First, despite the fact that my new blog is somehow connected with internet marketing, it is a poetry blog. Every reader can be an author. I’m only starting the poems, and you are invited to write the next line in the comments. Then, another reader adds a line to yours, and so on, until the poem is complete. Then I publish it in the Dirty Blue Widgets Archive section and I start a new one. My intention is to write a poem a day, but I’m aware that it may be slower in the beginning, as not many readers have yet discovered the Dirty Blue Widgets poetry jam sessions.

The idea came when I was thinking how to approach my participation in an SEO competition. I wanted to make it fun. Then I remembered how I was about to be expelled from school in the 6th grade, because of a poem I’ve written about two of our teachers. They didn’t seem to appreciate my talent. Too bad! The poem had about 20 pages and I’ve written it during several weeks - I was adding new lines every day. Everything was so cool, until my desk colleague thought her mother would like the poem and she showed it to her. That lady liked it so much, that she asked the teachers to keep her daughter away from me.

Too bad I never got my poem back.

What are these dirty blue widgets anyway

Nevertheless, I’m now back to my poetic habits and challenge all of you to bring your contribution to the Dirty Blue Widgets poetry jam, and to spread the word about it. The SEO contest will end on January 20th. Any promotion from you is welcome. If you are passionate about SEO and you wish to join it, please check the previous link. Briefly, the contest is open to all members of The Affiliate Academy, so you’ll have to join in and stay a member for the whole contest duration. There are lots of things to learn in there, so I guess you won’t be sorry for joining. It is not free, but if you are really passionate about internet marketing, you can see a return of your investment pretty soon.

Thank you. I’m looking forward to see your contributions in the poems

Have you ever had a glimpse of thought that shit may actually be the rule?

Small Tour In The Past

December 17th, 1989. Place: Opera Square, Timisoara, Romania

December 21st, 1989. Place: University Square, Bucharest, Romania

It’s Revolution time. We want to get rid of communists, we want to shatter the iron wall which has been raised between us and USA or Western Europe. We dream to live in a world of communication, in a world where everybody speaks honestly and open, in a world of dialogue. Our parents raised us with this dream in mind, that we need to break free. We grew up with America in mind, hoping that one day we would be free like Americans are.
People died for a dream. They died for transparency. What we admired in the Western civilization was transparency. Not money. Not knowledge. Just transparency, and dialogue, and the horizon of a life where things are said loud and clear, not whispered at the corners.

Back To Present Again, Where Shit Is The New Rule

At almost 20 years of distance, I applied to join the eBay Partners Network. My application was rejected and when I asked why and how can I change in order to comply with their rules, the answer was that the reason of my rejection is confidential, so they cannot tell it to me.

Is this the American democracy? Is this the American dream for which young people gave their lives 19 years ago?

I’m not accusing anybody. I don’t care how eBay Partners Network’s managers run their business. It is their business, and this is good enough for me. But I expected a decent explanation from a giant company which exists in a giant democracy, where most of us are not accepted because we still have to learn how to communicate.

What else can I say? I’m happy I didn’t die at the Revolution. I’m happy that my grandmother is not with us anymore to see that her American dream was actually a nightmare. I’m sad for the eBay Partners Network employees, who are extremely polite and prompt in their answers.

Too bad that these are the only things their company’s policy allows.

What do you think? How would you feel if tomorrow you are fired and the boss informs you that he cannot tell you the reason because it’s confidential? I don’t know about you, but I just felt the need to go for my own business registration.

I’m usually not doing that, and it is not going to become a habit, but today I came across two blog posts which made me laugh with tears (or LMAO, for those who know what this means).

The first one was a video post (what do you think: if a video blog is a vlog, a video post is a vpost or a vost, or what?), featuring Mark from 45n5, I Love Affiliate Video Bloggers. I came across it while reading Vic’s Blogger Unleashed. He warmly recommended it, and I agree, it is so funny, that I’m almost convinced I should start vlogging, too.

