A Day in the Life of My Pants Wednesday, April 30, 2008

There's a cool Dockers contest that lets you portray a day in the life of my pants. This Dockers contest made me think about my own pants. I began to think, what exactly does a day in my pants feel like?

For starters, I take a bath and then wear my jeans first. After which, I pick out a shirt or a blouse that matches my pants and then the shoes come lastly. My jeans may not be washed from the previous use, which is exactly the way I like them. Not that I am a slob or anything, but the way your jeans fall down when it's freshly laundered and having been worn several times already makes a huge difference.

My jeans and I end up riding a bus to work, and may end up standing or sitting down in the process of commuting. When I do get there, my jeans normally inhale its share of second hand smoke as I hang out with my friends in the smoking area. Then, my jeans usually end up hearing minutes of our team's huddle before we start making calls. For the 9 hours (including lunch) that my jeans and I are together at work, it probably doesn't feel that much tired as we both spend most of the day sitting down anyway.

Occasional bathroom breaks give my jeans a break as well. Sometimes, my jeans also get a taste of whatever snack I'm munching, especially since I'm not that of a neat person when it comes to eating. And then when my shift ends, my jeans end up riding another bus before getting home and when it's a lucky day for my jeans, it may jut share the bed with me on days when I just collapse dead asleep after work.

Loving the Job At Hand Wednesday, April 30, 2008

So OK, I didn't get the raise I was hoping to have, but I don't mind the slightest bit. 64 posts a month for a dollar each might not sound that appealing to some (like Henry, for instance) as some might think the quantity of the posts for a month for just a dollar each doesn't seem like a fair renumeration. So why do I not mind?

For one thing, the owner of the music blogs that I write for is totally great. Where else can you find a boss whom you can ask for early payouts? Second, I've been working with him for like 8 months or so, and he's never been late on a single payout. Third, since I was one of the first writers that he hired, if ever there would be future expansions on the site, I would be certainly up for a better role.

More importantly, I love the job. I have been into music since I was a kid and through making music blogs, I am able to listen to songs I loved and continue to love in the past and the present. I also learn more about musicians from different countries and get to watch cool videos as well. I also get to be updated when a favorite artist of mine releases a new single, and get to learn more about artists that I listen to.

For the time being, I will continue to post for these blogs wholeheartedly. It's not about the money anymore, it's about a secure and consistent job that I can look forward to every month.

My Thoughts on Izea Ranks Sunday, April 27, 2008

There's a new blog ranking system that's called Izea Ranks. For those of you who are not familiar with it, Izea Ranks measures blog rankings based on real data. This ensures a fair measure of blog traffic and those blogs that make a difference on the web. Izea Ranks also ranks blogs that are out there in the blogosphere through actual site statistics, not an estimate that is based on a formula that you can't understand.

When you register for Izea Ranks, there is a code that you need to install into the HTML script of your blog. After which, in about 24 hours or so, you will already be able to see the ranking of your blog and how it fares out with the thousands of other blogs all over the world. This free service is also beneficial to bloggers who participate in sponsored posts, as it gives advertisers data to analyze the blogs that they will be choosing for sponsored posts. Izea Ranks collects data directly from the source (the blog) and it reveals this data in the form of a score that is made public. 70% of the score is from unique visitors, 20% from active inbound links, and 10% from daily page views. And if I'm not mistaken, this is the first ranking service that is focused on measuring the traffic and influence of individual blogs.

Ever since one of my blogs lost it's Google PR after I made several sponsored posts, I honestly felt sad, as though my months of hard work simply went down the drain. But when Izea Real Rank came out and I saw that my blog was not the loser I thought it was, I was a bit happy and motivated once again to blog. You can see from my archives on how frequently I blogged before compared to now. But I plan on changing everything so that I'll get a higher Izea Rank in the coming months. Wish me luck!

When to Ask for A Raise Tuesday, April 22, 2008

As you all know, I have been blogging for a couple of music blogs for several months already. If I am not mistaken, I have been blogging for this guy for around 8-9 months already. Recently, the owner of the blogs I blog for added several more sites for me to work on. Although I see the new work as a new source of income (which it is), I feel that with the quantity of work that I produce in a week, I feel that the compensation I receive is insufficient.

My dilemma is whether I should ask for a raise or not. But I am afraid that if I do ask for a raise, he might just drop me and hire someone else. I love the job I have since it lets me listen to a wide range of music, including some past favorites that I haven't listened to in a while. Not to mention the fact that the guy pays me on time, every time. But what do I do???

New Jersey Jets Wave 5 Monday, April 21, 2008

This our team, minus Zhey, Mae, and Shirley, before we were reshuffled at work. Just wanted to share. :-)

When Keisha was Hospitalized Wednesday, April 09, 2008

This is a photo of when Keisha was confined in the hospital for mercury ingestion. I found it in our digicam and I just wanted to share it with all of you.

Happy April Fool's Day! Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Happy April Fool's Day everyone! Take it easy on the pranks!