April 2011Give-a-way: Plants Vs. Zombies (Xbox360) Winner!

Hey there friends. We have 44 friends that all want this game and they registered 149 entries.  Thank you contest gods!  lol  I created a spread sheet to keep tabs of everyone who entered and how many entries they received.  Here's a small snippet of that:

I then jumbled the names of the entrants to randomize the selection process.  I will use random.org to select a number for me and that number will represent the winner.  So here goes! And our winning number is...

 which is...

LADYT64!!!!!!  You are our winner!  Congrats!  I will be contacting you shortly to get all the necessary info so that I can ship you your new game.  Thank you all for entering and hope you guys stick around for the May contest which will be revealed on May 15th!  Later!

Helping to Find a Good Web Host Rating

Hey there.  I feel good today.  Why?  Because friends consider me a "online veteran."  lol  Not that I've dealt with wars or anything of that sort online, but because I'm in the blogging game and friends and family come in and ask questions about how to get started and how much work is involved to maintain a small following.  Just last weekend I was talking to a cousin that wanted to start their own business and came to me to ask about domains and web hosting. 

I made it pretty simple, I told her that she could start online for free with many free blogging and web design  platforms but I strongly recommend that she go out get her own domain and then look for a good web hosting site.  She needs something cheap and easy and after a quick search, she may end up going with Web Hosting Hub.  Looking their rating, it seems like the perfect fit for someone that's just starting out.  It's seems easy to navigate and it's cheap. 

I know that I'm not an online guru, but I like that people come for me for advice.  It tells me that at least some people think I know something about something.  lol  Later!

The Disney Influence on our Young

Dear Parents,

Jasmine was in a relationship with a dirty, homeless boy named Aladdin.
Snow White lived alone with 7 men.
Pinnochio was a liar.
Robin Hood was a thief.
Peter Pan kidnapped children.
Tarzan walked around without any clothes on.
Ariel abandoned her family for a man.
A stranger kissed Sleeping Beauty and she married him.
Cinderella lied and sneaked out at night to attend a party.

And you wonder why I'm all messed up....  It's not my fault I was raised with Disney characters!

Love, 

Your daughter

The No Deposit Bonus Blog for the Latest Online Casino Codes

Hey there.  My family loves to go to the casinos.  It seems that every other weekend, my aunts, my grandma, my uncles, and several cousins make the 2 hour trip to get to a casino and spend their cash for a few hours of entertainment.  The only negative thing of actually going to a casino is that it's a 2 hour drive from the city and with the price of gas going up, it would be great to get the casino experience without having to spend money to get there.  That's why I've mentioned to my grandmother (she's the one that loves the casino experience) that she should check out some online casinos.

She was reluctant at first but after I explained to her that she's just looking at a screen at a casino just like a computer screen, she decided to give it a shot.  Me, being the savvy online person that I am, started looking online for any casino bonus that I can take advantage of.  Anything that could increase her chances of winning, give out extra spins, or give out credits she can use to play in tournaments.  What we wanted is something with a no deposit bonus so that we can check it out and move on if we didn't like that particular casino, almost as if you were in Vegas.

When we stumbled across the No Deposit Bonus Blog, she was thrilled.  We were able to try one online casinos, using a no deposit code that is easily displayed, to test them out.  Once she decided to try another one, we simply scrolled down to the next casino and their code and we were good to go.  And to make things easier, on the right hand side, the site listed the latest codes entered and categorized all codes.  Very fast and easy.  Just the way we like it.  We must have tried several casinos before settling on one that she felt was best suited for her.  Since the blog is updated frequently, I bookmarked it for so that she can go back to check out the latest codes and continue to play.  And you know what was the best part?  She didn't spend a single dollar!  She didn't even realized that until I mentioned it to her.

Get the casino experience online.  I can't say that's it better than the real thing, but I can say that it will definitely save you money by using bonus codes!  Later!

Are Pro Accounts on Sponsored Tweets a Red Flag for Izea, Inc.?

Hey there.  I'm a big fan of Izea, Inc.  They have opened the doors for me to make some money while blogging and sending out tweets.  I have nothing but sincere thankfulness for them.  With that being said, the fact that they are now offering "pro accounts" on Sponsored Tweets is alarming.  If a monthly fee, you're twitter account will get this neat "pro account" symbol attached to it and will be pushed up the queue, ahead of basic accounts, when advertisers are looking for potential tweeters.  I understand that it's an optional service and it's not necessary, but the fact that they are offering it raises some red flags for me.

First off, I don't see the need for pro accounts.  At least on the outside, Izea is doing wonderfully.  Their many platforms are alive and active within the online community.  It's hard to find an online entity that is not associated with one of the many services that Izea offers.  So the fact that they are trying to squeeze out money for pro accounts tell me that 1) Izea is not doing as well as we think they are or 2) they've turned into a bunch of greedy bastards.  lol  I doubt it's the second one since they've all been more than awesome when I've spoken to them, so I'm more inclined to say it's number 1. Then again, it could be that the company is expanding and is looking for extra income to fund upcoming projects.  I don't know, but I'm not so sure if the pro account thing is the way to go.

I've always looked for Izea to come up with fun and innovative ways to make it easy for average Joes, like myself, to make some money online.  I really don't want to hear that Izea may be having some funding issues.  I'm hoping that my observation is wrong and that they're doing it only as a means to further fund their expansion not because they are strapped for cash.  Especially when you consider the amount of online companies that did not make it.  I hope you guys know what you're doing and the same fate doesn't come down on you.  Later!

Easy Games for Girls Online

Hey there.  I like to think of my family as a gaming family.  I have my genre of games that I enjoy (Bioshock, Final Fantasy, etc.), the boy has his genre (CoD: Black Ops, Left 4 Dead, etc.), the girls have theirs (Kinect Adventures, Dance Masters), and the wife enjoys side scrollers (Super Mario, Super Mario World, and other Mario related games).  lol  But when it comes to going online, the girls are the ones that are a little lost.  They like to play games and while they'll venture off to iCarly.com or Disneychannel.com, more often than not, they'll leave the site no more than 10 minutes later because they couldn't find a game that they enjoyed.  They just can't seem to find many girl games that are easy and fun to play.

While doing a quick search for easy girl games, I came across the site, http://www.easygirlgames.com.  Easy enough.  lol  One of the things that I really wanted to focus on, aside from being kid friendly, is the ease of getting into the game.  One of the things that seemed to irk the older kids is having to sit with my youngest daughter to explain how to play the game.  They wouldn't mind showing her, but since she wasn't too happy with certain games, the older kids would explain up to 6 different games to her.  I wanted to find one that was easy enough for her to understand on her own and I like that that is the case here.
 
I also liked that the fact that games ranged from extremely simple for the younger girls to not so simple for the older girls.  It gave me the impression that both my 5 and 9 year old can play games on the same site.  They even have some light hearted romance games called "kissing games" on there.  I don't know about those, though.  I don't want my young one to get any ideas.  These are definitely geared towards the older girls and come to think of it... I guess I'd rather have my girls play a kissing game as opposed to kissing boys.  *shudder*.  lol

I think girl gamers are cool so I want to encourage my young ladies to play.  I'm not pushing them, of course, and they're free to choose whatever genre of games they would want to play.  I get a special joy of hearing my young say, "You haven't passed Silent Hill yet, dad.  What are you waiting for?", or "Oh, look dad!  Final Fantasy stuff!"  lol  Later!