Ryan’s Ramblin’

Ok, I just have to thank whomever at Microsoft is in charge of Xbox 360 update feature planning - it’s now possible to stream divx video from your PC to your Xbox 360. This feature is SO AWESOME. Liz and I watch a lot of shows in divx format, for a couple reasons - 1: we watch a *lot* of shows, and often they are on at the same time; 2: some shows are on after 10pm, and we are already heading for bed at that time; 3: sometimes we just don’t have time to watch shows after work, due to social engagements/wedding planning/etc; 4: with some shows (Biggest Loser, and ANTM, I’m looking in your direction) it’s just easier to watch without the commercials and be able to fast forward boring bits (Biggest loser is the WORST for having 1-2 minute recaps after the commercial break. Listen NBC, I know you were stuck for Tuesday night shows, but stretching out all of those episodes to two hours? YAWNSVILLE).

So, all of that to say - thank you, oh Microsoft Xboxy Lords of Evil, for finally adding in this feature. It’s hawesome.

(As seen on Geek.Ent)

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?
Man, there were tons of things. I guess the easiest one is “visit 9 different countries”.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I can’t remember if I made any… if I did, I almost assuredly didn’t keep them. I’m hoping to keep this year’s resolutions though.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, Liz’s sister Frances gave birth to wee little cutie Ciara!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not that I’m aware of.

5. What countries did you visit?
Northern Ireland (technically the UK? I dunno), Germany, Cyprus, The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Italy (twice!), Spain (technically, in the form of the Canary Islands), Belgium, the Czech Republic and France. I think that’s it.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
I really don’t know. 2006 was a pretty good year. Check back with me in June.

7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
October 10, for sure. That was the day the my first niece was born!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
All that travel. It was absolutely awesome.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Paying off my debts. I’m really not doing a great job of that right now… But with my car at home being paid off this year, it’ll finally be considered an ASSET (instead of being in negative equity) and I’ll be able to start paying off my debts in a more serious manner.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really. A cold from hell or two, but that’s about it really.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Definitely my Nikon D50. I love that camera.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Ummm… Nobody is sticking out in my head… so ME! I totally ruled last year.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Again, nobody is particularly standing out as being real evil in 2006. So, I’m going to mark this one down as “Terrorists”. They totally suck.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, car payments, travel.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My new camera. I really, really, really, really love it!

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
Panic At The Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder?
Equally happy, I’d say. If you compared to two years ago when Liz and I were apart, then I’d say WAY happier.
ii. Thinner or fatter?
Probably a bit heavier. The gymmin’ weren’t so regular this year
iii. richer or poorer?
Richer in experience. And that’s all that really matters. Probably about equal, money-wise though

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Take more pictures. I got really lazy at points

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Be lazy. I had some serious lethargy moments this year.

20. How many one-night stands?
Zero. Being in a long term commmitted relationship has that affect.

21. What was your favourite TV program?
How I Met Your Mother. Definitely my best discovery of 2006. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is a close second though

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope.

23. What was the best book you read?
This is a toughy. I read so many books in 2006. But my first instinct is Tenderwire, by Claire Kilroy. An absolutely brilliant book. Closely followed by The Time Travellers Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Panic! At The Disco is definitely my most listened to album of the year, for bands that I’d never heard of before.

25. What did you want and not get?
I can’t think of anything… ok, a Nikon 18-200 f3.5-5.6 VR lens, but I didn’t really expect to get one.

26. What was your favourite film of this year?
Too many to choose from. Lucky Number Slevin is the first film that comes to mind though, so I’m going with that one.

27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I honestly can’t remember what I did on the actual day. All I know is that Liz and I STUFFED ourselves at Luigi Malone’s, but I can’t remember if that was on my actual birthday or not. I was 28.

28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Jeans and a t-shirt. The same it’s been for years. If I’m going out, dressier shoes and a collared shirt.

29. What kept you sane?
Liz. I wouldn’t be able to survive here without her!

30. Who did you miss?
Pepper-dog, for sure.

31. Who was the best new person you met?
That would have to be little Ciara Malone. She has definitely been the coolest new person I’ve met, and the only person who I think is cute if they throw up all over me.

32. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
Enjoy life. It goes by too fast to spend it being miserable or worrying about things. That’s why I’m not AS concerned that the debts aren’t getting paid off as fast as I’d like. I know it’ll happen eventually, but right now I have zero regrets about going on all those trips with Liz last year. I’ve seen tons of countries that I certainly didn’t expect to see any time soon, so I’m super happy about that.

I have to admit… I am a reality show junkie. I never used to be. Sure, I enjoyed the first 2 seasons of Survivor, and I recall watching The Mole back in the day, and perhaps the occasional episode of The Real World… but now? Man, I’ll watch any reality show that you throw my way. America’s Next Top Model? You bet! (Btw, Melrose TOTALLY should have won the most recent season. Period.) The Biggest Loser? Definitely! (One of my faves, actually) But I mean, it’s not limited to just the more popular reality shows… I’ll watch any piece of crap. MTV’s “Made” and “Super Sweet 16″, which are on 17 times a day? Yup. Extreme Makeover? UK *and* US versions!

It’s really getting out of control.

But nothing, NOTHING can compare to the addiction that was Big Brother UK Season 6. I had never watched Big Brother before, though I vaguely recall the first US one starting back when I was in San Francisco. I had only ever tuned into the “live right now in the house” broadcasts, and found them INSANELY boring. That was then, though, and this is now. Liz and I managed to avoid the first couple weeks, but then accidentally watched one of the daily digest shows some time in early June. That was it. We were screwed. We watched the show every day (taping on days that we weren’t home) from early June until the middle of August. We even got Dave hooked on it when he came over to visit, and he ended up downloading every night’s show when he got back to Canada! (Incidentally, while I was happy that Pete won, I was totally rooting for Glyn).

So, when I heard last week that Celebrity Big Brother was starting on January 3, that junkie twitch started in my eye and I knew I was pooched. I remember hearing the radio reports every morning about last year’s Celebrity Big Brother, and thinking “WTF? What’s the big deal?” - nevermind the fact that I had never heard of most of the “celebrities” on the show. But this year… oh, this year is different. I’m a Big Brother junkie now… I HAVE to watch! I don’t care if I know the celebrities or not! And watch we did. Liz was totally excited to see Jo from S Club 7 in there (and she’s so deliciously trashy, I can’t help but love her too). My biggest “Glee!” moment was seeing Dirk Benedict in there. That’s right, FACE FROM THE A-TEAM IS ON CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER!! Totally awesome. My plan for this season of Big Brother is to blog about it every single day. I’m a couple days behind, but I’ll catch up. I know that none of you care, but if nothing else, this should help boost my Google rankings some and it’ll help me get back into writing every day-ish… and if it’s as successful as my blogging about Temptation Island Australia, that would be TOTALLY awesome! But somehow I doubt that Germaine Jackson’s gonna end up commenting on here.

Wow, this ended up being much longer than I anticipated. And I haven’t even started on the daily commentaries yet! Look forward to my thoughts on the opening night as well as the day 1 digest show (I might also talk about the Big Mouth shows, if Liz and I watch them… but I can’t promise anything. I don’t really find that show all that great most of the time)

I know I haven’t written in ages. I do know this. I just haven’t gotten up the motivation to do so. But when Rannie related his experiences with Bell (I’ve had similar shitty experience with them) and asked if anybody had any experience with Rogers, I started relating my Rogers cancellation experience in a comment. Then I realized that it was turning out quite long. So, I decided it was a perfect time to get back on the ol’ blog horse. And here we go!

