Page rank is on the move

Google is at it again. People have been reporting that their page rank is moving. I've looked at my stats twice today but mine hasn't moved. One of the predictor sites has all of my sites going to a pr1. Considering I'm a pr0 now, I'll take it and be glad to have it.

Updates only happen 3 or 4 times per year and this one won't be over until the 21st of May. Until then everyone will be on pins and needles waiting to see where they end up.

Men are so lucky

They're lucky because they can shop almost anywhere and look good. If a woman buys a cheap pair of shoes, they look cheap. But men can buy inexpensive or cheap stuff and it will still look good. They can also buy stuff made by Galco and wear it everyday. It's mostly military wear, but it's casual enough to look good everyday.

I get so jealous when I see men just run into a store, grab something and be done. Meanwhile I've been on a month-long scavenger hunt for sneakers. They don't realize how lucky they are.

Looking for shoes

I'm looking for new sneakers but I can't find any at a reasonable price. I've looked at the mall stores but they want $80-$120 for one pair. I might try the outlet this weekend to see if I can find anything. I really don't want to pay more than $60 for my sneakers. I really don't care who's name is on them.

Shopping around for car parts

I didn't really shop around before I got my car. Not like I really should have. Now I'm paying for it. My car needs a ton or work and cosmetic upgrades. The cosmetics part came after I already had the car so I can't blame that on anyone but myself. I should have checked out somewhere like midwest auto recycling where I could have gotten my car verified by CarFax. I also would have had my transmission checked which means it would have been flushed and filled.

I'm sure I would have gotten a much better warranty than the one I got as well. This thing doesn't cover anything. I could have gotten nationwide coverage if I had only shopped around. You can best believe I'll do a lot more homework the next time I buy a car.

Overpaying for things

Would you overpay for baseball tickets if you really wanted to go to that game? That's my dilemma right now. The game I really want to go to is sold out. The only reason it's sold out is because it's a really popular team but most of the people aren't going to the game, they have their tickets on Stub Hub and Ebay.

Tickets that usually go for $10-15 are now $35-50 and more. Forget about a decent seat (usually $27 or $35), you can't get those for less than $100 per ticket. I really want to go to this game but I can't justify paying that much money. After all, I can watch the game on tv.

Broke on payday

That just gets on my nerves. I got paid today and since I have a fairly strict budget, I'm already broke. Luckily I have other income that comes in during the month. I use part of that as my just in case money. I use the majority of it to pay for school.

I just got a better job making more money and I'm already looking towards the next great thing.

Not living close to family is hard

Sometimes I'm glad that I live far away. Especially when my family has issues that I don't want to deal with. Most times it's hard though. I get lonely and miss my family, especially around the holidays. Everybody else is with their family celebrating and I'm home by myself. My friends usually invite me to celebrate with their family but I feel weird about that.

One of the ways that I keep close to my family is by telephone. My mom doesn't have a computer so email and instant messaging is out for her. I usually buy phone cards to save money. I never used them until I got a international phone card from my friend that lives in the Bahamas. It costs almost 3 times as much to call from your regular phone than it does calling with a card. Depending on the country that you call, you can save up to 80% off of the regular phone rates.

Some people suggest calling from your cell phone but that doesn't always work. I went to Canada last month and my cell phone stopped working the further away from the U.S. that I got. We plan on taking several more trips to Canada this summer to watch baseball games and to do the tourist thing in general. John likes to talk to his mom either every day or every other day. His cell phone won't work so we'll invest in calling cards to save money. Calling from the hotel is not an option because the cost is too much. It costs almost $3.00 per minute plus a connection fee. Uh uh I don't think so.

Now that I'm talking about our trip to Canada, I'm getting more excited about going. I don't want to rush the summer but I'm so ready for a quick getaway.

Tax Day!

Don't forget to mail your tax papers today. If you didn't file get an extension on your taxes. Whatever you do, don't ignore them. You can get away with a lot of things but not paying your taxes is not one of them. Unfortunately for me, I owe again this year. I owe both state and city taxes. I always hold out too much so I won't owe federal taxes. But I make sure I cut it real close so I don't get a big refund.

