I’ve been having some trouble with the “comment” system on this blog, and as such, have been back and forth with the GoDaddy technical staff on the matter. Let’s just say that I haven’t had the best customer service experience with them thus far (I had some issues setting up this blog in the first place way back in March). A few people have said that they get a “timed out” error, or that they are inputing an incorrect security code. Well, check out my email transcript thus far. They just keep telling me that they’re not having any issues. Are you? Email me at michael (at) michaelkwan (dot) com.

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It’s one part exercise in narcissism, it’s another part “monitoring my business.” Whatever the case, I check out Google on a near daily basis, plunking in my name as the search query to see where I’m at. MichaelKwan.com has been around since March 2006, but it recently received a complete overhaul (or extreme makeover, you could say). I checked today and after nine long months of hard work, I’ve moved my freelance writing website into the number one spot!

I think that’s pretty awesome. It probably would have been easier if I didn’t have such a common name… like my friend Dylan Duarte. He’s been blogging for less than a month and he’s already number one for his name.

I’ve been doing battle with that other Michael Kwan for some time. Around these parts, probably no one has heard of the Hong Kong artist of the same name (then again, most people probably haven’t heard of me either), but he’s always had a leg up on me in terms of search engine ranking. At least with that one page on the HK radio website. If you recall, my site was still #2 last month.

What do I attribute this recent surge to? Well, I’ve been actively working to get links to MichaelKwan.com on high page rank (PR) sites. For example, I’m one of the top commentators on John Chow dot Com. It seems that Beyond the Rhetoric still has some room to grow as it’s on the first page of results for “Michael Kwan”, but it’s near the bottom.

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While many work-at-home moms (collectively referred to as WAHMs for short) very much value that they don’t have to leave the domicile to make some money for the home, and in effect, can take care of the kids and the household chores without any additional trouble, it can be said that I find myself in much the similar situation. As a freelance writer, nearly all of my work is done from the comfort of my living room and/or home office. All of my correspondence with my clients is either via email or IM, so there really is no reason for me to have to go to a physical office (other than my own). At the same time, I get to stay at home with my kid… so to speak.

Meet Roy. He’s our son, so to speak, just not in a biological sense. Roy (his full name is Roy O’Bunny, named after Owen Wilson’s character, Roy O’Bannon, from Shanghai Noon with Jackie Chan) is a Netherland Dwarf Rabbit as far as we can tell, but we have a feeling that he isn’t a purebred. He has characteristics of a couple of other breeds, but he’s certainly got a personality of his own.

Sometimes, he just likes to chill. Even though I leave his cage door open for most of the day, he’ll oftentimes just hang out on the plank I have in there for him, sniffing the air for no apparent reason, occasionally dozing off for a quick nap. He also enjoys being held in my arms as you can see in the picture above. He’s just like a little baby…

At the same time, he can be pretty feisty, running and darting around the living room causing all sorts of ruckus. When he gets frustrated or angry, he’ll start chewing/yanking on the carpet. That’s a big no-no and he knows it (but he also knows that it’ll grab my attention). Do you have a furry companion? Let me know in the comments section below!

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The future of the internet is not big corporations and a whole lot of pre-determined mumbo jumbo. Take a short look around and you’ll see that the largest websites out there, by a huge margin, consist of user-contributed content. MySpace, YouTube… and all these blogs (Beyond the Rhetoric included). Now that just about everyone is on high-speed internet too, a huge part of our entertainment (and bandwidth) is dedicated to funny videos.

Jokeroo is one such site, posting up all sorts of content including extreme videos, prank calls, movie trailers, celebrity photos, shooting games, and — of course — funny videos. The layout is pretty straight-forward, videos stream quickly, and the content is growing quickly. Check it out.

The preceding post was brought to you by jokeroo.com

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, AGLOCO is the second coming of the AllAdvantage team that flopped some time back, except this time they actually have a viable business plan, and what’s more, you can make EVEN MORE MONEY this time around.

In fact, according a recent post by self-proclaimed dot com mogul John Chow, he is set to make $1,800+ a month, which is obviously no small amount to sneeze at. To recap, AGLOCO provides a toolbar that displays ads at the bottom of your internet browser window. It’s non-intrusive and has no spyware, so it’s perfectly safe. Their privacy and security settings are said to be absolutely top notch.

With this “Viewbar” (which launches in 4-6 weeks), you can expect to make “between $5 and $15 a month”, but that’s not where your earnings end. Where the real money lies is in expanding your network by referring AGLOCO (which stands for A GLObal COmmunity) to other users. According to The Simmons Report (cited by John Chow), “the average AGLOCO direct referral should be worth in excess of $3,000 each.” And that’s American, folks.

Now is the time to join, because if you wait for the Viewbar to launch, many people you already know would have already signed up and you’ll have a harder time expanding your network (and earning loads of free money… and yes, it is free money because you’re surfing the web anyways and this requires no additional work or monetary investment. It’s free to join!).

What are you waiting for? JOIN MY AGLOCO NETWORK

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I’ve been a video game player all my life, dating way back to the days of Missile Command and Defender on the Atari. But, it was only when I moved on to the legendary Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that I really started to take gaming to the next level. It was there that I was introduced to such incredible titles as Mega Man, Punch Out, and Double Dragon. We all remember the Konami code, don’t we?

I love live action re-enactments of video games (check out the Related Posts at the bottom for the Live Action Mario Bros. skit), and here is yet another classic to add to your collection. Double Dragon, 18 years later, in an office setting. Cheesy combos, explosives, weapons, and all. Enjoy!

Source:TechEBlog

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