Education, Education, Education

The now-famous mantra of Tony Blair (British PM) and New Labour still rings in our ears today, and the reason is that it remains a priority for us all.
In these days of fast-moving technology and super-fast communication, education in all forms is at the cornerstone of our society. Most 'education' is informal in the sense that you can teach yourself to use the latest gadget and to use the latest software or website. However there comes a point where formal learning is required whether to acquire a particular competence, or to get a specific qualification. This is where technical colleges in California or your local region come into their own.
In many cases, our early education just doesn't give us the grounding needed for specific tasks in the workplace and vocational training is required. Often courses for a specific software package such as an accounts program or technical drawing program can be found at vocational training outlets. Personally I have been looking around for a suitable health and safety qualification which will help me to complete tasks in my work environment.
Education is an ongoing process, I have believed for a long time that the maturity of a worker can be assessed by the point at which they stopped learning - for some that was before they left high school, for others, their quest for knowledge continues to this day. I hope to remain in the latter group for as long as possible.

Tower or Laptop

I use both laptops and desktops on a daily basis, a laptop at work and desktop (or even two...) at home and the accepted wisdom is that laptops lag behind desktops in processing power, memory and speed.
Whilst this is true, it is also true to point out that today's laptops are far more powerful than laptops a year ago, and in many cases more powerful than desktops a year ago. So, the slight lack in power is offset by the flexibility that a laptop affords. Admittedly whilst one is less likely to do a 'do-it-yourself upgrade' on a laptop, the portability and ease of use can swing the argument. After all there is little that you can do on a laptop that you CAN'T do on a desktop, but out on the road, your desktop is pretty much useless....
Linking your laptop with a mobile broadband service or making use of 'hotspots' can leave you with a no-brainer scenario - the laptop offers far more options such as accessing the internet whilst on a train or in a motorway service station, and with falling prices the laptop is now the option of choice for many households having previously been mainly the domain of businesses.

PageRank punishment

I have noticed that in the last week or so, some of my newer blogs that had PR, have been slapped presumably for carrying PPP or associated paid to blog posts. I have only done a few paid posts on these blogs but it seems that these few posts have had an effect on PageRank.
I had two blogs which had started to build up PR, one was ranked 2, the other 1 - these have lost a ranking point each. Not a huge problem you would have thought except that once more the opportunities that I was getting for these blogs have depleted from an average offering of between 8-12 posts each time I logged into PPP, (usually about four actually available) to currently about 4 (one of which is available). So ironically, it is the taking part in PPP which is lessening the opportunities I am offered.

There are doubtless several ways in which Google can 'detect' PPP opps, firstly there is the tinyURL link that you sometimes have to use - these could easily be sniffed out by Google. then there is the fact that the jobs are so specific with the link requirements, that using the 'link:' search function would throw up all the links that had been put on the internet in the duration of the opp on PPP. Who's to say that there are not Google employees with accounts at PPP using the information from each oppotunity to search for paid bloggers??
The upshot is that the more PPP you do the less likely you will be able to do PPP again because your PR will come down and opps will dry up.

No such worries with PayU2Blog thankfully as the jobs keep coming regardless of PR - there was a bit of a rush before Christmas, and it has been quiet since, but I noticed a few more PU2B opps today so I will have something to do at the weekend...

Chicago Lawyers

The unwelcome trauma of an accident can be repeated when it comes to legal action after the event. Having a good legal team will keep the stress to a minimum, and when looking for representation, there are a number of factors to consider. Image is important and your first impression will tell you a lot of what you need to know straight off. Experience is vital, especially specific experience of winning cases just like yours - don't be scared of asking what their success rate is. A good local firm can be found by searching the internet or yellow pages for Chicago accident attorney or Boston criminal lawyer or Florida family lawyer etc...

dNeero surveys

I am still enjoying completing dNeero surveys, they are entertaining (and short!) and easy to complete - plus you can get paid for them - you can't ask for more than that...
A note of caution though.. after March 2009, you have to submit a single destination site that you will post the surveys on - this will prevent us from choosing lots of surveys and spreading them over a number of blogs, which is a nice way of completing lots of surveys without cramming a single blog full of survey widgets.
Here is the latest survey on Spitz tunes:

Looking for a present with a difference

Need a present for a certain female? Now Christmas is over and thoughts turn to Valentines Day or a special birthday, what about something slinky and silky for a lady friend?
I came across the Shirley of Hollywood website the other day which I must say is the classiest lingerie site you could ever hope to clap your eyes on... The pictures are beautifully and tastefully shot and represent a real elegance that is not always seen on underwear websites (though it's not like I spend a lot of my time on the internet looking at underwear!!).
The prices online were pretty impressive too...and in this internet age, online shopping is not only cheaper but gets around the embarrassment of having to ask the shop assistant if she has it in a bigger size...

Weght control

I have just been made aware of yet another weight loss pill on the market called Leptovox. With the proliferation of all kinds of fad diets, medications and healthy foods, the modern-day slimmer is left with a bewildering choice.
My advice is to make sure you are eating sensibly and taking good regular exercise before resorting to medication. If healthy living is not achieving the results, then good medical advice should be employed before taking the plunge with some diet pills.

