Review of Socialspark.com

In case you haven't heard there is a new social marketing network on the web.
SocialSpark is the latest innovation from the same guys who brought you PayPerPost. It is similar to the latter in some respects in that it is an online market place where advertisers and bloggers come together. However, there are several features that makes Socialspark different from PayPerPost, or for that matter, from any other social marketing network on the web. More about that later.

After signing up, you go and add your blogs. In order to do this, I had to add the claim and the itk (IZEA ToolKit) Javascript codes. You can start taking opportunities (sponsored posts) as soon as your blog is verified.



Taking an opportunity was a bit confusing in the beginning but later found out that it was quite easy. After going through the list of opportunities available. A few seconds after you reserved the opportunity, you should receive an email from them informing that you have 12 hours to complete the opp.

I had signed up sometime back but this is my first SocialSpark sponsored post. One of the main reasons I didn't take any oops earlier was that I was scared of being Googlespanked again. For those who are not aware, Googlespank refers to Google (the leader in the web search industry) punishing websites, which they feel have not been complying with their standards, with a big fat PR 0.

Socialspark has done away with this problem by coming out with their own blog ranking system called "real rank", that takes several factors into account including traffic to your site. Furthermore, all posts will have in-post disclosures and all the required links in the sponsored posts will carry the no-follow tag - something that should satisfy Google guidelines and hopefully silence critics of sponsored posts. Other exciting features are the blog analytics and of course the social networking tools.

So if you are a blogger looking for a way to earn some money from your blog, I recommend that you check out SocialSpark.

African daisies and dahlias

Took my mother-in-law and the kids to the Furnace End car boot yesterday morning. My daughter obviously enjoyed herself on the bouncy castle and the merry-go-round.

Saw these African daisies on sale and got three plants for £2/. Hopefully they will later look as good as the pictures of the flowers I look in Cornwall.



My mother-in-law liked these miniature dahlias and bought two of them as well.



Took the pictures yesterday evening. I had wanted to post them up as part of "Green Thumb Sunday" but couldn't as I slept early yesterday.

Trip to Marazion and St Michael's Mount

Marazion is said to be the oldest town in Britain and called Ictis during Roman times. Driving through the narrow roads was interesting. The sloping roads are too narrow to allow two cars to pass and cars have to give way to those coming from opposite directions at designated points. We had wanted to visit St Michael’s Mount. Unfortunately we were too late as the castle and gardens are only open till 5pm. However we were able to take some pictures of the island from the shore.






You can apparently walk to the island during low tide using the causeway.




Marazion


The plaque says:

HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD
Landed near this spot
April 19 1902

Trip to Land's End Cornwall

Land's End is the Western most point on the British Isles. They have several undercover attractions including a Dr. Who exhibition but we didn't go to any of them. Instead we walked around.

Here are some pics of our trip there.


Penwith House. Artist's Gallery and End to End Club room.


The First and Last House, where the actual Land’s End point is situated.




On board the Confide, a trawler.


A circle of granite stones. You will find granite pillars all around Cornwall, remnants of pagan beliefs.


The cliffs






A panorama from behind the Land’s End Hotel. In the distance you can see the Longships lighthouse.

Water suitable for vegetarians

Was reading the info on the bottle of Tesco's Scottish Mountain mineral water: "V Suitable for vegetarians". Made me wonder - Are there any mineral water brands not suitable for vegetarians? - Just a short "thought of the day" from Hayle, Cronwall.

As today is a Sunday, here are my 'Green thumb Sunday' pictures:





Join

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Took loads of pics today. Will post them up after I get home tomorrow.

Greetings from Cornwall

I am blogging this from Hayle, Cormwall Cornwall (thanks Ummi) right at the South of Britain (well almost). The journey which was supposed to take around five hours took nearly eight hours due to heavy traffic and road repairs. By the time we reached our destination, it was around 9 pm. Thankfully the days are long and there was still light when we reached the site.

BBC weather predicted a sunny day today. However it was overcast almost the whole day.



Today was the first time my son has ever seen the sea. He was really excited and ran towards the water but when the waves rushed in and soaked his feet with cold water, he rushed back towards me and hung on for dear life on legs.

I am able to access the net here, thanks to the 3 mobile broadband service and of course the guys from 3 mobile buzz. I am still testing out the 3 mobile broadband USB modem. Uploading pictures take a while but the surfing speeds are quite satisfactory. Having connection to the net has proven invaluable while checking for tourist attractions nearby.

More updates and pictures tomorrow.

Busy and tiring day

It was a bright and sunny day today yesterday (just realised that it's 12:25 am). Decide to write one post before I go to bed. Here's a snap shot of a day in my life:

Sent of the kids to the nursery in the morning. My son fell down right in front of the entrance and cut his lips. few tears. Nothing serious though and he was OK after a few minutes.

