Adventures in Online Money

Future Business Plans

2012-02-28T04:58:00.000-05:00

Someday, I plan on having my business expand to drop shipping. In fact I wanted to drop ship ages ago but the places I found tended to all be sketchy overseas places, or places that promise a list of good places to deal with for a fee. The few plausibly legit places require a specific number. Someday, I’ll put in the paper work for it.

But I can dream, can’t I?

Think about it. I can have others worry about product fulfillment. I could have other people do all that tedious order fulfillment. I could pretty much have a huge inventory at once place, and never have to worry whether my customers get their stuff in a timely manner or not, because I know they will.

Fulfillment. This word will at first be the bane of my existence as I’m but one person. But with a big company doing the background work It’ll be like sweet music to my ears.

Bulletin Boards = Home Decor Ideas

2012-02-28T03:38:00.000-05:00

I’ve always wanted those low hanging enclosed bulletin boards. They so cater to my fetish for small, compartmentalized spaces. Think about it, they can open up like a thin locker. Just open the glass door up, slide in a few cute vintage scraps of paper, art or festive items, pinned them onto one of the enclosed cork bulletin boards you can easily buy and voila a small seasonal display case!

Of course one can get one of those enclosed fabric bulletin boards too to lean a richer touch to your hanging display. Just coordinate the fabric inside with your décor during purchase with your home décor and the display will always go with everything!

A How to Date Website that Doesn't Make Me Wanna Stab Kittens

2012-02-28T03:22:00.004-05:00

I’ll be honest. When I see a guide that proclaims in blog text ‘How to attract women’ I don’t envision great things. I expect either some sketchy dude in a leisure suit spouting off rather insensitive advice on how to score with women, saying downright doggish things to describe the quest for more ass – or some sad sack that believes he’s a player but who clearly do not know how women, hell how human beings in general work.

But I rolled up on said site out of morbid curiosity…and well I wasn’t repulsed within the first few minutes. I don't quite agree that women are 'crazy slaves to emotional logic' - we're just as capable of seing things objectively as men. Despite that cravat, the place wasn't half bad. In fact the guy writing the place seemed sincere about his advice; some of the things said were kind of obvious (like being yourself) but in general didn’t treat dating as a game to be won but as a way to find love and companionship. And admittedly some of the stories told on there did warrent a chuckle at the guy’s mishaps. But the fact that he never stooped low to blame others for his fails and misses – just himself – gain said author a few points in the honesty department.

Posh Dog Bedding

2012-02-26T23:32:00.002-05:00

We had family members down last weekend. They came down with the most adorable pair of dogs ever. I was very surprised how sleeping arrangements went. See, we have a futon and other accommodations for people, but it's kinda hard to plan for dogs. You can't just have them roaming about, the floor isn't good for their backs either.

They came with these collapse-able dog cages. They set up and hinge together so that they if needed to be put away or moved, the cages could be easily flattened taking up less space. Just set them up and put down some blankets (for warmth and any mistakes) and just toss in a couple of memory foam dog beds within each one.

Orthopedic dog beds? Yes, specialized dog beds exist. We humans aren't the only ones that are prone to back problems due to the way we sleep. Those dogs were getting such comfy sleep that I was actually a bit jelly. Course most of the day the excitable one would run around while the quiet one would lazy around underfoot so those cages got little action till nighttime.

Old Houses clean up nice

2012-02-25T03:24:00.000-05:00

I went to the old family house today. When I say the old family house, I mean the place where I grew up. My sister grew up. My mom, my uncle, where my grandma and granddad brought after they married… Where granddad died, where grandma felt obligated to stay and keep despite it falling apart and being worth less than what was owed.

Well me and my sis stopped by…and man did that house clean up nice. The new owners had popped open walls, added a new deck, the place simply was updated heavily. The new owners were nice enough to invite us in. They definitely are pro flippers. I went inside and was met with polished wood floors, updated everything – including vessel sinks everywhere.

See, me and the hall bathroom were at war. The crappy lone vessel sink that was in there did not hide the large hole in the wall that invited spiders and water bugs. It leaked (mainly because the tool that installed it was lazy) and could hold nothing cause it was small.

But this sink had no cracks, a not leaking vessel faucet, the tile underneath wasn’t yellowed, no mold…I was rather envious. Still like apartment living though.

