internet changes debt

One interesting facet of the internet would be its effects on credit card applications. At one time, the only real "comparison shopping" that ones was able to do was to see what credit card offers landed in your mailbox each week. Now, you can just hop on the internet and find the best deals in a matter of seconds. It has had the same effect on personal loans, since you can now see interest rates online before you even step foot inside a bank. Unfortunately, many banks still refuse to publish their current rates online. Their loss!

Whether you're looking for info on credit cards, insurance,savings accounts,mortgages, or just about anything, you can now finds it online. Plus, because you're now dealing with a global market, the rates that you will receive generally vary quite a bit from what you would find if you stayed within the boundaries of your local market.

All of the links above go to one site, Nations Finance. This is yet another advantage of e-commerce versus traditional service comparisons. You can now find these one-stop solution sites where you can find everything you are looking for in one place.

saddled with debt

I was just perusing some finance sites and came across some figures on some of the various different credit card offers that are currently available. I may be in the market for anew credit card, as my Adwords bills are getting a little steep, and it would be nice to separate the charges from our personal charges. I considered an American Express business card at one point, but I worry a little about the idea of not being able to defer payments in case of a financial "emergency".

The again, considering that it is nearly impossible to find decent flat rate credit card offers anymore, it would probably be better to just go for a bank loan in the case of an emergency. After all, you can probably get bank loans with APR rates better than 19%!

I enjoyed the use of my Amex company card, and it always made me feel more like a "businessman" somehow. I know that it sounds silly, but considering the fact that few places even take Amex anymore (at least when compared with Visa or Mastercard), carrying na Amex card must hint at some subtle elite business status, right? LOL.

a drop of oil in the hand

...is worth two to Bush. Two American lives perhaps?

Politics has its place, and there are some decent places to discuss the pro's and the con's of the current war. My best advice is to try and find a forum that is about politics instead of trying to hijack someone else's. Or, if you're lucky, you'll find one that moderates the content and keeps the politics in its own little corner for the politically-minded to have their debates. One such site is the News Nation news forum. In their politics section, you can argue until you run out of breath if you like. (There's always a handful of morons with "blind faith" in their leaders who won't back down.)

The nice thing about this New Nation forum is that it provides a common ground for those disgusted with the war to not only sit around and bitch about it, but to try and come up with solutions. There is strength in numbers, and the sharing of information will hopefully result in better leadership from the next election. Internet forums are also a great way to see how the rest of the world truly feels about our actions, unlike how our news media would like to portray things (at the influence of our government, most likely).

At this point, it seems like Bush won't be happy until he has secured the entire middle east for American prosperity. I have seen lots of resistance to the war, but the latest efforts that make the most sense to me are the people with the bumper stickers that say that if you support the war, send your children over there to fight.

It's very easy to say that you "support" the war if it doesn't directly affect your own lifeblood. This is also why some are in support of trying to reinstate the draft. The idea isn't that they really feel like a draft is necessary, but rather that a draft would help to rid our country of unnecessary violence. After all, would everyone have supported this war if they thought that their sons and husbands would be over there fighting it?

It's easy for the "supporters" of the war to try and hide behind the "support our troops" ribbons, but it's not about supporting the troops. It's about unnecessary violence and extremist capitalism, and the further propagation of the rest of the world's contempt for our aggressive American approach at "diplomacy". The best support you could give our troops is a trip back home that doesn't involve a pine box.

politicked off

If a tree falls down in the woods, and nobody is around to hear or see it, is it George W. Bush's fault?

Some might laugh at this suggestion. Others might point to Bush's apathetic environmental policies.

One of the local forums that I frequently visit gets hijacked fairly often by politically slanted individuals who want to make everything about Bush. This really bothers me, and I have expressed my disgust to the moderators, but they don't seem to care. I can't stand our current president as much as the next guy, but on the other hand, I'm not going to try and attribute every single event and/or happening in this country to him. I get tired of talking about politics. If I want to talk politics, I'll stop by a political forum, or a political sub-section of a forum. For example, I'd like to be able to just talk about innocent things like the weather on occasion with being lambasted in a global warming discussion.

Sure, he's a bumbling buffoon that misrepresents what this country is all about, but we can't say that everything was peachy keen before he took the helm.

visual humor is the future

In my last post, I mentioned how verbal humor seems to be getting stale. Sure, there are tons of stand-up comedians, but everything seems to sound the same after a while. With the internet playing such a huge role in our lives, I expect that visual humor is quickly becoming our number one source of humor, with video soon climbing to the top of the spot.

As they say, A picture is worth a thousand words...

I like the fact that humor is often used to express discontent with our technologically-obsessed society. Isn't there a biting truth behind all of this? The image above as created by an artist named Oliver Gaspirtz. His cartoons have been featured all over the world and in popular books like Chicken Soup for the Soul. His sense of humor reminds me a bit of the Far Side.

speaking of humor

Sometimes, I feel like good humor is hard to find. It seems that most modern approaches at being funny are "mashups" (there's that word again!) of former movie jokes and catch phrases. How many people out there are still quoting phrases from Ace Ventura or Wayne's World? I catch myself doing it sometimes, too. Initially it's pretty funny, but after a certain amount of time you start feeling a bit like a lemming or a copycat.

Could it be that there is little creative humor left in this world that is truly original? Sure, there are new events that we can make fun of, and make jokes about, but aren't we still using half-cocked word play that has already been used a million times over in movies and by stand-up comedians? It all gets old after a while.

Like I said, good humor is hard to find.

hazardous jobs

When I worked for one of the baby bells, I often found myself working in very old telecom buildings. Many of these buildings were known to have things like asbestos in the walls, and sometimes there were notices posted on the walls indicating this. At other times, you just needed to assume that there *might* be asbestos in the wall, and make sure anyone penetrating a wall had a HEPA vac and the correct prep/cleanup materials with them.

I often worked with individuals much younger than myself, which was surprising since I was in my early twenties. In many cases, these "kids" (as I liked to call them) received very little training about the dangers of working with materials like asbestos, and I always worried that there may be situations where they might not know to protect themselves if there weren't obvious notices posted on the walls warning them of the hazards within. In fact, the work that they were doing could injure me, too, just from being in the same area. In this case, I would hope that they would have received the appropriate training, and much more, that they would remember the training that they had.

Unfortunately, all of that OSHA-type training stuff is very dry and boring, and it's often difficult to remember. Some people are out to change that. One new site that I ran across at PPP for asbestos information attempts to take a grim subject and associate it with somewhat humorous medical photos. Sure, it may seem a little tasteless or uncouth, but you can't argue that humans seem to retain information better when they tie an emotion to it, even if it was tongue-in-cheek laughter. Scroll down to the bottom of their site for links to some humorous photos.

big number 200

This is my 200th post on this blog. Pretty impressive for someone who grows tired of technological fads quite easily. I guess it's the "writing" part of it that has kept my interest - LOL.

I was actually considering a "career" of sorts in pro blogging, to go along with my other web ventures like affiliate marketing, but I'm just not so sure anymore. I do have several blogs at this point and I have been fairly successful at keeping them updated with fresh content, but every so often I feel like taking a break from it, ands therein lies the dilemma. After all, to be a "pro" blogger, you need to stay on top of things. Your can't let your bloglines subscriptions pile up on you, you need to have regular posts (daily?), and you're supposed to be into each and every new development in the blogosphere. Personally, I just don't see myself growing an evil twin at any point to dedicate that much time to it. But we shall see...