The second one closely relates to one of my former posts, Why Do Chickens Kotkodak, and I’m still laughing as I’m typing now, because it seems that some of us not only kotkodak, but also lay eggs within our blog posts. It is a contest organized by Caroline Middlebrook on her blog, inviting her readers to find the 30 eggs she’s going to lay on some of her blog posts, before the Easter. Although Caroline writes about making money online, those are not golden eggs. The prize for your hunt will be a copy of the StumbleUpon course Caroline is writing for enlightening those of you who are not so skilled at stumbling.

Hey, isn’t it hilarious, this blogging? I just love it!

Tip: if you open your inbox on your birthday morning, you’ll find “happy birthday” messages from all forums you are a member of. Too bad they come from a “no-response” address, so there’s no room for Thank You.

It’s strange. I don’t feel like being this age at all. My age counter stopped some years ago. Well, ageless or not, I’ve got a few treats for you, as it’s my birthday and I feel good. So, enjoy and let those beer gift baskets come my way

Get that 100 bucks from us

Until March 11th, you still have time to join our contest on EzMoneyOn.Net, which is not a real contest, as I understand this word, but rather a lottery and a way to reward three lucky readers with some goodies.

Help yourself to this free ebook

I’ve read a lot of opinions about the fact that bloggers shouldn’t give away ebooks which they didn’t write themselves. I don’t see what’s the point here: if I have an idea for an ebook, and then I discover somebody has already written that ebook, and that I have the chance to be able to offer it for free to my readers, why to reinvent the wheel?

Please don’t tell me that you make the presents for your friends yourself, rather than buying them. If you are my friend and you give me a book on my birthday, should I be sorry that you are not the author of that book?

I’ve always done things my way, so the gift which I haven’t created can be downloaded by subscribing to the EzMoneyOn.Net feed, either in a feed reader or by email - the download link is in the footer of each post. The ebook is about writing, and it will offer you some good insights in case you run a blog.

Get a free link for your blog

134u.net is one of the latest projects Diana and I have started lately. It’s a free general directory we’ve launched less than one month ago, and which has already exceeded the 1000 accepted submissions threshold. If you want a link to your blog, just submit it here. Later update: this directory is not free anymore, but not expensive either.

Last but not least, enjoy this video featuring one of my all times favorite musicians, Leonard Cohen:

Europeans still have to wait until the last Sunday of March, but I can’t wait to launch a small “Daylight Savings Time” contest:

Daylight Savings Time Funny Stories

1. Have you ever forgotten to adjust your clock for daylight savings time?
2. Do you have a funny story to tell about that?
3. Tell your story here, in the comment box below, or write it on your blog and let me know where you published it.
4. You can do this starting now, until Sunday, March 9th, at 1:00 a.m.

The funniest story will earn a secret prize. You’ll have to trust me, as I don’t want to tell everybody what the winner is going to get. It’s a private issue between the two of us.

So, what are you waiting for? Spring forward with the spring from Ohio to Olongapo and give me your funny daylight savings time story.

Lucky you. And lucky me, because I see the letters I’m typing, I hear the sound of my keyboard, and I can do whatever I decide I want in this moment. Or tomorrow. Or any other day of my life.

Until 10 minutes ago, I had no idea who was Holly Alonzo. Neither do I now, but I know her story, which is impressive. Holly is 21 years old, she has a husband, and a child, and… Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2). NF2 is a genetic condition and it lead Holly to go blind by this young age, plus she lost her hearing in one ear. The brain tumors attacked also her good ear, so she is progressively going deaf.
I’ve just got a message from Pelf Nyok,  who launched a “One Dollar Campaign” together with Yvonne Foong (a NF2 patient in Malaysia), to help Holly raise the $60,000 required for an Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI) which would save her from going completely deaf, too.

One dollar is not too much for many of us, so if anybody would spare it, you can donate it to Holly, to add up to the $800 she’s already raised (still long way to go, but we can help her by spreading the word).

Now close your eyes and turn off the noises in your house for a while.

This is like a wish of those who cannot create, to destroy creation, to destroy everything that stands out in front of their eyes. Why else, some lousy hackers destroyed my work and hacked my business website? Why did some other lousy hackers ruin the work of other nice people, by hacking BloggingZoom? Why would somebody take pride in destroying what we created? We invested energy, time and money in putting up and running those online businesses, only to see everything blown away by a stupid sleepless kid who wants to amaze his buddies?

