If your site is not product driven then the return may not be as lucrative but everyone has an angle where they can add the necessary keywords into the code to drive relevant ads to the blog or website. Even talking on a personal blog allows you to insert keywords for that post. Unlike Adsense, there is no restriction on the amount of ads you use. Once you have an account you can use the code on as many of your blogs or websites that you like, just like Adsense. The beauty of this system is that most people like to browse eBay for deals so why not serve up relevant material to your post and Try AuctionAds. The worse case scenario is, if it’s slow to earn commission your still $25.00 closer to the first payout.

With AuctionAds it provides a quick access to eBay and maybe a sale with you getting a percentage as a commision, check it out!

With my own cuttings I stand them on end allowing a natural frow of air to dissipate the moisture. I also leave the bark on so that the drying out process is not too fast so as to prevent cracking. By standing the logs on end gravity plays a big part in the drying out process with the moisture falling to the bottom of the log and the top drying out. In this instance regular rotation will allow an even purging of the fluids and a less likelihood of cracking. Once the two ends feel as dry as each other the logs can then be stacked horizontally until needed.

With the majority of the moisture now evaporated, the log can then be cut on the bandsaw into 1/2-1 inch slices and stacked for an additional month. This will purge any remaining moisture, reducing the chances of twist in the timber making it then ready for carving. The beauty of preparing your own lumber especially for small carving projects is, you are able to use so many different varieties that are not so easily available from your local lumber yard. With preparing your own material it also gives you the opportunity to use the wood with a varying degree of wandering grain which will give a unique pattern to your carving, admittedly it will not be the easiest material to carve but the benefits are, a very striking end result. Needless to say, I will be assessing my own trees to see what needs to be thinned out for this winter.

It just struck me a few days ago that a carving should not be restricted to just timbers that you would associate with a regular tree but what if I were to use the outer casing of the seed pod from a Queen Palm. Here in Southern California Queen Palms are one of the basic choices for the landscaped garden and you often see the fruit hanging from the stem like large green grapes before they ripen to a bright orange. The seed casing is a single 24-30 inch leaf that protrudes up from the main stem until it splits open to reveal the small flowers that will eventually produce the fruit. While the fruit is developing the casing is starting to dry out, this you can observe by the color change. The leaf starts out as a silvery green color but as the moisture retracks the color changes to a pale silvery sand shade and the casing twists like a propeller.

I’m fortunate enough to witness this event in my own garden where I have several varieties of palm tree including the queen palm. During one of the “Tidy the garden weekends,” which I rarely do, apart from cutting the lawn, my wife is the expert with the garden. It was time to remove all the old palm fronds that had started to accumulate and being of a height where you had to get the ladder out, it was of course my job to do. I had noticed the accumulation of palm seeds that had already changed to orange and had started dropping onto the driveway causing a mass of flies to gather and feast on the fruit. I’ve been told that the actual fruit is edible but have not tried it myself and to be honest have no desire to anyway.

In any event it was time to rid us of this mess and with it the fly population, no doubt accelerated by the latest heat wave we’ve been experiencing. Up the ladder I go with the garden lopping shears to cut off the two large clumps of fruit, one bunch already orange and the other green, like grapes. It’s amazing the weight of these fruit clusters, a good forty pound I would guess, exploding all over the driveway.

After cutting away the dead palm fronds the actual seed pod casing was left, quite dry to the touch with a dark brown inner surface. The outside, during the drying process had hairline cracks along the length of the leaf, no doubt cracks between the veins of where the fluid once flowed, nourishing the leaf.

Taking the lopping shears I removed this dried out carcase thinking that it might be possible to carve a Welsh Lovespoon from this hard shell. Well, not as hard as the timber that you would normally use but hard enough to warrant using carving tools. The actual density felt like a pine where you could dent the surface with your finger nail if you tried.

