Pauls Rants & Revelations

For those of you who don’t know, I am in a medieval renactment group called the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). In it, we do all kinds of things that some people think are weird. But we also fight.

And not like play fighting, like with broom sticks (although that is allowed). We fight with rattans, swords, seige engines, and we have wars and battles and the whole nine.

We also have archery, which is my focus in the society. I’ve been doing it for about 5 years now and its been great fun. Although this weekend, I had a not wholly unexpected turn of events. This weekend was an event called Acorn War (and yes, there were 60 or so people on a war field beating the crap out of each other; it was great fun). Also during the event, there was a tournament to see who will be the next defender of the area know in the society as Mountains Edge.

The tournament took all day Saturday and consisted of many different types of shoots, but in the end I emerged victorious! I had the highest cumulative score and the highest number of shoots won so I won two ways. There were about 15 others shooting for the defendership also but I beat them all!

What does this mean, you ask? Basically, I have to stand in court behind the Mt Edge seneshal (the leader of the area) and look intimidating next to the heavy defender, equestrian defender, A&S defender, and bardic defender. That, and I get free admission to Mt Edge events (bonus).

So, that was my weekend. What did you do?

- Cheers

Sorry for the lack of posts in recent weeks. I’ve been busy with work and with going to SCA events all summer so my posts are rather sporatic.

Anyways, things are starting to calm down again so I can start posting more regularly since there are lots of new developmenrs on all fronts in the chaos that is my existence.

Stay tuned!

-Cheers

Since my wife works at Nike (bonus) she gets access to all these really nifty things. Yes, she gets cool clothes and shoes and such, but mostly its the Nike events we like.

And so it happens we have a very energetic 6 year old boy and Nike has a Youth Triathlon planned. Convienent timing for sure. We told him about it and he was all fired up to do it.

The race was 2 laps in the olympic size pool, a 1.5 mile bike ride, and a half mile run. I thought this was a lot for a 6 year old but it turns out I was wrong (which often happens when I think). During the pool section he was in the middle of the pack and doing well. He sprinted out to his bike and took a bit longer than I though was needed to change into his shirt and shoes and get going, but he was off in good time.

I didn’t see the bike portion because it went all the way aroung campus but I was there at the second change point to see him off to his run. It was 2 laps around the olympic track (are you spotting a theme here) and on the second lap he kinda half-walked half-strutted, but still did really well (somewhere in the middle i think). They didnt have a first or second place, but each participant got a really nice bronze medal (solid bronze) with the youth games insignia on it.

I can’t say when I’ve been more stoked to be his dad. We were so proud of him I irritated my coworkers when I told them. As a treat (and because we were planning on it) we got him a Nintendo DS since he was asking for like 6 months. All in all it was a great day to be him. Pictures after the jump.

- Cheers

Today is my little girls birthday. She is now officially 3 years old (versus the 3 to were were saying she was to get a cheaper rate at the day care).

She certainly is taking a liking to girly things too. Everything is pink and Hello Kitty and I really am wondering if I will ever survive such an age. I guess only time will tell.

We went to the sweet park in Portland for a nice b-day picnic which was really quite fun. She got a lot of neat games and clothes and a couple instruments that are sure to drive mom and I crazy. But other than that we had cake and a nice picnic and she had a lot of fun with her brother and cousins.

-Cheers

So after a few stressfull months of work, my wife thought it would be a neat idea to give me a present.

And so it happened the other day that we were driving dow. To one of her friends house to pick up it present. She tried to keep me in suspense but I ended up guessing where we were going.
To pick up a brand new kitten that I have been wanting for a long time.

Her friend take in strays and after a vet visit they are put up for sale. There were a number of them there but one stood out from the others. A cute little grey stripes ball of fluff that was just begging to be taken home.

“I shall call him Tom” I decreed. And so it was done.

I can’t say how groovy it is that she would do that for me. And even though she said she hates cats, I can tell that she was digging Tom to.
And now for some pics.

- Cheers

If anyone has read The Mist by Stephen King, then they could see how interesting this could be as a movie.

The premise is that a scattered group of townsfolk are trapped in a super market when a mysterious mist (hence the name) rolls in and brings with it some, well, unfriendly things.

I wont spoil it for you (although the trailer does a good job of it for me) but it does remind me of time when a buddy of mine and I were heading through a somewhat dangerous part of L.A. when we got cornered by a group of gangsters. This ‘friend’, as I refer to him in type now, unceremoniously pushes me forward toward the group, vaults the wall we were against, and disappears into the alley. I was seriously standing their with a classic ‘what the fuck’ expression at the behavior of my friend; enough so that the gangsters were even saying “Man, thats fucked up.”

Turned out that they were only playing, and let me use a phone to call a real friend to come and get me. It was an hour before she showed up but my and my new gangster friends passes the time by playing Super Punch Out on the SNES (at which I sucked at).

OK. Enough reminising. If you are interested in it, I would suggest reading the book first as the book is always better then the movie. But if you just like movies (or cant read, which if you cant then why are you reading this post?) then by all means just see the flick. Either way you won’t regret it. Until, that is, you go to sleep that night, anyways

-Cheers

At the time of this writing, Friday 9:15 pm, I am sitting in Barnes and Noble waiting for 11:15 to come around so I can purchase my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.