I ‘m so pissed off that I almost lost my wish to put my site up again. I hope the BloggingZoom guys were not so demotivated, and that they will be back on track soon. At least Court hopes so, and I wish him success. I don’t know if writing about such idiots helps anybody, but maybe Court is right and our spreading the word will raise an alarm signal.

Later update: I didn’t want to say anything bad about competitors who may feel threatened and react in such a manner, but I cannot stop myself thinking that my site was hacked only when I finally managed to get on the first search engine results page for some keywords which defined my business, and Blogging Zoom was growing up exponentially, becoming a threat to other online businesses.

What do you think? Idiot kids or evil competitors?   

This is why I’ve always told to my partner: I like the way you smile in your sleep, honey! I really enjoy watching him smiling while dreaming of who knows what wonderful worlds.

There’s more in here for you: Smile in your sleep is the name of a famous song of Silverstein’s, which is on everybody’s lips these days.

Here are the “Smile in Your Sleep” lyrics, for those of you who may not know them yet:

when I’m lying in your bed
play the motions through my head you know that I’m thinking, I’m thinking
and i have reasons to believe that I’m not the only one you spend this time with but ill stay …

you say you’re weak, but you wont let me down, you wont let me down
you lied through your teeth and you smile in your sleep, you smile in your sleep

and when we met you said we were the same you know that were different, were different and all those times you promised me that everything would work out in the end you were gravely mistaken

you say your weak, and you wont let me down you wont let me down
you lied through your teeth and you smile in your sleep you smile in your sleep

you lied
you lied
you lied
you lied
you lied through your teeth you wont let me down, you lied, I deserve better then this

I dream of steel
maroon and warm
your end (your end)
your end (your end)
you gasp for air
I’ll see this through
I’ll see through you
you’re pale (you’re pale)
you’re pale (you’re pale)
your pale blue eyes

when your lying in your bed
your eulogy’s been read
your know that it’s fitting
’cause you lied

you say your weak and you wont let me down you wont let me down you lied through your teeth you smile in your sleep you smile in your sleep

you smile
you smile
you smile
you smile
i deserve better than this.

What do you think? Impressive, huh? Wait, I’ll now show you also the Silverstein video of Smile in your sleep:

Then, one day, BINGO!, you discover there is another way. The online way, where nobody cares about your car and about your clothes, where everything that matters is what you have to say and the way you say it. This surely feels good, you smile and start planning. You read a couple of books and a dozen of blogs, then you realize that you have something to say and that you can say it at least as well as those online famous people do.

And you start saying it.

When we were children, we had this saying: “could you talk in a bag, so I can listen to it later, please?”. Why did I remember this exactly now, when you are on your way to telling the world about your thoughts? I don’t know, it must be my subconscious mind, which refuses to believe what seems to be a reality:

IT MATTERS LESS WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY AND HOW WELL YOU CAN SAY IT, THAN WHO YOU KNOW AND HOW MUCH YOU ARE WILLING TO SOCIALIZE.

Did you expect it to be different? Did you expect that a solitary, antisocial bear would be successful online? Why? Only because people cannot see the cave around him?

My dear bear, you were so wrong! Who makes the online world? They are people, not robots, what did you expect? Do you want recognition? What are you willing to do for it? I can give you a few hints:

1. Follow 100 people on Twitter and blog about that every other day. People like being followed, because this makes them feel as leaders. And why do you think leadership is such a big issue nowadays? People are paying lots of money to attend leadership classes, in their wish to be recognized by the masses.
2. E-mail them and let them know you’ve blogged about their tweets. you are nobody, remember? How else would they know they are followed?
3. Subscribe to 100 blogs (list available on request), and refresh your reader every five minutes, then whenever a new post appears, submit it to social networks, so you make sure you are the first who reveals the news to the community.
4. Work hard on your social networking profile(s), invest some time (a few hours a day should be just fine) in befriending people and in voting their submissions. Don’t be dissapointed if you don’t manage from the first 1000 attempts. Try harder, success is just by the next corner.
5. Whenever you have some great things to say, e-mail significant others to let them know, maybe they will notice you and they will drop a line in their so popular articles about your ideas.
6. Pretend you are helpless and be ready to invest in your future by subscribing to a few paid membership communities where you’ll learn the path to success. This will pay off sooner or later. You don’t have money? Well, did you try a credit card?
7. Interact with your peers. Everybody is so busy with promoting their own bear fur, that very few people actually have time to notice a nobody like you. Tame them, establish a relationship between you. Do you remember the “Little Prince” and the fox? In the beginning, the fox was just a fox, a nobody, but then, when he tamed it, it became “his fox”, “his friend”, somebody noticeable amongst all foxes. So make a list of people and start taming them now.

