I am sooooooo full. But before I keel over in a Tryptophan induced coma, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

Every year Thanksgiving gets overlooked as the retail stores rush us into the Christmas Season where we are expected to sell a few organs and buy Playstation 3s or HDTVs. Let us take a moment to truly reflect on and be thankful for all that life has given us.

I am grateful to have a great family as well as great friends and great readers. And as frustrating as it can be sometimes, I am grateful to live in a country where a person is able to achieve their dreams if they work hard and smart enough.

So now that you, too, are stuffed and fighting of a bad case of the naps, tell me what you are thankful for.

But then two things happened that snapped me out of that fantasy world that I had been living in for the past four elections; Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was added to the Republican Party ticket and the economy took a nosedive. That’s when I realized that our political leaders are anything but leaders and that the political process had deteriorated beyond all recognition.

It has become quite clear to me that we, as a nation, have fallen asleep at the wheel and as a result, we have been appropriately sideswiped. I can make a compelling case as to why we fell asleep. We are stressed out, over medicated, under educated and too busy. Most of all, we are afraid. We are afraid of losing the lives we have built for ourselves, however meager they may be.

The fact of the matter is these are really just excuses we tell ourselves to justify not being involved in the governmental process. We knew that there was something very wrong with this country but we chose to ignore it. We thought that to confront it would mean the loss of the things we hold dear. But through our inaction, we brought about the very thing we feared; the loss of our hopes and dreams. Our dream homes, our wonderful jobs, the loss of our children and spouses to war and the loss of the adventurous retirement we had been saving up for. We only have ourselves to blame.

The good thing is, dire though it may seem, it’s not too late. However we need to take action. Now. We must take back control of our government. Government officials are called public servants but they have been serving special interests for far, far too long. My favorite line in the movie V for Vendetta (A movie I highly recommend watching by the way) is when V tells the citizens of England that “People should not be afraid of their government. Government should be afraid of their people.” Meaning that control of the country should always be in the hands of the people and that government should be LISTENING to us not DICTATING to us.

This presidential election is only the start of the road that leads back to the principles this country were founded on. Congress in its entirety will need to be scrutinized and anyone who has been putting their own self-interests above the interests of the nation needs to be shown the door. We need to encourage and support the people in office (or who would run for office) who truly believe in honesty, fairness and integrity.

Eventually, this bi-party system we have will need to be replaced with something more effective and less divisive. Why is that we can go to a grocery store and select from 30 different types of cereal but when it comes to something as important as governing our country, we only have two parties to choose from? Seriously.

We owe it to ourselves, our nation and the world to demand higher standards for our leaders and ourselves. We can no longer afford to sleep walk through life. It’s time to wake up and take responsibility for our future. For as Edmund Burke once said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

Do something. Vote.

But a link to this video starring Tim Ferris was forwarded to me via email and I have to say that it convinced me to get off my tush and buy the book. The video is worth watching but if you are short on time, I’ve taken the liberty of highlighting the main points.

Tim starts off with a great point. “Income has no value without time.” He is absolutely right. A lot of people find themselves in a situation where they are making five, six and even seven figures but they are unable to enjoy their wealth because their lives are so consumed by work. Tim gives three tips to help us all get on the right track towards true financial freedom.

He begins by talking about Pareto’s Law. Pareto’s Law simply states that 20% of your activities will produce 80% of your outcome. For instance 80% of your business will likely come from 20% of your customer base. Therefore it is important to identify and focus on those necessary tasks that produce the majority of your outcome. Everything else should be delegated to trusted helpers.

The second point he makes is that we are doing ourselves a disservice by trying to keep up with the latest news. I currently find myself stuck in this trap. For the first time in my life I’m interested in politics. Crazy, I know. Every day I visit Google’s Blogsearch engine to see what else has happened in this soap opera called Election ‘08. Before I know it, two hours have passed and I’ve done nothing more than read ten blog postings about what she said about him and the rumors going around about her.

Tim emphasizes that when it comes to the “knowledge based economy”, performance is more important than presence. I can be “present” in front of my computer all day but if I’m not producing anything than that is time wasted. Tim stresses the importance of learning to let things wait and catch up when needed. Relearn the art of single tasking and focus on those things that are mission critical.

Finally Tim gives business owners a much needed wake up call. We often fall into the trap of thinking we can do it ourselves for free. This thought pattern is especially pervasive with new startups that don’t have a lot of cash to spend. In reality, that “free” project isn’t free at all. It actually cost us time, money and missed opportunities.

