All posts by The Artist

Tailor Make Your Dream Vacation

You know, a family friend runs a travel agency in my home town and I must say that even though we are able to get discounts, they have the most boring vacation packages in the world that I would not dream of wasting money buying from them. I always dream of going to some place exotic that can meet the needs of the adventurer in me but that was not possible until I chanced upon this new site called Tripology.

From what I understand, we can just plan our own itinerary and place a request on the site and up to three travel agents will get back to us with the best packages for our dream vacation. This certainly beats the deal that I am getting at the local tour agents!

I find the site very user-friendly because we just have to give them a general guide on what we want for the trip, and little details like when we are leaving and any other preferences which we may have.

I find this site excellent for people who would like to tailor make their own dream vacation!

OMFG!! Dog Catching Competition!!!

Just as I am still disgusted with the issue on The Plight of Malaysian Monkeys, this one really takes the cake. Dogs are close to my heart and I understand that the issues of stray dogs are a concern, what more when more than half the population in the country is anti-dogs. However, is this the way to handle the situation??

I cannot in the life of me believe that there is someone this smart to come up with a dog catching competition. I hate to think what fate belies dogs that are caught, if they are still alive.

And for the sake of getting one more dog, I believe that the safety of even real pet dogs with owners and a dog licence would be at stake. Just take a look at the motivator that will be driving people to catch “stray” dogs.

Everybody, please make a collective effort to voice out your disgust whether you are a dog lover or not, the bottom line is, this is INHUMANE!!!

Let’s speak up against the Selayang Municipal Council for organizing this ridiculous competition. You can do this by highlighting this case in your blogs, by emailing all your contacts and by writing to the press.

Contacts are as follows:
MalaysianPress
editor@thestar.com
myletters@nstp.com
mynewsdesk@thesundaily.com
editor@malaysiakini.com
editorial@sinchew.com.my
bhnews@bharian.com.my
news@nstp.com.my
metro@thestar.com.my
pengarang@utusan.com
editor@nanyang.com.my
tcpb@po.jaring.my
mmnews@nstp.com.my
am@hmetro.com.my
gmkl@guangming.com.my
bgns@bernama.com

MixFM (Malaysian Radio)
richard@mixradio.com.my
shazmin@mixradio.com.my
serena@mix.fm
ika@mixradio.com.my
pietro@mix.fm

International organisations that you can write to:
wspa@wspausa.comI
nfo@peta.org
info@dogsdeservebetter.org
wspa@wspa.org
ukwspa@wspa.org.au
wspa@wspa.ca
contact@gan.ca
info@bluecross.org.uk
afa@afa-online.org
press@api4animals.org
info@ari-online.org
info@rightsforanimals.org
info@speakcampaigns.org

Spread the news, and take the time to just write a short note to all our local papers as well as the international organisations mentioned above.

Free RSS Widget For Your Blog

As a blogger with multiple blogs and just started a new blog, I understand how difficult it is to build traffic to each blog. I tried to attract readers from my more established blogs by placing a feed to display fresh content whenever I publish a new blog.

I was searching for a tool to Create RSS Feeds and Widgets for Free and found this site at WebRSS.com. The site is pretty simple to use and I could just about convert any feed and turn them into content for my sidebar. This would add value to my readers, of course.

But first off, I am going to create a widget of all my blogs. I need the cross traffic! I am so happy that I could customize the widget to fit the theme of my blog. It supports a total of 170 different colors! That is simple amazing! Oh yes, I would like to mention again that it is FREE and I LOVE FREEBIES!

PPP Kindergarten

Out of all the marketplaces that I am a member of, I find PPP the toughest to comply with because of all the confusing misinformation. I mentioned before that I was publicly humiliated because a group of members took it upon themselves to punish me for having a PPP opportunity right after a sponsored post from another marketplace. Well, that was a non-issue when I first started with PPP.

The TOS was subsequently changed and we were not informed in a circular. I find it funny that we are expected to read up the entire growing-in-length-day-by-day Terms of Service before we even dare to start work for PPP for the day.

Just yesterday, we were told that we now MUST have an original post between all sponsored posts that we take up from all marketplaces. How ridiculous can that be? While I may be up to writing original content before and after every sponsored post, I hate to be feeling that I am walking on glass every time I publish a post, sponsored or non-sponsored.