Dog Sitting

2012-02-23T03:18:00.000-05:00

As I walked by the Portable Bleachers in this complex’s small community field, I stopped. I needed the fresh air as one of the few drawbacks to the place was the lack of a personal patio/balcony. Soft rain misted onto the Aluminum Bleachers. I didn’t mind, I love the rain. Soft, soothing rain.

I was pet sitting this day. Unbenowst to the complex I had a few hours to watch over two sweet dogs as their owners were out of towners down for a family event. The two searched around the small park, excited they were outside but for differing reasons from myself. This place was small; no Pet Waste Stationsfor them. No dog exercise equipment. Just a nearly barren field and some small underused swing set. There’s rarely any kids out here; I think the average residents here are the mid-20s crowd, not many families here.

But I don’t mind. I has my peace and rain. The dogs are just happy to run.

Holiday drinks and sweets

2012-02-21T11:59:00.002-05:00

Welp, Saint Patty’s Day is on the horizon. This occasion calls for a good truckload of green and beer. Maybe even some loaded fries (my favorite bar food). But also is missing is something sweet. And considering my sweet tooth, chocolate shall do. I’m of the mind that chocolate for any occasion is a good thing, so I so am going to raid the confection aisles. Though I haven’t decided if I want premade chocolate stuff, or to make cookies from scratch (well in advance of any drunken debauchery). I know one thing though – chocolate flavored beer is the best idea ever. I have tasted it and it is just awesome.

Creative Uses of Rain Chains

2012-02-18T04:49:00.000-05:00

I always had a love for and a want of a rain gutter chain. They always had this ethereal graceful beauty of man-made metal being combined with the nature of rain. The sounds of both of these things combining is just peaceful.

But our gutters are way too high for us to reach and even so wouldn’t be our drain to accentuate. But we can still have fun with a rain chain. I recall buying a japanese rain chain for a hanging decoration in our living room. It dangled in both its well-crafted beauty and with the sun hitting upon it during the day. Also when this chime is pair up with a copper rain chain, both items make a wondrous metal sound together.

See? Rain chain don’t have to always be out in the rain to entertain.

Window Boxes = Denied

2012-02-18T04:45:00.000-05:00

I’m highly tempted to go start myself a small apartment garden. But my apartment is just that – small. I would love to say make a windowbox garden but there is a big hurdle: my windows don’t open outward or all for me to hang window boxes off the ledge of a window. This rather sucks as I dream of having a small little mini garden. The crops would pay for themselves in the yearly produced crops and well plants make things prettier.

It rather sucks too; the complex probably would say no to the flower boxes as well. They don’t even like having the cable company drilling extra holes so I doubt they’d enjoy us shoving hanging boxes off of their windows. At least the windows have these huge inside ‘ledges’ to sit things on including some plants.

A secret that's right there in the pictures.

2012-02-17T04:21:00.000-05:00

Over lunch a few days ago, an old friend from my wilder partying days were shooting the breeze. Just random small talk. Somewhere in that talk I joked that “But, we never had any hookers at any of our parties!”

“Well yeah,” he retorted, “down here it’s street hookers. Up in the big north it's Escorts". See, according to him, Escorts in Toronto are not only easier to find, but are well ‘classier’. They take pride in their jobs and keep it real. I laughed. He couldn’t be serious. But he was. He had brought out a pic book from his travels up north. They all were a bunch of nice family friendly pictures with a few different women here or there. I figured they were acquaintances. Clean cut and everything.

Come to find out he paid them to go on gfe, or girlfriend experiences where a woman for a set date pretends they are your girlfriend in public and supposedly in the bedroom too. He wanted to look distinguished at company parties and simply liked their company. “Modern day courtesans,” he quipped. The way he had it play out it was win-win for everyone. I was rather surprised. Weather that’s all that went down I couldn’t say, but if no harm was done and a great time was had, I couldn’t get mad at that now.

Future steel buildings

2012-02-15T02:56:00.000-05:00

Future Steel Buildings are an interesting housing idea. See I have housing tastes that are in that mix of eclectic found stuff, to Asian, to Modern. Older buildings can contain all of these aesthetics but don’t pull them off that successfully. But a completed metal building can pull off such a hodgepodge.

