My Birthday weekend

My birthday had come and gone on July 28. It was wonderful. The highlight was going out with my boyfriend and having sushi and drinks. We had a table outside in the nice warm weather, so we got to watch the sun set as we were sitting there. We experimented with sushi we've never eaten before. I liked all of it for the most part. Now for presents, I didn't get much, but it's to be expected. I'm not a little girl anymore. If I count what my boyfriend got me at Otakon, I got a $50 copy of the original Famicom "Mother" cart (aka "Earthbound Zero" everywhere but Japan) and a Phoenix Wright t-shirt reading "iObject". Cute. As for money gifts, my mother gave me $100, one of my uncles gave me $25 for lunch (thank you!), and my grandparents also gave me $25 (Another free meal? Woot.).

I do believe I jinxed my boyfriend by saying "This day has been great, and nothing bad has happened". "What do you mean?", he asked. "I mean I'm glad nothing has spoiled the day for me." I replied. Well, on the way back to his friend's place (I so wanted to play "Gears of War"; I miss that game.), his car's engine began to overheat. We exited the highway and parked at the nearest gas station. He couldn't find what was wrong, but he didn't want to risk taking me home without a more thorough inspection. So basically I crashed with him at his friend's place.

Even with a clearer look in the daylight and driving around he couldn't pinpoint the problem. He took me home and had his car towed back to the dealership from there. After watching several episodes of "Samurai Champloo" (Bless that wonderful Dish Network DVR receiver, I've got almost every episode.), we left the house in my car and had dinner at Imo's Pizza. Then to walk off the food, we went to Best Buy where my bf purchased a copy of Quake 4. I watched him play it before going home, and now I want to play it. I honestly wasn't into FPS games back in the day, but they look really fun now. I might pick up a copy eventually. I have too many games to finish. And credit card debt. *slaps hand for thinking of splurging*

So that was my birthday weekend. It was fun, and my boyfriend's car is fixed. Whatever it was, I hope it wasn't serious and is covered under the warranty. As for me, I need to look into getting a new car, as mine is on its way out. Sure I could replace the engine, but what for? The body is fucked (partially my fault). With dents, rust, and faded paint, I do not want to rack up more debt to fix the inevitable. It's time for something that was made in the new millenium. RIP, 1992 Eagle Talon. And before anyone bothers to ask, no it's not a TSI model or has turbo or anything like it. It was a regular old stock manual transmission model that got me from destination A to B.... while letting my lead foot do all the work, hehehe.

Lexi got paid! Woohoo!

Today I checked my PayPal account just to confirm my pay from PayPerPost. Not only did I get my 2 scheduled payouts, Smorty paid me yesterday too. I didn't get an email confirmation from Smorty, but that's ok. It's all there.  So if any of you guys were ever doubting that PayPerPost or Smorty pays, here's my proof that they do:

<-- Click for full size
Screenshot hosted by Shareapic.

I also have $7.50 waiting to be transferred to my PayPal from PayPerPost, and I have a $6.00 payout coming from Blogvertise in August (Damn 30-day wait. I need that money now! lol). I've been approved for a $5.00 assignment done at ReviewMe, but their payout is $25. So far, all completed transactions have come to $16.00. After my Blogvertise payment shows up, It'll come to $29.50.

I've been a member of these places for less than a month, and so far I've made enough to fill my gas tank and then some. These programs are not bad at all; I suggest to others to give it a try. The pay may seem small, but it all adds up in the end. Eventually I'll make more with PayPal's Money Market program, because I gain interest for letting money sit in my account. It's like having a savings account, but without the monthly maintenance fees and/or low balance penalties.  

If you would like to join the above mentioned programs, but you don't already have a PayPal account, click here to sign up. If you have a checking/savings account but don't want to provide PayPal that info, you can withdraw your funds via checks. To make payments to companies or individuals, you must provide PayPal a credit card, debit card, or bank account information. PayPal's a free service, it's easy to use, and if you qualify for the Money Market program, you earn interest on money saved in your account.

That's all I have to say right now. In a couple of hours, I'll be on my way to see the theatrical release of The Simpsons. How awesome-sauce is that?

Some of the "tightest" Mega Man mixes you'll ever hear

I grew up playing video games, and I still play them. Some of the coolest games around are much older than the freshest gamers in the gaming industry. This includes the almighty ORIGINAL Mega Man series of video games. If you're my age and know anything about gaming, you gotta know about playing a Mega Man game. Not all, just one or some. If you don't know Mega Man, go to GameFAQs.com, because that site is one of the best sites to look up video/computer game information.

