2012 Resolutions

I said that I was going to post my 2012 resolutions before 2012 but I had a TON of work to do before the new year. I got most of it done so now I can breath a little bit. Today is my birthday and I have no plans other than watching the Vikings-Bears game in my living room. I wanted to go to the game but I don't have enough money for tickets. I'm celebrating my birthday with family on Tuesday after my dad's doctor appointment.

I haven't really worked on the details on how I'm going to complete these resolutions but here they are:

1. Be at $2,500 a month with Adsense before the end of the year.
2. Pay off car loan - $3,400.
3. Save $5,000 towards the down payment on a house.
4. Set up a dating profile (I don't have to actually go on dates but I want to at least get used to contacting guys online)
5. Lose 50 lbs - around 1 lb a week.
6. Pay off 1 of my student loans.
7. Go to a Vikings game.
8. Build a 3 month emergency fund.
9. Read 2 books a month.
10. Keep up to date on my sweepstakes.

A lot of these resolutions are money related which means I need to get serious with my websites so I can boost my income. I'm getting a one month subscription to Build My Rank for January. I'm thinking that will boost my websites rankings and it turn, boost my income. I'll be posting updates, hopefully, at least once a month. Happy New Year!!

Looking Ahead

My last post was six months ago so I figured this was a good time to give an update. I hope everyone had a great Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever you celebrate. Christmas started out pretty crappy but it turned out to be an okay day. I didn't get anything I had asked for so I'm a little disappointed but I think I'm over it now.

2011 Goals and Resolutions

In January 2011, I made a detailed plan for the year ahead with a list of 10 goals/resolutions I wanted to accomplish by 2012. Out of the list, I got done with only 3 things. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe I set my goals too high. Here is my list and a summary of how far I came to completing them.

1. Build Up a Completely Passive Income

I wanted to make a full time income with Adsense and Amazon. I completely failed at this goal. I am currently making around $60 a month with Adsense and $25-75 a month with Amazon. I needed to be at $2500 a month to complete this goal. FAIL

2. Save $1,000 for a Cruise

I actually completed this goal! I ended up saving $1500 for the cruise and I bought four new tires for the car. The cruise was amazing. I got to swim with stingrays, climb Mayan ruins in the rainforests of Belize, drink margaritas on the beach in Mexico and snorkel in the Caribbean Sea. It was well worth the experience. We also spent a week in Florida and went to Sea World and Busch Gardens. GOAL COMPLETE

3. Save $2,000 for a Down Payment on a House

I didn't save one cent. I found four different houses that I liked that were all under $20,000. I need to get my butt in gear and start saving before the housing market decides to rebound. FAIL

4. Save $1,000 for Bonnaroo

I saved around $800 for Bonnaroo. My parents paid for the rest. I would consider this goal completed. We went to Bonnaroo and I had a good time - for the most part. Aunt Flow decided to visit on the Saturday of the festival. I was miserable and I wasn't prepared for AF - she came early. I had to walk a mile back to camp to change undies (didn't soak through luckily) and dig out my pads from my suitcase. Horrible experience and I missed all the bands Saturday afternoon. That night was amazing though. It made me completely forget about what happened earlier in the day. Being in the pits for Buffalo Springfield and then making it to the front row for Eminem and then going to the dance party that is Dr. John was unforgettable. It made the entire trip worth it. GOAL COMPLETED

5. Lose 50 Pounds

Haha. FAIL

6. Graduate from RCTC

I not only graduated but I got a 4.0 GPA this semester and a 3.8 GPA overall. Although the homework was annoying and stupid, the classes were easy this semester. I'm so glad to be done. Now I need to put my new skills to work. GOAL COMPLETED

7. Pay Off Car Loan

I paid a little extra every month but I didn't get it paid off. I now owe $3,300. I was going to work my tail off and get it paid off by the end of January but I got fired from title selecting for Demand Studios. That totally killed my spirit to work. I still have dupe check but I don't feel like working at all. I'll be making this a priority next year. Not having to make a $400 a month car payment every month will take a lot of stress off my shoulders. FAIL

8. Go on 5 First Dates

I want to get married someday and there is no way I'm going to do that if I don't date. Dating is uncomfortable and awkward for me so I thought that going on a few practice dates would help calm me down and get me ready to date for real. Unfortunately, this never happened. I'm not embarrassed about my weight to go on a date - even if it is for practice. Maybe I'll make a similar goal for next year. FAIL

9. Learn to Play Guitar

This never happened. The guitar I own sucks - it never stays in tune and the strings aren't very flexible. FAIL

10. Run a 10K

Yeah right. FAIL

I need a couple of days to come up with my 2012 goals and I'll post them before New Year's Eve.