Earnings December 2008

I am pleased to report $105 earnings mostly from PayU2Blog and PPP during December. A few dollars come from surveys, but to be honest I have not reached payout from any of the survey schemes that I use - these are not schemes that will be main earners though they are useful for 'topping up' the earnings. I am still getting reasonable success on Adsense and this could be improved if I could generate visitors more easily.
I (as always) have a few schemes to pursue, namely affiliates on one of my non-blog' sites - this should generate some revenue if I can get it right, but it needs some major re-working and there is never the time. I have started on a new blog and would like to use this to explore the possibilities that Wordpress has to offer - again where the time is going to come from I don't know...
At least the paid blog earnings are ticking over nicely providing some residual funds some of which I am going to need to fund the Wordpress project. Although the eranings from Paid to Blog are lower now than originally seen 18 months or so ago, I find the extra cash keeps me from spending money that would otherwise be accumulating on my credit card, so the benefits are clear to me and have helped me to reduce my credit card bill by 90% in the last two years - I am aiming to have it cleared in 7 months time..

More weight-loss claims

I am fortunate in that weight has never really been a problem for me, so I have no need to trawl through reviews of the many products that proliferate the weight-loss market such as Hydroxycut reviews and pages dedicated to other medications.
My main focus is to keep healthy through plenty of exercise and sensible eating habits. If I felt I needed some sort of medication, I would be wary of what I was taking and where it was coming from. I would make sure I employed plenty of resources to learn all that I could including getting professional medical advice before using any sort of medication that wasn't prescribed.

2008 Summary

A while ago, I speculated on how many posts I would have completed by the end of the year, and I am pleased to find that I have exceeded expectations. I expected to have 935 posts under my belt in the two years I have been blogging, but can reveal that this is my 957th ever blog post (488th on Munny4Hunny)... and I have earned almost USD2000 from my blogs in that time.
I have reported my earnings every month since the first dollars hit my Paypal account on this blog, my other blogs are less blatant ;)
I run a separate internet enterprise and earn some Adsense from other sites which has generated more income which I do not include as part of my blog earnings. My philosphy is not merely to amass income, but to do so in a way which remains enjoyable to me. There are certain subjects that I will not promote even when the pickings are rich, and I am not a big fan of PTC sites even though many of my internet friends use this method (one even started a PTC site...).
I hope my observations and experiences have been useful to someone somewhere as earnings has never been the only motive for this blog even though sometimes the content does not seem to reflect those ideals.
It remains to say Happy New Year and happy blogging and browsing in 2009.

The lull before New Year

I am getting ready to write up my summary of 2008 and preparing for what 2009 has to offer. It is his time of year that has us thinking about how we are going to do things better in the future. Our New Years resolutions may well include some ideas about how we might work better, get fit or encourage healthy cooking in our homes.
A healthy mind and healthy body are effective for success in all walks of life and should be the starting point for future planning. We are usually indulging ourselves with left-over turkey and boxes of chocolates in the lull between Christmas and New Year - what better time to work out how we are going to sort ourselves out financially and physically in the next 12 months?

Christmas Survey

To get you in the mood for Christmas, here is a Christmas survey from dNeero. Don't forget you can earn money for completing surveys, and more money for posting them on a blog or social site. Just click on the survey below to take part...

Diet pills

I have taken a few days off to do my Christmas shopping and my brain is being taxed to the limit as my family have not given me many clues as to what they want for Christmas. I like to buy practical gifts, but prefer to be told what someone wants rather than waste money on something that is not going to be used. Some of my more imaginative presents would include diet pills which should be particularly useful at Christmas (or at least the new year!), fake snow because we rarely get snow where I live, and ear-plugs to ensure someone gets the rest they really need during the holiday season.

More Tech Advice...

One more tip for getting the most of your older PC set up involves your virtual memory or 'swap file'. Your PC virtual memory is a memory file set aside on your hard-disk (C:Drive by default) this memory is utilised by programs that you have running. I can offer no advice on the size of the file (something that can be configured within the virtual memory management), but I have come up with two good reasons why you might consider moving the location of this file.

1. You may be getting short of space on your main drive, moving what is often a very large file, can free up some vital room.
2. If you have added hard-drives (as I have) you may discover that later drives actually run faster, offering a chance to speed up the entire system a little. I checked this out on my PC and found that my original hard-disk was 5400rpm, whereas the disk I had recently added was 7200rpm.

You can even assign virtual memory to an external drive if you want, but I settled for this newer internal drive that I bought primarily just for extra storage. My computer/C: Drive/properties/hardware will give you the names of your hard disks. I Googled these names to get the spec. including the speed of the drive.
Control Panel/System/Advanced/Performance settings/Advanced/Virtual Memory/Change - gives you your current settings. If you decide to move the file, keep the settings the same just add the same settings to another drive and select 'set'. Don't forget to remove the settings from the previous set-up otherwise you end up with two swap files running at the same time (like I did! - don't worry, it doesn't do any harm...).
You will need to restart your system for the changes to take effect. On my XP pro installation, the virtual memory is identified as a 'pagefile.sys' file, on my previous Win 98SE installation, I think it was called 'swapfile'.

