Last week, I was left home alone as Amy drove to Louisville, KY to drop the girls off with her parents (her parents drove down from ChiTown). This week I wasn’t so lucky. After a night of pyro at the Ted, I had to pile in the car with the loved one and head north. The drive north wasn’t too bad. You can see the route we took at GPSed. We made good time heading north through Tennessee and Kentucky, we even had a chance to stop a K-Mart just north of Nashville and pick up diapers for the ‘M’ as they had very few left… We toyed with the idea of stopping at a winery or two along the way or at the Jack Daniels Distillery, but kept going on.
Instead we made a side trip to Mammoth Cave. The “longest” cave system in the world (which, from where I sit, could be a hard thing to determine…). We got there and drove through the very scenic park and made our way to the visitor’s center to see about a tour or two. All the “guided” tours were pretty much sold out and all they had left were tickets for the self guided one. That tour is about an hour and a half, and as we were in shorts, t-shirts and sandals and not really packed to go caving at all, we decided to take a rain check and come back one day for a week or so when we can do all the fun tours. Plus, the girls would miss out! Can’t have that!
We decided on our drive back to the interstate that on EVERY road trip no matter what it was for, we’d make an effort to stop somewhere zainy. We pasted an odd assortment of “fun” parks on our way back to the highway and decided that we’d stop at Dinosaur World on our way back home on Sunday. We hit the interstate and continued our trek north.
Even with the stop we made pretty good time and managed to hit a traffic jam just south of Louisville that slowed us down for about half an hour. Finally we pulled in to the hotel just about 6pm. It wasn’t too bad. We hit a restaurant called KingFish for dinner, went back to the hotel and crashed.
It was good to see the munchkins again after a week. Its hard being away from them (despite the fact that it was nice to have a “little” bit of quite around the house). It seems that they grew up a lot over the week (Emma is talking more and Grace is just Grace). If I could bottle them and keep them this way forever I think I would….
We woke up Sunday morning, packed the cars, said our tearfull goodbyes and headed our separate ways. Grammy and Breezy headed north, we headed south with two girls crying in the back. The tears were quickly quieted though as we pulled in to a McD’s for some browns and milk. We also told them we decided to stop at Dinosaur World on our way home, so there was something fun to look forward to!
Dinosaur World is in Cave city, right off the interstate. You can see the big dino and the mammoth’s from the highway. It was actually cooler than you’d think (they have huge statues of dinosaurs everywhere) although I’m not too sure it was worth the $13 per adult we had to pay. The girls had fun though (Grace has already asked to go back) and they got to do a fossil dig. I’ve got some cool photos from DW that I’ll be uploading shortly.
The rest of the drive south was almost as unevenful as the drive north. Gas in TN was as low as $3.25 a gallon, almost a full dollar down from two months ago. That was really nice to see. I don’t think I’d do the drive like that again though, I’d spend a day in Louisville or the Mammoth Cave area…. all in all its good to be home.
Can go a long way, unfortunately, these days too many people are focusing on general IT degrees or MCSE certs that don’t amount to much when it comes to actual hands on ability. I’ve grown up in the IT field. Pops worked for IBM for something like 28 years before he took early retirement and moved on to Hitachi Data Systems and a couple of other IT jobs. Its always come natural to me (as I’ve grown up around it) and if I run in to a problem I need help with the big G is usually there to lend a hand.
One area I’ve always looked at though are the benefits of getting a Cisco certification. Cisco is the uncontested leader in networking and one of their certifications would come in no end of handy when battling the network gremlins. Who knows, if I had one of the certs, I probably wouldn’t go glassy eyed when someone starts talking about the benefits of IPv6 over IPv4. Luckily, there’s a good resource for those of us in the field who are looking to expand our horizons.
The Cicso Learning Center offers a huge array of Cisco certification programs and training that will help get you ready for the real world applications of networking as opposed to the “book” knowledge most programs provide. Another plus is that there is a nice size userbase to lean on when you need a little help.
Take a look at their CCENT program, geared for those interested in getting in to Network management. There are some pretty cool tools on there (such as the binary game) and its a terrific place to start learning the biz for network management. *mental note, must strengthen network management skills*. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Ever wonder what your blog or website is really worth? I was sailing the interweb today and I came across an excellent link at OrangeInks which helps put a dollar figure on your hard work.
CubeStat does just that. Plugin your URL (or any for that matter) and wait a moment or two as it scours the web for information pertaining to your site. Once its done, you’ll be treated to visual feast of information including dollar value, income, page views, alexa/quantacast rating, dmoz listing information, page rank and more. Its a pretty detailed listing of information, including a somewhat out of date thumbnail of the site (DoG has the *OLD* blue theme, so you know its been a while!).
I was pretty pleased to see that Linuxtracker was worth more then 20k and Delusions was worth more than 5k. Those are pretty respectible numbers considering the amount of work thats gone in to them.
Anyone want to make me an offer??
