The Bestest Blog of All-Time

Link Exchange (a win-win situation for us both!)

2010-07-09T00:00:00.001-04:00

If you have stumbled upon this blog, whether it be by the "Next Blog" button, or by a link on someone else's site, I propose we do each other a favor. If you place a permanent link to my site (URL http://babyfurniture.howerful.com/) on your blog, I will return the favor.

Once you have a link to my site, simply fill out this short form...no user name or password or anything like that required...just some quick info about your blog.

Now let me explain why you should do this...
(1) This site is visited by over 2000 people per day. Not only will I include your link in my directory for everyone to see, but I'll add you into the rotation in the "Random Blog" button for those people to click on! This button is clicked, on average, about 6000 times a day!

(2) By link exchanging with me, you become eligible to be the "Bestest Blog of the Day," where I will feature your blog with a nice big link at the top of the page as well as a short article about why your blog's the best! Winners typically get over 500 visitors that day!

(3) I learned as a computer science major in college that the more sites you have linking to your blog, the higher your search rank will be in search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. But it's not all about quantity of links, it's also about quality...the higher ranked the pages are that link to you, the better! Imagine if Amazon.com linked to your site...that would be a HUGE boost in your ranking. Now, my site is no Amazon.com, nor probably will it ever be...but as my rank increases (quantity), so should yours (quality!)

Also, I recommend that anyone who exchanges links also subscribe to this site, via email. That way you can check out all the "Bestest Blogs of the Day" and especially keep a close watch in case I choose yours!

Link Exchange Form

2010-07-01T13:56:00.001-04:00

Thanks for agreeing to participate in the Bestest Blog Link Exchange. Below you'll find a quick and easy form to fill out. Notice that no user name, email, or password are required! I just need to know about your blog, know where you'd like your link located, and know where to find the link back to my site...

The Directory is a HIT!

2007-10-11T13:11:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, I'd like to thank the 36 of you who have joinined the new directory in under 36 hours. Definitely more than I expected! Hey, if you haven't joined yet? Whatcha waiting for? Read more about the directory below...

Congratulations!

2007-08-07T11:45:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to all the winners of Bestest Blog of the Year. The results are posted over my new blog, http://www.bestestblog.com/. They'll soon also be taking over the area in the top left corner of the screen here. There were a few surprises, but mostly, I might've guessed a lot of the results before we even started! Way to go everyone!

Last day to vote...

2007-08-05T22:38:00.000-04:00

Today is your last day to vote for the Best Blog of the Year contest. It's still a very tight race for many of the 105 blogs in the running! Be sure to check out BestestBlog.com (my new blog, not here). $50 to the winner, plus bragging rights (of course!) And lots of exposure for all the blogs in the top 10! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

I got a new blog...

2007-08-01T13:11:00.000-04:00

...with a familiar name! Check it out here! I just posted a contest update over there as well! And I promise to keep it updated on a daily basis. And I got a partner who is helping me with this blog. And...well just go check it out.

Contest Time!

2007-07-27T23:51:00.000-04:00

I am very proud to announce the commencement of voting for "Bestest Blog of the Year.". Not only is this a huge deal for anyone who has followed this site, but it will symbolically mark the transition from Bestest Blog to Blankest Blank!

The process is super simple. There are 105 blogs in the running. Go here and vote for them on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 is the worst, 5 is the best). If you want to make your vote count 3 times as much, be sure to register first. Voting will end 2 weeks from today, August 6th (which also happens to be my 2 year wedding anniversary) and winners will be announced on August 7th.

The winner will receive (at least) a $50 cash prize! They will also have a link to their blog featured on the Blankest Blank Home Page for the next year (until the next blog of the year is decided).

The overall top 10 blogs (including the winner) will have their link featured here at Bestest Blog (replacing the Blog of the Month and Featured Blog in the top left) as well as have their links replace the blog of the year voting page. Results for blogs ranked 11 and up will be available from a link on the voting page as well.

If your blog is in the running, here are some tips to increase your chances of winning:
1. Go vote for yourself (duh!)
2. Encourage others to vote for you. Here is the URL: http://www.blankestblank.com/bestest/blog-of-the-year/. You might also be interested in including this cool banner on your blog, here is the code:

<a href="http://www.blankestblank.com/bestest/blog-of-the-year/"></a>

3. Encourage others to register before voting. Registered users votes count 3 times more than guests.
4. Keep up the great blogging that got you here in the first place. People are going to be stopping by your blog before voting, and if you have some great, new content, that'll surely increase your vote.

Again, congratulations and good luck! And if you're interested in winning another "blog of the day" award and get in the running for next year's award, check out the new "Blankest Blank Blog Directory." Questions? Please feel free to email me or drop by the forum.

Registration is a go!

2007-07-26T16:19:00.000-04:00

Wow, that was surprising painless! You can now register for BlankestBlank.com. Currently there's not really any reason to other than to help me make sure it is working. But VERY SOON (we're talking hopefully today) the votes of registered users will count 3x as much as guests. So if you want your own site to win, registering is your best best!

Let me know what you guys think! I keep adding new stuff all the time, and I love whatever feedback I can get!

The New Directory!

2007-07-25T21:57:00.000-04:00

Well, I am very happy to announce that the project I've been toiling at for about a week seems to be in working order. May I present to you The Blankest Blank Blog Directory. This is a link exchange directory kinda like the one here but with a bunch of new features. Let me tell you about them.

Automatically Add Your Link: This directory is completely automated, once you fill out the necessary form your link will appear IMMEDIATELY. No more waiting a week for me to add it by hand.

Best Blog of the Day: After we finish the contest for "Bestest Blog of the Year," anyone who has joined (or joins afterwards) the directory will automatically be in the running for "Best Blog of the Day" from here on out. Instead of me and guest bloggers choosing them, winners will be chosen democratically by whoever has the best score! Winners of this award will have a special link on the Blankest Blank home page, a special icon next to their link in the directory, and the chance to go on to win "Best Blog of the Week," of the month, of the year, etc.

Randomly appear up front: I am building a script that will randomly be taking 5 blogs from the directory and displaying them on the home page. So even if someone doesn't check out the directory, your link may still have a chance to be clicked.

Directory with a Twist: Instead of just having the anchor text for your link be your blog's name, all links will be of the form "The _____est Blog." For example, "The Most Frequently Updated Blog" or "The Best Philadelphia Eagles Football Blog" or "The Yummiest Blog."

I had a few reasons for setting it up like this. First of all, I wanted this directory to be different from all the cookie cutter directories out there. More importantly was a closer look at the value of anchor text.

The anchor text of external links to your site is very important for determining your search engine results. For example one of my favorite blogs, "Flip This Body," a weight loss blog, already appears at #1 for Google searches of the term flip this body. This is because the majority of links pointing to Julie's site have this anchor text. But in my directory Julie's link could look something like this: The Thinnest Blog. Notice how the name of her blog still appears when you highlight the link. Also, having an important weight-loss word like "thinnest" in the anchor text, could help out future searches with that term.

So, that's that. I'm really excited for this Blog Directory. I hope you guys will check it out and let me know what you think. There's a free link in it for ya!

Unproductive Weekend

2007-07-25T19:35:00.000-04:00

Well, maybe I mis-titled. I had a great weekend, but didn't have much time to work on the site. In case there was any doubt, I have successfully made it so that registered users have their votes counted 3 times more than guests. That way the casual visitor can just wander through without the hassle of registering while the dedicated visitor can register and make a little more out of their voting. Just over the weekend I already got 15 new registrants which is pretty awesome!

I hope to have the "Bestest Blog of the Year" contest (details a few posts down) done within the next week. I've set myself the deadline of August 1st, which I'll absolutely meet, but I hope to have it done well before then. In any case, no matter when it starts you'll have plenty of time to vote.

Also, today I started a new category up: the most fun game. All these games are free and a lot of fun. WARNING: do not attempt to vote for games unless you have some free time on your hands. If you have some favorite games of your own, I'd be honored if you'd nominate them.

This site has been a blast to make so far and I've had some really good feedback so far. If you have any opinions I'd love to here em, either in the comments below or in the Blankest Blank Forum. Thanks!

Registered Users

2007-07-13T12:03:00.000-04:00

Well, today I finally found what I was looking for. A great PHP login script to use on my site. There's the link if anyone is interested. I knew something like this had to be out there, and I was right. It is a preprogrammed system where users can register, login, retrieve forgotten passwords, etc.

If this site ever gets really big (cross your fingers), I may require people to register before they are allowed to nominate or vote at all. In the mean time though, I plan on enticing people to register by making registered users votes count 3x as much as a guest. In the long run, you'll also be able to make your vote count even more by consistently voting for winners, nominating eventual winners, and another contests and activities.

I wanted to make sure I got this implemented before the big contest (see below) starts. That way if your blog is in the running, you can register, and make sure your vote counts extra!

Another top 10 update and big contest on the horizon

2007-07-12T13:55:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I thought it'd be fun to take another look at the Top 10 in the voting for best blog over at my new site. The #1 blog at the last update got about 50 clicks in 3 days out of the deal, so let's see who's on top this time:
1. Flip This Body: 3.33
2. Blog About Your Blog: 3.17
3. Here Comes a Storm: 3.13
4. Doctor Anonymous: 3.11
5. Peggy, as she is: 3.08
6. Random Acts of Kindness: 3.05
7. Shoe Money: 3.04
8. Skittles' Place: 3.03
9. Critique My Blog: 3.02
10. It's a Blog Eat Blog World: 2.93

I'd have to agree with this list to the large part. I gave every blog on this list a vote of "5" myself. By the way, if you've already voted for best blog, know that you can vote again. I reorganized my database a bit, and as a result, I had to erase the database that kept track of who already voted.