Thinking a head, how would I intergrate a design with the extreme twist that had developed during the drying out process, what size would I make it and how much time should I invest into an unknown cause, will the material actually carve and retain an acceptable finish. These were all questions that were running through my brain but the challenge was quite magnetic. It was something that has to be done regardless of the result. In fact the whole process to me is quite exciting because of the different material and the unknown properties. A challenge that I was not about to give up lightly.

Firstly, I should make it large enough so that it can handle a simple weave and not distract from the natural twist. The thickness of the dried out leaf is in the 10.0 mm to 12.0 mm region so there is not a lot of leeway for a large relief in the surfaces. Secondly if I were to carve a deep bowl for the spoon would it break through into the natural cracks that had appeared during the drying out process. These were all questions with unknown answers at this time, a bridge to be crossed when the carving starts.

The appearance of the material strikes me as being similar to a bamboo with a very stringy property, this is more noticable when the dead fronds are ripped from the trunk leaving many strands behind when it is not quite dry enough to leave cleanly. With this thought, I might be able to create some unique pieces but first I’ll have to understand how durable the material is. With my ideas now formulating, I’ll place this seed pod in the garage for safe keeping, the design is the next critical step.

For further information on palms consider these books. (Affiliate link)

Looking at my meek attempt at blogging goals is quite mundane compared to a lot of the entries but that is what is so fascinating, there is so much to learn. Surprisingly though my goals are not that far removed from quite a few of the other postings.

One of my favorite postings was by Yehuda and how the relationship between blogging and board games overlap, both require social interaction, players, an audience. With each game played a certain strategy or tactic applies for a winning combination, as in posting an informative and intelligent article. The winner gaining the right to be called champion or in the case of the blog post, additional traffic which may lead to an increase in income.

Razib Ahmed’s blog on South Asia Business News is a phenomenal site considering the amount of time it has actually been in existence. This proves that persistence will pay off, by setting a regimented schedule of new posts and comments on other peoples blogs it will return a fair percentage of links, gaining even more popularity.

Undoubtedly Darren Rowse’s blog, Digital Photography School is yet another outstanding source of information for the aspiring digital photographer. His experience learnt over the years boosts the readership from day one and one can only hope to gain a fraction of that momentum. It is here that I try and gain that much needed information in technique so that I can apply that same sort of success to my own blogs.

So, what have I learnt from this exercise.

• Post informative and engaging articles.
• Up the frequency of the posts.
• Be persistent even if there are no comments.
• Have an active role in other people’s blogs.
• Lastly, just be myself, create my own unique niche in the blogosphere.

This unselfish and caring attitude towards his readership only cements his place at the top of his profession and at the same time gaining additional converts to his own blog on how to make money via blogging.

OK, so let’s try and put my efforts into some sort of prospective.

• My number one priority is to try and gain some momentum in posting on a regular basis. As everyone knows, time is an important commodity and one that I have very little of. A hectic work schedule controlling ten hours a day plus the worst commute ever. I will have to purchase a small recorder for listing the many thoughts that I have during my commute during LA’s rush hour and put the two hours each way to good use.
• Reduce the amount of outstanding projects that I take on so that I’m not spread so thin. This I guess is in the form of running my website Clay, Application to Refinement and my two main Blogs, Resurrecting the Wood and Metamorphosis. This coupled with family time and maintaining the property all leads to one tired boy! One must get the perspective right, family time is paramount.
• Develop a different face to the generic template that I now show on my blogs, an identity is important to me in this business.
• Analyze the content of my blogs, is it too specialized to draw in traffic of any significance, even though the subject matter is one that I have plenty of knowledge on.
• Continue with unique and quaility posts on my chosen subjects

Once I have control of the these five situations, hopefully the readership will increase because of the authoritative posts leading to better SEO.

With initial gains on the stock market on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday it was back to its same old routine with the stock falling again. This can only be related to the blast by Kirk Kerkorian’s aide Jerome York stating that General Motors needs to be more pro-active and cut deeper by cutting wages at every level starting at the boardroom floor, certainly making the punters on wall street jittery.

