Archive for the 'PPP' Category

A couple of years ago I went to the dentist and they told me that I probably sleep with my mouth open. I guess that makes me a mouth-breather. Breathing through your mouth when you sleep leads to a dry mouth because you don’t produce saliva when you sleep. As it happens, bacteria just love the nighttime because the like the dryness. This lead to sensitive gums. The dentist gave me some awful-tasting mouthwash that I used day and night for a couple of weeks. It helped my gums, but my teeth were still sensitive to hot and cold. The problem wasn’t debilitating, but it was annoying.

I recently tried out Biotene, which is a toothpaste that not only alleviates the discomfort of sensitive teeth, but also resolves the problem. Biotene could have really helped me out when I was suffering from sensitive teeth. It’s nice to know that there is a sensitive toothpaste out there that I can use the next time I have sensitive teeth. My favorite thing about Biotene is that it’s got Xylitol in it, which is a sweetner that is actually good for your teeth because it mimics sugar enough to attract bacteria, but they can’t motabolize it like sugar, so they die! Give it a try.

Around October of last year I started using a blog marketing service called PayPerPost to make a little bit of extra money while I was going to school. In about a month’s time I had earned enough for a Nintendo Wii! Then in November life came at me fast and I ended up taking a job in Arizona. The resulting change in circumstances caused me to put my participation on hold. I had intended to come back to using PayPerPost as soon as things settled down. Well, things never really settled down, so I figured: What the hey! I’m excited this time because I’m going to be able to apply the proceeds to my arcade cabinet in progress! PayPerPost is really great. The other users on PayPerPost, called “posties,” have been great in helping me out every time I’ve had a question. It’s a great community and a great way to help you post to your blog more frequently. What’s not to love? I’m excited to see what sorts of new technologies I can find out about early as a result of my involvement with PayPerPost. If you use PayPerPost I’d love to hear about some of the experiences you’ve had with it.

I can’t remember how old I was when I got my first telescope, but I remember how much I enjoyed it. It was a small red telescope that was mostly plastic. It was the spyglass style that you always see in the pirate movies. It didn’t have great magnification, but it was a fun toy, and it worked. I have only ever owned three telescopes in my life. The first was the red toy spyglass. The second one was a gift from my grandparents, and it was a lot nicer.

Shortly after receiving a telescope with a tripod and everything for Christmas my Grandfather and I took it out to the mountains that are home to the Palomar observatory. We didn’t drive all the way up to the observatory, but we stopped on the side of the road about halfway up. There we set up the telescope and did our best to find interesting things I’d never seen except in books or on TV. I was able to spot Venus and could even see that it had phases like the Moon. Those are memories I will cherish forever.

The third one I bought while I was a missionary in Germany. I don’t know what it was that drew me to it. It was another spyglass, but it looked nicer that my first one. It had an all-metal case and much greater magnification, too. We were riding our bikes around the rural area between Mühldorf and Altötting trying to find a bike path since we missed the train. The road was extremely narrow and dangerous to ride a bicycle on. We eventually got somewhat lost, and would have wasting a good amount of time had it not been for my spyglass. I was able to spot the important roadsigns from over a kilometer away and avoid traveling in the wrong direction. I became so known for my spyglass that the Sisters in our district gave me a little Kermit the Frog figure holding a yellow spyglass. They had drawn on my hairstyle and written my name on the base of the plastic toy stand.

Telescopes and binoculars make great gifts (Free UPS shipping on orders of $29.99 or more). People don’t often think of them until they could really use them and then forget about the after the time of need has passed. Do your friends and family a favor and get them a telescope and help them create memories, too.

How would you like to get paid for stuffing your face with pizza? The Postie Patrol is one way PayPerPost.com rewards its users. They pick a random active user and stop by their place. They give them a choice of tasks to complete for money. The person picks one and craziness ensues. You will see that they have a huge truck in the video. This truck is affectionately nicknamed the Blue Monster. The one in the video that challenges the postie is the founder of PayPer Post, ambulance Ted Murphy. Check it out!

