TBB Mission: To Entertain, Educate and Inspire. Aim to at least do one well!
If you like what you see here, please let others know by passing them a link to my blog, thank you!
You can always alert me of a blog post (yours or someone else’s) but please do not start out with “this is TBB worthy, you better post it tomorrow”. I will get to it. If the TBB editorial board (me) thinks so…it will make it. If not, it won’t. Don’t worry about it. Move on. No big deal. Try again. You never know. I never know what will show up here. I just start and I speed like a neurotic maniac down a hill…I am surprised I have not crashed yet. Could happen. Any. Minute. TBB is like a box of chocolates…umm, never mind.
Buckle up!
TRAVEL
Namibian Nights at Matador Network. This was featured here before. It’s just…mesmerizingly beautiful. Short 1 min video. Play it at full screen. Turn off the lights. Sit back. Wow!
Namibian Nights from Squiver on Vimeo.
Amazing Earth Photographs Found on Stumble Upon (part 2). At Seriously for Real?
Mount Fuji Sunset. By Twisted Sifter
MILES/POINTS
IHG Rewards Pointbreaks list shown here at Head for Points (if you are in the UK and you do not have it bookmarked, shame on you!). Nothing jumps out at me. Please do not book for 30 nights at a pop, that is not nice. Actually it is disgusting! I wonder if I can get some cheap stays for the next promo (see next paragraph)!
IHG Rewards comes up with these weird promotions. Here comes the “Win Big” Promotion. So I can get 82,000 points by staying 6 nights (including two specific city locations, closest is Chicago). My wife can get 50,000 points by staying 4 nights (no specific cities). Probably can get more promo points. No, I am not going to list them all here like the other bloggers did. I already have enough hotel points to last me for a while. Hmm, decisions, decisions. Any Michigan locals identified a super cheap hotel around us? We have almost four months to do this. Will think about it….later. #tempted Travel is Free (is not) has a way to analyze it.
Travel Summary wrote a solid “Beginners Guide to Redeeming Points – Hyatt Gold Passport”
ON MY MIND
Ok, serious developments. A prospective client is interested in hiring me. They are tired of their big broker (has been a “crisis of trust”), did their homework and found me because I am a fiduciary and do not sell products. They are tired “not knowing how much they were paying”. I like capitalism this way. Full transparency and putting the client first. No compensation schemes allowed behind their back. How about that? Ok, what was my point? My point was I liked them but I still have not decided if I should bring them on. They are a little bit older than I prefer and this will be a massive clean up job. If I accept them TBB is taking a step back as I do focus like a laser beam when I bring on a new client (does not happen very often at all these days and I never did any active marketing). I need to figure it out in a few days. I do like TBB but it is taking a toll in time and money. And I can sure use less than $10k for kids’ college funds. I could have been pumping them credit cards non stop (thank you to all the emails asking me to get the affiliate credit cards to help me out, it is much appreciated!) but just does not feel right, at least not yet anyway. Sometimes I wonder what the hell I am doing here and stick to my one passion, the one that feeds my family. #developing This is like an internal struggle and blogging of finding my way to world domination or complete madness. Come on God, give me a sign please!
This made me stop, read and think: Blogger Quits Blogging “It’s doing things to my brain”. Must read for all bloggers! It sure made me think about, especially the “I think in tweets now”…Hey, I tweet in the bathroom all the time too! Excerpt:
But I am burnt the f*ck out….
I enjoy every part of this: I enjoy sharing zingers with Twitter all day; I enjoy writing long, wonky posts at night. But the lifestyle has its drawbacks. I don’t get enough sleep, ever. I don’t have any hobbies. I’m always at work. Other than hanging out with my family, it’s pretty much all I do — stand at a computer, immersing myself in the news cycle, taking the occasional hour out to read long PDFs. I’m never disconnected.
It’s doing things to my brain.
I think in tweets now. My hands start twitching if I’m away from my phone for more than 30 seconds. I can’t even take a pee now without getting “bored.” I know I’m not the only one tweeting in the bathroom. I’m online so much that I’ve started caring about “memes.” I feel the need to comment on everything, to have a “take,” preferably a “smart take.” The online world, which I struggle to remember represents only a tiny, unrepresentative slice of the American public, has become my world. I spend more time there than in the real world, have more friends there than in meatspace.
