Sam Woodfin's Micro

This Blog Has a Mobile Version

As do all TypePad blogs. Who knew?

Not me, since I don't have a mobile phone.

But Alex Sirota knew, and shared the info at Get Satisfaction.

For anyone who's had trouble reading this site via mobile phone, click here. There's a brand new link at the top of the sidebar to make access easier, too.

Hello, Shana Logic!

Monetizing a web site is easy. Successfully monetizing a web site is hard. And -- much like privacy in a connected world -- ethically monetizing a web site is a minefield. So I was thrilled this morning when this site was approved for Shana Logic's affiliate program. (No, it's not that difficult. Yes, I am that easy. And easy = happy. So there.)

A bit of back story:

Long, long ago, when I'd just gotten my first computer with a hard drive, and I was running Mac OS 9 in an OS X world, my favorite hobby was customizing my Mac's appearance. One of my favorite sites for finding desktop icons and desktop pictures was Pixelgirl Presents. (To this day, when I want to dress up my PC for Halloween, or when I just miss seeing some of the old stuff from MacuserX [nee The Devil's Desktop], Pixelgirl Presents is the first place I go.) And a few years later, when Shana Victor, the owner of Pixelgirl Presents, started Shana Logic, I became a fan of that site, too.

If you know me, at all (and I know that most of you reading this do), you know that I'm not big on shopping. But I am big on art. And one of the coolest things about Shana Logic is that it supports independent artists. This is a snippet from the shop's "About" page:

The shop is 100% made & designed by artists and small indie businesses! We've got 1000 amazing items created by 100 artists from around the world!

 

Shana Logic is owned and run by one girl (Shana--nice to meet ya! ;-). I started the shop in 2003 in my teeny basement but today I run it out of a small warehouse with the help of my three fabulous assistants!

And how does this tie in to our current political and economic climate? Glad I asked for you! Simply put, when you support independent artists, you support people, not corporations. You're supporting the arts in a very direct way, and you're helping individual artists to support themselves.

(And hey! When you make a purchase after visiting Shana Logic through a link on this site, you're helping to support me, too!)

On a much less political level, the stuff at Shana Logic has cornered the market on cute.

To recap, I've chosen to affiliate with:

1. a shop I'm a fan of, with or without the potential for me to profit.
2. a shop which enables independent artists to support themselves while continuing to make art.
3. a shop which supports both human culture and economic independence by enabling the things listed in #2.
4. a shop that sells quality merchandise (and, yes, I do always worry about that when pushing my Zazzle products).
5. a server full of adorable.

Whether this will end up becoming profitable or not remains to be seen. But, success or failure aside, kids, this is how you do affiliate marketing without sacrificing your conscience:

You support what you believe in.

What Twitter Cares About: Failure, Misery, Food and Porn

Firefox add-ons? Pffft. That stuff can't compete!

In Which I Fail Miserably

Right after I quote myself:

I don't make money (directly, anyway) by blogging, and I would fail miserably if I tried, because I don't have the traffic to back up that sort of business plan.

via sharonda.typepad.com

That was from a post I wrote earlier today. Never mind that I misspelled "successful" twice in that post (including in the title, where, unfortunately, I make most of my mistakes) and didn't notice until hours later. The point is that I know I don't have the chops to generate income by driving traffic, and now, I'm going to try to do it, anyway.

For those of you who actually see the Zazzle blog panel in my sidebar, it should be noted that hawking my Zazzle stuff is different, because it's mine. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. But now, I'm going to try to sell you someone else's stuff (as soon as I get through rambling for a bit), and, to my mind, that's a totally different thing. When I try to sell my Zazzle stuff, I still feel like an artist, or at least a "drawer of things". Trying to sell someone else's stuff makes me feel like a marketer, which is a) something I don't really want to be, and b) something I'm pretty sure I'd suck at.

But I digress.

I used to love making icons. Back when I was playing in Mac OS 9, there was a program I loved called "Iconographer". Iconographer is one of very few pieces of software that I've ever purchased. It allowed me to draw my own desktop icons, pixel by pixel, and I adored it!

When my Mac died, and I moved to Windows XP, I found another icon-making program that I used for turning my pen-and-paper cartoons into cute little desktop icons. They looked like this:

It was a quick, efficient app for turning drawings into icons, but I missed the fun and simplicity of building icons in Iconographer.

And, now, I don't have time for drawing icons.

So, today, when I wanted to pretty-up this blog a bit, I grabbed some free social media icons from WeGraphics. It was only then that I remembered that WeGraphics has an affiliate program!

Hell, I've even blogged about WeGraphics, before, on a different blog, and used an affiliate link to do so!

But, sometimes, kids, when we get old, and life gets complicated, we forget some of the crap that we've done.

What I didn't forget, however, is that I've used free textures from WeGraphics for backgrounds on some of my Zazzle products. (Don't hate. Not me, anyway. You can go ahead and hate making textures, if you want, 'cause I damned sure hate that, too.) So I know that the company offers quality images, at least in terms of the stuff they give away.

I'll assume that the members-only stuff is better. But I don't know that, since I'm not a member.

