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I'm concerned, I'm concerned about what is happening in our country today.
I'm concerned, that after all the promises we have been given since the Wall Street crash in 1929 that such a crash
would never ever happen again... Well guess what it happened again.
Can we ever trust any one again?
Looks like we can't!
Looks like it is time to get that piggy bank out and bury it in the back yard!
About that Social Security raise to come in January 2009...
It is a little bit misleading when it is written that the ‘average’ recipient’s check will go from $1090
to $ 1153. When they say ‘average’, how do they figure that ‘average’? Most Social Security recipients
don’t even get anything like $1000 per month.
Even though this raise is supposed to be the highest since 1982 it still isn’t enough to take into consideration
the current cost of living. And it certainly doesn’t take into consideration the price hikes that have already started
as soon as the Social Security raise was announced.
When I got my Social Security raise in 2007, after I took into consideration all the price hikes that followed, I was getting
less per month than before that ‘so-called’ raise. And even though it is still a couple of months before 2009,
the raises in everything have already started. Medicare has already announced a raise in dues; my health insurance has done
the same. Each time the mail comes, I cringe that another raise is being announced.
It looks like in 2009 I'll be operating in the red, again.
And when ‘they’ talk about privatizing Social Security it sends a chill up my back. To even consider such a
move after what has happened to the stock market and various investments in the last few months is unconscionable. If I wanted
to gamble, it wouldn’t be with Social Security; I’d go to Vegas instead.
Medicare is going up...
Health insurance is going up...
Gas may be down but it too will go up again...
Everything is on that upward spiral.
Everything but the money in my pocket, that is slowly disappearing.
What's in a name?
Is this a newsletter? Is this a journal? Is this a blog?
Well, probably none of the above, it is simply
my opinions, my thoughts, on any given day, and I'm happy to share them with you... Enjoy!
AROUND THE WORLD 
Who doesn't have a computer nowadays?
I've had one for years and I still run into problems. Many times I can solve them on my own, other times I have
to get help, then again I just toss my hands up in the air and say forget it...
You would think that after all these years the computer would be problem free, well think again.
There are days when things go smoothly and then there are days when everything goes wrong.
If you have a computer, and you use it day in and day out, you most certainly can relate to "somedays." Somedays it works
and other days...well! The days the computer turns around and bites the hands so blithely tapping the keyboard anything can
happen and usually does.
The computer can crash, the computer can freeze, the computer will catch a virus... The computer will do what it wants
to do and not what you want to do. The computer, we love it and we hate it.
I’ve been having a problem with safe mode... the area everyone is referred to when the regular area is hard to get
into. Well, it may be called safe mode, but it, in itself, can be a problem.
Mine has decided to quit responding in certain ways. It refuses to g away. I boot up, check normal and wait for the computer
to do its thing so I can do mine. Well after all the flickering what do I get? Safe mode! It opened up and there it stays.
It takes over the entire desktop and goes beyond the edges so I can’t see just how far out it goes. It becomes a weird
color and even though I can see the icons they are now triple in size. I tried using resolution to change the screen but it
only shrinks safe mode, it doesn’t change anything else. If I try to move the edges, I can’t. When I log into
my email, I may get my email but I won’t be able to read it because I can't scroll up, down anywhere.
I decide to look for help on the net. What do I get? No help for my problem! I get help referring me to safemode to solve
my problem! I search the net for hours; I check everything out there that I think may help. How to, blogs, forums, viruses,
Microsoft... You name it I’ve been there. Have I found any help? Would I be writing this if I did? Frustrating, frustration,
anger, evil thoughts? Yeah, I have them, but answers to my problems? Bite your tongue!
Where do I go now? What do I do now? I guess I’ll have to call a computer repairperson. One hour, well I should be
able to afford that. Umpteen hours? Now that is another problem, could be that tomorrow the trash man will be wondering about
all those bits and pieces of metal and plastic that fill the bin.
Did someone say check the forums, for advice? Well I could go on and on about them, Why do some people feel they must respond
to a question on these forums regarding computer problems when they don’t have a clue themselves. Their suggestions
are so asinine that if I didn’t have a problem already I certainly would have one if I followed what they tell me to
do.
Of course I could go on and talk about viruses and the problems they can cause. Little people with evil minds getting their
kicks by causing problems for others. There is joy in that?
Computers... the invention that was supposed to help us n many ways seems to be less than perfect. The mechanism that was
supposed to save paper has generated scads of paper waste.
