One Year Goals Update, October 23

I am documenting my life goals on this site as a way to keep myself accountable, and to possibly inspire others to do the same on their blogs. One friend already took my example to make her own life updates on her blog: Adventures in Writing, Goals for 08-09.

With no more ado, here is my most recent update:

* My next shorter term goal was to break in to the 20ks at Amazon (and have 100 reviews up) - Reached 28K this week. Yeah! Teens are coming next! I have set until May 09 for this goal so I think i will get there way before that. I still haven’t posted 100 reviews yet - I seem to do reviews in batches. I am waiting for the next time I feel inspired to make a batch.

* Taxes - There’s been some crazy IRS stuff. I finally filled out my 2007 forms and need to figure out where to hand them in. ASAP. I hope I can do this tomorrow on my way out of town. We don’t like heading down the mountain unless we have to - gas is too expensive! I also need to figure out how to roll my 2001 penalty into the rest of my penalty plan. AND got to get together with my new taxes person to figure out how to get 08 in order. I don’t want to be late, ever again.

* Stuff in Storage - We are heading to AZ this weekend to pick up our things from storage. We’ve rented a uhaul trailer ($200! Yeeps). We arranged to stay with a friend for two nights and to see some people while out there. Just need to pack a few things tonite. We won’t be getting my RV this trip, but i’d like to grab a few things from it. So I will still have to make another trip out there soon.

* Organizing Utility/Laundry Room - This has been a fun project and I am almost done. I am pleased with how this came out. YAY me!

* Paint Living Room - The kid we hired never ever showed up. So I just did it myself last week. I’ve never done anything like this before and it was trail and error. But my accent wall came out lovely and DH really approves too. As far as the flooring, this will wait. The economy is too sucky right now. And we decided to return the ceiling fan and just use the one that is up already (get our $119 back from Lowes).

* Office Organized - I did most of it but still need to set aside time to do the drawers. I documented my office cleaning project.

* Crestline Living Website - Still improving in traffic, now has a page rank of 3, and is getting much much closer to my goal of number one Google search result for Crestline California.

* Making 1k a Month from my Projects - Still not seeing things pay off, but I am still in the building phase. Sigh. Too much to do. I think this goal is too big for one year. Maybe I should break it into smaller steps.

Misc New Goals -

* Organize walk in closet
* Organize bathroom shelves

It’s Fun When Authors Link to Your Reviews

I love it when authors whose books I review link to me. Or comment on my site. I do the happy dance and then show my husband, who acts suitably impressed.

• Here is the link back I just found on Anne Cushman’s author website for my review of Enlightenment for Idiots:

Enlightenment for Idiots - News & Events page:

~  “…I could have traveled with Amanda and Devi Das stumbling for enlightenment for years.”

• Previously, Debra Gallant commented on my review of her Book Fear and Yoga in New Jersey:

Thanks for the nice review. I especially liked this insight: You can taste the sense of squeaky-clean New Jersey suburbia - and understand the price people pay to maintain such outward “perfection.”

• And lest you think only yoga authors keep track of who reviews them, here is the nice comment I got on my review of Blogging for Dummies from author Susannah Gardner:

hi jill,thanks for the great write-up of blogging for dummies — i really appreciate it and i’m glad you are finding it useful :)  - susannah.

What is extra cool is I met Susannah recently, at the IzeaFest Blog Expo 08, where she was speaker. She graciously granted me an interview, which I will post shortly.

It’s strangely fun for me to get a shoutout from an author. Realistically, I know it’s not a big deal - I am an author myself (Arizona Off the Beaten Path, 4th and 5th editions). Some of my best friends are authors. But still. Everybody likes to be noticed.

We Continues to Hate Flying

Want to read about my bad experiences with US Airways recently? On JillFlorio.com I posted my recent lovely experiences of nickle and diming by the airlines:
Fly the Hostile Skies on US Airways

One Year Goals, September/October Update

I had not reassessed my goals for the year since early August, so I may as well do that now. It’s after a long trip, it’s now officially Fall, and it feels like a good time to look at things once more.

Reassessing my one year goals:

1. “Have begun art portfolio” - I am starting to itch to paint. This is a good sign. I won’t push it. I have a long to-do list and want the painting to happen organically.

2. “Both our credit scores are good” - No change from July. I haven’t even looked at them or tried to get Dan’s again. My SIL recommended trying freecreditreport.com; says it works well for her. I like their commercials. Does that count for something?

3. “All my stuff from Arizona is here” - We decided it would be a bad idea to run to AZ in the middle of the Mojave in the summertime. DH and I plan to get our behinds out there in October, no excuses. Should we just clear out the storage and come back? Or bring back the RV as well and save another trip? With the RV, there will be far more stress. It needs a smog check, renewed registration, some insurance, probably new tires and who knows what else. Save it for anther time? Suck up the stress and do it now? Thoughts?

4. “I have one or two ebooks up in Cosmetics” - This is being backburnered while I get lots of articles preloaded for the year.

