Just a reminder that there are only two days left to enter my Cow Patty Bingo contest and win $50! One chance for linking to the contest, and another for linking to your favorite post. The contest will end at 11:59 pm Central time on Monday. One person’s PayPal account will be $50 richer, and five additional people will get links. So step right up and get your number now! 
Correction: I am a dingbat. The contest ends at 11:59 on Tuesday.
I just love how this email started out all friendly, and then bluntly gave me the boot right out of our shared flat with the marble countertops.
Hi. This is the qmail-send program at yahoo.com.
I’m afraid I wasn’t able to deliver your message to the following
addresses.
This is a permanent error; I’ve given up. Sorry it didn’t work out.
4.79.181.18 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 550 relaying denied for
Giving up on 4.79.181.18.
So, it doesn’t like me. It even gave up on me! I don’t think I have had anything nearly this cruel happen in the real world. Talk about a Dear John letter…
So yes, this blog is hosted on Yahoo. At first, I regretted it mightily, but then I learned that I wasn’t being forced to use their “Easy Interface” and could in fact FTP. I also found out (like yesterday) that it is possible to set up a username in order for someone to be able to troubleshoot it for me without them being able to browse my personal email account. Now we’re cool. At least I thought we were.
So why did my email server send me such a cruel message?
I was attempting to reply to a comment left in my “About” section. The commenter inquired, “What is your blog about?” in addition to leaving a blurb and link to his blog.
Since my header obviously didn’t explain it well enough, and in fact, there are times when I do wonder, I simply cut and pasted a snippet from a review of a Dean Koonz book.
It is about a harrowing journey of adventure, sacrifice, and redemption.
So, comment link-spammer dude, if you are reading this, you’ll probably have to figure it out for yourself.
Welcome to the second edition of “Ask Bloggrrl”, where your questions are cheerfully and not always completely accurately answered by someone who is blundering along in the alternate universe of affiliate advertising and WordPress templates.
Dear Bloggrrl,
Why the heck do you have an advertisement for a Panasonic AG-DVC60 for $2261.75 on a blog about blogging? It looks similar to the Sony XDY-RWSCK7659.
Disgruntled and Confused Reader
Dear DCR,
I’m sorry, but I don’t even know what that thing is. It looks like it might be a camcorder. However, if it sells, I’ll score enough money to take the dog to be groomed and get my carpet professionally cleaned.
It is over there hiding near the bottom of the sidebar because I learned something about Chitika that is interesting. You know how you have to have at least 10,000 page views a month to join the program? Well, shortly after posting this little bloggy post, I met the criteria. I immediately applied and was accepted. Now, the thing is, once you’re accepted, you can put Chitika on your other blogs, even the ones who have three page views a month. So I thought it would be a good thing to have around, kinda like that Drimmel that I bought to make earrings out of hazelnuts and have used once. You never know–someone might stop by here and suddenly get an urge to buy one of those 58YHSLD7 things.
Full Disclosure: Yes, the Chitika links are affiliate links and I will make money if you join the program and sell stuff. Cool for you if you sell a $5000 high-def camcorder. Cool for me making money later on!!
Dear Bloggrrl,
My blog seems to cover a wide spectrum of topics. You know, dental floss, grocery stores, urban legends, dogs, parenting, whether to use my powers for good or evil�that sort of thing. Do you think I should narrow it down in order to be more successful? What if I can�t find an overarching theme? After all, how much can one write about dental floss that�s remotely interesting?
Trapped at Home in Austin
Dear Trapped,
First of all, let me sympathize. I know the weather in Texas has been extraordinarily sucky lately. Have you thought about relocating to Chad? I hear it’s very sunny there.
You know, I really think you should narrow your niche and go with the dental floss. Just imagine the possibilities! You can monetize that site like nobody’s business with Adsense and affiliate drugstore links. You can even network and find dentists and dental-floss salesman who may be interested in becoming a sponsor.
Multimedia is also an option. You could make a YouTube video demonstrating how to accomplish this oft touted practice. Oh crud, that’s already been done. And anyone who is thinking of going even more “niche” and making a video about feline dental care, you can forget it, because apparently, that’s already been done as well.
Oh heck, I don’t know. Just keep on blogging with your bad self.
If you have a question for Bloggrrl, then by all means, do ask! You will get automatic link love if I can answer your question, however poorly.
