What's the Deal with Gold Coins?

Hey there.  Am I the only one that wonders why we see ads on TV selling gold coins for less than the market value?  I was up late last night watching TV when I saw an advertisement that claimed that the coins were worth hundreds but they're selling them for $20.  It got me wondering if the price of gold is wildly fluctuating that one day, an ounce is worth $20 and the next day, it's a few hundred.

That got me wondering if it's a good investment to keep track of gold prices.  It seems like a good idea.  Invest some money in a commodity that is in demand.  You see gold everywhere.  Watches, necklaces, teeth... Donald Trump's place.  lol  I mean, if gold is that valuable, I don't see where you can go wrong in investing in it.  But then again, it is investing and there's always that risk of it's value decreasing.  Maybe if I go to a gold spot, where they buy and sell gold, to see what's up.  If they say that it's profitable, it may something to consider.  If they say they're barely breaking even... then it's something to think hard before doing.

I'm wondering if any of you have had any experience with the gold trade.  I know that now there's a service where you mail your gold scraps and you get cash for it.  Is that any good?  Would you rather just go into a shop and see what you can get?  I'm curious, friends.  Let me know.  Later!

Metallman's Reverie: Blog Income for April 2011

Hey there.  April is in the the books and it's time to report on how well on (or off) pace we are in reaching my $1700 goal for the year. Let's take a look at the numbers:

Mylikes - $9.74
DragonBlogger - $9.41
CMFads - $1.88
Blogsvertise - $132.00
Total for April - $153.03
YTD Total - $652.65 (+$85.98 ahead of pace)

Not too shabby, my friends.  I'm glad that I'm still exceeding my monthly goal of $141.66, even though it's just barely.  I'm still disappointed in my lack of participation in dragonblogger.com.  It's an awesome and I've been given an awesome opportunity to be an author there but I just can't seem to capitalize on it just yet.  I have been dealing with some personal issues and it has eaten up my time to write articles.  I have been fortunate enough to be offered what I like to call "insta-post" and that's what's keeping my name on DB.com at the moment.

I am a little disappointed that I didn't cash anything out for Izea for April, but those funds will be cashed out in May which will make May a pretty good month.  I also received a huge offer from an unexpected source so I'm hoping that May will be the best month of the year so far.

The giveaways have been going great.  Because I'm made my fair share of money from this site, I've been giving a monthly prize away to my readers.  I'm hoping that you guys are enjoying that and take as a big thank you for stopping by and reading. 

So there you have it.  My online source of income revealed!  It's not much to toot about but hey, it's better than nothing.  Was thinking of using some of that money for some Lakers finals tickets.... but that rant is for another time. lol  Feel free to check out my affiliates at the links above and hope that you'll be able to make some spare change online the way I did.  Later!

Review: SurfboardsEtc.com

Hey there. One of the great perks of living in Southern California is the awesome weather. The weather is generally pleasant and because it tends to get hot, people hit the beaches at all times of the year. Especially surfers who would go other there to catch waves whenever the waves are scheduled to hit. This is where a surf website like SurfboardsEtc.com could make a fortune on Southern California residents alone.

I went to check out the site to see if it's all that it's cracked up to be. Their bread and butter is definitely surfboards. They have vast selection of surfboards!You can even get some custom made boards!  But I'm a casual fan of the weather.  I'm not a surfer and I'll be honest, I won't be buying a surfboard anytime soon.  But that doesn't mean that SurfboardsEtc isn't for me.  They have a huge array of surf/beach apparel and accessories.  And I mean HUGE!  Clothes, footwear, bags, sunglasses, watches...  I am pleasantly surprised that their target customers is everyone looking for anything beach related.

The site is very easy to navigate through so you wouldn't have any trouble finding what you need.  The easiest way being to use the search bar on the site, but everything is categorized by item type (apparel, watches, etc.) or brand (Billabong, DC Shoes, etc.).  You can very easily browse through the and take a gander at what they have to offer and I love that they display, as clear as day, their "Lowest Price Guarantee".  Anyone that is willing to display their guarantee right there is always a plus because you know they're not going to hide it in the fine print of an ad or website.

All an all, a great site to go to and get your surf or beach gear on.  I definitely recommend that you at least check it out.  It's tough not to when they offer a 110% return policy.  Don't believe me?  It's right there on the home page.  lol  Check it out, my friends.  You'll definitely find something for the beach fanatic in your life.  Later!

The Joys of Knuffle Bunny

Hey there. You know, children are funny, little creatures. lol The most mundane of things will keep them entertained and happy. Me, being "funny daddy" and all, take advantage of that knowledge all the time by doing quirky little things around the house. With my youngest daughter, we have mini dance offs. We do the robot together all the time. With my oldest daughter, we've been having a "flinch contest" for the last week or so where we try to make each other flinch (I'm winning because I have awesome ninja focus!). lol With my oldest, well... he's kinda a preteen now and little quirky moments don't affect him as much as much as the younger kids. He does, however like it when I create absurd movie trailers and they usually begin with, "In a world..." lol Yeah, they definitely like that those.