5. “JillFlorio.com is up to date with all old articles and current ones and back online” - The site is back online, is looking good and has much of my old work live. YAY! I still need to move my fish and hiking articles up, and then find my old sci-fi reviews (not sure where I stored them). That will be enough for this year. Next year I will scour my old floppies, zip drives and old hard drives for copies of previously published print articles. Since that will be a huge project, I am not going to worry about that just now.

6. “Cosmetics site is preloaded through end of the year” - I am on a roll! I need only 13 more articles to finish out 08. Then I can reassess a new goal for 09.

7. “Crestline Living is up to date and number one Google result for Crestline” - Getting closer to the prize position of number one! The site was not up-to-date for several weeks while I traveled, but now my paid Crestline Living writer Michelle Snow has set daily articles to drop for a good long while. I am pleased as punch. Things are moving along.

8. “Break 500,000 in Amazon reviewer rank” - More good news! I am now at 47,226 and look forward to achieving my new goal of breaking the teens by May 09.
9. “Earning $1000 a month from my various projects” - No love here. Still earning about 225-250 a month.  This is a time of building and I hope it pays off. I try not to get discouraged: it’s a Long Tail game, after all. I am using my Blog Mastermind program and it’s, quite frankly, thrilling.

10. “Go camping with Dan or alone at least every three weeks” - I am happy with how this is going. We’ve had some great camping trips and then some long travels in Orlando. Our next trip will probably be to Flagstaff to grab our things from storage. It would be nice to do some camping in Sedona or the Grand Canyon during that time.

11. “Have an accountant/tax person and all business/taxes will be well in hand and no longer a source of confusion and stress” - We decided to hire an expert in town, as the friend we wanted to hire already really has a full plate on her hands. New issues with the IRS came up, so we re-hired our old Seattle lawyer a few days ago. I have no idea what the lawyer will cost us, but the new amount the IRS dug up is an additional $2500 owed. While this is discouraging, we are plowing ahead with integrity in the hopes of clearing everything up shortly. On Monday, I will call our new local tax accountant and make a date to finish handling our 2007 taxes.

12. “Revised Yoga goal is to be comfortably solid in the Intermediate camp in a year and playing around with Advanced poses” - I have fallen behind in doing yoga  - it was too hot all summer to feel inspired. Now that it’s cooling off, I will re-energize my practice again. I even have a new, eco-friendly yoga mat to test drive.

13. “Office will be organized” - I did it! The space is reorganized. I still have to work on the paperwork, shelves and drawers and will hopefully do this in October or November.

14. “Kitchen/utility room will be organized” - I seriously want to pull everything out of my cabinets and shelves and redo these areas. I want to do my bedroom closet as well. These will be GREAT Fall/Winter projects.

15. “Will have new flooring, ceiling fan and wall paint done” - Nothing has been done. The neighborhood kid flaked on us. The paint and ceiling fan we bought are just sitting around. I might paint the wall myself this Fall (another good autumn project) but we still need a contractor for the other jobs.

16. “Will have tried all local yoga classes and reviewed them for CrestlineLiving.com” - Once I get back into my practice, this will happen again as well.

17. “Will no longer find getting packages to me as a nightmare” - Once again we are having trouble with our packages. I think we will need to make a bin, add a lock, put it on the street and notify Fed Ex/UPS. We will make sure, once we buy a house somewhere, NEVER to live on an access road again.

18. “Will have several control journals created and in use, including emergency plan journal” - Still need to write out an Action Plan and update our emergency kits.Another Fall/Winter project.

19. “Weight down to 120 to stay there, with under 20% fat levels” - I have not been eating a daily salad, due to travel, and also, my fitness routines have been hit or miss. Long trips of several weeks really screws up schedules! Once again I have 12 pounds to lose. I did manage to stay on the low carb plan at least.

Crestline Living Now Showing on Page One of Google ~ yes!

More good news - reader and friend Michelle Snow just wrote and told me I am at - ahem - 3rd from the top on PAGE ONE of Google for search phrase Crestline California! YES! WOOHOO!

So I took a look and there it is, all shiny on page one. Above the Wikipedia entry for Crestline, even:

1. Crestline Chamber of Commerce - VACATIONS

   The Crestline Chamber. … Crestline - Home of Lake Gregory! HOSTED BY Mountain Digital 909.939.4145.
   www.crestlinechamber.net/ - 4k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

2. Crestline, California (CA) Detailed Profile - relocation, real …

   Crestline, California detailed profile. … View more photos (we have 40 pictures of Crestline, CA available). Submit your own pictures of this place and …
   www.city-data.com/city/Crestline-California.html - 90k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

3. Crestline Living — Crestline California - Life in the San …

   Slideshow of our Home in Crestline CA. August 10th, 2008 · No Comments. Here is a Smilebox Slideshow my mother in law made for me on a recent visit to our …
   crestlineliving.com/ - 50k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

4. Crestline, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

   Federally, Crestline is located in California’s 41st congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of R +9 [3] and is represented by Republican Jerry Lewis. …
   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crestline,_California - 47k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

See? Number THREE! I don’t mind being behind the Chamber of Commerce for Crestline, but maybe I can creep up past the City Data website in the next few months.

