I have been using traffic exchanges for the last month, trying a basically free way to increase awareness of my blog and other websites that I have. The problem being, just about everyone else using this system is only trying to promote "work at home" or "invest now" pages, you see the same ones over and over again, some with different sponsors, some that actually come up with MY name on them asking me to join. I DO NOT like that at all. The ability of software these days is scary. How do they get my name?
So, if all we do is surf other members sites, are we not all really participating on a huge merry-go-round with no one new getting on board? Feels that way, and even if someone does join, it is not to help the others to make a profit but to promote their own site by mindlessly clicking the next icon or button or whatever to "view" the next site.
I have had many hits, but not one sale, I keep track of every site, and am becoming discouraged over this type of "advertising", there are millions of sites advertising the same things as myself.
I have read lots and lots on increasing page rank, but most sites that I would like to link to require a page rank of 3 or higher, which according to the experts you need good sites linking to yours to improve your rank, and how to do that when the good sites won't link without a higher ranking, what a mess!
So, back to traffic exchanges, most of them offer free to join, but then bother the hell out of you to buy some kind of monthly or yearly package, promote the referral programs, promise to pay out on your referrals, almost like the old pyramid schemes. then they show the same ads over and over 'cause so few members[?], though some promise "at least 100,000 or more members", the most hits I've had in day was 125....not bad ? Hah. hits mean nothing with sales, or feedback of some kind.
I shouldn't say all show the same ads, one had many different ads, some I had never seen. But, that site has too many requirements to earn credits and you can't equalize the credits between sites automatically, which I like, you do not recieve a good ratio and has a contest to earn more credits which would require surfing their ads for at least 8 hrs a day....no thanks.
another one has good ideas, but you are pretty much required to click on ads in members sites, the ratio is small and today all I could get the site rotator to do was show me the site urging me to buy more credits, buy more!! No thanks again. If I am not getting sales, why keep on using the system?
I did see two other blogs, took the time to read and comment on them, just because.
Yes, I do want to make money from home, but this method is not working. Not for me anyway, need hits, but need sales, too, not just lookie-loo's, and I'm sure everyone else says the same.
So, no more for me, I'm going to pursue other advertising venues, work on making my sites attractive and appealing, useful and interesting.
Research, research, research. How to be on top of a million trillion others, that is the question.

so today, uncle Ralph is trying to finish plumbing in the bathroom. always out of something even if he has been at the store 10 times, now he needs more copper pipe. meanwhile we haven't any water and i for one am filthy. he does work hard though, i shouldn't complain. but i do....not to him.
the ocean is roaring today, our weather has been so weird. 30 yrs ago i remember being told that "global warming" would be taking effect about now, and that person who taught me that seems to have been correct.
though back then the idea was put forth as the greenhouse effect i think. 30 yrs, long time to remember. or maybe the greenhouse effect would eventually have these repercussions if we didn't stop all the aerosol sprays, plastic manufacturing, etc. i do think that when those discussions were first started, our country went to plastic bags in the grocery stores, and no-one listened to the ramifications of that choice.
always the money thing, cheaper to make the bags and who cares about the environment. of course, the plastic bags were supposed to be a way to circumvent our waste of trees, but evidently we have tripped over a 5 dollar bill to pick up a dime.
aerosol spray's were stopped, and other forms of manufacture that were supposed to harm our environment, we went to smaller cars, better emissions, less impact on natural resoursessupposedly.
now we have massive suvs and the like and we suddenly have a fuel crisis.
remember when we had gas wars back 30 yrs ago? then, too soon after we had all the foreign small cars on the market and all the u.s. based car makers were manufacturing small cars so that we could save our fuel resources? remember? what the hell happened?
why are we still in danger today from global warming, because, and of course only my opinion, we did not cause this problem. sure, our behavior towards our planet has not been great, but do you honestly believe we caused this in just over 200 yrs?
this planet has gone through many changes, many cycles, and we were not around in any numbers most of the time to have affected any of those changes.
there is adequate evidence that the cycles this planet has gone through such as the dinosaurs dieing [and from what?] volcanoes erupting and causing atmospheric changes, meteors striking, causing more atmospheric changes, earthquakes from plates shifting, have nothing to do with mankind but with the normal cycle of life on a planet.
not to say we shouldn't recycle, drive less, concern ourselves more with saving our planet , we should. but all the controversy over our role in this crisis needs to be really looked at, and i mean thoughorly. what is really causing all these changes?
i was brought up to not use pesticides, to compost, recycle, burn what needs to be burned, never plastic or other foreign materials, be as earth friendly as possible by a man who was not a hippie or a fanatic of any kind, just a home-grown farm boy who belived we are responsible for our actions toward our earth, yet i'm sure i use products that should be banned, materials that we can not get rid of, waste food on a regular basis, and generally do not support earth as i should.
yet, i am positive that the person who taught me about global warming 30 yrs ago had the right thought, we are not totally responsible, and need to look to the future and prepare for this to be a way of life, something that is in the natural way of living on this planet.
we haven't come close to even figuring out how we all got here in the first place....
i've read many many sci-fi books on that subject, but who really knows? i really loved the well of souls series, made more sense than most.
anyway, what are we really doing to change the situation, and can we?
this process was in place before we ever started manufacturing our chemicals and additives and whatever else we have that people are using to blame human kind for this current situation.
we should all do the best we can, be careful in our use of availabe chemicals, be careful with what resources we have and try hard to educate our children of the fact that there may be a different living situation in the future.