The Dreaded Summer Drought

The summer drought has hit workwise. There has been very little work in title selection for the past three weeks and I can't even find good titles to write. I'm so glad that I got a check from Google this month and I also got my payment for my eHow articles. They both help but I think I'm still going to be short paying bills in August. I might have to borrow money from my dad as much as that hurts.

My two niche websites are going well and I just started a new niche website two days ago. It hasn't been indexed yet so I'm waiting a week or two before I start throwing backlinks at it. My career oriented niche site is doing great this month and has made over $100 in Adsense. It is currently ranked 15th for its main keyword. I made a backlinking plan that I will start next week. I own Article Marketing Robot but I don't really like how it submits the articles to the directories. My plan is to use AMR to spin 4 different articles 500 times each. I'm not sure if it can spin an article that many times and still have them be unique but I'll see. I might have to spin more than 4 articles. I'm then going to sort the article directories by PR and add an article to 100 websites per day starting with the directory with the highest PR and working down the list. There are 9,000 directories listed in AMR so I shouldn't run out of directories. When I'm done submitting everything, I should have around 2,000 backlinks. That should get my niche site in the top 10 for it's keyword. The number 1 site has 1,050 backlinks. It has a high PR and is optimized for the keyword so I'm not sure if I can beat it but I'm going to try.

Last week, I had a great idea. I would start 25 career oriented niche sites and get them ranking well by the end of the year. If each site made $100 a month like my current site, I would be making enough money to live on. However, I don't really think this idea would work. For the niche site I started two days ago, I bought the domain name three months ago and it took this long to get the articles written and the site designed. I don't think I could do that for 25 different sites at the same time. The cost would be a lot too. If I paid $10 for each domain name, that would be $250. I could use my student loan money to pay for it but I'm not sure if splitting up my time across 25 different sites plus 3 current sites is a good idea. I have a couple months to think about it as I don't get my loans until September but right now I'm thinking I'll only going with two or three sites at one time.

Speaking of student loans, I decided to accept my student loans instead of paying for tuition out of pocket. I know this sounds irresponsible but I'm going to be paying on my student loans forever anyways so I figured why not. I need money for the cruise, I need a new laptop and I would like some extra money to buy domain names. Once my niche sites start making a lot of money, I should be able to pay back my student loans quickly.

Personal News

Getting to stuff that has nothing to do with money or my business, my sister-in-law delivered a beautiful baby boy on July 7. The C-section was scheduled for July 6 but my brother thought 7-7 would be a better birthday for him so they rescheduled. It was crazy at the hospital with everyone there taking pictures. C was diagnosed with heartburn which, surprisingly, is the leading cause of SIDS. C is taking medicine to prevent it and he has to wear a heart monitor while he's sleeping. Everyone that was going to be taking care of him including me and my parents had to take an infant CPR class. Ever since C was born, everyone has been fighting. First, my mom wanted to give the baby formula until SIL's milk came in but her mom made a huge deal about it. She seems to think that formula is poison and would not let anyone give him any. Poor thing was so hungry so my mom would sneak him formula when she wasn't around. SIL didn't care. In fact, SIL is a pretty lazy mom. I'm not trying to be mean but she'll breast feed him for five minutes and thinks he's full. She will also let him cry for a good ten to fifteen minutes while she checks her email or eats breakfast. Often times, she won't even wake up at night to feed him and tells my brother to give him a pacifier to calm him down. My mom is pretty mad at her but she doesn't say anything. She doesn't want to tell them how to raise their kid. After they got home from the hospital, SIL's mother decided to move in with them and my brother hates it. She hates my mom so on the weekends, my mom will spend the night so MIL will leave. It's been working so far. My brother got into a huge fight with his MIL last week because she didn't think C should visit his great-grandpa. My brother actually put his foot down and said that he's going whether she likes it or not. She stormed out and left her date book on the cupboard. My mom came over and found it and MIL had written some pretty nasty things about us on her calendar. Apparently, she writes everything down in her calendar. Stuff like, "Today I watched Toy Story with M" or "Today J's Mom blocked me on Facebook". I really think she's psycho and it makes me happy to be single without having to deal with someone else's crazy family.