You did all the above, you see some results but you’re still not satisfied. Well, there’s more: INFLATE YOURSELF. I don’t mean here that you should lie. You should never lie, because liars are scumbags, and nobody likes them. Just sign up with Google AdWords and buy some cheap traffic (there’s no affiliate link here, don’t ask why, Google just doesn’t like bears outside US, that’s all). Do you think AdWords is too expensive, or your ads suck so badly that nobody ever clicks on them? There is plenty of cheap traffic you can buy in other places. It is true that it doesn’t convert, but it can help you reach your goal: be sure that if you can buy enough traffic to break Alexa’s top 10,000, you’ll start to get noticed. How? Smaller bears will start to tame you, in their attempt to become big bears.

Our bear could ask himself after all this effort: “Why, then, should I strive to quit my day job and make a living online? Only to be able to move my body from my natal cave to far away ones and still be able to feed myself and to change my fur every spring? What about my spirit? Will I have to kiss tails all my life, be it online or offline?”

Do you have an answer for the little bear? Online, offline, what’s the difference? Please, have your say now.

I, at least, heard that too many times, but never had any desire to try it. Until last month, when I decided to take a break not only from writing and reading blogs, but also from thinking at any online stuff.
The less active you are, and the less you interact with the exterior, the more chances you have to listen to yourself, to bring your deepest wishes from the subconscious to your conscious mind.

Conclusions? Lessons? Hopes? Resolutions for 2008? A bit of everything. And the biggest of all:

Never go to sleep with unspoken things on your mind

In 2007, I’ve witnessed so many deaths:

• my best friend from childhood - age 38
• one of the best professors and business partners I’ve had - age 60
• one the best creative directors I’ve worked with - age 35
• my mother in law - age 65
• my godmother
• my last grandfather (passed away at 102 years old!)
• two of my favorite Romanian actors - around 60 years of age.

Leaving aside the actors, I had unspoken things for all other people on this sad list.

Every now and then I was thinking “I’m going to call my friend tomorrow, because…”. There was always a “because” which made me actually never make those phone calls.

By postponing to tell people things you want them to hear from you, you may find yourself one day with all those words condamned to stay in your head forever, as the ears they were meant for were no longer available to hear.

If there was some form of afterlife, perhaps they know by now what I never got the chance to tell them, but those phrases and dropped intentions are still haunting my brain every now and then.

• Do you have something to say? Say it now, before it is too late. Tell people how much you appreciate them. Tell them you love them now. Sometimes, even for a 30 years old person tomorrow may never come.
• Have you read a blog post which you’d like to add a comment to? Do it now, don’t leave it for later.
• Have you discovered a great blog? Write about it, contact the author, make friends, make conversation, subscribe to its feed. Now, not tomorrow.

I read in many places that most of the people don’t use feed readers, they eventually subscribe by email. I was doing the same, until I ended up with some 20,000 unopened items in my inbox (I know, I subscribe to a lot of blogs). So, two days ago, I forced myself to use Google Reader (where I also had subscribed to all those blogs, but never opened it again to actually read my subscriptions). The result? I just love it! RSS just makes subscribing and reading information so easy, that one could save at least one hour every day by not checking lots of blogs which were not updated, only to find out that there’s nothing new to read.

This is what I’m going to do now: I’m going to give a big virtual hug to all the online people who meant a lot for me in 2007. May the New Year bring you passion and creativity, love, inspiration, determination and power to keep on pursuing your goals (and also lots of diggs, sphinns, stumbles, reddits…).

Who are these people? Well, if you are now reading this, you are one of them. I personally thank you for taking time to visit my blog, and if you are not sure I’m also visiting yours, please leave a note somewhere here, on any of my posts. I’ll appreciate that.