Fun Monday No. 1

This is my first Fun Monday post. Several blog pals participate in this and I always wondered how to join the club. Finally figured it out. So the task for this week is to write about a website that has changed our lives, that we can't live without, that deserves a MacArthur Genius grant.

This required a bit of thought. But then it was so obvious. Anyone who's read my blog will know I've mentioned this website a few times in the past. It's www.amazon.com of course.

At first I used it just for books. Then I discovered I could do all my Christmas and birthday shopping with it. Brilliant! Genius! And so easy. Some items can be gift-wrapped for you too. And if they forget to do it, as they did this last Christmas, they email to tell you and refund your money.

Its British cousin, www.amazon.co.uk, isn't quite as comprehensive, but is coming along.

Have any of you read about the founder of amazon? Jeff Bezos started it in 1994 under the name Cadabra, according to Wikipedia, but changed it because it sounded too much like cadaver. Unlike many internet companies of its ilk, it followed a slow-growth formula, not expecting a profit for four or five years. It actually made a profit for the first time in 2002. Jeff Bezos was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 1999. He revolutionized not only book shopping, but on-line shopping. And since shopping, like it or not, is something we all have to do from time to time, isn't it great that it can be so easy?

I also have to add that I have never had a negative experience in any way with Amazon. If deliveries will be delayed they tell you. They tell you when items have been shipped and approximate date for delivery. If only everything in life worked as well.


I went away after writing this and realised I hadn't said how Amazon has changed my life. I have quite a large family in the U.S. spread out from Wyoming to Florida. Although I don't buy for everyone, I do buy for my parents, stepparents, brother, sister, stepbrother, his wife, their four children, all my sister's grandchildren, and my stepsister's two children. That's a lot of presents, and the time involved in shopping for the presents and the cost of sending them overseas just kept getting higher and higher. Then a couple of years ago I thought I'd see about buying over the internet. I started with Amazon because I thought I'd buy a few books. Then I saw all the affiliates and realised I could do everyone. They make it very easy for me. They save all the addresses I have presents shipped to so I don't have to keep looking them up. Also, with the exchange rate as it is, it makes it a lot cheaper too.