We certainly couldn’t say that our blog is focused. Three categories comprise most of our interests, but even that is far too broad for many potential readers. Readers like to have the same type of content day in and day out. Our blog is a stream of consciousness that bounces across too many subjects. Still we have found a few die hard readers and many readers will find one or two stories to their liking and then go about their way.

When we first added ads from Google to our site, we were far to concerned about how the ads would look on the blog. We didn’t want them to be distracting from our stories. What a ridiculous notion. There is really no point in adding ads to your site unless you are pushing ads directly in front of your readers. We still aren’t fans of popup advertising but we do believe in making our ads prominent on our site. The reality is advertising is woven through everything we do or see on a daily basis. Don’t be afraid to put your ads in front of your readers. They are used to advertising and won’t leave your site because of advertising as long as you use some restraint.

So, how much can you make? It depends on your audience and the traffic to your site. This past month we received our first check from Google for just over $100.00 which is the minimum check they will issue. So how long did it take? About three years (laughing).

If you intend to run a blog or site and make substantial money from advertising you must make your ads prominent. You also must make absolutely sure that you stay on topic, preferably a single topic. We don’t believe that the topic is necessarily important. However, we can tell you that some ads will result in a penny or two, while others result in several dollars per click.

Stay focused and have fun. Maybe some day we will cover our hosting cost.

Perfectly mummified even though every indicator suggests that she should have decomposed a century ago. She was exhumed 3 separate times and the results were the same every time. Unbelievably intact, very small changes, unaccountable state. All sworn statements make you wonder how she has basically remained unchanged since the day she died. The smell? None, unless you can account for the scent of flowers.

St. Bernadette had 17 separate encounters with the Virgin Mary appearing to her. One of which told her to dig in the dirt and a spring began to flow. The spring continued to flow and is the source of many miracles.

Her last miracle may indeed be the unusual circumstances surrounding her body’s condition in over a century since her death.

Full details can be found at http://www.catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes/bb_bernadette_body.htm

Present day picture of St. Bernadette.

To be clear. I voted for Kasich and I still stand behind that decision. I also oppose Senate Bill 5. Strongly.

But tonight I am frustrated. I am frustrated that protesters have decided that it is OK to protest at the governor’s house. Governor Kasich doesn’t even live in the traditional Governor’s mansion. He lives in a private residence in Westerville to stay close to his daughter’s school. Is it alright to protest at his home? Absolutely not. This is not the same as showing up at his workplace. Protesters are turning into lynching mobs and are degrading themselves with these antics. Our politicians are acting across the board as children and I’ll be the first to admit that I am frustrated. But there needs to be a social limit to our debates.

Let me phrase it differently from the stand point of a teacher.

If a parent didn’t agree with your curriculum, is it OK for them to show up at your home? I’m quite confident that the answer is no.

Let’s be adults. Continue to show how Senate Bill 5 isn’t going to help Ohio, but show some restraint. This is not the way to have our opinion heard.

Dr. Cull apparently did over $60,000 worth of damages to the police cruiser. Ouch.

In the end. Drunk driving, running from an officer, damaging a police cruiser and assaulting an officer. So sad.

Full details including video and audio are on the ABC web site, ABConYourSide

Alex Roman’s work is impossible for me to separate from reality. Using off the shelf software, he has produced not only incredible realistic shots, but also managed to produce artistic masterpieces. If you haven’t had a chance, check out some of his work. Some of his tools include 3DMax, VRay, and After Effects. This is amazing considering 3DMax previously know as 3D Studio used to be the ugly step child of animation packages.

He maintains a web site at www.thirdseventh.com

His video that has gone viral is call The Third & Seventh, exploring a space between architecture and photography.

He also is getting a lot of attention recently for a commercial for Silestone.

This week, we are simply going to give you some of the best deals on grocery staples in the Central Ohio area. We have a lot of ideas of what to include, but this is where we could really use your help. Please leave your comments.

Milk – CVS $1.29 gallon
Eggs – Meijer $1.19 dozen large
Butter – Meijer $2.50lb

Pork – Kroger $1.69lb pork roast
Ham – Meijer $0.99lb Cooks Ham
Ground Chuck – Meijer $1.99
Chicken – Andersons $1.79lb (plain or 15 different marinades)

Bread – $1.00 Meijer, Kroger, Discount Drug Mart

Cereal  (General Mills) $2.50 Walgreens

Coke Products $2.00 / 12 pack after extra bucks – CVS

Our favorite deal of the week is Kraft Easy Mac cups for $0.50 from Kroger as part of their 10 for 10 deal.

10 for 10 deals are fantastic but we don’t think many people take advantage. Most people don’t want 10 of any single item and they find it too time consuming to find the other items. Here is our tip. Just make tally marks on a sheet of paper as you go through your local store. Add tally marks as you add matching items to your cart. If you don’t have the required 10 items at the end, you can easily circle back to add 1 or 2 of items you have already added to your cart.

