Carl's Journal

A couple of years ago my partner and I were really seriously into investment property, I think we attended about 4 different seminars while we learned the lingo, before choosing to buy a couple of houses and renovate them which we sold for a profit. For our next property buy we're thinking of holding onto the real estate we buy and putting tenants into them whilst they appreciate in value.

With the terrible uncertainty happening in the US market at present we're thinking that buying a couple of investments in the US might be a great long term investment, especially with the number of bargains that we believe will be available over the next year or two while the US economy recovers from the sub-prime debacle.

Not knowing much about the US property market, we came across Jason Hartman and his podcasts, and I'm waiting on his free CD to be shipped as well, so that we can get a solid grasp of real estate investment in the States from someone who knows the market. Yeah, I know its easy to get hooked on a good sales message, but we already know property and how it works, and Jason is saying all the right things as far we can can judge.

Investing in doer uppers is very different from making a return on leasing, so its important that we make sure we're upon the market before making any moves, it is the only way to protect your money, and we never do anything without fully researching our options.

Here in Spain the market is also a bit slow, but many Spaniards are happy to sit on property until the market goes back up again. Of course some say this may take a long time given the emerging real estate market in Eastern Europe and to a lesser extent in North Africa. So looking to the other side of the Atlantic (which is only a few hours away) seems like it could be worth our while. I'll let you know how if it works out.

The goal should be to answer the question: Is StoryMash.com "The Future of Collaborative Fiction"? Whatever the answer may be, the author should examine the site to answer this for themselves.

Its strange, I earn 100% of my income from being a webmaster, which I hardly ever talk about, yet a significant amount of the traffic I get from search engines on this blog has terms in it like 'make money', 'becoming a fiction writer', travel writing, etc.

I don't know why I'm ranked for these terms, but since so many of my daily readers want this info I might as well provide it. And since so many of my online friends love writing and are torn between remaining true to their creative spirit versus making a bit of money from their writing, here's a site worth joining.

Storymash is a profit sharing site for writers with a twist. What's the twist? Storymash is a collaborative writing site for fiction. Writers join, then add to existing stories, or start new stories which other writers will then help complete.

In todays Internet its an exciting medium that I think will catch on with more and more of these types of sites. And refreshingly Storymash doesn't try to be a social network either. Sure you can add a comment to another writer's work or vote for the quality of their writing, but essentially this is a site for writers to practice their writing.

Now getting back to earning some money with Storymash, they pay 50% of all revenue to their writers, and regularly hold writing contests with prizes of $500 or more. The current contest expires 20th June so I know a few of you might be interested in checking out what they have to offer.

Today's post is a special treat for the many ladies who read my blog, I have a terrible habit of commenting on your fashion posts and probably sounding like a typical male, so now its your chance.

Here in Spain the fashion amongst younger ladies is quite different from contemporary adult fashion, for one thing complete color coordination is de jure and you see this sort of look everywhere.

Most Spanish girls have a lovely olive colored skin (I guess you could call it a permanent tan) which allows them to get away with wearing some bold colors that northern Europeans might find less than flattering, such is bright red.

Of course you can't blame the kids for thinking this is a good look, you have to blame the fashion magazines for only showing size 0 supermodels in evening gowns and swimsuits. How on earth is a young lady supposed to know how to dress when she has no role model?

The fashion chains obviously need to take some of the blame too, after all, any responsible retailer would remove super-tight jeans and pants from the shelves, or explain to our young fashion convert that just because her favorite size 0 model wears this size, it doesn't mean she should.

But most intriguing, when did a jacket shrink to something that exposes the midriff so that really long shirts are required to hide what appears at the top of the pants. Don't get me wrong, I can handle big butts, but if a girl has a big butt and wants to show it off then she should do it properly complete with crack.

Obviously this girl doesn't want to show off her butt or her midriff, so you should have seen her when a gust of cool wind hit, she was so tightly superglued into the corner of that wall you couldn't do anything but feel sorry for her.

So this post is dedicated to ladies who put fashion ahead of comfort, for without you, I wouldn't have a post to write.

Part Time Couriers Required Now! I'm not joking, this is a great opportunity.

My dear readers, knowing that two of you are bus drivers, three or four of you deliver pizza, one of you operates a taxi, and of course let's not forget those of you who constantly pester me about making some extra cash, how about this for an opportunity, one of the firms I regularly deal with has openings for couriers.

Ever thought of becoming a part-time courier? If you have a drivers license, and you're wanting to earn some extra cash this could be just the opportunity you're looking for. The company is SunStar Postal Service (SSPS), a global freight firm based in LA but offering same day deliveries in the US and the UK.

Many years ago when I was a student a friend of mine did a stint as a courier over the summer holidays and earned enough to pay his rent for the next semester allowing him to concentrate on his studies, man was I jealous, at the time I would have walked over hot coals for an opportunity like that.

But of course being a courier isn't only for the young or fit, in fact some of the best couriers are more mature people who are organized, perhaps you're retired or even a stay at home parent, believe me you can make this work as well, so stop reading what I have to say, if you're interested, click that link.