Now, that may well be true but to ensure the road to recovery every effort should be placed on product. Only strong desirable vehicles will stir the public into buying, pour more money into product development, create fresh undiluted designs to capture everyones eye, from babies to retirees, then the road to recovery will be open. If there is nothing to lose, then let’s start with the Camaro!

For the loyalists this was a bitter sweet moment after the demise of their beloved vehicle during the 2002 model year when it was announced that the Camaro would cease production due to deminishing sales leaving the Mustang with the majority of the pie.

During the Camaro’s absence a new rendition of the Mustang has seen sales approach 200,000 units leaving the ‘General’ with no answer to the latest pony car craze. Even with today’s technology the earliest producible vehicle would be set as a 2009 production car and that would be with the green light button being pushed NOW! The overwhelming success of the concept will undoubtedly put pressure on upper management to announce an early go ahead.

Is the sleeping giant starting to smell the roses once again we ask ourselves? With the relentless onslaught from major Asian and European auto manufacturers eating away at market share and Toyota pushing for the number one spot, now is the time to fire up on all cylinders and be bold. 2006 will see a whole slew of new vehicles come to market, essentially trucks with power on demand and best in class fuel economy.

The one thing going for the American Auto Industry is, it has heritage. Use that knowledge and put it to its best use, DO NOT DILUTE. As in all walks of life, the first idea tends to be the strongest and the boldest. Pouring out your heart gives soul to the creation. Use that to move forward, before the flame dies.

It is the perceived value of being bigger than you really are that sets people in this mode of thinking, especially when you are just starting out. In this day and age everyone wants to run before they can walk, you have to lay the foundation to build something great. The fast buck is not necessary for the long haul, a quality relationship with your customer base is the most important.

Yaro’s article “Small business branding-It’s not “we” it’s “me” outlines in essence every small business owner’s predicament on how you should market yourself, a face to the product will always give it a personal touch.

The bottom line is, the infrastructure is antiquated with no room for improvement, while more housing developments are springing up just to congest it even further. Considering that most households have two vehicles as a minimum, every thousand houses built, equates to a minimum of 2000 extra vehicles!

During my five and a half year tenure at my present company the commute has increased by half an hour on a good day, what will it be in another five years? No wonder that fellow commuters are eating cereal, shaving, applying make-up and reading reports just to get a jump on the commuting time. The trade off is the additional safety hazards that are imposed on other commuters due to lack of attention. Each fender bender, be it small or large, clogs the freeway adding hours to the commute.

The mental state especially after a gruelling three hour commute is to say the least, taxed. Little time is left to interact with the family before it’s time to sleep and rise at five for the next onslaught of red tail lights, aagh!!!

I said to my wife, “Is there a receipt to go with the order” and she replied “No, this is a replacement for the original set.” OK, this should be easy enough, so off I go and the place is packed, it’s the day after Thanksgiving. Luckily the portrait studio was empty, so I said to the young lady that I was here to pick up a replacement order for my wife. She asks me my wifes name and the telephone number. There, it pops right up on the computer screen and then she says, “Do you have identification for your wife as it’s under her name and I need proof of identity.”

“Of course I don’t have her identification” I said, but I have my drivers license and that has the same address as the order and I have her business card also. That’s just not good enough, as the new policy states that the goods can only be handed over to the person that placed the order with the proper identification. I just can’t believe it, do you need an affidavit just to pick up your photographs from Walmart now! I asked for her manager or supervisor but she retorts, “I’m the only one here, you’ll have to phone customer service.”

Now what am I supposed to do, there’s no way that I’m going to get the photographs, it’s just a wasted trip. You would think that they would have trained their personnel to at least try and use a little imagination. So to those of you who are going to get family portraits at Walmart this year, make sure that the order is placed under both Mr or Mrs so that either one can collect the goods once they are ready so as to avoid disappointment.

For you Walmart, try and employ people who can at least use common sense when it comes to your policies.