I’ve heard it from many places, and it makes sense. The US government gives away free money for all sorts of things that a lot of people don’t know about. There are a lot of websites out there that charge a fee to search for federal grants and loans. There is one resource that help people find federal grants and loans that doesn’t charge a thing, and that is FederalGrantsWire.com. Give them a try before you start any new project that requires money. You might be surprised when you qualify to have your project funded partially or in full by Uncle Sam!

Some companies and websites are very secretive about everything they do. Other companies have learned how to keep their users happy, and that’s through communication. PayPerPost has forums where users help each other out. You can discuss your favorite posts and ask questions about how things are run. Sometimes there are big announcements there and hints of things to come before they go live on the main site. I had a question about how some of the rules for posting work and I got three or four replies within just a few hours of posting. I love hanging out on the forums there because the people are nice and helpful and it gives me an insight into the company. Check out the PayPerPost Forums for yourself to see what I mean.

Yes, it is. Well, almost. You technically can’t apply until January 1st, but now is the time to start thinking about it and planning ahead. It almost always seems to sneak up on me. I never seem to have the inside track on applying for financial aid… that is, until this year. There is a great free resource for information about applying for the FAFSA online this year. Not only does FAFSAonline.com have information about maximizing your award, but they also have some helpful MP3 guides to help anyone fill out the FAFSA. After you fill out the FAFSA and get it submitted you can get info about student loans and make sure that you know about every opportunity to get money for school. This will be especially important for me this year because I’m transferring to a university, and that means that the price of schooling is really going up for me this year.

I have been doing PayPerPost for almost a month. In three days the money starts rolling in. I can’t remember where I heard about PayPerPost, to be honest. All I do remember is how excited I was when I realized that I could make enough money to do something that I would never have been able to otherwise. When the Nintendo Wii comes out on November 19th I will have enough to get the console, an extra controller, and a couple of games. Within a week after the release of the Wii I will have enough for at least two more games. After that I foresee that I will be making enough to pay the monthly rent, or at least almost all of it. That means that I start whittling away the consumer debt that we have accrued as a young married couple that likes expensive toys (and furniture). I never thought that something like this would be possible while I was still in school. But here I am in school and getting out of debt at the same time. I wish PayParPost the best of luck in their business as it has been nothing short of amazing to me and the many bloggers who have benefited from its business model.

Some astute readers may have noticed the new Disclosure Policy link on the sidebar. This was created using the Disclosure Policy Generator and is an attempt to make it obvious what motivates the posts on this blog. I am confident that this was created by people who are not happy with the model that PayPerPost.com has come up with to pay bloggers, drugs but I see no harm in a disclosure policy so long as it is honest. Click on the link above if you would like to generate your own disclosure policy. I did.

I’ve talked before about the coyotes that come out at night and make all sorts of noise howling and attacking one another across the creek from us. I love using my binoculars and a maglite to try and spot them and get them to leave. What would really be great is to get out there with some night vision goggles, though. Then I could see them wherever they may be hiding. Optics Planet is a great place for all things optical. They offer the latest and greatest binoculars, scopes, lasers, telescopes, etc. They have guaranteed low prices and stuff made by practically every company imaginable. Best of all they offer free UPS shipping on all orders of $29.99 or more.

If you don’t know where to start with these kinds of optical products they have a gift guide showcasing all of the best recommended items available this holiday season. One of my favorite items is something that I had never thought about before but seems like a natural merging of technologies: the Digital Camera Binoculars! Not only do you get a great close up view of the action, but you can take a picture of it as you are watching it. Use the binoculars as a viewfinder. I’ve tried to take a picture with a camera by holding it up to the eyepiece on my binoculars. It just doesn’t work. If I had one of these I could finally get pictures of those coyotes attacking each other at 2am. There is some great stuff available for Christmas gifts this year.