Lately, I've been thinking about having a baby. It won't be for a couple of years but I have been thinking about it. I've always wanted to be a mother and I think I would be good at it. I have a couple of concerns though. First, I can't stand pee or  poop. The thought of it makes me gag. I haven't changed C's diaper and I hope I'll never have to. I don't even look at my own poop and I'll go as far as closing my eyes while flushing the toilet. I think I could get on board with the whole diaper thing but I have heard horror stories about toddlers taking off their diapers and pooping on the couch and stuff. Yuck! Maybe I could hire a nanny or something to go on cleanup duty. The second concern I have is that I have trouble getting myself to places how am I suppose to get a kid places. For example, I need a hair cut but have put it off for the past two months. What if the kid needs a doctor appointment or needs a hair cut or wants to join a club. Driving him/her around everywhere, making appointments and following up with people sounds like a lot of work. Even so, I think it would still be worth it. At the moment, my plan is to work on my business for the next year. I should be making enough money to buy a house by the time I'm 29. I'll spend three years looking for a husband and then when I'm 32 I'll have a baby - husband or not. Sperm donors are cheaper than I thought - especially if you do the insemination at home and find the donor yourself. It's along ways away and things could change in the next five years. Who knows, maybe I'll find the man of my dreams and get married.

Enough with all the baby talk. I know this post is getting long but I don't update very often and I need to get some things off my mind. One of my biggest stresses and worries right now is that my mom is starting her own business - and she wants me to do it with her. It's a henna tattoo business and she wants me to help her setup her booth at fairs and to take the money. She also wants me to set up a website which I don't have much time for. I really want to help her out as she hates her current job and is desperate to get out. I don't mind making a website for her but I don't want to sit around at some fair every weekend for hours on end. I'm hoping that she'll figure out a way to take the money and give the tattoos without needing me there. She's also hoping to do parties which I won't need to be there. Maybe she'll get so much work doing parties that she won't want to go to the county fairs. I really don't want to do this with her but I don't know how to tell her.

I guess I should end this post. It's pretty late so I need to get to bed. I stay up way too late worrying about stuff these days.

It's Offically Summer!!

I thought today would be a good time to give an update. I have a lot of news. First, I ended up getting my mom a Nook for Mother's Day. She loved it and uses it all the time. I also bought myself a netbook. Big mistake. I bought it so I could work outside on the patio but the screen is glossy so there is no way I can use it outside. I've only used it twice since I bought it in late April. It was nice to bring on vacation with me but I shouldn't have bought it.

My college classes went well and I got 3 A's and a B. I only have two classes left to graduate and I'm taking those in the fall. I've decided to pay for fall tuition with cash instead of student loans. I already have over $30,000 in student loan debt and I don't need anymore. After I graduate, I'm going to focus all my attention on my niche sites. Doing web design for clients will be a back-up plan.

Bonnaroo was amazing! I saw so many great bands. I wish I hadn't dragged my parents along. They were a bunch of party poopers. They complained the entire time and it really brought me down. The festival could have been a lot more amazing if they didn't complain about every little thing. Anyways, I enjoyed the festival regardless. I was able to save up enough money to pay for gas and my parents paid for food. It's been over a week I got back and I'm sick. I think I caught a virus at the festival. I can't breathe, I'm sleeping all day and night and I've got a horrible cough. I went to the doctor and she told me to take some cough medicine and I'll be fine in a couple days. That was four days ago and I still feel awful. I slept from 10PM yesterday until 6:30PM today. My mom was worried that I was dead and kept coming in my room to check on me.

Speaking of illness, my grandma was diagnosed with leukemia the last week of May and died a week later - the day after I got back from Bonnaroo. The week before she was diagnosed, I went up to the cities to visit her. She was telling me about how tired she was and that she didn't get dressed because she had no energy. My cousin, her fiance, my uncle and my parents were there as well. We thought she was tired because of all the people that had visited in the last couple days. The next day she was admitted to the hospital. It took a couple of days to diagnose her but once she was diagnosed, she refused all treatment and was put on hospice. When we learned that she was on hospice, we came to visit her again. We saw her on Tuesday before we left for Bonnaroo. She seemed just fine. She had all her energy back and even wanted to cook us dinner. We could only stay for an hour though and when we went to leave, she was begging us to stay. She said she will always love us and we said the same to her. By Monday, she couldn't get out of bed and wasn't eating. My uncle flew in from Virginia and my grandma's sister flew in from California, both on Wednesday. They visited with grandma for an hour before she died. They said she thanked Jesus for a good life and then she stopped breathing. Neither of them knew she was in bad shape so none of them brought clothes for a funeral. My mom went with my uncle and my grandpa to buy new suits on Thursday. My grandma and grandpa just celebrated their 65th anniversary in February. My grandma was 87 and my grandpa is 91. My grandpa always thought he would go first so he was pretty devastated to learn about my grandma's illness. He seemed to be in pretty good spirits at the funeral. He cracked a few jokes at the funeral and the wake. For example, when the priest told him that he would see him later, my grandpa said that he wasn't planning on dieing anytime soon. The priest laugh and said that he meant that he would see him at church on Sunday. My grandpa laughed and said that he knew what he meant. The wake was on Sunday night and the funeral was on Monday morning. I'm kind of confused about my emotions. I didn't cry at the wake or funeral. It seemed like everyone was crying but me. I cried for 5 minutes when I learned that she had passed but I wasn't even sad at the funeral. I guess I had already come to terms that she was dead, she's in a happy place now and she lived a long and wonderful life. I said goodbye to her when she was alive. There wasn't really anything to be sad about at the funeral or wake. I'm going to miss her but I have good memories from when she was alive that I can think back on when I'm really missing her

On July 6, my nephew will be born. My sister-in-law is scheduled for a C-section on Wednesday, July 6. I'm not sure why they are scheduling a C-section when the baby is healthy but SIL's mom keeps freaking out about all kinds of little things. There was some abnormality with the placenta which is common but her mom thought that there was something wrong with the baby. She was all worried about it and I'm sure she was the one that convinced the doctor to schedule a C-section. Anyways, I'm not the one being cut open so as long as they are both okay, I'm fine with it.

Finally, what you've all been waiting for, I'm going to update you on my work. I feel like I'm being split in a million different directions. I'm still doing titling for Demand Media. I need it to pay my bills. I've got about 4 different niche sites now. I'm going to name them so you don't get confused. Niche site #1 was the site I started for The Challenge. Last month, I changed the theme and added a few pages and it's earned about $0.50. That's the most I've ever earned from it so I'm happy with that. I'm planning on adding around 15-25 posts. I'm aiming to earn $20 a month from niche site #1. I'm going to have to choose a different keyword with more traffic to rank for. I'll probably work on this site slowly as I have other, more profitable sites to work on. Niche site #2 is the career-oriented site that I started in March. It's made $25 so far this month. It fell out of rankings for it's main keyword so the $25 is from long-tail keywords. The site is almost completely done. I hope to finish it by the end of this week. I'm adding state regulations for career training and I have about 30 states left. Once I get the site done, I'm going to add about 10 article marketing backlinks, 10 forum backlinks, 10 blog commenting backlinks and 10 .edu backlinks. Then I'm going to let the site sit while I work on my other sites. Niche site #3 is a housing site. I haven't started on this site - I just have the domain. I actually bought it to help my parents sell their house. They decided not to sell their house so I have the domain name with nothing on it. I'm not sure how much this site can earn but I think the keyword is pretty good. I guess I'm going to add articles on how to buy and sell houses. I don't know what else to put on the site. I'm saving this site to work on last. Niche site #4 is a communications niche that I just purchased on Sunday. I was having trouble with a particular service and I couldn't get it to work. I was searching for a new provider and I couldn't find any information on it at all. I went to Market Samurai and did some research and found that there are a lot of people searching for this but there is little competition. The CPC is pretty high. I think I could get this site up to $500 or more a month if I can get it ranking in the top 10 for it's keyword. I'm not sure what I'm going to put on the site as far as articles and information but as soon as I'm done with niche site #2, I'm going to do some brainstorming and get to work on getting this site up and running. My plan is to eventually get to $5,000 or more a month with niche sites. I figure it will take me 10-15 niche sites and around a year to get to goal.

The rest of the summer will be spent working on my niche sites and working towards making money with titling. I still owe about $300 on my credit card that I need to pay off plus I need to pay for fall tuition and I need to save for the cruise. I hope to be making over $100 a month with my niche sites by the end of the summer. I'll try to update again before September. I hope everyone has a great summer!

