy new guy had shown me a product that got the job done easier, better, and cheaper - in my opinion. And my opinion is all that mattered at this company.

Fast forward to May 2008.

I’m having dinner with an acquaintance I had just met through a mutual friend. This guy is also a professional graphic artist. The conversation started out focused on his training. He went to school to study graphic arts, so I already knew he was an Illustrator guy. He also mentioned he used a Mac. It was a great conversation.

And then he asked me about my graphic arts career.

I told him that I learned by doing, in my parents’ print shop while working my way through college (studying a far different career path). Then I told him I had used Illustrator early on, but decided to switch to CorelDraw, which I still used. His response?

“I didn’t know they still made that.”

I’ve heard similar reactions.

A few years ago I was doing some ads to go in the USA Today. Because they said PDF’s generated by Illustrator were the preferred format (at that time), I decided to design the ads directly in Illustrator (version 10). They were using an earlier version. I sent over a PDF, created in Illustrator. My rep called and said there was a translation error going backwards in version and to PDF at the same time. Apparently a drop shadow or similar effect didn’t turn out right. We went back and forth, and she gave me the exact settings to use, all to no avail. Finally, I decided to re-create the artwork in CorelDraw and publish it as a PDF using the PDF settings she gave me for Illustrator. I purposely didn’t tell her what I had done, only to try the new file. “Whatever you did worked that time!” she emailed.

In about 2001, I was calling around for print quotes. One pre-press person I spoke with heard “CorelDraw” and over-reacted like a 10-year-old when Sesame Street is on TV: “Oh no. You don’t use THAT do you?” She acted like my artwork would have cooties.

I responded firmly but politely, “Yes. I don’t bash your software so please don’t bash mine. I’ve been using it for years and have never had an issue with it.” I decided to use someone else.

So back to where my original story started… After a few years of using Draw with my colleague, I had been promoted and was running the advertising department. We were expanding, so I had to hire a couple new employees. This time I said Draw was a required experience. There was no shortage of applicants, many of whom were highly talented. I wondered if all those dogmatic Illustrator users realized just how many Draw users were out there.

I have no beef with Illustrator or its users.

I do have a problem with ignorant arrogance. If I meet someone who uses Freehand or another illustration program, instead of unknowingly bashing it, I ask them what they like about it and why they chose not to use the “industry standard.” It can be an enlightening conversation, and I’ve seen some brilliant artists that don’t use Draw or Illustrator. I’ve seen great effects in some of these lesser known apps that neither Draw nor Illustrator have.

There are many schooled graphic artists who subscribe to all of the dogma their Illustrator evangelists preached to them. I actually feel sorry for these people. Their ignorance borders on bigotry toward users of alternate applications. Draw users have seen and heard it all before - the snide comments, the rolling eyes, and the uneducated dismissals. This from people who have probably never even used the application.

There’s a reason CorelDraw exists today in its 14th version. It’s a great app, every bit as good as Illustrator (if not better), significantly less expensive (with far more extras included in the box), and arguably far easier to learn and use.

I’ve used Draw at my full time job for the past 12 years. I’ve done several 200+ page magazines, huge signs, small signs, nearly 200 pocket-sized pamphlets, web site graphics, postcards, newspaper advertisements, high end graphics, low end graphics, logos, T-shirts, you name it. CorelDraw has aptly handled every task I’ve thrown at it.

The computer world is filled with zealous users of products that don’t have the most sales. And they’ll all tell you that “most popular” doesn’t always mean “better.”

Just ask advocates of Macintosh, Zune, Firefox, WordPerfect, and Linux.

And CorelDraw.

I originally wrote this and posted it on my original Myspace account on March 20, 2007. And of course nothing has changed, so I re-posted it on my new account in May of 2008, and now I think it belongs here. So without further delay…

By not-so-popular demand. This is more out of necessity, after seeing endless moronic Myspace douche bags out there. So how do you know if you’re a Myspace douche bag? Well if you meet any of the criteria below, you seriously need help…

You might be a Myspace douche bag if…

You post a bio that requires scrolling the window to read it all. Are you SOO freaking important that we have to read everything you feel you must bestow upon us? Our lives are incomplete without knowing ALL of your thoughts, right?
Solution: Say it in a paragraph. If anyone is interested in more, they’ll ask.

You use “your” instead of “you’re.” Are you a damn idiot? That’s third grade shit and you still don’t know any better? I can almost excuse the teenagers who are at least still in school, but not the 40 year old douche! You’re yet another example of why humanity is dying a slow death. Don’t get pissed when other cultures laugh at us, because we (well, YOU) can’t even handle the basics of our own language.
Solution: If you don’t get it now, you never will. You’re an eternal douche bag. And an idiot.

All of your top friends are hotties of the opposite sex. You do realize that some people approve all friend requests, right? A guy with a bunch of hot chicks as his top friends really doesn’t impress anyone but you. It usually means you have no real friends to put there. When you buy a picture frame, do you keep the photo that comes with it, too? I’ve even heard stories of really feeble guys who create other profiles using some random hot woman’s picture, make the profile private, and then posts comments to his main page so it looks like he is really popular. Douchified!!
Solution: Get some actual friends in your top friends so people won’t think you’re a lame Myspace troll.