For example, say that you get paid $25 per hour and that it takes you four hours to clean your house. That’s a $100 and four hours of time gone down the drain (pun intended). If you hired a Merry Maid instead, even if the cost was $125, you’re really only out $25. Plus you’ve gained something more valuable than the money. Time. Money is a renewable resource. Time is not.

In order to make the most of your time and talents, outsource or delegate those tasks that contribute very little to the bottom line. Things like sifting through email or dealing with spam on your blog.

I highly recommend watching the video and for more great tips, visit his website.

No one is reading your blog.

Don’t feel bad. About 90% of the blogs on the internet are standing shoulder to shoulder with you on this Dock of Shame. The good news is that with time, focused effort and a few of these suggestions, you can overcome your no-traffic nightmare and turn your blog into the rockin’ place to be.

1. Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Marketing

The internet is like the United States national debt. It just keeps growing. With billions of web pages on the internet, the only way web surfers find the information they need is through the use of a search engine like Google and Yahoo. Therefore it is important that your website is organized in a way that makes it easy for these search engine giants to scan and properly index your web pages.

This involves a little voodoo magic. First you need to cut off a lock of Larry Page’s hair…Just kidding. Seriously, search engine optimization (or SEO) techniques range from simple to complex. There are many websites on the internet that give free SEO instruction or you can save yourself time and money by just buying Naomi Dunford’s SEO School.

2. Write Linkable Content

Don’t make the mistake that a lot of website owners do and forget that people visit blogs for the content. What that content is, is entirely up to you. However, if you want to increase traffic to your website at least some of that content should be linkable.

Linkable content encourages people to link to it, talk about it and recommend it to others. Unlike other types of blog postings, such as news posts or personal updates, linkable content is designed to always be relevant and strives to be comprehensive. An example of this type of content would be a how-to article or even a comprehensive list of resources.

For advice on how to write a great article, check out my blog post “How to Write a Great Article”.

3. Write and Submit Press Releases

A press release is an announcement that is written for and circulated to various news outlets. The goal of a press release is to get picked up and talked about by those news sources which nets you increased exposure and traffic.

The first step is to write the press release. Afterwards you can submit your press release directly to those news sources or use online PR Services such as PRWeb or Market Wire.

4. Engage in Article Marketing

Article marketing is the process of writing articles and submitting them to article directories. Webmasters, looking for free content, will download your articles and post them to their website. Article marketing provides you with backlinks and exposure for your website which can be substantial if your article is picked up by enough webmasters.

Writing for article directories is a little different from writing for blogs so check out this article for some great tips. Visit this website for a comprehensive list of article directories to submit to.

5. Submit to Internet Directories

An internet directory is a collection of links to other websites. Some directories are general in scope, meaning they have a wide range of categories encompassing a wide range of topics while others focus on a specific interest (called a niche) such as personal development or web development.

There is much debate as to whether or not internet directories really bring in traffic. I say it depends on the directory. Some directories, such as BlogCatalog, have an active community surrounding it that encourages members to visit each other’s blogs. Others…well, not so much.

When submitting to directories, look for ones that specialize in your blog’s topic. You stand a greater chance of getting traffic from a niche directory than a general one.

6. Network with Other Bloggers

The notion; “If you build it, they will come”, only works in the movies. You wouldn’t go to a party, stand in a corner and wait for people to talk to you. Likewise you can’t start a blog and just expect people to visit it. You must take it upon yourself to get out there and introduce yourself. Read and comment on other blogs. Participate in forums and social networking sites. Submit to blog carnivals.

7. Guest Blog

Guest blogging is sort of like article marketing except it’s much more effective. Instead of posting your article to an article directory, you write specifically for another person’s blog. The blogger gains quality content for their website and, in return, you get to share your expertise, as well as your website, with their audience.

To learn how to be a great guest blogger read, “How to Guest Blog without Disaster.”

8. Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is an effective means of getting the word out about your website. Often it is the only way to get your blog into places that will offer you a nice stream of steady traffic. The cost of advertising will range but a general rule is that the more traffic a website has, the higher the price to advertise on it.

Before opening your wallet, be sure to evaluate whether the website caters to your desired audience and whether you will receive your desired outcome. If you are really strapped for cash, offer to guest blog or exchange advertising.

9. Get Your Blog Reviewed

You can purchase a paid review through a service like Review Me. This is where you pay a blogger to tell others what they think of your website. The upside is that if the blogger really likes your website, then you’ll get a glowing review. The downside is that the blogger is not restricted to just saying good things about you or your website. So if they have any issues with those will be discussed.