Finally Got Some Google Love

Somewhere between late Friday night or Saturday afternoon, Google made an update. I now have rank on my blogs! While I know PageRank is not the end all and be all of the Internet that it pretends to be (ie - the saga of John Chow), I am ecstatic. I am doing the happy dance. There’s just something about being recognized by Google that makes me want to wag my little tail.

As of Friday afternoon, I had no PageRank on my blogs. I accepted that; they are under six months old and unproven to Big Brother Google. To my delight, yesterday I noticed a change - HippyGeek.net (this blog) went from a zero PageRank to a TWO! Two! Happy news for a young personal blog. CrestlineLiving.com got a three and JillFlorio.com has a three. Threes are almost respectable! John Chow has a three! I will take it.

A result: I feel newly inspired to write more content. I was starting to feel discouraged, even though intellectually I knew I had to be patient. After all, I had just come back from a fantastic Izea Blog Conference and met great people who make actual money from their blogs. And here I was with zero pagerank. So this was just the boot to the butt I needed.

My Amazon Reviewer Rank Process - September Goals Update

Good news! My Amazon rank made another leap…I went from 108,327 in late August, to 47,226 today! My next milestone had been to make it under the 99,000 rank, and there it went, very quickly.

That inspired me to post more Amazon reviews yesterday. I now have almost 90 reviews and they are all real, full-length critiques.

My goal by May 09 is to make it to the teens. So my next realistic shorter-term goal is to break 20k. I imagine it gets harder to drill through the ranks as you go along.

Another short term goal is to have more than 100 reviews up in the next two months.

In other news, in my quest to get my Crestline Living site highly ranked, I am now 3rd from the top on page two of Google for the search term ‘Crestline CA’. For just the term ‘Crestline’ I am on page 3. These are really great advances for me, as I was previously really buried for those terms before.

I don’t have anything positive to add in my other goals, but those did make me happy. It was nice to come home from traveling and see that I am getting somewhere.

To IzeaFest and Blog Orlando this month! Plus Mickey.

Hey, I am going to my first blogger’s conference! All the way out in Orlando, FL. I will attend two conferences, in fact, IzeaFest and BlogOrlando.

Dan will join me for the IzeaFest, and we will wear our Runpee.com tee shirts with pride. We’ve ordered business cards to hand out. I will also promote CrestlineLiving.com, but not HippyGeek, which is only my personal blog, after all.

What is slightly ironic is that I will miss the huge BlogWorld event in Vegas (which is a short three hour drive from Crestline, where I live) to fly across the country to attend these smaller events.

I do prefer a more intimate venue, and these will provide just that. Plus I will get to go to Disneyworld a few times. Epcot’s massive Food & Wine Festival (yeah!), the Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom are on my list. Dan has never even been to the Magic Kingdom, so this is my chance to introduce him to Pirates of the Caribbean, yo ho ho!

I’ll probably get to BlogWorld next year. Anyone attending any of these three blogging events, or some other blog conference elsewhere?

We Have to Fly, But Now We Hates It

I unfortunately have to fly next month. We officially now hate flying, so we tried hard to come up with an alternate plan:

• Driving from CA to FL was out - too much time, too much hassle, too much gas.
• We figured we’d try a sleeper car on the train. Well, there we inexplicably would have to go from FL via CHICAGO to CA, adding a lot of time to the trip. Plus the sleeper compartments cost about the same as a vacation on a cruise ship. So, no go.
• Then we saw the first class flight tickets also cost more than a cruise.
• We even considered renting an RV to drive back so we would only have to fly one way…then got wrapped back up in the ungodly expensive gas situation. One can’t win.

So, yeah, we gave up and bought plane tickets on Expedia, which sneakily tacks on booking fees and massive taxes. We’re forced to change planes in Atlanta and can’t even sit together on the last leg to FL. We have a three hour stop-over in Atlanta too. I hope it’s got WIFI, or decent shops.

I am afraid to check and see which airlines we are stuck with. Some are stingier than others: I wonder if we will be charged now for water and coffee. If so, all the more reason to just get drunk on tiny bottles of wine in-flight. I am by now trained to bring my own darned pillow, so they can’t nickel and dime me there.

Am NOT looking forward to this. I always catch a flu bug when I fly. I’m going to try really hard not to this time, even if it means wearing gloves and a mask. Sheesh. Flying. Bah.

THIS is why I do the Low Carb

Last night I was at my local farmers’ market, talking with a candles vendor about how I was on low carb. She looked at me and said, “You look great - why do YOU need to be on low carb?”

….well, it’s because if I am not low carbing, I am about 15-20 pounds heavier, even though I am very physically active. But I didn’t say that - just told her thank you and said it’s about eating healthier overall.

I just thought that was nice for my ego and helps validate why I am making this effort. I guess low carbing is working, then. Which is nice, as it’s not the easiest plan to follow in our comfort-food oriented, starchy world.

Has anyone else had this happen?