I’ve never really been *all* that bothered with Rogers, except for one of the times I tried to cancel my internet and cable with them. About 2 years ago (actually, I’d say it was almost exactly 2 years ago), I was moving back home to live with my mom for a month or two until Liz got back from Ireland (which, incidentally, didn’t happen, which is why I am over here now), and thus didn’t need internet OR cable. So first I called the cable company service line to get the cable cancelled. I explained the whole thing to them, told them I was moving, told them no, I didn’t need it at the new place because it was already installed there, etc etc. After 10 minutes explaining the situation to them, they finally actually looked at their screen and found out that no, I couldn’t cancel my service with them because I had the Rogers combined service thing, with mobile phone and internet and cable all in one. So they transferred me to THOSE people. I had to explain the whole situation again. 10 minutes. Then they told me that no, *they* couldn’t cancel me EITHER, they had to transfer me to the “cancellation department” (otherwise known as the “customer retention department” - btw, if you ever want to get good deals from pretty much *any* service provider, and a competitor has a plan that you like better, call and tell your service provider you want to cancel so you can switch to that competitor. They will fight very hard to keep your business, usually matching or bettering the competition’s offer). Another 10 minutes to explain the situation. No, I really don’t need internet at the new place. They really already have rogers cable and internet. No, really. No, I don’t know the people that are moving into my old place, and even if I did, after being on the phone with you jackasses for an hour and a half (oh, did I mention I was on hold for AGES every time I got transferred?) there’s no way in hell I plan on recommending them to you. Seriously. No. I just want to close my accounts. Are you even listening to me? Stop talking! I know about Rogers’ wonderful plans, I’ve used them for 3 years! Gah! DISCONNECT ME!!!!

Eventually, I got them to agree that I didn’t, in fact, need a second internet or cable line at my mom’s house. But it was hard going. They’re a tenacious bunch, all right, those customer retainers. Oh, and did I mention that I was at work trying to cancel my service? Yeah, so my work friends were laughing their asses off when I was explaining the exact same thing the third time around. They thought I was just fucking with them, that after the second time they really did cancel my service. Nope. Three times lucky, baby!

Britney files for divorce. FINALLY! But let’s be honest - did anybody really think that marriage would last?

I have to say, I’m absolutely *thrilled* with the start of the TV season. It’s awesome! The summer was a long one, without our regular shows to watch! And this season has started with a TON of great new shows, to boot! Here’s the shows that Liz and I are watching right now, both new and old:

How I Met Your Mother (new to us) - I am LOVING this show! Absolutely fantastic comedy… Liz and I caught up on season 1 last week, and then got started on season 2. Hilarious. Neil Patrick Harris as Barney is a great character, and Jason Segel as Marshall is so funny. Easily one of my favourite shows on TV right now

Grey’s Anatomy - Season 3 has started off pretty good. Although I’m not sure what I think of this whole Meredith/McDreamy/Finn thing. Just pick one of them, dammit!

Desperate Housewives - the season premiere was pretty weak, IMO, but episode 2 of the new season was a bit better. Not really sure what I’m thinking of this one right now

The Class (new) - the latest sitcom from David Crane, one of the creators of Friends. Started off with a dude inviting (only) his third grade class to his fiancee’s surprise birthday party (he first met her in third grade… awww) and she subsequently dumps him. An interesting cast of characters, but I just can’t see how they could keep us interested for more than half a season or so.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (new) - fantastic new show. Lots of promise. From the creator of The West Wing (which I never watched). If you haven’t watched this one, seriously give it a look. Absolutely fantastic show. I’m glad Matthew Perry (always one of my favourites on Friends) ended up in what looks to be a real winner.

Veronica Mars - hasn’t officially started its new season yet (it starts tonight). I am SO excited for this one! Seasons 1 and 2 were brilliant!

Criminal Minds - season 2 started off with a great ending to the cliffhanger season finale from the first season. This is a great little crime show, with great characters and interesting plots (if a bit silly… they catch all these serial killer/insanely hard to catch people in like a day or two? Come on!). Like all the shows that started after I left Canada, I have no idea if this is popular or not at home, so I always worry if it’s going to be cancelled.

Three Moons Over Milford (new, cancelled after 8 episodes) - the moon has been hit by a meteor, and broken into 3 parts that are now orbiting the earth in a decaying orbit. When will they strike? Nobody seems to know! Which leads to lots of crazy behaviour on the part of the citizens from small town Milford. This was a great little show, but it was on ABC Family (???) and started mid-summer, so it never really had a chance. Too bad, too.

America’s Next Top Model - Cycle 6 just started here yesterday. Missed it, but it’s on again tonight. I love me some *NTM (Britain’s Next Top Model just ended here… and the one that won didn’t deserve it, IMO, but whatever; it kicked the crap out of the first season)

The Biggest Loser - I absolutely love this show. I dunno why, but it just has me HOOKED. But it’s hard to find episodes of this for download, unsurprisingly enough.