The second way you can get a blog review is to network with other bloggers and agree to write a review of each other’s blog. This is a win-win situation for both of you as you each will earn a free review as well as make connections in the blogosphere.

10. Offer Something for Free

People. Love. Free. Stuff. Especially if it’s high quality free stuff. The best freebies are things people will actually use. On the internet this would be a web template, graphics or a plugin that makes their internet life easier.

The nice thing is you can always find places on the internet to advertise your freebie for free. Some will even host your download although I highly recommend you place the download on your website as well. If your freebie is cool enough people will tell their friends about it thus earning you free advertisement and traffic.

11. Hold a Contest

Next to getting free stuff, people also love winning stuff. The trick with contests, however, is getting people to enter. This is usually overcome by offering prizes people actually want to win so ixnay on the Weird Al Yankovic records.

Depending on where you live there might be laws that govern how a contest is run so be sure to check this out prior to advertising your contest.

12. Interview Other Bloggers

Just as you are looking for ways to advertise your blog, there are other bloggers out there doing the same thing. What better way to help each other than to interview them. You gain because you have fresh content to post on your blog and your interviewee will tell their readership all about their interview with you.

Conversely, jump on any opportunity that arises for you to be interviewed and don’t forget to reward your interviewer with a mention on your blog.

13. Viral Market with a Game or Video

People are always looking to be entertained. That’s why putting up a fun flash game that people can play on your site or uploading a funny and memorable video to YouTube is a great way to attract visitors.

Don’t worry if you don’t know the first thing about coding a game or shooting a video. Experts in these two subjects are just a Google search away.

14. Write Testimonials

When looking for products or services to purchase, one of the things I look for are testimonials from current or previous clients. If there is a website, I visit it if only to make sure that the reviewer is real. Think of all the online products you use and then contact their sales department about putting up a testimonial from you that includes a link to your website. You gain traffic as well as support your favorite products and services.

This list is by no means exhaustive but should get you off to a great start. I’d love to hear about some things you have done to increase traffic to your website.

Comedian/Actor Bernie Mac and Singer/Actor Issac Hayes passed away this weekend within two days of each other. Bernie Mac died of complications arising from pneumonia. The cause of death for Issac Hayes is still unknown.

Bernie Mac, born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, is best known as his role as the put upon father in the hit television series “The Bernie Mac Show”. The show earned him two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Bernie Mac began his career young, putting on comedy shows for friends, family and schoolmates. He was quoted as saying in a 2001 Associated Press article, “I came from a place where there wasn’t a lot of joy. I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn’t a lot of things to laugh about.” A goal which he achieved many times over in his long career.

Bernie Mac’s popularity as a comedian soared after he performed on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam. He also had his own talk show on HBO for a short while called Midnight Mac. Afterwards he began a career in acting that included movies such as Friday, Charlie’s Angels and the Oceans Eleven series. He was working on a new movie called Soul Men when he passed away. Bernie leaves behind his wife Rhonda McCullough, his daughter Je’Neice and a granddaughter.

To the current generation, Issac Hayes is most well known for his role on South Park as Chef. However right around the time the founders of the politically incorrect animated show were born, Issac Hayes had established himself as a successful singer, songwriter and musician. Issac Hayes’ music career spans over four decades and includes twenty studio albums and two soundtracks. He also wrote the theme song for the movie Shaft for which he won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy.

Hayes came from humble beginnings. He was born in Covington, Tennessee where he grew up picking cotton. At five years old, he began singing at the local church and taught himself how to play the piano, the saxophone and the electric organ. Hayes is best known for his music style of long, orchestral songs and deep bass vocals. Popular artists, such as Barry White, have cited Hayes as being a major influence in their style of music. In 2002 Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Hayes has also been seen in television shows such as The Rockford Files, Girlfriends and Stargate SG-1 as well as movies such as Truck Turner, Escape from New York and I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. Oddly enough, Issac also stared in the upcoming movie Soul Men alongside Bernie Mac. Issac Hayes leaves behind his wife Adjowa Hayes, 12 children, 14 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

To learn more about these two great men, follow the links:

Issac Hayes Website

Bernie Mac Biography

Wikipedia Article: Bernie Mac

Wikipedia Article: Issac Hayes

Issac Hayes tribute site

Bernie Mac tribute site

As my period of unemployment grew longer, so did my face and by the end of June I was thoroughly discouraged and depressed. The only thing that kept me going was the hope that I could make my internet business flourish but things weren’t looking too bright in that area either.

