Geek Blogger Gear: Don't Bug Me or I'll Blog About It!

Katja over at the Skimbaco.com blog released these t-shirts, and they are like a gift from the blogging goddesses! What a perfect statement: "Don't bug me, or I'll blog about it". That's right! That said, we all need to be careful, political, and stragical about what we blog about and the type of language we use, but there is reassurance that there is power in the people via online outlets, including blogs, Facebook status, Twitter feeds, and more and more and more. Still - I maintain - we who create content like this post, and we who comment or react to created content, must do so with dignity and from the high road.

But I still LOVE this t-shirt and bought one and a pack of postcards to send my friends who know of my blogging obsession, including my mother who fears the blog for stalkers. My own dad now knows, so when he tells me something important, he says: "Now DON'T put this on your blog. If I find out..." Or my boyfriend. He knows when to say "Don't put this on your blog."

Here are some examples of why not to ruffle the feathers of a blogger:

• I have a health insurance company who I like a lot. They went through some changes, and changed who the health insurance provider was. This was a bumpy process. When came time to choose a new policy in December, their phones were flooded, website rejected some signups for new policy, and they were overwhelmed with emails. All of this understandable for me. I followed up a few times via email. They told me to hold tight. Two months later, when I still didn't have a new insurance card, I emailed again. They told me that I had in fact terminated my coverage January 2nd, and that I would have to reapply. Luckily for me, they said, we were were still in the 'late registration' period, and sent me a PDF to fill out. I hate PDFs. I called them. I asked to not have to pay 2 months of insurance for which I wasn't covered. When they denied me that request, and insisted I fill out the PDF, I got grumpy asked to speak to their manager. I left a message on the manager's voicemail: "I don't want to pay for 2 months of coverage I didn't have! This is so dangerous! It's not like my cable ran out for 2 months! Or a phone bill! This is health insurance! If you don't put back my health insurance right now I will blog about it and put it on my Facebook!" They had my insurance back on that afternoon. No PDF required. I still had to pay the 2 months though, which is good, since if anything happened to me during that time, there would be no excuse not to cover it.
  
• My boyfriend works in film, and he got a "wrap" gift from one of the celebrities. This is a gift to thank you for your hard work. You just never know what to expect from these people with gobs of money. Tom Selleck, when Magnum PI ended, gave his people cars, or Rolexes or something. Last year, one film crew got iPhones when they came out. My boyfriend's wrap gift that he gave to his department crew was cool monogrammed zip-up black sweatshirts, from a little t-shirt shop he likes to give the business to. He tells me I'm not aloud to say what this certain big-time celebrity got for the crew, but lets just say he or his assistant (probably male) went to Staples, picked something up from one of those bins where they sell weird calculators and pencils, had it monogrammed with a message from the celeb, and called it a gift. Dang if I can't blog that, with picture! ;)
  

Here is my new flag for my office: