If you know what song I got the above title from, you might just be interested in a concert this Saturday, July 28th! Several bands will be performing at the Lost ’80s Live Tour, one of whom is Flock of Seagulls. The show is at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg and starts at 8pm - tickets at $19.99.

Other bands scheduled to perform at Dramarama, Gene Loves Jezebel and When in Rome. (I’ll admit, I don’t know who they are, but I’m sure I’ve heard songs from those groups at one time or another.)

Jim and I renewed our car insurance this week. Our car insurance provider has a new plan where if you pay for 6 months up front, you save quite a bit of money. We saved $260 by doing that, instead of paying every month for the next 6 months. Not a bad deal! I only wish that our homeowner’s coverage offered the same payment plan. We paid it up front a few months ago, and it sure would have been nice for the home insurance agent to have knocked a couple of bucks off for us! The only deal they offered was a package discount if we purchased our auto insurance and life insurance from their company. Eh, thanks, but no thanks.

Coach Tony Dungy, formerly of the Tampa Bay Bucs, and currently of the Indianapolis Colts, has written a memoir. The book is called Quiet Strength, and Coach Dungy is making his return to Tampa this week to promote the book. If you plan on buying a copy, head out tomorrow (Tuesday 7/17/07) to get your book signed! Tony Dungy will be making an appearance in 2 Tampa locations to sign copies of the book:

4pm til 6pm
Borders in South Tampa
909 N. Dale Mabry
Tampa, FL

7pm til 9pm
LifeWay Christian Store
12689 Citrus Plaza Drive
Tampa, FL

I think the coach will get a lot of people out - he’s still got a lot of fans in the Tampa Bay area. He’s an easy guy to respect and admire.

I am DONE! D-O-N-E! And it feels good. I owe the people who opened their wallets to donate a bit debt of gratitude:

Alli
Carolyn
Mike from Sinus Infection
Robyn
Matthew from Blog About Your Blog
Funny Junk
Cybercelt from the Texas RV Travel blog
Karen from My Road
and Sian Lun Lau

You rock!

Big 3-Day thanks to the following people who donated this week to the cause:

Kitty
Kelly at That’s What She Said.
Vedis
Barnett Associates (Marysville WA homes and real estate)

$1950 down, $250 to go! Find out how you can help A few more donations rolled in this week for my sister. I think she’s only $250 away from her goal now! You can get in on this too - before it’s too late! Just read how to donate here, and you’ll be getting the link love too!

I’m walking in the 3 day in a few months, and just finished fundraising. Now it’s time to enter training mode! I’m still working on helping my sister make her goal for the 3 Day walk, and we’re getting there!

Thanks to donations from Greg Watson, Thinking Outloud, and Surviving NJ, my sister is only about $450 away from her goal! Thanks guys!

If you’re wondering what YOU can do to help, click here and read more about the special offer I’m making people who donate.

I’m walking 60 miles in October to save lives. My sister and I are participating in the 3-Day walk for breast cancer for the 2nd time. Special thanks to Charles over at C.Whyte’s blog for donating to my sister. If you didn’t read my post here, I’ve met my $2200 goal, and I’m helping my sister now. If you donate $50, you get 10 links in return, on 10 different sites.

Before you buy a bunch of fireworks to set off on the 4th, make sure that your county hasn’t banned them! Due to drought, several counties around Tampa Bay have a fireworks ban in place. Violators could be fined up to $500 and / or 60 days in jail. Is that worth the thrill you get from setting off a bottle rocket? The ban includes firecrackers, bottle rockets or Roman candles - basically, any type of fireworks that you set off into the air.

I know first hand how easily a fire can start on the 4th. Years ago, at my old home, some neighbors set the woods on fire. Thankfully, it was small, and contained, but I’m sure that was the last thing they thought would happen when they set off to enjoy their 4th.

One thing I enjoy about local restaurants are finding desserts that have local flavor. Key Lime Pie is a favorite of mine, and I know from experience who actually uses Key limes in their recipe, and who doesn’t! (Ooh, and I hate seeing green Key Lime Pie! It should always be a pale yellow!) Another local dessert I love is the bread pudding at Ohana at Disney. And I can’t forget about Old Meeting House homemade ice cream! It’s sold at a particular ice cream shop near us and we’ve fallen in love with the brand. And speaking of local desserts - don’t forget about the kind made in Tampa homes. Many residents have banana plants in their yards, which means they can whip up banana bread recipes using REALLY local bananas. I’ve even seen pineapples growing in yards here!

Oh - I just thought of another favorite local dessert…baklava! I buy it from a little bakery in the Sponge Docks. Jim thinks it’s too sweet, but I love it. It’s been a long time since I was down in Tarpon Springs to buy any though.

I just saw on TBO.com in their breaking news section that there’s a huge fire at the Best Western Hotel near Waters Avenue and North Dale Mabry Highway. And I mean huge - it’s a 4 alarm fire! Streets around that area are closed - it’s sort of close to where my sister works, so I hope she planned to stay IN the office today for lunch. I’m glad I’m not out in that mess!

I just checked weather.com, and I see the temperature back home in Tampa is in the high 80’s, with 68% humidity. Phew! I’m in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and the temperature is the same, but the humidity is only 44%, so it’s DRY! We’re enjoying it a lot. Our tour guide today kept saying how hot it is, and we told him this is nothing. We stayed cool, calm, and collected while he had sweat dripping off him - poor guy!

PayPerPost, the company that pays me to talk about things on my blog, has come up with another $7 million in capital for their second round investment. One can only wonder what they’ll do with the money - finally get RockStartUp on TV? Pay for my airfare to PostieCon? Start more controversy? I’m betting on #3 for sure.

I was amazed to read that there are over 28,000 bloggers using PayPerPost. (I wonder if that is truly bloggers, or not BLOGS, as some of us have more than one?) No wonder it’s so hard to grab opps at times! I’d like to see them use some of the cash to market to advertisers to advertise on blogs, maybe radio or TV spots, or more trade shows. And of course, more rewards for us, the extremely loyal bloggers who have argued on their behalf and received hate email and nasty comments as a result of who we’ve chosen to align ourselves with. While PayPerPost is a company, I do take what I do VERY personally. It’s a huge part of my day, and I plan for things to continue in that vein. It’s not just a way for me to make money, it’s become part of my lifestyle! I wish the company nothing but the best, and hope that they continue to have great results.

The PayPerPost Revolution Accelerates, Sponsored
Blogging Marketplace Secures $7 Million Series B

Draper Fisher Jurvetson leads round and joins Board of Directors

ORLANDO, FL – (June 12, 2007) – PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers and other consumer content creators, today announced it has completed a $7 million second round investment led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, an investor in the company’s Series A and one of the world’s leading high-technology venture capital firms. The financing brings the total amount of capital raised by PayPerPost to over $10 million, giving the company considerable resources for further development as the industry’s leading Consumer Generated Advertising marketplace. Additional participants in the round include existing investors Inflexion Partners and Village Ventures as well as new investor DFJ Gotham. With this investment, DFJ Managing Director Josh Stein also joins PayPerPost’s Board of Directors.

“PayPerPost created this exciting new advertising space and has established itself as the industry leader,” said Ted Murphy, chief executive officer of PayPerPost. “Although we’ve only used a portion of our first round capital, this added support from investors unlocks significant growth potential. Our content creator and advertiser ROI metrics clearly demonstrate the upside for PayPerPost’s model. We intend to use this capital to build the infrastructure, visibility and professional expertise necessary to reach and retain a greater network of advertisers and content creators than ever before.”

Since its founding in June of 2006, PayPerPost has signed more than 6,500 advertisers to its groundbreaking service, which has enabled Consumer Content Creators to be compensated for their efforts discussing specific companies, products or services via blogs, videos or other media. The content creators are required to disclose relationships with advertisers on their blog, providing transparency for the end reader. Over 125,000 Internet postings, most in the form of blogs, have already earned money for their creators through PayPerPost’s innovative marketplace. PayPerPost recently released PayPerPost Direct, a disruptive new service that allows advertisers to contract and negotiate directly with individual bloggers they identify through a safe, managed system.

“PayPerPost has laid a strong foundation for the future,” noted Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “It continues to attract a critical mass of participants from both the advertising and blogging communities. Analogous to Overture’s sponsored search model, we believe PayPerPost’s business model holds disruptive potential and will enable the company to thrive in the evolving paid-content arena.”

To mark the $7 million dollar funding, PayPerPost has launched a new website detailing the company’s service offering at http://www.payperpost.com. Bloggers and advertisers can easily sign up at the site and begin leveraging the self service marketplace.

Do you believe in ghosties?

We did a walking ghost tour in Ybor City last year, during winter, and despite being with a large group of people, in a place I’ve been to many, many times, I felt creeped out. With all of the fabulous stories our tour guide shared with us, I saw everything, even the familiar in a new light. And yes, I did have a quicker pace when it was time to head to the restaurant for dinner. The hair was standing up on the back of my neck!

I’m not sure if I believe in the supernatural, but it would explain a lot of things. Have you ever had the feeling you’re being watched? Or seen something out of the corner of your eye that disappears in a flash? Yeah, me too. I think there’s definitely something out there, and in some cases, it’s hard to tell whether it’s a GOOD something, or a BAD something.

It’s easy to tell in the 1408 Movie. It’s a BAD something! John Cusack sets out to prove ghosts don’t exists, and checks into a hotel that would definitely have bad reviews on Travelocity. He sees things, he feels things, things see him - and oh, the 1408 Movie stars Samuel L. Jackson too. Two guys I love! Anyway, John is such a non believer because of his daughter’s death. He would love to connect with her, but he’s just found that all of the spirits people have said they’ve encountered haven’t been spirits at all. So do ghosts exists? I want to find out if they do in 1408!

Every summer, parents begin a mad dash to look for activities to keep their kids busy and entertained. For most of us, some kind of summer program is not just for fun, it’s a necessity, especially if you are a working parent. For others, it’s to keep from hearing, “there’s nothing to do!” And for some, it’s to retain study skills during the 8 week break. An educational summer program like the ones that Score offers can be a great way for your child to keep up with good reading habits, or improve study skills during this long vacation period. Not as boring as school, but better than sitting around and watching television all day! We usually give our kids “homework” during the summer (writing a book report, reading each day) and this is just the next step if you’ve got a child who struggles with school.

And so another holiday weekend has officially begun! We’re going to chill this weekend, but we’re hitting a local beach on Monday to enjoy some sand and sun. I’ve got the day off of course, but my husband does too, so we’re picking up my sister and heading out Monday morning. I haven’t been to the beach in ages and I’m looking forward to it - as well as a day off work!

Drive safe, and play safe!

I’m reading the news I missed while we were out of town this weekend, and I just heard about the horrible crash on I-275. The guy hit THREE troopers? And he was drunk. Nice! For those of you who didn’t hear about it, a motorcyclist lost control of his bike while changing lanes (speeding, of course) and crashed into a guardrail. He died at the scene. Now, while troopers were attending to THAT accident, a drunk guy (that would be one Robert M. Taylor) crashed into the troopers while they were working the first accident. He was arrested. What a fiasco!

