I have often posted on here about the different products that Vat19 has that I just absolutely love. They have everything you could ever need like giant remote controls, instasnow, and remote control forklifts. Watch this video if you want to know what I am talking about:

You can tell that these guys have a warped sense of humor (like me!). You can learn how to operate the forklift and learn how helpful it would be in your home or office. Make sure you watch the video till the end where they blow up food! If you need a unique gift for someone, make sure you check Vat19 out!

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I know I have talked about how much I love Entrecard.  They are a great way to drive traffic to your blog and have a great community.  Today, some cool changes took place and some not so cool changes too.

First, the cool changes.  Now, you can see how many times a person has dropped their Entrecard on you.  It also lists your last 5 posts that you have done on your blog.  Both are very cool changes that I think are great.

Now, onto the not so good changes.  The change that I absolutely hate that happened today (without any warning) is that you can only drop 600 cards per ip.  Now, if you have one blog this is no big deal.  However, if you have more than 2 blogs in the system (I have 3), this royally screws you.  How?  Normally, you can drop 300 cards per account you have.  Since I have 3 accounts, I was dropping up to 900 cards a day.  Yes, I actually do read the majority of those blogs I was dropping my cards on (not everybody updates daily or weekly).  It would take me several hours a day to do.  However, the traffic that I received from that made it well worth me doing.  By looking at my entrecard stats, I can definitely see the difference in my traffic depending on the number of cards I dropped.  More cards = more traffic.

Now, this not only effects me.  This effects every person who has more than 2 blogs in the system.  If I drop evenly between my blogs, I will drop only 200 cards per blog.  I am losing out on potentially 100 more drops (if everyone reciprocates).  If this is the case, this blog will never make the top three spots nor will my other two blogs since I won’t be able to reciprocate everyone who drops on me.  I am also going to assume that the top three blogs are people who only have a single blog in the system.  If that is the case, they will be dropping 300 cards to my 200 on a daily basis.  Tell me how I ever catch up to the lost traffic.  The top spots got there by dropping 300 cards daily.

This change effects anyone who uses a shared computer and/or ip to do their drops.  Husbands and wives won’t be able to both have accounts and not effect each others ability to drop.  People won’t be able to drop (or be limited) from work if anybody else in the building does Entrecard.  And heaven forbid, if you have to use an internet cafe or library to drop.  Who knows if somebody already used up the 600 drops off those ips?

What’s the reason for this change?  Well, according to Phirate (one of the head guys of Entrecard):

It’s not a penalty, it’s just our only real rational response to people creating multiple “spam blogs” and going nuts dropping a thousand + per day. Unfortunately, some legitimate users will get caught in the cross-fire.

Well, go after the spam blogs.  Set up a system where the blogs have to be 30-60 days old and have 10 posts or so.  That should weed out a bunch of them right off the bat.  I would think they would rather be able to say that they have 7,000 good blogs in the system instead of 6,000 good and 1,000 not so good.

Another issue with this is that it is pretty easy to change your IP.  If you use AT&T like I do, it is simple (just a pain in the butt to have to do everyday).  I won’t go into how you do it, but if I know how to do it, the spammers definitely do to.  Also, another way around this is to use a proxy.  Again, if I figured this out, so can the spammers.

Entrecard, I love your system.  It does exactly what it is suppose to — it drives traffic to my blogs.  However, you are hurting the very people who make the system great.  I would think that you would want your best users to be able to put more of their quality blogs into the system.

If you agree, please let them know.  From the few people I have talked to like Jenn, I am not the only one who doesn’t agree with this change.  Entrecard has made tons of changes based on what the users want.  I am hoping that the users can bring about change again.

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I love being a blogger.  Want to know why?  I have meet so many interesting and genuinely nice people over the last 2 years I have been blogging.  Through blogging, I have been given an inside glimpse into their lives and they into mine.  I have to give a shout out to two fellow bloggers that have helped me tremendously this week.  First, there is Elizabeth from Table for Five.  She helped me rewrite an article I have put countless hours into that I couldn’t get right.  On her first try, she got exactly what I was looking for!  She wouldn’t let me pay her for her help (though I am donating to her BlogHer fund!)  The other person I have to thank is Jenn from Everyday Randomness.  She helped me with header over at My Road Less Traveled By.  Actually, she redesigned the whole thing so my title of the blog shows up.  She also didn’t ask for anything for this work.  In a world that is so jaded, it is nice to know so many nice and caring people out there.  I have always tried when possible to help others too.  Even so, I was surprised to see this at my door:

This postie pack was sitting on my front steps.  When I first opened the box, I thought maybe, since my birthday is next week, this was just a present of sorts.  Instead, it had a hand written note from Ted (CEO of Izea) thanking me for my help and dedication on the Izea forums.  I have to admit that I was impressed that Ted took time out of his busy schedule to do that.  He could have very easily just printed off a form letter.  Madison absolutely loves the pen.  She immediately took it out of the box and started playing with it.  I had to leave for my chiropractors appointment, so I had to quit playing with everything and go.  By the time I got home tonight, we ate supper and the kids went to bed.  I will get a picture of Madison tomorrow with her new pen.  It is soooo cute.  You guys seriously made my night.  I can honestly say I have never been given award ever, so this made my day.  I actually called my mom and sister on the way to my appointment to tell them, because I was so excited.

Ted, I’d like to thank you too.  You made a company that allows moms like me to make money and stay home with their kids.  You’ve allowed people to supplement their incomes when needed.  There are so many things that wouldn’t have been possible at my house without the added income that blogging has provided my family.  It has been a long and bumpy road, but I am so glad I have been along for the ride.

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Want to see my new toy?  Well, here it is:

I love it!  Up until my new printer, I had a 4 in 1 HP printer.  However, it was not wireless which was a pain.  I had to spend something like $80 to get a wireless kit.  The bad thing about that is that it plugs into my USB port.  I can’t leave it in all the time, so I tend to lose it.  It always takes me something like 10 minutes to find it which is a pain.

My favorite part of this printer is that is wireless.  It took me around ten minutes to set it up.  It was super easy.  All I had to was pop the disk into my laptop and follow a few easy directions.  Right now, the printer is set up in the kitchen.  I usually work in my living room which is on the other side of the house.  The range is awesome.  Another thing that I absolutely love is that it tells me what percentage of print job it still has left.  It also tells me how much ink I have left.  I always run out of ink at the worst times.  It lets you know the color ink and the black ink levels.  Print wise — It is a printer.  I found it to work as well as my HP did.  If you want to see the printer in action, go check out Wi-FiGuy.

At this point, I do not see any negatives.  It did not come with photo ink, so I haven’t had a chance to try that out.  This printer has everything I need — wireless, scanner, copier, printer, photo printer.   If you are in the market for an all in one printer, this is a great choice!

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