ODDZ & ENDZ
“Give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth.” – Oscar Wilde
This is why TBB has no problem at all with you posting in the comments as Anonymous. We encourage everyone to freely express themselves. Personal insults especially directed to me and others are extremely entertaining. Done while a full fledged mayhem is underway is, well, where else do you find that in the blog land? You.Will.Be.Back. As TBBgangmember said a few days ago: This is where the action is baby.
Just a few very powerful slides about, you know, life. Some things I do my best to adhere to…unless I lose myself in the TBB comments mayhem 🙂 Simplify Your Future
The 35 Greatest Animal Photobombers of all time. By BuzzFeed.
First picture of a baby panda, just 4.8 ounces. Is this the cutest baby or what?
Some people intentionally take pics of themselves jumping and opening their mouths. This is just plain weird.
If you want to bite me, please take a number, thanks.
BLOG BUZZ
Note: This section is intended for long time readers and miles/points addicts who follow the blogs in this space. Readers not familiar with this crazy hobby could skip this section! Do not take anything personal. TBB reviews blogs. Call me Siskel.
For the best discussion about how some punk people (me and Ric Garrido) think and the effect of the giant credit card pushing that has totally infested my favorite hobby you can read the dialogue in this Loyalty Traveler’s post. Maybe some people can learn how I think. Or Ric thinks. Some people just think differently and are motivated by different values. Yes, capitalism and all that, blah blah blah. But maybe the grand goal should be to do no harm and maybe improve the world around you. I can’t be pushing credit cards day in and day out, that’s just not my cup of tea! The incentives are so perverse that you must wonder that undoubtedly this can pay so well because stuff happens to people and they fall behind. And no, they are not all irresponsible and have issues how to control their spending. Stuff happens in life…they fall behind, the banks make a killing and give you a cut. I could not sleep at night…So, let me find my way. This is what punks do, we march in our own drum. So, when you bloggers mockingly make statements like helping me out for my web hosting you know what I do? I yawn. There has to be a better way…I will find it or just go back to do what I do best: save people from the jaws of the banks. Or do it the Frequent Miler away with bunch of scary disclosures ‘If you pay a penny interest, TBB will kick your behind” or worse) Enough of this…
If you have not figured it out yet, punk has a positive connotation in this context. Loved this line from Ric G: “Blogging is punk when the corporate sponsors are not dictating your content”.
Hey do you want some luggage for $590? It has the Star Mega Do logo on it! You can show off with it, you be the cool cat in the block. Oh, and you know what? $200 will be sent from Rimowa back to Milepoint Cares! How about this? You make me a deal on the luggage, the lower the price the more I myself donate to Milepoint Cares so I can reduce my taxes even further (in addition to the red I am running with my TBB LLC venture!). Call me..maybe. I must admit I had never heard of this company before! I have a Travel Pro carry on but the darn wheel keeps making a noise that drives me nuts! Still, I will never even think of spending close to $600 for a luggage! Can’t wait for the next exclusive product? Hot nuts for all 🙂
Delta Points Interview with Randy Petersen
Breaking & Shocking News! I am posting a link to a blog post by Delta Points. Yes, it is true! A very interesting interview of the man himself, Randy Petersen. Great idea. My comments/questions/etc:
No doubt at all that Randy is the God of Miles and his relentless entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen. Let’s make this clear from the get go. So when he freely speaks in length, it is really interesting. If I had interviewed him I would not let him off the hook so easy. But I digress 🙂
“The success of many online forums is the wisdom of the crowd.” – Yeah, it sure is. It sucks when the online forum boss (it is his/her right) proudly censors and limits the crowd size.
Why Points Wizard was a mistake? What is the process of departing Boarding Area? Or is it if you are in once, you are in for life unless you leave on your own? Or is it up to Randy? Or a vote among all BA bloggers. Just wondering. I am also wondering if Boarding Area bloggers ever vote to let someone in because….there may be a revolt if TBB ever applied, woohoo.
287 bloggers interested in Boarding Area? What? Seriously? When I indirectly touched on the subject of TBB possibly joining it was relayed to me that I needed to formally apply. Nope, I won’t go through the trouble but I would still like to find out what is in it for TBB if I ever gave up my home. Then again, there may be a revolt. I can see myself in BACON conference with my bodyguards, haha.