THE BIG CONTEST!
Also, I mentioned a few posts ago that I'd be having a competition to find out who is the "Bestest Blog of the Year." Well, today, I took several steps toward setting that up today. First of all, I went through my entire blog and found all the blogs that qualify to run for the award: former "bestest blogs of the day" that have been updated at least once in the last 30 days. If this describes your blog, then no worries. You're already entered...no need to go submit your blog or anything like that. All in all, this worked out to be 105 totally awesome blogs (though it was sad to check out some of the great blogs that have gone inactive).

I was also working on the specifics of what the winners will get. The top 10 of those 105 blogs will have a permament spot in my sidebar here at Bestest Blog (replacing the "blog of the month" and "featured blog" in the top left). Complete results of the voting will be shown on the "Blankest Blank" category page, with 1-10 on the main page and 11+ on a second supplementary page. Also, the #1 voted blog will hold a prominent spot on the "Blankest Blank" HOME page for the next year (until we crown a new winner). So, lots of exposure for the top 10 and even more for #1.

I'm also working out the details of a CA$$$$$$$$$H prize for the overall winner. I am thinking that I will be donating $0.01 for each vote that is cast for the winner, with a max of $50.00 (5,000 votes). So if 1 person went and voted for each blog (105 of them like I said), that would already be $1.05 towards the winner.

I will also be accepting some sponsors if anyone is interested. Sponsored links will appear ABOVE the Adsense on the voting/results page. 100% of all sponsored money will go straight to the winner. Please email me if you are interested in being a sponsor.

So, voting is not going on yet, but we're getting close. I need to do a little extra checking to make sure the voting is tamper-proof (or at least tamper-resistant) before we get underway. If anyone has any questions as to extra which 105 blogs were automatically entered, please leave a comment. Thanks!

New category: Funniest Video

2007-07-10T09:22:00.000-04:00

Well, this morning I opened up a 3rd category over at Blankest Blank. That is the category of funniest video. I've already nominated about 10 of my own recent favorites from StumbleUpon, so let the funniest video voting begin. If you have a favorite of your own, please feel free to nominate it, whether it's hosted on YouTube, or embedded in your blog, it doesn't matter, so long as at least YOU think it's funny! Enjoy!

Some early results

2007-07-09T16:41:00.000-04:00

I just thought some of you might be interested in the early results of voting for the best blog. When voting ends, there will be an official results page, but I just thought you might be interested in seeing things so far. I'll just do the top 10 so far.

1. Boing Boing, score is 3.44
2. Blog About Your Blog, 3.40
3. Flip This Body, 3.29
4. Micro Image, 3.27
5. Here Comes a Storm, 3.24
6. Doctor Anonymous, 3.19
7. Critique My Blog, 3.14
8. Shoe Money, 3.07
9. Peggy, As She Is, 3.06
10. The Ordinary Adventures of Tomas, 2.95

So congrats to the early leaders, all of these are very good blogs if you are interested. This is the top 10 out of the 69 submissions I've received so far!

Otherwise, things are coming along. I am still working on that directory, as well as a login script and other things. The voting pages are looking very nice and would love to hear some opinions on that. The Blankest Blank Forum has a couple of threads going and is picking up steam. I'll keep ya updated!

One submission per URL (and other changes)

2007-07-05T11:36:00.000-04:00

Well, one of my regular readers R2K helped me out with a bug even if he didn't mean to. Well, R2K submitted his blog multiple times into the running for Best Blog. Although I'm sure he didn't mean to, this is an obvious no-no, but it needs to be prevented on my end. Once a blog is submitted its submitted, if it is submitted again (even if by a different user), there needs to be an error message that pops up stating such. This is a very easy fix, it's more tedious then anything, and first on my agenda today.

The one vote per IP address concept came out very nicely. If you want to see a really nice addition to the site that I made, you'll have to vote through ALLLL of the funniest jokes or best blogs (currently about 20 and 60 of each respectively). After you check em all out, it makes it REALLLY easy to go back and give an extra look to the ones you liked the post. If I could get a couple of people to check out this feature and report back to me, it'd be really helpful.

I am still working on the automatic link exchange directory. I think I should be able to have that done today, I think this feature might really help boost this site and everyone who contributes.

On the visual side of things, my friend and partner has a pretty good design in the works, but it'll be another couple of days before this design is integrated into the actual site. After which I'll definitely need some feedback (no worries, it'll be much prettier than my blog looks now!)

I guess the only other thing to mention is that we got approved for Adsense and you'll now see that on the page. Oh and the Adsense takes up 160px, but then the entire rest of the width is devoted to the thing you're voting on. It used to have a static 800px width, but now it stretches to fit the page.

Any comments/questions would be very helpful. You can leave em here or in the Blankest Blank Forum. Thanks!

What I'm working on today...

2007-07-03T12:17:00.000-04:00

Blankest Blank dot com
Well, I decided to keep the updates coming on this site because the number of submissions and votes seems to be growing as I do. If you are just checking in, be sure to read the previous couple posts before this one.

All great blogs please move to the front of the line
My first priority of the day is to rework the ordering system. Currently, when you log on to the page to vote for different categories, the order the sites are presented in is completely random. Thinking about this, I decided it wasn't completely fair. After all, shouldn't the ones that are voted to have a better score than the others receive more hits? But by the same token, I don't want the best to be first, the 2nd best to be 2nd, etc., because then you are biased as a voter, knowing what others thought of the site. So, I needed to find a way to give preference to the highly voted sites, but still keep it kinda random. So, the way I am working on accomplishing this is by generating a random number from 1 to 100 and then multiplying that by the average score and ordering them that way (from highest to lowest). So, a page with an avg. score of 4 and a random roll of 80 (4*80 = 320) would come before a page with an avg. score of 2 and a random roll of 90 (2*90 = 180), but that page would come before a page with an avg. score of 4 and a random roll of 40 (4*40 = 160). Anyway, sorry to go into so much detail, but hopefully you get the point.

May I get you a link, sir?
The second thing I hope I get to today is building a new link exchange directory. Of course, like everything on this site, it will be COMPLETELY AUTOMATED. That means once you add a link to Blankest Blank, it will AUTOMATICALLY appear in the directory. No more waiting a week (OR MORE!) for me to manually add it. But to give it a Blankest Blank twist, all links will be of the form "the ______est ______ blog," and the actual title of the blog will appear when you hover over the link, for example:
The Most Frequently Updated Blog
So, you get to self-proclaim your blog with a title, you can pick something that will appeal to a crowd that would be interested in your blog. As an added incentive, I am going to make it so that 5 or 10 blogs from the directory randomly appear on the front page at all times. And doing the link exchange will again be the only prerequisite for entering into becoming "Best Blog of the Day."

Plus, in case you didn't know it, the words in a link influence Google's page rating for your site and those terms...so you should pick something that you could envision somebody searching for on Google to arrive on your site.

Also, yesterday I added a forum to the site. Nothing fancy yet, but if you wanna start any convo's over there about this site, feel free.

Another site update and a Happy Anniversary

2007-07-02T15:13:00.000-04:00

Well, yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of "Bestest Blog." Yep, it was one year ago today that I featued my very first review. 2000 blogs, over a half million page views, over 100 reviews, and 366 days later this site has fizzled out. While this page was great in its hey-day, it's popularity exceeded my ability to keep up with it. Even with the help of some wonderful guest reviewers, adding over 100 links a week and other site maintenance called for 20+ hours of work a week, on top of my full time job.

So, in my mind, I went back to the drawing board. This blog was doomed from the beginning. Its setup required me to do everything by hand. So, I did some research and figured out that PHP combined with MySQL was the optimal way to make a site like this more user-driven and automatic. Inspired by sites like StumbleUpon, I decided to take it just beyond finding great blogs to read every day, but to find cool images, videos, games, resources, and any other kind of website you can think of.

And so spawned the idea for Blankest Blank. Sure it will have a daily "best blog of the day" feature, but it will have a lot more! I'm really excited for this, and this time I'm thinking big. Almost everything will be automated, so this will give me time to improve and add ideas as opposed to spending all my time keeping the current ideas afloat.

You can already submit your blog into a preliminary vote for "best blog". At this point it is just more or less a test, but those who have submitted their blogs (or had their blogs submitted by me) have seen in the area of 50-100 visits to their site.

I am adding new features every day. Like today I just made it so each user (IP address) could only vote once for each site. This will do wonders as far as preventing abuse and vote tampering down the road. Plus you can easily flag inappropriate sites and there's easy links so you can check out some really great sites in depth. And one of my best friends and partner in this endeavour have gotten the ball rolling on the visuals. He is an expert at making sites look good (and I am not as you can tell by looking at this site).

As I mentioned in the comments section of the previous post, in honor of the 1 year anniversary of Bestest Blog, I plan on having a vote for "Bestest Blog of the Year" through Blankest Blank. Any blog that won blog of the day in the past year will automatically be entered. The winner will receive a prize (maybe like $50 or so) and of course some nice publicity. But before that can happen, I need to get the site a little bit further along. Maybe another week or two at most.

In the mean time, I invite you to check out what the site has to offer, alert me if you find any bugs or any unexpected error messages pop up, maybe submit your favorite joke and rate some other funny ones.

Introducing my awesome new site

2007-06-27T14:05:00.000-04:00

UPDATE (6/28): I spent all day taking the code explained below for submitting and voting on the funniest jokes to make it super easy to add new categories whenever I want.