Now moving on for those who are on the same page as me [pun not intended]. There's this guy who has a MySpace page, and he's a rapper called Random.... WAIT! Don't go! I'm not finished yet! *huff puff* So yeah, he's a rapper, BUT, he's an underground rapper who gets much respect from both the rap and gaming communities. One of his latest albums consist of him rhyming to his own remixes of classic Mega Man background songs. Go to his MySpace page and listen to "Shadowman" and "Grow up".

"Grow up" is my favorite on his MySpace music playlist; I wish I had some funds to buy his album (yup, me's still unemployed, I'll get to that later). But I WILL purchase it. That's a promise to myself. If there is any birthday present I'll enjoy more, it would probably be playing Random's "MegaRan" album over and over and over again. That and an 8gb Meizu portable media player. I'll be hinting to the loved ones for that.

P.S.: I just Googled "Mega Ran". Good LAWD! This dude's album is reviewed, blogged, and interviewed all over the place. Go, RandomBeats!

Greed Site - the GPT that found me

I haven't posted in several days. It's something that I will post about later, but right now I have something else on my plate. In my last post, a fellow blogger Iliana found my site via one of her friend's site. Short story even shorter, I've been invited to a new paid-to-do-offers web site called Greed Site. 

It just started, but it looks to be off to a nice start. Iliana's got quite a few advertisers who are offering free products, free service trials, and quite a few surveys. Making the $25 payout should be quick. For all of you non-U.S. readers out there, go ahead and sign up, because Greed Site is international. The only payment method right now is PayPal. I don't mind it. I prefer that than waiting to receive checks in the mail. 

To make sure you are credited for offers completed, it's recommended that you clear your browser cookies before or after each offer. Don't clear them while in the middle of completing an offer, or you'll screw yourself over. The cookies are used by companies to track who has completed what offer. If you don't bother to clear your browser's cookies, you most likely won't get paid by Greed Site, because the advertisers won't give GS credit for you completing offers.

That's pretty much the advice given at most GPT sites that feature paid offers. If you still have trouble getting credit for completing offers, switch browsers. If you're using Firefox 2, you can install the IE Tab extension that will allow you to open Internet Explorer tabs from within Firefox 2. I hope you guys sign up quickly and start referring your friends. Besides doing easy offers for cash, your friends and family (not of the same household) can earn you more $$$.

<-- This button will remain in the side bar. You can use it for your own referral links if you want.

Save some green while being green

Over a year ago, I was introduced to the world of free trading. You post on a group (either a newsgroup or a forum board) to either give away stuff to someone else who could use it, or you can request stuff that you've been looking for. This is highly successful; it keeps items that are still in good working condition from landing in the, well, landfills. Plus, users get stuff for free, potentially saving lots of money. I found a web site called Switch Planet, and in my opinion, it's recycling done right.

Switch Planet offers the same service as other trade/recycling groups. However SP is a much bigger venture in that not only can members use the main site to list their owned and wanted goods, they can communicate with other members and site admins via the forums and SP Blog.

Here's how it works: Member #1 has listed all of his items that he wants to give away. He also makes a list of all the items he wants. Member #2 is looking for an item that Member #1 has. She wants to trade with #1. #2 uses her "switchbucs" to "pay" #1 for his item, and gives him her mailing address. Member #1 gets paid SP's mock currency that can be used to "pay" for an item that he wants in the future. With "switchbucs" there's no need for the same people to trade with each other.

The value of SP's currency varies each day, but members can easily keep track with the value of their goods with the "switchbucs calculator". Members can calculate their items' worth by comparing prices with Amazon's prices for new items. This is highly useful, and looks like fun. Never thought that a trading site would have it's own "economy", did ya?

Switch Planet's main site lists a lot of items for trade, and is more organized than any other trading/recycling group. Don't bother coming here for large items like appliances or large electronics though; for that I say stick with a group like Freecycle. Switch Planet offers the trading of DVDs, CDs, Video Games, and Books (software, baby, yeah!). These things can be easily and inexpensively shipped to members. As a matter of fact, Switch Planet doesn't charge its members anything for trading with one another.

The whole [successful] point of SP is for perfectly good movies, games, music, and books to find new homes when their owners don't want them anymore. It's great, it works, and it's saving the planet.

SwitchPlanet.com

Woot Off just started 30 minutes ago!

Have at it people! Go! NOW! If I wasn't buying copies of Endless Journeys, I would've participated. T_T

Click here to keep tabs on the Woot Off without refreshing the site a million times today.

If you aren't familiar with Woot, just go to their web site and check it out. You won't be disappointed with all the deals you can find there.