Anyways, I bring up those little quirks because yesterday, I was reading a book to my daughter.  You know, they (or you) need to read a book every night for homework?  Yeah, that.  So I pulled out the book that was chosen and it's this book:

I recognized it from when my oldest daughter brought it for her "read at home" homework and she claims it's one of her favorite books.  I've read it a few times this year already since they keep sending it home to read so I decided to have a little fun with the reading.  It's an awesome little story of a young one that can't speak words yet and travels with her favorite stuffed toy, Knuffle Bunny.  The toy gets lost and the adventure begins.  It's definitely for the younger readers and the book has few words, as well as some baby babble.  When I read the book, I did voices for the characters.  The young one in the book had a "monster" voice, I did Bean's voice, from KROQ Kevin & Bean fame, and I just did a regular "mommy" voice for the mom.  The kids loved the Bean and monster voices.  lol  But I think it's because I ad lib some of the lines.  lol  Yeah, I'm cool like that.  The oldest, which was in his room watching Dragon Ball Z or something, came out and chuckled and said, "Dad, what are you doing?"  lol  So even my voices got his attention and the girls asked me to read it again cause he wasn't there from the beginning.  Kids...  lol

So, do you guys do anything of that sort with your kids?  Am I the only doofus that will change a story and make it their own for a few innocent laughs out of the kids?  Do you have any stare contest with the kids?  Dance offs?  Or any crazy, quirky things for a laugh.  Kids are awesome.  lol  I love my munchkins, cupcakes, and goofballs.  lmao!  Later!

Freschetta Simply Inspired Bamboo Cutting Board Give-a-Way

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of FRESCHETTA® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Hey there friends.  Who doesn't love pizza?  Pizza is usually considered an unhealthy choice of food but now a days you can find a wide variety of mouth watering and healthy pizzas.  That's where our good friends at Freschetta have our backs and rolled out their Simply Inspired line of pizzas.
I was fortunate enough to get to try one out over the weekend and all I can say is wow.  Since my boy and I are the resident pizza experts at our house, we went to the market to choose the FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ pizza of our choice.  With 8 different varieties, it was definitely a hard decision.  I would have loved to have ry the Chicken Bianco style pizza.  Mmmmm....  Grilled chicken, red peppers, black olives, and alfredo sauce.  Man, that just sounds awesome.  Alas, it was not to be since no one at home eats olives but yours truly.  After a brief debate with my son, we decided that we were going to try the Hawaiian style pizza.  The family would enjoy that more than the Chicken Bianco.
Anyways, one the of first things that I notice is the packaging.  It's not in a standard, old pizza box.  It's in this light, plastic container that is different than any other pizza packaging that I have seen.  I was glad to see that on the back it states that it is using 30% less packaging so not only is Freschetta looking out for me, but it's looking out for mother Earth as well.  The second thing I noticed was the fresh smell of pineapple once I opened the container.  Once you peel it open, the sweet aroma of fresh meat and veggies fills the air.  Unlike many frozen pizzas, Freschetta did not seal their pizza in what seems like shrink wrap.  I guess that's what they mean by "Fresch-Taste-Seal".  So far, simply awesome.
Personally, I like thin crust pizza and the FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ line of pizzas are all thin crust.  The argument that my wife makes is that there's less pizza to eat if it's thin crust.  I say, it's just a different texture.  Sometimes you're in the mood for a little thickness in your pizza slice, sometimes your not and if you're in the mood for some awesome thin crust pizza, this is it.  It has the perfect amount of crunch that it doesn't take away from their signature sauces or ingredients.  Did I mention that this one had a sweet BBQ sauce on it?  I'm not a BBQ sauce fan and I was pleasantly surprised by the how great it was.  For far, I'm loving the ingredients, the taste, and the style.
The family definitely enjoyed the pizza and we already decided that this weekend we're going to try the Chicken Bianco style pizza.  (YES!)  lol  The kids gobbled it up, the wife thinks it's a great, healthy pizza, and I think  that any pizza that can satisfy a family of 6 is always welcome at our home.  But don't take my word for it.  Go to freschettasimplyinspired.com and check out all the pizza varieties in the Simply Inspired line and find out which style is simply you.
Still not convinced to try one out?  Here, I'll give you a coupon for a free pizza!  Whoa!  Whoa!  Whoa!  I don't have one for EVERYONE reading this post.  1 lucky reader will walk away with a coupon for a free FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ pizza.  And to sweeten the pot, our good friends at Freschetta are throwing in a wooden bamboo cutting board!  Check it out!







How awesome is that?  So how do you enter for a chance to win?  I'll make it easy.  Simply leave comment on this post on this post with your favorite pizza toppings.  That's it.  Once the the deadline has past, I'll use random.org to chose a number and that will determine our winner. Let's recap the rules:

• Give-a-way is available to US and Canadian friends only.
• Give-a-way will run from now until May14th.  Winner will be announced on May 15th.
• Leave a comment on this post stating what your favorite pizza toppings are to enter.

Be sure to check out Freschetta on Twitter and Facebook for upcoming news and give-a-ways.  Like Freschetta on Facebook for a free downloadable and printable coupon for $2 off any Simply Inspired pizzas.  So let's hear it friends, what are your favorite pizza toppings???  Later!

PSN Down = Bin Laden Dead

Coincidence???