Update!!

I am still here and will get a new post up soon. I had a request from one of our readers that I would like to compose soon as I have enough time to do it justice. My personal business and my unit has been incredible (in a great way). I have had 5 unsolicited calls in the last two weeks of people calling us me if I would be willing to do a MK Party for them, now how awesome is that?? Stay tuned, it won't be long. thanks for sticking with us.

Product update: I am really, really loving the new Serum +C, it is amazing!

Balanced Mary Kay add exciting new feature! - Google Voice Call

Hey everybody,

It has been a long time since I have given an update... Not much new to report. Just really busy.

I would like to take this opportunity, however, to express gratitude to the great authors that have kept this site moving along and helping to create an environment that makes it a unique resource for those in Mary Kay, those considering Mary Kay, and those that have decided that Mary Kay is not a good fit for them.

mk4me and Miranda, in particular, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Now, on to the exciting new feature. Google has created a new thing called Google Voice. You can now call and leave a voice message for any of the authors of this blog. It is possible to set this feature up to ring to our phones, but for now it is directed to a message system.

If you have always wondered what my voice sounds like, now is your chance. Click the button at the top right of this site that says "Call Me". You will have to give it your phone number and name. It will call your number first. When you answer, it will ring for a little while and then hit the message system.

Be the first to leave a message for Balanced Mary Kay!!!

Thanks

Long overdue update and politics

I want to thank all of you for your patience and must apologize in advance that this will be brief.

I have been so busy lately that my email responses (to the few people that actually send me emails) have been, at best, hastily scrawled notes about what I would like to do, or what I intend to do.

In terms of what I will be doing with this blog, at this time, could best be described as "maintaining". I think that it has earned itself a place here and should not be discontinued. I also know that it is not something that I can devote very much time to currently. However, and very fortunately, all of you - the readers and authors - have proven to be much more effective at continuing the discussion than I ever could.

To that end, here is what I have resolved to do for the time being.

Concerning the DMCA takedown notices, I will do nothing. If any of you feel strongly enough about the dozen or so posts that were removed, please contact me with a game-plan that involves more you than me :D and I will see if I can help. Otherwise, lets show them we can't be bullied by "doubling our efforts" in other areas.

Concerning criticizing Pink Truth, I will resume posting a "today on Pink Truth" with the notable difference being a link to that day's Pink Truth post. I encourage you to go visit the post in question, gather your thoughts, bring them over here and tell the world. We now KNOW that "they" read over here. We also know that through honest, unfiltered back-and-forth discussion, understanding can take place. Let's hope that this is the beginning of some really good discussion, by 'both sides'.

Concerning Mary Kay, please feel free to express, openly and honestly, any concerns you have and allow others to either echo or speak to those concerns.

Concerning politics, well, they are a part of our life right about now, aren't they? You will notice that the current poll runs all the way through until the day after election day. Please feel free to change your vote (on this site) as often as you like, right up until after you cast your real vote. If you are leaning one way, and suddenly start leaning the other way, feel free to change your vote to reflect that leaning. The three of you, for instance, that are currently undecided... I hope that we see your votes move to one of the other columns before the poll closes. Keep in mind that I can not see who voted at all... so I won't be judging you... even if your decision is to not vote!

That is all for now. As always, please feel free to leave your thoughts about all of this. It is, after all, your thoughts that make this site what it is. Even more importantly, please be sure to stop by, from time to time - if not daily - to leave your thoughts about Pink Truth or Mary Kay.

My most profound thanks for every one of you in your loyalty and support of this blog.

Update on Pink Truth's attempt to silence their critics (this site) with false copyright infringement claims

Well, I was waiting to see what action (if any) blogger would take regarding the alleged copyright infringement.

As you may or may not have noticed, I went through the posts alleging copyright infringement and removed any infringing content that I could see.

I also posted a note on the ones that had (apparently) no such infringing content essentially asking blogger to define what exactly was being labeled as infringing.

As the weekend passed and none of the posts were removed, I assumed that this action had proved sufficient. However, as of this writing, I see that it was not.

Now, I know that I can counter notify blogger that the content is indeed legitimate. And I might just do that. However, as Sean (at Franchise Pick) points out, this would amount to "standing up for my "right" to make fun of those who make fun of Mary Kay" (quote is from Franchise Pick website, no copyright infringement intended) This (to me) seems a bit petty.

I have not yet decided what I will do about all of this. I believe that there needs to be a place where the lies that are told on Pink Truth can be exposed. I hope that this site will continue to provide a venue for that. I do not feel that the dozen (less one) posts that were removed are all that crucial to the spirit of exposing those lies.

I am currently leaning toward doing nothing. It is truly sad that Tracy feels so threatened by the truth that she would stoop to this level of bullying and harassing with such obvious deception. Nonetheless, I am beginning to feel that the best thing to do is to not do anything at all.

By the way, and in the interest of full disclosure, as I have read and educated myself on the subject, I believe that the full screen, screenshot that a few of you may have seen could have been construed as a copyright violation, particularly with my encouragement to all of you to not visit Pink Truth. Worthy of a DMCA take-down notice? Not really. Technical violation? Possibly.

Finally, let me apologize for the sudden sparsity of posting lately. I believe that I will be needing to change the schedule of posting here. It seems that all of the regular authors, myself included, have been quite busy lately. I think that I may begin posting more like once a week than trying to produce something daily. Still trying to figure out what works best for the goals/purposes of this site.

Please let me know what you think. What do you want from this site? What do you like? What is important? What can you do without?

Real time comments?

Could it be?

Is it possible?

For those of you waiting with bated breath for a "big move" to wordpress... you may have to wait just a little longer. Because now - BIG THANKS to Shades of Pink - our comments will be shown in the side bar in - wait for it - REAL TIME!!!!

No kidding! Try it yourself!! Just leave a comment and BAM! your comment is shown to the right. As if you needed a reason to leave a comment!

Thanks Shades!

Wordpress fans - don't lose heart. This does not automatically mean that we WON'T be switching... just a little less likely!

P.S. You still need to refresh (F5) your screen to see other people comments in real time. Blogger doesn't refresh automatically.