Then I came across this post by Steve Pavlina. I instantly recognized that putting myself through the self defeating behavior described in the article:

Thinking about what you don’t want is a trap. Such thoughts can keep you stuck for a very long time. You can seriously blow years — even decades — of your life in the following vicious cycle:

1. Look around and observe what you’re experiencing.
2. Notice that you don’t like certain aspects of your life.
3. Feel fear, worry, sadness, disappointment, and/or other negative emotions.
4. Think about what it would take to change what you dislike.
5. Notice that it will probably take a huge amount of time and effort to change — and with no guarantee of success. Consider that you might even make things worse.
6. Feel frustrated, trapped, and/or depressed.
7. Do something that makes you feel better. Watch TV. Eat. Drink. Surf the web. Check email. Maybe do all of the above.
8. Feel some relief and comfort now that you’ve distracted and/or drugged yourself.
9. Allow some time to pass, and eventually repeat from step one.

After reading the article, I realized that I was constantly running this script through my mind about pretty much everything in my life. I’m going to totally put myself out there and confess that I struggle with low self-esteem and depression. I’m not sure which came first, the low self esteem or the depression but I do know that they feed on each other and the result is a self defeating thought pattern that plays over and over in my mind blocking the positive changes I attempt to make in my life.

So I decided to take the advice offered in the article and instead of thinking so much about what I didn’t want out of life, I shifted my focus on the life I did want. The exercise required that I visualize what I did want out of life every day for at least 20 minutes per day. My visualization skills are a little weak so to help, I wrote down everything I wanted to achieve and for seven nights, I read it out loud to myself.

The first night, I felt a lot of resistance. I honestly thought that the exercise was a waste of time and that things would never change. But I decided that the least I could do was follow through on the trial. After all, it was only seven days and the time was going to pass by anyway.

The next time I did it there was still a little bit of resistance but not as much but I did notice that I felt more optimistic about life. By the fourth day, the resistance had disappeared and my attitude about life had improved vastly. I was ten times more positive, more energetic and I began receiving tons of ideas about what I could do to make my life better.

And then things started happening.

The first thing that happened was that I became more aggressive about finding a job. I followed up with two of them and scored an interview with both. This motivated me to continue with the visualization exercise even after the trial time had ended. About two weeks after I started the experiment, I was gainfully employed at both jobs.

Encouraged by this success, I made changes to other areas of my life. I began to exercise. I also began to study the Chakras for reasons I’ll detail in another post. I also started expressing gratitude for all of the things in my life both good and bad. My outlook on life had improved dramatically and I could feel that the universe was helping me achieve the goals I had set out to achieve. About two days after getting the jobs, I sold an article on Constant Content and shortly after that I sold another two articles in a private sale.

I could hardly believe my good fortune. Unfortunately, I stumbled and have rolled back down the side of the hill. Because of hours I had to work to complete my training at the two jobs, I didn’t have time to continue with my new program and stopped. Now that I think about it, it may have been that my subconscious mind, who seemed to like having me depressed and hating myself, grabbed onto my crazy schedule as an excuse to just stop working on my personal development. As expected, I slipped back into bad habits and self defeating thought patterns.

As an attempt to combat this, I’ve been forcing myself to do something every day towards my goals and have managed to get my other website-Openlore Fiction Writer’s Magazine-up to date. However, I’m still struggling against mental and physical inertia. It’s extremely frustrating because I have all of these ideas and goals that I want to achieve but it feels as if I have to jump over an obstacle a 100 feet tall in order to do so. Needless to say, I’m feeling discouraged.

The moral of the story is that you really do manifest what you concentrate on. The last month proved that to me. When I focused on success, I experienced it and when I focused on negativity, negative things happened to me. Now some people may have very logical explanations for that. They may chalk it up to coincidence or even that I am just deluding myself. Both explanations are entirely plausible. However, I’ve decided to do a 30 day trial of the visualization exercise mostly to get myself out of this mental rut I’ve found myself in but also to solidify in my mind that this technique does, in fact, work.

If your life sucks at the moment, I encourage you to try this for yourself. Just pick a dream and spend 20 minutes everyday visualizing yourself achieving that dream. Additionally, whenever you find yourself thinking about how much your life sucks, turn your attention to how much you want your life to rock. As I pointed out earlier, it is only seven days and the time is going to pass by anyway so really what do you have to lose?

I will attempt to do daily updates as time permits. In the meantime, share with me how a shift in your mentality has affected your reality.