Get paid weekly with Smorty

I've already mentioned this neat little program several posts back, but I'll do it again. ^^ If you have a blog and aren't making bank with targeted ads on your site, it's time you considered getting paid for your blogging pastime.

There are several PTB (paid-to-blog) programs out there that make good use of bloggers to help their clients advertise on blogs about their products and services. With these programs, you can sign up as a blogger or an advertiser. Many companies are more than ever leaning on the blogosphere to bring in more customers, and they're willing to shell out cash for blog advertising. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Smorty is a PTB program where not only do bloggers get paid to blog, they get to cash in weekly, via Paypal no less! Smorty approves of many blogs out there, so if you host your own blog, it's most likely that you will be approved in no time. Just review the rules before submitting your blog to make sure everything is according to their policy.

Smorty's way of doing things is simple: There is no grab-bag marketplace to view ad campaigns at. There is a list of available ad opportunities in your admin panel, which is accessible as soon as your blog is accepted by Smorty. As a member you will also receive email alerts for newly submitted opportunities, so there's no good excuse for you not to know what's current. And it's best that members act fast; opportunities can be filled up as quickly as they're submitted.

Once you submit your blog post, there is a 2-day waiting period until your post is either accepted or rejected. Once it's accepted, it will be a 5-day until you get paid. Basically, it takes a week until you get paid for one assignment. But let's say that you submit one post one day and a second post a day later. In 7 days, you'll receive payment for your first accepted blog post, and then get paid again the day after for the second post. That's how I figure it works, but what it all boils down to is getting paid each week you submit sponsored blog posts. No waiting 2 weeks, no waiting 30 days or more, and no delays in payment.

You can't really lose with any PTB program, as you're getting paid to do what you like to do already, which is to write stuff in your blog. However with Smorty, you get paid QUICKER than any other PTB program out there, and there is no restriction on where you live. If you don't live in the U.S., it's ok! Just make sure you have a PayPal account, and you'll be able to blog for money.

get paid to blog

Sharing music online the RIGHT way.

Yes, the title this post is another stab at HHB. I notice that some people were out searching for the HHB blog happened to come across my previous post about it. Behold the usefulness of visitor logs. :D It's only been a couple of people that found my site looking for the now defunct blog, but I expect more, and flames. Oh god, the flames...they cook food nicely. ^_^.

Don't think I care that the place is gone. They deserved to get caught. If Blogger gets the blame for others using their blogging network for illegal purposes, it could spell bad times for everyone who's a member of Blogger. I like being a Blogger member; I don't know if you guys do or not. I invested too much time here.

Seriously why make such a blog public? WTF were you thinking??? You don't make something of that magnitude public on a network where thousands of people can find it. Why don't you try to use your brain for something useful, like finding good music that is so SCARCE, not even Amazon.com would have it. Providing hip hop music that I can buy on Yahoo! Music with little difficulty, not to mention cheaper than most retail, makes you, HHB admin, a waste of good PR.

Alright, no more ranting.

So I found Orb months ago, an application that not only lets you share media with computers in your own home/office network, you can share with people all over the internet. You can stream music, video, and your live TV shows. Very cool. Despite the new leash on internet radio, Orb isn't going anywhere. You want to broadcast your music? Make it happen with Orb. That's what I'm going to do here, so please, don't be alarmed when you hear the music.

I picked an album that my boyfriend shared with me, After Dark: Chicago. He only shared to first disc of the entire album, but it's enough to make a smooth-flowing playlist in here. I'm using Orb to share the playlist, because it's one of the easiest ways to share the music but give visitors control over what songs they here from it. The media player is in the right sidebar. I swear, this is the last layout update I'm doing tonight. ^_^;;

Add my news feed to your reader!

I've tweaked the blog a bit. First of all, the RSS and ATOM feeds can now be accessed on the right side bar under the web site's menu. The same goes with the rest of the neat little buttons; I've now added "add my feed" buttons for all of those who like to use their My Yahoo!, Google Reader, and My MSN pages to view news feeds. There is also one for those who're myLot members. Don't worry if you're not a member of myLot; you can join the community with that button as well.

Also to the right is a form for email subscriptions. Several days back, I was trying to figure out the best way to go about making a mailing list without creating any account in some place I'll end up ignoring/forgetting about. Trust me, I feel like I have too many accounts with too many places already.

Fortunately with Google Groups, I created a group so that people can sign up there and receive my blog posts in their email. There will be no discussion on my group for now. I really just want to use the group strictly as a newsletter. That way people who are more comfortable with email announcements can have their cake.

