Spanish now! ~ day 18

I am self-learning Spanish. It's not a requirement of my work place, I am not going to use Spanish in my job. It's just that I want to learn Spanish as my hobby and relaxing activity.

Learning a new language is like visiting a foreign country - for free and free of wasting time. When you feel some stress from job and other things, learning a new language may be a good solution.

Especially, if the language is spoken a lot in your neighborhood. In this city of Los Angeles, you hear Spanish language everywhere. So, no wonder I came up with this idea of learning it. Spanish language may give me a job in the near future too :)

So, I un-earth a textbook from my closet, and started learning it again several days ago. I set that day "the day 15" since I once tried to study the language when I was in Texas two years ago. Back then, I was much more desperate... I did not have a job at all. In the city in Texas, the majority people was Hispanic. So, I dreamed to have a job of something Hispanic. It did not happen though.

About PayingPost.com

It was about two years ago that I got to knew the system "blog advertising". Before that, I knew blog affiliate programs. I tested some of those sites, but none worked. I chose some companies, products and goods, created banners and pasted them into my blogs. None of people clicked them. So, I never made money.

Sometime later, I found the word "blog advertising" in Japanese in some Japanese articles. I was suspicious enough to look for some. Some works and others not. Main reason I had trouble was how to get paid. They do not accept using specific banks. It was because of the limited paying/receiving money system in Japan.

Finally, I found a good site called A8.net in Japan. Through this site, I got about $60 in about three months. The problem of this site was the little number of writing opportunities.

Now I am trying similar sites in the U.S. The first one is PayingPost.com! They accepted two of my blogs, and have given me two writing opportunities so far. I am now quite excited to start writing blogs in English. So far, I am very satisfied with this site becasuse:

1) This site does not force me to spend any money!
2) The business of this site is just simple - connecting companies and bloggers. It seems this site does not want to cheat bloggers.
3) This site has given me opportunities, anyway.

So, I think I can recommend people to try this site, as long as you are eager to write!


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Organizing Your Site with Frames and layouts - true?

In sometime ago, it was said that "Using frames is a good way to organize your Website". I though this is a thing of the past. So I was kind of surprised to see this type of an article recently.

"Organizing Your Site with Frames and layouts"

http://www.web-articles.info/e/a/title/Organizing-Your-Site-with-Frames-and-layouts/

There are many discussions about why we should not use frames in Websites. You can not get your Web page searched by major search engines. Search engines do not recognize the keywords of your Website when it is managed by frames. This is critical and fatal for your small Internet business. Design is not the first priority for Web business in today's standard. Search engine friendly is the first thing to consider.

One big advantage to use frames is it's easiness of navigation. When you set a side bar on your site, visitors can easily navigate any page they need. That's why many Websites are still attached with old-fashioned frames. CSS layouts can replace frames/tables. With CSS layouts, we can make user-friendly, easy-to-navigate Webpages.

Professional Web designer/developers are all aware of the importance and versatility of CSS. I think frames are only used in special occasions or in private Websites these days.

In Los Angeles, California...

Wow, it's been a while since last time I was writing. I moved to this sunshining city finally. I am still getting used to here, and enjoying too.

I am learning something here... why the sun shines so brightly, why it's hot in daytime and cool and sometimes cold at night. This is quite a dry place, almost everywhere in this place is desert. Since there aren't many water vapor particles, the sun beam comes right to us, so the sky is clear and blue.

So, those facts about LA are quite scienific phenomena, anyway.... Still people are sure attracted this city.

The final day of moving sale

Today is Sunday, January 25th. Now it's about 11 am. This is the last day of my moving sale here in a cold New England town. After 4 pm, I will start cleaning up everything. I will need to throw out many stuff... No, I can not send them to LA because the moving fee is quite expensive. I was surprised to send packages by UPS the other day. It was about twice the fee of USPS three years ago! When I send the final packages later, I will try USPS again.

I can not stop my sentimental feeling. Right now, all I can do is to sit and wait for people to come and check my belongings. A family in NH contacted me several days ago, but I am not sure they come or not. In any event, I am finally here, the final sale day. Yes, I can wait for a day. The sale is until 4pm today. After that, I will start working hard to cleaning the apartment.

Some thoughts about moving sale

Today, Saturday, I met three groups of people. The two were Japanese people and the one is American people.

Bad news first... The American lady said she is a math teacher. She came upstairs to my room and looked around the items I laid out on the floor. I was in another room and waited for her decision. She took several minutes, so I took a look at her. She was checking paperbacks one after another and asked me how much. I answered 25 cents. She then moved to the notepad, and desk organizer. I said the price. Then.... She was taking time and never picked up any. Then, she picked up a bag. That's a kind of bag for job interview. I remember I paid about $20. She was looking at it... So, I accidentally said it's $1!!!!!! $1!!! Yes, I was so stupid to say that. But, I could not help saying that. She kind of mentally imposed me :-( :-( :-( She bought that briefcase bag for $1!!!!

.... Yes, I admit, I lost. I was defeated by her pressure. She was just checking things and never buy anything. So, I got irritated and she never lost that chance! When she left, she said something nice to me. "Oh, I love Japan, I went to Japan, and I really liked the things in Japan," brah, brah, brah.... No matter how she cajoled me with those words, I really disliked her. Yes, this is a critical farewell from this place, a cold wintry greater Boston area. I am glad I'll never come back to this area.

Other two people... Compare to the Math teacher, two Japanese group were nicer. They first checked my ad, contacted me about the item, came to my place, and bought them. That's so nice and quick. So, this is why I mended my heart at the end of the day.

Chilly winter days

In these chilly winter days, I am dreaming the life in CA. It's just around the corner. Physically, I will be able to live in a more warmer place. But, I am not sure if I can be economically warmer there. Yes, there are a lot of Japanese companies out there in LA. The job opportunities should be double or triple the one here in MA.

Still I am worrying the future of the life here in the U.S. It's so ambiguous. Which way will this country go? Will people stick with the freedom of business, freedom of economy or prefer some substantial changes?

The people in this country have always afraid anything about socialism. People have hated to hear that too much intervention of government. The result - no national health insurance, no substantial national pension plan, no reliable public transportation system in most city areas, violence in almost all city areas...

Will people still want unlimited freedom instead of a little bit of patient to get safety, secure retirement and quality of life?