My CentSports winnings are over $50

After several nice long winning streaks I've finally broke $50 on CentSports.  My plan is to keep accumulating my winnings until I reach $100 and then cash out $20.  I'll repeat this every time I reach a balance of $100.

Now all I need to win my way to $100.  If you would like to try your luck, click the link and become my crony.  Thanks!

Signed up for AdBrite

Many months ago I was kicked out of Google's Adsense because they claim that I had invalid clicks.  I tried to convince them that what ever had happened was not of my doing.  They rejected this and I lost that revenue source.  I was pretty unhappy.

So over the weekend I signed up with Adbrite to try to replace the Adsense revenue stream.  So far no earnings but I expect that to come over time.  I may have to tweak where the ads are on the web page in order to get the maximum effect.  I will leave the ads where they are for about a week before trying new locations.

The recent gas line explosion made me think

In reading about the explosion due to a gas line break in California, a thought occurred to me.  Most people don't have an action plan to turn to if they are in a crisis.  Part of the story was about a woman who returned home to discover it on fire and didn't know where to look for her father and husband. 

Of course the moral of the story is to have a place where you and your family can rendezvous. Multiple locations would be ideal.  Depending on the situation the type of crisis would dictate the location.  A very localized crisis could mean that you meet at a nearby restaurant.  While a larger disaster might mean you meet at a motel in a different state or maybe a relative's house out of state.

These are just a few ideas to get you started on a crisis action plan.  Happy disaster preparation.   

The benefits of Boost Mobile

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

Boost Mobile, although I don't personally use it, seems to be a cost effective way to own and operate a mobile phone.  Instead of a two year contract that most people end up getting when they purchase a new phone with Boost Mobile you can pay month to month and won't be surprised by overage charges when your bill comes in the mail.  You even have the option of monthly unlimited plans.  I'm not sure if they have family plans.  I'd be interested in finding that out.
With the Re-Boost option you can add funds to your account either on line, in person or pay by phone.  You can even setup recurring payment to your Boost Mobile account.

Boost Mobile has a wide variety of phones available.  One phone manufacturer that Boost Moble offers is Blackberry.  The Blackberry Curve is a beautiful phone with a full QWERTY keyboard and an enhanced web browser.  The browser teamed with Boost Mobile's unlimited connectivity to Facebook [at a special monthly price] shows why Boost Mobile is a powerful network for people interested in social networking.  With Boost Mobile you can keep your social networks up to date even on the go. 

Lazy summer coming to a close

I have not work very hard this summer.  And now I'm paying the price of having to work harder this fall to meet expenses.  So expect to see more SocialSpark posts in the coming weeks.  At least I hope to have the opportunity to create more SocialSpark posts.  Quite often this blog does not qualify to take an opportunity which is annoying.  I am also going to try to do more surveys.  Again I don't always qualify for a survey.  But I'll keep trying.

I also have a couple of other ideas that I'm starting to work on.  One will be a dynamic web site that just might keep you alive.  I'm pretty excited about it.  More on that when I get ready to launch it.

Thinking about dropping cable

Previously I mentioned that I was dropping the movie channels from my cable service.  I've enjoyed the lower monthly bill.  The next step would be to drop cable TV all together.  My newest TV picks up the local broadcast channels just fine.  And it has a PC port so I can plug a computer into the back so I can watch some of the cable channels from their websites. 

What I will probably do is get everything setup and test it for a weekor two before calling the cable company and dropping the TV service.

Here is a thought...use the library

Stunning thought I know.  I had just reread the first three books of the Pelbar Cycle series.  I've owned them for a number of years and just decided to read them again.  But after finishing the third one I decided that I wanted to finish the series.  My first thought was to use my Mturk earnings to purchase the books on Amazon.  But I've been saving that money for a power washer.  It then occurred to me that I might be able to find them at the local library.

I jumped on the Internet and navigated to the library's website and searched the catalog for Pelbar.  I did get a hit for the first book in the series.  But not the rest.  I noticed that they offered inter-library loans.  After clicking that link and doing another search I found book four at a university library that I could request it sent to my local library.  Very cool...now all I needed was a library card.  

I stopped by on my way to the grocery store and signed up for the card.  While I was there I browsed the stacks and found a Tom Clancy book that I had not read.  I checked it out and requested book four from the Pelbar Cycle.  It may be a while before I spend money on my reading habit again. 

My biggest CentSports wager to date.

My CentSports balance has been hovering in the $30 to $32 range for about a month.  Even though I've had a nice run or two of winning bets.  I always seem to go a little big and then lose.  Well this time I went bigger than normal while betting on the Netherlands-Uruguay soccer match. I bet $10 which was a little less than a third of my balance.  If Netherlands won [which they did] I would win $6.  I was starting to sweat when I heard the score was 1-1 at half time.

Now my balance is over $39.  My goal for the end of July is $42.50

I tend to make a bunch of small bets in the hopes that the majority are winners and will move my balance upward.  If you would like to try your luck, click the link and become my crony.  Thanks!