Don't support Hip Hop Bootleggers

Just what I mean too; they're bootleggers. Hip Hop Bootleggers is the name of the blog that posts links to storage servers that host their illegal downloads. I will not support idiots who openly say they're giving away music that they didn't make for free. The blog is here (All posts have been taken down now, but I'm sure that's not the admin's only web site.). Someone posted about it in the Blogger Help Group (in the wrong category of the group too, lol). Obviously not the place to report such things, I reported it directly to Blogger Support via Blogger's Contact page.

Today someone from Blogger Support replied to my report. In the response it says that I must fill out a notice of copyright infringement and send it via fax or snail mail to them. It would be no big deal, if I was one of the musical artists being infringed upon. But I'm not, so I can't send them anything. I wish I took screenshots of the blog, because the proof of copyright infringement was in plain sight. They had nothing but popular rap albums posted there. In the blog's side bar, there were shout boxes where people could request albums for download.

People, don't be stupid. If you're going to supply illegal downloads, promote your crap via newsgroups and use bittorrent. Otherwise, you're going to get the whistle blown on you sooner rather than later, and you better hope it's not me who finds you first. :)

Good news to freelance writers - MatrixMails pays you to write!

There are quite a number of web sites out there that pay people to write, and I'm not talking about paid-to-blog (even thought they're pretty good examples). Sites like Associated Content pay people to publish their articles using their system, and from what I hear, similar sites also pay well enough for each article written. I'm not a member of those sites, but I am a member of a number of GPT (get paid to) sites. One of my GPTs offer payment not only for clicking ads and reading emails but for writing articles - MatrixMails.com. Right now MatrixMails.com pays well for articles written - from $3 to $20 per article.

I didn't remember seeing the Paid-To-Write button in the site's menu before, so it looks to be fairly new. Being that it's new, there are only a couple of categories to choose from: online games and web hosting. Despite the lack of categories, there are plenty of online games and hosting sites to review and spill the latest news about. This leaves members with a very good opportunity to write articles and get paid.

If you fancy yourself a pretty good writer, I suggest joining MatrixMails.com. Eventually there will be more topics to write news and reviews on, giving you the flexibility you're looking for in a freelance writing gig.

For all of you Perverted Justice skeptics out there

The volunteer-driven group Perverted Justice catches guys in the act of committing cyber sex crimes all year 'round. Despite their tactics of catching the losers, people question PJ's motives. Why not women offenders? Well that's a good question, but it has a very easy answer: women offenders are extremely rare. They are so rare that the number of female offenders out there pale in comparison to the male offenders. Also, a lot of them have not been convicted or got a slap-on-the-wrist kind of conviction.

The judicial system is horribly biased when it comes to men and women committing crimes in general. A number of these women didn't have to register as a sex offender, depending on where the crimes were committed and who the judge was. Where men would get the book thrown at them, their female counterparts usually get no jail time at all.

Another thing to note is that a lot of women offenders don't seek out minors to have sex with like men do. Men don't have to go out searching for victims either, but they're the most aggressive when preying on minors. With women, the child is usually someone who is very close to them, whether it's their own relative (eww), a friend of a relative, or (the most publicized type of victim) a school student. Here is an article with a compiled list of female offenders from all over the U.S. with some of them being from Canada:

List of women sex offenders (most if not all are teacher)

I don't know why I was shocked to see some of the faces, but I was. Seriously, a number of the women in that list are very becoming! Why they didn't go out and get a young but legal hotty is what perplexes me. Some of these women are/were married, and maybe felt that going out of their way to have an affair with an equally older person was too risky. Maybe they're bigger kids than the kids they actually slept with. Maybe they're just like the men, with the whole "sleeping with a minor is a fantasy" deal. I bet it's a combination of all of those things.

I guess I'm blogging about this crap is because I regularly read articles from FARK.com, and this was the one that caught my eye today. With the exposure of the 31-year-old World of Warcraft player who was having a cyber relationship with a much younger WoW player (17-y-o), it makes me think of how much women get away with here. And really, the whole double standard that's going on with women sex offenders makes me sick. Throw the fucking book at these basket cases! What's so hard about that? If they bonked someone who is not at the age of consent, give them jail time.

The NC judicial courts can give a 31-y-o Australian woman 2 years jail time for a kidnapping that was never planned (the boy was caught trying to fly to Australia on his own), but you can't jail a U.S. woman who knew the laws and screwed minors anyway. American law enforcers, you FAIL. The police have the mind to arrest the women, but the judges won't let them have the consequences of their actions. Just ridiculous.

Perverted Justice tries to catch both men and women, but women usually duck below the cyber offender radar. And why should they coerce teens over the internet? They're in the classrooms teaching your children or being extra nice to their son's/daughter's friends.