The computer when it works is marvelous, when it doesn’t it; it can make one use words that haven’t even been
invented yet.
Is the computer working now? Yes, after days and days of trying to make it do what I wanted it to do, one day it just did
it...go figure!
Have you ever just doodled around with the internet and stumbled on something that was so interesting you
decided to pass it on? Well I have...
I just decided to become a part of two sites and add some of the articles I write to these sites. Since
I just started I cannot say I recommend them, and I cannot say I don't recommend them, I'll just have to wait and see
how things work out.
The first site is:
Associated Content.com ... They accept content on a variety of subjects and publish it. They even pay one
for what they decide to publish! It isn't much, so don't plan on giving up your day job if you have one. I haven't received
any monies as yet.
Ps. I did submit a few articles and they did deposit the funds to PenPal.
Check out my recently published content on Assoctated Content:
Helium.com ... Is the other site. They also accept content on many subjects and publish it. Almost immediately,
as one pushes the done button, it is on the site for all to see. They also make a practice of paying for what one writes.
How much? I still can't figure it out, but it does take awhile.
Ps. I did submit a few articles to this site,but was credited only pennies for each. I'm not sure if it
is worth the effort.
Both places use PayPal so one needs to become a member there also.
In the last couple of months I have literally checked out hundreds of sites that claim to pay for content,
or for some other type of input. I'm not really interested in most of them, but I do examine the ones that pay to have
one write articles a little more closely.
A few I did sign up with but after having more than a frustrating moment trying to either find out
what they pay and the type of content they are looking for, I ended cancelling four of them. And even the cancellation
wasn't easy!
One site, Type and Write, became unavailable after I sent in a couple of articles . The
articles were never acknowledged nor did I receive any payment for them.
Another site was Triond, After signing up and looking deeper into them, I found out that they were located
in a foreign country. I didn't feel too comfortable with that so cancelled them also.
The other two had various problems and they were cancelled also.
Looking for paying sites takes time and effort and the ones that interest me are few and far between.
It seems the few are receiving an enormous amount of new members and they also are being recommended to
others, as I have done above. How long this will last before major changes are made, I'm not sure...
Has anyone tried to get more traffic to their sites? Now that is a minefield to wade through. One must be
careful to pick the right kind of traffic and one must not get too greedy about the size of the traffic. Baby steps,
one at a time, instead of a full scale rush to get on board.
I have signed up with Bravenet to try to stir things up. I've put their logo on all my web sites, it was
very easy to do, now I have to sit back to see how things go. If you would like to sign up with them, check them out at
They offer scads of things, any one of which appeal to many.
Oh yes, put an article on another site...
How this one will go I'm not sure, since I have just one article there. If you would like to check the article
out I'll put the URL here. Don't know how successful it will be...
Oh yes, added Adsense to all my sites!
With all the advertising being done about all these get paid to write article sites and now having tried
them all you would think I'd be rolling in money, dream on! Not a cent, not a penny, nada!!
Well, Associated Content did pay for a few of my articles, but they also turned down quite a few. It
seems they are not interested in anything that even smells of current stuff. They are under the impression that all the new
stuff is simply opinions and they won't pay for it. They claim that such articles do not have staying power! However when
they do accept an article they pay immediately and send the money to PayPal, all just within a few days.
I had submitted a few articles that would have been in the current catetegory but also the subject
had staying power, years of it, and will continue to have staying power. I submitted the article to another site and received
kudos about it. So what was Associated Content's problem with the article? Especially since they ask one to submit any and
all articles...
Since Associated Content seems to be getting picker and picker about what is sent them and they encourage
one to use the the topics they provide I'm not sure what to send them anymore. Most of the topics they have do not interest
me at all and I don't believe many people even read them.
I don't know about all the people who claim they are making money with Adsense, you can't prove it by me.
Maybe you have to have a bunch of people looking at your site or a lot of friends who simply click on the adsense ads just
to give your site a boost.
As for sites that offer you $1.50 for a 1000 clicks, forget it. They can keep their $1.50, it isn't worth
all the trouble. You would have to have enough friends to fill a phone book to get ahead with such a program.
Oh yes there is one more...
They have published all the articles I submitted to them, but even though they claim to be a paying site
I have yet to see evidence of that.
However, do check out what I have written on this site.
Reactivated my Blog Site. Sometime ago I had a blog, but with all the things that have been going on I just
could not keep it up. I still have plenty to say about this and that. Not always what is current but always about what I feel
strongly about. Check it out at...
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