Another expense reduction

The twelve month deal that Charter Communications had given me just ended.  My bill went from like $100 to $150.  Ouch.  I called them to see what other deals they might have available.  They had deals on internet and TV but not for the movie channels.  So I dropped the movie channels.  This will save me $26 per month.  Sorry HBO it was fun while it lasted.  In the end my bill will be around $90 per month.  I might pick up Netflix for $8.99 per month for my movie fix.

I'll keep looking for areas to reduce expenses as well as earnings opportunities.   

I need to blog more

I have been slacking from my blogging.  It seems like life has gotten a bit crazy.  Time seems to slip by.  And when I try to write a post I come up blank.  So today I decided to write a post about not being able to write a post.  Ok I'm running out of steam.  Ideas are getting murky.

Leaving on a road trip

Leaving on my annual spring break road trip.For the third year in a row we will be heading to Myrtle Beach, SC.  I'll be meeting Beach Guy down there.  We will be staying at the Marriott resort again, right on the beach.  The surfing is not the best but there is a lot to do.  I'm guessing that there are good spots because there are several surf shops...I just don't know where they are.
Can't wait to get there.

Free pizza samples

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Tony's Pizza. All opinions are 100% mine.

I just received several coupons for free Tony's Pizza. They are part of a marketing campaign through Social Spark.  They are offering coupons to bloggers to try their pizza and then to blog about the pizza.  When I heard about this opportunity I jumped on it.  As America's Beach Bum I almost always take advantage of freebies like this.

I usually eat more frozen pizza than delivery.  I find that frozen pizza to be much more economical than delivery.  I might invite some fellow beach bums over after a day of beach volleyball to watch a movie or go for a swim.  It is easy to grab a pizza or two or three out of the freezer and pop them in the oven.  And it won't kill my budget.  Buying three pizzas from a pizzeria could run around thirty dollars and that would bust my budget.  Being a beach bum is not a high paying gig so keeping to a budget is very important.

After cooking pizzas for my friends I pull them out of the oven pull the rotary pizza cutter out of the knife drawer and slice each pizza into eight wedges.  I usually prefer pop [yes I said pop...not soda] with pizza.  If it is a movie night we head to the basement where I have my big TV setup.  We will camp either on the couch or the bean bag chairs and settle in to watch the movie.  Pizza and a movie with friends, life is good.

Made my Twitter goal

Yes, I finally made my Twitter goal of 100 followers.  I can potentially receive offers to pay me to tweet ads.  So far I have not had any offers.  Hopefully soon I'll have some offers.  I've set my price at $1.00 per tweet.  If you are interested in this program you can click the ad in the sidebar to join.  Of course, by clicking the ad you will become a referral of mine allowing me to earn when you earn money from tweeting.

So far I have one referral but have not earned any money from the referral.

Spring break planning

Planning another spring break road trip.  I've secured accommodations in Myrtle Beach, SC for the third straight yea,. invited a a few fellow beach bums and created a packing list.  We are hoping that the weather will be good.  Perhaps we will catch a few sets if the water temperature is warm enough.   

As in years past we will be staying at the Marriott right on the beach.  The rooms are ocean front and might over look the pool.  At least I hope it does.  Can't wait to leave.

Surfin' Sid-America's Beach Bum T-shirts

I've just opened a merchandise shop on printfection.com.  I hired a young man from the Phillipines to create a logo for me.  Once the logo was created all I had to do was create my shop at printfection.com and upload the image.  Voila! I'm in business.  I hired the young man through odesk.com and he made the logo very quickly.  I hope to sell enough shirts to pay for the logo.   

Watching the Super Bowl

I'm hoping the the Saints can win this one.  Not really a big fan of either team but the city of New Orleans could use the good news of a Saints victory.

As the Saints go up 24-17 with less than six minutes to go it is looking pretty good.  The half time show was very cool.  I love The Who!  Does that make me old?

Ok back to watching the game.

Twitter Goal

I've set a goal for myself of 100 followers on Twitter.  At that level of followers I would have the opportunity to do Sponsored Tweets.  Since Adsense has dropped me I am scrambling to replace that revenue source.  And I think that Sponsored Tweets is an easy way to fill a portion of that income shortfall.

The two hurdles to getting into Sponsored Tweets is 100 followers and 100 tweets.  As of last night I had 123 tweets and 65 followers.  Today I hope to add a link to allow my blog readers an easy way to follow me on Twitter.  That should help me reach my 100 follower goal.

Another way that I'm trying to gain Twitter followers is to find interesting people on Twitter and following them and hopefully they will follow me back.  This strategy seems to work ok...not everyone follows me back but that is part of the process.  Look for my Twitter goal updates soon. 

Amazon Associates

My previous post's Amazon ad was created with a Blogger tool that became available once I selected Amazon Associates in the Blogger dashboard under monetize.  I've had an Amazon Associates account for about a year so I didn't have to set up a new account.

After linking my Blogger account with my Amazon Associates account I can quickly place ads on the side of my blog and within my posts.  In fact there is a tool right next to the field that I am currently typing in.  Since I've been playing a lot of Modern Warfare 2 recently I'll type that into the search field and then I'll click on the "Link+Image" button.  And the ad below is automatically added to this post.  I think that is pretty cool.  It'll make posting ads to PSX Gamer soooooo easy. 

Happy New Year!

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