Malta Points????
“parenting (Canadian Kilometers) – Mega lol
Love to see work with Frequent Miler but on a…book?
What keeps Randy up at night is thinking how to identify and help bloggers he believes they have a shot of breaking through and become the next “rising star”. Umm, hey Randy, I think TBB’s numbers are pretty good and just a quick look at the comments number may testify to that? Regardless, what keeps me up at night is keeping up with all the blogs coming my way. Stop it, take a break man, you are killing me over here! I don’t have time to formally apply to BA, I don’t have time to go to the bathroom! I am open to chat. I will chat with anyone, especially if they pay for it 😉
Randy is interested in global domination! Hope some succession planning has been done because, you know, stuff happens in life. How can this man be replaced? Is it even possible? But in my field we better be prepared because, you know, stuff happens. So what happens to the empire?? That would be one question to Randy: “If you get hit by the bus, what happens?”
What is Room Expert? Anyone know, comment please!
75 BA bloggers a year from now? Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? 75???? I need to quit now or invent TBB bots roaming the internet to find worthy material AND insert it into WordPress for me to put my expert commentary digs on them.
Randy is willing to take some risks with some new phases and new ideas. – You know what to do and how to find me. I can not wait to be a neighbor to some of my favorite BA bloggers. Yeah, like they will let you 😉 Don”t you think 75 may be, you know, just a little too excessive? TBB can’t be just 1 out of 75. Hey, TBB wants to dominate the world too (it has a very nice ring to it!)
Thanks for the mention. I’d still like to join forces one day, but for now I’m too lazy an inept to figure out what that might even entail. Oh and you’re probably like way too famous for me now.
It is impossible to do anything BIG in this space doing it while holding down another job. I am killing myself with this pace, can’t last.
I am always open to suggestions! As you have noticed, my independent & stubborn traits are really hard to adjust;-)
George, teach your kids a decent European language (you know the one about 90 million speak) and send them to free college here. Will save you a packet! And you can continue to write TBB.
Rimowa luggage is very nice, you can kick the Travelpro to the curb. Don’t buy inflated ‘branded’ stuff though (even if it donates to your fav charity…). The same case is available at 349€ list price here, minus VAT refund… in certain shops in downtown Munich you get 5-10% cash rebate on top.
If I get my kids EU passports the glorious Greek Army may want to have my son join them for a tour for 2 years of his life. Not going there:-)
I am just intrigued by this luggage thing as extension of the Mega Do. I don’t want to go to a factory where luggage is made, just does not turn me on:-)
You think they have money for that? The great thing about mega recessions is that funding for armed forces are frequently cut. A quick wiki search reveals “Citizens who have been living constantly abroad since their eleventh birthday and whose parents are not employed by the Greek state are required to serve three months.”
A max of 3 months service for free education…….. They will not revoke citizenship for not showing up
Been coming down lately. It was a year and then 6 months for kids like mine. Did not hear about 3 months. But still, one day is too many. Too traumatic experience, trust me. I won’t do that to my kid:-)
aw, come on, it will make him a man, and wean him off computer games :p
OK, then just send your daughter to Europe! 50% of college money saved!
Unless you send her to Paris….
Have 7 years to worry about her…
You are slipping. Looks like DP distracted you long enough for WFTW to DP readers with 30K SPG biz and personal links.
No Tom the interview posts will have no CC links. This first one did not nor will the rest of the 75!
@DP: I believe HikerT was using your acronym as a verb, but charging that someone else was acting in a similar manner. His reference doesn’t seem to be to your interview(s).
Personally, I cringe that VFTW (which stands for What the F–k, Victor? backwards) can’t seem to spell São Paulo correctly. I’ve been in airports in Spanish-speaking countries in which the destination was listed as San Pablo, which also bothered me. They didn’t list the other nearby city as Rio de Enero, because that would obviously be dumb. I am weird.
“My kids will be in college soon. Should I devote time to making $x,xxx more, or should I devote more time to my money-losing hobby? I choose B,” said no one ever.
I like the blog and I like you George, but let’s be realistic.
I finally read through last week’s troll-a-pa-looza, about which more thoughts later. It’s time to do productive things.
@harvson3:
>>>>>>>VFTW (which stands for What the F–k, Victor? backwards)
Hahahahahahahaha, classic!