So, I went ahead and added a second category best blogs. I already submitted my own blog, plus I submitted the top 10 premium blogs over to the right, just to get things started. You can submit your own and start voting whenever you want! Again, please leave a comment here if you find any bugs or have any comments. Thanks!
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All right, so I've been a little secretive, a little bit on the hush hush as of late. But the good news is that I've been working hard on a new site! Your initial response is hopefully one of sorrow, for you are fearing what will happen to this site. Well, don't worry because my new site will INCORPORATE the ideas and awesomeness of this one, plus add so much more!

The site is called BlankestBlank.com. Although it's not much to look at right now, it is FUNCTIONING on a basic level, so I thought it high time to introduce the concept and get some feedback from my loyal audience.

How it works:
There will be a load of different categories of the form _______est _______ (blankest blank). For example, funniest joke, most embarassing story, best movie of 2007, etc. There will definitely be a category of "best blog of the day" (which is how the new site will incorporate this one). Currently, the only category being tested is "funniest joke," so I will use this in my explanation.

I've described my site as StumbleUpon meets HotOrNot.com. The whole process begins with users submitting the URL to their favorite joke. This could be the web address to some fancy joke collection site, or you could type the joke into your own blog/website and submit that address (the latter option is much preferred).

Then, the voting begins. The system randomly takes you from funny joke to funny joke, allowing you to rate it on a scale from 1 to 5. Also there is a easy button to flag a site if something comes up that is off-topic, pornographic, not loading, etc. You don't have to submit a joke to be able to view them and rate them, but why wouldn't you?? If you host the joke on your own blog, it's free traffic to your site!

In the future, once more categories are implemented, you'll have the option of rating lots of jokes in a row, or you can rate a joke, follow it up with a video, follow that up with a funny news story, etc. and kinda randomly bounce around like that. But for now, it's only jokes (sorry!).

After a certain amount of time, voting will end, and the results will be displayed. So, if your joke is among the most popular, you can count on another big influx of traffic to your site. So, if you do make a submission, you'd be smart to encourage some of your readers to check it out and give you a good vote!

So, if you're ready to submit a joke, you can click here. Or, if you'd rather go right to the voting, you can click here. Like I said, visually the site isn't much to look at right now, but hopefully it is functioning properly.

If you have any questions or comments or suggestions, please leave a comment on this post. In the future, the site will have its own bulletin board, but we're still in the infant stages. I already preloaded a couple of jokes on there

Body Jewelry

2007-06-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

FreshTrends.com is one of the internet's foremost body jewelry websites. When I first read the URL I thought it said "FleshTrends.com". With an L instead of an R. I think both names are great and would work great as a combo. My friend's brother is really into tattos and body jewelry and it looks really great on him. I wonder if he's ever been to FreshTrends.com...I'd be willing to bet that he has been.

If you're like me and body jewelry is a little too much for you personally, but you still support the cause, perhaps a t-shirt would be a better purchase.

New idea?

2007-06-20T08:50:00.000-04:00

I think that I had a genius new idea for a web site. Don't worry Bestest Blog fans, because the previous concept of Bestest Blog will be incorporated into an overarching bigger and better idea. I am still reading up on MySQL and PHP, but I am going to try and enlist the help of a few friends if they think the idea is good and get a prototype goin. Stay tuned!

Venetian Blinds

2007-06-20T08:49:00.000-04:00

Well, as many of you know, my wife and I just moved into a new house. We had to makes a lot of changes...new carpets, new countertops, a new paint job. One thing that we mutually decided didn't need to be changed at all were the venetian blinds in all the bed rooms. They're so simple, yet still look very very nice. They keep out the sun or let it in, whatever you want. Plus, you can get them in just about every color under the rainbow. We're thinking about adding them to the rooms that didn't have them already (bathroom, kitchen, living room).

This has been a sponsored post.

Automated Directory

2007-06-20T06:50:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday I ordered on Amazon.com a book about PHP and MySQL. From what I can gather from some preliminary tutorials, this would be an excellent way to automate people adding links to the directory. It's possible that I may be even able to automate checking the reciprocal link for the exchange, as well as alphabetizing and sorting and what not. In any case, it is a great tool to learn for a budding website specialist like myself.

I'd definitely like to make another run at making this site great, but I can't do as much work as I used to (checking and adding by hand 100+ links a week ended up being about 10 hours of work). So, we'll see how it goes...

Lead Management

2007-06-20T05:55:00.000-04:00

What is crm? Well, first off, crm stands for customer relationship management. It's the idea in business that if you want to increase your profits you need to maintain a very happy customer base. Companies likes AIMPromote offer crm software (customer relationship management software) to help ease the burden of pacifying a insatiable group of consumers.

AIMPromote is also a leader in lead management (pun intended) and offers a very comprehensive lead management software package. A lead is a term referring to one company or individual referring (or leading) customers to another company. Say you own a mortgage company and you want to pay Joe Blogger $100 for every successful mortgage applicant he sends your way. Well, $100 is a lot of money. It's not enough to do lead tracking by giving new users an optional field to enter their referral. Most users will skip over this optional field. You need a more sophisticated software program to assist in mortgage lead management. This again is where AIMPromote fits the bill!

This has been a sponsored post.

What to do next...

2007-05-22T09:51:00.000-04:00

Well, I didn't even realize it until I saw that a few new people had left comments on the post below, but this site is back up and running. After 4 weeks of having my blog "under review" Blogger did absolutely nothing and let me have it again apparently. My instincts tell me that the people who are pushing for me to be the "Worst Blog of All-Time" (90 or so to date) are the same ones who "flagged" my blog and put it under review.

Before all this happened, I was planning a big comeback. I even did a guest appearance on Dr. Blogstein's radio show to talk about it. Now that I have access again though, I am not sure what to do. In the past 6 weeks I have began other internet ventures and have been quite enjoying them. Though I'd be hard pressed to equal the success that I had here during my hey-day, the sites are performing well for their early stages.

Again, if I begin operating this site again, I want to go all out. I'd like to set up a database for easy link submission and maybe find a CGI or Perl script to automatically check link exchanges. Problem is, I don't know how to do any of these things off hand. But I've seen it done on other sites, so I know it is possible.

I'd like to hear what some people that happen by this site think about it. Do you miss having your daily dose of bestest or do you say "good riddance to bad rubbish?"

Thanks Blogger!

2007-05-22T03:03:00.000-04:00

For wasting 4 weeks of my blogging time when I was supposed to be making my big comeback! The least you could've done was shut me down permanently so I don't feel torn between coming back to work on this and the new projects I've started. Oh well, I guess I've got some decisions to make. More on that later.

The Big Comeback?

2007-05-01T15:05:00.000-04:00

May 1st was going to be the date of my big comeback. Well, that day came and went while I am sitting under review (edit: for what turned out to be 4 weeks) for seemingly no offense. I miss my blogging friends, but I've also been learning a lot about search engine optimization, affiliate marketing, and PPC arbitrage. If I do come back, at least I'll have a lot of knowledge to share with everyone!

The Most On Topic PayPerPost Ever! [PPP]

2007-04-05T17:30:00.000-04:00

I don't think I've ever done a Pay Per Post that was as on topic as this one is. Scratch that, I know I haven't done one as much as this. This is the kind of site that if I had stumbled on to it outside of the world of Pay Per Post, I would've written about it anyway. Well, no harm in getting paid a few bucks to do something I would have anyway. The BloggersChoiceAwards.com site is web awards site where you can nominate your favorite blogs and vote for them. I nominated myself for the "best blog about blogging" and the "best blog of all time". What's that? You think it's a travesty that I'm in the "best blog of all time" category. Why don't you try googling it? You can vote for me if you want (or not)! I'm not exactly sure when the voting ends, but hey, don't dawdle. Get your site up there today. I am pretty sure this site is another one in the long line of Pay Per Post blogging off shoot pages (i.e. Rock Start Up, Blogs in Space, etc.) They do good work over there... I wonder when Pay Per Post will become a house hold name. Anyway, there are lots of categories besides the two I listed, like "hottest mommy blogger" and "worst blog of all time" (maybe I deserve the latter... probably not the former though).

Radio Show

2007-04-04T16:12:00.000-04:00

Tonight at 9:30 I will be calling in to Dr. Blogstein's radio show. If you'd like to read all the details about it, you can check out Dr. B's post here. This is my first interview of this kind, and I'm kinda nervous. But Dr. B is hilarious and I hope I can play off that a little bit to make some jokes of my own. If you can't tune in live, I do think the show gets archived. I'll be sure to put up a link afterwards.

Musicians [PPP]

2007-04-04T04:14:00.000-04:00

Musicians Wanted at Music.com - Get Discovered! This is a great idea actually. I was in a band in high school (a very pathetic one at that, except for my one talented friend). So, what you can do now is upload your recorded music for free. They'll sell it for you, and just like videos on YouTube can somehow manage to get thousands of hits really quickly, this could happen with your song.

To Do List

2007-04-03T16:35:00.001-04:00

Like I said a few days ago, I'm compiling a to-do list of what I need to do with this site before the grand re-opening. I will add some things to this list as the days go on, and I'll ~~cross them off~~ as I finish them.

1. Update new link exchanges
2. Create banners for previous winners
3. Rework template a bit
4. Finish HTML coding
5. Get rid of un-updated blogs (>30 days since update)
6. Get rid of blogs who have gotten rid of me

Game of the Month [PPP]

2007-04-03T15:26:00.000-04:00

The following is a ExecutiveGamingMonthly.com advertisement...
There's lots of gambling sites out there...mostly online casinos...they all claim to be better than the others. "We offer higher payouts!" "We offer a bonus deposit!" Well, this site can claim that they are better, because they're different. It is NOT an online casino. They sell gambling equipment to set up your own kinda private casino. Especially cool is their game of the month club. Tables, chips, slot machines, roulette tables...you name it. If I had to pick my favorite game for the game of the month club, I'd either choose their texas holdem or poker mania...what can I say, I'm a sucker for poker. Then for a third month I'd go for the blackjack, another one of my favorites.

