Real Estate Investing Game:StumbleUpon Find

In addition to finding the Stumble Through Button, another feature of the StumbleUpon tool bar that my son and I have been using, is the feature that allows surfing by selecting a channel. The channel that we have been using is the online games channel which allows us to stumble some really cool online game sites.

For example, yesterday I came across Old Poppa Crappaud’s Mansion Impossible game, which is a real estate investing game where the objective of the game is in the shortest amount of time, to buy the million dollar mansion. This is done by buying and selling smaller pieces of real estate, which then enables you to increase your net worth so that you eventually will be able to afford the grand prize, the big mansion.

My Five Times

1.45 yrs 2 mo
2. 33yrs 3 mo
3.28 yrs 1mo
4.26 yrs 2 mo
5.24yrs 5mo

Real Estate Investing Game Details

Not including the big mansion, there are three different types of houses… the cheap, middle and high. The profits from each is a direct ratio of so the cheap houses will result in a little profit. But you start out with 100K, which is enough to buy one little house. You need to make a quick buy, and then sell and make enough profit to be able to buy two of the little properties, and then get enough profit so that you can buy the next level of real estate investment, and so on until you can afford to buy the big mansion. When you click on a house and you don’t have enough money, a balloon comes up saying “Too Much”. Within the levels of investment properties, I also noticed there are some that will start out at higher prices or lower prices. The lower priced properties of the next investment level are the ones to keep an eye out for, as these will allow you to move up to the next investment level that much quicker. Once you go up into the next level, don’t be tempted to go down into the lower levels for a deal, as these deals in the lower levels will waste your time, and prolong the amount of time until you can buy the big mansion.

Why I love this game

• It introduces the concept of investing in real estate as a fun game.
• It requires concentration.
• Allows you to improve your time based score.
• All you have to do is click the mouse.

To put it simply, it is a fun basic real estate investing game. Check it out and see if you can beat my scores. Let me know how you do.
Oh, and if you don’t have the Stumbleupon tool bar installed, I strongly suggest you download, install, and start Stumbling. Click on the badge to the left to add me to your StumbleUpon network, I can still add a few friends, as I have not reached the 200 friend limit.

Written by Pixelhead on November 13th, 2007 with 30 comments.
Read more articles on Online Games and Real Estate and Site Reviews and StumbleUpon and Uncategorized. Dude, I Need a Cash AdvanceHugg, is it an Environmental Digg Site?

Dude, I Need a Cash Advance

Today as I was driving down the highway, a subcontractor that works for me called and asked me for a cash advance. At the time I thought it was kind of funny, because I had a request to do a site review for Nationalpayday.com, which is a site that specializes in payday loans and cash advances.

At first when asked to do a review of a site that does cash advances, I was a bit skeptical, but after looking at Nationalpayday, I was actually very impressed with the site for numerous reasons which include:

• Free loans for first time customers without a credit check.
• Information about personal finances to include debt management.
• National Payday has a Money Blog with lots of new informational posts such as “The Risks of a Cash Advance”.
• Lots of advice about payday loans to include how the loan is made, how long it takes, and what is the cost of the cash advance?

As an employer, I don’t want to be in the habit of paying out funds at unscheduled times. I also do not think it is a good idea to do this, because it does not encourage responsibility on the part of the employee. Nationalpayday.com provides a service, and as such it is a service that requires a fee. A fee that hopefully will encourage the borrower to think twice about getting payday loans with great frequency.

So what do I think about Nationalpayday.com?

I think the payday loans or cash advances that Nationalpayday.com provides are a valuable resource for people that require cash for that occasional emergency. You know, someone has an illness and you need some cash for some OTC drugs and doctors office copayments. Or who has not had a car break down on them and need cash to get it repaired, and payday is no where in sight.

Yes, I think this type of emergency loan is awesome as an emergency back up, but not as a regular means of getting cash because the skill of budgeting ones finances does not exist. And as the information on Nationalpayday relays, they would prefer that their customers develop sound personal finance skills, to include being prepared for emergency situations.