A Few Thoughts

Life is going great. I only have a few more assignments for school, I've made a lot more money this month than expected and summer is right around the corner. There are a few things that I want to get off my mind.

First, I need to set up a morning routine. Right now, I go to bed around midnight but I don't wake up in the morning until 10:30 or 11 and that's only because my alarm is set for 10 (I hit the snooze a few times). I don't like wasting half my day sleeping. In the afternoon, I do title selecting from noon until 5. After supper, I do school work and, if I have time, work on my niche site. I really need to start working out. I don't get any exercise at all. This is why I would like to set up a morning routine. This is what I was thinking:

8-9 a.m. Wake up, get into workout clothes, eat a light breakfast
9-10 a.m. Workout and eat a light snack
10 a.m.-12 a.m. - Relax in hot tub, shower, get dressed, put on makeup (something I don't do now but feel better when I do), clean up bathroom, make and eat lunch

I feel that this routine would work the best. Mornings would be taking care of myself, afternoons would be working and nights would be relaxing. It provides a good balance of work and life. The hardest part will be implementing this plan. Lately, I've had to drag myself out of bed in the mornings. I'm going to try to go to bed early tonight and see if I can get myself out of bed by 9 the next morning.

The second thing I want to get off my mind is about money. I got a larger than expected tax refund because I'm a student. There are a lot of things I could do with this refund and I'm not sure what. I'm also making more money in title selecting than I was expecting so all my bills are caught up. In fact, I'm going to pay off my credit card at the end of the month. Here are the options for my tax refund:

• Pay extra on my car loan - this seems like the most logical choice but it's boring. I already have a plan to pay off my car by August anyways so it would only help me pay it off a week or two early.
• Buy 3 Nook Colors - I could give one to my mom for mother's day, one to my dad for father's day and I have been wanting one for myself. I would love to be able to take a Nook on the cruise and it would be nice to have some reading material for the 14 hour drive to Bonnaroo and the 26 hour drive to Florida. A Nook Color is $250. I might be able to get one for 1/2 off through Demand Media but I've been having trouble logging into their deal site. I emailed someone about it but I don't know if they will get back to me.
• Buy a HP Mini 210 netbook - Back in December, I found this really neat netbook. I love the features and it would be a lot easier to lug around a netbook on the cruise than a heavy laptop (I'll have college classes I need to check into while on the cruise). I've been trying to work outside when it's nice but my laptop is clumsy and the battery is pretty much dead. It won't recharge past 20%. A netbook would make it a lot easier to work outside. The HP Mini 210 sells for $324 with free shipping.
• Concert tickets - There's a concert my mom wants to go to in August. I was thinking of getting her tickets to the concert for her birthday or mother's day. Tickets for the three of us would be $100.
• NASCAR Nationwide Tickets - The NASCAR Nationwide race in Iowa is the same weekend in August that my dad has off from work. I was thinking of getting him tickets for Father's day. The concert my mom wants to go to is on the same day so it's either tickets to this or tickets to the concert. Not sure how much these tickets are but I think they would be $200.

I can't decide what to do. I want both a netbook and a Nook. If I get a Nook, I want to get one for my parents too because they've been wanting one as well. If I could get a great deal on the Nooks, then I might be able to afford a netbook as well. I'm going to do some more research and see if I can find some B&N coupons and discounts. Also, I should mention that I have decided to put the HP Touchsmart on hold. My laptop is holding up great right now so I'm going to focus on paying down my debt before I get a new desktop as I don't really have a need for a desktop right now.

I also need to use some of my refund for my brother and SIL's baby shower gift. I was thinking a subscription to Parenting magazine. They already have EVERYTHING for the baby. SIL's sister gave them a gift basket full of baby medicine, thermometers, baby powder, shampoos and conditioners. My mom gave them baby safe laundry detergent and dish soap. SIL's mom got them a crib and bedding, as well as a huge stack of baby books, toys and a ton of diapers and baby wipes. SIL's dad got them a car seat, a playpen, a dresser, a changing table and a rocking chair. They also have three huge boxes full of baby clothes of all different sizes that people have given them. I think my mom has given them at least 15 different outfits. The baby show isn't until next month so I'm sure they will get even more stuff by then. The only thing I can think of giving them is a subscription to Parenting magazine and they might already have that (I hope not).