Traffic Counters

Traffic counters keep track who visits your blog. These counters range in complexity and usefulness. The simple ones only count the number of people who visit your blog while the more comprehensive ones will tell you how they found your site, how long they hung around and even what pages they looked at. This information allows you to see what content on your blog is drawing in the traffic and tailor your blog accordingly.

Most bloggers use Sitemeter, Statcounter or Google Analytics. All three are free, easy to use and offer detailed information about your website’s traffic.

Spam Fighters

Spam is the bane of internet society. Fortunately there are several products on the market that will help keep your blog spam free. Most website/blogging software will either come with spam fighters built in or offer additional software (called plugins) that you can install.

Some stand-alone products that will work with any system are Bad Behavior, Spam Poison and Captcha.

Templates

If you want your blog to look nice and reflect your personality, the the internet is your playground when it comes to finding templates for your blog. The only drawback with using a template is that the chances are high that someone else is using the same exact one. However there are so many things you can do to personalize your template that this really shouldn’t be a concern.

Systems, such as Wordpress and B2Evolution have a directory of templates you can download and use for free. Check the website where you downloaded your blog system or do a search on the internet to find free templates for your website.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is the act of flagging your content for sharing with others. The most popular social sharing/bookmarking services are Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and Del.icio.us. There are many, many, many others but these are the pillars of the social networking community so to speak.

It is helpful to have buttons from these sites on your website as both a convenience and a gentle request to your readers to help promote your website. Check around to see if the software you are using provides a plugin for these services. If not, there are third party options available such as Add To Any or Share This.

RSS Feed

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and it is the one thing you must have. A good portion of your visitors will use a service like Newsgator or Bloglines to stay up to date on the many blogs they read. Instead of going from site to site to site to check for updates, they simply plug in the site’s RSS Feed and are automagicly notified of updates. This is so common that your website/blog software is seriously lacking if it does not have this functionality built in to the software.

If you want to track how many people are subscribed to your RSS feed, sign up for a Feedburner account.

Photos

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I’m not so sure about that but pictures do make web content more interesting and can emphasize the point of a piece of writing better than any amount of flowery prose.

There are places where you can purchase stock photography on the cheap as well as places where you can get it for free. Stock photography tends to higher in quality than the freebies but sometimes you get lucky and when you are working on a budget of zero dollars you can’t really be all that choosy.

Shoutboxes

A shoutbox is a service that allows your visitors to leave you message on your blog. It falls in between visitors leaving a comment on a specific blog post and actually having a full-fledged forum installed on your website. A shoutbox can serve as a place for you and your visitors to just shoot the breeze with each other or it can be a place where visitors can ask questions.

Comment manager

Most content management systems and third party hosting solutions offer decent comment capabilities with their software. However, sometimes the system is inefficient or a third party comment management solution such as Haloscan, Intense Debate or Sez Who offer a better solution for building a community and dealing with disruptive people.

WordPress plugins

If you are a WordPress user, here are a few plugins that will help make your life easier.

Akismet & Bad Behavior

These two plugins are spam killers and when used together will eliminate spam from your blog. Akismet comes preinstalled with WordPress, however you will need to download and install Bad Behavior.

Subscribe to comments

The Subscribe to Comments plugin makes it easier for your visitors to keep track of the comments left on a particular entry. If your visitors are anything like me, then they will need a little help keeping track of where they left comments as well as staying involved in the conversation. This plugin does a good job of that. It allows them to be notified of any follow up comments via email and offers them the ability to manage their subscriptions.

Social networking links

The Share This plugin puts all of the social networks at your visitor’s fingertips. Let’s face it there are literally hundreds of social networking services with one popping up almost every week. Who wants to clutter up their blog with all that drama? This plugin keeps your blog nice and clean and yet allows your visitor to bookmark your blog at the social network of their choice.

Contact Form

The Secure and Accessible Contact Form creates an easy to use contact form that prevents spam bots from spamming you.

All in one SEO

The All in One SEO plugin in an invaluable tool for helping your website rank well in the search engines.

In the next installment of this article series How to Blog- Marketing, we are going to look at things you can do to get the word out about your blog.

Related Articles

• For Newsb: How to Blog-Overview
• For Newbs: How to Blog-Getting Started
• For Newbs: How to Blog-Types and Topics

The show I watch was titled “Same Sex Parenting”. The issue up to bat? Gay adoption. The show paired Kati, a Mormon housewife and mother of two adopted children, with Tom and Dennis Patrick who had adopted four boys out of foster care. Based only on her religious convictions, Kati believes that gay adoption is wrong and that children need a mother and a father. For 30 days she lived with the Patricks to get a firsthand look at the issue of gay adoption and same sex parenting.