So if your in a bind for some emergency cash, check out Nationalpayday.com for a cash advance that will be in your bank account in about 24hrs.

This is a paid blog post for Nationalpayday.com.

Written by Pixelhead on November 12th, 2007 with 9 comments.
Read more articles on Site Reviews and Uncategorized. Aqua Dots RecalledReal Estate Investing Game:StumbleUpon Find

Latest From Vandelay Webdesign

Stephen of Vandelay Webdesign was one of the top commentators for October. Here are some of his latest post that are sure to be very popular with visitors to his site.

First off, Stephen is holding a group writing project where he is compiling a list of Social Marketing articles, and is accepting up to 3 articles from interested authors. Articles can be about specific Social Marketing sites or general Social marketing articles and can be old or new articles. Check out the post for details. The deadline for submission is the 9th of November, and the compiled, categorized list of Social Marketing articles will be posted several days later. I know I have at least a couple Social marketing articles that I want to submit. I bet you do too.

Another interesting post from Stephen is The Effects of Creative Blog Content were the reader is given reasons why Creative blog content is important. The most important being the attraction of Social Media sites which will result in huge amounts of traffic. Stephen goes on to say that this far quicker than relying upon the search engines to deliver traffic to your site, and he then gives a list of other supporting reasons for using creative blog content. Check it out, its a very good and helpful post.

The last Vandelay Website Design post that I am going to recommend is the post 15 Ways to Get Exposure for Your New Blog. A great read for both seasoned and new bloggers alike. Stephen is a master of driving huge amounts of quality traffic to his site using Social Marketing media and other methods. Not only does he tell you 15 methods for getting exposure, but he also offers up some tips for using the exposure. One final side note, I like the way the WordPress Post Slug feature was used to create a keyword rich url for the post using “Blog Promotion” and “Blog Exposure”.

Update:

Everything you Ever Wanted to Know about Social Marketing compiliation group writing project is here.

Written by Pixelhead on November 8th, 2007 with 9 comments.
Read more articles on Blogging and Marketing and Site Reviews and Top Commentors and Uncategorized and Web 2.0. Canon S5 ISAqua Dots Recalled

Freelance Blog the Freelance Folder

Jon from SWR’s(smartwealthyrich.com) newest project, FreelanceFolder.com is a blog for freelancers, written by freelancers. Topics include anything about Freelancing, to include different freelance models, productivity, marketing, resources, etc…

FreelanceFolder.com uses the WordPress theme By Anthony Baggett, and was modified by Jon himself. The site has a crisp clean look that I would love to model Pixelheadonline after.

The current list of authors include Jon, Goldy of Goldy World, the Old Man Allen Taylor of BlogContentProviders, Dave Navarro of BetterFasterNow, and Carolyn of ProductivityGoal.com, who Lizzie and I got to hang out with at the BlogPhiladelphia Unconference.
Jon had been working on this project for a while, and had mentioned it more than once on SWR. The most recent being a post asking his readers advice about running a contest and the prizes for said contest on his new project. Prior to that Jon had put out a request for guest writers, who would be interested in participating in FreelanceFolder.

I have actually been thinking about taking Jon up on the offer to be a guest blogger on the new site, but I am a bit critical about my writing. (I blame my 6th grade English teacher) I told Jon, that in addition to doing a review of FreelanceFolder, I would see if I could get some ideas for articles over the weekend.

So what possible topics could I or you write about for FreelanceFolder:

1. Interview Lizzie about Freelancing since she has been Freelancing for well over a decade in one capacity or another.
2. Getting Freelance Customers.
3. Getting paid for your Freelance work.
4. Developing your Freelance business.
5. Marketing Your Freelance business.
6. Working full time while freelancing.
7. Freelancing vs JOB
8. Family and Freelancing.
9. Getting organized
10. Tax advantages of Freelancing.