Making money while surfing!

2007-04-02T21:51:00.000-04:00

Below is a repost for a company called AGLOCO. The reason being that when I first did the post, they were in a pre-release stage. Now, their ViewBar (the genius of the whole program) is due out in the next two weeks. So, this is your last chance to get in on the ground level:

This is not a sponsored post (it may be lengthy though, but I promise it is worthwhile). I am sharing this information because I think you'll find it very useful.

Agloco is a new company destined to help web users earn money while surfing and is FREE!! to join. If I had read about this company BEFORE I made $1400 (and counting) off of PayPerPost, I might be a little more skeptical...but now, I know that anything is possible with these Web 2.0 companies.

There are two ways to make money through Agloco.
(1) Surf the web like you normally would.
(2) Refer others to Agloco, and get paid for a percentage of the hours they surf.

So, the natural question you should be asking yourself right now is where is this money coming from? Well, while viewing the web, Agloco gathers certain information about things like which online shops you like. "Isn't that like spyware?" you might be asking yourself. Well, no! Spyware serves a similar purpose, but sneaks its way onto your computer and is very hard to get rid of. Agloco must be downloaded (so no sneaking), and even then it may be turned off or uninstalled at any time. Some companies are willing to pay BIG bucks to try and figure out the best ways to drive people to their site! I remember a site similar to this called AllAdvantage that I made $30 off of surfing the web when I was like 16...but that site doesn't have nearly all of the bells and whistles that this site does!

So, you wake up, turn the computer on, boot up Agloco and get paid while you check your mail, check out your favorite blogs, and maybe buy a new book on Amazon. Now, let's say you want to check your online bank statement, and don't feel comfortable having Agloco watch over you then. Simply, shut down the program, and don't boot it up again until you're good and ready!

The most genius thing about Agloco though is its earnings sharing. Consider this...recently YouTube was bought out for a price of 1.75 billion dollars (yes, billion with a B). The 3 gentlemen who created the website split it 3 ways. But, what about the initial users who told all their friends about YouTube and posted all their videos there and made YouTube the success that it is, rising above all its competitors? What do they get (besides free video hosting)? They get nothing! With Agloco, everyone gets a share of money generated through advertising and other means...now, certainly the creators will get MORE than the normal user (as well they should), but the fact of the matter is, they're sharing!

So, why not sign up and give it a try? It's free to join...so even if you are skeptical, this is a no risk situation here! Click any of the links in this post to join Agloco (while using me as your referral).

Borrowing [PPP]

2007-04-02T20:53:00.000-04:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...
Wow, what an ordeal trying to buy a house has been. It definitely been a learning process though. Too bad what I learned isn't at all applicable until the next time I buy a house again. Oh well, that's how it goes. It's extremely hard these days to get a loan. So, if you haven't been absolutely perfect with your credit history, do yourself a favor and read up on Loans and Borrowing Today before you try and do anything. The worst thing that can happen is you find your dream house and you can't get the financing for it. This site will help educate you so that nothing like that happens!

I'm comin back and I'm comin back BIG!

2007-04-02T19:00:00.000-04:00

I decided that if I am gonna get this blog started again, I gotta give it my all. Before I can get it back into full swing there's a lot of little things I need to do first. So, what I am going to do is make a TO-DO list and post it as a sticky post. Then as I complete each task, I'll cross it out. I am aiming for a GRAND RE-OPENING of April 16th (I have the week of April 9-13 off, so that'll be perfect). I'll keep you guys updated as to what's going on, but with your response to my "How did today go?" post below, it looks like I'm primed for a big return. Keep your fingers crossed!

Ask Mr. Video [PPP]

2007-04-02T16:09:00.000-04:00

The following is a AskMrVideo.com advertisement...
AskMrVideo.com is a cool new website. It's goal is to help you use the latest, greatest crazy of internet videos to help boost your blog, your website, your product, your WHATEVER! The coolest piece of technology in use over there is their transparent video...it's a video where it looks like its popping right out of the screen. This site is new and is offering a special deal for a limited time for new members, check it out!

How did today go?

2007-04-01T18:45:00.000-04:00

Today was the first trial run on the preliminary new system. It seemed like a pretty good day from my end, perhaps not 100% of what we used to have yet, but maybe about 75% of the way there. I would love to hear from you guys if you have some access to your statistics. What I'd want to know:

(1) How many hits about you got today?
(2) How many hits you've been averaging per day for the last 4-6 weeks?
(3) How many hits you used to average previous to that per day?

Anything you can let me know will help me move forward at this point. As I said, it definitely looks promising from my end, I'm just waiting to hear from you guys.

ETraffic Jams [PPP]

2007-04-01T18:02:00.000-04:00

The following is a ETrafficJams.com advertisement...
ETrafficJams.com is a search engine optimization company. One of the best ways to drive people to your site are search engines like Google and Yahoo and MSN. But not everyone that owns a website has the time or the resources or the know-how to get their sites ranked well in these searches. That's where ETrafficJams.com comes in. After a small initial set up fee, you pay for the results they get. They calculate these by how many keywords they get your site into the top 10 search for on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. A nice pay for performance plan to get your site into the top on search engines. After that, a nice steady wave of free traffic should keep comin your way!

Coping with stress

2007-03-30T14:34:00.000-04:00

I'm probably not the best person to have undertaken a project like this website. When I first started and everything was going smoothly, maybe then I was the guy for the job. But when rough times hit, the stress set in. A lot of people if they got an email saying "Why are my hits going down?" they'd shoot out a quick reply. Me, I'm an introvert and an email like that stresses me out and makes me want to avoid my email! Aggh! And my stress isn't just from this site. And not even all of it is bad stress. For example, my wife and I are trying to buy a house. Now, when we finally do it will be an amazing, awesome thing...but in the mean time, the process is very stressful. I need to get better at handling stress and at handling the problems associated with them as opposed to just trying to avoid them...not just with this website but with stress in general. I apologize to anyone who this has affected and hope you can understand that I am a real person with real flaws!

Windows Cleaner [PPP]

2007-03-30T12:48:00.000-04:00

The following is a MaceCraft.com advertisement...
I'll admit I don't know much about cleaning a house. Granted, I know all the basics like doing the dishes. But let's say there's a big stain on the carpet...NOW WHAT? I have no idea...Some sort of stain remover I guess. Do we have any? Who knows?!

What I am better at is cleaning the computer. Yeah, the computer needs cleaned too! Well, if you're not as knowledgable on the topic, consider jv16 PowerTools to be the stain remover of the computer world. It's also the dish detergent. In fact, it's like 20 tools in one, including a Software Uninstaller, Registry Cleaner, File Cleaner, History/MRU Cleaner etc. Sound complicated? Well, it is...I'm not gonna lie...but jv16 PowerTools makes it a lot easier to deal with.

Last Premium Blog Update

2007-03-30T00:23:00.000-04:00

I've decided in light of things going on to remove my donate button. So, this will be the last update for a few donations I've received in the past few days. Stay tuned in a few minutes for a progress update. In the mean time, here they are:

-Clickworthy Links, -Pastoral Ponderings, -Beta Blogger for Dummies

Just Moved [PPP]

2007-03-29T17:35:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, my wife and I have just moved. That's always fun. Gotta find a new grocery store, a new bank, a new post office, a new pizza joint...need I go on? Well, we used Google's local search tool to find a lot of these things in our new area. You type in what you want and your City, State and it brings up some choices and maps them out for you. This is probably the best form of small business advertising, just making sure your name and location is out there for the people who need it the most.

Good News?

2007-03-29T17:34:00.000-04:00

I've come up with a strategy that should increase the Random Blog button hits again. I have no idea if this will get it back to where it used to, but it will certainly get it to more than where it's been. This process is in its preliminary stages, but I'll be sure to keep you posted on the progress!

Grand National [PPP]

2007-03-27T22:11:00.000-04:00

The following is a Grand-National.me.uk advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Grand National is England's biggest horse racing site. Have you heard of the Kentucky Derby? Of course you have! Well, the average person in England hasn't heard of our derby, but they've certainly heard of the Grand National. Well if that's the biggest horse race in England, then this site is the biggest horse racing site. They've got everything you need to know about the race: important dates, archives of winners, this year's competitors...everything short of accepting bets on the race! (I think that'd be illegal?!) So please check it out!

Mad at StumbleUpon

2007-03-27T22:09:00.000-04:00

It's still a great site, don't get me wrong. An excellent way to use technology to feed your boredom. The problem is they stole my Gmail Address book and spam invited everyone on there to join StumbleUpon. It told me they were going to check for those in my address book and anyone who had an account, they'd add to my friend's list. My Gmail Address book isn't just people I specially added, it's basically everyone I've ever sent or received an email from. So, sorry for the spam if you were effected!

Finances for Women [PPP]

2007-03-21T20:15:00.000-04:00

The following is a ReproductiveAccessSolutions.com advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Do you know in many other countries around the world it is national law that a working women receive a full paid 6 week vacation and maternity health insurance? Well, it's not like that here. If you're a working woman, there's a fairly good chance that your company will not do this for you. Sure, they can't fire you...they have to save your job for when you come back...but there's nothing that says they have to pay you in the mean time. That's where ReproductiveAccessSolutions.com comes in...offering help and solutions to these "moms in the middle" as they have termed it.