Yep, I know what to do, just need to extricate myself from this crack.
Always interested on your take! Good to have you back!
@DP: At last TBB inspires you to offer something useful in your blog. This follows your first smile in TBB in 6 months after seeing my daughter’s pic (and that lady fixing her hair photo bombing the pic, thanks for noticing, you are sharp!)! What can I say? I even got to improve you & your blog, high five?
Suggestions for the next interviews: Have some tough questions, those were softball type questions. We expect to see the Modhop interview in video, naturally.
SPG card rocks;-)
@HikerT: Hey, that was at least one post without any. I take credit, you are all welcome:-)
Ariana does a great job when she isn’t writing for FTG (the blog, providing content that used to be written by FTG the senior citizen).
http://www.pointchaser.com/how-to-make-a-living-as-a-travel-blogger/
Nice arrangement to keep own blog & not fold it. Once in a while she posts something good at PC like this piece. Before she moved to FTG her blog was a true gem. The rest of the time doing her best to adjust the content for the FTG reader market. Big part of that is how to incorporate them card links in the posts. Just trying to get her to post here along with my friend, hehe.
Can’t fault if she was in it for the money. Nice bang for getting this gig after such a short time blogging. If I was Howie (who bled sweat & tears for FTG) wanted the top job and went to a newcomer I would feel totally betrayed.
They do their thing (pump credit cards to newbies). TBB does another thing (not much longer, fold like a gentleman…maybe). It’s all good.
Entertainment. For Free. TBB
Thanks for the backhanded compliments, guys.
These comments and that link may very well have helped me to make a major decision.
Thank you.
To give up your writings and apply for a job at FTG (the blog)?
Y tu, Brian…y tu?
kidding…or maybe not?
You’re funny, George.
No, I am not going to give up on “blogging”, as I have been doing that for seven years this month with The Gate — and I do not intend to apply for a job at Frugal Travel Guy.
It is too early to say what is on my mind — but I will let you know if it comes to pass and becomes a reality.
Just for the record, Rick and I get along well. The last time we met was in Chicago and we were both featured in a story on the Today show last fall…
Let me guess. You are going to start an aggregator blog service, you saw the light at last?
I am sure you get along with Rick. Start criticizing FTG and then we ‘ll see:-)
I am just going on, this is my platform to express myself and will always remember the mission:
To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. Do at least one well.
Nope.
You are right — this CAN be entertaining.
I can only hope that I do at least one of those well with both of the weblogs which I write…
Uh oh. Does the AA 50k offer have an affiliate link now?
expect the usual suspects to now extensively cover it outside of “top 10 cards” posts
can not we start up a tbb (travel blogger bookie) on who does the first 18 part series on AA miles?
a) mms
b) deals we like
c) mommy points
d) milevalue
e) all of the above and 12 other blogger too
expect as.com to be heavily trafficked in the coming days with bloggers looking to copy/paste the entire contents of their post (and put a red box around it!)
Whether or not it’s an affiliate link, it’s a textbook example of what’s wrong with affiliate links. MMS claims “the mother-in-law rule says that I let you know of the best possible offer for a card regardless of whether it pays a commission or not.” But for the last week he didn’t tell readers about the 50K AA offer. Instead he promoted the 30K SPG. During this time he even had a post about whether to use the AA card for spend replete with SPG application links (no 50K AA application link, or course, because how could that possibly be germane to the the discussion). Today MMS finally tells readers about the 50K AA offer, to their detriment a day after the the card is reported to no longer be churnable on FT.
Remember when the Hyatt Visa could’ve gotten Diamond members 2 free nights in a Suite?
Wait, what’s that? The card can still do that?
Sure could’ve fooled those who read the major blogs
In all fairness, nothing has changed with the Hyatt card. Nothing is new. So no real reason for a blogger to be posting about it now. But yeah, I get your point. I’m sure they’d be manufacturing all sorts of stupid reasons to post about it more if there were commissions involved.
The point was that they stopped receiving affiliate $$$ on it, which is why it stopped getting coverage
A few months ago, bloggers were tripping over themselves trying to remind us that they can get 2 free nights in a suite at the [insert whatever park hyatt the trip report was about]
On a related note, take a wild guess why the Carlson card started getting so much coverage the past few months
Talk about a catch-22.