Those who look at blogging at a business are probably able to do these things with little difficulty, but I still have a hard time seeing it as a legitimate "career".

spring cleaning

I am feeling rather accomplished today, as I just finished backing up the last eight or nine years worth of our PC data onto nineteen DVD-R's. Previously, they had taken up several spindles of CDR's, so it is nice to be able to move them into a more portable format. I would imagine that in ten years I'll be able to compile these nineteen DVD-R's onto another format, and probably need only one disc.

Let this post serve as a friendly reminder to back up your data. Why not do some spring PC cleaning before you start on the house and the yard? How cluttered is your desktop? How about your bookmarks? A little organization can go a long way, and it feels good when you're done, too.

shape of credit cards to come

Recently, several credit card companies had announced new "keyfob" credit cards, which you could hang from your keyring. The idea behind this bold marketing move? Accessibility - plan and simply. If your credit card is easier to get to and in plain sight, you'll use it more often. Or at least, that's the theory. However, one could also venture to guess that (just like cellphones) the smaller the credit card, the easier it is to misplace it.

Other products that we've seen introduced by credit card companies are the clear cards, the ones with your picture on them, and the "fingerprint" cards being developed. In the UK, they have their own "innovative" credit card designs, such as the Mint credit card. This one has the lower right corner removed, resulting in an almost leaf-shaped card (hence the term "mint"?).

Whether or not all of this shape-shifting is resulting in more credit applications remains to be seen. After all, will customers really go for a product just because it looks cool or is shaped differently? History would present an overwhelming "yes" to that question. On one hand, I wonder what the big deal is. After all, everything is changing shape and getting smaller, so why not credit cards? But then I have to understand that credit cards have remained the same shape and size for over 35 years, so maybe this is a "leap" for consumers after all.

Another development within the credit card sector that has made waves over the last few years is the idea of "gift" credit cards. Visa was the first company that I had seen to launch this idea when they announced their "Visa Bucks" program, aimed at parents who were shopping for difficult to please youngsters. The Mint credit card company has their own version of this offering, too.

The consumer industry has long promoted store gift cards as the perfect gift. Then, shopping malls combined the strengths of many individual stores to offer a mall-wide gift card. Now we have credit card gift cards, which (theoretically) should be the ultimate gift for the picky gift recipient. After all, the recipient can use it at any store that accepts that credit card.

You have to hand it to the credit card and consumer markets industries - they never run out of new ways for us to spend our money.

handmade sites or cms?

Lately, I've fallen into the habit of porting many of my websites into Drupal. I just can't resist the functionality that it offers. It is very robust, and takes minimal effort to understand how it works, assuming that you have some web design and PHP background experience. After all, who feels like handcoding security into login and database scripts if you can just load up Drupal and it's done?

However, one of the things that is starting to drive me up a wall is hacking their CSS styling. Simple tasks (like removing a border from a table) that normally took me a few seconds of coding and few more to upload can now take up to an hour just to try and figure out all of the places where they are referencing that table in the code. I'll change what I believe to be the appropriate rule, but it won't work. Then I find out that there's another reference somewhere changing that CSS rule. It's very frustrating. The new color-changing features make it even more confusing. In addition, you can always expect Microsoft Internet Exploder to screw something up that looks perfect in Firefox. (I suppose I shouldn't lay this down too thick, though, as one of the Drupal problems that I am seeing now (which has to do with tables nested within div's) is only showing up in Firefox.)

I'm also anxiously waiting for some of the plugin modules to be ported in Drupal 5. The "Service Links" module is high priority on that list. I wonder what other bookmarking/tagging sites they will have added to that module.

In a nutshell, it is important to make sure that we don't start porting everything into CMS systems simply because of the built-in functionality. If it makes more sense and will be much quicker to just hand-code the site, we should take that route instead. Like everyday living, it's easy to get caught up in the "bells and whistles" that are offered and fail to see how much more complicated these "innovations" are making our lives.

payperpost difference

PayPerPost recently announced their new model for monetizing blogs called "Review My Post". You basically include a button at the bottom of your blog posts which offers new bloggers the ability to review your post, and earn $7.50 for doing so (you can earn $7.50 when they sign up, too).

The nice thing about this new model is that even people who don't want to put sponsored posts on their blog can participate, and the reviews that they do on other people's blogs don't have to be for the sponsored posts. You can also build blog traffic because other bloggers are linking back to your blog when they review your post.

PayPerPost is now requiring a "disclosure badge" on some of their posts now, like this:


I wasn't sure how this whole PayPerPost thing was going to turn out, but in another thirty days I will have earned nearly $1000 with them - not too bad for a program that I was expecting a little extra cash from, eh? Right now, the real trick is to get your pagerank up for your blog, as there are better (higher paying) opportunities for the more popular blogs. They have also begun using segmentation so that advertisers can narrow down their sponsored posts to certain demographics. I had predicted this change a while back, and am glad to see it (even if it means that I don't get to blog about whatever opp I want to). It makes for more targeted discussion, and means that I'm not blogging about things that I wouldn't normally cover in my blog.

blogitive

I signed up for blogitive a few weeks ago, and was approved, but they haven't had a single opportunity for me since then.

:-(

I'm hoping that their offerings pick up, because it would be nice to not have all of my paid blogging "eggs" in one basket. I was going to try out that new Reviewme service, but their requirements are quite stiff. They also take half of the money that they charge advertisers, which I think results in less opportunities. After all, if I was an advertiser, I would go with a different service that didn't keep so much of the overhead. You'd get more bloggers writing about your product or website for the same price. Granted, the blogs at reviewme.com seem to be of a higher pagerank for the most part, but services like PayPerPost are starting to attract the high PR bloggers, too. Not surprising when there are opps running for as much as $1000 for high PR blogs.

strategic planning

I recently read some interesting customer origin statistics over at Robert Bradford's blog, which focuses on his experience and strategic planning thoughts. The statistic that surprised me stated that 46% of customers come from word of mouth, whereas only 10% are turned towards a business by advertising. At first, these numbers seemed a bit shocking, but in reality, this makes a lot of sense. It also explains why viral marketing is the next big thing when it comes to finding new customers on the internet.

Social media sites are the key right now, and because the idea of viral marketing is still relatively "green", there isn't too much restraint on the part of social media site owners and operators. It is assumed that the users will filter out the spam and unwanted solicitations for them. While this is a quality control theory that seems to work fairly well at some sites, at others it does not, and will likely cost the unknowing sites their readership in the long run if they don't delegate some sort of content management power to their regular visitors. It's not enough to allow visitors to report spammy content, because there usually isn't enough staff to react in a timely fashion. It is probably better to implement a democratic system of content elimination, as some sites have already figured out.

As more businesses begin to grasp the concept underlined by the statistics above, I suspect that we will see less PPC advertising and more strategic link baiting. It's all about word-of-mouth at this point and those who know how to stimulate that type of interest should do very well in the coming years. Hopefully I'll be one of them!

making blog is hard to do

...or at least finding the time to read them is hard.