Most of us, when we think of the history of Tampa, think of Jose Gaspar and the cigar makers who settled in the area. Did you know that there’s a theory that the lost city of Atlantis Was a Real Place, the Americas? Yep. And part of Atlantis was right here in Tampa Bay? It’s a theory, and an interesting one at that. The website, AtlantisKingdom.com speculates that Tampa, FL was the location of the royal city of Atlantis. When I looked at the map shown here, it even looked like the area of Tampa where Davis Island and Harbor Island are, neat, huh? Kind of weird to think that a place where we go for fun and a night out could be the location of a lost city of treasures…

Atlantis Was a Real Place, the Americas

The kingdom of Atlantis included North, South, and Central America. It was divided into ten countries or kingdoms and each country had its own King. One of the kingdoms was also called Atlantis. The King of Atlantis was the ruler over the other nine Kingdoms. The first ruler of the Kingdom was called Atlas. This is how Atlantis got its name.

The royal city of the kingdom was located within the country of Atlantis. Within the royal city there was a royal palace. Originally, three different moats surrounded the royal palace. Plato referred to the moat formation as three zones of water and two zones of land.

As time went by they covered over the moats and cut three canals through the peninsula on which the royal palace was located. The construction of the canals divided the peninsula and formed two triangular shaped islands. The island that held the royal palace was called Atlantis. That is why Atlantis is referred to as a continent, and city, and an island.

Read the short version of Plato’s story at www.atlantiskingdom.com to learn more about Atlantis and the Americas. Then read Plato’s Timaeus and Critias to get the complete story.

I have matched the terrain features that Plato wrote about with present terrain features found in the Tampa Bay area. Research shows that Plato described Harbour Island as the small island of Atlantis. You will find that Plato recorded and published the story just as it was told. He even recorded the discussions leading up to the story. You will also notice several obvious mistakes made in translating the story from Egyptian to Greek and from Greek to English. The biggest mistake occurred when travelers came upon a shoal of mud and thought it was left over from the sunken island. They were wrong. The continent of Atlantis did not sink.

You are invited to review the facts to see for yourself that the Americas, from South America to Alaska were once the kingdom of Atlantis, a single nation. The land formation is still laid out the same as it was over 11,000 years ago. It is best viewed from the air. See image.

Source: Dennis Brooks
www.atlantiskingdom.com

to country…!

This Friday night, the Charlie Daniels Band will be performing at the Ford Amphitheatre. Like the Gwen Stefani show, tickets start at $10, which is a heck of a deal. Considering how nice the weather’s been, I can’t think of a nicer way to spend the evening than sitting outdoors and listening to live music!

I’ve seen a lot of billboards around town advertising a service to repair your credit, if it’s not the greatest. Why would you pay someone to do that for you, when you can get free advice on how to fix your credit online? Duh! CreditNet.com isn’t just a site with a bunch of credit card offers - they’re a resource for how to use credit wisely. You’ll find company reviews, information, and services for credit repair, plus tips on how to keep your good credit in tip top shape! The message boards are a great place to get advice from other people who have been there, done that!

I was listening to the MJ show this morning on 93.3FLZ. I normally listen to Sirius, but I was driving my husband’s car. MJ mentioned a promotion he’s doing where they give away plastic surgery procedures, and also mentioned that they’ve been doing this at that particular radio station for years…since before he worked there. He then shared the store of how he read about the promo (before he worked there) in a trade magazine, back in 1989, when the radio station was called…the Power Pig.

Holy moly, what a blast from the past! Those of you who lived in Tampa back then probably remember the big ratings war between the Power Pig and Q105, which at that time, was a pop / top 40 station. I had forgotten about the station being referred to as Power Pig, and it brought back some happy memories of me in my room at home, listening to it at night while I did my homework.

Q105 was my favorite station though, and they did this feature called Top 5 At Nine. You could call in and you’d be able to introduce one of the top songs. It usually went something like this:

::cue breathy, fast, 12 year old girls voice::

Hi, this is Colleen and I go to Tarpon Springs Middle School - go Spartans! I want to say hi to Kerry and Kerri and Jen and Jenn and Christy and Chris and Mike and Mark! The #3 song is “Hangin’ Tough” by New Kids On The Block - I love them so much! See ya!

Come on, who else called the top 5 at 9?