If you want, though, dear reader, I wouldn't be offended if -- after joining WeGraphics through the banner I've posted above (or the one in my sidebar, assuming it's still there when you read this, given that I'm as flighty as I am forgetful) -- you left a comment on this post, letting me know what you think of their stuff.

:D <--This is my sneakily-selling-you-stuff smiley.

Hey! I'm in The Food Journal!

See!

The Food Journal is an "online newspaper" from paper.li, maintained by MyBlogWorld. I have no idea if stories are picked for inclusion by a human, or some sort of automated feed filter, or something in-between. But, right now, I like links well enough that I really don't care!

I also noticed that all of the stories linked in today's edition come from TypePad blogs, using TypePad addresses.

I like links. I like TypePad.

This is just a big ol' bundle o' like, for me!

I Have a Tumblr

With actual posts on it and everything.

Even though I still feel about Tumblr exactly as I did in May of last year.

 

A Hiatus of Sorts

My posting frequency will probably drop for the remainder of Domino's time with us. I have things to write about, but, honestly, my heart's not in the writing. I may try to push out a post or two late at night, but don't expect much during the daylight hours.

Big appreciation, again, to Mr. & Mrs. Former Teacher (see previous link), for reasons I hope to blog about soon; and to Mr. Mystery, who swore me to secrecy about both whom and what. Also a big "thanks" to those of you from Facebook and Twitter who are reading the blog, leaving comments, and sharing posts.

I may try to import some old posts during the hiatus, depending on how cooperative TypePad decides to be.

Normalcy resumes when it resumes.

Gearing Up for Halloween

Labor Day is over! No more appreciation for you, workers! But that means Halloween is quickly approaching! And, as it turns out, it looks like I'll get to keep this site at TypePad, at least for the foreseeable future. Put me, Halloween, and a TypePad Pro account together, and there's a good chance that the Doodles section of this blog will start filling up!

In the meantime, I'm setting up new photo albums to house old art, designs, pictures, and cartoons. The Product Catalog is up and running--if sparsely filled--and you can even find a couple of Halloween designs, there.

(Note: "filling up" depends upon the availability of stuff to draw with. No guarantee of "filling up" is expressly or intuitively implied. The author of this blog post will be responsible for no damages incurred by said section's failure to "fill up".)

Just Upgraded to TypePad Pro!

At least for the free, two-week trial. TypePad's cheapest paid account (which allows you to do lots of stuff--like integrating Fotomoto, customizing the sidebar, adding photo albums, claiming the site through Google's Webmaster Tools, and having direct access to your uploaded files--that the free TypePad Micro doesn't) is cheaper than Squarespace's cheapest account, but that still doesn't mean I'll be able to pay for it.

Over the next couple of weeks, though, expect lots of activity, here. Don't be surprised if the blog looks different every time you visit!

A Li'l Help, Please?

I finally got some.

I was brought up on the notion that everything happens for a reason. For myself, I have a hard time seeing that. I can see some things happening that only make palatable sense when viewed from the context of what happened as a consequence. But Mom's dementia? My dog's paralysis? I have a very hard time applying any sort of metaphysical reason to things like that.

It's not been too long ago, though, that I had to give up my site at Squarespace. I didn't want to give it up, but I simply couldn't pay for it. It wasn't a matter of not being able to afford it, either. I couldn't pay for it. Those are two different things, and while the former implies some sort of choice, the latter implies none. I had no choice but to give up my Squarespace site, which is what led me to start this free blog at TypePad. And while that may or may not have happened for a reason, it was at least a good piece of bad luck, because I've been far more productive since making the move.

Which brings us to today:

This morning, Mom woke up to an empty Advair diskus, and no refills on the prescription. I've been wanting to change her healthcare provider, but as a well-controlled diabetic, I'm leery of healthcare providers, in general. ('Cept for pharmacists. Pharmacists are awesome!) But, this morning, I called the new place and made her an appointment.

Then, one of my cousins called to let me know that Mom's last surviving sister wasn't doing well. A few phone calls later, and another cousin was on her way to pick Mom up and take her to see my aunt. While Mom was gone, the pharmacy called to say that the old clinic had FAXed in Mom's refill script. I didn't have to make that appointment with the new clinic, at all. But I'm hoping that this was one of those things that happened for a reason, because wariness or no wariness, MCT oil or no MCT oil, I need help taking care of Mom. A lot more help than I've been getting.

Which brings us to the last of today's little twists and turns (so far, anyway): While Mom was visiting with my aunt, something happened with my uncle. The cousin who took Mom out there had to take my uncle to the hospital, and the cousin who originally called brought Mom home.

I asked Cousin #1 if Cousin #2 might take Mom out again, sometime. Cousin #1 replied that she might come and get her, herself. She also said she'd try to be around more often. After months of being upset that Mom's family doesn't even call her, maybe things are starting to change. I'm hopeful, anyway. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, on my part, but this entire day, to me, has been like watching a chess board while the pieces shift of their own accord.

Also: Cherry pie.

My aunt sent some home with Mom. If this blog post makes no sense to you, it's because either a) you're too much of a hard-line rationalist, b) I'm writing through a haze of glucose, or c) both. I prefer to think that it's "a". Because I know damned well there's no higher purpose for "b".