Postcards from the Funny Farm

I have had 3 days of the best Fathers’ Day celebration on known record for my brain.

This afternoon at 2pm after enjoying myself with my two lovely daughters and genius son I find myself brimming over with inspiration in need of sharing with the anywhere from 40-200 people that visit me on any given day. I was sitting out by my pool listening to some truly amazing music by Maroon 5 and I decided it was time to give back. I learned to do this from my good internet friend, Derek Semmler. With the “Amazing Visions” contest coming to a close I thought the only post I could publish would be one that gives back. So, I thought, what do they really want? A coupon? Money? Opportunity? Then I came to my embarrassingly simple conclusion:

My readers should know how I am making 200-300 dollars a month and shown the way to do it themselves.

Consider it done: Even though I publish the results and sources of my income every month here at the Funny Farm, I might as well just summarize it again so you can benefit. Here’s the mainstay of my online income folks, sign up and get on board. The first one does contain a referral fee for me of $15 paid to me (by PPP and it costs you nothing) when and if you publish your first paid post. The second one has no referral fee. I just wanted to be up front about the first and ask that you use the graphic link provided when you sign up.

1. PayPerPost, The application process takes a few days. After that you are given writing job choices. The better your PR is, the more opps you get. Please know this may reduce your PR, but it pays cash whereas Google doesn’t pay you anything. I currently have made 85 dollars in June already on PPP.

2. PayU2blog, these guys are great. I am so pleased with their payout and the way they run their business. It involves putting links in your posts. You have to do all assignments and you get $5 per link. Like PPP, there is an approval process so good luck with that!

Ok! I hope that helps you guys out. Why not have extra cash every month for your blogging?

I’d like to challenge you to make tomorrow the big day, or, the day you got serious about making money with your blog! best of luck. I am always here for support.

If you are browsing for the articles on psychology and inspiration and baffled by this throw off course, I apologize for this momentary indulgence in helping my blogging friends. I will return tho the brain and cognitive therapy tomorrow so please stop by. Remember the tagline here is: ” … posts on psychology, inspiration, and BLOGGING.” Maybe you should start one! Message me if your need some help doing that.

To close, let me just say to all the dads out there: HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, your role is so important to your kids and to society. Keep on keepin’ on, dudes.

postscript: Here’s a link to some amazing songs that inpsired me to give you this post today:

Daughtry: Feels Like Tonight

Michael Buble - Everything (A Must Listen!)

Boy that is sometimes easier said than done. Have you ever got so uppity at someone only to find out later you were wrong? It’s a bad feeling let me tell you. Kind of like when your baby has a really bad diaper and for the life of you you can’t remember where your wife put the wipes. Tonight I waited on the phone for the longest time with the bank thinking I had an unapproved transaction on my statement for $15. After going through it with three people on the fraud line, I realized the mistake was mine … wow.

I think I’d like to be the nice person for a change. Do you think people say that about you? We all get frustrated and we all have issues. Come on, let’s face it … we ALL do. Instead of bumming the world out about it, how about we decide to be a nice voice on the phone, a nice face passing on the street, or a nice “voice” of writing on internet comments. This world is so screwed up and there is more pain around you than you could imagine. Let’s focus on that “be nice” energy point and see where it gets us. Are you game?

Before I close I just want to encourage all my readers about an opportunity to write on an exciting subject. It pretty much applies to anyone, so everyone can go for it. It’s for my current contest and you don’t have to do anything special, just link to this site. The prizes are pretty good I think and everyone who enters will get their share of new traffic. More details here.

Before I met my wife I was in a transition work time where I worked sales for Cingular cell phones by night and substitute teaching by day. I was never really that good at sales but it taught me a lot about how to win someone over. Who knows, maybe that’s how I got my wife to marry me :) At any rate, I remember sitting in that cubicle with my stack of sales leads. Sometimes I had to go through twenty calls before a customer would bite. I was offering a renewal contract and a sweet new phone -for free- but not everybody jumped at the opportunity. Some of the leads were old and it sucked to get those because those people were like “huh? who?”

A friend recently gave me the link to Lead Dogs because my dad and brother are both still in sales. I checked it out and I absolutely loved the concept of this service. The mission of the company is simple: getting you good leads. I have had good leads in my career that literally sold the product themselves. When you have good leads, sales is like the Woody Allen quote I am wont to utter: “80% of success is showing up.” Since 1994, companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Shell and Orbitz have outsourced to The Lead Dogs to generate, manage and nurture sales leads that turn into revenue. If you are in sales or you know someone in sales, go ahead … make YOUR day by checking out LeadDogs.com

Good luck. Let me know how it goes.

My wife ordered me out of my Papasan a couple hours ago to get out in the bright sunshine. The season is turning from Winter to something warmer. We’ve applied for a home loan and she wanted me to look at houses. What I found while we looked astounded me, here’s why:

We looked at a total of 5 homes: all labeled on the front window as “BANK OWNED.” It was a staunch reminder that the high desert boom is definitely over.

In 2002, you could get a home up here for 80k. In the time since then we have seen the same home prices vacillate and peak out at 4-500: astounding. We’ve laid low and rented since 2002 because I’ve been getting established in my teaching career.  Plus, we weren’t looking to buy because my income as a teacher could never get financing for such high prices. That is why I am literally in awe of what opportunity lay before us now.