I recently signed up for a bloglines subscription in an attempt to keep better track of the thirty or so blogs that I now read regularly. Alas, who has the time? I try to keep updated on the latest announcements from numerous marketing blogs, as well as a few that cover topics like SEO and web design. It sure is tough, though. I need to find a better way to keep track. Bloglines is a decent service and it's not too difficult to wade through the blogs of the day, but it would be easier if they all arrived in my inbox or something, pre-formatted so to speak. Video bloggers make it even more difficult as their content doesn't show up in Bloglines - you have to visit the site to see it.

Yahoo's new Pipes service shows some promise, as it boasts the ability to "mashup" blog feeds and various types of content. I'll have to check it out. "Mashup" must be the word of the decade or something...LOL.

holiday drink

I almost forgot! Don't forget to pick up a nice bottle of wine (or whatever wets your whistle) to accompany the lavish meal you are preparing for your sweetheart tonight.

My wife is a sucker for long island iced teas, while I prefer a bold Jamaican beer like Red Stripe, or a specialty drink called a Swamp Cooler - it's like a spiked tea and cider. If you're looking for some specialty drink ideas, you should look online. I just ran across a Daucourt Martin liquor site via PPP offering drink recipes. Why not mix up something bold and unique for your special night?

This post brought to you on behalf of Daucourt Martin Imports.

It's V-Day

What are your plans? I currently have some marbled eggs simmering in a broth of tea leaves and soy sauce as an appetizer for tonight's traditional Chinese cuisine. I'm not a fabulous cook or anything, but I do like to experiment with other ethnic cuisines now and then.

The main course will be chicken in a black bean sauce. I ran out of beans, though, so I actually used kasha that I ground up - they should add a similar flavor. I'd go out for supplies, but the roads here are slick. I can't wait for winter to be over...

To wrap up the "experience" I have some traditional Chinese tunes that I am going to spin while I deliver a massage.

Don't forget to do something special for your loved one tonight.
Happy Valentine's Day!

iTaggit

One site that takes advantage of the digital archiving or "online collection" approach is iTaggit. You have the option of keeping your items private or sharing the details of your collections with the world. By signing up for a free account, you can easily meet fellow packrats who might share your same zest for amassing curiosities, like misprinted Disney collectibles. You can also discuss values, and negotiate trades. There are also resources on collecting various items, including forums and "expert" blogs.

This may very well be the first social media site that I have discovered that connects individuals based on what kind (and how much) "stuff" you have. On the surface it may seem a bit shallow, but it's all in good fun. The layout has something of an "Ebay" feel to it, and seems easy to navigate.

safety deposit inbox?

For a while now, I had considered digitizing most of my important paperwork, burning it onto DVD-R's and storing them in a safety deposit box somewhere. However, assuming that the data isn't too sensitive, it also might makes sense to store it somewhere online. Now that everyone and their brothers has access to the internet and everyone and their savvy brothers have their own website, it is fairly safe to assume that many of them should now understand the basics of FTP. That being said, secure online information storing sites might be the next big thing on the net.

I first stumbled upon this idea several years ago, when our home insurance agent suggested that we make a list of all of our high dollar items in the house, and let him store it in our file in his office. That way, if we were ever robbed or had a catastrophic fire, we would still have a record of it. In addition to his suggestion, I had also uploaded it into a password protected directory on my web server.

I never realized that I might actually be part of the digital archiving trend that is now taking the world by storm.

monorial lighting?

Just when you thought the term "monorail" was limited to Disney World and Japanese speed trains, I find out that they have something called "monorail" lighting. Think of it as track lighting for the 21st century. I'm sure you've seen these types of fixtures at "hip" restaurant chains before - places like "Noodles and Company" or "Tokyo Joe's".

Anyways, this might be just what we are needing for the kitchen. You want light? How about an 8-light monorail system? That's 8 lights coming from one receptacle. Sure, each light won't be as bright as a standard fixture, but they don't have to be, because the fixture extends 264 inches across the room.



This ShopPremier site has all kinds of interior lighting solutions that I hadn't seen before at our local Home Depot or Lowe's. Best of all, you get free shipping on any order over $100.

home renovation

Since we moved into our new house about six months ago, I've managed to replace a bunch of doorknobs and light fixtures, take down an ugly cabinet that was blocking the "flow" of the kitchen, rewire several electrical outlets that weren't wired correctly or safely, and replace the appliances in the kitchen. However, now I'm stuck on what to do with our kitchen lighting.

We now have stainless steel appliances and I plan on replacing the cabinet knobs with stainless steel once I have some extra cash. I'd like to get some new lighting appliances that will match well. However, I don't feel like installing new lighting receptacles in the kitchen, so I'd like to try and get enough lighting for the entire kitchen area from just the two receptacles that are already in the ceiling. Right now, there are triple-positionable lights in them, but they don't really give off enough light. We've been to home depot and haven't seen anything that we really liked. Track lighting is an option, but I don't like the ugly "track" that most of them hang from, and I haven't seen any nice stainless steel ones.

I saw a few interesting fixtures at this interesting Victorian Furniture site, but "Victorian" isn't really the style we are looking for. I'm going to have to do some more digging, but I don't want to pay an arm and a leg to have something shipped.

Aside from that, I still have two outdoor lights that I need to replace when the weather warms up a bit. Home improvement can be fun, if you have the right tools. If you don't, it is frustrating and causes nothing but headaches!

signs online

In my last post, I mentioned the business cards that I was able to design and order online, very easily I might add. I just ran across an online sign-making service that offers much of the same convenience. The company is called BuildASign.com and they specialize in quick turnaround yard signs, similar to the ones you see real estate professionals using. They make yard signs, banners and even magnetics. You simply upload your graphics, they print them and ship them out in three days or less.

When I was designing magnetic vehicle signs for my father's construction business, it was a nightmare. I had to save the file to a disc and hand deliver it to a sign making company. Then their version of Adobe Illustrator was older than mine, so I had to re-save it in an older format so that they could open it up. Then, they had trouble with it for some other reason and wanted the font files to recreate some of it. After nearly three weeks, my father finally had his fleet vehicle signs, and they were a slightly smaller size than we had ordered.

It's nice to know that when he needs more, I can skip all of the hassle and order him some new signs online instead.

vistaprint update

This is a follow-up post on my business card order from VistaPrint. I received my new business cards on Friday and I am quite pleased with them. They didn't take the 21 days that their website said it might take, so I am glad that I didn't pay extra for expedited processing and shipping.

I opted for full color glossy front and nothing on the back (I like to be able to write notes on the back as needed, and I know my clients appreciate that, as well). My only complaints are that they are a little darker than they were on my screen (could be my screen settings) and that they must have had a tight rubberband around the cards before they placed them in their boxes for shipping, because the outer ten or so have criss-crossed creases on them. Worst case scenario, I tape a few of the creased cards to my kids bicycle spokes and they ride around terrorizing the neighbors. Other than that, I am getting pretty annoyed with their constant "BEST SALE EVER" emails that they keep sending me. I thought that I had opted out of those when I signed up. Guess I'l have to login and check my account settings again.

Oh, I should also mention that the cards did *not* have anything on the back, like an ad for VistaPrint - that must be for the free cards only.

In a nutshell, I am fairly satisfied with my order. I especially liked the fact that I was able to do everything online. I uploaded my own design, ordered it, and here it is.

like sands through the hourglass...