Future steel buildings are also easier to build from scratch. I say this because many build houses out of wood or concrete – and get stuck with the design. Or it becomes a costly fix to adjust the floor plan or layout. Metal buildings as seem more environmentally sound as you can recycle the materials cleanly.

Able to mold to my aesthetics tastes? Environmentally friendly? My future house with a bit of wiring and insulation is so a steel building.

Sports Betting can be a doable pastime for me

2012-02-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

Now….I’m not much on myself trying to bet on sports. I mean I barely watch sports at all. Hell, I barely watch TV! But I do like a bit of gambling. I like picking a team from random to see if indeed I have great powers of clairvoyance in seeing if my team won.

I though wouldn’t pick the overdone sports of football or basketball though. I’d totally pick a hockey team. Besides of all the popular sports, hockey seems the most interesting. That and like Nascar, people watch for the train wreaks – is. I.e. fights. Though I like how this one site I contemplated using helps you decide in your choices: they lay out the current stats of your chosen team, down to the injury news reports. This saves me in having to search up about the team I want to choose pre bid. I can even bid on overseas teams! Rather helpful features this site has.

Mailboxes can be creativity in a ...box

2012-02-11T07:35:00.000-05:00

I’ve discovered how not only useful whitehall mailboxes can be, but also how collectable they are. Browsing a site full of whitehall products shows me an array of mailboxes. Now, a website full of mailboxes? Yes, they do exist, in various styles. I’m honestly partial to the ‘attachable ones’ the ones that don’t come with their own stand for the outside. It’s that you can store more of the handing type that standing. Thought the flag raiser bit (the way mailmen knew a box was full of mail or not through visual) is personally endearing.

But yeah, collecting the regular lid down types of mailboxes are easier to collect: they are cheaper, smaller (there for can fit more for them into a small space), they easier to display, one can find many ‘un mail-like’ things to do with them (like planting crops within them), or use the metal things as storage boxes.

Storage for the future

2012-02-09T04:38:00.001-05:00

Now, we live in a small little old apartment. So having need for something like Garage Cabinets isn’t likely. But knowing how Mr. ‘hording anything that is commodore 64’ related, and due to my never ending fetish for all things vintage gamer related, if and when that time comes to move into an actual house - Garage Storage Cabinets will have to be put into the plan.

See one doesn’t just ‘collect everything’. Newer things come out, things under the radar; super rare items, consoles, games etc. are discovered. Expecting a few shelves to hold them all is folly. And knowing how heavy some of the older stuff is (have you lifted an army of C64 or Amiga monitors? They are heavvvy) Steel Storage Cabinets will have to do.

I have for boredom’s sake investigated some Arrow Spacemaker Storage Cabinets. They look rather nifty: they would accent gaming consoles well in look, are cost efficient, and look study enough to warrant the investment. Will bookmark for later investigation.

State of the Union Winter 2012

2012-02-09T04:36:00.000-05:00

**Adventures in job juggling – state of the union**

It's been awhile since I've updated this - mainly because for awhile there things didn't really change. Then like a random explosion this all happened.

Blogging for self – Blogsvertise and PayU2Blog are besties, though PU2B is a bit slow on the work in comparison to Blogsvertise. But any work is good work!

Blogging for others - I’ve been hit with a bunch of sweet blogging gigs as of late. A slew of blogs actually. Well two different contacts (a third that's a bit flakey) and a slew of posts a week.

A hush hush job – an NDA tells me to be mum about things. I've worked for them before but now I have less distraction, and more time to dedicate to it.

Auctions are still a crapshoot. No matter how many sites I post on and promote, if demand is there, they'll buy (and hopefully not be dicks about it). If they aren't they aren't. Meh. Though selling ebooks and gaming guides is a goal I really want to aspire to.

Cable - Still reliably paying me for well, having it.

Power Bill was saved!

2012-02-08T14:41:00.003-05:00

Whelp, I saw my power bill. I’m grinning’ like a felon. I had decided to be cheap on one end – using my room heater for the bed room (that I spend the most time in) instead of my central heat. It does a rocking good job heating the room.

But I also invested heavily in mattress covers. Toss in some awesome solid bed skirts, some satin pillowcases, and some bed skirts, and my bed is set. Bed Skirts you’d think would do much. But the sort of hide the stuff underneath the bed I don’t want seen AND help circulate the warm air in the room.