Each 4 bedroom home that we looked at today was well below 200k. This is right in the price range we can afford. Tuesday we find out the details of our loan acceptance, according to our officer: how much and whether it will be immediate or 3 months of cleaning up our credit. I feel very confident we will be accepted but I guess ya never know ’til ya know. Of course I will be recording it all here. As you know, that’s what I do ;)

Wanna move up here and buy a house?
Check out the Victor Valley Multiple Listing Service

Your jaw will drop.

Lorelle has a blog challenge this week to blog about a time when you felt “big.” I thought it was a perfect opportunity to write a memoir here on when I met two of my all-time life heroes.

The first one was Dave Sharp, ex-guitarist of the eighties neo-punk arena band: “The Alarm.” If you’re age 30 and above, you might recall some of their radio hits: “Sold Me Down the River,” “Rain in the Summertime,” “68 Guns,” “The Stand,” and a few others.

Here is one of their amazing videos from 1984, it still blows me away (check out the hosts’ mullets!)

I had every album memorized. I started listening to his music when I was 13 or 14 and learned all his guitar work by ear. When I joined my own band at age 16, I was throwing out chords and riffs I’d either stolen from him or adapted to my own style. But he was more than a guitar model to me, I identified with what he said in interviews and I tried to model much of my life after things he said either in the media or live in concert (I saw them live about 10-15 times).At age 23, I saw in the paper Dave was coming to town to do an acoustic show. I wanted to meet him personally. Not only because he was so cool, but because I wanted to hire him to play guitar on a single we were recording.

After the show I waited outside a while and soon, Dave emerged with a security guy. He had come out to talk to a few fans and sign some autographs. I met him then, gave him a tape of my music with the proposal inside and within a few weeks, his agent called me accepting my offer.Well, you can imagine the blissful events that followed. I worked with him several days in the studio that year and a couple years later we did another song together. Nothing much became of my music in the mainstream, but the experiences forever changed me. Rock n Roll means more to me than it ever did before. You can hear Dave on guitar on these two songs I wrote and recorded him below:

Talk to Me
People

The second connection I had with a hero was just a few months ago. I am a public elementary school teacher and as a result, I work to increase my students’ scores on the California Standards Test every year. Countless times since I started teaching I have gone to the CDE.ca.gov website and seen the Superintendent of Instruction, Jack OConnell, on the front page. Here’s picture of Jack in my classroom. To the right is Herb Fischer, Superintendent of San Bernardino County.

Jack is the top. Not too long ago, my Principal told me he was coming to visit due to our school’s incredible growth in scores. She told me he wanted to see “EDI” which is a style of teaching we have started doing and that I am a certified coach for. He came in and watched a lesson along with the local paper and all the Principals in the district. I got to meet him and we discovered we both went to the same college, California State University, Fullerton. Wow. It was truly a “big” moment for me and I will never forget the power of working hard for something and then getting recognized in that way.

Apart from the births of my children, those are 2 of my most biggest moments: “XXL.”

Could you blog about a time when you felt “big?”

There are many more ways, but I was thinking this morning that a process always helps.  Perhaps you can add your own to this list:

1. Wake up on time (alarm clock with a mellow station).
2. Make some good coffee.
3. Have your outfit all picked out the night before (not always possible I know).
4. Train your school-age son(daughter) to make the lunches (LOL).
5. Have a CD picked out with music that inspires you, make sure it is in your car.
6. As you are getting your coffee made and last minute stuff, start your car and turn the heat on full-blast (winter only).
7. As you drive to work, think about the possibilities of the day. Look at struggles and worries as merely “opportunities” to see life a new way and improve yourself.
8. Think about positive things as you listen to your music on the way. Admire the beauty of the desert all around you.
9. Consciously remember to smile at people today, you affect others more than you know.
10. Be ready, for anything … and when anything comes your way, accept it as either a positive or an opportunity.
11. Commit yourself to be 100% in the moment.  This means not worrying about the future or the past.  I have found they both take care of themselves.
12. Create a relevant greeting to use so you don’t get tongue tied in those stressful moments.  When you see someone at work, say: ___________. (examples: Hi, 3 day weekend.  Happy Thursday.  Hang in there,  etc.)
13. Have pictures of your kids on your desk and focus on the reasons you work.
14. Make another CD of your favorite songs and play it in your office area or MP3 player if this is possible in your workspace.  For me, its in my classroom before the kids come in.
15. If you have friends at work that won’t mind, send them a short email letting them know you are thinking of them and that you hope they have a great day.  The replies throughout the day are great to remind you of the same thing.
16. Take time to breathe and do nothing for a few mintes before work.  Meditate, pray, think, be still … etc.
17. If a bunch of stuff has been cluttering somewhere for a while, its probably not crucial.  Put it all out of sight temporarily (a cabinet, a bin, a box etc.).  This will create a clear place in your work area that can help you see possibilities.
18. Structure your day with an agenda by hour and check it off as you go.
19. Say this statement three times out loud when you are alone: “I am fortunate.”
20. Accept that there is something larger than yourself and surrender that you are small in the big scheme of things.  Even if you wanted to be in control of everything, it wouldn’t be possible so be faithful in the small things on your agenda and make it an excellent day.

What do you do to have a good workday?