Personal/Sidenote News

I was on Twitter the other day when Sherri posted this Tweet:

I then responded to her tweet with the following: Yep. And now you have $ to wear a new wig every single day of your life! You're addicted. I've never seen anything like it.

Sherri then sent me a personal direct message (to which I couldn't reply cause famous folks don't allow anyone to contact them directly) saying, No I'm not addicted... my hairstylist is

Uh, yeah right! This woman wears a different styled wig EVERY SINGLE DAY on The View. She has a very weird obsession.

If Sherri didn't want so much fake hair all over her head, she would tell her hairdresser no and she wouldn't pay someone who's going to make her unhappy by giving her a new wig every day. She's completely addicted, but her hair is part of the reason why I tune into the View. Me and my mom are always like, 'Look at Sherri's wig today!... I like it... It looks cheap... She's addicted!'

I can't believe I went to Europe to begin with, but yep, I'm back from my 25-day tour. First of all, I have to say that I was able to enjoy my time in Europe because Megan (aka Snarky) was blogging for me. She is so talented and kind and funny and trustworthy. I knew that the site was in good hands. THANK YOU, MEGAN! :)

Europe is the land of beautiful people, ridiculously delicious food, and a completely different, more relaxed lifestyle that's conducive to having a great time. Always.

I went to Dublin, Wales, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Switzerland, Florence, Pisa, the French Rivera (Nice, France), Monaco and Barcelona. It was the trip of a lifetime for me and I enjoyed virtually every minute of it. I even spoke Spanish like a rockstar in Spain which stunned me! I took Spanish classes forever ago, but it all came back. Plus I HAD to speak it cause people pretty much speak Spanish only in Barcelona - including all the taxi drivers.

Continue Reading...

I am headed off to Europe for the next three weeks. I'd love to be all deep and sh*t right now, but as you can tell by all my dozens of posts today, I don't have much time. Hmmm... where to begin with this lil note?

First I'd like to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you. POTP's 3rd anniversary is August 1st and I still can't believe that I'm fortunate enough to have the job that I do. Thank you for keeping me happy, employed, inspired and motivated.

I'd also like to thank the incomparable Snarky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is an amazing woman named Megan who always makes me LMAO every time I talk to her. She's hilarious and sweet and the kind of person you definitely wanna party with, or have blog for you while you're away. Without Megan, I would have no vacation. I can not thank her enough. I'd also like to thank Matt, Eric and Craig for all that they do.

I'll be back the second week of August when I aspire to go to more red carpet events, keep the giveaways coming as the offers come in, and continue to blog right along with Snarky. Oh, and I desperately wanna bring back my personal/sidenote stories, they're my favorite.

Thanks so much for Pop on the Popping!

Till Mid-August,

Firecracker

It is my pleasure to announce that the baddest b*tch in the game, Snarky, will be blogging for POTP tomorrow. Not only will Snarky be back tomorrow, but she'll be blogging for 3 weeks straight while I vacay in mid-July to early August.

OMG, I luv her so much. Also, I was talking to Snarky earlier today and I didn't spend the night at home, but now I'm able to get into it. You'll be back to your regularly scheduled gossip very very soon.

Snarky's daughter Brooklyn is here, check out pictures of her gorgeousness by visiting Snarky's Myspace.

UPDATE: I don't know how I forgot this. Snarky will begin blogging for POTP a few days/ week beginning August. She's back, y'all. :)

WELCOME BACK, SNARKY!!!!!!

Motorola's new phone The Rival A455 (available June 10) comes with everything you want in a phone, without the bulk. Designed to fit in your pocket, The Rival 455 has a QWERTY keyboard, Touch dial-pad, IM-style texting capabilities and one touch access to text message composition, emoticons, symbols, IM and e-mail.

Some of the best features include: Holds up to 500 TEXT MESSAGES in inbox and outbox and ORGANIZES TEXT MESSAGES BY CONTACT and displays them in a chat-like format !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to delete so many text messages nearly every day cause my inbox is full, then I have to scroll through tons of texts to get to msgs from different people. Not anymore! Other features include, (not all are listed here to reserve space):

• Visual Voice Mail which allows customers to view, delete, reply, listen to and forward voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions
• multimedia features from Verizon Wireless, including V CAST Music with Rhapsody, V CAST Video, Visual Voice Mail and VZ Navigator^SM.
• 2.0 megapixel camera
• Instantly connect with friends on AOL^® Instant Messenger, Windows^® Messenger and Yahoo!^® Messenger with Mobile IM
• Supports VZ Navigator

Available colors: Tin Silver or Purple.

TO ENTER: Click the "Contact" tab at the top of this page OR send an email to POPONTHEPOP at GMAIL dot COM, subject  'MOTOROLA PHONE' with the following info:

Name/ Information about who you are - the more the better. For example, state you live in, what it's like to live there, occupation, etc./ Would you like a silver or purple phone?/ How long have you been reading POTP? How did you find POTP - site likes and/or dislikes - any celebs you'd like to see more/ less posts on? (just prove that you didn't visit POTP once for this contest) :)/ What's your favorite Motorola Rival A455 feature?

YOUR EMAIL SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE THE LEVEL # THAT YOU REACHED WHEN YOU PLAYED THUMB FU AND HOW YOUR RIVAL PLAYERS WOULD REACT WHILE YOU PLAYED.