You list your religion as “Christian – other” and then post all these pics of you drinking, half naked, or with every other word in your bio being “fuck” or “shit.” You know you’re not really religious, so don’t be afraid to say so. Get a backbone, will ya? Looking to hook up with a nun or something?
Solution: Just leave it off and don’t try to fool us or yourself.

You’re a guy and you say you like walks on the beach. OK, even if you DO, that just sounds completely lame and you know you’re only saying it with the faint hope that some chick will fall for it.
Solution: Say what you really like so you don’t end up taking walks on the beach when you’d rather be at home playing video games or playing with yourself.

You change your profile picture every day (or several times a day in extreme douche cases.) Come on now! Are you that important? Do you think people notice? If they do, they’re probably thinking how utterly pathetic you are to keep doing that. It only shows that you have no life.
Solution: Bite the bullet and leave one pic up for a few weeks so it at least looks like you have a life.

You have a shirtless picture of yourself. Unless it’s you on the beach or at a pool, a pic of you flexing or shirtless in your bathroom or bedroom just oozes douche. If it’s a picture of you LIFTING your shirt to show your abs - that qualifies you as a 2X Douche!
No hint available here – you’re too far gone.

You list about 200 bands in your music section. Seriously. Do you honestly expect anyone to sit there and read that? Anyone who does sit there and read that is a bigger douche than you are. No one cares that much.
Solution: List a few from each style you like and we’ll get the idea.

You’re not a band, actor, DJ, or otherwise famous person, yet you have over 500 Myspace friends. Trust me – you’re the only one who is impressed here. Really - we’re not. You don’t have that many friends in real life, so don’t pretend you do. It just shows that you have nothing better to do with your day than to sit around and troll for people to accept your friend invitations.
Solution: Try having only real friends and maybe a couple of famous people you like. It might actually reveal the true, non-douched you.

OK so now go out there, edit your page, and empty the contents of your douche-ified self.

I’m done.

Whether you want to look younger or just want to make sure you don’t age prematurely, below is a list of some common as well as lesser known ways to shed the years.

• Apply a Retin-A or EGF-based product.
• Always apply a moisturizer to your face (but does not contain mineral oil)
• Use sunscreen (SPF 15+) 365 days a year AND wear a wide-brimmed hat
• Try to keep yourself from squinting, puckering, or making other faces that can cause wrinkling over the years.
• Stay out of the sun
• When you get out off the shower, pat your face to dry it - don’t rub or scrub it!
• Wear sunglasses when outside to prevent squinting which leads to wrinkles
• Avoid smoking and cigarette smoke
• Try not to sleep face-down
• Exfoliate your face at least twice a month
• Run a humidifier when you sleep
• Lose extra pounds and keep them off (This could be one of the biggest factors!)
• Get plenty of sleep every night, even on the weekends
• Keep allergies under control
• Be sure to get plenty of vitamins A, E, and C, preferably through vegetable and fruit juicing for best absorption
• Eat fish several times a week
• Avoid alcohol
• Massage your face thoroughly every week to increase circulation to the area
• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables
• Don’t chew on your lips
• Don’t forget to apply SPF-factor lip balm
• Drink lots of water. Not other drinks. Water.
• Avoid stress
• Use very mild soaps
• Consider taking acetyl-L-carnitine and alpha-lipoic together

You can find this code in a lot of places, but a lot of sites stick in a link or graphic pointing to their lame website. And who wants that graffiti on their Myspace page anyway? This code doesn’t have any of that garbage in it.

Simply copy the code below and paste it anywhere in the “About Me” section of your profile. You should just see a thin blank line where the friends section usually is. Your comments will still show up.

There are of course ways to still view your friends and your top friends. But for the average Myspace user, they won’t know how do that.

If you are looking to hide your Myspace comments, look here.

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You found this article probably because you were online searching for information on a specific conspiracy theory, or even just looking for general conspiracy information. Maybe trying to find new conspiracy theories in which to subscribe?

If you were to find information contrary to what you already believe, would you read it and consider it with an open mind? Or would you dismiss it and believe the writer was crazy or misinformed.

Do you believe in many conspiracy theories?

Before you click the back button on your browser to go see what else Google can come up with to validate your opinion, think for yourself for a change and read on.

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There are various forms of impotence, which is now usually referred to as erectile dysfunction, or just “E.D.”. This article will examine one variant of E.D., which is sometimes known as psychological impotence. And within this variant are even more splinters of causes, and “performance anxiety” is the focus here. This article does not cover any other physical or physiological forms of E.D.
A layman’s (nice pun!) definition of performance anxiety is basically… a guy worries about how well he’ll do in the sack to the point that he ends up unable to perform at all.

The earliest moments a man knows that sex is a possibility is when the anxiety can begin. It could be kissing on the couch, or even a suggestive hint by his date during dinner. It could even be days in advance. But at some point the man knows that sex is a possibility, and that’s when the slow torment begins.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, questions and fears begin to swirl.