Don’t forget about the ENTRECARD CONTESTS I’m running right now, you have the chance to win 3k in credits!! Also, if you haven’t Joined the Pepperjam Network and Received your $10 Sign On Bonus You’re missing out on a great opportunity to take your blogging to the next level!!
Solid. Strong. Nuts. Funny shaped leafs. All things you think of when you think of a mighty Oak. Standing tall, shading you on a hot summer day while you sip lemonade and play your guitar in hopes of wooing women. Right? Well, when thinking about these OaKs its more like good tunes, wonderful lyrics that really sing to you and a sound thats clean.
The OaKs have been around since about 2005 and have released a number of albums. Their latest, Songs for the Waiting, is the culmination of several years work and is perhaps one of the best new releases in the acoustic field today.
Why Amie St. Wednesday? Music is in everyones lives. It surrounds us even when we don.t it. This is a way to discover new artist, and share the artist that you enjoy listening to on AmieStreet.com. If you enjoy the music please support the artist. Amie St. Music Wednesday has no affiliation with AmieStreet.com and the opinion about the music and/or artist is the that of the postie.
Posted by mcangeli (Who am I?) on August 12th, 2008 | No Comments » | Aside
I was out cruising the intertubes today and I came across a post at Cromely’s World where he was talking about recycling an AC unit. Not one of the big ones thats tied in to a thermostat in your house, but a window unit, and how he had to PAY $50 to have it recycled. Somethings you get paid for (like copper) others you have to pay to recycle and I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if you could make money from your stuff? Thats when it hit me. Gazelle!!
I had come across a site that claimed to Buy Your Used Cell Electronics! Phones, Ipods, Cameras, Laptops & More! I thought it was a little good to be true until I checked it out. I could send them some old phones (Nokia e62’s) that had been replaced with blackberries or iPhones and I’d actually get about $30 per working unit. Granted, it doesn’t pay for the iPhone, but it covers one month of data service.
I was FLOORED!! I wanted to know what else I could push on them. Old Laptops. They’d give me $147 for my laptop. Granted, thats roughly 10% of what I paid for it originally, but its going on two years old and by todays standards is WAAAAAAAYYYYY out of date! Besides, with $147, I’m almost half way to the cost of a new eeePC or one of the smaller notebooks from HP.
It appears they take almost any kind of electronic you could throw at them as well. Cell Phones, MP3 Players, Digital cameras, GPS Units, Game Consoles (sell your PS3 for $200 and put that towards a wii!), camcorders, portable hard drives and satellite radios (just in time to pick up a dual xm/sirius radio). They’ll pay you for it! And if they won’t give you cash, you can still ship it to them free of charge for them to recycle (who knows, maybe they’re building a huge Transformer out of used GameCubes or something).
Its worth a look if you have old phones or computer stuff laying around. Who knows, maybe you can Cash In Your Old Gadgets and get that new model you’ve been eying at Best Buy…
When Michael Phelps trains for a competition like the Olympics, he really trains. Most days he swims four miles in preparation. Others he works outside of the pool on building muscle mass and endurance. The man is a machine and its no wonder that he’s on pace to set an Olympic record of 10 Olympic Golds in his career. Everyone could learn from Michael Phelps. He sets his goals and he works to accomplish them, much in the same way a blogger should.
Perhaps you started blogging for any number of reasons (I started because it sounded like fun). After awhile though, your original goals become outdated and often forgotten. It doesn’t hurt to reevaluate your goals every couple of months. Perhaps you reached that goal of 100 subscribers on feedburner. Maybe you average $100 a month from adsense for the past three months. Nows the time to step it up. Instead of posting once a week about your cat, post twice. Find new things to post about. Venture in to an area where you might be considered knowledgeable.
Much like Phelps and his Olympic team mates, we need to always be working harder on our blogs/sites. There’s always going to be someone with better grammar, a cooler layout or better plugins. If you keep the same site you’ve had since you started in 2001 because you’re used to it, things will over time become stale. Instead, push yourself to the limit.
It doesn’t hurt to reinvent yourself, as long as you’re not doing it weekly. The important thing is that you work hard. After all, PR and Alexa ranking don’t just fall from the sky. You have to earn them.
Don’t forget about the ENTRECARD CONTESTS I’m running right now, you have the chance to win 3k in credits!! Also, if you haven’t Joined the Pepperjam Network and Received your $10 Sign On Bonus You’re missing out on a great opportunity to take your blogging to the next level!!
There’s some pretty cool stuff on there (like the I pooted shirt) that my wife would kill me if I came home with. I like their collection of shirts and bobble head dolls. One of the cool features is that they even have a gift selection area where they have it broken down by price point. How sweet is that??
Just in time for back to school you can get free shipping on orders over $50 and you get a free gift when you use the code. Its like they’re paying you to shop there!!
Speaking of paying you, why haven’t you Joined the Pepperjam Network and Received a $10 Sign On Bonus yet?? Its free money for doing something you should be doing on your site ANYWAYS!! Where else can you advertise for jelly belly, MGM, Cartoon Network and more great advertisers??