...so are the day of our lives.


Honestly, that's about all I remember from when I was a kid and my mother used to watch that show on tv. The only other thing that I remember is that the people all looked like living Barbie dolls. There were lots of boney-cheeked women and Texas-toasted tans and everyone was always fighting over who slept with whom, only to find out that they were all related in the first place.

I'm not sure that too much as changed, but one thing that struck me as odd when I saw the PayPerPost opportunity for a Days of our Lives subsite/forum at Soap.com was that the actors look a lot younger than when my mother used to watch the show. Maybe these new actors and actresses are actually the same age and nothing has changed over the years but my own perception of age (because I've gotten older myself), or maybe they have finally strayed far enough away from the molded Malibu Barbie look. Either way, this looks more like the days of the Backstreet Boys' lives than our own.

The site provides all the juicy details that "DOOL" fans need, without the typical tabloids price tag attached, from what I can tell. There's even a section called "spoilers" in which they provide glimpses into the future. I suppose some soap fans just cannot handle the suspense! Here's a photo from their "pictures" section:



Doesn't this image personify the very fabric of soap operas? The love triangle, the strangulation, and the eyepatch...what else could soap fans ask for?

paid survey scams

My wife was recently perusing some of these so called "paid survey" sites on the internet. I had to give her a bit of a scolding for doing so. Wouldn't something like porn be more dignified? LOL. Most of them have got to be scams. Definitely the ones that ask you to pay money for access to their "listings" - whatever. It amazes me that these companies manage to stick around. You would think that the scores of people who age been burned by them would make it well known, and that others would know better.

Maybe they're changing their names. Or, maybe their diluting the truth told by previous sign-ups with their own fake testimonials. I know for a fact that a number of supposed positive testimonials and forum responses were written by the people who run the websites. Other than that, I think that many of the people who have been burned by these things see the opportunity to make money as an affiliate so they promote the site anyways. What a joke.

media control versus success

Perhaps my last post sounded a bit too depressing. Not all large media companies that exist on the internet are ignoring the obvious benefits of user contributions. There are some who see this as a an obvious benefit. For example, the idea behind Fingad / Financial News is simple - that the actual investors probably know more and have more to say than someone who is only trying to track investments. In pure democratic fashion, submitted articles are voted on by the rest of the "community" to decide what is news and what isn't.



In addition to gaining insight on the company that other investors might be willing to share, it would also be a great way to track investment trends without the typical delay of trend reporting and analysis from major media corporations. You're seeing the trend firsthand.

Again, as I mentioned in my last post, I believe that user involvement is going to decide who stays in business and who doesn't in the near future. If it works for financial news, it will probably work for other types of media companies. It just takes a while for businesses to understand that media control isn't much of a currency any more.

online versus traditional media

I recently read an article that stated what I have been suspecting all along - that traditional media groups are starting to worry that online media is taking their place. The stuffy shirts of yesterday's T and radio, for example, are in for a rough ride (all downhill) if they don't figure out how to adapt to internet culture a little better. Adding a blog and online subscription services to your web page just doesn't cut it. They need to take some advice from the Web 2.0 sector and try to incorporate user content into their sites better. Allowing filtered user comments on their articles just isn't enough.

Business (media-based and others) that manage to integrate these new social marketing trends into their existing portfolio of offerings will be the ones who are allowed to survive. For those remaining and swimming against the tide, their non-savvy customers are only getting older and won't last forever.

hitting the beach

One of my relatives lives in Panama City, Florida and she is always bragging about her time spent on the beach - relaxing, sunbathing, getting misted by the surf. We visited once, and I can definitely see how living near a beach would be wonderful. Of course, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near Panama City Beach, though, because they get too much of the "Spring Break" crowd and it just doesn't seem like much of a family atmosphere.

It's easy for us to think only of areas in California, Florida, and Hawaii when we think of American beaches. There are, however, numerous other areas that have beaches here in the states, and the nice thing about many of them is that they aren't as popular or overcrowded. One area that we hope to visit someday is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Although living there is expensive, there are lots of Myrtle Beach vacation rentals right on the beach which provide the beach front living experience (for a week or so) without the beach front cost of living. Check out the beautiful sunset view that you can get at this rental, for example. Absolutely stunning, and you don't have to worry about "Spring Break Syndrome" ruining your peace and quiet.

This is the kind of vacation that I'd love to plan for Valentine's Day with my wife.

travel quota

When I was a kid, my father always planned a vacation for us each year. Even if he didn't have the cash, he broke out the credit cards and found something fun for my family to see. We had numerous station wagons and minivans throughout the years, and my father was not afraid to use them. He always told me that annual family vacations, no matter how frustrating they often end up, are an absolute must. Now that I am a father myself, I am starting to see the value in his philosophy.

Less than a year ago, I was racking up several dozen hotel nights a year traveling for work. It was a bit too much for a family man, and I am glad that I am out of that habit. Like anything in life, I suppose that it is best to partake in these types of activities "in moderation". Since I quit that job and we have moved, we haven't traveled at all, and I am starting to feel a little "cooped up". There are a number of natural attractions that I would like to see near our new hometown, but the cold weather limits the amount of time we'd like to spend outdoors. The last thing I need is for my kids to get sick - they get enough of that being in school.

It makes me wonder, though. Do people have a pre-conceived subconscious travel "quota" that they innately feel that they must meet each year? And if they don't, does their well-being suffer in some way? Is there an actual mental need for "new scenery" nourishment every so often, or is it just a cure for boredom and the winter time blues?

broke greetings

I am pretty disgusted to see how much greeting cards are costing us at the stores these days. Aside from the occasional 99 cent special that you can find at the dollar store (which tend to be off-register, misprints, misspelled, or worse), I just can't see buying greeting cards for people anymore. There is nothing worse than blowing $5 or $6 on a greeting card from the store, and then watching the person read the card, thank you for gift and throw the card into the trash with the mangled gift-wrap. So what are your options?

One - quit sending greeting cards altogether. This is a sure fire way to get yourself banned from family get togethers and parties. If you're a hermit and don't want any friends or family, this might be a good choice. Personally, I'd reconsider.

Two - Make your own greeting cards. This can make for a truly personal gift if you have some creative skills, but you also have to make sure that you have the time that it takes to put something together. If you don't have an artistic bone in your body, I'd suggest option three.

Three - Subscribe to an online service greeting card service, like eGreetings. Valentine's Day is coming up, so here's your chance to send out something hilarious like their funny Cupid pickup lines eCard.



An annual subscription is only $13.99, which gets you *unlimited* eCards. Heck, that's the cost of only three physical cards from a retail store. Best of all, a membership allows you to schedule when your cards are to be sent. So here's my advice...

Get a membership. Sit down one afternoon and pick your cards for the entire year - for everyone. Include birthdays, holidays, and why not throw in an occasional "thinking of you" card while you are at it? This way, you can cross greeting cards off of your list for the entire year, and concentrate more on gift giving.

hiking

I recently picked up a few hiking guidebooks from the local library, and they are specific to the area that I live in. I was surprised to discover that there is a 165-mile hiking trail nearby. I don't see how anyone manages to hike something like that. I would love the idea of taking a few months off, and trying to get from one end to another, but the realist in me thinks that camping out for several months at a time would get old really fast.