You may wonder why I am even doubtful of posting original content. Am I crazy? Yes, sometimes I do feel like I am because I would then have to check if I, god forbid, have placed a LINK somewhere in my post! I am tired, I really am not up to fighting with reviewers to proof that it is not a paid link. It happened before with the LINK THE PLANET project. It was entirely free but just because a bunch of us joined the forum and placed our blog on the directory in exchange for a post and link, some people thought that the link must have been paid for.

Seriously, I do not relish the thought of going through this process every f@rking time.

While I was very happy to find an opportunity at PPP last year, logging in to PPP is like going to school now. You know, sometimes you don’t want to get up from bed in the morning for school because the teachers (PPP staff) berate you, the students (Posties) bully you.

Being an international student, you are forced to stay at the corner while the rest of the American students play (geo-targeting and geographical segmentation). This is an American school, so students do not wear uniforms to school. Students who are unable to afford branded clothes are ostracized (command of English, or the lack of). The whole school is so regimented that the students are told how to queue up and which route to take every single day (order of posts).

It is amazing how many rules there are that we have to remember to follow through whenever we take up a PPP opportunity AND NOW WITH THE NEW TOS WE HAVE TO REMEMBER IT EVERY TIME WE PUBLISH A POST! Amazing because PPP is American and if I liken it to an American school, then rules are lax. Heck, American students take guns to school!

You do your assignments in fear of being poorly rated (tacks and bans) and worse, with Argus coming, reference was made about being peer rated. With all the jealousy that is going on, they can’t be serious? Do away with the leaderboard and the private forum. I have felt the sting myself how members CAN band together to try to oust me just because I am one of the biggest foreign fish in the ocean. No, I hope they are not serious. We all know how badly international members are not welcomed in the community, DESPITE Worldwide Wednesday.

Going to PPP Kindergarten, you are always dangled with all sorts of candy but get slapped for even daring to reach out for one (were we not encouraged to monetize our blogs?). I find it rather sad, really, because PPP, the company, has been kind to me.

Do You Qualify For Debt Relief?

I came across the website recently called Clear Debt Solution and there is a page that helps us to determine who qualifies for Debt Relief or worse, even QUALIFY for it, but then some people are really at that critical financial stage and yet still not realize it!

The website says that people who are spending more than they earn are good candidates for debt relief. And then there are people who USE their credit cars to LIVE day by day. I know the feeling of that when there was once we had to get credit from the grocers just so that we could put food on the table for the family. If back then, we had a credit card, we too would have been using it to live day by day. It is not a good situation and one should seek immediate Debt Relief!

I know that it takes some guts to admit that we have a problem at hand but then it takes a real person to face up to his own shortcomings and reach out for help. If you feel that you are in a financial fix more than you prefer, perhaps you should see this check list to determine if you qualify for debt relief!

$7.50 for 500 words, No Kidding!

The other day, I saw an advertiser seeking a finance/money blogger to write a review of his website and he is paying $7.50 only but expecting a minimum of 500 words. No kidding! It was taken up but I wonder if it will be completed. Yes, it is possible to write 500 words but not for $7.50, not especially when it is on a niche blog.

There have been numerous times when I have written double the word count than expected by the advertisers but then I write if I like to, and not because I was trying to meet the minimum requirements set by the advertisers. When it comes to giving out jobs to bloggers, most people will tell you that they prefer to write a 50 word piece at a cheaper payout than a 300 word piece with a slightly higher payout. But that doe not mean that bloggers will turn in a 51 word piece because most of us can write at least 150 – 200 words way exceeding the 50 word minimum.

But if there is a minimum of 300 words, that would surely turn off lots of people.

Credit Card Consolidation Advice

If you are faced with credit card problems and worse, DEBTS, then it is time to change your spending habit. However, I believe that for many people, it is easier said than done. Heck, even I have problems controlling my own spending. It is just so tempting to charge that card and cart home everything that I fancy at the mall, or online malls in most cases!

Wanting a change in spending habits is one thing, DOING it is another. IO think that if one cannot consciously change, the he will have to seek credit card counseling and maybe receive Credit Card Consolidation advice from professional people.

There is certainly no shame in admitting that one has an issue on hand that needs an early solution. In fact, admitting the problem and then taking steps to correct it is what everyone should do. Credit Card Consolidation is just one of the solutions. Seek it and make that change in your lifestyle.

I found the website Clear Debt Solution to be extremely informative and useful. Should you need to know what is in store for you in credit card counseling and consolidation, you should read the articles provided on the website. I have shown the link to many of my friends who may be facing a problem with their credit cards. I hope they will take steps to cure their personal financial health.