Stumble Upon

2007-03-21T20:13:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine introduced me to Stumble Upon this week. I had heard of the site before, but never thought to give it a go. It works kinda like the Random Blog button, except it doesn't just cycle through blogs. Well, after a day or so of using it, I've found a bunch of cool sites with it. I'll do a more in depth post about it later, but if you're interested, try it out!

Big Web Links [PPP]

2007-03-20T16:09:00.000-04:00

The following is a BigWebLinks.com advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Big Web Links Directory reminds me a lot of the premium blog service that I offer here on my site. Who knows maybe they stole the idea from me! Unlike a ton of other directories out there that sort results by various factors, this site sorts them by contribution amount. The idea really worked for me here, so I'm sure it's working for them. Without a doubt the great sites end up near the top, because they're the ones willing to contribute the most. You don't make a big contribution if you have a crappy site. Just look at my Top 100 list, there are some of the best blogs around on there, especially near the top of the list. So kudos go out to Big Web Links Directory for a great idea and good luck!

Bestest Blog of the Day: 03/20/2007

2007-03-20T12:11:00.000-04:00

Echoes of Grace
...a review by Skittles

It is with extreme pleasure that I present today's Bestest Blog Of The Day to Echoes of Grace.This blog is a mixture of everything. As Grace herself says, it's "Life at it's Best and it's Worst. Headaches and Heartaches, Laughter, Fears and Anguish. Life."

It's obvious that Grace has been through some hard times, which is maybe why I was drawn to her blog in the first place. In the posts Wet Fur and Dream Of Peace you can catch a glimpse of some of that. In her post The Fall she very openly discusses going through depression after losing an amazing 130 pounds.

This blog has a lot more to it though. See what she has to say in Five Reasons Why I Blog. It is a testament to loss and moving on, making new friendships and the common bonds that tie bloggers together. She goes with that theme again in Blog Blessings.

All bloggers will get a chuckle out of But Honey I'm Blogging. I bet you can guess what that one's about! In the very next post Dolphin Dancing Grace tells of her exhilaration from being able to swim with wild dolphins. It makes you wish you were with her.

Echoes of Grace is truly a blog written from the heart. Grace puts so much of herself in every post she writes. Please pay her a visit and see for yourself. Tell her Skittles and The Bestest Blog Of All-Time sent you.

Open Floodgate [PPP]

2007-03-20T11:02:00.000-04:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...

The following is a sponsored post.

Whether you are an artist, a composer, or a writer of short stories, you probably have the same objective in mind: you want to make sure that your product is received by the general community, and that you get the maximum amount of exposure possible among shrewd and discriminating consumers that are looking to purchase exactly what you have to offer. This can be a difficult thing to do, because there are few networks available to connect consumers with artists, and that is a sad thing. Fortunately, artists, writers, and composers can now broadcast their skills and talents like never before. Plus, consumers can now access the freshest, most creative, and most unique pieces available today. How you ask? By reading further in this post!
I recently found a website called OpenFloodgate while looking for art to purchase for our new home. It was one of the best sites I’ve ever come across—much better than the mass art distributors that you normally find online. This site had the most unique art I could imagine, and it was directly from the artists. I was so pleased to view the masterpieces that might otherwise have been missed had I viewed any other site.

With Openfloodgate.com, I was able to search for artists, piano compositions, short stories, and much more, and I was able to send a link to my friend who is an artist himself. He’s pretty sure he’s going to post his own merchandise shortly, and he’s looking forward to the chance for others to view it and hopefully purchase it. For both artists and their consumers, this site presents a win-win situation.

As an artist, you can decide whether everyone, or just a select few, see your work. You direct who has access to your downloads, and you decide whether to publicly display your work on the site, or rather restrict availability to a few subscribing customers.
As a consumer you can search the massive amount of art work—and this is unique stuff that you've never come across before. You can also rank it, tell your friends about it, and leave comments.
The beta version is available now—check it out today!

Rerun Sunday: 03/18/2007

2007-03-18T10:47:00.001-04:00

A Normal Life
...by guest blogger Gale from "L'esprit de l'escalier"

"Who is a wise man? He who learns of all men." --The Talmud

The quote from the Talmud says almost everything you need to know to know about why bazza's blog deserves a Bestest Blog nod. I found the quote on Bazza's site, A Normal Life, which abounds in common wisdom, good humor, and heart.

Bazza is a humanist, and I mean that in the best sense of the word. He's one of the most genteel souls I have met in cyberspace. He has well crafted opinions on a range of topics: history, art, music, architecture, classic cars, and football, to name a few. But it's not his style to shout anyone down. Bazza lifts up the people and places he profiles in his blog and elevates other bloggers up with gracious comments.

I first met bazza when he surprised me by stopping in on my book blog. See, I had designed it as a best-books-for-women site, all pink and dishy-- a place where only men completely secure in their sexuality would fear to tread.

Enter bazza. His comment on my book blog (the first I received, mind you) was: "I enjoyed your review of The Wonder Spot. Makes me want to read it and I'm not a chick. (English, middle-aged Jewish male). I think good writing is good writing and anything well written is worth reading."

Readers of a normal life have come to expect regular features such as lighthearted quizzes, pictorials of English countryside and architecture as he travels about England, and a growing list of his heroes--men and women--such as William Shakespeare (complete with sonnet), Maya Angelou, Andres Segovia, Homer Simpson, and Olympic medalist Michael Johnson. Perhaps my favorite hero post is about Charles Darwin from August 1. Bazza's biographical entry about Darwin is informative but congenial and relaxed. I felt as if I knew Darwin after reading that post.

Other favorite posts on A Normal Life are his photos of the flower gardens on Clacton-on-Sea from July 20, a quirky post on how cows moo with accents on August 23, the beautiful scenery of Old Amersham posted on September 9, his jpegs of Cezanne paintings sprinkled throughout, and a very funny photo he snapped on September 8 directing onlookers to a Secret Nuclear Bunk .

I have no doubt you'll find something you'll like at Bazza's blog. It's the kind of place you visit and think, "Now there is a beautiful soul. I'd like to read more of his work. I'd like to be his friend." Let him know that Gale and Bestest Blog sent ya!

Diamonds [PPP]

2007-03-18T00:48:00.000-04:00

The following is a BrilliantDiamonds.com advertisement...
When I bought my wife her engagement ring, it was quite a process...an education really. There is a lot to know about Diamonds. Luckily, I was able to find a retail jewelry store where they taught me what I needed to know. However, I don't think this is the norm. A lot of places want to get you in and get you to leave with empty pockets. Luckily BrilliantDiamonds.com is willing to teach you about the four C's (color, cut, clarity, and cost). And once you learn and are ready to make an informed Diamond purchase, they have an extensive inventory for you to peruse.

More about the weather

2007-03-16T17:12:00.000-04:00

This snow kinda blind sided us here in Jersey. A drive that usually takes me about 30 minutes took me 140 minutes today (that's 2 hours and 20 minutes). The very last part of the drive I was doing about a tenth of a mile every minute...that's only 6 miles per hour! Ugh. Glad to be home, stupid snow!

Insurance Leads [PPP]

2007-03-16T16:14:00.000-04:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
With the priviledge and fun of owning a new house comes the responsibility and pain of having to get home insurance. Ick, I went through this last year with getting my first car and car insurance! Well, QuotesAuction.com is offering $200 worth of insurance leads for all of your insurance needs (home, car, health, or life). I'd like to at this point apologize for the unnecessary rhyme of the last sentence. Insurance leads and insurance needs. QuotesAuction.com is a fine site for this kind of stuff and I'm sure they're not paying me to be a poet! I gotta stick to the facts, like their easy on the eyes layout and navigation.

Movin on Up

2007-03-16T13:49:00.000-04:00

We're checking out homes in Maryland tomorrow morning--at least that's the plan--although the weather right now isn't too conducive to driving. I'm hoping it'll warm up a little for tomorrow, so we can get a chance to visit all five properties that we are interested in, and hopefully put in an offer very soon.

Find a Better Savings Account [PPP]

2007-03-16T02:45:00.000-04:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...

Good Afternoon,

Today, I'd like to encourage everyone to Compare online banking, find a savings account or checking account and earn more interest today with SavingsAccounts.com.

Money can be a constant source of worry and stress, and one of the best things you can do is make your money work for you with investments. Although a savings account doesn't necessarily have the highest interest rate among all investments, it IS one of the lowest risk investments, and your money is never tied up. Now, with savingsaccounts.com you can actually find a pretty impressive interest rate, so you can earn more money from the money you've already got!

It's a win-win situation, so check it out today.

Thank you for reading this sponsored post.

Bestest Blog of the Day: 03/14/2007

2007-03-15T20:51:00.000-04:00

The Gabbatha Journey
...a review by Jessie!

The Gabbatha Journey is adding The Bestest Blog of The Day to their list of accomplishments! Josh is the man guiding The Gabbatha Journey and he is doing a fabulous job. Such a great job that I make a trip to visit each and every day!

Josh has a little bit of everything on his blog. I always look forward to his pick for band of the week. There has only been one time that I haven't enjoyed his choice. In fact he has introduced me to some great bands that I hadn't heard before.

If you are looking for some American Idol Predictions you can stop by and weigh in on this list. After Josh gets done with the Bestest Blog of the Day title I think he needs to be put in charge of developing new rules for the contestants on American Idol. He is already off to a good start.

While Josh has a fun blog that provides an enjoyable entertainment feel the thing that stands out the most about The Gabbatha Journey is Josh himself. From the first visit there is no denying what Josh is about as a person. He is a Christian and is very comfortable sharing his faith. In fact Josh offers a fresh perspective on life and his belief in God is real and very alive. I appreciate that and am often inspired by it.