My Name Is Earl - the second season has been just as good as the first. I’ve always liked Jason Lee, and the rest of the cast is just hilarious as well.

Six Degrees (new) - a great new little drama about the intersecting lives of a bunch of people in New York. Great cast, great scripts (thus far), this show could go far.

CSI (Vegas and Miami) - I really need to catch up on the first bunch of seasons of CSI Miami. The show is fantastic, but for the season premiere I had *no* idea what was going on! CSI Vegas started off with a great two-part premiere… I’ve always loved this show, so nothing new to report on that front

Shows that I plan to catch up on previous seasons of before I watch the new seasons - Boston Legal (caught a couple episodes of season 2 here, this show is actually quite good!), The Office US, Numb3rs (just have to catch up on Season 2, I already saw Season 1 but never got around to watching those S2 eps I downloaded), Las Vegas. That’s a whole lotta TV!

So, what’s everybody else watching?

Kyle MacDonald managed to trade from one red paperclip to a house in Kipling, Saskatchewan. Truly amazing, and he did it in less than a year! Way to go, Kyle!

This test just confirms it:

Pure Geek 34 % Nerd, 56% Geek, 13% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Geek, earning you the title of: Pure Geek. It’s not that you’re a school junkie, like the nerd, and you don’t really stand out in a crowd, like the dork, you just have some interests that aren’t quite mainstream. Perhaps it’s anime, perhaps it’s computers, perhaps it’s bottlecaps, perhaps it’s all of those and more. Your interests take you to events and gatherings that are filled with people you find unusual and beyond-the-pale, but you don’t quite consider yourself “of that crowd.” Instead, you consider yourself to be fairly normal. Which, you are. Congratulations! You’re the one on the RIGHT! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you’re interested in any of the following: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality America/Politics Thanks Again! — THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Yeah, that’s right baby! I’m a hot shot producer. Ok, I just donated 10 bucks to The 1 Second Film to get a producer credit, but I’m sure that’s way less than many folk have paid to be producers on big hollywood flicks. Now, the question remains - do I shell out bucks for a headshot on IMDB? This one is particularly flattering. But I think it’s a BIT too pricey to be shelling out $30/year (or more) for the privilege of having a goofy picture on my IMDB profile. $10 to have it up there for perpetuity is fine for me

This weekend, Liz was away on Saturday night (:(), and I’ve been meaning to do a Windows XP reinstall (and actually creating a disk image so that future reinstalls are much, MUCH faster), so I figured what the hell, why not spend a nice Saturday night in, backing up all my data? Which is exactly what I did. However, I had downloaded the Vista Public Beta 2 disk image, so I figured what the hell? Why not give it a spin, see what Microsoft has up its sleeve for the next release of Windows? (Despite the fact that it is reaching Duke Nukem Forever delay styles) Well, I popped the install dvd in, and did the install (very pretty, incidentally - no more “DOS Mode” in the installation at ALL), and it took a GOD DAMN LONG TIME. Finally finished, and went to reboot into Vista for the first time… Very exciting… BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH. “Cannot find Winload.exe, or file is corrupted”. Are you KIDDING ME??? I couldn’t be arsed (I love that expression) trying to figure it out, and with no other PCs to use to google the answer, I just went ahead and did my XP install. Now I have a nice and sweet 4 gig disk image sitting on my portable hard drive, so the next time I want to reinstall, I just have to back up my old stuff, and do a quick re-imaging of the hard drive. Lickety split, an hour of (unattended) install later, it’s done! But I found out with a bit of quick googling that that Winload.exe problem seems to be pretty common with this beta. Way to go, Microsoft! You’re not exactly inspiring me with the quality of your OS when the INSTALLER doesn’t even work. Seriously. (I should note that the recommended fix, booting up with the install disk and doing a repair, did not work. Grrrr)

Not sure what the purpose of this email is. Are they attempting to re-scam people who have been scammed in the “dude crashed in a plane, but all his millions are here in the bank and you can help me smuggle them out” scams?