Well these are a few of my possible ideas for post I would like to contribute to Jon’s newest project, FreelanceFolder.com. If you have been bitten by the urge to do some Freelancing, stop on in and join the conversation.

Written by Pixelhead on August 1st, 2007 with 6 comments.
Read more articles on Blogging and Marketing and Networking and Site Reviews and Uncategorized and Web 2.0. Monetization:Kontera Ads RemovedTop Commentors for July

FaceBook Learning Experience

Taking the advice of Maki of DoshDosh, I am writing another Social Media Evangelism post. This Web 2.0 post being on Facebook, which I have been hearing quite a bit about in not only the blogosphere, but the also in the traditional media as well.

The first bit of media attention that I recall, and I am not quite sure where I heard it, but apparently there was a bit of research done comparing Facebook users to Myspace users, which basically said that Facebook users tend to be more educated young professionals. Myspace users, the report said, tend to be younger people who don ‘t take the college track in life. I am not quite sure about that since I am a college educated professional who also has a myspace page. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Facebook was originally developed to help college students connect with one another.
Next, I have read on numerous sites that Facebook allows other sites such as one of my favorite web 2.0 micro blogging sites, Twitter, to integrate their services using application programming interface or API’s. This of course, is how I came to sign up for a Facebook account, via the interface with Twitter.

For more info on Facebook in the news, I would suggest checking this TechCrunch Facebook search link for all the Techcrunch posts about FaceBook. I particularly liked the article Could Facebook become the next Microsoft?

My FaceBook experience To Date

I have not been using Facebook extensively. Much like my previous article on Stumbleupon, I am writing this as a Facebook learning experience. Any knowledge you have would be appreciated, so please feel free to comment.

I recently put some of my honeymoon pictures on my Facebook account, and I must say it was really easy. If I did not have so many pictures on my pro Flickr account, I might consider hosting all of my online pictures here, since they say Facebook has unlimited picture hosting.

Sadly, I currently only have five contacts. I must not have been doing something right. Two of the 5 contacts of which I gained the other day, when I sent out invites to a bunch of my email contacts. Oh thanks Debra and Kevin.

I just was tooling around on my profile page:

1. Created the badge above.
2. Added WordPress.com Application that lets you show your or your friends most recent posts on WordPress.com
3. Tried to Add the Twitter app, but it seems to be having a problem that a few others are having as well. The twitter app is currently giving a box for your Twitter id, but where it asks for the password, there is no box.
4. Added the video App so I can put video on my Facebook. I’ll have to put my MeToday Video’s here as well as on Viddler.
5. Browsed all the Apps, there are tons to choose from, probably too many for someone as easily distracted as me.

In conducting a bit of research for this article, I was just on AllFaceBook.com an unofficial Facebook blog, which has news and info about Facebook developments. In addition to getting Facebook news, they also have a business of making Facebook apps for businesses, which apparently is a growing field. In the article The ROI for Facebook Advertising, Nick O’Neill talks about some of the advertising opportunities on Facebook, with development of Facebook Applications having the highest ROI of all the advertising methods he mentioned.

Using FaceBook for Marketing

1. Build or hire someone to build an application for you.
2. After creating an account, send out invites to all of your contacts.
3. Befriend other Facebook users.
4. Join communities, both regional and topical.

The jury is still out on the use of Facebook for the purposes of networking for business. Although it does seem that much like the craze of creating MySpace pages for business, the increase of those seeking to network for professional purposes on Facebook is on the rise. Facebook, I is here to stay, and has a tremendous amount of potential, which has been compared to that of both Microsoft and Myspace.
Got any other tips, suggestions, or useful Facebook posts?

UPDATES:

Within minutes of the initial publishing of this post, I was checking email, and ended up on Saman Facebook post entitled “Well it Finally Happened – I Joined Facebook“, and it just seems like I needed to give Saman a link since his blog is such a great resource.

Facebook and all the other Web 2.0 networks that I have a membership can be seen on my Network Page, so feel free to add me to your networks.