I usually just take my federal refund and pay my state and local taxes. That way everything is a wash.

You can help stop Columbia's Expansion Project

At first I was wondering what all the fuss was about. I mean schools expand all of the time. But this is a bit different. Columbia University wants to expand into the West Harlem. The area is not only on a fault line, but it's also a flood zone. Now if that doesn't sound like a disaster waiting to happen, I don't know what does. Over 30% of the expanded area will be for a bio hazardous laboratory. One natural disaster and just think of all of the chemicals that will flow into the Hudson River.

There is a petition in NY state court to Stop Columbia's Expansion Project. We all have to become vigilant when it comes to these stories. I live near several large universities with huge research departments. I shudder to think what would happen if they tried to do something like that here. This is one precedent that should not be set.

A retirement thought

I have a long time before I can even think about retiring. I've been looking into retiring in South America. Now I understand why people move there, it's dirt cheap. You can get an apartment and a maid for less money than I pay for rent now.

Like I said, it's a long time off, but I need to plan for it now.

Another way to gain new readers

I've been trying to figure out ways to increase the readership on my blogs. I recently came across a great way to network. By trying to join social networking sites, I've made some new friends. Some people upload photos but I'm a picture-phobe so I don't do that. You can also listen to mp3's while you chat. Another feature is joining a group or a blog while you're there. I have a travel blog that I may need a writer for and this would be a great place to network.

Once people feel comfortable talking to you, they won't hesitate to visit your blog and you can visit theirs. Not only do you gain a reader but make a friend at the same time. And that's what this site is all about.

I'm settling in

I'm settling in to my new job quite well. There are some aspects that I don't really like but if I focus on my work, everything is good. I'm slated to learn how to do a slightly more difficult work starting next week. That will be a challenge but i'm up to it.

I do need to copy my team-mates notebook. She has a copy of all of the forms and screens that we use. I've been using her notes while she's on vacation. It's time for me to update my files though. Next week will certainly be busy.

I use the Izea Forums for blogging ideas

I love reading message boards. Sometimes you can more ideas reading message boards than by reading blogs. That's because people can bring up subjects that you may have never thought of. Everybody thinks that ideas come the so-called "A-list" bloggers. But I read the forums where people talk about everything.

You may not have heard of the Izea forums. But I'm sure you've heard of the PayPerPost boards. Everyone has heard of them. Well the company behind PPP is staring the newest thing in blogging under the Izea umbrella. I love the new Izea Forums. They're much cleaner and easier to navigate than the old boards. Once you get used to seeing them that is. The first few times I looked at the boards, I didn't know where anything was or where it should be. After I visited the boards a few times, I learned how to navigate them much better.

Even more people have joined the boards since they became the Izea boards. I guess the thing I like the most is the camaraderie between board member. Contrary to popular belief, there are no cliques on the boards. There are people who have been members much longer than others and they post much more often than other people. Instead of people being intimidated by that, they should look to those people to see what makes a good blogger.

Everyone on the boards is willing to share their knowledge to help each other become the best blogger they can be. Why don't you visit the boards and see how great they are. I'm sure you'll see me there. I'm there a few times a day. What can I say, it's a great place to hang out!

Keeping your privacy on the internet

It's really easy to forget to keep all of your information private on the internet. If you search for my name, a few things pop up. My full name isn't really that common, so when you see the name it's probably me. I had to go into certain places and make my information private. I don't want anyone from my job looking me up and getting into my personal business.

I know they will look because I would look for them.

Have you tried Linked In?

I've been using Linked In for about 18 months now. A friend of mine from my old job introduced me to the site. Everything is all about who you know and that's where Linked In comes into play. It's a networking site that plays the six degrees of separation game.

I only have 1 friend on the site but my network is over 60 people. Your network reads your profile and you interact with one another. You can find people in the same profession or just in the same city with the same job or in the same industry. I found George Divel because of his affiliation as a financial advisor. That's the next move on my career path so I'm trying to make contacts now. My first move is to find people in that profession and then wheedling them down to my personal contacts.

It took me a long time to understand that connections are important in your career. Now that I know that, it's time to make those connections.