From: Godswill Oyedele Signed-By: yahoo.com
Reply-To: oyedelecounsellor@walla.com
To:
Date: Jun 12, 2006 2:17 PM
Subject: BREAK THE SILENCE

DEAR SIR/MADAM

I USE THIS OPPRTUNITY TO INTRODUCE MY HUMBLE SELF TO YOU
I AM EVENGELIST GODSWILL OYEDELE,A SENIOR MANAGEMENT STAFF OF ECOWAS BANK OF AFRICA
IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANY AFRICAN BANK .
BRETHREN,YOU MUST JOIN THE SO CALLED inner carcus OTHERWISE CALLEDTHE OGBONI’S AND THE BLACK BRAS{the power brokers}
WITHOUT BEING INITIATED INTO THIS CULT GROUP/ORGANISATION,DO NOT THINK

IN YOUR MIND THAT YOU WILL EVER GET A GOOD RESULT FROM ANY CONTRACT OR BUSINESS IN AFRICA
WE ARE PREACHING THE FALL OF THSE GROUPS AND WE HAVE FOUND SOLUTIONS

TO THEIR EVIL TRECKS.
IF YOU ARE A FOREIGN CONTRACTOR OR HAVE DONE ANY JOB HERE IN AFRICA,OR YOU ARE REPRESENTING A DECEASED FAMILY AND YOU ARE YET TO BE PAID,PLEASE WRITE BACK TO US AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE ON E-MAIL ADDRESS———–.
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS CHAPTER NUMBER 6 VSE 16 SAYS THAT THERE ARE SIX THINGS THE LORD GOD HATES AND THE SEVENTH ONE IS AN ABOMINATION AND WHAT IS THAT SEVENTH ONE,
He that soweth in discord among brethren.
THANK YOU AS YOU WRITE BACK,ALL IN YOUR GOOD FAVOUR.
YOUR OBEDIENT SERVANT,
GODSWILL MENSABE

Got this in an email forward, and had to share it with the world. This is probably why you should be wary as a TV host when somebody asks you “We’re broadcasting this live, right?”

According to Yahoo Finance, the Canadian dollar is currently worth $0.8998 US. That’s insane. I remember back when I was working in San Francisco, the Canadian dollar was roughly 60-65 cents US. It was great for me, because it meant that all that cash I was making in US buckaroonies would translate into kick butt cashola when I cam back to school. And apparently it even soard above 90 cents last week. However, the soaring Canadian dollar ain’t so hot for me now. Since I’m making all my money in Euro, but I’m paying off my Canadian dollar debts at home. I’m effectively making about the same amount of money now as when I got my job here, but every time the Canadian dollar spikes (like, at the end of March, and December), my earnings, while getting the same paycheque, drop significantly. It seriously sucks. I wish we could get back to the days of the Euro being worth like 1.60 Canadian. That would be so sweet.

Liz and I went off to Galway last weekend… we had a fantastic trip, (photos here) but there’s one lingering thing that’s been driving me crazy: what the hell is this thing? I posted an Ask Metafilter question about it, and there’s been some great ideas in there (as well as people tracking down another picture), but nothing definitive yet. Anybody out there have any nautical experience, that has any idea what the heck this thing is?

Welcome to the world, Suri. I’m sure you’ll write a great tell-all book some day. Oh and by the way, how cool is it that your dad ate your placenta?

Over the past couple weeks, Kevin Smith has been chronicling the story of his relationship Jason Mewes, and Jay’s struggle with drugs. It’s a FASCINATING story, incredibly engaging, but LONG. It’s in 9 parts. I’ve been wanting to blog about it since I read the first chapter, but I wanted to be able to post it all at once. And after reading Anthony Kiedis’ Scar Tissue over the last two weeks, it was an interesting few looks into the life of a junkie. The funny thing is, this was all precipitated by the news stories that broke a few weeks ago about how Jay had sex with Nicole Richie in a club bathroom, which is the tiniest itty bitty part of the end of this story. So, here’s the links to all 9 parts:

Me and My Shadow, Part 1
Me and My Shadow, Part 2
Me and My Shadow, Part 3
Me and My Shadow, Part 4
Me and My Shadow, Part 5
Me and My Shadow, Part 6
Me and My Shadow, Part 7
Me and My Shadow, Part 8
Me and My Shadow, Part 9 - The Conclusion

Update: It seems that Kevin took all of these entries off his site, probably because he decided to publish them in a book, and didn’t want people to be able to get it for free. For those of you too cheap to buy the book, I’ve updated the links to the Archive.org cached versions.