Had a blogger gone public with the fact that the AA card has been churnable for the past few months then they would be blamed for yesterday’s churning death. I thought about it and then thought better of it.
They would be getting death threats in their inbox. Sadly I’m not even kidding, people take this stuff wayyyyy too seriously. I might talk about stuff in a seminar but no way am I going to write about it anymore.
Now that “the bloggers” had discretion (pretty amazing actually that everyone did) and didn’t talk about it until after it died means that the bloggers are also at fault for not writing about it.
So which is it, do you want bloggers spilling state secrets or do you want to blame them if they don’t talk about them?
Talk about darned if you and darned if you don’t…
VFTW linked to the discussion of the card’s churnability more than once but didn’t make the point explicit with arrows. Is he (1) responsible for killing the deal, (2) not looking out for his readers’ best interests because they might have missed his subtle references, (3) toeing the delicate balance in an even-handed manner? I guess you could even believe 1 AND 2 if you really hate him!
Well he blogged about it only after the churnability died yesterday.
Dan, MMS has never demonstrated concern about killing a deal, so keeping things quiet doesn’t hold water his case. You can bet the usual suspects wold have posted about it if they got paid. There is no catch 22. It is simply an excuse. I suspect most bloggers didn’t post about it because they didn’t know about it. Why didn’t they know about it? Because they were too distracted coming up with ridiculous ways to push the 30K SPG and other links they get paid for. Why bother to keep up with developments on a 50K link that you don’t get paid for? It gets second priority. There are trickle down effects.
You’re going to tell me with a straight face that if a blogger posted the sudden churnability of the AA card (which I did take advantage of myself) and then it died that the internets wouldn’t be in an absolute uproar about deal killing blogs?
How is that not a catch-22? If bloggers post a loophole and kill it or if they don’t post it, either way it will be blame the bloggers.
Except that only one of those will earn the blogger death threats The other just earns them some 🙄 🙄 🙄
I posted a silly BRG deal that makes me nada and that I didn’t think would kill anything and you wouldn’t believe the vitriol I had to take for that even after promising never to post one again.
Dan, why do you think MMS didn’t highlight the 50K offer last week when fielding the question about the AA card? Why would he highlight the 30K SPG affiliate link instead? That’s the issue. He was so high on SPG crack he could only see the 30K SPG link as worth mentioning in that post. Sure, you can construct a hypothetical catch 22 where MMS is flogged for killing such a deal. But that’s how he gets his rocks off. It would be a win win situation for MMS, not a catch 22, lol. Do you seriously think the reason we didn’t see many posts last week reminding people of the 50K AA link was that bloggers were worried about saying too much?
@Dan,
Churning cards is a minor aspect of selling CCs. When bloggers promote the lower AA offer or “for the last week he didn’t tell readers about the 50K AA offer. Instead he promoted the 30K SPG”, the blogger has major ethical issues. There is no catch-22 in that situation.
@Dan,
It had been dying a slow death already for a while now. This isn’t completely new and the reason it got there was a lot of exposure on the loophole. I respect you but your argument is weak in this case. How in the world is this getting spun as blogger discretion! Miles Prof had good posts on this a few times (generally on AA offers, not churnability etc). Also MIL rule sounds like a very silly term, or maybe my sense of humor is not up to par.
Not a catch-22. The thing the bloggers are getting called out on is the reason they’re not talking about the churnability of it – because that’s clicks that won’t get the bloggers affiliate $$$
If “not divulging secrets” was a consistent stance of MMS, he probably wouldn’t catch flack if he decided not to disclose this
However, this is the guy that if $$$ are involved will divulge his mother-in-law’s SSN in big bold font with red boxes and arrows pointing towards it.
Maybe it was the case with you Dan – you’re pretty good about not divulging “secrets”. But lets not kid ourselves over the true reason 98% of bloggers weren’t extensively talking about it being churnable – they wouldn’t be showing such “discretion” if it was an affiliate link
To all: Great discussion. And love it that it happens in my blog 🙂
We have been through these arguments before and they will NOT go away!
I can see Dan’s point and where he is coming from and I tend to cut him some slack in general because he does provide good content in general and never pretended to help “friends and family flee for free”.