The book mentioned that this trail system is going to eventually be connected up to another mammoth trail system in Missouri, resulting in a *very* long interconnected trail system. It would be cool if there could be a trail system that winds all around the United States, fully interconnected. But then again, who wants to hike through Nebraska or Kansas? I'd just like to know who has the time off from work to take several months and to hike one of these trail "super-highways".

Fortunately, there are a ton of other trails nearby that are short enough that the whole family can hike them. Personally, I feel like hiking is one of the best ways to spend quality time with your children. You get to be outside, enjoying nature, exercising and spending time exploring new areas with your family. What could be better?

review my post

Although the opportunities being presented by advertisers are becoming more targeted and are being created with more stringent blogger requirements (like demographics, pagerank, alexa ratings, etc), times are getting exciting on the paid blogging front. I am seeing more traffic on my blog and there are a number of new programs out there to monetize it, many of which are branching out to include more than just paid reviews. PayPerPost recently launched their "Review My Post" program as part of the affiliate program. Bloggers (or "Posties") simply advertise on blogs with a new "Get Paid to review My Post" badge and anyone who signs up can get paid $7.50 for reviewing the blogger's post. In addition, the blogger can earn $7.50 for getting them to sign up. Since the badge isn't limited to posts that we write for the PayPerPost program, this gives people the opportunity to review any post that the blogger writes. Pretty cool idea.

Best of all, because they are reviewing the blogger's post, they will be posting a link back to the blogger's blog, so it increases traffic, too. Here is what the badge looks like (you are more than welcome to click on it if you'd like to read more about the program or review my post for $7.50).

gold digger death

I just heard that Anna Nicole died of some strange collapse - most likely drug-induced or a result of her experimentation with weight-loss medication. I wish that I could say that she will be missed, but I doubt it. Although I applaud her for showing her pride as a non-anorexic model (at least pre-Trim-Spa), I have no respect for her after seeing her on one of those reality TV shows. The girl was white trash - pure and simple. It doesn't make any difference that she married some millionaire who had one foot in the grave - it never contributed to her class in anyway.

To make matters worse, there are now two men competing over her money (in the guise of a child custody battle). One of the possible fathers, named Howard Stern (apparently no relation to the perverted deejay) was her lawyer, so I guess that means he'll at least have cheap representation. A bloodtest is in order. What will be hilarious is if the child turns out to be the offspring of some other unknown man. Then, perhaps the heirs of Anna Nicole's late husband might have a chance at getting their family inheritance back.

paid blogging update

My experience with paid blogging continues. PayPerPost just updated their site with a number of new features, including a way to get paid for having other people get paid reacting to your paid posts. Sound confusing? The new update has caused a bit of confusion and the smoke seems to finally be clearing over at the PPP forums regarding all of these "enhancements".

They have also created a new feature in which a "disclosure bubble button" can be placed on your site, within your post, and it works like the popular "lightbox" application that you've probably seen on a few sites. It gives advertisers the chance to have their content included in your post, so that if a user wants to see a preview of the site or product that they are reading about in your post, there it is. There are also a few new signup and "sponsored by" buttons that they are having bloggers use.

So far, I've made about $500 off of my PayPerPost efforts. Definitely not enough to live off of, but then again, I don't exactly post their opportunities too religiously. They don't always have opps that I feel would fit the theme of my blog. I also refuse to post positively about anything that I don't feel positively about. So if an advertiser is requesting a positive review for a crappy site, I ignore it. I'm in the process of having a new blog approved, too, so that should help.

drupal beta

One of the slight disadvantages of working in Drupal is that many of the optional non-core modules that I have been using with the 4.7.x version haven't yet been ported into version 5. It makes things a little difficult but I know I shouldn't be griping since I'm not exactly taking on any of them as coding projects. But then again, I haven't quite gotten the hang of writing my ow module just yet.

I did figure out how to create a list of taxonomy terms from a specific vocabulary, though. I simply modified some code that I had penned from my earlier Drupal versions.

I've been looking at WordPress a little lately. It seems pretty impressive and is definitely one of the most popular blogging platforms out there. I just don't know if it has all of the same features as Drupal. WordPress seems more focused on blogging, and Drupal seems to be open to just about anything. Who knows at this point? Maybe one day I'll have some extra time to check WordPress out.

spanning time

Since becoming self-employed, my schedule has been all over the place. On some days (though not too often), I wake up early and put in a regular 8 or 10 hour work day. Other days (more often) I wake up late, spend most of the day on the computer, and then into the wee hours of morning. My wife is convinced that I need to come up with a set schedule - a routine of sorts to keep me on track and more productive. She may be right.

I remembered how things tended to get done when you knew you had little time to do them. I also recall that I didn't get sidetracked so easily. problem is - I am a nocturnal thinktank. At night, my brain goes crazy with ideas that need to be recorded in some way. I have tried keeping a notebook near the bed, but that doesn't seem to do it justice. Sometimes it is a coding problem that I have just solved and I need to try it out!

Perhaps another option is to try some sort of time management software. There is one called the Achieve Planer from the company Effexis. Looking at the screenshots, it reminds of the calendar function in Outlook, but on steroids. Their "standard" version sells for $49 while a "pro" version will set you back $79. Not too bad if it can really help your productivity as much as they claim. The software uses hierarchical (multi-level) outlines to plan your tasks at hand, and what lies ahead. You have "projects" and "tasks" that can be prioritized and tracked, and then you have your daily and weekly viewer (which is the part that reminds of outlook's calendar). It also interfaces with Outlook and can track your response to action-oriented emails.

The only thing that I don't see listed that I would feel is essential would be to include some sort of "automated" time tracking tool. Right now, I have a tool loaded on my computer that is supposed to track all of the time that I spend performing various tasks - like email, programming, graphic design, etc. It works based on what the active window is called and what programs are running on the computer. The problem is - you have to go in and program it to watch for those active windows, so every time that I begin working on a new web project or affiliate campaign, I have to go in and program a new tracking filter. As a result, my work still isn't getting tracked and I'm working longer hours.

I guess that I need to pretend that i am working for someone else to make sure that I'm staying on task...

priortiy club rules

Speaking of travel, I really need to start spending my Holiday Inn Priority Club points! I have been amassing pints for the last few years due to all of the travel that I was doing, and I also have a credit card that awards me additional points for each dollar spent. Out of all of the travel programs that I have signed up in the past, I have to admit that the Holiday Inn Priority Club program has been my favorite. I have managed to earn close to a dozen free hotel stays over the last few years, and they have always been great at dealing with reservations, cancellations and special requests.

I know that "Holiday Inn" has this campy fifties feel to its branding, but the new Holiday Inn Express hotels have all been very nice. In fact, I have found that they are generally $10 to $20 cheaper than the plain "Holiday Inns" and yet they are usually newer and cleaner. I've stayed at lots of chains throughout the years, and although chains like the Embassy Suites are always quite fancy, I think I prefer the predictable comfort and value of the Holiday Inn Express. I have a Hilton Honors card and a Choice Hotels card, as well, but their point and redemption systems pale in comparison with the experience I have had with Priority Club. Check it out if you are a frequent traveler. You don't have to be a traveling "businessman" to earn and redeem these points, either. In fact, I usually rack up points from work and use them for family vacations instead.

japan

So perhaps you've gone the way of the Samurai and you are wondering what it would cost you to fly to Japan. What's the currency exchange like? Would you choose to shack up in a Japanese countryside home or a pill-sized economy unit in the city?