A quick update on yesterday's post

A PR person from Scottrade responded to my rant I did about their Chinese Graphic Designer position. After publishing that, I began thinking I was making a mountain out of a mole hill, and my thoughts turned out to be true.

The PR told me that the company is looking for a Chinese designer because they are in need of someone who fluently speaks Mandarin Chinese. That wasn't in the job description until now. They updated it, so now there should be no confusion or mistaking the hiring practices of the company. The job title is still a bit iffy; you can hire a person of a different ethnicity who could fill the position because they speak Chinese as fluently as and have better credentials than someone who is Chinese . I'm not saying I fit the job description, I'm just sayin'. :P

I call foul!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 19 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

At least my first name isn't popular. That's not a bad thing at all. It means that I'm RARE. Suck all of you Ashleys, Bobs, Jacks, and Harrys.

With great summer weather comes great gardening opportunities

The summer is in full swing. Here in the United States, we're experiencing some pretty hot days. Last week was our (here in St. Louis, MO) cooling off period. It was a good thing too; the plants needed the break from the sun's rays. I'm not much of a green thumb type. I do love to plant things, but I wet behind the ears when it comes to keeping my saplings flourishing. Now my mom, she's great.

She doesn't have much by means of fancy gardening tools, but her blood, sweat, and hard work pay off. It really shows; many of her flower trees are in full bloom and are very lovely. Now she wants to expand into yard decorations, like yard lights. She's the reason I'm glad I found Online Discount Mart; it's a store that vendors home and garden goods. I checked out the store, and it seems that garden gnomes are back in popularity thanks to tv commercials (hahaha, The Traveling Gnome). And this summer Online Discount Mart is doing a great promotion: 10% off of all orders from now until the end of summer.

Nowadays, offline retail stores can't beat the bargains that can be found in online retail stores. Even you green thumbs and interior decorators can save even more at Online Discount Mart. Come take advantage of the savings while they're hot. And seriously, it's friggin hot outside! @o@;;

Online Discount Mart

This is a Sponsored Post.

Today is teh suck

I knew something was strange when the kids have been totally obedient today. My oldest nephew has been sitting down and sharing toys with his younger brother, who happened to obey my command to sit on the potty and enjoy an episode or two of Spongebob, and my little niece had just slumped over on my mom's bed for her afternoon nap...after taking the time to play tug-of-war with my mother's curtains. Today has been good until now.

My grandpa's doctor just called because he couldn't get in touch with him. My grandparents' phone had been busy for some reason. I figured I'd better make sure I could get in touch with them because it sounded pretty important.

As I was sitting here in front of my computer, I received my daily job search alert from Indeed.com (great search engine if you're looking for employment). Guess what was on the top of the search results for today's "graphic designer in St. Louis, MO" search? Scottrade is looking for a CHINESE graphic designer. Not just ANY graphic designer; apparently you must be Chinese to apply. WTF?! Why is race being considered for this job position? I went to the page with the job description. It says nothing about how being Chinese is a plus for the graphic designer position. The link to their diversity policy is to the left of the page, and the disclosure that Scottrade is an equal opportunity employer is in bold at the bottom of the job description. BUT they are looking for someone of a specific race. I don't want to make a big deal out of this, but as a person looking for work in this field, it really does feel like a slap in the face. If recruiting employees based on their ethnicity is Scottrade's method of increasing diversity, I think they need to reconsider.

Next up on the WTF scale is the vandalism my grandparents and their neighbor received by the resident brats today. It happened sometime early morning. The bastards responsible poured mustard and hot sauce on my grandparents' porch, along with their next door neighbor, and smeared the rest of it on their front wall and windows. After that they put an open bag of cooking oil on top of my cousin's car, letting the sun's rays melt the bag which had the oil pouring down the back of her car. How creative. My grandparents and cousin just got done cleaning the mess a little while ago, and now they're talking with the police. My grandparents are seriously thinking about investing in a security camera. We already know one of the little shits responsible; he used to be a pal of my younger brother.

He's now the local bad kid. He's not much older than my brother (who is 16-y-o), and he's already breaking into people's homes. The kids he hangs out with are just as bad as he is. I would have thought he'd have more respect for my grandmother. She used to try to teach him right from wrong, and when my brother and him would come in from a long afternoon of playing she'd feed them and give them Kool-Aid. She was sweet to the kids even when they acted up. She would never yell at them.  A few weeks ago, she told his friend to stop breaking bottles on the street, but the kid cursed her and started throwing rocks at her. My brother's old friend didn't join his buddy in assaulting my grandmother, but he didn't stop him in time either. Even if he wasn't involved in what happened this morning, he'd probably rat his friends out. His parents should go to jail with him. They chose to not teach their son the discipline and respect he'll need if he's to make it out here. They're such jokes as parents, can you really call them that?