Will I be able to get it up? If I do, will I be able to maintain and finish?
What will she think if it happens?
Will I be as good as other guys she’s been with?
Did I satisfy myself too recently and my sex drive isn’t as strong as it could be?
Has it been too long since my last orgasm, and I’ll finish too fast?

By the time the moment has arrived, the man with performance anxiety may have actually worried himself out of the ability to perform. If he does manage to focus on the moment and achieve an erection at the right time, he now has a new set of worries.

Once sex has begun, he begins to focus on how he is performing, and whether or not his partner is pleased. As sex goes on, the anxiety continues to shift…

Am I about to come? Almost there? Nope.
Uh oh, I hope I don’t lose my erection before I finish.
Could this be the moment? Not that time either.
Am I gonna run out of steam before we’re done?
I really hope I don’t lose this erection.
What if she comes before I do, and then I have to wait for her to say I can start up again?

The parade of thoughts can be more than a distraction, and guess what? He often eventually loses his erection, and it’s no wonder why. He spent so much time and energy focusing on if he would perform properly and if - or when - he might achieve orgasm that he was unable to simply enjoy the moment and let it happen.

Viagra, Cialis, etc. do work for many different types of ED. In the case of performance anxiety it often takes some of the pressure off and allows the man to enjoy it.

Will I lose my erection? Nah - you popped a Cialis earlier. We’re good.

Knowing that you have enhanced sexual function can go a long way to setting your mind at ease. Remember that these drugs improve function and not libido. They’ll allow you to keep your erection longer, but won’t get you one in the first place. Actually that’s only technically true… Knowing that you have enhanced function behind you can actually help you relax and get aroused easier. So while it doesn’t technically enhance libido, the peace of mind can help improve it.

There are also endless herbal supplements that have various unproven libido enhancing effects. Let met tell you about one bad story with one of those…

I was going out on a date with a lady I had been seeing, and I knew sex was likely to happen. So earlier that day I went to the store and picked up a bottle of libido enhancer, hoping for at least the placebo effect to kick in. On the back of the bottle it listed what seemed like about two dozen different supposed libido-enhancing herbs, many of which I had read about online. So I bought it and went home and popped a couple, then got ready for my date.

Later that night, the mood was right and I had a good feeling about where things were going. But… I started feeling very intense gas pains. Yup - those damn pills gave me gas! I was sure the pains could be relived if I could let the gas out… but there was no way I was about to unload right in front of this girl! So I held the gas in, and the pains got worse.

So in the end, the libido enhancer did remove all chances of me suffering from performance anxiety… because I couldn’t even get close to performing with those gas pains. I had to tell her I wasn’t feeling well in order to avoid having sex at all.

My luck.

Aside from drugs, there are other methods.

A simple solution is to have your partner agree that if you are unable to continue performing via intercourse, that she will stimulate and “finish” you some other way to help you achieve an orgasm. This at least removes to the pressure of “what if I don’t finish” from the equation. That alone can be huge.
It’s hard (another pun) for a woman to grasp why a man can’t maintain an erection for intercourse, yet he can easily get it up for a hand job.

The answer my dear ladies is that there is no pressure.

A man is typically the one doing the performing during intercourse, but it is a woman who is performing during a hand or blow job. A man can lay back and simply enjoy it with no pressure. And more important: Even if he gets soft for a moment, she can continue. That’s not the case with intercourse.

You could also take a couple of shots of Jager (my preference), or other alcohol. A few drinks will relax you enough to get all of those rogue thoughts of performance out of your head. But a few too many could also destroy your ability to function at all sexually. I seemed to have my best luck with about two shots of Jager and two beers.

Most guys don’t admit they have performance issues until they have to. You’re better off telling it to your prospective partner upfront. The honesty is a big plus, and at least you won’t have to start explaining why “it’s not you” after your boner mysteriously vanishes one minute before her orgasm. That’s never good.
If your partner knows you have this problem, most likely she will totally understand. In fact she might even benefit. If things don’t work out on your end, go down on her like never before! She will seriously not care about your anxiety if you know what you’re doing in that department. If she doesn’t understand, then your problem may have actually done you a huge favor and weeded out someone who is unable to understand or cope.

It’s important for your partner to know a few things about performance anxiety, particularly how to respond to it.

No matter how badly you perform, it should never matter to her. Relax and see if she can get you back up with her hand. If she is able to, try again. If it keeps going away but you feel a need for a release, she should help you achieve this. At least you’ll still feel a sexual connection, completion, and you’ll finish the encounter satisfied. The worst things a woman can do are to pressure the man or assume his inability to perform is related to her somehow. This will only make him feel worse.

For those of us who prefer to have fewer partners and longer relationships, performance anxiety tends to disappear over time. Often it’s the newness of a relationship that brings out the most anxiety. After some time has been spent with the same person, the anxiety often gets much better and a somewhat-normal sex life can often be achieved.

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