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my list of pet peeves, tho i hate that term and want to find another, let's see:
anal perceptions of others...nope too long
hard to be accepting of other peoples idiocracies, nope not working
stupid antics of stupid people, nope again, probably points at me anyway
well fine, pet peeves it is then.
1: why can't people use the large area marked by a white line to turn into the place they are going? why do they stop in the travelling lane and then turn causing traffick to stop and almost causing wrecks? are they not aware? pull to the right darn it!!! then turn, and please, please, use your TURN SIGNAL, not WHEN YOU DECIDE TO TURN, before.
2: DO NOT call me at 12:00 a.m. and ask if you woke me up, no, i am 47 yrs old and out being a party animal, and all you want to do is ask what time the bar-b-que is three days from now......
3: do not come in my house, that has lumber stacked here and there and old nails on the floor , no walls around the bathroom area, wall studs exposed everywhere, hammers, nail gun, air compressor, etc., etc. and ask if we are remodeling, no we always live like this....
4: as i walk toward you in the store, and you watch me walk, i'm limping, listing from side to side, and i look at a piece of exercise equipment, and you offer your opinion that walking is the best exercise...well then...
5: if i have one male dog and one female dog and there are puppies in the basement, who do think those puppies call their mom? not the male dog!!! and you know our dogs gender. maybe not..nick male, chyna, female...figure it out. and please, DO NOT try to have the male dog feed the pups and wonder what is going on...
6: did you know there is a traffic ticket[hanging from a magnet from the stove hood, compliments of our daughter] on your stove? oh my god!! that damn stove, there go my rates.
7: do not spend three hours helping me plant flowers and then when you play"chase the ball" with the dogs on the flowerbed wonder why i get an attitude.
8: when you come over and are hungry, do not look in the fridge and inform me i haven't any food that you like to eat.
9: isn't chicken fairly generic? "i put your chicken in the shade" "it's a rooster"...... okay then.
10: do not show up in the morning, make a pot of coffee, pour one cup, leave it somewhere still full, till cold never drink any......and leave the pot on....
okay, enough for now, these all happened in the last week except the coffee thing, everyday occurence by my brother-in-law no matter how many times i mention how much aggravation that particular act causes.

nothing to add for today i guess. rebuilt the bathroom walls, got the shower in partially, has to be plumbed from underneath[ooohhh, spideritis], i myself will not go under the house, would have to be an emergency such as kid, dog, cat under there and stuck, otherwise, not going and even then would try to find someone else to go....spideritis, this whole family has it, call it arachnophobia if you want, but is different really. Spideritis means seeing a spider is okay, but having one on you anywhere gives you the hee-bee-gee-bees for the whole day, chills, goose bumps, creeeeepy crawlies anything that even remotely makes you itch is a spider, and things that won't make you itch but seem to, anything, always spider, crawling on you. Ever vacuumed a spider up and thought his FRIENDS might come after you? Or that the spider in the vacuum wasn't dead and would come get you for destroying his life? That is spideritis!!! Okay fine, weird stuff, but try and forget it....not happening!!!!

We own a boat, 17' Bayliner 120 hp. We didn't pay too much, around 1500, but I swear by now we have around 2000 into the darn thing! First breakdown was the outboards lower end, had line wrapped around the shaft, burned out, we to be towed in by a friend on his jetski. That one cost 350 for the new parts and 450 to have the rebuild done. And 3 weeks out of the water. Next, the starter went out when they were out on ocean had to be towed in by the Coast Gaurd, 3 days down and another 165. This morning the boat wouldn't run below 3000rpms, took 2 hrs to figure out it was a float in the carb. that was stuck....which probably means a new carb. eventually!