My mother is with my grandparents right now, so everything should be ok. I'll definitely be housesitting for my grandparents when they leave for Michigan this weekend. And I'll have my digital camcorder with me. Oh yes, I will be watching out for those punks, and they will be recorded should they try to do it again.

A better use of your text messaging

I'm such a gadget geek. I got my Nokia 6620 just so I can play a MMORPG on my cell phone, surf the web, play mp3s and stream internet radio, and text people like mad. But with such a use, you need a data plan, which I promptly paid for. Unfortunately under the current circumstances, I can't afford to play with my phone anymore. So I got rid of my $20 per month feature. It had unlimited internet usage, but only 200 text messages. Yeah, it sucks to be broke. It's not that text messaging is expensive, but over a period of sending and receiving it can be. But alas, it's cheaper for me to have no data plan than to have a plan with unlimited anything. I can't even afford to get my Xbox 360 now. Or so I thought.

Bid4prizes.com is a  web site where you use your cell phone to win cool prizes and be entered into the daily sweepstakes. The way to play is to bid the lowest, and you use to phone to find out if you're the lowest bidder. You can play using the Bid4prizes.com web site or straight from your cell phone (this feature is premium member-only). There is proof of someone even winning a 2007 Scion car. Seriously, how cool is that? This site reminds me of the bid wars that occur on eBay. The majority of the best bids come when there's the least amount of time left. I have to admit there is a rush that occurs when duking it out with others for the best bid. Fortunately, this isn't anything like eBay, as you don't have to pay a cent for any of your winnings. :)

The Bid4prizes.com web site has a bunch of cool free gifts and a cash prize, but you can only bid so many times each day. This is a good thing, if you're like me (with no data plan whatsoever for my cell phone), you'll want to keep text messages to a minimum. The average cost of text messaging is $.10 per message, whether sent or received. To get unlimited text messaging shouldn't be expensive at all, but if you're trying to keep the costs down, I suggest you get clever with the way you bid. After all, only the lowest and most unique bids win prizes. 

Good times ahead!

I finally got a company to respond to me. Cepia LLC. of Clayton, Missouri called me up for an interview, and I went there that very day. I was so nervous, and me traveling in a car with no air conditioning (it does have it, but it will make the car stall) didn't help keep me cool either. I made sure to have as much in my portfolio as possible, scrap notes and sketches included.

As far as the interview went, I was REALLY early. I made sure to leave early enough in case traffic was murder, but I got there pretty much 30 minutes before my scheduled time. I think that's a good thing. I always did that with previous interviews. When I finally got to sit down with the recruiters, I feel like I fumbled through my portfolio a bit. Despite my nervous wordiness, they liked a number of my pieces, especially my paintings. I felt the portfolio review of the interview went well, all things considered. Then I went on a tour of their main office. It's really nice. They mostly do toy design, but before that they did lawn care products. They now handle a wide range of product lines, and everyone there helps with a wide range of assignments, from design to modeling for package design, to human resources.

I REALLY want to work for Cepia, and it's not just because I'm desperate for work. I love all of what they offer, and I like that they provide guidance and a friendly environment for the employees. They seem really close to each other, but still professional enough to make sure everyone's doing their best. I want that, and I really hope I get the job.

I haven't stopped looking for work. I've been applying for any job I feel I'm qualified for. St. Louis Community College is now offering a graphic design job. Ironically, this 2-year college institution is looking for an applicant with a 4-year degree. I'm going to apply anyway; surely my recent college would be happy enough to employ one of their own recent graduates. Harrah's Casino is still posting that they need a graphic designer. I've applied twice for that job, and still no response. I've planned to continue bugging them with constant applications until I receive an answer from them. I feel it's unprofessional and very rude that I do not get any response from an employer. At least let me know if I'm not what your company is looking for.

Enough about my job search. I have even cooler news. Picture.com has photo contests going on, with an annual competition with a grand prize of $10,000. Pretty sweet, huh? Well, my photo, which I have dubbed "Focused on The Fountain" has been entered into the Open Amateur Photography Contest for this summer, and I've been chosen as a semi-finalist for this competition. Not only that, but my photo will be published in the upcoming anthology currently named "Endless Journeys". I feel this is a great honor, so I plan to get 2 copies of the book, for myself and one for my family. It feels like a hefty cost, but if I want to be recognized, I have to pay to have my artist profile in the book. And since I'm going to pay for people to read about me, I'm going to buy the book so I can read about me too. :)

More good news: I've been approved for Smorty and Blogvertise, paid-to-blog sites similar to PayPerPost. While PayPerPost actually gets opportunities in everyday, the availability of the opps depend on how popular your blog is and how fast you are at accepting available opportunities. The popularity thing is a HUGE turnoff, but it seems to be a big payoff. The wait to be paid for approved blog posts also depends on the opportunity.