Josh is one busy guy. Between his real job, keeping up with his beautiful little girl and wife, and participating in his church functions he also runs the The VIP Lounge. I am not sure how he keeps up with it all but I'm sure glad he does. I look forward to his posts and visits! So I hope you make sure you take the time to stop by The Gabbatha Journey. While you are there tell Josh that Jessie from Who Are We sent you via The Bestest Blog Of All Time

Lots of new posts...

2007-03-13T20:56:00.000-04:00

I posted quite a few posts below, very informative as to what has been going on lately and everything. Please don't forget to scroll down and read em if you are interested!

Anonymous Email [PPP]

2007-03-13T20:40:00.000-04:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Have you ever wanted to send an Anonymous Email? Maybe someone from work is pissing you off and you'd like to tell them what's what without them knowing it's you. Maybe you have a little secret crush on someone and wanna let them know how you feel without disclosing who you are. It's kinda like the high tech, new age way of passing someone an unsigned note or slipping something into their mailbox. I date someone to send me an Anonymous Email and I'll try and guess who you are!

Bestest Blog of the Day: 03/12/2007

2007-03-13T20:32:00.000-04:00

Trav's Thoughts
...a review by Skittles!

So far my reviews have been all about the ladies. Today I decided to switch things up and review a guy's blog and the first one that came to mind was Trav's Thoughts!

Travis is 42 years old and lives in the Pacific northwest. (Kind of unspecific there, Trav.) He says this about his blog, "So here's the thing. . .I have thoughts and I'm sharing them." And share them he does!

In this blog you will find examples of some very fine writing skills, fiction and nonfiction. This Manic Monday post about some gunslingers, and this Words On Wednesday post where Travis reminisces about his first date with his wife, are two great examples of his talent.

If you want to learn a little bit about Travis, you can read this meme he got tagged with. He confesses to be a Taylor Hicks fan (Soul Patrol!) and there's a brief description of his battle with Hodgkins disease. You can also read his thoughts about citizens expressing their opinions.

There's a lot of fun in this blog, too. You can't help laughing as you read about the 13 ways he wants to celebrate his 100th post. You can drop by every week for the newest installment of Tuesday Tunes. And, from time to time, you catch some videos like these about funny ferrets.

I sure hope you'll visit Trav's Thoughts and congratulate him on being chosen as today's Bestest Blog Of The Day. Tell him Skittles and The Bestest Blog Of All-Time sent you.

Poker Tables [PPP]

2007-03-13T18:49:00.000-04:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
We've been looking at some potential furniture for our potential new place. My wife likes to look for dining room tables, coffee tables, end tables, and kitchen tables. Me, I'd rather look at poker tables. Man, how sweet would it be to have a room with some video games, a poker table, and a pool table. Well, CardRoomSupply.com can help me out with the poker tables at least. They're one of the biggest supplier in the nation!

Banners

2007-03-13T08:54:00.000-04:00

I've been asked by a few of last week's winners where the awesome banner that they can display proudly on their sites has gone to. Well, in short, it's on my desktop which has not been connected in about 10 days now. I've been doing everything I can from my wife's laptop...where I can access my email and Blogger files. Once we get settled here I'll be sure to get those banners up and I'll let you know when I do!

Central Florida Real Estate [PPP]

2007-03-13T00:16:00.000-04:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...

If you've been looking for office or warehouse facilities in the central Florida area, then I've got the perfect company for you. They specialize in Orlando Commercial Real Estate, and they've led the business for over 20 years. This is a very diverse company with something for everyone. For instance, even if you are not looking to own real estate at this point in your life, you can check out their special section on representing tenants.

So make sure you check them out. You'll be glad you did.
This has been a sponsored post.

Reduced Hits

2007-03-12T08:49:00.000-04:00

Many of you have been complaining about reduced hits from the Random Blog Button. Let me assure you that the few who have spoken up are not alone. This is affecting everyone!

Without going into too much boring coding detail, the problem arose when Blogger FORCED me to switch to New Blogger. Though everything may appear to be in working order, obviously by the reduced number of hits behind the scenes it isn't working as well.

There is no easy fix here. It's not like I'm being lazy or too busy to get around to type in a few lines of code and VOILA! Granted, I have been EXTREMELY busy, and this may be delaying it somewhat, but it's not easy. Basically, I need to come up with a new coding strategy to get your hits back up to normal. Not impossible, but not easy either.

Like I said in a post below, I have finally finished the move and once I get my desktop set up in here (and allow a day or so for the back to unsore itself), I will be working steadfast on the problem with all the free time I can muster. I know those of you who have seen what I am capable of do not doubt my ability to get things back on track (maybe even better than before) with enough time.

Sorry that I could not respond to any individual emails or comments (and there have been quite a few), but I hope this addresses everything!

Sunglasses [PPP]

2007-03-12T08:35:00.000-04:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
I just got the overwhelming feeling today that spring is in the air. First of all we set our clocks ahead this weekend. Secondly, I am purchasing some tickets to see a baseball. Finally, Rita's Real Italian Ice is open (yummy!) That means it's time for my outfits to change. Put the old winter coat away, and get out the short sleeved t-shirts and Aviator Sunglasses. I love wearing sunglasses in the spring and summer and OpticsPlanet.net has a GREAT selection of all kinds of sunglasses (like Shooting Glasses). I haven't gotten a pair from there yet, but with spring literally just around the corner, I'm gonna have to get a new pair from somewhere! And why not OpticsPlanet.net, they have free shipping on orders over $29.95, a great selection, and a guarantee that they have the lowest price!

Premium Blog Updates

2007-03-12T08:33:00.000-04:00

THE MOVE IS FINALLY OVER! All of our stuff is finally in the new townhouse. My back took another beating this weekend (basically moving all 3 days, we have a lot of junk). I did find the time and the internet (which is why you'll notice there hasn't been a post in a few days) to update the premium blog listings...so here we go:

New to the Top 100:
9. Critique my Blog, 42. Blog Name Removed, 43. Clickworthy Links, 50. My Life Shelly, 77. Words That Flow, 86. The Tigers, Dream Weaver, & Other Baseball Tales

Moving up within the Top 100:
4. altjiranga mitjina, 15. Peggy, as she is, 26. Bible Study Blog, 28. Coffee2Go, 31. 4Simpsons Blog, 37. Grasshopper Ramblings,

Falling out of the Top 100:
-Spluch, -Mary Blogging Duffy, -365 Days, -Simple Kind of Life, -Ramblings and the Likes, -WTIT Tape Radio

And the new featured blog of the week is an old favorite of mine: Critique My Blog...Billy Mac is back in business, so be sure to pay him a visit!

Life Insurance [PPP]

2007-03-12T00:17:00.000-04:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
One of the greatest things about buying your own home (which my wife and I are in the process of trying to do) is that you no longer have to feel like the money is going towards nothing. When you rent, you will never see a penny of that money back. But in many cases you may actually make a profit from your house when you sell it a few years down the road. But it's something you need...another thing you need once you start getting a little older is life insurance. God forbid your loved ones be stuck if something happened to you. Many life insurance companies offer you a small "surrender value" if you decide you don't need your policy any more (making an analogy, these guys are like the renters from above). Life/Viatical Settlements help you get money from your policy by selling it to investment banks. And we're not talking chump change like the surrender value, we're talking tens to hundreds of THOUSANDS of dollars. This is more like you are buying a house...a smarter investment for something you NEED but that can pay off in the long run. I don't have life insurance yet (knock on wood), but having the opportunity to review this site was a very good enlightenment on what goes on and what kind of options are out there. So thank you Life/Viatical Settlements.

Video of my dogs

2007-03-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

I helped my wife make this video for a Pay Per Post opportunity she did yesterday (a $100 one at that, she has good luck with things like that!). Anyway, I thought you guys might be interested to see it. Enjoy!

Singles [PPP]

2007-03-07T18:14:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Ugh, I hating being single. Even though I haven't been single since I was 16 years old, I did not like it at all. All the pressure to try and find someone new to make you happy. If I hated it that much at a young age, I can imagine how Single Parents feel. You're older, you're alone, but you've got a child (or more) to complicate matters. But of course they deserve a companion as much as the rest of us. That's where SingleMomsAndDads.com comes in, the other dating website devoted to parents! Free sign up and lots of convenient features to help find someone special.

Super Calculator

2007-03-07T18:11:00.000-05:00

Today, one of my students asked me if there was such a thing as a super calculator. He said he tried searching for it in Google but couldn't really find anything. Though I'm sure there are probably some really awesome handheld calculators out there that can do incredible stuff, more easily and more popular are some applications you can download onto your computer and use as a calculator. The three most popular that I have experience with are Maple, Mathematica, and MATLAB. They can each do a lot more than the regular old calculators (even the fancy graphing calculators), plus they're really fast too! I wrote a program with Maple that solves Sudoku puzzles in under a second!

Caribbean [PPP]

2007-03-07T18:02:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
I think some of us living in the US take the Caribbean for granted. A nice and warm, tropical getaway that's practically in our own backyard. Well, at worst it's a cheap plane ride away. But if you live in England where are you gonna go for a tropical getaway without breaking the bank? DialAFlight.com offers Flights to Caribbean from the United Kingdom with some of the best rates around.

Bestest Blog of the Day: 03/07/2007

2007-03-06T21:16:00.000-05:00

Are We There Yet?
...a review by Skittles!

Have you ever been on vacation and gotten tired of hearing your kids ask Are We There Yet? I can promise you won't get tired of visiting Linda's blog of the same name!

One of the first things you'll notice about her blog is the vibrant color scheme. I'm glad she kept it that way after this post where a blog reviewer advised her to tone it down.