Sorry this was so long but I had to get that stuff off of my mind. I can't concentrate on work when I have those thoughts flowing through my head. I keep getting distracted by reading reviews of the Nook and HP Mini 210. I need to make up my mind about what to buy so I can stop worrying about it. It's a lot of money to spend and I'm afraid of spending it on something I don't really need. I do think I would get a lot of use out of a Nook and a netbook. I'm sure my parents would think otherwise. I'll post what I decided sometime next week.

Only One Month to Go!

A lot has happened since I last posted. Where do I begin? I got A's in all my classes last semester except for 1 class where I got a B. It was the class that I expected to get an A in - Interactive Web Design. The professor never told me why he gave me a B.

This semester is doing great so far. I'm taking four classes this semester. I'm taking Digital Art II with the same professor as last semester. We have three projects for the semester - 1 project each month and they are really easy assignments. The second assignment is due next week and then we only have one project left.  3D Animation is really boring and I don't know when I'll ever need to use this stuff but the assignments are easy. The professor is nice and she moves the due dates when she sees that we are struggling. Motion Graphics I is also an easy class. The professor is great and the assignments are spread out over a few weeks so we have plenty of time to get them done. The class I hate the most this semester is the class I liked the most last semester. Interactive Web Design II is a huge pain. We have to work with a partner and my partner is very flaky. She turns all of her work in late and she didn't even do the last assignment she said she would do. I had to do it for her and it ended up being a week late. I asked her why she didn't get it done and she told me that she took off a couple extra days for spring break. Ugh! I'm doing all the work for this assignment from now on. I cannot trust her. We get to assess our partner at the end of the semester and she will get a bad assessment from me.

Luckily, there is only one month left in the semester. I now need to focus my attention on summer break and what I'm going to do with the time off.

First, I started a health-based niche site that I would like to get in the top 10 in Google for its keyword. I fully expect the site to make at least $800 a month once it's in the top 10. It's currently ranked 85th for its keyword with only a few backlinks. I should be able to get it in the top 10 in Google with a few more linkwheels and article marketing. I also want to make a few videos to post with links back to my site.

The second thing I need to focus on this summer is making money for vacations. I am going on vacation to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival at the beginning of June. I need to make $1,000 for food and gas. I'll be doing title selection for Demand Studios in May to make this money. I'm also going on a Carnival cruise in November. I'm so excited about it I can't wait. I already paid for the cruise but I need money for food, drinks, excursions, souvenirs, tips and gas to get down to Florida. We are also going to Walt Disney World after the cruise and are staying in a hotel (my parents are paying for the hotel). I'm probably going to need at least $1,000 but I want to play it safe and make $2,000. I'll be working on this throughout the summer. I'll have plenty of time to do it. I'm only taking one class in the fall so I'll have time next fall too.

Another piece of news I'd like to share is that my sister-in-law is pregnant with their first kid - my first nephew. He is due to be born in July. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm very happy for them but at the same time, I'm jealous. Growing up, I dreamed about being a stay at home mom with three or four kids. I'm nearing 30 years old and I've never even been in a relationship. Seeing my brother and SIL decorating the nursery and buying toys and diapers just reminds me of what I don't have. I'm not ready to have a kid but that doesn't mean I don't still yearn for one. Sometimes I don't think it's fair. I'm the oldest child, I'm suppose to have the first baby. I'm trying to focus my attention on my upcoming vacations and new career instead of on babies. My time will come. It may be a few years but I'll be better off because I will have more time and money to give to a child once my career is stable.

In summary, my plans for this summer are to work on my niche site and make money for vacation. I would also like to buy a new HP Touchsmart so I'm hoping to make enough money for that as well. I've got so much going on this summer. I'm excited to get started.

Fall Semester is Coming to an End

It seems as if I only update this blog once every six months. It is not because I forget about it but it is because I am so busy. The fall semester is finally coming to a close. Only a week and a half left. I'll be jumping with joy next Friday. My classes were easy, yet, hard.