Being the naïve idealist that I am, I honestly expected her to change her opinions once she experienced the reality of gay adoption and same sex parenting. After all, the only reason she was oppose to gay adoption was that homosexuality is against her religion. However, I was not surprised that Kati remained close-minded throughout the entire experiment and stuck to her opinion that gay adoption was wrong.

I can accept that. Really. People have opinions and, right or wrong, they are entitled to them. However, it quickly became obvious that Kati had put no real thought into issue of gay adoption at all, which aggravated me. If you are going to oppose something, at least take the time to get all the facts and then formulate an intelligent reason why you don’t like the idea. Instead, Kati subscribed to “The prophet sayeth so I believeth” method of reasoning. Her religion says it is wrong, so it is wrong.

Several times she was asked if she believed it was better for children to stay in foster care rather than be adopted by homosexual couples and she never answered the question. Not once. Instead she would get offended and jump on the defensive. Throughout the internet community, many people are speculating that the only reason Kati agreed to do the show was to proselytize and I agree. I felt she was more interested in being “right” than in trying to understand the issue or even see it from another perspective.

I felt she had no empathy for the plight of gay parents. In one heartbreaking scene a lesbian tells her the painful story of when her partner left her, took the child they had together and refused to let her visit him. The woman went to court over the issue but the courts were unsympathetic. Kati expressed her sympathy to the woman at losing the child but quickly followed up with a lecture that pretty much stated it was the woman’s own fault. That the situation wouldn’t have happened if she, being a lesbian, had simply chosen to not to have a child with a partner she loved. Are you serious?

Throughout the show, Kati defends herself by saying that she was entitled to her opinion and suggested that they should simply agree to disagree on the subject. However, the problem with opinions is not the belief itself but the action that is taken based on those beliefs. She clearly stated that she would vote against gay adoption and according to Dennis Patrick, she planned on actively advocating against gay adoption when she returned home. The sad thing about it is that if someone attempted to get the Mormon religion outlawed, she would be up in arms and calling on the same human rights she wants to deny the Patricks.

What makes this whole situation even sadder is that she was shown how bad it is for kids in the foster care system by two people who had grown out of it. But while she abhorred the situation, she was still against gay adoption even though denying gay adoption meant that the number of children left in the foster care system would continue to rise. She couldn’t seem to understand that there just aren’t enough heterosexual homes available to handle all of the children in foster care. In 2006 there were 510,000 children in foster care. Only 51,000 were adopted out. According to the Urban Institute, a ban on gay adoption could displace up to 14,000 children and cost the nation between $87-$130 million dollars.

Kati’s narrow-mindedness is shared by many. People like her cannot see beyond the tip of their own noses. If they had their way, no one would have any rights who did not believe or act like them. Does this sound familiar? It should. This was the basis for the Holocaust and the Spanish Inquisition.

Kati, and those like her, come from a place of fear. They are afraid that that gay marriage and gay adoption will affect them, negatively, in some way. A relative of one of the children adopted by the Patricks asked Kati how gay adoption affected her since really, well, it didn’t. Her response? It offended her moral fiber. Well you know what? It offends my “moral fiber” that you would rather see children suffer, needlessly, in foster care rather than be adopted into a loving, stable home that is provided by a couple who happen to be homosexual.

I support gay marriage and gay adoption because neither has anything to do with sexual orientation. Gay adoption is not a homosexual rights issue; it is a human rights issue. Every person on this planet deserves to love and be loved whether that love flows to and from a life partner or the care and raising of children.

Kati’s attitude really left a bad taste in my mouth which worsened when I learned that The Church of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) is inciting its members in California to get the same sex marriage legislation overturned. So instead of expending effort towards solving the foster care problem, or alleviating child starvation and homelessness or even towards putting an end to child abuse and exploitation, these people are working hard to turn their very wrong opinions into very bad laws.

In the immortalized words of The Dictators, “What’s up with that?”

Related Articles

For One Anti-Gay Woman, 30 Days is not Enough

30 Days to Feature Ypsilanti Family

TV Squad: 30 Days; Same Sex Parenting

So when I saw the following advertisement on Craigslist for my area, I thought I had lucked into something good.