Linda is a 911 Dispatcher. You can see the dashboard she works at in this Photo Hunt meme she did. In Stay On Line.. she explains what it's like handling an emergency call from her point of view.

She is the mother of two teenage daughters. One of them, Jamie, lives with Linda's ex-husband. You can feel Linda's frustration in dealing with her ex over visitation and such in Here We Go Again. In the recent post What Was That Noise.. she laughs at how sometimes her daughter, Amanda, reminds her of herself at that age.

Are We There Yet? has a steadily growing fan base due to Linda's consistently great posts. I've only touched on a very few here. I'm proud to see her receive today's Bestest Blog Of The Day Award!!!

Why don't you drop by and congratulate her. Tell her Skittles and The Bestest Blog Of All-Time sent you.

Printers [PPP]

2007-03-06T21:10:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Having lived on the Princeton University campus for a year and a half, my wife and I enjoyed the privilege of free printing whenever we needed it. Now that we are moving, we're going to have to look into buying a printer, since we both print a lot of stuff! Well, good news has struck me with this opportunity with the Texas Corporation Giving Away Free Color Printers Hey, I was just gonna get a black and white printer, but color is even better!

Javascript Help

2007-03-06T21:07:00.000-05:00

A LOT of people have been asking me about the Javascript code to hide all the PPP ads at once. In fact, I've had a reviewer from PPP-itself tell me that they thought it was a good way to keep regular content and ads on my blog without being too obtrusive.

The process is kind of detailed and involves manipulating code in several different areas of your blog. I'll try to get a general sequence of steps down for you guys soon, but I'm not sure how well it will work in some of the new blogger templates...I don't understand the dynamics behind some of those quite as well yet.

Living in NJ [PPP]

2007-03-06T17:01:00.000-05:00

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New Jersey takes a lot of flak in the news, a lot of low blows, a lot of negative comments. But if it has one thing going for it, it is really, really easy to Visit New York from here. I've been on a few New York weekend breaks, but I would NEVER EVER EVER want to live there. Yuck to the 100th power! But it definitely makes for a nice day trip or weekend trip!

Business Classes

2007-03-06T16:55:00.000-05:00

At my school there is an entire department devoted to business. Today I had the opportunity to substitute one of these classes (yes, we do in house substitutions). For as much as we all hear about business throughout our daily lives, and on the TV, it was really interesting and informative to see it in a classroom, textbook setting. I actually learned a few new terms and ideas concerning profits, and expenditure, and supply and demand.

Get Paid For Recycling [PPP]

2007-03-06T16:37:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Get paid for recycling! No, I'm not talking about making 5 or 10 cents for soda cans. I'm talking about getting paid to recycle things like printer ink cartridges or old cell phones. This offer is just for nonprofit organizations and schools. What a great way for my students to earn some money for a field trip! Lord knows they seem to go through new cell phones almost every month! It's ridiculous these kids and their phones...better off putting them to a better use!

I'm pathetic...

2007-03-05T20:12:00.000-05:00

Well, my back was a bit worse than I let on in my previous post. After about 10 minutes sitting in this chair, I had to go lay back down on the couch. You'll notice that it kept me out of school today. I perhaps could blame the fact that the chair I have at the computer is about as uncomfortable as it gets, but I don't think that should matter.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me through these hard times (if there's anyone left!). Things haven't been easy with my personal life, and things haven't been pretty with the website either. Brighter skies on the horizon?...I'm an optimist, so YES!

Cyprus [PPP]

2007-03-05T12:29:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Do you know where Cyprus is? If you guessed somewhere in the Mid West, you're way off! Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. And as of late there has been a major Cyprus Property Boom...this isn't surprising though, I mean who wouldn't want to live on an island in the Mediterranean. I guess maybe if you are afraid of water...but that's about it. Demand for Cyprus Properties is at an all time high. Whether you want to live there or just make a lofty investment.

Updates coming today...

2007-03-05T12:28:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm home from school today because I hurt my back pretty bad with the first part of our move. When they say you should lift with your legs, they mean it. It's like the last thing I need right now...oh well. The good news for you is that I was able to make it into my computer chair and thus here come some site updates.

Job Search [PPP]

2007-03-02T19:58:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
I've very happy in my current career. Even on bad days (which by the way, today was definitely a bad day), I enjoy being a teacher. So, I'm not particularly interested in this Online search engine for all career-related topics, job postings, and advice, but about 95% of my friends probably would be. Say you were interested in a career in music (which one of my really good friends actually is). If you type music into Google, how many career related sites do you think you'd get in the top 10? In the top 100? FreeCareerSearch.com only gives you results that would apply to the music careers (or whatever career you're interested in).

Another great music site

2007-03-02T19:56:00.000-05:00

If you liked my post about Imeem, then you'll probably be interested in this. The website my wife likes the most for listening to music is Pandora. On Pandora, you can't pick the specific songs you want to listen to, but rather Pandora learns exactly what kind of music you like and tries to pick songs it predicts you will like. The longer the use the station, the more it learns about you, the better the selection gets!

Agloco [PPP]

2007-03-02T15:32:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Have you guys signed up for Agloco yet? I signed up in the end of January and am already up to 500+ referrals and extended referrals. I even created a cool graphic for it and put it in my sidebar. You're welcome to use it to entice referrals of your own. If you haven't heard about Agloco yet, it's a company where you get paid to surf the web...kind of like the AllAdvantage company of about 10 years ago. As a teenager I made about $50 from that company which was huge at the time. But hey, making anything for surfing the web (which you're already doing already!) is a big plus!

Bestest Blog of the Day: 03/02/2007

2007-03-01T21:14:00.000-05:00

The Running Man
...a review by Jessie

The Running Man is my newest inspirational blog and just has to be the Bestest Blog of the Day! Every time I'm feeling a little unmotivated I head over and visit Jason's blog and it perks me up. Nothing like seeing how far someone else is running to motivate you to get up and move!

The Running Man is a blog that highlights Jason's road to the Richmond Marathon and beyond. In May of 2004 Jason weighed 300 pounds. Since then Jason has lost 100 pounds and started running and competing in races. Jason is now training for a marathon! Can you believe that!!!

Jason recently competed in an 8k race which I think is just amazing. He really enjoyed himself and even ran with another blogger! What a small world.

Jason has set amazing goals for himself. He not only sets them this is a guy that really races to accomplish them! On Monday he met one of his personal goals of running 10 miles. In the month of February alone he has ran 63.9 miles and biked another 57.4 miles! And after he does all that he still has the energy to blog. What an inspiration.

So if you need someone to help you get off your butt and get moving Jason The Running Man may be the guy to get you going. Run by there and say hey to him! Just make sure that you tell him Jessie from Who Are We sent you via The Bestest Blog of All Time.

Drunk Driving [PPP]

2007-03-01T17:31:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
I'm proud to say that I have never driven drunk in my entire life. In fact, I've never even really gotten all that drunk. Maybe once or twice, but I've never been a big partier. I can't stand the taste of beer, that's probably the biggest reason why. Anyway, AlcoholAlert.com has a Vending business opportunity where they sell coin operated alcohol breath testing machines. These machines aren't cheap, so a couple of quarters helps pay the cost of hosting one of these in a local bar. Think of all the lives this could save. Spend 50 cents and see for certain whether or not you are legally capable of driving home that night.

Imeem

2007-03-01T17:29:00.000-05:00

Today one of my students introduced me to a cool website called Imeem. It's kinda like having an MP3 player without downloading all the MP3's. You just type in whatever song you want to listen to and they play it. She says that she's yet to find a song she wanted to hear that the website didn't have. I'll have to check into it further, but it seems pretty awesome!

Online Storage [PPP]

2007-03-01T17:13:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
IBackup - Online Backup and Storage has a great scheduled backup feature. If you own a small business or have a computer with lots of important info on it, then you should be paying attention here. Scheduled backups means that not only is your stuff getting saved so there is no fear of losing it...but you don't even have to remember to manually back it up! This is great for the laziest of the lazy, the forgetfullest of the forgetful, the people who would lose their head if it weren't attached to their body. Online Backup and Storage is the kind of company that seems like it could be really big as we progress a fear years into the technological future...bigger than it is already (and that's pretty big!)

Congratulations

2007-03-01T17:12:00.000-05:00

Congratulations go out to Peggy, as she is for winning "Bestest Blog of the Month." The auction ended at about half of last month's total, but given the current climate here at Bestest Blog, that seems about right. Hey, if I could get things back on track real soon here, Peggy could have herself quite the bargain!

Business Card Magnets [PPP]

2007-03-01T17:02:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
This website is awesome. I am seriously considering buying some business card magnets from them. Would anyone buy a "Bestest Blog" business card magnet from me? Hehehe. I bet them sell them in bulk, but I really just want one to hang on my own fridge. Unless I eventually decide to up and go to a blogging convention (which isn't out of the question), I think they would be pretty superfluous for me at this point. But that doesn't change the fact that they are totally awesome!

Bestest Blog of the Day: 03/01/2007

2007-03-01T08:59:00.000-05:00

Memoirs of an Inmates Wife
...reviewed by Empress Bee of Muffin53....

I was searching through the blogs I had to choose from and hitting one after another, next one, next one, and then it happened. I hit one that I read all the way through. Every word she wrote. How many times does this happen? She is the wife of an inmate. She is the mother of five. She holds down a job and has made a home for her family. She loves her husband very much and is waiting for him to return.
She is educating us to what it is like to be in this situation from her first hand experience. I think she should write a book. Sometimes things are not as they seem. And sometimes good people do a bad thing. It should not mean their life is over. It should mean they can earn a new beginning. That is what this family is doing. And I think doing it very well.

