It’s been about two weeks now since I started my blog for money experiment. I began it because I kept seeing advertisements for people to get paid to blog, and I thought it made sense for a blog to pay for itself. I’ve signed up with several sites that offer blog advertising, but so far my favorite is Smorty.

Here’s what I like about Smorty: they require the blogger to disclose that some of their posts are sponsored. To be honest, most of the ethical sites where you can get paid for blogging require this, but I’d never contract with a site that didn’t.

Here’s what I really like about them: they pay weekly, instead of making you wait a month. I was a little dubious about that, but I made my first post for them last Saturday, and my first paypal deposit showed up this evening. That’s pretty impressive.

Here’s what I think completely rocks: unlike most other sites that offer people the opportunity to get paid to blog, Smorty requires a 3:1 ratio of original, non-sponsored content to sponsored posts. That means bloggers have to be bloggers first, and paid advertisers second, and I think that’s appropriate.

In addition to their timely payment schedule, Smorty also has helpful, friendly customer service. When I asked a question about how long it would take them to review my blog, they not only answered the question fairly quickly, but also apologized for any delay. (There was no delay, but that’s okay.)

To sum up? If you’re going to try blogging for money, try Smorty. They’re a smart choice.

Thirteen Things about MissMeliss In honor of Shark Week – 13 of My Favorite Sharks Basking Sharks: Plankton eaters that can grow up to 33 feet long. Their open mouths are their signature, and they tend to be near the surface of the ocean. Smooth Dogfish Sharks: Named because they hunt in packs. They have live births of up to 20 pups per litter, too. Oceanic Whitetip Sharks: They’re pelagic sharks that tend to be the main cuplrits at feeding frenzies, as well as shipwrecks and airplane crashes in open ocean. Great Hammerhead Sharks: Weighing up to a thousand pounds, they’re known for their distinctive look, but also for their long migrations. Sharks from Florida have been found to migrate all the way to the polar regions. Lemon Sharks: They’re named for their color, which helps camouflage them along the sandy ocean bottom. They like the warm water of the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific between Baja California Sur and Ecuador. Tiger Sharks: They’re nocturnal, and known for being agressive, and of course they’re striped like the tigers they’re named for, but did you know their stripes fade with age? Shortfin Mako Sharks: They’re speedy little fish with big teeth. They’ve been clocked swimming at speeds of up to 43 mph. New research says they share convergent evolution with the tuna fish that are their favorite prey. Sand Tiger Sharks: They have really ragged teeth, and tend to swim with their mouths open, so they look a lot meaner than they actually are. Unless you provoke them, they’ll generally leave you alone. Blue Sharks: They actually are blue, even ranging into shades of deep indigo. They also have a really large liver that is filled with oil and helps keep them afloat. Thresher Sharks: They’re not very social, rarely found near shore, and known for their really big rainbow-arc tails. Whale Sharks: The world’s largest fish, they can be up to 50 feet long, but they’re totally gentle plankton eaters. Bull Sharks: Not only do they tend to be near shore – they maintian nurseries in mangrove forests – they can actually swim up rivers, and have been found as far upstream as Illinois in the Mississippi River, and populate the Ganges and Brisbane rivers as well. Great White Sharks: They are the iconic shark, of course. Technically pelagic, they’re around coastlines because their favorite food is there (seals and sea lions, not people). They tend to be curious and are known to lift their heads above the surface of the water to look around. They also have social interaction, within female-dominated groups.

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I say… And you think… ?

1. Traditional :: folk tales
2. Popeye :: chicken
3. Gin :: fizz
4. Harsh :: mistress
5. Topless :: convertible
6. The thing :: from another world
7. Defiant :: Tholian Web
8. Huge :: Howard
9. Food :: and Drink
10. Lenny :: George

Like this meme? Play along here.

I have not had a tech-friendly sort of day.

First, I broke my blog. I actually did the breaking last night, but thought it was just my laptop being all funky. I broke the blog by putting too many reciprocal link buttons and scripts in my sidebar, which freaked out the php editor, which ceased to process updates. I fixed it, after much cursing, this morning, by moving said links to a page labeled RECIPROCITY. Along with buttons, the Thursday Thirteen blogroll is on this page.

Then, I realized that while I did reclaim my cute pink ipod shuffle from Fuzzy before his trip, I do not have, nor do I know the location of, the dongle that allows one to connect to a computer for charging and/or refilling. This is only slightly frustrating, as my Zen Vision M, and my old Zen Micro are still floating around the house (I use the former of the two daily).

Also, my login for a website I need for work refuses to function, and then a password for a new work-related website also refused to function. Three passwords later I finally gained access but it was excruciatingly slow.

And lastly? Cable went out in the middle of Eureka tonight. I called them, and they had me on hold for fifteen minutes before I got to someone who couldn’t do anything. Oh she sent a reset signal to my boxes, but it didn’t help. She then said they could send a tech on Saturday. I explained that I work on the net and since internet was also down, that was a problem. Now, we all know that I have a redundant system for just such occasions (thank you AT&T DSL) but that really isn’t the point. (As it turns out, it’s area wide, and therefore a tech is working on it NOW, but it’s still part of my bad tech day).

So. Broken blog. No Dongle. Static instead of cable.

But the cherries are delicious.

I hate my bathroom cabinets, and I’m not too fond of the sinks (I have two) or shower head either. Taps especially are a concern of mine. I mean, I like the bathroom itself – it’s spacious and has a window, and I like that the shower enclosure is completely separate from the bathtub, but the taps on the tub are old and kind of grungy, and the shower control has the hot and cold reversed.

Because of this, I spend a lot of time reading home decor magazines, and surfing websites for kitchen and bath fixtures, bathroom suites, and stuff like that. So far, I’ve learned that I really like those sinks that look sort of like ceramic bowls set into the counter, with gleaming chrome or copper taps arching above them.

I was at a site called Taps4Less.com, recently, and I saw a great faucet that was a tinted green glass disc, and the water poured down it. Functional, but artistic at the same time, this waterfall tap really intrigued me, but then I realized that it wouldn’t mesh with my house. Sadly, I can’t afford to redo my bathroom just now.

If I could afford to replace the fittings, I’d go to a site like Taps4Less. They mainly cater to folks in the UK, and offer free delivery to people who live in “mainland UK” (their phrase), and of course, that’s an ocean away from me (though not from some of you), but I really liked their array of designs for kitchens, baths, sinks and showers, and their brands include names I’ve heard of, like Hudson Reed and Mira.

The one thing I think would make their site stronger is an obvious way to search by brand, but the reality is that most people probably just want to see what things look like, and note the brand name later.

Still, Taps4Less.com has an impressive catalog of kitchen and bath fixtures, and I had great fun imagining some of their products in my bathroom.

Thanks to the folks at Swim At Your Own Risk, I’ve been introduced to the cool new “Rethink the Shark” ads that the Save Our Seas Foundation created.

Here’s the third one:

And the other two can be viewed here.

I’m working on postcard books for 2 of my “adopted” soliders.

If you are from (or have postcards from) any of these states, and are willing to send me two of them, I could really use the assistance.

AK, DC, GA, HI, KS, KY,
MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS,
NJ, OK, PA, VT, WI

And yes, I do realize that DC is not really a state.