I don’t necessarily care what Mrs. Palin does, nor do I believe that she is electable. She suffers from the same problem as most politicians; a need to point out everyone else’s faults rather than lead on her principles. Americans really aren’t that stupid. Mr. Obama suffers from the same problem. Even after a couple of years, he is quick to place the blame on George Bush. Just how long can this continue before he takes responsibility for what happens during his tenure.

There are tens of thousands of haters in the world. Does Mr. Sorkin really need to play this card for a laugh? While railing on Sarah Palin, Aaron Sorkin does a fantastic job of telling every hunter or meat processor that they are idiots. He argues that Sarah killed a Moose on her Learning Channel series: Palin’s Alaska only to win voters. Apparently this was a political move. I don’t argue that the show was a big part of the hunt. However, the hunt itself still is a normal part of life for many people who live in Alaska and other rural areas.

What Mr. Sorkin doesn’t get it is that Americans are completely desensitized to our food processing. All of our meat comes wrapped up in cute little containers that doesn’t usually resemble anything like an animal. The bottom line is someone has to kill those animals for you to eat them. We all pay for little hit men to take care of the dirty work so we don’t get our hands dirty. The hunters left in America are fully aware of the consequences when they kill an animal. They are directly tied to its life. They are on the front lines of conservation efforts to ensure that these beautiful animals are around for future generations.

Coming from a family with several vegetarians, I am proud of the fact that they chose a path that matches their distaste for animals being killed. Sarah was right, even if her comment was premature. If you are using products that come from animals, then at least educate yourself on how those products get to you.

Mr. Sorkin you are no different than Sarah Palin. By offering this profanity, hate filled article, you, yourself have become the hater.

In Her Defense, I’m Sure the Moose Had It Coming by Aaron Sorkin

Recommended reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

My family would like to erect 3 Windmills on their property but have run into opposition. There is concern that tourists will be turned off from visiting because of the Windmills.

Show your support for Windmills, renewable energy and my family by signing our petition. Time is limited. Petition only runs through Monday December 6th. Signing the petition only requires name and email. Your email is kept private and is not shared.

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/WiAS/

Thank you for your support

I recently watch part of a webcast with Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose. Tim Ferriss  is hard to define, but dynamic is certainly a good adjective. Kevin Rose, is the founder of Digg.com and is currently the CEO. In this webcast, Kevin quickly pushed the book, REWORK. I had heard of 37 Signals, the company of the authors, but I had not heard of the book itself. I put it on reserve in my local library and waited, and waited. Here in Columbus Ohio, I was 43rd on the reserve list. Luckily, my number was up and I got the book yesterday.

I inhaled the book in less than a couple of hours. Such an easy read and truly enjoyable. First, I can say that the book doesn’t suffer from the more is better type of philosophy. They get straight to the point. If they can fully illustrate their point in one sentence, then that is all you are likely to get. How refreshing. Actually, this ends up being a constant theme throughout the book.

The book is broken up into not so much chapters, but thoughts. Two in particular caught my attention.

1. Customer feedback. Where to store it? Their answer, overly simplified, is don’t. The logic here is that it isn’t necessary, anything worth hearing will be repeated over and over again by your customers.

2. Writing. What we learned in college is crap. Some of education’s misguided lessons.

1. The longer a document is, the more it matters.
2. Stiff, formal tone is better than being conversational.
3. …
4. The format matters as much (or more) than the content of what you write.

Just simply a great read. There really is no reason not to read it. The book covers many topics in business but can be easily applied to many situations in life. Like the tidal wave of movement behind agile programming in software development, 37 Signals embraces quick, shorter, being direct and honest. Don’t create a task list with a thousand items on it. There isn’t a good way to prioritize. Start a new list and put “Read REWORK” at the top.

Some Common Myths

1. Bats carry rabies. Bats don’t carry rabies, but they can like other animals contract rabies. Less than 1 half of 1 percent of all bats actually contract rabies. Raccoons continued to be the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (34.9% of all animal cases during 2008), followed by bats (26.4%), skunks (23.2%), foxes (6.6%), and other wild animals, including rodents and lagomorphs (1.9%).
2. Bats bite people. Bats like any animal will protect themselves, if threatened, but the thought that bats are interested in people is silly. There are over 1100 species of bats and only 3 are vampire bats. Even vampire bats don’t feed on humans, instead feeding on animals.

Why do you need a bat house?

Mosquitoes! Bats can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes per hour. Since mosquitoes can carry nasty viruses such as West Nile virus besides being just plain annoying, I consider this a very green solution.

For more information, visit, http://www.batworld.org/