Took my in-laws to the University of Warwick campus. Took some photographs. Left after having a cup of coffee at the Viva cafe. Forgot to bring my camera and took pictures with my Skypephone.


The ducks are enjoying the sun as well.

Dropped by the B & Q at Avis park and bought some blinds. It's now my favourite DIY store.

My mother-in-law wanted to buy a shoe and I took them to a shoe warehouse near my house. Spent quite sometime there.

Mowed the lawns in front and back of the house. Really tiring work. Covered in sweat.

Trimmed the hedges.

Picked up the kids.

Fixed the main blinds to the bay window in the living room with the help of my father -in-law.

Picked up the wife from the University.

Fixed the two smaller blinds on either side of the main one. Much faster this time.

Now I am dozing off as I write this. And that was my day.

Metal shed update

Someone left a comment on my 'DIY metal pent shed' wondering what the shed would look like if it was blown down (deleted because no name was given).

Well! I don't think that's going to happen because the shed is anchored to the ground with screws on concrete. As you can see from the pictures, there was already a brick floor in place left by the previous tenant. My guess is that there was a garage long time ago.

I dug some holes and used quick drying mortar mix for the purpose and fixed screw holders in it. The shed is fixed using the anchoring fittings that came along with the shed. I think it should hold.

It would take gale force winds to blow down the shed and of course, it definitely won't be a pretty sight.

DIY tool tips

As a budding DIY enthusiast, I am slow but steadily building up my collection of tools. One mistake I made in the past was going for the cheapest in the market. I now realise that I should have gone for the branded tools.

A good example are the cheap screw drivers I bought sometime back. I got blisters using them while building my shed and they are practically useless now after the heavy duty usage.

I also found out that branded names are not necessarily costly and that it's possible to get them at rock bottom prices during discount sales. I am now always on the lookout for some good deals on the net.

Besides the normal tools, like hammers, screwdrivers, drills, etc., another essential piece of equipment that every DIYer must have is a workbench. It must be robust, durable and adjustable. I found a good bargain for the Black and Decker Workmate WM825 on the on godfrey-diy.co.uk site.


At only £54.99, this is among the lowest prices for this great work bench. Easy to use and hight adjustable, it folds away when it's not in use. Would definitely love to have one.

Black Watch - awesome theatre

Yesterday night went to see the acclaimed National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch at the Warwick Art's Centre. My wife's friend who's doing a PhD in theatre recommended it. He liked it so much that he watched it five times.

Written by Gregory Burke and directed by John Tiffany, it was indeed a wonderful experience - among the best theatre I have ever experienced in a long time. I say experience because it seemed like we were in the middle of it. Pulsating and high octane right from the start to the end. I was so engrossed that the one hour and 50 minutes just rushed by. It might have something to do with the fact that the actors were so near us. The arrangement of the stage was quite unique with the audience of either side of the stage.

A warning though - there is liberal use of strong language (Hint: four letter words starting with F and C). There are some loud explosions as well - made me jump more than once. The seating was a bit uncomfortable and I had someone's knee on my back and whenever there was an explosion he would jump and give me a light thump on my back with his knee. We were sitting so close that I could almost smell the beer the lady sitting next to me was holding. I guess that was part of the total experience.

Make sure you empty your bladder before hand as there are no intervals and you won't be allowed back in if you decide to go out.

So what was the play all about? Well it's about the famous Scottish regiment of the same name - Black Watch. Tells about the experiences about some soldiers in Iraq and about politics. You also get to learn about the history of the regiment as well.

It was an awesome show. Watch it.

DIY metal pent shed

For quite sometime we had been using the second toilet outside as a storeroom but finally decided to get a shed as we need to use the toilet sometimes .

We finally decided on the Yardmaster 6' x 4' Metal Pent Shed. We bought it online and it cost us £119.00 plus a delivery charge of £4.85.

Argos also carries a similar shed and at a slightly lower price but we decided on the product from Tesco because it comes with anchoring fittings and work gloves.

The shed was delivered this Monday and I straight away started on the roof. It took me 45 minutes to assemble it.



Next day, the weather was quite bad and it rained intermittently through out the day. Thank God! my father-in-law who's visiting, was there to help me. We took several breaks and I had to buy a new screwdriver from Wickes and a cordless power screwdriver from Woolworths halfway through the assembly. Wish I had made the decision earlier as we would have got though it much faster.


Without the roof and the front walls.



Now all I need to do is to fix the anchorings and put some grease on the door rollers. My first major DIY project completed successfully.

The shed is not really big and I realised one major disadvantage of buying a metal shed - fixing shelves on the wall is going to be really difficult if not impossible. That means that I am got to look for some metal shelves.

So what do you think?