Click image to get a larger view

However when I emailed the person for more information, I received the following form letter in reply:

Thank you for your interest in the Office Administrative Assistant
position. In order to get the most accurate information and to
expedite the hiring process, I have created my own online application.
Please complete, at the link below:

http://blueribbonjobsearch.com/joboffer/register.cfm?jobpositionid=27058

Upon review, you will be contacted within a few days.

We are a strong supporter of education. Hence, if you are currently in
school or are interested in furthering your education, please indicate
so on your application.

Thanks,

–
Shon Johnson

My first reaction was one of annoyance. If there was a special application they wanted me to fill out then why not post that information in the ad? It didn’t make any sense and I should have listened to my instincts. But of course I really need a job and despite this peculiar quirk, this seemed like a pretty good lead.

So I went to the site and was presented with this form:

Click image to get a larger view

I filled out the information and immediately regretted it when I clicked “Continue”. I was lead through a thinly veiled attempt to collect information for marketing purposes. I immediately cancelled out but realized that it was really too late for that. They already had my name, address, phone number and email address.

I tried not to worry about it but my worry increased when I went back to Craigslist and answered two different employment ads and was sent the same exact email. The only thing different was the email address I wrote to and the name of the person I had contacted. One email had a different web address in which to fill out the “Application”. This time instead of blueribbonjobsearch.com it was thecareerwizard.com.

I decided, then, to do a little detective work so see what I was up against. This led me to the Internet Solutions Corp Watch Website. The blog is filled with posts of all the domain names owned by the Internet Solution Corporation and there are links to information about the company such as this video on Youtube:

The video and other information I found on the internet has led me to believe that I had been lured into a phishing scam perpetuated by two men named Alec Defrawy and Alex Finch, the owners of Internet Solution Corporation. Phishing is what scammers do to collect personal information such as your name, address, email, passwords and even financial information. It is my opinion that Internet Solutions Corporation is using their numerous websites to collect information from applicants to resell to third parties. Based on information I have found on the internet, I do not believe that the jobs that they post exist. More worrisome, according to the video, some people have even been called in for interviews where even more personal information was collected and resold.

The situation is both frightening and disheartening. Especially as today I received the following automated response:

Our records indicate that you applied for the Office Administrative Assistant position at Blue Ribbon Job Search . We have received your application and feel you meet the initial requirements for the position. I would like to recommend you as a qualified candidate.

If you still have an interest in this position you may visit our website at: http://blue-ribbonjobsearch.com/careers2.aspx?email= &id=blueribbonjobsearch2nds06262008&jb=371006

When you open the application page you will be asked for a login id. Please use the following login to access the site:

Username: myemailaddress
Password: password

When you login you will be asked to verify some information and some additional information from you to help in the final hiring decision. Once you complete this process your application will be forwarded for final review and you will be contacted directly.

Regards,
Sue Ann Merritt
Human Resources

Career Network, Inc.
P.O. Box 618305
Orlando, Florida 32861-8305

When I went to the address, it was an obvious attempt to confirm the information I had already provided to them as well as to harvest information about the people in my network in the form of personal references.

Based on information that I have read on the internet as well as my own experience and a one on one interaction with a “company representative” by the name of Alex Simon, I do not recommend that anyone do business with Internet Solutions Corporation, VeriResume or any of their “affiliate” websites such as thecareerwizard.com. I consider myself to be a pretty intelligent woman and I am embarrassed and angry at having been taken in by them.

The only advice that I can offer is to do your homework when applying for jobs advertised on the internet. One of the things that tipped me off is that each one of the advertisements for these jobs used Gmail addresses. That’s not to say that every business that uses Gmail is not trustworthy, only that you should be a little more cautious when replying to their ads.

Get as much information as possible about the job prospect before submitting any of your personal information to apply for it. If possible, get a phone number and address where you can actually talk to someone. If they don’t want to give you any of this information, walk away.

If something doesn’t feel right, go with your gut. If the person sends you to a web address to apply for a job, do a Google search on the website’s address and see what comes up. That’s how I was able to find information on the Internet Solution Corporation. I typed in thecareerwizard.com and was led to the Internet Solution Corporation Watch site. The one thing about scammers is that they always have leave a trail of victims and chances are good that, like me, someone has written about their experience to prevent others from being taken too.

If even one person is saved from being victimized by Internet Solutions Corporation, then I’ll consider this episode well worth the embarrassment. Be safe.