When the dough starts rolling you have no time to keep up with everything (I can attest to that now!). Where would you spend your time as a blogger? Of course you will veer to content activity that pays you back! This means neglecting non affiliate offers. At least some always directed readers to that thread. But based on the bang of this offer (and the crazy recent churnability of it) vs other affiliate offers, if bloggers were TRULY out to help their readers, they would make this card Number 1 in each Top 10. I don’t buy the “kills deals” backlash…
Ok, since we got on this “kills deals” issue, here is my two pennies: There are deals that will be killed very shortly and there are deals that will not. This Citi AA deal has been around forever with maddening changes. As long as bloggers mentioned and linked to that thread, the every day newbie will likely not take the time to read the wiki and pull the triggers. That is fine. Not buying the “kill deal” argument here Dan. This is why I think burying details in an obscure thread (not even wiki) in FT or DD is I think (on average) mostly fine.
The BRG for that hotel in NYC and the Home Improvement deal—->those are deals that would be shot down in a matter of hours if they are spelled out in a body of the post. Dan, what were you thinking? Say something in a thread and may last longer. I keep my mouth shut in some of these deals and help true “friends and family” travel for free. I will stop there before I get myself in trouble cough.
I am starting to think MMS may not like his mother in law that much. We should have known it because it was not the mother rule. I don’t care much about my mother in law (sorry honey, she reads TBB comments!) but could care less about her if, say 100k miles was in play. Just kidding guys, you get my point:-)
do you hear much about the Hyatt or the Fairmont or the so darn easy 80k IHG cards? You all know the reason why. Do you see 10 part series on all the intricacies of these programs much anywhere NEAR AS MUCH as the latest product du jour (SPG now?)
It’s a freaking disease. Provide good content, fully disclose it and don’t be a used car salesman and you should not get any threats at all. (Death threats, seriously?) I get lawsuit threats myself, I think these are more common lol.
If you think the Citi AA deal “has been around forever” then you too are guilty of not being on top of the latest developments 😉
HikerT wasn’t referring to what has been around forever.
And that BRG actually is still going strong. People have been claiming it ever since it was posted and for whatever reason the hotel doesn’t seem to care.
I can forward you the threats if you’d like but they were enough to get an FT thread locked. Some people take all this stuff too seriously.
“has been around with maddening changes” meant “has been around in some way shape or form”.
Maybe we have the BRG hotel wrong. did not bother looking much at it, was not going to use it.
I have no doubt how seriously some of these things online can be, I have learned my lessons. Like I said, this has been a very educational experience for me. Maybe they are cutting me some slack for not jumping in? Maybe…
Anyway…can’t keep up this pace, it is killing me.
Proud of what I have done.
Need a TBB Phase #3 #developing
MMS always had the 50K offer on his Hot Deals and other blog pages so how is he hiding the 50K offer? If you wanted an AA card and searched on his blog, you’d get the best offer.
You kinda just answered you’re own question
Can we agree that 50K LH miles are worth less than 50K AA miles?
Well one credit card got a daily 15 part series on the front page that contained the LH link every day, gushed about it’s uses and talked about what an amazing deal it is
The other has a link muddled among dozens of other CC links on a separate tab and has maybe 1 short paragraph dedicated to it
So I ask…. can you really not see how he is hiding the offer?
Oh my. A MMS defender reading TBB? Talk about jumping the shark.
Anon’s statement is true. MMS is not going anywhere. Wait, he is going on vacation these days!
Frequent Miler is the Elon Muck of Points/Miles Blogs. Miles Momma is the Carlos Mencia (famous for using other people’s material) of Points/Miles Blogs.
Furthermore……………….I read the Randy P. interview, he’s no genius, sorry. He (BA) turned me down on my blog idea for THE HORNEY TRAVELER a blog to help you travel abroad looking for Broads.
I am still waiting for an invitation for a comp trip to one of these resorts like Hedonism or something. Now that’s a trip report I bet people will actually read lol.
I’m proud that I’ve been to the first 3 place in the “Simplify Your Future” slide show 🙂
That’s great! I want to go but I am too busy typing in TBB comments lol.
Replace CNN.com with travel blogs, natch.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/let-me-explain-why-miley-cyrus-vma-performance-was,33632/
Dexter, House, The Simpsons, The X Files, and TravelBloggerBuzz… What do all 5 have in common? They all proved to be enjoyable diversions in the beginning, hit a peak as far as their entertainment value, and then stuck around for far longer than they should have. Watching desperate struggles and stretches for largely filler material doesn’t provide quite that same gratification to the consumer.