Semester Review

I took five online classes. The first class, Computer as a Creative Media, was horrible. The professor dropped out after the first week and we got a new professor who was awful. The syllabus didn't list any of the assignments, she randomly assigned discussions without sending out a notice or putting a note on the homepage, grading was slow at best and she never told us how we were going to be graded. We got a pass/fail for the discussions and an A,B,C,D or F for the assignments. I have no idea how she is going to calculate the final grade. She wouldn't tell us why we got those grades either. I got A's on the first five assignments then I started to randomly get B's and C's with no explanation as to why. The professor doesn't respond to her email either. I mentioned this to her in one of the discussions and got a fail for that discussion. It wasn't off topic because the discussion question was "What did you think of this assignment?" and I stated that I was confused about the assignment and never got a response to my email. This is the class I hate the most. When signing up for classes, I'll be sure to avoid this professor at all costs.

The second class was Computer Design I. I have mixed feelings about this class. The assignments seem hard at first but once I start them, I find out that they are pretty easy. The professor is nice. He grades assignments right away and the syllabus outlines clear expectations. I have to take the follow up class in the spring with the same professor. I'm not sure what to think. The assignments for this class are getting pretty complex and time consuming. I'm kind of nervous at what the next class will entail.

The third class I took was Graphic Design I. Luckily, I don't have to take the follow up class to get my degree. The professor is okay. I don't like his opinions as he thinks his opinions are always right (some people do find symmetry pleasing to the eye) but he grades fairly and he seems like a nice guy. He's always willing to help and he gives us tips to help us get better. The assignments were kind of boring but sometimes design is boring. I wouldn't feel too bad if I had to take a class taught by this professor again.

The fourth class I took was Interactive Web Design I. I love this class. I should since I'm getting a degree in it. The assignments were easy. He let us learn on our own time. The deadlines he set for us are not set in stone and he has moved them when he found that we were struggling. He even told us to not worry about the deadlines and to do the best work that we could. As long as we do the work, we will get a good grade. He just wants us to show him that we are actually learning what is being taught even if we can't do it very well ourselves. He's very helpful and will answer any questions immediately - even on weekends. The other students in the class are also very helpful. I can't wait to take the follow up class in the spring (even though HTML and CSS are still confusing).

The last class I have is Intro to E-Business. I hate this class but it is pretty easy. The assignments are difficult but she gives us plenty of time to get them done. We have one assignment every two weeks and usually a small discussion or exam in between. The exams are hard, even if I read the book. I don't worry about them too much though. I've gotten A's on all the other assignments. The exams will probably push me down to a B which sucks but at least I'm not failing. In the end, the grades don't really matter much. Employers never look at grades. They might see that you were in an honor society but they never look at grades. I'm glad that this is my only business class.

Winter Break

I have many things lined up for winter break. I should get all my finals done by Wednesday of next week at the latest. The first thing I have planned is to finish my office. I still don't have it done. It has actually gotten worse. Whenever someone has mail that they want to keep but don't know where to put it, they throw it in the office. My dad started working on the floor but never finished. There also isn't any heat ducts going into the office so it is freezing. My first plan of attack is spending two hours a day organizing the paperwork and filing it away or shredding it. Then I am going to tackle the floor by sanding it and applying varnish. Finally, I will make it comfortable to work in by adding a space heater and maybe a rug and a comfortable chair.

The second thing I will be doing during winter break is writing Infobarrel articles. I started a separate blog for Infobarrel called My Infobarrel Experiment. I have around 70 Infobarrel articles - most of them are less than a month old. I earned $30 last month and I'm hoping to earn double that this month. It is looking good so far as I have already made $25 and it is only the 8th. I'm expecting the earnings to drop off after the holidays. I want to write more articles to try and counteract that dropoff. My goal is to write 50 articles in December. I made a plan to write 3 articles a day starting next Thursday.
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The third and final thing I will be accomplishing during winter break is making a lot of up-front money from Demand Studios. I am, unfortunately, behind on bills again and need to get caught back up. I'll be able to completely pay off my credit card with my student loan in January but they want their money now. I also need to make enough for a car payment and for Christmas gifts. I should be able to pay all my bills and buy gifts with $1,100 so that's my goal. I'll be doing mostly DS Title Selecting and Dupe Checking but, if I have to, I may write articles. I have spread out the amount I need to make each day so I'm not overwhelmed. If I schedule an $80 day, I will not schedule any Infobarrel articles or office work. If I have 3 Infobarrel articles scheduled, I will only make $20 with DS. I want to set realistic goals. I think adding variety to my schedule will work out great and I'll still be able to reach all my goals.

I'll try to post again before June;) I hope everyone has a great holiday season!