Home networks

More and more people are building or buying servers for home networks as IT begins to infiltrate the home. A few years ago, you would be one of the few if you had a PC and internet access at home, it is now the norm to have broadband and a wireless network. As more home users are added, more PC's will be in the home requiring a network to share an internet connection. Not many homes run a 'proper' server network, but with the advent of media-sharing and component sharing (ie. one printer shared by the PC's in a house) the more it is likely that homes will start to have their own dedicated servers like business networks. You can create a low-end server from an old PC, or a piece of discarded business equipment like a used cisco or blade server. To buy a dedicated network Operating System will cost several hundred dollars, but XP pro will run as a server O/S with just a few adjustments. Linux is another alternative for those who don't want to spend a lot of money, but you would be well-advised to join some linux forums first, as support for free software is in scant supply....

For the man who has everything

If you need a Christmas present for the man in your life, but his tastes are expensive and he has already bought himself everything he wants, consider his hobbies...
Does he need some of those mufflers he can put on his golf clubs? Does he need a silver spoon to eat his caviar? or some Ferrari parts for that yellow monstrosity gathering dust in his garage??
Even rich people need accessories that don't cost the earth, though admittedly a set of tires for a Ferrari would not doubt cost more than 6 months of my wages...

Dream Holiday

Holidays are not really on my agenda until we have dispensed with our frugal lifestyle (ie. when we finally find ourselves with some excess money!!), but we can dream...
I would love to go back to a few places that we visited when we were younger and a little more reckless with our money. Southern France calls me as do the many friends we should revisit in Malta, I would love to see more of the US, and my little one would be particularly impressed with any Disney vacations that might be on the horizon.
I have visited some of the Northern states of the US but have not yet had the good fortune to head for the beaches of Florida. there can be no more complete holiday for a child than one that features Mickey Mouse...

Still not want to go Vista?

I am one of those who is very happy with my XP installation and have XP Pro on my works laptop and both of the PC's that I use at home (one of those PC's is too old to run Vista anyway). Despite thinking seriously about Linux for some time, I still haven't had the courage to go down that route yet.
I am not yet ready to embrace Vista unless forced to and will be contect to wait for the next generation OS to come along from Windows. So how do we keep XP running in the meantime? There are a number of routine steps that you can take to keep your XP installation in tip-top condition and some of these are listed below:

• Have sufficient anti-virus and spyware cover - I use two free pieces of software to do this AVG FREE for anti-virus and SPYBOT S&D (Google for them if you want to download them) both of these programs are highly-rated and highly effective and offer free updates.
• Keep your disks uncluttered and well-maintained. If you have on board disk management so much the better, but there are some simple steps you can take to keep your disks running to their optimum. Use the Check-disk facility (my computer/right click on the disk/properties/tools) regularly - you may have to restart the PC for this to work. From the same tools tab, use disk defragmenter regularly too. To clear off unwanted files from your disks, try 'CCleaner' - this can dig out Megabytes of filespace and free it up for a cleaner system.
• Once you have been through all the maintenenace steps (scanned for viruses and spyware, checked and defrag'd your disks and cleaned out the redundant files - create a system restore point so that you can go back to those settings if anything goes wrong in the future. Having an up to date clean system restore point will means that recovery from errors will not be too much hard work. (Accessories/System tools/System restore).

These three simple steps will keep you ahead of the game and help to keep your XP O/S up to scratch pending a shiny new system from Windows. If you have to reinstall your O/S (which is a good way to 'clean' your system anyway..) it makes sense to create a new XP disk incorporating SP3 to speed up the process - there are other short-cuts you can introduce when creating your new start-up disk, but I will save the details for another day probably after I have tried it myself and can report on how easy this is to do.

Looking for work

Looking for a job in these financially tight times is a task for which you are going to need some help if you want to be effective. Firstly you need to sketch out your resume and have an idea of the job and salary that you are looking for. Next you should sign up with some job websites related to your specific field of work or geographical location. Many sites have an option for you to post your resume online to enable prospective employers to short-list for example from a list of Dallas resumes or engineers resumes etc...
The more specific area that the website is aimed at, the better chance you have of getting short-listed for the job of your dreams. If you have been out of the job-market for a while you may need to brush up on your interview technique too. get friends to help you. or some work agencies may be able to help you with that too.

Even more diet pills..

I am starting to get goggle-eyed over the many different forms of diet pills there are out there and ever more tongue-tied with their names. the latest one I have come across is called Ephedra eca stack and contains caffeine and aspirin (Ephedra Caffeine Aspirin - get it...??)
Now you know right off that some people are sensitive to aspirin, so it is as well to be informed about what these medications consist of. From what I know, caffeine is used as a stimulant to push drugs around the body quicker, so that explains what the caffeine is doing there. There have been restrictions on the use of ephedra/ephedrine in some places in the past so make sure you do your own thorough research before taking anybody's word for the effectiveness of this drug.