The crowd here is, to say the least, eclectic. There are many folks from all walks of life from young to old and from normal (like me) to the entirely too bizarre (such as the teenager dressed like Draco Malfoy sitting next to me; his name is Cory). There are also at least 100 young women dressed in Hogwarts colors whose pseudo-school uniforms would have been frowned upon at a strip club.

You just gotta love the bookstore.

Anyways, I ran out of battery power so I moved over to “geeks corner” where the wall plugs are. Most of these chaps (and one lady) are IM-ing their mates on the east coast as they already have copies and are giving them a chapter summary every few minutes. Im trying to ignore them but its hard when every so often a “No way” or “I cant believe it” escapes my would-be HP comrades.

But enough about me (for now) and more about the book…. What the hell am I going to say about the book?! I haven’t even gotten a copy of it yet. I’m not telepathic you know.

So far its been, well, a long ass wait. Ill post more when I actually get the book (or someone dies from the excitement; which ever comes first).

-Cheers

*Update: It is now 11:15 pm and they are starting to line up the first purchasers (A – C). Seeing as I am have an “I” on my wristband, I think Ill just keep re-reading Starship Troopers until they call it.

**Update: It is now 1:30am. I have been standing in line for 2 hours and have, finally, obtained my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I am sitting in the Starbucks next door in a comforatable armchair waiting for my frappichino. I intend to read the entire book this weekend so no time like the present to begin.

On a side note; I can now understand all those wack-jobs who were dressing up and cursing each other in the isles. It is a pretty good book and, were I 15 years younger, would probably have put on a dementor outfit as well.

Well, to be more clear, Payperpost Direct is, as the name suggests, a more direct method of paying bloggers to blog on their blog (say that 3 times fast).

For those who don’t know, PayPerPost is a great way to make money blogging. They pay your to do what you do anyway; review or write about services and products and give your opinion.

Anyways, Payperpost Direct is even better. Normally they charge a 35% fee for posts; as in the amount of money you get is 65% of what is paid by advertisers. This is far less than other companies charge but still too much in the opinion of the PPP folks. So they launched their Direct service which works thusly:

1. You put a badge on your site stating how much a review will cost on your blog
2. Someone clicks on the badge on your site, fills out the form and sends it
3. If you accept it, you just make the post and collect your money (less fees)

I say most of it because you get 90% of the revenue from it. PPP takes 10% for processing fees (half of which goes to Paypal for their fees) and that is it. So if you say a post on your site is $100, you get $90 of it. Pretty simple, huh?

This is better than most of the paid services I have seen in that their fees are less and their opps are a little more accurately targeted for your blogs content. That, and they are always coming out with better services at least once a month (sweet).

The Direct service can be compared to the services of Review Me; but instead of putting up a rather hideous badge and loosing up to half of your “advertised rate” you get more from PPP. This is good in that if you really only want to charge $50 for a review, you can just put in $55 with PPP Direct. Othewise, you would have to put in $100 with other services, which will only turn away customers.

If you havent heard of Payperpost before now, check them out. And if you are a Postie, definitely check out this service. I’m currently trying to gauge how much to charge for a review here, but its tough. I think $1000 is a fair price, but somehow, I can’t see myself getting may review that way.

Thoughts on prices are welcome in the comments. And if any of you use the Direct service, let me know how its going.

-Cheers

Posting! Actually, paid posting. I have been using Payperpost, a blog marketing service, for the last few months now and I have to say I’m digging it. Ive made a little under $100 for all the posts that I have done (about 10 or so) and the total time I have used was about 2 hours total for all of those posts. Mostly I have used the money to buy nights out for the family, but I have picked up some books and such for me as well.

Also, from the PPP forums I have found a good many tricks and tips about getting better posts and all around good writing info. A lot of the posties are quite good writers and really enjoy giving out their knowledge (and I, strange as it may seem, enjoy using it). I have even made a few friends among the posties and we always enjoy trying to out-do each other for writing the best posts.

If you get the chance, or want a little extra cash, head on over and sign up. Its a great way to earn some extra cash and perhaps learn a thing or two.

-Cheers

I have been using Sponsored Reviews for a few weeks now. And although my public profile isn’t exactly mind blowing, the service they offer is one of the best as far as paid-to-blog services go as they actually let you negotiate on the price of a review. This coupled with their well thought out and help tips (more about that in a sec), makes them a force to be.. well, blogged! (OK, that was probably as stupid sounding to you as it is to me, but it sounded funnier in my mind.)

One of the articles that they have just posted is “27+1 Tips for Building and Maintaining a Blog Audience“, which covers, in detail, helpful advice and tips for those of use not blessed with the mammoth sized and rabid readership of sites like Endgadget or ProBlogger.

Some of the information I found to be pretty “Well, duh!” type stuff. most of the tid bits of knowledge though I found to be quite interesting. In particular, the section on post length was helpful as I tend to ramble on about things without regard for my readers time constraints. Another bit was about not alienating your audience. This isn’t usually a problem for me as people either hate me (most) or love me (much less than most), but letting some success go to you head is often the downfall of a good thing (see Microsoft, file sharing, Britney Spears, etc) .

Aside from the advice that SR givea out, there are several comments on the article that also make a lot of sense and can be useful when going about your review or rant. I’ve read what was up there, but I’m sure there will be more by the time you get to reading it, and most of it was pretty good.

In semi-short, its a great read and a useful resource for those just getting into blogging or those that are old hands at it. It never hurts to get back to the basics , even if you’re an “uber blogger”, and it is always nice to get a helping hand when starting something.