Googling Google: It’s One Wealthy Technology Company

Google started in 1998 and has its headquarters in Mountain View, California.

On NASDAQ, it’s trading at over $630 per share.

On Facebook, it has over 188 million ‘likes’.

On Twitter, it has over 12 million followers.

Its subsidiaries include YouTube, Nest Labs, Songza, Feedburner, BufferBox, AdMob and numerous other companies which appear to be extensions of the original Google.

Google is on the Forbes World’s most valuable brands list.

In net worth, Google has around $365 billion dollars in assets.

Not to be confused with Googol which is the number one followed by one hundred zeros.

Now that’s alot of zeros.

The World’s Best-Tasting Chocolate

Move over, Hershey’s. Nope, it’s not Nestle’s either… The Wilbur Chocolate Company of Lititz, Pennsylvania in Lancaster County is an American original. Founded in 1865 by Henry Oscar Wilbur and Samuel Croft, they are the best-tasting chocolate candy manufacturer in North America… bar none!

The company produces more than 150 million pounds of chocolate per year, which is sold to major food companies and thousands of small shops.

Their store features a free candy americana museum that tells the history of the company and how their chocolate is made. The exhibits include antique chocolate molds, tins and boxes, as well as hand-painted European and Oriental antique porcelain chocolate pots. The museum was created by Penny Buzzard, wife of former Wilbur president John Buzzard, and opened in 1972.

Its most popular candy, the Wilbur Bud, was introduced in 1893. The Wilbur Bud closely resembles a Hershey’s Kiss, which debuted in 1907. The two products are also frequently compared due to the proximity of their manufacturers, Lititz being only about 20 miles away from Hershey, Pennsylvania. Wilbur Buds are not individually wrapped and have the word WILBUR on the bottom of the chocolate.

Meet Johnny Cupcakes…

So I’m sitting at TiresPlus in Warminster, waiting for my oil change to finish up, and I’m leafing through “Inc.” Magazine (for entrepreneurs) and come across an interesting article about John Earle from Massachusetts who started a trendy business (initially as a joke) called “Johnny Cupcakes.” Young guy, late twenties… his mom oversees the operation and even writes “cease and desist” letters to folks who are stealing his ideas or re-selling his merchandise (mostly high-priced tee-shirts and accessories) without authorization. She’s known as Mama Cupcakes ~LOL.

“Make Cupcakes.. Not War!” I think the guy is on to something here and will soon be taking the world by storm.

eBay and Guilty Seller Facing Pending $10,000 lawsuit

Gassette Petit-Frere of Ocala, Florida  should have thought TWICE before she offered her USED JuiceMaster II Fruit and Vegetable juicing machine as being in alleged NEW condition.

I purchased this item off eBay back on February 10th and it arrived nine days later – obviously in pre-owned condition.

First off, the lid to the box was ripped;  the interior pulp extraction screen had dried pulp on it and the outside of the contraption was dirty.  It may have been  in “like new” condition but definitely not new.

So I emailed the seller via AOL and complained but received no response.

Two days later, on February 21st, I opened a dispute in eBay’s Resolution Center against “brewilnic” (Petit-Frere’s username on eBay) and filed for a partial 25% refund of my $31.00 purchase price – that amounts to a whopping $7.75.

I won my claim and Petit-Frere agreed to those exact terms and was given three days to comply.

By February 24th, not a peep.

On February 25th, I decided to send a a “Request Money” order through PayPal to Gassette.

Two additional days later (February 27th), still nothing from the guilty seller.  Now I am getting agitated.  And frustrated.  And angry.

My request for money was finally fulfilled on March 1st but with one little glitch… PayPal was charging me a FEE to get back my money.

That didn’t seem right to me so I contacted a PayPal customer service representative named Ramir but he couldn’t refund me the 52 cent fee.  He suggested that I REFUND the partial refund (?) and have the seller send it BACK to me utilizing the “Issue Refund” link on their end.

I waited this long to finally get Gassette’s refund and now I need to give it back and have it re-issued?  Alright, PayPal – thanks for making me jump through hoops!

It’s been over a week now and Petit-Frere is supposedly out-of-town until March 22nd (according to her husband who claims to know nothing of this transaction.)  I am still without my partial refund.

I complain to PayPal’s help center and, because it’s not a full refund, they refuse to do anything about it.  They leave it between the buyer and seller to work it out.

What????  What sort of “Buyer Protection” is that?  I could scream until I am blue in the face – I need PayPal to enforce the Resolution Center’s decision and FORCE the seller to issue me my refund the proper way so I don’t get penalized for collecting my money.

I become so livid I can barely see straight.  So instead, I wrote a strong letter to eBay, with a carbon copy going to my attorney, since eBay is the parent company of the online finance dealer, PayPal.

The certified letter contains  my full complaint about the entire dealings and my wholehearted threat that if my case is not resolved to my SATISFACTION within ten (10) business days, I plan to have my lawyer file a lawsuit against both co-plaintiffs, the seller Gassette Petit-Frere and eBay, in excess of $10,000.

All I want is my partial refund of $7.75 (without a PayPal fee) plus reimbursement of all my postal costs (postage and certified mail = $6.42).  That brings the total to $14.17.

Otherwise my lawsuit will add compensation for hardship and suffering into the mix in the form of dollars amounting to five-digits.

The ten-day deadline of March 18th is just days away.

Do we really need to go there?  Stay tuned!

(And justice for all.)

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

UPDATE:  Paypal concluded their investigation into my claim and I was awarded an amicable refund from the seller via PayPal in the amount of $14.59.

Mailboxes Are Disappearing

Where have all the mailboxes gone?

Have you noticed?  Many mailbox drop-off locations are disappearing. Quietly and unassumingly, the United States Postal Service has been removing postal drop-off mailboxes from street corners because the demand for mail has declined in many cities throughout the United States.

Email and the Internet has much to do with this trend as many people send e-greetings, text messages and/ or pay online instead of via “snail” mail as their high-tech preference over the postage stamp.

This is very concerning because how is the post office expected to pay government pensions to all those retired postal workers (hide your guns, folks!) if business is markedly down?

Stay tuned… the check’s still in the mail!

Bottle Art – It’s not the BEER that went flat

A small business in the southern tip of Florida, known as Key West Bottles, flattens bottles and turns them into cheese boards, cutting boards, coasters and wall art. Each piece of glass has it’s own air bubbles and individual characteristics making each finished piece one of a kind.  I love the concept!

I stumbled upon this fascinating idea while browsing through a friend’s copy of Draft Magazine for beer enthusiasts.

Operating in a studio, Pat Lloyd claims it requires a twenty-two hour process to melt down glass bottles and flatten them.  All this for about $10.00 (plus $6.00 base shipping and $1.00 additional charge per bottle – likely waived if you supply your own.)  Bottles bigger than regular single-serving beer and coca-cola sized are charged more.

Her motto: “You drink it…We’ll flatten it!”

Naugles

According to sources, Naugles was a fast-food
Mexican restaurant chain that existed from
1970 until 1988. It was founded by former
Del Taco employee Dick Naugle. Naugle had
helped to install the kitchen equipment in the
Casa Del Taco Corona store and was impressed
by its design so he soon became a partner in the
struggling business. The first Naugles restaurant
was located in Riverside, California. In 1988,
Naugles was absorbed by Del Taco.

I remember the Philadelphia location on Grant
Avenue east of the Roosevelt Boulevard. After it
was sold, it became a “Nogales” Mexican restaurant
before ending up as a “Nifty-Fifties” restaurant.