Yeah, that’s right. Google Calendar! It was only a matter of time, but the fact that it’s compatible with Outlook, Yahoo, and iCal makes it VERY impressive. I’ve never really used any calendar apps, but then I never had one that so neatly integrated with all my shit before. So I’m gonna give it a try, see what I think of it. Not that I ever really have that much going on that I need a calendar (Saturday: sleep in. Go to gym. Go to movies.), but I’ll play with it to see if I like it.

So, it’s that time of year again. That’s right, Easter Cadbury Creme Egg time! I love Cadbury Creme Eggs, but I can really only eat MAYBE one a year without getting nauseous. And yes, I know that they are basically in stores year-round now, but they’re SUPPOSED to be an Easter-only treat dammit, so I’m talking about them now. I’m not so sure about the slogan from the web page there though: Dip in the goo to unleash your naughty, playful side! EWWWWWWW. There’s also a Cadbury Creme Egg Podcast… for some reason. I can’t get up the nerve to actually listen to it though.

Also, Cadbury has added a Dairy Milk with Creme Egg filling this year. I tried one, it was a bit much. But still yummy. I had some of my Kinder toys check it out.

And of course, there’s a link that precipitated this whole thing: Replacing eggs with Cadbury Creme Eggs in a recipe. I just thought it was hilarious at the beginning: Hypothesis: THIS IS GOING TO BE SO AWESOME. I couldn’t stop laughing! Ok, I could, but I still chuckled.

This is one of my Google Adsense ads right now… at least when I visit the site it is. Connection Power, a site that lets you build “church growth” websites with their software. It’s amazing, really, that such a thing exists, but I guess I shouldn’t really be that surprised. Spookier is some of the “testimonials” on their site:

Alyssa: 2003-09-26: She is doing well, loves the church and will be there this week. Commented that she has a lot on her plate right now with a sick child and her husband away from home. Has been there 3 times and seems like we have her. Her coworkers brought her to us.

“Seems like we have her”??? Jesus, let’s try to sound a bit more like a cult, shall we? The whole site kinda gives me the heebie jeebies.

An interesting link I found via a MeFi conversation on Google Adwords: Google’s Highest Paying Search Terms. The highest paying one? “Chicago personal injury lawyer“. Weird that those are the highest paying search terms, I guess there’s lots of scumbag lawyers in Chicago. Apparently the previous high was Mesothelioma lawyers, which is why if you do that google search, you’ll see that all of the search results (including the sponsored links) end up pointing at blank adsense linkfarms. You’d think that Google would catch on to this, but apparently not. Strange. Anyway, here’s the top 10:

1. $78.30 chicago personal injury lawyer
2. $73.01 chicago personal injury attorney
3. $69.17 lasik new york city
4. $64.27 new york personal injury lawyer
5. $64.17 new jersey car insurance
6. $63.10 new york personal injury attorney
7. $61.64 chicago personal injury lawyers
8. $61.17 mesothelioma lawyers
9. $60.74 atlanta personal injury lawyer
10. $60.29 new york personal injury lawyers

Not that mesothelioma is still up there in the top 10… and all but 2 of the top 10 are for lawyers. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Google Adsense. Once I make enough money to actually get a payment from them, I’ll have my hosting payments covered for the year. Woohoo and all that. But I can almost guarantee that this post will result in lots of those ads being placed. Likewise how previously, my post about the aborted beard experiment resulted in all kinds of ads about hair loss (and one for a beard trimmer, which I guess is pretty good placement). Seems like Google will place the most high-paying ad that is even remotely connected to your content, which is their prerogative, but then they suspend payments to the ad posters for “click fraud” because they don’t want to pay them what they’re owed? Sounds pretty shady to me.

(obviously via MeFi)