Don’t forget the AMAZING EntreCard Credit Contests I’m having right now. Make sure to read the older posts to find out (like the post about the medals right below this one!)
So the Olympics have been underway for less than a week and China is out to an impressive lead with the gold medal count. Don’t worry though, Michael Phelps is doing his part to bring the US back (with two of the three golds around his neck). Its interesting to see the count and how the contries are stacking up against each other. Apparently the Chinese did the math and found out that they could take 119 gold medals in competitions with more than one medal at stake (like Gymnastics or WhiteWater) and they’ve been focusing on those competitions. So far it seems to have paid off.
I watched the opening on Friday and like many, I was very impressed. Of course, it took $300,000,000 to do it up that well, but the choreography, the scope and the overall production were well worth it. Very good. London is going to have a tough time to out do this one…..
In light of the olympics and in light of the already going on Entrecard Contest here (I’m giving away 2k credits) I’m going to give away 1000 more Entrecard Credits. All you have to do is guess the amount of medals (Gold, Silver and Bronze) that the US is going to walk away with. The Closest to the actual amount with out going over will win! Entries must be added to this post (in the form of comments) by 8/20/2008 and only *ONE* entry per person. The winner will be announced on the 25th!!
Posted by mcangeli (Who am I?) on August 8th, 2008 | No Comments » | Aside
If you’re like me, you hate it when something unknown takes your website down and you don’t know about it until its too late. On my other site, linuxtracker.org, the members are pretty quick to shoot me a twitter or an IM to let me know the site has gone tits up, however, on this one, its pretty much up to me hitting the site every so often to make sure that mysql and apache haven’t bogged down the server. Until now.
I was cruising around the web (its what I do) and I came across a great offer of Server Monitoring & Alerts from Just Uptime. The first month is completely free (for one site) and after that its a low $9.95 a month for monitoring. They’ll send me an email, they’ll shoot me a sms message, they let me know the site is down (I haven’t figured out how to make it play a strongbad song yet, but I’m working on it).
Now, I could work out something myself using the two servers I have to check each other, but what if, for some strange reason, they both decide to crash? Who’s checking who then?? Do I bother getting a third server to monitor the other two? Hardly. Its way easier to let someone else do it for me.
Besides, this way, I’m free to do other stuff. Who’s watching your server??
Also, I wanted to remind everyone of the ENTRECARD GIVEAWAY in progress where I’m giving away 2000 EC Credits to some lucky individuals. Follow the Link to find out how to win!!!
Ever since I was in high school I’ve wanted to be able to play the banjo. Most teenagers want to play something cool, the drums, guitar or saxaphone. Not me, I wanted to play the five string banjo like Earl Scruggs. I think it goes back to my first trip to Philmont and just sitting on the porch at Crooked Creek and listening to the camp staff pick away at the banjo in the rain. Something about that was cool (not to mention the suave plaid jacket in the album cover to the left!).
I finally got a banjo for Christmas two years ago and I picked up a couple of books on how to play and slowly tried to learn. However, being the non-musically inclined oaf that I am, I quickly got frustrated and finally convinced my love to sign me up for Banjo lessons.
I’ve been taking lessons from Jody Hughes for about 8 months now and while I am not the best, nor have I ever been accused of practicing too much (something I need to remedy) I get a little better each week. Below is a tune called Doug’s Tune. It was written by Doug Dillard and has been played everywhere (ok, on the Andy Grifith Show). If you want to hear what it really sounds like check out some of the other videos after my clip.
I’ve been working for online affiliate programs in one form or another for several years now. Back in January a new one started up and its been a pretty good source so far for advertising dollars. Even better now that Pepperjam Network is Now Offering a $10 Affiliate Sign On Bonus. Thats right. $10 for signing up with PepperJam.
PepperJam is a quickly growing ad network with advertisers like MGM, Cartoon Network, JellyBelly, BBC America and more. You can advertise through Text links or banner ads and their affiliate center is one of the coolest I’ve seen yet.
Pepperjam is the industry’s leading full-service internet marketing agency, assisting businesses launch and optimize three of the most important revenue channels for today’s e-commerce companies, search-engine marketing, affiliate marketing, and media planning and management. With a unique expertise in the unparalleled medium of search, an unyielding mastery of the pay-for-performance based world of affiliate marketing, and the most cutting-edge media buying capability anywhere, Pepperjam has the power to take your e-commerce strategy to the cutting-edge and beyond. What separates Pepperjam from the competition is years of consistent, proven success. The Pepperjam service model is built on a tradition of unrivaled results, which makes partnering with Pepperjam an aggressive yet fiscally sound choice for online businesses looking to substantially increase online sales and exposure.
There always seem to be support staff online to help with any questions and the advertiser offerings are some of the easiest to find and some of the most varied online. If you’ve been looking for an affiliate network to help monetize your blog or other websites, I’d give PepperJam a good hard look I mean after all, Pepperjam Network is Now Offering a $10 Affiliate Sign On Bonus. Join Today.
mcangeli
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