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Just last month I celebrated being self-employed for two years, and this month marks my one year anniversary as a paid/pro blogger. Before I was blogging (for pay) I was doing other work from home, as a virtual call center (VCC) worker, which I am still doing, but thanks to blogging that has been scaled down to make time to blog.

My blogging experience so far has been more than I could imagine, having some ups and some downs but overall it has been very positive. Ranging from simple things such as friendly comments, to playing with and testing products to going to CES this past January.

My first paid/pro post was actually on April 11, 2007 and it was just a post, nothing that I am particularly proud of, nor am I really embarrassed by it. Since then I have written a total of 1543 paid posts, which averages out to be about 128 a month. I have gone from a blogger to a blogger/editor and will hopefully be able to continue to grow as a blogger, in terms of experience, pay and hopefully some name recognition within the community.

The recent article about stress on bloggers does have some truth to it, but it really depends on the individual situation and the type of blogging you do. Personally I have some stress, as I think most tech bloggers feel, because its all about time and urgency and being first. But my stress comes mostly from having to find and also keep quality writers, then once that happens a little more stress comes when those chosen writers are not actually writing or just writing badly. But that is why everyone should have a stress reliever, and the stress from blogging is certainly not enough to give me a heart attack.

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This little rant is in response to tax day.

begin rant
When given an option there will always be some people that will wait to the last possible minute to get some thing done, and typically we (society) only encourage the sad behavior.

While I am not perfect I admit to just recently doing my taxes, but they were done and e-filed before April 15th, you know the due date. I cannot understand why the USPS feels the need to stay open late, in some cases to 11:59 to allow people to get their taxes post marked “on time.”

“On time” should be when ever they normally close, or else its too f’in bad for you. Now there is always the argument that people work till 5pm and that is when the post office closes so they cannot make it on time. Well in that case a little prior planning should tell the (even halfway smart) person that they should drop them off at another time. There are plenty of chances, maybe at lunch, before work, the day, week or month before. It reminds me of the age old saying; Lack of planning on your part doesn’t mean an emergency on my part.

Hell, just don’t wait to the last minute. Local news stations will (I am sure) be feverishly covering the mad rush to the post office. All I can think is that these people are idiots at the same time feel bad for the employee who has to work late.
end rant

Image courtesy [USPS]

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I truly believe that statement, but I still cannot help but wonder where people like this are supposed to fit in. A 19-year old mother, Christine Ruther along with her baby and three friends ranging in age from 18-22 years old were recently arrested after stealing $400 worth of candy from a candy store.

This wonderful bunch broke a window at Minges Candy Store on Court Street in Downtown Cincinnati at 1 o’clock in the morning to steal candy. Once inside they removed the baby from the stroller to load it up with the merchandise, luckily police were able to track them down by following the wrappers.

The mother (if we can truly call her that) was charged both with breaking and entering and child endangering, while her partners in crime were simply charged with breaking and entering.

This is wrong on so many levels. Maybe they had the munchies?

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