Additional Information

Fraudwatchers thread on ICS

Taking the Bait On a Phish Scam - Washington Post

Looking for a job? Phishers are looking for you by the Washington Post

VeriResume vs Marshall

Better Business Bureau Report on Internet Solution Corporation

Something’s VeriRotten with VeriResume

Complaints regarding calls from VeriResume

List of domain names owned by Internet Solution Corporation

Criminal profile for Ayman El-Defrawi

Updates

I have received another email regarding a position I applied for. This time I was directed to connectioncareersnow.com. This is another domain owned by Internet Solution Corporation. Be on your toes.

Updates 04 July 08

A few days ago I received another letter telling me to apply online, this time at myemploymentspot.com. This company also goes by the name of VeriResume.

Additionally, I received an email from a Mr. Alex Simon threatening to sue me if I did not take this post down. I refused. I have edited the post to clearly indicate that this is my opinion based on my experience with this company and additional information from credible sources. You, as the reader, are free to make up your mind as to whether or not you wish to do business with them.

I will continue to update this post as more information regarding this company comes available.

Goal setting and achievement is a necessary part of living a fabulous life. Goals give us purpose and meaning. At the simplest level, goal setting gives us something to do. Without goals, we would wander, aimlessly, through life going wherever fate decided to take us. For some people, this is good enough. For the majority of us, though, this leads to an unsatisfactory life filled with work we hate and people who aggravate us.

But goal setting does more than lead us towards more fulfilling lives. Goal setting helps us filter out distractions and make better decisions. For example, you want to buy a house within two years. The desire to achieve this goal would inspire you to spend your money more wisely. Instead of splurging at a fast food joint, you would make the frugal choice of taking lunch to work and investing the money you saved into a high interest savings account.

Here are a few things that I’ve learned about goal setting that I think will help you in your quest to shine your light and live a fabulous life.

Set a goal

Goals come in all shapes, sizes and seriousness. Some goals are fun to pursue and others not so much. However, this should not be your primary criteria for the goals you commit to. I believe that the purpose of goal setting is to enrich your life and your goals should inspire you to work on them even when you don’t feel like it.

It’s important to not let the current condition of your life interfere with your goal setting. I’ve fallen into this trap myself. When I decided to learn how to design web sites, I didn’t even know what to type into the search engine to find the information I needed. I think I typed in something like, “Make a Web Page” and was lucky enough to have the first site I clicked on teach me the basics of web design.

Setting effective and worthwhile goals requires that you think outside of yourself. This is because you have preconceived notions about your strengths and weaknesses that will taint your results. Ignore your limitations, lack of knowledge or inexperience. Ask yourself, if time, money, education, experience or other excuse wasn’t an issue what would you do? Don’t worry about how you’ll do it, just write it down!

Draw up a map

The second step in goal setting involves detailing how you will get from where you are now to where you want to be. Just like it is ten times better to backpack across Europe using a map, outlining the steps you will take to achieve your goal will provide you with much needed direction.

On a piece of paper, write down your goal. Underneath, write down the things you will need to achieve it and how you will get them. For example, let’s say you want to design custom clothing. You might write down “get a sewing machine” and “borrow one from mother” next to it.

If you can, talk to someone who has already achieved the goal you have set. They can help you identify the skills and resources you need to be successful. The internet is a great place for meeting people who have accomplished similar goals.

Walk the road

Goal setting is easy. It’s the follow through that most people have trouble with. The secret to success is to work slow but steady; especially in the beginning. Working fast and furious to achieve your goal only sets the stage for burn out and procrastination. It is best to break up your goal into small steps you can take every day.

When you find yourself suffering from a lack of self motivation, you may find it helpful to pull together visual representations of your goal. Going back to the goal of design custom clothing, one idea would be to design the label that will go on your clothes. Another would be to create a fake magazine with pictures of your clothes on the cover.

I’ve found that keeping a journal is immensely helpful. I write down my goals and what I need to do to achieve them. I also write down any thoughts and feelings I have about the goal as well as the successes and setbacks I experience. This helps to clarify my thoughts, focus my efforts and keep me on track.

Another helpful thing to do is to take a few minutes every day to visualize achieving your goal. Work out every detail. Say your ultimate goal is to complete a novel. Imagine, among other things, the feeling of accomplishment you will have when you type the last word. Whenever you need a push to get going, think of this image and let the energy from the vision infuse and motivate you.

Last but not least, it is important that you limit your interaction with negative people. They will try to derail you by telling you that your dreams are stupid or some other foolishness. Instead, as mentioned before, find someone who is willing to mentor you to success.

You have arrived

When you achieve your goal, celebrate! Allow the feelings of victory to fill you. Then find another goal and start all over again.