Aug 31, 2009 Writing Nook
Self-employed individuals, small business owners and freelancers, need to purchase their own health insurance. Tonik is a type of insurance offered by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. I used to have Anthem for years, back when I lived in Virginia. BLUE CROSS TONIK is currently available in CA, CT, GA, NH, CO, and NV, and is a health plan for anyone under the age of sixty-five.
Aug 30, 2009 General
I should not be this excited about the fact that Kody loves Meerkat Manor. We watched it the other day, and he has never laughed louder in his life. If you are not familiar with the show, it is a series on Animal Planet that chronicles the life of a group of these cute rodent-looking-animals. Their matriarch is Flower, and the show is pretty much a reality series following Flower and her clan.
Why would I be so ecstatic that my son loves Meerkat Manor? Because my husband hates this show. He absolutely despises it. Let’s just say that Kody does not laugh this hard watching football… Mommy 1, Daddy 0.
Aug 30, 2009 General
Hi, I am HP Pavilion DV9700 laptop and I’m my owner’s faithful friend. I am almost two years old, but age has not slowed me down. Most days, I am just as fast as the day I was pulled out of a cardboard box. My owner seems to think that I love multi-tasking and that having 100 browser windows opened at the same time is completely appropriate laptop usage. The picture below is of my smiling face. I was hanging out on the couch with my owner, although my hang out spot is on the office desk.
My days are busy and I have to keep up with a mad woman who types a mile a minute, and likes to do way too many things at once. She asks me to be super fast and keep up with her busy schedule. We usually get started first thing in the morning, sometime before 7AM. She lives off of her Gmail account so that is the first thing I help her check. Then it’s on to getting work done for that day, researching topics, finding information, writing articles, blogging and Facebook. The mad woman can’t go a day without Facebook.
We also listen to a lot of music, when we are working and even when we are just relaxing.
Sometimes she forces me to endure hours of Elmo and Spongebob episodes. We both cringe after like the first hour and hope it stops soon, but the little kid that loves Elmo laughs really loud and it’s very cute. He also hits my keys less when he’s occupied with his shows, so we all end up happy. Our days are long and we get a lot of work done, it makes both of us proud. We go to bed late, some nights around 11PM.
I am an HP laptop with AMD Turion™ 64 X2 dual-core mobile technology processor, NVIDIA graphics card and I also come with wi-fi. My owner has me full of files, gadgets and programs. She does sometimes curse the fact that I have Windows Vista inside of me. I am happy being who I am, and would not like to resemble any other HP laptop. I would like it if my owner fixed the function key, as I look slightly beaten down without one.
This is me on the couch, on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
My owner loves me and I love her. We get along great. Other great HP laptops need a good home too. You can get $500 off instantly when you purchase an HP HDX 16t with $300 coupon code NBN3248 + $200 Instant Rebate. Valid through 8/23 or while supplies last. Restrictions and exclusions apply.
Aug 30, 2009 General, Reading List
I finished reading No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog, by Margaret Mason, which I found to be a very interesting read. I plan to do a full review soon of this book, but I would recommend it to all bloggers in need of some fresh ideas for their website.
If you are not a blogger and do not need a book on blogging ideas, I would recommend Beautiful Boy, by David Sheff. I wrote about this book and Sheff’s appearance on Oprah (Oprah Talks About Addiction and Beautiful Boy with David Sheff). This was one of those books that I could not put down, had to read cover to cover and I still have on my nightstand. I skim through the pages every now and then, just to remind myself of how beautiful and painful the bond between parents and children can be.
Aug 28, 2009 Writing Nook
You do not have a football obsessed husband if you need me to tell you that football season is here. Lucky me, I have a husband who still relives his high school football years – kind of like Al Bundy. I’m not a redhead like Peggy but I can sit on the couch and eat bonbons too. During football season, our household gets a little noisier because my football-crazy husband yells at the TV a lot and Kody runs around the house (sometimes naked) yelling “Touchdown!” The joyous occasion that is preseason football also brings Fantasy Football. This is where grown men huddle around at a local watering hole and talk strategy. The winner may or may not get a prize, but he does get a lot of bragging rights. My husband is playing with his buddies on a Fantasy Football team, and their uber-awesome team name is “PBR Kings”. Because PBR won a Blue Ribbon and is a drink of champions, or so he tells me…
WaiverWire is an awesome place for my husband (yours too!) to plan out the ultimate Fantasy Football strategy. The draft software allows them to pick names, positions, team rankings and analysis. It also allows them to sign-up for news feeds and cell phone notices. This is something my husband likes to do, so he can keep up with his smack talking and be the first one to know when a player brings another team down in points. Then he can head over to the Waiver Wire’s forum and talk smack all night long. Long live fantasy football season… at least it gets my husband out of the house and away from me!
Aug 28, 2009 General
By now everyone should have heard that the LA coroner released his findings of Michael Jackson’s autopsy. I am not shocked or surprised that his death was ruled a homicide. After several articles that I have written on Jackson’s death, and news that I have followed, homicide was the only reasonable ruling expected. Hopefully Michael Jackson’s death leads to talks about dangers of prescription medication and ways to stop this madness from spreading like the plague.
Our country is talking a lot about healthcare reform now. I think that in this discussion we should include prescription drug abuse. We should also talk about how some doctors are willing to pump a patient with anything, just to get paid. We are not talking about tic tacs, but about dangerous and highly addicting prescription medication. Prescription drugs lead to addiction, but also drive people to get into other highly addicting and dangerous drugs that are not found in pharmacies.
