It’s time for your cure for the mid-week blahs. That’s right, you’re in for another whirlwind tour of the blogosphere because What’s Up Wednesdays has arrived. Today, we’ll take a look at hacking Gmail, getting paid to write, and helping your fellow human being. Oh, and more. So much more. Okay, really just two posts more than those three I already mentioned, but you get the point. And away we go!

The Thinking Blog has found a way for you to exploit those gigabytes of space that Gmail gives you, effectively transforming it to your own personal online storage vault. I’ve been using Gmail for some time now — it’s part of that Google domination — so I do email pictures and files to myself from time to time, just so that I have a semi-permanent and safe place to stow them. The method described by the Thinking Blog, however, is quite a bit more powerful. It’s like taking Gmail and transmogrifying it into an FTP server.

Chris Bibey is a fellow freelance writer, but unlike me, he has actually published a book. In fact, he’s written (and published) at least two. Even if you’ve never seen his name at your local bookstore, you can now get your hands on his basketball-themed parable for free through his first blog contest. The book is titled Open your Heart with Basketball and while it’s based on the sport, it “also teaches life lessons at the same time.” Maybe I should author a book on freelance writing that includes life lessons too.

Me and My Drum is going through a series of reviews on paid post sites like PayPerPost and Blogsvertise. In his review of Sponsored Reviews, he mentions that the customer service, potential income, and variety of offers are good, but because you have to bid on your opportunities, “some advertisers don’t even take the time to make a decision on your bid, leaving you hanging. And if they do reject it, you don’t know why.”

Steve’s Tech Blog is running a contest to give away $100. It might not be equal in value to, say, an 8GB iPod nano, but it’ll certainly get your music library started on iTunes (or really drunk with 33 beers). All you have to do is include some text on your blog (verbatim) to enter. So, here it is:

Steve is launching his brand new site: 1 Cool File. It is a directory of cool files (shareware, freeware, plugins). For example, you can try a new media player after you have just finished a music download. You can add your ebook about making money or a screen saver. That’s not all, it has a section just for blogs (plugins). You can also rate a file or make a review about it. It does support PAD files so tell authors about it.

And just by linking to the contest post, I can win $50. You should read the contest post to win 2 other prizes of $25/each if you don’t have a blog. If your entry is before the next Google page rank, Steve will double the main prize. So, don’t wait to long. It’s coming soon!

And one more thing… You can read Steve’s blog while there.

Leo Chiang is supporting his friend Darla Briggs as she participates in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure on Sunday, September 30th, 2007. Darla will be running in the event alongside her sister, her daughter, and her mother (a breast cancer survivor). While he encourages you to donate to the cause, Leo is asking you to show your support simply by linking to his post. In exchange, he’s giving away a bunch of cool stuff: a Cryptic Studios t-shirt, a Collector’s DVD Edition of City of Villains MMO, and an autographed 8×10 glossy of Darla from her Exit Gear photo shoot. I just donated $50. Go Briggs girls, go!

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure