Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Pupsickle Contest

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It wasn’t hard to pick my latest renter Pupsickle. Erin lives in the land of the midnight sun and I enjoy reading about life in her beautiful frozen land. If you look through her site you’ll find some great pictures of Alaska’s ice sculpture contest, her dancing dog, vacation pictures and so much more. I like the way Erin writes about life. I particularly enjoyed one of her recent posts “Things I know for sure” . It’s humorous, and I’m sure we can all related to a few of the items on her list.

Contest:

I’ll give you a little incentive to visit Erin’s site, although I think that when many of you get there and actually start reading her site you won’t really need the push.

Visit Pupsickle and then send me an e-mail telling me what vegetable she loves to torture her husband with, and your bl0gmad user name. My e-mail can be found in the upper left hand column under “about me”.

**Hint** read her post titled: Update (March 21, 06)

On Friday March 31st, I will put all the names of those who have entered, and given the correct answer, into a hat and randomly select THREE winners.

If you are not already a member of bl0gmad please click on one of the links above and go register. You’ll get a lot of hits to your site and will likely get some regular readers as a result of joining the site so it’s a win win situation.

Thank you for all of the comments on my last post. I believe it’s a site record! Just to be clear though- I love writing and I have been enjoying the bl0gging format and it’s ease of use. As one of my commenters put it- it’s “the peripheral side of blogging” that got to me. I know visitors and regular readers will eventually come even if I don’t surf my brains out at all the traffic sites. it’ll just take a lot longer.

I just got a little bit down because I’ve been spending so much time doing the “peripheral” activities that it started to take away from my enjoyment of actually writing new posts for my site. I too have found some great sites while surfing on the various traffic engines and I wouldn’t have found them if I hadn’t have been surfing. There are pro’s and con’s to everything and I suppose yesterday I was seeing and feeling more of the negative side, perhaps more than I ever had before.

I’ve also been feeling absolutely horrid the past three or four days and that has got me more than a little down. BTW it takes a LOT to get me down. As my few regular readers might know I have Crohn’s disease which is an inflammatory bowel disease. It’s painful, life changing, occasionally embarrassing, and sometimes life threatening, and on top of that it’s name sucks!

I’ve been in so much pain of the last few days that I’ve taken more pain medicine than I ever have in the past. Mind you, thanks to my doctors stupidity I’ve only had pain medicine available to me for the last two months but that’s another rant.

Anyway- I think I have another partial bowel obstruction. I’m a nurse- I know the signs, and I’ve experienced it several times in the past so I’m pretty sure that’s what is going on. I also know from both my work and my past experience that unless it gets really bad or becomes a total blockage that if I were in the hospital they would mainly pump be full of I.V. fluids, perhaps up the meds I’m already taking and just keep an eye on me. I might be being both a stupid nurse and a stupid patient right now but I am NOT going to the hospital. Not yet. If it gets worse I definitely will. It’s just two blocks away.

One pro of having this problem- perfect way to lose weight. I’m living on water and broth right now. One con- PAIN!

I’m mainly only telling you guys this because:

1. it helps explain my mindset from yesterday a little bit better.

2. There is a chance that I might have to go to the hospital and if I do I will likely be admitted. This could delay the contest that I’ve just started. Don’t worry- I’ll draw names when I return if that happens. But it won’t – right?

3. This is my bl0g and while I really don’t want to make it a Crohn’s or “living with pain” bl0g, I am going to talk about what I’m going through on occasion mostly because this disorder has become my life in the last year and a half. In fact I just got put off work for another four months as a result of what I’m going through. So every once in a while I’m likely going to bring it up.

Ok, enough of that! Check back late this afternoon or sometime this evening. I made an interesting discovery Friday evening and I’d like to share it with my readers.





Waste of Time?

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I’m starting to wonder if bl0gging is just a waste of my time. I don’t mean bl0gging itself. I enjoy writing. It’s all the other stuff that’s making me feel this way.

I’m spending so much time surfing to earn credits that I’m not getting much else done. What am I earning credits for? So that people can look at my site for 20 to 30 seconds? Are they reading it? Some are, but probably most aren’t.

I’m also spending time looking for places to “buy space” from. In the past three days I’ve put in an amazing 29 bids to buy space on other sites for a week for this site and my other site – Odd Planet. Of those 29 bids, perhaps 22 bids were for this site. I managed to secure 2 spots. Neither of them for Tricia’s Musings.

The whole point of “buying space” on someones site is so that your own bl0g can get a few more visitors. Ones who actually mean to come and visit so that they can see what your site is about. So I spend some time checking on the sites that I bid on.

  • I check their history.
  • Did the other sites that they rented to get any hits?
  • Did the site owner at least mention your site once?
  • How does the amount of credits they are charging to rent their space compare to the amount of visits their renter got?

There is no way that I’m giving someone 50 of my hard earned credits if they have a past history of their renter only getting one or two hits for the whole week. Especially if they didn’t even mention their renters site at least in passing to try to get their visitors to see the site. If I like a site, and it gets at least 5 visitors for every 20 credits they charge to rent space, and has at least a one line mention of their renters site I’ll put a bid in.

So, as you can see, to have put 29 bids on sites in the past three days takes me some time because I really check each site out carefully. Then to not even get one bid accepted for this site, well, that makes me feel like I’m wasting my time.

This also makes me feel like my bl0g isn’t good enough. I know that’s probably not the case. The sites I’m bidding on are getting more than just one bid, and unfortunately Tricia’s Musings just isn’t being chosen. 22 times in a row. Still it does make me wonder if there is something wrong about this blog that I’m just not picking up on yet.

To add to this feeling I’ve had a run of bad luck on the Battle of the Bl0gs lately too. When I first changed this sites theme a week or so ago I started winning battles for the first time. Strange isn’t it? The content didn’t change but look did and suddenly my site was a winner. However my luck changed again. I’ve been putting both my sites in battles the last two or three days and I think I’ve only won twice.

Between losing my bids and battles, and spending a very large chunk of time surfing to earn more and more credits, I’m starting to ask myself just what am I doing.

Is it worth it? Am I getting any regular readers by doing all of this?

Perhaps I’ll just sit on my nice big pile of credits and stop trying to give them away to other sites for a small piece of their bl0g.

Does anyone else feel this way from time to time?

Gurgles and growls

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Does your body ever make noises that make you wonder just what the heck is going on? No … I’m not talking about gas!

In my case I’m talking about my stomach and upper digestive tract. Every time I take a drink of something I can hear it- very loudly, gurgle it’s way down to my stomach. Then it errrrps and eorrrrs for a while. Same kind of thing happens when I eat. It’s not your normal stomach growls- like when you are hungry.

It’s almost like my abdomen is talking. Talking very very loudly! This goes on for hours- pretty much from the time I get up in the morning and take my first meal until well after the last meal of the day. Grrrrrrr, urpppp, eoooooooooow. It’s like I have a baby dinosaur in my tummy, or at least the sounds it makes is what I imagine a baby dinosaur would make.

It’s probably happening because my insides are inflamed and narrowed … but it’s so loud! My husband can hear it from across the room. I’m not embarrassed by it … well, a little when I’m at work and taking care of a patient. I just tell them I’m hungry, even though it does not sound like hunger growls. Mostly I find it amusing. It’s as if my stomach is having a conversation with me.

So- does your body make noises that you either find amusing or that you find very embarrassing? (again NOT gas!)

And finally-

Lydia tagged me!

The rules:

List seven songs you’re into right now. No matter the genre, whether [or not] they have words, or even if they’re any good, they must be songs you’re really enjoying right now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs, then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

Ok. None of these are current songs. I haven’t been listening to the radio lately, but I have been listening to my CD’s, mp3’s, and my husband practicing song after song on his guitars …. so here goes:

Beautiful Day – U2
Daniel – Fuel
Seven Nation Army – White Stripes
Outside – Staind
Psycho Killer -Talking Heads
Lunatic Fringe – Tom Cochrane
Seasons in the Sun – Terry Jacks

Now, to tag 7 people? Hmmmm I’m still kind of new to the blogging world and don’t know that many of you yet. Forgive me if you don’t like being tagged? Please?

Pajama Mama

Pupsickle

Vandelay Industries

Taste the World

Whatchu Tawkin Bout

PlusUltra

Echo Mixed Nuts

The sites above are all very good sites. Visit them and see if they played the tag game. 🙂

Need some ideas

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So, did everyone go out and have some fun on St. Patrick’s Day? If you did- How are you feeling today? 🙂 I image some of you are barely functioning.

I didn’t celebrate St. Paddy’s day this year. I didn’t even have a drink! Shame on me- I’m part Irish. I’ve even got the traditional auburn hair and occasionally hot temper to prove it. I should have gone out and had some fun. Oh well, at least I won’t have a hang-over. 🙂

We can’t really afford to go out on the town and party right now anyway, nor did I feel much like it. I’ve been off work due to illness for four months now. I’ve been getting sick pay from my workplace, but it’s not as much as my regular working salary. I’m glad to have the sick pay although, in one week it will run out. I’ll then have to apply for medical coverage from Unemployment, and that money will likely be a little less than my sick pay.

What I really need is to start feeling better soon so I can get my life back on track. Unfortunately I just don’t seem to be getting any better.

I guess what I really need to do right now – other than get better! – is to find a way to make some money from home.

My husband is a talented musician, he plays 13 instruments. I wish he had chosen a career in music so he could use his talents to his advantage. He choose not to pursue a career in music after touring with a few bands as a teenager. He didn’t like the lifestyle after seeing how it affected some of his band mates, and he thought that his love of playing music would eventually die if he did it professionally. He’s content to play for his own enjoyment, and being the life of the party whenever he choose to play at gatherings. He has started giving guitar lessons though, and I’m hoping that that will bring us a little bit of extra income.

As I sit here worrying about money I’m also thinking I’m pretty good at procrastinating. I was asked to write an article for a magazine two weeks ago. The due date is April 1st. I stand to make some pretty good money if they decide to use the article but I haven’t written it as of yet. I do have all the background and research done. I just have to write it. Tomorrow- I will definitely write it tomorrow!

I’m eagerly awaiting my Google Adsense pin number as well. I’ve finally made enough money on my four websites to enable me to receive a check from Google, but I can’t start the process of getting paid by them until the pin number arrives. I know that I can’t really rely on Google Adsense to bring in much income, but one of my sites has been doing very well, and it’s picking up monthly. I can’t count on it to pay the bills, but hopefully it will bring in some extra spending money.

I’ve been thinking that I could possibly make graphics for people. Banners, or headers for their sites. I’ve made websites for others in the past, and have 10 years experience running my own websites – which includes marketing them and getting them to the top of the search engine listings for their topics. What else? I’ve dabbled at touching up old photographs with great success and have restored a number of ancient pictures for friends. I have a full complement of graphic software including Firefox and Adobe Photoshop to work with. I also have a Wacum tablet which helps me do fine art work on the computer. I think if I put my mind to it I could put all of these skills and resources together and make something of it.

What else can I do to make some money from home while I wait to go back to work? Do you have any ideas for me? I’d love to get some feedback.

The Pajama Mama

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I had a very hard time deciding who to rent my space to this week. I found all the bidders to have interesting content and I enjoyed them all. So how did I pick this weeks renter Ms Pajama Mama? With great difficulty!

My first thought was- ok, they are all great contenders, how do I pick? I wonder which blog is the youngest and could use more traffic? I mean- that’s why we are renting space on other sites and offering space to others isn’t it? Well, it turns out that all the sites that wanted to be my room-mate this week are fairly young. I think the oldest blog was 9 months old- started in May 2005, and the youngest just started up in February from all appearances.

I eventually decided on the Pajama Mama< because she is promoting a wonderful cause in her latest post. She has three children - two of which happen to be affected by Down Syndrome . March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day, and this of course is the cause that she is promoting. She discusses some of the ins and outs of caring for children with this special condition, including periods of self doubt as a mother. When I was growing up there was a much older boy with Down Syndrome on our street and he was always such a joy to be around. Very caring, funny, thoughtful. As a nurse I also know that people affected by Down Syndrome also tend to have ongoing- often serious medical problems. The Pajama mama may face some daunting times in the future, but she will also have a large amount of joy in her life by having adopted these two girls. So between her promotion of a good cause, and ongoing posts about her three children, fostering and adoption her site caught caught my eye as the one I would rent to this week. So go give my last renters site a visit and learn more about World Down Syndrome day as a result while you are there. :) As is my tradition, I'll give the other bidders a little love and mini-article: Pupsickle is a site created by a woman living in the cold cold north- Fairbanks, Alaska to be exact! Some of her posts cover events that are specific to her area- such as the world ice art championship and weird weather, moose cookies, and other posts discuss her dancing poodle and her latest post on how her dog actually performs surgery on various objects. Visit her site to see some wonderful photos and read some interesting stories. Vandelay industries - an eclectic site. Articles the latest movies and hot television shows- I'm not really big on tv show articles but I'll read his articles of shows I don't even watch because the writing is so humorous. Right now he's in mourning for Tony from the Soprano's and hoping that it just ain't true! He also writes about general topics- such as why he just bought shampoo for the first time in over 3 years. Check out his list of "20 things that I don't care about". I'm surprised he didn't get more comments for that one since I'm sure there are a number of people that either really care about or love some of the things that he doesn't care about- or who would tend to agree with him. Go visit and see if you agree with his list or not and let him know why. Taste the world - Great writing- some humorous posts that involve her latest PMS experience, adventures at the hair dressers. She's had some interesting experiences too- read about her adventures in learning to fly a plane AND a helicopter. One cool lady I tell ya. Read her Dear John letter to Yahoo Hosting (March 11th), it's hilarious. :) Gee- I'm still in her March posts and I could give praise to most of them. Go visit her site for yourself and see what I mean. Whatchu tawkin bout - A very well written site. Her latest post is about teaching a large group of 8th graders (she's a teacher of course) how to do the Hustle. Complete with the actual music if you choose. I want pictures of those lessons. Her dog has been diagnosed with cancer and she writes about that in some of her posts and about how she's trying to give her beloved pet a quality life. There are a variety of topics to choose from - troubles with her hot tub, getting to travel for teachers conferences, in-law troubles ... Find out what her "burning Itch" is by visiting her site.

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