To continue the remodel saga: we had torn out the coat closet and the old built in gun cabinet, the existing wall behind the original tub/shower combo in order to create a larger bathroom upstairs. Hmmmm. Should have worked, only, the new shower came in and takes up all the room we just created! Damn it anyway, as small as it was to begin with. So now we are removing the outside wall in order to build an area for the new shower. Taking up porch space in order to do so but seems as if this will work. Better anyway! I should mention there is a homeowner involved who ordered the darn shower, tho she is generally pretty good, this was a mistake, but, we can fix this.

We are living in this home and remodeling at the same time....I mean major remodel! The first bathroom is completely out right now, no walls, tub/shower gone, old plumbing hanging out, waiting on a new shower. The old kitchen was enclosed, we took those walls out, put up a very large glue-lam and now you can see straight out to the ocean, the living room area already had 3 8x8 windows, so now since we are on the cliffs looks like we are right there on the ocean! There are beautiful oak and maple hardwood floors that had been hiding under 30 yr old carpet. We will re-finish those at the end of the project. The windows in the bedrooms are all old icky aluminium framed, replacing those with new vinyl. there have been a few setbacks, not too bad...but when my husband was removing the wall in the hall to enlarge the bathroom, a rats nest[huge] fell out on his head, which isn't that funny, but made for a great laugh! the bathroom downstairs hadn't been used in years and now we know why..we replaced the toilet, made sure the shower worked, tore out the other only, when you use the shower downstairs there is a huge water leak in the wall, all over the floor which luckily is concrete, but you can't get to the leak without tearing out the shower which obviously is not an option right now, our fridge is sitting in the middle of the kitchen pretty much, you have to push it around sometimes to reach a few of the drawers or cabinets, we need to tear out some cupboards to make a place for the fridge but first re-wire the outlets, so won't happen anytime soon, too much else going on. So there we are, the remodel life.

I read in the news today that many of our "officials" here in Oregon are stepping down from their posts because they feel the State is invading their privacy by requiring them to submit paperwork outlining their business interests and those of their immediate families. Now, the reasoning behind the paperwork is ensure there is not any conflict of interest when these "officials" are making decisions regarding our communities, cities, etc. Too, to make sure contracts aren't being rewarded to family members and that all transactions are above board.
By refusing to submit the required information looks to me like there are alot of guilty parties out there! How can it possibly be invasion of privacy? These are public "officials" that should disclose this information to ANYONE who asks, how often has the discovery been made of conflicts? Too often. I'm certainly not saying anyone is guilty, but sure doesn't look good to resign over this...

Another beautiful day on the coast. Lots of people down on the beach, walking dogs, or just themselves, fishing, clamming. A friend informed me the other day that there is some kind of action group trying to pass laws forbidding us to walk and play on the beaches. Supposedly we damage to many little sand dwellers while having fun. Can you imagine? What really gets to me about this kind of group, is this: what about walking anywhere, such as your lawn, the sidewalk, the forest, etc.? Anytime we step foot anywhere we are damaging another smaller creatures habitat. Do these people garden? Do they dig in their yards at springtime? Do they spray a wasp nest? The list goes on and on. Do these people not think about that? Are they incapable of understanding the broader picture? Just like people who want to save the forests, do they not live in a stick built home? Maybe not, but they are living somewhere in something that was built by basically destroying a resource of some kind. Or people who advocate wearing all natural clothing, or going completely vegan, another long list. Please do not get me wrong, I too believe in saving our planet, in recycling, composting, living as "Green" as possible but I believe in not being extremist, too. I think, therefor I am....

Maybe I can get on a roll here and write something interesting?!!?
Well, lets see, we have a cat whose name is Wander, had him for about 16 yrs now, still in great shape considering his permanetly broken tail and cancer ravaged ears. But, this cat has learned so much over the years, how to open cupboard doors, how to come up through the hole in the floor from replacing the plumbing, [fixed now, no hole], how to meow quietly, yes true, climb a ladder to access the attic, sleep with various species of animals he would, as a general rule eat, such as our birds or the kids' rats, when they had them, and yes, even leave the non-owned wild not wanted in the house mice alone which wasn't that great a thing as we really did not want those mice! Subsequently the non-pet mice replicated before we knew, and you may guess the rest on that! We can take this cat camping with us, he stays around the campsite. Rides in the car, walks on a leash if he needs to, raises the puppies to respect cats [old claw in the nose, ear whatever is handy to make the point training method] understands the word "No", will come when you call him by name and used to jump neatly into my arms on command, will kiss when asked, all this, yet. This cat who could learn all this is currently being fed on the bathroom counter so that the dogs do not scarf his food, in this house we are remodeling, stood meowing at the bathroom door last week to be let in and fed, only.....there were not any walls surrounding the bathroom! Go figure.
And yes, we have another bathroom.