Right now, as of today, it appears that you would get approximately 120 Japanese yen per America dollar. If you're in the UK, you can check out the flights to Japan listed at DialAFlight, which appear to be coming in from Heathrow to Tokyo for only £162 (+ £137 taxes) via British Airways. It appears that the most popular destinations are to the cities of Fukuoka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, and of course Tokyo.

Personally, I'd be checking out Mount Fuji and the Hot Springs of Beppu. A "vacation" tot he megalopolis that is Tokyo doesn't sound like as much of a vacation to me - more like a very active and overwhelming "experience".

lost in translation

Speaking of exotic travel, I just wanted to mention that if you haven't seen the movie "Lost in Translation" you should check it out. It features Bill Murray, and before you start gagging, rest assured that this (for a change) is a somewhat serious role for him. He does surprisingly well.

Mr. Murray plays an aging action star who now does commercials in Japan for a whiskey company. While exiled in this strange land, he meets up with Scarlet Johansen's character, who is stuck in her own bit of exile while her photographer boyfriend is off living the glamorous Tokyo life as a band photographer.

Although a little slow at times, the film has some shining moments and if you can get past the stomach-turning near love affair between Murray and Johansen, you may walk away feeling the same as I do - I gotta visit Japan some day!

exotic travel

Back when I worked in a large office with lots of fellow employees, one source of amusement and wonder during this time of the year was to see the screen savers others had placed on their computers. When the local weather was treating us poorly, I would always happen to catch glimpses of beautiful crystal clear blue ocean beaches, lush green rain forests, and exotic travel destinations on my coworkers' terminals.

Now that I work at home, I have to do my own searching now and then for unique travel photos to keep my spirits up when the local outdoors are frozen. I never liked loading those "screen saver" subscription applications on my computer though, because they often came with unwanted attachments like adware or spyware.

One site that I recently noticed via PayPerPost was for an Egyptian Travel photo site. Egypt sounds like a mysterious and exotic destination to me, and some of the photos on the site confirm that suspicion. It warms my bones in my current chilly climate to see photos like this in Hurgada Egypt:



Now if I could just figure out what to do with the kids and get someone else to pay for the trip!

depressed and cold

Last week we received several inches of snow, a rare occasion for this part of the country. It has been cold enough outside that most of it is still there, melting a bit but not enough. As a result, it seems that the entire town is asleep. Normally, things slow down anyways around this time of the year, but in this case, the cold seems to have everyone locked up in their homes, with nothing to keep them company but the internet.

As much as we often feel the need to just "get away" to warmer climate, it is a shame because winter travel is often more stressful than other times of the year. Flights get canceled due to inclement weather, you have to bring more clothing and it takes longer getting through airport security.

I'd love to go someplace warmer and a little exotic during this time of year - not your typical tourist-laden Mexico beach vacation or cruise, but something a bit more exciting or real.

wholesale & retail, online or physical

Since I started my own business, I have flipped back and forth between online sales and a brick and mortar store, between so-called "passive" income opportunities and getting into sales of some sort of product. Perhaps the real winning recipe is a mixture of both, assuming that you have the time, finance and energy.

Just like your favorite pay-per-click opportunities, some of the best sales solutions are still the arbitrage-enhanced "buy low, sell high" products. For example, when I was looking at starting my own record store several years back (a dream that was killed by the bank and by MP3 technology), I was looking into stocking several items in the store that brought bring a higher profit than the music, because everybody knows that record companies don't give retailers a very good wholesale price on CDs. One of the items that I had run across was sunglasses. You've seen them in music stores - the $15 special that looks like a $50 name brand. In most cases, people have no reservation snatching these up, because they are getting a great deal when compared to the real, overpriced thing.

You can still get great deals on wholesale replica sunglasses, some selling as low as $1.33 a pair. Best of all, you're not selling illegal knockoffs as long as you don't buy anything fake with the real products brand name on them. Everybody loves a deal, and I've had generic knockoffs that outlasted the real thing two or three times over. Buying products for their "name" is ridiculous in this age of global consumer markets.

new drupal css

I just thought I would share a quick tip for those of you who enjoy recoding your Drupal layouts via the CSS files. I was recently playing around with the new color switching "Garland" theme, ad after I found a color combination that I liked, I went to further customize the layout. Unfortunately, it was driving me insane as many of the changes I was trying to make just weren't taking effect. I don't know about you, but there's nothing worse than spending an hour trying to figure out why a transparent background image isn't showing up, only to find out that you've been messing with the wrong CSS file.

So here's a clue, from me to you. When using the custom color switching tool in Drupal 5, for a theme like Garland, it automatically creates a new CSS file and images in the root>files>color folder, meaning that the default Garland folder no longer sets the style for the page. Instead of running off to now alter the style.css file in the new custom color directory, create your own overriding CSS file and upload it into the theme s>garland folder instead. Why? Because any time that you go to change the theme via the admin interface (even if you're just changing the logo or motto, etc), it will take the default style.CSS file from the themes folder and use it to write the new custom color theme, thereby overwriting any custom changes you may have done.

In my case, I simply created a new file - override.css - or whatever you want to call it, and placed it in the theme. Now I can change the colors via the admin interface and my custom CSS rules will still override the new custom color folder.

global finance

I've often wondered how large corporations with different branches across the globe are able to manage their corporate finances. After all, different countries (and different leaderships) have different approaches to accounting and finance and one can't help but wonder if sometimes thing get lost in translation. In some cases, a certain branch of a corporation in one country may be failing miserably with its corporate performance metrics while its American brethren might be on top of its industry. In other cases, it may be the other way around.

One way that large companies can do better with their finance structure is to employ third party management solutions. For example, business performance management solutions from the company Longview have enabled large corporations like Cisco to enhance and define their corporate financial performance, making them more confident with their forecasting and global finances. Different regional offices across the globe can work more cooperatively, without the traditional alienation or confusion of one-size-fits-all no-questions-asked corporate guidelines being implemented by a controlling but sometimes unenlightened distant "headquarters" office. By focusing on consistency and visibility, nobody gets left out in the dark, and corporations are able to react quicker and forecast more accurately.

Longview offers comprehensive and robust software solutions for steering the corporate performance management of large corporations in a global context, so that when Widget Corp USA is doing well with their financial management and forecasting, Euro Widget Corp is right there with them, in the same boat so to speak.

vistaprint

I was recently handed a business card from someone that had info on the back of it stating that it was printed for free by a company called Vista Print. It was nothing fancy, but it looked decent, and how can you beat the price? At first, I thought it would only be "free" because you printed it yourself, but not so.

I stopped by the VistaPrint website, and you get to pick from a number of stock designs and layouts, and you can create your card right there online. They try and throw all kinds of "upgrades" at you while you are configuring your design and placing your order, but when it comes down to it, their barebones minimum *free* business cards will only cost you $5.95 (for shipping). Not bad at all, and I did read a positive review or two on the net about them. I paid $12 for my last 1,000 business card order from a local print shop, but they were black and white and very basic.

