A Little of This and A Little of That

Hey there. I've been tinkering with the site a little bit. I've removed some buttons and added 6 ad slots. I was recently upgraded to a Premium account in Paypal, which is great since I'll be receiving a PayPal debit card to use where ever I want AND receive cashback. I took advantage of this and added a "buy me button" for the ads that I am offering. 1 week, 2 weeks, or a full month are being offered at $1.75, $3.00 and $5.00 respectively. I removed the Mybloglog button. I figured it took a lot of space. I want to be able to condense my affiliates. I still need to mess with that.

The comment contest is going well. I've already seen a nice jump in comments and that's what I was shooting for. A site where my readers a little more engaged and I'm sure that a little cash incentive doesn't hurt. I think I'll let this be a monthly thing going forward from now on so here's the break down that I am going to give out.

Top commentator - $5
2nd and 3rd - $2.50 each

Not bad, right? So I'm devoting $10 a month on my readers and I don't think that's bad at all. If I can increase Metallman's Reverie's revenue (crazy alliteration!) then I'll increase the monthly prize. I'll definitely be mentioning the amount up for grabs once I announce the winners so make sure you check out the 1st of the month post since I'm not going to have that sticky post declaring the contest up forever.

So here's where I would like your opinion. Nothing is in stone just yet. I'm moving the buttons, pictures, changing prices, and anything else around. What would you like to see removed? Added? Or switched around? A quick comment with your thoughts and I'll take them all into consideration. I know my site looks messy and I want it to look it's best so I'm reaching our to you, friends, for some help. Many thanks! Later!

Earn Your Master of Arts in Teaching Degree with the USC Rossier School of Education Program

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

Hey there friends. The University of Southern California, it's name is synonymous with prestigious education, a top of line medical program, and of course the outstanding football program. A school of education which has been ranked #22 in the United States, and #9 among all private universities by US News and World Report, USC now introduces a ground breaking online institution. The USC Rossier School of Education’s MAT@USC program offers aspiring teachers and current teachers to not only join the Trojan family from their home states, but garner an opportunity to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching degree through a prestigious and well renown university. Learn in a virtual classroom from some of the best in the education field. And to make it a sweeter deal, it's an accelerated program so you can earn your degree in as little as a year. This is a no nonsense course, my friends. If you are serious in obtaining you Master of Arts in Teaching degree, then you need to get the program information and seriously consider enrolling in class.

Whether you're on campus or the virtual campus, once you are part of the USC family, you gain full USC student status & benefits. As a child, I was a part of USC's Med-Core program. I'd go to USC on a Saturday to learn math and medicine from some of the distinguished professors. I know that many of you are not in Southern California so this is a great opportunity to experience the essence that is USC. Later!

Metallman's Reverie is Taking a Hit in the Rankings

Hey there. Ever since I changed the domain to Metallman.com, I have been tanking in the rankings. My Alexa rank is now in the millions (from 75K) with only 1 site linking in, I have no IZEA rank (from a respectable 750), google rank is 0 with little to no pages indexed, and I only have about 90 links to my site on Yahoo (compared to over 7,000). The plus side? I have my own domain AND MSN (Bing) finally indexed my site. It looks like Metallman's Reverie is starting from scratch. Ranking wise at least. I hope that it won't hinder my ability to take opportunities from the IZEA programs for the time being. I figured that the site may suffer at first, but will be beneficial in the long run. I've also had to resubmit my site to other services such as Blogexplosion. I'm still waiting for an approval there and I just got my blog url updated in SocialSpark. It's all good though. The only place to go from here is up! Later!

Experience True Sound from your iPod with the Yamaha PDX-60 Speaker Dock

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

Hey there friends. Are you still listening to your Ipod using the standard, white headphones? I'm pretty sure that everyone has seen the commercials that bring those headphones to icon status, but you know what? They are still standard headphones. Considering that the iPod is a multimedia machine, you owe it to yourself to experience it in true high quality sound.

Enter the Yamaha PDX-60, a power speaker system that will not only enhance your listening experience but change the way you see you Ipod. Music and movies will resonate across the room since the PDX-60 has some Bass-reflex speakers and since it's compatible with all things Ipod, your iPhone will definitely get a boost in sound while you're surfing Youtube videos.

Did I mention that the whole thing can be wireless? The Yamaha PDX-60 runs on Yamaha's original wireless technology, yAired, which is way more user friendly than Bluetooth.

Here at work, many of us gather around lunch room to catch The Office on my coworkers iPhone. It's tough for a group of 4 to really listen in on the iPhone's speaker system. If we were to have a PDX-60 in our office, we'd be able to listen with crystal clear sound all the jokes and comments that Jim throws at Dwight! Maybe the 4 of us can pitch in to get one, since this has become a ritual at work. AND... if more people start clamoring in to catch The Office on the iPhone, it would make perfect sense to get a high quality device to accommodate our office.

Check it out , friends. Get high quality sound for your iPhone or iPod. It's the only way to go if you are looking for the best in sound quality. Later!

Top Blogs of the Month of November

Hey there.  It's that time of the month again.  It's time to give my top 5 droppers the recognition that they deserve.  The following blogs have received a month long spot on my blogroll and have also earned themselves 500 ECs:

http://annssnapeditscrap.blogspot.com/
http://asthecrackerheadcrumbles.blogspot.com/
http://www.laaneworld.com/
http://vanillaseven.com/
http://www.buckrobin.com/

Thanks to all of you that have dropped on my blog this month.  I greatly appreciate all your support.

Now, on to some important news.  I've been rewarding my top droppers for several months now and have been contemplating on how I can reward my commentators as well.  This is what I have come up with...  Starting Dec. 1st, I will keep tabs on all comments made for the month.  At the end of the month, I will award the top commentator a cash prize, to be delivered via PayPal (Must have a valid PayPal account).  This will allow ALL readers to participate and not feel slighted if they are not part of the Entrecard family.  I have yet to decide what the cash prize will be, but I am leaning towards starting small (anywhere from $2.50 to $5.00 to start) and if this catches on, the cash prize will continue to be awarded monthly and may be increased and expanded to reward not only the top commentator but maybe the top 5 as well.  Comments must be revelant and I will delete spam comments.  I will also post a screen shot of my excel sheet since my widget goes back to the top 500 comments and I do not know how to reset it every month.  The first winner will be announced next month along side my top 5 droppers of the month.  Good luck friends... And don't forget to comment!  Later!

Happy Anniversary, My Dear

Hey there. Today marks our 6th year anniversary! Not to be confused with our marriage anniversary. That's coming in July. lol 6 years ago, I asked the woman of my dreams to be mine. She is my angel. She not only took me in as her significant other, but took on 2 little ones as well. In an instant, my 19 year old girlfriend had a family of 4. That's a lot to handle for any young woman, yet, there she stood, by my side, ready to take on the challenges of motherhood and family life. It hasn't always been easy, we've had our rough patches like anyone else would, but we got through them and it's made our relationship just that much more stronger. So here's to you, my better half, the love of my life, and my best friend. I love you.



A Path of Love


Through thick and thin
We've walked a path
That together we have blazed

Though fire and ice
Have littered our way
We continued, hand on hand

With love and passion
We carried on
Through our trials and tribulations

As demons come
we've marched on
And slain them with conviction

As angles fly
We've been blessed
With our own kin to carry on

The unknown path
We'll follow thruogh
Together side by side

What crosses our way
We'll not yet know
But together we stand strong

Our path is young
We have yet to see
What the future has in store for us

Let's walk together
My love, my life
And continue our walk to bliss.