Other Facebook related blog posts:

Facebook Applications Privacy Setting

Leveraging Facebook for Web Applications

Anja Merret’s Free advice to anybody wishing to start another Facebook.

Written by Pixelhead on July 26th, 2007 with 5 comments.
Read more articles on Facebook and Marketing and Site Reviews and Uncategorized and Web 2.0. Respond with One Word MemeMonetization:Kontera Ads Removed

Peopleized Interview with the Creator of BAFAB

This is the second short interview I am doing in a series of interviews related to the post about Peopleized.

For this interview, Debra of the The-Deblog.com answered some questions I had about one of her projects, Buy A Friend A Book.com or BAFAB. As an entrepreneur, I really like the idea behind BAFAB, and as a former teacher, I love the idea of giving books as gifts.

Below is the interview I did with Debra. If you have any comments about the interview, please feel free to leave them here, or on either of Debra’s sites The BAFAB Blog or The-Deblog.com, as well as on the interview page on Peopleized.

EmperorAnton: Debra, this is the first general question. Who is Debra?

debra_hamel: Debra is…. The mother of two little girls, a fallen ancient historian, an author (www.tryingneaira.com), a blogger (www.the-deblog.com), an amateur book reviewer (www.book-blog.com), and, I worry, a dilettante.

EmperorAnton: What is your educational background?

debra_hamel: I majored in classics as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins (B.A. 1989). And I went to graduate school at Yale, also in the classics department, but with a focus on ancient history (Ph.D. 1996).

EmperorAnton: I have seen the Buy A Friend A Book(BAFAB )logo around the Web. How long has it been around(online)?

debra_hamel: I created BAFAB in the summer of 2005, and got a web site up and running for it (www.buyafriendabook.com) in time for the first BAFAB Week, which began on July 1st of 2005. BAFAB–”Buy a Friend a Book”–is a simple idea: I propose that people celebrate four Buy a Friend a Book Weeks per year, in the first weeks of January, April, July, and October. And you celebrate by, simply, surprising someone with a book.

I have a great dislike of the obligatory gift-giving of Christmas (not to mention the crowds). To me it all seems very hollow. But I like very much the idea of just up and giving someone a more meaningful gift when you’re not obliged to. Hence, BAFAB. I say on the site that you’re giving a gift “for no good reason.” Of course, the “reason” is that it’s BAFAB Week. But still, you’re not obliged to participate and, importantly, if you do participate you do so (generally) by just giving one person a gift. In other words, even if all your friends and relatives know that you celebrate BAFAB, they still don’t know whether or not they might be getting a gift from you. it’ll still be a surprise.

EmperorAnton: Who will benefit or use the services of BAFAB?

debra_hamel: Anyone who participates! Whether as a giver or a giftee. Obviously it’s great to be on the receiving end of a BAFAB present, but also, there’s a certain fun in targeting a recipient and figuring out what one book they might like. And there’s so little pressure involved in the whole thing, unlike, again, Christmas, when people are so often scurrying around to get *anything* for someone because they have to.

EmperorAnton: What goals do you have for BAFAB?

debra_hamel: I would just like to see the idea continue to spread. Certainly it’s gained in popularity on the internet. Lit bloggers have embraced the idea. A lot of people throw BAFAB contests on their sites during BAFAB Week and give away books in drawings and so on. It would be nice to see the idea move out into the real world as well. I would think book stores would want to get behind a holiday that’s all about surprising friends with books.

END Peopleized Interview
In addition to BAFAB, Debra has numerous other projects that she is focusing her energies, several of which are:

1. Twitterlit, a cool little site that has been mentioned in USA Today, which sends the first line of a different book twice a day via Twitter.

2. BookBlog.com which is a quality book review site that is attached to an Amazon Affiliate store for the ease of making your online purchases.

Written by Pixelhead on July 25th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Site Reviews and Twitter and Uncategorized and Web 2.0. Rightsize Smoothie VideoRespond with One Word Meme

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