Survey Time

I take online surveys for fun. Yes, I get that bored sometimes. I'll get the occasional DVD by turning in reward points, or the odd buck or three in my PayPal account. Sometimes they even send out a product for testing.

So, today was one of those days. Essentially snowed in - roads not clear enough to move, far too cold to wash my truck or do much of anything. Luckily, the pipes didn't freeze, and I'm warm and comfy. So, I took some surveys today.

I've been sworn to secrecy, so I may be violating a trust by telling y'all this stuff, but wow, some of the ideas floated were just farging ridiculous to me. Most of it involves cell phones and different attachments or functions. A couple of weeks ago, I took one about a phone with a blood glucose monitor attached. So sorry, but that seems like a very stupid idea. Oh, yeah, I'd have that puppy with me all the time, but I'd also have to have the strips and other supplies on my person to use it. Plus, just adding crap to a phone does not automatically make it a great idea - look at what can go wrong? I've had a meter peter out before, and the manufacturer will overnight a replacement, plus supply the container and postage to send the defective one back. Yep, I can see Verizon jumping right on that.

Today it was other crap. One had a detachable music player. Okay, now we have something that can be lost or broken, possible connection problems, and for what? Yeah, the player was tiny by itself. If I want a portable music player, I fear I want a dedicated player that has nothing to do with my lifeline - the smartphone.

Another had a detachable keyboard. For an extra fee, one could purchase several different styles of keyboards. Again, something small, fragile and likely to fail connecting. Plus, in a newly formed touch screen world, one must ask why? Why have individual switches when one can use a touchscreen, and customize it for responsiveness? Blackberrys are notorious for their keyboards and scroll wheel getting dirty and needing replacement. More of the same isn't a good thing.

The one that actually made some sense had a couple of "larger" speakers for more robust speakerphone usage. It also included a noise canceling directional mike. I never use speakerphone - the truck is too loud. Bluetooth headsets are failures in my environment - so I kinda doubt that phone would help me much. Someone else in a specialized environment? Perhaps.

Then, I just took a cat food survey. This one presented the problem of the cat getting hungry some time after eating, so the kibble had an outer coating that soothed the hunger pangs of kitteh, and an inner core that would soothe hunger pangs later.

My cat is gonna swallow this whole like a time release capsule? He's not gonna chew this stuff up, mixing it all up in his stomach? Or perhaps the "inner core" isn't readily digestible - requiring some quality time in kitteh's gut to break down. Just what I need - something to upset the King of Barfers' tummy. Or maybe, just maybe, it's all marketing hype. No, that would be unpossible.

Luckily the surveys had an area to write my opinions, which of course, I did. I often wonder what "they" think when reading my comments. Heh.