My 700th Blog Post

I reached 700 blog posts much faster than I anticipated. You can see how long it took to reach My 600th Blog Post (Try 2) which posted a month ago today. Updated November 20, 2018: 800th Blog Post.

One major addition to my blog over the last month is talking more about gaming: board games, wargames, card games, Role-Playing Games (RPGs),  gaming companies, gaming-related and non-gaming related crowdfunding campaigns (Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Patreon, GoFundMe, etc.), and gaming related blogs. I realize gaming is not everybody’s cup of tea (coffee, soda, bottled water, etc.). I am working on a blog post that will show how authors/writers can use gaming items to potentially improve their books. I added a weekly Gaming Sunday post that I update during the week as new items are added and old items are removed. DNA and genealogy are still a major focus of my blog as the two are closely related.

It’s a lot of work, but I do a Current Monthly DNA Sale post (latest one can be found at Current October 2018 DNA Sales) every month and update it daily or every other day as time allows. A few of the DNA tests on Amazon change prices daily with about the same amount changing less often (maybe every 2 – 5 days), and most rarely changing unless a DNA company has a sale.

I started re-blogging more than I had in the past. Sometimes it’s a case of simply re-blogging with adding any comments and other times I include comments. For example, in Estonian Cuisine. Eesti Toit. — Discover, I mentioned my brief visit to Estonia.

I continue to do an on-again, off-again series of author/writer/blogger posts. If you want to become a serious blogger, or vlogger (on my Bucket List), then there are things you need to consider as copyright is an important consideration. No doubt some would think my blogging on so many different topics is over-achieving, but between Bipolar Depression (Type I, rapid cycling, mixed episodes), ADHD, and a bit of OCD, blogging on so many things helps to keep me going. I haven’t decided if splitting some of the topics into their own blog segments would work better.

One of the primary purposes of this post is to look at what I talked about in my last post (the 600th one linked above) and see how I am doing with the goals I set back then. Granted, in this case, it’s only been a month, so it’s too early to tell on some things. This makes the 77th post I have made in October 2018, not counting the nine (9) draft posts (total of 76 draft posts overall, a couple dating back to 2013) that I started this month. I have two scheduled blog posts (one for October 31st if I don’t finish it sooner and the other for early March 2019. I plan on adding a few regularly scheduled posts as my home Internet connection is limited to my cellphone and I don’t plan on using it to make blog posts.

To follow-up on my 600th blog post, I am still waiting on a headstone photograph on BillionGraves for “Tiny” Brauer and as of today, nobody has claimed the photo request or taken a photo of the headstone:

I am still waiting on the last headstone photograph before posting a Three Stooges tribute post. If you know anybody in the area of Glendale, Queens County, New York, here’s the photo request: https://billiongraves.com/cemetery/Mount-Judah-Cemetery/70611 (you need to be logged into BillionGraves to see the request although if you scroll fast enough, you may be able to see it without logging in. The cemetery is Mount Judah Cemetery: https://billiongraves.com/cemetery/Mount-Judah-Cemetery/70611.

Harold J. “Tiny” Brauer 1909 – 1990

Thank you in advance. Here’s the lot information from the cemetery’s website: http://www.mountjudah.com/search.asp Society: SONS OF ISRAEL OF B B Section: 2 Block: 22 Gate: 3 Path: PLR1 Grave: 001 Map: 334

I am still using the free WordPress, but am considering adding a paid domain name, roughly $18.00 if I do it through WordPress; if I use a third party vendor, then WordPress charges $13.00 extra for redirecting. I am open to suggestions on a shorter URL. My preferred one is already taken by one of the companies that buys up various URLs to resell. it looks like I could go with a paid personal WordPress account for $48.00/year which is doable, but wouldn’t allow me to do certain things that a business account (around $100.00/year) would permit me to do. A business account is out of reach for me at this time. I checked into some of the WordPress alternatives (BlueHost, GoDaddy, HostGator), and those tend to be more expensive in different ways.

I considered a Patreon page, but haven’t figured out what to offer to potential Patrons. There are some unusual Patreon pages out there and a small number generate a good second income with a few generating enough income to be a good first income. I am working on a post about some of the more interesting Patreon pages as you might be surprised not only in what is generating income, but how much income some of the pages generate.

I want to caution potential bloggers and others who use social media of what I mentioned about affiliate links in my 600th blog post:

As previously mentioned, the ads on my blog are placed by WordPress and not by me. Any revenue generated by ads on my blog goes directly to WordPress. I am hoping in a year or two to see about migrating from a free WordPress site to a paid one. In the early days, I had a paid WordPress site using a third party company to host my WordPress blog. I have avoided affiliate links for the most part and if I added any links or promo codes that generated income for me or for somebody else, I have made it clear. In the future, I plan on adding affiliate links, but unlike most bloggers, I will include non-affiliate links. For example, if I add a 23andMe affiliate link, I would also add a link to https://www.23andme.com/ and clearly note which was the affiliate link and which wasn’t. I recently posted where you should understand how to correctly do affiliate linking, product reviews, and other forms of endorsements: Why Bloggers, Websites, and Others Who Use Affiliate Links, Offer Product Reviews, Etc. Should Be Aware of the FTC Guidelines.

I still do a fair amount of posting on DNA as it is the hot topic in genealogy as well as for non-genealogists. I haven’t seen the latest projection for how many people have DNA tested so far in 2018, but believe somebody will give an estimate in the next few months. Also, the next two biggest DNA sales are Black Friday/Cyber Monday and the year-end sale that starts around early November to early December and runs through the end of the year. I will update on those two sales as more news comes out.

Working on getting a better mix of the other topics that I don’t post about as much which will probably include some specific days for some topics.

Doing my best to keep the blog G rated; I don’t use profanity on it and I try to steer away from some topics that could lead it into non-G territory. I will link to some blogs or websites that use profanity or otherwise are PG-13 or stronger rating. I will rarely use Not Suitable for Work (NSFW) as you shouldn’t be viewing my blog at work unless your job is one where viewing my blog would fall within your job description.

Update on the Links tab: I am close to having the scheduled blog post I plan on using to redo the Links tab ready to post.

Getting a bit behind on it, but it’s on my To-Do List:

I am still working on a list of ships and other items (planes, museums, etc.), but it is going slower than I planned. I may do it in stages as there are plenty of things of interest.

For this one, I am doing more research as I keep coming across new things:

I am also working on a couple of interesting posts on the Flintstones and dinosaur parks which aren’t about the Flintstone cartoons as much as it about two Flintstone themed parks that are now closed and several dinosaur parks that you can still visit, including one of the newest ones in Derby, Kansas: https://kansasdinos.com/.

I mentioned it above, but my goal is to keep a fairly updated Current Monthly DNA Sale post

You can view my earlier benchmark posts at: My 600th Blog Post (Try 2), 5th Blogversary and 500th Post, Blog Post Number 400,  My 300th Blog Post – Sort of, and 100th Post Or Is It? Reflections – Past, Present, and Future (it appears I missed a 200th blog post or at least I am not finding it using search).

On the Uncategorized, there should be none listed, but I check it on a regular basis as I sometimes forget to uncheck the Uncategorized Category (https://upsdownsfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/). I checked a few minutes ago and removed the ones that showed up.