Original Source: Neighbor Lawn Chair Wars

While looking for a Caribbean cruise I stumbled across a great way to go to Hawaii.  I have only been once, when I was in 6th grade in the 80’s.  Well, now I’m 40 and I long for those sunsets, the warm ocean water and smell of coconuts in the air. I was chatting with a co-worker about plane prices and she told me she was going on a Caribbean cruise.  The way she described the cruise environment really got me interested.  When I got home today, I looked into the cruise experience and I am sold on it! 

My wife Sarah has been on a cruise to Ensenada.  She said it is like a resort on water.  Besides that, as I looked around the Carnival site, I can see clearly they are a top notch operation who do this better than anybody!  This is a way to see Hawaii I had not considered. If you are considering a vacation this year or next, look into Carnival.  I will of course post pics when we end up going.  Who knows, maybe you’ll beat me to it :)

I seem to have the same conversation about online course degrees with every young adult I run across. They say they don’t know what to do as a career and I push college. I agree college is not necessary for everyone. Many people I know have succeeded without college. But as for me and my kids, I push college in virtually every conversation. I guess we gravitate toward that which has worked for us. For me, college has made all the difference. I am an elementary school teacher and I tell my kids each year: “I didn’t get here because they liked my personality. I got here because I have the degree required.” When I got my undergraduate and graduate degrees, you had to sit in a classroom to get educated. Nowadays, online colleges abound and they are readily available to earn ma online degrees and any other you can imagine.

One of the most expensive parts of the semester as I recall was the parking permit. I think it ran $75/semester the last time I attended traditional college. Online classes eliminate that need. You get your assignments and readings assigned via email and message boards and you submit your work via attachment. In the end, you get online university credits and all the while you only had to leave your home once or twice. It seems to me, the pressure I put on my friends and relatives to go to college is even more justifiable now that online classes exist. It’s still hard and not everyone will finish but it’s a great way to get your feet wet and start working toward a degree. Instead of thinking “What if I don’t finish?” it’s now a time in history when folks can honestly say: “What if I DO?”

There are a myriad of choices out there for online education. In my opinion, college is still the best gamble with your money out there. The returns can be ten-fold. And, of course, one of the best things about being in college these days is that you can get your degree 100% online. So what do you say? Why not roll the dice? Look into an
online degrees program.

I’ve tried a few brands and styles of kids nightlights lately for my 2 and 4 year olds. The 2 year old is “kicking the bottle” and very crabby at night. This can lead her to think she is scared of anything and everything in her room. A friend recommended a nightlight and I tried out a few. The one I liked best was a Genuine Monkeez Nightlight. It’s really cute and happy looking and the stained glass face can be pivoted in any direction to allow the child to see it.

You plug it in any electrical outlet and it fills the bedroom with a soft yet assuring light. My girls love the monkey face and before bed they like to imitate the face with their lips pursed and saying “ooo ooo” like a monkey does. It is bright but not too distracting. I told my girls it was there to protect them from bad dreams. So far, both girls go right to sleep after their story and a song on the guitar. If your little ones are having similar bedtime struggles, try this sweet little nightlight with Long-lasting bulb. Its swivel base fits any plug and there is a durable and sturdy On/Off switch

1. My favorite drink is IBC Root Beer in a bottle.

2. I spelled vocabulary wrong in my thesis as a grad student of English (volcabulary). (I really thought that was how you spelled it)

3. My absolute favorite color is yellow..

4. I hate my Lhasa Apso and my wife loves her.

5. My favorite combo of snacks at the movies is: Sugar Babies, popcorn, and coke.

6. I despise all forms of televised sports.

7. My favorite food is Cheese Enchiladas.

8. My favorite TV show is Dexter.

Paramedics and hospitals have them and you never think of them until you need one: Automated External Defibrilators AED.  If you are in the market to purchase one these life-saving devices, you should check out this AED site. They are simple and easy to use and dependable in workmanship and design. One of the best features is their guarantee: 7 year factory warranty. Since we’re talking about saving lives, a warranty is a non-negotiable. I recommend you buying your AED and related equipment through the site I’ve linked in this post.