Smorty is a great way to get paid for blogging, and has a week wait on being paid for blog posts. After accepting an opportunity, the wait for your post to be approved or rejected is two days. Once your blog post is approved, you must wait five more days to be paid. Thus, you can get paid every week for each successful sponsored blog post you make. Unlike PayPerPost, you get email notifications when opportunities are available (I had to search the PPP site to even find the RSS feed). You have to log into your account as soon as you see the opp or else you might miss out on it. The opp availability is not based on popularity like PPP, which I like. With the number of companies looking to advertise on blogs, the number of opportunities increase. Very important: make sure your current sponsored blog posts can be seen from your blog's homepage. If they cannot be seen or not somehow linked on your homepage, your posts will be rejected. I don't believe the posts have to be permanently linked on your homepage, but please keep this rule in mind when you submit your blog posts for review.

get paid to blog

Blogvertise has a 30-day wait after blog post approval. Like Smorty, you get email notifications on new opps, and they are not based on popularity. However, if you choose to neither accept or reject an opportunity, it will go to someone else, and the less opps you will receive in the future. If you're not a very active blogger, accept at least one opp to make sure the Blogvertise team doesn't deem your account inactive.

Regardless of what paid-to-blog program you stick with, don't make consecutive sponsored blog posts. The program's moderators will assume your blog is a blog made strictly to get paid from, which they frown upon. So to avoid getting rejected in the future, keep your blog fresh and full of multiple topics. Also it is recommended that you have a blog that is hosted at your own domain. Most opportunities will not accept blog posts from MySpace, Blog*Spot, Vox, or Wordpress blogs. For instance, Smorty will not approve of blogs unless they have their own domain (i.e., www.yoursite.com). There are other excluded domains, so find a place that has reasonable hosting for your blog.

This is a sponsored post.

Real WoW Players of Genius

RMG.wmv

This fan-made piece made me lol. I can totally relate to this, but there is one thing that pisses me off more than a guy who goes AFK while in World of Warcraft's Battlegrounds: idiots who are NOT AFK and still manage to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING while running around acting like they're the best thing that hit the game since the Burning Crusade. OH MY GAWD!! *fumes*

Get paid to blog with Blogvertise

I just signed up to another paid-to-blog service.

Blogvertise differs from others. For one, there is no Marketplace for members to nab the most coveted advertising opportunities. Based upon the content of your blog, Blogvertise will email you opps that you can either accept or reject. The biggest plus of all is that you, a Blogvertise member, will have your blog entries reviewed after 5 days and not a week or two, and Blogvertise pays out weekly. You don't have to wait 2 weeks to a month just to get paid. This is an awesome web site, and I hope that I can get many opportunities to make money by doing something I really enjoy.

Make some extra income at home!

I've been using some sites to take a bit of money on the site. These aren't get-rich-quick, but they do pay out. Click "Read more!" below to view a few of my favorite money-earning programs.

Myster e-Mail is a program that pays out randomly with no minimum amount to have in your account. There aren't any points to gain, but the money you're getting is for clicking ads, reading emails, and going paid searches. You can either wait until you get your money via Paypal or E-Gold, or you can use the money to advertise your site.

CashCrate is great for those who live in the United States like me. All I'm doing are the surveys. You don't need to do the free offers or trials to make money here (though there are some nice offers to consider). The easiest payout is doing surveys, and the minimum payout at Cashcrate is $10. You can definitely make more than $10 immediately after signing up for CC. 

FusionCash is the same as CashCrate. You get paid to sign up for offers and trials, and do surveys all for the love of extra income. I'm almost to payout which is $25. With FusionCash, you can withdraw your earnings via Paypal, check, even direct deposit.

CashDuck is the same as both FusionCash and CashCrate with money-earning methods. However CashDuck provides numerous ways of getting paid: gift cards, gift certificates, a test check, regular check, and Paypal. Effective as of June 11 of this year, the only way members can cash out with Paypal is to first cash out via snail mail methods, like a check or gift card. This is to prevent fraud, and Kira, the site admin, is very serious about stopping fraud. Trust me, it works out for everyone this way. As soon as you receive your first snail-mail payment, go ahead and cash out with Paypal. CashDuck's Paypal method requires no minimum payout. That's pretty sweet, and very unlike CashCrate and FusionCash.

