Q went almost 7 months before slipping a couple of times last month, but the slips weren’t major and he knows what he needs to do to keep from slipping again. I guess this was another reason why I stopped posting, I felt secure with how he was doing. Letting my guard down does need to be done in order for Q to feel like he is earning my trust back, but I only need to show that, not necessarily think it in the back of my head.

Just recently I have decided that this blog is not working in it’s current form, from now on, I’ll be using this blog as more of a journal. No more making money online posts here, I have moved them all to my new blog at Damoneypage.com. Mixing things up may seem like it will work, but it really wasn’t. I’ll be leaving all of the current posts here, but any new MMO posts will be made over there. I thought the format of gambling addiction and MMO would work, but it just isn’t.

Until next time,

B

I should say, almost always approve all comments carefully. Today, I was racing through 28 comments to be approved and a legitimate comment from Romelo I-tong slipped through. Hopefully, this post will make up for my mistake.

Romelo had made a comment on my Wordpress host transfer post stating the following: “10 hours is not that long, how many blogs did you move?” This is going from memory so I may have a word or two wrong, but you get the point. To answer his question, I moved 3 blogs to the new webhost. The first blog took the longest at a whopping 8 hours. Once I found the easy way in the Wordpress Codex things were a lot easier. My mistake was made when I tried to install WP 2.5 on the new server, but the old blog was only running 2.3 so I’m pretty sure the database tables were incompatible. Once I trashed this idea and decided to upgrade to 2.5 after transferring all was good.

Has anyone else noticed an uptick in spam over the last week? How do you handle it?

Combining searches from Google, Yahoo, and MSN is a great idea, but there’s more to Scour. Once you perform your search, you will be able to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to a result. Kind of like DIGG or Stumbleupon for search results. Once you “thumb” a website, you are able to make a comment about the result and why you voted it up or down.

I knew that remembering to use Scour would be a problem because I perform most of my searches from the Google Toolbar in my browser. Shortly after that, I realized that there is a Scour Toolbar available for both Firefox and IE which I downloaded right away. It works exactly like the Google search from Firefox and now it is right there in front of my face reminding me to search using Scour instead of Google.

Now for the good part; how does Scour pay?

You are able to earn up to 300 points per day using Scour. Only 100 of these points can be earned from searching, the other 200 need to be earned from “thumbing” or commenting about a site. The 200 point balance can be earned from any combination of voting or commenting, but you are capped at a total of 300 points. Once you earn 6500 points, you can then cash out for $25 in the form of a VISA gift card. There is also a one tier referral aspect to Scour where you will earn 25% of the total points your referrals have earned. It’s a great incentive to tell your friends. More information about the Scour rewards program can be found on their F.A.Q. page. Make sure you read the section about invalid usage and abuse to avoid banning from Scour.

Scour definitely falls into an easy and simple way to make money online, so I have added it to my favorite ways to make money online page.

Are you a member of Scour? What has been your experience so far? If you’re not a member, do you think you’ll become one?

The light went on for me when I read a book called “Behind The 8 Ball” by Linda Berman and Mary-Ellen Siegal. I recommend this book to ANYONE trying to deal with a loved ones gambling addiction. Stop trying to control Q’s actions was was the first thing I learned. Before reading this book, I would leave work early to drag Q out of the casino if I thought he was there. I was trying to control what he was doing while I was at work 30 miles away, not real fun. Trying to control a gambling addict is one of the signs of an enabler. Coming to Q’s rescue at the casino was one of the ways I was enabling him because I would come and pull him out before he lost everything. He didn’t have to rely on his own free will to stop pulling the slot machine lever.

The next point may seem obvious to an outsider, but I had to stop making empty threats to Q. During the real tough times, I can’t count how many times I kicked Q out of the house, only to let him back a couple of hours later. I felt sorry for him sleeping in the truck. Once I realized what I was doing I made the following statement to him; “I can’t say next time you go to the casino I will kick you out, because you and I both know it’s not true. I can say that if you continue down this path I will snap someday and our marriage will be done. I don’t know what that breaking point will be, I can’t say it’s next time you gamble or 5 trips to the casino later, but I will say that I’m close to a breaking point.” I think this statement to Q drove the point home that he needed to find a way to stop gambling. Did he stop the next day? NO. Are we in the clear yet? NO. Is he finally on the right path? YES.

I could go on forever with this question. If I don’t get any for next week, I will continue with this one. Keep the questions coming. Either leave it in a comment or email me at questions [at] downonourluck [dot] com.

So Sunday, instead of sitting in front of the computer all day I decided to read through the Inc 500 issue that I received in the mail not too long ago. I received this subscription free from e-rewards with points that I had earned taking surveys. I don’t remember how many rewards this subscription was, but it only cost me a little time. Seeing all of these fairly young companies making it always great motivation for me; if these people can do it, then I can do it, everyone has to start somewhere.

An extremely motivating article that I read was the story of Stoneybrook Farms. An organic yogurt producer who went organic before it was en-vogue. This story was not written from the owner’s point of view, but from the wife’s POV. As I was reading the story, I was wondering if Q often feels the same way this woman did when thinking about my many online business ventures. I asked him to read it when he had a second, but I don’t think he will. I can’t find a link to the article, but if you get a hold of the Inc 500 issue, it’s worth the 20 minute read. Especially if you are a spouse of an entrepreneur.

Will a company I start every make it to the Inc 500 list? I hope so. If not, having 1/2 of the success these companies and entrepreneurs have would be quite the accomplishment and it would get me on the Inc 5000 list

Do you read anything offline to relax? Is it business related or personal?