I don’t rant much, but here goes.  A kind gentleman who apparently has read my teaching blog sent me an email recently complaining about 2 sponsored posts I had done.  One was about ceiling fans and I recommended them to teachers remodeling.  I myself own the brand and can vouch for them.  The other one was for Epoxy covering on tile flooring.  I also have this on my floors.  I recognize this one was rather short and terse, but I know a lot of teachers remodel in the Summer and I was appealing to those teachers’ needs.  I will never post something as a review unless I believe in it.  To make a long story short, the kind gentleman’s email got me soul searching for two days. What it culminated in was a revised (actually completely rewritten) disclosure statement for all three blogs.  I am me.  I will never change to suit someone when it comes to making money or not.  If he doesn’t have the ability to make money with his blog or if my making money with mine offends him, then he can move along.  The fact of the matter is this:

I love writing on my 3 blogs.  That is how I started doing this in December of 2006 and how I will go out doing it.  I see nothing wrong with active and passive income that is generated by my passion to write.  Take me or leave me.  This has been a great two days for me.  I feel like I know exactly what I’m doing now.  This person did me a great service, whether or not that was their intention.  Friends and/or enemies of my work: please read my new Disclosure statement.  I hope you will remain a reader after you check it out.  Believe in your vision.

If you missed it live, you can still leave questions and comments and I will reply!

I have to tell you that secretarchive is a must follow for me on Twitter.

It is based on the blog of the same name that consists 100% of secret thoughts of people mailed in. So, Twitter is the feed of these without the photos. Here are a few recent Twitters:

secretarchive: I listen to the voice mails and locked the text messages from back when you still loved me.
Friday, June 26, 2009 5:35 AM

secretarchive: I wish I could read minds, just to find out if you truly love me too.
Friday, June 26, 2009 5:02 AM

secretarchive: I’m terrified of leaving simple, even positive, comments on youtube in case it offends someone.
Saturday, June 13, 2009 3:05 AM

secretarchive: I am 21 and married to someone I don’t love anymore, just so that he can take care of me financially
Friday, June 12, 2009 8:46 PM

secretarchive: Sometimes I wish my friend’s best friend was dead, so I could be my friend’s best friend and not her
Friday, June 12, 2009 7:40 PM

secretarchive: When you left me, my heart physically hurt. I feel the gaping whole in my chest that you left me with.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009 3:26 AM

secretarchive: The only reason I haven’t killed myself yet is because my mother would kill herself.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009 3:16 AM

I find this stuff vastly interesting because it is raw human emotion. When people are anonymous, they tend to shine a light on the truth of our experience. You don’t know if they are kings or queens living in manufactured homes or paupers on the street mailing their thoughts in. It’s a human equalizer. Try Secret Archive on your Twitter: secretarchive

I show some examples of their postcards and give a short review of their actual blog at my Postcards from the Funny Farm blog.

Click on image to view the Excel spreadsheet.
This month’s theme: “Automation.”

Here are the textual results:

Postcards from the Funny Farm – PFTFF
9,651 Backlinks
8,630 Visits (in June ‘09)

Dynamite Lesson Plan – DLP
3,123 Backlinks
2,030 Visits (in June ‘09)

Damien at the Speed of Life – DATSOL
5,376 Backlinks
1,422 Visits (in June ‘09)

Net for all blogs= $207

Sources:
Backlinks-Yahoo
Visits-Google Analytics
Net-PayPal

Notes: Last month I used this word: “automation.” I suppose if I were putting out a CD I’d call it that. That’s the name of the game these days for my blogging life. I have just about everything automated to produce money and traffic. Backlinks are a little harder to produce that way but I’m working on new ideas every day. As a teacher who is getting more responsibility at work every day, I don’t have the time I used to devote to blogging.

Automation methods:
Backlinks: The only automation I can think of for these is submission to Article Avenue and the like. Many of my backlinks however are the result of people linking to my articles or blog because they like them. This would lead to the ultimate automation technique: “Write good content.”

Visits: In my experience, Stumbleupon and other social media has produced the largest increase in traffic. Find classy ways to ask people to read your work through social media. The following sites are the ones I am leveraging for traffic-

• Ping.fm – Choose the services you post statuses to and send a status and a link to your blog out to all of them with one click.
• Twitter – Ping.fm can take care of this one.
• Facebook – This is often a small group of a hundred or so friends. I usually use Ping.fm to drive my Facebook statuses but there are other features you can use on Facebook other than statuses to promote your blog.
• MyBlogLog -
• Blogcatalog – Send bulk messages to members of your community.

Net: Automation methods are Text-Link-Ads. I am making over $20 a month with my 3 blogs with this service. Google Adsense has made me very little money, but it is always increasing. Getting Adsense on a site is a good idea. The more traffic I get, the more Adsense will make for me.

These are the automated methods I use to make passive income. It is a small percentage of the total I make monthly but they are a substantial chunk. The rest of the pie consists of hard work writing and doing sponsored posts. I never do 2 paid posts in a row. Every other one is a rule I have for myself.

I encourage you bloggers out there to use the services and methods I have talked about.  Also, remember that each blog is its own animal.  What works for mine may not work for yours.  The thing that makes bloggers great, in my opinion, is their ability to create and innovate ideas that work for their blog.  I will continue to look for ways to automate my backlinks, visits, and net. Your comments are warmly invited.