Clix Sense is a good program. You get paid to view ads for 30 seconds, with each ad paying at least 1 cent. It's beneficial to upgrade to the premium account so that you can see more ads, thus earn more money. The minimum payout is $10. You can either cash out or use your funds for advertising your own sites and programs. If you are looking to get paid via internet methods like Paypal or E-Gold, don't hold your breath. Clix Sense is check only in order to combat abusers who would create multiple accounts to receive electronic payment. I personally don't mind receiving a check, because when it all comes down to it, it all spends. :)

LinkGrand is a really good one. The minimum payout is $5, and you cash out via Paypal. This program is like Myster e-Mail; you click and view ads for 15 seconds to earn cash. There are plenty of ads to view everyday, so keep this site open in your browser.

AdBuddy.net is another Paid-To-Click site. View ads that are worth $.01 each for 30 seconds. Just like all of the sites I'm mentioning, it would benefit to build your downline in these programs. The more friends you bring along for the ride, the more money you make. With AdBuddy, you get 100% of what your referrals are making. The minimum here is $10 and is Paypal only. Beware: if you have a premium/business account with Paypal, they'll take a small chunk of your payout for a processing fee. 

Agloco Banner by AglocoBanners.com

Agloco is one of the easiest ways people can make money on the internet. Just sign up, download, install, and run the viewbar, and start surfing like you usually do. You don't have to click the ads to earn money, just view your favorite websites or search using Google or whatever search engine you favor. You can either earn shares or cash with your activity. The maximum amount of hours you can get paid for is 5 hours per month. Don't stop using the viewbar even if you get to the max hours, because you surfing with viewbar running actually benefits the program long after.

Take The Internet Back is much different than most PTC programs. All you have to do is read emails and confirm that you've read them. That's it. It also benefits members who refer other people to sign up, because the only way you can get paid is if you've referred at least 2 other people to the program. The minimum payout is $20, which can be easily reached. Just have some friends sign up under you, and you'll be getting paid. 

Online Earnings is just like Myster E-Mails too. Just click ads and view them for about 15 seconds. The e-mails you get from Online Earnings are worth more than the ones on the web site, but click and view every ad you can. There is no minimum payout, and members get paid ever 15 days. It pays to read the many emails everyday and check the web site for ads. The traffic exchange is great! With just 10 cents, you can have about 300 visits to your own web sites and downline programs. Advertising that way is very cheap, but you don't have to use your cash to earn site traffic. There is a point system used to earn visits in the traffic exchange.

The web sites above (except for FusionCash and CashDuck) can be found at Marketing Pond. Marketing Pond is a system that members use to gain referrals for a number of earning programs listed. You can advertise your Marketing Pond referral site alone, and you should be getting plenty of sign ups. As with all downline programs, getting referrals will be slow at first, but if you put work into advertising you'll get visits to your sites that are listed in Marketing Pond and even get sign ups. You can use the programs that are listed to earn money and advertise at the same time, so it will pay off to sign up to all of the programs that are offered through Marketing Pond. You don't have to use all of the sites at the same time, just concentrate some and move on to others when you feel like it. If you want your programs to get equal exposure, Marketing Pond is a great way to do it!

That's all for now. There are notes I'd like to add before I go on with my review of the Michael Bay-directed movie "Transformers":

FusionCash, CashDuck, and CashCrate are all U.S. only programs. Every other program is international. All programs are offered to one person per household unless stated otherwise. Having multiple accounts with different names on them won't fool the programs' administrators, so don't be foolish.

Phew! Back in business!

I wasn't able to post for a few days. Blogger had bad ftp problems with my host provider, OneDollarHost.net. Fortunately it's fixed; I wasn't able to publish my post about joining a webring a few days ago, nor could I publish the changes to the site, such as the inclusion of the webring navigation code. Unfortunately the Blogger FTP not publishing issue is still plaguing a few people, but it's fixed for me. I made sure to get in contact with both Blogger Support and the tech support of my host.

Guess what is happening today? No? Can't tell? Why, it's the theatrical release of "Transformers", directed by Michael Bay. I've been waiting a long time, ever since I heard there was going to be a live action film. According to Bay, he wanted to create a new incarnation of the Transformers. No biggy, but THIS MOVIE HAD BETTER BE GOOD. It's bad enough that the Decepticon Starscream looks total crap. OMG, is he ugly. And it's a shame that Peter Cullen and Frank Welker won't be the starring voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron like they were in the 80's cartoon series. They were good at voice acting the parts. Cullen is in the game version of Transformers, so that is a nice touch for the game at least. Hopefully nothing interferes with my going to the theater this evening to see it, and I'll be back to speak my piece on the whole deal.