The real question is do you want to be handing out business cards with an ad for VistaPrint on the back of them? Will potential clients look down at you for being cheap with your business cards? I would hope not, but let's face it - the super fancy business cards printed on vellum or with silver foil on them sure do like nice and I can't help but take that person a little more seriously for spending the extra dough on making a slicker first impression.

So, I coughed up some extra cash, designed my own, and ended up paying close to $30 (incl. shipping and glossy coating) for 500 custom cards from Vista print, hopefully without the "free" advertisement on the back. I'll post on their quality when they arrive - their site states that it can take up to 21 days!

refinance again?

I was just looking at the current mortgage rates and it appears that those "dream rates" that we were seeing not too long ago haven't strayed too far. With fixed rates standing at around 5.85%, it may make sense to try and save some money with a mortgage refinance. Of course, the real questions to be asked are:

- How much are you paying now?
- What can you save longterm in your payments?
- How much is the refinance going to cost?

I once knew a lady in Omaha who would refinance every time the rates dropped a little. After a few years, she had spent more in refinancing fees than she'd probably save on her payments for a very long time. To make matters worse, this was back when rates were hovering around 7% to 8%, so I'm sure she's really kicking herself now. But she had a broker friend who was just loving the commission.

A lower mortgage rate can sometimes mean the difference between living paycheck to paycheck and being able to put some money away. It can give you the opportunity to pull some equity out of your home to pay off higher interest rate loans and credit cards. They've even got "reverse" mortgages now that allow you to convert equity into cash, without having to pay it back until you sell or move out of the home. Long story short, read the fine print and do your homework. Get a good grasp on home mortgage basics and shop around.

drupal 5

I had a chance to test drive the latest version of Drupal today, version 5.1. This was also the first time that I installed Drupal on my own, without the help of Fantastico. Realistically, I don't know why I hadn't tried this before. After all, if you've ever installed Drupal via Fantastico, you know that the install process is less than thorough. For example, it fails to install the "update.php" file, so you'll need to add this yourself via FTP if you plan on installing any modules or doing any updates to your site (duh!).

When you go to install Drupal yourself, you need to create your database and a user with full access first. Drupal doesn't do it for you, so hopefully you have a basic understanding of MYSQL. My Cpanel access has a very easy to use MYSQL interface that took me a whopping 30 seconds to figure out. Then you can upload the contents of the Drupal tar file into your public directory and pull it up in your web browser to run the installation script.

The Drupal install script did have an issue with the default permissions for the "settings.php" file, so I went ahead and added the database info to the file myself. Drupal then installed itself very quick. The only other step that it seemed to miss out on was to create a "files" folder and CHMOD it for read/write permission. Easy enough if you know your FTP program.

You'll also need to create your own "master admin" account. I had always wondered why my Drupal 4.7.x installs via Fantastico had given me the "create your first user" message when I first looked at it in my browser - it turns out that this was left over for self-guided Drupal installs. I was a little surprised at the lack of security to create that first account. What if someone else just happened by the site before I had a chance to create that first user account - the one with "everything" permission? Would they be able to essentially create the first "super admin" account for themselves if they showed up first, and then shut you out? Word of advice - if you're installing Drupal yourself, you better be ready to create your own account immediately, too.

I also didn't like how the install automatically set it so that new users can create their own accounts without approval. That was one of the first changes I implemented once I had my login and was cruising through the settings. After all, if your site isn't even ready (or if you're a Drupal newbie and don't even know how to regulate content yet), wouldn't it be better to have new user requests require admin approval by default?

One immediate difference that you may notice in the new version of Drupal (compared to version 4.7.x) is the new organization of the admin and content settings. Everything is broken down into sections instead of throwing this long obnoxious list at you. I also dig the new Garland theme, and the fact that you can change colors on the fly via the "theme" settings. I haven't played around with it yet, but the flexibility of the CCK module was supposedly included in Drupal v.5 core, so adding fields and/or creating new content types should be even easier.

Maybe it is just coincidence (or the overall lack of content), but the test site seems to be responding quicker than my previous version installs. The new admin modules page is awesome, as it separates the core modules from the add-ons and allows collapsible details for each. I also noticed that they automatically placed each core module in its own directory folder, which is convenient and makes things a bit more organized when surfing via FTP.

I tried out the category add-on module for Drupal 5, and I am a little annoyed with it. I had tried it once before in 4.7 but couldn't get it to work, so I removed it pretty quick. First off, I don't like how it creates what are essentially "nodes" for each category and container term. Who needs a node "body" for a category? I am also having a spot of trouble getting the parent terms and related parent terms to work as I would like. The breadcrumbs for the related parent terms show you the original parent term when viewing a sub-term (if that makes sense) instead of showing the related parent term in the breadcrumbs. It would also be nice if there was a way to assign default options for categories under different containers when adding lots of them. There are so many menu and display options to check off that it will probably be easy to miss something here or there when adding numerous child categories.

Anyways, enough geek speak for now, but check out the new version of Drupal if you're looking for a robust and very customizable CMS system for your web projects. Highly recommended.

myspace invites

I was so relieved today to discover that Myspace has finally made it possible for me to disallow event invites. I was getting so sick to death of receiving concert invitations from bands halfway across the globe. If they do not have the time to handpick who they send invitations out to, or at least try and filter it in some way by location, then they shouldn't be sending them out. That's lazy promotion in my humble opinion. And if that isn't bad enough, what really ticks me off is when I get multiple invitations for the same event. Grrrrrrr....

Not too long ago, I created a Myspace group for posting events in my area, but do you think I went and invited every myspace user profile that I could get my hands on from every corner of the globe? No, I only invited people in my area. It didn't take me that much time to put together a list of local myspace users who may be interested. If I can do it, they should be able to do it for their concert invites.

None-the-less, I have just disabled *all* event invitations now, which is a shame, but my friends would probably send me an email instead for any important event that they wanted me to attend anyways.

give her soap

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the internet was strictly focused on geeks and college students. Nowadays, the primary internet audience is well...anyone! Whether you are ten or ninety, a doctor or a student, a single dad or a funky swingin' single, there's (at least) a little something for everyone.

One of the advantages of this diverse multitude of "virtual" offerings is that you no longer have to worry about hiding your "guilty pleasures" at the store or supermarket. You can, instead, follow them online. One such example would be fans of Soap Operas. Sure, we've all seen the soap's digest newspapers at the checkout stands, but have we seen anyone buy one? I worked at a grocery store as a teenager and after playing checkout clerk for several years, I think I only saw one or two women ever buy one. And yet, I *know* that more people watch them. My sister does, my mother-in-law used to, and my wife used to. So what's a soap fan to do?

There's a good chance that the soap fans of the twenty-first century are using twenty-first century technology to fill their needs. Some might be using their PC to digitally record a soap that they miss while at work. Others might turn to a website.

Presented by First Beat Media (known for their recent "Unsigned.com" online music community), Soaps.com is one such website, catering to the desires of soap fans worldwide. The site is presented with a bit of glam and a bit of action, not unlike your common soap episode. The menu echoes the pink and mauve "days of Avon" past, and boasts links to everything that a soap lifer could ask for. Whether she's looking for news and daily updates for shows that she might have missed, or just wants to get on her "soapbox" in their message board forums, why not send your wife or girlfriend to the net to check out Soaps.com while you're busy checking out the new Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue that just arrived in the mail?

getting what you pay for on the net?