With that, I give you Memoirs of an Inmate's Wife. Please go leave her a comment of encouragement. She could use some kind words y'all... Thanks, bee

External Hard Drive [PPP]

2007-02-28T20:03:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
Last Christmas I got an external hard drive from my wife to back up some of my more important files. It's like 30 gigabytes, but I really don't need that much. Probably 2GB would suffice...but external hard drives only come in big sizes. Plus, even on sale this one was over $50. Compare that to an online site like IDrive-E Online Backup who offer 2GB online storage for free!!! That's $0 per month! They do also have an unlimited space option for only $4.95 per month. That's infinity gigabytes per dollar!

My slacking...

2007-02-28T18:27:00.000-05:00

I'm really sorry I've been slacking lately. It's been a ridiculously busy time in my personal life. My wife and I have been forced to move from one apartment to another one an hour away. Meanwhile, we are trying to search for a new home two states away. All along, for some reason February and March are the busiest months on the school calendar and I have a PRAXIS exam I should be studying for (the standardized test of teachers). Unfortunately, this has coincided with a rough patch for this site. Stay tuned for Bestest Blogs Thursday and Friday, followed by a nice healthy update this weekend and a bit more detail with what's been going on, both with this site and in my life!

Lasik [PPP]

2007-02-28T18:18:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
I recently wrote about USAeyes.org and now they are in a magazine article! US News and World Report recently did a covet story on Lasik eye surgery. US News and World Report quotes Glenn Hagele (founder and Executive Director of the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance) about the importance of selecting a surgeon when considering Lasik eye surgery. Hagele says that, "No amount of technology can make up for an inferior surgeon." USAeyes.org publishes the "50 Tough Questions For Your Lasik Doctor." A sure fire questionnaire to help determine the quality of your doctor. They also have a large database of certified Lasik surgeons that can be trusted.

Bestest Blog of the Day: 02/26/2007

2007-02-28T10:55:00.000-05:00

Sarge Charlie
...a review by Skittles!

The Bestest Blog Of The Day award goes to a blog that is long overdue in receiving it.. Sarge Charlie!!!

From the beginning of Sarge's ~~addiction~~ blog, he has been mainly focused on the military and his love of country. It's easy to see why when you read this post he wrote about how he learned sacrifice and respect after his father joined the Navy. A little further into his blog he urges us all to Find A Soldier In Uniform To Say Thanks.

Another good place to learn a little more about Sarge is to read this post he did to answer his grandson's homework questions. He's not afraid to voice his opinions either as you'll see when you read Forever Stupid.

Sarge enjoys a good game of poker and going on cruises, although this is one from 2004. (Not the one you might be more familiar with.) He's very devoted to his wife and shows it in Bee My Valentine.

I encourage you to pay Sarge a visit. Tell him Skittles and The Bestest Blog Of All-Time sent you.

Home Loan [PPP]

2007-02-28T00:35:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
FINANCE FINALLY MADE EASY Finance Company: Facilitating all walks Getting a home loan has never been so easy. Start Finance offers a no fuss alternative to buying a new home and buying it fast. Whether you have bad credit rating, are self employed, or earn a minimum wage Start Finance offers a range of home loan solutions catered to suit you. Start Finance operates on the mantra that no matter who you are or whatever financial situation you’re tied to, you’re eligible for a home loan irrespective of what target market you fall into, finally a no strings attached solution to finance. So what’s the big deal anyway, isn’t this just another one of the many finance companies that locks you into a contract and hits you with high interest rates in the future? Well that’s exactly what excludes Start Finance from its competitors. Being a boutique lender Start Finance can afford to offer the lowest rates in comparison to any of its competitors not to mention lending up to 105% finance up front. The company is located in Melbourne, but they service the whole of Australia. In addition, the majority of Start Finance’s home loan specialists have an average of fifteen years lending experience, so you can feel one hundred per cent at ease investing your time and money with the company. “To be honest I was a little hesitant initially with Start Finance being a new company and all, but after I had my first consultation, I felt completely at ease. The consultants are really lovely and so helpful, and don’t bombard you with a heap of legal jargon, which is also a bonus.” (Sharon Martin, 26, first home buyer). In essence as seen on TV and heard on radio both series of “Robbo” advertisements constitute that you don’t have to fit the mould to apply and get approved for a Start Home loan. Take Robbo for example, who’s your stereotypical, self-employed Aussie male, who after 28 years of living under his parent’s roof has finally made a concerned effort to move out of home. The character may only be fictional, but the reality of this matter is that Robbo represents a a large percentage of the population which has for years been virtually undesirable to the big banks. Robbo is the embodiment of those individuals having bad-credit ratings and low-incomes and what finance companies deem as the un-touchable’s. Start finance conveys the message that regardless who you are, or what you do. Start will help find the right home loan tailored to suit you and your needs. C’mon if Robbo can get a loan, then so can you.

Bestest Blog Carnival of Finance

2007-02-25T22:49:00.000-05:00

The next Bestest Blog Carnival is up for your weekend viewing pleasure! The topic this time around was finance. Thanks so much to Kelly from A Girl Worth Saving for hosting this!

As always, if you participated in the carnival (or even if you didn't), I ask that you put up a link and hopefully send a visitor or two her way. Thanks!

PayPerPost Rumor [PPP]

2007-02-25T03:04:00.000-05:00

PayPerPost never goes long without some big announcement. This is the life of an up and coming web company. Segmentation rocked the Postie world just a few weeks ago and there is already something new brewing for the near future. It's a well known fact that there is a big announcement coming, but Pay Per Post has been pretty tight lipped about it.

But, I heard a rumor on the Pay Per Post boards yesterday that I think HAS to be true. It would be big, it would benefit everyone involved, and I think it would be fun.

What I'm talking about is product reviews. Up until now, Pay Per Post has dealt mostly with bloggers doing reviews of other websites. However, it is very common in the advertising world for people to be paid to review actual products. The great part of this is that the participants are usually provided with the product to try and to keep! Imagine being paid to review something like the new Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner, and receiving the vacuum cleaner itself as payment. Well, duh, how else could you review it?

I hope this rumor comes true. It would be a lot of fun to review things like that. I would definitely be very gung ho about joining in to this new advertising fad!

Weekend Updates?

2007-02-25T02:01:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned this weekend's updates yet. Well, I was REALLY busy with the improv show yesterday (which went great by the way, I'll see if I can get some video).

At this point, I am banking on not having to teach tomorrow and being able to do them then. If we get half of what the forecast is calling for, we'll definitely have the day off. If not, then I'll try and get them done tomorrow anyway after school!

The Ultimate Gift [PPP]

2007-02-25T01:17:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement ... scroll down for more posts...
No, this post isn't a very, very, very early Christmas gift idea post. It's about a new upcoming movie! The reason I really wanted to post about this is because the movie features Abigail Breslin from "Little Miss Sunshine." That was an amazing movie and I hope she wins the Academy award. And I'm sure she'll help make this movie amazing as well. Based on a book of the same name, "The Ultimate Gift" was a cult sensation and sparked a movie. Its message is simple: "The only way you can truly get more out of life for yourself is to give part of yourself away." As such, it has sparked a wave of generosity towards charity and it is being reported that already 5 million dollars has been raised for charitable causes as a result! This is the official site of the movie "The Ultimate Gift" and the grass-roots movement its starting to help charities and give to others. Check it out, and check out the movie in theatres very soon, March 7th! If you can't wait that long, you can check out a sneak preview over on YouTube. He is "The Ultimate Gift" preview. Update: I have seen this movie and it is very, very good. Do yourself a favor and find a theatre that is playing it and go and check it out ASAP!

Rerun Sunday: 02/25/2007

2007-02-25T00:15:00.000-05:00

Memoirs of a Gouda
...by Morgen from "It's a Blog Eat Blog World"

Today's Morgen Monday brings us to the Wonder Of Washington State: Allie D's Memoirs Of A Gouda.

Since her blog's subtitle is "Grabbing Life By The Curds, Searching For Wisdom Along The Whey..." you know you're in for a punny good time searching through her aged cheese bin.

She describes herself as "almost 27 years old, a full-time mother of two and a full-time student" and she maintains several blogs, on top of those two-full time occupations!

Whether it's skewering world leaders, wishing for special abilities, or waxing poetic about the failed marriages of celebrities, Allie delivers pointy wit and a bouquet of flavor, just like a shaker of romano cheese.

While talking about her children, she fills you with gooey goodness like a warm brie. My favorite posts of her involve candy, surprisingly, not cheese! Check out her Leave It Dead series on candy: from circus peanuts to ju ju bees to gummy worms, this Gouda knows her sweets!

Somehow, along with all her interests, school, and two adorable kids, she has time to blog. Blog On, Allie D, Blog On! So, head on over to Memoirs Of A Gouda, and tell her that Morgen and Bestest Blog sent ya!

RemotePC [PPP]

2007-02-24T12:02:00.000-05:00

The following is a PayPerPost advertisement...scroll down for more posts...
RemotePC - Remote Access helps you access your PC from anywhere. This is like turning your desktop into a portable laptop that weighs nothing. Imagine being able to access your computer from anywhere you can find another computer: the library, your work, your school, etc. All this for only $4.95 per month, after your free 30 day trial of course. Try to find a laptop that only costs $4.95 per month...that's a hard price to beat.

Blog Title (how you want the text of your link to appear):
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To join this link exchange, you must first have a permanent link on your blog to http://babyfurniture.howerful.com/ . Please give me a short description of where to find this link (e.g. in the right sidebar, about halfway down the page)...all links are checked manually.