My Mattress Covers and very super comfy Satin Pillowcases add to this. Like right now I just woke up nearly sweltering! Who needs the real heat on!

See, I thought VA lawyers were awesomely bad...

2012-02-08T03:51:00.001-05:00

I thought we - as in Virginians - had the worst lawyer ads ever. Clearly this is not the case.

See, this guy - he scares me. He also never ages and has for the past umm 20 years terrorized Virginian airwaves with his Hammer of justice talk.

Then after reading this post about the worst lawyer ads ever, a horrible realization happened. This guy has a scary brother somewhere, with more explosions to hand out.

Fear, injury victims. Fear.

Apartments and hotels are easy to find overseas

2012-02-06T12:44:00.000-05:00

I never knew there would be so many different living accommodations to choose from. Like, I know of places in my home country but to find out the ease in which I can find places in Scotland (namely Edinburgh) is rather exciting. See, I can save myself some guess work when I fly over for a con and have a place to stay booked before I even get off the plane.

It helps that said places have pictures – so I have a clue as to what my temporary digs looks like. The only thing that confuses me though is what do they mean by ‘self-catering’? I can only guess they mean that the food service is nonexistent?

Downloading music legitly

2012-02-05T19:32:00.001-05:00

Any of you guys have the urge for more songs and music? Well back in the day it used to be ‘go get a record/8track/cassette tape/CD’ and hope that whole album is worth the $20-30 ish price tag. I myself admit to coming in when cassettes were the big thing; course I had more things recorded off the TV and radio than on tapes I owned. Music cost a lot. And when you did spend money on an item, half the time unless you heard the whole album from a friend you risked paying for half the album you liked and the other half that blew.

Then there was that period of time in which I was ‘screw this’; almost every one I knew was downloading tracks here, tracks there. I had more burned CDs than paid for full of tracks I liked. Rarely did I have an official complete and paid for album unless I liked the whole thing. And then there was the convenience of storing everything on my pc. 1-2 HDs of music was way more space efficient than stacks and stacks of CDs. Having a library of CDs did look nice but when you lived in small apartments of roomed in one bedroom, having a library taking up living space was silly.

For a long while, record companies still put out CDs. Then the Zunes and their ilk appeared. I didn’t want to buy a new item to hear music. I rarely went out with my CD player years ago. Items like these were too prone to getting stolen. Music was a private thing for me that I did at home on my reliable computer. Somewhere in there places like Napster sold out in my eyes having people pay for songs where they once were the forefront of downloading. I moved on. It would take a lot to convince me the worthiness of paying for what was a free convenience. I like many were all ‘the music out there is overpriced, and most of the time it is bad. Indie bands do not do paid sales'. I was so hardcore like Trent Reznor – music should be free to find and download.

And then iTunes popped up. I saw this set of promotional codes from iTunes store and despite not owning a single item with an ‘I’ in its name I tried it out. I was actually amazed. There was no $10 songs or rather boring pop music. The selection was actually varied and the price of $1 per song – no $30 albums – was actually not bad. Sane pricing for the songs I can listen to see if I like before choosing to then download onto my pc…it was as if they heard the myriad problems I had and bam address them. This old pirate may convert after all.

Kitchen Stuff

2012-02-04T12:20:00.000-05:00

Welp, our kitchen actually looks like a kitchen now! That new spice rack is so boss. See, our kitchen is a galley style which is a fancy word for small capsule of a kitchen. Cabinet space, counter space, everything space is at a premium.

Our counters are neat but filled with our appliances like the toaster over, microwave, blender, coffee maker, etc. Cramming a appliance into our just as small, awkward cabinets was no dice either. So when I found that wall spice rack I was all over that.

Kitchen spice racks, like having a George Forman grill and a crock pot are one of the few wants I desire for that small kitchen. Then we’d be set in our ‘stuff we need’ category.

DON’T PUT YOUR CABLE BILL ON THERE!

2012-02-03T02:49:00.000-05:00

Guest post of the week by Moises Henderson

As soon as I learned that you could set up autobilling,I signed up for it. My electricity, water, home security system new york, trash, gas, and cable are all withdrawn from my account without me even having to lick a stamp or click a button. I have never been one to be good about remembering due dates and even worse about making it to the post office. Last month, I realized that I had been overcharged by my cable company for the last few months. I didn’t even notice!