Not too long ago, I purchased my first domain via GoDaddy.com. It was quick and painless, and I think I have mentioned before how impressed I was with them when they actually called me to welcome me to their service. While on the line with the GoDaddy representative, she asked if I own other domains. I told her that I had quite a few, and she asked why I hadn't registered any with GoDaddy before. I responded honestly to her. For one, I had heard a few negative comments about GoDaddy from back in the day, and two - I used to believe that you get what you pay for. Seeing as GoDaddy is one of the cheapest domain registrars that I had run across, I was a bit leery at first.

So what changed my mind? Well, for one, it was the fact that hotshot SEO guys like Aaron Wall recommended GoDaddy. I was also registering a domain for affiliate marketing, so it wasn't a high priority worried-I-might-lose-it type of domain name. So far, I have been impressed and have registered another dozen or so other domains with them.

I have heard a few horror stories about people whose domains have expired, and GoDaddy trying to charge inflated amounts of money (close to $100) to get them back, but I don't see what is so bad about that. If you let your domain expire, you're out of luck. Instead of bitching and moaning about how much GoDaddy is asking for it, you should be happy that someone else hadn't snatched it up and was refusing to sell it altogether.

swimsuit issue

It's that time of the year again - Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and you had better be buttering up to your better half if you don't want her to "have an issue" with the other big event that happens at this time of the year - the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Like any other sensible online magazine, the folks at SI have branched out to make this 43rd annual event even bigger than just a print issue. A quick visit to their website reveals additional bonuses like wallpaper for your cellphone. Available for all major wireless service carriers, men no longer have to wait for this time of the year to download their favorite Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model. They are featuring over fifty different supermodels on their site, which include hot ladies from several backgrounds, including Victoria's Secret models and even a tennis star. In addition to having someone like Marisa Miller as your cellphone wallpaper, they're also offering the option to download your favorite Sports Illustrated covergirls from previous years' issues. In other words, Elle Macpherson and Kathy Ireland are back on the scene, and ready to become your own private avatar for your favorite incoming caller. After all, your girlfriend isn't very likely to call herself on your phone...or is she? Better watch your back, fellas, and make sure you pay a little extra for the long-stemmed roses this year.

After all, with a lineup like the one below, you just may have to do some begging for your wife or girlfriend's approval...

schizomania

I have to apologize as this is a bit off topic, but what is the deal lately with hollywood movies using schizophrenia as the basis of a plot?

First there was that Secret Window movie with Johnny Depp, which started out well and quickly took a wrong turn when they suddenly made him a schizo. And today, we rented a movie called History of Violence in which the director chose to do the same thing. The movie started out fairly interesting, and then they turn Vigo into a schizo. C'mon, hollywood! Are you that fresh out of ideas that you have to rely on trite mental quirks to bolster (or fully support the weight of) your plot?

When I was growing up, you could always tell when a director had run out of money and had to prematurely end his film because you'd be watching and there would be this sudden abrupt ending that, although it somewhat closes the story, never quite fulfills your expectations. Nowadays the "quick and crappy" film closure has been replaced with schizophrenia. Running out of a good ending? Just throw in a little schizophrenia and all will be good. After all, it worked for Psycho.

you've got blog

It seems that everyone has a "web revenue" blog these days. From SEO buffs to affiliate marketers, everyone wants to play their part in educating newbies. by frequently visiting some of the larger blogs, you'll manage to find out what's what and what's not. I'm in the process of updating my bloglines subscriptions and ran across the following "Business Bushido" blog via PPP: Lee Dodd Dot Com.

His wordpress site is clean, neatly organized and boasts gray and orange Web 2.0 duds. Unlike so many other net business blogs, Lee continues to touch on occasional tips and advice for newbies, meaning that his blog reads less like a book, and more like...well..a blog. In other words, you don't have to go back to the very beginning and read his early posts to figure out where he's coming from. Perhaps my only complaint about his site are the poor quality screen-shots that he includes in his posts every so often. Some are downright hard to read, particularly in his posts titled, "10 Ways to Become a More Efficient Webmaster". Check it out if you are so inclined. I'm going to give it a few more reads, but it's looking like a good candidate for my bloglines feed update.

css remix

If you are familiar at all with CSS, other known as cascading style sheets, you should check out the site CSS Remix. I have found it to be a useful place to visit now and then to see what is going on in the Web 2.0 front. Some of the designs are cliche and boring. Others are brilliant. The site gives you the option to rate them. If you're into RSS, they also have the option to subscribe to a feed from their site that will share each new site via the feed when the site is updated.

I may just have to suggest a site or two of my own for inclusion and review when I have a chance.

hockey forums

Here's another example of sports themes doing successfully well on the internet - it's an NHL Forums site that is currently on the verge of reaching 8 million posts. They've been around for five years, and offer all that you would expect to find from hardcore die-hard hockey fans - including history, rumors, league speak, and more. Their NHL Talk section has over 25,000 threads alone!

The real key to success in these types of forums is offering a little something for everyone, and this site has it is spades. They have boards for specific countries, minor and major leagues, other sports, and of course the inevitable "fantasy" hockey industry. Check it out if you're heart is still in the game, behind the puck, and chillin' on the ice.

sports and the net

A few years ago, a client approached me with an interest in starting a fantasy football site. At the time, it was something that I had never heard of before. He quickly filled me in on the details, and after a bit of searching, I realized what a huge phenomenon it had become. Nowadays, we have "fantasy" everything on the net - many of the different sports are covered.

Like every other hobby or interest, I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that sports have become so hugely popular on the net. From "fantasy" gaming to sports equipment, auctions, clubs and forums, sports is everywhere. It's a bit ironic. Just as sports has assimilated the internet, the internet is now attempting to assimilate sports. For example, did you hear that GoDaddy, one of the net's most popular internet registrars, attempted to purchase a commercial slot for the Superbowl?

I think that the fact that a domain registrar is willing to pay so much money for a lead slot during the Superbowl tells us allot about how our American way of life has been assimilated by the web. GoDaddy's offer wasn't accepted due to the potential "innuendos" behind their name (who's your daddy?), but there's always next year.

sell some cells - make some cash

I have recently reviewed a few cellphone sales and deals that I discovered via the PayPerPost program. By doing so, I was able to make a few extra bucks here and there. While perusing the opportunities today, I just ran across an affiliate program that allows bloggers to make money not only by reviewing cell sites and products, but by helping to sell them.

Check out the InPhonic affiliate details to see if you might be able to earn some extra money on your own blogs and websites. If you have a knack for getting the "inside story" you may be able to leverage your ability to cut through the baloney and turn people on to the best deals in the cell industry (and make some commission money at the same time). There are lots of cellular sites out there that include reviews, but it is always difficult to discern between the "sponsored" reviews and the real user comments. Why not post a few words on the cellphone that you currently have, if you like it, or plug another phone that you would like more, with an affiliate link? InPhonic's program is run via LinkShare, which is a well established affiliate program. Do some searching and you'll find them to be quite reputable.

As long as you tell the truth and give an honest review of the product, I see nothing wrong with making some extra cash helping to sell them.