What sickens me the most about Jackson’s homicide ruling is the coroner announcing all medications found in his body. Propofol, lorazepam, midazolam, diazepam, lidocaine and ephedrine were all found in Jackson during the autopsy. These serious drugs were given to Jackson in enormous amounts. As Dr. Drew said the other night, it could have knocked out an elephant. So no wonder it killed Jackson, but how can a doctor be so irresponsible and willing to do something so dangerous?
We need serious changes to our health care system and part of the conversation should include stopping dangerous doctors from prescribing medication like it’s candy.
Aug 28, 2009 Freelance Advice, Writing Nook
The majority of questions sent to me about freelancing have something to do with upfront payments, income and money in general. I know that we need money in order to pay bills, but nothing should ever keep you away from realizing a dream. The other percentage of people seem to have a general fear and the “I don’t think I can” attitude. Fear should not be pulling the emergency break in your dream machine, if this is what you want to do then by all means toss fear out the window and hit the pedal to the metal.
Think how many successful people would have never made it big if they were afraid to try out an idea, or approach a customer about trying their product. Fear does not work, but self-confidence and “I can do it” attitude always bring in positive results. I would not be here today or have accomplishments under my belt if I was terrified. I used to work in an industry dominated by men. Me, a twenty year old little girl with very little money and a bag full of dreams, went toe to toe with big men with a lot more money and a lot of resources. I made some of those men cry. They may not admit to it, but I know they were cowering in a corner.
Now money and freelance writing can be great partners or they can be mortal enemies. I can’t tell you that I achieve my financial goals every single day and sure I count my pennies just like everyone else. My husband and I have gone toe to toe over finances, my stern decision to freelance (forever!) and some days self-employment truly does suck. But you know what? I can work like a horse and I excel at everything I decide to do, because I always do my best. You can do it, and don’t allow fear to tell you otherwise.
When it comes to money, freelance writers have to be on top of their game in order to get paid. They should also know that things like pay day loans are not for everyone. I hate seeing freelance writers who can write well, make good money but can’t manage their finances for shit. And this is somehow related to the post, because I see writers complaining about money and bills, only to turn around and blow every penny on something way too stupid to even mention. It blows my mind really. Self-employment does not require an accounting degree, but it does require a little common sense.
Aug 28, 2009 Writing Nook
We all have a sense of fashion and what we deem as a trendy look. People my age love the Hip Hop industry and follow the trends that music is making popular.
Shopping online for hip hop fashion and jewelry products is easy, it does not matter if you are looking for Canary ice earrings or Grillz with enough bling to make someone blind. Hip Hop Bling is one of the oldest retailers of hip hop fashions and trends, supplying the demand for the hottest looks at unbeatable prices.
Aug 28, 2009 Writing Nook
Self-employment brings a lot of challenges, especially if you are running a small business and worry about insuring your property. The big challenge is making sure you have coverage on all of your business assets, including vehicles. While it costs money to pay for business insurance and coverage, it can also be deducted as part of your taxes.
Small business owners, even freelance writers, can look into purchasing easy auto insurance policies online and using them as tax deductions. My old line of work did not require liability insurance, but some industries advise that you do have liability coverage to protect the business. A good auto insurance policy protects you against claims, damages and repair bills. A small business cannot afford large vehicle repair bills, that could take money away from your advertising fund.
Another worry small business owners face is that they have to invest in their own retirement funds and other policies that will protect them once they get into the older years. Self-employed individuals can purchase their own life insurance online for example, which will help provide for your family in case the worst happens. So even though you work for yourself, you can take steps to protect yourself and insure the things that mean the most to you and your business.
Aug 27, 2009 Blogging, General
I am very interested in answers to this question. With the internet evolving every day, we come in contact with more blogs than ever before. It seems like everyone’s mother, daughter and even dog has a personal blog today. Although some bloggers keep strictly to their personal lives, some venture out into the world of opinions, rants and sponsored posts. How do you feel about reviews and opinions posted by bloggers?
I take everything I read online with a grain of salt. It could be that I’ve been around the world of blogging since the days of Greymatter (I just cringed a little) or that I write online. Part of my article writing includes research and finding references to support any claim. The difficult part with doing this online is that so many websites are built just for the purpose of advertising. They have no quality information or sometimes even have articles that make me worry a little. Where is the transparency? Where is the “this might not be safe” mentality? If you post something online chances are some will ignore it and some will consider it to be as real as unicorns.
Then there is the all-powerful world of Mommy Bloggers. I like that crowd, because there is a lot of fun information exchanged, networking and often entertaining reading. Mommy Bloggers are becoming notorious product reviewers, ranters and “pay me and I’ll like your” business women. Not that is it always a bad thing, but I guess we should all pick and choose what ends up on a website with our name on it.
I think advertisers understand the value of Mommy Bloggers and serious bloggers. They have a following, a faithful base and the means of letting the whole world know you suck. Take for an example a vary popular blogger that recently threatened a large appliance company with a negative blog post. She also took to her Twitter to bash their customer service and the fact that her new washer failed, even after repairs.
The large (very large) home appliance company not only contacted her through Twitter and tried to remedy the situation, but they also got on the phone quickly before her negative post made it public. The fact is that a blog post is online for the world to read, and the all knowing Google will display it in people’s search results! Insert PR and some sweet talking, hence no negative blog post publishing. Not every blogger can achieve the status of successfully manipulating a corporation. The world of blogging is large and you are just a pea in a very large pod.
How do you see bloggers? As entertainment or as information you can bet money on? Do you even trust anything you read on a blog?
Tags: Blogging, dooce, make money, maytag, monetize, money, sponsor, sponsored, twitter
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