George, you had one point to make – bloggers are scrupulous credit card pushers. You’ve made it repeatedly and presented your readers with enough examples that, at this point, we can write your blog entries for you. (Remember Brian’s production?)
The reason why you’re tempted to take the business offer and put this blog further on the back burner is because you know I’m right. There is no way for you to move forward, so do that’s right and gracefully exit stage right. Take the gig.
S&S: But, the most important thing is, were you entertained? Did you laugh? You are so hung up on the cc thing and you are missing the point of TBB, you must be a blogger, come out now!
I take it a day at a time, no grand plans. Had so much fun and learned a lot. But it does take a toll. I am no Superman. Real job and family and TBB, guess who loses out?
I intend to take the gig but holding off hoping they go elsewhere. But it is a very nice couple who have been mauled, super challenging to clean it all up and they pay very well.
10 months, no filler material. Come on, you have been here, I can see by your IP address 🙂 Don’t accuse me of flller material or pimping stuff. You can accuse me of many things but those two NEVER!
It’s a journey, it’s all good…
TBBon
I was amused. I enjoyed some of the pictures, links to external articles, and a little of the back-and-froth in the comments, but it got predictable. Even the filler material that you posted while on vacation got… predictable.
Did you learn nothing from this weekend’s VMAs? Entertainers need to shock and provoke lest they become yesterday’s news. Your song and dance… predictable.
I don’t blog. Neither you, nor the bank could pay me enough to go through the trouble. And isn’t that what it all comes down to? The cost and the effort…
In this day and age, IPs are not worth tracking. They can be faked far too easily. (Oh, look. I’m in the mid-west now. If I change a few numbers, I can be in Europe in a matter of seconds.)
I can tell you that my visits to TBB have fallen off. I do it when I remember.
I had never heard of VMA before, I thought it was some type of university or something. I have never watched one of these stupid shows, what a waste of time. I had never head of that Virus Cirus something but saw a picture. She has a nice tongue I guess.
I blog. I started for fun to give it a go and wanted to make it to 3 months. Here I am 10 months later. It’s been quiet a ride. I may bitch a little bit but If I did not enjoy it deep down I wouldn’t it. I am afraid to say it but…it may becoming a passion. And everyone should do things passionately; otherwise, why do them? Life is too short to go through the motions.
Re: cost and the effort – what it all comes down to? ALL? Not necessarily. Passion has something to do with it. Credibility most certainly does. Maybe the personal satisfaction that comes from it makes it worth it. Maybe seeing something growing (in readership) is satisfying. Maybe I am just enjoying the ride. Expressing myself uncut. I always wanted to do something artistic, maybe this is my thing as I totally sucked in every instrument I played (My mother still has nightmares of me playing drums in my room!)
Sad to hear your visits here have fallen off. As I have no control over your actions I just don’t worry about it.
I would love to hear what you would like to see here.
Thanks again.
You have morons asking that you put in affiliate links? REALLY? Gawd help us.
I would click on George’s links in a heartbeat! Has he not developed trust amongst us? Woe is he who tries to pull a fast one… because he taught us all to be ever vigilant …
Paul: I get many email like PatMike (thanks!) Veterans who have been in the game for a while who can see the shenaningans going on and, since they are hopelessly addicted to this crack, they WILL get more cards and they intend to help out the bloggers they benefited from (laughs included too!) and help them out.
My friend Rick calls me an idiot. Many call me an idiot. I call me an idiot:-) And you know, I don’t give a flying phuck!
No big deal, it’s only money. I am not starving. I look at myself in the mirror in the morning and go high five:-)
I will figure it out and do it the right way, what’s the rush?
This affiliate crap is here. Might as well deal with it.
Bottom line is: At some point this bandwagon would be over. Hope the ones who went at it full time did not spend all the money they made AND are lucky to find another job. Q: “What were you doing the past three years?” A: Oh, I was a travel blogger selling credit cards”….or something like that:-)
It’s all good, peace 🙂
I hate to be your content whore, but have you seen this? http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6905768/why-cant-you-use-phones-on-planes
Yes I saw it when it came out. I liked it but just did felt way overacted and did not pass the infamously harsh TBB screen:-)
Thanks for the heads up!