When my mom insisted on helping me with balancing ( or reconciling as she calls it), I realized that they had charged me a lot more. I have had an awful time trying to get them to give back my hard earned money. They insist they will just credit my account and I will have a lower bill the next month. I spoke with the bank and they said to always set up those sites on your credit card because you have ninety days to correct a mistake. Since I was using my debit card, the money came straight out of my account and was theirs. I won’t be doing that again.

Pot Rack Dillema

2012-02-02T02:52:00.000-05:00

As I roam through my time, cramped kitchen, the array of small limited cabinets surrounding me I realize – this place is small. I literally used all my counter space; the pop cabinet is just that: one lone pot cabinet that isn’t all that small. The idea to go buy some enclume pot racks came to mind.

Now people out are probably asking, ‘why not use the top cabinets instead of a low hanging enclume pot rack?’ Full of glasses and special occasion stuff, seasonings, food (this kitchen is really small).

‘Well then, the tops of the cabinets?’ My cabinets have a large gap up top where you can store things. That space is full of the crap that didn’t ‘fit’ in the living room, my office, the computer room or any other room in the house. This has had us staking random pots and pans onto the limited counter space. This cannot be. So enclume potracks it is.

Virginian lawyer commercials = Crazier than most I've found.

2012-01-29T07:52:00.000-05:00

Now, I was holed up with some family a few weeks ago in Cincinnati, and these Cincinnati Attorney commercials came on. They were as goofy as the ones down here in Virginia. In VA, we have the Jones and Beiber or X lawyer their with for the week due to the firm having a new partner every five seconds. Or Kalfus and Nachman with the aggressive old guy that is all 'we will get the job done for you', stat! The commercial I saw up in Cincinnati was for a Cincinnati DUI Attorney. The commercial was simple, to the point and not overly hyped.

I’m guessin’ a Cincinnati Lawyer is 10x more chill than a Virginian Lawyer? There was no angry old guy actor, or not excited lawyers standing around. Course we do have that lawyer that was in the movie ‘A Few Good Men’ (yes that was a selling point in a commercial down here in VA), so we have that at least -movie star lawyers. So either VA just has the most wacky lawyers, or Cincinnati just knows how to properly advertise lawyer services.

Pop up display hunting.

2012-01-28T12:13:00.002-05:00

I’m rifling through a catalog for pop up booths. I’ve never realized how I could’ve put such pop up displays to work. Now, most of the time I see these type of things, they are used as company displays at events, or during a public company presentation.

I recall going to my first job fair; many jobs worth their salt used pop up trade show displays - I can tell you then that the people with such display got more people inquiring about their positions over the other jobs with a table and some flyers.

The way these trade show pop up booths are presented in this catalog imply you can have a backdrop behind a podium to give speeches, a table display, a mini ‘kiosk’ to lure people in to view what you have to off – all with highly customizable displays. I mean you can have your logo, face or other major part of your brand allover a display, shouting to the world who you are and what you do.

As for WHY I’m looking through this catalog? A dear friend of mine is starting a crafting business and wanted to see her display options for a local craft fair.

Goofy Suspenders guy...here, take my monies.

2012-01-26T02:53:00.000-05:00

Now I’ve been prepping this site, fixing it and the others up but what really sells it is how I rank in the engines. No, not page rank but where I appear in Google’s search results. I notice the higher I rank for a search term, the more hits I get. But that’s the thing, getting yourself to rank based on a set keyword is rather daunting. It’s time consuming and a bit of a crap shoot if you aren’t sure what you are doing.

And I hate to say it, too rich for my blood. The amount of time I’d have to invest to get a page to rank high in Google’s search results is like having a second, unpaid job. But I have seen some cheap seo places around. They basically do all the dirty work for you using a key word you chose. Going by that one place’s website, they lok rather ,,,quirky. But I like quirky. Quirky and to the point.

They list what things cost upfront and what they do for said cost. It also helps they only charge when the desired results are gotten, as in you aren’t paying if they fail to get you to rank.

The goofy man on the front page kinda sells it for me though XD It’s so hard to tell that guy in suspenders no!