You must play Thumb Fu in order to win this phone and Thumb Fu is fun! It also only takes a few minutes and you're done. Just to clarify, I will be selecting winners, not Motorola, this contest is a POTP exclusive. Even if you don't enter, I suggest playing this game. I'm kind of addicted. Here's the link - THUMB FU at motorola.com/rival

Comments on this post are closed. I'll be running this contest for 2 or 3 weeks - depending on how much you overwhelm my inbox - and I'll be re-posting this entry at least once/week. Winners will be notified via email. :)

MORE INFO on the Motorola Rival 455 and FACT SHEET

Have a wonderful weekend!

You know how we do things here at POTP. We take holidays off, and Memorial Day is no exception. So have a fun, safe, and sexy Memorial Day weekend!!!!!!! :) We'll be popping on Tuesday.

Thanks to all of you readers who keep me off the pole.

xoxo

Firecracker

I dunno where to begin with this one. First, I've really missed my personal/sidenote stories; I've just been so busy and I've had writer's block. Well, that blockage has gone away, at least for today, cause I met Nadya Suleman aka The Octomom on Saturday night.

I wish I had enough material to write paragraph upon paragraph about my encounter with Ms. Suleman - how she flung her kids around by their legs and yelled profanities at them - but I don't. Nadya was actually fairly attractive in person, thinner, with darker eyebrows and a booty for days! The woman is packin' junk in her badonkadonk.

I went to go see Obsessed on Saturday night and who did I see standing in front of me with five of her kids from her litter? It was none other than Ms. Nadya Suleman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You kid me not.

My friend then told her that she looks great in person and Nadya took the time to stop walking and tell her "Oh, thank you so much. Thank you." The bitch is nice! Like, really nice. Everyone was gawking at her and her well-behaved kids and it took Nadya forever to buy them food for their movie. She had no one with her at all. It was just the octomom and her kiddos, out on the loose to go see some movie.

Now I did take some pics of her with my camera phone, and so did other people, but I don't think that any of them are worthy of posting.

Was I star struck? Was I mommy struck? Something about Nadya being out with her kids prevented me from saying anything to her; I just didn't feel right about it. Her children have been thrust into the media spotlight and they probably wish that things would have been different.

The moral of this story is: Nadya's got a big ass, but she's not an ass in person.

Meet some fierce POTP readers, Karl and Gina. This photo was taken while on vacay in Hawaii. Aren't they an adorable couple?!!!!! :)

Karl sent me the most wonderful emails ever this week. I actually cried - and I'm not even hormonal right now! I can not thank him enough. It is readers like Karl that motivate me to wake up in the morning, even if I only had a few hours of sleep, and update. I would be unemployed and on the street selling both of my cracks for 25 cents a piece if it weren't for each and every one of you.

Thank you to the infinite power - why does that sound like a math problem - for allowing me to have such a fun job. Every single day I am appreciative for the wonderful opportunity that you've given me - well, at least I'm grateful on Saturdays and Sundays when I don't update. :)

xoxo,

Firecracker

After I posted the following Tweet yesterday,

Tila Tequila decided to holla at me by posting the following message on her Twitter for all the world to see.

This week has been great. I've heard from two POTP readers who are amazing - Thanks Karl and Kerry! I interviewed Will Packer, producer of Beyonce's new movie Obsessed, (I'll post it on 4/24 - opening day) and I'm getting a hang of updating POTP while we're undergoing a site revamp. I work with the kindest people on the planet. They are unconditionally patient and I appreciate it mucho.

It's always especially rewarding to hear from anyone - whether it's Tila, a random reader or even a hater.

Team Tila!

Pop on the Pop's Twitter

Tila Tequila's Twitter

My disdain for Telephone Customer Service Agents in India began with an MTV documentary on outsourcing. Companies can have dozens of workers in India doing the same exact job for the price that it would cost for only one telephone customer service agent (TCSA, I'll abbreviate)  in America.

To this day a segment of the documentary vividly stands out in my mind. During TCSA training, the TCSAs are instructed to "Talk to Americans as though you're talking to a 12-year-old." The Indians then explained that Americans aren't advanced at the same level as those in India and they must give us "slow" instructions and etc.

It is my belief that it is this very same arrogance that comes through crystal clear during these calls where many TCSAs sound irritated beyond belief. It's as though they believe that impatience is a virtue. The documentary also exposed that all agents are assigned an "American name" to disguise their Indian identity and because many of their names are difficult to pronounce.

I have had my ammo ready whenever I have spoken with TCSA in India and I have used it. On two distinct occasions when workers have told me their names are "Cindy" and "Brian" (or something similar), I have responded with, 'I know Cindy isn't your real name and that you're in India. What's your real name and how's the weather in India right now?!' I just don't like bullshit. After my accusation, on both occasions the TCSAs' voices have dropped, they've confessed that they're using fake names, and that they are, in fact, actually in India! No argument would take place; I just tend to get offended by bullshit and rather start out our conversations with honesty.

Note to all TCSA trainers: WE KNOW WHEN WE'RE SPEAKING TO REPS IN INDIA WHEN THEY SOUND LIKE ABU FROM THE SIMPSONS!

Also, although companies are saving a lot of money by having these workers take our calls, I would rather have a 9 -5 availability schedule vs. a 24-hour one or be placed on hold for a while so that these jobs can remain within our borders.

Outsourcing is a trend with fiscal benefits and it continues to pose a threat to many. I support minimal outsourcing, not firing entire staffs in America to export all  jobs to those overseas. Companies can both outsource and keep Americans employed simultaneously. As you know, you can call a number and speak with an Indian on one call and call the same number on a separate occassion and speak with an American during a different call. Additionally, Indians with difficult names can abbreviate them. We're not all named "Brian" and "Lisa" and other stereotypes. Come again!